075 Synchronisation For LTE Small Cells

RELEASE Three
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075.03.01
Synchronisation for LTE small cells
December 2013
Produced in partnership with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF)
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RELEASE Three
Small Cell Forum supports the wide-scale deployment of small cells. Its mission is to accelerate small cell adoption to change the shape of mobile networks and maximise the potential of mobile services. Small cells is an umbrella term for operator-controlled, low-powered radio access nodes, including those that operate in licensed spectrum and unlicensed carrier-grade Wi-Fi. Small cells typically have a range from 10 metres to several hundred metres. These contrast with a typical mobile macrocell that might have a range of up to several tens of kilometres. The term small cells covers residential femtocells, picocells, microcells and metrocells. Small Cell Forum is a not-for-prot, international organisation. Its membership is open to any legally established corporation, individual rm, partnership, academic institution, governmental body or international organisation supporting the promotion and worldwide deployment of small cell technologies. At the time of writing, Small Cell Forum has around 150 members, including 68 operators representing more than 3 billion mobile subscribers 46 per cent of the global total as well as telecoms hardware and software vendors, content providers and innovative start-ups. Small Cell Forum is technology-agnostic and independent. It is not a standards-setting body, but works with standards organisations and regulators worldwide to provide an aggregated view of the small cell market. This document forms part of Small Cell Forums Release Three: Urban Foundations. Urban small cells are at an earlier stage in their commercial development than their more mature residential and enterprise counterparts. As such, the present Release focuses on establishing the need, evaluating the business case and identifying key barriers to commercial deployment. We look at the work underway across the industry to address barriers in the different disciplines of network architecture, radio access, backhaul, deployment, regulatory and services. In Release Four and beyond, we will delve into the detail of the solutions addressing the issues identied. Release Four also contains works clarifying market needs and addressing barriers to deployment of residential, enterprise and rural small cells. Small Cell Forum Release website can be found here: www.scf.io and an overview of all the material in Release Three: Urban Foundations can be found here: www.scf.io/doc/103
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This document was produced in partnership with the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF). This paper is the result of a collaboration between Small Cell Forum and the Metro Ethernet Forum, working together to accelerate the adoption of carrier grade backhaul and synchronization for small cells.
ABOUT THE MEF

The MEF is a global industry alliance comprising more than 220 organizations including telecommunications service providers, cable MSOs, network equipment/software manufacturers, semiconductor vendors and testing organizations. The MEFs mission is to accelerate the worldwide adoption of carrier-class ethernet networks and services for business and mobile backhaul applications. The MEF is the dening industry body for carrier ethernet, developing technical specications and implementation agreements, and educational work to promote interoperability, certication and deployment of carrier ethernet worldwide. For more information about the Forum, including a complete listing of all current MEF members, please visit http://www.MetroEthernetForum.org
THE MEF, CARRIER ETHERNET AND MOBILE BACKHAUL

Ethernet adoption has been accepted by the vast majority. The MEFs Carrier Ethernet 2.0 for Mobile Backhaul brings answers to the challenges associated with managing rapid backhaul data growth while scaling costs to new revenues. MEF Mobile Backhaul Phase 2 Specication (MEF 22.1) covering use of carrier ethernet services, synchronization 4G/LTE deployment and small cell introduction. The MEF also publishes business, technical and best practices papers and provides presentations on optimizing MBH with multiple classes of service, packet synchronization, resiliency, performance objectives, microwave technologies and converged wireless/wire-line backhaul.
Report title: The business case for enterprise small cells Issue date: December 2013 Version: 075.03.01
Scope
A previous Small Cell Forum white paper, Femtocell Synchronization and Location [ 1], outlined the timing and synchronization needs for femto and small cells, and covered many of the methods used to meet those needs with some technical detail. As LTE and LTE-Advanced are deployed in place of or along side 2G and 3G technologies, there are additional requirements on synchronization, including the wider need for very tight time synchronization. This paper describes these new requirements and the technologies available to fulfil those needs. Note: Small cells may be based on distributed or centralized baseband architecture. In case of centralized baseband architecture the remote radio units can be connected to a common baseband unit, e.g. via CPRI. Unless specifically mentioned, this white paper focuses on the distributed baseband architecture.
Report title: Synchronization for LTE Small Cells Issue date: 8 Nov 2013 Version: 075.03.01
Executive summary
All cellular radio base stations require synchronization, including small cells. This may be frequency synchronization, phase alignment to other base stations, or in the case of CDMA and CDMA2000, time synchronization. In earlier 3GPP releases synchronization was delivered using TDM network or GNSS. Today, with the all IP asynchronous networks and indoor small cells deployments operators need to rethink their synchronization delivery strategy. Section 1 of this paper introduces the relevant requirements for the various types of radio technology, including LTE and LTE-Advanced, referencing the appropriate 3GPP technical specifications. Broadly speaking, FDD systems require only frequency synchronization of 50 250ppb (parts per billion), but TDD systems have an additional requirement for phase alignment of less than 3s, relative to other cells with overlapping coverage. For some LTE-Advanced features (e.g. eICIC, CoMP and MBSFN), no synchronization requirements have been specified, but that does not mean no requirements exist. Rather, there is a soft limit based on vendor implementation and operator deployment type. This limit is in the region of 1-5s relative phase alignment. For LTE small cells, the level and type of synchronization required depends as much on the cell location as it does on the technology used. For example, a small cell using TDD technology, but located in a remote area with no overlapping macrocell coverage will only need frequency synchronization, since there is no reference for any phase alignment. Similarly, FDD small cells in less dense environments will not require LTEAdvanced features such as eICIC or CoMP, and may therefore only require frequency, while a small cell in a dense urban environment may require both phase and frequency to support LTE-A. Section 2 of the paper describes several different types of small cell deployment, and identifies which LTE and LTE-Advanced features each are likely to use. It summarises the level and type of synchronization required for each type of small cell deployment. Sections 3 and 4 introduce the different techniques that may be used to synchronise small cells, and list the advantages and disadvantages of each. These sections do not cover any given technique in detail, but provides an introduction and relevant references that may be consulted for further information. The techniques covered include: Precision time protocol (PTP) Network time protocol (NTP) Synchronous ethernet (SyncE) Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, e.g. GPS) Cellular network listening PTP/NTP combined with assisted GNSS Cellular network listening combined with assisted GNSS SyncE combined with assisted GNSS PTP combined with SyncE
Section 5 discusses the synchronization capabilities of different backhaul technologies, and examines how they affect the choices for small cell synchronization. Section 6 covers the impact on the service caused by degraded or lost synchronization. In other words, what are the consequences of having poor
synchronization? In the case of FDD systems, if base station frequency is more than 250ppb out it could mean that any user equipment is simply unable to use that base station, i.e. a complete inability to provide service. Smaller errors may lead to a minor degradation in the data throughput. For TDD systems, again a reduction in data throughput will begin to accumulate, along with a potential to interfere with reception of the PCFICH (primary control format indicator channel), and consequent loss of an entire sub-frame of data. Section 7 describes some of the deployment use cases for synchronization delivery by either the mobile operator or the backhaul provider. Finally, section 8 discusses network maintenance and troubleshooting in the event that the service issues described in Section 6 are experienced. It also describes solutions for synchronization monitoring and assurance.
Contents
1. 1.1 1.2 1.3 2. 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 5. 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 6. 6.1 6.2 6.3 7. LTE synchronization requirements ...................................1 General cellular radio synchronization requirements................. 1 LTE co-ordination requirements ............................................. 3 Holdover requirements of LTE small cells ................................ 4 Small cell use cases and deployment scenarios ................5 Targeted capacity hotspot .................................................... 5 Indoor coverage .................................................................. 6 Outdoor coverage ................................................................ 8 Non-targeted capacity (quality of experience enhancement) ..... 9 Summary ........................................................................... 9 Synchronization technology options ...............................10 IEEE1588 precision time protocol ........................................ 10 Network time protocol (NTP) ............................................... 15 Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) ............................................ 17 GNSS for telecom timing .................................................... 19 Cellular network listen........................................................ 21 Miniature atomic frequency references ................................. 24 Hybrid technology options ..............................................25 PTP/NTP and assisted GNSS ................................................ 25 Cellular network listen and assisted GNSS ............................ 26 Use of SyncE to allow enhanced GNSS holdover .................... 26 PTP and SyncE .................................................................. 27 Synchronization capabilities of backhaul technologies ...29 Millimetre wave: 60, 70-80 GHz .......................................... 29 Microwave: 6-60 GHz ......................................................... 30 Sub-6 GHz licensed spectrum ............................................. 30 Satellite ........................................................................... 31 FTTX (e.g. EPON, GPON) .................................................... 31 Fiber (active components) .................................................. 32 Digital subscriber line (XDSL) .............................................. 32 Leased connectivity ........................................................... 33 Service impact ................................................................34 LTE-FDD ........................................................................... 34 LTE-TDD .......................................................................... 36 Holdover .......................................................................... 37 Synchronization deployment use cases ..........................42
7.1 7.2 7.3
Synchronization services implemented by mobile operators .... 42 Synchronization services offered by backhaul providers .......... 42 Synchronization services implemented by mobile operators and backed-up by backhaul providers .................................. 43 8. Synchronization maintenance and service assurance .....45 8.1 Synchronization maintenance.............................................. 46 8.2 Synchronization service assurance ....................................... 46 9. Conclusions and future work ..........................................48 References ................................................................................49
Tables
Table 1-1 Table 2-1 Table 2-2 Table 2-3 Table 3-1 Table 6-1 Frequency and phase synchronization requirements for different ran standards ...................................................................................... 2 Targeted capacity use cases ............................................................. 6 Indoor coverage cases ..................................................................... 8 Outdoor coverage cases .................................................................. 9 Synchronization techniques .............................................................10 Oscillator phase stability .................................................................41
Figures
Figure 3-1 Figure 3-2 Figure 4-1 Figure 6-1 Figure 6-2 Figure 6-3 Figure 7-1 Figure 7-2 Figure 7-3 Figure 7-4 Figure 8-1 Figure 8-2 Figure 8-3 Figure 8-4 IEEE 1588 protocol ........................................................................12 Physical layer clock distribution .......................................................18 Reference model architecture from G.8271.1.....................................27 Subset of the time/frequency downlink map ......................................34 Sub-carrier overlap with frequency difference between cells ................35 Special sub-frame ..........................................................................37 Synchronization service implemented at the mobile operators access network ........................................................................................42 Synchronization service implemented by the backhaul provider ...........43 Synchronization service implemented at the mobile operators access network and a backup service implemented by the backhaul provider ..44 Synchronization service implemented at the mobile operators access network and a backup service implemented by the mobile operator .....44 deployment case 1 network limits measurement, option A ..................45 Deployment case 1 network limits measurement, option B ..................45 Deployment case 1 network limits measurement, option C ..................46 Upper/lower KPIs ...........................................................................47
Acknowledgements
We would particularly like to thank the following members that provided significant contributions to this paper. In alphabetical order: ADVA Optical Networking, Airvana, AT&T, BlinQ Networks, Calnex Solutions, CBNL, Ceragon, Comcast, Ericsson, iDirect, ip.access, Nokia-Siemens Networks, Perpetual Solutions, Rakon, Siklu, Sprint, Symmetricom, u-Blox
1. LTE synchronization requirements

1.1 General cellular radio synchronization requirements
In frequency-division duplex (FDD) systems the downlink transmission and the uplink transmission take places in separated frequency bands. Frequency synchronization was needed for second and third generation air interfaces, and continues to play a critical role in LTE FDD systems. The LTE downlink air interface relies on the orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) transmission technique in the downlink. Single carrier-frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) has been selected for the uplink direction. OFDMA presents tremendous benefits in terms of high spectral efficiency, minimal implementation complexity, support of advanced features such as frequency selective scheduling, multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) transmission, immunity to multipath interference and interference coordination. However, these advantages require that the orthogonality between subcarriers is strictly preserved. In OFDMA systems, synchronization is required between the eNodeB and the user equipment (UE) because the sample timing errors can destroy the orthogonality between the subcarriers. The orthogonality between the subcarriers prevents overlapping of the subcarriers spectra, which would result in interference between subcarriers. Any mismatch between the eNodeB and the UE oscillators and/or Doppler shift due to the mobility of the UE generates frequency offsets between the UE and eNodeB and a misalignment between the reference frequencies of the eNodeB and the UE. A frequency offset can also lead to dropped calls during handover between eNodeBs. During the handover procedure a UE needs to determine the timing and frequency parameters of the eNodeB in order to be able to demodulate the downlink signal and also to transmit correctly on the uplink. One of its first steps is to go through a cell search procedure, which includes finding the centre frequency of the RF carrier from those defined by the standard. The frequency stability tolerance of the UE oscillator is typically maintained at 0.1 ppm to minimise cost. Its stability is maintained by tracking the eNodeB carrier frequency. In time-division duplex (TDD) systems, downlink and uplink transmission occur in the same channel but in different time slots. Phase synchronization is therefore required in LTE TDD to avoid interference between the uplink and the downlink transmissions on neighbouring eNodeBs. The general synchronization requirements for both frequency and phase and time are listed in Table 1-1 below. Note that these are the requirements of the radio technology, and not the budget allocated to the synchronization system, which will be correspondingly lower. While the focus of this white paper is on the requirements for LTE small cells, the requirements are broadly similar to those of predecessor technologies, such as GSM, UMTS and CDMA. The synchronization requirements of those technologies are shown in Table 1-1 for reference.
Report title: Synchronization for LTE Small Cells Issue date: 8 November 2013 Version: 0.40
Radio technology
BTS type Macro BTS
Frequency Phase accuracy difference 50ppb 100ppb 3.69s (optional) 50ppb 100ppb
Time accuracy
Technical specification
Notes
GSM
Pico BTS All Macro
Frequency 3GPP TS 45.010 [ 2] accuracy at the air Clause 5.1 interface Optional BTS 3GPP TS 45.010 [2] alignment of 1 Clause 5.2 symbol period Frequency 3GPP2 C.S0010 [ 3] accuracy at the air Clause 4.1 interface 3s (norm) Pilot time 3GPP2 C.S0010 [3] 10s alignment error to Clause 4.2 (max) CDMA system time
CDMA2000
Pico/Femto All Wide Area
50ppb 100ppb 100ppb 250ppb 50ppb 100ppb 250ppb
WCDMAFDD
Med. Range Local Area Home Wide Area Local Area Home
Frequency accuracy at the air 3GPP TS 25.104 [ 4] interface, over one Clause 6.3.1 timeslot period (0.67ms) Frequency accuracy at the air 3GPP TS 25.105 [ 5] interface, over one Clause 6.3.1 timeslot period (0.67ms) 3s Maximum 3GPP TS 25.123 [ 6] deviation in frame Clause 7.2 start times at the air interface Relative phase 3GPP TS 25.402 [ 7] difference at the Clause 6.1.2.1 synchronization input 3GPP TS 25.346 [ 8] Optional feature Clause 7.1B.2.1 Release 8 onwards Frequency accuracy at the air 3GPP TS 36.104 [ 9] interface, over one Clause 6.5.1 sub-frame period (1ms) 10s 3s 1.33 + Tprop s 1 3s 3GPP TS 36.133 [ 10] Clause 7.4.2 Maximum deviation in frame start times at the air interface (for cells on the same frequency with overlapping coverage areas) Maximum time difference between eNodeB frame boundaries and CDMA system time
WCDMATDD (including TD-SCDMA)
All
All WCDMA MBSFN LTE (FDD and TDD) Wide Area Med. Range Local Area Home Wide area, >3km radius LTE-TDD Wide area, 3km radius Home BS, >500m rad. Home BS, 500m rad. LTE handoff to CDMA2000 (if req'd.) Table 1-1 50ppb 100ppb 100ppb 250ppb
2.5s
12.8us
10s
3GPP TS 36.133 [10] Clause 7.5.2
Frequency and phase synchronization requirements for different ran standards
Tprop is the propagation delay between the Home BS and the cell selected as the network listening synchronization source
1.2
LTE co-ordination requirements
OFDMA offers high spectral efficiency by N=1 reuse of the entire radio channel in all cells, but can also suffer from high inter-cell interference (ICI) at the edge of the cells. This reduces user throughput. Coordinated multipoint (CoMP) is a set of techniques that has been designed to increase data throughput, especially at cell edges where interference can be significant. These techniques can be applied between eNodeBs (i.e. distributed baseband architecture) or, in case of the centralized baseband architecture (e.g. remote radio units connected via CPRI to the common baseband unit), between the radio units connected to the common baseband unit. In case of both the distributed and centralized baseband architectures, CoMP requires a cooperation mechanism between radio units, and can be applied to both downlink and uplink. For a given time, frequency resource, CoMP may result in transmissions from (or to) just one radio unit (coordinated scheduling/coordinated beamforming), or from (or to) several radio units (joint processing). The CoMP technique requires the radio units to be synchronised in frequency to avoid inter-carrier interference and also in phase to avoid inter-symbol interference. Co-operating radio units should be close enough in order to avoid signals with differential propagation delay arriving outside of the OFDM cyclic prefix. Note that for some of the CoMP features very stringent latency requirements between the cooperating radio units also apply (e.g. submillisecond). Inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) was introduced in 3GPP release 8 to mitigate interference from neighbouring cells. Early ICIC in 3GPP Release 8 and 9 deals only with the interference between data channels. 3GPP release 10 takes into account the interference between the control channels as well. It introduced improved interference management features, named enhanced ICIC (eICIC), and additional functionality to manage interference between macro-eNodeB and pico-eNodeBs in heterogeneous network (HetNet) scenarios. eICIC requires the eNodeBs to transmit with phase-aligned carriers. MBSFN is a transmission mode where multicast or broadcast data may be transmitted as a multi-cell transmission over a synchronised single-frequency network (SFN). It is typically expected to be used for mobile TV broadcasts of live events. The transmissions from the multiple cells must be synchronised such that they arrive at the UE within the OFDM cyclic prefix, avoiding inter-symbol interference. The phase synchronization requirements associated with CoMP, eICIC and MBSFN features have not been agreed by 3GPP, although values between 1 and 5s have been suggested in some contributions. However, in a liaison statement to ITU-T (RP120884, RAN56, June 2012), it was stated that Currently no studies are on-going in RAN WG4 and RAN WG4 has currently not defined any new synchronization related requirement with a potential impact on the solutions for synchronization in packet networks (i.e. frequency error on the transmitted signal as per TS 36.104, or cell phase synchronization accuracy as per TS 36.133 still apply). The main reason for this is that there is no hard limit where these techniques stop working that can be defined in a standard specification. The limit is to some extent dependent on the implementation. Therefore, certain vendor-specific requirements may apply for phase synchronization of LTE co-ordination technologies.
1.3
Holdover requirements of LTE small cells
Traditionally, the clocks required for the base stations are derived from physical layer connections or references like global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). When all synchronization references from the network are lost or declared unusable, the synchronization mechanism enters into a holdover state where the system generates clocks from the last known good reference, with the last good frequency and phase information available. It is assumed that there is no major frequency offset before entering the holdover. The holdover state maintains the frequency stability and phase accuracy requirements within the specified limits for a period of time. In general, the standards requirements suggest distributing the effect of holdover impairments across to various system elements. The holdover requirements in the telecom standards (e.g. G.8263, [ 11]) budget for a transient phase change and for an initial holdover accuracy related to the synchronization and servo algorithms. They also include other parameters such as the effect of temperature variations, aging and frequency drift at constant temperature relating to the oscillators. For CDMA2000, C.S0010 [ 12] defines that the base station should maintain the transmit timing accuracy to within 10s of CDMA system time for a period of eight hours following loss of the synchronization reference (clause 4.2.1.1). For other technologies, including LTE, the length of time during which the frequency and phase accuracy must be maintained during holdover is not defined in standards, but depends on the service provider's operational requirements.
2. Small cell use cases and deployment scenarios

From the Small Cell Forums Backhaul requirement white paper [ 13], small cell use cases are grouped into four major categories comprising of targeted capacity hotspot, indoor coverage, outdoor coverage and quality of experience enhancement (nontargeted capacity). The use cases and related deployment/synchronization scenario examples are described in the following sections.
2.1
Targeted capacity hotspot
A hotspot is deployed to add capacity to networks and fill spectrum gap, ease congestion from the macrocell in congested traffic areas such as urban downtown, traffic intersections, etc. and utilise existing spectrum effectively. Example use cases include: Dense urban underlay in congested outdoor urban deployments. This provides offload to specific macrocells, but requires new backhaul access to street furniture i.e., street lamps, traffic lights, CCTV sites, payphones or notice boards. A typical area would be any concentrated traffic with peak hours such as Times Square in New York or Oxford Street in London. Other candidate locations would be urban access highways at rush hour or local commuting at airports/train stations where a high-turn-over of customers is expected. Wi-fi complement complements the existing public Wi-Fi access points, i.e. those deployed in hotspots with nomadic (non-mobile) characteristics such as at Starbucks, McDonalds, and other contracted locations. It allows normal voice traffic to route via a more economical network than the macro, and offloads data traffic via Wi-Fi.
This hotspot use case is a primary driver for an urban or enterprise type of small cell deployment, instead of residential. The synchronization requirements are therefore different. For example, a residential small cell may require 250 parts per billion (ppb) for frequency accuracy, an enterprise small cell may require a more demanding 100 ppb standard and an urban small cell, emulating the macro cell, may have an even more stringent requirement of 50 ppb. Dense urban underlays are provided to enhance capacity, and therefore may utilise full co-ordination techniques such as eICIC and CoMP. As noted in section 1.2, time and phase requirements have not yet been agreed, although values between 1 and 5s have been suggested by some vendors. PTP, GNSS and cellular network listening are possible synchronization techniques for this class of use cases.
Targeted capacity use case
Co-ordination requirements (e.g. eICIC, CoMP)
Backhaul type
View of sky (GNSS availability)
Macrocell visibility
Sync requirements Frequency Time/phase 3s phase for TDD
Dense urban underlay
Yes max capacity required
NLOS/LOS microwave, wired (e.g. DSL, GPON)
Restricted (may be urban canyon)
Yes
100ppb
1-5s phase for coordination 10s time for CDMA fallback 3s phase for TDD
Wi-Fi complement
No
Wi-Fi/LAN
Restricted (may be indoor)
Yes
100ppb
10s time for CDMA fallback
Table 2-1
Targeted capacity use cases
2.2
Indoor coverage
The indoor coverage use case is deployed to improve indoor public spaces with steady daily nomadic (non-mobile) traffic and occasional peaks. Indoor deployments may include enclosed structures that are isolated from the macrocell outdoor coverage, buildings with limited macrocell coverage, and open structures such as stadiums. Examples of indoor use cases are: Dense urban indoor venues such as stadiums, convention centres, shopping malls, office atriums, multi-tenant buildings, small to medium offices, casinos/hotels or college campuses. While this could also be a candidate for a distributed antenna system (DAS) system, the cost may be excessive to run new fibre. Generally, Ethernet cabling exists throughout the building and would be ideal for deployment of either small cell or enterprise femtocell. As these venues are generally made of glass and metal, external penetration from macrocells is problematic to impossible. Dense suburban residences, such as large multi-family apartment complexes provide particular challenges because of the closely packed nature of the small cells. This may require interference co-ordination and therefore time/phase synchronization. Distributed suburban facilities, such as individual houses, shops or offices have lower interference challenges because the small cells will be more widely spaced. Mobile small cells, covering indoor coverage in moving public transportation systems such as buses, trains and planes. This is somewhat similar to a relay node in that the penetration loss from the exterior of the vehicle can be prevented. Also, by adopting the appropriate backhaul method, the high-speed mobile users can be supported with seamless handover. Backhaul placement (e.g. in a high-speed train) can be in the form of wireless solutions with static hubs on fixed light poles spaced a certain distance apart (along the high-speed train track) and a mobile remote unit on each cars rooftop.
The traditional backhaul delivery could prove to be a challenge for an indoor use case. For example, small cells may have no direct line of sight to satellites or there may be a weak GNSS signal inside the building, making GNSS-based synchronization difficult.
Packet-based synchronization techniques like IEEE 1588 require that the PTP grandmaster is close to the building entry points to reduce network asymmetry and the consequent time error. For dense urban venues, it may be possible to place the GNSS receiver on top of the building, using the same GNSS receiver to generate PTP packets (i.e. the GNSS unit itself becomes the local PTP grandmaster). The synchronization packets can then be distributed over Ethernet LAN to multiple small cells. Residential developments such as apartment blocks are unlikely to have the same building LAN, therefore each small cell will be backhauled and synchronised independently. The closely packed nature of the small cells may require interference co-ordination. As GNSS capability may be restricted due to being indoors, PTP may need to be used. Placing the PTP grandmaster as close as possible to the building (e.g. at the local network aggregation point), will be important to minimise asymmetry and accumulated time error. For more distributed environments, small cells may be used to cover local not-spots caused by terrain or building shadows. Such small cells will have lower interference issues because they are more widely spaced.
Indoor coverage use case Dense urban indoor venue
Co-ordination requirements (e.g. eICIC, CoMP) Yes max capacity required
Backhaul type
View of sky (GNSS availability)
Macrocell visibility
Sync requirements Frequency Time/phase 3s phase for TDD 100ppb 1-5s phase for coordination 3s phase for TDD 250ppb 1-5s phase for coordination 3s phase for TDD 250ppb 1-5s phase for coordination 3s phase for TDD (if overlapping)
No indoors LAN Yes single external point
No indoors Yes single external point Possible (may be restricted indoors) No (no need for small cell if visible) No (no need for small cell if visible) Intermittent
Small office
Yes ICIC or eICIC (in dense office blocks)
LAN
Dense suburban residences
Yes ICIC or eICIC
Wired (DSL, GPON)
Distributed suburban residences Mobile (train, plane) Table 2-2
No
Wired (DSL, GPON) NLOS/LOS wireless, satellite
250ppb
No
Yes
100ppb
TBD
Indoor coverage cases
2.3
Outdoor coverage
The outdoor coverage use case is deployed to provide coverage in concert with existing macrocell coverage or in isolation of the macrocells (in disaster recovery support, say). Examples of outdoor use cases are: Exclusive/restricted development such as a country club (golf community) with high-end residences that do not, or have not previously, allowed traditional cell site structures in or adjacent to the property. Obviously, this creates problems in covering the location, especially in the home, as customers expect. Rural/notspot area, i.e. small cells deployed in an isolated town or village with no macrocell coverage. 2 Distributed suburban environment and/or hilly terrain (with customer or operator provided transport) such as residential areas, restaurants or small businesses). Small cells may be used to cover local not-spots caused by terrain or building shadows. The suburban neighbourhood is an example supporting dynamic upgrade of residential areas with recurring high evening peak traffic on mobile devices. Deployment is challenging with minimal locations available due to zoning variance and neighbourhood resistance. Such situations may require stealth sites in limited locations such as church
As defined by population density (not the size of localities). According to the FCC Code of Federal Regulations (Title 47, parts 22 and 27), a rural area is defined as the service area with population density of no more than 100 persons per square mile. Similarly, EU and ITU defines a rural area as a place with 150 inhabitants per square km or less. http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-d/opb/ind/D-IND-WTDR-2010-PDF-E.pdf
steeples, flag poles, and tree poles. Backhaul placement could also be via aerial cables, street light fixtures, etc. Disaster recovery support (utilising MW or any available, deployable broadband backhaul) providing rapid mobilisation of mobile services to a disaster HQ or staging area while awaiting possible traditional cell-on-wheels (COW) deployment, if necessary. Most immediate initial needs are for command-post communications and COW deployment, which typically takes several hours to days (depending on backhaul, availability, access, etc.). Backhaul placement options are CCTV sites, notice boards, building walls, etc.
Co-ordination requirements (e.g. eICIC, CoMP) No No Backhaul type View of sky (GNSS availability) Yes Yes Macrocell visibility Sync requirements Frequency 100ppb 100ppb 3s phase for TDD 10s time for CDMA fallback Time/phase 3s phase for TDD
Outdoor coverage use case Exclusive development Rural notspot Distributed suburban Disaster recovery Table 2-3
Wired Microwave, wired Microwave, wired Microwave, wired
No No
No
Yes
Patchy
100ppb
No
Yes
No
100ppb
Outdoor coverage cases
2.4
Non-targeted capacity (quality of experience enhancement)
This use case is engineered to enhance user perceived experience with respect to service availability and not primarily designed for targeted capacity. The use case can be thought of as a range extension for macrocells where peripheral coverage areas at cell edge required quality of service (QoS) and enhanced data throughput. The cell type could be a HetNet underlay coordinated as a seamless part of the macrocells. This is sometimes referred to as peppered capacity. Dense urban, suburban, and dense suburban in both indoor and outdoor and exclusive/restricted properties exhibit the quality of experience (QoE) enhancement examples that allow better customer perceived experience on service availability. Frequency and phase synchronization are required for hotspot use case. These cases are all summarised in the tables above.
2.5
Summary
To understand the synchronization requirements, typical use cases of small cell types and their characteristics were given. This section identified different backhaul and synchronization protocols that are required to support various small cell networks.
3. Synchronization technology options

There are a number of different technologies available to allow frequency, phase and time synchronization between base stations. Some of these are network based, while others are satellite or radio based techniques, and hence do not impact the backhaul network. Table 3-1 lists some of the available techniques. These are described in more detail in the subsequent sections. In some cases, hybrid schemes may be deployed, combining two or more of the individual techniques. These may help improve reliability and accuracy, addressing the weaknesses of the individual techniques. Hybrid schemes are discussed in Section 4.
Technique Frequency sync capable Phase sync capable Time sync capable
Synchronization distributed over the backhaul network: Precision Time Protocol, PTP (IEEE1588) [ 14] Network Time Protocol, NTP [ 15] Synchronous Ethernet, SyncE [22] X X
Synchronization not using the backhaul: GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite Systems) Cellular Network Listening Miniature Atomic Frequency References Table 3-1 Synchronization techniques X X X
3.1
IEEE1588 precision time protocol
The IEEE1588 precision time protocol (PTP, defined in IEEE1588, [14]) enables the accurate distribution of time and frequency over a packet network (e.g. Ethernet or IP). It was originally introduced to synchronise networked computer systems by using a master reference time source and a protocol by which slave devices can estimate their time offset from the master time reference. It achieves this by sending a series of timestamped messages between the master and the slave devices, and vice versa. 3.1.1 Technology introduction
PTP was introduced to synchronise networked computer systems using a master clock reference time and a protocol by which slave clocks can estimate their offset from the master clock. The clock servo of a PTP slave uses a series of time-offset estimates to co-ordinate the local slave time with the master reference master time. A sequence of timestamped messages is used to estimate the time offset from the master to the slave. There are four basic messages, described below and shown pictorially in Figure 3-1. SYNC message A message transmitted at a regular rate from the master to all slaves. Contains a timestamp
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FOLLOW_UP message
DELAY_REQ message
DELAY_RESP message
identifying the time of message transmission from the master measured in nanoseconds from a known point in time known as the epoch. Most PTP systems use the time 00.00.00 1 January 1970 as the epoch. A message transmitted after each SYNC message, containing a more precise version of the timestamp, obtained by measuring the exact time of transmission. Some PTP clocks are capable of modifying the timestamp in the SYNC message on-the-fly as it is transmitted, and therefore do not need to transmit the FOLLOW_UP message. Such clocks are called one-step clocks. Clocks that need to use the FOLLOW_UP message are called two-step clocks. In systems where a security protocol is used to guarantee the integrity of the timing messages, it may be necessary to use FOLLOW_UP messages, since security protocols prohibit modification of messages after transmission. (Delay Request) A message from the slave to the master, requesting that the master inform the slave of the precise time of arrival of the message at the master. This is used to calculate the roundtrip time of the master-slave route. (Delay Response) A message from the master to a specific slave in response to the DELAY_REQ, containing the time of arrival of the DELAY_REQ message at the master.
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Master Clock Time

t1 Sync message
Slave Clock Time

Data at Slave Clock
t2 Follow_Up message containing true value of t1
t2
t1 , t2 Delay_Req message t3 t1 , t2 , t3
t4 Delay_Resp message
containing value of t4
time
t1 , t2 , t3 , t4
Figure 3-1
IEEE 1588 protocol
The messages yield four timestamps (t1, t2, t3 and t4) as shown in Figure 3-1. From these it is possible to calculate the round trip time for messages from the master to the slave, and back to the master (assuming that the slave clock is advancing at a similar rate to the master). The time offset is then estimated using the assumption that the one-way delay is half the round trip delay, and used to correct the slave timebase to align to the master. Note that if the forward and reverse paths are of different lengths, then this will introduce an error into the time offset estimate. There is no information within the PTP protocol itself that allows the offset to be corrected for this asymmetry, although the slave may be able to make use of other information available to infer the size of the offset. Round trip delay Oneway delay estimate = (t2 t1) + (t4 t3) = round trip delay 2 = (t2 t1) + (t4 t3) 2 Slave time offset estimate = t2 (t1 + one-way delay)
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= (t2 t1) (t4 t3) 2 Although PTP is intended for use to distribute a time reference around a network, it may also be used to distribute frequency (i.e. syntonization of a slave node to a master reference clock). It achieves this by observation of how fast the master clock is advancing (as seen in the timestamps of the SYNC or DELAY_RESP messages), and adjusting the slave clock frequency to match this rate. 3.1.2 PTP performance
There are several sources of noise in a PTP system that can lead to time and/or frequency errors in the output. These include: Jitter and wander in the reference clock source Timestamp errors at the grandmaster Packet delay variation in the network Timestamp errors at the slave Local oscillator noise at the slave Asymmetrical delays (different downstream to upstream delay)
The accuracy of the recovered time and/or frequency depends on the ability to filter out these disparate sources of noise. PTP grandmasters are normally locked to a primary reference source, such as GNSS engine, providing an extremely accurate time source to begin with. Timestamp errors are minimised by using hardware timestamping at the MAC layer of the network interface. This eliminates the additional delay that would be introduced by the software stack in a wholly software-based system. Local oscillator noise can be reduced by using precision, stable oscillators such as temperature-compensated crystal oscillators (TCXOs) or oven-compensated crystal oscillators (OCXOs). The main issue affecting the accuracy and stability of slave clocks when using packet timing protocols is the packet delay variation (PDV) in the network. The variation in delay from packet to packet through the network induces noise in the slaves perception of the time at the master. Constant delay would cause a fixed offset. However, variable delay causes a varying estimate of the offset. The performance of the slave is affected by both the magnitude of this variation, and how effective the slaves filter is at removing this noise. Intelligent filtering algorithms for removing packet delay variation can deliver time accuracies in the sub-microsecond range over a suitable network. ITU-T Recommendation G.8260 [ 16] describes several metrics for characterising the amount of PDV in a network, in terms relevant for a PTP clock recovering a stable frequency from the network. Bi-directional metrics are currently being discussed to quantify the ability to produce an accurate time or phase reference. 3.1.3 On-path support
While PTP can be run end-to-end, the IEEE1588-2008 standard defines three means of reducing the PDV-induced error through the provision of on-path support. These are either strategically-placed devices along the path from grandmaster to client, or intelligent switches or routers that can measure the transmission delay of timing packets along the path. Boundary clocks Boundary clocks recover the clock from the PTP flow, and re-generate the
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flow, essentially acting as masters to all the clients on the network below the boundary clock. Boundary clocks were introduced in PTP version 1 to allow the flows to traverse routers onto different network domains, but without impairing the quality of the clock. End-to-end transparent clocks End-to-end transparent clocks forward all messages in the PTP flow transparently, exactly like a conventional switch device. However, they also calculate a residence time, which is the length of time the packet takes to traverse the switch. This residence time is added to a correction field as the packet leaves the switch. When the packet arrives at the client, this correction field contains the sum of all the residence times through each transparent clock. This allows the client to compute the delay through the network, removing much of the uncertainty caused by packet delay variation. Peer-to-peer transparent clocks Peer-to-peer transparent clocks also calculate the delay along each network link, in addition to the residence time measured through the device. They achieve this by exchanging peer delay messages (Pdelay_req and Pdelay_resp) with the corresponding peer-to-peer transparent clock at the other end of the link. This link delay is added into the correction field with the residence time, such that by the time the message reaches the client device, the correction field contains the full path delay for the message. ITU profiles for frequency, time and phase
3.1.4
IEEE1588-2008 [14] introduces the concept of a PTP profile. The idea is to specify particular combinations of options and attribute values to support a given application, e.g. the synchronization of audio/video equipment in a broadcast studio environment. The purpose of the profile is described in IEEE1588-2008, clause 19.3.1.1: The purpose of a PTP profile is to allow organisations to specify specific selections of attribute values and optional features of PTP that, when using the same transport protocol, inter-work and achieve a performance that meets the requirements of a particular application. A PTP profile is a set of required options, prohibited options, and the ranges and defaults of configurable attributes. Profiles specifications shall be consistent with the specifications in 19.2.1 and 19.2.2. ITU-T Recommendation G.8265.1 [ 17] defines a profile, colloquially known as the telecom profile, aimed at distribution of accurate frequency over packet networks. This is primarily intended for use with synchronization of cellular base stations, where the main requirement is to operate the radio interface at a frequency accuracy of within 50 parts per billion. The ITU-T is also working on two profiles for accurate time distribution in draft Recommendations G.8275.1 and G.8275.2. The first profile requires the use of boundary clocks at every node in the network between the grandmaster and the slave. This significantly reduces the accumulation of noise along the path, although at the expense of requiring the entire network to be replaced. The second profile requires more limited support, allowing it to be used over existing networks without on-path support. The second profile boundary clocks requires boundary clocks only in some strategic locations along the path.
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3.2
Network time protocol (NTP)
The term NTP confusingly refers to both a protocol (currently at version 4, as defined in RFC 5905 [ 18] and its related RFCs) and to a software implementation that uses the protocol to provide time synchronization between computer hosts. The RFC includes both the on-the-wire protocol and the definition of the processing in the client of the received timestamp information (the servo or filter algorithm in IEEE1588-speak). Both the protocol and the software originate from an R&D project that started in the early days of the networked hosts with the aim of synchronising the time clocks of nodes connected to a general wide-area network. The home page of the project is www.ntp.org. 3.2.1 The NTP protocol
The NTP protocol is typically used as a client-server protocol (although it is common for a client to also act as a server for other clients, and it may be used in both broadcast and symmetric modes too). NTP is based on a classical clock hierarchy: a stratum 0 clock is a device (e.g. GNSS) which provides a clock source to a stratum 1 server to which it is connected and which runs an NTP-compliant server. Each client NTP server is then a stratum level higher than the server it synchronises. In this way it is also possible for a set of NTP peers to be defined and for them to automatically sort out which are to be clients to which servers, based on the stratum information carried in the protocol. The protocol in client-server mode is based on a single request/response message pair, initiated by the client. The messages are carried over UDP on the IANA-assigned port 123. The client and server note and exchange in the relevant messages: 1. 2. 3. 4. The The The The client timestamps when the request is sent server timestamps when the request is received server timestamps when the response is sent client timestamps when the response is received
The response includes all four timestamps and the client uses the timestamps to estimate current time error from the server. The estimate is accurate if the delay paths are symmetrical. The timestamps may be applied in software or in NTP-aware Ethernet adapter hardware to increase accuracy (although in a WAN environment the local software timestamping errors in a client or a server tend to be small compared to the jitter introduced by the network hops through the WAN). The messages also contain a reference timestamp of when the system clock was last adjusted. The protocol timestamps are conformant to the earlier NTP version 3 specification (RFC 1305, [ 19]). The latter uses a 32 bit field to represent the number of seconds since January 1, 1900. This representation will wrap around on Tuesday 19 January 2038, but it is planned to reuse the MSB zero for time after the wrap point. A second 32 bit field is used to represent fractions of a second, giving a resolution of about 232 picoseconds. NTP version 4 also introduces a 128 bit date and timestamp format with greater range and flexibility in extension fields in the messages. The protocol messages include: A header with protocol version, mode of operation, stratum (of server)
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A leap second indicator, warning of impending leap second insertion/removal A precision field which describes the underlying clock precision as a signed power of two seconds (e.g. the value -20 is used for a clock derived from a 1MHz crystal) A root delay field indicating the estimated total round-trip delay from the primary reference source (16 bit seconds and 16 bit fractions of a second) A root dispersion field, which provides an estimate of the unsigned maximum error due to clock frequency tolerance (16 bit seconds and 16 bit fractions of a second) A reference identifier field, which identifies the type of the root primary reference (e.g. GNSS) or the IPv4 address (or IPv6 hash of the address) of the server with which this server synchronises.
The protocol also includes an optional authentication of the packets using a 128 bit message digest based on pre-shared keys between client and server(s), together with a 32 bit key identifier to allow servers to work with multiple keys. The protocol allows for server discovery using broadcast and multicast packets. 3.2.2 The NTP algorithm
The NTP algorithm is based on filtering a set of measurements taken from a set of possible servers. Unlike PTP, a filter algorithm is defined in the RFC and is based on the needs of accurate time synchronization of clocks of varying precision and accuracy over a general WAN. There are many magic numbers and heuristic limits applied at stages of the algorithm that are the result of a lot of experience in real-world scenarios by the algorithm designers. SNTP frees the designer to implement an alternative algorithm optimized for particular backhaul characteristics whilst maintaining general compatibility with NTP servers. Examples of performance of such algorithms are provided in the previous Small Cell Forum whitepaper, Femtocell synchronization and location [1], and in presentations made at synchronizationrelated conferences (e.g. Packet synchronization in IP radio access networks, reference [ 20]). The client performs a poll of all configured servers with a poll period varying from 24 seconds (16s) to 217 seconds (~36h), with the poll period being derived by the algorithm, and extending as the local clock and server clock both become accurate enough that clock drift is estimated to be small over the poll period. A key concept in the algorithm is that of the dispersion, defined as a maximum error due to both frequency tolerance and time since the last update. Time samples from each server are filtered initially by ordering the last eight samples in increasing round trip delay (on the premise that the smaller the round trip delay the smaller the likely jitter, and thus overall error), and the estimated dispersion measurements from each server are derived by weighting the dispersions of this ordered list, and a time and frequency offset calculation is performed. The results are then combined with and compared to results from other servers, and a single current peer is selected as the primary source, with the estimate of actual accuracy being dependant on how close this peer is to the combined result. A local clock is then updated in either PLL or FLL mode, but for high accuracy local clocks the PLL mode is always used. The actual adjustment is based on the overall filtered and combined errors measured to all monitored servers, but is heavily influenced by the selected peer accuracy.
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In order to speed convergence, the initial time accuracy is improved by using a set of measurements at start-up, and starting with a small initial poll period. 3.2.3 Performance
Although NTP is designed for time synchronization, it has been designed to achieve this by accurately aligning clock frequencies too. The use of highly non-linear heuristic-based filters to derive the estimates of frequency and time errors copes with a wide variety of underlying network conditions and performance, and can do this with very infrequent message exchanges. Generally speaking when both the server and the client each have highly stable clocks, and the client clock is pulled to within 100ppb of the server clock, the poll period has been extended by the algorithm to several hours, and typically up to the maximum allowed, and as the client clock stability decreases, so does the poll period. NTP copes well with WANs that have a small number of points of congestion (which introduce significant independent jitter), but degrades as the number of congestion points increase (but this is mainly an inherent timing synchronization issue for all such network-based synchronization methods). With very minor adjustments to both the filter algorithm and to the manner in which the PLL adjustment is applied to a VCXO (as opposed to a software clock model that the NTP software uses), NTP is capable of disciplining an oscillator to an accuracy significantly better that its inherent accuracy, and doing so with relatively low packet rates (and thus also server load). The main weaknesses of NTP are its start-up performance (for an uncalibrated crystal it can take many hours to achieve 100ppb), and the way its performance degrades as the client crystal inherent accuracy degrades (it essentially provides a roughly constant improvement in performance for a given network condition).
3.3
Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE)
Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE for short) builds on the existing Ethernet standards and is backward compatible with them. The basic difference between native Ethernet and SyncE is the transmit PHY transmit clock. In SyncE the transmit clock is synchronised to a traceable Stratum-1 clock, instead of a free-running crystal oscillator, providing a timing signal with a long-term frequency accuracy of better than one part in 1011. Synchronous Ethernet is standardized in a series of ITU-T recommendations: G.8261 Introduction and basic concepts [ 21] G.8262 Ethernet equipment clock definition [ 22] G.8264 Synchronization status messaging (SSM) and functional modelling [ 23]
3.3.1 Physical layer clocking Both NTP and PTP use packets (or frames) to transmit time information through the network. Any variation in the time taken for those packets to reach the client nodes creates an error in the time as perceived by the client device. Therefore the client requires smart filtering algorithms to reduce the effect of this noise to a minimum. Synchronous Ethernet (or SyncE) avoids this error by transmitting the clock over the physical layer. Full-duplex Ethernet transmits a continuous clock through the network medium (e.g. copper or fibre). Typically this clock is driven from a free-running crystal oscillator, which may have a frequency error of up to 100ppm. However, if it is driven from a known frequency reference (e.g. a timing signal traceable to a PRC),
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it can be used to transmit an accurate frequency from one node to the next. This can be used to create a synchronization chain, distributing a traceable frequency reference throughout the network.
Rx
Tx Frequency reference
Rx
Tx
<100ppm oscillator
EEC
Native Ethernet PHY Clocking

Figure 3-2 Physical layer clock distribution
Ethernet Equipment Clock (EEC)
It should be noted that SyncE can be operated over any medium, provided that medium transmits a continuous clock (e.g. fibre, copper, microwave, etc.). Where the medium is half duplex, or the clock is squelched between packets (e.g. energyefficient Ethernet, IEEE802.3az), then the clock frequency is not preserved and the SyncE chain is broken. 3.3.2 Compatibility with SONET/SDH This use of the physical layer clock is comparable to SONET/SDH, where the physical layer clock is also used to distribute a traceable frequency reference through the network. The properties of the SyncE clock in each node (known as the Ethernet equipment clock, or EEC) have been specified to be precisely the same as the SONET/SDH Equipment Clock (SEC). This means the design rules for a synchronization chain involving SyncE are the same as those for SONET/SDH, and makes it possible to create a hybrid network with some SyncE and some SONET/SDH segments. Each SONET/SDH link in the synchronization chain may be directly replaced by a SyncE link. 3.3.3 Management Synchronous Ethernet uses the same 4-bit message synchronization status message (SSM) codes as SONET/SDH, allowing message compatibility in hybrid networks. This allows the traceability of the clock to be determined and for information on the status of the clock at each stage in the chain to be passed on down the chain. These messages are sent in specially defined OAM frames utilising the Ethernet slow protocol, defined in G.8264 [23]. The messages use a type length value (TLV) structure to allow new message extensions to be defined in the future. The same SSM codes are also used in the PTP-based frequency synchronization mechanism described in G.8265.1 [17], allowing mixed chains of SONET/SDH, SyncE and PTP to be created while maintaining full traceability back to the PRC. 3.3.4 Pros and cons Pros: Traceable to a primary reference clock, with nominal fractional frequency accuracy of 1 x 10-11 Unaffected by PDV, and factors such as congestion or traffic load Compatible with traditional synchronization systems such as SONET/SDH
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Cons:
Compatible with PTP synchronization based on the G.8265.1 profile [17] Frequency distribution only, not time and phase Requires every node in the chain to be SyncE-capable
3.4
GNSS for telecom timing
GNSS systems such as GPS have been deployed to provide accurate location and time reference anywhere on earth. They are designed to work in all weather conditions to provide position and time provided there is an unobstructed view of four or more GNSS satellites. In practice, even under obstructed conditions, attenuated and reflected signals can be used by modern receivers, albeit with reduced accuracy, although assisted GNSS (AGNSS) techniques are typically needed. Moreover, when position is known, (either supplied as assistance or obtained as a fix) specialised timing receivers can provide or maintain time to an accuracy commensurate with the position uncertainty using a single GNSS signal. The first GNSS system, GPS, began development in 1973 and became fully operational in 1994. It now consists of 24 satellites with up to seven additional spare satellites in orbit that can be placed into operation as required. All GPS satellites broadcast a CDMA spread-spectrum signal (in the 1.5GHz and 1.2GHz frequency bands) with low bit-rate message data that is used by the GPS receivers to calculate location and absolute time. GPS time is theoretically accurate to about 14 nanoseconds. However, taking into account receiver accuracy, propagation of the GPS RF signals, and other factors, most receivers provide about 100 nanoseconds timing accuracy. Historically the use of GPS for determining location and time reference has been limited to outdoor deployments or indoor deployments where a remote GPS receiver or GPS antenna can be installed on the roof or on the side of the building. Also while to date most consumer and commercially available GPS receivers require direct sky visibility to the GPS satellites, over the past few years several GPS receiver vendors now offer commercially available high sensitivity receivers that are capable of receiving and using non-direct no-sky visibility multi-path bounce GPS signals. These high sensitivity GPS receivers can allow a GPS time reference of 500 nanoseconds or better to be recovered even in urban canyons where there may be little or no direct sky visibility. Some vendors are providing assisted GPS solutions that use network connectivity to provide additional information about the orbit and speed of the satellites. Such information enables the receivers to detect the signal at lower power levels, allowing them to provide some level of service in the outer portions of buildings where there is some window or skylight visibility to the outdoors (though not deep inside the building). Other global navigation satellite systems in use or various states of development include: Glonass Russian global navigation satellite system, which is fully operational worldwide. It consists of three orbital planes spaced 120 degrees apart from each other with eight satellites in each plane for a total of 24 satellites. Galileo a GNSS being developed by the European Union and other partner countries. As of 2012, 4 satellites are in operation and the constellation of 27
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operational + three spare satellites is planned to be fully deployed by 2019 or 2020. Beidou navigation satellite system (BDS) China's GNSS system, currently provides region service within 55oS~55oN, 55oE~180oE, covering most of the Asia-Pacific region and plans to provide full global passive service by 2020. BDS is designed to consist of five geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellites, 27 Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, and three inclined geosynchronous satellite orbit (IGSO) satellites. BDS construction was initiated in 2004 and provides regional passive services by the end of 2012. BDS currently has 14 in-orbit satellites, and the constellation consist of five GEO satellites, five IGSO satellites, and four MEO satellites. Since December 2012, BDS provides free-of-charge location, velocity and timing with horizontal positioning accuracy of ten metres, vertical positioning accuracy of ten metres, velocity accuracy of 0.2 metres/second and timing accuracy of 20 nanoseconds. IRNSS India's regional navigation system launched its first navigational satellite on 1 July 2013. IRNSS is intended to cover India and the Northern Indian Ocean. QZSS quasi-zenith satellite system - Japans regional system covering East Asia and Oceania. Currently about four satellites are in operation with a goal of having a seven-satellite constellation in the future.
The capability and accuracy of these other GNSS systems is beyond the scope of this white paper. However, some GPS receiver vendors are now beginning to offer dual mode or multi-mode GNSS solutions that are capable of receiving multiple GNSSs concurrently (e.g. GPS/GLONASS or GPS/Galileo) and provide an even more robust time solution due to the fact that there is an increased likelihood of being able to see even more satellites in any particular challenging environment. Also being able to receive and use multiple GNSSs concurrently provides a higher degree of fault tolerance in the very unlikely event that one particular GNSS is temporarily unavailable or impaired. GNSS technology is ideal as a primary synchronization source for both phase and frequency owing to its absolute accuracy, global geographic availability and nonreliance on the backhaul link. However, as with other wireless technologies, GNSS receivers are susceptible to both unintentional and illegal sources of interference and jamming. While usually transient in nature, a robust synchronization subsystem should take into account the potential holdover requirements imposed by signal loss through jamming and interference for example by appropriately specified reference oscillators or, ideally, reliable backhaul-based phase or frequency control. Vendor solutions are beginning to emerge that support the simultaneous reception of multiple GNSS satellite signals (e.g. simultaneous use of GPS + GLONASS) to further enhance the robustness and accuracy of the recovered sync signals. However, for obstructed environments such as deep inside a building, a hybrid solution involving, for example, SyncE for extended holdover or a backup synchronization source such as PTP or CNL will provide a more robust solution. Pros: Better than 100ns accuracy (direct sky visibility to satellite) Global coverage for GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BDS Does not rely on specially engineered transport network (as 1588v2 or SyncE does) Low cost (though cost could be impacted if remote GNSS or remote GNSS antenna is required)
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Cons:
Proven reliability (GPS is primary sync source for 3GPP2 CDMA 1X/DO BTSs since 1990s) Requires line of site visibility to satellites (though new receivers are emerging that do not) May be problematic in urban canyons and in-building applications. However, some hybrid solutions are starting to emerge that do not require direct sky visibility, or have better in-building reception. Solutions such as this have been deployed for several years now, for example for in-building installation of CDMA femtocells since ~2009 timeframe. Some locations may have too weak, or no satellite visibility (e.g. subways, underground shopping malls, pedestrian tunnels). However, remote GNSS receivers or remote GNSS antennas may solve this problem in certain situations. Where the use of remote GNSS equipment is not practical, other, non-GNSS methods should be used. May be susceptible to high frequency interference or jamming. However, solutions are emerging that mitigate and can ride through and hold over during such temporary interruptions or degradation.
3.5
Cellular network listen
Cellular network listen (CNL) uses the downlink transmission of surrounding cellular base stations to provide synchronization sources for the small cell. It has also been called network monitor mode and cell sniffing. The cells being listened to may be of any suitable cellular technology, but are typically other LTE, WCDMA, CDMA or GSM cells, as such cells are commonly available. The technique involves implementing essentially a small subset of UE functionality in the small cell, which may be used to detect adjacent cells, determine their relative timebase frequency error (and, if of a compatible technology, their relative system frame sequence phase or timing error). These adjacent cells may be intra-frequency, inter-frequency (including inter-band), or inter-RAT. The basic premise behind the use of CNL is that some cells have an accurate frequency source, and indeed some adjacent cells are of a higher power class than the small cell, and so have a more strict frequency accuracy requirement. As such it is possible for the small cell to synchronise its timebase frequency clock to the timebase frequency of these adjacent cells and still meet its own frequency stability requirements when there may be some (small) errors in this synchronization. The basic scanning and synchronization technique follows that of a UE (UEs generally have relatively poor stability oscillators over anything other than short term): 1. 2. Determining which cells can be received (e.g. by scanning the band to determine RSSI levels, using previous historical scan information, or from OAM configuration) Synchronising to the frame structure of the transmission using the relevant synchronization channels (which may also be used to provide a (very) coarse estimate of frequency error if the small cell oscillator is likely to be a long way from its required frequency). Attempting to decode the basic broadcast channel and deriving the timebase frequency error from this decode process (e.g. by tracking the symbol phase error across one or more data bursts).
3.
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The synchronization and decode of the basic broadcast information may also be used to estimate whether the cell is a femtocell (and therefore also of lower accuracy than a macrocell). In UTRAN, for example, this would be done by determining the primary scrambling code (PSC), and comparing that to the range of frequencies and PSCs known to be allocated to femtocells. Furthermore, this downlink receiver may decode system information from these adjacent cells, and use the information not just to assist with the synchronization, but for other SON-related features (such as automatic neighbour relations). Examples to which the system information may be put for the purposes of synchronization include: Determining the cell system frame number for long-term time tracking of the adjacent cell to improve frequency accuracy and to achieve system frame time or phase synchronization Determining the cell identifiers for long-term tracking of the timing of a given cell e.g.: For filtering measurements from a single cell For determining the relative stability of particular cells by comparing them to the stability of other surrounding cells For tracking the system frame sequence drift to provide high-accuracy long-term estimation of relative error
Estimating the cell class (e.g. for UTRAN from its announced CPICH power in SIB5, or from the inclusion of CSG Id information in the MIB and SIB3) to determine its frequency accuracy
Note that the use of CNL for phase sync must be implemented with care as the time of flight from the adjacent cell may impose unacceptable errors. For example, two TD femtocells synchronised to different macrocells via CNL may interfere. This problem can be overcome if the locations of the femtocells are known to a sufficient degree of accuracy and this knowledge is used to determine and compensate for the time of flight. Alternative strategies may involve cellular network listen between the femtocells (e.g. residential femtocells in an apartment complex or enterprise femtocells in an office building) since their separation will generally be small. (See sub-sections 4.1 and 4.2 in this document.) Pros: Cellular transmissions are commonly receivable in most of the locations small cells are to be deployed (as the implication of cellular is that you have neighbours) Cellular transmissions have better building penetration than GNSS Inter-frequency, and especially inter-band and inter-RAT receivers may be able to continue to detect neighbours even during normal operation of the small cell (although inter-frequency neighbours will almost certainly not be due to the small cell transmitter. It is possible to implement this function with reuse of existing radio parts and processing that the small cell already requires for its normal operation, and thus the incremental cost, space and power requirements of this can be very small, and possibly even zero in some cases (although that may limit the continuous operation during normal operation). Network listen is supported by an existing standard OAM data model in TR196 (although not the synchronization aspects of it).
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Cons:
The whole point of deploying the small cell maybe due to the lack of coverage of cellular technologies (e.g. underground, very rural) Adjacent cells may be receivable by a UE at your cell edge, but not by the small cell itself at cell centre Techniques must be used to avoid the possibility that groups of small cells all using this technique will all synchronise to each other and not to any better source, and so all drift together. There is no link to an actual wall-clock for wide area time synchronization. Time of flight may impose unacceptable phase errors.
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3.6
Miniature atomic frequency references
Miniature atomic frequency references are capable of meeting the frequency requirements of mobile base stations directly, without requiring an external frequency reference input. Some operators have deployed Rubidium-based oscillators in base stations for this purpose. Atomic oscillators are based on either Rubidium or Caesium, and miniature versions are available with comparable size, weight and power to the larger double oven quartz oscillators (DOCXO). Typical frequency accuracies are around 0.1ppb initially, with drift and aging of about 1ppb over a year of operation. Pros: Cons: Meets frequency requirements directly No need for an external sync infrastructure to provide frequency Frequency distribution only, not time and phase Cost: several times more expensive than a stable OCXO or similar technology
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4. Hybrid technology options

Each of the techniques described in section 3 has its advantages and disadvantages, and no one technique is capable of meeting the requirements of every small cell deployment. Often, these techniques may be deployed in conjunction with each other, providing a more robust and reliable solution. Some of these hybrid techniques are described in this section. It should be noted that these are just examples, and other hybrid combinations may be implemented.
4.1
PTP/NTP and assisted GNSS
The signal strength of GNSS signals arriving at the earth's surface is around -130dBm, or about 30dB below the general noise floor. This may be reduced still further by obstructions such as trees, buildings or terrain. GNSS signals use code division multiplexing, allowing the signal to be recovered from the noise by correlating with the correct code. Since the frequency of the signal is modulated by Doppler shift due to the moving satellites, a GNSS receiver may have to search through a matrix of frequencies and phase offsets to detect the signal. An assisted GNSS receiver (AGNSS) receives information over the network about the satellite orbits and velocities. The receiver then knows which satellites are overhead, and enables it to predict the Doppler-shifted frequency, reducing the search space, and hence to locate the signal quicker. This process is aided still further if the receiver also has a good estimate of frequency and current time, which can be provided through PTP or NTP. These estimates reduce the time needed to detect the signal, allowing the receiver to correlate for longer periods of time, and hence increasing the effective signal-to-noise ratio. This allows the receiver to work in places where the signal may be partially obstructed. Since the power of a GNSS signal is so low, it is also vulnerable to interference from adjacent signals, or from deliberate jamming. This may mean that the GNSS receiver is temporarily unable to recover the signal, creating short outages. The second advantage of having time assistance from PTP or NTP is that the time may be maintained using PTP or NTP during these periods. This increases the reliability of the overall system. An alternative but related strategy especially for LAN-backhauled enterprise femtocells is for the femtocells on the same LAN to synchronise each other. This scheme is described in detail commencing on Page 30 of Ref 19. The basic concept is that femtocells with access to GNSS signals act as PTP masters and those without GNSS signals act as PTP slaves. Pros: Cons: Reduces time to acquire the GNSS signal Can be used to increase the sensitivity of the GNSS receiver Increases the reliability of the system by providing an alternative time transfer mechanism, protecting against GNSS outages and interference Allows both the access vendor and the mobile operator to monitor performance while the GNSS is active Two infrastructures need to be maintained Increases the complexity of the timing receiver
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4.2
Cellular network listen and assisted GNSS
Cellular network listen (CNL) can be employed in exactly the same way as NTP or PTP to assist a GNSS receiver to acquire signals more quickly and to maintain phase or frequency during GNSS holdover periods resulting from obstruction, interference or deliberate jamming. Furthermore a similar strategy to that described in Section 4.1 for LAN-backhauled femtocells on the same LAN to synchronise each other can be adopted but without the requirement for the femtocells to be LAN-backhauled or to be on the same LAN. This scheme is described in a little more detail commencing on page 45 of Ref 19. The basic concept is that femtocells without access to GNSS signals synchronise via CNL to those with GNSS signals. Pros: Cons: Reduces time to acquire the GNSS signal Can be used to increase the sensitivity of the GNSS receiver Increases the reliability of the system by providing an alternative time transfer mechanism, protecting against GNSS outages and interference Two infrastructures need to be maintained Increases the complexity of the timing receiver
4.3
Use of SyncE to allow enhanced GNSS holdover
As noted above, a good estimate of current frequency assists a GNSS receiver by reducing the spread of frequencies that it must search through in order to detect the GNSS signal. SyncE provides a good, stable estimate of that frequency, and enables the correlator to both reduce the search space, and to integrate the signal for a longer period of time, increasing sensitivity. Secondly, during GNSS outages (of the sort caused, for example, by interference or jamming), that stable frequency may be used to maintain the timebase of the receiver. A traceable SyncE signal has a long-term frequency accuracy of about one part in 1011, derived from the primary reference clock it is locked to. Therefore, if the GNSS input is disconnected, the SyncE signal will limit the drift of the timebase away from correct time to around 1s per day. Pros: Cons: Reduces time to acquire the GNSS signal Can be used to increase the sensitivity of the GNSS receiver Increases the reliability of the system by providing a stable frequency to maintain the timebase, protecting against GNSS outages and interference Two infrastructures need to be maintained Increases the complexity of the timing receiver
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4.4
PTP and SyncE
PTP and SyncE may be used co-operatively to deliver frequency, time and phase to the eNodeB, taking advantage of the physical layer to transport traceable frequencybased information. For example, the draft recommendation G.8271.1 describes a reference model for an architecture where SyncE is used to synchronise each PTP boundary clock in a chain of boundary clocks from the PTP Grandmaster to the eNodeB. This architecture is shown in Figure 4-1.
Up to 21 PTP nodes Time reference PTP GM EEC SyncE PTP PTP BC EEC SyncE PTP PTP BC EEC SyncE PTP PTP BC EEC SyncE PTP End Application (e.g. eNodeB) PTP TSC EEC SyncE
SyncE frequency distribution networks
PRC frequency references [PRCs may be separate or common] Figure 4-1 Reference model architecture from G.8271.1
This architecture ensures that both the eNodeB itself, and each of the chain of boundary clocks distributing the time reference through the network have a stable, accurate frequency reference. The stability of the frequency reference reduces the dynamic time error accumulated in the chain of boundary clocks, allowing PTP to deliver a time reference accurate to a few hundred nanoseconds. Secondly, if the chain was broken for some reason, and no connection was available to a PTP Grandmaster, the stable frequency reference can be used to maintain accurate time at the eNodeB for a period until the time reference is restored. This is known as time synchronization holdover. A further advantage is the faster restoration of traceable time after an extended interruption in the PTP distribution. The drawback of providing two types of synchronization solutions in a network is an increase in complexity and management. However, it could be argued that the advantages outweigh the drawbacks. Alternatively, other physical layer synchronization methods like SONET/SDH/ or PDH signals common to telecommunications networks can be used to support PTP to improve stability and provide time synchronization holdover.
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Pros: Cons:
Reduces dynamic time error accumulation through the PTP chain Increases the reliability of the system by providing a stable frequency to maintain the timebase, protecting against PTP outages Fast restoration of time following extended PTP interruption Two infrastructures need to be maintained
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5. Synchronization capabilities of backhaul technologies

This section discusses the capability of the different types of small cell backhaul to support the various synchronization mechanisms. In many instances, it is not possible to carry synchronization signals natively across the backhaul network. For example, SyncE is carried at the physical layer of an Ethernet signal. This is often imitated in backhaul technologies by providing a SyncE input at the head-end equipment. The frequency is carried at the physical layer of the backhaul technology (e.g. microwave carrier frequency, xDSL NTR signal), and a new SyncE signal generated at the remote end. A similar technique may be used with PTP for frequency. For phase and time, some backhaul technologies have built in phase or time synchronization capabilities (e.g. VDSL ToD-TC signal, GPON ToD signal, DOCSIS over EPON v2.0), and this may be used in a similar manner to regenerate the PTP at the remote end. Not all these technologies are fully standardized, and are therefore vendor-specific features that may be implemented in a given piece of equipment. They rely on standard behaviour, but provide an extra level of capability around the basic functions. All the technologies listed in this section may also be used to transport an Ethernet service. MEF has defined Ethernet services applicable to mobile backhaul in MEF 22.1. This service is an MEF EVC demarcated by MEF UNIs that is realized with a variety of technologies (including those in this section). MEF services allow the specification of service level agreements so that a service provider may offer standard Ethernet services to mobile operators for RAN backhaul. SLAs for these MEF services would include performance objectives per class of service, to support the varied requirements represented by LTE QCIs. MEF 22.1 Mobile backhaul implementation agreement, Phase 2 identifies the requirements for MEF defined Ethernet services and MEF defined external interfaces (EIs such as UNIs) for use in mobile backhaul networks based on MEF specifications. This includes frequency synchronization with either SyncE or packet based methods like PTP. The services and requirements on the metro Ethernet network (MEN) are based on the services defined in MEF 6.1 as well as the attributes defined in MEF 10.2, in MEF 10.2.1 and MEF 22.1.
5.1
Millimetre wave: 60, 70-80 GHz
Millimetre wave systems, operating at the 60 and 70-80 GHz bands can be used to provide line-of-sight connectivity for wireless backhaul of both macrocells and small cells. The point-to-point connections can be built up to provide chains or rings for resilient connectivity. Two main techniques may be used to carry synchronization over millimetre wave backhaul. These may be used in concert to improve the reliability of the synchronization: 1. 2. Physical layer frequency synchronization, by locking the carrier frequency of the radio to a reference frequency. This may be used to provide SyncE service, for example. Packet-based synchronization such as PTP or NTP. Hardware based timestamping should be supported in case of time and phase requirements.
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SyncE service should meet the ITU requirements at the SyncE interfaces, and include support for the ESMC channel carrying standard SSM QL values. For ring structures to be used, the SyncE solution must be capable of changing the direction of distribution. PTP packets should have the appropriate QoS levels to provide high priority service with a minimum of packet delay variation. This may be provided through the VLAN priority bits, DSCP bits for IP traffic, or the EXP bits for MPLS. The vendor may recommend specific QoS treatment. Similarly, appropriate security should be provided, potentially including encryption of the radio link. Any encryption/decryption should not create variation in delay, since that would affect packet-based synchronization schemes. Adaptive modulation may introduce dynamic asymmetrical delays. (when modulation drops in one direction more than at the other direction). In addition Adaptive modulation may introduce dynamic asymmetrical delays (when the two directions are not using the same modulation and coding). Adaptive modulation should be hitless to h the effect on the delay of packets through the system. Millimeter wave (MMW) links should support a compensation mechanism like transparent clock or boundary clock to overcome the adaptive modulation impairments.
5.2
Microwave: 6-60 GHz
Microwave links have been used for many years to backhaul both FDD and TDD systems, demonstrating a general capability to provide both frequency and phase synchronization. Support of specific technologies varies from product to product, but examples of both physical layer (SyncE) and packet-based (PTP) support can be found. Similar considerations apply as outlined for millimetre wave technology above.
5.3
Sub-6 GHz licensed spectrum
System latency and jitter are dependent on both underlying technology and implementation. FDD will offer much lower latency with less jitter as its full-duplex mode of operation is inherently free of the delay more common with half duplex technologies. However, many modern sub-6 GHz near/non-line-of-sight systems are TDD. Single-hop TDD systems may experience two to 20ms of latency with varying degrees of jitter; both are again dependent on implementation. Some solutions offer tighter jitter control by leveraging deterministic media access, akin to TDMA. One method available in TDD systems is to use a hybrid scheme based on the physical layer aspects of the radio system. The backhaul master in both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint systems must have an accurate source of synchronization and can use either the PTP and SyncE hybrid method or the GNSS. Similar to the cellular network, the wireless backhaul physical layer is capable of transporting a precise trimming reference over the air. The receiver will always be in frequency synchronization with the hub, and being a TDD system, a proprietary method may be used to transport phase synchronization and ToD at the wireless frame level. The synchronization phase is compensated at the receiver for the air trip delay using the physical layers time offset adjustment. The precision of this adjustment is well below 1s.
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Being synchronized using the physical layer as described, the receiver site can regenerate PTP (and/or SyncE) traffic and pass it to the base station with high accuracy, and immune to wireless link variations. Having the PTP (and/or SyncE) timestamp generator placed next to the base station eliminates uncertainties related to the packet delay variation and uplink/downlink asymmetry.
5.4
Satellite
A TDMA satellite system uses a shared outbound carrier and time division access to the inbound carrier(s). Therefore the jitter characteristics are typically much more challenging than on a terrestrial link. Typical values to be expected on the outbound link would be 5ms of jitter with a maximum of 25ms. Similarly on the inbound carriers the jitter may average 10ms with a maximum of 50ms. For delay there are two components. One of these is the fixed speed of light delay in the signal travelling from the ground to the satellite and back to the ground. For geostationary satellites typical values here are 240 260ms depending on the exact geographic locations of remote site, hub site and satellite. In addition there are the packetization and processing delays which add 35ms 50ms, leading to typical oneway trip times of 275 310ms. The most common forms of synchronization used today for small cell connections over satellite are either to use NTP (or a proprietary flavour of NTP) from the core network over the satellite link and thus delivered to the small cell. This can deliver adequate frequency stability for 2G and 3G small cells. The disadvantage is the on-going continuous consumption of satellite bandwidth to deliver the NTP traffic. For this reason it is not uncommon to use a GNSS-derived timing source either integrated or external to the small cell to deliver timing. While this has a higher capital cost the on-going cost is zero apart from maintenance. For future systems, including LTE, the industry is moving towards PTP support. Running PTP over satellite links is challenging because the jitter is typically greater than the 5ms maximum required to achieve frequency stability. In addition, as for NTP, there is also a cost issue in operating PTP over the air. New solutions are coming to market that support PTP master clocks incorporated in the satellite remote, synchronised from the downstream satellite carrier frequency. This allows the use of PTP with good frequency accuracy and stability (<15 ppb), and without the overhead of sending PTP packets over the air. Current systems do not meet the tight phase synchronization requirements; however, since satellite backhaul is often deployed for rural access where there is no overlapping macrocell coverage, only frequency synchronization is generally needed.
5.5
FTTX (e.g. EPON, GPON)
PON systems are based on a shared fibre medium. The downstream transmissions from the optical line terminal (OLT, the head-end) are common, but the upstream transmissions from each optical network unit (ONU) are time-division multiplexed. Each ONU is scheduled to specific timeslots, to avoid them all transmitting at once. This creates an inbuilt asymmetry in packet delays that can cause problems for packet timing algorithms if uncorrected. However, the delay to each ONU is known precisely due to an inbuilt ranging mechanism. This ranging delay must be measured to allow the ONU to transmit in the correct timeslot. An amendment to the original GPON standards, (G.984.3
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Amendment 2), describes a time-of-day distribution mechanism for GPON systems that makes use of the ranging delay. Provided the OLT has an accurate time reference initially, G.984.3 specifies that the time accuracy at the ONU should be 1s, although in practice it is estimated to be much better than this. This knowledge of time could be used to re-generate the PTP packets, or to directly drive a time-ofday interface such as a 1 pps (1 pulse-per-second) interface with an associated time information channel. However, such use is outside the scope of the GPON standards, and may not be implemented by every GPON terminal vendor. Next generation GPON systems (NGPON) specify the use of boundary clocks in both the OLT and the ONU. This will enable the system to participate in the PTP protocol directly, while compensating for the inherent asymmetry of the system.
5.6
Fiber (active components)
Active fiber backhaul systems connect small cell sites with dedicated fiber. Packetbased aggregation systems such as switches and routers are deployed further back in the network to aggregate upstream traffic originating from user equipment and distribute downstream information. While the transmission speed is symmetrical 1Gbps in general bandwidth allocated to each small cell can be asymmetric and lower, depending on requirements and configuration. Multiple service classes enable simultaneous provisioning of guaranteed bandwidth and overbooked best-effort services. Synchronization information for frequency and phase alignment is transported using SyncE, PTP or a combination of both. While SyncE allows for accurate frequency recovery independent of the actual network load, PTP frames need to be forwarded with highest priority to minimize jitter and delay. Separating user traffic from PTP flows and assigning strict forwarding priority to PTP flows minimizes statistical effects. Handling multiple classes of service (CoS) is therefore a key requirement for all aggregation and network termination devices to allow for network efficiency and synchronization accuracy at the same time. The timing signal is recovered either by a by a standalone/embedded slave or boundary clock device or an standalone/embedded edge master located next to the small cell base station or directly by the base station itself. In the first case, standard timing interfaces are used to hand-over the timing signal to the small cell base station. Active fiber backhaul is a prevalent cost-effective, high capacity solution to provide packet-based backhaul services. Mobile operators are turning to optical backhaul strategies for simplified high-capacity infrastructure that brings significant operational value.
5.7
Digital subscriber line (XDSL)
XDSL systems (including ADSL, SHDSL and VDSL) carry an 8kHz timing signal which may be synchronised to a traceable reference frequency, called the network timing reference (NTR). This can be used to carry a frequency reference at the physical layer over the DSL link. However, in many deployments (particularly for ADSL), the NTR signal is not enabled, and therefore cannot be used for base station synchronization. The VDSL2 standard (G.993.2) also defines a mechanism for carrying time-of-day across the link. This may be used to provide PTP services (e.g. by terminating PTP at
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the VTU-O (office end), and re-generating it at the VTU-R (remote end). Such support is vendor specific.
5.8
Leased connectivity
A number of mobile network operators do not operate access networks and often do not have access to physical fiber, copper or coax infrastructure or may not own an access network in some geographical areas. As a consequence, fixed-network small cell backhaul services are often leased from a 3rd party network operator. In most cases, these leased services are MEF Ethernet services with the demarcation being the MEF UNI. This is different to the situation where micro or millimeter wave technology is utilized for backhaul, which is typically operated by the mobile network operator itself. With the stringent requirement for delivering accurate frequency and phase synchronization to small cell site locations, timing distribution needs to be intrinsically supported by the backhaul service. Such functionality becomes most critical when PTP on-path support is required. Boundary clock and transparent clock functionality needs to be provided by the backhaul service provider at each individual aggregation and service termination point. When providing PTP clock functionality by a 3rd party, PTP performance assurance becomes part of the SLA profile in addition to the traditional data service SLAs.
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6. Service impact
The design of LTE in its FDD, TDD and CoMP forms, and the interference coordination features of ICIC and eICIC have all been developed so that if the frequency, time and frame synchronization requirements described earlier are all met, then the services are delivered as specified. That is to say, if the synchronization requirements are met, then the impact on service conformance to specification is zero. This section is more concerned with the effects on user services that synchronization errors may have if they fall outside the limits set by the specifications. In doing so, this section focuses on service impact in terms of degradation in data throughput and voice (VoLTE) quality, in call drop and handover failure statistics. At a high level, it discusses some protocol effects that lead to these gross service degradations, but does not delve deeply into the protocol operation. Also, the section assumes that the synchronization between the UE and its serving cell is good. The only reason the UE might fall out of synch with its serving cell is that the serving cell is too weak to detect the synchronization channel, in which case it is too weak to offer service. The synchronization errors this section is concerned with are those between two neighbour eNodeBs interacting either cell-edge to cell-edge, or in an underlayoverlay geometry.
6.1
6.1.1
LTE-FDD
Frequency misalignment
Looking at the time/frequency grid that characterises the LTE downlink, there are two key attributes:
Sub-frame duration = 1ms
Sub-carrier spacing = 15kHz

Figure 6-1 Subset of the time/frequency downlink map
At the maximum frequency offset for the Home eNodeB (250ppb at a 2.6GHz carrier frequency) the centre frequency error is about 650Hz a bit less than 5%.
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Of course, the sub-carrier to sub-carrier interference in general is only apparent when there is power scheduled in both sub-carriers, so that a UE receives power on a subcarrier that is intended for a different UE. In a full-buffer scenario, that is likely to be the case. In a situation where sub-carrier allocations are provisioned centrally (like traditional cell-planning for TDMA networks) or where ICIC is active, then the errors in frequency alignment translate more or less linearly into downlink SINR degradations. With perfect frequency alignment between adjacent eNodeBs, two UEs will see their serving cell transmissions on perfectly non-overlapping sub-carriers. Referring to Figure 6-2, if the sub-carrier overlap is zero, and ICIC (or central planning) is effective, the UE being served from Cell A will see signal power in subcarrier A.1, and no interference from sub-carrier B.1, since Cell B will not schedule power to this sub-carrier. The 3GPP specifications allow for frequency alignment errors. Movement of the UE creates Doppler shifts, resulting in apparent offsets in frequency between neighbouring cells. For example, the serving cell may be upshifted as the UE moves towards it, and the neighbour cell simultaneously downshifted in frequency. Stationary users may see in-specification frequency errors in the master clock of a small cell of up to 250ppb. If the frequency error is increased above this limit, the SINR impact increases more or less linearly in the full-buffer case, as each sub-carrier encroaches on its neighbour in proportion to the frequency error, whether that arises from Doppler effects or from intrinsic frequency error in the small cell. Referring again to Figure 6-2, with the frequency misalignment between the cells and non-zero sub-carrier overlap, the UE being served by cell A will suffer interference from sub-carrier B.2, even if B.1 is quiet.
Cell A (serving)
A.1
A.2
Cell B (interfering)
B.1
B.2
Sub-carrier overlap
Figure 6-2 Sub-carrier overlap with frequency difference between cells
The effect of such SINR degradation on service can be calculated as a worst case from the test specification 3GPP 36.141, where the SINR is related to BLER, which is, in turn, related to minimum UE throughput.
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However, in practice, the most important service-affecting attribute here is even simpler. If the frequency error in the base station is greater than specification, then the UE is not guaranteed to be able to synchronise to the cell. All other discussions on the effects of frequency error are moot, if the UE cannot actually gain any service from the network at all. 6.1.2 Time misalignment
Potentially of greater significance to service is the effect of time misalignment between cells. At the beginning of every sub-frame, one OFDMA symbol (approx. 70s, including its cyclic prefix) is dedicated to the LTE PCFICH (primary control format indicator channel). This channel tells the receiver the format of the rest of the subframe. If it is received in error, then the whole of the sub-frame will be received in error. To overcome this, the PFICH is very heavily protected by coding, with less than 2 bits of information spread across 16 sub-carriers, each of which is carrying one QPSK symbol. For HetNet deployment where one cell may be 10km and its underlay cells may be anywhere within it, with a range of 100m or so, even with heavy coding, it is possible for a macro transmission to overwhelm an underlay small cell to the point where the PCFICH bits cannot be decoded, and the small cell cannot be used without other measures. To overcome this, the eICIC feature was introduced at R10, to allow cells to switch off transmissions in repeating patterns (exchanged between neighbours over x2), reducing the chance of PFICH clashes in HetNet deployments. However, if the time alignment of the cells is out, then the eICIC pattern signalling will also be out by a similar value. It is important therefore, in order to maintain any service at all at the cell edges between small cells and macrocells, that the frame alignment of the two layers is maintained within a few microseconds. Since the time slot length is 0.5ms, then to be below 1% interference the timing accuracy should be better than 5us.
6.2
LTE-TDD
In TDD, in addition to the PCFICH timing issue described above, the key timing issue is in the timing of the transition between transmit and receive. If one cell begins transmitting when its neighbour is still receiving, or similarly, if a UE begins transmitting to one cell when a nearby UE is receiving from its neighbour, then user data will be lost and signalling delayed because of HARQ and potentially higher layer retries. The system is designed to accommodate differences between cells caused by time of flight, by use of a special sub-frame with shorter-than-normal transmission periods. The beginning of the special sub-frame is guaranteed to accommodate transmit to the whole of the cell. The end of the special sub-frame is guaranteed to accommodate receive from UEs in the whole of the cell. The middle of the sub-frame (the guard period) is essentially quiet, to allow the base station and the UE to switch from transmit to receive (and vice versa) for all values of time-of-flight, without overlapping each other.
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Figure 6-3
Special sub-frame
The guard period is configurable from one to ten OFDM symbols (~70s to ~700s). One service affecting misconfiguration here is to set the guard period too small for the cell range. For small cells with a range of 2km or less, a guard period of one symbol is almost certainly sufficient. But for larger cells, keeping the guard period short (to maximise usable time in the special sub-frame) results in degradations to the system throughput because of simultaneous transmit mechanism outlined above. It is possible to view frame synchronization errors in TDD in a similar way, with similar effects to under-provisioning the guard period between transmit and receive. The reality is, however, that unless the frame synchronization is grossly out, the effect on TDD throughput is low. For instance, if the guard period were set to one instead of ten, and all nine OFDMA symbols were lost because of adjacent cell or adjacent UE transmissions, only nine out of 2048 symbols are lost in two sub-frames out of ten an effective BER of 0.1% or less, which will translate into an infinitesimal BLER difference. If you go beyond these values in terms of frame misalignment, then it is possible to create bigger effects. However, the message is consistent: if you keep within the specs, your system will work as advertised. The key point is make sure you know that the synchronization properties of the larger system are as you expect them, and to ensure the system provides the counters and alarms to make it manageable to those limits.
6.3
Holdover
When all synchronization references are lost or declared unusable, the synchronization mechanism enters into a holdover state where the system generates clocks from the last known good reference, with the last good frequency and phase information available. The holdover state maintains the frequency stability and phase accuracy requirements within the specified limits for a period of time. CDMA2000 defines that the base station should maintain a transmit-timing accuracy to within 10s of CDMA system time for a period of eight hours following loss of the
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synchronization reference. For other technologies, the length of time during which the frequency and phase accuracy must be maintained during holdover is not defined in standards, but depends on the service provider's operational requirements. Note that different holdover requirements may apply in different nodes of the network. For example, macro base stations usually provide frequency holdover through their high quality oscillator. For small cells, this may no longer be the case due to cost reasons. In the case of time synchronization, long holdover periods would generally require the use of support from a secondary stable frequency reference, e.g. SyncE. This section discusses the relationship between the oscillator performance and the operational requirements. 6.3.1 Impact of the oscillator
Cost-effective and high performance oscillators are required for small cells. Basestation clocks are generated by performing disciplining corrections to oscillators using servo algorithms. The synchronised clocks can either be synthesised from a constant reference oscillator clock or a controllable oscillator (like VCXO) that is directly incorporated in the timing generation loop. In start-up or the acquiring mode of the synchroniser, the oscillator needs to achieve a certain frequency accuracy state within a defined period of time. Along with the servo bandwidth implementation, the linearity of the oscillator implementation and oscillators initial frequency accuracy performance are important in this regard. In locked mode, where the disciplining of the oscillator takes place, the impact of the performance of the algorithms dominates output clock performance of the synchronization system. However, the algorithms themselves assume stable clock references, which in turn are derived from the oscillators. Therefore frequency drift of the oscillator across temperature variations becomes the important factor in locked mode. In holdover mode the servo algorithms handle the initial phase error and the initial frequency offset. However, the overall stability of the system heavily depends on the oscillator. The performance of the oscillator over temperature variations and the aging of the oscillator play a major part in determining the frequency stability and phase error accuracy of the system clock during holdover. It is important to understand the temperature variations - the range of temperature variations as well as the rate of ramp of the temperature - to select the right oscillator. The temperature profiles for testing the performances of the system are defined (for example in ITU-T SG15) in ways that specify the constrained temperature excursion and ramp rate. Commercial implementations are available with frequency stabilities within 10s of ppbs when temperature variations of -45 to +85oC are applied with a rolling temperature window of 20oC at a temperature ramp rate of 0.5oC/min. 6.3.2 Holdover components
When the input to the control system is abruptly or deliberately removed, the traditional PLL implementation will skew the output frequency to the free running frequency of the local oscillator. The holdover mechanism generates a virtual
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reference to the system that continuously drives the loop essentially trying to generate the clocks that used to be present before the system had lost its reference. Ideally, a holdover mechanism aims for a perfect transition from a situation of reference signal to one without any input reference signal. However, in an implementation scenario there are many deviations from the ideal. Thus the holdover requirements of standards specify the limits of such deviations at different levels of synchronization quality. For example, the phase error, T, at the output of an Ethernet Equipment Clock (EEC), relative to the input at the moment of loss of reference should not, over any period of S > 15 s, exceed the following limit: T(S) = {(a1 + a2) S + 0.5 b S2 + c} [ns] G.8262, clause 11.2 [11] Lets look at each of these components in detail. The constant and one time error c is the phase error the system may incur on the transition and entering into the holdover phase. Depending on the implementation, there could be a delay in detecting the failure of the clock and engaging the holdover mechanism leading to a phase error, or simply engaging the holdover mechanism itself could generate an error. It is a phase movement at the output of the clock and in general there is no phase slope that is defined to this error. An instant, infinite slope movement at the output within the given limit is still a valid transition (though there could, in practice, be a limited slope in the actual implementation). The first-degree error a1 allows for any error in estimating the value of the holdover frequency. This depends on the implementation of the synchroniser mechanism. For G.8262, a budget of 50ppb is allowed for a1. The remaining error components, a2 and b are largely contributed by the local oscillator of the system. The factor a2 accounts for the frequency offset caused by temperature variations after the clock has gone into holdover. Crystals typically produce a response based on a third order polynomial in the output frequency depending on the temperature variations. In general an oven-controlled oscillator selects its oven temperature based on a turnover point to select maxima or minima (df(T)/dT = 0) of the frequency variation with respect to the temperature. The crystals define overall temperature variation effects on frequency over a defined temperature range such as -20 to 60 or -40 to +85 and so on. If we go further to determine the rate of change of frequency with time, the temperature drift rate also becomes a part of it. The crystals are defined with a variation of frequency in ppb/oC variation. The application can determine the maximum rate of temperature variation that can happen, which can be identified as, say, 10oC/min or 1oC/min. Combining the above factors, the frequency variation over a period of time can be observed. In applications where the temperature variation is not a consideration, then the factor a2 should not have an impact on the phase error defined. Some standards bodies are working on modelling temperature variations to closely associate the ramp rate and amount of variation at one stretch. Some of the recommended values are a ramp rate of 1oC/min for a maximum of 20oC with some recommended steady intervals where temperature changes do not occur. The term b refers to the aging effects of the crystal. Aging is usually referred as the systematic change in frequency with time due to internal changes in the oscillator when factors external to the oscillator (environment, power supply, etc.) are kept constant. The main reason for the aging seems to be the absorption and removal of
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mass from the resonator layers. Aging is defined as frequency variation with time; therefore, for a phase variation it becomes a second-degree error with respect to time. Some of the standards also define a drift, which is another kind of systematic change in frequency with time of an oscillator. In general, drift is considered to be the result of all internal and external factors, including a combination of factors such as the aging plus changes in the environment and other factors external to the oscillator. Many standards specifications have already moved away from defining drift or are in the process of doing so. 6.3.3 Service impact
Service providers and system integrators have varying views on the holdover requirements and performance limits of small cells. Depending on the type (home, enterprise, urban or rural) of small cell, the requirements may also vary. For example, in a small cell for the home, where the primary objective is offload and capacity, service outages for a specific period of time may not impact the user because there could be a macro base station the user equipment can switch to. But where the coverage is the primary objective and there is no fall-back macro base station, the small cell may warrant holdover to specific time periods, depending on the service levels provided by the service provider. The technological complexity versus cost targets may also be a major factor in the selection of holdover requirements. The frequency accuracy requirements of LTE systems can be maintained confidently with disciplining algorithms and properly designed oscillators. Once the servo accuracy is determined and the operating ambient temperature variation of the system is studied (e.g. indoor installation with restricted temperature operation variation versus outdoor ambient temperature operation) the stability of the oscillator over the temperature range and the aging parameters can be considered for the selection of the oscillator. For illustration, if the turnaround time on a service call is assumed to be one day, for a service that requires 250ppb of accuracy while operating at 0 to 80oC, assuming that servo accuracy is 50ppb, an oscillator with stability performance at 100ppb at 0 to 80oC and an aging performance of 20ppb give sufficient margin for operation. The phase accuracy requirements of the LTE air interface are much more challenging to meet for long-term holdover requirements. The temperature change, the rate of change of temperature, or the nature of the ambient variation can determine the frequency variation and in turn the phase variation. The following table gives an approximation on the oscillator performance on service impact, with an indication of the relative costs. The performance numbers below are given as a general indication and the performance of a specific oscillator may be different. The performance numbers were derived from frequency measurements on oscillators and the corresponding phase simulations. The initial accuracies of the timing systems are not included.
40
Oscillator type
Oscillator parameters Freq. v temp daily aging
Time to reach phase error limit (20oC temp. variation at 10oC/hour)
Constant temp, calm air 24 hours
Relative cost indicator
1s
3s
7s
OCXO
0.1ppb 0.05ppb/day 0.5ppb 0.1ppb/day 5ppb 1ppb/day
12 Hours
48 hours
144 Hours
<1s
$10x
OCXO OCXO (Traditional St 3E) OCXO (New Technology St 3E) OCXO (Restricted Temp Range St 3E) Low Power OCXO TCXO Table 6-1
3 Hours
12 Hours
36 Hours
3s
$4x
30 min
2 Hours
4 Hours
50s
$2.5 x
5ppb 1ppb/day
30 min
2 Hours
4 Hours
50s
$1.5 x
5ppb 1ppb/day
30 min
2 Hours
4 Hours
50s
$1x
10ppb 2ppb/day 100ppb 40ppb/day
20 Min
35 Min
55 Min
100s
$0.5x
5 Min
10 Min
15 Min
1000s
$0.25x
Oscillator phase stability
System integrators are considering the direct output of the synchronization block driving the radio blocks, thus avoiding additional jitter filter components. Thus for the oscillators, a key consideration is low phase noise to drive the radio blocks directly.
41
7. Synchronization deployment use cases

There are several deployment use cases that are possible to deploy synchronization. It should be noted that while synchronization as a service is a new concept that is not well defined, MEF 22.1 has included frequency synchronization as part of its definition of Ethernet services for mobile backhaul. All of these use cases can leverage the service definition indicated in MEF 22.1 for frequency synchronization and in a future revision for time/phase synchronization
7.1
Synchronization services implemented by mobile operators
Some mobile operators may have to rely on a fairly large number of backhaul providers to reach out-of-franchise small cell locations. This situation makes it impractical to get from all these backhaul providers a uniform synchronization services. In other cases, the mobile operators may decide that Internet services using DSL or GPON access networks are the most economical viable mechanisms to connect the pico base stations. The public Internet is one of the most challenging infrastructures to deploy synchronization services that meet the frequency and phase requirements of small cells. The asymmetrical nature of most of DSL services, the lack of QoS guarantees and the unpredictability of the number of hops between the PTP grand master and the slaves introduce time error and noise that is almost impossible to correct. Even some Ethernet lease line services may present an amount of asymmetries that can be hardly corrected in practice when the asymmetries are related to the physical infrastructure (e.g., different fibre lengths). In those scenarios, a PTP Grand Master deployed by the Mobile operator very close to the small cell site infrastructures or on a nearby macrocell site to serve a limited number of pico base stations (less than twenty) may constitute a reasonable solution.
Figure 7-1
Synchronization service implemented at the mobile operators access network
7.2
Synchronization services offered by backhaul providers
Some mobile operators have a large backhaul and access infrastructure between the radio access network network controller (RAN NC) and a multi-picocell site. These operators can choose to not deploy a packet synchronization on-path support. Alternatively, they can decide to lease a full or partial on-path packet synchronization service from the backhaul provider. Note that this PTP service might be optionally complemented with a synchronous Ethernet service. The backhaul provider may also
42
offer the synchronization service as an additional commercial service to other mobile operators.
Figure 7-2
Synchronization service implemented by the backhaul provider
7.3
Synchronization services implemented by mobile operators and backed-up by backhaul providers
Even when a mobile operator deploy a PTP Grand Master close the small cell locations, it may decide to use a synchronization service offered or transported by the backhaul operator as a back-up synchronization service. A PTP grand master is typically equipped with a GNSS receiver and it has been recognized for times now that the GNSS signal can be easily jammed intentionally or unintentionally. When it reaches the earth the GNSS signal is approximately 1x1016 Watts. With such a low signal, small and inexpensive jammers can cause a GPS receiver to lose lock at long ranges. Some tests indicated that a 1 Watt jammer can put out of operation a commercial GNSS receiver at a distance of 22 km [ 24]. In some cases, the GNSS antenna is placed in a location where it experiences intermittent loss of signal. The mobile operator (Figure 7-3) may decide to lease a back-up service offered by the backhaul operator or it can deploy itself this service from its nearest central office or RNC site for holdover purposes (Figure 7-4). For the case of GNSS at the end location this is an ideal opportunity to use a known reference traceable to UTC to validate the back-up service or the capability of the onpath access network. Active performance will provide assurances that the PTP path meets SLA requirements in the event of a GNSS outage.
43
Figure 7-3
Synchronization service implemented at the mobile operators access network and a backup service implemented by the backhaul provider
Figure 7-4
Synchronization service implemented at the mobile operators access network and a backup service implemented by the mobile operator
44
8. Synchronization maintenance and service assurance

Since frequency, phase and time requirements are stringent (as outlined in sections 1.1 and 1.2), it is essential to have the ability to test, verify and analyse synchronization in the network in case service quality issues occur as described in Section 6. In addition, a way to monitor the synchronization performance delivered by the service provider is beneficial. Such a monitoring function can be deployed in chosen locations (i.e. in centralized location). The monitoring function can use a GNSS reference to monitor the quality of synchronization delivered by the network. In G.8271.1, the ITU-T has defined deployment cases for the measurement of network limits of a network with full timing support and a boundary clock (T-BC) as the last equipment of the chain. Three alternative options are defined, depending on whether the timing signal is generated by the last equipment of the chain or from tapping/exchanging the PTP frame flow after the reference point. With the passive technique in option B, a packet-based test device monitors packet exchanges over the communication link. In this way, the monitoring device acts as an observer and it does not directly participate in the packet timing protocol. In option C the monitoring device acts as an active T-TSC and exchanged packet with the last T-TBC in the chain.
Figure 8-1
Deployment case 1 network limits measurement, option A
|TE|<1100nsec
Figure 8-2
Deployment case 1 network limits measurement, option B
45
Figure 8-3
Deployment case 1 network limits measurement, option C
The test points described in Figure 8-1, Figure 8-2 and Figure 8-3 above can apply to both networks deploying frequency synchronization as well as phase synchronization. As described in Section 6, network service impact can occur as a result of synchronization issues. Ultimately these issues have an impact on service quality and user experience. These are notoriously difficult to troubleshoot, as they can be intermittent in nature.
8.1
Synchronization maintenance
To analyze synchronization issues, long-term tests must be performed. Long-term tests are not an option at turn-up as the circuits need to go live as quickly as possible. As such, handheld Ethernet turn-up testers are used for these tests. If particular cells experience the service impact described in Section 6, the operator can then deploy a 2-pronged maintenance and troubleshooting approach: 1. Use a dedicated sync analyzer to measure the network for: 2. Frequency stability/wander by analysing MTIE and TDEV according to ITU-T limits Phase accuracy/time error by measuring the 1PPS phase output Frame delay variation by looking at raw network PDV and performing Packet delay distribution and floor packet percentile metrics
If issues are seen with above tests, the measurement results from the sync analyzer can then be sent to the network equipment vendor to replay the measurements and reproduce the issue and work on fixes
8.2
Synchronization service assurance
Since the network limits shall be met at all times and for all operating conditions, an on-going, in service synchronization monitoring and analysing tool can be used for synchronization service assurance. The synchronization monitoring function can calculate the relevant clock performance metrics. Such a metrics can include: Frequency stability/wander by analysing MTIE according to ITU-T limits (I.e. G.8261.1 and G.8271.1) Phase accuracy/time error by measuring the 1PPS phase output (option a) or the packet timing signals embedded in PTP packets (options B and C).
46
Network performance metrics Packet delay variation (PDV) Floor packet percentile (FPP) PTP event massages packet loss Network asymmetry
What is not shown in traditional monitoring functions is wander. ITU-T Rec. G.810 [8] defines wander as phase variations at a rate less than 10Hz. Metrics such as maximum time interval error (MTIE) & time deviation (TDEV) are useful for quantifying wander. However, MTIE & TDEV are used mostly for measuring frequency transfer. Metrics used for time transfer and measurement techniques are currently under study. Wander really makes us think about the problem in a different way. As an example, the unique response of time drift (wander), which is a type of low frequency noise, is not instantaneous. A service provider must observe wander over time. Therefore, as seen in figure X, it is advantageous to introduce an upper limit and a lower limit key performance indicator (KPI). This will result in an alarm warning KPI state that service providers can use to their advantage.
Figure 8-4
Upper/lower KPIs
The relevant metric can be calculated by testing the recovered physical signal (i.e. 1PPS/BITS) or by testing the packet timing signal (using the timestamps embedded in the 1588v2 event massages) against the reference. For Figure 8-1, Figure 8-2, and Figure 8-3, synchronization service assurance and therefore clock accuracy testing is in-service to continuously generate and report synchronization performance data. Compiling MTIE statistics and comparing the results to desired masks allows for accurate assessment of the timing accuracy. In addition the time error should be compared against the relevant time/phase performance target. The timing reference signal can either come from GNSS or an alternative signal such as Sync-E. For increased network visibility and simplified troubleshooting, similar test points should to be established at each individual hop. This provides full visibility of the synchronization architecture and allows backhaul service providers to put strict SLAs behind the timing service they provide to the MNO customers.
47
9. Conclusions and future work

All cellular radio base stations require synchronization, including small cells. This may be frequency synchronization, phase alignment to other base stations, or in the case of CDMA and CDMA2000, time synchronization. This paper has introduced the synchronization requirements for LTE small cells, and their application to different small cell deployment types. It has also covered different synchronization techniques, and their relationship with various types of backhaul technologies. Future versions of the document will include more analysis of potential backhaul solutions and network issues, particularly in respect of the enterprise, metro and rural deployments that are the focus of the Small Cell Forum's upcoming release categories.
48
References
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Network Time Protocol (Version 3): Specification, Implementation and Analysis, IETF RFC1305, March 1992 GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network: Radio subsystem synchronization, 3GPP TS 45.010 Recommended Minimum Performance Standards for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Base Stations, 3GPP2 C.S0010 Radio Access Network: Base Station (BS) radio transmission and reception (FDD), 3GPP TS 25.104 Radio Access Network: Base Station (BS) radio transmission and reception (TDD), 3GPP TS 25.105 Radio Access Network: Requirements for support of radio resource management (TDD), 3GPP TS 25.123 Radio Access Network: Synchronization in UTRAN Stage 2, 3GPP TS 25.402 Introduction of the Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) in the Radio Access Network (RAN), 3GPP TS 25.346 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Base Station (BS) radio transmission and reception, 3GPP TS 36.104 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Requirements for support of radio resource management, 3GPP TS 36.133 Timing characteristics of packet-based equipment clocks, ITU-T Recommendation G.8263 Recommended Minimum Performance Standards for cdma2000 Spread Spectrum Base Stations, 3GPP2 C.S0010 Network Time Protocol (Version 4): Protocol and Algorithms Specification, IETF RFC5905, June 2010 Network Limits for Time Synchronization in Packet Networks, ITU-T G.8271.1/Y.1366.1, (Consent, July 2013) IEEE Standard for a Precision Clock Synchronization Protocol for Networked Measurement and Control Systems, IEEE Standard 1588TM-2008, 24 July 2008 Definitions and terminology for synchronization in packet networks, ITU-T Recommendation G.8260, February 2012 Precision time protocol telecom profile for frequency synchronization, ITU-T Recommendation G.8265.1, October 2010 Network Limits for Time Synchronization in Packet Networks, ITU-T G.8271.1/Y.1366.1, (Consent, July 2013) Mobile Backhaul Implementation Agreement, MEF-22.1 Femtocell Synchronization and Location, Small Cell Forum 037.01.01, May 2012 Timing and synchronization aspects in packet Networks, ITU-T Recommendation G.8261, April 2008 Timing characteristics of a synchronous Ethernet equipment slave clock, ITU-T Recommendation G.8262, July 2010 Distribution of timing information through packet networks, ITU-T Recommendation G.8264, October 2008 [Jamming Danger Raises Doubts About GPS, Aviation Week & Space Technology, October 19,1992, p. 61.]
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075 Synchronisation For LTE Small Cells

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RELEASE Three

SMALL CELL FORUM

SMALL CELL FORUM

ABOUT THE MEF

THE MEF, CARRIER ETHERNET AND MOBILE BACKHAUL

7.1 7.2 7.3

1. LTE synchronization requirements

BTS type Macro BTS

Pico BTS All Macro

Pico/Femto All Wide Area

50ppb 100ppb 100ppb 250ppb 50ppb 100ppb 250ppb

WCDMATDD (including TD-SCDMA)

3GPP TS 36.133 [10] Clause 7.5.2

Frequency and phase synchronization requirements for different ran standards

LTE co-ordination requirements

Holdover requirements of LTE small cells

2. Small cell use cases and deployment scenarios

Targeted capacity hotspot

Targeted capacity use case

Co-ordination requirements (e.g. eICIC, CoMP)

View of sky (GNSS availability)

Sync requirements Frequency Time/phase 3s phase for TDD

Dense urban underlay

Yes max capacity required

NLOS/LOS microwave, wired (e.g. DSL, GPON)

Restricted (may be urban canyon)

Restricted (may be indoor)

10s time for CDMA fallback

Targeted capacity use cases

Indoor coverage use case Dense urban indoor venue

Co-ordination requirements (e.g. eICIC, CoMP) Yes max capacity required

View of sky (GNSS availability)

No indoors LAN Yes single external point

Yes ICIC or eICIC (in dense office blocks)

Restricted (may be indoor)

Dense suburban residences

Yes ICIC or eICIC

Wired (DSL, GPON)

Restricted (may be indoor)

Distributed suburban residences Mobile (train, plane) Table 2-2

Wired (DSL, GPON) NLOS/LOS wireless, satellite

Restricted (may be indoor)

Indoor coverage cases

Wired Microwave, wired Microwave, wired Microwave, wired

Outdoor coverage cases

Non-targeted capacity (quality of experience enhancement)

3. Synchronization technology options

IEEE1588 precision time protocol

Master Clock Time

Slave Clock Time

t2 Follow_Up message containing true value of t1

IEEE 1588 protocol

Network time protocol (NTP)

Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE)

Native Ethernet PHY Clocking

Ethernet Equipment Clock (EEC)

GNSS for telecom timing

Cellular network listen

Miniature atomic frequency references

4. Hybrid technology options

PTP/NTP and assisted GNSS

Cellular network listen and assisted GNSS