Patent ID: 8842990

Claim:
A method performed in an optical line terminal (OLT) in a passive optical network (PON) for detecting a rogue optical network unit (ONU) operating among a plurality of ONUs in the PON, the method comprising the steps of: receiving a plurality of bursts of light from the plurality of ONUs, each of the plurality of bursts of light separated from the other bursts of light by an inter-burst gap containing a minimum dark interval during which the OLT expects to receive no optical power; receiving optical power during one or more of the minimum dark intervals; determining whether one or more of the inter-burst gaps was anomalous based on, at least, the optical power received during one or more of the minimum dark intervals; and in response to determining that one or more of the inter-burst gaps was anomalous, declaring an alarm associated with the presence of the rogue ONU.