This is a presentation and a demo for both NGFI (Next Generation Fronthaul Interface) native RoE (Radio over Ethernet) with Intra PHY split implemented in it, and CPRI over Ethernet encapsulated in structure agnostic mode. Compared to CPRI, the NGFI native RoE implementation improves bandwidth usage greatly, which better supports 5G applications demanding for higher bandwidth. In the CPRI over Ethernet demonstration, bidirectional CPRI flows are recovered without error, which enables C-RAN (centralized radio access network) architecture by using Ethernet as a transport network. Author : Anders Lund, Bomin Li, Thomas Nørgaard, Comcores Presented at ITU-T Focus Group IMT-2020 Workshop and Demo Day, 7 December 2016. More details on the event : http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-T/Workshops-and-Seminars/201612/Pages/Programme.aspx

1. Confidential – Not to be Circulated www.comcores.com
Comcores
Radio over Ethernet Gateway for Future
Fronthaul Networks
FG IMT-2020 Workshop and Demo Day
Anders Lund, Comcores ApS
Bomin Li, Comcores ApS
Thomas Nørgaard, Comcores ApS

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Agenda
 About Comcores
 Motivation for Ethernet Based Fronthaul
 Comcores Overview on next generation fronthaul networks
 Demo setup
 Demo results
Comcores Headquarter

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About Comcores
 Established in 2014
 Globally oriented high-tech company,
headquartered in Scion DTU Science
Park, 20 min outside Copenhagen,
Denmark
 IP cores and design services for
communication systems
 Specialized in digital radio systems
Comcores Headquarter

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Motivation for Ethernet Based
Fronthaul
 New fronthaul interface technologies are required to satisfy various RAN
deployment and evolution requirements, and reduce fronthaul transmission
costs
 Current dedicated point-to-point connection between BBUs and RRUs (such as
CPRI/OBSAI) will evolve to many-to-many fronthaul mainstream switch networks
(such as Ethernet) due to cost, availability and flexibility
 Fronthaul architecture is migrating from traditional RAN where single BBU
connects to single/few RRUs to architectures where multiple centralized BBUs
connect to multiple RRUs making a packet switched technology ideal
 Ethernet is a widely adopted & nearly ubiquitous standard technology
CPRI
BasebandRadio
Eth
Radio
Baseband Pool
Radio
Radio
Packet
Fronthaul
Eth
Eth
Eth

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Comcores Overview on next
generation fronthaul networks
BaseBand
CPRI fiber connection
Virtual BBU Pool
BaseBandBaseBandBaseBand
RRHRF RRH
RRH RF
Time Sensitive Network
(TSN)
SDN Controller
Aggregator
CPRI
GW
C&M
Ethernet
Ethernet
RF
RF
L1 Offload

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Comcores gateway
 Fits on both radio and base band side
 support of CPRI, new radio interface and high speed Ethernet
Comcores All-in-One RAU system
Virtual BBU
Backhaul
Ethernet Fronthaul
Network (NGFI)
RAU
Pico
Macro
All-in-One Pico
Comcores RAU system
CPRI
RF/DFE
NGFI
Split x
L1 offload
Split 4
RoE
EthernetTSNMAC&
PCS
Pico
Macro
vBBU
vBBU
L1 processing
resources
L1 processing
resources
L1 processing
resources
L1 processing
resources
L2/L3
processing
resources
Orchestrator
RoE
EthernetTSN
MAC&PCS
Virtual L1 resource pool
RAU
RAU
RAU
NGFI
Split x
RoE
EthTSN
MAC&
PCS
RF/
DFE
vBBU

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Demo setup
 IEEE P1914.3 - CPRI over Ethernet mapper/de-mapper
 IEEE P1914.1 - Next Generation Fronthaul Interface
 IEEE 802.3 - Time Sensitive Network features
 IEEE 1588v2 – time stamp
BBU Gateway
TSN MAC
RoE RX
(Structure
Agnostic)
RF
(Spectrum
Analyzer)
RRH Gateway
L1 Offload
RoE RX
(Native)Varying number
of LTE modulated
symbols
Control &
Management
I
Q
TSN MAC
RoE TX
(Structure
Agnostic)
RoE TX
(Native) Varying number
of LTE modulated
symbols
Control &
Management
CPU baseband
processing (ROM
pre-loaded)
Ethernet-
based FH
CPRI tester
(Sarokal)
CPRI tester
(Sarokal)
NGFI (Split 4)
CPRI over Ethernet
(Structure Aware)
RF
RoE RX
(Structure
Aware)
CPRI tester
(Sarokal)
CPRI over Ethernet
(Structure Agnostic)
RoE TX
(Structure
Agnostic)
CPRI tester
(Sarokal)
NGFI (Split 4)
CPRI over Ethernet
(Structure Aware)
CPRI over Ethernet
(Strucutre Agnostic
IEEE 1588v2

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Lab setup
 Xilinx VC709 FPGA demonstration platform
 CPRI verification by Sarokal X-STEP tester
 LTE demondulation verification by Keysight PXA
spectrum analyzer

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CPRI over Ethernet - motivation
 C-RAN
 Bridge to carry current CPRI flows in future Ethernet based fronthaul
networks

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CPRI over Ethernet - result
 Synchronous traffic
over asynchronous
networks
 Lossless transmission
based on the clock
recovery and delay
control schemes

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Intra-PHY Split Proof of Concept
Source: ”White Paper of Next Generation Fronthaul Interface”
SFP+
SFP+
TSN MAC RoE Tx
R
A
M
LTE Data
ROM
BBU
GEN
LTE Time
TSN MAC RoE Rx L1 DL Offload
R
A
M
LTE Time
AD9361
Keysight PXA Spectrum
Analyzer
SI5324
@156.25 MHz
I2C
MicroBlaze
AXI GPIO
AXI SPI
AD9361
Digital
interface
FMCOMMS3
Tx1
ctrl
Data
interface
RF
122.88 MHz
F
M
C
Ref clk
Tx
FIFO
eth_clk
BBU
RRH
Keysight MXG Signal
Generator
10G
Ethernet

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PDSCH cell load
 PDSCH cell load is dependent on the real traffic for Intra-PHY splits
Downlink shared
channel for user data

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Low load in a 10 MHz cell
 Succesful cell synchronization
 1 user allocated 1 RB (bottom)
 Autodetection of cell configuration
 Autodetection of user allocation

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Peak load in a 10 MHz cell
 Full allocation of user data (PDSCH)
 < 1 % EVM
 ~160 Mbps load on Ethernet link
 1:4 reduction compared to CPRI

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Acknowledgement