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This paper presents the concept of virtual DBA, a method we propose to virtualize upstream capacity scheduling in PONs, which provides multiple independent virtual network operators with the ability to precisely schedule their upstream traffic allocation. After a brief introduction on the evolution of access network sharing, we present our virtual DBA architecture, detailing its main components. We then provide a summary of the work done in this area both from theoretical and practical implementation perspectives. In this paper, we propose a novel stateless algorithm for merging multiple independent virtual bandwidth maps based on priority classes and analyze its performance in terms of efficiency of capacity allocation and latency. Through our results we discuss the existence of a trade-off between traffic load and grant size distribution vs. efficiency and latency. We find that, differently from residential single-tenant application, when PONs are used for low latency and multi-tenant applications, the system has better overall performance if grants are allocated in small size. In addition, our analysis shows that for high priority, strict latency services, our proposed merging algorithm presents delay performance that is independent of the traffic distribution considered.

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This tutorial provides an overview of the various frameworks and architectures outlining current network disaggregation trends that are leading to the virtualisation/cloudification of central offices. The discussion will include the optical layer disaggregation and provide an overview on future challenges.

Ultra-low latency end-to-end communication with high reliability is one of the most important requirements in 5G networks to support latency-critical applications. A recent approach towards this target is to deploy edge computing nodes with networking capabilities, known as Multi-access edge computing (MEC), which can greatly reduce the service end-to-end latency. However, the use of MEC nodes poses radical changes to the access network architecture. This requires to move from the classical point-tomultipoint (or point-to-point) structure, used to deliver residential broadband and Cloud-RAN services, to a mesh architecture that can fully embed the MEC nodes with all other end points (i.e., mobile cells, fixed residential and businesses, etc.). In this paper, we propose a novel PON based Mobile Fronthaul (MFH) transport architecture based on PON virtualisation, that allows EAST-WEST communication along with traditional NORTH-SOUTH communication.The architecture enables the endpoints of a PON tree, where usually ONUs are located, to also host MEC nodes by deploying an edge OLT capable of communicating directly with adjacent ONUs, by reflecting wavelength signals from the splitter nodes. We experimentally show that signal backscattering due to the reflection at the splitter does not affect the system performance. In addition, using protocol level simulations, we show how this architecture can maintain low-latency (≈ 100µs) in varying mobile traffic conditions by offloading ONUs (i.e., where remote units of Cloud-RAN cells are located) to other edge OLTs through dynamic formation of virtual PON (vPON) slices. Furthermore, our results show how an efficient migration strategy for ONUs can be chosen depending on the traffic load, different functional split configurations, and the PON capacity.