Trends in backhaul, fronthaul, xhaul and mmW
The full report is now available for download
C-RAN and 5G create much stricter latency and capacity requirements for backhaul and fronthaul, and expand the role of fronthaul in transport. In this report we discuss the evolution of backhaul and fronthaul, the emergence of xhaul/midhaul models, and the use of mmW for backhaul and fronthaul.
The report features interviews with:
– Telefónica Argentina
– Nokia
– KDDI Research
– InfoVista
– Fujitsu Network Communications
– ExteNet
– EXFO
The evolution of mobile networks enables this change by accommodating the higher traffic loads and more demanding services. As a sort of glue that binds the different parts of wireless networks together, transport is also evolving, to keep up with the new capabilities in the RAN and the core of wireless networks.
More is required of backhaul and fronthaul, though, to prevent transport from becoming a bottleneck that limits the capacity and performance gains in the RAN and the core. Densification, C-RAN, 5G and the availability of mmW spectrum bands set a higher bar for transport in terms of capacity, latency, reliability and security. At the same time, the higher demands on transport have to be balanced by the need to keep costs under control. Backhaul and fronthaul have to adapt in a cost-effective way: transport costs cannot grow linearly with the increase in user-plane capacity.
Solutions are emerging that give mobile operators enough flexibility to manage the tradeoffs among cost, performance and resource availability.
But it not just a tightening of requirements that we are seeing. The increasing complexity of both wireless networks and the traffic they carry creates a need to test, manage and monitor backhaul and fronthaul traffic. Mobile operators have to manage an increasing diversity of RAN elements in multi-layer networks with varied topologies, which in turn use multiple backhaul and fronthaul solutions. The need to closely coordinate transmission in these dense deployments has increased the prominence of backhaul and fronthaul, and it creates unprecedented requirements in terms of latency, timing and synchronization.
In this report, we look first at the drivers of change that are shaping the direction in which transport is evolving. In the second half of the report, we look at the trends that will make it possible for backhaul, fronthaul and, in time, x-haul – which we will refer to as BH, FH and XH, respectively – to optimize resource utilization in end-to-end mobile networks today and in the future.
The increase in microwave and mmW spectrum availability unleashes huge amounts of capacity in bands that have so far been underused. This opens the way for new wireless transport options – namely fronthaul and self-backhaul – and for a new breed of fixed wireless access. It also removes the dichotomy of wireline and wireless transport (and access), allowing them to closely coexist in a pervasive network infrastructure that serves an access environment increasingly dominated by wireless devices, even in use contexts where there is no mobility.
This topic is discussed further in an exclusive webinar. Watch the webinar.
