Optical Anyhaul

To better address mobile broadband traffic growth, 5G RANs use new spectrum bands to increase RF capacity, rely on new functional splits that allow for the disaggregation of base station components, and leverage new packet-based interfaces that increase transport efficiency and help to lower cost. And with 5G, the agility of cloud architectures leverages network slices to deliver flexible and efficient broadband services to consumers and vertical industries.

To take advantage of these mobile innovations, Nokia optical transport networks offer highly scalable bandwidth growth through a resilient, programmable network with switching at the packet and photonic layers to optimize resources and improve service assurance. They deliver low-latency connectivity via a deterministic, time-sensitive network (TSN) and support a flexible mix of protocols enabling traffic convergence. This includes the packetization of CPRI/OBSAI flows, which improves bandwidth efficiency while avoiding the need to retrofit existing radios.

Optical Anyhaul enables you to cost-effectively deliver all services over a converged optical network. The solution’s portfolio elements provide the high capacity and low latency needed to enable 5G connectivity across different RAN architectures. With Optical Anyhaul, you can keep pace with growing mobile broadband demand and deliver new revenue-generating services.

Our purpose-built Optical Anyhaul solution provides you with cost-effective connectivity by optimizing fiber efficiency through a mix of packet and WDM aggregation capabilities. It transports any mix of protocols (CPRI/OBSAI/eCPRI/Ethernet), allowing you to maximize your investments across multiple RAN generations. 

Designed for high performance, the solution addresses stringent 4G/5G fronthaul requirements by supporting high-capacity, ultra-low-latency transport, while delivering highly accurate synchronization distribution to ensure optimal RAN performance. It uses our proven Nokia 1830 product family, including our IEEE 802.1CM-compliant TSN switches to create a highly flexible, scalable, and power-efficient solution that you can easily and quickly deploy in diverse environments.

Our TSN switches won’t leave your existing CPRI/OBSAI radios stranded. They enable a smooth transition to 5G while improving interworking and bandwidth efficiency without the need to retrofit existing CPRI/OBSAI radios. By mapping CPRI radio streams to packet, they can be aggregated with other packetized traffic to improve bandwidth efficiency.

As part of the Optical Anyhaul solution, our Nokia 1830 product family leverages integrated Layer 2 packet transport and switching capabilities, enabling the aggregation of different traffic streams and improving traffic efficiency. These streams include mobile backhaul, enterprise and residential broadband flows. They leverage the power and value of the Nokia Service Router Operating System (SR OS) to enable a fully managed packet solution with a common service, operations and management model across the Nokia optical and IP/MPLS/Ethernet portfolio, resulting in a more comprehensive and efficient solution.

Synchronization is the lifeblood of your RAN, since without it your network cannot function. With 5G networks requiring frequency, phase and time synchronization and as clock specifications become more stringent, particularly in fronthaul connected sites, there is a growing need to back up Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) synchronization with a network-based synchronization source to ensure uninterrupted operations.

Nokia packet-optical transport networks can distribute highly accurate synchronization data to cell sites either in-band (synchronization provided together with traffic) or out-of-band using a dedicated optical timing channel — enabling hard isolation of the synchronization plane and eliminating the effects of dynamic packet delay variation caused by link- or switching-related asymmetries. 

The 1830 Time-sensitive Packet Switch (TPS) and 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) portfolios provide enhanced Synchronization Ethernet-based frequency synchronization and IEEE 1588 PTP-based phase/time synchronization, meeting and exceeding the synchronization performance requirements of ITU-T G.8273.2 telecom boundary clocks and IEEE 802.1CM TSN for fronthaul standards. In addition, the optical portfolio supports new capabilities that aid you in the Sync OAM tasks required to manage the distribution of synchronization in the network.

5G brings new revenue opportunities by enabling a plethora of new services, with each service having a unique class of service requirements. Your transport network must address this service diversity by cost-effectively delivering the required performance for each application.

Our packet-optical switches provide transport slices connecting the RAN and core slices as part of the end-to-end network slices. These slices maximize transport resources using logical network instances over a shared network.

Traffic flows are mapped into transport slices supporting performance objectives including capacity, latency, reliability, security, etc. A combination of hard and soft traffic isolation allows you to ensure proper traffic separation with the ability to maximize resources by enabling multi-tier, dynamic elastic bandwidth adjustment.

As MNOs move forward with their C-RAN deployments, new opportunities will be created for many competitive fiber providers, colocation providers, tower and other utility providers that offer transport services. While operators can offer dark or lit fiber services, the packet-based eCPRI interface and radio over Ethernet (RoE) traffic allow transport providers to offer more granular packet fronthaul services.

Our packet fronthaul solution based on the 1830 TPS enables the delivery of Fronthaul-as-a-Service (FHaaS), which relieves MNOs from building dedicated transport networks. Instead, transport providers can provide deterministic packet transport, leveraging TSN fronthaul networks to meet the stringent requirements of eCPRI/CPRI transport.