Impact of backup power in optimizing deployment cost of hybrid optical wireless broadband access network (HOWBAN) with survivability

The dependence on broadband to enhance the economy and environment sustainability is imposing immense urgency to provide ubiquitous wireless broadband access which is a key enabler to a greater spread of society. One of the key barriers to the network connectivity and survivability identified is the lack of or unreliable infrastructure. In our previous studies we have identified that the most unreliable component in a hybrid optical wireless broadband access network infrastructure is the power grid in remote areas and least developed countries. In this paper we extend our studies to evaluate the effect of the costs of backup power on sustaining survivability at the front end of two types of network configurations in a hybrid optical wireless broadband access network. The configurations investigated are full survivability and alternative path survivability networks. Our results show that the provision of backup power to all the nodes in a network configuration with one alternative path is able to reduce the cost of deployment compared to that of a full survivability network configuration without significantly affecting the network survivability.