Analysis of EPONs under the static priority scheduling scheme with fixed transmission times

Abstract

In this paper, we analyse the Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) and formulate dimensioning problems. Under the assumption that the transmission times are fixed in duration and that the input traffic is rate limited and scheduled by the static priority scheme, we provide means for dimensioning the network in order to keep the required hard deadlines. Expressions of the frame delay are derived as functions of the arrival curves of the different traffic sources. Furthermore, the arrival regulator structure is general and the only requirements are that the arrival process is causal and that the regulator provides sub-additivity. In this study, we find that the examined structure is highly inefficient with poor utilisation and where the deadlines basically is provided by means of overdimensioning. The static structure of the bandwidth allocation scheme allows no adjustment of the current traffic load and must therefore proactively allocate resources yielding a rigid and inefficient network.