scope:

This Recommendation addresses the general characteristics of gigabit-capable passive optical network (GPON) systems in order to guide and motivate the physical layer and the transmission convergence layer specifications. The general characteristics include examples of services, user-network interfaces (UNIs) and service node interfaces (SNIs) that are requested by network operators. Also, this Recommendation shows the principle deployment configuration.

As much as possible, this Recommendation maintains characteristics from [ITU-T G.982] and ITU-T G.983.x-series Recommendations. This is to promote backward-compatibility with existing optical distribution networks (ODNs) that complies with those Recommendations.

GPON systems are characterized, in general, by an optical line termination (OLT) system and an optical network unit (ONU) or optical network termination (ONT) with a passive optical distribution network (ODN) interconnecting them. There is, in general, a one-to-many relationship between the OLT and the ONU/ONTs, respectively.