Quality of service scheduling in cable and broadband wireless access systems

Several last mile high-speed technologies have been explored to provide Internet access and multimedia services to end users. Most notable of those technologies are hybrid fiber coax (HFC) cable networks, digital subscriber line (DSL), satellite access, and fixed broadband wireless access (BWA) systems. The de facto standard for delivering broadband services over HFC networks is the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) protocol. For BWA systems, on the other hand, a new protocol, called IEEE 802.16, was developed for the same purpose. This paper presents a new and efficient scheduling architecture to support bandwidth and delay quality of service (QoS) guarantees for both DOCSIS and IEEE 802.16. Our design goals are simplicity and optimum network performance. The architecture we develop supports various types of traffic including constant bit rate, variable bit rate (real-time and non-realtime) and best effort.