5G‐XHaul: a converged optical and wireless solution for 5G transport networks

Abstract

The common European ICT sector vision for 5G is that it should leverage on the strengths of both optical and wireless technologies. In the 5G context, a wide spectra of radio access technologies -such as millimetre wave transmission, massive MIMO, and new waveforms -demand for high capacity, highly flexible and convergent transport networks. As the requirements imposed on future 5G networks rise, so do the challenges in the transport network. Hence, 5G-XHaul proposes a converged optical and wireless transport network solution with a unified control plane based on software defined networking. This solution is able to support the flexible backhaul and fronthaul -X-Haul -options required to tackle the future challenges imposed by 5G radio access technologies. 5G-XHaul studies the trade-offs involving fully or partially converged backhaul and fronthaul functions, with the aim of maximising the associated sharing benefits, improving efficiency in resource utilisation, and providing measurable benefits in terms of overall cost, scalability and sustainability.

Cost Optimization of Cloud-RAN Planning and Provisioning for 5G Networks

“…3b. Note that provisioning of the fronthaul link revealed to be the highest network cost, which is in line with previous observations [20], [21]. As expected, the variable cost of DCs increases when increasing the number of RRUs as more resources are used.…”

A Survey of the Functional Splits Proposed for 5G Mobile Crosshaul Networks

“…This split has been known for several years and the literature in this area is very comprehensive. Therefore, several directions within using this split is investigated focusing on the CPRI transport interface: both the traditional CPRI transport, the option of transporting CPRI over the Ethernet network and the option of compressing [4], [5], [12], [19], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45], [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51], [52] Simulations: [53], [54], [55], [56], [57], [58], [59], [60], [61], [62], [63], [64] Practical experiments: [65], [66],…”

“…The exact location of this split is under discussion by 3GPP in [82]. Theoretical surveys: [5], [19], [25], [26], [28], [31], [32], [38], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45], [49] Simulations: [53], [61], [75], [83] Practical experiments: [50], [84], [85] In this split, the precoding and resource element mapper are included in the DU. The fronthaul link transports subframe symbols.…”

“…Use case Scenarios where the distance between CU and DU is lower than 40 km and only centralized scheduling is wanted. [5], [12], [24], [27], [28], [29], [42], [43], [45] Simulations: [99] Practical experiments:…”

Delay analysis of mixed fronthaul and backhaul traffic under strict priority queueing discipline in a 5G packet transport network

“…A more converged approach would be to multiplex the traffic at the packet level. 7,8 The goal of this paper is to explore if we can multiplex the traffic at the packet level and thus, leverage the statistical multiplexing of packet-switching networks and allow real convergence of fixed metropolitan networks with mobile traffic. A popular method of packet-level multiplexing being studied is to encapsulate the fronthaul traffic in Ethernet packets for easy deployment in existing network infrastructure.…”