WDM introduction in

access networks for

fronthaul application
Market Focus, September 23rd, 2014
Anna Pizzinat and Fabienne Saliou
Orange Labs, Lannion, France
anna.pizzinat@orange.com, fabienne.saliou@orange.com

Agenda

section 1

Fronthaul and C-RAN definition and drivers

section 2

Fronthaul interface and requirements

section 3

WDM passive solutions:

From CWDM to DWDM

section 4

Conclusions

Step 1: Macro base station

Backhaul: from CSG to first node of

mobile core network
for LTE macro site 200 to 800 Mbit/s

coax

RU

DU

RU

System
module

D-RoF

RU

RU: Radio Unit, RRH: Remote Radio Head

DU or BBU: BaseBand Unit
CSG: Cell-Site Gateway

Central Office

CSG

IP/MPLS
network

fibre

Step 2: Distributed base station

fibre
RRH

RRH

RRH
~15kg

S1

X2

RRH

DU

System
module

D-RoF

CSG
3

D-RoF interface stretched to a few tens of meters

RU close to the antenna
Energy savings
Deployed
Space constraints in cell site cabinet

C-RAN: centralized BBU

Already deployed in some countries.

CoMP=Coordinated MultiPoint

RRH

RRH
RRH

Optical Fiber
Digital-RoF

Fronthaul : CPRI

Central Office
BBU

System
module

Wireless

RRH AAA,
Active Antenna Arrays

BBU

System
module

RRH

IP/MPLS
network
S1

BBU

System
module

RRH

RRH

Today one BBU can already manage 6 RRH.

Next generation of BBU products will support multiple sites
(first level of pooling) and an internal interface to enable
CoMP support.

Backhaul

C-RAN: intra & inter BBU pooling + CoMP

4 Cs of C-RAN: Centralization, Cloud, Cooperation, Clean
4

At research level: reach BBU pooling at user equipment (UE) level

C-RAN drivers
Interest coming from network operational teams : site engineering
solution due to increased network rollout difficulties
Antenna site simplification: footprint reduction, renting cost
reduction, reduced time to install

Antennas sites with negotiation problems

Adding new radio access technologies on existing sites with very

limited space
Find new locations to replace sites that have to be switched off or
solution for failed negotiation sites
Reducing building cost (crane, metallic structure, etc.) and renting cost
Reducing the electrical consumption, maintenance on site
Less or not any cooling cabinets and shelters
Decrease antenna site time to build and time to repair

Contribute to RAN strategies about

Tower sharing
Solar powered antenna site
Simplification of operational installation procedures at antenna sites

Drivers = cost reductions & ease of deployment

5

C-RAN drivers
Radio performances, very low latency between BBUs enables:

Better performance in mobility

Improved uplink coverage
Higher capacity and improved cell edge performance with inter-site CoMP
When BBUs are centralized (e.g. with C-RAN), it means pooling and aggregation
gains possible across a number of sites and energy efficient (see slide in annex)
C-RAN is future proof for LTE-A and beyond
In case of hetnets, higher interference is expected

The same BBU shared between small cells and parent macrocell provides even higher
gains than in a macrocell scenario.
RRH

RRH

Central
Office

RRH

RRH

System
module

RRH

RRH

BBU

RRH

RRH
RRH

BBUs are in a secured location: no need for IPSec

The new fronthaul segment is the key to assess the TCO (total cost of ownership)
6

Energy consumption gain

Calculation made on Rennes area France (one on 10 big cities)

15-km square coverage area,
86 cell sites, 13 intermediate central offices and one Core CO
Total Energy Consumption [ kW ]

240
PSVAC *
OTN
CSGW

220
200
180

Optical transceiver
BBU
RRH

- 50%

160

Based on average
consumption of
commercial
equipments

140
120

- 10%

100
80
60

*PSVAC: Power Supplying, Ventilation and Air Conditioning

CSGW: Cell Site GateWay

How to build a fronthaul solution?

technical
aspects

1. Technical requirements:
CPRI: digitized radio signal high data rates
3 sectors LTE 20MHz 2x2 MIMO 3x2.457Gbit/s
Complete radio configuration LTE+ 3G+ 2G: up to 15 RRHs
Latency + synchronization + jitter also to be taken into account

regulatory
aspects *

business
aspects

2. Business aspects: low cost and scalability

3. Regulated countries: the fronthaul solution must be
available for other operators wholesale offer

Fronthaul must be monitored to provide SLA

by dedicated fiber monitoring solution

RRH

RRH
RRH

different levels of SLA are possible

demarcation
point

Antenna site demarcation point

Optical Fiber

outdoor compliant and as simple as possible

3. Non-Regulated countries:
fronthaul provided by the RAN vendor

Optical fiber is needed for the fronthaul

Wireless fronthaul shall also be considered

8

demarcation
point

Central
Office
BBU

RRH

RRH
RRH

demarcation
point

BBU

Wireless
BBU

Mobile
operator

fiber / wireless provider

Mobile
operator

Fronthaul: network requirements

Topology: point to point between antenna site and CO
Distance: 96% Orange France links shorter than 10km
Up to 15 RRHs on the same site but limited number of fibers

Multiplexing + monitoring are needed

9

France Telecom
Group confidential
Orange Group
confidential

Local C-RAN

Micro/small cell
Macro cell

Micro/small cell

RRH

RRH

Cell site
cabinet

RRH

Wireless
or
Optical Fiber

RRH

RRH
RRH

coax
RRU

BBU

RRU

Wireless
or
Optical Fiber

RRU

Central
office

CSG

BBU
BBU
BBU

backhaul

10

Fronthaul : Active or Passive solution?

RRH

RRH

Active solution means CPRI traffic encapsulation

by means of OTN or Eth+compression. Power
supply needed at radio site demarcation point.

RRH

BBU
RRH

RRH

BBU

RRH

BBU

Mobile
operator
11

Fibre provider
or Mobile operator

System System
module module

Central
Office

System
module

Passive solution means fibre with monitoring

without CPRI encapsulation. No need of power
supply at radio site demarcation point.

Mobile
operator

Agenda

12

section 1

Fronthaul and C-RAN definition and drivers

section 2

Fronthaul interface and requirements

section 3

WDM passive solutions:

From CWDM to DWDM

section 4

Conclusions

Dual fibre CWDM for fronthaul

- CWDM : channel spacing 20nm (16 channels from 1270 to 1610nm)
based on Dual fibre optical distribution network
1270

- commercial transceivers available with CPRI bitrates up to 10Gbit/s, and I-Temp class (outdoor)
Base Station

Central Office

RRH

MUX/DE

System
module

Tx

1, 1,... N

1
Tx
Rx

-15 CWDM channels used to cover a full antenna site

- the 16th channel used for link monitoring

Rx

Tx

1, 1,... N

Tx

Rx

MUX/DEMUX

Rx

Rx

BBU

Tx

13

Tx

Rx

BBU

BBU

RRH

RRH

For 2G,
3G, LTE
Min
15 RRH
/site

Evolution of CWDM : single fiber ODN

Several emerging solutions to realize CWDM with a single fibre

ODN : CWDM SFPs bidi to insert in BBUs and RRHs

Solution 1
SFP Single Wavelength Single Fiber (SWSF):
same CWDM wavelength used for transmission
and reception on the same fiber thanks to an
optical splitter.
Drawback: performances suffer in the presence of
optical reflections (depending on connectors type)
Products available with bit rates up to 2.5Gbit/s
14

Evolution of CWDM : single fiber ODN

Several emerging solutions to realize CWDM with a single fibre

ODN : CWDM SFPs bidi to insert in BBUs and RRHs

Solution 2
SFP SWSF with Reflection Immune Operation (RIO):
this SWSF transceiver can recognize reflected signals
thus reduces signal reflection impact.
Products available with bit rates up to 1.25Gbit/s

15

Evolution of CWDM : single fiber ODN

Several emerging solutions to realize CWDM with a single fibre

ODN : CWDM SFPs bidi to insert in BBUs and RRHs

Solution 3
SFP Cooled Single Channel (CSC): each 20nm
CWDM channel is divided in two sub-channels
that are used for transmission and reception,
respectively.
Products available with bit rates at 2.5Gbit/s,
5Gbit/s and 10Gbit/s in roadmap.
16

Evolution of CWDM : single fiber ODN

Several emerging solutions to realize CWDM with a single fibre

ODN : CWDM SFPs bidi to insert in BBUs and RRHs

CSC provides higher optical budgets

Simplified architecture , reduced number of components involved
(MUX, fiber, transceivers + sparing ones)
What about semi-passive monitoring with a single fiber ODN ?
- Rayleigh Back Scattering issue

17

From CWDM single fiber to DWDM

DWDM offers better spectral efficiency than CWDM :

typically 100GHz spacing (0.8nm) or 200GHz (1.6nm)

Possibility to insert DWDM channels in a CWDM infrastructure

(smooth migration for higher density cases)

1, 1,... N

1, 1,... N

CWDM
CH1610

DWDM

DWDM

CWDM
CH1610

CWDM MUX / DMUX

CWDM
CH1610

CWDM MUX / DMUX

CWDM
CH1610

DWDM Sub-channels
(in the 13nm bandwidth of the CWDM)
18

Alternatively : Pure DWDM network but need for low cost transmitters

Low cost colorless DWDM transmitters

To reduce the cost of DWDM transmitters, an identical transmitter in each

network termination is needed whatever the targeted wavelength (permits
mass production)

Colorless Technologies:
Several commercial systems available at 1.25Gbit/s
Tunable lasers : 10Gbit/s transmissions achieved but control and management of the
wavelength can be costly and complex (OutdoorTemperature variation)

Externally seeded sources : based on RSOA or Injection locked Fabry-Perot. A

Broadband Light Source at CO shared to remotely pump users with a multiple channel
Tx. (BLS drawbacks :high power, energy, not pay as grow)

Wavelength re-use : studied in early 2000s. Re-use of the downstream

wavelength for the upstream with re-amplification and re-modulation. Limited
bitrates evolution and optical budget
External cavity lasers :
Short cavity lasers with Bragg Gratings but difficult tunability mechanism
Long cavity with self seeded sources based on RSOA : still in the
research domain (upgrade of the bitrate can be difficult)
19

DWDM : a technology included in NGPON2

NGPON 2
TWDM-PON

For Residential Users (FTTH*)

CPRI considered with framing or transparent

NGPON2 : TWDM PON + WDM PON with optional overlay on the

same ODN
evolution towards WDM only for P2P links (FTTA and FTTO)

20

WDM P2P

For NON Residential Users

(FTTA*, FTTO*)

*Fiber To The Home

CPRI considered with framing

Standard G989.x FSAN (ITU-T in 2015)

including CPRI links for mobile fronthaul

DWDM : a technology included in NGPON2

Requirements for fronthaul are under discussion at FSAN

and ITU-T(G989.1 amd 1 ) :

Bitrates :
symmetrical for upstream and downstream
all CPRI bitrates under discussion with mainly CPRI3(2.4G), CPRI5 (5G),
CPRI6 (6G), CPRI8 (10G)

Latency
500s from SNI to UNI, symmetrical

Synchronization:
Radio Frequency deviation limited to 2ppb counting only the CPRI link

Jitter
jitter mask defined in NGPON2

Temperature range
I-Temp for outdoor environment (antenna site)

21

21

Agenda

22

section 1

Fronthaul and C-RAN definition and drivers

section 2

Fronthaul interface and requirements

section 3

WDM passive solutions:

From CWDM to DWDM

section 4

Conclusions

Conclusions
WDM introduction in access networks

FTTA

P2P

CWDM
bidi

CWDM

DWDM

NGPON2

Co-existing on the
same ODN ?

FTTO

FTTH

NGPON2

TDM PONs

Co existence of TDM and WDM technologies possible with wavelength overlay

10GE/XG-PON U/S
10GE/XG-PON D/S

B/GPON
GE-PON D/S

RF-Video

1580

1560

1540

1520

1500

1480

1460

1440

1420

1400

1380

1360

1340

1320

1300

1280

1260

1640

NGPON2

NGPON2

1620

B/GPON
GE-PON U/S

1600

GPON U/S
(Narrow/Reduced)

Wavelength (nm)

23

O-Band

E-Band

S-Band

C-Band

L-Band

U-Band

Acknowledgements:
Thank you
Merci
Danke
Grazie
Tack

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