Cost of power—the user's perspective

Abstract

Abstract With the advent of fiber in the loop, transmission of power ceases to be through the traditional communications medium, and the objective of powering voice lines over fiber with the same reliability goals as plain old telephone service (POTS) raises several technological, regulatory, and business issues. In order to power the optical network unit (ONU) and provide backup power for it during commercial power outages, three strategies are identified: 1) providing loop powering from a −48 volt CO/CEV power plant; 2) providing power and backup power locally, from or near the end of the loop in proximity to the OW; and 3) providing power from the curb or a power node. This paper constructs economic models to determine the worth of a watt at the 5-volt logic level at an ONU for each of the powering strategies. By normalizing all costs to the worth of a watt, comparisons can be made and appropriate architectures can be selected for various applications.