Performance Evaluation of Ethernet Network for Mobile Fronthual Networks

Abstract

Increasing mobile data traffic due to the rise of both smartphones and tablets has led to high-capacity demand of mobile data network. To meet the ever-growing capacity demand and reduce the cost of mobile network components, Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) has emerged as a promising solution. In such network, the mobile operator’s Remote Radio Head (RRH) and Base Band Unit (BBU) are often separated and the connection between them has very tight timing and latency requirements imposed by Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). This fronthaul connection is not yet provided by packet based network. To employ packet-based network for C-RAN fronthaul, the carried fronthaul traffic are needed to achieve the requirements of fronthaul streams. For this reason, the aim of this paper is focused on investigating and evaluating the feasibility of Ethernet networks for mobile fronthaul. The fronthaul requirements used to evaluate and investigate this network are maximum End to End (E2E) latency, Packet Loss Ratio (PLR) and Packet Delay Variation (PDV). The simulated results and numerical analysis confirm that the PDV and PLR of High Priority (HP) traffic in Ethernet network meet the requirements of mobile fronthaul using CPRI. However, the PDV of HP traffic meets the fronthaul network when the number of nodes in the Ethernet network is at most four. For Ethernet network, the number of nodes in the network limits the maximum separation distance between BBU and RRH (link length); for increasing the number of nodes, the link length decreases. Consequently, Radio over Ethernet (RoE) traffic should receive the priority and Quality of Service (QoS) HP can provide. On the other hand, Low Priority (LP) classes are not sensitive to QoS metrics and should be used for transporting time insensitive applications and services.