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Fronthaul Technologies in vRAN
Introduction
The mobile communication industry is currently heading towards the fifth generation The vRAN architecture separates the Base Band Unit (BBU) from the Remote Radio
(5G) network. The new network strategy is to meet 5G objectives & challenges such Head (RRH). vRAN is an attempt at decoupling the hardware and software platforms
as 1000x rise in traffic volumes, 1000x more connected devices, 100x of wireless base stations. Instead of proprietary hardware, operators would deploy
improvement in speeds, near-zero latency demand and supported by battery life up commercial servers in data centres to run base station functions and thereby
to 10 years. leverage the cost structure of data centres in running wireless networks. The link
which separates RRH and BBU plays a vital role in this architecture which is called
The network segment that is closest to the subscriber is the radio access network. as fronthaul.
While end to end network architecture is relooked at, it is these network segment
that needs to be transformed on priority. Virtualized Radio Access Network (vRAN), This paper discusses various fronthaul Technologies, their pros and cons and
one of the promising evolution path for the next-generation mobile network, has possible options that Telco’s can adopt while embracing vRAN.
attracted many service providers as it promises massive scalability and reduced cost
of operations.
RAN Evolution
The main components that form a Base Station (BTS) site are – Base Band Unit, Remote Radio Head and Antennae. In the current Distributed RAN (DRAN) architecture, the
remote radio head (RRH), is separated from the baseband unit (BBU) and are connected to each other by fiber. The BBU communicates with the RRH using Common Public
Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol. An alternative standard to CPRI is Open Base Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI).
CLOUD – RAN OR
DRAN CENTRALIZED - RAN VIRTUALIZED RAN
INTERNET INTERNET INTERNET
GATEWAY GATEWAY GATEWAY
EPC EPC EPC
BBU Hotel BBU Hotel vBBU Pool
On COTS servers
Site 1 BBU Site n BBU CPRI CPRI ETHERNET
on Cloud
RRH RRH
CPRI CPRI Site 1 RRH Site 1 RRH 1 RRH n
1,2,3 1,2,3
RRH1 RRH1 2
Site 2 RRH Site 2 RRH
3,4,5 3,4,5
RRH1 RRH1
Site n RRH Site n RRH
RRH1 RRH1 34,35,36 34,35,36
Networks started becoming denser and the need for network expansion continued. While the results of C-RAN looked promising, it was not adopted on a large scale due
With it came the need of acquiring more sites and putting up more radio to huge bandwidth requirement, scalability of BBUs at the BBU hotel and limitation
infrastructure on existing sites. This lead to significant rise in Capex and Opex. The on the number of RRHs that can be connected to one BBU, limiting peak
DRAN architecture posed a major challenge here. To address this, the concept of performance. The C-RAN architecture was therefore further evolved to Virtualized
Centralizing the BBU was evolved, wherein the BBUs were aggregated at a central RAN (vRAN). In this, the BBU functionality was achieved using a virtual network
location named BBU hotels giving rise to a Centralized RAN (C-RAN) architecture. function (VNF) known as vBBU. The vBBU could now be deployed on COTS
One BBU could then be connected to more number of RRHs, making it more hardware. With this is was possible to connect more number of RRHs to one vBBU
manageable to scale up centrally. The C-RAN architecture, however, needs a high addressing the cost, scalability and performance issues faced by C-RAN.
speed, low latency connection between the centralized BBU to RRH. This can
essentially be met via Fiber connectivity running CPRI or OBSAI protocol. These new architectures needed one thing in common - a good reliable, high speed,
low latency connectivity between BBU and RRH.
Definition of Fronthaul
The links that interconnect the BBU Pool/BBU Hotel and the multiple RRHs is referred to as Fronthaul.
Challenges of Fronthaul
The challenges in considering the fronthaul are latency, Synchronization, Bandwidth and Performance.
Latency
Typical latency requirement is around 800uSec round trip (from RRH
to BBU and back to RRH). In case of Centralized RAN, it is expected
that around 75% of it will be utilized by BBU processor and rest
(around 150 to 200uSec) will be left for the transmission path. Latency
is one the main parameter while selecting the fronthaul media.
Synchronization
LTE-A has tight requirements of on both Frequency (16ppb/50ppb) and phase (+/-1.5 to 5usec ) synchronization. With a passive or dark fiber as a fronthaul this will not be an
issue, however, any active fronthaul solution must be supported by good sync transfer. So a complete fronthaul solution must provide synchronization of frequency, phase
between the baseband unit and one or more remote radio heads.
Bandwidth and performance consideration
As mentioned in the earlier sections, the expected increase in traffic volumes for 5G network will be 1,000x (downlink capacity >1Gpbs). This should be supported by the
fronthaul along with good performance indicators (BER 10 (-12) and LTE Error Vector magnitude) . So bandwidth scalability is a big challenge for the fronthaul
Fronthaul Options
Fiber Fronthual
Dark fiber is one of the fronthaul solution that has the best performance and is best suitable where there The fiber fronthaul solution is viable only in
is sufficient fiber. The industry standard CPRI protocol which is designed for short distance can be used
to communicate between the BBU and RRH. However, CPRI is bandwidth hungry. As an example, a markets that are fiber rich. In other markets,
2X2 MIMO deployment over 20MHz bandwidth will need a fronthaul capacity of approximately 2Gbps . the cost of deploying new fiber will be
Add to that multiple such RRHs and the demand on the fronthaul will be enormous. Scalability becomes prohibitively high, limiting this option.
an issue. Techniques like Compressed CPRI reduces the capacity requirements to some extent, but not
enough to meet the 5G network objectives.
Other fiber based options that help in reducing the cost are:
1. OTN (Optical Transport Network)
2. PON (Passive Optical Network)
3. CPRI over Ethernet
Both OTN and PON use statistical multiplexing technique that help in aggregating the signals coming from multiple RRHs into one signal towards vBBU.
CPRI over Ethernet uses existing Ethernet infrastructure available at the site and helps reduce the cost of laying fiber to some extent. However, Ethernet overheads on top of
CPRI payload increases the bandwidth requirements further and has higher latency than dark fiber.
The fiber fronthaul solution is viable only in markets that are fiber rich. In other markets, the cost of deploying new fiber will be prohibitively high, limiting this option.
Wireless
Recent introduction of millimeter wave (E band and V band) that supports larger bandwidth and higher throughputs has made wireless a viable option for Fronthaul.
However, it can be used only in case of short distances (<200m) and provided there is a clear Line-of-sight between two points of connectivity.
Ethernet & Functional split
Networks are now migrating towards flat IP networks. Most of the
transmission equipment at the radio sites have Ethernet interface.
Considering this, vRAN vendors have come up with options that
can use Ethernet for fronthaul. However, this alone is not enough.
Techniques to reduce the bandwidth requirement on the fronthaul
need to be implemented. Recent developments have made it
possible to split the L1 and L2 functions between RRH and vBBU.
Depending on the level of split that can be achieved it is possible to
drastically reduce the bandwidth on fronthaul compared to CPRI.
The figure below depicts the various available options for
functionality split and its impact on bandwidth and latency.
With appropriate Split function technique
employed, the additional bandwidth that will be
needed on the fronthaul will be a marginal 10-
20% more than the current running capacity.
Ethernet along with split functionality is the best
possible alternative to fiber in terms of
availability, cost and time to implement.
The following table highlights the advantages and challenges for each of the fronthaul options.
Wireless
Contributed by:
Purushotham Mangalapelly Hemant G Patil
Principal Consultant– Transmission Competency Head , CRAN & 5G
[Link]@[Link] hpatil@[Link]
Conclusion
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are exploring new architectures in the Radio Access Network as a means of increasing capacity while reducing costs for next
generation networks. The vRAN architecture is a promising step in this regard. It is expected that vRAN gains will improve over time and will become quite viable in
high-traffic metropolitan areas. Fronthaul technology is going to play a vital role in realizing the vRAN architecture. Multiple Fronthaul options are available. Each option
has its own methods and challenges in meeting the latency, bandwidth and synchronization demands. The adoption of the right Fronthaul option will depend on MNO’s
existing access network infrastructure and the willingness to invest in the cost of transformation with a view to meet future network demands.
It is highly likely that operators will experiment in smaller clusters or markets and continue to use existing backhaul as Fronthaul wherever feasible and deploy new
fronthaul in a phased manner. Much flexibility will be required in the design of such networks to ensure seamless and cost-optimized migrations. Availability of millimeter
wave spectrum will provide a viable option for short hop Fronthaul. Functional Split implementation on Ethernet technology will have a significant role to play as
operators embrace all IP network and scale hybrid backhaul/fronthaul and all-fronthaul solutions.
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