Get to know Optical Line Terminal (OLT)

OLT or short for Optical Line Terminal is an endpoint hardware in a passive optical network (PON). OLT is related to Fiber to the Home (FTTH). What is FTTH? Fiber to the Home (FTTH) also referred to as Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) is the installation and use of optical fiber from a central point directly to individual buildings such as residences, apartment buildings, and businesses to provide unprecedented high-speed internet access. In telecommunications networks that are now increasingly advanced and sophisticated, Fiber to the Home (FTTH) has attracted the attention of many people, especially from telecommunications specialist companies.

So in the operation of FTTH using passive optical networks because the cost is more affordable but with high performance that can help save some money on fiber costs (fiber). So what is the relationship between OLT and FTTH? Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) systems generally have an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) at the service provider’s headquarters. OLT plays an important role in the overall network connection performance as one of the components that PON requires.

The OLT itself contains a gateway router (GWR), Central Processing Unit (CPU), uplink voice gateway card (VGW), passive optical network cards that can transmit data signals to users at 1490 nanometers (nm). The signal can serve up to 128 ONTs ranging up to 12.5 miles using optical splitters.

OLT (Optical Line Terminal) Function

Optical Line Terminal (OLT) has two main functions which are as follows:

1. Converts the standard signal used by the FiOS provider to the frequency and framing used by the PON (Passive Optical Network) system.
2. Coordinating multiplexing between conversion devices at the optical network terminal (OLT) located at the customer premises.

OLT is widely adopted in fiber optic network access at various regional levels such as villages, districts, and cities. This is because it can help efficiently reduce network construction costs, provide high bandwidth guarantees and also high integration. Hope this article can help.

References :

https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/fiber-to-the-home

https://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/definition/Optical-line-terminal-OLT

https://medium.com/@AriaZhu/basic-knowledge-about-optical-line-terminal-olt-3b7b3744da0b