Fronthaul Network Planning for Hierarchical and Radio-Stripes-Enabled CF-mMIMO in O-RAN

TL;DR

This paper introduces a cost-effective, hybrid fronthaul planning framework for cell-free massive MIMO in O-RAN, optimizing deployment strategies with diverse technologies and configurations to enhance capacity and reduce costs.

Contribution

It proposes a novel two-tiered optimization framework integrating fiber, mmWave, and FSO technologies for efficient fronthaul planning in UDNs within O-RAN.

Findings

Fiber dominates in decentralized deployments.

mmWave is suitable for moderately centralized scenarios.

FSO bridges deployment gaps and complements other technologies.

Abstract

The deployment of ultra-dense networks (UDNs), particularly cell-free massive MIMO (CF-mMIMO), is mainly hindered by costly and capacity-limited fronthaul links. This work proposes a two-tiered optimization framework for cost-effective hybrid fronthaul planning, comprising a Near-Optimal Fronthaul Association and Configuration (NOFAC) algorithm in the first tier and an Integer Linear Program (ILP) in the second, integrating fiber optics, millimeter-wave (mmWave), and free-space optics (FSO) technologies. The proposed framework accommodates various functional split (FS) options (7.2x and 8), decentralized processing levels, and network configurations. We introduce the hierarchical scheme (HS) as a resilient, cost-effective fronthaul solution for CF-mMIMO and compare its performance with radio-stripes (RS)-enabled CF-mMIMO, validating both across diverse dense topologies within the open radio access network (O-RAN) architecture. Results show that the proposed framework achieves better cost-efficiency and higher capacity compared to traditional benchmark schemes such as all-fiber fronthaul network. Our key findings reveal fiber dominance in highly decentralized deployments, mmWave suitability in moderately centralized scenarios, and FSO complements both by bridging deployment gaps. Additionally, FS7.2x consistently outperforms FS8, offering greater capacity at lower cost, affirming its role as the preferred O-RAN functional split. Most importantly, our study underscores the importance of hybrid fronthaul effective planning for UDNs in minimizing infrastructural redundancy, and ensuring scalability to meet current and future traffic demands.