NeTS-NR: Next-Generation Broadband Access Networks

University Of California-Davis, Davis CA

Investigators

Abstract

Modern society is becoming increasingly dependent on the Internet for instant access to information, and the broadband access will have a strong positive im-pact on this. This project will create new knowledge on the design, analysis, and operation of novel broadband access network architectures, protocols, and algo-rithms. It will specifically investigate unified scheduling and resource allocation in broadband access networks, as well as network economics for building ``open access networks''. In access networks, control-plane delays are large since end users and the central office (through which users connect to the Internet) are separated by a significant distance, typically several kilometers. Hence, known scheduling algorithms for packet-based networks are difficult to apply. Therefore, in this project, new knowledge will be created on hierarchical scheduling algorithms which are ``cousin fair" (as opposed to ``sibling fair"). Remote-scheduling algorithms need to be developed which are fair, support dif-ferent classes of service, provide guarantees on Quality of Service (QoS) and are scalable in number of users. New knowledge will also be created on network economics for building ``open access networks'', designed for competition among multiple service providers.