Things You Should Know About Fronthaul

Abstract

This paper provides a review of the new fronthaul network segment that appears in centralized radio access network (C-RAN) architecture. C-RAN drivers are presented under an operational, economic, and radio point of view. The different fronthaul interfaces are briefly described as they have to be taken into account to build a fronthaul transport solution. Then, fronthaul requirements are detailed going from the technical ones to the business ones. Finally, different fronthaul solutions are presented. Perspectives for medium term evolution including fronthaul supervision are hinted as well as challenges for future mobile evolution toward 5G.