Software-defined architectures for convergent fixed-radio access

Carlos Bock, Jordi Ferrer, Volker Jungnickel, David Levi, Victor Marques, Tiago Mendes, Mike Parker

Transport Software Defined Networking, Athens 20 March 2014

SODALES at a glance

• FP7-ICT-2011-8 SODALES project

• SODALES (SOftware-Defined Access using Low-Energy Subsystems) aims to develop an access transport network architecture together with a management and control plane that integrates fixed broadband subscribers with radio access clients, using WDM-PON on the optical layer and LTE and beyond on the radio segments.

• SODALES is a 36-month FP7 STREP project– Project Budget: 2.793.725,27€– EU funding: 1.989.000,00€

• SODALES key developments are– Active Remote Node (ARN) that provides aggregation and radio

interfacing for fixed and mobile subscribers and supports SDN– Advanced control and management plane with open-access and

multi-operator functionalities, based on SDN

SODALES consortium

Participant no Participant name Short name Country

1 Fundació i2CAT, Internet i Innovació a Catalunya

i2CAT Spain

2 Portugal Telecom Inovaçao PTI Portugal

3 Ethernity Networks ETHERNITY Israel

4 University of Essex UESSEX United Kingdom

5 Fraunhofer Gesellschaft e.V. HHI Germany

Outline

• Vision

• Innovations

• SDN for Open and Access Networks

• Conclusions

Drivers and concepts

• Convergent architectures are key to deliver future radio / fixed access– FTTH and 4G (and beyond) require high capacity access networks

• 1Gbps and 10Gbps should be delivered shortly for residential and corporate use respectively

• 4G (and beyond) will shortly require 1Gbps to the RBS

• Open Access shared deployments are key to reduce CAPEX and OPEX

• SDN is key to offer flexibility and ease of operation (specially in virtualised scenarios)

The SODALES vision

• On network layers– Layer 2 end-to-end access solution– WDM optical backhaul + optical / 60-GHz radio final drop

• On convergence– Integration of fixed (wired and radio) and mobile services– LTE and beyond mobile services

CentralOfficeCentralOffice End usersEnd usersSODALES L2 interconnection service

L3 and upper network layers

WDM-PON / LTE / radio access physical infrastructure

CentralOfficeCentralOffice End usersEnd usersSODALES L2 interconnection service

L3 and upper network layers

WDM-PON / LTE / radio access physical infrastructure

The SODALES vision

• On access architectures– Active outside plant taking advantage of RBS powering– Active Remote Node (ARN) provides convergence and aggregation

in the field

• On network operation– Open Access to allow infrastructure sharing

• On control and management– Software Defined Network in access

• On power consumption and efficiency– Low power consumption subsystems (specially at the ARN)

Outline

• Vision

• Innovations

• SDN for Open and Access Networks

• Conclusions

SODALES architecture

SODALES innovations

• Take advantage of RBS powering to add intelligence to the access network in the field

– Active architecture with an ARN (Active Remote Node) as key device

– 10Gbps to the ARN (100Gbps optional feature)

– FTTA: Fiber To The Antenna

– Low-energy subsystems at the ARN

• Open Access architecture for fixed and mobile services

– Open Access convergent solutions

– Metro Ethernet OAM features

– SDN-based control and management plane

• Multi-operator

• Multi-vendor (by means of a Hardware Abstraction Layer)

Outline

• Vision

• Innovations

• SDN for Open and Access Networks

• Conclusions

• Software-defined networks (SDN)– Common model widely discussed for transport– many advantages also for access

• ARN/CO follow the SDN design paradigm– separate control path / data path– OpenFlow functionality is already used– standard interface can be added

• Dynamic bandwidth allocation in the access network– time-variant statistical multiplexing – bandwidth is requested by network elements– assigned by the CO– routes, wavelengths, time and frequency as flexible network

resources

Software-defined access

SODALES SDN implementation

Open access and SDN

• SODALES open access approach offers

– Synchronization services for legacy radio services

– Advanced Sync Ethernet support LTE and beyond

– Advanced OAM for L2 end-to-end (E2E) control and management

– Ethernet Hub MEF E-Tree support

• SODALES suggests a bitstream access model for optimal network utilization and CAPEX & OPEX optimization

Outline

• Vision

• Innovations

• SDN for Open and Access Networks

• Conclusions

Conclusions

• SODALES vision to offer an integrated fixed / mobile access platform combining optical / radio fixed / radio mobile transmission in an Open Access approach is sustained on the following technologies

– Transmission

• 1/10/100Gbps optical interfaces + 60GHz fixed radio links

• LTE/LTE-A (and beyond) + CPRI for legacy

– Layer 2 features

• Enhanced 802.1ag, Y.1731 OAM; SYNC-E and IEEE 1588v2/PTP; IEEE802.1ad Q-in-Q support; MPLS-TP; Hierarchical QoS

– Control and Management

• Hardware Abstraction Layer

• SDN-based to support Open Access and Infrastructure virtualization 

• SODALES integrates all these technologies using low-energy subsystems to develop a multi-vendor / multi-operator access infrastructure that optimizes CAPEX and OPEX

Thanks for your time!

More info at:http://www.fp7-sodales.eu