Next Generation Fiber-Wireless Fronthaul for 5G mmWave Networks

Abstract

MmWave radio, although instrumental for achieving the required 5G capacity Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), necessitates the need for a very large number of Access Points, which places an immense strain on the current network infrastructure. In this article, we try to identify the major challenges that inhibit the design of the Next Generation Fronthaul Interface in two upcoming distinctively highly dense environments: i) in Urban 5G deployments in metropolitan areas and ii) in ultra-dense Hotspot scenarios. Secondly, we propose a novel centralized and converged analog Fiber-Wireless Fronthaul architecture, specifically designed to facilitate mmWave access in the above scenarios. The proposed architecture leverages optical transceivers, optical add/drop multiplexers and optical beamforming integrated photonics towards a Digital Signal Processing analog fronthaul. The functional administration of the fronthaul infrastructure is achieved by means of a packetized Medium Transparent Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation protocol. Preliminary results show that the protocol can facilitate Gbps-enabled data transport while abiding to the 5G low-latency KPIs in various network traffic conditions.

Converged Analog Fiber-Wireless Point-to-Multipoint Architecture for eCPRI 5G Fronthaul Networks

“…The above solidifies the fact that our proposed architecture can provide an adequate solution for fronthauling networks in dense urban areas. Secondly it can be noted that the end-to-end delay increases linearly with the fiber length for all three tested RRH access channel bandwidths, meaning that the proposed scheme is suitable for urban area deployment where the average distance between the Central Office (where the BBU is placed) and the BS locations (where the R-RRH is placed) is on average 5 km [15].…”

An Ultra-Wideband Microwave Photonic Channelized Receiver with Zero-IF Architecture

“…The measured SFDR was 107.5 dB•Hz2/3. The scheme only needs a set of optical frequency combs and narrowband OBPF group to realize channelization processing of wideband signals, and can also be applied to analog radio over fiber transmissions in uplink communications [20,21].…”

Energy-Efficient Joint Design of Fronthaul and Edge Links for Cache-Aided C-RAN Systems with Wireless Fronthaul

“…One of major challenges of implementing C-RAN systems is the overhead on the fronthaul links connecting CPs and RRHs [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. The overhead becomes particularly serious when one adopts cost-effective wireless fronthaul links (see, e.g., [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]).…”