In Energy &

Power

Building a Multiservice
Unified Communications
Platform
Distribution Automation, AMI, and
FTTH Project for Beijing Electric Power
Corporation
Background
Established in 1985, Beijing Electric Power
Corporation (BEPC) is a provincial subsidiary of the
State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). It provides
services to 4.8 million customers in Beijing and
surrounding areas, covering nearly 17,000 square
kilometers.

Key Challenges
Over recent years, BEPC has been striving to
build a Smart Grid, and it urgently needed to
add related systems, particularly distribution
automation and smart metering. The distribution
automation system demands stringent requirements
for network reliability and latency, while the smart
metering system calls for high network reliability,
wide network coverage, and multiservice support.
Services include real-time power consumption

16

data collection, tariff control, telecontrol, abnormal

power consumption analysis, electricity quality
analysis, smart meter archive management, and data
submission to the marketing service management
system, among many others.
However, BEPC's existing systems had faced the
following challenges:
Conventional wireless public networks (GPRS/
CDMA) were not reliable enough. They failed to
meet requirements for high network bandwidth,
wide network coverage, and high network reliability.
As China is enthusiastically encouraging fournetwork convergence (smart grid, data, video, and
voice networks), BEPC found it difficult to respond
to this national advocacy because its existing
networks could not support Gigabit Ethernet (GE),
Fast Ethernet (FE), Voice over IP (VoIP), WiFi, and Radio Frequency (RF) video interfaces
simultaneously. As a result, BEPC's networks failed

One Net: Connect Everyone,

Connect as One

The Smart Grid is the future of power

grids. As the closest part with customers,
an efficient power distribution and
consumption system is critical within the
smart grid. As a company that specializes
in power distribution and consumption,
BEPC chose Huawei's industrial-grade
xPassive Optical Network (xPON) solution
to roll out distribution automation and
Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI),
as well as Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH)
services. The solution deployment had
also proved that BEPC's new business
model optical fiber leasing and FTTH
was technically feasible. >>

to meet the convergence towards future networks.

Solution
In response to BEPC's challenges and requirements, Huawei offered a fieldproven xPON solution, which provides the all-service interfaces that BEPC
needs and helps the organization embrace the Internet of Things (IoT) era by
building a connected home network.
Using a reliable, secure local optical network, this xPON solution makes it
possible to transmit collected data securely, efficiently, and all these happen in
real time. This solution also provides various service interfaces (such as RS232,
RS485, GE, and FE) for the user side, accommodating present and future service
demands.
For the Zhonghong and Jianbang residential areas in Beijing, Huawei helped
BEPC deploy several Optical Line Terminals (OLTs) inside the 10 kV power
distribution room, where the OLTs upload data to the control center. Each OLT
provides 16 to 32 Passive Optical Network (PON) ports. Optical fiber composite
low voltage cable (OPLC) is routed out from these PON ports, to optical splitters,
and then to Optical Network Units (ONUs), namely, the Huawei MA5621/
MA5621A, which are deployed in the power distribution cabinet located in the
residential building. The ONUs were then connected to the meters on each floor
of the building through RS485 cables to collect metering information in real
time.
To support FTTH services, BEPC also deployed other types of OLTs inside the
power distribution room. Each OLT provides 32 to 48 PON ports. OPLCs are
routed out from these PON ports to optical splitters, to the Optical Distribution

17

In Energy &
Power

Frame (ODF), and then to the household power distribution box. The
flat-drop cable is routed out from the household power distribution box
to the in-home ONU, offering a variety of broadband services, including
Internet access, telephony, and television services.
This solution has many compelling features, such as:
Dedicated electric power terminals feature high security, easy
scalability, and easy maintenance.
Industrial-grade ONUs use a sealed casting aluminum shell to
protect against water, dust, and corrosion. They can operate normally at
temperatures of as high as 85C. In addition, these ONUs support 6 kV
surge protection for both user-side ports and power supplies.
The ONUs provide two uplink ports that use Small Form-factor
Pluggable (SFP) optical modules. The two uplink ports can auto-adapt
to work in an Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON), Gigabit
Passive Optical Network (GPON), or GE mode to meet different site
requirements.
The solution employs a full series of OLTs that adopt a unified
platform and implement redundancy protection for key components
Huawei's full series of OLTs are well suited for diverse scenarios
requiring small, medium, and large capacities. Unlike similar products
from other vendors, Huawei's OLTs adopt a 1+1 redundancy design for
both main control boards and power supplies, the first-of-its-kind in the
industry.
The OLTs support GPON, EPON, 10 G GPON, and 10 G EPON
simultaneously and allow a smooth bandwidth evolution to 10 Gbit/s.
By using unified software and hardware platforms, all OLT service
boards are fully compatible with each other, significantly reducing the

18

One Net: Connect Everyone,

Connect as One

number of required spare parts.

The solution provides a comprehensive protection mechanism to ensure network
security and service continuity.
Huawei's xPON solution supports Type B/C/D protection as well as hand-inhand protection. Huawei is also the first vendor to use dual-uplink (hot backup)
technology, in which dual ONU uplinks are connected to the upstream devices.
This dual-uplink design eliminates the need for link switchover and ensures
service continuity.
The OLTs use Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) technology in the
upstream direction and work with routers and switches to provide redundancy
protection for uplinks, ensuring network protection.

Customer Benefits
Huawei's xPON solution has brought many benefits to BEPC, including the
following:
BEPC has optimized its power consumption data collection system into an
IP-based one, signifying a further step towards the IoT era. This new IP-based
system streamlines data collection, facilitates metering, and offers a two-way
communication platform to remotely manage power consumption, enabling
automated smart grid marketing and enhancing marketing and service capabilities.
With xPON FTTH, BEPC can gradually implement four-network
convergence, so users can experience bundled, top-notch triple-play services.
Huawei's xPON solution uses an efficient Network Management System (NMS)
that does not require a large number of maintenance personnel. As a result, BEPC
can easily manage and maintain the entire network.

19