Why Ethernet Backhaul?

Suresh Krish
1 Apr 2013 4:30 PM
• 0

The Cellular infrastructure was initially designed for circuit switched voice traffic and
data communication was not initially supported on these networks. But services today
are increasingly data centric and and even voice will be transported as a data service.

The Mobile Applications these days requires a stringent QoS requirements with Service
Level Aggrement (SLA). A proper SLA ensures guaranteed bit rate, low delay for
realtime services like VoIP, Video on Demand and high throughtput for bandwidth
hungry applications and five 9’s availability. Mobile networks are facing the challenge of
evolving to a data centric service capable of carrying all service such as Voice, Data,
Video and other value added services like Mobile TV, Online Gaming Applications,
Video on Demand (VoD) and Music on Demand (MoD) on an unified backhaul to save
costs.

To enable all these services a cost-effective backhaul technology is needed. The

choices that existed those days are TDM and ATM based Backhaul which are not cost-
effective but able to backhaul the low bit rate mobile applications traffic to some extent
satisfying the customer. Let’s examine below why the TDM and ATM backhaul were not
popular in the long run and what alternate technology was chosen and its options in the
following sections.

TDM and ATM Backhaul

The Legacy Mobile Networks like 2G/2.5G deployed TDM in their backhaul for reliability
reasons eventhough it is not cost effective when it is required to carry high bit rate data,
video and other value added services. Wireless providers recognized the need to
support Carrier Grade functionality in the backhaul (e.g. QoS, scalability, efficient OAM,
etc) with cost in mind and so they first turned to ATM for backhaul. However, ATM
networks suffer from too much manual provisioning and they do not offer a scalable
solution capable of supporting the volumes of throughput offered by 3.5G (HSPA+) and
4G (LTE/WiMAX/Wi-Fi) networks.

To evolve to all-IP networking environment, a Carrier Grade solution must be found for
the backhaul of traffic. The network must support “5 9s” availability. Which is the right
candidate? It appears that Ethernet is the right choice. Let’s find out why Ethernet is
most suitable for backhauling the mobile traffic.

Why Ethernet Backhaul?

Ethernet is the predominant technology used in corporate Local Area Networks (LANs).
It is simple to deploy and maintain. Ethernet has proven to be effective and inexpensive
technology to transport data. But in its current form is it not suitable for mobile
backhaul which demands a stringent QoS and OAM capabilities.

Carrier Ethernet (more aptly called “Carrier Grade Ethernet”) standardized by MEF 22
(Metro Ethernet Forum version 22) defines different ethernet services like E-Line
(Ethernet Virtual Circuit), E-LAN (Ethernet LAN) and E-TREE (Ethenet Tree) which
makes a normal Ethernet extremely reliable, well tested and proven with Ethernet OAM,
Connectivity and Fault Management capabilities comparable to TDM, SDH/SONET in
the Carrier world.

Ethernet Backhaul Options

The very widely used Popular Ethernet Backhaul options across the globe are listed
below:

Packet Microwave Access: For Remote NodeBs/eNodeBs where copper or fiber

access is not feasible Packet Based Microwave Options are used in the Backhaul. The
Multiple VLAN Traffic from NodeBs/eNodeBs are delivered to Packet Based Microwave
systems which can carry traffic in the order of 180 Mbps ~ 220 Mbps. Up to 6 NodeBs
with the CIR of 30 Mbps or 2 eNodeBs can be aggregated using a single Packet Based
Microwave system in the pre-aggregation stage.

GPON/NG-PON/10G-PON Access: In a thickly populated cities Microwave options are

not a good choice due to Line of Sight (LoS) issues. The high rise buildings block or
distort the Microwave signals. Hence the high capacity, cost-effective, high quality
backhaul using GPON is used in big cities. GPON systems are based on the Point-to-
Multipoint topology uses OLT (Optical Line Terminal) at the root and ONUs (Optical
Network Units) at the leaves. The NodeBs are connected to the ONUs through an
Ethernet Switch. The aggregated traffic towards/from all NodeBs are handled by a high
speed uplink generally 1 GbE (Gigabit Ethernet interface) or 10 GbE depending on the
traffic generated by the NodeBs. OLT optionally provides redundancy over two uplinks
via different paths.

The GPON system deploys a single Fiber distribution using Passive Optical Splitters
(PSCs). The DL traffic towards the NodeBs are sent as a broadcast and the UL traffic
uses a Time Division Multiplexing Access (TDMA). The ITU-T Standard G.984.6 defines
the bandwidth capacity of the GPON system 2.488 Gbps in the DL and 1.244 Gbps in
the UL. The GPON system can generally cover a distance of 20 Kms from OLT or upto
60 kms with an extended reach option.

GPON has proved to be cost-effective and well equipped with in-built OAM and QoS
capabilities. GPON also supports VLAN for carrying mutiple stream of traffic with
different QoS constraints. The future PON Networks like NG-PON and 10G-PON can
support upto 10Gbps in total capacity.
Ethernet over SDH Access (EoSDH): The NodeBs which are beyond the distance limit
mentioned above use the EoS (Ethernet over SDH) option in the pre-aggregation stage
of the backhaul. The Ethernet Frame is transparently carried over SDH/DWDM systems
and delivered at the Aggregation point.

The Metro Ethernet plays and important role in reducing the delay, increasing the
reliability of the Networks and offers protection, resiliency and availability compared to
traditional SDH/DWDM based carrier systems. The Metro Ethernet is a pure IP network
and offers Layer 2 or Layer 3 Services using the L2VPN/L3VPN feature of MPLS
Technology with rich OAM capabilities. The 1+1 redundancy is provided in the
Aggregation Stage of the backhaul by connecting EoSDH or GPON uplinks to two PEs
(Provider Edge Routers) in the Metro Ethernet Networks. Let’s see in the following two
sections how the Ethernet Backhaul Technology options are deployed in Legacy
2G/2.5G Networks as well as in the Unified Backhaul Transport where all
2G/2.5G/3G/4G traffic is carried in an all-IP network.

Transport Network in Legacy 2G/2.5G and 3G Networks

The Legacy 2G Network or 2.5G networks based on GSM/EDGE or CDMA system uses
TDM as their main backhaul option to connect the BTS (Base Transceiver Station) to
the core network. Since the Bandwidth required at these Base Stations (BTSs) are
limited to a maximum of about 5 Mbps 2 or 3 E1s are sufficient. The typical Transport
Network in Legacy 2G/2.5G is shown in the figure below.

Transport Network in Legacy 2G/2.5G

The GPRS Traffic at BSCs are handled by the separate Packet Core network based on
the IP Technology with the help of SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) and GGSN
(Gateway GPRS Support Node). The private IP Network handles the GPRS traffic
before handing over to the Internet.

All-IP Backhaul is used for 3G systems based on the UMTS Technology. The NodeB or
3G Base Stations need a bandwidth capacity or 15 ~ 30 Mbps in a non-HSPA type of
cells. The HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) supported NodeBs need about 42 Mbps
or more to handle the additional Multi-media traffic from the customers. All NodeBs are
generally deployed with a minimum of Fast Ethernet (FE) Interface with VLAN
capability.

Backhaul and Core Network Transport in 2G/2.5G/3G/4G Networks

The Unified Backhaul and Core Network in a hybrid environment of 2G, 2.5G, 3G and
4G systems are depicted in the chart below. The Backhaul Access/Pre-
aggregation/Aggregation uses the options described earlier. For example the Legacy
2G and 2.5G systems uses PDH Microwave, SDH and IP-MPLS in the Access/Pre-
Aggregation/Aggregation part of the Backhaul. The NodeB in 3G UMTS uses either
Packet based Microwave, EoSDH and IP-MPLS option or GPON-Metro Ethernet and
IP-MPLS option in the Access/Pre-Aggregation/Aggregation part of the Backhaul.

Unified Backhaul and Core Network in 2G/2.5G/3G/4G Networks

The Nation-wide IP-MPLS network plays an important role in linking all the component
networks of Wireless Network comprising of 2G/2.5G/3G /4G systems. The User Data
Traffic, Voice traffic, Signalling and OAM Traffic , 4G Network User
 Data/Signalling/OAM Traffic, IMS Traffic are transported thru’ Nation-wide IP MPLS
Network. The traditional TDM traffic of 2G/2.5G are carried using SAToP (Structure-
Agnostic TDM over Packet) or CESoPSN (Circuit Emulation Service over Packet
Switched Network) over Nation-wide IP MPLS Network if BSCs are not co-located near
BTSs in the same city.

Future of Ethernet Backhaul

The future of Ethernet Backhaul seems to be very very bright. The current highest
speed of Ethernet has already reached 10 Gigabits/sec and very widely deployed
across the globe. The next higher speed interface in Ethernet family is
40G/100G which is almost finalized in the standardization/testing is far more sufficient
for future generation mobile networks beyond 4G. Before 40G/100G interfaces are
widely deployed in the operators network standardization for the next higher interface of
400 Gigabits/sec has already started. This confirms that Ethernet backhaul is going to
stay for some more time as a Predominant Backhaul Technology which can support
100s of Gigabits/sec data traffic which will improve the customer’s Quality of Experience
(QoE).

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lte, ethernet, backhaul, Network, core