Fiber to the Home - Transmission Method for Fiber Optic Communication

Fiber to the home is a transmission method of optical fiber communication. It is to directly connect the optical fiber to the user's home (where the user needs).

This optical fiber communication method and strategy are also different from FTTN (Fiber to the Node), FTTC (Fiber to the Curb), HFC (Hybrid Fiber Coaxial Hybrid Fiber Coaxial Cable Network), etc. They all need to rely on traditional metal wires, including Twisted pair and coaxial cable, etc., for "last mile" information transmission.

1. Introduction of fiber to the home

When we talk about fiber to the home, we must first talk about fiber access. Optical fiber access refers to the use of optical fiber as the transmission medium between the central office and users. Optical fiber access can be divided into active optical access and passive optical access. The main technology of optical fiber user network is light wave transmission technology. The multiplexing technology of optical fiber transmission is developing very fast, and most of them are already in practical use. According to the degree of penetration of optical fiber into users, it can be divided into FTTC, FTTZ, FTTO, FTTF, FTTH, etc.

Fiber To The Home (FTTH, also known as Fiber To The Premises) is a transmission method of optical fiber communication. It is to directly connect the optical fiber to the user's home (where the user needs). Specifically, fiber to the home refers to the installation of optical network units (ONUs) at home or business users, and is the closest optical access network application type to users except FTTD (fiber to the desktop) in the optical access series. The remarkable technical feature of fiber to the home is that it not only provides greater bandwidth, but also enhances the transparency of the network to data format, rate, wavelength and protocol, relaxes the requirements for environmental conditions and power supply, and simplifies maintenance and installation.

2. Advantages of fiber to the home

The advantages of fiber-to-the-home FTTH mainly include five points:

First, it is a passive network, from the central office to the user, it can basically be passive in the middle;

Second, its bandwidth is relatively wide, and the long distance is just in line with the large-scale application methods of operators;

Third, because it is a service carried on optical fiber, there is no problem;

Fourth, because of its wide bandwidth, the supported protocols are more flexible;

Fifth, with the development of technology, methods including point-to-point, 1.25G and fiber to the home have developed relatively complete functions.

3. Performance characteristics of fiber to the home

In the optical access family, there are FTTB (Fiber To The Building) fiber to the building, FTTC (Fiber To The Curb) fiber to the curb, FTTSA (Fiber To The Service Area) fiber to the service area and so on.

The optical fiber is directly connected to the user's home, and its bandwidth, wavelength, and transmission technology are not limited. It is suitable for introducing various new services. It is the most ideal service transparent network and the ultimate way of access network development.

Although the development speed of mobile communication is astonishing, due to factors such as limited bandwidth, limited terminal size, and limited display screen, people still pursue fixed terminals with relatively superior performance, that is, they hope to realize fiber-to-the-home. The charm of fiber-to-the-home is that it has huge bandwidth, and it is the best solution to solve the "last mile" bottleneck phenomenon from the Internet backbone network to the user's desktop.

This optical fiber communication method and strategy is also different from FTTN (fiber to the node), FTTC (fiber to the curb), HFC (hybrid fiber-coaxial), etc. They all need to rely on traditional metal wires, including twisted pair and Coaxial cables, etc., for "last mile" information transmission.

4. Technical application of fiber-to-the-home

4.1 Optical part

There are several competing technologies available for fiber optic networks.

Guide fiber (Direct fiber)

The most basic fiber optic network.

Shared fiber

The optical fibers of multiple users are used together in the telecommunications switching center. The technology using this method needs to cooperate with Active Optical Network (AON) or Passive Optical Network (PON).

Active optical network

Passive optical network

The components of the telecommunications network nodes can be divided into two types: "Active" and "Passive". "Active" components can complete signal processing without power, just like a mirror at home, which can reflect images without electricity. PON (Passive Optical Network) is a passive optical network, that is, the optical fiber network requires electricity for the terminal equipment, and its intermediate nodes are composed of exquisite and compact optical fiber components. Based on the concept of New Generation Network communication, the telecom network can be roughly divided into two parts: Core Network and Access Network. The core network is equivalent to traditional trunk and long-distance lines. There is an optical cable ring for accessing the network. The functions of the core network and the access network are different, and their transmission types are also different. Therefore, the application of PON can be divided into two types: the PON of the core network and the PON of the access network. The former is mainly based on wavelength division multiplexing (WOM), while the latter uses both optical splitters and wavelength division multiplexing components.

4.2 Electrical part

When the optical fiber is connected to the computer, it will eventually use the electrical pulse signal for the computer to use.

5. Reasons for the rise of fiber to the home

5.1 Market demand starts the market. User demand is one of the driving forces to promote the development of fiber to the home. From the point of view of demand, under the condition that new broadband applications are constantly emerging. The pressure on the access network will continue to increase. Now, broadband services represented by high-speed Internet services, image file processing, online music, animation download, online games, and online education are developing rapidly, and bandwidth has become a bottleneck restricting Internet performance. And fiber to the home with 100M/s bandwidth becomes the best guarantee to realize the "three-in-one" of telephone, cable TV and Internet access. It can be said that user demand is the market basis for launching fiber to the home.

5.2 Breakthrough in technology and establishment of new standards. Especially in the past two years, the main reason for the resurgence of fiber to the home is some technological breakthroughs and the establishment of new standards, such as the commercialization of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers, the specification of coarse wavelength division multiplexing and the concept of Gigabit passive optical Ethernet. Promotion and the introduction of standards such as 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The emergence and development of these technologies provide a technical basis for the rise of fiber to the home.

5.3 The price of optical fiber and related components dropped. In 2003, the price of G652 optical fiber in the Chinese market ranged from RMB 120-150 per kilometer depending on the brand, which was cheaper than copper wire. The price of the 100M optical receiving development module is only 100 yuan, and the price has a further downward trend, which creates conditions for fiber-to-the-home.

5.4 Promoted by the social environment. The social environment is also promoting the development of fiber to the home. The Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee invested US$6.6 billion to expand and upgrade the telecommunications network before 2008; Shanghai’s telecommunications revenue increased from the current 10 billion yuan to 43.5 billion yuan before 2010, which inevitably led to large-scale expansion and Upgrade telecommunications networks.

6. History of fiber to the home

6.1 Promote new business. In addition to relying on external publicity, the development of a new business also needs to continuously develop new service items and launch new business directions. Fiber-to-the-home technology is gradually becoming the main development direction of broadband access technology. It is still relatively difficult to solve the development problem only relying on the market force. The telecommunications department should start from itself and formulate and implement new services according to customer needs.

6.2 Increase policy support. The development of fiber-to-the-home technology also needs the support and maintenance of national policies. Government departments can promote the development of fiber to the home by using fiber-to-the-desk access technology. The government has formulated relevant regulations requiring developers to lay optical cables to enter the homes when building new communities, and increase network construction to facilitate the needs of residential users. Developers recover the capital investment in network construction in real estate sales.

6.3 Improve technical level. Technical issues have always been the key to the development of fiber-to-the-home. In the original telecommunications construction process, copper cable technology was still very skilled. But if you change copper cables to fiber optics, you will face many problems. Installation methods, network construction, and resource consumption are all technologies that need continuous improvement. Solving these problems will usher in a new era of optical fiber development.

6.4 According to the news on January 5, 2013, in less than half a year, the communication construction standard in residential areas has changed from the initial draft for comments to a national standard, becoming a "mandatory" national standard. The promulgation of the standard has been well received by the industry, but some people have begun to question the implementation of the standard. There is only standard construction, but no later maintenance and management regulations. The revolution has not yet succeeded, and comrades still need to work hard."

6.5 At the beginning of 2016, Shanxi Province issued the "Shanxi Province Promoting Three-Network Integration Work Plan", which will speed up network construction and transformation, implement the "Broadband Shanxi" special action, fully implement the national standard for fiber-to-the-home in new residential areas and residential buildings, and gradually promote fiber-to-the-home village. Strengthen the construction of wireless network and continue to promote the construction of WLAN in "i-Shanxi" public places.

7. National standard for fiber-to-the-home

The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recently jointly issued a notice requiring the implementation of the previously issued "Code for Design of Fiber-to-the-Home Communication Facilities in Residential Areas and Residential Buildings" and "Fiber-to-the-Home Communications in Residential Areas and Residential Buildings". Facilities Engineering Construction and Acceptance Specifications" two national standards.

According to the notice, starting from April 1, 2013, in urban areas at the county level and above where the public telecommunications network has achieved optical fiber transmission, the communication facilities of newly-built residential areas and residential buildings should be constructed using optical fiber to the home. Newly-built residential areas and residential buildings in towns and rural areas realize fiber-to-the-home.