GPON encapsulation mode (GEM) ports and transmission containers (T-CONTs) divide a PON network into virtual connections for service multiplexing.
Each GEM port can carry one or more types of service stream. After carrying service streams, a GEM port must be mapped to a T-CONT before upstream service scheduling. Each ONU supports multiple T-CONTs that can have different service types.
A T-CONT can be bound to one or more GEM ports, depending on customers' data plan. On the OLT, GEM ports are demodulated from the T-CONT and then service streams are demodulated from the GEM port payload for further processing.
Service Mapping Relationships
In the upstream direction,
An ONU sends Ethernet frames to GEM ports based on configured mapping rules between service ports and GEM ports. Then, the GEM ports encapsulate the Ethernet frames into GEM packet data units (PDUs) and add these PDUs to T-CONT queues based on mapping rules between GEM ports and T-CONT queues. Then, the T-CONT queues use timeslots for upstream transmission to send GEM PDUs to the OLT.
The OLT receives the GEM PDUs and obtains Ethernet frames from them. Then, the OLT sends Ethernet frames from a specified uplink port based on mapping rules between service ports and uplink ports.
In the downstream direction,
The OLT sends Ethernet frames to the GPON service processing module based on configured mapping rules between service ports and uplink ports. The GPON service processing module then encapsulates the Ethernet frames into GEM PDUs for downstream transmission using a GPON port.
GPON transmission convergence (GTC) frames containing GEM PDUs are broadcast to all ONUs connected to the GPON port.
The ONU filters the received data according to the GEM port ID contained in the GEM PDU header and retains the data only belonging to the GEM ports of this ONU. Then, the ONU decapsulates the data to Ethernet frames and sends them to end users using service ports.