Considering the key evolutions within the access network technologies as well as the unprecedented levels of bandwidth demands by end users, this book condenses the relentless research, design, and deployment experience of state-of-the-art access networks. Furthermore, it shares the critical steps and details of the developments and deployment of these emergent technologies; which is very crucial particularly as telecommunications vendors and carriers are looking for cost-effective ultra-broadband “last-mile” access solutions to stay competitive in the “post bubble” era. The book is written to provide a comprehensive overview of the major broadband access technologies and deployments involving internationally recognized authors and key players. Due to its scope and depth, the proposed book is able to fill an important gap of today’s available literature.

The evolution of broadband access networks toward bimodal fiber-wireless (FiWi) access networks, described in this book, may be viewed as the endgame of broadband access. After discussing the economic impact of broadband access and current worldwide deployment statistics, all the major legacy wireline and wireless broadband access technologies are reviewed. State-of-the-art GPON and EPON fiber access networks are described, including their migration to next-generation systems such as OCDMA and OFDMA PONs. The latest developments of wireless access networks are covered, including VHT WLAN, Gigabit WiMAX, LTE and WMN. The advantages of FiWi access networks are demonstrated by applying powerful network coding, heterogeneous optical and wireless protection, hierarchical frame aggregation, hybrid routing and QoS continuity techniques across the optical-wireless interface. The book is an essential reference for anyone working on optical fiber access networks, wireless access networks or converged FiWi systems.

This book constitutes the reviewed post-proceedings of the 5th International ICST Conference on Access Networks, AccessNets 2010, and of the satellite event , the First International ICST Workshop on Autonomic Networking and Self-Management in Access Networks, SELFMAGICNETS 2010, held jointly in Budapest, Hungary in November 2010. The 19 revised full papers presented together with one invited paper and four poster papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the proceedings. The papers are organized in topical sections on next generation wireless networks, emerging applications, next-generation broadband networks and autonomic networking and network self-management.

With the rapid growth of the Internet as well as the increasing demand for broadband services, access networks have been receiving growing investments in recent years. This has led to a massive network deployment with the goal of eliminating the ba- width bottleneck between end-users and the network core. Today many diverse te- nologies are being used to provide broadband access to end users. The architecture and performance of the access segment (local loop, wired and wireless access n- works, and even home networks) are getting increasing attention for ensuring quality of service of diverse broadband applications. Moreover, most access lines will no longer terminate on a single device, thus leading to the necessity of having a home network designed for applications that transcend simple Internet access sharing among multiple personal computers and enable multimedia support. Therefore, the access network and its home portion have become a hot investment pool from both a fin- cial as well as a research perspective. The aim of the annual International Conference on Access Networks (AccessNets) is to provide a forum that brings together scientists and researchers from academia as well as managers and engineers from the industry and government organizations to meet and exchange ideas and recent work on all aspects of access networks and how they integrate with their in-home counterparts. After Athens in 2006, Ottawa in 2007, and Las Vegas in 2008, this year AccessNets moved to Asia for the first time.

Broadband Cable Access Networks focuses on broadband distribution and systems architecture and concentrates on practical concepts that will allow the reader to do their own design, improvement, and troubleshooting work. The objective is to enhance the skill sets of a large population that designs and builds broadband cable plants, as well as those maintaining and troubleshooting it. A large cross-section of technical personnel who need to learn these skills design, maintain, and service HFC systems from signal creation through transmission to reception and processing at the customer end point. In addition, data/voice and video specialists need to master and reference the basics of HFC design and distribution before contending with the intricacies of their own unique services. This book serves as an essential reference to all cable engineers—those who specifically design and maintain the HFC distribution plant as well as those primarily concerned with data/voice technology as well as video technology. - Concentrates on practical concepts that will allow the user to do his own design, improvement, and trouble-shooting work. - Prepares cable engineers and technicians to work with assurance as they face the latest developments and future directions. - Concise and tightly focused, allowing readers to easily find answers to questions about an idea or concept they are developing in this area.

Remote network access (RNA) is the network technology that enables us to work anywhere, anytime. Coverage includes a complete review of remote networking technologies and LAN-based applications.

Broadband optical access network is an ideal solution to alleviate the first/last mile bottleneck of current Internet infrastructures. Richly illustrated throughout to help clarify important topics, Broadband Optical Access Networks covers the architectures, protocols enabling technologies of broadband optical access networks, and all current and future competing technologies for access networks. This comprehensive work presents the evolution of optical access networks, including reach extension, bandwidth enhancement, and discusses the convergence of optical and wireless technologies for broadband access, making it an invaluable reference for researchers, electrical engineers, and graduate students.

This book will highlight the motivation for coherent optics in access and introduce digital coherent optical system in detail, including advanced modulation formats, architecture of modulation and detection, and DSP flow for both transmitter and receiver. This book will also demonstrate potential approaches to re-design and re-engineer the digital coherent concept from long-haul and metro solutions to the access network, leveraging reduction in complexity and cost as well as the benefits of capacity increases and operational improvements. This book will illustrate the details on optimization of the digital, optical, and electrical complexity and standardization and interoperability.

C-RAN and virtualized Small Cell technology poses several major research challenges. These include dynamic resource allocation, self-configuration in the baseband pool, high latency in data transfer between radio unit and baseband unit, the cost of data delivery, high volume of data in the network, software networking aspects, potential energy savings, security concerns, privacy of user’s personal data at a remote place, limitations of virtualized environment, etc. This book provides deeper insights into the next generation RAN architecture and surveys the coexistence of SDN, C-RAN and Small Cells solutions proposed in the literature at different levels.

Broadband Optical Access and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) will provide the ultimate broadband service capabilities. Compared with the currently well-deployed broadband access technologies of ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and Cable Modems, optical broadband access with Fiber-to-the-User’s home will cater for much higher speed access for new services. Broadband Optical Access Networks and Fiber-to-the-Home presents a comprehensive technical overview of key technologies and deployment strategies for optical broadband access networks and emerging new broadband services. The authors discuss network design considerations, new services, deployment trends and operational experiences, while explaining the current situation and providing insights into future broadband access technologies and services. Broadband Optical Access Networks and Fiber-to-the-Home: Offers a comprehensive, up-to-date introduction to new developments in broadband access network technologies and services. Examines the impact of research and development in photonics technologies on broadband access and FTTH. Covers ADSL, VDSL with FTTC (Fiber-to-the-Curb), Cable Modem over HFC (Hybrid-Fiber Coax) and Gigabit Ethernet. Discusses the roles of Broadband Wireless LAN and integrated FTTH/Wireless Broadband Access as well as Broadband Home Networks. Provides a global view of broadband network development, presenting different technical and system deployment approaches and strategic considerations for comparison. Gives insight into the worldwide broadband competition and the future of this technology. Broadband Optical Access Networks and Fiber-to-the-Home will be an invaluable resource for engineers in research and development, network planners, business managers, consultants as well as analysts and educators for a better understanding of the future of broadband in the field of telecommunications, data communications, and broadband multimedia service industries.