Dynamic Allocation of Backhaul Resources in Converged Wireless-Optical Networks

The market uptake of the 4th Generation networks is expected to support the increasing demand for wireless broadband services and ensure an enhanced mobile user experience. In this direction, the convergence of a wireless access network with an optical backhauling has been proposed. However, in such a converged architecture, the traditional fixed commitment of the backhaul resources does not prove to be as efficient, and novel dynamic schemes are required that consider both the needs of the base stations and the limitations of the passive optical network. This paper is concerned with the topic of resource allocation in two competing base stations that belong to different operators and share a common optical backhaul network infrastructure. An approach based on evolutionary game theory is proposed and employed, with a view to examining the interactions among the base stations and the passive optical network. Using the model of replicator dynamics, the proposed system design is proved to be asymptotically stable. In addition, this paper studies and reveals the extent to which time delay can have an impact on the proposed system design.