A Raman amplified GPON reach extension system using parameters of a deployed fiber

Recently distributed Raman amplification of the upstream signal has been proposed to improve the loss budget for gigabit passive optical networks (GPON), and systems of 60-km reach and up to 128 way split have been demonstrated employing state-of-the-art fibers. However, a deployed fiber plant may not perform as well due to elevated fiber attenuation, splice losses, and back-reflections that are present in a realistic GPON system. In this paper, their effects on the Raman amplified 1310-nm upstream signal in a GPON reach extension system is investigated numerically. Using the parameters of a deployed fiber, a design solution is provided for a purely passive, Raman amplified GPON reach extender. Results show that 55-km logical reach and 1:32 split ratio can be achieved using a realistic fiber plant and class B + transceivers.