Nokia Solutions and Networks Liquid Radio Executive Summary

Liquid Radio

2014 Nokia Solutions and Networks. All rights reserved 2/6 Executive Summary

Liquid Radio: Active, Adaptive and Aware Nokia Solutions and Networks (NSN) believes that communications networks must be prepared for up to a thousand times more mobile broadband traffic by 2020. Whats more, demand is rarely constant, ebbing and flowing as people switch applications, change locations, attend mass events and use different services throughout the day.

To meet this demand, many technologies, including LTE-Advanced, LTE, HSPA+, Long Term HSPA Evolution, GSM and non-3GPP technologies like Wi-Fi need to be run and coordinated in parallel. The number of frequency bands is growing too, as is the proliferation of small cells that will increasingly be deployed to provide extra capacity and ubiquitous coverage.

Radio access networks must be active and adaptable in order to manage all these requirements cost-effectively. Furthermore, such complexity cannot realistically be managed by the manual O&M processes of today. Instead, network configuration and optimization must be automated to make it aware to maximize radio network performance and minimize network operating cost.

All these requirements are addressed by NSN Liquid Radio, the markets most dynamic radio access solution which unleashes capacity wherever and whenever needed to deliver a better customer experience.

Liquid Radio uses the key enablers of Liquid Net Liquid Net unleashes frozen network capacity into a reservoir of resources that can flow to fulfill unpredictable demand, wherever and whenever people use broadband. Liquid Radio implements the four principles of flexibility that underpin this capability: Self-aware, self-adapting: The network recognizes where demand is coming from and instantly reconfigures to deliver the right capacity, coverage and services to the right places.

Software-defined applications on multi-purpose hardware: Liquid Radio enables processing power to be pooled, or shared, across multiple hardware platforms and network layers.

Inter-linked architecture: Liquid Radios components are linked by high-capacity, low-latency transport networks in a non-hierarchical, meshed architecture. Extreme flexibility is created by breaking down the traditional make up of a base station into a modular structure.

Evolutionary: Liquid Radio ensures a smooth evolution to more modern technology while maintaining compatibility with existing systems. Liquid Radio is not disruptive but evolves the established Flexi Base Station platform.

Liquid Radio

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Liquid Radio is built on three key capabilities to direct mobile broadband capacity fluidly to wherever its needed, enabling more economic use of resources by sharing and redistributing capacity according to user demand.

Active: The capacity is there unleash it Traditionally, a mobile broadband network is one of the most dynamic and complex machines humans have built. To make radio access more organic, products need to be active to go beyond standards and interfaces to actively adapt to changing traffic needs. This would require radio access products that are versatile enough to take many different roles and have multipurpose functions. These base stations can take an active role in handling traffic and unleashing hidden capacity.

A good example is dense networks. When multiple base stations are deployed to cover small, densely populated areas, considerable interference from mobile devices can be created, reducing network capacity and impairing service quality.

Using NSN Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station, operators can centralize their radio access in those dense network areas to meet this challenge by linking multiple LTE base stations into cooperative clusters that turn harmful interference into useful traffic. The base stations use uplink signals from multiple eNode B cells to cancel the interference and select the best signals from 12 receivers. The network configuration is optimized every millisecond for each mobile device according to the actual interference situation, which enhances LTE upload speeds.

Making radio access active with NSN Centralized RAN software, operators can double the uplink capacity in existing LTE networks and achieve up to ten times faster uploads at the cell edge. The reduction in interference will further improve download capacity. The capability also helps to extend smartphone battery life because devices no longer need to transmit at high power to cut through the interference.

The active role of a base station will further enable centralization of the digital signal processing traditionally performed locally at base station sites and share it among several sites. Capacity can be used flexibly where it is needed and where it is most feasible, since not all sites are loaded at all times and do not have the same transmission capabilities. Several cells can be connected to one baseband pool.

One Liquid Radio implementation of baseband pooling adapted to small cell deployments is the NSN Flexi Zone solution. Flexi Zone architecture aggregates and centralizes the coordination of up to 100 small cells via a localized controller

Liquid Radio

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to form a hot zone or a large small cell deployment, thus enabling network capacity to scale up almost limitlessly without costly reconfiguration and with a low network impact. By managing small cell clusters, Flexi Zone controller forms an integral part of Flexi Multiradio 10 Base Station (using the same system module as a dedicated controller or can run as software on an existing macro base station) and can help operators save 50% of their overall costs of small cell networks.

The NSN Flexi Multiradio Antenna System implements active antenna technology to replace passive antennas and radio frequency equipment for more-compact, less-complex base station sites. Supporting multi-radio and multi-band access for GSM, HSPA, LTE and LTE-Advanced, the system integrates the base stations active radio electronics into the antenna.

Several low-power transceivers feed the antenna elements directly, eliminating feeders and jumpers and reducing power losses significantly compared to conventional antennas, making gains in coverage of up to 30% possible. Capacity gains are achieved by vertical beam forming, which provides up to 65% more capacity, proven in the field, and higher data rates.

Adaptive: Enable and steer traffic according to fluctuating demand

NSN Liquid Radio Software Suites make radio access adaptive under changing traffic conditions to enhance coverage and capacity. With these software suites, operators can make their networks more adaptive, further optimize the use of their radio equipment, improve network efficiency and get more from spectrum conditioning. An adaptive network helps operators raise efficiency, maximize the use of capacity and improve the user experience while reducing total cost of ownership.

Mobile broadband services require more bands to meet user expectations. It is essential for any refarming solution to ensure sufficient capacity in the remaining GSM network to provide high-quality services for end users. This means networks need to be more adaptive to use existing assets more efficiently.

The Liquid Radio GSM Software Suite makes GSM more adaptive to traffic demand and uses spectrum more efficiently, releasing up to 55% of spectrum capacity for refarming to 3G and LTE. In addition, it introduces QoS differentiation for a superior customer experience and enables smartphone users to receive voice calls while connected to data services. The Software Suite can also reduce Total Cost of Ownership by 35%.

Liquid Radio

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Liquid Radio WCDMA Software Suite offers powerful features that make an HSPA network more adaptive, combining performance, services and utilization of network resources into liquid capacity. Adaptive software features in the Software Suite allow operators to take the next step towards increasing uplink capacity a hundred-fold. It also help operators to better balance traffic and services between the WCDMA and LTE layers, as well as meet the growing demand created by rising smartphone penetration, especially the rising level of signaling traffic being generated.

The Liquid Radio LTE Software Suite ensures that all LTE spectrum assets are used to their optimum so an operator can serve more subscribers with higher data rates. Traffic loads are balanced across different LTE base stations and frequency bands. As dual-mode LTE smartphones become more common, this balancing will also work between the frequency division (FDD LTE) and time division (TD-LTE) duplex variants of LTE.

Aware: Foster capacity across multiple platforms and layers

Todays mobile broadband networks have turned into heterogeneous networks (HetNets). These complex, multi-layered and multi-radio access technology networks introduce smaller cells to extend overall capacity and efficiently use existing base station sites and available spectrum. Small cells, including micro, pico, femto and Wi-Fi, deployed in large numbers will provide additional capacity and higher data rates than a macro-cellular layer can deliver.

A Liquid Radio Self Organizing Networks (SON) enabled network creates a radio network that is aware of radio access needs. It seamlessly and dynamically blends and steers coverage and capacity using available spectrum, coordinating macro cells above the roof tops with lower level smaller cells. NSN iSON introduces tools to manage and interlink the multiple layers and technologies by ensuring that small cells seamlessly work with the macro layer even in a multivendor environment.

NSN Smart Wi-Fi enables operators to integrate Wi-Fi and 3GPP networks and gain control over Wi-Fi while providing subscribers with transparent use of Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi becomes just another radio access technology in the HetNet to exploit the potential of unlicensed spectrum and improve the subscriber experience.

Liquid Radio hides the complexity of HetNets, gluing together different cell sizes, frequency layers and radio access technologies to deliver a seamless customer experience and smooth mobility. Furthermore, combining active antennas with SON automatically steers the beam according to the actual traffic mix, traffic location and user demands, dynamically delivering the best customer experience.

Nokia Solutions and Networks P.O. Box 1 FI-02022 Finland Visiting address: Karaportti 3, ESPOO, Finland Switchboard +358 71 400 4000 Product code: C401-00950-ES-201402-1-EN 2014 Nokia Solutions and Networks. All rights reserved. Public NSN is a trademark of Nokia Solutions and Networks. Nokia is a registered trademark of Nokia Corporation. Other product names mentioned in this document may be trademarks of their respective owners, and they are mentioned for identification purposes only.

Liquid Radio: Active, Adaptive and AwareActive: The capacity is there unleash itAdaptive: Enable and steer traffic according to fluctuating demandAware: Foster capacity across multiple platforms and layers