open ran & ericsson

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Open RAN & EricssonJan Willem Wallenburg

Ericsson Telecommunicatie B.V.

KIVI - 11 mei 2021

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Agenda

1. Today’s RAN & 3GPP

2. Open RAN & 3GPP

3. Open RAN & Ericsson

4. Fronthaul & Lower-Layer Split

5. Higher-Layer Split

6. Virtualization & generic HW

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RAN today

Radio Unit

Baseband Unit

Core NetworkFronthaul

(CPRI)

Management

Mobile Device

Vendor RAN

Standard and multivendor interfaces

Transport

An

ten

na

Proprietary RAN HW & SW - internal RAN interfaces from same vendor

Standard and multivendor interfaces with mobile device and core network

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3GPP –Key end-user benefits

Fast time to market

Mobilebroadband

Affordability

Unparalleled global diffusion

4G and 5G have been very successful 3GPP innovations

Success is based on open standards and multi-vendor networks

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Key elements of Open RANOpen RAN is not a standard but an industrial concept

Intelligence and automation

HW & SW

virtualization

Open internalRAN interfaces

Key elements of Open RAN

RAN application as VNFs (virtual RAN)

White-label HW (Digital and Radio)

Higher-layer split

Lower-layer split (Open Fronthaul)Open Management & Orchestration

Use external AI/ML capabilities

O-RAN Alliance specifications build on 3GPP standards, as an approach to realize Open RAN concepts

The current main-stream pilot approach to realize Open RAN concepts consist of proprietary solutions

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Open RAN ambition

Radio Unit

Core Network

Mobile Device

CU-CP High

CU-UP Packet

AggregationCloud infra (NFVI)

Generic HW

Generic Digital HW

White label Radio HW

Open Management and Orchestration

CU-CP Low Radio Control

E2

O1 A1

White label HW (RU and DU)

All interfaces are open, further stack fragmentation (E2)

Use Open Source SW

Digital Unit

Lower-Layer Split Higher-Layer Split

E1

F1-C

F1-U

Front haul

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Open RAN ambition

Radio Unit

Core Network

Mobile Device

CU-UP Packet

AggregationCloud infra (NFVI)

Generic HW

Specialized Digital HW

Specialized Radio HW

Open Management and Orchestration

O1 A1

RU/DU remain specialized - CU on generic HW, CU SW as VNF

F1, E1 interfaces multi-vendor - O1, A1 management interfaces open

Ericsson & O-RAN: participation in 5 Work Groups, support for 8 of the 10 interfaces

Digital Unit

F1-C

F1-U

E1

CU-CP Radio Control

Higher-Layer Split

Central Unit (CU)Distributed Unit (DU)

Front haul

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RAN control loops

DU-RU loop

E1-F1 loop

A1-O1 loop

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Evolution to fronthaul

Antenna

Thick coaxcable (RF)

RU

DU

1T2R

Antenna

Tower Mounted Amplifier

Coax cable(RF)

Thin coaxcable

Tower-mounted amplifers/boosters

RUDU

1T2R

RRU

DU

Antenna

Digitalfronthaul

(CPRI)

Thin coaxcable

Remote Radio Unit (RRU) in tower

fiber

2T2R4T4R

DU

Antenna Integrated

Radio (AIR)

Packetfronthaul

(eCPRI)

Antenna and RRU combined

fiber

32T32R64T64R

Beamforming 5G Massive MIMO

5G radio innovation requires advanced fronthaul

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Lower-layer split options O-RAN LLS architecture option:

• More functions in the distributed unit.

• Limits the complexity of the radio unit.

• Reduced radio performance with M-MIMO.

Ericsson LLS architecture option:

• More functions in the radio unit.

• Custom silicon for higher radio complexity: low power consumption and weight, high computation power.

• Optimal radio performance with M-MIMO.

Position of lower-layer split is a key design choice

Fiber

Fronthaul

Fiber

Fronthaul

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Benefits of Ericsson LLS - examples

4G 5G Time

Fre

qu

en

cy

1ms

Breaking the energy curve: switch off TX for sleep mode @ 0.1 ms

Security: DU-RU authentication/encryption, signed SW, secure boot

Superior performance: 10x cell edge speed, +10 dB range

Advanced functionality: 4G/5G spectrum sharing @ 1 ms

2G

3G

4G

Time

Energy consumption

5G + innovation = higher energy efficiency

5G Up

link

thro

ug

hp

ut

[Mb

ps]

Signal strength

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Typical European network topology

DU+CU Custom HW

5G mid-band

5G low-band

4G low-band

DU+CU Custom HW

Data center Cloud infra (NFVI) Virtualized 4G/5G core Generic HW

Aggregation level

Uniform site grid: efficient aggregation in DU

“Any” backhaul

Aggregate in DU

Low-band: <3 GHzMid-band: 3-6 GHzHigh-band: >6 GHz

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vCU first RAN element on generic HW

DU Custom HW

Cloud infra (NFVI) vCUGeneric HW

Data center

5G mid-band

5G low-band

4G low-band

DU Custom HW

DU Custom HW

DU Custom HW

DU Custom HW

DU Custom HW

Aggregate in vCU

Low latency Fiber backhaul

5G high-band

Data center Cloud infra (NFVI) Virtualized 4G/5G core Generic HW

Higher Layer Split

Aggregation level

Different site grids: higher-layer split for aggregation in vCU on generic HW

5G high-band

Low-band: <3 GHzMid-band: 3-6 GHzHigh-band: >6 GHz

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High processing needs in 5G DU

Carrier bandwidthAntenna branches

Transmission Time Interval (TTI)

20 MHz2T2R1 ms

20 MHz4T4R1 ms

100 MHz4T4R0.5 ms

100 MHz8T8R0.5 ms

100 MHz64T64R0.5 ms

Layer 1 processing

Layer 2 processing

Packet processing function

Radio control function

Beamforming processing

Digital front-end processing5G drives exponential increase in processing needs• # Antenna branches growing with Massive MIMO

• More carrier bandwidth at higher frequencies

• Wider spectrum allocations in new bands

• Shorter transmission time interval (TTI)

5G DU will remain on specialized HW for several years

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Ne

two

rks fo

r th

e f

utu

re

Unified cloud infrastructure

for Core, RAN and Edge

Highest performance

per watt and size

E2E accountability and

performance guarantees

Cross domain

innovation

Central Unit

Distributed Unit

Technical evaluations Trials

Technical evaluations Trials

Vendor agnostic

RAN HW

Scalability for a wide range of

use-cases/deployment scenarios

Pre-integrated

and E2E tested

State-of-the-art RAN features

with extreme HW requirements

Single standard HW Multi standard HW Mixed mode HW 5G Optimized HW

EricssonCloudRAN

EricssonCustomSilicon

…

…

…

RAN options for the future

Market readiness:

Market readiness: Commercial Deployment

DU+CU on specialized HW as main-stream, vCU first on generic HW, vDU at later stage

open ran & ericsson

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