FTTx (Fiber To The X) in Indonesia

FTTx (Fiber To The X) Alternative Solution Broadband Access in Indonesia

1. Definition  :

Fiber to the x (FTTx) is generic for broadband network architecture which using optical fiber  to replace whole or part of metal local-loop in the telecommunication last mile. The definition comes from generalization of several spreads configuration (FTTN, FTTC, FTTB, FTTH), all start with FTT but differ in last letter, replace by x for generalization.

Figure 1. Architecture FTTx

Telecommunication industry divided into several configurations, the most currently use:

• FTTN (Fiber-To-The Node) : Fiber terminate in cabinet on the road until few kilometer from the customer premise, while end of connection with copper.

• FTTC (Fiber-To-The-Cabinet) or side of the road : it’s same like FTTN, but cabinet closer from customer premise, usually in 300 m.
• FTTB (Fiber-To-The-Building) or Fiber-to-the-Basement : fiber reach border of the building, like in basement, than distribute to the private room through several alternative.
• FTTH (Fiber-To-The Home) : fiber reach the house, terminate to the box in wall of the customer house.
• FTTP (Fiber-To-Premises) : definition for FTTH and FTTB, or where fiber network cover house and small business.

Growth of Internet connections and the development of IPTV technology, VoIP and others, increasing the need for greater bandwidth. The solution is to use fiber-optic connections to subscriber homes and office buildings, because it can provide a large enough bandwidth.  It is necessary to accelerate the transition from metal to fiber optic cable. Data from ITU-T in Figure 2 shows the growth of FTTH/ B subscribers  in the whole world. This shows the demand for broadband access is increasing every year.

Figure 2. Trend in FTTH/B Subscribers

2. Access Network :

Passive Optical Network (PON) system is one method to provide broadband transmission on the access network. An Optical Line Terminal (OLT) located at Central office and an Optical Network Unit (ONU) at the customer side such as customer homes or buildings. And the optical splitters used to divide the connection into the N connection to the customer premise. Figure 3 shows examples of PON systems

Figure 3. PON System Structure

Trunk cable is  fiber optic connection between the Central Office (CO) to the optical splitter, now widely deployed by network operators. Drop cable is the connection from the optical splitter to the customer premise was held when there is demand from customers. A Drop cable length can be up to 1.6 km, in the metropolitan area of less than 500 m.

3. FTTx Services

FTTx solution helps operator provide broader bandwidth and more services to customers. Triple play service may be integrated from several different networks, it allows customer to get IPTV, access internet, and voice service over fiber optic media. Services that can provide by FTTx technology:

• High speed internet service based on LAN until 100M.
• High speed internet service based on ADSL/VDSL until 100M
• Voice service based on PSTN and soft switch
• TDM service
• IPTV service
• CATV service
• Mobile Backhaul service

4. Faults in FTTx Technology:

Faults that often occurs in FTTX is on the drop cable, the fiber optic between the optical splitter to the ONU, typically fiber break or high loss. The Main auses of these faults listed below:

• Natural Disaster : fiber optic cables that hang on the pole of repeated pressure from storms, earthquakes, heavy rain and other natural disaster, which causes  fiber optic breaks or damage.

• Animal Damage : Attacked by animals, like squirrel, rats, crows, etc., cause damage and fiber breaks.

• Fiber bending in subscriber Households. Sometimes, people  moving the ONU can bend the fiber excessively, causing a break or high loss.

5. Implementation of FTTH in Indonesia

Implementation of fiber optic technology in Indonesia still slow compared with others country like Japan and Malaysia, were already implemented FTTH in their network since couple years ago.

That’s happens because the cost of deployment fiber optic in Indonesia is still high. Further, mobile network penetration in Indonesia is very high. It’s challenge for government and telecommunication industry in Indonesia to stimulate national industry of using local devices and equipments. In this way we hope can minimize the cost have to be paid to deploy fiber optic network in Indonesia.

With all the fiber optic advantages should become solution to increase broadband access in Indonesia, so demand for fast and affordable broadband connection can implement in Indonesia.

FTTx

FTTx

From:admin 2011-11-24

Fiber to the x (FTTx) is a generic term for any broadband network architecture that uses optical fiber to replace all or part of the usual metal local loop used for last mile telecommunications. The generic term originated as a generalization of several configurations of fiber deployment (FTTN, FTTC, FTTB, FTTH...), all starting by FTT but differentiated by the last letter, which is substituted by an x in the generalization.

 

FTTH (Fiber-to-the-Home) is a new access technology utilizing an optical network architecture optimized for simple, economical delivery of telephony, packet data and video to the home via a single bi-directional fiber optic strand. This will enable towns to facilitate the delivery of current and future video, voice and data services, and is an all-optical alternative to the traditional copper-based feeder, distribution and drop portions of a residential access network .

 

A description of the PON-based broadband access network technology that uses fiber optics running all the way from the Internet backbone to the home or premises. Some times other acronyms, FTTx, FTTP, or FTTB are used, but these are essentially interchangeable. FTTH is becoming the catch-all descriptor for all fiber to the home, premises, business and "x" technologies.

 

The leading FTTH technology is PON or Passive Optical Network technology. A typical FTTH solution should contain all the supporting facilities and cables as showed in the figure below:

 

                                                The fiber based network infrastructure between central office and the home

 

At the central office, the termination point is in PON optical line terminal (OLT) equipment. At the customer premises, the termination point is in optical network terminals or ONTs also called optical network units or ONUs. These are in the customer premises equipment, or CPE. Between the OLT and the ONT/ONUs is the passive optical network comprising fiber links and passive splitters and couplers.

What is FTTH?

FTTH, or Fiber To The Home, refers to fiber optic cable that replaces the standard copper wire of the local Telco. FTTH is desirable because it can carry high-speed broadband services integrating voice, data and video, and runs directly to the junction box at the home or building. For this reason it is sometimes called Fiber To The Building, or FTTB.

Traditional copper telephone wires carry analog signals generated by telephone equipment, including fax machines. Analog technology is by nature a less precise signaling technology than digital technology. Though multiplexing has allowed digital signals to be transmitted across multiple channels over copper lines, fiber optic cable is superior for relaying these signals and allows for faster transfer rates and virtually unlimited bandwidth. This opens the door to better Internet speed, streaming video, and other demanding applications.

The Internet utilizes a backbone of fiber optic cables capable of delivering incredible bandwidth. This inherent ability makes the Internet a prime source for advancing network technologies that can be brought to the home or business. Most subscribers, however, log on to this network through copper lines with limited capacity. This creates a bottleneck for advancing technologies that increasingly require greater bandwidth. FTTH bridges this gap.

Fiber optic cables are made of glass fiber that can carry data at speeds exceeding 2.5 gigabits per second (gbps). FTTH services commonly offer a fleet of plans with differing speeds that are price dependent. At the lower end of the scale, a service plan might offer speeds of 10 megabits per second (mbps), while typical DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) service running on existing copper lines is 1.5 mbps. A more expensive FTTH plan might offer data transfer speeds of over 100 mbps —- that's about 66 times faster than typical DSL.

FTTH is cost-prohibitive in many cases. Installing FTTH can be expensive, and the monthly charge for broadband services thereafter can also be off-putting, though these figures vary widely. Expense is likely to drop with time as FTTH becomes more common.

Because of the cost involved and the logistic difficulty in replacing existing copper lines in some neighborhoods, FTTH is more often being installed in newly built communities as an added selling feature. Installing FTTH raises the value of existing property.

FTTH can be installed as a point-to-point architecture, or as a passive optical network (PON). The former requires that the provider have an optical receiver for each customer in the field. PON FTTH utilizes a central transceiver and splitter to accommodate up to 32 clients. Optical electric converters, or OECs, are used to convert the signals to interface with copper wiring where necessary.

FTTH differs from Fiber To The Curb (FTTC) in that FTTC does not run directly to the home or building. Instead it runs to the curb, and the last leg of wiring to individual buildings remains copper wire.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-ftth.htm