Paper Info
Title
5G C-RAN architecture: A comparison of multiple optical fronthaul networks
Abstract
The development of the fifth generation (5G) wireless technology is in progress to address the increasing demands for high capacity, low latency, and ubiquitous mobile access instigated by next-generation mobile and machine-centric applications. The Centralized/Cloud-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architecture exploiting the small-cell paradigm has been identified as a promising approach to address the benchmarks of 5G networks. However, providing a reliable, cost-effective, and quality of service guaranteed end-to-end connectivity is one of the major challenges in 5G C-RAN. To identify the suitability of a fronthaul technology to satisfy the unprecedented demands of future 5G wireless network in a cost-effective manner, different architecture and technologies need to be equitably compared in terms of all major requirements of 5G fronthaul network such as bandwidth requirements, delay budgets, deployment costs, complexity of radio remote head (RRH), and the ability to support advanced wireless functions. Therefore, in this paper, we equitably compare a multiple fronthaul architectures that can be used for 5G networks. In particular, we first analyze the stringent requirements of the 5G fronthaul network. Then, we investigate the applicability of three fronthaul technologies (PLS, ARoF, and CPRI) for the C-RAN architecture. We provide comparative analyses of these technologies by elaborating on their ability to fulfill 5G latency and capacity requirements, the complexity of RRH, and also to support advanced wireless features such as cooperative communication. To provide a well-balanced comparison of these fronthaul technologies, we also comparatively analyze the deployment costs of these architectures by developing an optimization framework to plan 5G C-RAN. Our analyses provide insights into how a future-proof fronthaul network can be modeled for 5G C-RAN.
Year
DOI
Venue
2017
10.23919/ONDM.2017.7958544
2017 International Conference on Optical Network Design and Modeling (ONDM)
Keywords
Field
DocType
Optical fronthaul,5G,CRAN
Wireless network,Wireless,Software deployment,Computer science,Computer network,C-RAN,Quality of service,Bandwidth (signal processing),Latency (engineering),Access network,Distributed computing
Conference
ISBN
Citations 
PageRank 
978-1-5090-4006-3
4
0.75
References 
Authors
5
5
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Chathurika Ranaweera1266.43
Elaine Wong22012.21
Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas34916.48
Chamil Jayasundara4143.75
Christina Lim53114.45