Dynamic bandwidth allocation with QoS support for integrated EPON/WiMAX networks

The integration of EPON and WiMAX access networks has demonstrated considerable promise as an access solution applicable to the architecture of Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC). The complementary features of these two systems provide high bandwidth and mobility, while reducing network deployment costs. Despite the fact that many network hardware architectures have been proposed for integrated EPON/WiMAX networks, the issue of bandwidth allocation for heterogeneous traffic (WiMAX and Ethernet) remains unresolved. This study proposes a novel Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation (DBA) scheme, under which the discrete network protocols of WiMAX and EPON access networks can run concurrently and efficiently. The proposed DBA mechanism adopts a framed approach, in which the time domains in both the optical and wireless access networks are partitioned into successive fixed-length frames. Within each frame, heterogeneous traffic is synchronously transmitted in the optical and wireless domains, and sufficient network resources are provided to ensure the respective Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of WiMAX and Ethernet traffic. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed DBA mechanism.