Cloud-RAN functional split for an efficient fronthaul network

TL;DR

This paper proposes a specific functional split in Cloud-RAN to reduce fronthaul bandwidth and latency, enhancing efficiency and supporting advanced cooperative radio technologies.

Contribution

It introduces a novel split solution implemented on Open Air Interface that improves fronthaul bandwidth efficiency and latency in Cloud-RAN systems.

Findings

Significant reduction in fronthaul bandwidth usage.

Notable latency decrease in radio frame processing.

Compatibility with advanced cooperative radio technologies.

Abstract

The evolution of telecommunication network towards cloud-native environments enables flexible centralization of the base band processing of radio signals. There is however a trade-off between the centralization benefits and the fronthaul cost for carrying the radio data between distributed antennas and data processing centers, which host the virtual RAN functions. In this paper, we present a specific split solution for an efficient fronthaul, which enables reducing the consumed bandwidth while being compliant with advanced cooperative radio technologies (interference reduction and data rate improvements). The proposed split has been implemented on the basis of Open Air Interface code and shows important gains in the required fronthaul bandwidth as well as significant latency reduction in the processing of radio frames. \\ \textbf{Publisher:} IEEE \\ \textbf{ISBN:}978-1-7281-3130-6