open ran & ericsson
TRANSCRIPT
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Open RAN & EricssonJan Willem Wallenburg
Ericsson Telecommunicatie B.V.
KIVI - 11 mei 2021
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Agenda
1. Today’s RAN & 3GPP
2. Open RAN & 3GPP
3. Open RAN & Ericsson
4. Fronthaul & Lower-Layer Split
5. Higher-Layer Split
6. Virtualization & generic HW
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RAN today
Radio Unit
Baseband Unit
Core NetworkFronthaul
(CPRI)
Management
Mobile Device
Vendor RAN
Standard and multivendor interfaces
Transport
An
ten
na
Proprietary RAN HW & SW - internal RAN interfaces from same vendor
Standard and multivendor interfaces with mobile device and core network
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3GPP –Key end-user benefits
Fast time to market
Mobilebroadband
Affordability
Unparalleled global diffusion
4G and 5G have been very successful 3GPP innovations
Success is based on open standards and multi-vendor networks
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Key elements of Open RANOpen RAN is not a standard but an industrial concept
Intelligence and automation
HW & SW
virtualization
Open internalRAN interfaces
Key elements of Open RAN
RAN application as VNFs (virtual RAN)
White-label HW (Digital and Radio)
Higher-layer split
Lower-layer split (Open Fronthaul)Open Management & Orchestration
Use external AI/ML capabilities
O-RAN Alliance specifications build on 3GPP standards, as an approach to realize Open RAN concepts
The current main-stream pilot approach to realize Open RAN concepts consist of proprietary solutions
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Open RAN ambition
Radio Unit
Core Network
Mobile Device
CU-CP High
CU-UP Packet
AggregationCloud infra (NFVI)
Generic HW
Generic Digital HW
White label Radio HW
Open Management and Orchestration
CU-CP Low Radio Control
E2
O1 A1
White label HW (RU and DU)
All interfaces are open, further stack fragmentation (E2)
Use Open Source SW
Digital Unit
Lower-Layer Split Higher-Layer Split
E1
F1-C
F1-U
Front haul
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Open RAN ambition
Radio Unit
Core Network
Mobile Device
CU-UP Packet
AggregationCloud infra (NFVI)
Generic HW
Specialized Digital HW
Specialized Radio HW
Open Management and Orchestration
O1 A1
RU/DU remain specialized - CU on generic HW, CU SW as VNF
F1, E1 interfaces multi-vendor - O1, A1 management interfaces open
Ericsson & O-RAN: participation in 5 Work Groups, support for 8 of the 10 interfaces
Digital Unit
F1-C
F1-U
E1
CU-CP Radio Control
Higher-Layer Split
Central Unit (CU)Distributed Unit (DU)
Front haul
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RAN control loops
DU-RU loop
E1-F1 loop
A1-O1 loop
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Evolution to fronthaul
Antenna
Thick coaxcable (RF)
RU
DU
1T2R
Antenna
Tower Mounted Amplifier
Coax cable(RF)
Thin coaxcable
Tower-mounted amplifers/boosters
RUDU
1T2R
RRU
DU
Antenna
Digitalfronthaul
(CPRI)
Thin coaxcable
Remote Radio Unit (RRU) in tower
fiber
2T2R4T4R
DU
Antenna Integrated
Radio (AIR)
Packetfronthaul
(eCPRI)
Antenna and RRU combined
fiber
32T32R64T64R
Beamforming 5G Massive MIMO
5G radio innovation requires advanced fronthaul
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Lower-layer split options O-RAN LLS architecture option:
• More functions in the distributed unit.
• Limits the complexity of the radio unit.
• Reduced radio performance with M-MIMO.
Ericsson LLS architecture option:
• More functions in the radio unit.
• Custom silicon for higher radio complexity: low power consumption and weight, high computation power.
• Optimal radio performance with M-MIMO.
Position of lower-layer split is a key design choice
Fiber
Fronthaul
Fiber
Fronthaul
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Benefits of Ericsson LLS - examples
4G 5G Time
Fre
qu
en
cy
1ms
Breaking the energy curve: switch off TX for sleep mode @ 0.1 ms
Security: DU-RU authentication/encryption, signed SW, secure boot
Superior performance: 10x cell edge speed, +10 dB range
Advanced functionality: 4G/5G spectrum sharing @ 1 ms
2G
3G
4G
Time
Energy consumption
5G + innovation = higher energy efficiency
5G Up
link
thro
ug
hp
ut
[Mb
ps]
Signal strength
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Typical European network topology
DU+CU Custom HW
5G mid-band
5G low-band
4G low-band
DU+CU Custom HW
Data center Cloud infra (NFVI) Virtualized 4G/5G core Generic HW
Aggregation level
Uniform site grid: efficient aggregation in DU
“Any” backhaul
Aggregate in DU
Low-band: <3 GHzMid-band: 3-6 GHzHigh-band: >6 GHz
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vCU first RAN element on generic HW
DU Custom HW
Cloud infra (NFVI) vCUGeneric HW
Data center
5G mid-band
5G low-band
4G low-band
DU Custom HW
DU Custom HW
DU Custom HW
DU Custom HW
DU Custom HW
Aggregate in vCU
Low latency Fiber backhaul
5G high-band
Data center Cloud infra (NFVI) Virtualized 4G/5G core Generic HW
Higher Layer Split
Aggregation level
Different site grids: higher-layer split for aggregation in vCU on generic HW
5G high-band
Low-band: <3 GHzMid-band: 3-6 GHzHigh-band: >6 GHz
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High processing needs in 5G DU
Carrier bandwidthAntenna branches
Transmission Time Interval (TTI)
20 MHz2T2R1 ms
20 MHz4T4R1 ms
100 MHz4T4R0.5 ms
100 MHz8T8R0.5 ms
100 MHz64T64R0.5 ms
Layer 1 processing
Layer 2 processing
Packet processing function
Radio control function
Beamforming processing
Digital front-end processing5G drives exponential increase in processing needs• # Antenna branches growing with Massive MIMO
• More carrier bandwidth at higher frequencies
• Wider spectrum allocations in new bands
• Shorter transmission time interval (TTI)
5G DU will remain on specialized HW for several years
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Ne
two
rks fo
r th
e f
utu
re
Unified cloud infrastructure
for Core, RAN and Edge
Highest performance
per watt and size
E2E accountability and
performance guarantees
Cross domain
innovation
Central Unit
Distributed Unit
Technical evaluations Trials
Technical evaluations Trials
Vendor agnostic
RAN HW
Scalability for a wide range of
use-cases/deployment scenarios
Pre-integrated
and E2E tested
State-of-the-art RAN features
with extreme HW requirements
Single standard HW Multi standard HW Mixed mode HW 5G Optimized HW
EricssonCloudRAN
EricssonCustomSilicon
…
…
…
RAN options for the future
Market readiness:
Market readiness: Commercial Deployment
DU+CU on specialized HW as main-stream, vCU first on generic HW, vDU at later stage