Seminar Report Title

EVOLUTION OF CELLULAR BACKHAUL AND

REQUIREMENT FOR MILLIMETER WAVE

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement

for the Award of the degree of
Master of Technology in

Signal Processing & Digital Design

Submitted by:
Mohammad Jawad Jahed
2K19/SPD/23

Under Supervision of
PROF. Asok De

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND

COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
DELHI TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
(Formerly Delhi College of Engineering)
Bawana Road, Delhi-110042
DECEMBER/2019
i
 CANDIDATE DECLERATION
I Mohammad Jawad Jahed student of M.tech in (Signal Processing and Digital Design),
hereby declare that the seminar report titled (EVOLUTION of BACKHAUL in CELLUAR
NETWORK AND REQUIREMENT FOR MILLIMETER WAVE ) has been prepared by me and not
copied from any source without citation. This seminar report is prepared in partial fulfilment
of the requirement for the award of degree of Master of Technology, under the guidance
and supervision of Prof. Asoke De.

Current report that I am submitting to the Department of Electronics and Communication

Engineering, Delhi Technological University has not been previously formed the basis for the
award of any Degree, Diploma, Fellowship or other similar title or recognition.

Place: Delhi Name:

Date: 12/16/2019 Signature:

ii
 CERTIFICATE
I hereby, certify that the seminar report titled (Evolution of Backhaul in Cellular Network &
the requirement for Millimeter Wave) that is being submitted by Mohammad Jawad Jahed,
in partial fulfilment of the degree of Master of Technology, is a record of work carried out by
the student under my supervision. To the best of my knowledge this report has not been
submitted in part or full to the other University or Institute for any degree or Diploma.

Place: Delhi Prof. Asoke De

Date: 16/12/2019

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 ACHNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my sincere and special appreciation and a profound gratitude to my
academic supervisor Professor Asoke De, for his unflagging support, constant supervision
and continuous encouragement throughout this seminar report. Without his guidance and
persistence help writing this seminar report would not have been possible.

I also take this opportunity to express a deep sense of gratitude to all the staff member of
Electronics & Communication Engineering Department, who gave me the permission to use
all the required equipment, and provided me the valuable information and cordial support
which helped me in completing this report.

Name:

Sign

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 Contents
Abstract:......................................................................................................................................................1
Introduction................................................................................................................................................2
Chapter 1.....................................................................................................................................................3
Mobile Backhaul Background:.................................................................................................................3
GSM Mobile Backhaul..........................................................................................................................5
3G, UMTS backhaul Architecture:........................................................................................................6
LTE backhaul architecture:..................................................................................................................6
Millimeter Wave Characteristic:..............................................................................................................7
Free Space Propagation of Millimeter Wave.......................................................................................7
Millimeter Wave Propagation Loss factor:..........................................................................................8
Atmospheric attenuation:....................................................................................................................9
Penetration Losses:.............................................................................................................................9
Reflection Factor:................................................................................................................................9
Existing Wireless backhauling solution for 5G small cell:.........................................................................9
TV White Space (TVWS):......................................................................................................................9
Sub-6 GHz:...........................................................................................................................................9
Microwave (6 - 42) GHz:....................................................................................................................10
Millimeter wave (60 - 90) GHz:..........................................................................................................10
Chapter 2...................................................................................................................................................11
Millimeter Wave Backhauling in 5G Network:.......................................................................................11
Point to Point (PtP) Topology:...........................................................................................................11
Point-to-Multi Point Topology:..........................................................................................................11
Mesh Topology..................................................................................................................................11
Non-LOS mm Wave Backhauling:..........................................................................................................12
Provision of simultaneous backhaul for multiple SBSs:.........................................................................12
Adaptive Backhaul/Access Spectrum Selection:....................................................................................12
Massive-MIMO-based mm Wave Backhauling System:.........................................................................13
backhauling system with MIMO................................................................Error! Bookmark not defined.
Fronthaul network introduction............................................................................................................14

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 Low cost and a high capacity:............................................................................................................14
Save from interference issue:............................................................................................................14
Small form Factor:.................................................................................................................................15
Fronthaul Network Topology:................................................................................................................15
Existing solutions for high capacity fronthaul topology:........................................................................16
Advantage and Disadvantage of Different Spectrum Resources for Fronthaul:....................................17
Millimeter wave application in fronthaul FH:........................................................................................18
Conclusion:............................................................................................................................................21

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 List of Figure:

Figure1. 1 a typical microwave backhaul in a cellular network...................................................................3

Figure1. 2 basic architecture of Mobile Backhaul [4]...................................................................................5
Figure1. 3 GSM Backhaul Architecture. [7]..................................................................................................5
Figure1. 4 UMTS backhaul architecture [7].................................................................................................6
Figure1. 5 LTE backhaul architecture...........................................................................................................6
Figure2. 1 mm Wave range on radio spectrum frequency...........................................................................7
Figure2. 2 mm Wave propagation loss due to different atmospheric condition..........................................8
Y

Figure 3. 1 small cell network architecture employing massive MIMO-based mm Wave .........................13
Figure 3. 2 fronthaul network divided into branch and tree architecture [2].............................................15
Figure 3. 3 three different topologies for the franthaul network...............................................................16
Figure 3. 4 rain attenuation with various rainfall......................................................................................19
Figure 3. 5 Atmospheric attenuations due to different band of frequencies..............................................20

List of Table
YTable 2.1 Path Loss with respect to different frequency band
Table 3.1 show different possible wireless solution for fronthaul [2].........................................................13

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 List of abbreviations:

SBS Small Base Station

LTE Long Term Evolution

GSM Global System for Mobile

mm Wave Millimeter Wave

BTS Base Transceiver Station

PDH plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy

SDH Synchronous Digital Hierarchy

ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode

TDM Time Division Multiple access

IP Internet Protocol

RRH Remote Radio Head

RRU Remote Radio Unit

BBU Base Band Unit

C-RAN Cloud Radio Access Network

EHF Extremely High Frequency

LOS Line of Sight

NLOS Non Line of Sight

TVWS TV White Space

PtP Point to Point

PtMP Point to Multi Point

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

AP Access Point

UE User Equipment

MSC Mobile Switching Center

SGSN Serving GPRS Node

CS Circuit Switch

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PS Packet Switc

ix
Abstract:
The sharp increase in the number of mobile subscriber in the past few years, and simply the
continuation of this situation for the next years and their corresponding growth in traffic has made
the world to move toward the 5 th Generation of mobile cellular network. The requirement of the 5G
network is to increase the throughput so that the future demand for the capacity should be fulfilled
to some extent. However, increasing the capacity in access and backhaul network with the current
available frequency range is not possible. In addition, the existing backhauling/fronthauling
technologies cannot handle the multi gigabyte traffic of 5G network. therefore, the only way to
address these high capacity and increased demand in throughput is to move toward the mm Wave
in both backhaul and access links. Moreover, mobile operators network must reconsider their
backhauling system in order to support the high capacity from the access link and find the potential
to reliably transmit the data to the core network. therefore, this report overviews different
technology for the future backhauling/fronthauling network and also discuss the feasibility of mm
Wave in the backhaul and FH to improve the capacity of the network. different characteristics of mm
Wave like free space propagation atmospheric absorption has been discussed. Also the
advantage/disadvantage of different frequency band like V-band, E-band in mm wave has been
investigated. finally, a comparison of different wireless frequency band for the backhaul/fronthaul
and various topology and technology for the backhaul system is performed.

1
Introduction
The sustainable and sharp increase in the number of mobile subscriber and their related wireless
data traffics has compelled the world toward the 5 th Generation of mobile cellular network. The new
generation of mobile communication requirement is to increase the data rate to approximately 1000
times and support 100 times more smart devices then that of the current 4G technology [1]. The
only way to address this significant growth in wireless capacity and meet the required demand, is to
increase the overall system performance, spectrum availability, and a massive densification of the
network. The basic idea behind the network densification is to increase the density of small base
station (SBSs) in order to enhance the number of user supported in a geographical region [2]. In fact,
we can increase the density of (SBSs) to un undetermined level, e.g. to as much as there would be
only one user supported per (SBS) with its transmission and backhaul connection [2]. Network
densification to extreme level will bring different challenges for the wireless system among which
providing high capacity backhaul traffic is the most important and somehow less addressed
bottleneck in the system.

Using the current wired backhaul to address the high capacity demand would ensure a high
reliability, but running the fiber optic cable to each and every sites in the dense small cell backhaul
would be very highly costed as well as difficult to implement in populated area. On the other hand,
employing wireless backhaul as a solution for the problem of dense small cell is cost-effective and
easy to implement. In addition, frequency reuse options and a simple operation and maintenance
are the other properties that made wireless backhaul more flexible. However, the traditional
wireless frequency band is limited, e.g. wireless spectrum in the microwave frequency bands like (6
GHz, 7 GHz, 11 GHz, …) are already fully congested in the current LTE network, and will not have
enough available frequency band to address the future requirement of high capacity.

To meet the multi Gigabyte traffic of 5G, the world of cellular technology has no choice but to refer
to the wide spectrum available in the range of (30 – 300) GHz, that can offer 200 times greater
resources then the one used for the current cellular communication [2]. The wavelength
corresponding to this frequency band is between 10 to 1 mm and is called millimeter wave (mm
wave) spectrum. The millimeter wave spectrum between 60 and 90 GHz is examined to be an
appropriate backhauling option for the 5G networks. The wavelength in (mm wave) band is so small
and thereby allows implementation of multiple antenna element in a compact form, in addition it
provides huge channel bandwidth with enough unlicensed spectrum. Besides all these benefit,
millimeter wave frequency band have a few propagation challenges because of its vulnerability to
rain attenuation, molecular absorption, and shadowing. More over the inability in the penetration of
mm Wave through building walls and other blockage forced us to consider the indoor and outdoor
users separately while designing SBSs in mm Wave frequencies.

In the first chapter of this report initially, the concept of the backhaul in a cellular network have
been briefly discusses, then a short overview of various backhauling technique in different

2
generation of mobile like GSM/3G/LTE has been performed. And the last section of the first chapter
provides various characteristics of millimeter wave including the propagation and attenuation.
Chapter 2 have discussed the different technologies of backhauling and fronthauling technologies
available in the 5G network. in the first section we have discussed the various possibility of wireless
backhauling for 5G network and in the next section outlines the feasibility of mm Wave in
fronhauling for 5G networks. And finally a conclusion based on discussion of mm Wave for future
network have been performed.

Chapter 1
Mobile Backhaul Background:
Mobile backhaul describes the connection between any base station (BTS, Node B, eNode B) of the
cellular network with the basic core network. Or strictly speaking the backhaul network portion of
cellular system comprises the intermediate link between the Core-Network and the small
subnetworks of an existence mobile wireless communication. Previously this portion of the network
was known as a transmission system, but recently the term backhaul is accepted and is used most
frequently. Below figure show the basic backhaul network of a mobile communication system.

Figure1. 1 a typical microwave backhaul in a cellular network[7]

The backhaul or (Transmission) interface in the GSM system were initially defined as Time Division
Multiplexing (TDM) technology which is based on the 2.048 Mbps E1 circuit. Multiplexing in E1
circuits is done through plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy (PDH) and Synchronous Digital Hierarchy
(SDH) standards to realize a higher order transmission system. The advent of UMTS network has

3
brought a new technology in the backhaul which is called asynchronous transfer mode (ATM). ATM
technology enable the backhaul to support different type of traffic like voice video and data [3].
Implementing the ATM in the backhaul will ensure a high quality of service (QoS) which will
guarantee that different types of traffic coexistence on the same network without any detrimental
behavior [3].

By implementing the UMTS network the cellular system has gradually transformed from voice-
centric to data-centric operation, and this evolution has resulted in the improvement of High Speed
Down Link Packet Access and advanced uplink technologies [3]. The advances in uplink and downlink
technologies required to increase the capacity of mobile system and therefore, mobile backhauls
have evolved from TDM system to Carrier Ethernet. Finally, base station and network controller has
shifted to the Ethernet interface and supports end-to-end transmission with a new transport layer
called internet protocol (IP).

LTE was introduced with the native Ethernet and IP support, the radio interface in the LTE system
offers fundamentally higher peak and mean data rate than the previous generation of cellular
network [3].

The evolution in mobile backhaul has resulted into the three different architecture in the backhaul
which will be discussed in the following.

First is the conventional structure, in this structure the remote radio unit (RRU), is connected with
the baseband unit (RRU) that is mostly located in the bottom of the telecommunication tower, and
use a wired connection to carry the data from (RRU) to the (BBU) [4].

The second option is all-in-one architecture, here the baseband unit (BBU) is integrated with the
remote radio unit (RRU). In the mentioned two types of backhaul architecture the data processed by
(BBU) is integrated into the operator’s network IP connections [4].

In the third option for mobile backhaul architecture, the baseband unit BBU is located in different
location, away from remote radio unit (RRU), in this way one BBU can serve multiple RRU in addition,
a more a dynamic and efficient arrangement of radio cell become feasible. This type of architecture
is known as centralized or cloud radio access network (C-RAN). The link between the RRU and the
BBU is referred as fronthaul link [4].

4
 Figure1. 2 basic architecture of Mobile Backhaul [4].

The use of C-RAN Fronthaul has allowed operators the centralization of all high layer processing
functions. This centralization provides significant energy and labor savings simplifying the
deployment of features like Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP). This
capability of C-RAN networks is achieved by using high capacity and low latency transport networks.

GSM Mobile Backhaul

In the early GSM network, hardware device for baseband digital processing was so expensive.
Therefore, to save cost digital processing of many cell was transmitted to a single node called Base
Controller Station (BSC). And then BSC was connected to a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) in the
core network. later when packet switched network in the form of GPRS was added in the
architecture of GSM the CS traffic connects to the MSC. The PS traffic was connected to a Serving
GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and it connects to the gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Below figure
shows the detail of GSM backhaul architecture [7].

F
igure1. 3 GSM Backhaul Architecture. [7]

5
3G, UMTS backhaul Architecture:
In UMTS architecture the base station was renamed as Node B and the BSC name was changed to
RNC. Below figure shows 3.75 G which is designed according to I-HSPA standard. In this architecture
the data path by pass the SGSN and is directly connected to GGSN, besides this separate RNC is also
removed from the backhaul architecture and all its functionality is moved to Node B. this
architecture greatly simplifies the network as the Iub interface is completely removed from the
system. The cost of deploying the RNC is saved and the network become more resilient since there is
no more RNC failure. Moreover, the latency is also greatly reduced as the data is directly going to
the GGSN [7].

Figure1. 4 UMTS backhaul architecture [7]

LTE backhaul architecture:

The structure for the LTE is the same as I-HSPA, the only difference is that the Node B in LTE is called
Evolved Node B (eNodeB) and instead of SGSN there is Mobility Management Entity (MME) also the
gateway node has changed its name to System Architecture Evolution Gateway (SAE-GW) which is
also called as serving Gateway (S-GW).

Figure1. 5 LTE backhaul architecture [7]

A further twist in the architectural development is the cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN). In a C-
RAN network, the device at the antenna is the simplest possible and all of the processing is
performed in a more central node, the digital Baseband Unit (BBU).

6
 Chapter 2
Millimeter Wave Characteristic:
On the radio frequency spectrum table, the frequency range between 10 to 1 mm is considered as
millimeter wave band. Taking into account their wavelength we can say that these band of
frequency is larger than infrared waves and x-rays, but a little smaller than the microwave bands
that cover 3 to 30 GHz range. Millimeter waves are also called extremely high frequency (EHF) which
occupy a frequency range of 30 to 300 GHz and a total of approximately 250 GHz bandwidth are
available. The wide range of high frequency available in millimeter wave along with their
propagation characteristics (i.e. the action of interacting with the atmosphere as they traverse
through the air) make them suitable for different applications, like transmission of huge amount of
data, cellular communication, and radar.

Figure 2.1 mm Wave range on radio spectrum frequency.

Although the available bandwidth of mm Wave frequencies is promising, the propagation

characteristics are significantly different from microwave frequency bands in terms of path loss,
diffraction and blockage, rain attenuation, atmospheric absorption, and foliage loss behaviors. In
general, the overall loss of mm Wave systems is significantly larger than that of microwave systems
for a point-to-point link [6]. The challenging characteristic of mm wave propagation is as follow.

Free Space Propagation of Millimeter Wave

In the free space the power of a millimeter wave falls off as the square of its range. When the range
is doubled, the power reaching a receiving antenna will be reduced by a factor of 4. This reduction of
the power is as a result of spherical spreading of the mm Wave as they propagate in the free space.

7
The following equation shows the frequency and distance dependence of the loss between two
isotropic antennas in dB

R
Lfree space =20 log (4 π ¿ ) ( dB ) [6 ]¿
λ

In the above equation L is the free space loss, R is the distance between the two antennas and λ is
the given frequency wavelength. This equation simply shows that the free loss will be increased
when either the distance or the frequency range increases [6]. In addition, it shows that the free
space loss is very high even in the small distances. So we can conclude that mm Wave is best for
short distance communication links. Below table lists the path loss for a distance of R = 10m and with
different frequencies.

Frequency Band Path Loss in dB

2.4 GHz 60 dB

5 GHz 66 dB

60 GHz 88 dB

Table 1.1 Path Loss with respect to different frequency band

The loss difference in the frequency band of 60 GHz and the other band has limit the application of
mm Wave, and one way to compensate this extra loss in dB of mm Wave is to use a high antenna
gain.

Millimeter Wave Propagation Loss factor:

In millimeter wave beside free space loss which is the fundamental source of transmission loss, there
are also absorption loss factors, such as losses due to the water vapor, rain or other gaseous
constituent existing in transmission medium. Below figure shows the factor that influence mm Wave
propagation.

Figure 2. 2 mm Wave propagation loss due to different atmospheric condition

8
Atmospheric loss occurs when mm Wave signal traverse through the atmosphere and are absorbed
by molecules of oxygen, water vapor, and other atmospheric gaseous constituent. And these losses
are greater in some frequency range due to the fact that they coincide with the mechanical resonant
frequency of gas molecules [6].

Atmospheric attenuation: frequencies that exist in mm wave spectrum is highly susceptible

to propagation losses resulted from rain attenuation, Oxygen and other molecular absorption.
However, when we consider a short range for communication, i.e. ultra dense small cell network
where the distance between cells is so small the mentioned environmental factors may not induce
substantial propagation loss [2]. During the heavy rainfall, for 28 GHz frequency the rain attenuation
is only 1.4 dB over 200 m distance. The attenuation caused by atmospheric absorption is low for mm
Wave spectrum specially for 28 and 73 GHz [2].

Penetration Losses: the frequencies in mm Wave spectrum encounters high penetration loss
in the exterior of urban building while the penetration loss for indoor material is rather low.
Therefore, indoor users cannot be served by outdoor BSs in mm Wave.

Reflection Factor: huge amount of obstruction would influence the reflected multipath of mm
Wave signals and thus would cause a large delay in both LOS and NLOS situation. Even so, signal that
are strong can reach the next antenna within 200m distance in a NLOS environment [2].

Existing Wireless backhauling solution for 5G small cell:

The wireless backhaul connectivity of small cells is a function of the location and density of the SBSs,
line‐of‐sight (LOS) conditions between the wireless backhaul hubs and SBSs, data rate requirements
and additional costs for spectrum licensing. Therefore, a suitable backhaul spectrum is essential to
be chosen as per the network requirement. The different wireless frequency option for wireless
backhauling and front hauling is as the following.

TV White Space (TVWS):

the unused spectrum in the frequency dedicated for the TV is known is TV White Space. This band of
frequency can be an appropriate option for sparsely populated area where the traffics is only due to
voice, video and real time gaming. This unlicensed spectrum allows NLOS connectivity in the
backhaul for an area of about (1 - 5) Km without being concern about antenna alignment. Backhauls
that are connected via TVWS must ensure that it doesn’t interfere with the existing TV transmission.
But the data rate which is provided by TVWS is not sufficient for 5G backhauling and fronthauling.

Sub-6 GHz:
the licensed as well as the unlicensed sub-6 GHz spectrum in the range (800 MHz – 6 GHz) is an
appropriate option for backhauling SBSs in rural and urban areas. This spectrum also allows NLOS
connectivity over a large area, without having to do anything with alignment of antenna or installing
new hardware. This frequency band can afford backhaul coverage from 1.5 to 2.5 Km in urban areas
and can support backhauling up to 10 Km in rural areas. But the sub-6 GHz frequency has already

9
been used in the dense area, so applying it will to 5G backhaul will cause interference. Therefore,
sub-6 GHz frequency band is not a suitable option for 5G backhauling.

Microwave (6 - 42) GHz: microwave spectrum can provide approximately up to 1 Gbps data
rate real time and non-real time service and therefore is a common option for 5G backhauling. But
the spectrum in microwave band is costly and can only provide an LOS service, in addition the
antenna size designed for this range is large and make it unfeasible for SBSs backhauling. Microwave
spectrum is a good option with respect to the data rate, however this frequency band has already
been used in full and also it may not be a cost-effective solution for 5G backhauling.

Millimeter wave (60 - 90) GHz:

mm Wave spectrum is the next candidate using as a backhaul in 5G small cells in the populated
urban areas. Millimeter wave can be severely affected from high propagation loss hence, a coverage
of beyond 1 Km is not feasible. However, mm Wave is still a suitable option for the densely deployed
small cell because of the reduced interference from the neighboring links and an increased ability of
frequency reuse. Millimeter wave spectrum have a wide channel bandwidth that can afford
multi-Gbps data rates. In spite of the fact that mm Wave spectrum can provide LOS connectivity but
there is no additional cost due to the spectrum.

Among all the existing wireless backhaul solutions, mm Wave has the capability to address the
requirement for 5G network as it can afford a wide channel bandwidth with the low interference
and narrow beam. The wavelength in mm Wave spectrum is so small and thus can provide a flexible
spectrum that supports massive MIMO technology and therefore handle a large number of user with
huge data rate.

10
 Chapter 3
Millimeter Wave Backhauling in 5G Network:
Employing the dense small cell in 5G network requires a combination of backhauling technique that
may vary with regards to the location, required QoS constraints and traffics load due to different
SBSs. For example, high capacity backhaul for indoor SBSs can be achieved from the existing wired
infrastructure, while it would be more difficult and expensive to employ wired backhaul connectivity
for the outdoor SBSs, they may be installed in different location like below roof-top level, on the
building walls, on the street lamp or street fixtures. In the situation like this wireless backhaul is the
appropriate solution and can achieve the desired demand. To better understand the backhauling
technology in 5G we will continue our discussion on the LoS and NLoS backhauling with respect to
the possibility, topology and the fundamental challenges that exist in employing MIMO mm Wave
backhaul system.

Point to Point (PtP) Topology:

The classical method of wireless backhauling in cellular networks was PtP topology. The frequency
band ranging from 60 – 90 GHz in the mm Wave spectrum can be used as Pint to Point that mitigates
the damaging effect of oxygen, rain attenuation, and other molecular absorption. Since the
propagation of millimeter wave is limited, therefore, the inter-site distance of picocells is required to
be within 100m in order to have a reliable PtP backhaul links [2]. By using highly directive antenna
arrays we can form two or more PtP link at the same location with different mm Wave frequencies.

Point-to-Multi Point Topology:

Point-to-Multi Point topology is an alternative way for backhauling. In this method the wireless links
used as backhaul are based on the concept of hub and remote site. Hub site is the site that has a
fixed fiber based backhaul and serves as a backhaul for all the other wireless sites that are connected
with hub sites. Usually more than two sites are connected with the hub site and it can support up to
8 5G sites depending on the bandwidth given from fiber link. PtMP technique is suitable in those 5G
sites where mm Wave is used in both as access and backhaul link.

Mesh Topology
In the case where the possibility of blockage for the small cell would be high due to physical
obstructions, to have a reliable backhauling the small cell would require for multiple links. So by
using the multi-hop mesh topology we can further improve the flexibility of the backhauling system.
In employing the multi-hop mesh topology, we replace the long distance backhaul links with the
multiple short links so that the reliability of the backhauling system would be guaranteed. However,
by replacing the long distance backhaul link with multiple short links would cause a delay at each
hop and this delay may affect the overall performance of the backhaul links.

11
Non-LOS mm Wave Backhauling:
When employing LoS backhaul links practically in the real networks, it is more likely that the link
would be blocked by buildings or other shrouding objects. This will affect the employing of mm
Wave frequency in backhauling. In addition, LoS mm Wave Backhaul are vulnerable to the
attenuation caused by rain, oxygen absorption and beam misalignment. When we come to the non-
LoS mm Wave wireless backhaul links, the diffracted ray gives the propagation loss for the desired
link and other reflected rays are treated as interfering links. The gain for a desired link can be
specified by aligning the antenna array toward the point of diffraction. Therefore, the mm Wave
frequency allows a narrow beam with a respectively high antenna gain, that basically minimize the
spatial interference. However, we cannot completely ignore the interference issue in the case of
ultra-dense deployment of small cells, since in these scenario the probability of spatial interference
is very high.

Provision of simultaneous backhaul for multiple SBSs:

The communication wireless network system requires to handle the backhaul of several SBSs
simultaneously in the ultra-dense wireless backhaul of small cell network. This entails a resource of
frequency spectrum that can be assigned to different small cells simultaneously so that the
interference between backhaul streams below a threshold level. So in this case the abundant
amount of spectrum available in mm Wave band could possibly serve the purpose, especially, when
we want to backhaul to SBSs that are located close to each other. The other technique to handle the
backhaul of several SBSs at the same time is Massive MIMO which can be implemented as a
backhaul hub for the SBSs within its coverage. Massive MIMO is an appropriate solution for backhaul
transmission between SBSs and the core network, because this technique uses PtMP transmission in
the same time and frequency resources. when we have a multi-user mm Wave system, so multiple
beams are required to be formed simultaneously and this requires an efficient precoding scheme [2].

Adaptive Backhaul/Access Spectrum Selection:

Traditionally, the sub channel of a normal RF spectrum that was assigned to a given user was
optimized at its access link by the network operator. But the combined usage of frequency bands in
the 5G access/backhaul network like microwave, and mm Wave makes this tasks more challenging.
The reason behind this is that the provided network capacity at different frequency bands can be
different for several outdoor/indoor environments. For example, with respect to the classical sub
6GHz band, mm Wave characteristic for the indoor and outdoor environment is different and they
have different penetration/attenuation losses with regards to the indoor and outdoor environment.
Therefore, an attentive analysis at the system level is required to choose a suitable combination of
frequencies for access/backhaul, while taking into account the important factor such as condition of
interference at a given frequency, location of the SBSs, the corresponding surrounding environment
and the beamforming gain.

In addition, the feasibility of reusing the same frequency both at the access and backhaul link with a
minimum interference is also significant and can differ for various spectrum bands. For instance, the

12
high directivity and noise-limited behavior of mm Wave frequencies can firmly handle in-band
backhauling with respect to the traditional sub-6GHz frequency spectrum. Finally choosing a
spectrum band that can improve data rates through in-band backhauling is very important.

Massive-MIMO-based mm Wave Backhauling System:

As shown in below figure, within macro base stations we consider wireless backhaul hubs to afford
backhaul connection via mm Wave links for SBSs or access point (AP) using the massive MIMO
technology. Different mm Waves are assigned for the backhaul and access links of access point (AP).
In the figure below we presume that the APs and user equipment (UEs) are prepared with
directional antenna and sectorized gain pattern. Each hub support N b APs simultaneously with M h
antenna. Within the same time block, each AP also schedule N a user equipment UEs. The
transmission power of the hub AP are Ph∧P a respectively.

since the mm Wave cannot penetrate the walls of the buildings so indoor APs neither can supply
outdoor users nor can interfere with the transmission of outdoor AP. In the outdoor environment,
the APs are installed on the walls of the building or street light where the users are more likely to
have no LoS to hubs [2].

Figure 3. 1 small cell network architecture employing massive MIMO-based mm Wave

13
Fronthaul network introduction
The architecture of an LTE mobile network is designed in a decentralized manner, which means that
the entire baseband processing including the physical layer (PHY), medium access (MAC) layer, and
parts of the network layer are performed at the base stations BSs [2].

The other method for the mobile architecture is the centralized notion, which is nothing but to
centralize radio access network (RAN) functionalities. The centralized-RAN which is also called cloud-
RAN (C-RAN) architecture suggests that the functionality of the base band unit (BBU) should be
decreased and instead should be given to the remote radio head (RRH), which only accomplish
analog processing and forward digital samples between RRH and BBU. This kind of centralized
architecture is proposed for the 5G architecture and has many advantages among which decrease in
operational and capital expenditure is most essential. By locating the BBU in a centralized location
the maintenance become much easier, in addition, the sites energy consumption is also decreased
due to reducing the size of the site.

The benefits of the C-RAN are achieved at the price of requiring a different transport network. In the
C-RAN architecture the transmission link between the RRH and the BBU is referred to as fronthaul
(FH). To accommodate the exponentially growing mobile data a high throughput fronthaul network
with good scalability is needed. In addition, the 1000-fold increase in traffics for 5G cellular network
shows that the traffic will have a sharp increase for the next few years, therefore, installing fronthaul
network with high throughput cannot be ignored. However, running fiber to each and every FH is
not a suitable option due to the increasing cost and difficulties in implementation. So the only
solution is to use wireless mm Wave in the fronhauling network to support the Gigabyte traffic of 5G
network.

Mm Wave massive MIMO has come up to be a favorable candidate for both the fronhaul/backhaul
in the 5G cellular network. Millimeter wave massive MIMO has number of advantages like spatial
multiplexing, flexible beamforming, diversity, with a little hardware expense and power
consumption. Therefore, mm Wave massive MIMO will not only bring an advanced reliable fronhaul
link, but also a flexible network topology and scheduling scheme, with improved fronthaul network.
Some of the advantages of fronthaul that is based on mm Wave massive MIMO are listed in below.

Low cost and a high capacity:

in the mm Wave spectrum band, a huge amount of unused frequency spectrum is available like the
unlicensed V-band (57 - 67) GHz, and the licensed E-band (71 – 76 and 81 - 86) GHz the can afford
gigahertz transmission bandwidth with a low cost. For instance, capacity of multi Gigabytes can be
provided by the 250 MHz channel at E-band [].

Save from interference issue:

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E-band can be used for the transmission distance of few Kilometer due rain attenuation while the
transmission distance for the V-band is only 500 – 700m due to the attenuation caused by both rain
and oxygen absorption. Hence mm Wave suffer from high path loss and is only appropriate for ultra-
dense small cell where advanced frequency reuse and decreased inter cell interference is
guaranteed. For the mm Wave used in the fronhaul rain attenuation is not a big issue for example,
during the heavy rainfall of 25 mm/h, an E-band frequency for a distance of 200m fronthaul would
only have rain attenuation of 2 dB [].

Small form Factor:

mm Wave fronthaul support compact form equipment that can easily be implemented with low
cost in 5G sites. This is because mm Wave have small wavelength and allows massive antenna to be
deployed in both macro cell BSs and small-cell BSs that can also improve signal directivity and to
some extent compensate the path loss in mm Wave.

Spatial Multiplexing with Los Cost:

with respect to the traditional mm Wave antenna system that was restricted to point-to-point
transmission, the current technique of massive MIMO mm Wave can handle multi-user transmission
and multi-stream transmission for each nod and can successfully realize spatial multiplexing [].

Fronthaul Network Topology:

generally, the whole topology of fronhaul network is divided into branch architecture and tree
architecture, as shown below.

Figure 3. 2 fronthaul network divided into branch and tree architecture [2].
Fronthaul architecture with respect to the last mile connectivity which is the topic of discussion for
the mm Wave, can be divided into three architecture of Point-to-Point (PtP), Point-to-Multi-Point
(PtMP), and Mesh as illustrated in the following picture [].

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In PtP topology, for the link between aggregation point and end point a pre-specified radio
frequency channel exist, while for PtMP topology, the link connecting multiple end point shares RF
channel at the aggregation point.

Figure 3. 3 three different topologies for the franthaul network [2].

Moreover, the topology structure is specified based on the requirement of franthaul network and
can be extended to the tree, chain and mesh topologies. We consider the multi hop (FH) network
like chain and mesh topology for case where there is not a direct connectivity link between the
aggregate point and the small cell BS as a result of physical blockage like building and many more.

Existing solutions for high capacity fronthaul topology:

in the ultra-densed small cell BSs by considering the massive MIMO we can use both wired and
wireless fronthaul network to transmit data to the core network. In the case of wired FH network
fiber covers only a few FH link due to highly installation cost and implementation problem. But fiber
connectivity is significant in the design of fronthaul for macro-cell and small-cell BSs especially in
aggregation point where traffics of many small-cell BSs are sent to the core network. However,
wireless links generally dominates the FH network. the range of frequencies used for a wireless FH
network can change from sub-6 GHz to mm Wave of 300 GHz. The frequency range that support FH
network can provide both LOS and non-LOS links.

Type Spectrum Network Topology Spectrum Licensing

TV White Space
PtP, PtMP Dynamic
TVWS (sub – 800 MHz)
Non-LoS
Sub-6 GHz Are Licensed and
PtP, PtMP and mesh
unlicensed
Microwave Band (6 – 57)
PtP, PtMP unlicensed
LoS GHz
V – Band (57 - 67) GHz PtP unlicensed
E – Band (71 – 76 and 81 - PtP Licensed

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 86) GHz

Table 3.1 show different possible wireless solution for fronthaul [2].
Among the solution given in the above table, the sub-6 GHz non-LoS fronthaul solution is the best
and can largely improve the flexibility of the small-cell, however sub-6 GHz frequency is already fully
used and further utilization would bring sever interference to the network. Fronthaul networks have
special characteristic that can share the same transmission resources that is used by the access link.
This characteristic can significantly decrease the cost of FH implementation with the aid of emerging
license model, which is called Authorized shared Access (ASA) []. The FH together with help of ASA
can access to the unauthorized spectrum on common basis without any interference. Although ASA
can possibility frees hundreds of megahertz of frequency spectrum for the FH network, but scarce
frequency spectrum in sub-6 GHz caused to use mm Wave based FH for a sustainable future 5G
network.

Advantage and Disadvantage of Different Spectrum Resources for

Fronthaul:
The Television White Space (TVWS) sub-800 MHz has a good propagation property and hence can
provide long link range. The channels available in TVWS has a bandwidth of 6/7/8 MHz which differs
from country to country. However, the bandwidth in TVWS is limited and cannot address the
requirement of FH in ultra-dense small cells and this makes the availability of TVWS channel more
difficult.

Sub-6 GHz frequency spectrum is an essential option for FH network and currently there are many
FH solution that operates in in 2.4 and 5 GHz over PtMP protocol. Sub-6 GHz unlicensed non-LOS
solution is used today in many business case scalabilities for the short term outlook. But the sub-6
GHz spectrum is not sufficient enough to handle the 1000-fold capacity increase of the 5G network.
also the interference in this range of frequency is so high [].

Microwave spectrum of (6 - 57) GHz has been extensively used for the current 4G cellular FH
network, but the high demand in the frequency spectrum for the 5G network will reduce its
available capacity. Microwave PtP and PtMP link can support a longer link distance for the FH
network compared with the mm Wave V-band and E-band. But the available spectrum in this
frequency band cannot handle the high traffics of the next generation cellular network.

V-band mm Wave (57 - 67) GHz due to its unlicensed characteristics has attracted the most attention
for the FH network. but the attenuation due to atmospheric condition and oxygen absorption has
limit the utilization of wireless link supported by V-band frequency spectrum. Wireless links designed
of V-band frequency has less interference and better spectrum reuse hence make it a good option
for ultra-dense small cell in 5G network beside it is high path loss issue.

E-band mm Wave (71 – 76 and 81 - 86) GHz: this band is a licensed spectrum and requires specific
antenna design and channelization. For example, the minimum requirement of the antenna gain
according to FCC is 43 dBi that specifies the size of antenna to be around 1 ft. which is a bigger

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antenna compared to the V-band. As E-band is a licensed spectrum so the links operating at E-band
is licensed and registered in database that can reduce the interference issue.

Millimeter wave application in fronthaul FH:

The exponential growth in throughput for 5G networks has lead the fronthaul link to move from the
conventional microwave band to the mm Wave spectrum. The V-band and E-band in mm Wave
spectrum are the promising candidate to handle the high capacity of the 5G cellular network due to
a wide unused available spectrum in these bands. In below we will discuss why V-band and E-band is
a suitable solution for wireless FH network.

V-band is mostly used by the ISP companies who want to upgrade the existing device by using the 60
GHz frequency to grab the business opportunity of fronthaul in the future cellular network. the FH
link throughput can be reached up to 17 Gbps with 16 QAM modulation and up to 45 Gbps with 64
QAM modulation by using the four channels in 802.15.3c with frequency ranging from 57 to 67 GHz
[]. As V-band are unlicensed, therefore it should be noted that devices used in the FH link must rely
on dynamic interference avoidance algorithm so that it can handle the interference.

E-band is mostly used by small-to-medium enterprises that afford high end component in mm Wave
and large equipment providers and operators. Their idea behind this is to decrease the cost of
fronthaul device and be competitive in business case. E-band has a large spectrum resources in the
range of 71 to 76 GHz and 81 to 86 GHz for the most geographical regions. It has been experienced
that a commercialized FH device can afford more the 1 Gbps throughput in a distance of 3.5 Km with
the 43 dBi antenna gain and 64 QAM modulation.

Rain and atmospheric attenuation are the two big issue in using the mm Wave in the FH network.
however, these two problem don’t have a clear effect on the FH used in small dense case since these
links have a small distance. For the heavy rain of (25 mm/h) the path loss can be can reach up to 10
dB/Km as illustrated in the figure below [2].

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 Figure 3. 4 rain attenuation with various rainfall

For a heavy rainfall of 25 mm/h, at E-band mm Wave the rain attenuation would be around 2 dBi in a
200 m distance. Basically, the comfort zone for the E-band is around several Kilometer with respect
to the rain attenuation while for that of V-band is about 500 – 700 mm due to attenuation of both
rain and oxygen absorption. The following figure shows the atmospheric attenuation versus different
frequencies. So we can conclude that for a sustainable fronthaul design both V-band and E-band
from the mm Wave spectrum should be considered.

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Figure 3. 5 Atmospheric attenuations due to different band of frequencies.

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Conclusion:
through this report we have found out that the only way to support the high frequency demand in
the backhaul/fronthaul network for next few years, mobile operators have to move toward a
wireless backhauling system that is based on mm Wave. The wide spectrum ranges available in this
extremely high frequency band have the potential to support the gigabyte traffic in the 5G network.
we have discussed that although propagation loss in mm Wave is so high still it is a good option for
the 5G dense small cell, since the cell distance for a dense network is from few hundred meter to 1
Km. we have also investigated the various existing wireless solution for the backhaul/fronthaul
network like the TV White Space (TVWS), traditional Microwave frequency band, and found out that
the best solution for the small dense SBSs is the mm Wave spectrum.

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 Reference:

[1] Athanasios G. Kanatas, Konstantina S.Nikita, Panangiotis Mathiopoulos. (2018) New

Directions in Wireless Communications Systems From Mobile to 5G.

[2] Kazi Mohammad Saidul Haq, Janathon Rodrequiz, (2017) Backhauling/Fronthauling for
Future Wireless Systems.

[3] Mohammad Ali Imran, Sayed Ali Raza Zaidi, Muhammad Zeeshan Shakir, (2017) Access,
Fronthaul and Backhaul Networks for 5G and Beyond.

[4] Z. Ghebretensaé, J. Harmatos and K. Gustafsson, (2010)"Mobile broadband backhaul

network migration from TDM to carrier ethernet,"  IEEE Communications Magazine, vol.
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[5] Dived del Rio . Ainhoa Rezola, Jaun F.Selvillano, Igone Velez. Roc Berenguer, (2019)
Digitally Assisted, Fully Integrated, Wideband Transmitters for High-Speed Millimeter-
Wave Wireless Communication Links
[6] Shahid Mumtaz, Jonathan Rodriguez, Linglong Dai, (2017) mm Wave Massive MIMO a
Paradigm for 5G

[7] Aprad Drozdy, (2017) Evolution of Mobile Backhaul. Doctoral Dissertation.

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