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1. Abstract
This white paper addresses the challenges of testing base station equipment such as a remote radio unit (RRU),
considering the necessary support of RF and digital interfaces and protocols. It also provides insight into
contemporary base station architectures built from two main components and the Common Public Radio Interface
(CPRI) digital protocol used for communication between them. With conventional test setups and methods, test
engineers are more frequently responsible for only the RF portion of testing. Increasingly, however, test engineers
need a complete, cost-effective and future-proof approach that includes the digital interface as well. NI’s CPRI
interface module solves this challenge through interfacing directly to the RRU. Using this module, engineers can
combine a compact, scalable, and cost-effective test setup for RRU testing.
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2. Introduction
This document is principally concerned with the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol and test challenges
involved. The introduction briefly describes technological changes in base station architectures before going into
details about the CPRI protocol and base station testing.
In a cellular radio access network (RAN), a traditional base station is a single entity. Such base stations integrate the
digital as well as RF processing for the site into a single unit. These units are usually located in a room of a building
or in a container at ground level while the antennas are mounted on top of a tower or mast. In some cases the base
station also includes a switched in tower mounted amplifier (TMA). Long RF cables are necessary to connect the
antennas or TMAs with the base station. The base station itself is linked with other base stations and the core
network through copper or fiber-optic cables. Other interfaces inside the base station are inaccessible. The
appropriate standardized tests and requirements concern the well-defined outer interfaces of a base station. Shown
in Figure 1, the RF interface connects the base station to the antennas. S1 and X2 are protocols over the digital
interface to the back haul network where S1 is a link to a so-called mobility management entity (MMW) and X2 a
direct link to another base station.
3. What Is CPRI?
CPRI is an industry cooperation between five leading radio base station vendors. It defines and specifies the publicly
available interface between building blocks of a contemporary radio base station.
CPRI is a digital protocol used for serial high-speed data transfer between the two parts of contemporary base
stations, namely the radio equipment control (REC) also known as a baseband unit (BBU) and the radio equipment
(RE) also known as remote radio unit (RRU) or remote radio head (RRH). Although an electrical and optical interface
is specified, the physical connection between the two base station parts is realized by a fiber-optic cable in the
majority of cases. The fiber-optic connection renders the previously used long RF cables between base station and
TMA or antennas redundant. Only short RF cables between RRU and antennas remain.
Those shorter RF cables and the thereby resulting reduction of path loss and overall power consumption were the
main reasons to split up a base station into a ground-based and a remote RF unit near the antenna.
Figure 3 illustrates the architecture showing the two basic subsystems (REC and RE) of a radio base station including
type of information and interfaces. The architecture allows the use of multiple REs (RRUs/RRHs) controlled by one
REC (BBU).
Figure 3. System and Interface Definition (source www.cpri.info)
The CPRI interface can be characterized by a full-duplex, synchronized, and steady transfer of digital baseband data
that guarantees high bandwidth and high throughput with low latency. Less time-critical data such as control
information—for example, for link setup—as well as time-aligned data such as for Rx and Tx gain control are
transferred in addition to the user information.
The clock and timing control ensures that the REC (master) and RE (slave) are synchronized. The timing information
is included in the baseband data. A frame structure with control words (CWs) provides the basis for the transfer of
that information. The slave port side (RE) synchronizes its clock and frame timing to the master reference (clock
recovery). That is essential to map or demap and code or decode the digital data correctly as well as to resend CPRI
data to another RRH in a chain topology.
The CPRI protocol defines layer 1 (PHY) and layer 2 (MAC) of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model. Higher
layers are not specified by CPRI but defined and implemented by the vendors of the REC and RE. In other words,
there are many possibilities for using CPRI data containers for individual users, as well as control and management
information.
The user (baseband IQ), control and management, and synchronization data streams are multiplexed over the same
physical interface. Figure 4 gives an overview of CPRI protocol elements in layers 1 and 2.
Figure 5. Basic Frame Structure for 2 x 614.4 = 1,228.8 Mb/s CPRI Line Bit Rate (source www.cpri.info)
A CPRI link length can range from few meters up to more than 80 km. The data transmission rate starts at 614.4
Mb/s (line bit rate option 1) and goes up to 12,165.12 Mb/s (line bit rate option 9) according to the CPRI specification
V6.1.
How is CPRI different from standards like PCI express, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE), or Serial RapidIO (sRIO)?
There are several standards for high-speed data transfer, including PCI Express, GBE, and SRIO. These standards,
however, are not ideal for communicating with RRHs. Each of these standards can offer high data rates, but, as
asynchronous packet-oriented protocols, they do not natively solve the timing requirements. Moreover, because of
the network architecture that includes switches and routing entities, those standards cannot guarantee throughput
and latency, as needed for front haul base station equipment. As a result, CPRI is the primary protocol used for data
transfer between the REC (BBU) and the RE (RRU/RRH).
Compared with the above mentined protocols, CPRI is a point-to-point connection where both endpoints are running
at the same clock speed. It is a link-oriented protocol with a continuous data transfer stream without packets or bursts
and cycle slips. CPRI provides a transparent channel in the form of data containers used for baseband IQ data with
mappings for LTE, WiMAX, UMTS, and so on with different bandwidth and different word bit width for single input,
single output (SISO) and multiple input, mulitple output (MIMO) configurations. The CPRI protocol also contains
internal control information for link management and signaling.
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ETSI or 3GPP
Tests in validation and verification (V&V) or production are usually performed in compliance with the corresponding
ETSI or 3GPP specifications. The following specifications cover the different major radio standards.
LTE: ETSI TS 136.141/3GPP 36.141
WCDMA: ETSI TS 125.141/3GPP 25.141
GSM: ETSI TS 151.021/3GPP 51.021
These specifications cover the Tx (DL) and Rx (UL) characterization including signal generation and analysis as well
as performance tests.
As an example, LTE Tx and Rx test cases that are relevant for an end of production line test are listed below.
Transmitter (Tx) Tests:
Figure 8. Test Setup With Different Test Boxes From Different Vendors and External DUT Control
The ideal RRH test platform must be flexible, expandable, and scalable enough to support both DL and UL tests. In
addition, it must include synchronized RF and CPRI signal generation or acquisition as well as DUT control
functionalities for several types of RRHs. Note that these requirements apply whether the test system is used in either
in a validation/verification application or in high-volume production test.
The NI solution addresses these requirements with an open and flexible PXI approach. PXI test systems include a
PXI chassis and controller. In addition, they can combine RF instruments and an instrument-grade CPRI interface
module into a single system. This system can meet all requirements of an RRH characterization,
validation/verification, and even high-volume manufacturing test. Figure 9 illustrates NI’s compact RRH test platform
with an embedded controller, RF and CPRI transceiver modules, as well as integrated DUT control.
Figure 9. Test Setup With NI’s Compact PXI Platform With Built-In DUT Control (Ethernet over CPRI)
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CPRI Hardware
The PXIe-6592R high-speed serial instrument consists of a Xilinx Kintex-7 FPGA with an onboard DRAM. It is
programmable in LabVIEW FPGA for maximum application-specific customization and reuse.
This instrument takes advantage of FPGA multigigabit transceivers to support rates up to 10.3 Gb/s and up to four Tx
and Rx lanes.
As part of the PXI platform, the PXIe-6592R benefits from PXI clocking, triggering, and high-speed data movement
capabilities, including streaming to and from disk as well as peer-to-peer streaming, at rates up to 3.2 GB/s.
CPRI Software
The application software LabVIEW Instrument Design Libraries for CPRI offers the possibility to use the CPRI
interface module in master or slave mode. In addition, you can change various interface settings such as CPRI port,
line bite rate, channel bandwidth, antenna carrier, and others. The following detailed list of features give the module
the ability to control a nearly universal list of CPRI devices.
CPRI line bit rate option 1–7 (9.83 Gb/s max.)
Master/slave mode configurable
Real-time I/Q data record and playback from DRAM
I/Q data streaming to HOST
LabVIEW FPGA programmable
Multiple ports (2xCPRI+2xEthernet implemented)
Generic software I/Q (de)mapping (method 1, sample rate from 3.84–30.72 MHz)
Access to vendor-specific control channel
Fast C&M channel (Ethernet over CPRI)
Ready-to-use sample project with front panel
Besides the primary functions of hardware device and reference clock in/out configuration, the front panel provides
access to a variety of CPRI monitoring and setting options.
CPRI link functions:
Configure the link parameters (line speed, C&M plane settings)
Initiate (enable)/abort (disable) the CPRI link
Observe the layer 1 link status and failure conditions
Generation and analysis functions:
Configure data generate and capture parameters (for example, triggers and length)
Upload generation data to onboard DRAM
Configurable trigger/marker signals to synchronize to external equipment
Initiate/abort data generation or capture
Fetch captured data (buffered in onboard DRAM or streaming)
You can use the NI CPRI interface module either as a stand-alone solution for CPRI interfacing or in
combination with NI PXI RF equipment as a flexible testing platform for evaluation and verification of
RRHs, active antenna systems (AAS), and wireless front haul equipment.
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50 MHz to 8 GHz frequency range
Two attenuator channels: fixed and programmable
Max. input power +33 dBm
Cascade channels for up to 72 dB attenuation
0.5 dB attenuation resolution from 12 dB to 72 dB
1.2:1 typical voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR)
Programmable with LabVIEW
Test engineers can perform 3GGP-compliant base station tests thanks to the opportunity of CPRI and RF interface
combinations. NI’s PXI platform supports common RRH DL and UL test such as output power, frequency error, error
vector magnitude, occupied bandwidth, ACLR, and receiver sensitivity (BLER).
NI’s test executive software TestStand provides the basis for automated tests in volume production.
Figure 10 shows a test setup example covering PXI hardware and software modules needed for the previously
described RRH test application.
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