ORGANIZERS:
Derek Nesset (Huawei)
Fabienne Saliou (Orange)
Jochen Maes (Nokia)

ABSTRACT:
With the completion of 50G-PON (Higher Speed PON) standardisation in the ITU-T, the announcement of 50G-PON products and operator deployment plans, the ITU-T has initiated a study into the requirements and candidate technologies for the next generation of Very High Speed PON (VHSP) expected ~ 2030 timeframe.

In parallel, the development of 6G and the evolution of mobile towards smaller cells will position PON as a primary candidate technology for deep fibre connectivity. Any convergence of residential and wireless access services on the same PON architecture will bring new challenges due to requirements for very low and deterministic latency, higher reliability and high data rates for continuous learning, fuelled by edge-AI computing and by a future network of intelligent machines.

With the expectation from network operators of a very high service capacity (e.g. 200G) in combination with demands for longer reach and higher loss budgets, it seems like we could be at a technology inflection point for PON. Such requirements could be met by coherent technology, but questions remain concerning the economics in this highly cost sensitive network segment.

This workshop will review the different technologies in scope for VHSP and address the question as to whether IMDD is still a candidate technology for this beyond 50G generation of ITU-T PON or whether coherent technology is needed to meet the high capacity and loss budget expectations.

Network operators will be invited to give their view on the key requirements for VHSP and the potential applications. Experts from industry and academia will review the different technology options and potential challenges to meet the operator requirements.

A lively debate is expected as PON pushes the performance limits of conventional IMDD PON and challenges the costs of the alternatives. Such a debate will be very timely and a great chance to contribute research ideas that could impact the ITU-T standardisation effort.

AGENDA:
Session 1
- Denis Khotimsky (Verizon), Operator requirements for Beyond 50G PON: an FSAN and ITU perspective
- Cláudio Rodrigues (Altice Labs), Access network evolution to VHSP - service drivers and technology options
- Vincent Houtsma (Nokia), IM-DD solutions for next-generation PONs
- Asami Uchiyama (Mitsubishi Electric), Recent advancements in high-speed optical components for IMDD operation
- Zhensheng (Steve) Jia (Cablelabs), Embracing Coherent Optics for Next-Gen PON Potential

Session 2
- Philippe Chanclou (Orange), The expected advances in fixed access networks for mobile networks
- Giuseppe Talli, (Huawei), System Vendor Considerations on Coherent PON
- Scott Yin (IMEC), Revolutionizing PON transceiver electronics: The Leap to 100G+ Baud Rates
- Francisco Rodrigues (PICadvanced), How Photonic Integrated Circuits may unlock the 50G+ -PON