small cell backhaul: progress, challenges and next steps

Small cell backhaul: Progress, challenges and next steps

July 2016

1) Small Cell Backhaul Trends Caroline Gabriel, Rethink Research

2) Operator Issues for Small Cell Backhaul David Orloff, AT&T

3) Small Cell Forum’s Work on BackhaulJulius Robson, Small Cell Forum

Q&A

Agenda

SMALL CELL BACKHAUL TRENDSCAROLINE GABRIEL, RESEARCH DIRECTOR, RETHINK TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH

OUTDOOR SMALL CELL GROWTH

Operators start to shift from targeted hotspots to large-scale deployments

Densification programs Spectrum availability Shift to capacity Maturing of HetNet enablers

Drives demand for small cell backhaul $6.4bn spend between 2016 and 2020 on

outdoor small cell backhaul kit (IHS)2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

85173

287412

528667

1320

30

50

67

88

Urban Rural+Remote

,000

uni

tsOutdoor small cell shipments Source: Mobile Experts

GROWTH BRINGS NEW CHALLENGES

India CAGR 125%

2020 375K

CALA

CAGR 140%

2020 140K

NAM CAGR 45%

2020260K

42,600

CAGR 66%

878,000

CAGR and installed base outdoor small cells Source: Rethink

Outdoor backhaul connections installed Source: IHS

Rising number of connections = new challenges

• More fiber in many markets

• Wireless solutions maturing e.g. PMP

• Development in mmWave spectrum

• Large deployments must be automated and repeatable

• Regulatory and site issues multiplied

• Fronthaul

BACKHAUL IS A MAJOR HEADACHE AGAIN

Survey of over 65 MNOs - small cell barriers to mass deployment

Backhaul has moved back up their priority list

Changed from technology issue to one of scalability, process and architecture

Many issues of 2013 have been addressed, new ones have arisen

2013 2015 2017Backhaul Automation Automation/

scalabilitySecuring optimal sites

Integration with other networks

Backhaul

Provisioning and management

Monetization Site issues

Monetization Backhaul MonetizationSite costs Site issues New

architectures e.g. virtualization

Top 5 barriers to outdoor deployment of small cells Source: Rethink MNO survey

THE CHANGING BACKHAUL ISSUES

Was a technology issue … but More solutions coming to market More fiber in many markets, including dark fiber NLOS wireless backhaul maturing Self backhauling and aggregation New spectrum Still performance issues but higher confidence

these will be addressed More providers entering space eg cablecos,

SCaaS

New issues are about large scale logistics Regulation non-harmonized eg street furniture SON needed to lower costs MNOs want standardized repeatable processes

from site negotiation to management Uncertainty re spectrum, mmWave targeted

for 5G access Virtualization – cost efficiencies and flexibility,

but fronthaul issues Rural and remote issues

Small cell backhaul is a moving target, will be central to new Small Cell Forum work program

1) Small Cell Backhaul Trends Caroline Gabriel, Rethink Research

2) Operator Issues for Small Cell Backhaul David Orloff, AT&T

3) Small Cell Forum’s Work on BackhaulJulius Robson, Small Cell Forum

Q&A

Agenda

1 Regulation regarding telecom equipment installation varies with location• There is no clear and uniform regulation on how telecom equipment should be installed in public

areas, street furniture, etc. Not even in the same country2 NLOS wireless backhaul performance doesn’t fulfil expected targets: • Trials find uneven performance due to urban environment (trees, vehicles, …). Small Cell wireless

backhaul performance lower than traditional wireless backhaul solution for Macro, but it is expected to provide similar performance between Macro and Small Cell 4G sites.

3 Today’s Small Cell wireless Backhaul is far from being “plug, play and forget” • Self-healing or self-organised features are not fully deployed, resulting in (unexpected) high O&M

costs4 High Uncertainty over Wireless Backhaul Spectrum • Unlicensed spectrum plus further 5G spectrum allocation is throttling Small Cells wireless

backhaul rollouts.

SCF Member Operator Viewpoint

© Small Cell Forum Ltd 2016

We are keen to encourage further work into backhauling, the sort of things we have in mind are:

• Self-backhauling options/techniques, • how backhaul options affect antenna design, • how to do backhauling for high-density deployments, • how to do backhauling for high reliability

• Urban densification is definitely of interest, particularly comparison of different backhaul & fronthaul options:

• Wireless options are very important to us as well as fixed-line • How can different functional splits be deployed over fixed line, both fibre and copper?

• Can G.Fast support RRHs with a higher layer split than CPRI?• Can we make more efficient use of fibre assets using higher layer splits?

SCF Member Operator Viewpoint


Small Cell Forum on Small Cell BackhaulJulius RobsonSCF Steering Group

Addressing backhaul needs for different flavours of small cells


Home and SOHO


Residential Femtocells prove that compact cellular base stations *can* be plug and play and operate over consumer grade broadband for backhaul

SCF developed the original proposal for Iuh interface developed 3GPP..and now we’re developing nFAPI to enable CRAN small cells over Ethernet…

Image courtesy of Ubiquisys

On site LAN needs to be configured to support small cell trafficWAN backhaul likely to be operator provided to ensure QoE of voice serviceA small cell centric SLA includes:

• Backhaul bandwidth provisioned according to end user usage as opposed to small cell capacity limits

• QoS prioritisation and security features

[SCF078] Enterprise Small Cells


Enterprise SCBH comprises separately managed LAN and WAN segments

http://scf.io/document/078

Urban Densification

Urban small cells are cells deployed by operators in areas of high demand density on an open-access basis to all the customers of the operator. They can be deployed outdoors on street furniture or indoor public locations such as transport hubs and retail malls.

15

Backhaul services: MEF’s Carrier Ethernet profiles describing connectivity performance requirements for backhaul.

Backhaul Deployment Planning and deployment processes needed for Non Line of Sight, LoS and wireline backhaul technologies

[095] Urban Backhaul Topic Brief

Network Architectures: Defines the interfaces between network nodes which backhaul must support

Backhaul topologies:How different link technologies can be combined together and the impact on end-end performance

Backhaul technologies: Wireless and wired last mile backhaul solutions

Backhaul requirements: performance and features required from the transport connections to meet the needs of network interfaces

Synchronization Implications for the performance of the underlying transport

Business Case Backhaul TCO model comprising CAPEX and OPEX


[SCF155]Rural and remote [SCF155]



Enabling Digitalized Enterprise

Education of verticals – Via Enterprise Taskforce marketing group will develop an education program geared to specific vertical segments with a particularly urgent need for small cells. Internet of Things – defining the most promising commercial use cases for enterprise and vertical IoT services that rely on small cells, and ensuring the key technical elements are in place.Mobile Edge Computing – developing common frameworks based on ETSI MEC for delivering content close to the user, personalizing services and analyzing data locally, in order to add value to the enterprise small cell case.Multi-operator – detailing the business case and the enabling technologies for multi-operator and neutral host platforms, with a direct route towards 5G concepts like network slicing.Unlicensed – focusing on the enterprise aspects of deploying small cells in licensed, unlicensed and shared spectrum, including technologies such as LWIP (lightweight IP).

What next:SCF Work Streams 2016-2017

Deploying Hyperdense Networks Interoperability – ensuring that enabling technologies, such as NFV, management and orchestration, and automation are fit for 5G purpose and fully interoperable. Backhaul – delivering affordable gigabit backhaul to meet next generation capacity requirements everywhere.Site acquisition – defining an efficient repeatable process for acquiring sites in order to remove one of the biggest barriers to urban densification.SON – identifying how self-optimizing network technology can simplify the deployment and management process.Internet of Things – identifying the market drivers for small cells to deliver IoT services, especially indoors.Unlicensed spectrum – integrating many spectrum bands and licensing schemes within a single network to maximize flexible capacity, including coexistence, policy management, traffic shaping and authentication issues.

July 2016

Backhaul issues• Deployment scalability for

dense deployments• E2E SON, including backhaul• Planning regulation• Backhaul, fronthaul and

everything in between• Self-backhaul• 5G backhaul• Backhaul spectrum

Work items Kick off at our Rome Plenary 13-15 September

Rome Plenary 13-15 September

Registration http://www.smallcellforum.org/events/next-plenary/

• Kicking off ‘Deploying Hyperdense networks’ and digital enterprise• Deployment stories workshop• Finalising virtualisation release supporting the new nFAPI definition• Laying the foundations of practical and profitable 5G standards

small cell backhaul: progress, challenges and next steps

Technology