Cost-effective deployment strategies for the rural FTTH roll-out
Citation:
Zukowski, Cezary, Cost-effective deployment strategies for the rural FTTH roll-out, Trinity College Dublin.School of Computer Science & Statistics, 2022Download Item:
PHD_THESIS_FINAL_2022.pdf (PDF) 7.542Mb
Abstract:
The main topic of this dissertation revolves around the problem of ru-
ral FTTH service roll-out. The problem has become topical worldwide,
typically in the countries with rural populations scattered around. Never-
theless, the FTTH service penetration rate generally remains low, which
still creates room for research and innovation, whereby the planning of
FTTH network deployment and roll-out can be advanced. In fact, the
rural FTTH roll-out problem falls into category of worst-case scenarios,
thereby driving technological progress to an even higher extent.
Inadequate future-proof broadband service in rural areas leads to negative
consequences, widely known as the Digital Divide problem. Unequal devel-
opment of urban and rural areas deepens the isolation of rural areas from
the information society. The resolution of the problem is thus of great
importance, also beyond purely technical outcomes. In fact, this work
evolves beyond technical aspects and includes recommendations for lo-
cal governments, policy regulators, investors, utility companies, and other
likely contributors.
The first half of this work presents the following content. The background
to the cutting-edge broadband technologies was presented with regard to
the ultimate success of rural fibre roll-out. The discussion focused on
one of the most promising future-proof broadband technologies with re-
gard to the rural case, i.e. PON or LR-PON technology. A number of
deliberations targeted the statement of the problem, research questions
and hypotheses, and finally the research methodology. Key aspects of
the problem were further explored. The literature review focused on the
state-of-the-art means and deployment technologies, in different localities
worldwide, and suitable mathematical formulations needed to model and
optimise the deployment. Finally, research gaps were identified, and de-
tailed research plan was proposed.
The increased deployment cost with respect to expected revenue is over-
all perceived as the main barrier to FTTH roll-out in rural areas. This
provided grounds for the quest towards more cost-effective deployment
strategies.
The second half of this work, therefore, focuses on researching the cost-
effectiveness of deployment strategies for rural FTTH roll-out. The re-
search was confined to the examination of the access section of LR-PON
architecture. In fact, the deployment of this part can be classified as
one of the most challenging and urgent issues in the rural FTTH roll-out
problem. The examination of LR-PON roll-out happens top-down, in the
following scopes.
Firstly, a potential nationwide deployment of ODN section of 1024-way-
split LR-PON in Ireland undergoes examination. The analysis is carried
out to assess the effect of different optical power splitter arrangements
of PON tree-like topology on the cost-effectiveness of the deployment,
i.e. the utilisation of PONs, and the total amount of fibre cable length.
A heuristic is used, and hierarchical clustering algorithm proposed with
a simplified design, i.e. the Euclidean distance is used to serve as the
proximity function in the clustering routine. The research findings and
numerical results were discussed. As a result, further improvements to
maximise the utilisation of PONs and more advanced deployment models
were discussed.
Secondly, a specialised ILP model devoted to the rural FTTH deployment
and the optimisation of the initial setup cost is proposed and evaluated.
This model allows to cover a real-world deployment scenario of PON ar-
chitecture and includes a number of important details into the design.
Therefore, a least cost solution can be approached, also by taking into
account actual equipment pricing and real geographical coordinates. Key
features of the model include the use of multi-fibre blown cables, low-count
power optical splitters, and street-map data set. Evaluation and tests tar-
get various rural areas in Ireland. A single test scenario corresponds to an
area covered by a cabinet, which refers to a common migration scenario
where FTTC represents an intermediate step towards FTTH. It was shown
that by employing small optical power splitters near the locations of end-
users, the size of feeder fibre cable decreases, thus significantly improving
the initial investment fibre cable cost in excess of 25%.
Thirdly, the study adds a relevant perspective into the planning. The
dynamism of network growth is included through the techno-economic ex-
amination of an important variable, i.e. the service take-up rate. This
allows to demonstrate how the problem is further exacerbated by the un-
certainty associated with end-users take-up rate. The randomness bound
up with the subscribers service take-up imposes fluctuation and escalation
in the total cost of deployment, and affects the outcome of the quest for
cost-effective deployment strategies.
This part of work focuses on the following trade-off: (I) achieving optimal
long-term deployment cost, but assuming a known expected take-up rate
(due to optimal resource utilisation and sharing) versus (II) sacrificing
some optimal resource management, in order to reduce short-term network
up-front cost, which reduces the risk associated with lower than expected
take-up rate.
The author believes that achieving objective (II) is generally key to succeed
in rural areas. Moreover, building a network with the lowest up-front
cost is critical to approach the viability of the network operation. Indeed,
while the first approach (I) has been considered for denser areas, where the
favourable economics allow for larger margins in take-up rate uncertainty,
this work indicates that the second approach (II) implemented through
the deployment strategy proposed herein, is generally preferable for rural
roll-out. The numerical results show that the up-front cost can be slashed
at the early stage of the FTTH network development.
The quest led to deep insight into rural FTTH deployment economics,
thereby helping to identify these circumstances under which the deploy-
ment can be commercially viable. This could not occur, however, without
the application of deployment strategies primarily designed to alleviate
and deal with the rural FTTH deployment problem. These methods were
mathematically formulated to instantiate a suite of clustering algorithms
underpinning the cost-effectiveness and automation of the deployment
strategies proposed in this work. Overall, this work proved that rural
FTTH roll-out case requires special consideration, and novel network de-
sign strategies can further mitigate the problem.
Author's Homepage:
https://tcdlocalportal.tcd.ie/pls/EnterApex/f?p=800:71:0::::P71_USERNAME:CUKOWSKIDescription:
APPROVED
Author: Zukowski, Cezary
Advisor:
Ruffini, MarcoPublisher:
Trinity College Dublin. School of Computer Science & Statistics. Discipline of Computer ScienceType of material:
ThesisCollections:
Availability:
Full text availableKeywords:
commercially viable, fibre-to-the-home (FTTH), rural sparsely populated remote areas, digital divide and nation-wide FTTH roll-out in Ireland, cost-effective deployment strategies in rural areas, techno-economic analysis, passive optical network (PON), access network growth and development, long-reach PON (LR-PON), capacity planning and network dimensioning, realistic planning tool involving street-maps, mathematical optimisation and formulations involving integer linear programming (ILP) and heuristics, net present value (NPV) and operational expenditure (OPEX) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) analysis, hierarchical clustering algorithms involving nearest neighbour clustering, Capacitated Clustering Problem (CCP), study under uncertain and variable take-up rate (uptake rate) of end-users or subscribers or customers in rural areas, aerial versus underground ducting and telecommunication infrastructure in rural areas, fibre cables routing optimisation and splicing, wired versus wireless (e.g. WiMax) access networks deployment for rural areas, governmental and municipal regulations or policiesLicences:
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