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Professional Training Program September 18, 2018
Acknowledgements
First praise and thanks to the almighty ALLAH for his blessings of the mind and the future
vision and success in life in general and in this project in particular.
Having completed our project thesis we would like to express our greatest thank and our deepest
gratitude to Prof. Dr. Mohsen Tantawy and Dr. Reem Hamed Abdelhadi for suggesting research
topics, his generous guidance and providing very helpful feedback on our problems.
Thanks also to our families for the support they have given us and all teaching staff, who made
this time enjoyable.
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Abstract
There has been a vast advancement in Mobile Wireless Communication (MWC) since the last
few decades. This innovation consists of a number of generations and is still going on. The
journey of MWC began with the first generation (1G) followed by the second generation (2G),
the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G) and under research upcoming the fifth
generation (5G).
In the era of mobile Internet, mobile operators are facing pressure on ever-increasing capital
expenditures and operating expenses with much less growth of income. Cloud Radio Access
Network (C-RAN) is expected to be a candidate of next generation access network techniques
that can solve operators’ puzzle.
In this report, on the basis of a general survey of C-RAN, we present structure of C-RAN that
consists of a physical plane, a CP, and a service plane. Compared to traditional architecture, the
proposed C-RAN architecture emphasizes the notion of service cloud, service-oriented resource
scheduling and management, thus it facilitates the utilization of new communication and
computer techniques.
Cloud or Centralized (C-RAN) is a mobile network architecture that enables the share of network
resources in a centralized data center, being cost-effective to operators & capacity. the main idea
behind C-RAN is to split the base stations (BS) into radio and baseband (BB) parts, and pool the
Baseband Units (BBUs) from multiple BS into a centralized and virtualized BBU Pool. This part
of network called fronthaul.
In this report we will discuss Centralized and Cloud RAN Evolution, Architecture and
Implementation scenarios for some main vendors that support C-RAN solution such as Ericsson
Huawei, NEC and COMMSCOPE at the end we shed light on economical study of C-RAN and
the best recommend solution for Egypt
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………….11
1.2 Research Aims……………………………………………….................12
1.3 Report Organization……………………………………………………12
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List of Figures
Figure (2.1): Architecture of Advance Mobile Phone System……………………14
Figure (2.2): GSM & GPRS Network Architecture………………………………15
Figure (2.3): UMTS Network Architecture……………………………………….16
Figure (2.4): LTE Network Architecture………………………………………….17
Figure (3.1): Statistical multiplexing gain in C-RAN architecture for mobile
networks………………….......................................................................................19
Figure (3.2): Base station architecture evolution………………………………….20
Figure (3.3): C-RAN LTE mobile network……………………………………….21
Figure (4.1): Possible fronthaul transport solutions………………………………27
Figure (4.2): C-RAN deployment scenarios………………………………………29
Figure (4.3): Point to point fiber…………………………………………………..31
Figure (4.4): Passive WDM……………………………………………………….32
Figure (4.5): Active WDM………………………………………………………..32
Figure (4.6): Active WDM solutions use active transponders……………………33
Figure (4.7): baseband processing is centralized in the BaseBand Controller……34
Figure (4.8): Interference in traditional Small Cells and One Cell……………….35
Figure (4.9): User Capacity Centralization……………………………………….36
Figure (4.10): C-RAN architecture for LTE EPC………………………………...39
Figure (4.11): Proposed architecture SD-vC-RAN and Programmable EPC……..42
Figure (4.12): Active WDM Solution Architecture……………………………….43
Figure (4.13): Ericsson RRH fronhaul 6322……………………………………...44
Figure (4.14): Ericsson RRH fronhaul 6388……………………………………...44
Figure (4.15): Ericsson BBUs 5216………………………………………………45
Figure (4.16): Ericsson MUXs fronhaul 6688…………………………………….45
Figure (4.17) Huawei RRHs, FO OTN Fronthaul……………………………….46
Figure (4.18): Huawei BBU DBS 3900…………………………………………..46
Figure (4.19): Huawei MUXs……………………………………………………..47
Figure (5.1): Cost modeling flow chart…………………………………………...49
Figure (5.2): C RAN HW and SW data…………………………………………...50
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List of Tables
Table (2.1): Comparison of Mobile Generation: 1G to 5G……………………….18
Table (3.1): Comparison between traditional base station, base station with RRH
and C-RAN………………………………………………………………………..22
Table (4.1): Essential Drivers for operators to deploy CRAN……………………40
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List of Acronyms
1G 1st Generation
2G 2nd Generation
3G 3rd Generation
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
4G Fourth Generation
5G Fifth Generation
AAS Antenna Array System
AMPS Advanced Mobile Phone System
API Application Programming Interface
BB Baseband
BBU Baseband Unit
BS Base Station
BTS Base Transceiver Station
CA Carrier Aggregation
CAPEX Capital Expenditur
CDN Content Distribution Network
CN Core Network
CoMP Co-operative Multi-Point processing technology
CoMP JT CoMP Joint Transmission
COTS Commercial off-the-shelf
CP Control Plane
CPRI Common Public Radio Interface
C-RAN Centralized Radio Access Network
C-RAN Cloud Radio Access Network
CUE Connected User Equipment
DL Downlink
DPI Deep Packet Inspection
D-RAN Distributed Radio Access Network
DSN Distributed Service Network
eICIC enhanced Inter-cell Interference Coordination
eNB Evolved NodeB
eNodeB Evolved Nodes B
EPC Evolved Packet Core
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
HetNet Heterogeneous Networks
HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access
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UE User Equipment
UL Uplink
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
VM Virtual Machine
VNF Virtualized Network Function
WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
WDM Wavelength Division Multiplexing
WNC Wireless Network Cloud
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Chapter 1
Introduction
In the last few decades, mobile wireless communication networks have experienced a remarkable
change. Its generation generally refers to a change in the nature of the system, speed, technology,
frequency, data capacity, latency etc. Each generation have standards, different capacities, new
techniques and new features which differentiate it from the previous one. The first generation
(1G) was analog and used for voice calls only. The 2G is a digital technology and supports text
messaging.
The 3G mobile technology provided higher data transmission rate, increased capacity and
provide multimedia support. The 4G integrates 3G with fixed internet to support wireless mobile
internet, which is an evolution to mobile technology and it overcome the limitations of 3G. It
also increases the bandwidth and reduces the cost of resources. 5G stands for 5th Generation
Mobile technology and is going to be a new revolution in mobile market which has changed the
means to use cell phones within very high bandwidth. User never experienced ever before such
high value technology which includes all type of advance features and 5G technology will be
most powerful and in huge demand in near future.
The ever-increasing demand for more bandwidth means that network providers are faced with
new challenges in terms of giving customers what they want. Evolving to C-RAN transport
architecture not only improves the efficiency, performance, and capacity of existing networks, it
also provides significant cost savings in the areas of capital expenditures and operational
expenses.
A C-RAN is an architecture where the Digital Units or BBU are placed at a centralized location,
and the Remote Radio Units (RRU’s) are placed at distances up to several kilometers away from
the BB site. The connection from a BBU to a RRU is typically a fiber facility which is referred to
as “fronthaul” to differentiate it from backhaul which connects the BBU to the network. This
report will discuss the background and origin of the C-RAN architecture and the cost savings
that can be achieved using this approach.
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Chapter 2
Mobile Networks Generations
2.1 Introduction
The first mobile phone system was established in Japan and the launch for first mobile system
was occurred in Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland. After these progress, the generations
for MWC starts. In this report, we presented the detailed survey of different generations of
mobile communication networks. The 1G mobile phone networks uses analog signals to transmit
the voice calls only between the two transmitters. 2G mobile network is the next stage in the
development of wireless technology to overcome the limitations of 1G by primarily focusing on
transmission of voice and data with digital signals. 3G was arrived because of low speed and
incompatible technologies used on previous generations. The main features of 3G is that it
allows higher data transmission rates and increased capacity for traditional voice call and high
speed data applications such as Global Roaming, internet, mobile, video conferencing, video
calls and 3D gaming. 4G is known as beyond 3G, stands as an acronym for fourth generation
communication system which describes the next step in wireless communication.4G is called as
MAGIC because the users can use the mobile multimedia at anytime anywhere with global
mobility support on integrated wireless solution and customized personal service at higher data
rates than previous generations. 5G is a packet switched wireless mobile communication system
with extensive area coverage and high through put. Hence it is called as Real World Wireless or
wireless World Wide Web (WWWW)
It introduces mobile technologies such as Mobile Telephone System (MTS), AMTS, Improved
Mobile Telephone Service (IMTS), and Push to Talk (PTT). It has low capacity, unreliable
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handoff, poor voice links, and no security at all since voice calls were played back in radio
towers, making these calls susceptible to unwanted eavesdropping by third parties
The GSM technology was continuously improved to provide better services which led to
development of advanced Technology between 2G and 3G
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5G was started from late 2010s. Facilities that might be seen with 5G technology includes far
better levels of connectivity and coverage. The main focus of 5G will be on world-Wireless
World Wide Web (WWWW). It is a complete wireless communication with no limitations. The
main features of 5G are:
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Primary Service Analog Phone Digital Phone Calls Phone calls, All-IP Service High speed,
Calls and Messaging Messaging, (including High capacity
Data Voice and provide
Messages) large
broadcasting of
data in Gbps
Key Mobility Secure, Mass adoption Better Internet Faster Better coverage
differentiator experience Broadband and no droped
Internet, calls, much
Lower lower latency,
Latency Better
performance
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Chapter 3
C-RAN Technologies
3.1 Introduction
Base Transceiver Station (BTS), NodeB, eNodeB. Those are the names used to describe a base
station in GSM, UMTS and LTE standards, respectively. As a concept, and logical node, a base
station is responsible for receiving signal from/sending to user, prepare it to be send up
to/received from the CN and organize transmission. Physically, this node can be deployed as a
standalone base station, base station with RRH or C-RAN
The most prominent way to increase network capacity is by either adding more cells, creating a
complex structure of Heterogeneous and Small cell Networks (HetSNets) or by implementing
techniques such as multiuser MIMO as well as Massive MIMO, where numerous antennas
simultaneously serve a number of users in the same time frequency resource. However, this
results in growing inter-cell interference levels and high costs.
C-RAN also has the potential to decrease the cost of network operation, because power and
energy consumption are reduced compared to the traditional RAN architecture. New BBUs can
be added and upgraded easily, thereby improving scalability and easing network maintenance. A
virtualized BBU Pool can be shared by different network operators, allowing them to rent Radio
RAN as a cloud service. As BBUs from many sites are co-located in one pool, they can interact
with lower delays – therefore mechanisms introduced for LTE-A to increase spectral efficiency
and throughput
Figure 3.1: Statistical multiplexing gain in C-RAN architecture for mobile networks [5]
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The area which a mobile network covers is divided into cells, therefore mobile networks are
often called cellular networks. Traditionally, in cellular networks, users communicate with a base
station that serves the cell under coverage of which they are located
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Where a BBU needs to be placed close to the antenna. RRHs can be placed up on poles or
rooftops, leveraging efficient cooling and saving on air-conditioning in BBU housing. RRHs are
statically assigned to BBUs similarly to the traditional RAN. One BBU can serve many RRHs.
RRHs can be connected to each other in a so called daisy-chained architecture. An IR interface is
defined, which connects RRH and BBU. Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) is the radio
interface protocol widely used for In-phase/Quadrature (IQ) data transmission between RRHs
and BBUs - on IR interface. It is a constant bit rate, bidirectional protocol that requires accurate
synchronization and strict latency control. Other protocols that can be used are Open Base
Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI) and Open Radio equipment Interface (ORI), For LTE BS
the X2 interface is defined between base stations, the S1 interface connects a base station with
mobile CN
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Table (3.1): Comparison between traditional base station, base station with RRH and C-RAN [5]
Architecture Radio and BB Problem it addresses Problems it Causes
Functionalities
Traditional base Co-located in one Unit High power
station consumption
Resources are
underutilized
Base station with Spitted between RRH and Lower power Resources
RRH BBU. consumption. are underutilized
RRH is placed together with More convenient
antenna placement of BBU
at the remote site.
BBU located within 20-40
km away.
Generally deployed
Nowadays
C-RAN Spitted into RRH and BBU. Even lower power Considerable
RRH is placed together with consumption. transport resources
antenna at the remote site. Lower number of between RRH and
BBUs from many sites are BBUs needed - cost BBU
co-located in the pool reduction
within 20-40
km away.
VMs can share resources effectively to achieve better utilization, scalability and efficiency. VMs
are managed and created by hypervisor, which is the virtualization layer on top of the HW.
Adding or removing VMs depending on the traffic for example can improve the HW utilization
even further. In Cloud RAN VMs are responsible for handling the different BBU functionalities
inside the virtualized BBU pool.
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Uses of HW that supports open standards, platforms and services can enable faster innovation
and reduce life cycles through SW updates rather than HW updates. Another benefit of having a
virtualized server platform close to the mobile edge is the ability to host services such as content
caching, which the end-users in mobile networks can experience as improved performance due to
lower latency and faster access to content. Available un-used server capacity can also be sold to
parties that can benefit from computing on the mobile edge.
Another key feature of SDN is open interfaces between devices and controllers, which allows
more flexibility for the operator to manage the network. Where NFV replaces the proprietary
HW with SW running on top of COTS HW, SDN replaces the standardized networking protocols
with centralized control. SDN architecture in C-RAN provides the ability to enable fast
deployment of new SW applications and dynamically adapt to the changing traffic patterns in the
network. Open Flow developed by Open Networking Foundation (ONF) is common protocol
used between network devices and controllers in SDN southbound interface
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Also it have high computational processing power shared by many users placed closer to them,
mobile operators can offer users more attractive Service Level Agreements (SLAs), as the
response time of application servers is noticeably shorter if data is cached in BBU Pool. Network
operators can partner with third-party service developers to host servers for applications, locating
them in the cloud.
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expected to be much less than the sum of capacity requirements of individual base stations. This
is due to pooling gain (PG), as in BBU pools the peak capacity requirement does not have to be
taken account in every single base station and BS can be dimensioned for the average capacity.
Thus, the resource utilization is much better than in the current RAN architecture.
In centralized architecture BB processing HW, air conditioning and other site equipment are
centralized and better utilized, thus power consumption can be expected to decrease. C-RAN’s
virtualized BBU pools also enable better resource utilization during low traffic hours, when it is
possible to scale down the number of virtualized BBUs to reduce power consumption. Co-
operative radio technology decreases the distance between the UE and RRHs due to reduced
interference among RRHs and thus allowing higher cell density. Reduced distance between UE
and RRH means more energy efficient signal transmission, prolonged UE battery life and overall
decreased power consumption in the RAN
Centralization of BB functionalities provides a point for traffic offload and content management
to reduce the traffic on the operator’s CN that is caused by growing Internet traffic from
smartphones and other devices. Benefits of this are reduced back-haul and CN traffic and costs,
reduced latency for the users, which means better Quality-of-Experience for the users
switch network with flexible topology that interconnects BBUs inside the BBU pool. Switch
network allowing flexible routing of digital BB processing signals between any RRH and BBUs
can prevent the failure of the entire system in case of single BBU failure happens. Optimal cell
clustering in BBU pools is required for achieving multiplexing gains (MG) and preventing the
BBU pool and transport network from overloading.
The BBU pool should consists of cells from different traffic areas such as office, residential and
commercial areas to optimize the number of active BBUs and RRHs in the BBU pool. Optimal
cell placement in BBU pools should maximize the BBU pool resource utilization, by combining
cells so the total sum of the traffic does not differ much at any time.
Current LTE networks suffer from much more severe interference problems than 2G or 3G
networks, due to large number of deployed small cells to achieve higher data rates. Important
aspects of Cloud RAN are also to improve spectral and energy efficiency and reduce Inter Cell
Interference (ICI), which can be done with collaborative radio and joint signal processing
techniques. CoMP Joint Transmission (JT) algorithms are viable in Cloud RAN and can be used
to improve the system performance in the previously mentioned aspects. CoMP JT algorithms
require end-user data, uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) information to be shared between Cloud
RAN base stations.
Information such as end-user data packages, UE channel information and cloud base station’s
scheduling information that might be shared can require real-time processing. This means that
Cloud RAN base station interfaces should be designed to support high BW and low latency to
achieve the real-time processing requirements with low backhaul transmission delay and
overview. Combining CoMP JT with cell clustering algorithm will reduce complexity of
scheduling, which means that well designed scheduler in Cloud RAN can impact the spectral
efficiency
For example, Time-Division Duplexing Long Term Evolution (TDD-LTE) system requires that
an ACK/NACK must be sent back to UE or base station under 3ms after the frame is received.
Standard IT data centers cannot meet such requirements so the base station virtualization needs
special optimization and design to meet the requirements of the wireless mobile communication.
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Chapter 4
C-RAN Implementation Scenarios
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bit rates need to be supported. In order to transport 10 Gbps CPRI rate, the maximum CPRI line
bit rate option 8, i.e., 10.1376 Gbps needs to be deployed, which is supported so far by standard
CPRI v 6.0. Additional upgrade of the standard is needed to accommodate more traffic, at least
16 Gbps to fully serve a 3 sector 20 MHz LTE macro cell with 4x2 MIMO, Existing standards -
CPRI and OBSAI can support connections between the BBU Pool and RRHs in C-RAN.
Moreover. However, as the nature of the interface between RRH and BBU is changing with an
introduction of C-RAN, the existing protocols may need to be redefined in order to be optimized
for high volume transmission over long distances.
Alcatel-Lucent is offering a light Radio solution for C-RAN. It uses a multiband, multi standard
active antenna array, with MIMO and passive antenna array support. Alcatel- Lucent is working
towards two multiband radio heads (one for high and one for low bands). Built-in digital
modules are used for BB processing. For C-RAN L1, L2 and L3 are separated from radio
functions. In 2012, Ericsson announced the first CPRI over microwave connection
implementation, which is interesting for operators considering the deployment of a partially
centralized C-RAN architecture
The BBU Pool needs to support 100 BS for a medium sized urban network (coverage 5x5 km),
1000 BS for 15x15 km. In addition, it is beneficial when BBU has the intelligence to support
additional services like Content Distribution Network (CDN), Distributed Service Network
(DSN) and Deep Packet Inspection (DPI). Virtualization of base station resources is needed to
hide the physical characteristics of the BBU Pool and enable dynamic resource allocation. There
are also challenges for real time virtualized base station in centralized BBU Pool, like high
performance low-power signal processing, real time signal processing, BBU interconnection as
well as between chips in a BBU, BBUs in a physical rack and between racks. Optimal pooling of
BBU resources in needed in C-RAN. The resource pooling time scale is of the order of several
minutes, however, it can be expected it can be done with finer granularity further optimizing the
results.
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scratch, as well as deployment of additional cells for boosting the capacity of an existing
network.
Moreover, different stages of C-RAN deployment to leverage its full potential are listed. It is
advised to deploy C-RAN in metropolitan area to benefit from statistical MG, as users are
moving through the day, but still remain within the maximum distance (resulting from
propagation and processing delay, up to 40 km) between RRH and BBU. However, a
metropolitan area might be served by a few BBU Pools.
a) HetNets. Existing BBUs of macro BS can be replaced by BBU Pool and additional RRHs
can be deployed to form small cells.
b) Cell split. Existing macro cells can be split into smaller ones increasing the system
capacity. Interference management techniques are needed as all the cells will operate at
the same frequency. C-RAN can enhance cooperative techniques like CoMP and eICIC.
This scenario can also be used to provide indoor coverage by deploying RRHs on each
floor of the building or group of offices offering high capacity. However, in this scenario
Wi-Fi can be a cheaper solution, if users will have Wi-Fi connection in their devices
switched on, enabling offload from cellular network to Wi-Fi.
c) Overlay. Additional frequency band or a new cellular standard can be introduced to boost
system capacity. In Figure 4.2 one RRH provides coverage in frequency f1. Additional
RRHs operating on frequency f2 provide overlay coverage. Efficient interference
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d) Super-hot spots, e.g., stadium, transportation hub. It is a scenario where many users are
present in one location. Small cells are needed to assure the capacity, as well as provide
the coverage in complex scenery, e.g., with balconies, ramps, etc. The density of users is
high; therefore, it is crucial to efficiently support interference management schemes like
CoMP and eICIC.
e) Railway/highway. Users are moving with a fast speed in this scenario, therefore BBU
Pool shall handle frequent handovers faster than traditional RAN. Figure 4.2 summarizes
C-RAN transport solutions and physical layer (PHY) architecture discussed in this
chapter. Moreover, a possibility of sharing BBU Pool and rent RANs is emphasized. For
a particular network operator, the choice of physical medium and transport network
depends on whether an existing infrastructure is already deployed.the following
subsections describe the transport options which are potential candidates for CPRI
transport, but it is implied that several cases can be obtained by combining some of the
transport options.
This transport option is important for scenarios where operators have a large installed base of
available fiber. However, the cost associated with deploying new fiber and issue of the fiber
availability limits the broad applicability of this transport option. It has several advantages: no
extra equipment cost for transmission and its simplicity- no additional equipment is added to the
network. Because of this, the latency contribution caused by the fronthaul network over lower-
layer technology is zero and the fronthaul traffic is transported "as it is". Considering a basic
fronthaul implementation, the maximum E2E latency consists of the delay components for UL
BBU and RRH, DL BBU and RRH, and the propagation delay along the fronthaul link (tTR=0).
On the other hand, requiring extra equipment for monitoring and large consumption of fiber are
among the major challenges of this approach. Figure 4.3 illustrates dedicated fiber mobile front
haul network option in which gray optical modules are used in both the RRH and BBU, SFP.
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Due to the above-mentioned problems, point to point fiber is not practical for the majority of C-
RAN deployments.
Figure 4.4 presents a passive WDM in which the incoming wavelengths are split by means of
passive demultiplexers and is sent to separate CPRI ports of BBUs. Depending on the specific
requirement of the network, CWDM or Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM)
technologies are directly deployed in the RRH and BBU with a passive Optical Add/Drop
Multiplexer (OADM) to multiplex the colored wavelength onto a single fiber pair. CWDM
technology is best suited for outdoor equipment because it doesn’t require temperature control
and is capable of multiplexing about 16 wavelength channels into a single fiber. In most cases,
the maximum number of RRH in cell site (assuming several sectors, RATs, and antennas) is less
than this number of wavelengths.
Hence, it is possible to aggregate all traffic flows of the whole cell site fronthaul into a single
fiber. Comparing to dedicated fiber, this solution is more relevant because it greatly reduces the
amount of fiber without affecting the energy consumption. Below is a list of the major drawback
and merits of passive based Mobil fronthaul.
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o Despite their attractive advantages, passive WDM also comes with their own
disadvantages:
• Not bidirectional (It requires 2 fibers per link).
• Inventory management required to align optics color with RRH-BBU link. • Lack of
native Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM): fault isolation is
operationally challenging and expensive.
• Lack of clear demarcation points between wireless access point and fronthaul
equipment.
Similarly, Active WDM enables the use of 1310 nm gray wavelength in the RRH and BBU by
employing a separate transponder.
Figure 4.5 illustrates active WDM-based mobile fronthaul where an external device is used on
the transponder for OAM propose. The active components in the figure introduce an asymmetric
latency in the UL and DL directions. In addition to this, it requires two WDM optical modules
for UL and DL CPRI links.
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In traditional wireless architectures, each physical base station combines BB processing and
radio functions. With C-RAN the BB processing for many cells is centralized. Benefits of C-
RAN include improved performance due to the ability to coordinate between cells, and also cost
reductions as a result of pooling resources.
The C-RAN concept has generally been applied to outdoor macro-cells. However, it can also be
applied to small cells that provide distributed coverage across a large indoor space, such as an
office building, coliseum or other large venue. CommScope’s One Cell solution applies the
C-RAN architecture principle of BB centralization to small cells. However, One Cell goes
beyond ordinary C-RAN solutions in four important respects:
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The One Cell solution’s design yields critical advantages, because it:
Creating multiple independent cells also generates the need for frequent handovers, degrading
the user experience in introducing the potential for handover failures or constant back-and-forth
handovers between adjacent cells—a phenomenon known as “ping-ponging.”
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One Cell creates a single cell that eliminates cell borders altogether. It accomplishes this by
centralizing the scheduling of users across the Radio Points. Unlike a service controller, One
Cell’s BB Controller performs LTE resource block scheduling centrally across all the Radio
Points and all the users, so it provides a strong signal that is consistent throughout the coverage
area (no handovers required).
Figure 4.8: Interference in traditional Small Cells and One Cell [11]
Network functions virtualization (NFV) has become a strategic tool for mobile network
operators. C-RAN architecture provides an opportunity to go beyond NFV to virtualizing the
actual radio resources. C-RAN-enabled cell virtualization lets operators provide higher capacity
without introducing inter-cell interference.
COMMSCOPE’s One Cell solution creates a single physical cell across a large area to eliminate
border interference and handovers. Even so, One Cell is not limited to the capacity of a single
cell. Instead, multiple virtual cells can be created within a single physical cell using a
breakthrough approach called cell virtualization.
Cell virtualization enables the transmissions of unique user data within the same LTE resources
but directed to different radios for different users. The C-RAN BBU "knows" the location of
each user, so it can determine when two users are sufficiently isolated from one another to serve
them at the same time, reusing the same LTE physical resource blocks (PRBs) without risk of
interference.
This form of virtualization puts intelligence into the reuse of spectrum rather than the
uncoordinated, static reuse of spectrum in traditional small cells. As a result, it achieves the
multi-sector capacity of many standalone small cells, with up to a 1,000 percent increase in user
data rates at the cell edge-an order of magnitude improvement-through the elimination of border
interference. It even improves battery life because the user device need only track a single cell.
It’s no surprise that cell virtualization is a consistent theme in discussions of 5G standards. But
the benefits of cell virtualization are available in LTE today with CommScope’s One Cell
solution.
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With the One Cell solution, capacity is pooled in the central BB Controller and allocated
dynamically to wherever the usage is at any given moment. This makes it possible to handle the
natural movement of users throughout an area, and to take full advantage of the system’s
capacity.
C-RAN also simplifies capacity expansion. With standalone small cells, the only way to add
capacity is to add cells-along with the new cell border overlaps that cause interference. With One
Cell, capacity can be added centrally at the BB Controller, without creating new cells or cell
borders.
o One Cell uses a single reference signal, allowing it to avoid neighboring macro reference
signals.
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o Multiple One Cell Radio Points can jointly transmit to an individual UE, helping
overcome an interfering macro signal without having to boost Radio Point transmit power
to the extent that it would interfere with the macro network.
o Joint UL reception means One Cell Radio Points can jointly receive UL transmissions
from a single UE, which are then combined at the controller. This enables the UE to
transmit at a lower power, reducing its interference on the macro UL.
o Inter-Radio Point interference rejection combining enables the BB Controller to perform
interference rejection combining (IRC) to detect and cancel the signals from a nearby
macro-attached UE, minimizing its interference to the One Cell system.
o Interference from a strong macro signal at one side or corner of the building can be
remedied by increasing the transmit power of access points, or by adding access points, in
the affected area. Because the system forms a single cell, this can be done without
creating new interference.
Unlike macro BBU-based solutions, the One Cell solution uses standard Ethernet LANs and
Cat5e cabling for fronthaul. There is no need for proprietary network elements or costly coax or
fiber cabling. Radio Points are powered over Ethernet (PoE), eliminating the need for separate
power distribution to antenna sites. This “Wi-Fi-like” deployment model greatly reduces cost
and complexity of design, installation and subsequent system changes. Physical installation can
be performed by IT people with general LAN installation skills.
As a small cell solution, One Cell has been optimized for high-volume, low-touch deployment.
The system is plug and play; the Radio Points and BB Controller automatically discover each
other and authenticate. One Cell gets its configuration automatically from the COMMSCOPE
Device Management System (DMS) in the operator’s CN. A suite of self-organizing network
(SON) capabilities ensure the system is optimized for its macro environment. As a result, One
Cell optimizes all aspects of performance while minimizing the effort, expertise and cost
required to design, deploy and maintain the system.
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One Cell’s single-cell C-RAN architecture makes it easy to add capacity and coverage to existing
deployments. Because capacity is pooled in the BB Controller, new capacity can be added at the
controller without affecting the radio or antenna infrastructure. If coverage needs to be extended
to a new part of the building, Radio Points can easily be added where needed. Because they
create no new cell borders, the existing infrastructure is not impacted.
One Cell supports multi-carrier and multi-operator deployments. Frequency bands are SW-
selectable across common HW. An initial HW installation can be provisioned for different
frequency bands or even different mobile network operators, to support neutral host business
models. One Cell’s BB Controller uses a powerful macro-grade chipset that can be SW-upgraded
to support LTE-advanced features.
A novel mobile architecture C-RAN was first proposed, which has the potential to answer the
above-mentioned challenges. In C-RAN, BB processing is centralized in a virtualized BBU Pool.
The BBUs adapt to non-uniform traffic and implement joint processing technologies to improve
system performance necessary for future mobile networks. The reduction in number of BBUs
lead to decrease in network operation cost, as improved energy optimization is attained
compared to traditional architectures.
The BBU pool to be shared by different network operators and interact with lower delays to
increase spectral efficiency because of virtualization of the same. Hence, CRAN acts as a
platform for coexistence of diverse services. Compared to traditional network, CRAN has the
potential to facilitate easy upgrades, load balancing between cells and efficient intra-BBU pool
handover, thereby improving scalability and performance.
Even though there are other prospective candidates to address traditional network challenges, but
they fail to employ collaborative features like CRAN, remain underutilized during off-peaks and
equally difficult to upgrade and repair.
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4.6.1 Architecture
In C-RAN, BB processing is centralized in a virtualized BBU Pool which is connected to RRH
via optical fiber. The link connecting BBU and RRH is called fronthaul and BBU and Evolved
Packet Core (EPC) is called backhaul. BBU is responsible to provide MAC PHY and Antenna
Array System (AAS) functionalities, and RRH functions to provide high data rate for UEs. For a
given area all the RRHs are handled by a single BBU pool. Inter cell coordination (ICI) is made
significantly easier due to direct communication within BBUs. Figure 4.10 shows CRAN
architecture for LTE EPC.
a) Full centralization: In this structure, layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3 base station functions are in
BBU. This solution provides several benefits like easier upgrading, efficient resources sharing
and support sharing between different network operators. However, the need for high BW in
future networks like 5G will lead to challenges in fronthaul in networks having full
centralization.
b) Partial centralization: The RRH incorporates layer 1 and radio functionalities. Layer 2 and 3
functions are continued in the BBU.
c) Hybrid centralization: In this structure, Layer 1 functions in the BBU pool are partly
migrated to a separate processing unit, which may be a part of the BBU pool to gain maximum
resource sharing and reduce BBU energy consumption.
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• Cost and Energy Optimization: BBU pooling and placement in cloud both cost and energy
needed for network operation is reduced.
• Spectral efficiency enhancement: Frequency reuse at the cell site improves the spectral
efficiency by decreasing resource allocation and base station densification at least provides
a marginal gain in resource allocation by improving Signal to Interface (SIR) reliability.
• Support legacy network and multiple standards: Traditional network and technologies,
including GSM, UMTS, HSDPA, LTE and LTE-A are supported by CRAN by
interconnecting and managing with these technologies directly through network elements.
• Improved security and adaptability: Centralized processing and encryption permits to adapt
to non- uniform traffic and develop better security algorithms for future mobile networks.
• QoS support: CRAN supports different services with specific QoS metrics through
hierarchal QoS.
• Decrease CAPEX and OPEX: CRAN can attain 15% CAPEX and 50% OPEX decrease
owing to its centralized processing characteristic.
Driver Percentage
Reduce OPEX 27%
Reduce CAPEX 25%
Increase Flexibility 23%
Improve scalability 12%
Other 13%
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b) Control layer: this layer is responsible for making routing decisions and pushing the
decisions down the network devices for execution. The device forwarding plane is mostly the
area of focus rather than the operational plane of the device. For few instances, the operation
plane information such as the current state of a port or its capabilities is required by the CP. The
main function of the CP is tune the flow tables based on the network topology and external
service requests. In figure 4.11, Open Day light (ODL) controller is placed in the core of the
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architecture, which consist of the programmable modular structure. Note that any of the existing
controllers can be used in the controller platform.
c) Infrastructure layer: the control communications between the controller platform and data
plane devices (physical and virtual switches) is defined by the Southbound Protocols.
It considers the flexibility requirements in planning and deploying SDN. OpenFlow (OF) is one
the main protocols defined for the Southbound interface, however other protocols such as Border
Gateway Protocol (BGP) and SNMP is also supported.
Figure 4.11: Proposed architecture - Software Defined Virtualized Cloud Radio Access Network
(SD-vCRAN) and Programmable EPC [12]
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From our point, we recommend the active WDM solution for the implementation of centralized
RAN in Egypt. The active WDM solution is adoptable with many transmission technologies, so
this will reduce the cost of the implementation. RRHs can be connected with the active WDM
equipment wired through fiber or wireless through microwave links that already have been
installed in LTE sites. WDM multiplexers and centralized office BBUs can be installed beside
the telecom centrals and connect between multiplexers and BBUs office through the
infrastructure of the Telecom company.
There many vendors have an experience in centralized RAN implementation and have solutions
already have been installed for different operators that used centralized BBUs office. Those
vendors like Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, NEC, etc. The two main vendors in Egypt are Huawei
and Ericsson. We will say in brief their equipment that are used in active WDM fronthaul
solution.
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IP65 hardened all-outdoor active high-density remote unit with Ericsson Radio System
building practices and support for flexible topologies
9 services per port
(e)CPRI (2-8), OBSAI (1G-6G), Ethernet (GE/10GE)
Outdoor active remote unit with dedicated transponders, low power consumption, wall or
pole mount and support for any topology
3 or 6 services per port
(e)CPRI (2-8), OBSAI (1G-6G), Ethernet (GE/10GE)
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Ericsson’s Baseband products are the first in the world supporting deca (10) mode; GSM,
WCDMA, LTE FDD, LTE TDD, LTE LAA, LTE M1, Massive MIMO, 5G NR, EC GSM, and
NB IoT, in a single board. This enables a fast roll out, with the smallest possible footprint and a
low power consumption. Investments are future proof, as boards are capable of running all
technologies, and capacity can dynamically be changed from one technology to another with
software only, without any need to go to site and update hardware. The complete portfolio
includes solutions that are optimized for all kinds of sites.
Indoor ’stack-and-go’ remote active unit with dedicated transponder cards, supporting
any topology
3 or 6 services per port
CPRI (2-8), OBSAI (1G-6G), Ethernet (GE/10GE)
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Saving 90%+ Fiber, single fiber bi-direction, single fiber carries 15 CRPI traffics for 4G,
and maximum save the dark fibers.
“0” service interruption, high reliable: Supports 1+ 1 and ring networking, hitless
protection via latency compensation technology. When the Fronthaul network protection
switch, the BBU and the RRU does not need to be renegotiated, no services interrupting.
FMC service access, fast ROI: Give consideration to mobile transport, FBB and
enterprise service access, to maximize network value.
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Provides the clock port for clock synchronization, alarm monitoring port for environment
monitoring, and USB port for commissioning.
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Chapter 5
Economical RAN Architecture Deployment
5.1 Introduction
The objective of this chapter is to study the main cost model parameter for C-RAN deployment
scenarios. This can give a better understanding of the future RAN architectures in terms of costs.
The main purpose "What is the most economical Radio Access Network architecture for the
given use case and existing cellular network deployment?”
High costs
High energy consumption
Base station over-dimensioning
Closed solutions
Spectrum availability and Interference
Cost effective: C RAN’s more effective scaling for traffic growth and large-scale pooling gains
can bring savings to both CAPEX and OPEX.
Improving economics of RAN operation is among the most important drivers for MNOs together
with system efficiency, ability to improve scalability and resource utilization. C RAN aims to
meet the demands of rapidly increasing mobile data traffic with low costs.
Efficiency: Centralizing and virtualizing the baseband processing in Cloud RAN improves the
utilization of baseband processing hardware with more effective use of resources. Therefore,
Cloud RAN also has the potential to reduce the energy consumption in RAN and provide an eco-
friendlier infrastructure
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Open Innovation: C RAN’s cloud-based architecture is flexible and scalable, and it has the
ability to meet the demands of new applications and services. The use of COTS cloud servers
offers the ability to build cost effective multi-vendor solutions with better compatibility. C RAN
supports open innovation on the mobile edge with easy MEC deployment on the same cloud
servers.
5G and IoT readiness: 5G is estimated to be worth 220 billion euros for the MNOs, and
respectively the Internet of Things is estimated to be 484-billion-euro business opportunity.
Cloud RAN will bring the foundation for 5G with improved spectral efficiency, peak data rates
and lower latency. Existing LTE-A, transport and cloud infrastructure can be re-used for fast
deployment of new 5G access. Cloud RAN’s multi-connectivity layer can be used to host 5G,
LTE and Wi-Fi Cloud based multi-layer access network to save costs on individual RAN
deployments
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CAPEX calculations:
CAPEX in this model includes investments into BBM hardware, cloud server hardware and
software licenses. Calculating CAPEX is done by using the bill of material, which contains all
the required hardware and software items for each year and the financial data, which contains the
pricing information for the required items.
Total cumulated CAPEX for the network architecture is therefore:
CAPEX ∑
Where CBBM is the cost of BBM hardware, CBBSW is the cost of baseband software, CCHW is the
cost of cloud hardware, CCSW is the cost of cloud software and CRFSW is the cost of RF software
in year.
OPEX calculations
OPEX includes energy cost, rental costs, baseband capacity upgrade costs, Operation and
Maintenance (OAM) costs and hardware and software maintenance fees. Calculating the OPEX
for the network is done by using the bill of material from network dimensioning, network
configuration data and financial data.
Where Cenergy is the energy cost, Crent is the rental cost, CBBup is the baseband capacity upgrade
cost, COAM is the OAM cost and Cmaint is the hardware and software maintenance cost in year.
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Chapter 6
Conclusion and Future Work
6.1 Conclusion
From our study in this report, we reach to how the evolution of radio access networks can
improve the operators’ networks to achieve needs of data growth and reduce CAPEX/OPEX.
With the centralized processing of the C-RAN architecture, the number of base station sites can
be reduced. Thus, the operation cost can be reduced. This directly translates into CAPEX and
OPEX reduction. Small cells with lower transmission power can be deployed while network
coverage and capacity are improved. In C-RAN, virtual base stations (macro, micro or small) are
aggregated in a large physical BBU pool where they can easily share signaling, and data for
active users in the system. With C-RAN, it is much easier to implement algorithms to mitigate
inter-cell interference and improve spectral efficiency.
C-RAN architecture can efficiently handle non-uniform data traffic due to the load-balancing
capability in the distributed BBU pool. As an example, due to user mobility, the serving RRH
can change dynamically, while the serving BBU is still in the same C-BBU or V-BBU pool. C-
BBU or V-BBU resource sharing during peak data demand periods is efficient since processing
power and memory within the pool can now be dynamically allocated depending on demand.
There are many different solutions for C-RAN implementation, we recommend the active WDM
centralized solution for C-RAN implementation in Egypt. The active WDM solution is adoptable
with many transmission technologies, so this will reduce the cost of the implementation. RRHs
can be connected with the active WDM equipment wired through fiber or wireless through
microwave links that already have been installed in LTE sites. WDM multiplexers and
centralized office BBUs can be installed beside the telecom centrals and connect between
multiplexers and BBUs office through the infrastructure of the Telecom company. There many
vendors have an experience in centralized RAN implementation and have solutions already have
been installed for different operators that used centralized BBUs office. Those vendors like
Huawei, Ericsson, NEC, etc. The two main vendors in Egypt are Huawei and Ericsson.
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The traditional base station functional split between baseband and radio functionalities was fine
for short scale deployments, e.g., between rooftop and basement. However, with C-RAN,
bringing fronthaul into metropolitan scale with ever-growing capacity needs, more disruptive
solutions are needed. Future work could investigate how the varying network load for several
data streams from a variable-bit rate splits affects synchronization accuracy. The proposed
source scheduling algorithm does not cover scenarios with uplink traffic exceeding downlink.
Moreover, it is assumed that only one BBU pool is present in the network. A more generalized
algorithm for source scheduling, with multiple BBU pools and possibly other services present in
the network, is of interest for 5G.
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References
[1] Dr.Prinima, Dr.Jyoti Pruthi, Dept. of Computer Science & Technology, Manav Rachna
University, Haryana, India, Evolution of Mobile Communication Network: from 1G to 5G
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Christiansen, Henrik, Lehrmann, E.: Cloud Radio Access Network architecture. Towards 5G
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[6] Olli Vierimaa, E.: Cost Modeling of Cloud-Based Radio Access Network, Thesis submitted
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2015.
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[12] Pushpanjali Banik, E.: Software Defined Virtualized Cloud Radio Access Network (SD-
vCRAN) and Programmable EPC for 5G, 2017.
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