| Summary: | The 5G mobile fronthaul (MFH) is bound to be overwhelmed by the explosive growth and stringent requirements of future wireless traffic. The time division multiplexed (TDM) passive optical network (PON) is a candidate for supporting such an MFH. Typically, such a TDM-PON utilizes upstream dynamic bandwidth allocation (DBA) schemes that are centralized at a distant central office (CO) which results in a performance that is not best suited for the MFH. Therefore, this work proposes a novel control framework by shifting the centralized DBA tasks away from the CO towards the closely clustered Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). By exploiting the interconnectivity of the RRHs, the access nodes exchange signaling and control information among themselves to facilitate a fully distributed upstream DBA without the involvement of the CO. The proposed framework separates the control plane from the data plane which paves the way for an efficient exchange of control messages, increased available upstream bandwidth and improved cyclic bandwidth allocation. This translates into a TDM-PON based MFH with lower latency, higher utilization and reduced packet loss.
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