centralized ran (c-ran): what is it and why you should care
DESCRIPTION
C-RAN is just another form of Small Cell. The main C-RAN challenge is fronthaul. But fronthaul makes it difficult to reach RRU locations (mostly urban), is dependent of non-traditional deployments (e.g., street furniture, non-tower) and CPRI interfaces creates new challenges (e.g., capacity, latency, management). Therefore, new innovations in wireless transport will be required to make fronthaul and C-RANs feasible.TRANSCRIPT
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Centralized RAN
(C-RAN)
WHAT IS IT?
AND WHY SHOULD YOU CARE?
Paul Kennard, CTO
June 13, 2013
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THE DATA STORM
low or stable average revenue per user LOW ARPU
NEW DEVICES
NETWORK COSTS
NEW CONSUMERS explosion of smart phones, tablets
and other mobile devices
increased network CAPEX and OPEX
5 billion consumers will have
access to internet
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DENSER NETWORKS
This has several problems:
How to meet the required coverage
and capacity?
How to deal with interference?
How to manage increased complexity:
To increase spectral efficiency?
To manage customers data?
To deal with higher CAPEX and
OPEX?
the only way to deal with the data storm is to have denser wireless networks with ever increasing spectral efficiency
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STRATEGIES FOR DENSER NETWORKS
RAN DECENTRALIZATION (HetNet) TRADITIONAL MACRO CELLS
SMALL CELLS, SON
BACKHAUL
RAN CENTRALIZATION (C-RAN) DISTRIBUTED ANTENNAS (DAS)
REMOTE RADIO HEADS (RRH)
FRONTHAUL
WiFi OFFLOAD OFFLOAD
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CENTRALIZED RAN (C-RAN) TERMINOLOGY
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Source: NGMN
C-RAN IMPLEMENTATION JUST ANOTHER FORM OF SMALL CELL
TRADITIONAL MACRO CELL DEPLOYMENT CELL SPLIT USING FRONT HAUL
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ADVANTAGES OF C-RAN
Resource pooling
Greener infrastructure (re-use)
Base station virtualization
Simplified management and operation
Coordination for interference mitigation (ICIC)
Multi technology support
No GPS in each remote site
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MAIN C-RAN CHALLENGE IS FRONTHAUL
Difficult to reach RRU locations
(mostly urban)
Non traditional deployments
(street furniture, non-tower)
CPRI interface creates new challenges
(capacity, latency, management, etc)
PLUS FIBER IS NOT EVERYWHERE,
AND NOT FOR FREE SO WIRELESS SOLUTIONS FOR
FRONTHAUL WILL BE NEEDED
PLUS FIBER IS NOT EVERYWHERE,
AND NOT FOR FREE SO WIRELESS SOLUTIONS FOR
FRONTHAUL WILL BE NEEDED
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BUT CAPACITY AND LATENCY REQUIREMENTS PUSH THE
BOUNDARIES OF WIRELESS TECHNOLOGIES
Latency
CORE CPRI
BBU
TRANSMISSION MEDIUM (FIBER / MICROWAVE)
RRH
IP BACKHAUL
RRH
CPRI CPRI
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WHICH MEANS NEW INNOVATIONS (IN WIRELESS TRANSPORT)
WILL BE REQUIRED
smaller
faster
low power
higher capacity
lower latency
cheaper
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C-RAN offers many benefits for
operators however Fronthaul challenges
need to be addressed to make it a reality
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W W W . AV I AT N E T W O R K S . C O M