WHITE PAPER

OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS

WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

INTRODUCING ECLIPSE™ ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION™

Aviat introduces Adaptive Optimization™ (AO) - a key feature of the Eclipse Packet Node solution, the ‘any-G’
transport solution providing high-speed native IP microwave transport for mobile network migration to support
the anticipated demands of future 4G broadband networks.

AO makes Adaptive Modulation carrier class by solving the issue whereby adverse path conditions periodically
constrict the throughput available for packet-based services leading to service interruptions for end users. AO
achieves this by increasing the 5x9’s available throughput for packet-based services by up to 500% over what
can be achieved by adaptive modulation only implementations.

With HSPA+ download speeds even now being tested at more than 20 Mbit/s, and eventual LTE download
speeds expected to peak at 70 Mbit/s, there is widespread concern that existing backhaul technologies will
struggle to keep up. The move to packet transport is planned to provide the lowest cost per Mbit/s transport
solution, while AO promises to provide the backhaul capacity needed to support the introduction of LTE
services in parallel with existing legacy 2G and/or 3G services.

ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

• AO makes adaptive modulation carrier class by maximizing 5x9’s available capacity for the introduction of
new services resulting in the best possible end user experience.

• AO pseudowire technology viable for mobile operators using microwave for backhaul transmission by
providing the most efficient use of scarce licensed frequency resources.

• AO makes the migration of the access network to Carrier Ethernet possible, while ensuring the promised
benefits of a scalable and dynamic ‘breathable’ backhaul network are realized making full use of statistical
multiplex gains.

• AO provides a migration path to an all packet based transport.

• AO makes Eclipse packet node the most spectrum efficient and highest throughput solution on the market.

• AO solves the issue of licensed frequency bandwidth restricting mobile operators rollout of new revenue
generating services.

WIRELESS BACKHAUL WORKS

Most operators of mobile networks today employ 2G technologies, such as GSM/EDGE or CDMA supporting
traditional circuit-switched voice services, with a high proportion of these networks now supporting 3G
WCDMA, CDMA2000 and now HSPA technologies to deliver high speed broadband data services to
subscribers. As a result, the supporting backhaul infrastructure is anticipated to soon undergo a dramatic
transformation.

1 Copyright © 2010 Aviat Networks, Inc., all rights reserved. January 2010
 WHITE PAPER
OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

TECHNOLOGY OF CHOICE
Across the world, more than 50% of base stations are connected using wireless backhaul or more specifically
point-to-point microwave technology in licensed frequency bands between 6 and 38 GHz. Excluding the USA,
the proportion is even higher, with microwave forming the technology of choice for operators throughout the
developing world for implementing new mobile networks in countries where little telecom infrastructure exists.

The need for more capacity to support packet based services brings pressure on the backhaul network, where
instead of current 2xE1 / 4 Mbit/s connections per 2G BTS, the 3G data revolution is expected to require at
least 10xE1 or 20 Mbit/s within 3 years, with some urban sites as high as 50 Mbit/s. For 4G/LTE, figures as
high as 100 Mbit/s have been forecast.

In networks where wireless provides the backhaul, these developments raise a number of issues. For example,
how do you upgrade wireless connections to deliver the required capacity? Do you simply increase the
capacity of current TDM links, do you overlay with an IP transport to deliver the extra capacity, or do you move
to an all IP solution? What happens when there are no additional frequency allocations available for backhaul,
or where frequency tariffs are prohibitive?

Mobile operator budgets are tight given the current global economic crisis yet they are under competitive
pressure to introduce new packet based services and to grow their subscriber base. Many operators are
choosing to focus their short term CAPEX on maximizing their existing investment by optimizing their existing
networks and deferring plans for network expansion until economic conditions improve.

Faced with the potential of running out of backhaul bandwidth, the simplest and most cost effective solution for
operators is to make better use their existing network, by employing new technology to dramatically increase
the bandwidth and spectral efficiency of the backhaul network to transport more megabits per megahertz.

CONSIDERING THE TECHNOLOGY OPTIONS

Adaptive Optimization™ combines a number of key technologies in a novel way to provide never before seen
levels of bandwidth efficiency and availability for new services. These technologies include:

• Intelligent, Optimized Pseudowires

• Adaptive Modulation

• Co-Channel Dual Polarized Links (‘XPIC’)

• IFG and pre-amble suppression

INTELLIGENT, OPTIMIZED PSEUDOWIRES

Pseudowires are used to transport a native TDM service over a packet switched network. For mobile backhaul
networks, encapsulating TDM services over pseudowires are needed where a SDH/PDH network is replaced
by an Ethernet or MPLS based network, but must retain support for legacy TDM interfaces at 2G and 3G base
stations.

The most common TDM pseudowires employed by mobile operators include CESoPSN and SAToP. These
pseudowires are supported by cell site gateways and convergence boxes, commonly used in applications
where Ethernet over copper bonded pairs is used for backhaul. When using copper bonded pairs for backhaul
the inefficiency of traditional pseudowires is not considered an issue.

2 Copyright © 2010 Aviat Networks, Inc., all rights reserved. January 2010
 WHITE PAPER
OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

The industry standard IETF and MEF 8 PWE3 options include:

• TDM over IP/MPLS (CESoPSN – structured E1)

• TDM over IP/MPLS (SAToP – unstructured E1)

• TDM over Ethernet (CESoETH – MEF 8)

• ATM pseudo wires (legacy R99 traffic)

• HDLC and PPP pseudowires (CDMA market)

OVERHEADS
Pseudowires impose an overhead depending on the type of pseudowire used, typically 10 to 20% is needed
over and above the native TDM bandwidth. SAToP pseudowire is used for structure agnostic transport of TDM
bit-streams, which means it can be used with minimum setup and for any TDM stream whether framed,
unframed or unchannelized, for example for ATM/IMA E1’s used for 3G transport. Overhead above native E1
transport for SAToP pseudowire depends on the packet size as follows:

• 256-byte packets add 17% overhead, resulting in 2.39 Mbit/s for E1 transport

• 512-byte packets add 8.6% overhead, 2.22 Mbit/s for E1 transport

Figure 1. Pseudowires

PSEUDOWIRES
CESoPSN pseudowires, while imposing similar overheads to SAToP, are optimized for TDM services that
require DS0 timeslot granularity, such as the GSM Abis interface. A primary benefit of CESoPSN over SAToP
is that unused timeslots are not transported in the payload, thereby saving on bandwidth when the TDM service
is not optimally utilized. Unused time slot removal can oftentimes more than offset the inefficiency of
pseudowire overhead and provide backhaul bandwidth gain depending on the number of carriers utilized at the
base station.

For example, a 3 sector GSM base station (labeled S333) will...

• Deliver 21TCH to each sector, which corresponds, to 13.7 Erlang at 1% blocking probability (at 25 mErlang
per user 548 user peak per sector).

• Require 23 time slots to backhaul with 7 remaining time slots in an E1 going unused.

• Resultant efficiency improvement is 23%.

3 Copyright © 2010 Aviat Networks, Inc., all rights reserved. January 2010
 WHITE PAPER
OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

In practice, using CESoPSN typically translates to a realizable efficiency improvement factor of around 15% for
GSM Abis traffic because approx. 10% overhead must be added. Standards based CESoPSN and SAToP
pseudowires result in fixed length packets that must be assigned permanent and constant transmission
bandwidth in the same way as the original TDM circuit. Where backhaul bandwidth is limited, for example when
using wireless, SAToP and CESoPSN result in less than optimum utilization of available transmission
bandwidth.

Fixed packet length pseudowires dilute much of the benefit of transitioning to Ethernet in the transport network
because statistical multiplex gains are not realized, and the properties of Carrier Ethernet to assign available
capacity on demand is dependent on QoS and prioritization assignments.

ADDING INTELLIGENCE
Intelligent, optimized pseudowires, as implemented by the Aviat Adaptive Optimization solution, employ
bandwidth saving and traffic aggregation technology that utilizes:

• CESoPSN to remove unused timeslots

• Timeslot Recovery (Abis Idle Channel Suppression)

• Removal of Abis inefficiencies and lossless, and real time payload compression

The result for intelligent pseudowires delivers typical bandwidth reductions of 60% on Abis links and 45% on
lub ATM links. Because intelligent pseudowires result in variable length packets, traffic aggregation (statistical
multiplexing) can add a further 10 to 25% efficiency improvement at aggregation hubs. Intelligent pseudowires
offer variable throughput compatible with the implementation of microwave adaptive modulation and coding.

ADAPTIVE MODULATION
The microwave backhaul market has recently seen the introduction of Adaptive Modulation (AM, but also
known as Adaptive Coding and Modulation, or ACM). AM enables the introduction of new data services onto
existing backhaul links by taking advantage of the extra margin built into the link design to ensure high
availability, even during adverse environmental conditions.

AM makes use of this margin to transport additional IP data for new collocated HSPA/WiMAX base stations
alongside the existing 2G/3G TDM voice backhaul traffic, all within the existing frequency channel assignment.
AM dynamically varies the link operation to improve system performance at the expense of link throughput. AM
is a great way to add new IP transport onto an existing TDM network, in some cases tripling or even
quadrupling the existing bandwidth, so a link providing a mere 10 Mbit/s of TDM capacity for 2G voice traffic
can be expanded to deliver an additional 53 Mbit/s of throughput for IP backhaul connectivity.

Further, AM links are essentially designed for maximum availability (say 99.999%) for high-priority traffic, which
on a mixed mode TDM/IP link would be typically assigned to the TDM voice traffic. The IP data would then
have an availability dependent upon the available capacity, between 99.9% and 99.999% depending on path
conditions, which may not support sufficient quality for high value IP services to ensure a satisfactory user
experience.

AO makes adaptive modulation carrier class by solving the issue of adverse path conditions constricting the
throughput available for packet based services causing service interruptions for end users. It achieves this by
increasing the available 5x9’s throughput for packet based services by 100 to 189% over that of adaptive
modulation only implementations.

4 Copyright © 2010 Aviat Networks, Inc., all rights reserved. January 2010
 WHITE PAPER
OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

CO-CHANNEL DUAL POLARIZED LINKS (‘XPIC’)

In situations where increasing the channel bandwidth and/or increasing the modulation rate, will not provide the
capacity needed, CCDP provides an answer. It doubles wireless capacity over the same channel. When
coupled with adaptive modulation, this can be increased by a factor of 4:1 to provide an overall improvement of
8:1.

The CCDP option provides two parallel communication links on the same RF channel. One link uses the
vertical polarization, the other the horizontal. A single twin-feed dual polarized antenna is installed at each end
of the link, and Cross Polarized Interference Cancellation (XPIC) is used in the radios to ensure any
interference between the channels is eliminated.

This has special significance on capacity extensions needed to support HSPA 3G and 4G base stations where
figures in excess of 50 Mbit/s are forecasted for mid-city sites. For example, a 7 MHz RF channel supports just
10 Mbit/s using QPSK, expands to 47 Mbit/s using 256 QAM adaptive modulation, then doubles to over 90
Mbit/s using CCDP. CCDP had been traditionally employed in 28MHz licensed frequency channels and more
recently 56MHz frequency channels. Many mobile operators using licensed wireless in 7MHz and 14MHz
channels for access network transmission have exhausted their frequency channel allocations. This is driving a
new requirement for CCDP in the narrower channels to provide support for explosive capacity expansion. The
Eclipse Packet Node supports CCDP in channel sizes from 7 to 56MHz.

PRE-AMBLE SUPPRESSION AND HEADER COMPRESSION

Eclipse Packet Node employs a number of sophisticated Ethernet frame optimization techniques to reduce the
frame size and therefore improve the efficiency of transporting Ethernet over wireless. These frame
optimization techniques contribute to Adaptive Optimization’s ability to achieve the optimum use of licensed
frequency bandwidth.

Pre-Amble Suppression removes the IFG & PRE bytes prior to the frames passing over the radio path and then
adds them back on egress, saving 16 bytes per frame being transported over the radio. Header compression
reduces the mac source and destination from 12 to 2 bytes for transmission over the radio path, which again
are then uncompressed transparently at egress of the radio path. The combination of pre-amble suppression
and header compression saves up to 45% for 64-byte frames.

Figure 2. Ethernet frame and points of optimization.

5 Copyright © 2010 Aviat Networks, Inc., all rights reserved. January 2010
 WHITE PAPER
OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION IN ACTION

Adaptive Optimization combines the technologies discussed in this paper in a unique way to provide never
before seen levels of bandwidth efficiency and availability for new services. The following example examines
the upgrade options for a 7MHz licensed frequency channel comparing the impact on transmission efficiency of
employing cell site gateway pseudowire approaches with adaptive modulation and Adaptive Optimization.

A legacy licensed microwave backhaul link will typically employ 4-state QPSK modulation, which will provide up
to 5E1 (or 10MBps) of transport capacity in a 7MHz licensed frequency channel. In this example we are
assuming this is the baseline and 6MBps of this capacity is supporting existing TDM based traffic from a 2G
GSM base station, and the remaining 4Mbps is available to support new packet based services, for example
HSPA.

Figure 3. AO
improvements to
effective backhaul
throughput.

6 Copyright © 2010 Aviat Networks, Inc., all rights reserved. January 2010
WHITE PAPER
OPTIMIZING ACCESS NETWORKS WITH ADAPTIVE OPTIMIZATION

Cell site gateway and convergence boxes most commonly employ SAToP pseudowire to facilitate the
migration to IP or Ethernet transport as previously discussed. SAToP introduces inefficiencies due to the
various headers added to facilitate the pseudowire. This inefficiency is in the range of 8.6 to 17% depending on
packet size and has been conservatively assumed to be 10% in this example. The impact of this inefficiency is
that the effective bandwidth available for HSPA is reduced from 4Mbps to 3.4Mbps.

In the case of CESoPSN pseudowire implementation assuming a S333 configuration for the GSM base station,
7 of the 30 available timeslots per E1 will be spare and therefore will be removed, resulting in a gain in
efficiency of around 15% once the pseudowire overhead has been added. The resultant impact of this
improvement is that the effective bandwidth available for the HSPA service is increase from 4Mbps to 4.9Mbps.

The next logical step in the upgrade path is to implement adaptive coding modulation, which will enable the link
to run at 256QAM modulation most of the time (about 99.9% of the time assuming the original link’s designed
for 99.999% availability at QPSK modulation). Adaptive modulation will enable a further 37Mbps of effective
bandwidth for new services however this will only be available when path conditions permit, which raises the
possibility of interruptions to packet services enabled on this bandwidth.

Implementing AO with intelligent pseudowires instead of cell site gateway or aggregation box solutions
increases the effective 5x9’s bandwidth available for new services by 100%, i.e. from 4Mbps to 8Mbps. This
assumes a relatively conservative improvement factor of less than 3:1 for the intelligent pseudowire
implementation, and an allowance for statistical multiplex gains.

Adding the Pre-ample and header compression factor further increases the effective AO backhaul throughput
by up to 45% resulting in an improvement in 5x9’s bandwidth available for new services in the range of 100-
189%, i.e. from 4Mbps to 11.5Mbps for the full AO implementation. On top of this <5x9’s available bandwidth
available will be in the range of 37 to 53.7Mbps. The recovered 5x9’s bandwidth can be supported at an
equivalent availability as the original TDM, enabling high value IP services to be supported at the maximum link
availability.

In practice, this means that high priority packet service data such as VOIP or signaling can be guaranteed
sufficient continuous bandwidth which means changes in link conditions effecting the <5x9’s available
bandwidth will be seamless to the end user of the packet service. The remaining dimension of the AO solution
is CCDP which if applied to this example would increase the effective throughput available from a single 7MHz
channel to over 140Mbps and the 5x9’s availability bandwidth throughput for the new HSPA service from
4Mbps to 25Mbps or 525%.

WWW.AVIATNETWORKS.COM

Aviat, Aviat Networks, and Aviat logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Aviat Networks, Inc.
© Aviat Networks, Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved.
Data subject to change without notice.
_w_AdaptOpt_EcliPktNode_univ_07Jan10