EPON: An extensive review for up-to-date dynamic bandwidth allocation schemes

Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) has been widely studied in literatures in the past few years. Researchers from all around the world are investigating EPON main challenges and dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) problems. This paper, reviews the most recent studies conducted in EPON networks and presents the new proposed DBA schemes. The reviewed schemes are classified according to the main challenge addressed by the investigator. A brief outline is given for each one along with a discussion of its performance and possible contribution to enhance EPON efficiency. Generally, the main purpose of this article is to review EPON problems and presents the up-to-date suggested solutions. Also to indicate that further studies need to be carried out if a single scheme that incorporates excellent bandwidth utilization with effective QoS support and guaranteed fairness is required.