A passive optical network (PON) is a fiber optic network for the transmission and reception (bidirectional) of data, using a point-to-multipoint topology, meaning there is one main transmitter and multiple final receivers, as shown in the following illustration.
PON Network
The term passive refers to the absence of active elements (such as a repeater or splitter) between the transmitter and receiver. Due to the use of fiber optics in this type of network, there are devices designed for them. On one side, there is the transmitter called OLT (Optical Line Terminal) and the receiver called ONT/ONU (Optical Network Unit). Both devices allow the conversion of optical signals to electrical signals and vice versa.
The main components of a PON network are the OLT, ODN, and ONU or ONT.
The Optical Distribution Network (ODN) provides the optical transmission medium from the OLT to users and vice versa. It uses passive optical components such as fiber optics, splices, connectors, and splitters.
Components of a PON network
