Optical network unit placement in Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) access network by Whale Optimization Algorithm

Abstract

Abstract Fiber-Wireless (FiWi) Access Network is proposed as a dominant and advantageous next generation hybrid access network. FiWi integrates wireless access technology with the optical access networks to provide potential benefits of both the technologies. Optical Network Unit (ONU) placement problem in FiWi network plays a vital role as it permits efficient utilization of network resources and enhances the performance in terms of cost efficiency and throughput. In this paper, we consider ONUs placement problem. The present work outlines the deployment of FiWi network and proposes a novel nature-inspired, population based metaheuristic paradigm called as Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA) for optimal placement of multiple ONUs based on different distribution of wireless routers and ONUs. The outcomes are compared with the existing strategies of Greedy and Moth Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithms. To the best of our knowledge, WOA has never been used in this domain previously. The results in this manuscript prove that the proposed WOA outperforms the Greedy (deterministic) and MFO algorithms, and returns the lowest value of cost function; it results in faster convergence rate and lower time complexity than these algorithms. Moreover, the exploration and exploitation capability of WOA is significantly better than MFO algorithm. The results show dependence of the objective function value on the distribution of wireless users and ONUs; it is reported that random placement of users and deterministic placement of ONUs return the lowest value of objective function.