Dante audio networking is designed to operate on switched Ethernet networks. For a Passive Optical Network (PON) to support Dante successfully, it must be configured to behave like a standard switched Ethernet environment.
To achieve this, the PON should meet the following requirements:
- Symmetric latency between any two points on the network
- Consistent and stable forwarding delay for all Precision Time Protocol (PTP) traffic in both directions (leader-to-follower and follower-to-leader)
- No multicast reflection – multicast packets must not be transmitted back out of the ingress port
- Traffic prioritization (QoS) must be preserved, ensuring PTP traffic is prioritized over audio (and any video traffic). DSCP tagging must be honoured across all Dante traffic
- Efficient multicast handling, with the option to enable unicast delay requests on Dante devices to reduce multicast PTP load
- Appropriate PTP clock placement, determined by the network architecture and the multicast forwarding behaviour of the PON
There are no fixed published thresholds for parameters such as latency or jitter. As a result, PON manufacturers and integrators should carry out validation testing to confirm that their implementation meets these requirements. Test equipment may be available on request. Methods for achieving compliance will vary between vendors.
In practice, Dante can operate reliably over a PON when standard IT networking best practices are followed, particularly with careful attention to clocking and latency configuration, as would be required on any network.
Support note: Configuration of Passive Optical or Software Defined networks falls outside the scope of our direct support. We’re happy to offer guidance, but detailed implementation and troubleshooting should be handled by your network provider or PON vendor.