Optical Communications and Networking Solutions for the Support of C-RAN in 5G Environments

Dear Colleagues,

The widespread availability of mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, has led to a quick increase in mobile data traffic over the last few years. Furthermore, based on different studies and predictions, it is possible to conclude that, beyond 2020, mobile networks will be asked to support more than 1000 times today's traffic volumes. Demands for higher mobile networks capacity, increased data rates and for a larger number of simultaneously-connected devices are just few of the requirements posed in the evolution of radio access networks. Other fundamental factors are energy saving and cost of systems, latency, spectrum availability and spectral efficiency. Naturally, one of the solutions to deal with the very high capacity and coverage demand is the strong radio site densification (e.g. through small, pico, femto cells), that could be also obtained by different deployment architectures. Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) or centralized RAN can be seen as a promising solution to deal the 5G requirements. Traditional C-RANs are organized as a three-element network: a distributed unit (DU), a central unit (CU) and a fronthaul network interconnecting CUs and DUs. The CU provides baseband signal processing functions and the DU provides the radio frequency (RF) signal transmission and reception functions. The C-RAN architecture enables Base Stations to be deployed flexibly and cost-effectively, and is capable of performance enhancement through the use of coordinated multi-point transmission and reception (CoMP). The in-phase and quadrature (IQ) samples of the baseband signals are transmitted in the fronthaul network across a common public radio interface (CPRI).

We invite investigators to submit original research articles in which solutions for the bandwidth saving in fronthaul networks are proposed and evaluated especially for the support of 5G traffic and system requirements. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Compression techniques for the reduction in bit-rate of the CPRI flows;
• Functional split between DU and CU;
• 5G fronthaul network architectures based on technologies such as Ethernet, OTN, etc..;
• QoS support in the frontaul network;
• Optical modulation systems for the fronthaul network;
• Techniques for the virtualization of the functionalities in the CU.

Prof. Dr. Vincenzo Eramo
Prof. Dr. Marco Listanti
Dr. Francesco Giacinto Lavacca
Guest Editors

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