Cell Backhaul Radio 35 ZTE: Leading R&D on 100G and Beyond 31 CMHK Partners with ZTE for LTE Microwave Backhaul Deployment Movicel: We Are Delivering Superior Value to Our Customers An interview with Movicel CEO Yon Junior Telefonica UK: Moving Beyond Traditional Services An interview with Peter Bailey, messaging and voice business manager, and Leon Veiro, LBS messaging architect of Telefonica UK Using Cloud Radio to Deliver Promises in the 4G Era Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul Tech Forum VIP Voices VOL. 15
NO. 3
ISSUE 146 JUN 2013
A Flexible Unifed Architecture for Point-to-Point Digital Microwave Radios 1 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 2 CONTENTS ZTE TECHNOLOGIES Editorial Board Chairman: Pang Shengqing Vice Chairmen: Chen Jane, Zhao Xianming, Zhu Jinyun Members: Chen Jian, Feng Haizhou, Heng Yunjun, Huang Liqing, Huang Xinming, Jiang Hua, Li Aijun, Li Guangyong, Lin Rong, Li Weipu, Lu Ping, Lu Wei, Lv Abin, Sun Zhenge, Wang Shouchen, Wang Xiaoming, Wang Xiyu, Xin Shengli, Xu Ming, Ye Ce, Yu Yifang, Zhang Shizhuang Sponsor: ZTE Corporation Edited By Shenzhen Editorial Offce, Strategy Planning Department Editor-in-Chief: Jiang Hua Executive Deputy Editor-in-Chief: Huang Xinming Editorial Director: Liu Yang Executive Editor: Yue Lihua Editors: Jin Ping, Paul Sleswick Circulation Manager: Wang Pingping Editorial Offce Address: NO. 55, Hi-tech Road South, Shenzhen, P.R.China Postcode: 518075 Tel: +86-755-26775211 Fax: +86-755-26775217 Website: wwwen.zte.com.cn/en/about/ publications Email: yue.lihua@zte.com.cn A technical magazine that keeps up with the latest industry trends, communicates leading technologies and solutions, and shares stories of our customer success Movicel is a leading mobile operator in Angola. Its networks cover 18 provinces all over the Angola. Today, one third of population is using Movicels voice or data services. ZTE Technologies recently interviewed Movicel CEO Yon Junior. He talked about the cooperation with ZTE, the challenges of operating in Angola, and Movicels strategy. Telefonica UK: Moving Beyond Traditional Services Peter Bailey, messaging and voice business manager, and Leon Veiro, LBS messaging architect of Telefonica UK talked about Telefonica UKs market strategy and challenges in upgrading their network. They also shared their experience in LBS deployment and their views on the cooperation between Telefonica UK and ZTE. Movicel: We Are Delivering Superior Value to Our Customers 28 Converged CS/IMS and IMS Hosting Solution Helps TAG Smoothly Implement VoLTE By Zhao Wenxian and Tu Jiashun 31 CMHK Partners with ZTE for LTE Microwave Backhaul Deployment By Li Lina 33 Zai n: Wi nni ng the Future by Refarming Spectrum By Li Lanqing 37 Legacy Service Inheritance in VoLTE By Jiang Yonghu and Lu Wei 35 ZTE: Leadi ng R&D on 100G and Beyond Source: Light Reading TV 13 Using Cloud Radio to Deliver Promises in the 4G Era By Zhu Xiaodong 07 Movicel: We Are Delivering Superior Value to Our Customers Reporter: Yang Chunyu 10 Telefonica UK: Moving Beyond Traditional Services Reporter: Teli Mendhir 1 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 2 16 A Flexible Unified Architecture for Point-to-Point Digital Microwave Radios By Thanh Nguyen, Ying Shen and Andrey Kochetkov 20 A Universal Architecture for Small Cell Backhaul Radio By Ying Shen and Ed Nealis 23 ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW for Intelligent Microwave Network Planning By Ren Haixia and Wang Yi 25 Carrier-Class Ethernet Microwave: The Best Choice for Mobile Backhaul By Xu Changchun VIP Voices Tech Forum Success Stories Solution Press Clipping Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul ZTE News ZTE Wins Telkom Indonesia Four- Year IPTV Network Construction Contract ZTE Passes 100 Million Unit Milestone in Broadband CPE Shipments 10 Ap r i l 2 013 , Sh e n z h e n ZTE a n nounced t hat i t ha s been r anked No. 1 for bot h FTTH CPE revenues and shipments for 2012 by telecommunications market research frm Infonetics. According to an Q4 2012 Infonetics market share and forecast report entitled, Broadband CPE and Subscribers: PON, FTTH, Cable, and DSL, ZTE ranked No. 1 for both FTTH CPE revenue and shipments in the past year, with a global share of 19.8 percent and 30.9 percent, respectively. ZTE also shipped more than 100 million broadband CPE devices by the end of 2012, the achievement cements ZTEs place as a global leader in fxed network operations and large-scale FTTH applications. Broadband proliferation and rapid internet development has led to a surge in user demand in recent years. ZTE is dedicated to cooperation with operators to provide home users wit h end-to- end ser vice plat for ms, management platforms, access networks and home terminals. The companys products offer carrier-class QoS assurance, decrease TCO, reduce energy consumption and ensure superior user experiences. 9 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE has announced that it signed a four- year IPTV net work const r uction contract with Telkom Indonesia. According to the contract, ZTE will construct, operate, and maintain a low-bit-rate IPTV net work for Telkom from 2013 to 2016. ZTE will provide Telkom Indonesia with IPTV system equipment including high definition (HD), standard definition (SD) and low bit rate devices, as well as set-top box (STB). On the systems side, ZTE will operate, maintain, and host equipment, and provide end-to- end network optimization. ZTEs I PTV c on s t r uc t i on model helps guarantee and develop IPTV multi-screen business at low bandwidth. FEC fast error correction and ARQ automatic retransmission request are used i n packet loss compensation for live broadcast and video on-demand. 10 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE announced it has won a smart electric meter turnkey project with Angola EDEL. Under t he agreement , ZTE wi l l provide complete smart meter solutions t o EDEL, i ncl ud i ng e qu i pme nt , const ruction, personnel t raining and OAM. ZTEs customized smart meter solution supports multiple tariffs and has enriched functionality. It prevents el ect r i ci t y bi l l ar r ear s, i mpr oves management eff iciency and reduces oper at ional cost s of manual met er readi ng. The ZTE communicat ions module for t hi s project i ncl udes a power line carrier that supports remote centralized meter reading. As a reliable partner of the electrical power industry, ZTE provides complete smart grid solutions, said Wang Yiwen, CTO of ZTE Government and Enterprise Network in the Middle East and Africa. We are proud of the recent partnership with EDEL because it illustrates how ZTEs technology is green, reliable, and effcient. EDEL is responsible for electricity dist ribut ion and supply i n Angolas capital, Luanda, and has a 65 percent market share. ZTE Wins Angola EDEL Smart Electricity Meter Project 3 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 4 ZTE News 10 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE is pleased to win the Best Asian Service Platform of the Year prize at the Broadband TV Connect Infovision Awards Asia ceremony in Hong Kong. The company clinched one of the worlds most authoritative prizes for broadband multimedia services for its innovative IPTV service platform solution for Jiangsu Telecom. The award followed other top industry accolades earned by ZTEs IPTV division. We want to thank the Broadband TV Connect Infovision Awards judging panel for this award, said Fang Hui, vice president at ZTE. ZTE is dedicated to developing innovative multimedia services and offering the most advanced technologies to our customers to enable them to stay ahead of market trends. The award will empower us to accelerate the development of superior IPTV solutions, generating more value to customers globally with innovative concept and excellent delivery. The Broadband TV Connect Infovision Awards Asia ceremony, taking place at the Broadband Asia & TV Connect Asia conference in Hong Kong, rewards outstanding technology solutions developed in broadband and connected entertainment services. The Broadband Asia conference is part of the series of Broadband World Forum (BBWF) events organized by the IEC and mainstream operators around the world. ZTE Successfully Tests TD-LTE One- Line Base Stations 9 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE announced it has completed successful testing of its TD-LTE one-line base stations solution. The base stations are t he i ndust r ys f i rst TD-LTE commercial solution that supports an LTE-advanced relay function, a key step in commercial base station use and global 4G development. This new solution was tested by the Guangzhou arm of China Mobile. Guangzhou has Chinas largest TD- LTE network and is home to extremely complex coverage scenarios that pose great challenges for networking. ZTE tested its one-line base stations in three typical scenariosa blind spot, outdoor covering indoor and outdoor remote coverage. The test data shows that deployment of the TD-LTE one-line base stations can improve performance on cell edges by 200 percent and edge coverage by 50 percent. The one-line base station solution has only one external power cord, baseband, RF, and an antenna unit in a container that can be easily carried by a single person. Its protection level i s as high as I P65, which satisfies deployment outdoor scenario requirements. This solution reduces energy consumption for net work coverage, helping operators build green TD-LTE networks. 24 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE announced it has been ranked No. 2 in the world in WLAN access point shipments. According to the March 19 Gartner- published, Market Share: Enterprise WLAN Equipment, Worldwide, 4Q12 and 2012, ZTE held No. 2 world market share in the WLAN coordinated access point category at 12 percent after it shipped 1 million units during the year. ZTE Gains No. 2 World Ranking for WLANs Shipped ZTEs IPTV Solution Wins Best Asian Service Platform of the Year Award 3 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 4 ZTE News 5 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 6 ZTE First-Quarter Net Profit Rises as Operational Review Drives Rebound 23 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE has launched an iPad videoconferencing s o f t w a r e a p p l i c a t i o n a n d a videoconferencing system partnership with Swedish distribution firm Wiktors at the Ljud, Ljus och Bildmssan (LLB) exhibition in Stockholm, Sweden. The ZTE ZXV10 i See T100i i s a multimedia soft ware terminal that complies with the H.323 protocol and provides a brand-new experience i n convenient communication, and easy collaboration for tablet PC users. iPad users can download and install it through the AppStore, to easily and freely enjoy video communications with any H.323 protocol-based conference terminal or multipoint control unit (MCU). ZTE Partners with Wiktors at LLB Exhibition company achieve a more optimal product and customer mix, and an improved cost structure. The company achieved combined savings of RMB 350 million in selling, administration and research costs in the frst quarter compared with a year earlier. The results of the operational review, combined with the disposal gain, allowed the company to overcome the negative effects from currency fuctuation and asset write-downs to record higher net proft. Looking ahead to the next reporting period, equipment investment by the telecommunications industry is expected to be focused on broadband conversion of wireless and wireline networks and the construction of ancillary facilities. The Group will commit its efforts to product innovation and solution-based operations wit h a st rong focus on mai nst ream products and improve R&D efficiency. The strategy for populous nations and mainstream carriers will be reinforced, as we seek to concentrate on markets i n which we cl ai m st rengt hs whi le vigorously expanding in the government, enterprise and service segments. The Group will continue to implement the settlement system to facilitate resource management and control, so as to refine cost management and enhance operating effciency. 26 April 2013, Shenzhen ZTE reported a 35.9% increase in net profit in the first-quarter, as the companys ope r at i ona l r evi ew c ont i nue d t o deliver improvements in cash flow and proftability. Net proft attributable to shareholders of the parent company rose to RMB 205 million in the first quarter, and basic earnings per share increased to RMB 0.06. Operating cash flow in the first quarter signifcantly improved compared to a year earlier. ZTEs gross profit margin has expanded for two consecutive quarters, as the company strengthened efforts to control costs. Revenue dropped 2.8% to RMB 18.09 billion. Since the second half of 2012, ZTE has stringently enforced measures to focus resources on key products and markets, target higher-margin contracts, i mprove cash f low management and reduce cost s, under t he companys operational review. This has helped the 35.9% ZTE News 5 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 6 ZTE Cloud-Based Education Sharing Service Debuts at Arab Summit 7 May 2013, Shenzhen ZTE announced the debut of the Education Shari ng Ser vice (ESS), its cloud- based education solution, at the Arab Education Summit in Amman, Jordan. ESS i nt egr at es i nst r uct i onal design, cont ent and educat ional technologies to provide an extensive, stable and effective physical network. The resource is targeted at Arabic speakers and is based on ZTEs cloud- channels-terminals pattern, which allows simultaneous access to multiple network resources. This eliminates constraints on time and space, and creates an improved experience for students and teachers. ESS provides a range of products of di f ferent si zes, such as smar t classroom, smart campus, and regional cloud platforms. It also provides a variety of services that cover different phases of informatization of education. This enables seamless management of all elements from infrastructure to appl icat ions. In addit ion, ZTE a l s o pr ov i de s c us t omi z e d a nd individualized solutions for various needs i n K-12 educat ion, higher education, vocational education and corporate training. ZTEs education solutions have been successfully implemented at the national level in 11 countries, such as China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Turkey. 29 April 2013, Richardson, TX ZTE USA cel ebr at es i t s 15t h Anni ver sar y i n t he U. S. market . As the No. 5 handset vendor in the U.S. market, the companys success is the result of its history of being t he accel er at or t hat pl aces great communications technology into the hands of end users. ZTE USA entered the U.S. market in 1998 with modest expectations. Today, the company works with all of the major U.S. carriers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-mobile, MetroPCS, US Cellular, Cricket and TracFone. ZTE USA Excels in U.S. Market as It Accelerates Smartphone Adoption 2 May 2013, Vienna, Austria ZTE is to provide a CS/IMS converged voice network for Telekom Austria Group. ZTE is realizing this project under collaboration with Kapsch Carrier Com (KCC), a well experienced local system integrator. Under the agreement, ZTE will deploy a mobile circuit-switched softswitch network to replace the existing mobile core network for Telekom Austria Group in its northern operational districts, including Austria, Slovenia and Liechtenstein. ZTE will also build a new IMS network in these branches. The converged voice net work for Telekom Austria Group is based on a cloud solution helping to reduce TCO. Using an IMS hosting solution, the centralized IMS core will be deployed to serve various branches of the Group independently, enabling the rapid launch of new services and giving the Telekom Austria Group centralized management and control of its networks. The newly-built IMS network will support various scenarios including RCSe and VoLTE to enable full convergence of the operators fixed and mobile networks. The IMS RCSe service will provide a carrier-class multimedia experience to users, helping the operator to deal with the challenges from internet-based OTT providers. The IMS network also helps to achieve standard VoLTE service. Telekom Austria Group Selects ZTE as Sole Supplier to Deploy Converged Voice Network VIP Voices Movicel CEO Yon Junior 7 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 8 Reporter: Yang Chunyu VIP Voices 7 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 8 M ovicel is a leading mobile oper at or i n Angol a. The company has grown rapidly since its founding in 2002. Movicel launched its first LTE network in May 2012 and became the only operator to concurrently run four mobile networks CDMA, GSM, UMTS a nd LTE. Movicels networks cover 18 provinces all over the Angola. Today, one third of population is using Movicels voice or data services. ZTE Technologies recently interviewed Movicel CEO Yon Junior. Q: You have worked for Brazil Tel ecom and Tel efoni ca. What are the challenges of operating in Angola compared to Brazil? A: Challenges in Angola and Brazil are pretty much the same: providing good services, fair prices and universal access while also ensuring a fruitful return for shareholders. Good services and reasonable prices are vital to attracting customers. Universal access should also be considered. The environment in the two countries is actually very similar; the authorities have a good vision of the role of their regulatory bodies. Q: The aver age mont hl y net i ncome has greatl y i ncreased since you joined Movicel. What are the key drivers behind Movicels success? What specifc measures have you taken? A: Thank you for your appreciation. The success Movicel has achieved today can be attributed to our whole team. As the Chinese saying goes, When people are of one mind and heart, they can move Mt. Tai. Our success is a credit to everyone involvedwhich includes defnitely ZTE. I think the key drivers of Movicels success are quality, coverage and network capacity for both data and voice services. We also have an easy-to- He talked about the cooperation with ZTE, the challenges of operating in Angola, and Movicels strategy. Q: What made you join Movicel one and a half years ago? A: An g o l a i s o n e o f t h e mo s t energet ic and excit i ng count r ies i n t he world, and telecommunicat ions is a key part of Angolas present and f ut ure. There is great pot ent ial for telecommunications development in this country. In our industry, working for Movicel is a landmark i n ones career. I joined Movicel to deliver the best telecommunications services to the Angolan people. It is my duty to help in the present and future development of this country. VIP Voices Q: What do you expect from the cooperati on bet ween ZTE and Movicel? A: ZTE is a good partner for Movicel. Although we are just at the beginning of our journey together, there is still much more to come. I expect we will cooperate very well and achieve win-win outcomes in the future. Q: Mo v i c e l a n d Z T E h a v e cooper at ed on on- t he - j ob training. How is this going? Has it been helpful for Movicel? A: Every company must have this on- the-job training. It is important for our employees to know how to perfor m properly. Good on-t he-job t rai ni ng helps improve our effciency and image. Cooperation between Movicel and ZTE on this project is going very well. Every step is under control. More than 90% of our team are locals, which makes us very proud. Training is a must, and ZTE delivers extraordinary well. Q: What is Movicels strategy for the next three years? A: Movicel has developed well and fast. We are now number one in the hearts of Angolans. This encourages us t o consi st ent l y per for m bet t er t han expect ed and del iver super ior value to our customers. In t he next three years, we will maintain our fast growt h and t ake back our leadi ng market position. 9 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 10 understand product portfolio supported by easy-to-fnd point of sales. Q: What is the status of Movicels 4G net wor k? I s t her e a new deployment plan? A: Movicels 4G network has received widespread attention. Financial Times feat ured t he net work i n it s special i ssue about Angol a. Not long ago, BBC also interviewed us. Our status has i mproved a lot. We have made great cont r ibut ions t o 4G wi reless communications and created history. Next , we wi l l do our best t o of fer satisfactory products and services and expand our business. Q: How has ZTE contributed to Movicels growth? A: ZTE is a great partner for us. Movicel would not be in the position it is without the bold part nership with ZTE. You company has played an important role in Movicels growth in recent years. It has pr ovi ded onboar d, cut t i ng- edge technology and has a dedicated, commit ted team that has a sense of urgency. ZTE is our partner of choice. Thank you ZTE! VIP Voices Peter Bailey (L), messaging and voice business manager of Telefonica UK and Leon Veiro (R), LBS messaging architect of Telefonica UK Reporter: Teli Mendhir Moving Beyond Traditional Services Telefonica UK: 9 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 10 VIP Voices T el efoni ca UK i s t he second biggest mobile operator in the UK. The company is always exploring new ways to expand their operations and business. Telefonica UK is one of the leading mobile operators who have been able to capitalize on real time location information of its subscribers to generate revenues from location based advertising. ZTE has cooperated with Telefonica UK on the passive data collector (PDC) to deliver this capability. As part of the successful del i ve r y of PDC, ZTE wa s a l s o awarded the GMLC contract. Recently, ZTE Technologies interviewed Peter Bailey and Leon Veiro of Telefonica UK. Peter is the messaging and voice business manager, and Leon is the LBS messaging architect. They talked about Telefonica UKs market strategy and challenges in upgrading their network. They also shared their experience in LBS deployment and their views on the cooperation between Telefonica UK and ZTE. Q: Can you introduce Telefonica UK and its business? A: Telefonica UK is a leading provider of mobi l e and broadband servi ces to customers and enterprises across t he Uni t ed Ki ngdom. We have our headquarters in Slough, Berkshire, and we have customer service centres in Leeds, Glasgow, and Bury and Preston Brook, Cheshire. We have 23 million customers and 450 retail stores. The company i s part of Tel efoni ca UK Europe, and the UK operations are a leader in non-voice services, including text, media messaging, games, music and video. Telefonica UK also offer connections via GPRS, HSDPA, 3G and WLAN. Q: How long have you worked at Telefonica UK? What has made you stay there? Peter Bailey: I worked for Telefonica UK for 17 years. Ive stayed there because i t s a company t hat real l y appreciates its people. The company has given me so many opportunities to develop myself and progress my career. Leon Veiro: I worked in the company for 25 years and concur with Peter. Telefonica UK has provided excellent opportunities to develop my career and exposed me to a range of projects and technologies that have satisfed my thirst for knowledge. Q: Why d i d Te l e f o n i c a UK decide to upgrade the original equipment? A: This was driven by our need to deliver higher numbers of location lookups and greater volumes of location intelligence without affecting core network cost or ease of paging a mobile. Q: What did you expect to achieve after the upgrade? A: We expected the network to allow Telefonica UK to lead the industry in location-based advertising. The network will have lower cost-per-mobile location lookup and significantly higher lookup volumes, moving from the low hundreds per second to many thousands per second. It will provide location intelligence and push the locations of a specified subscriber when they have moved into 11 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 12 a specified area. Also, it will be able to maintain location accuracy. Q: Why did you decide to partner with ZTE on the project? What do you think of ZTEs technical sol ut i ons a nd e ngi ne e r i ng performance? A: The new LBS solution was initiated with an RFP process. There were a few other vendors with similar solutions, but ZTE fitted with our requirements, and t hey had previ ous experi ence implementing a similar solution in another T1 network. Their knowledge of and experience with LBS products has been impressive, and their engineering has been fantastic. On occasions, we have noticed that ZTE could beneft from strengthening its delivery processes for a Tier 1 customer and better managing necessary changes in this area. We have worked with ZTE to close any gaps, 11 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 12 and we are pleased to say that ZTE has been receptive to our feedback and has markedly improved. Q: Have you encountered any problems with the network? If so, how have you solved them? A: Of course we have had to overcome some initial diffculties. Integrating eight internal interfaces was complex and required close collaboration between many parts of Telefonica UK. We were challenged by language barriers between core ZTE developers and Telefonica UK. This was alleviated by ZTE providing an English front end. There were also evol vi ng requi rement s. The i ni t i al contracted evolved signifcantly over the delivery cycle. Although Telefonica UK ended up with a far superior solution, teams were challenged from technical, financial, and delivery perspectives. However, there were positives, such as the great collaboration between ZTE, Telefonica UK, and O2 Media. A great deal of hard work was put in by all parties. Q: How i s the proj ect running now? What is your next priority? A: The platform was completed ahead of schedule. Although there were a few teething issues, the PDC has been stable for some months and has great capability. The output has been throttled to 15% of the traffic present. This is not a PDC issue but more a transport and back-end challenge. Next on the agenda is to integrate ZTE GMLC into the PDC iVAS platform. It is imperative that we improve location accuracy. Q: Has Telefonica UK deployed any LBS services? What are the prospects of LBS in the UK? A: The flagship LBS service that the PDC is responsible for is the You Are Here O2 Media product. This pushes location-based advertising to more than 10 million subscribers. In essence, O2 Media will be able to fence certain areas of the Telefonica UKs network and will be notified in real time via the PDC if an O2 Medias subscriber physically moves into the fenced location. Location- based advertising will then be triggered, and an MMS or SMS will be sent to the subscriber. An example of this might be discounted coffee offered by a nearby caf when the customer moves into the vicinity of a caf. Q: What i s Tel ef oni ca UK s strategy to enhance its position in the future? A: Telefonica UK will continue to deliver great telecoms services to its customers and will also use its trusted brand to diversify out of the traditional markets into areas such as banking, heath care, advertising, insurance, and security. VIP Voices Tech Forum I n recent years, mobile broadband has become an essential part of daily life, and mobile communication has entered the cloud era. As mobile technology evolves towards LTE, many operators are having to manage 2G, 3G, and LTE networks simultaneously and are facing challenges such as interference between networks. To fulfll their promises to end users, operators need help to effciently deploy and manage their complex networks. The LTE Forum at MWC 2013 was sponsored by ZTE. At the forum, mobile operators, service providers, and providers of infrastructure solutions sat down together to discuss various LTE challenges and solutions. ZTE brought to the table its cloud radio solution, which involves using the cloud for mobile access, mobile coordination, and mobile management so that the operators network resources are used optimally. This allows the operator to adapt to complex transmission scenarios and keep their promises in the LTE era. Using Cloud Radio
to Deliver Promises in the 4G Era
By Zhu Xiaodong Zhu Xiaodong, CTO of European Marketing, ZTE 13 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 14 4Gs Promise Confucius once said, If a person cannot keep their promise, then I dont know what they can do. What does 4G promise? In the 2G era, the promise was voice calls anywhere, anytime. This promise was kept. In the 3G era, the promise has been mobile data anytime, anywhere. This promise has also been kept. In the 4G era, what is the promise? Is it 100 Mbps LTE and 1 Gbps LTE-A? No. High peak download speeds are features, not promises. Promises of 100 Mbps or 1 Gbps cannot be kept. 3GPP claims that the promise of LTE is truly global mobile broadband. There are two Tech Forum scheduler can be used.
Cloud Pooling ZTE offered cl oud pool i ng l ast year. We worked with China Mobile to build many trial networks. BBU sites were centralized, and at the remote site, only fber was used to connect with the remote radio head. In this way, rooms did not have to be leased at each radio site, and capex and opex were reduced. With centralized BBUs, resources can be allocated in a centralized way to handle tidal traffic. Inter-site CoMP can be implemented easily with cloud pooling, and this greatly improves customer experience at the cell edge. Cloud Super Cell If small cells are deployed in a macr o cel l , CoMP does not wor k very well. Therefore, cloud super cell technology is introduced. With this technology, many low-power nodes Cloud Radio: Delivering the 4G Promise This year, ZTE launched a cloud radio solution. Cloud radio is not a single technology; it is a combination of many technologies. One of these technologies is C-RAN (cloud pooling). If fiber is available, then BBUs can be centralized so that traffc can be handled in a centralized way. Another of these technologies is cloud P-Bridge. If small cells have been deployed but there is not enough fiber, CAT5 copper lines can be used for cloud pooling. Because small cells have smaller r adi us es , i nt er f er ence i s s ever e. Therefore, a virtual super cell can be built that comprises many small cells or even one macro cell. With a super cell, the same cell ID is used for many small cells so that interference is reduced and customer experience is improved. If an operator does not have enough fiber, a cloud coordinator and cloud 13 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 14 aspects to this promise: First, LTE is global. UMTS in Europe, CDMA in the US, and even TD-SCDMA in China all converge to LTE. So LTE is truly global. Second, LTE i s ubi qui t ous mobi l e broadband, and a certain amount of bandwidth is reserved for everybody. With mobile broadband, you need to provide speeds of at least 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps anywhere, anytime. Current Reality People sometimes say that LTE networks are capable of 20 Mbps to 60 Mbps , a nd wi t h s pe e ds s uc h as these, the LTE promise is kept. Howe ve r , s uc h s pe e ds a r e onl y achi eved i n cer t ai n l ocat i ons and under cer t ai n condi t i ons. What i f more and more people come onto the network or a network is expanded to another area? Currently, if you are near a base station or traffic is light, bandwidth is very high. However, if the load is high and you are near an edge, customer experience drops dramatically. Network capacity does not change in proportion to customer traffc. Where t here i s no coverage, mobi l e dat a might be needed. More importantly, traffic moves as people move. How can we ensure that capacity changes in proportion to traffc? Tech Forum when a user moves from one cell to another. Throughput at the cell edge can also be greatly improved. This technology is also available now and has been simulated and tested in real networks. Simulation and Trial Results If an operator has dark fiber/OTN with very high bandwidth and very short latency (below 100 s), cell- edge throughput can be increased by 94% compared to that in a traditional network. For IP-RAN or IP fiber, if the bandwidth is less than 1 Gbps and latency is below 4 ms, more than 83% increase in cell-edge throughput is obtainable. If an operator has no fiber but has microwave with latency below 100 ms, throughput can be increased by 30% using cloud scheduling. For about 5% of cell-edge users, in some circumstances, throughput can be tripled.
The Key Takeaway The promise of 4G is truly global mobile broadband, and this promise must be kept. Traffc grows very quickly every year. By 2020, there will be at least a hundredfold increase in traffic. A traditional network design is no longer feasible. ZTEs cloud radio solution helps operators fulfll their 4G promise in any kind of backhaul situation. are used as one cell so that there is no handover and interference between cells (even if the cells radiuses are very short). When super cells are combined with other new technologies, such as carrier aggregation, mobile traffic can be handled very smoothly. Small cells are used not only for hotspots but also for high-speed trains. Super cells can handle high-speed handovers without dropout s, even when t he t rai n i s running at 250 km/h. Cloud P-bridge CAT5 copper lines are already present in many indoor environments. How can CAT5 be used with C-RAN technology? ZTE invented P-Bridge, which compresses the CPRI interface below 1 Gbps (usually around 800 900 Mbps). In this way, CPRI data can be transported through copper lines. With local C-RAN, capacity can be significantly increased, the network can be easily installed, and capex and opex can be dramatically reduced. ZTE has already tested this technology with SoftBank, and it is available now. Cloud Coordination Many operat ors, especi al l y i n Europe, do not have enough dark fiber. This means they have to share fiber with other operators or share fiber with fixed networks or even enterprise services. IP fiber has two problems. First, unlike dark fiber, IP fber is usually below 1 Gbps (roughly 400500 Mbps). This is not very fast. More importantly, the latency of the IP fiber can be as high as 4 ms, and C-RAN technology cannot really be used with this latency. ZTE therefore developed a new technology called cloud co-ordination that can be used for soft bit combining. To reduce the need for bandwidth, the after-process data (soft bits) is used, not the raw data (CPRI data). We combine the soft bits for two eNode Bs. With this kind of coordination, throughput and capacity for cell edge users can still be improved, even when there is only the IP backhaul network.
Cloud Scheduling Many operators still have very limited fiber and use microwave for LTE backhaul. The good news is that ZTE has devel oped a t echnol ogy called centralized scheduler. Scheduler equipment is added at the central offce side, and X2+ interface is used to connect the centralized scheduler and eNode Bs. Only scheduler information is sent to the centralized scheduler, so bandwidth needs are low. Moreover, there is no need for very short latency. The cloud scheduler allows resources from one cell to be added to another ZTEs cloud radio solution helps operators fulfill their 4G promise in any kind of backhaul situation. 15 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 2 Thanh Nguyen received his BE and ME degrees from the University of Electro- Communications, Tokyo. In January 2011, he joined the Microwave Product R&D Group at ZTE USA. Prior to that, he was a senior microwave radio systems engineer at Harris Corporation and Aviat Networks. He worked for more than 20 years at Bell- Northern Research (BNR) and Nortel Networks as a research scientist and later a senior manager responsible for systems design and development of high-capacity SONET/SDH microwave radios. He received the Order of Excellence for Technical Achievement from president of Northern Telecom Canada. By Thanh Nguyen, Ying Shen and Andrey Kochetkov Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul 1 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 16 A Flexible Unified Architecture
for Point-to-Point Digital Microwave Radios mounted indoor radio units. Bulky elliptical waveguides had to be used to connect these units to antennas on a tower or rooftop. Industry later devised a split-mount radio system comprising an indoor unit (IDU) and outdoor unit (ODU), both of which are mount ed ont o t he back of t he antenna or connected to the antenna usi ng a shor t wavegui de. Today, industry is gravitating towards an all outdoor radio unit (AOU) mounted on the back of the antenna. These Introduction 4G wireless networks are the next wave of mobile multimedia networks, and 4G LTE i s f as t becomi ng a reality. The backhaul point-to-point microwave radio is a key part of a 4G LTE network and is important to the overall success of the network. Point-to-point microwave radios have gone f r om bei ng al l - i ndoor r adi os t o bei ng s pl i t - mount and out door radi os. In t he past , most microwave radios comprised rack- Figure 1. ODU block diagram. ODU to compensate cable loss, and it is bypassed in the AOU application. The second detector is used to detect the level of the power amplifier (PA) and also for alarm purposes in both applications. It supports wide filter bandwidths for digital predistortion (DPD). Open loop DPD parameters are characterized through calibration and then applied to the modem look- up table (LUT) to correct the non- linearity of the PA. It has a PA bias control to reduce the bias when the power level is low. It supports RF loopback for self- diagnosis. It supports on-board local frequency reference. Alternatively, it supports a reference from the digital board in the AOU or IDU for future hitless and coherent applications. Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul 17 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 18 AOUs contain the RF components as well as the circuitry for tributary i nt er f aces , modem, and net wor k management. In a 4G network rollout, operators want t hei r mi cr owave equi pment to be scalable and interchangeable and to share common elements for all capacities and frequency bands. From the vendor s perspective, an archi t ect ure t hat support s vari ous pl at f or ms wi t h as many common denomi nat or s as possi bl e i s al so highly preferable. This has become a key design requirement for point-to- point microwave radio. Here we give an overview of design commonalities in transceiver architecture, mechanical c onc e pt , a nt e nna i nt e r f a c e a nd duplexer, and software and production test flow. Common Transceiver Fig. 1 shows a traditional split radio with an IDU, ODU, and antenna. An IDU typically comprises a modem, mux circuits, a controller, and a power module. The ODU up-converts the IF signal received from the IDU into an RF signal. The ODU then amplifes the RF signal before sending it to the antenna. The RF signal received from the antenna is down-converted to an IF signal and passed through a multistage gain control circuit before being sent back to the IDU. An AOU integrates modem and network functionalities with IF and RF functionalities. IF and RF signal processing is similar to that in an ODU; therefore, a transceiver that is common to both platforms is a logical design requirement. Such a transceiver has the following characteristics: It supports both I/Q interface for the AOU and TX IF interface for the ODU. It has two detectors in the transmitter chain. The frst detector is placed in the DC Modem/ Mux/ Controller/ PWR NMS IDU STM-1 LMT E1 GbE Cable Mux Circuitry Power Amplifer Duplexer Low-Noise Amplifer ODU RSSI Up Converter Controller DC/DC Converter Down Converter Figure 2. The ODU and AOU. Antenna ODU AOU WG Ext. Duplexer Duplexer Transceiver Transceiver Interface Card Digital Card Antenna Common Mechanical Concept Fig. 2 shows the ODU and AOU. The t r ans cei ver i s mount ed t o a casting for heat sinking. The interface card is mounted to the same casting as the transceiver. The transceiver and i nt er f ace car d ar e connect ed through a pair of mating connectors. One connector is installed on the top of the interface card, and the other i s i nst al l ed on t he bot t om of t he transceiver. The AOU physical cross-section has the same concept. The transceiver i s mount ed t o a cast i ng f or heat sinking (as in the ODU). In the AOU, the digital card is mounted to its own casting. The transceiver has a dual footprint for the connector: A footprint on the bottom is used in the ODU, and another on the top is used in the AOU. A flexible circuit is used in the AOU to bridge the gap between the connectors of the digital card and the transceiver. By simply relocating the connector, the ODU and AOU have the same transceiver. Common Duplexer for the ODU and AOU The transmit and receive ports of a duplexer connect to the transmit and receive ports of a transceiver. Because the transceiver and duplexer are common to the ODU and AOU, t he connect i on bet ween t he t wo i s al so common. In t he ODU, t he common dupl exer common por t ext ends f r om a hol e i n t he ODU e n c l o s u r e a n d c o n n e c t s t o t h e antenna. For an AOU, a waveguide ext ensi on i s added t o br i dge t he distance between the duplexer and the antenna. Common Antenna Interface and Common Mounting Mechanics The common port of a duplexer connect s t o t he ant enna. I t pas s transmit and receive signals between the antenna and the ODU and AOU. Thi s connect i on i s a wavegui de connection. For an ODU, the antenna feed mates with the duplexer through an opening in the casting of the common duplexer port. For an AOU, the antenna feed mates to the waveguide extension which mates to the duplexer. Both the Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul 17 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 18 Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul other modules that are not controlled by RF components control software via an inter-task communication mechanism (in the case of an AOU). bandwidth and modulation-dependent data is stored separately from the RF component control software. This data is stored in the form of bandwidth/ modulation profiles that can be updated separately using software. Each frequency band has its own set of bandwidth/modulation profles, and the RF component control software does not need to be changed when hardware with a new frequency band is introduced. Common Test Flow A common test flow is used for bot h ODU a nd AOU. The ODU has a duplexer, transceiver (TRX), i n t e r f a c e ( I NFC) mo d u l e , a n d ODU and AOU castings have four mounting posts of identical dimensions so that the same antenna can be used on both radio units. Common Software Common s of t war e i s us ed t o cont rol RF hardware and provi de a ge ne r i c i nt e r f a c e f o r s y s t e m configuration. The software design has the following common features for both ODU and AOU: application modules are isolated from the operation system by using an OS abstraction layer. Software for controlling RF components can be based on different operation systems. a gener i c i nt er f ace i s used t o communicate with an IDU via a telemetry channel (in the case of an ODU) or is used to communicate with 19 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 20 R F
C o m p o n e n t s
C o n t r o l
S o f t w a r e Adapter Database Application Modules OS Abstract Layer Operation System Loops Control Synt he sizer Control Parameters Monitor Drivers RF Hardware IDU Software AOU Software Figure 3. RF component control software block diagram. ODU me c ha ni c s . The dupl e xe r, TRX and I NFC f i r s t go t hr ough t hei r own modul e pas s / f ai l t es t s t a t i ons . The n, t he TRX, I NFC and ODU mechanics are integrated into a radio frequency unit (RFU). Thi s uni t undergoes RF and DPD cal i brat i on and i s t hen i nt egrat ed wi t h a dupl exer so t hat i t i s now dependent on a frequency band. It then goes through a final ODU test f l ow. The AOU s har es t he s ame TRX and dupl exer wi t h t he ODU and has a similar test flow. Summary ODU and AOU radio platforms c a n h a v e a f l e x i b l e , u n i f i e d architecture by exploiting common design elements in radio hardware, software, and test flow. This design c ons e r ve s va l ua bl e a r e a on t he transceiver and allows the transceiver size to be minimized. Cost is also s a v e d b y r e d u c i n g t h e s i z e o f mechanical components. The use of a common transceiver, duplexer, and antenna greatly reduces the number of uni que component s t hat must be desi gned, t est ed, and st ocked. This significantly improves time to market and minimizes the need for design resources. Greater volumes have been passing through common ma nuf a c t ur i ng a s s e mbl i e s , a nd greater attention has been paid to the economics of scale. Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul By Ying Shen and Ed Nealis A Universal Architecture for Small Cell Backhaul Radio Ying Shen received his PhD from McMaster University, Canada, in 1993. He was elected an IEEE senior member in 1997 and joined ZTE USA as a site manager of the North Carolina R&D Center in 2011. Over the past 20 years, he has held senior management positions at Harris Corporation, Harris Stratex, and Aviat Networks. Dr. Shen has published more than 50 papers, and he currently holds or has applied for more than 35 US patents. He has led many design teams that have released and responsible for at least 120 various products such as RF/microwave chips, devices, modules, subsystems and systems into mass production for frequency range from 2 GHz to 110 GHz. On numerous occasions, Dr. Shen has been a reviewer and session chairman for international conferences on microwave communications. Background Demand f or mobi l e dat a i s i n soaring worldwide, and the boom is just beginning. Small cells, carrier WiFi, and backhaul are the top three solutions alongside backbone fber networks that will support this mobile data explosion. Small-cell base stations will typically be deployed in addition to the existing macro layer. The key requirements for small-cell backhaul will be low total cost ownership (TCO) fast deployment and installation minimal regulation coordinated frequencies ubiquitous coverage in hotspots and in line-of-sight (LOS) and non line of sight (NLOS) environments. Backhaul is a key challenge. The top three small-cell backhaul candidates are fber, NLOS sub 6 GHz MIMO, and millimeter wave point-to-point (PtP) LOS radios at 60 GHz or E-bands. There is no single solution, and the combination of these technologies depends on cell location, coverage size, and capacity requirements. Here, we describe a universal architecture for small- cell backhaul radio when the backhaul needs to use the wireless connection. Universal Small-Cell Backhaul Radio Architecture The t op t hree requi rement s for 19 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 20 Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul Data and PWR POE and Switching Sub 6 2x2 MIMO Modem 60GHz/E-band Modem 60GHz/E-band TRX CPU EMC DC/DC Sync E/1588 References Network Processor FPGA EPLD/Flash/ EEprom TRY #4 TRY #3 TRY #2 TRY #1 Figure 1. Universal small-cell backhaul radio architecture. Figure 2. Proposed dual LOS and NLOS small-cell backhaul radio. smal l -cel l backhaul are l ow cost , e a s y i ns t a l l a t i on a nd LOS a nd NLOS coverage. If the link distance i s a maxi mum of a f ew hundr ed met er s, maxi mum avai l abi l i t y is 99.99%, and street-level light poles and utility poles are used, 5 GHz and 60 GHz are the most effective bands, respectively, for NLOS and LOS small- cell backhaul applications. 5 GHz is a sub 6 GHz band, and 60 GHz is an unlicensed band that has unique oxygen absorption characteristics for frequency reuse. It also provides wide spectrum availability. Fig. 1 shows a universal NLOS and LOS small-cell backhaul radio architecture. The data and DC power are obtained directly from the small cell. There are two separate data channels: one goes to a sub 6 GHz NLOS channel, and the other goes to a 60 GHz/E-band LOS channel. In normal operation, t he s ub 6 GHz NLOS channel and 60 GHz/E-band LOS channel work simultaneously and provide maximum throughput. If the sub 6 GHz or 60 GHz/ E-band channel does not work because of in-band interference, blockage, multipath fading, or hardware failure, the system provides automatic hitless switching. A universal small-cell backhaul needs to have the following key features: fully integrated dual-band solution fat antenna for 60 GHz band or E-band dipole or microstrip antenna for sub 6 GHz band auto mechanical or electrical tuning with auto alignment combined NLOS and LOS for various coverage needs multi-gigabits-per-second hitless throughput carrier Ethernet switching to support MPLS/MPSL-TP standards, QoS scheduling, protection, and OAM 21 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 22 5GHz Beam: 40 deg 60GHz Beam: 3-4 deg (A) (B) (C) (D) Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul Figure 3. Auto alignment and tuning. frequency combination, such as 2.4 GHz, 2.6 GHz or 3.4 GHz NLOS combined with E-band LOS. The dual - band concept can be extended to triple band offering or selective switching bands in NLOS and can be combined with either 60 GHz or E-band LOS. Summary A universal LOS and NLOS tunable smal l -cel l back radi o archi t ect ure provides the fexibility to use unlicensed bands for installation and network build-out in international markets. flexible backhaul solutions when there is no fiber available and the small-cell station needs wireless connectivity. (The proposed package provides the solutions for both LOS and NLOS environment.) a compact flat antenna that avoids the traditional parabolic perception of a public antenna. A flat antenna also provides a clean integrated solution so that a small-cell network can be a part of the future digital infrastructure of a city. mechanical tuning, which greatly reduces the installation requirements and alignment difficulties. This s i g n i f i c a n t l y i n c r e a s e s l i n k availability. a development path for electronic turning capability using phase array or digital beam forming at 60 GHz when CMOS t echnol ogi es get mature. a TDD/ FDD r adi o t o s uppor t c o mb i n e d NL OS a n d L OS traffic and also to support hitless switching when one of the paths has performance or LOS problems. This greatly increases system availability and liability. support for Sync E or IEEE 1588v2 for precision timing transport power over Ethernet (POE). Bot h 5 GHz and 60 GHz ar e unlicensed bands and are available in all countries. 5 GHz time division duplex (TDD) can support up to 600 Mbps throughput with advanced 4 4 MIMO, and 60 GHz full duplex FDD or TDD can support up to 10 Gbps throughput. Fig. 2 shows the proposed small-cell backhaul. Fig. 2 (a) shows a concept of this dual LOS and NLOS combined radio. 5 GHz NLOS uses either four dipoles (folded or unfolded) or four microstrip antennas, and 60 GHz LOS uses fat antenna, as shown in Fig. 2 (b), (c) and (d). The 5 GHz NLOS MIMO provides a typical antenna beamwidth of about 40 degrees, and 60 GHz point-to- point LOS provides a typical beamwidth of three to four degrees. Inst al l at i on i s one of t he most important aspects of small-cell stations and backhaul radios because of the potential costs involved in mounting, installation, maintenance, and coverage. Fi g. 3 s hows a mechani cal aut o alignment concept. Two dimensional azimuth and elevation auto mechanical tuning is achieved by using two separate step motors that are integrated in the back of the radio mounting mechanics. Mechanical alignment greatly decreases installation time and increases link availability and liability due to weather, environment, multipath and other factors. The radio provides the required DC and control signals to the tunable mounting mechanism so that this mechanism can automatically align the radio and enhance the radios performance during installation and operation. If the cost of the 60 GHz CMOS module is further reduced and the transceiver is developed, dual-band radios will inevitably use phase array or digital beamforming techniques at 60 GHz, as shown in Fig. 3 (b). Wi t h ei t her phase array or di gi t al beamforming techniques at 60 GHz, the radio will be capable of independent electronic beam tuning for both 5 GHz NLOS and 60 GHz signals. Furthermore, the dual-band concept can be extended to any NLOS and LOS 21 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 22 Independent Electrical Beam Steering Mechanical Beam Steering 2-axis Active Alignment Bracket Assembly (A) (B) Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul By Ren Haixia and Wang Yi A s communi cat i ons become more enriched and diversified, people are demanding more from radio communications. Microwave transmission is an important part of radio communications, but it has developed so rapidly that traditional network planning technologies cannot deal with it. Network complexity increases as TDM networks have evolved to hybrid TDM-IP or all-IP networks. Joint, intelligent planning of radio and microwave networks is needed to address present and future needs. An intelligent planning tool must have the following functions: i nt e l l i ge nt ba t c h a na l ys i s of microwave link line of sight a ut oma t i c ne t wor k t opol ogy planning based on the condition and requirements of links a u t o ma t i c l i n k p a r a me t e r matching based on the parameters and performance i ndi cat ors of links unified planning platform for radio and microwave networks and for seamless data integration end-to-end service planning that i ncl udes pr el i mi nar y net wor k planning, in-depth planning, and network OAM planning. ZTE has developed a microwave network planning tool called UniPOS CNP-MW. This tool builds on traditional network planning technologies but allows more intelligent microwave network planning. ZTE UniPOS CNP- MW improves customer satisfaction by speeding up the network design process and reducing TCO. This tool is now widely used in pre-sales planning and for project execution. ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW for Intelligent Microwave Network Planning Features of ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW ZTE Uni POS CNP-MW i s part of ZTEs r adi o net wor k pl anni ng platform and uses intelligent planning technologies for microwave network planning. The tool has all the functions of t r adi t i onal net wor k pl anni ng t echnol ogi es, but i t al so support s intelligent planning of large networks. It can be used in a variety of transmission network planning scenarios. Automatic topology planning ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW can be used to quickly generate a large network topology. It can provide a topology plan when a radio network suffers from frequent site changes. If site properties, antenna height, maximum direction number, link depth and other parameters are set, ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW can 23 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 24 Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul automatically search for and use a particular topology. With this function, effciency of topology planning increases more than 30% in flat regions and 60% to 70% in hilly regions. Intelligent LOS analysis LOS is greatly affected by terrain. Tr adi t i onal net wor k pl anni ng f or undulating terrain requires manual LOS analysis, which is inefficient. With intelligent LOS analysis, LOS routes are analyzed in batches when parameters such as clearance and antenna height have been set. Intelligent capacity planning As TDM ne t wor ks e vol ve t o TDM-Ethernet and all-IP networks, net wor k pl anni ng becomes mor e difficult because of the features of IP services. Convergence of services and network scaling of different carriers varies according to the network layer and cust omer l evel s. As a r esul t , more factors need to be taken into consideration when planning a network. Parameters such as convergence site, redundancy rate, and convergence rate may be set according to service trends. Intelligent capacity planning is used to automatically calculate the capacity of the entire network and output the t ransmi ssi on requi rement s for t he upper-layer transmission network. This ensures rapid and comprehensive data exchange. Intelligent planning technologies help make network planning more efficient and reduce network planning costs. One-click antenna height optimization, intelligent template-based link matching, one-click batch parameter confguration, and fexible conversion of planning result forms mean that planning personnel do not need such a high degree of skill in using microwave planning software. Effciency is improved, and instances of incorrect are reduced. Effciency of ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW in a Typical Scenario Mi cr owave net wor k pl anni ng includes a pre-sales bidding phase and a project execution phase. These two phases have different requirements in terms of improving energy efficiency. In the pre-sales bidding phase, topology analysis, capacity planning, and link performance analysis can be affected by frequent site changes in a radio network. In the project execution phase, plan modification, frequency configuration, and report-making can be affected by limited frequency resources. The Sri Lanka 150-hop microwave network project is a typical model for analyzing the efficiency of microwave network planning. After ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW was used, network planning effciency increased 75% in the pre-sales bidding phase and 60% in the project execution phase. In the future, ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW will have more network planning modules, including automatic frequency planning, automatic IP address planning, intelligent loop management, and intelligent ACM. These will make network planning more intelligent and improve network planning effciency. Table 1. Network planning effciency before and after ZTE UniPOS CNP-MW was used. Scenario Task Unit Scale (Number of Hops) Time Required for Pre-Sales Planning (Hours/person) Time Required for After-sales Planning (Hours/person) Before CNP- MW was used Topology planning Hop 150 4 4 Capacity planning Hop 150 3 3 Link planning Hop 150 1 9 Frequency planning Hop 150 N/A 14 Engineering design Hop 150 N/A 10 Total 8 40 After CNP- MW was used Topology planning Hop 150 1.25 1.25 Capacity planning Hop 150 0.25 0.25 Link planning Hop 150 0.5 3 Frequency planning Hop 150 N/A 9.5 Engineering design Hop 150 N/A 2 Total 2 16 Effciency improvement 6 / 8 100 = 75% 24 / 40 100 = 60% 23 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 24 Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul By Xu Changchun W i t h t he r api d gr owt h of mobile networks, service traffic has surged in recent times but operators have not profited from this surge. Traditional circuit- swi t ched net wor ks, such as SDH networks, are expensive and cannot be easi l y scal ed. Packet -swi t ched t r ansmi ssi on r educes t he number of network layers, lowers network construction cost, allows scalability and integration, and helps operators transition to integrated service. This is the trend of network development. Compared with circuit-switched t r a n s mi s s i o n , p a c k e t - s wi t c h e d transmission is more cost efficient, manageable, and scalable, but it is inferior in terms of service protection, monitoring, and QoS. To address these problems with packet networks, the Metro Ethernet Forum (MEF) proposed carrier-class Ethernet, which is regarded as the ideal solution to improving QoS in packet networks. Microwave transmission equipment is widely used in mobile backhaul networks because it is cheap, reliable, and fexible and can be quickly put into commercial use. A report by Infonetics Carrier-Class Ethernet Microwave The Best Choice for Mobile Backhaul i n 2011 shows t hat t he number of new microwave backhaul networks has soared since 2011, and by 2014, microwave backhaul networks will account for 50% of the global network market. Microwave transmission is an important mobile backhaul solution. ZTE i s experi enced i n mi crowave transmission and has put forward an advanced carri er-cl ass mi crowave solution that solves problems associated with packet transmission. Standardized Services MEF 6. 1 defi nes t hree generi c servi ce const ruct s, and MEF 10. 2 defnes an Ethernet service management model from a user perspective. These two technical specifications ensure that users are provided with generic and standard services that are independent of manufacturers. This effectively helps customers plan and integrate Ethernet services into network infrastructures and allows customer edge equipment to easily access Ethernet services. ZTEs microwave products strictly comply with MEF 6.1 and MEF 10.2 and fully support the standard services defined in these specifications. ZTEs microwave products have obtained MEF 9 and MEF 14 certification. They are easy to manage; they allow convenient service expansion; and they can be deployed in any network scenario. Scalability As mobile networks evolve from 2G and 3G to LTE, the demand for bandwidth has grown significantly, and operators have had to expand their mobile networks. For service security, expansion, and maintenance, the traffic of different users must be separated. 25 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 26 Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul However, this requires more than 4096 VLANs. ZTEs microwave products solve the problem of insuffcient VLAN IDs by using stacked VLANs defned by IEEE 802.1ad. This allows new service deployment and service separation. ZTEs microwave products support VLAN translation in 1:1, 1:2, 2:2, or 2:1 mode and can therefore be applied to any complicated networking scenario. Microwave transmission capacity is restricted by frequency resources and wireless modulation technologies. I n a t ypi cal 56 MHz, 256- QAM configuration, the maximum theoretical transmission capacity of a single carrier is about 400 Mbps, which is insuffcient to meet the transmission requirements of 3G and LTE aggregation links. ZTE NR8000 series microwave products maximize microwave transmission bandwi dt h by usi ng t he fol l owi ng technologies: co-channel dual polarization/cross- polarization interference cancellation ( CCDP/ XPI C) . A h o r i z o n t a l polarization wave and a vertical polarization wave can be used to provide two transmission channels for a single carrier. This doubles transmission capacity. physical link aggregation. By binding multiple microwave links together, greater transmission capacity is possible. header compression (HC). Redundant or repeated fields of a user packet are replaced or compressed and then decompressing at the peer end. In typical configurations, when HC and XPIC functions are enabled, the transmission capacity of a single carrier reaches 1.06 Gbps. adaptive code modulation (ACM). Upgrading the modulation mode increases the bandwidth so that extra services can be transmitted and critical services can also be transmitted with 99.999% reliability. Reliability ZTEs microwave products support ITU-T G.8031 Ethernet linear protection switching (ELPS). When more than one path is available on the network, the paths can be configured to a 1:1 protection-switching architecture. The network services on a failed working path can be switched to a protection path in 50 ms. With ELPS, ZTEs microwave products provide carrier-class availability for cri t i cal servi ces such as voi ce signaling. Ethernet ring protection switching (ERPS) eliminates redundant paths and pr ot ect s t he r i ng t opol ogi es, which are often used on microwave b a c k h a u l n e t wo r k s . Ea r l y r i ng protection mechanisms using Spanning Tr ee Pr ot ocol pr ovi de 1 s econd service switching; however, this is not carrier-class protection. ZTEs microwave products support ITU-T 25 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 26 Special Topic: Microwave Backhaul Recommendation G.8032 ERPS and can switch services in less than 50 ms. The link aggregation mechanism binds a group of physical paths into a logical link to balance loads, increase bandwidth, and provide dynamic link protection. ZTEs microwave products suppor t I EEE 802. 3ad- compl i ant Ethernet link aggregation and RF link aggregation, both of which protect multiple layers, including the physical layer and data-link layer. QoS Although microwave equipment allows for fexible networking and rapid deployment, it has weaknesses. It is sensitive to weather, and the bandwidth i n t he mi crowave l i nks fl uct uat es frequently. This inevitably leads to traffic congestion. A QoS mechanism is required in order to use microwave transmission equipment for carrier-class operation. A set of mat ure IP/ MPLS QoS mechanisms are already available. These include the widely used DiffServ mechanism. DiffServ manages QoS policies by domain so that the same QoS is maintained for a particular class of service traffc in a domain. With Diffserv, a network is divided into DiffServ domains based on OAM requirements. Traffc is classifed with a PHB mark and conditioned at the boundaries between DiffServ domains. Class-based traffic discarding and scheduling performed by a node in a DiffServ domain is defned as per-hop behavior (PHB). The early Ethernet was a set of networking technologies for LANs that did not have QoS processing capability. ZTE follows IP QoS principles and incorporates the DiffServ concept and architecture into Ethernet. ZTE replaces the DSCP of a frame with S-VLAN Pri bits for PHB marking. S-VLAN DEI bits are used for packet color marking, and QoS policies are managed by dividing them into DS domain, network ingress policy, and network element egress policy (Fig. 1). The ZTE microwave QoS mechanism has well-defined ideas, and port-based confguration is replaced with traffc-based confguration. Service Management I n ear l y mi cr owave backhaul solutions, microwave transmission equipment did not provide effective E2E service management tools that made service deployment and troubleshooting mo r e e f f i c i e n t . Fu t u r e s e r v i c e development could not be supported. Car r i er- cl ass Et her net equi pment provides complete service management, including network monitoring and di agnosi s, as wel l as fast servi ce provisioning. E2E service management is indispensable for carrier-class Ethernet. ZTEs microwave products provide an E2E service management solution that integrates E2E service provisioning with monitoring, troubleshooting, and QoS tools. This signifcantly improves OAM effciency, reduces opex, and maximizes profts for operators. As networks evolve and new services emerge, telecom operators are coming under enormous pressure from the internet industry and count on elaborate service operation as a key approach to increasing revenue. Carrier-class Ethernet is an ideal choice for operators because it allows for service expansion, service management, QoS guarantee, and reliability. Microwave transmission in mobile backhaul is becoming more operational. ZTEs microwave products make the switching architecture of traditional Ethernet carrier- class. Service provisioning, scalability, reliability, QoS, and service management of a traditional Ethernet network are transformed. DS Domain Network Element Egress Policy DS Domain DSname Port Congestion Management & Avoidance (PHB) Shaping CoS ... Discard Policy Scheduling Policy Network Ingress Policy Traffc Condition (TC) CAR Classifcation CARID Simple classifcation ACL MarkCos (PHB) CARID CIR CBS Coupling Flag EIR Color Mode EBS Figure 1. QoS policy management. Discard Scheduling Taildrop SP RED WRR WRED DWRR WFQ 27 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 2 By Zhao Wenxian and Tu Jiashun C onverged CS/IMS and IMS Hosting Solution Helps TAG Smoothly Implement VoLTE T elekom Aust ria Group (TAG) is Austrias largest information and communications services provider and one of Europes leading full-service carriers. TAG operates in Aust ria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Belar us, Sl oveni a, t he Republ i c of Ser bi a, t he Re publ i c of Ma c e don i a a nd Liechtenstein. With intense competition i n t el ecom i ndust r y and wi t h t he development of internet services, TAG is facing challenges like most other operators. First, they must efficiently t r ansfor m t hemsel ves i nt o a f ul l - service operator while reducing costs and increasing revenue. Second, they must urgently upgrade their network to cope with the rapid development of wireless broadband. Third, if they remain a traditional operator, they will lose market share because of competition from the internet. All these factors push traditional operators to transform as soon as possible. TAG launched an IMS project in the second half of 2011. It planned to construct an IMS-based network to offer a variety of services, including MMTel, RCSe, SCC, and future fixed/mobile convergence (FMC). TAGs idea of start 1 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 28 Success Stories The new ZTE CS/IMS network opens up the future for Telekom Austria Group. It will enable us to easily expand our business and give our customers the best possible experience of the latest fixed and mobile communication services, said Hans Pichler, CTO of Telekom Austria Group. Success Stories small and grow fast is a level-headed plan with multitenancy at its core. ZTE is an industry-leading provider of end-to-end IMS network solutions and has passed strict proof-of-concept tests and evaluations. In collaboration with Kapsch CarrierCom, an experienced local system integrator, ZTE will help TAG deploy a converged CS/IMS voice network. ZTE will offer a standards- based, best-in-class, carrier-grade IMS solution. Converged CS/IMS Voice Solution for a Future-proof Network ZTE will deploy a mobile circuit swit ched (CS) sof t swit ch net work t o r epl ace TAGs exi st i ng mobi l e core net work i n Aust r i a, Sloveni a and Liechtenstein. At the same time, ZTE will build a new IP multimedia subsyst em (I MS) net work i n t hese markets (Fig. 1). The converged voice solut ion is based on a t elco cloud and helps reduce TCO. With IMS hosting (Fig. 2), the centralized IMS core will be able to independently serve various branches of the Group. This will allow TAG to rapidly launch new services and centrally manage its networks. The new IMS network will support rich communication suite-enhanced (RCSe) and voice over LTE (VoLTE) scenarios so that TAGs fxed and mobile networks can be fully converged. These networks serve for access endpoints such as IP PBX, softphone, LTE terminals, and RCSe. Highlights of TAG IMS Network Advanced ETCA platform with high- performance and reliability ZTEs universal hardware platform is called enhanced telecom computing archi t ect ure ( ETCA) and i s based on advanced t el ecommuni cat i ons c omput i ng a r ch i t e c t u r e (ATCA) core technologies. ETCA is used for al l ZTE I MS pr oduct s. Si gnal i ng and ser ver element s such as CSCF, MMTel AS/SCC AS, ATCF, MSCs/ MGCF, ENUM/DNS, EMS, and LIG ar e based on t he ETCA pl at for m. Media-plane elements such as MRFP, MGW/ I M-MGW, and SBC are al so based on t he ETCA pl at for m. The universal hardware platfor m allows for lower operational costs, f lexible dimensioning, and smooth migration. Leading IMS hosting solution By using middleware-based multiple instances, ZTEs IMS system supports multitenancy. A number of countries share one IMS core but the system looks as if it is a dedicated physical instance that does not interfere with or depend on other OpCos in the system. Multitenancy allows one IMS system to serve multiple OpCos on the same hardware. It is especially useful for a multi national car rier who has some small OpCos or has an unbalanced user distribution among multiple OpCos. It is also attractive to carriers who want to save costs at the beginning of IMS deployment. Austria Belarus Liechtenstein Slovenia Croatia Republic of Serbia Bulgaria Republic of Macedonia Figure 1. IMS deployment for TAG. HSS IMS Core EMS SPN LIG LIG LTE LTE ENUM/DNS xSDL/LAN Fixed Fixed Mobile Mobile xSDL/LAN CSCF BSS NMS SIP AS CCF/CDF/CGF/OCS MMTEL/SCC AS RCS AS SIP/SIP-I ISUP E1 I-SBC IP PSTN MGCF/IM-SSF MGW/MRFP E/P-CSCF/A-SBC LEMF/LIC LEMF/LIC Vienna Vienna Liechtenstein OSS/BSS NE for Vienna NE for Liechtenstein Middleware OS HW OpCos have their own Service Package Charging Policy Provisioning Maintenance Figure 2. TAG IMS hosting architecture. 29 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 30 Success Stories It also reduces capex and opex. Feat ures of IMS hosting solution include: mult iple i nst ances on one board for optimal resource use. Multiple instances share the same hardware (e.g. board level), and the resources are balanced among multiple OpCos. This is especially useful for uneven user distribution among OpCos. highly f lexible configuration and management f unct ions t hat are dedicated to each OpCo and that do not affect other OpCos. same hardware platform for all IMS elements. IMS elements, including signaling elements such as CSCF, MMTel AS and ATCF, and media elements, such as MRFP, MGW and SBC are based on the ETCA platform. l a r g e c a p a c i t y a n d f l e x i b l e confguration. fulfills the regulatory requirements on LI, NP and EC for multitenancy architecture. implementation of different services for different OpCos. Comprehensive VoLTE/eSRVCC solution ZTE provides a complete product portfolio based on the VoLTE solution. ZTE participated in the frst-ever VoLTE interoperability test, which was hosted by the MultiService Forum (MSF) and backed by GSMA. It was held at the Vodafone Test and Innovation Centre in Dsseldorf, Germany. Test scenarios included VoLTE basic interoperability, global roaming, and interconnection as specifed by GSMA. In the TAG network, MME and HSS are ready for eSRVCC (Fig. 3). ZTE provided an eMSC that was integrated with MSCs and MGCF. SCC AS was introduced, and this can be integrated with MMTel AS or deployed separately. ZTE recommends integrating SCC AS and MMTEL AS to save cost. ZXUN SSS supports all standard supplementary services for voice and also supports IP Centrex/Converged Cent rex ser vices, converged ONLY service, VCC service, CS/IMS number sharing, enterprise applications, and ICS solution. ATCF a nd ATGW h a ve b e e n introduced into the eSRVCC specifcation as a result of ZTE. ATCF/ATGW is deployed in the visit network. ATCF anchors the media fow in a visit network during handover. The remote IMS UE does not take part in the handover in order to avoid voice service interruption caused by long signaling routing. ATCF and ATGW are collocated with SBC on the same hardware platform. The sol ut i on suppor t s a si ngl e number for SRVCC subscr i ber s i n the CS and IMS domains. It helps the operator save number resources and does not affect any existing services when the subscriber registers in the CS network. In March 2013, ZTE successfully made the first VoLTE call in Europe over TAGs commercial network. LTE handsets were used, which improved connection time and provided perfect voice quality. Customer Benefts I MS h o s t i n g c e n t r a l i z e s infrastructure and lowers TCO. As a tenant, each OpCo shares the HW, SW and maintenance. The IMS RCSe service provi des car r i er- cl ass mul t i medi a experience and helps the operator deal with challenges from internet-based over the top (OTT) providers. The IMS net work also helps provide standard VoLTE ser vice (eSRVCC, enhanced single-radio voice call continuity). The new mobile softswitch and IMS network helps TAG signif icantly expand it s network capacity, and this allows the operators customer base to grow rapidly. ZTEs highly integrated core network equipment will significantly reduce the networks physical footprint so that the TAGs capex is reduced. Figure 3. ZTE IMS eSR-VCC solution architecture. UE A (Calling) UE B (Callee) UTRAN RAN ATCF/ATGW SCC AS eNode B Enhanced MSC CS EPC IMS 29 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 30 Success Stories By Li Lina CMHK
Partners with ZTE for LTE Microwave Backhaul Deployment 31 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 32 C h i n a Mo b i l e Ho n g Ko n g (CMHK) , a whol l y- owned subsidiar y of Chi na Mobile, was established in 1997. CMHK was the first PCS (GSM 1800) operator to launch mobile services in Hong Kong, which is one of the biggest economies in the world. The high-rise buildings and dense commercial districts are signs of the citys prosperity, but they also give rise to a complicated radio environment and are a challenge for mobile network construction. Through the use of cutting- edge GPRS, EDGE, 3G HSPA, and 4G technologies, CMHK has been providing customers with professional, innovative communication services. CMHK is now one of the largest mobile broadband operators in Hong Kong and has the greatest potential. CMHK operated a Hong Kong-wide GSM 1800 network to provide GSM voice and data to mainland customers roaming to Hong Kong. Previously, CMHKs lack of 3G networks meant it lagged behind other mainstream operators in Hong Kong. Therefore, CMHK made 4G network construction its key strategic goal. CMHK bought an FDD 2.6G license at auction in 2009 and launched a commercial FDD LTE network in early 2012. It also bought a TDD 2.3G license at a high price and launched a commercial TDD LTE network at the end of 2012. LTE net works are bei ng rapidly deployed. Mobile backhauls need to have large capacity and wide coverage because fiber is limited and site rental fees are high. ZTE has rich experience in network construction, project management, and managed services in Hong Kong. Guided by a customer service philosophy, ZTE provided CMHK with a highly reliable, expansible microwave t ransmission solution that provided high coverage even with limited fber resources. CMHK had never used microwave in its network before. ZTE took into consideration transmission cost at end sites when proposing the microwave solution to CMHK and also drew on the experience of deploying microwave in CSLs mobile network. In the CMHK proj ect , mi crowaves wer e used t o Success Stories 31 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 32 equipment NR8250 operated smoothly with existing FDD-LTE equipment by Ericsson. NR8250 also outperformed other microwave products from Ericsson, Alcat el -Lucent , and Comba i n t he subsequent QoS and link stability tests. As a result, ZTE was shortlisted as a candidate partner for CMHK. ZTE took into consideration CMHKs existing network conditions and future evolution needs and adopted a highly customized all-IP microwave backhaul solution. NR8250 was used to provide high data throughput and low latency. It supported dynamic allocation between emulated TDM and Ethernet services without any bandwidth loss. This helped CMHK solve the issue of 2G, 3G, and LTE coexistence and pave the way for smooth transition to future IP services. NR8250 has integrated module slots for f lexible network upgrade and also provides enhanced Ethernet performance for high link reliability and stability. By the end of 2012, ZTE had delivered and commercialized the first phase of the microwave project. According to the deployment plan agreed upon by both ZTE and CMHK, ZTE will complete the deployment of all microwave sites by the end of 2014. CMHK was responsi ble for t he project execution. ZTE provided technical support in the early stages of professional network planning to assist CMHK get link certificated by OFCA. ZTE also developed a one-click deployment tool for efficient installation. This tool provides off line parameter configuration that lowers the skill required of the on-site deployer. It also increases the success rate of one-time site deployment and greatly reduces costs for CMHK. In the customer satisfaction survey conducted by ZTE at the beginning of 2013, CMHK praised ZTEs microwave equipment and expressed their expectation for further cooperation with ZTE. The partnership with ZTE is most important for successful project implementation. We expect further cooperation with ZTE to expand and share the microwave backhaul network, said Feng Yaojin, microwave project director of CMHK. connect end sites to the network and provide backhaul for 2G, 3G, and LTE sites. Ericsson FDD-LTE sites had to be connected with ZTE TDD-LTE sites on the LTE side. Because various types of services had to be carried on the network, high QoS and stability were of paramount importance. Hong Kongs Office of the Communications Authority (OFCA) was strict in granting an access license to radio equipment. Quickly obtaining an equipment certifcate from the OFCA and helping CMHK deploy the microwave solution as soon as possible were major issues. Because of CMHKs pressing need for microwave backhaul, ZTE set a tight schedule for the project. To evaluate the overall performance of microwave product s f rom di fferent equipment suppliers, CMHK asked for both lab and field tests. After discerning CMHKs specific requirements, ZTE responded quickly by obtaining an OFCA certifcate for spectrum test in the first week. The testing equipment arrived at the site, and ZTE completed the site survey in the second week. This laid a good foundation for subsequent tests. In the multivendor interoperability test, ZTEs self-developed microwave Success Stories By Li Lanqing Zain: Winning the Future by Refarming Spectrum S audi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East and the worlds biggest oil producer. Oil exports have made Saudi Arabia a very wealthy country with high per-capita income. Saudi Arabia has 54.8 million mobile users and mobile phone penet ration rate of more than 180 per cent. In this high-end communication market, users are concerned about network quality, new technologies, and high-speed data services. Zai n was est abl ished i n Kuwait i n 1983 and now operat es i n eight countries across the Middle East and Africa. Zain acquired Saudi Arabias third GSM license in July 2007 and began constructing a GSM network in August 2008. It has become the third largest mobile operator in Saudi Arabia and had about 10 million users at the end of 2011. Opportunities and Challenges Zain focuses on mobile service and before its network transformation it had GSM, UMTS and HSPA networks. At the end of 2011, Zains voice network covered more than 400 cities and 59 highways. Because of its short development history, Zai n lags behi nd r ivals i n net work coverage and number of sites. In the next few years, the company has to invest a huge amount of capit al to rapidly expand its network and catch up with its competitors. Use of Zains broadband services t r ipled i n 2011 compared wit h t he previous year; however, Zain still only has a small share of the whole broadband market in Saudi Arabia, and there is huge development potential for the company. According to reports from international consult i ng company Ovum, Zai n is growing rapidly and has grabbed market share from the other two mobile operators in Saudi Arabia. Zain has pressured its competitors to retain their existing customers and vie for new ones. In early 2011, Saudi Arabias three major operators began constructing LTE networks at the same time. The arrival of the 4G era gives Zain the opportunity to compete from the same starting line. However, the challenge for Zain is to make full use of existing resources to build a high-quality, 33 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 34 speed reached 27.83 Mbps. Win the Future Through net work modernization, Zain created an all-IP network and saved transmission resources. SDR base stations based on ZTEs Uni-RAN platform were used to converge 2G, 3G and 4G networks and to support smooth evolution from 2G and 3G to 4G. This helps Zain quickly enhance network performance and roll out new services. ZTEs macro base st at ions have single-carrier power of 40W/TRX and cover a wide area, which reduces the number of required base stations. The base stations have a unique dual-PA macro base station module that halves the number of modules needed for the same configuration. This significantly reduces network construction costs. The solution allows 2G, 3G and 4G networks to share towers, power supply, protectors, and transmission facilities and enables antennas and feeders to be reused when upgrading from1800 MHz to LTE. Through network modernization, Zain has solved the problems associated with spectrum shortage and has optimized its network architecture. Overall, Zain has significantly improved the quality of its network and gained a competitive edge in the market. The 2G, 3G and 4G multilevel network better meets the needs of the market and positions Zain well for the future. Success Stories more effcient, more fexible network that can smoothly evolve into 4G. Network Modernization In the region where the ZTE project will be completed, Zain owns 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spect r um for GSM networks and 2100 MHz spectrum for a UMTS network, but there is no idle spectrum for LTE. Zain needs a solution to t his problem so t hat 2G, 3G and 4G networks can coexist. In addition, Zains original network architecture and equipment was outdated, expensive to maintain, and could not smoothly evolve to 4G. Given this, Zain turned to ZTE for a wireless modernization solution. Unifed spectrum and capacity expansion for 2G network Originally, Zain had 471 GSM sites that used the 900 MHz and 1800 MHz spectrums. Zain significantly expanded the capacity of its 900 MHz GSM sites from S222 to S444 or S666, and at the same time, cleaned the original 1800 MHz GSM sites and transferred users to the 900 MHz network. After modernization, there were 671 GSM sites, all of which used the 900 MHz spectrum. Expanding capacity for the 3G network There were originally 145 UMTS 2.1G sites with a maximum download speed of 7.2 Mbps. After modernization, there were 395 3G sites, of which 303 were upgraded to DC HSPA+ with a maximum download speed of 42 Mbps. Core coverage for 4G The or i gi nal 1800 MHz GSM spect r um was released for the FDD LTE network, and 150 FDD LTE sites wit h a bandwidt h of 10 Mbps were deployed in dense urban areas. Tests showed that the net works downlink speed reached 74.7 Mbps and its uplink 33 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 34 January 28, 2013 Source: Light Reading TV L Rs Todd Townsend recently interviewed Dr. Jia Zhensheng, assist ant di rector and senior member of t echnical st aff (SMTS) of Opt ical Labs, ZTE USA. Dr. Jia introduced the technical advantages of 100G products, especially the DSP and SD-FEC modules. He also talked about feld deployments worldwide and pioneering achievements in 400G and 1T research. LR: What ar e t he t echni cal advantages of 100G over 40G, and what possibilities does 100G open up for operators? Dr. Jia: The 40G ecosystem is not that healthy as a result of frequent changes in technology. Take modulation formats for example. We have everything from PSBT, DPSK, and DQPSK all the way up to coherent QPSK. Standardization ha s al s o be e n mi s s i ng f r om t he begi nni ng, and t he supply chai n is unstable. By contrast, 100G is a single technology directly aimed at PM-QPSK and all the 100G standards are ready for mass deployment. We know that 100G provides much higher capacity than 40G and signif icantly reduces operational cost for carriers if they scale up their infrastructure. More and ZTE: Leading R&D on 100G and Beyond Zhensheng Jia, Ph. D. Assistant Director and SMTS of Optical Labs, ZTE USA Todd Townsend LRTV Press Clipping 35 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 36 Press Clipping more operators have already decided to skip over 40G and deploy 100G. We believe that 100G era is coming and is going to take off. LR: What advantages does ZTE have in 100G? Dr. Ji a: ZTE has al ways been at the forefront of optical transmission technology. After the release of sample 100G product s at t he end of 2009, ZTE launched the f i rst commercial products in 2011. We think ZTE has been inf luential in three key areas. The f irst area is coherent detection with DSP capability. ZTE pioneered t he us e of a 40 n m pr oc e s s f or excellent channel equali zat ion and longer t ransmi ssion di st ance. The second area is soft-decision forward- er r or cor r ect i on (SD- FEC). ZTE implemented 15% turbo-product code (TPC) SD-FEC on t he 100G MSA t ransponder to achieve 1500 km or more t r ansmi ssion di st ance. Thi s can result in 11.1 dB net coding gain. The third area is f lexible aggregation and l ar ge cr oss- connect . We can cross connect and aggregate 3.2 Tbit client signals of any granularity, from ODU0, ODU1 all the way up to ODU4 ODU f lex signals. LR: What R&D is ZTE doing on beyond 100G? Dr. Jia: ZTE has put great effort into 400G and 1T R&D. I n Sept ember l ast year, we released t he news at the European Conference on Optical Communication that we had succeeded with single-carrier PM-QPSK, which makes 400G single-carrier ultralong- haul t r ansmi ssi on possi bl e. Wi t h Deutsche Telecom, we transmitted 2450 km of mixed 100G, 400G, and 1 terabit signals over the optical infrastructure i n Ger many, which i ncludes eight nodes. We also t ransmit ted 24 Tbit DWDM si gnal s and achi eved t he highest single channel rate (11.2 Tbit/s) using superchannel technology. These achievements were the frst of their kind in the industry. We have released seven practical 400G and 1T prot ot ypes ai med at different application areas for customers. As the leading industry innovator, we have filed patents on optical modules, al gor i t hms, f r ami ng, and syst em optimization. LR: How will ZTE products be used in 100G and beyond? Dr. Jia: ZTE has completed dozens of tests on 100G and has commercially deployed 100G products for operators such as China Telecom, China Unicom, Chi na Mobi l e, Chi na Educat i on Net work, TATA Communicat ions, and Hong Kong PCCW. ZTE has achieved t he longest t ransmi ssion distance, highest receiver sensitivity, and fastest provisioning time in recent tests with China Telecom and China Mobile. In October 2012, ZTE and T-Mobile f i nished deployi ng 100G on T-Mobiles existing 10G backbone net work i n Aust r i a. ZTE has al so started deploying 100G on the China Education Network. I n our f ield t r ial s wit h DT, we acqui r ed quant i t at i ve knowl edge about t he t r ade- of f bet ween dat a rate and t ransmission dist ance. We also acqui red knowledge about t he t rade- of f bet ween i mplement at ion complexity and spectrum efficiency. We t hi nk t hese exper i ences have been critical for allowing operators to strategically scale their networks into future backbones. ZTE is a leader in beyond-100G R&D. We believe that we will keep up this moment um and cont i nue to lead the industry in developing optical transport systems to support customer needs. 35 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 36 More and more operators have already decided to skip over 40G and deploy 100G. We believe that
100G era
is coming and is going to take off. V oi c e ove r LTE ( VoLTE) delivers packet-switched voice and multimedia services over an LTE network. The IR.92 standard for VoLTE, defned by GSMA, uses a subset of IMS functions. Better user experience requi res high- qual it y i nt eract ions bet ween mult i media ser vices, LTE transport networks, IMS, and legacy services. Enhancing user experience is a core strategy of operators. Challenges When evolving from 2G and 3G to LTE, the same phone numbers are usually retained so that users can enjoy new IMS and LTE multimedia services but continue to have legacy 2G and 3G services such as prepaid, VPN, and personal ring-back. When VoLTE and IMS are int roduced into a net work, mobile operators need to guarantee that customers can still use legacy services. The main challenges of legacy services in VoLTE are: t he exi st i ng SCP has been i n service for several years. It is hard to modify the SCP and use an IP- based ISC interface to interact with the IMS network and provide legacy services for users. legacy services are delivered by different SCPs that have different service logics or different custom- made feat ur es. Ther efor e i t i s diffcult to do interoperating testing Figure 1. Service concept with LTE and IMS. Solution Multimedia Service IMS User Experience Legacy Service LTE Network 37 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 38 By Jiang Yonghu and Lu Wei Legacy Service Inheritance in VoLTE Legacy SCP S-CSCF PPS CAP1/2/3 (23.078) IM-SSF ISC ISC MGCF or MSCs iFC for CAP based services Reusing the existing CS core network Overlay mechanism iFC for SINP based services No need to upgrade the IN system VPN NP SINAP (IOT) with each SCP. operators have invested heavily in legacy SCP platforms, so they dont want to reinvest any more when introducing IMS and VoLTE. The ideal solution is to reuse the legacy IN system and use a simple data configuration on SCP but do not upgrade software or change service logic or IN interfaces. Legacy Services in VoLTE SCP upgrade To i nt er act wi t h S- CSCF, t he exist i ng SCP plat for m needs t o be upgraded to support the ISC interface. S-CSCF triggers legacy services to SCP according to the standard IMS traffic f low. This is the simplest and most standard way that legacy services are inherited. SCP reuse SCP r e u s e i nvol ve s I M- SSF functionality and an overlay mechanism. The I M- SSF def i ned i n 3GPP TS 23.218 provides IP multimedia service swit chi ng, which mediat es ser vice requests between IMS legacy service deliver y platfor ms, such as I NSCP. When i nt er connect i ng t he l egacy network, the IM-SSF supports standard protocols such as CAMEL, INAP and MAP. Vendor-specifc protocols are also supported. From an IMS perspective, IM-SSF is just a SIP application server. IM-SSF acts as an SIP back-to-back user agent (SIP B2BUA) and breaks the call coming from the originating party. It creates a new call leg towards t he t er mi nat i ng par t y. This al lows modifcations to be made on the session. From a gsmSCF perspective, IM-SSF acts similar to a GSM SSF. To minimize modifcations on the network and make full use of the existing infrustructure, an overlay mechanism is also used for legacy services. The existing MGCF or MSCs are used as SSP to t rigger legacy services (Fig. 3). This avoids interoperating testing of the IMS system and SCP platform. In SCP reuse, existing IN services can be reused by IMS users without the need to upgrade the legacy SCP. Only some modifications are made to SCP. Multiple IN services can also be triggered by S-CSCF in one session. This means t hat mult iple i FCs are subscribed in HSS. Conclusion Inheriting legacy services is an important requirement when introducing VoLTE into the network. Operators need to take into consideration investment, impact on network operation and end users, and services to be inherited. An ideal legacy service inheritance solution should have minimal impact on existing network and users, and it should protect operator investment. ZTE supports all the abovementioned solutions for legacy service inheritance in VoLTE. The solutiuon based on IMS-SSF has been successfully deployed by CSL, a leading mobile operator in Hong Kong. Solution Figure 2. SCP upgrade solution. Figure 3. SCP reuse solution. Legacy SCP PPS VPN S-CSCF ISC NP SCP needs to be upgraded to support the ISC interface 37 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES JUN 2013 JUN 2013 ZTE TECHNOLOGIES 38