Integration of QoS provisioning in home and access networks M. Popov (1) , A. Gavler (1) , P. Sköldström (1) , and L. Brewka (2) (1) Acreo AB, Electrum 236, 164 40 Kista, Sweden (2 DTU Photonics, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark mikhail.popov@acreo.se Abstract: Approaches for QoS provisioning using UPnP for home networks and GMPLS for access networks are described. A solution for interworking the UPnP and the GMPLS at the residential gateway is proposed. OCIS codes: (060.0060) Fiber optics and optical communications, (060.4250) Networks 1. Access and home networks & residential gateway. The access network is in general based on various wired (xDSL, cable, or optical fiber) and/or wireless (WiMAX, UMTS, LTE) technologies. The optical fiber access network comes in two major flavors: point-to-multipoint passive optical network (PON) with a passive optical splitter as a “distribution element”, and point-to-point active optical networks (AON) with an active switch in the field (also known as the Active Ethernet). In some cases, the fiber is deployed to the premises directly from the central office (with no active equipment in the field) which is referred to as the “home run” architecture [1]. The home network is a small network in an apartment or private house. The purpose of the home network is to deliver data services originating from the outside (the access network) or from the inside (e.g. from a media server). Computers and other devices in the home are connected to this network. An important property of the home network is that the data traffic rate inside the home can substantially exceed (up to two orders of magnitude) that of coming to or from the access network. The physical layer (PHY) solutions for the home network include wireless radio (mostly WiFi), wireless optics, Cat-5/6 cables, coaxial cables, power line communication (PLC) and optical fibers. The Cat5, coax and PLC solutions together with WiFi are the most typical home networking solutions today, whereas plastic optical fiber (POF) is an emerging solution [2, 3]. Typically, the home network consists of a modem (cable or DSL)/fiber ONU and a residential gateway (RG) which incorporates a number of Ethernet ports (and can thus perform Layer 2 switching) as well as a wireless access point. Also, the RG typically performs IP routing and may include other network functionalities, for example, a built-in firewall and network address translation. In many practical cases of today, the majority of home network traffic goes via the gateway, in other words the connected devices communicate via the RG, but not directly to each other. Fig. 1 below illustrates the communication of devices inside the home with the services located in the local access network (video streaming) or outside it (Internet connection). Fig.1. Devices from the home network connect to the outside world via the gateway and access network. 2 QoS provisioning in FTTx access and home networks PON uses time-division multiplexing and one can configure the necessary QoS at the PON OLT for each end-user or a group of end-users. If the last mile of the access network is an Ethernet-based AON or one considers the QoS provisioning over the entire Ethernet-based access-distribution network, then one can either rely on statistical multiplexing or apply certain means of Traffic Engineering (TE) for data aggregation and delivery. The same applies to the home networks, which up to the date almost exclusively use Ethernet as the data link protocol.