Transceiver Technologies for PON: Past, Present, and Future [Tutorial]

This paper provides an overview of transceiver technologies to be used for current and next-generation passive optical networks (PONs). The uninterrupted scaling of PON networks to higher bit rates in a cost-effective way to meet future bandwidth demands will drive the need for continuous improvement in PON transceiver technologies. In this paper we try to analyze the requirements needed and the impact on this for next generation transceiver technologies based on past and present PON transceiver designs.