A comparison of dynamic bandwidth allocation for EPON, GPON, and next-generation TDM PON

Dynamic bandwidth allocation in passive optical networks presents a key issue for providing efficient and fair utilization of the PON upstream bandwidth while supporting the QoS requirements of different traffic classes. In this article we compare the typical characteristics of DBA, such as bandwidth utilization, delay, and jitter at different traffic loads, within the two major standards for PONs, Ethernet PON and gigabit PON. A particular PON standard sets the framework for the operation of DBA and the limitations it faces. We illustrate these differences between EPON and GPON by means of simulations for the two standards. Moreover, we consider the evolution of both standards to their next-generation counterparts with the bit rate of 10 Gb/s and the implications to the DBA. A new simple GPON DBA algorithm is used to illustrate GPON performance. It is shown that the length of the polling cycle plays a crucial but different role for the operation of the DBA within the two standards. Moreover, only minor differences regarding DBA for current and next-generation PONs were found.