Methods, systems, and apparatuses for passive optical networks

A method comprising:

• receiving via a receiver an input signal comprising one of multiple data rates at a fixed baud-rate for a flexible passive optical network;
• identifying the data rate of the input signal;
• and
• dynamically controlling an output of receiver based on the identified data rate of the input signal;
• wherein the multiple data rates comprise:
• a first data rate comprising a first modulation;
• a second data rate comprising a second modulation;
• a third data rate comprising a third modulation;
• wherein each of the first modulation, second modulation, and third modulation are different;
• wherein the first modulation comprises non-return-to-zero (NRZ) modulation, the second modulation comprises double square-8 (DSQ-8) modulation, and the third modulation comprises four-level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4);
• wherein the first data rate comprises 50 gigabits per second (Gbps), the second data rate comprises 75 Gbps, and the third data rate comprises 100 Gbps.

An optical network receiver comprising:

• a first rate slicer coupled to receive an input signal and configured to recover data at a first rate and a first modulation;
• a second rate slicer coupled to receive the input signal and configured to recover data at a second rate and a second modulation;
• a third rate slicer coupled to receive the input signal and configured to recover data at a third rate and a third modulation, wherein the first, second, and third rate slicers are coupled in parallel to receive the input signal;
• and
• a rate detect block coupled to receive an output from the first rate slicer, an output from the second rate slicer, and an output from the third rate slicer, wherein the rate detect block is configured to determine the rate of the input signal received by the optical network receiver;
• wherein the first rate comprises 50 gigabits per second (Gbps) and the first modulation comprises non-return-to-zero (NRZ) modulation and the second rate comprises 75 Gbps and the second modulation comprises double square-8 (DSQ-8) modulation.