Toward Wireless Fronthaul for Cloud RAN Architectures

The application of wireless backhaul is widely adopted in commercial mobile networks as a cost effective alternative to fibre. However, the practical use of wireless transport to support new cloud RAN architectures is not well studied. This paper presents proof-of-concept results which extend evolvi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Townend, Dave, Husbands, Ryan, Walker, Stuart D., Sharples, Adrian
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Bandwidth
C-RAN
Computer architecture
Costs
Ethernet
fronthaul
Microprocessors
mmWave
OAI
Radio links
Wireless communication
x-haul
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Summary:The application of wireless backhaul is widely adopted in commercial mobile networks as a cost effective alternative to fibre. However, the practical use of wireless transport to support new cloud RAN architectures is not well studied. This paper presents proof-of-concept results which extend evolving Ethernet based mobile fronthaul concepts to wireless transport solutions. The theoretical performance criteria of the 3GPP option 8 functional split is derived and experimentally verified using an Open Air Interface (OAI) base station. Wireless fronthaul performance is assessed over an Ethernet-based E-band (71-86 GHz) mmWave radio link. Experimental measurements demonstrate the viability of existing mmWave wireless transport solutions to meet the performance requirements of the most challenging Ethernet based 3GPP option 8 fronthaul interface. Findings also suggest that further advances in standardisation of alternative functional split interfaces as well as higher capacity wireless transport spectrum such as D-band (130-174.8 GHz) could further support scalable cloud RAN deployments of the future.
ISSN:1558-2612
DOI:10.1109/WCNC55385.2023.10119125