A bandwidth assignment polling algorithm to enhance the efficiency in QoS long‐reach EPONs

Abstract

Abstract A novel polling algorithm is proposed to provide subscriber differentiation at the upstream channel in long‐reach EPONs. As operators and service providers prefer to operate at loads with no congestion and losses, the developed algorithm has been designed to improve the efficiency for those loads at which the network is likely to work. This new scheme permits to anticipate the transmission of some packets in order to take advantage of the wasted bandwidth between consecutive transmissions of ONUs. As a result, not only does this algorithm behave alike other polling algorithms for high loads, but it also improves the efficiency at low and medium loads, leading to a reduction in the mean packet delay. The new algorithm has been tested in different scenarios, motivated by the increasing interest in enlarging the long‐reach EPON distances. Simulation results show that as the distance increases, the algorithm achieves a significant reduction of the mean packet delay for an extended range of loads. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.