Deterministic Full-Fiber Service Network for the Fifth-Generation Fixed Network (F5G)

Abstract

A new communication era characterized by cloud services with high bandwidth and low latency requirements is coming. In this era, fixed networks always provide the highest bandwidth and availability for broadband access users. The concept of the fifth-generation fixed network (F5G), proposed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), is to identify the fixed network generations and facilitate the adoption of wider technical standards. In F5G period, the future fixed network will adapt to the end-to-end optical fiber architecture. F5G connect users with clouds and try its best to provide deterministic service carrying. In the fixed network family, optical transport networks (OTN) have the benefit of high-quality bandwidth provisioning, which will be fundamental infrastructures for F5G. This article focuses on the evolving trend of OTN in the new communication era. Considering the deterministic requirements of cloud services in the F5G era and the key enabling optical service unit (OSU), we propose a concept of deterministic full-fiber service network (D-FSN), which drive OTN to play an important role in F5G. We also outline the D-FSN network architecture and several new key technologies. In addition, as a typical service of F5G, Cloud Virtual Reality (VR) is experimentally demonstrated to verify the performance of D-FSNs. Finally, we look ahead to the possible development trend and challenges of D-FSN.