Convergence of energy management data with optical access networks by sharing the fault-monitoring channel

A converged optical access network system is proposed to provide reliable transmission for both communication data and energy management data. The convergence is carried out by a novel multifunction and low-cost fault-monitoring scheme in passive optical network systems. The scheme enables monitoring the occurrence of damages to distribution fibers, identifying the status of ONUs, localizing damaged fibers, and transferring smart meter data over the fault-monitoring channel. The use of a simple tone detection technique can help the recognition of a fiber break among distribution fibers and activation of the smart meter data transmission. Transmission of smart metering data over the fault-monitoring channel with a 10 Mb/s data rate is demonstrated. Both the added tone detection and upstream smart meter data transmission have a relatively large loss budget and will not affect the design of the original optical access networks.