Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul
To date the evolution from traditional distributed radio access networks (D-RAN) towards fronthaul oriented centralized (C-RAN) architectures has imposed significant challenges for the underlying transport network. The processing and coordination benefits anticipated in C-RAN are generally underpinn...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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IEEE
2023-01-01
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| Series: | IEEE Access |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10262309/ |
| _version_ | 1797663045829263360 |
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| author | Dave Townend Ryan Husbands Stuart D. Walker Andy Sutton |
| author_facet | Dave Townend Ryan Husbands Stuart D. Walker Andy Sutton |
| author_sort | Dave Townend |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | To date the evolution from traditional distributed radio access networks (D-RAN) towards fronthaul oriented centralized (C-RAN) architectures has imposed significant challenges for the underlying transport network. The processing and coordination benefits anticipated in C-RAN are generally underpinned with the assumption of a full fiber transport network capable of meeting the demanding performance criteria of fronthaul transport. Recent advances in Ethernet based fronthaul interfaces together with exploration of new mmWave and sub-THz spectrum bands present an opportunity for wireless solutions to also realize these fronthaul transport requirements. In this work, the requirements for promising new Ethernet based fronthaul interfaces are explored. These requirements are assessed against the measured capabilities of a state-of-the-art E-band (71-86 GHz) wireless transport solution. The experimental results are then used to forecast the performance expectations of future higher bandwidth systems operating above 100 GHz. A dimensioning and link budget analysis is performed for the various candidate spectrum bands and fronthaul interfaces to highlight the viability of fronthaul delivered over wireless transport. Finding show that transport solutions operating at mmWave and sub-THz frequencies are able to support the performance requirements of newly standardized fronthaul interface splits and as such present an opportunity to utilize wireless fronthaul transport in C-RAN architectures where fiber cannot otherwise be supported. Furthermore, analysis demonstrates that the hop lengths possible for 5G small cell configurations are well aligned with the expected inter-site distances of future dense urban cell deployments making wireless fronthaul a promising concept for realizing future C-RAN based cell densification. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T19:08:54Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-20a9c4347370426a81baebbb2d708d23 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2169-3536 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T19:08:54Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | IEEE |
| record_format | Article |
| series | IEEE Access |
| spelling | doaj.art-20a9c4347370426a81baebbb2d708d232023-10-09T23:01:15ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362023-01-011110660710661910.1109/ACCESS.2023.331907310262309Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless FronthaulDave Townend0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6778-5426Ryan Husbands1Stuart D. Walker2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7710-9846Andy Sutton3BT Laboratories, Adastral Park, Martlesham, U.K.BT Laboratories, Adastral Park, Martlesham, U.K.School of Computer Science and Electronic Engineering, University of Essex, Colchester, U.K.BT Technology, London, U.K.To date the evolution from traditional distributed radio access networks (D-RAN) towards fronthaul oriented centralized (C-RAN) architectures has imposed significant challenges for the underlying transport network. The processing and coordination benefits anticipated in C-RAN are generally underpinned with the assumption of a full fiber transport network capable of meeting the demanding performance criteria of fronthaul transport. Recent advances in Ethernet based fronthaul interfaces together with exploration of new mmWave and sub-THz spectrum bands present an opportunity for wireless solutions to also realize these fronthaul transport requirements. In this work, the requirements for promising new Ethernet based fronthaul interfaces are explored. These requirements are assessed against the measured capabilities of a state-of-the-art E-band (71-86 GHz) wireless transport solution. The experimental results are then used to forecast the performance expectations of future higher bandwidth systems operating above 100 GHz. A dimensioning and link budget analysis is performed for the various candidate spectrum bands and fronthaul interfaces to highlight the viability of fronthaul delivered over wireless transport. Finding show that transport solutions operating at mmWave and sub-THz frequencies are able to support the performance requirements of newly standardized fronthaul interface splits and as such present an opportunity to utilize wireless fronthaul transport in C-RAN architectures where fiber cannot otherwise be supported. Furthermore, analysis demonstrates that the hop lengths possible for 5G small cell configurations are well aligned with the expected inter-site distances of future dense urban cell deployments making wireless fronthaul a promising concept for realizing future C-RAN based cell densification.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10262309/Wireless fronthaulC-RANmmWavex-haulD-band |
| spellingShingle | Dave Townend Ryan Husbands Stuart D. Walker Andy Sutton Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul IEEE Access Wireless fronthaul C-RAN mmWave x-haul D-band |
| title | Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul |
| title_full | Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul |
| title_fullStr | Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul |
| title_full_unstemmed | Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul |
| title_short | Challenges and Opportunities in Wireless Fronthaul |
| title_sort | challenges and opportunities in wireless fronthaul |
| topic | Wireless fronthaul C-RAN mmWave x-haul D-band |
| url | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10262309/ |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davetownend challengesandopportunitiesinwirelessfronthaul AT ryanhusbands challengesandopportunitiesinwirelessfronthaul AT stuartdwalker challengesandopportunitiesinwirelessfronthaul AT andysutton challengesandopportunitiesinwirelessfronthaul |