Mobile Fronthaul

As the industry for the arrival and scaling of 5G networks, in many cases, networks are becoming less centralized and more complex, placing increased demands on the fronthaul network. Optical fiber is the required technology for radio access network (RAN) backhaul and fronthaul. 

The mobile fronthaul architecture gradually migrates form the legacy distributed system to the hoteling and pooling of the base band units (BBUs) system, and currently toward the centralized signal processing in the central units (CUs) and distributed units (DUs).

A Remote Radio Head (RRH) or Remote radio unit (RRU) is the RF circuitry of a base station enclosed in a small outdoor module. The RRH performs all RF functionality like transmit and receive functions, filtering, and amplification. It also contains analog-to-digital or digital-to-analog converters and up/down converters. An RRH can also provide advanced monitoring and control features that allow operators to optimize performance from a remote, centralized location. The RRH is usually mounted near the antenna to reduce transmission line losses and is connected to the main, digital portion of the base station (BBU) with an optical fiber. Common Public Radio Interface, or CPRI is the standardized protocol for communication between the BBU (Base Band Unit) and RRH, developed jointly by major RRH manufacturers.

[More to come ...]