Converged Access Networks: Unified Resource Management and Network Architecture

Abstract:
One key requirement on future networks is to provide the user with seamless broadband access for triple-play services via any available access technology with high end-to-end quality of service. Otherwise, further reduction of infrastructure costs is strongly demanded by operators. To close this challenging gap in network design we propose the concept of a converged access network that fully integrates the control functions and transport capabilities for both wireline and mobile access. With this integration in mind we describe herein a novel resource management concept on the network layer that utilizes service and user-specific cross-layer metrics to optimally control the resources in an all-Internet Protocol (IP) access network via IP mechanisms such as routing and traffic engineering. The approach turns out to be access technology-independent, leading to a unified resource management concept in a “converged” wireline/wireless environment.