Powering options for fiber-in-the-loop systems

A key challenge remaining to ubiquitous fiber-in-the-loop deployment is powering. Of particular concern is now best to power optical network units (ONU), which provide the interface between the loop fiber and customer drop wires. Currently, two basic ONU-powering schemes have been defined. In this paper, we examine several variations to these schemes. These include the use of new battery technologies as backup sources, solar photovoltaic power as a primary source, and fiber as a power transmission medium. We also support new information on ac power quality in the United States and on power system hardware reliability, and ow these effect the overall availability of the subscriber loop.