Recently, China Mobile Communications Research Institute (CMRI) and Broadcom, the global leader in innovative solutions for wired and wireless communications semiconductors (NASDAQ: BRCM), announced the successful launch of the Ethernet Radio Frequency (RoE) test and released test results. Tests have confirmed that Ethernet-based platforms can meet the superior performance requirements of emerging mobile backhaul applications including Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) and Packet Distributed Antenna (Packet-DAS). For more news, please visit the Broadcom Press Room.
The test plan is designed to demonstrate that communication equipment based on Ethernet switch ASICs can fully meet the strict front-end (Fronthaul) connection requirements of C-RAN and other next-generation base station solutions. Test results show that the C-RAN network deployment can implement a variety of different configurations, including a network under construction (such as packet distributed antenna system) with dozens of remote radio heads from each centralized baseband unit, to hundreds of far A campus-distributed distributed antenna system with a radio head, or a large-scale baseband pool that provides services to thousands of remote radio heads remotely.
Dr. Chih-Lin I., Chief Scientist of China Mobile, said: “China Mobile has been a pioneer in C-RAN's overall concept and technology, and its business involves innovative evaluation of technology and architecture solutions, field testing, and adoption of ETSI, CCSA and The international standard work carried out by IEEE. China Mobile's goal is not only to meet the pre-transmission bandwidth requirements of the C-RAN architecture, but also to bring the network and switch architecture to the predecessor to solve an important problem: while reducing network costs, A growing number of pre-switched switching capacities are available on multi-level architectures. The partnership with Broadcom is the strongest proof that Ethernet can meet C-RAN performance requirements through standardized solutions. Our 5G mobile research will further advance this work, including Architectures such as ultra-dense networks (UDN) and massive MIMO (M-MIMO) in remote radio heads will further expand the need for large-scale preamble switching."
Nick Kucharewski, Vice President of Networking Products Marketing at Broadcom, stated: "Broadcom is a market innovator and global leader in Ethernet technology. We are pleased to work with China Mobile Communications Research Institute and both parties using Broadcom StrataXGS switch solutions The test results obtained. The test results announced that Ethernet is playing an increasingly important role in the next-generation solution including the fast-growing pre-transmission network. The C-RAN of China Mobile Research Institute Research shows that Broadcom Ethernet switches can meet the most stringent performance requirements of next-generation mobile communication devices."
In the C-RAN base station architecture, the preamble network connects the centralized baseband unit (BBU) processing with a remote radio head (RRH) that provides LTE and other radio access. As LTE deployments can scale internal builds based on next-generation switching capacity and multi-radio requirements, pre-transmission networks, especially indoor precasts, have become one of the fastest growing markets for operators worldwide. All of the above solutions need to provide greater switching capacity, higher scalability, and multi-hop network switching, which are not commercially viable on current base stations or small baseband architectures.
The test results announced this time reflect an important step for operators to verify the feasibility of a new generation of pre-transmission networks. The goals set before the test include:
1. Prove that 3GPP performance requirements (from baseband unit to remote radio head) can be met via Ethernet.
2. Prove that the antenna-specific CPRI RF stream can be packaged ("RoE package").
3. Supports preamble (connecting baseband unit and remote radio head) using a multi-hop Ethernet architecture.
4. Use standards-based synchronous Ethernet (IEEE1588/syncE) to control end-to-end CPRI frame synchronization within CPRI-defined parameters.
The successful completion of this test provided great support for the development of key design goals for the next-generation base station architecture work of the China Mobile Communications Research Institute's Green Communication Research Team, including:
1. Prove that a commercial shelf product (COTS) switching architecture can be used to meet stringent C-RAN deployment requirements.
2. Network-based timing mechanisms can be used to drive end-to-end synchronization processes to meet the stringent performance requirements of C-RAN networks.
3. Promote the development of next-generation base stations and indoor pre-transmission network architectures, and further achieve the goal of reducing costs.
Test results can be obtained by clicking on the link. China Mobile's new generation of Forward Media Interface (NGFI) project is already planning further standards and assessments to enable traffic pre-transmission on China Mobile's Carrier Ethernet Packet Transport Network (PTN).