High-capacity channel for higher speed passive optical networks

1 . An optical line terminal (OLT) for downstream transmission in a passive optical network (PON), comprising:

a processing device configured to:

generate a first downstream signal for transmission on a first channel at a first signal level; and

generate a second downstream signal for transmission on a second channel at a second signal level, wherein the first signal level is greater than the second signal level; and

a physical medium dependent (PMD) transmitter configured to transmit a combined downstream signal comprising the first downstream signal and the second downstream signal,

wherein a first transmit power of the first downstream signal is selected based on a comparison to a second transmit power of the second downstream signal to facilitate reception of the first downstream signal from the combined downstream signal at an optical network unit (ONU),

wherein the processing device is further configured to compute, at the OLT, a transmit power increase and an extinction ratio increase when the combined downstream signal is transmitted.

2 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the second channel has a greater data capacity than the first channel.

3 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

compute a transmit power scale factor for the second downstream signal, wherein the transmit power scale factor is selected to facilitate reception of the first downstream signal from the combined downstream signal.

4 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

combine the second downstream signal with the first downstream signal using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA).

5 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

compute transmission parameter values for the first downstream signal that are different from transmission parameter values for the second downstream signal, wherein the transmission parameters include one or more of: a modulation setting, a forward error correction (FEC) setting, a symbol rate, a frame structure, a communication protocol, or a burst setting.

6 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

use non-linear equalization and non-linear pre-compensation to increase a signal quality for the second downstream signal compared to the signal quality for the first downstream signal.

7 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

compute a first offset compensation for the second downstream signal when a first bit value from the first channel is identified; and

compute a second offset compensation for the second downstream signal when a second bit value from the first downstream signal is identified, wherein the first bit value is different from the second bit value.

8 . The OLT of claim 1 , wherein the processing device is further configured to:

transmit duplicate data on the second channel to increase forward error correction (FEC) protection, or

transmit data on the second channel to reduce latency, or

transmit data on the second channel to reduce power usage.

9 . A method, comprising:

generating a first downstream signal for transmission on a first channel at a first signal level;

generating a second downstream signal for transmission on a second channel at a second signal level, wherein the first signal level is greater than the second signal level;

transmitting a combined downstream signal comprising the first downstream signal and the second downstream signal, wherein a first transmit power of the first downstream signal is selected based on a comparison to a second transmit power of the second downstream signal to facilitate reception of the first downstream signal from the combined downstream signal at an optical network unit (ONU); and

computing a transmit power increase and an extinction ratio increase when the combined downstream signal is transmitted.

10 . The method claim 9 , wherein the second channel has a greater data capacity than the first channel.

11 . The method claim 9 , further comprising computing a transmit power scale factor for the second downstream signal, wherein the transmit power scale factor is selected to facilitate reception of the first downstream signal from the combined downstream signal.

12 . The method claim 9 , further comprising combining the second downstream signal with the first downstream signal using non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA).

13 . The method claim 9 , further comprising computing transmission parameter values for the first downstream signal that are different from transmission parameter values for the second downstream signal, wherein the transmission parameters include one or more of: a modulation setting, a forward error correction (FEC) setting, a symbol rate, a frame structure, a communication protocol, or a burst setting.

14 . The method claim 9 , further comprising using non-linear equalization and non-linear pre-compensation to increase a signal quality for the second downstream signal compared to the signal quality for the first downstream signal.

15 . The method claim 9 , further comprising:

computing a first offset compensation for the second downstream signal when a first bit value from the first channel is identified; and

computing a second offset compensation for the second downstream signal when a second bit value from the first downstream signal is identified, wherein the first bit value is different from the second bit value.

16 . The method claim 9 , further comprising:

transmitting duplicate data on the second channel to increase forward error correction (FEC) protection, or

transmitting data on the second channel to reduce latency, or

transmitting data on the second channel to reduce power usage.