Characterizing capital and operational tradeoffs resulting from fiber-to-the-home optical network architecture choice

Abstract

This thesis explores the impact of relative lifecycle cost tradeoffs on technology strategy, and characterizes two factors driving these costs: population demographics, and uncertainty in component costs. The methodology developed consists of three novel components which address gaps in the current literature in the areas of large-scale network design, multi-attribute population characterization, and cost modeling. Three technologies representing near, mid, and long-term fiber-to-the-home gigabit passive optical network solutions, and seven implementation strategies are dimensioned for two significantly different population demographics, each representing large coverage regions containing millions of subscribers. The methodology is able to successfully characterize how relative network topologies changed as a function of population attributes, revealing complex cost tradeoffs between technology strategies.