Wireless-Optical Network Convergence: Enabling the 5G Architecture to Support Operational and End-User Services
Anna Tzanakaki, Μάρκος Αναστασόπουλος, Ignacio Berberana, Dimitris Syrivelis, Paris Flegkas, Thanasis Korakis, Daniel Camps Mur, Ilker Demirkol, Jesús Gutiérrez, Eckhard Grass, Qing Jian Wei, Emmanouil Pateromichelakis, Nikola Vučić, Albrecht J. Fehske, Michael Grieger, Michael Eiselt, Jens Bartelt, Gerhard Paul Fettweis, George Lyberopoulos, Eleni Theodoropoulou · IEEE Communications Magazine · 2017
This article presents a converged 5G network infrastructure and an overarching architecture to jointly support operational network and end-user services, proposed by the EU 5G PPP project 5G-XHaul. The 5G-XHaul infrastructure adopts a common fronthaul/backhaul network solution, deploying a wealth of wireless technologies and a hybrid active/passive optical transport, supporting flexible fronthaul split options. This infrastructure is evaluated through a novel modeling. Numerical results indicate significant energy savings at the expense of increased end-user service delay.