Delivery of >1 Gb/s (digital video, data, and audio) Downstream in Passband above the 155-Mb/s Baseband Services on a FTTx Full Service Access Network

For low cost passive optical access networks (PON), we have studied the downstream delivery of additional > 1Gbps in passband above the baseband 155 Mbps switched digital services. Both signals are transmitted on the same fiber using a single transmitter and a single receiver within the power budgets of ITU-T standards G983.x. Although our study has used broadcast DSS digital video services for the passband that delivers about 1.2 Gbps, the passband bandwidth can be used for any broadcast or switched multimedia services, i.e., digital video, data and audio. For switched services, the baseband upstream will be the return path. Furthermore, the passband can be used to provide dedicated channel of desired bandwidth to any subscriber. The technique is a graceful upgrade of the 155 Jbps system, and is compatible with baseband only optical network unit (ONU). We have multiplexed the baseband data at 155.52 Mbps with passband digital video QPSK channels in the 270-1450 MHz range with minimal degradation.