Architecture of multi-OLT PON systems and its bandwidth allocation algorithms

In this paper, we propose a novel passive optical network (PON) architecture that has multiple optical line terminals (OLTs). Unlike existing PONs where all ONUs are connected to a single OLT, the proposed multi-OLT PON allows subscribers to choose their own service providers from among multiple OLTs. Service companies and subscribers can make service level agreements (SLA) on the amount of bandwidth that each OLT or ONU requires. A new control protocol and bandwidth allocation algorithms appropriate in this new PON environments are suggested. For the downstream, a scheme to share the bandwidth among multiple OLTs is studied to maximize the total transmitted packets while guaranteeing each OLT’s SLA. A modified Limited Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation named mLimited scheme is also proposed for upstream transmission toward multiple OLTs, which maximizes the total upstream throughput while minimizing the delay of each ONU. Performances of the proposed PON architecture and algorithms are analyzed. A PON system with two OLTs and 16 ONUs is used in the analysis. Self-similar traffic reflecting current packet distribution is used in the packet generation. The results show that the proposed DBA schemes efficiently manage bandwidth even when the occurred traffic load is quite different from the reserved bandwidth. It is found that the proposed PON architecture is appropriate in supporting diverse services in future high-speed optical access network.     

SUCCESS: a next-generation hybrid WDM/TDM optical access network architecture

In this paper, the authors propose a next-generation hybrid WDM/TDM optical access network architecture called Stanford University aCCESS or SUCCESS. This architecture provides practical migration steps from current-generation time-division multiplexing (TDM)-passive optical network (PONs) to future WDM optical access networks. The architecture is backward compatible for users on existing TDM-PONs, while simultaneously capable of providing upgraded high-bandwidth services to new users on DWDM-PONs through advanced WDM techniques. The SUCCESS architecture is based on a collector ring and several distribution stars connecting the CO and the users. A semipassive configuration of the Remote Nodes (RNs) enables protection and restoration, making the network resilient to power failures. A novel design of the OLT and DWDM-PON ONUs minimizes the system cost considerably: 1) tunable lasers and receivers at the OLT are shared by all ONUs on the network to reduce the transceiver count and 2) the fast tunable lasers not only generate downstream data traffic but also provide DWDM-PON ONUs with optical CW bursts for their upstream data transmission. Results from an experimental system testbed support the feasibility of the proposed SUCCESS architecture. Also, simulation results of the first SUCCESS DWDM-PON MAC protocol verify that it can efficiently provide bidirectional transmission between the OLT and ONUs over multiple wavelengths with a small number of tunable transmitters and receivers.     

An All-Optical Access-Metro Interface for Hybrid WDM/TDM PON Based on OBS

A new all-optical access-metro network interface based on optical burst switching (OBS) is proposed. A hybrid wavelength-division multiplexing/time-division multiplexing (WDM/TDM) access architecture with reflective optical network units (ONUs), an arrayed-waveguide-grating outside plant, and a tunable laser stack at the optical line terminal (OLT) is presented as a solution for the passive optical network. By means of OBS and a dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) protocol, which polls the ONUs, the available access bandwidth is managed. All the network intelligence and costly equipment is located at the OLT, where the DBA module is centrally implemented, providing quality of service (QoS). To scale this access network, an optical cross connect (OXC) is then used to attain a large number of ONUs by the same OLT. The hybrid WDM/TDM structure is also extended toward the metropolitan area network (MAN) by introducing the concept of OBS multiplexer (OBS-M). The network element OBS-M bridges the MAN and access networks by offering all-optical cross connection, wavelength conversion, and data signaling. The proposed innovative OBS-M node yields a full optical data network, interfacing access and metro with a geographically distributed access control. The resulting novel access-metro architectures are nonblocking and, with an improved signaling, provide QoS, scalability, and very low latency. Finally, numerical analysis and simulations demonstrate the traffic performance of the proposed access scheme and all-optical access-metro interface and architectures     

A novel medium access control protocol for passive optical network supporting local area networking capabilities

An alternate solution for Ethernet passive optical networks (EPON) providing local area networking (LAN) capabilities is proposed in this article. Our solution adopts a star coupler-based PON architecture and uses radio frequency subcarrier multiplexed transmission for the LAN traffic delivery. The proposed medium access control (MAC) protocol supports a fully distributed control plane among the optical network units (ONUs) for ONU–ONU communication as well as upstream access to the OLT. The simulation results indicate that the proposed MAC protocol outperforms the others in terms of the average packet end-to-end delay, especially for LAN traffic.     

An AWG-based WDM-PON architecture employing WDM/TDMA transmission for upstream traffic with dynamic bandwidth allocation

In this article, we examine a candidate architecture for wavelength-division multiplexed passive optical networks (WDM-PONs) employing multiple stages of arrayed-waveguide gratings (AWGs). The network architecture provides efficient bandwidth utilization by using WDM for downstream transmission and by combining WDM with time-division multiple access (TDMA) for upstream transmission. In such WDM-PONs, collisions may occur among upstream data packets transmitted simultaneously from different optical networking units (ONUs) sharing the same wavelength. The proposed MAC protocol avoids such collisions using a request/permit-based multipoint control protocol, and employs a dynamic TDMA-based bandwidth allocation scheme for upstream traffic, called minimum-guaranteed maximum request first (MG-MRF), ensuring a reasonable fairness among the ONUs. The entire MAC protocol is simulated using OPNET and its performance is evaluated in terms of queuing delay and bandwidth utilization under uniform as well as non-uniform traffic distributions. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed bandwidth allocation scheme (MG-MRF) is able to provide high bandwidth utilization with a moderately low delay in presence of non-uniform traffic demands from ONUs.     

Network coding based joint signaling and dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme for inter optical network unit communication in passive optical networks

As an innovative and promising technology, network coding has been introduced to passive optical networks (PON) in recent years to support inter optical network unit (ONU) communication, yet the signaling process and dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) in PON with network coding (NC-PON) still need further study. Thus, we propose a joint signaling and DBA scheme for efficiently supporting differentiated services of inter ONU communication in NC-PON. In the proposed joint scheme, the signaling process lays the foundation to fulfill network coding in PON, and it can not only avoid the potential threat to downstream security in previous schemes but also be suitable for the proposed hybrid dynamic bandwidth allocation (HDBA) scheme. In HDBA, a DBA cycle is divided into two sub-cycles for applying different coding, scheduling and bandwidth allocation strategies to differentiated classes of services. Besides, as network traffic load varies, the entire upstream transmission window for all REPORT messages slides accordingly, leaving the transmission time of one or two sub-cycles to overlap with the bandwidth allocation calculation time at the optical line terminal (the OLT), so that the upstream idle time can be efficiently eliminated. Performance evaluation results validate that compared with the existing two DBA algorithms deployed in NC-PON, HDBA demonstrates the best quality of service (QoS) support in terms of delay for all classes of services, especially guarantees the end-to-end delay bound of high class services. Specifically, HDBA can eliminate queuing delay and scheduling delay of high class services, reduce those of lower class services by at least 20%, and reduce the average end-to-end delay of all services over 50%. Moreover, HDBA also achieves the maximum delay fairness between coded and uncoded lower class services, and medium delay fairness for high class services.     

A framework for resource dimensioning in GPON access networks

In gigabit passive optical networks (GPONs), the ports of the optical line terminal (OLT) support passive optical networks (PONs). An optical split ratio supported on an OLT chassis determines the number of optical network units (ONUs) which can share PON link capacity. Generally, network planners tend to do dimensioning for PON link capacity (OLT port) based on the number of subscribers and their type (i.e. residential or business). Although this dimensioning approach is simple, it does not guarantee a selection of optical split ratio which can optimally allocate bandwidth to end‐subscribers. In this paper, we develop an integrated mathematical framework for optimally dimensioning resources in an GPON access network, namely OLT capacity. This framework comprises three resource‐dimensioning approaches which are based on user requirements: GPON link utilization and capacity optimization. Our mathematical framework has been integrated into software for GPON resource dimensioning, which we have developed to evaluate the support and performance of services in GPON access networks. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Wavelength reused upstream transmission scheme for WDM passive optical networks

A novel technique facilitating wavelength reused upstream transmission in a WDM passive optical network, eliminating wavelength source at ONUs, is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. A subcarrier frequency is used for downstream transmission and the pure optical carrier is filtered and reused for upstream transmission. The scheme requires only simple baseband receivers at both ONU and OLT terminals.     

Design and evaluation of scheduling algorithms for TDM/WDM PON based on RSOA

This paper presents a scalable and costeffective hybrid time division multiplexing (TDM)/wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) passive optical network (PON), in which reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (RSOAs) are used as optical network units (ONUs) and a shared tunable laser and photoreceiver stack locate at the optical line terminal (OLT). Especially,tunable transmitters are not only shared by all ONUs, but also used for both upstream and downstream transmissions. To solve resource contention problem and provide and the ONUs, two novel algorithms are proposed to manipulate the wavelength accessibility and the burst scheduling. The performance of both algorithms in terms of the average packet end-to-end delay and throughput were simulated and evaluated.     

A dynamic bandwidth allocation scheme for differentiated services in EPONs

Passive optical networks bring high-speed broadband access via fiber to the business, curb and home. Among various types of PONs, Ethernet PONs are gaining more and more attention since they are built on widely used Ethernet technology and can offer high bandwidth, low cost and broad services. EPONs use a point-to-multipoint topology, in which multiple optical network units share one uplink channel to transmit multimedia traffic to a control element, the optical line terminal. To avoid data collision on the shared uplink channel, a key issue in EPONs is a contention-free MAC protocol for the OLT to schedule the transmission order of different ONUs. In this article we first review some DBA schemes available in the literature, then propose a two-layer bandwidth allocation scheme that implements weight based priority for this need. To maximally satisfy the requests of all ONUs and provide differentiated services, an ONU is allowed to request bandwidth for all its available traffic, and all traffic classes proportionally share the bandwidth based on their instantaneous demands. The weight set for each class not only prevents high-priority traffic from monopolizing the bandwidth under heavy load but also ensures a minimum bandwidth allocated to each traffic class.     

Elastic ONU-class-based idle time elimination algorithm for Ethernet passive optical networks

To fully exploit the upstream bandwidth in Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs), dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) algorithms need to collect the report messages from all the optical network units (ONUs), incurring an idle time comprising the DBA computation time and the round trip time. Some studies have addressed the problem by using the data transmissions of some or all ONUs (ONU-based) to eliminate the idle time. To satisfy the stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements, for example, to improve the packet delay and jitter for delay sensitive applications without degrading QoS support for other types of applications, some studies have proposed to separate the transmission of higher-class and lower-class traffic within one scheduling cycle. Existing studies on the separable scheduling scenario use the class-based concept, that is, use either the higher-class transmission or the lower-class transmission to eliminate the idle time. By contrast, in this paper, an elastic ONU-class-based idle time elimination algorithm (EOCA) is proposed in which the idle time is eliminated using both the higher-class and lower-class transmissions. The proposed mechanism is elastic in the sense that the lower-class transmission is first considered, and then if insufficient lower-class transmissions exist to eliminate the idle time, the OLT pre-allocates the higher-class transmissions in the following cycle to test whether or not the idle time is eliminated. If the idle time is still not eliminated, the OLT reallocates the bandwidth corresponding to the uneliminated idle time to either the last ONU (uneven method) or all of the ONUs (even method) such that the ONU(s) can early transmit any lower-class packets which arrive during the waiting time. Compared to existing class-based or ONU-based idle time elimination algorithms, the proposed EOCA algorithm performs better. The validity of the proposed EOCA algorithm is demonstrated via detailed simulation experiments.     

Genetic expression programming: a new approach for QoS traffic prediction in EPONs

The Ethernet passive optical network is being regarded as the most promising for next-generation optical access solutions in the access networks. In time division multiplexing, passive optical network technology (TDM-PON) and the dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) play a crucial key role to achieve efficient bandwidth allocation and fairness among subscribers. Therefore, the traffic prediction in DBA during the waiting time must be put into the account. In this paper, we propose a new prediction approach with an evolutionary algorithm genetic expression programming (GEP) prediction incorporated with Limited IPACT referred as GLI-DBA to tackle the queue variation during waiting times as well as to reduce the high-priority packet delay. Simulation results show that the GEP prediction in DBA can reduce the expedited forwarding (EF) packet delay, shorten the EF queue length, enhance the quality of services and maintain the fairness among the optical network units (ONUs). We conducted and evaluated the detail simulation in two different scenarios with distinctive traffic proportion. Simulation results show that the GLI-DBA has EF packet delay improvement up to 30 % over dynamic bandwidth allocation for multiple of services (DBAM). It also shows that our proposed prediction scheme performs better than the DBAM when the number of ONUs increases.     

Sleep assistive dynamic bandwidth assignment scheme for passive optical network (PON)

In passive optical network (PON), in addition to efficient bandwidth management, a dynamic bandwidth assignment (DBA) scheme can also enhance the energy efficiency performance of the optical networks units (ONUs) during sleep mode. A few such green DBA schemes have been proposed in literature for EPON, however, ITU compliant PONs have not got attention. In this study, the role of a DBA scheme during the cyclic sleep mode for XGPON has been investigated. A sleep assistive (SA)-DBA scheme is proposed that not only improves the energy saving performance of cyclic sleep mode but also reduces the upstream delays and variance for all the type-2 (T2), type-3 (T3) and type-4 (T4) traffic classes. Although, the upstream delay of type-1 (T1) traffic class slightly increases, the average upstream delay of all the traffic classes remains below the set target delay limit of 56 ms.     

Smart OLT equipment of optical access network

A distributed architecture of optical line terminal(OLT) equipment is proposed for response to national bandwidth acceleration requirements and for future smooth evolution to 50G passive optical network(PON). This architecture moves the forwarding function of the control board to each service board to improve the switching capacity and performance of the system. The traditional control boards of centralized architecture OLT equipment have exchange and traffic processing function, and every servi...     

Hybrid scheduling mechanisms for Next-generation Passive Optical Networks based on network coding

Network coding (NC) integrated into Passive Optical Networks (PONs) is regarded as a promising solution to achieve higher throughput and energy efficiency. To efficiently support multimedia traffic under this new transmission mode, novel NC-based hybrid scheduling mechanisms for Next-generation PONs (NG-PONs) including energy management, time slot management, resource allocation, and Quality-of-Service (QoS) scheduling are proposed in this paper. First, we design an energy-saving scheme that is based on Bidirectional Centric Scheduling (BCS) to reduce the energy consumption of both the Optical Line Terminal (OLT) and Optical Network Units (ONUs). Next, we propose an intra-ONU scheduling and an inter-ONU scheduling scheme, which takes NC into account to support service differentiation and QoS assurance. The presented simulation results show that BCS achieves higher energy efficiency under low traffic loads, clearly outperforming the alternative NC-based Upstream Centric Scheduling (UCS) scheme. Furthermore, BCS is shown to provide better QoS assurance.     

Protection switching and local area network emulation in passive optical networks

This paper proposes and experimentally demonstrates an automatic-protection-switching (APS) mechanism against distribution fiber breaks in passive optical networks (PONs). The protection of optical-network units (ONUs) that are located at the customer premises is carried out by monitoring the distribution fiber using the traffic that is transported among the customers in the PON. This configuration emulates a local area network (LAN) over the existing PON while facilitating the switching of signal transmissions to a predetermined protection path in an event of a distribution fiber break. As failure detection and APS are performed independently by each ONU in a distributed manner, the processing complexities and delays are reduced at the central office (CO). The restoration of the traffic transported between the CO and an ONU in the event of the distribution fiber break is performed by interconnecting adjacent ONUs and carrying out signal transmissions via an independent but interconnected ONU. Such a protection mechanism enables multiple adjacent ONUs to be simultaneously protected by a single ONU utilizing its maximum available bandwidth. This paper experimentally verifies the feasibility of the proposed protection mechanism in conjunction with two different LAN-emulation schemes with a 1.25-Gb/s upstream baseband transmission to the CO and a 155-Mb/s LAN data transmission on a radio-frequency carrier. The experimental results obtained from both schemes are compared, and the power budgets are calculated to analyze the scalability of each scheme.     

WDM passive optical network with subcarrier transmission and baseband detection scheme for laser-free optical network units

We demonstrate a new scheme to achieve source-free optical network units (ONUs) in a wavelength-division-multiplexed passive optical network. The scheme utilizes subcarrier downlink transmission that enables penalty-free remodulation of the downstream signal for upstream transmission. The downstream data can be recovered at baseband either using an optical or electrical technique. In the optical scheme, the downstream signal is passed through a delay interferometer (DI) at the ONUs. A single variety of the DI is applicable to all ONUs that eliminates location-specific devices. Alternatively, the baseband data can be detected using a high-speed photodiode, a dc block, and a rectifier without any optical filter or phase locked loop for down-conversion. The upstream data is also detected at baseband without any modification to conventional receivers. We present experimental and simulation results for the scheme at 2-Gb/s downstream and upstream transmission over 20 km of fiber.     

Inter‐ONU Bandwidth Scheduling by Using Threshold Reporting and Adaptive Polling for QoS in EPONs

I dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) scheme, an inter–optical network unit (ONU) bandwidth scheduling, is presented to provide quality of service (QoS) to different classes of packets in Ethernet passive optical networks (EPONs). This scheme, referred to as TADBA, is based on efficient threshold reporting from, and adaptive polling order rearranging of, ONUs. It has been shown that the network resources are efficiently allocated among the three traffic classes by guaranteeing the requested QoS, adaptively rearranging the polling orders, and avoiding nearly all fragmentation losses. Simulation results using an OPNET network simulator show that TADBA performs well in comparison to the available allocation scheme for the given parameters, such as packet delay and channel utilization.     

Extended M-sequence codes for SAC FO-CDMA PONS applications

A new code structure, namely extended M-sequence (EMS) codes, is presented suitable for passive optical networks (PON). Based on these codes, a spectral-amplitude-coding (SAC) fibre-optic code-division multiple-access system (FO-CDMA) is designed with shared optical line terminal (OLT) and flexible optical network units (ONUs) for PON applications. The results shows the proposed system has excellent performance.     

Resource Management for Broadband Access over Time-Division Multiplexed Passive Optical Networks

Passive optical networks are a prominent broadband access solution to tackle the "last mile" bottleneck in telecommunications infrastructure. Data transmission over standardized PONs is divided into time slots. Toward the end of PON performance improvement, a critical issue relies on resource management in the upstream transmission from multiple optical network units (ONUs) to the optical line terminal (OLT). This includes resource negotiation between the OLT and the associated ONUs, transmission scheduling, and bandwidth allocation. This article provides an overview of the resource management issues along with the state-of-the-art schemes over time-division multiplexed PONs (TDM-PONs). We categorize the schemes in the literature based on their features, and compare their pros and cons. Moreover, we introduce a unified state space model under which all TDM-PON resource management schemes can be evaluated and analyzed for their system level characteristics. Research directions are also highlighted for future studies.