SOFTWARE DEFINED NETWORKING

Spring 2021

VIRTUALIZATION IN PASSIVE OPTICAL NETWORKS (VPON)

Arsalan Ahmad
arsalan.ahmad@seecs.edu.pk

Department Of Computing (DOC),

School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (SEECS),
National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST)
 Introduction to access networks

Access networks are commonly referred to as the last mile or first mile.

In access networks, the subscribers from residential areas and bussiness markets are connected to
the service provider’s central office which connects them to MAN or WAN.

There are different types of access networks like Ethernet which is a wired LAN technology using
coaxial cables, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) in which the telephone line brings the connection to
homes, FTTH which brings fiber directly from the central office to the homes, Wireless LANs, 3G
and LTE which provides high-speed wireless communication for mobile devices.
Since the advent of optical fiber communications, FTTH has been considered an ideal solution for
access networks because of huge power, compact size and lightness, and tolerance to
electromagnetic interference of optical fibers.
 Introduction to PON
Passive Optical Network (PON) is a P2MP fiber based network. It is an access
network that takes FTTH. ONU1
Downstream Transmission

PON delivers high speed and high capacity network access to the end users but Splitter
at the cost of CAPEX. OLT ONU2

The PON market is highly cost-sensitive because of the components not being
shared between the customers. It is still economic friendly because after the Upstream Transmission
ONUn
PON has been deployed, it has very less maintenance and operational cost.

PON consists of an Optical Line Terminal (OLT), splitter and a number of Optical
Fig. 1 System Architecture of traditional PON
Network Units (ONUs).

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 Introduction to XGPON
10-Gigabit-capable Passive Optical
Network (XG-PON) is one of the latest
standards of optical access networks. [1]

Compared to copper, optical fiber can

provide higher bandwidth over a longer
distance.

XG-PON has been well standardized for

providing full services to various users
with one optical network. [1]
Fig. 1 System Architecture of XGPON
[1] Xiuchao Wu, Kenneth N. Brown, Cormac J. Sreenan, Jerome Arokkiam, Xiuchao Wu, Kenneth N. Brown, Cormac J. Sreenan, Jerome Arokkiam, “An XG-PON Module for the NS-3 Network Simulator: the 4
Manual”, in 2013.
 Introduction to vPON
In order to reduce CAPEX, and maximize the resource utilization, PON infrastructure
needs to be shared between network operators. This sharing of resources is called virtual
PON (vPON). [2]

The virtualization allows different services to co-exist and different service providers to
operate over same physical infrastructure.

Each VNO has the full authority over scheduling of their upstream traffic.

Each frame is shared between different VNOs.

[2] A. Elrasad, et al., Virtual Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation Enabling True PON Multi-Tenancy. OFC 2017. 5
 Objectives
OBJECTIVES

IMPLEMENTATION MAXIMIZING THE FULL AUTHORITY CO-EXISTENCE OF COST EFFECTIVE

OF SAME/DISTINCT RESOURCE OVER SHCEDULING OPERATORS
DBA ALGORITHMS UTILIZATION

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 WORKING OF vPON

In vPON network, the VNOs

In PON, each XG Transmission
are given the full authority to In vPON, each frame is sliced
Convergence (XGTC) frame is
schedule their traffic and and different network slices
assigned to a VNO in round
provide services as per the are allocated to these VNOs.
robin manner.
demands of the users.

Each vDBA generates its own

virtual BMap, which is then
Each VNO runs its own merged at OLT by the merging
customized vDBA. engine and converted into a
single Physical BMap for the
whole upstream transmission.
 Working of vPON
WORKING OF vPON
VNO1
vBMap1 ONU1
DBA1

VNO2 Final PhyBMap

vBMap2
Splitter
DBA2 Merging ONU2
Engine

VNOn
vBMapn
DBAn ONUn

Fig. 3 System Architecture of vPON

 DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION
DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION (DBA)
(DBA)
• DBA is an algorithm in which bandwidth in a shared medium is
allocated on demand.

• Virtual DBA is a virtualization technique that allows each VNO to

deploy its own virtual DBA algorithm on top of shared PON
infrastructure. [3]

• Each VNO will run its own DBA independently.

• Each vDBA collects the buffer reports from the TCONTs’ and generates
a virtual Bandwidth Map (BMap).
[3] Amr Elrasad, Nima Afraz, and Marco Ruffini, “Virtual Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation Enabling True PON Multi-Tenancy”, in 2017 IEEE.
 DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION
DYNAMIC BANDWIDTH ALLOCATION (DBA)
(DBA)
DBA has four different bandwidth types:
1. Fixed: Reserved portion of the capacity. It is allocated only for TCONT-1.
2. Assured: Available at any time required by an ONU. Allocated to both TCONT-2
and TCONT-3.
3. Non-Assured: Additional bandwidth required that is available if the entire assured
bandwidth is used which is allocated to TCONT-3
4. Best Effort: Additional maximum bandwidth that can be used by any ONU which is
allocated to TCONT-4.
MERGING ENGINE
Merging Engine

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 Merging engine
Merging Engine
• It communicates with the vDBAs that are controlled by VNOs. It has two main tasks:
1. To pass the buffer reports to DBA and receives the vBMAp.
2. The vBMaps collected from the VNOs are then merged at the OLT by the merging
engine and converted into a single physical BMap for whole upstream transmission. [4]
• This BMap is then sent to the ONUs, which then transmit in the next frame with their
allocated slot time and space provided.
• VNOs are running completely customized vDBA.
Tool:
This implementation is done in ns3 network simulator using an XG-PON module. [5]

[4] Amr Elrasad, Nima Afraz, and Marco Ruffini, “Virtual Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation Enabling True PON Multi-Tenancy”, 2017 IEEE
[5] X. Wu, et al., An XG-PON Module for the NS-3 Network Simulator, ICST 2013 .
 Mergingof
Merging of different
different bmaps
BMaps
vBMap1
>
vBMap2
> Final PhyBMap
vBMap3 >
>

>
vBMapn

Fig. 4 Function of Merging Engine

 Conclusion
• We perfectly implemented an unconstrained merging engine for same as well as distinct virtual DBA.
1

• Different DBA algorithms are tested to analyze the impact of choice of DBA by the virtual network operators, offering diverse services as per their QoS
requirements.
2

• Service performance is affected by operator’s choice of DBA.

3

• We have achieved a flexible environment by making the VNOs completely unconventional, coordinating distinct DBAs influenced by the requirements
of the subscribers.
4

• This virtualizing of DBA improves the utilization of capacity that is shared by VNOs within each upstream frame. This results in less investment than
having to deploy the whole fiber infrastructure themselves. Now multiple services can co-exist on a single fiber deployed, owing to the customer’s
5 demands.

• Since VNOs lack flexibility to allow services so customizing the VNOs give them full authority to schedule their traffic and run the DBA according to the
QoS requirements of its’ subscribers.
6
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 FUTURE WORK
Ultra-
Enhanced
• In future, this work can be extended to implement mobile
reliable low
commulate
broadband
Cooperative DBA using network slicing to support 5G (eMBB)
ncynications
(uRLLC)
Fronthaul networks. Massive
machine
type
CENTRAL OFFICE communicat
ions
OLT (mMTC)
uRLLC
VNO1
vBMap1 ONU1
DBA1

VNO2 Final PhyBMap mMTC

CO-DBA vBMap2
Splitter
DBA2 Merging ONU2
BBU
Engine

VNOn
eMBB
vBMapn
DBAn ONUn

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Thank You

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