ZTE Communications ›› 2025, Vol. 23 ›› Issue (4): 48-64.DOI: 10.12142/ZTECOM.202504007

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QoS-Aware Energy Saving Based on Multi-Threshold Dynamic Buffer for FTTR Networks

CAI Jinhan, ZAN Mingyuan, SHEN Gangxiang()   

  1. School of Electronic and Information Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215006, China
  • Received:2025-09-17 Online:2025-12-22 Published:2025-12-22
  • About author:CAI Jinhan received his BE degree from Nanjing University of Science and Technology Zijin College, China in 2021 and MS degree in information and communication engineering from Soochow University, China in 2024, where he is currently pursuing his PhD degree with the School of Electronic and Information Engineering. His research interests include passive optical networks and fiber-wireless access networks.
    ZAN Mingyuan received his BE degree from Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, China in 2022 and MS degree in information and communication engineering from Soochow University, China in 2025. His research interests include passive optical networks and fiber-wireless access networks.
    SHEN Gangxiang (shengx@suda.edu.cn) received his BE degree from Zhejiang University, China, MS degree from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and PhD degree from The University of Alberta, Canada in 2006. He is a Distinguished Professor and the Dean of the School of Electronic and Information Engineering at Soochow University, China. He previously worked as a Lead Engineer with Ciena, USA, and an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow with The University of Melbourne, Australia. His research interests include spectrum-efficient, green optical networks and integrated optical-wireless systems. He has authored over 300 peer-reviewed papers and received the Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship and the NSERC Fellowship. He was recognized as a Highly Cited Chinese Researcher by Elsevier (2014–2024) and is an Associate Editor of the IEEE/OPTICA Journal of Lightwave Technology. He is an OSA Fellow and was an IEEE Distinguished Lecturer of ComSoc.
  • Supported by:
    the National Nature Science Foundation of China(W2411058)

Abstract:

As Fiber-to-the-Room (FTTR) networks proliferate, multi-device deployments pose significant energy consumption challenges. This paper proposes a Quality of Service (QoS)-aware energy-saving scheme based on a multi-threshold buffer energy saving (MBES) scheme to reduce consumption while ensuring energy QoS. MBES leverages the centralized control of the main fiber unit (MFU) and the wireless-state awareness of subordinate fiber units (SFUs) for synergistic fiber-wireless energy savings. The scheme assigns independent, dynamic buffer thresholds to service queues on SFUs, enabling low-latency reporting for high-priority traffic while accumulating low-priority data to extend sleep cycles. At the MFU, a coordinated scheduling algorithm accounts for Wi-Fi access delay and creates an adaptive closed-loop control by adjusting SFUs’ buffer thresholds based on end-to-end delay feedback. Simulation results show that, while satisfying strict latency requirements, MBES achieves a maximum energy saving of 17.75% compared with the no energy saving (NES) scheme and provides a superior trade-off between latency control and energy efficiency compared with the single-threshold buffer energy saving (SBES) scheme.

Key words: Fiber-to-the-Room, power consumption, energy consumption, energy saving