Optical transmission performance in AMOOFDM downlink NG-PON systems using APD and pin receivers

Adaptively modulated optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (AMOOFDM) modulation is experimentally evaluated using different photodiodes. A comparison is made between positive-intrinsic-negative (pin) and avalanche photodiode (APD) receivers in next generation passive optical network (NG-PON) downlink architecture. Direct modulation in transmission as well as direct detection in reception allows reducing the cost of the system. The results are obtained respecting the requirements of a class B+ optical budget. An additional amplifier is implemented to increase the reach of the pin photodiode. Although having a narrower bandwidth, the APD offers better performance than the pin. A bit rate of 10 Gbit/s can be reached for a distance of 60km with an optical budget of 30dB and without any optical amplifier.