5G Transport Network Requirements,

Architecture and Key Technologies

Han Li，China Mobile

Geneva, 2017.10
Outline

• Requirements Analysis on 5G Transport Network

• Overview of Slicing Packet Network (SPN)

•Architecture

•Key technologies

• Proposals and suggestion

Overview of China Mobile Transport Network
Basic Network Capability

Mobile Residential Infrastructure

Mobile Subscribers 910 M Residential subscriber 95.74M Fiber: 360M Fiber-Core-KM
-4G Subscribers 605 M - GPON FTTH 76% -100 million fiber-core-km per
year in 2016 and 2017
4G Base Station 1.5 M
Households coverage 355 M - 30% of the world's total
4G carrier sectors >5 M
100G OTU: 30k in 2017

GPON
Family customers OTN IP
Enterprise Customers

3G/4G backhaul
High-end Enterprise
PTN PTN PTN over OTN
Customers
 China Mobile Transport Network for 4G

 PTN Backhaul: 1.5M PTN nodes for Macro cell, Micro Cell and Pico cell; L3 in core layer for X2 and S1 Flex
 GPON backhaul: integrated Pico and femto Cell
 Fronthaul: ~5RRUs/BBU, is mainly based on fiber direct connection

Access ring, 10G; Aggregation and Core ring, 100G

RRU
Access Layer Aggregation Layer Core Layer
RRU GE
RRU
eNode B 10GE 100GE 100GE SGW
GE

Access Aggregation MME

eNode B Access Aggregation Core
Bandwidth plan for single Access Layer Aggregation Layer Core Layer
S111 eNodeB 80 Mbps 60Mbps 40Mbps

Latency requirements single direction of transport network: 10ms Test results in PTN single direction of transport network: ~2ms
of 4G backhaul single equipment : 100us field network single equipment : ~50us

Time Sync requirements time servers are only deployed in metro Test results in PTN end-to-end Sync precision :
of 4G backhaul end-to-end Sync precision : ±1.5us field network under ± 500ns
New Challenges for 5G Transport Network
New usage scenarios for 5G drive new transport network.

Families of usage scenarios for 5G New transport network requirements

eMBB
10Gbps 6.
1.
Architecture
Network
GB/s
communication
Slicing

3D Video 5. 2.
Cloud Time Sync Bandwidth
smart home Office
3.
AR
voice Industrial Traffic
automation
4.
Model
smart city automatic Latency
Telemedicine
drive

As well as the traditional transport requirements, such as:

mMTC URLLC
 50-ms Protection Switching
 End-to-end OAM
1M/km2 1ms
1. Architecture Change of 5G RAN
 Change in architecture：function split of 3GPP 5G RAN defines CU and DU two-stages architecture

CU：non-real-time processing, centralized DU： HARQ process , high real-time digital signal processing, RRU：eCPRI, bandwidth aggregation, not related to the
deployment, general hardware radio interface oriented, spectral efficiency number of antennas, related to tranffic load

CU NGFI interface DU eCPRI interface

RRU
(CU-DU) (DU-RRU)
L2 internal division L1 internal division
 CU/DU are logical elements. Both centralized C-RAN (CU/DU separated) and gNB ( CU/DU integrated)
may be widely introduced. The Mid-haul and backhaul are overlapped and need unified transport technology .

Split Architecture of CU/DU Integrated Architecture of CU/DU

NG Core
NG Core

 CU is placed at county center or  Same with 4G metrocell

aggregation point, save telecom NR
CU deployment，CU and DU deploy at
room number and cost，latency NR
the same position
between CU and DU should be DU DU DU
BBU  Each gNB is connected with 3~6
under 3ms RRU
 Each DU is connected with 1~10 RRU RRU RRU RRU
physical stations Integrated
Split Architecture of CU/DU Architecture of CU/
DU
1. Architecture Impact of 5G Transport Network
 Unified transport technology is necessary for fronthaul, mid-haul and backhaul network
 Mid-haul and backhual have the same requirements , Slicing and L3 functions are needed
 Fronthaul can use fiber connection or use channelized network solution with DWDM system
gNB Backhaul

RRU CU MEC
DU 5G CN

Fronthaul Mid-haul Backhaul

Fronthaul：RRU-DU Mid-haul：DU-CU Backhaul ：CU-Core network
• eCPRI interface，IQ signal is effective • Bandwidth of Mid-haul is around that of • Statistical multiplexing
sampled and packetized，do not backhaul. Statistical multiplexing can be used. • Multi-Point-to-multi-point
recommend to use statistical multiplexing • under 40km~80km, Point-to-point or Point to
• Distance：under 200km
• Point-to-point, 1~10km Multi-point
• High latency requirement(related to • One CU is for 300~500 physical stations
• Latency is related to services,
HARQ): transmission latency ~100us Requirement is less than 10ms
• Normal latency requirement(related to signaling
• No need to introduce electrical Switching control): under 1ms
 2. Bandwidth Estimation of 5G Transport Network
5G bandwidth estimation
Backhaul ：
Ring network capacity  Line side bandwidth of core layer and aggregation layer:
LF station LF+HF station 100G~600G。
 Client side interface of access Layer: 10GE/25GE ， network
Core Layer
117.315G 632.61G interface bandwidth is more than 25G 。

Aggregation Mid-haul ：
Layer
78.22G 421.74G  The bandwidth of mid-haul is around that of backhaul

Mid-haul and Backhaul have the similar requirements,

Access Layer 26.07G 140.58G which can share one network technology，Access ring
LF station: average bandwidth ~3G can use gray 50GE , Aggregation and Core layer use
HF station: average bandwidth ~10G
DWDM with 100G /200G λ

Mid-haul ：~10G Fronthaul ：

CU
 eCPRI bandwidth for single RRU: under 25G (100MHz)
DU

Fronthaul ： 3 RRU Fronthaul has the different requirements from Mid-haul

DU
each station , ~ 75G and backhaul, which should be based on simple optical
RRU 3G/4G/5G technology.
3G/4G/5G
RRU
3. Traffic Model of 5G Transport Network
 Increasing traffic load, more flexible flow direction and more complicated traffic scheduling are required
 The traffic flow between clouded MEC is increasing dramatically
 eX2 traffic among base stations are increased
 URLLC service with ultra-low latency requirement should be satisfied
RRU/AAU
DU
DU
RRU/AAU

CU MEC MEC
Fronthaul Mid-haul MEC

DU Access
Aggregation Core
CU/DU

MEC
RRU/AAU
MEC
MEC

Local mesh network may be applied in aggregation even access layer of 5G transport network. L3
function of metro network should move to aggregation even access Layer。
 4. Latency analysis of 5G Transport Network

Access Access Aggregation Core

RRU DU CU/MEC Core Network

Fronthaul Middlehaul+Backhaul
Transport
<100us <0.5ms service requires
Network

Latency
1~10Km 5~50Km 20~300Km
Distance
~8hops ~15hops ~5hops
Hops
1ms eV2X<1ms, end to end
uRLLC
Services

eV2X fronthaul+backhaul <1ms

eMBB 5ms~40ms
VR/AR

Latency requirements: Pizza box 1us; Chassis Box 10us;

Test result of prototypes from Huawei/ZTE/Fiberhome: Pizza box ~1us; Chassis Box ~10us;
5. Time Sync Requirement of 5G Transport Network
4G Sync 5G Sync
A. Basic radio interfaces (Whole Network): Ultra-short Frames，about ±390ns
TD-LTE: ±1.5us B. Cooperations among stations (Local): CoorapCA, CoMP etc., about ±130ns
C. 5G new services (Local): Base station positioning etc. about ±10ns

1588v2 Time Sync Transmission

Sync GM（Active）
Model Transport Network Transport Network Base
GM（Backup） (Core and Agg) (Access layer) Station

Network budget PRTC Transmission Network Base Station

4G 250ns 1000ns（including holdover ），30ns per hop，>20 hops 250ns

5G 50ns Tracing 100ns, holdover 100ns，5ns per hop，>20 hops 50ns

• Fronthaul, mid-haul, and backhaul should support time sync functions. End-to-end budget could be +/-200ns without holdover
• The multi-lane interface need be supported and BiDi modules should be used in front haul and access layer of backhaul
• Compared with 4G, innovative time source and time transmission technologies are required to improve time sync precision.
6. Slicing requirement of 5G Transport Network
• Network slicing as a Service (NSaaS): integrated transport network as a common resource and infrastructure should be
able to be sliced as different logical network slices.
• Hard and soft isolation : the slices based on TDM and the slices based on Packet should be supported. The VPN or H-
QoS can not meet the both requirements for Hard and Soft isolation.
• Nested slicing: in one dedicated slice, the new slicing can be created
Summary
 5G has many new requirements on transport network, such as architecture, bandwidth, traffic model, slicing,
latency, and time synchronization.
 5G transport needs revolution: New technology, New chips, New Boxes

Time Control/Manage
Packet Layer Link Layer
Synchronization ment

 New functions:
 L3 to the edge need  Link aggregation
carrier grade L3
 Channelization  Flexible and smart
 SR-TP(Segment  ±1.5us -> ±200ns
 TDM/Packet control/management:
Routing-Transport (without holdover)
convergence switching SDN
Profile): connection-
 New interface: FlexE
oriented L3
 Latency optimized

5G requires new transport network！

Outline

• Requirements Analysis on 5G Transport Network

• Overview of Slicing Packet Network (SPN)

•Architecture

•Key technologies

• Proposals and suggestion

Slicing Packet Network(SPN) meets 5G requirements

SPN（Slicing Packet Network）: A hierarchy that merge TDM and packet

• forwarding plane:“Segment Routing transport profile” over “Slicing Ethernet” over
“DWDM”
• control plane: SDN

Control
Private management Unified management
for connectionless for connect-oriented SDN

Hard isolation
Slicing Soft isolation
Service slicing
SR-TP

4G 5G Slicing
S
Delay Back ~50us Back ~5us
Ethernet P
haul haul
50GE 50G Access Grey
BW GE，10GE
N*100GE
optical;Aggregation&co
re colored optical
N
High accuracy
Sync. ±1.5us ±200ns
timing sync
Architecture of SPN network
 SPN （ Slicing Packet Network):New generation E2E network system, based on Slicing
Ethernet and segment routing transport profile(SR-TP), combine with DWDM and ROADM
 SPL（Slicing Packet Layer）： Packet forwarding and routing, Segment Routing and MPLS-TP will be supported
 SCL（Slicing Channel Layer）：Slicing Ethernet support 66b block cross connection and E2E channel layer OAM
 STL（Slicing Transport Layer）：compatible with Ethernet Phy and support DWDM.

L2/L3 VPN
Slicing Packet Layer
SR-TP
(SPL)
MAC
Slicing Channel Layer
(SCL) Slicing Ethernet (SE)

Slicing Transport Layer 802.3 PMD/PMA

(STL) DWDM
New requirements for SPN Chip Series
Much higher demands on the chips-Switching Capacity，Latency，MAC Quantity，Exchange Mode， Label Layers,
Power Consumption
Switching Capacity Latency MAC Quantity Exchange Label Power
Aggregation Aggregation Aggregation Mode Layers Consumption
Access Access Access
/Core /Core /Core

640G 50 100 64
40G 16 MPLS-TP >3 1
4.8T us us 128
4G
5G

6.4T >512 SR-TP

320G 1us 10us >64 >10 70%
12.8T >1K SE-TP
FlexE FlexE
Shim SPN Switch Shim
ETHM Packet ETHM
SR-TP SR-TP
AC Switch AC P
P
C C
S S
64/66B Channel 64/66B
Client Client
Block Switch Block

Working on the R&D schedule with Huawei, ZTE, Fiberhome, Nokia, Ericsson, Broadcom, Microsemi and so on.
Outline

• Requirements Analysis on 5G Transport Network

• Overview of Slicing Packet Network (SPN)

•Architecture

•Key technologies

• Proposals and suggestion

Summary
5G transport network is facing requirement on re-architecture.
• SPN for mid-haul and backhaul
• Optics for fronthaul:
 Fiber direct connection  Passive WDM  Simplified SPN/OTN

Key technologies for 5G transport network

• New Architecture and Control:

 SR-TP over Slicing Packet over DWDM  SDN
• New link layer:
 End-to-end slicing  Link aggregation  Channelization
• New packet layer:
 SR-TP  Carrier grade L3
Suggestions on the SPN Standardization
Suggestions: ITU-T SG15 lead the standardization of SPN and work together with other
SDOs to setup the overall SPN standards .

SG15 Q12/11/10: SPN Architecture, atomic functional mode and

OAM
SG15 Q9: SCL SNC protection.
SG15 Q13: The New Sync technologies
SG15 Q14: SCL and overall SPN management aspect.
SG15 Q6: Optical Aspect support Ethernet interface signal over WDM,
especially for Ethernet PHY data rate at 50Gbps.

Functions of Segment Routing for transport network

should be considered.
Thanks！
5G Requires New Transport Network
Families of usage scenarios for 5G
New Low frequency for wide area coverage
eMBB Radio Interface High frequency for Hotspot coverage
10Gbps
GB/s
communication New Service-oriented Architecture
C/U Separation
3D Video Core Network Network Slicing
5G Core Network

Cloud Control Layer User Layer

smart home Office

AR
voice Industrial
automation
smart city automatic
Telemedicine
drive

New Transport Network

mMTC URLLC 5G requires new transport network！
1M/km2 1ms
25G Optical module application will be the trend
Datacenter, wireless, access and transport network have common requirement on 25G optical module
which will be the next hot-spot in industry.
Temperature range Industrial Grade（-40~85 °C） Commerial Grade（0~70°C）
Application scenario RRU-BBU, Outdoor station Datacenter, PON, DU-SPN
Requirement
Ten million grade Ten million grade
estimate
Datacent Wireless
25GE( industrial
50G(SFP56): 100m er
25G
network
grade)：<1km
Grade: Million optical Grade: Ten million
module
industry
50G PAM4: ~20km Access Transport 50G PAM4 10km/40km
Grade: Ten million
network network
Grade: Ten million

 Datacenter, wireless, transport and PON network application scenario are complex but have common requirement,
will need to drive the industrial development together.
• DC inter-connect and RRU can share one kind of 25G DML optical module, DC inter-connect can use commercial grade,
RRU use industrial grade.
• Transport and 50G PON network need 50G PAM4 single wave-length optical interface with 10KM or 40KM long range
support, they will also need to drive the low-cost 25G EML and long-range 25G DML optical module development.
• Now the estimate price is about $300, new technology need to be used to lower the cost. The price need to be $50 at
first application price and $30 at second stage.
Slicing Packet Layer（ SPL）technology
 Slicing Packet Layer（SCL） provide per packet forwarding and routing process
 SR-TP：Segment Routing Transport Profile， transport network applications based on MPLS segment routing,
achieving service and network decoupling, supporting both connection-oriented and non-connection-oriented
services
 SDN Based L3VPN： IP routing technology based on SDN with centralized control，achieving service on
demand

SR-TP Technology SDN based L3VPN

•Real-time topology
SDN Controller collection
•Centralized routing
control
Open SBI •Standard open
interface

 Based on Segment Routing, add "bidirectional SR-TP

tunnel" and "connection-oriented OAM" features into
transport network applications：  Provide centralized routing control, flexible
① service and network decoupled, service establishment only programmable routing strategy capabilities, to
operate on the edge node, the network does not perceive, and
seamless convergence with SDN centralized control.
achieve flexible business scheduling.
② Providing "connection-oriented" and "no connection"  Reduce the complexity of SPN forwarding
pipeline, to meet the flexible connection of the 5G cloud devices by using a moderate combination of
network requirement. route-centric policies and distributed protocols.
Slicing Channel Layer（ SCL）technology
 Slicing Channel Layer（SCL） Providing low latency, hard-isolated slice channels based on L1
for multi-service.
 SC：SPN Channel，based on the Ethernet 802.3 stream, the end-to-end slice channel L1 is implemented.
 EXC：Ethernet Cross Connection，66bit block cross connection based on TDM slots
 SCO：SPN Channel Overhead，based on 802.3 code block expansion, replace IDLE code block, to achieve SPN
Channel OAM function.

802.3/FlexE SPN Channel Layer PCS 802.3/FlexE

Service pass
SPN Channel SPN Channel through
D D D D I 10G
D D D D I
10G FlexE 100G

25G D I D D I 25G
100G FlexE I D D OD SE-XC
25G
D I D D I SPN Client
I D D OD I D D I D ETH 25G

Service
SCO（SPN Channel Overhead Processor） up/down
 Slicing Transport Layer（ STL）technology
RRU/AAU 10G/25G DU
CPRI/eCPRI
DU+MEC
DU
3G/4G/5G
RRU/AAU 10G/25G
Middlehaul Aggregation
CPRI/eCPRI Access layer Core layer
layer
3G/4G/5G Fronthaul
DU
OTN

Use one fiber BIDI mode, decrease the fiber usage at One network to meet all
FH MH and BH, improve the time synchronization Mobile, Residential and
(avoid the error from fiber distance asymmetry) enterprise services

• Aggregation and core layer: Color Light to support DWDM; Two possible solutions: Direct Detection modules
and Coherent detection modules, now 100G/200G coherent modules is mature but high cost .
• Access layer: Gray light to support 50G/100G: 50GE PAM4 and 100GE PAM4 is possible solution.
• Fronthaul network: mainly use fiber direct connection, passive WDM at 4G; for 5G, multi-core fiber can be used;
SPN-Lite device (without L3 functions) also can be used for multi-service, multi-interface convergence and fulfill
the unified management on fronthaul, middlehaul and backhaul.
Considerations on Mid-haul and Backhaul Equipment
 Packet Switching and Slicing Ethernet cross connect (Required) should be supported and mutual
integrated.
 ROADM (Optional)，to achieve wavelength switching, save the optical module. It is recommended to use
low-level crossover to support static configuration only ;
 Building block design: The electrical layer and the optical layer of the Equipment can be a flexible
combination according to the application scenarios.

SPN
Electrical
Layer

SPN
Optical
Layer