5 THINGS YOU

SHOULD KNOW
ABOUT
FRONTHAUL

AGENDA
1)

WHY FRONTHAUL?

2)

CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS

3)

LATENCY REQUIREMENTS

4)

FRONTHAUL AND SMALL CELLS

5)

TRANSPORT FOR FRONTHAUL

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WHY FRONTHAUL?
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THE DATA STORM

CAPACITY GROWTH

NETWORK COSTS

Growth from 1.6 EB per month in 2013

to 11.2EB in 2017 (66%)*

CAPEX will increase worldwide by 6% in

2014 to $104.5 billion**

HANDHELD DEVICES

MOBILE BROADBAND

By 2017 there will be an increase

on 67% in handheld devices*

1.5 Billion Mobile Broadband

Subscribers Predicted By 2015**

*Source: Cisco Visual Networking Index

**Source ABI Research

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DENSER NETWORKS
the only way to deal with the data storm is to
have denser wireless networks with
increasing spectral efficiency

This has several problems:

How

to meet the required coverage

and capacity?

How

to deal with interference?

How

to manage increased complexity:

To

increase spectral efficiency?

To

manage customers data?

To

deal with higher CAPEX and

OPEX?

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STRATEGIES FOR DENSER NETWORKS

BACKHAUL

RAN DECENTRALIZATION (SON, HETNETS)

TRADITIONAL MACRO CELLS
ALL IN ONE BBU / SMALL CELLS

FRONTHAUL

RAN CENTRALIZATION (C-RAN)

DISTRIBUTED ANTENNAS (DAS)
REMOTE RADIO HEADS (RRH)

OFFLOAD

WiFi OFFLOAD

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WHAT IS FRONTHAUL?
CENTRALIZED OR CLOUD - RAN

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BASE STATION SPLIT

SYSTEM SOFTWARE

NETWORK
INTERFACE

BASE STATION

TRANSPORT MODULE

BASE BAND
MODULE

RF MODULE

FRONT HAUL
BBU / DU
(REC CPRI)

RRH
(REC CPRI)

digital base band

analog frequency functions

AIR
INTERFACE

CONTROL MODULE

POWER SYSTEM

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ADVANTAGES OF C-RAN

Resource pooling

Greener infrastructure (re-use)

Base station virtualization

Simplified management and operation

Coordination for interference mitigation (ICIC)

Multi technology support

No GPS in each remote site

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MAIN C-RAN CHALLENGE IS FRONTHAUL

High capacity low latency Fronthaul is needed

Fronthaul distance is limited due to latency

Base band interconnection in BBU hotel

Lack of management tools on Fronthaul links

No statistical multiplexing on Fronthaul links

AVIAT NETWORKS

Takeaway:
C-RAN offers many benefits for
operators however Fronthaul challenges
need to be addressed

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CAPACITY REQUIREMENTS

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CPRI- NO COMPRESSION

WCDMA
5 MHz

LTE
10 MHz 20 MHz

Scenario
3 Sector, 4x4
MIMO, 1 Carrier 922 Mbps 7.4 Gbps 14.7 Gbps
1 Sector, 2x2
MIMO, 1 Carrier 246 Mbps 1.2 Gbps 2.5 Gbps

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COMPRESSION OF BASEBAND USER DATA

Multiple baseband compression

techniques are currently being
researched

Commercially available IQ
compression causes some
distortion in IQ constellation

IQ compression currently is below

a ratio of 3 to 1

AVIAT NETWORKS

CPRI- COMPRESSION (2.5 RATIO)

WCDMA
5 MHz

LTE
10 MHz 20 MHz

Scenario
3 Sectors, 4x4
MIMO, 1 Carrier 369 Mbps 2.9 Gbps 5.9 Gbps
1 Sector, 2x2
MIMO, 1 Carrier 98 Mbps 461 Mbps 983 Mbps

AVIAT NETWORKS

Takeaway:
Compression will likely be required to
make wireless CPRI Fronthaul a reality

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LATENCY REQUIREMENTS

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CPRI-ROUND TRIP LATENCY (LTE)

RRH
CPRI

RRH
CPRI

BBU

B
TRANSMISSION MEDIUM
(FIBER / MICROWAVE)

IP BACKHAUL
CPRI

CORE

A
cable length latency

C
TOTAL LATENCY=

A + B + C

}
FOR CPRI= 5 s
STANDARD
DEPENDENT

FOR LTE (100/200 s)

AVIAT NETWORKS

Takeaway:
CPRI latency requirement (<200us) will
demand the use of ultra low latency
Fronthaul solutions

AVIAT NETWORKS

FRONTHAUL AND SMALL

CELLS

AVIAT NETWORKS

EXPANSION USING FRONTHAUL + SMALL CELL

TRADITIONAL MACRO CELL DEPLOYMENT

CELL SPLIT USING FRONT HAUL

Source: NGMN

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TRADITIONAL DEPLOYMENT + SMALL CELL (BACKHAUL)

TRADITIONAL MACRO CELL DEPLOYMENT

Source: NGMN

MACRO CELL + SMALL CELL DEPLOYMENT

BACKHAUL

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Takeaway:
Operators will use a combination of
CRAN/RRH and Small Cells

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TRANSPORT FOR
FRONTHAUL
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FIBER / MICROWAVE FRONTHAUL COMPARISON

SOLUTIONS

REQUIREMENTS

FIBER
CAPACITY:1 SECTOR,10MHz, 2x2 MIMO, 1
CARRIER, NO COMPRESSION
CAPACITY:1 SECTOR,10MHz, 2x2 MIMO, 1
CARRIER, COMPRESSION: 2.5

70/80 GHz MICROWAVE

LICENSED MICROWAVE
(6 to 42 GHz)

1.2 Gbps
461 Mbps
<200 s for LTE

LATENCY
Capacity

WDM self seeded

PON 1 fiber upto 10
Gbps per RRH

SITE LOCATION /RESTRICTIONS

Right of way issues

LINK LENGTHS

Maximum 40Km

LATENCY

5 s per Km

CAPEX
OPEX

Very high
Low

2.5 Gbps

1.2 Gbps

LOS
Parabolic antenna
Maximum 2Km
3 s per Km +
processing (between
5sec and 50sec)
Medium
Low

LOS
Parabolic antenna
Maximum 60Km
3 s per Km +
processing (between
60sec and 298sec)
Medium
Low

AVIAT NETWORKS

Takeaway:
Single channel compressed CPRI is the
most likely application for centimeter
wave microwave Fronthaul

AVIAT NETWORKS

CONCLUSIONS
1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

C-RAN offers many benefits for operators

however Fronthaul challenges need to be
addressed
Compression will likely be required to make
wireless CPRI Fronthaul a reality
CPRI latency requirement (<200us) will
demand the use of ultra low latency Fronthaul
solutions
Operators will use a combination of
CRAN/RRH and Small Cells
Single channel compressed CPRI is the most
likely application for centimeter wave
microwave Fronthaul

AVIAT NETWORKS

W W W. AV I AT N E T W O R K S . C O M