Software-defined wired-wireless access network convergence: The SODALES approach

It is envisaged that end-user access bandwidth requirements will notably increase in the coming years; at the same time, the number of connected mobile devices will also exponentially grow as the fully-digital connected homes (Internet of Things) becomes an everyday reality. This article presents an active remote node (ARN) at an intermediate location between the central office and end-user premises, as a flexible and future-proofed infrastructure topology approach for solving the associated bandwidth and wired-wireless convergence issues. The ARN represents the key architectural design innovation of the SODALES (SOftware-Defined Access using Low-Energy Subsystems) network. The rise of mobile communications, and the trend for seamless convergence between fixed and wireless networks is tending to make the purely passive approaches (e.g. as exemplified by passive optical networking (PON) access architectures) too restrictive, considering the modularity and flexibility offered by an active remote node. We present a performance analysis of the ARN node, to support the cost-effectiveness of the proposed SODALES solution and to demonstrate the potential benefits in terms network performance, operational efficiency, and flexible functionality. Looking forward, future ARN capabilities can also be expected to include hierarchical caching, customer premises equipment (CPE) visualization, and nearer to the end-user location of software-defined platforms supporting ubiquitous cloud services.