WHITE PAPER

WHITE PAPER
Certification of G-PON equipment ensures
optimal performance in the field.
 WHITE PAPER

Contents

INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................. 2
G-PON Standardization ..................................................................................................................... 3
VLAN ............................................................................................................................................. 6
IGMP ............................................................................................................................................. 7
Other PON Systems ...................................................................................................................... 7
G-PON Test requirements ................................................................................................................. 8
G-PON Equipment........................................................................................................................... 11
LAN - The Laboratoire des Applications Numériques ..................................................................... 12
Xena Networks G-PON Test Solutions ............................................................................................ 12
Testing up to Layer 3 .................................................................................................................. 12
Test Automation ......................................................................................................................... 13
CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................. 14

www.xenanetworks.com 1
 WHITE PAPER

INTRODUCTION
Communication services have evolved dramatically over the last couple of decades. For many years residential
customers used telephony as their only communication service, but many more services are now available. The
telecom operators that provided the analog telephony (POTS – Plain Old Telephone Service) also wanted to provide
access to the new communication services to their customers, including residential and small business users. DSL
(Digital Subscriber Line) technology used in the access network between the telephone exchange and the customer
premises was sufficient in some cases, but the reach of the DSL solutions could be a limitation.

Fiber optics has been used for many years in long distance communication. From that, access network solutions
based on fiber optics were developed allowing high speed connections to end customers. However, installing new
optical fibers to every customer would be quite costly, which is why various FTTx (Fiber To The “something”)
solutions have been invented. FTTx provides communication over a fiber optic network to a point close to a group of
customers; existing copper local loops like DSL over POTs, cable access, etc. are used the rest of the way. Even in
cases where the fibers go all the way to the end customers, optical signals are typically brought to a distribution
point nearby the customers and from there split to each individual customer.

FTTx systems are normally implemented as Passive Optical Networks (PON), meaning that there are no active
components (like amplifiers and repeaters) between the end points of the optical network but only passive
components like splitters and combiners. This simplifies the network and maintenance of it significantly but at the
same time limits the reach of a PON: Total reach may be up to 60 km, but difference in distance between an Optical
Line termination (OLT) and each Optical Network Unit/ Optical Network Termination (ONU/ONT – the G-PON
equipment closest to the customers) cannot exceed 20 km – an active optical network (AON) will typically have a
reach up to 100 km. The split of a fiber in a PON is typically 1:32 or 1:64 (i.e. each PON can serve up to 32 or 64
customers). Some systems support splits up to 1:128.

ITU-T has defined a PON technology: The Gigabit-capable Passive Optical Network (G-PON), which supports digital
communication to end customers at rates up to 2.4 Gbps downstream (from network to customer) and 1.2 Gbps
(optionally 2.4 Gbps) upstream (from customer to network).

G-PON is designed to support a number of communication services and applications targeting private and business
customers. The services and applications include digital broadcast services, Video On Demand (VOD), file download,
e-mail, file exchange, distance learning, telemedicine, online-gaming, POTS, ISDN etc.

www.xenanetworks.com 2
 WHITE PAPER

Figure 1: G-PON network terminated with OLT and ONT/ONU

Figure 1 shows the main components of a G-PON network. The passive component in the G-PON – the optical
splitter – is actually bi-directional: It divides the downstream signal from the OLT to the ONUs/ONTs and combines
the upstream signals from the ONUs/ONTs into one signal, which is sent to the OLT. The splitter is therefore
sometimes called a splitter/coupler.

The PON and G-PON market will grow in the coming years driven by the increasing number of internet based
applications used by private and small business internet customers and the wide spread use of smart phones. In a
market research report, Global Industry Analysts projects the global G-PON market to reach 10.5 billion US$ by 2020
with Asia Pacific being the largest market.

G-PON STANDARDIZATION
Work on fiber to the home architectures began 1995 in the Full Service Access Network (FSAN) working group,
formed by major telecom service providers and vendors. ITU-T did further work on the topic and G-PON is now
standardized by the ITU-T Study Group 15 in the G.984 series of recommendations (G.984.1 – G.984.7). First
document (G.984.1) was approved in March 2003, followed for more than a decade by the other documents and
several updates, amendments and corrigenda.

G.984.1 (“GPON General characteristics”) defines the network architecture shown in figure 2. The optical fiber
section of the access network system can be point-to-point or point-to-multipoint. The copper part of the access
network is outside the scope of the G.984 series; the copper part is typically a DSL solution.
A split ratio up to 1:64 is considered to be realistic according to G.984.1. Future technology may allow a split ratio up
to 1:128.

www.xenanetworks.com 3
 WHITE PAPER

Figure 2: Network architecture defined in G.984.1

Downstream Upstream

1244.16 Mbps 155.52 Mbps

1244.16 Mbps 622.08 Mbps

1244.16 Mbps 1244.16 Mbps

2488.32 Mbps 155.52 Mbps

2488.32 Mbps 622.08 Mbps

2488.32 Mbps 1244.16 Mbps

2488.32 Mbps 2488.32 Mbps

Table 1: G-PON speeds

G.984.2 (“GPON Physical Media Dependent (PMD) layer specification”) lists the possible G-PON
downstream/upstream speed combinations (see table 1). 2488.32 Mbps downstream and 1244.16 Mbps upstream
is the most important combination; this is used in the majority of existing and planned G-PON systems.

G-PON can be sent as optical signals in 2 ways:

• Over a single bidirectional fiber. G-PON use Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) with 1490 nm wavelength
for downstream traffic and 1310 nm wavelength for upstream traffic
• Over two unidirectional fibers. Downstream and upstream traffic use 1310 nm wavelength

www.xenanetworks.com 4
 WHITE PAPER

Figure 3: Mapping Ethernet traffic into GEM Frames

G.984.3 defines the G-PON Transmission Convergence (TC) layer including the G-PON TC (GTC) frame format. The
GTC frames carry traffic between OLT and ONUs/ONTs. The end-user traffic is encapsulated in GEM (G-PON
Encapsulation Method) frames, which are carried over the GTC protocol transparently. In addition, G.984.3 defines
how to map various types of user traffic (Ethernet, IP, MPLS, SDH and TDM) into GEM frames. Figure 3 illustrates
how Ethernet traffic is mapped into GEM frames and that the Ethernet overhead is removed by the GEM
encapsulation.
Downstream data are sent as broadcast (i.e. to all users on the G-PON). The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
ensures that data is only accessible for the intended recipient on the G-PON as each ONT/ONU gets a unique
encryption key. For upstream data Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) is used: Data from the users are divided
into different time slots synchronized with the downstream link via time compensation performed by each ONU.
Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) ensures that the users get the bandwidth they currently need. DBA is managed
by the OLT, which allocate bandwidth to the users.

G.984.3 also describes Forward Error Correction (FEC), which optionally can be used in the G-PON system to increase
the reach of the system or increase the number of ONUs/ONTs in the G-PON.

www.xenanetworks.com 5
 WHITE PAPER

Figure 4: G.984.4 reference model showing the path for OMCI signals between OLT and ONT/ONU

G.984.4 specifies the ONT Management and Control Interface (OMCI) for G-PON systems to enable multivendor
interoperability between the OLT and the ONT (/ONU). G.984.4 defines the exchange of information between the
OLT and the ONT and the ONT management and control channel, protocol and detailed messages needed to manage
the ONT in the following areas:
• Configuration management
• Fault management
• Performance management
• Security management

The ONT management and control protocol packets are encapsulated directly in GEM packets. The OMCI allows an
Access Network Management system that interfaces to the OLT to manage both the OLT and the ONTs/ONUs in the
G-PON system.

A G-PON system can use several standard Ethernet functions to convey information to and from the end customers.
Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) tagging can be used to group traffic flows in different VLANs distinguished by

www.xenanetworks.com 6
 WHITE PAPER

their VLAN ID (VID) and to separate customer connected to an ONU in the G-PON network. The 3 priority bits of the
VLAN tag allow marking of the traffic’s Class of Service (CoS). This can be used to ensure sufficient Quality of Service
(QoS) for traffic types to/from the customers (e.g. video, voice and data) through the G-PON, which has a number of
logical channels supporting different QoS. VLAN is defined in IEEE 802.1q and enhanced in 802.1ad. The Broadband
Forum document TR-156 “Using G-PON Access in the context of TR-101” defines 3 VLAN profiles to be used for G-
PON: 1:1, N:1 and VBES (VLAN Business Ethernet Service). These profiles involve single tagging and double tagging
(“QinQ”) and require the ONUs/ONTs/OLTs to add or change VLAN tags in some cases. Therefore, the ONUs/ONTs
and the OLTs must be able to process and manipulate the VLAN tags also called VLAN translation and filtering.

The Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) supports one-to-many communication and is used in G-PON
systems to send identical information like broadcast of entertainment video to many G-PON customers. The IETF has
defined 3 versions of IGMP. IGMPv1 is defined in RFC 1112. IGMPv2 defined in RFC 2236 is an improved version;
IGMPv3 provides further improvements and is defined in RFC 3376 and RFC 4604. IGMP is used in IPv4 networks. In
IPv6 networks multicast management is handled by the Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) protocol.

G-PON is not the only system defined for PON access networks. Prior to G-PON ITU-T defined APON/BPON (ATM
PON/Broadband PON) in the G.983 series of recommendations. APON/BPON is based on the Asynchronous Transfer
Mode (ATM). APON/BPON typically provides 622 Mbps downstream and 155 Mbps upstream data capacity.
After G-PON ITU-T has defined PON systems supporting data rates higher than 2.4 Gbps:
• XG-PON (or 10G PON/XG-PON1) provides 10 Gbps downstream data capacity and upstream 2.5 Gbps.
XGS-PON (S for Symmetrical) provides 10 Gbps downstream and upstream data capacity.
XG-PON/XGS-PON is defined in the G.987 series of recommendations. First recommendation in this series was
approved in 2010.
• NG-PON2 – a 40 Gbps Time and Wavelength Division Multiplexed Passive Optical Network (TWDM-PON) system
defined in the G.989 series of recommendations. First recommendation in this series was approved in 2013.
Work is currently going on in ITU study group 15 to extend the bandwidth to 80 Gbps downlink and uplink.

IEEE has also defined PON systems; these systems are based on transmitting Ethernet frames:
• EPON (or GEPON) supporting 1 Gbps downlink and uplink. This was ratified in 2004 as amendment 802.3ah to
802.3.
• 10G EPON supporting 10 Gbps downlink and 1 or 10 Gbps uplink. This was ratified in 2009 as amendment
802.3av to 802.3.

www.xenanetworks.com 7
 WHITE PAPER

• The P802.3ca 100G-EPON Task Force works on PON systems supporting up to 100 Gbps downlink and uplink.
100G-EPON is expected to be ratified in 2019.

Figure 5: PON system time line (first document approved)

G-PON TEST REQUIREMENTS

At the borders of the Optical Distribution Network (ODN) G-PON systems include active transmission equipment
(OLT and ONU/ONT), which of course will need to be tested. For this, the Broadband Forum in 2011 launched the
industry first G-PON certification program – the BBF.247 certification program. This is based on Broadband Forum’s
BBF.247 conformance test plan. With such a certification program, test labs can verify that ONUs/ONTs conform to
the G-PON OMCI standard before they are deployed in the network. The first version of BBF.247 was issued in
October 2011. The issue 4 of this document is currently under preparation by the Broadband Forum. BBF.247
defines 95 test cases covering:
• Classification and Tagging
• Frame Mapping and QoS
• IGMP Controlled Multicast
• Non-IGMP Controlled Multicast and Broadcast
• Initial Provisioning of ONU
• ONU Bring-Up
• Management Information Base (MIB) and Alarm Synchronization
• Software Image Download
BBF.247 defines test setups for OMCI conformance tests - see figures 6 and 7 (the interfaces to and from the OLT
and ONU are named V, S/R, R/S and U as shown in the figures).

www.xenanetworks.com 8
 WHITE PAPER

Figure 6: Basic setup for BBF.247 testing

Figure 7: Setup for BBF.247 testing of ONUs supporting multiple U interfaces

As OLTs through the OMCI can control certain functions in the ONU/ONT, interoperability between these devices is
essential. This includes interoperability between OLT and ONUs from different vendors, which is very important for
the network operators. To verify the interoperability, the Broadband Forum has defined the TR-255 G-PON
Interoperability Test Plan, which was approved February 2013. TR-255 describes 86 test cases covering items like:
• VLAN Manipulation
• Quality of Service Functions
• IGMP Controlled Multicast
• Non-IGMP Controlled Multicast and Broadcast.
Optional test cases cover:
• Security
• Filtering

www.xenanetworks.com 9
 WHITE PAPER

• Port Identification and Characterization.

These test cases will typically include an Ethernet traffic generator that can provide traffic relevant for the test case.
In many cases this includes generation of a number of parallel traffic streams with different characteristics.
However, for some test cases an Ethernet traffic generator is not needed. Such test cases cover:
• Initial provisioning of ONU
• ONU bring-up
• Alarms
• Software download
ONUs (/ONTs) to be tested with TR-255 must first pass a BBF.247 test as a preliminary step.

Figure 8: Setup for TR-255 interoperability tests with multiple ONUs

TR-255 test setups are similar to the BBF.247 test setups in figures 6 and 7, however with the OLT emulator
substituted by the OLT that should be interoperable with the ONU/ONT at the other end of the ODN. In addition, the
test setup in figure 8 is also defined for TR-255 testing.

For the IGMP functionality in the G-PON system further testing may be required. The IGMP tests in 247/ATP-247 and
TR-255 verifies the basic IGMP functions. To verify the IGMP performance, testing in accordance with RFC 3918
“Methodology for IP Multicast Benchmarking” of IP multicast forwarding devices can be conducted. RFC 3918 testing
includes:
• Forwarding and throughput: Mixed class throughput, scaled group forwarding matrix and aggregated multicast
throughput
• Forwarding Latency: Multicast latency and min/max multicast latency
• Overhead: Group join delay and group leave delay

www.xenanetworks.com 10
 WHITE PAPER

• Multicast Group capacity

• Interaction: Forwarding burdened multicast latency; forwarding burdened group join delay

G-PON EQUIPMENT

More than 50 ONUs/ONTs have already been BBF.247 certified. They are listed on the Broadband Forum BBF.247 G-
PON Products web page at G-PON ONU certified products. This list describes the type of ONU (single or multi-port,
SFP, etc.). It includes components for ONUs and shows whether the products support multicast and the 3 V-LAN
profiles defined in TR-156.

Many G-PON capable OLTs can be configured to support several access network technologies. Available OLTs
include:
• Adtran: Total Access 5000; provides converged POTS and enhanced broadband services using the ADSL2+,
VDSL2 and G-PON technologies
• Calix/Ericsson: E3-8G G-PON OLT
• FiberHome: AN5516-06 OLT; supports G-PON/EPON/10G PON/P2P
• FOT: GOLT1008; a 1U, 8PON ports pizza box G-PON OLT
• Huawei: SmartAX MA5600T; supports multiple access methods – VDSL2/ADSL2+/G.SHDSL/POTS/ISDN/ G-
PON/Ethernet P2P/Cable
• Nokia 7360 ISAM FX
• ZTE: ZXA10 C320: Compact-design PON OLT; supports G-PON/EPON, 10G PON (XG-PON1/XGS-PON/10G EPON),
P2P

Passive Optical Splitters are available from companies like:

• 3M™
• CommScope
• FS.com
• OFS (Furukawa)
• Senco Advanced Components
• Shenzhen UT-King Technology
• Sopto
• Sumitomo Electric

www.xenanetworks.com 11
 WHITE PAPER

LAN - THE LABORATOIRE DES APPLICATIONS NUMÉRIQUES

LAN - The Laboratoire des Applications Numériques is a unique center, which tests a diverse range of digital
applications. The Broadband Forum has officially selected LAN as Test Agency authorized to administer the approved
BBF.247 tests and to assess eligibility of products for the Broadband Forum BBF.247 Certification.

LAN executes the BBF.247 tests with ValkyrieBay and ValkyrieCompact testers, equipped with the Xena Odin-1G-3S-
6P 6-port 1Gbps test module. The easy to use testers provide powerful testing capabilities for testing and verifying
G-PON transmission equipment including BBF.247 conformance test cases.

XENA NETWORKS G-PON TEST SOLUTIONS

The Xena Odin-1G-3S-6P 6-port 1Gbps test module is ideal for testing of G-PON OLTs and ONUs/ONTs including
BBF.247 conformance test cases and mandatory and most of the optional TR-255 interoperability test cases.
Equipped with appropriate transceivers Odin-1G-3S-6P supports 100 Mbps and 1000 Mbps optical and electrical
Ethernet interfaces. In a ValkyrieBay chassis up to 12 Odin-1G-3S-6P test modules can be available for testing of G-
PON OLTs and ONUs/ONTs.

Figure 9: The powerful and versatile Xena Odin-1G-3S-6P 6-port 1Gbps test module

Based on Xena’s advanced architecture, the Odin-1G-3S-6P is a proven solution for Ethernet testing at layers 2 and 3.
Advanced test scenarios can be performed using the free test applications for the test module:

ValkyrieManager test software is used to configure and generate streams of Ethernet traffic between Xena test
equipment and Devices Under Test (DUTs) and analyze the results. Test functions include:
• Multistream traffic generation at line rate

www.xenanetworks.com 12
 WHITE PAPER

• Flexible MAC address generation

• Generation of unicast, multicast and broadcast frames
• Generation of frames without VLAN tags, with one VLAN tag and double tagged frames
• Configurable VLAN priority
• Generation of IGMPv1, IGMPv2 and IGMPv3 frames

Valkyrie3918 makes it easy to create, edit and execute all test types specified in RFC 3918. RFC 3918 describes tests
for measuring and reporting the throughput, forwarding, latency and Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)
group membership characteristics of devices that support IP multicast protocols.

Valkyrie2544 offers full support for the 4 test types specified in RFC 2544: Throughput, Latency, Frame loss and
Back-to-back frames; Jitter (Frame Delay Variation) is also supported. Valkyrie2544 lets you partially enable one or
more test types and supports different network topologies and traffic flow directions on both Layer 2 and Layer 3.

Valkyrie2889 is an application for benchmarking the performance of Layer 2 LAN switches. The following RFC 2889
test types are supported:
• All Throughput and Forwarding rate tests (both Fully and Partially meshed)
• Congestion Control
• Address Caching Capacity
• Address Learning Rate
• Broadcast Frame Forwarding and Latency
• Forward Pressure and Maximum Forwarding Rate
Valkyrie1564 provides full support for both the configuration and performance test types described in Y.1564 for
complete validation of Ethernet Service Level Agreements (SLAs) in a single test.

G-PON products require testing during development, production and interoperability/ conformance verification. In
these cases, test scenarios are executed repeatedly to verify the quality and stability of the products. This is normally
automated to ensure uniformity and reduce labor cost.

ValkyrieCLI is another free application for the Odin-1G-3S-6P in a ValkyrieBay or ValkyrieCompact chassis. It is a
powerful and easy-to-use command-line-interface (CLI) scripting API that makes test automation easier for test
engineers:

www.xenanetworks.com 13
 WHITE PAPER

• Ideal for test automation of e.g. production environments

• Controls ValkyrieBay and ValkyrieCompact chassis with installed test modules
• Powerful CLI approach from any TCP/IP capable tool environment
• Unified syntax for CLI- and GUI-generated test port configurations makes it easy to learn
• Script examples of Tcl, Perl, Java, Ruby, BASH and Python available
• Intelligent console tool bundled free with ValkyrieManager

The ValkyrieBay and ValkyrieCompact chassis are typically controlled using ValkyrieManager, the free GUI
application provided by Xena Networks. Everything you can do with ValkyrieManager can also be done via
ValkyrieCLI, using simple CLI text commands.

CONCLUSION

G-PON systems have been implemented by many operators to provide affordable digital communication services to
their customers. More systems will be installed in the coming years to provide increased bandwidth to fulfill
customer demands for access to a growing number of internet based applications and support the wide spread use
of smart phones.

In 2011 Broadband Forum launched the BBF.247 program – the industry first G-PON certification program – which is
based on the BBF.247 conformance test plan for G-PON ONU. LAN – the Laboratoire des Applications Numériques –
has officially been selected by the Broadband
Forum has LAN as Test Agency authorized to
administer the approved BBF.247 tests and to
assess eligibility of products for the Broadband
Forum BBF.247 Certification.

LAN executes the BBF.247 tests with ValkyrieBay and ValkyrieCompact testers, equipped with the Xena Odin-1G-3S-
6P 6-port 1Gbps test module. The testers provide powerful testing capabilities for testing and verifying G-PON
transmission equipment including BBF.247 conformance test cases. The Xena testers gives the user an easy to use,
efficient test solution, which can handle complex scenarios without breaking the budget.

www.xenanetworks.com 14