Tomkos et al.
FGM1
Introduction to the Special Issue
on Optical Networking for 5G Mobile
and Wireless Communications
Ioannis Tomkos, Frank Effenberger, and June-Koo Kevin Rhee
Abstract—This short introduction discusses the key mo-
tivation for this special issue of the Journal of Optical
Communications and Networking that focuses on the area
of optical networking for 5G mobile and wireless commu-
nications. It summarizes the key topics addressed in the in-
vited and contributed articles that were selected following
the open call and provides a synopsis of their main findings
and conclusions.
At the time that this special issue was in preparation
(during 2016) we were witnessing a major research and de-
velopment (R&D) effort around the world centered on the
technologies that will constitute the foundation of the next
generation of core and access networks supporting mobile
users. Several projects were initiated worldwide in order to
support the standardization of the fifth generation (5G) of
cellular systems, and all major telecom players were racing
toward the first commercial deployments that are esti-
mated to take place between 2018 and 2020.
Future 5G networks will give rise to a wide range of
new services with extreme requirements (in terms of data
rates, latency, reliability, energy efficiency, etc.), such as
ultrahigh-definition (UHD) video streaming, augmented
and virtual reality, cloud gaming, smart homes, connected
cars, remote control of machines, etc. As a result, the 5G
networks need to support unprecedented requirements
for the wireless access connection to the end-user devices,
targeting cell throughput capacities in the range of
10–100 Gb/s and peak access rates per user (or even per
connected device) on the order of 1 Gb/s, while maintain-
ing low latency targets to support real-time services.
Certainly it will be extremely challenging for network
designers to develop the solutions to support such new
network targets and service requirements for fast moving
mobile users.
For the evolution toward 5G, it is envisioned that optical
networking will play a major role in supporting the require-
ments, while reducing the deployment costs through the in-
troduction of novel converged fiber wireless (FiWi) networks
Manuscript received November 14, 2016; published December 1, 2016
(Doc. ID 280873).
I. Tomkos is with Athens Information Technology Center, Greece.
F. Effenberger is with FutureWei Technologies, Plano, Texas 75024,
USA.
J.-K. K. Rhee (e-mail: rhee.jk@kaist.edu) is with KAIST, South Korea.
https://doi.org/10.1364/JOCN.8.00FGM1
1943-0620/16/12FGM1-04 Journal © 2016 Optical Society of America
VOL. 8, NO. 12/DECEMBER 2016/J. OPT. COMMUN. NETW.
with fundamentally new PHY layer architecture, data link
and network layer functionalities, and interfaces with the
service layer. The target for the optical network is to support
the distribution and collection of millimeter-wave radio sig-
nals, enabling the greatest flexibility for the accommodation
of the wireless network requirements, while reducing the
cost of the wireless access points (i.e., remote radio heads/
remote antenna units). The overall network design should
take into consideration the control and monitoring function-
alities and capabilities of the network, and is envisioned to
be based on software defined network (SDN) concepts and
advanced virtualization capabilities with the use of an elas-
tic flexible transport infrastructure and network function
virtualization (NFV) elements.
With this special issue of the Journal of Optical
Communications and Networking (JOCN) we tried to attract
contributed papers that discuss the relevant technology
solutions, together with several invited articles targeted
to specific R&D efforts so as to provide complete coverage
of the 5G topics for which optical networking can play a key
role. The topics addressed collectively by the articles that
were accepted for publication in this special issue include
optical access network solutions supporting fronthaul,
cloud-RAN architectures, energy efficiency, optimized net-
work design, converged optical-mobile system solutions,
and flexible optical networking. In the following para-
graphs we present a brief overview of the key areas and
main findings discussed in each one of the special issue
articles, starting with the invited contributions.
In the invited paper “Emerging Optical Access Network
Technologies for 5G Wireless” by Xiang Liu and Frank
Effenberger of Futurewei Technologies, Huawei R&D,
USA, the authors review emerging optical access network
technologies that aim to support 5G wireless networks with
high capacity, low latency, and low cost and power consump-
tion per bit, with emphasis on advanced modulation and
detection techniques, digital signal processing (DSP) tailored
for optical access networks, the efficient mobile fronthaul
(EMF) technique, and the need for coordination between ra-
dio access networks (RANs) and passive optical networks
(PONs). In the article there is a nice example that shows
how demanding are the fronthaul capacity requirements
of emerging 5G networks: for a hypothetical 5G mobile
network deployment scenario utilizing 200 MHz carrier
aggregated signals, 64 × 64 M-MIMO and 3 directional
sector antennas, there is a requirement for 240 10 Gbps
FGM2 J. OPT. COMMUN. NETW./VOL. 8, NO. 12/DECEMBER 2016
Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) (option 7) fronthauling
interfaces to connect the remote radio units (RRUs at the
antenna site) with the centralized baseband units (BBUs)
in cloud radio-access networks (C-RANs). In other words,
the total required fronthaul data capacity reaches the
staggering value of 2.4 Tb/s. To realize such capacities in
a cost-effective way, we certainly need advanced optical com-
munication systems and new techniques to support front-
hauling as discussed in other articles in this special issue.
The invited paper by Shinobu Nanba, Naoki Agata, Naoya
Nishi, and Kosuke Nishimura, “Geographical Constraint-
Based Optimization Framework for C-RAN Design,” contrib-
uted from the KDDI R&D Laboratories, addresses an issue
of network design optimization in deploying C-RAN for 5G
fronthaul networking. A C-RAN network can take advantage
of pooling BBU resources for fronthaul services within a
cluster of multiple remote radio heads (RRHs) at a central
office (CO), which leads to an interesting optimization prob-
lem to find a minimum-cost cluster set under constraints of
radio interferences among RRHs and radio latency. C-RAN
clusters are capable of controlling radio transmissions of
RRHs from a centralized BBU to minimize radio interference,
and sharing the BBU resources among RRHs of the cluster
hence can enhance areal spectral efficiency and reduce de-
ployment cost. In a large area, how to design clustering under
geometrical constraints becomes critical for cost effective
5G mobile networking. This paper proposes a suboptimal
but efficient cluster design algorithm for scalable 5G mobile
networking.
In the paper “Dynamic Virtual Network Connectivity
Services to Support C-RAN Backhauling,” Adrian Asensio,
Marc Ruiz, Luis M. Contreras, and Luis Velasco from the
Optical Communications Group (GCO) at Universitat
Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Barcelona, Spain, and
Telefónica Investigación y Desarrollo (TID), Madrid, Spain,
discuss the evolution of RANs from distributed to centralized
architectures, with emphasis on the possible options and
trends for realizing the C-RAN architecture based on differ-
ent functional splits, while they address the issue of how to
better support dynamic mobile services that have strict con-
straints. They propose a dynamic customer virtual network
(CVN) reconfiguration, where service requests must include
quality of service constraints to ensure specific delay con-
straints, as well as bitrate guarantees, which are considered
by the underlying Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS)
virtual network that supports the creation and releasing of
connections. Their proposal is evaluated based on exhaustive
performance evaluation analysis using simulations, and it is
found that the delay and the hardware complexity can be no-
ticeably reduced when the MPLS network is dynamically
managed in comparison to a static MPLS alternative.
The article “Switched Ethernet Fronthaul Architecture for
Cloud-Radio Access Networks” by Philippos Assimakopoulos,
Mohamad Kenan Al-Hares, and Nathan J. Gomes of the
Communications Research Group, University of Kent,
Canterbury, UK, discusses a fronthaul system that is based
on the transport of sampled radio signals from/to base station
BBUs to/from RRHs. The design considers a pure-Ethernet
switched architecture that uses virtual local area network
Tomkos et al.
(VLAN) identifiers for the RRHs and flow identifiers for
the antenna ports, and is compatible with current standardi-
zation definitions. A comprehensive analysis of the latency
constraints imposed by the use of Ethernet in the C-RAN
fronthaul transporting mixed traffic has been carried out.
Furthermore, the performance was evaluated based on a
low-cost testbed that uses “smart SFP” in-line probes to
obtain measurements from an Ethernet fronthaul transport-
ing mixed traffic. The measurements showcased how back-
ground traffic affects the hybrid-automatic repeat request
(HARQ) retransmissions. The authors conclude that for
an efficient realization of their system, the Ethernet switch
scheduler would be a key component of the fronthaul and
has to be considered when making capacity predictions.
In the manuscript “Future Proof Optical Network
Infrastructure for 5G Transport” by Paola Iovanna, Fabio
Cavaliere, Francesco Testa, Stefano Stracca, Giulio
Bottari, Filippo Ponzini, Alberto Bianchi, and Roberto
Sabella of Ericsson, Pisa, Italy, the authors present a novel
transport architecture able to serve as backhaul and
fronthaul and which is used to convey radio traffic over
the same optical infrastructure. The proposed solution
is based on advanced photonic technology (e.g., optical
switches and multiwavelength transceivers implemented
using photonic integration) that is used to provide optical
connectivity complemented with a dedicated agnostic
framing, a deterministic switching module, a flexible
control paradigm based on a layered scheme and on the slic-
ing concept to facilitate optimal interaction of transport and
radio resources while preserving a well-demarcated mutual
independence. The performance of the proposed transport
architecture is evaluated using both simulations and ex-
periments that also demonstrate the targeted features.
The article “Quasi-Passive Optical Infrastructure for
Future 5G Wireless Networks: Pros and Cons” by Apurva
S. Gowda, Leonid G. Kazovsky, Ke Wang, and David
Larrabeiti from the Department of Electrical Engineering
at Stanford University, the University of Melbourne,
Australia, and the Telemetica Engineering Department at
Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain, studies the appli-
cability of a special type of quasi-passive wavelength-
selective switch [called the quasi-passive reconfigurable
(QPAR) device] to implement reconfigurable backhaul in
5G fronthaul networks. The functionality, scalability and
performance of the QPAR node [and variations like the
pseudo-passive reconfigurable node (PPAR)] are discussed,
and the performance of a QPAR-based network architec-
tures is evaluated. It is found that the QPAR node in a hier-
archical network can reduce the average latency while
extending the reach and quality of service of the network.
In the manuscript “Optical Versus Electronic Packet
Switching in Delay-Sensitive 5G Networks: Myths Versus
Advantage,” authors Pablo Jesus Argibay-Losada, Yuki
Yoshida, Akihiro Maruta, and Ken-ichi Kitayama from
Osaka University, Osaka, Japan, demonstrate based on a
justified analysis that optical packet switching (OPS) imple-
mented with bufferless switches operating in medium and
high-load regimes achieve much higher throughputs than
conventional electronic packet switching (EPS)-based 5G
Tomkos et al. VOL. 8, NO. 12/DECEMBER 2016/J. OPT. COMMUN. NETW. FGM3
networks. Although the lack of buffers in OPS switches
causes higher packet losses than in EPS, it also leads to very
low end-to-end delays due to no queueing delays, helping the
congestion control algorithms running at the ends of the
path (e.g., inside TCP) to overcome those losses. The perfor-
mance analysis showcases that OPS achieves lower flow
completion times, higher throughputs, and lower probability
of missing per-packet end-to-end deadlines. It is also shown
that this superior performance of OPS over EPS increases
asymptotically in favor of OPS as the traffic loads in the
network grow higher.
The paper “Soft-Stacked PON for Soft C-RAN” by
Weisheng Hu, Lilin Yi, Hao He, Xuelin Yang, Zhengxuan
Li, Meihua Bi, Kuo Zhang, Haiyun Xin, Yuan Liu, and
Weijia Du from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai
University, and Hangzhou Dianzi University considers the
application of cloud-based processing for 5G systems. In
particular, the aspect of modifying the functional split in
the fronthaul architecture, termed “soft C-RAN,” is studied.
Two approaches are developed: one using AWG routers
together with tunable lasers and the other using wave-
length selective switches. Their transmission performance
with cost-effective directly modulated lasers (DMLs) is
shown, using a delay interferometer (DI) to manage the
DMLs’ chirp and fiber dispersion. The result is significant
for the future soft C-RAN and stacked PON.
The article entitled “Cost-Minimized Design for TWDM-
PON-Based 5G Mobile Backhaul Networks” by Hao Chen,
Yongcheng Li, Sanjay K. Bose, Weidong Shao, Lian Xiang,
Yiran Ma, and Gangxiang Shen of Soochow University, the
Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, and China
Telcom Co. Ltd. considers the deployment problem of many
small cells that require very high capacity, low cost, and
reliable backhaul connections. The optimized design of
a backhaul network for a 5G mobile system based on
TWDM-PON is presented. For this, both equipment and
deployment costs are considered, and the design satisfies
various network constraints. A K-means clustering based
algorithm is proposed for the optimal solution. The strat-
egies of using multi-stage remote nodes (RNs) and cable
conduit sharing are applied to further reduce the cost.
The results suggest that the proposed methods provide
substantial improvement over traditional methods.
The contribution by Xinbo Wang, Lin Wang, Cicek Cavdar,
Massimo Tornatore, Gustavo B. Figueiredo, Hwan Seok
Chung, Han Hyub Lee, Soomyung Park, and Biswanath
Mukherjee from the University of California Davis, KTH
Royal Institute of Technology, the Federal University
of Bahia, and ETRI, entitled “Handover Reduction in
Virtualized Cloud Radio Access Networks Using TWDM-
PON Fronthaul,” discusses a handover optimization problem
leveraging a concept of a virtualized base station (V-BS) that
can be formed with software-defined radio (SDR) and coordi-
nated multi-point transmission-reception (CoMP) in a vir-
tualized C-RAN. The main idea of V-BS is to support
virtualized resource allocations on a per-user basis, consist-
ing of joint radio transmissions to and from multiple radio
units (RUs). In this arrangement, a user can be provided with
a mobile service over multiple RUs without handovers within
the group. The proposed approach can significantly reduce
the number of handovers, handover delays, and failure rates,
while increasing the throughputs for fronthaul services.
The paper “Fronthaul Based on Pulse-Width Modulation
in RSOA WDM PONs With Broadband and Coherent
Seeds” by A. Gatto, P. Parolari, L. Combi, U. Spagnolini,
R. Brenot, and M. Martinelli of Politecnico di Milano
and the III-V Lab reports an efficient fronthaul optical
transmission technique using pulse-width modulation
(PWM)-based analog optical transmission. In this ap-
proach the radio signal is downconverted to an intermedi-
ate frequency (IF) to reduce the channel capacity
requirement, and the IF radio signal is converted to a
PWM format to be transmitted in a PON fronthaul. An up-
link transmission is derived from a downlink optical signal
using a reflective optical semiconductor amplifier (RSOA).
As an experimental result, this PWM fronthaul technique
achieves higher than a 30 dB Es/N0.
The article by Mu Xu, Jhih-Heng Yan, Junwen Zhang,
Feng Lu, Jing Wang, Lin Cheng, Daniel Guidotti, and
Gee-Kung Chang of the Georgia Institute of Technology
and the Institute of Photonics Technologies, Taiwan,
“Bidirectional Fiber-Wireless Access Technology for 5G
Mobile Spectral Aggregation and Cell Densification,” sug-
gests an interesting solution to avoid optical beating inter-
ference (OBI) when multiple RRHs transmit uplink optical
signals using the same wavelength in a PON. Such OBI can
form a broad spectrum after photodetection in both optical
homodyne and heterodyne detection schemes. The authors
point out that heterodyne demodulation can be marginally
better to mitigate OBI because a part of an OBI spectrum
near the zero frequency in the electrical signal spectrum
can be filtered out as the main signal spectrum appears
around the IF introduced by the optical heterodyne detec-
tion. The paper presents experimental results of 20 × 80
and 16 × 80 MHz baseband transmissions for downlink
and uplink, respectively.
The paper “Ultra-broadband Photonics-Based RF Front-
End Toward 5G Networks” by A. L. M. Muniz, R. M.
Borges, Regivan N. Da Silva, D. F. Noque, and Arismar
Cerqueira S., Jr., from the Brazilian National Institute of
Telecommunications proposes a novel ultra-broadband pho-
tonics-based RF front-end and experimentally verifies its
performance analysis up to 38 GHz. A feature of the proposed
RF front-end is its optical frequency multiplication based
on an external modulation technique and four-wave mixing
for enabling RF upconversion and amplification. Broadband
operation and tunability from DC to 38 GHz is experimen-
tally verified for three potential frequency bands for 5G
networks.
In the paper “Modeling Energy Performance of C-RAN
With Optical Transport in 5G Network Scenarios” by
Matteo Fiorani, Sibel Tombaz, Jonas Mårtensson, Björn
Skubic, Lena Wosinska, and Paolo Monti of KTH Royal
Institute of Technology, Ericsson Research, and Acreo
Swedish ICT, the topic of energy performance of four mobile
network architectures is considered. Each architecture uses
a different baseband processing functional split. The analysis
includes both Long-Term Evolution (LTE) and 5G radio
FGM4 J. OPT. COMMUN. NETW./VOL. 8, NO. 12/DECEMBER 2016
access technologies and uses optical wavelength division
multiplexing (WDM), with both coherent and direct
detection transmission. Results show that with LTE radio
interfaces the energy consumption of the transport
network is a small fraction of the overall network power con-
sumption. As a result fully centralized radio architectures
are viable for LTE. On the other hand, 5G C-RAN, if not
carefully designed, might have excessive transport energy
consumption.
We certainly hope that the articles of this special issue
will serve as a useful resource for researchers who would like
to get up-to-date views on the latest research efforts. At this
point, we would like to thank the JOCN Editors-in-Chief,
Pat Iannone and Ori Gerstel, for endorsing this special
issue preparation and the JOCN editorial staff (especially
Keith Jackson) for their assistance and support.
Ioannis Tomkos (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.) is
researching next generation optical commu-
nication systems and networks at Athens
Information Technology Center (AIT),
wherein he was/is involved in many EU
funded research projects with a consortium-
wide leading role. He also currently serves
as a Consultant for executives of ICT com-
panies and telecom regulators, Business
Mentor for ICT start-up company founders,
and as an Adjunct Professor at the College of
Optical Sciences of the University of Arizona, USA, and at the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of University
of Cyprus Information. In the past, he was an Adjunct Professor at
Carnegie-Mellon University, USA (2002–2010), a Senior Scientist
at Corning Inc., USA (1999–2002), and a Research Associate at the
University of Athens, Greece (1995–1999). Together with his col-
leagues and students he has authored over 550 scientific articles,
published in scientific journals/magazines (over 150) and in the
proceedings of international conferences/workshops, which have
received currently over 6000 citations. For his scientific achieve-
ments he has received several fellowships, grants and best paper
awards. He was elected a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE
Communications Society (2007), a Fellow of the IET (2010), and
a Fellow of The Optical Society (OSA) (2012).
Tomkos et al.
Frank Effenberger is with FutureWei
Technologies, USA. After completing his doc-
toral work in 1995, Dr. Effenberger worked at
Bellcore, where he analyzed all types of ac-
cess network technologies, especially passive
optical networks. He witnessed the early de-
velopment of the FSAN initiative and the
APON standard. In 2000, he moved to
Quantum Bridge Communications, where he
managed the system engineering group. This
work supported the development and stand-
ardization of advanced optical access systems based on B-PON and
G-PON technologies. In 2006, he became Director of FTTx in the
advanced technology department of Futurewei Technologies, USA.
He remains heavily involved in standards work, and in 2008, he
became the chairman of ITU-T Q2/15. He and his team work on
forward-looking fiber and copper access technologies, including the
10G EPON, XG-PON, and 40G-PON. Notably, his team supported
the world’s first trials of XG-PON and 40G-PON. In 2011, he was
named as a Huawei Fellow, and in 2012 he was promoted to Vice
President of Access Research. In 2015, he was elected a Fellow of both
The Optical Society (OSA) and the IEEE. He holds 80 U.S. patents.
June-Koo Kevin Rhee is with KAIST,
South Korea. He received B.E. and M.Sc. de-
grees from Seoul National University in 1988
and 1990, respectively, and the Ph.D. degree
from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor,
in 1995, all in electrical engineering. He is a
Professor at KAIST. Prior to his current posi-
tion, he held positions at Princeton University
(1995–1996), NEC Research Institute (1996–
1998), Corning Incorporated (1998–2002),
Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
(2003–2005), and the Information and Communications University
(2005–2009). Early on in his career, he made important contributions
in the area of optical communications including the first demonstra-
tion of the R-OADM concept, the first introduction of DPSK DWDM
transmission, and the first demonstration of DWDM optical protec-
tion switching networks. He has made active contributions at the
ITU-T SG13 and SG15 working parties, particularly on G.8032
ERP technology. His current research interests include wireless mesh
networking, 5G fronthaul radio access networking, and quantum
secure communications. He holds over 60 patents and has published
over 150 technical papers, which have been cited thousands of times.