[802.3_DIALOG] Considerations on technical feasibility of 1GE POF and being future proof

[Peter Stassar <Peter.Stassar@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bob, 1GE POF SG members, and other IEEE802.3 interested colleagues,

 

As noted during last Thursday’s IEEE 802.3 Closing Plenary, I offered to provide an email input clarifying my concerns on technical feasibility and lack of upgradeability of 1GbE POF.

I am addressing this to the 802.3 Dialog reflector because this was discussed during the 802.3 closing plenary.

 

As I noted during the discussion, I have no concerns whatsoever with respect to Industrial and Automotive applications.

My concerns are only with respect to the claims for home networking applications, especially noting that POF transmission is something new to IEEE 802.3.

Therefore additional information is necessary for a new fiber like POF, at least the differences beyond the “usual” fibers like multimode fiber and single-mode fiber. Because it is a new area, more information on the POF medium needs to be provided, especially on characteristics of a worst-case (under installation conditions) channel of 50m POF in the home, and also how companies anticipate operating over such a worst-case link.

 

Specific remarks:

・         As far as I could see, I haven’t found any confirmation by testing that there is a technical feasibility demonstration of POF technology at 1Gb/s over at least 50m of worst-case (thus not typical) POF. At least 50m of POF, should be addressed and not 50m max.

・         Furthermore I haven’t been able to find any reference to a standardized specification for POF itself, which will be necessary in order to establish the characteristics of a worst-case POF link. Tsukamoto_GEPOF_01_0514 (Norfolk) describes some types of POF, but it is not clear if those are standardized types or not.

・         Lambkin_GEPOF_1_0514 (Norfolk) shows one test curve, but without saying anything about the test conditions, or the modulation format used.

・         perezaranda_GEPOF_5_0514 (Norfolk) only shows simulation results, which are not suitable to claim technical feasibility confirmation on optical media.

・         Luecke_GEPOF_02_0714 (San Diego) shows some test results, without saying anything about the test conditions, the modulation format used, the characteristics of the POF used, typical or worst-case and only for 15m (typical?) POF.

・         perezaranda_GEPOF_01a_0714 (San Diego) only shows simulation results, which are not suitable to claim technical feasibility confirmation on optical media.

・         perezaranda_GEPOF_05a_0714 (San Diego) only shows some very high level test results, without details, for 15m (typical?) POF.

・         Faller_GEPOF_02_0714 (San Diego) only shows some very high level test results, without details about the test conditions, or the modulation format used.

・         Serizawa_GEPOF_02_0714 (San Diego) shows some very high level test results, without details, for 15m (typical?) POF, thus only automotive.

 

In conclusion I have not been convinced that 1Gb/s Ethernet over 50m of worst case POF  is technically feasible and even more that an installed POF link can be upgraded to higher speeds, which I believe is necessary to justify long lifetimes of home-installed POF networks.

 

Kind regards,

 

Peter Stassar, 施笪安

Technical Director, 技术总监

Huawei Technologies Ltd, 华为技术有限公司

European Research Center, 欧洲研究所

Karspeldreef 4, 1101CJ Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Tel: +31 20 4300 832

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