As fronthaul and backhaul merge fiber, copper and wireless in the cloud, 5G optimization brings a new set of challenges
While the technologies that will come together to define 5G have yet to be standardized, there’s wide accord that 5G will include a variety of access technologies working together autonomously to provide the end user with an elastic, seamless network experience.
Building on our current HetNet model, cellular, Wi-Fi and fixed line will work together—in the cloud—with mmWave, cmWave and fiber to dynamically integrate backhaul and fronthaul networks into a software-defined management environment.
To achieve that vision and that level of elasticity in crosshaul (xhaul), the way networks are managed and optimized will have to change significantly. Elasticity requires cloudification and automation. It can’t be done manually; the network needs the distributed intelligence to reconfigure itself and self-heal.
Consider the level of non-uniformity 5G will usher in: 1% of locations and subscribers generating 50% of network traffic, incredibly diverse requirements for a range of application, and increasingly complicated networks. Couple this with the astonishing projections related to data traffic, including a 720% increase in video traffic between 2012 and 2017 and a 200-times increase in public cloud objects between now and 2025.
Paul Gowans, Mobile Strategy Director for Viavi, gave the example of a train pulling into a station. Two hundred commuters get off and all of them have at least one device they’ll want to connect to a network. Then they’re gone in a matter of minutes.
“Engineers can’t manually intervene in this situation,” Gowans said. “It takes too long, is too resource-intensive, and has too many variables. To deliver optimal quality of experience to subscribers and maximize revenue, service providers need to be able to switch to auto-pilot.”
The solution lies in self-organizing network capabilities, which Gowans explained to RCR Wireless News, “need to be more sophisticated in their approach. This can be achieved by using subscriber-generated data together with location intelligence that has a self-learning engine.”
To that end, Viavi has developed solutions using RAT aggregation and ultra-dense, low latency disparate user bases including accounts for IoT, M2M and critical subscribers. The Virtual HetNet Advisor supports multi-RAT, RF-over-Ethernet, analysis without CPRI, interference analysis and cloud-enabled remote RRH. Mobile edge assurance agents virtually orchestrate network traffic using on-demand agents that can assure location, CP, UP and dynamic E2E SON.
This same level of monitoring and optimization extends to hybrid xhaul networks that move beyond CPRI to TSN Ethernet and NGFI.
For a deeper dive into current and future issues impacting self-organizing network techniques, check out this Viavi whitepaper titled “Solving the Challenges of Cellular RAN Management with Next-Generation SON.”
On the path to 5G SON, a wide-range of applications, from mission critical to narrowband IoT, will require an end-to-end SON solution covering the access and software-defined core networks. As Gowans said, “One part of the network affects other parts of the network. The ability to exploit this will be a hallmark of the SON of the future embedded within the 5G networks of tomorrow.”
