Fronthaul Field Trials and Future Trends
Zakaria TAYQ, Philippe CHANCLOU, Luiz ANET NETO
Orange Labs Networks – Lannion – France
EuCNC 2016, Workshop W04b
27th June, Athens, GREECE
2
Contents
1. Fronthaul trials drivers
2. Optical fronthaul trials
3. Wireless fronthaul trials
4. C-RAN future trends
5. Conclusion
3
Build new sites which are identified by operational teams, as
problematic in the regular process (Distributed RAN with backhaul)
Identify OPEX and CAPEX savings compared to existing Radio Access
architecture
Initialize the learning curve of fronthaul production: technologic
choice, vendors pre-selection, installation process, integration in the
Operation Support System
Measurements of Energy consumption
Measurements, in a second step, of Data traffic impact (CoMP release)
Fronthaul trials drivers
Drivers = co-construction with operational teams
4
RRH
IP/MPLS
network
S1
Central Office
BBU
Syste
m
module
BBU
Syste
m
module
BBU
Syste
m
module
Backhaul
Digital-RoF
Fronthaul : CPRI
Fronthaul interfaces: CPRI, OBSAI, ORI
Fronthaul medium: - Optical Fiber : Single Mode Fiber with or without color flavors
- Wireless : several RF bands possible with or without spectral efficiency
RRH
RRH
RRH
Wireless
Optical Fiber
BBU: BaseBand Unit or
RRH: Remote Radio Head
UE: User Equipment
UE
RRH RRH
Fronthaul: a new segment that comes
with Cloud Radio Access Network
5
Contents
1.Fronthaul trials drivers
2.Optical fronthaul trials
3.Wireless fronthaul trials
4.C-RAN future trends
5. Conclusion
6
Optical fronthaul (CPRI) 1/3
Passive Active & Semi Active
Fiber-rich
network
to
shared
fiber
7
Optical fronthaul (CPRI) 2/3 : coming technologies
Passive Active & Semi Active
-At antenna site:
Remote diagnostic function inside SFP
No active equipement
-At BBU hotel:
KPI per channel
visibility on optical layer performance
x3 more channels and still a passive
solution compatible for outdoor operation
and single fiber working
Re-used existing CWDM infrastructure
with plug&play new wavelength
multiplexers
8
Optical fronthaul (CPRI) 3/3
Passive Active & Semi Active
Fiber-rich
network
to
shared
fiber
Solution selected
for trials
9
What is a passive optical fronthaul solution?
RRH RRH RRH
FTTA & PTTA
hybrid cable
Low foot print
cabinet Energy and passive fiber
Passive CWDM
MUX & DeMUX
Passive CWDM
MUX & DeMUX BBU 4G
interface fronthaul
BBU 3G
interface backhaul
BBU hotel
BBU Hotel
Data center area
for a cells cluster
optical fiber
Backhaul
Hardware sharing
BBU 2G
10
Contents
1.Fronthaul trials drivers
2.Optical fronthaul trials
3.Wireless fronthaul trials
4.C-RAN future trends
5. Conclusion
11
Wireless fronthaul (CPRI)
Native wireless with spectral efficiency
With wireless fronthaul, it is possible to turn existing macro site into local C-RAN
Easy and fast deployment when it is hard do use fiber
From
Small cell
or 4th sector
to
Macro cell
12
Wireless fronthaul (CPRI)
Native wireless with spectral efficiency
From
Small cell
or 4th sector
to
Macro cell
Solution selected
for trials
(Mature solutions)
13
Wireless fronthaul: on Orange France network
BBU WFM WFM RRH
RRHDigital Interfaces
An
ten
na
An
ten
na
RF Interface
FrontLink™ 58 Product
RRH
An
ten
na
Wireless fronthaul on Orange commercial network with FrontLink™ solution from
Three sectors LTE 2600 MIMO 2x2 → 3x2.457Gbit/s CPRI on a wireless fronthaul link
→ In less than 70 MHz bandwidth
Fiber-based Fronthaul Wireless Fronthaul
14
Contents
1.Fronthaul trials drivers
2.Optical fronthaul trials
3.Wireless fronthaul trials
4.C-RAN future trends
5. Conclusion
15
The target step of RAN architecture is the virtual RAN where a reconfigurable hardware is used. This architecture facilitates the dynamic adaptation of processing resources to the traffic request of available Radio Access Technology.
Different new functional splits are possible
The Radio Access Network architecture : the coming « 5G »
L2
L1
F
F
T
ressource
mapping
Q
A
M
F
E
C
R
L
C
M
A
C
P
D
C
P
L3
S
1
R
R
C
X
2
O
A
M
CPRI
OBSAI
CPU & real time constants
Fronthaul bandwidth
Service PDCP
RLC
RLC
MAC
MAC MAC
PHY
Low High
Split
PHY
CPRI
OBSAI
CoMP capability
DPS, CS, CB, … … JT/JR
CoMP: Coordinated Multi-Point
DPS: Dynamic Point Selection
CS: Coordinated Scheduling
CB: Coordinated Beamforming
JT: Joint Transmission
JR: Joint Reception
RF
BBU L3 & L2… …L2 & L1 RRH BBU & RRH partitioning
vBBU
16
vBBU L3&L2
Master
central
office
(Data center)
Load balancer
& switch Cell site
aggregator
L1&L2
The virtualization is explicitly assumed to be part of the 5G architecture
The low part of the BBU (L1 and potentially a part of L2) cannot be virtualized due
to CPU and real time constraints, it will be implemented in a cell site aggregator
The high part (L3 and a part of L2) will be virtualized and implemented in the vBBU
It is possible to have intra-site CoMP
The Radio Access Network architecture : the coming « 5G »
Antenna
Radio unit
Ring
Aggregation
Network
Ethernet / Fiber
Access
Network
17
vBBU L3&L2
Master
central
office
(Data center)
Inter site CoMP can be obtained if L1&L2 are moved higher in the network:
→ Pool of cell site aggregators
CPRI is used between the antenna site and the Pool of cell site aggregators
The Radio Access Network architecture : the coming « 5G »
Antenna
Radio unit
Ring
Aggregation
Network
Ethernet / Fiber
CPRIs over Fiber
Pool of cell
site aggregators
L1&L2
Access
Network
4 keys points
1 CPRI fronthaul experimentations in France in opportunist mode
3 Wireless fronthaul is used when fiber is hard to deploy
Conclusion
2 Fronthaul trials are mainly based on optical fiber
4 New functional split with RAN virtualization expected for 5G
Thank you
Merci
Gràcies
Danke
Grazie
Tack
谢谢
감사합니다
ありがとうございました
Acknowledgements: