Fiber Optics For Small Cells

- Wireless Access Evolution

Cellular capabilities started off rather simply, but as each generation expanded functionality, applications, and services the network infrastructure supporting them has grown increasingly complex. To achieve all that 5G offers, a denser, fiber-rich network infrastructure will be needed to deliver the key performance indicators: lower latency, longer battery life, higher data rates, ultra-high reliability and more connected devices.

Cellular capabilities have gone from analog voice, at 14.4 kbits/ec, to the promise of Internet of Things connectivity at multiple gigabits per second. The next step in wireless access evolution, to 5G, will be vastly different from previous steps.

The early development of cellular networks leveraged macro towers using lower-wavelength spectrum capable of covering wide physical areas, positioning some up to 25 miles apart (if topology allowed). Towers, however, couldn't be placed everywhere, and small cells and radio heads were increasingly deployed to get the radio closer to the user.

5G enables the vision of a truly connected society with its impact being felt across virtually every industry. The Internet of Things (IoT) will transform the economy and the way we live our lives. 5G will similarly change and create new economic opportunities. These new opportunities depend heavily on real-time data, and the need for lower latency and higher bandwidth becomes much more critical. This, in turn, drives the need for edge computing to enable critical data to be transferred quickly.

5G networks promise to connect people and things through intelligent networks and applications, all generating an immense amount of data. It seeks to provide the best of all performance factors while simultaneously connecting more devices. These network advancements will enable and inspire a new wave of computing and technological innovation that will change the way we live and work. But before 5G becomes a reality, the network infrastructure has to be in place to support the billions of devices and the trillions of megabits of data that will flood the network. 

[Wireless Access Evolution - Corning]

- The Main Aspirational Performance of 5G

5G wireless needs fiber, and lots of it. 5G mobile networks will significantly affect both the wireless side and the wireline side of the global network infrastructure, as airborne bits jump to and from terrestrial wireline networks. In fact, 5G's formidable network performance goals are heavily predicated on the availability of fiber, and lots of it, to cell sites. 5G will be revolutionary rather than evolutionary in its demand on fiber infrastructure.

5G network designs dictate the use of more fiber because in order to improve network coverage, capacity, and overall quality, Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) are adopting small cells, which place radios closer to users. It is preferable to backhaul these small cells over fiber whenever possible because other options, like copper and wireless backhauling, cannot scale to the incredible amount of backhaul demand that will be generated by 5G. 

The main aspirational performance goals of 5G are listed below. 

• Up to 1000 times increased in bandwidth, per unit area
• Up to 100 times more connected devices
• Up to 10Gbps connection rates to mobile devices in the field
• A perceived network availability of 99.999%
• A perceived 100% network coverage
• Maximum of 1ms end-to-end round trip delay (latency)
• Up to 90% reduction in network energy utilization

MNOs connecting 3G and 4G cells, small and macro, via fiber are also laying the foundation for 5G. The access network, which includes the RAN, is the one part of the global network infrastructure that still has a significant amount of copper and wireless technology deployed, which will be a problem for 5G deployments, due to the promised speeds of this new technology.

[More to come ...]