Next generation optical network architecture featuring distributed aggregation, network processing and information routing

Abstract

The ontology of communications is rapidly changing, shifting interest to machine-to-machine (M2M) interactions and the internet of Things (IoT). These are becoming vital for sustainability of social life and the revitalization of the economy providing the infrastructure to new production forms like distributed manufacturing, cloud robotics while becoming important to grid-based energy systems. Adding to them the voracious needs for data of the traditional broadband users, residential or business, together with the back/front hauling requirements of mobile operators, one is expecting a significant strain in the access. A multitude of heterogeneous access networks are emerging and the integration of them in a single platform ensuring seamless data-exchange with Data-Centres is of major importance. In this paper we describe HYDRA (HYbriD long-Reach fiber Access network), a novel network architecture that overcomes the limitations of both long-reach PONs as well as mobile backhauling schemes, leading to significantly improved cost and power consumption figures. The key concept is the introduction of an Active Remote Node (ARN) that interfaces to end-users by means of the lowest cost/power consumption technology (short-range xPON, wireless, etc.) whilst on the core network side it employs adaptive ultra-long reach links to bypass the Metropolitan Area Network. The scheme leads to a higher degree of node consolidation, network convergence and Access-Core integration. The proposed architecture can enhance performance while supporting network virtualization and efficient resource orchestration based on Software Defined Networking (SDN) principles and open access networking models.