Hybrid Uplink Traffic Scheduling Algorithms in FMC Networks: A Comparative Study of Performance

Abstract

Todate, the integration between EPON and WiMAX to form a Hybrid ONU-BS (Optical Network Unit-Base Station) Architecture in a Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC) network rapidly matures and represents one of the promising candidates for next generation network (NGN) broadband access networks. In this paper, first we propose a new QoS mapping policy between two types of networks to enable a dedicated transmission across wireless and optical networks; and propose a hybrid uplink scheduling algorithm which the intra-ONU-BS scheduler employs queue scheduling only on the packets that arrive before sending the REPORT message, and the inter-ONU-BS scheduler employs the transmission time slot assignment based on the REPORT message information. Lastly, the paper provides a comparative performance study to find a decent combination of hybrid uplink traffic scheduling in terms of classic well-known traffic scheduling algorithms. Simulation results show that the inter uplink scheduling has significant impacts on the overall packet delay, loss rate and jitter performance; on the other hand, the intra uplink scheduling has significant influences on the packet delay, loss rate, jitter and fairness performance. Both inter and intra uplink traffic scheduling have particular functions to enhance the QoS and Class of Service (CoS) of system performance, respectively.