Fairness-Aware Dynamic Sub-Carrier Allocation in Distance-Adaptive Modulation OFDMA-PON for Elastic Lambda Aggregation Networks

In this paper, fairness-aware dynamic subcarrier allocation (DSA) in a distance-adaptive modulation orthogonal frequency division multiple access passive optical network (OFDMA-PON) is proposed and experimentally demonstrated for elastic lambda aggregation networks (EXANs). By applying the distance-adaptive modulation function to OFDMA-PONs, the system can change the transmission parameters (modulation level and symbol rate) for each user according to the user's end-to-end optical loss, which will yield additional bits. Meanwhile, by applying our proposed DSA algorithm, which allocates sub-carriers to users based on transmission parameters and traffic demands, the additional bits can be shared by all users in a fair manner regardless of a user's end-to-end optical loss. This paper conducts a real-time demonstration using an optical coherent OFDMA transceiver and a medium-access control board. The experiments confirm that our algorithm can greatly improve fairness in terms of frame loss rate among users compared to fixed sub-carrier allocation.