UltraFlow dual-mode access network [electronic resource] : physical and system implementation of optical access network
Keywords: Electrical Engineering.

Optical Flow Switching (OFS) network has been proposed as a complement to the existing Electronic Packet Switching (EPS) based network for its high efficiency in transmitting large files. UltraFlow access network enables OFS in the access network domain, and provides dual-mode services to the end users, i.e., conventional IP and novel Flow. The UltraFlow dual-mode network architecture is a promising solution to the problem of ever-increasing growth of Internet traffic and the newly emerging network applications. The UltraFlow project involves the collaboration of three universities: Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and University of Texas at Dallas. The MIT group focuses on the design and analysis of OFS in the core and metro network, while the focus of UT Dallas is on designing and analyzing the UltraFlow control plane. At Stanford University, we focus on designing and experimentally demonstrating the UltraFlow dual-mode access network. This dissertation proposes and discusses the concept, architecture, design, implementation and potential applications of the UltraFlow dual-mode access network. The rest of this dissertation is organized as follows. First, this dissertation introduces the concept the UltraFlow dual-mode access network and shows that this architecture is crucial to achieve high throughput transmission considering various Internet traffic patterns. Also presented is the physical layer implementation of UltraFlow dual-mode access network, which coexists with the legacy Passive Optical Networks (PONs). The transport layer design and software defined control plane will also be briefly described. This dissertation next discusses a novel Intra-PON Flow communication architecture, which enables transparent lightpaths among users located in the same access network. Intra-PON channels can support advanced network applications, e.g., video/file server backup, and Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) transmission in the 5G mobile network era. The proposed architecture adopts a Quasi-PAssive Reconfigurable (QPAR) node, proposed and developed by our group previously, in the UltraFlow access network testbed, which enables dynamic wavelength allocation and improves the UltraFlow dual-mode access network performance. Experimental results then appear on remotely pumped Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier (EDFA) and distantly powered QPAR node, which can maintain the passive nature of the legacy PONs and achieve high split ratio. This work also investigates and assesses the network performance advantages of Intra-PON Flow transmission via extensive network simulations. Finally, the dissertation reports the line rate evolution paths, beyond state-of-the-art 10 Gbps per wavelength transmission, for the next generation optical access network. This report shows the feasibility of implementing low-cost 25 and 40 Gbps per wavelength transmission in PONs. Advance modulation formats, i.e., Electrical Duobinary (EDB) and 4-level Pulse Amplitude Modulation (PAM-4), optical amplification, and Digital Signal Processing (DSP) are considered as key technologies to support the data rate increase and maintain relatively low system cost with 10 Gbps grade optics. This work includes the experimental results on system power budget, split ratio, and reach for both 25 and 40 Gbps per wavelength transmission with different system designs, and suggests an optimal set of system specifications for both 25 and 40 Gbps transmission.