Next-Generation Optical Fronthaul in the iCirrus Project

We discuss next-generation fronthaul solutions for 5G and legacy radio access networks. Architectures, findings and experimental results from recent lab and field trial activities are reported

Testbed Verification of New Fronthaul Technology for 5G Systems

The fronthaul for 5th generation mobile systems (and beyond) has evolved with new splits for the radio access network functions defined, and the transport for these split interfaces having very different requirements. Testing of the transport for such split interfaces is reported, and it is shown that an Ethernet fronthaul transport network, which is capable of bringing efficiency gains through statistical multiplexing, can meet stringent latency and latency variation requirements, assuming buffering and playout of the radio waveforms and that timing/synchronization signals are prioritized. An aggregation technique for a 100 Gb/s Ethernet trunk which provides for such timing signals is demonstrated. Real-time monitoring of the Ethernet fronthaul for software-defined networking control and performance optimization is also shown