© Small Cell Forum 2017

Network densification in the 5G eraWorking for industry alignment at SCF Partners’ Day

smallcellforum.org

Industry Partners

Executive SummaryThe full report is available to download via scf.io: bit.ly/2fOGtog

DOCUMENT

201.10.01

IntroductionSCF’s recently published 10-year vision identifies the growing importance of industry association collaboration to accelerate the wide-scale culture shifts needed for 5G Era technology adoption.

The 5G Era will see increasing sophistication from mobile operators to federate a growing number of LTE and 5G radio access technologies and present them as a range of connectivity services with associated API to a number of customer segments. Enabling this is a fully virtualized, distributed, ultra-reliable software-controlled agile infrastructure, with automation to facilitate large-scale low-cost network densification through third-party deployments. Effective integration of all these technologies can only be achieved with open and interoperable standards, which are also needed to ensure competition and economies of scale. Adoption of these 5G Era technologies will require culture shifts in processes and structure across a broad range of commercial and governmental organizations, each of which have a part to play in making it happen.

SCF is focused on densification, and we see small cells as the only viable option for several key 5G Era deployment scenarios:

• >6GHz spectrum, where propagation limits cell sizes.

• Radios using shared and license-exempt spectrum, which generally mandates lower power.

• Areas of hyperdense traffic demand in cities, stadia, transport hubs etc.

• Scalable, low-cost deployment using a low-skilled, third-party, or end-user workforce.

• Small/medium enterprises requiring self-deployed indoor coverage.

• Coverage extension in rural, remote, moving and temporary deployment scenarios with equipment size, weight or power constraints.

The task of building an ecosystem around densification is too large and diverse for any one organization. Collaboration between industry associations is essential.

SCF has always partnered with SDOs and other industry associations to drive harmonization and the economies of scale needed for cost-effective densification with small cells. Our vision for a proliferation in types of radio access, the entities involved in ownership and operation, and the types of service and customers these imply means that richer collaboration will be needed in future to ensure consistent understanding across a wider set of ecosystem stakeholders.

To this end, SCF held its inaugural Partners’ Day in Atlanta in July 2017.

Partners’ Day brought together ten of our partners’ to share their plans and identify common goals and areas for further collaboration. These included 3GPP, GSMA, NGMN, ETSI, CTIA, ONAP, X-RAN, CBRS, TIA and MEF.

smallcellforum.org

Key Outcomes TechnologySiloed research into 5G Era technology must now give way to a consolidation phase on the best approaches to virtualization, cloud, edge, and functional splits.

The global race to 5G has spawned a plethora of research groups looking at different aspects of the problem. While this has been essential for innovation, it is now time to start consolidating the best ideas into the platform to deliver 5G Era services, such that the process of technology adoption can begin. This is especially important given the number of stakeholders that will need to be engaged in deployment and operations. Points to note include:

• 5G will augment LTE, not replace it We see the process of migration to 5G as the densification of existing LTE networks with 5G New Radio as well as emerging shared spectrum radios. Architectural changes such as virtualization and edge computing must apply to legacy LTE as well as new 5G components to realize benefits, which include end-to-end service-level automation via orchestration and a shift to DevOps style operations.

• Orchestration, SON and automation While SON today automates many aspects of RAN configuration, much wider end-to-end automation of service delivery is the ultimate objective. In virtualized networks, orchestration can perform this function, provided there are open and interoperable interfaces to enable instrumentation and dynamic configuration of the network functions, transport, and other resources. ETSI-MANO and ONAP are working towards the definition of such open architectures and interfaces. While there is large amount of consistency between the two, ONAP also addresses policy, in addition to control, management and orchestration.

• Virtualization of mobile networks is gathering momentum globally This brings the promise of agility and flexibility, multi-vendor efficiencies and innovation, and cost reduction. ETSI-NFV has done pioneering work in this area, which is being successfully adapted and adopted by various operators. While the initial application has been in the Mobile Core Network, virtualization of the RAN is being undertaken in two steps, namely virtualization of functionally split radios (covered later), and overall virtualized architectures (consisting of Control Plane – User Plane separation and RAN Controllers).

The former is being addressed by SCF and 3GPP; the latter is being addressed by XRAN and 3GPP. SCF views these as very important steps that can bring the benefits of virtualization to the most expensive part of the mobile networks, the RAN.

• Shared spectrum access technologies including Wi-Fi, LAA and CBRS need better interworking with licensed band cellular networks LAA and CBRS bring the LTE air interface to private networks. However, the seamless and secure cellular user experience will not be realized unless core network interworking is enabled.

• Functional splits bring flexibility but increase engineering complexity While we agree that the new base station functional splits bring many benefits, the wide range of options and more stringent performance requirements are raising concerns in terms of the complexity and cost of engineering the transport networks need for hauling. For rapid, low-cost deployment we need this to be simple to understand and easy to design for, as well as robust in real-world conditions. The current focus on headline figures and peak performance needs to be augmented with a discussion on typical configurations with ‘good enough’ performance suitable for the vast majority of 5G Era deployment scenarios. SCF will work with NGMN to agree a small set of typical site configurations and develop associated worked-example engineering guidelines. We continue to work with MEF in mapping these to the template SLA implementation agreements used by transport providers.

smallcellforum.org

Operations

Let us not forget the effort in taking innovative technology out of the lab and operationalizing in the real world in the form of practical revenue-generating business tools. Education and coaching are needed to prepare the wider ecosystem for adoption of densification technologies.

Although consumers might be quick to buy and adopt the latest technology, people in the workplace do not embrace changes to the way they’ve always done things quite so readily. It takes time and effort to raise awareness of the benefits of new approaches and build confidence that the value will be achieved in practice. Even when people are convinced, they need ongoing support and guidance to bring pro-densification practices into their workplace. The challenge here is in delivering sound and trusted advice in the right language and format to the people that need to know. For example:

• Help real estate owners and property managers understand what they can do to ensure their buildings are ‘small cell ready’ At a physical level, this involves specifying space required for cable ducting and equipment spaces, with guidelines on typical small cell spacings for ceiling drops. Network-level training and certification for small cell cabling design needs include LAN and WAN design requirements for back/front/xhauling. SCF is providing expertise into TIA and MEF, both of which have channels to these audiences.

• Support municipalities in implementing pro-densification policy In addition to articulating the benefits of densification, SCF will work with TIA to convert our best practice siting policy work into model ordinances with framework implementations of national policy which can easily be modified to fit local needs.

• Many 5G use cases can be achieved already with LTE In fact they can be achieved at a scale sufficient to start establishing new business processes for early adopters ahead of full-scale adoption by mainstream markets with 5G systems. Given the time lag of operationalizing new technology, those waiting for full 5G support will be behind the curve.

• Currently, enterprise needs for indoor coverage are at odds with operator goals and impede enterprise capex to improve mobile connectivity Trusted neutral hosts may break the deadlock, by including small cells in managed WLAN service offerings. Licensed shared access spectrum will facilitate this, but there will still be a need for MNOs to federate non-MNO networks onto their core, if seamless roaming onto outdoor networks is to be available.

Speaking with a united voiceMarket engagement underpins all our activities, which require two-way communication to be established between SCF and the expanding set of stakeholders envisaged for the 5G Era ecosystem. In many cases, we can leverage our partnering industry associations’ relationships with these target audiences to spread a consistent industry message on how we will densify networks into the 5G Era. It is essential that the telecoms industry speak with a united voice when proposing changes in regulation, government policy and ways in which people and businesses will interact with mobile networks.

smallcellforum.org

Full report contents1 Introduction

2 Technologies and interoperable standards for densification 2.1 Virtualization, cloud and edge with ETSI NFV/MEC and XRAN Forum 2.2 SON, management and orchestration (MANO) with ONAP 2.3 Shared spectrum and multi-operator with CBRS-Alliance 2.4 RAN standards with 3GPP 2.5 Interoperability testing with SCF PlugFests

3 Operations: Deployment, backhaul, government and regulatory 3.1 Deployment processes with NGMN 3.2 Cabling and transport for x-Haul with TIA and MEF 3.3 Government and regulatory with GSMA and CTIA

4 New business models for ownership and operations

5 Market engagement and communication

6 Conclusions

smallcellforum.org

Partners’ DayAlignment on 10-year vision and roadmap for densification into the 5G Era

Virtualization, Cloud, Edge

SON, MANO

Shared spectrum and multi-operator

RAN standards

Deployment and operations

xhaul and cabling

Regulatory and government

New business models

Market engagement

Download the full report here: bit.ly/2fOGtog