Next generation optical-wireless converged network architectures

This article provides a comprehensive analysis on implementing the next-generation optical-wireless integration architectures. The different approaches to implementing a complete fixed-mobile converged network that ensures desired quality of service for various applications are explored. This discussion is specifically focused on LTE-10GEPON integration networks where passive optical networks are used as the backhaul to LTE. Special attention is given to address the issue of providing proper means to enable intercommunication between neighboring base stations, which is one of the crucial considerations in next-generation wireless networks. We propose potential 10GEPON-LTE converged network architectures and comparatively analyze the benefits gained from each of the integration architectures by elaborating on the operational and control structures. Our performance analysis provides insight into QoS-rich next-generation optical-wireless converged networks.