DSP and ADC/DAC Projections for WDM-OFDMA-PON

Wavelength Division Multiplexing- Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access-based Passive Optical Network (WDM-OFDMA-PON) is accepted as one of the most suitable architectures to tackle the requirements for Next Generation Optical Access Networks (NG-OAN). The main technologies for the development of this architecture are the Digital Signal Processing (DSP) and Analog-To-Digital and Digital-To-Analog converters (ADC/DAC). Current DSP devices´ processing capacity is at least one order of magnitude bellow the required for the implementation of WDM-OFDMA-PON, and the bandwidth of ADC/DAC is also a limitative factor. Additionally, due to the access network´s massiveness, the DSP´s and ADC/DAC energy consumption has become a major concern. In order to describe how long it will take for the DSP´s and ADC/DAC devices to cope the requirements for WDM-OFDMA-PON, and how much energy they will consume, in this paper the projections of DSP´s and ADC/DAC performance and energy consumption were developed, considering different rates of annual improvement of the technology. Based on our projections, we have demonstrated that the required processing capacity for DSP will be achieved within two to five years from now, and such device will consume approximately twice the amount of power of current processors if the annual rates of improvement of capacity and energy efficiency are maintained.