Characterizing the Relation Between Processing Power and Distance Between BBU and RRH in a Cloud RAN

In cloud radio access networks (C-RANs), base stations are replaced by remote radio heads (RRHs) having their signals processed in a base-band unit (BBU). A BBU is limited to processing the signals of RRHs within a maximum distance, determined according to delay constraints. This delay is affected b...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE wireless communications letters 2018-06, Vol.7 (3), p.472-475
Main Authors: Marotta, Marcelo Antonio, Ahmadi, Hamed, Rochol, Juergen, DaSilva, Luiz, Both, Cristiano Bonato
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
baseband unit
Bit error rate
Cloud radio access network
Decoding
Delays
Forward error correction
fronthaul
Optical buffering
processing
remote radio head
Repeaters
Signal to noise ratio
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In cloud radio access networks (C-RANs), base stations are replaced by remote radio heads (RRHs) having their signals processed in a base-band unit (BBU). A BBU is limited to processing the signals of RRHs within a maximum distance, determined according to delay constraints. This delay is affected by three factors: 1) the distance between BBU and RRH; 2) channel conditions; and 3) processing power available. This letter characterizes the relationship between these factors. Our results show that the processing power must be increased significantly for RRHs experiencing low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and/or at a longer distance from the BBU. The good news is that RRHs experiencing high SNR can have their processing take place in the cloud, at significant distances, and still meet tight bit error rate and latency constraints. These two observations open the door to the possibility of dynamic load balancing mechanisms that change the locus of processing in a C-RAN according to channel conditions and availability of processing resources.
ISSN:2162-2337
2162-2345
DOI:10.1109/LWC.2017.2786226