8:45am – 12:30pm (Map)

Passive Optical Networks - Bringing Fiber to the Home

Dr. Andre Girard

Member of ITU Optical group and Chairman of IEC WDM component group

A/P Zhong Wende

About the Topic:

Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology represents an attractive solution for providing high bandwidth from the central office to residences and to small-office, home-office (SOHO). FTTH appears to be a cost-effective solution because it uses a passive optical network (PON): there are no active elements such as switches, etc. between the transmitter in the central office (CO) and the subscriber's premises. As only passive components are used in the field, it substantially improves the network reliability and dramatically decreases maintenance costs, providing a much better life cycle cost and return on the investment.

FTTH PON is presently in deployment around the world, especially in the US. However it is subjected to practical business and technological considerations that is worth considering, such as:

- Available and future services and deployment strategies
- System architecture and detailed design
- Available international standards

We will discuss these critical aspects and some challenges that may have an impact during PON installation, operation and maintenance. We will also address some technical challenges that have forced the development of new test instrumentation.
 

Dr. Andre Girard, Senior Member of Technical Staff EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering,Inc. 465 Godin, Vanier (Quebec) Canada G1M 3G7 E-Mail: andre.girard@exfo.com

About the Speaker:

Andre Girard is presently responsible for international standards at EXFO. He is a delegate at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) Telecommunication Standardization Sector, Study Group 15, on Optical and Other Transport Networks. He is in SG15 the Editor of Recommendations G.671 on Transmission Characteristics of Optical Components and Subsystems and G.661 and G.662 on characteristics and test methods for optical amplifiers. He is also a delegate at the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) Technical Committee TC-86 on Fiber Optics with active participation as the International Convenor of Working Group 7 on Passive Components and as the task force leader for producing a general document on Polarization Mode Dispersion (PMD). Dr. Girard is also a member of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) with active participation in FO-4, Technical Committee on Fiber Optics.

At EXFO, he is also responsible for customer training, conference presentations, and writing technical papers. He previously held the position of manager of the Scientific Division - setting up the division in 1994 - and was responsible for the launch of the IQ-200 Optical Test System, one of the company's most innovative and successful product lines. He recently published a reference book with an EXFO team on "Guide to WDM Technology and Testing".

Before EXFO, Dr. Girard worked as manager at the Canadian Energy Diversification Research Laboratory. Over the past thirty years, he has also held different management and specialist positions - all related to optics - in the military field, university and private industrial sector.

He has a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in lasers from the Quebec National Scientific Research Institute and a B.Sc. in physics from Laval University.
 

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