Full-Lifecycle Light ODN: Advancing Fiber Networks into the AI-Driven ODN Era

As FTTx network deployment continues to expand, the optical distribution network (ODN), as the "nerve ending" connecting thousands of households, is becoming increasingly prominent. Every year, vast amounts of fiber are deployed, leading to a significant accumulation of resources. Thus, achieving efficient fiber network construction and managing the idle resources in the fiber network has become key to building a competitive optical network.

However, traditional ODNs face multiple challenges throughout the planning, construction, and operation lifecycle. Planning relies on manual surveys that take months, and route design is mostly done manually. Splicing techniques demand high skill levels from technicians. The passive nature of the network makes resource status invisible, while maintenance depends on paper labels and manual records, leading to data inaccuracies, label peeling, and messy patch connections. Resource utilization is low, with over 30% of resources becoming stranded. These pain points of traditional ODNs provide clear guidance for transformation.

As gigabit optical networks expand, operators urgently need to reconstruct ODN management through digitalization. Full-lifecycle Light ODN solution has emerged to meet this need, leveraging AI and the fiber fingerprint technology, which transform the passive "dark" ODN pipeline into a "visualized" network. This solution achieves the "Zero Era" goal of zero-touch planning, zero-threshold construction, zero-blind-spot O&M, and zero-waste resource management.

Zero-Touch Planning: AI-Driven Accurate and Efficient Modeling

Traditional planning bottlenecks involve manual site surveys, which require on-site measurement of building structures, poles, and conduit resources. Data collection cycles can last 4–8 weeks, and design drawings are manually created, making them prone to human errors that may lead to planning deviations. Therefore, an accurate and efficient design is crucial to avoid rework and wasted resources and investment.

The Light ODN intelligent planning solution delivers a "zero-touch planning and design, one-click survey and output" experience. Key technical features include:

• One-click site survey via app: ZTE provides an app for collecting and entering site information. Field personnel use mobile devices to capture on-site environments, and AI image recognition automatically extracts key data such as manhole locations and hallway structures, which is then uploaded to the cloud platform in real time. Compared with traditional manual surveying, this system can save 83% of the site surveying time.
• AI-powered route modeling: Optimal fiber route plans are automatically generated using deep learning algorithms based on GIS systems and 3D building databases.
• Dynamic resource scheduling: Historical traffic growth models are used to predict future bandwidth demand and dynamically adjust the splitting ratio and node density accordingly.

After receiving the survey information, the system uses AI for basic map recognition. Once the planning and design principles are selected, the system automatically generates a design plan, including coverage area, equipment location, splitter points, and fiber optic routes. Compared with traditional manual design, this system can save 80% of the high-level design (HLD) time.

After the design is completed, the system can directly output all information electronically, including construction drawings, material lists, and engineering workload statistics. It  supports multiple output formats  and connection with other platforms through a northbound interface, allowing seamless output to third-party platforms. Compared with traditional methods, the output time for construction drawings is reduced by 65%.

This intelligent planning system has already been successfully deployed in several projects. For example, in a project in Germany for a region with 100K users, adopting the ZTE Smart Planning System reduced the design time by 83%, and cut the manpower from 100 person-days to 10 person-days.

Zero-Threshold Construction: Pre-Connectorized Technology and AI Visualization

In traditional construction, fusion splicing requires professional equipment and skilled technicians, and the construction process is time-consuming, with resource record relying on manual operations.

The Light ODN solution introduces several breakthroughs:

• Pre-connectorized solution: Use pre-terminated optical cables with connectors pre-installed in the factory, which are plug-and-play on site without the need for fusion splicing.
• AI image recognition-based data entry: Construction personnel scan equipment QR codes and take photos of the port connections with their mobile phones. AI automatically identifies connection status and generates a topology diagram, with resource data synchronized with the network management system in real time.
• Digital twin–enabled visual management: A 3D digital mirror of the ODN is constructed to monitor key indicators, such as optical cable deployment paths and port occupancy rates, in real time. Integrated with GIS systems, the digital twin displays resource information on maps, visually guiding operations and maintenance. Additionally, intelligent analysis of fiber link resource usage is performed to form resource optimization strategies, which in turn guide network maintenance and expansion, saving time while reducing Opex.

As a result, time to market (TTM) was reduced by 50%, and resource record efficiency improved by 90%.

Zero-Blind-Spots in O&M: Fiber Monitoring and Hybrid Expert Model

In traditional passive network maintenance, fault localization often requires segmental testing, and manual inspection cannot detect hidden attenuation issues or provide early warnings. Thus, a platform-level monitoring system is introduced for real-time fault diagnosis.

The “Nervous System” of Optical Networks

The eMonitor solution builds an innovative "platform-level” optical network monitoring system that continuously monitors the performance and status of the entire optical network in a centralized, automated manner, 24/7. An optical network “health database” is also established to perform big data analysis on historical test results, enabling proactive O&M.

A complete intelligent process is established for optical network monitoring, including automated test data collection, analysis, and result presentation. This full-process automation reduces fault localization time by 90%, and industry-leading self-developed OTDR testing modules are utilized to achieve meter-level fault localization.

Standard interfaces are provided for integration with GIS systems, enabling logical fault locations to be mapped to physical locations and displayed on maps. Compared to traditional methods, this approach reduces troubleshooting time by 30%.

Application of AI Hybrid Expert Model

An ODN health database is built, integrating over 100,000 fault case characteristics. A large hybrid expert model combining AI analytics with expert knowledge analyzes OTDR test data to identify early performance-degrading components and hidden defects such as macro bending and connector contamination, and to generate timely warnings for preventive treatment. Fault localization accuracy reaches within one meter, and repair solutions are automatically generated.

Zero-Waste Resource: Dynamic Topology and AI Optimization

The traditional ODN resource databases are outdated, leading to low resource utilization, with more than 20% of the ports remaining idle, and an inability to dynamically sense changes in network topology. To tackle these issues, a dynamic resource management mechanism is implemented, which includes:

• Real-time topology awareness: The fiber fingerprint system automatically updates port connectivity.
• AI-powered resource scheduling engine: By dynamically allocating splitter ports using traffic load forecasting, the idle resource activation rate is increased to 95%.
• Remote segmented acceptance: Link quality can be verified via fiber fingerprint data during construction, reducing the acceptance cycle by 80%.

Consequently, ODN resource utilization increased by 16%, with annual recovered value from previously stranded resources exceeding tens of millions of RMB.

Industry Practices and Future Evolution

ZTE’s Light ODN solution has been deployed in several countries, helping operators rapidly build ODNs while enabling optical network topology visualization and resource management. In the flagship case of China Mobile Anhui, resource management accuracy increased by 30%, fault location precision reached within one meter, and repair time was reduced from hours to minutes.

Building on these achievements, the next-generation Light ODN will be driven by several key technologies. Fiber fingerprint enables real-time detection of dynamic network topology changes through coherent optical signal analysis. A self-optimizing network architecture, powered by AI large models, provides automatic optical power adjustment and dynamic routing optimization to ensure high-quality optical links. Meanwhile, digital twin O&M creates a full-lifecycle digital representation of the ODN to support predictive maintenance decisions. Together, these innovations lay a strong foundation for the continued evolution of Light ODN.

Toward a New Era of Autonomous Optical Networks

Full-lifecycle Light ODN, powered by the closed-loop integration of "AI + fiber fingerprint," has fundamentally resolved the management challenges of passive networks. Its "Four Zeros" characteristics—zero zouch, zero threshold, zero blind spots, zero sunk costs—not only redefine ODN industry standards but also drive optical networks toward self-optimization, self-healing, and self-evolution.

Vendors like ZTE are leading the development of third-generation digital ODN, providing essential support for global operators to build all-optical infrastructure with "zero tolerance for failures."

In the future, Light ODN will integrate advancements in 50G PON, fiber sensing, intelligent analytics, and predictive technologies, further enhanced by AI-driven analytical and forecasting applications. Leveraging breakthroughs and convergence in key technologies—including full-parameter optical network sensing, automatic topology discovery, real-time link monitoring, fault localization, and risk prediction and early warning—Light ODN will accelerate the construction of intelligent, sensing-integrated FTTx networks, ushering in a new paradigm for optical access networks.