Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation in Heterogeneous OFDMA-PONs Featuring Intelligent LTE-A Traffic Queuing

This work was supported by the ACCORDANCE project, through the 7th ICT Framework Programme. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Lightwave Technology following peer review. © 2014 IEEE Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.A heterogeneous, optical/wireless dynamic bandwidth allocation framework is presented, exhibiting intelligent traffic queuing for practically controlling the quality-of-service (QoS) of mobile traffic, backhauled via orthogonal frequency division multiple access–PON (OFDMA-PON) networks. A converged data link layer is presented between long term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) and next-generation passive optical network (NGPON) topologies, extending beyond NGPON2. This is achieved by incorporating in a new protocol design, consistent mapping of LTE-A QCIs and OFDMA-PON queues. Novel inter-ONU algorithms have been developed, based on the distribution of weights to allocate subcarriers to both enhanced node B/optical network units (eNB/ONUs) and residential ONUs, sharing the same infrastructure. A weighted, intra-ONU scheduling mechanism is also introduced to control further the QoS across the network load. The inter and intra-ONU algorithms are both dynamic and adaptive, providing customized solutions to bandwidth allocation for different priority queues at different network traffic loads exhibiting practical fairness in bandwidth distribution. Therefore, middle and low priority packets are not unjustifiably deprived in favor of high priority packets at low network traffic loads. Still the protocol adaptability allows the high priority queues to automatically over perform when the traffic load has increased and the available bandwidth needs to be rationally redistributed. Computer simulations have confirmed that following the application of adaptive weights the fairness index of the new scheme (representing the achieved throughput for each queue), has improved across the traffic load to above 0.9. Packet delay reduction of more than 40ms has been recorded as a result for the low priority queues, while high priories still achieve sufficiently low packet delays in the range of 20 to 30msPeer reviewe

Multi-Stage Resource Allocation in Hybrid 25G-EPON and LTE-Advanced Pro FiWi Networks for 5G Systems

The 5G vision is not restricted solely to the wireless domain and its challenging requirements cannot be fulfilled with- out the efficient integration of cutting-edge technologies in all portions of the telecommunications infrastructure. The promoted architectures for next generation telecommunications systems involve high capacity network domains, which operate flexibly and seamlessly to offer full Quality of Experience to all types of subscribers. The proliferation of highly demanding multimedia services and the advanced features of modern communication devices necessitate the development of end-to-end schemes which can efficiently distribute large amount of network resources anywhere and whenever needed. The paper introduces a new resource allocation scheme for cutting-edge Fiber-Wireless networks is introduced that can be applied in the fronthaul portion of 5G-enabled architectures. The adopted technologies are the forthcoming 25G-EPON for the optical domain and the 5G-ready LTE-Advanced Pro for the wireless domain. The proposed scheme performs allocation decisions based on the outcome of an adjustable multi- stage optimization problem. The optimization factors are directly related to the major considerations in bandwidth distribution, namely priority-based traffic differentiation, power awareness, and fairness provision. The conducted evaluations prove that this approach is able to ensure high efficiency in network operations

On the Merits of Deploying TDM-based Next-Generation PON Solutions in the Access Arena As Multiservice, All Packet-Based 4G Mobile Backhaul RAN Architecture

The phenomenal growth of mobile backhaul capacity required to support the emerging fourth-generation (4G) traffic including mobile WiMAX, cellular Long-Term Evolution (LTE), and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) requires rapid migration from today\u27s legacy circuit switched T1/E1 wireline and microwave backhaul technologies to a new fiber-supported, all-packet-based mobile backhaul infrastructure. Clearly, a cost effective fiber supported all-packet-based mobile backhaul radio access network (RAN) architecture that is compatible with these inherently distributed 4G RAN architectures is needed to efficiently scale current mobile backhaul networks. However, deploying a green fiber-based mobile backhaul infrastructure is a costly proposition mainly due to the significant cost associated with digging the trenches in which the fiber is to be laid. These, along with the inevitable trend towards all-IP/Ethernet transport protocols and packet switched networks, have prompted many carriers around the world to consider the potential of utilizing the existing fiber-based Passive Optical Network (PON) access infrastructure as an all-packet-based converged fixed-mobile optical access networking transport architecture to backhaul both mobile and typical wireline traffic. Passive Optical Network (PON)-based fiber-to-the-curb/home (FTTC/FTTH) access networks are being deployed around the globe based on two Time-Division Multiplexed (TDM) standards: ITU G.984 Gigabit PON (GPON) and IEEE 802.ah Ethernet PON (EPON). A PON connects a group of Optical Network Units (ONUs) located at the subscriber premises to an Optical Line Terminal (OLT) located at the service provider\u27s facility. It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the technological requirements and assess the performance analysis and feasibility for deploying TDM-based next-generation (NG) PON solutions in the access arena as multiservice, all packet-based 4G mobile backhaul RAN and/or converged fixed-mobile optical networking architecture. Specifically, this work proposes and devises a simple and cost-effective 10G-EPON-based 4G mobile backhaul RAN architecture that efficiently transports and supports a wide range of existing and emerging fixed-mobile advanced multimedia applications and services along with the diverse quality of service (QoS), rate, and reliability requirements set by these services. The techno-economics merits of utilizing PON-based 4G RAN architecture versus that of traditional 4G (mobile WiMAX and LTE) RAN will be thoroughly examine and quantified. To achieve our objective, we utilize the existing fiber-based PON access infrastructure with novel ring-based distribution access network and wireless-enabled OLT and ONUs as the multiservice packet-based 4G mobile backhaul RAN infrastructure. Specifically, to simplify the implementation of such a complex undertaking, this work is divided into two sequential phases. In the first phase, we examine and quantify the overall performance of the standalone ring-based 10G-EPON architecture (just the wireline part without overlaying/incorporating the wireless part (4G RAN)) via modeling and simulations. We then assemble the basic building blocks, components, and sub-systems required to build up a proof-of-concept prototype testbed for the standalone ring-based EPON architecture. The testbed will be used to verify and demonstrate the performance of the standalone architecture, specifically, in terms of power budget, scalability, and reach. In the second phase, we develop an integrated framework for the efficient interworking between the two wireline PON and 4G mobile access technologies, particularly, in terms of unified network control and management (NCM) operations. Specifically, we address the key technical challenges associated with tailoring a typically centralized PON-based access architecture to interwork with and support a distributed 4G RAN architecture and associated radio NCM operations. This is achieved via introducing and developing several salient-networking innovations that collectively enable the standalone EPON architecture to support a fully distributed 4G mobile backhaul RAN and/or a truly unified NG-PON-4G access networking architecture. These include a fully distributed control plane that enables intercommunication among the access nodes (ONUs/BSs) as well as signaling, scheduling algorithms, and handoff procedures that operate in a distributed manner. Overall, the proposed NG-PON architecture constitutes a complete networking paradigm shift from the typically centralized PON\u27s architecture and OLT-based NCM operations to a new disruptive fully distributed PON\u27s architecture and NCM operations in which all the typically centralized OLT-based PON\u27s NCM operations are migrated to and independently implemented by the access nodes (ONUs) in a distributed manner. This requires migrating most of the typically centralized wireline and radio control and user-plane functionalities such as dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA), queue management and packet scheduling, handover control, radio resource management, admission control, etc., typically implemented in today\u27s OLT/RNC, to the access nodes (ONUs/4G BSs). It is shown that the overall performance of the proposed EPON-based 4G backhaul including both the RAN and Mobile Packet Core (MPC) {Evolved Packet Core (EPC) per 3GPP LTE\u27s standard} is significantly augmented compared to that of the typical 4G RAN, specifically, in terms of handoff capability, signaling overhead, overall network throughput and latency, and QoS support. Furthermore, the proposed architecture enables redistributing some of the intelligence and NCM operations currently centralized in the MPC platform out into the access nodes of the mobile RAN. Specifically, as this work will show, it enables offloading sizable fraction of the mobile signaling as well as actual local upstream traffic transport and processing (LTE bearers switch/set-up, retain, and tear-down and associated signaling commands from the BSs to the EPC and vice-versa) from the EPC to the access nodes (ONUs/BSs). This has a significant impact on the performance of the EPC. First, it frees up a sizable fraction of the badly needed network resources as well as processing on the overloaded centralized serving nodes (AGW) in the MPC. Second, it frees up capacity and sessions on the typically congested mobile backhaul from the BSs to the EPC and vice-versa

Channel-aware and Queue-aware Scheduling for Integrated WiMAX and EPON

By envisioning that the future broadband access networks have to support many bandwidth consuming applications, such as VoIP, IPTV, VoD, and HDTV, the integration of WiMAX and EPON networks have been taken as one of the most promising network architecture due to numerous advantages in terms of cost-effectiveness, massive-bandwidth provisioning, Ethernet-based technology, reliable transmissions, and QoS guarantee. Under the EPON-WiMAX integration, the development of a scheduling algorithm that could be channel-aware and queue-aware will be a great plus on top of the numerous merits and flexibility in such an integrated architecture. In this thesis, a novel two-level scheduling algorithm for the uplink transmission are proposed by using the principle of proportional fairness for the transmissions from SSs over the WiMAX channels, while a centralized algorithm at the OLT for the EPON uplink from different WiMAX-ONUs. The scheduler at the OLT receives a Report message from each WiMAX-ONU, which contains the average channel condition per cell, queues length, and head-of-line (HOL) delay for rtPS traffic. The EPON data frame is then scheduled based on these Report messages. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme could satisfy the end-to-end real-time QoS requirements. In addition, the centralized scheduler at the OLT can achieve high throughput in presence of traffic load variation

Design and Analysis of Green Mission-Critical Fiber-Wireless Broadband Access Networks

In recent years, the ever-increasing environmental friendliness concern has made energy efficiency in telecom networks as an important theme in their operations. Meanwhile, mission-critical (MC) services and systems (such as healthcare, police, and firefighting) have been acquiring special attention from telecom designers and operators. The currently deployed MC network technologies are indigent in terms of bandwidth capacity, and thus they are not able to support the emerging MC multimedia applications. Therefore in this thesis, we first explore the possibility of provisioning the MC services over the integration of fiber-wireless (FiWi) technologies, which has been considered as a promising candidate for the deployment of high-speed and mobile broadband access networks. We then investigate the energy efficiency problem in the FiWi integration, which consists of WiMAX in the wireless plane, and of Ethernet Passive Optical Network (EPON) - the most popular variant of the next-generation PON (NG-PON) technology, in the optical plane. In WiMAX, the energy saving protocol has been extensively investigated and standardized. Conversely, it has been recently studied in NG-PON, which currently consumes the least power among all the high-speed access networks. However, NG-PON has notably matured in the past few years and is envisioned to massively evolve in the near future. This trend will increase the power requirements of NG-PON and make it no longer coveted. Therefore we address the energy efficiency problem in NG-PON. For each of our contributions, we conduct extensive simulations to demonstrate the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed solutions

Mecanismos para gerenciamento de banda passante em redes ópticas passivas Ethernet com clientes locatários de múltiplas unidades ópticas de redes

Orientador: Nelson Luis Saldanha da FonsecaDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de ComputaçãoResumo: As atuais redes de acesso banda larga à Internet necessitam dar suporte às altas demandas de diversas aplicações tais como voz sobre IP (VoIP), streaming de vídeo UHD, videoconferência, internet das coisas (IoT) e jogos interativos. A tecnologia de redes ópticas passivas (PONs) é considerada promissora para fornecer alta capacidade de acesso com um custo-benefício aceitável. Existem duas diferentes tecnologias que disputam o mercado das redes ópticas; Ethernet PON (EPON) e Gigabit Capable PON(GPON). Devido ao alto custo de aquisição e manutenção de uma infraestrutura PON, muitas empresas (clientes) recorrem a fornecedores de infraestrutura (InP) para reduzir os altos custo, por meio do aluguel de uma porção dos recursos da PON. Esses clientes podem ser, por exemplo, operadores de rede móvel ou provedores de serviços virtuais, que podem adquirir múltiplas unidades da rede óptica (ONU) conectadas em uma única PON. Essa facilidade de alugar múltiplas ONUs pode gerar problemas de balanceamento de carga entre ONUs, uma vez que os atuais algoritmos de alocação de banda passante (DBA) são capazes de garantir banda para uma única ONU. Consequentemente, picos de demanda de banda passante podem ultrapassar a banda garantida em algumas ONUs e, ao mesmo tempo, subutilizar a banda garantida em outras ONUs de um mesmo cliente. Nesta dissertação, aborda-se o problema de gerenciamento de largura de banda para clientes multi-ONU nas redes EPON. Propõe-se um algoritmo de alocação dinâmica de banda passante (DBA) (MOS-IPACT) para dar suporte ao contrato de serviço (SLA) para clientes com várias ONUs. O mecanismo proposto distribui a largura de banda agregada entre ONUs de um mesmo cliente, com o objetivo de melhorar a utilização da largura de banda. Além disso propõe-se um algoritmo DBA para EPONs (subMOSIPACT) com o objetivo de garantir banda passante em diferentes níveis de granularidade. Este algoritmo é fundamental para clientes multi-ONU e que oferecem diversos tipos de serviços. Por exemplo, um operador da rede virtual pode alugar as ONUs de um InP para oferecer serviços corporativos e residenciais. Introduz-se, também, um algoritmo DBA para EPONs (coopMOS-IPACT) que permite a cooperação entre clientes. O algoritmo proposto permite que clientes cooperativos compartilhem banda passante não utilizada a fim de aumentar a banda disponível para alocação mas sem afetar seus SLAs individuais. Os resultados mostram que os três algoritmos propostos são capazes de garantir banda passante para clientes multi-ONU, mesmo em condições de tráfego desbalanceadas; Além de garantir banda passante em diferentes níveis de granularidade aumentando o suporte aos requisitos de qualidade de serviço (QoS). Resultados derivados por simulação mostraram que os algoritmos distribuem eficientemente a largura de banda entre os clientes multi-ONU bem como para clientes convencionais que possuem uma única ONU. Por fim, este trabalho mostra os benefícios do modelo de clientes cooperativos para aumentar a largura de banda disponívelAbstract: Current broadband access networks need to support the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of diverse application such as voice over IP (VoIP), ultra-high video streaming, video conferencing, Internet of Things (IoT) and interactive gaming. Passive Optical Networks (PONs) is considered a promising solution to provides high access capacity with acceptable cost-benefit. Two different technologies share the optical access networks market: Ethernet PON (EPON) and Gigabit Capable PON (GPON). However, the deployment of PON infrastructure involves significant costs. On the other hand, Infrastructure Provider (InP) can alleviate these costs by leasing their PONs to several enterprises (customers). These customers can be Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), multi-site enterprises, or virtual service providers. New scenarios are envisioned in which customers owning multiple Optical Network Units (ONUs) (multi-ONUs customers) are connected to a single PON. However, current EPON Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) algorithms are able to support only guaranteed bandwidth for individual ONUs. Consequently, peaks of bandwidth demand may surpass the guaranteed bandwidth for some ONUs and, at the same time, underutilize the bandwidth in other ONUs of a multi-ONU customer. In this work, the bandwidth management problem for multi-ONU customers in EPON network is addressed. This dissertation proposes a mechanisms for the support of multiONU Service Level Agreements (SLA) in DBA algorithms for EPONs. The proposed DBA algorithms (MOS-IPACT) allows customers owning multiple ONUs to redistribute the aggregated bandwidth of the group of ONUs to better balance the bandwidth utilization. This dissertation also proposes a DBA algorithm for EPON networks (subMOS-IPACT) with the objective of assuring bandwidth at different levels of granularity. This algorithm is quite important for multi-ONU customers offering diverse type of services. For example, a virtual network operator can lease ONUs from an InP to offer enterprise and residential services to its client.This work also introduce a DBA algorithm for EPONs (coopMOS-IPACT), which allows cooperation between customers. The proposed DBA algorithm allows cooperative customers share the unused bandwidth without affecting their individual multi-ONU SLAs. Results show that the three proposed Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) algorithms are able to guarantee bandwidth for multi-Optical Network Unit (ONU) customers even in unbalancing traffic conditions. Furthermore, assuring bandwidth at different levels of granularity improves the Quality of Service (QoS) providing. Simulation results showed that the mechanisms efficiently distributes bandwidth between multi-ONU customers and traditional customers owning a single ONU. Finally, this work show the benefits of cooperative customers model in order to increase the available bandwidthMestradoCiência da ComputaçãoMestre em Ciência da Computação132308/2016-9CNP

Dynamic bandwidth management with service differentiation over ethernet passive optical networks

Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs) address the first mile of the communication infrastructure between the service provider central offices and the customer sites. As a low-cost, high speed technology, EPONs are deemed as the solution to the bottleneck problem of the broadband access network. A major feature of EPONs is the utility of a shared upstream channel among the end users. Only a single optical network unit (GNU) may transmit during a timeslot to avoid data collisions. In order to provide diverse quality of service (QoS), the bandwidth management of the upstream channel is essential for the successful implementation of EPONs, and thus, an efficient medium access control is required to facilitate statistical multiplexing among local traffics. This dissertation addresses the upstream bandwidth allocation over EPONs. An efficient mechanism, i.e., limited sharing with traffic prediction (LSTP), has been proposed to arbitrate the upstream bandwidth among ONUs. The MultiPoint Control Protocol (MPCP) messages, which are stipulated by the IEEE 802.3ah Ethernet in the First Mile (EFM) Task Force, are adopted by LSTP to facilitate the dynamic bandwidth negotiation between an GNU and the OLT. The bandwidth requirement of an ONU includes the already enqueued frames and the predicted incoming frames during the waiting time. The OLT arbitrates the bandwidth assignment based on the queue status report from an GNU, the traffic prediction, and the agreed service contract. With respect to the performance evaluation, theoretical analysis on the frame loss, the frame delay, and the queue length has been conducted. The quantitative results demonstrate that 1) the innovative LSTP mechanism dynamically allocates the upstream bandwidth among multiple ONUs; 2) the traffic predictor at the OLT delivers satisfactory prediction for the bursty self-similar traffic, and thereby, contributing to the reduction of frame loss, frame delay, and queue length; and 3) the bandwidth arbitration at the OLT effectively restricts the aggressive bandwidth competition among ONUs by adopting the service level agreement (SLA) parameter as the upper bound. Aside from analysis, the LSTP mechanism has been substantiated by experimental simulations. In order to differentiate the service provisioning among diverse users, LSTP is further enhanced with the support of dynamic bandwidth negotiation based on multiple queues. The incoming traffics are first classified into three classes, and then enqueued into the corresponding queues. A traffic predictor is dedicated to one class of traffic from an GNU. Service differentiation among classes are provided by the combination of queuing and scheduling at the GNU side. At the OLT side, the bandwidth allocation for each class of traffic is based on the reported queue status and the traffic prediction, and is upper-bounded by the SLA parameter. Experimental simulations have justified the feasibility of providing service differentiation over the broadband EPONs