Wireless drop in a fiber-to-the-home network
One embodiment is directed to a wireless drop terminal (WDT) for use in a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network. The wireless drop terminal comprises a fiber interface to optically couple the wireless drop terminal to an optical line terminal (OLT) of the FTTH network via at least one optical fiber and a wireless interface communicatively coupled to the fiber interface. The wireless interface is configured to wirelessly communicate with a wireless optical network terminal (W-ONT) over a directional wireless drop. Other embodiments are disclosed.
1. A wireless drop terminal for use in a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, the wireless drop terminal comprising:
a fiber interface to optically couple the wireless drop terminal to an optical line terminal of the FTTH network via at least one optical fiber; and
a wireless interface communicatively coupled to the fiber interface, wherein the wireless interface is configured to wirelessly receive RF signals via a directional wireless drop from a wireless optical network terminal (W-ONT), wherein the W-ONT is located at a customer premises, wherein the wireless drop terminal is located outside of the customer premises;
wherein the wireless interface is implemented using a baseband module, wherein the baseband module receives digital baseband data generated from an RF waveform transmitted from the W-ONT to the wireless drop terminal, and the baseband module processes the received digital baseband data to obtain upstream wireless frames;
wherein the fiber interface transmits upstream optical frames derived from the upstream wireless frames.
2. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , the wireless interface further comprising an RF/power module configured to mix the RF waveform transmitted from the W-ONT with a quadrature mixing signal in order to produce analog baseband in-phase and quadrature signals representing the digital baseband data.
3. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless drop terminal comprises a processor configured to implement a management function, wherein the management function sends and receives management data with a management system coupled to the optical line terminal via the at least one optical fiber.
4. The wireless drop terminal of claim 3 , wherein management data is further communicated with the W-ONT.
5. The wireless drop terminal of claim 3 , wherein the management data instructs the management function to control an amount of bandwidth that is provided to a customer using the wireless drop terminal.
6. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein a first antenna and a second antenna are connected to the wireless drop terminal, wherein the wireless drop terminal communicates with the W-ONT over the first antenna and the second antenna using Multiple-Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless communication technology.
7. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface is configured to wirelessly receive RF signals via the directional wireless drop from a plurality of W-ONTs.
8. The wireless drop terminal of claim 7 , comprising a separate directional antenna for each of the plurality of W-ONTs the wireless drop terminal communicates with.
9. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein a first antenna and a second antenna are connected to the wireless drop terminal, wherein the wireless drop terminal selectively communicates with the W-ONT and at least one other W-ONT over the first antenna and the second antenna using beam forming.
10. The wireless drop terminal of claim 9 , wherein the wireless interface is configured to implement the beam forming in a Multiple-Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) configuration.
11. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the directional wireless drop comprises one of a fixed point-to-point wireless drop and a fixed point-to-multipoint wireless drop.
12. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless interface is implemented using a chipset.
13. The wireless drop terminal of claim 12 , wherein the chipset further comprises at least one of a femtocell chipset to wirelessly communicate with the W-ONT, a wireless local area network chipset to wirelessly communicate with the W-ONT; and a wireless metropolitan area network chipset to wirelessly communicate with the W-ONT.
14. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the FTTH network comprises a passive optical network, wherein the wireless drop terminal is configured to communicate over the passive optical network.
15. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the wireless drop terminal is configured to be powered by power provided over a hybrid fiber cable that is connected to the wireless drop terminal.
16. The wireless drop terminal of claim 1 , wherein the fiber interface transmits upstream optical Gigabit Ethernet frames from the upstream wireless frames.
17. A fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, the network comprising:
an optical line terminal (OLT) to couple the FTTH network to a core network;
a wireless drop terminal that is optically coupled to the OLT via at least one optical fiber and electrically coupled to at least a first directional antenna; and
at least one wireless optical network terminal (W-ONT) coupled to a second directional antenna, the W-ONT located at a customer premises to provide a service to customer premises equipment, wherein the wireless drop terminal and the first directional antenna are outside the customer premises; and
wherein the wireless drop terminal comprises:
a fiber interface to optically couple the wireless drop terminal to an optical line terminal of the FTTH network via at least one optical fiber; and
a wireless interface communicatively coupled to the fiber interface, wherein the wireless interface is configured to wirelessly receive RF signals via a directional wireless drop from the W-ONT, wherein the W-ONT is located at a customer premises;
wherein the wireless interface is implemented using a baseband module, wherein the baseband module receives digital baseband data generated from an RF waveform transmitted from the W-ONT to the wireless drop terminal, and the baseband module processes the received digital baseband data to obtain upstream wireless frames;
wherein the fiber interface transmits upstream optical frames derived from the upstream wireless frames.
18. The network of claim 17 , wherein the first directional antenna and a third directional antenna are connected to the wireless drop terminal, wherein the wireless drop terminal communicates with the W-ONT over the first directional antenna and the third directional antenna using Multiple-Input, Multiple Output (MIMO) wireless communication technology.
19. The network of claim 17 , wherein the first directional antenna and a third directional antenna are connected to the wireless drop terminal, wherein the wireless drop terminal selectively communicates with the W-ONT and at least one other W-ONT over the first directional antenna and the third directional antenna using beam forming.
20. The network of claim 17 , wherein the wireless drop terminal comprises a processor configured to implement a management function, wherein the management function sends and receives management data with a management system coupled to the optical line terminal via the at least one optical fiber;
wherein the management data instructs the management function to control an amount of bandwidth that is provided to a customer using the wireless drop terminal.
21. A method for a wireless drop terminal of a fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) network, the method comprising:
wirelessly receiving RF signals at a wireless interface of a wireless drop terminal, wherein the RF signals are received via a directional wireless drop from a wireless optical network terminal (W-ONT), wherein the W-ONT is located at a customer premises, wherein the wireless drop terminal is located outside of the customer premises;
generating digital baseband data from the RF signals using the wireless drop terminal, and processing the digital baseband data to obtain upstream wireless frames; and
transmitting upstream optical frames from a fiber interface of the wireless drop terminal, the fiber interface configured to optically couple the wireless drop terminal to an optical line terminal via at least one optical fiber, the upstream optical frames derived from the upstream wireless frames.