Brief Survey

Operator’s View on 5G C-RAN/Fronthaul Redefinition

• SK Telecom
• KT
• NTT Docomo
• BT
• Orange
• AT&T

Dec. 5, 2015

Dr. Harrison Jangwoo Son

son@netmanias.com
 Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture
Why ?
Packet Core
IP Packet

PDCP PDCP PDCP PDCP

DU RLC RLC RLC DU (BBU)
Pool/vRAN MAC MAC
PHY

Backhaul Mid-haul Mid-haul Mid-haul Fronthaul

Cell Site IP Packet

PDCP PDCP PDU
RLC RLC
RLC PDU
MAC MAC MAC
MAC PDU
PHY
IQ data over CPRI
PHY PHY PHY
RF eNB RF RF RF RF RU (RRH)

D-RAN C-RAN
Backhaul Rich fiber Fronthaul
Korea 4G

Europe
Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul
& N.A.
No Rich Fiber,
(4G/5G)
but attracted by
C-RAN benefit
Korea 5G

Rich fiber, but CPRI

Fronthaul Explosion
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture
Source: SK Telecom, 5G RAN Architecture and

SK Telecom (Korea) Standardization Timeline, 3GPP RAN 5G

Workshop, Sep. 17, 2015

SK Telecom
PoC with Nokia
(2015)
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture

KT (Korea) Source: KT, KT’s Perspective on 5G , 3GPP RAN 5G Workshop, Sep. 17, 2015

KT
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture

NTT Docomo (Japan) Source: NTT Docomo, 5G Vision for 2020 and
Beyond, 3GPP RAN 5G Workshop, Sep. 17, 2015

NTT Docomo
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture

BT (UK) Source: BT, Towards 5G – an operators perspective:

Evolution or Revolution?, Oct. 2015

BT
PoC with
Cavium and
Sckipio (2015)
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture

BT (UK) Source: BT, Towards 5G – an operators perspective:

Evolution or Revolution?, Oct. 2015

BT
PoC with
Cavium and
Sckipio (2015)
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture
Source: Orange,
Orange (France) Mobile Evolution and Impact on Optical Access Network ,
Oct. 2015

Orange
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture

AT&T (USA) Source: AT&T, Key Issues and Architecture for 5G, Nov. 2015

AT&T
PoC (2015)
 5G RAN: Redefine C-RAN/Fronthaul Architecture

RAN Vendors
Nokia Ericsson

Fronthaul split options for 5G Cloud-RAN

Source: Nokia, 5G e2e Network Architecture, Nov. 2015 Source: Ericsson, Cloud RAN, Sep. 2015