Ethernet-based fronthauling for cloud-radio access networks

Standardization bodies such as IEEE and 3GPP, as well as other interest groups, are in the process of defining and standardizing different functional subdivisions within mobile network base stations, primarily to reduce the data rate requirements imposed on the transport architecture by 4th and 5th generation mobile systems. Ethernet is considered the leading candidate for the transport architecture as it brings benefits from structural and operational convergence in what is now termed the “xhaul” (x signifying front, mid or back). This paper reports on the performance of different functional subdivisions over a bridged Ethernet network and presents some of the main issues that occur when internetworking at the Ethernet transport level. In particular, it examines Priority-based Scheduling within an Ethernet fronthaul, which is also a subject of active standardization by IEEE.