18/06/2013

Multi-RAT mobile backhaul for Het-Nets

Andy Sutton Principal Network Architect Network Strategy 19th June 2013

Contents:

1.

Brief overview of EE

2. Introduction to multi-RAT, multi-vendor backhaul 3. Understanding the capacity requirements for current and future backhaul 4. Ensuring high performance and low latency p backhaul implementation 5. Evolving backhaul architecture to support small cells and HetNets 6. Summary
Telecoms Evangelist No.5 2

18/06/2013

Our Orange and T-Mobile inheritance

A marriage of two great companies, with strong brands and a combined subscriber base of over 29 million. Technology have played a strong role delivering synergies and positioning EE for commercial and network leadership.

In September 2009 it was announced that France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom had agreed to merge T-Mobile UK and Orange UK into a 50:50 joint venture to create the UKs leading mobile operator. The new company was officially formed on April 1 2010

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

18/06/2013

EE: THE BIGGEST AND BEST NETWORK Europes fastest 4G rollout > The UKs first 4G network 4G in 80 cities and towns, and 55%
population coverage by June 2013 98% 4G coverage by end of 2014 Increasing depth of coverage and capacity in the top 16 cities The UKs biggest 3G network DC-HSDPA covering 75% of the population (80% by December 2013) 3G HSPA+21 across 95% of the population Fibre to 13m homes and businesses Evolving communication with VoWiFi, VoLTE, RCSe, and service with quality differentiation

>

> >

18/06/2013

Mobile video consumption increases with 4G adoption

Arsenal vs Man City? KO 16:00 Man U vs Liverpool? KO 13:30

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

18/06/2013

What exactly is mobile backhaul

Mobile backhaul provides the control and user plane connectivity between the radio base stations at the cell sites and associated network nodes on the connectivity sites (edge of the core network) 2G GSM BTS & BSC (Abis) 3G UMTS NodeB & RNC (Iub) 4G LTE eNB & SeGW, then on to EPC (S1) [+X2 transport] In addition, the backhaul network carries network control, operations and maintenance traffic Mobile backhaul is evolving from TDM and ATM to all IP/Ethernet Mobile backhaul must scale to support the capacity requirements of the RAN technologies 2G/3G/4G, possibly WiFi too Mobile backhaul must meet strict performance criteria relating to latency, packet delay variation and packet error loss rate
Telecoms Evangelist No.5 6

18/06/2013

GSM network architecture (HLR and databases not illustrated) GERAN - GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network
2G
BTS

MSS

BSC
+PCU

TRAU /MGW

MGW

2G
BTS

2G
BTS

BSC
+PCU

SGSN

GGSN

2G
BTS

Red and blue lines refer to control and user plane

UMTS Network Architecture (HLR and databases not illustrated) Over time the CS & PS core have become common to both 2G & 3G Radio Access Networks
3G
NodeB

MSS

RNC

TRAU /MGW

MGW

3G
NodeB

3G
NodeB

RNC

SGSN

GGSN

3G
NodeB

Red and blue lines refer to control and user plane

18/06/2013

EPS - Evolved Packet System LTE - Long Term Evolution / EPC - Evolved Packet Core

4G
eNB

HSS MME PCRF

4G
eNB

SGW

PDNGW

4G
eNB

R8 LTE specifies an IP TNL, eNBs support Ethernet connectivity

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

3GPP mobile backhaul interfaces

2G
BTS

Abis interface

BSC

3G
NodeB

Iub interface

RNC

4G
eNB

S1 interface

EPC

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

10

18/06/2013

Mobile backhaul
Mobile backhaul is a complex subject, its far more than transmission Developing a mobile backhaul architecture and associated technical strategy requires a detailed understanding of: Multiple mobile RAN technologies
GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA+ & LTE in a post-Erlang environment TDM (PDH, (PDH SDH) SDH), Ethernet Ethernet, PWE3 PWE3, IP, IP ATM, ATM FR, FR MPLS Fibre, Copper & Microwave

Tele-traffic theory and dimensioning

Transport technologies Physical layer transmission systems Operations, administration, maintenance and provisioning QoS, Synchronisation, regulation etc
Telecoms Evangelist No.5 11

Mobile backhaul traffic - high level representation

Group Flow CSvoice CSdata PSdata Controlplane O&M rtDCH nrtDCH HSPA Controlplane O&M QCI1 QCI2 QCI3 QCI4 QCI5 QCI6 QCI7 Q QCI8 QCI9 S1Controlplane O&M X2UserPlane X2ControlPlane CSGO&M TxO&M IPIGPetc. IEEE1588v2PTP

2G

PTP 2G
BTS

3G

IEEE1588-2008
Precision Timing Protocol

BSC
Abis Iub

3G
NodeB

RNC SeGW NMS

4G
eNB

LTE

S1 (+X2) OAM from external equipment

microwave, routers etc.

Microwave

IDU

Mgmt Sync

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

12

18/06/2013

Protocol architecture mobile backhaul user plane

GSM IP based Abis
Proprietary implementation of IP based Abis

GSM User data

UMTS User data PDCP RLC MAC-d

LTE User data

UMTS IP based Iub

3GPP R5 IP transport in UTRAN

P-TRAU UDP IP
IP Sec (ESP)

HS DSCH FP

GTP-u UDP IP
IP Sec (ESP)

UDP IP

LTE IP based S1 and/or X2

3GPP R8 Evolved Packet System

Outer IP VLAN Ethernet VLAN Ethernet

Outer IP VLAN Ethernet

13

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

Underlying (physical) network

Mobile backhaul traffic - high level network diagram

Single RAN base stations are available to support 2G, 3G and 4G EE use SRAN for 2G/4G whilst 3G is on MORAN Node B CSG - flexibility point - policy and QoS implementation point - service enabler FE or GE - Serial bit stream EE/H3G network share via MBNL - 3G MORAN splits Iu-cs/Iu-ps to separate core networks 2G Abis migrates from TDM to IP therefore IPSec is implemented to ensure network service

PTP

2G
BTS

BSC
Point to point microwave radio systems scale to 1Gbps+ in the traditional microwave bands (6 - 42GHz)

3G
NodeB

RNC 4G
eNB

SeGW
Microwave

2G

IDU

IDU
2G, 3G & 4G from a sub-tended site connected by point to point digital microwave radio Third party backhaul Optical fibre networks delivering layer 2 and layer 3 services

3G

4G

NMS
MASG - flexibility point - policy and QoS implementation point - service enabler
14

New <6GHz n/NLoS backhaul radios, V and E band systems along with new mesh concepts
Telecoms Evangelist No.5

18/06/2013

Real LTE deployment in multi-RAT network

- Focus on mobile backhaul

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

15

Backhaul capacity for Super Macros

Macro cell evolution is the first step towards HetNets Super p macros contain multiple p RATs, including multi-band LTE Super Macros will typically contain 3 or 6 cell sectors Available spectrum includes:
2 x 5MHz @800MHz 2 x 45MHz @1800MHz 2 x 20MHz @2100MHz 2 x 35MHz @ 2600MHz

Super macros may be standalone sites with ELL or hub sites for subtended microwave connected sites Backhaul may support more than one MNO
16

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

18/06/2013

Optimising end to end LTE traffic performance

User data rate/throughput, latency, PDV, PELR, availability
Radio interface Resource allocation Retransmissions etc. Microwave CSG Backhaul circuit S1 flex IP VPN EPC Peering

UE

UE radio layer Applications optimisation

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

eNB processing

MASG

Security infrastructure

SGi service LAN and back

External networks
17

Network evolution - Super Macros, Small cells and inbuilding solutions

Macro sites
Microcell Microcell

Small Cells as an underlay network

Telecoms Evangelist No.5

Hot spot

Indoor solutions

Cell edge
18

18/06/2013

Network evolution - Super Macros, Small cells and inbuilding solutions

Mobile backhaul may be integrated with the macro network or, decoupled (complete offload) or, a hybrid of the two approaches

Several factors will influence decisions deployment timeline, RAT, spectrum strategy and future network evolution strategy (co-ordination, C-RAN etc.)
Telecoms Evangelist No.5 19

Small cell backhaul architecture two options

Backhaul could be fully integrated with the macro network or completely decoupled with an overlay (underlay) solution

Integrated solution requires high-capacity macro layer backhaul however opens up future opportunities for coupling between layers Dedicated backhaul decouples the traffic load between macro and small cell backhaul solutions may limit future options for co-ordination Requirements will change as we evolve from 3G to LTE small cells
Telecoms Evangelist No.5 20

10

18/06/2013

Small cell backhaul architectures - integrated or decoupled

Macro backhaul not illustrated for clarity

Telecoms Evangelist No.5 21

Small cell backhaul architectures - integrated or decoupled or a hybrid of the two

Macro backhaul not illustrated for clarity

Macro backhaul not illustrated for clarity

Telecoms Evangelist No.5 22

11

18/06/2013

Summary
Many factors will influence mobile backhaul evolution technical, commercial, regulatory, g strategic Backhaul capacity needs to scale significantly to support multi-RAT base station sites, particularly if backhaul is shared between operators Single RAN platforms support Co-Tx of multiple RAT backhaul over a single physical interface Quality Q lit of f experience i i is an end dt to end d consideration, however backhaul could have a significant impact Small cells must integrate in a cost-optimised manner, consider evolution to HetNets
Telecoms Evangelist No.5 23 23

THANK YOU

andy.sutton@ee.co.uk

12