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INTRODUCTION
Public safety agencies are soon to experience a dramatic improvement in communications capabilities enabled by advances in technology. New broadband multimedia applications will give first responders and commanders alike far better situational awareness, and thereby improve both the effectiveness and safety of all personnel charged with protecting the public. The specific technology, now mandated by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for all new emergency communications networks, is Long Term Evolution, or LTEa fourth-generation broadband solution. The FCC has also allocated licensed spectrum to ensure the best possible performance in these new networks. These FCC rulings support the goal of achieving an interoperable nationwide network for public safety agencies. The FCC chose LTE based on its proven ability to support voice, video and data communications at remarkably high data rates that were previously only possible with wired links. Although there will be some differences in a nationwide public safety network involving capacity and coexistence with Land-Mobile Radio communications, lessons learned from LTEs deployment in large-scale commercial mobile operator networks will help ensure achieving the FCCs goal cost-effectively. This white paper addresses one of the most important aspects of LTE networks: backhaul. As will be shown, microwave technology is particularly well suited to addressing the three main challenges involved in backhauling LTE traffic: capacity, reliability and cost. The paper also provides valuable recommendations based on current best practices, including those that maximize long-term flexibility and affordability.
SINGLE USER DOWN/UP DATA RATE vs. DISTANCE FROM CELL CENTER
Close 5MHz Channel BW 10MHz Channel BW Public Safety (FDD) 17/5.6 Mbps 43/14.4 Mbps Medium 11/3.7 Mbps 28/9.5 Mbps Far 5.6/1.8 Mbps 14/4.8 Mbps
DOWNSTREAM/UPSTREAM DATA R ATES FOR 5 MHZ AND 10 MHZ CHANNELS IN THE 700 MHZ SPECTRUM
INITIAL COST
LTE
LMR
COST FOR EQUIVALENT COVER AGE AREA, WITH FIVE LTE SITES PER LMR SITE
CAPACITY
Advances in microwave technology, more spectral efficiency (from a combination of higher modulation rates and data optimization) together with more backhaul spectrum (with link aggregation over multiple channels), can support up to 1 Gigabit per second (Gbps) per linkfar more than is needed for LTE backhaul. Because of increased microwave capacity capabilities, the capacity bottleneck is now focused on the LTE access network itself. This will remain true regardless of the outcome of a Public Safety Communications Research study on the acceptable overbooking factors, meaning that the 1 Gbps capacity of microwave backhaul links is more than sufficient to handle the throughput requirements of even the largest public safety networks.
AFFORDABILITY
In microwave backhaul networks, the five-year total cost of ownership (TCO) is overwhelming weighted toward ongoing operational expenditures (OpEx), at >80%, compared to capital expenditures (CapEx), at < 20%, as shown in the diagram below. Minimizing TCO, therefore, requires paying particular attention to the OpEx.
RELIABILITY
LTE backhaul networks need to be designed with the same or better network reliability and availability as LMR networks. In addition to the customary methods for providing high reliability (e.g. a resilient ring topology, equipment redundancy with 1+1 protection, Forward Error Correction, and traffic shaping and prioritization), here are some of the other characteristics of todays missioncritical microwave solutions: Hybrid radios The ability to handle both TDM and IP traffic in their native modes is critical to ensuring efficient and dependable operation of the converged LMR and LTE services over the same infrastructure. All-indoor radios In addition to offering the lowest total cost of ownership in high capacity deployments (covered below), all-indoor radios are also the most reliable and
5% 12% 54%
29%
To minimize OpEx, there are four proven practices that apply to public safety LTE networks: Reuse existing infrastructure where possible, overlay where necessary. Leveraging existing infrastructure is always a prudent practice and this especially true when endeavoring to minimize costs in a hybrid LMR/LTE public safety network. With the right solution it is possible to utilize the towers, antenna, cabling, management systems and any available expansion ports, at all existing LMR sites. The most costeffective way to do this is with all-indoor radios (covered in more detail below, left). Where reuse of the antenna is impractical or impossible, an overlay with a split-mount radio is also a cost-effective approach. Both the reuse and overlay configurations are shown in the diagram.
Given that the LMR and LTE networks will need to coexist for the foreseeable future, until LMR can be replaced completely by Voice over IP (VoIP) technology, a hybrid TDM/IP radio provides maximum migration flexibility. Use all-indoor radios in the backbone ring(s) The use of all-indoor radios in the backhaul network normally results in a lower TCO despite the slightly higher initial CapEx. There are no antennas to purchase and install, and no need to even climb the tower to grow the capacity. As a result, the deployment and ongoing maintenance are dramatically simplified. An available waveguide expansion port on all-indoor radios will enable the new radio to easily connect to the existing waveguide cabling with negligible interruption to the existing system, enabling capacity to be increased as needed.
COST COMPARISON BET WEEN RE-USE AND FULL OVERL AY CONFIGUR ATIONS
Use Hybrid TDM/IP radios for maximum migration flexibility The reuse of existing LMR sites raises an important design choice between hybrid TDM/IP (Internet Protocol) and all-IP backhaul. Hybrid solutions carry TDM (voice) and IP (data and digital video) traffic in their native modes. An all-IP solution must somehow accommodate TDM traffic. One common way to do this is with pseudowire. Pseudowire emulates TDM links over IP networks, but adds complexity, additional overhead and latency, and can create synchronization and other problems for the voice traffic. These risks may be too great for the modest potential savings in CapExespecially given the likely increase in OpEx due to the increased complexity.
Use split-mount or all-outdoor radios for low-cost spur sites The likely topology for a hybrid LMR/LTE public safety network, is a core ring comprised of a mix of existing LMR and new LTE sites, with spurs to the additional LTE sites required for coverage. Note that because the spur sites are not on the resilient ring, these links may require a fully redundant configuration with protection provisions to achieve mission-critical reliability. For new sites, more cost-effective split-mount or all-outdoor radios can be used.
LMR + LTE
LMR + LTE
LMR + LTE
LMR + LTE
LMR + LTE site
PUBLIC SAFET Y LTE NET WORK WITH A CORE RING AND SPUR SITES
CONCLUSION
The new broadband multimedia public safety applications enabled by LTE will give first responders and commanders alike greater situational awareness with capabilities like live video feeds, coordinated multi-agency incident command and control, and access to aerial imagery, GIS mapping, and local, state and national databases. These and other new capabilities will coexist with LMR voice communications for the foreseeable future, enabling a gradual transition to a converged LTE network that will eventually support all voice, video and data communications. Challenges remain, however, particularly with the need to deploy many more LTE cell sites owing to its shorter range compared with LMR communications. The LTE network must also have the capacity and the reliability required for public safety applications. The most versatile and costeffective way to satisfy these demanding requirements for coverage, capacity and reliability is wireless microwave. For supporting link capacities of 1 Gbps or more, microwave backhaul has more than ample capacity to support LTE networks for the foreseeable future, and the technology has proven its reliability in commercial carrier networks designed for 99.999% uptime. The real challenge for public safety agencies is to make the new LTE network as affordable as possible. Aviat Networks has industry-leading expertise in the design, deployment and maintenance of missioncritical microwave backhaul systems that enable the migration to the LTE broadband future. With more than 750,000 systems installed around the world, Aviat Networks has built a reputation as a leader in offering the most cost-effective solutions for public and private telecommunications operators worldwide. To learn more about how Aviat Networks can provide mission-critical affordability for your public safety LTE network, visit us at www.aviatnetworks.com.
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