IP RAN

The radio access network in particular, the backhaul connections between the base stations and their controllers is one of the areas impacted most by the bandwidth upsurge associated with new mobile broadband services. While in the past a small number of E1/T1 links were sufficient to service 2G and some 3G traffic, the bandwidth requirements of HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE cannot be economically accommodated by TDM connections, leading operators and transport providers to migrate their access networks to IP RANs and packet-based backhaul. The biggest challenge in the transition to IP RAN, however, is the need to ensure synchronization over packet networks. While clocking data has been transmitted natively in TDM networks, new PSNs (packet switched networks) are asynchronous by nature and necessitate specialized solutions to ensure accurate clock transfer to avoid packet delay, delay variation and packet loss.

RADs IP RAN Solutions

ETX-204A

Carrier Ethernet/Mobile Demarcation Device

RADs IP RAN solutions enable carriers, mobile operators and transport providers to lower their transport costs by migrating multi-generation radio traffic to an all-IP mobile backhaul network. Powerful synchronization and clock transfer support, including 1588v2 and Synchronous Ethernet, together with endto-end Ethernet OAM and advanced QoS capabilities ensure carrier-class service delivery and SLA assurance throughout the IP RAN.

Mobile backhaul's road to IP RAN and FMC evolution The mobile backhaul network will inevitably transform to an IP radio access network (RAN) as mobile networks move towards IP and broadband. Finding the best solution for the transformation of the mobile backhaul network can definitely help a mobile operator enable full-service operations in the future.

Two paths to IP RAN Two mainstream solutions for transformation to IP RAN are popular in the industry to accommodate different mobile service development modes, development schedules, and application scenarios. One method is to construct a new IP RAN to bear 2G, 3G, HSPA and LTE services in a unified way. The other is to gradually reconstruct existing synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) networks into IP RANs.

Constructing a new IP RAN In areas where mobile IP applications and mobile broadband services develop quickly, traditional 2G and 3G mobile traffic based on time division multiplex (TDM) and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technologies will soon be surpassed by IP-based 3G mobile traffic. In this scenario, most operators choose to construct a new IP RAN to bear

new services, whereas the existing SDH and ATM networks will remain unchanged. Operators can then gradually migrate their services and customers to the new network until the equipment life cycle expires.

The new IP RAN should meet a series of strict quality requirements for mobile services, including time delay, jitter, packet loss ratio, and bit error rate (BER). It should be able to transfer clock synchronization information when needed by the mobile bearer network and expand network bandwidth for the future mobile broadband network.

This makes significantly different requirements for an IP bearer network in mobile scenarios compared to those for an IP bearer network in fixed broadband scenarios.

Traditional SDH-based 2G TDM networks or 3G ATM mobile backhaul networks can easily satisfy the rigorous demands of the mobile bearer network. However, the existing IP bearer network that carries mostly broadband services can barely meet the demands of the mobile bearer network, because its best-effort service falls far short of carrier-class bearer requirements.

Networks are developing towards ALL IP, fixed mobile convergence (FMC), and broadband. Existing metro IP bearer networks need new solutions to solve problems. For mobile services, the metro solution could be a packet transport network (PTN) that combines the high efficiency of a packet network and features of a SDH network like carrier-class service and high reliability.

Vodafone recognizes the importance of the transformation and evolution of its backhaul network at the network layer. Its strategy includes a long-term and step-by-step plan called the Vodafone Global Backhaul Evolution Program (BEP).

In the first step of BEP1.0, Vodafone will construct an IP-based RAN that bears telecom services. The IP RAN will bear existing 2G and 3G services as well as future HSPA+ and LTE services. During the evolution process, by using one network to bear various types of networks, Vodafone can effectively decrease the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and the operational expenditure (OPEX).

In step two of BEP1.1, Vodafone will expand the BEP1.0-based IP RAN to a metro FMC network. On this platform, Vodafone will introduce broadband service bearer technologies such as multicast technology, and bandwidth expansion technologies such as wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). It will bear fixed broadband services, such as IPTV, high speed Internet (HSI), and virtual private network (VPN) services, to evolve towards an FMC network.

According to Vodafone's Global BEP, the first step of the transformation is to support 3G IP services by constructing a new IP RAN. Major network considerations are bearer quality, support for telecom services, and adapting to special mobile network requirements. A high-quality IP RAN is essential for successful transformation and also a solid foundation for the mobile network in its evolution towards an FMC network.

Transforming SDH network to IP RAN

The other mainstream solution is to gradually evolve the existing SDH network to IP RAN. As IP voice and mobile broadband services become increasingly popular, IP-based traffic is increasing at a stable rate. A mobile metro bearer network (or the mobile backhaul network) that is based on SDH technology and bearing mostly TDM/ATM services can be gradually transformed and evolved to an IP RAN network.

This solution adopts the top-down mode. To form a packet-based metro convergence network, reconstruction is first done at the metro convergence layer, which has relatively few network elements (NEs) yet has a relatively big capacity. This convergence network should enable hybrid access of the existing SDH network and the future packet network. The existing SDH network can be accessed through pseudo wire emulation and packet conversion for the E1 circuits of the virtual channel (VC), or for Ethernet over SDH circuits. As the amount of IP services gradually increases and traditional services gradually decreases, the metro access layer gradually adopts the IP mode. Finally, services will comply with the ALL IP trend, and the SDH network will completely evolve to an IP network.

MegaFon is a major mobile operator in the CIS region and a major provider of 3G services. When ATM-based 2G and 3G services are dominant, MegaFon mainly uses its SDH network to bear mobile services. Huawei proposed a top-down IP reconstruction solution to transform its mobile backhaul network to IP, based on MegaFon's service development strategy; MegaFon accepted and executed the proposal. The solution decreased the initial network construction costs, as many mobile base stations and terminal access equipment were reused and also enabled fast service provisioning.

When TDM services are still the mainstream services, advantage can be taken of the SDH network in terminal access and new IP services can be accessed by constructing packet access nodes. In this way, the SDH network and the packet network can coexist to process TDM and IP services. By using this solution, the operator can develop IP services and construct the IP RAN simultaneously until an ALL IP network is built, minimizing future investment and risks, while realizing gradual evolution.

Both of these transformation solutions can be used to build a carrier-class PTN, enable both packet switching and SDH transport, and seamlessly blend together efficient network transport, carrier-class service guarantee and network management.

MAN's FMC evolution The ALL IP FMC is the development direction for metropolitan area network (MAN) convergence and an ideal bearer platform for various services. It can effectively reduce the CAPEX and OPEX while providing customers with more convenient services. Evolution of services places higher requirements on the network, so the IP network must provide needed services to guarantee smooth service deployment and continuous network competitiveness.

FMC advantages over IP RAN

Completion in the future will focus on full-service operations and the foundation is a convergent network. It is not necessary for mobile operators to construct a new, independent fixed broadband service bearer network to transform into full-service operator. One of the best solutions is to evolve the network to a FMC network on the basis of the mobile IP RAN to enable full-service operations.

Compared with the fixed broadband IP bearer network, the IP RAN architecture can bear mobile services and offer an end-to-end quality of service (QoS) guarantee. It can provide differentiated services, high network reliability, hardware OAM-based fast protection, clock synchronization information transmission, multi-protocol service support, network security, and carrier-class network management. To meet the basic requirements of the FMC network, the IP RAN needs to support network scalability, IPTV multicast, and major VPN services. Expansion is relatively simple as there is no technical bottleneck caused by the architecture.

Consider Vodafone as an example. In the steps following backhaul network evolution, or the evolution from the IP RAN to the FMC network, they specified smooth feature and network expansion based on IP RAN.

By providing high bandwidth for the metro area and multicast support, and adopting packet microwave technology at the network terminal, Vodafone expects to expand the air interface bandwidth and improve the air interface efficiency to support mobile broadband services featuring high bandwidth as well as mainstream fixed network broadband services, such as BTV, VOD, VoIP, and IPTV. In this way, the existing IP RAN can evolve to an FMC network.

Key features required

Network scalability

For the metro bearer network to handle both fixed and mobile services, it must have good scalability and strong support for absolute link bandwidth, especially when the number of fixed and mobile customers is growing and the bandwidth requirement per customer rapidly increasing.

In a large or medium sized densely-populated city, an independent metro WDM network can be constructed to expand absolute bandwidth through an overlay network. In a small or medium sized city or sparsely-populated areas, Huawei's solution of evolving an IP RAN to FMC is a more cost-effective choice. To expand the network bandwidth, the operator can expand the WDM units on the existing equipment to an integrated system, instead of adding new equipment or NE. This enables large-capacity packet processing and 40-wavelength dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). Since no NE needs to be added and only the optical transport unit (OTU) and the optical add/drop multiplexer (OADM) module are added, CAPEX is curtailed. Moreover, the solution can simplify MAN management and reduce network complexity, cut maintenance costs and decrease OPEX.

Supporting multicast

Video broadcast services are quickly gaining popularity, and highly efficient multicast technology and the control policy play a vital role in IPTV operation and other services. To support multicast operations, the multicast replication point should be reasonably placed. A multicast replication point is the end point for a customer's Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) requests. The closer this point is to the customer, the more network bandwidth will be saved. It is recommended that the digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) equipment should be designed as the multicast replication point closest to the customer, and the FMC bearer network should support IGMP snooping.

Both dynamic and static multicast technologies can be used to support the evolution from an IP RAN to FMC. Huawei's PTN supports the hierarchy-virtual private LAN service (H-VPLS) and wavelength-based static multicasts, and will support the dynamic protocol independent multicast-sparse mode/dense modes (PIM-SM/DM) in the near future. Operators can adopt suitable multicast technologies according to their network features and multicast services.

In conclusion, Huawei believes the trend towards ALL IP, mobile and broadband networks. For full-service operations, the best strategy for each mobile operator concerning MAN evolution is: First transform the mobile backhaul network to a carrier-class IP RAN. In addition to giving prime consideration to the IP network's performance in bearing telecom services, expandability of bandwidth and capacity, operators should maintain a high satisfaction level in bearing fixed broadband services. Afterwards, the operators can transform the IP RAN to the FMC network and start full-service operations.