Towards Enhanced Mobile Broadband Communications: A Tutorial on Enabling Technologies, Design Considerations, and Prospects of 5G and beyond Fixed Wireless Access Networks
Source abstract
Abstract
There has been a growing interconnection across the world owing to various multimedia applications and services. Fixed wireless access (FWA) is an attractive wireless solution for delivering multimedia services to different homes. With the fifth-generation (5G) and beyond mobile networks, the FWA performance can be enhanced significantly. However, their implementation will present different challenges on the transport network due to the incessant increase in the number of required cell-sites and the subsequent increase in the per-site requirements. This paper presents a comprehensive tutorial on the enabling technologies, design considerations, requirements, and prospects of broadband schemes. Furthermore, the related technical challenges of FWA are reviewed, and we proffer potential solutions to address them. Besides, we review various transport network options that can be employed for FWA deployment. In this regard, we offer an in-depth discussion on their related requirements for different use cases. Moreover, we give an insight into the 3GPP RAN functional split implementations and implications on the 5G FWA transport network solutions. The concepts of virtualized RANs for attending flexibly to the dynamic nature of different use cases are also presented.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Advanced MIMO Systems Optimization · Telecommunications and Broadcasting Technologies · Millimeter-Wave Propagation and Modeling
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Instituto de Telecomunicações, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Department of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Instituto de Telecomunicações, Campus Universitário de Santiago, University of Aveiro, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
References (100+)
Show source-provided references
1. Coexistence of WiFi and LiFi toward 5G: Concepts, opportunities, and challenges10.1109/MCOM.2016.7402263 ↗
2. Analysis of multiuser mixed RF/FSO relay networks for performance improvements in Cloud Computing-Based Radio Access Networks (CC-RANs)10.1016/j.optcom.2017.06.097 ↗
3. Outage Probability of Multiuser Mixed RF/FSO Relay Schemes for Heterogeneous Cloud Radio Access Networks (H-CRANs)10.1007/s11277-017-4413-y ↗
4. Whitehelm Capital (2018). Thought Leadership: Infrastructure Investing in a Disrupted World, Part 4: Telecoms and Networks, Whitehelm Capital. Available online: https://www.whitehelmcapital.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/201809-Thought-Leadership-Infrastructure-Investing-in-a-Disrupted-World-Part-4-Telecoms-Disclaimer.pdf.
5. Kim, D., and Zarri, M. (2018). Fixed Wireless Access: Economic Potential and Best Practices, GSMA. Available online: https://www.gsma.com/futurenetworks/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Fixed-Wireless-Access-economic-potential-and-best-practices.pdf.
6. Schoolar, D. (2016). 5G Fixed Wireless Access: Providing Fiber Speeds over the Air While also Helping Pave the Way for Full 5G Mobility, Ovum & Samsung. Available online: https://image-us.samsung.com/SamsungUS/samsungbusiness/products/networking/08152017/Whitepaper_5G-Fixed-Wireless-Access-0.pdf.
7. Vectored DSL: Potential, Implementation Issues and Challenges10.1109/SURV.2013.011413.00098 ↗
8. Optical transport solutions for 5G fixed wireless access [Invited]10.1364/JOCN.9.000D10 ↗
9. CommScope (2017). CommScope Definitions: What Is Fixed Wireless Access? Technical Report, CommScope.
10. Brown, G. (2016). Exploring 5G New Radio: Use Cases Capabilities & Timeline, Qualcomm/Heavy Reading. Available online: https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/heavy-reading-whitepaper-exploring-5g-new-radio-use-cases-capabilities-timeline.pdf.
11. Laraqui, K., Tombaz, S., Furuskär, A., Skubic, B., Nazari, A., and Trojer, E. (2016). 5G and Fixed Wireless Access, Ericsson. Available online: https://www.ericsson.com/49ec56/assets/local/reports-papers/ericsson-technology-review/docs/2016/etr-5g-and-fixed-wireless-access.pdf.
12. Schnaufer, D., and Peterson, B. (2021, July 24). Delivering 5G mmWave Fixed Wireless Access. Available online: https://www.edn.com/delivering-5g-mmwave-fixed-wireless-access/.
13. Dano, M. (2017). Fixed 5G Was Tested by the Cable Industry, and It Came up a Bit Short, Fierce Wireless. Available online: https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/editor-s-corner-cable-industry-tested-fixed-5g-and-it-came-up-a-bit-short.
14. 5G Fixed Wireless Access Array and RF Front-End Trade-Offs
15. Matsue, H., Kubota, S., Hojo, H., Watanabe, K., Saito, T., Aikawa, S., and Sato, A. (2003, January 15–17). Future systems and technologies for broadband wireless access services. Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE Topical Conference on Wireless Communication Technology, Honolulu, HI, USA.
16. CORNING (2005). Broadband Technology Overview, Corning. Available online: http://www.ddwei.info/pdf/Broadband/2.pdf.
17. Talukdar, R., and Saikia, M. (2014). Evolution and Innovation in 5G Cellular Communication System and Beyond: A Study. arXiv.
18. Henkel, R. (2005). Broadband Over Power Lines, Ratepayer Advocate. Available online: https://www.state.nj.us/rpa/BPLwhitepaper.pdf.
19. State and Future of Broadband Technologies (2015). Technical paper, European Commission. Available online: http://europedirectpuglia.eu/files/State-and-future-of-broadband-technologies.pdf.
20. Dahlman, E., Parkvall, S., and Skold, J. (2011). 4G: LTE/LTE-Advanced for Mobile Broadband, Academic Press.
21. Dahlman, E., Parkvall, S., and Skold, J. (2018). 5G NR: The Next Generation Wireless Access Technology, Academic Press.
22. EV-DO revision C: Evolution of the CDMA2000*data optimized system to higher spectral efficiencies and enhanced services10.1002/bltj.20194 ↗
23. Optical Transport Network Design for 5G Fixed Wireless Access10.1109/JLT.2019.2921378 ↗
24. Emerging optical access network technologies for 5G wireless [invited]10.1364/JOCN.8.000B70 ↗
25. Transport evolution for the RAN of the future [Invited]10.1364/JOCN.11.000B97 ↗
26. Meeting the requirements to deploy cloud RAN over optical networks10.1364/JOCN.9.000B22 ↗
27. Laraqui, K., Tombaz, S., Furuskär, A., Skubic, B., Nazari, A., and Trojer, E. (2017). Fixed Wireless Access on a Massive Scale with 5G, Ericsson. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/30543214/Fixed_wireless_access_on_a_massive_scale_with_5G.
28. On the Vision of Complete Fixed-Mobile Convergence10.1109/JLT.2010.2050861 ↗
29. R-FFT: Function Split at IFFT/FFT in Unified LTE CRAN and Cable Access Network10.1109/TBC.2017.2786032 ↗
30. Performance Comparison of R-PHY and R-MACPHY Modular Cable Access Network Architectures10.1109/TBC.2017.2711145 ↗
31. Fiber-wireless (FiWi) access networks: Challenges and opportunities10.1109/MNET.2011.5687951 ↗
32. A Fusion IP/DVB Networking Environment for Providing Always-On Connectivity and Triple-Play Services to Urban and Rural Areas10.1109/MNET.2007.334308 ↗
33. Converged optical, wireless, and data center network infrastructures for 5G services10.1364/JOCN.11.00A111 ↗
34. A Multicast Technique for Fixed and Mobile Optical Wireless Backhaul in 5G Networks10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2832980 ↗
35. Shared Access Satellite-Terrestrial Reconfigurable Backhaul Network Enabled by Smart Antennas at MmWave Band10.1109/MNET.2018.1800030 ↗
36. Flexible Functional Split Design for Downlink C-RAN with Capacity-Constrained Fronthaul10.1109/TVT.2019.2911934 ↗
37. Flex5G: Flexible Functional Split in 5G Networks10.1109/TNSM.2018.2853707 ↗
38. Experimental Evaluation of RAN Slicing Architecture With Flexibly Located Functional Components of Base Station According to Diverse 5G Services10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2922251 ↗
39. Multiplexing Gain and Processing Savings of 5G Radio-Access-Network Functional Splits10.1109/TGCN.2018.2869294 ↗
40. Low-latency high-efficiency mobile fronthaul with TDM-PON (mobile-PON)10.1364/JOCN.10.000A20 ↗
41. A Survey of the Functional Splits Proposed for 5G Mobile Crosshaul Networks10.1109/COMST.2018.2868805 ↗
42. 5G-XHaul: A Novel Wireless-Optical SDN Transport Network to Support Joint 5G Backhaul and Fronthaul Services10.1109/MCOM.2019.1800836 ↗
43. Evaluating C-RAN fronthaul functional splits in terms of network level energy and cost savings10.1109/JCN.2016.000025 ↗
44. Functional Split of Zero-Forcing Based Massive MIMO for Fronthaul Load Reduction10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2788451 ↗
45. Orchestrating lightpath recovery and flexible functional split to preserve virtualized RAN connectivity10.1364/JOCN.10.000843 ↗
46. Performance Evaluation of Ethernet-based Mobile Fronthaul and Wireless COMP in Split-PHY Processing10.1364/JOCN.9.000A46 ↗
47. Toward an Efficient C-RAN Optical Fronthaul for the Future Networks: A Tutorial on Technologies, Requirements, Challenges, and Solutions10.1109/COMST.2017.2773462 ↗
48. Mobile fronthaul architecture and technologies: A RAN equipment assessment [invited]10.1364/JOCN.10.0000A1 ↗
49. A survey on the communication and network enablers for cloud-based services: State of the art, challenges, and opportunities10.1007/s12243-018-0629-4 ↗
50. Routing Algorithm with Virtual Topology Toward to Huge Numbers of LEO Mobile Satellite Network Based on SDN10.1007/s11036-017-0948-0 ↗
51. Network Slicing for 5G with SDN/NFV: Concepts, Architectures, and Challenges10.1109/MCOM.2017.1600935 ↗
52. Latency-aware resource orchestration in SDN-based packet over optical flexi-grid transport networks10.1364/JOCN.11.000B83 ↗
53. Mpatziakas, A., Papadopoulos, S., Drosou, A., and Tzovaras, D. (2020, January 24–27). Multi-objective Optimisation for Slice-aware Resource Orchestration in 5G Networks. Proceedings of the 2020 23rd Conference on Innovation in Clouds, Internet and Networks and Workshops (ICIN), Paris, France.10.1109/ICIN48450.2020.9059438 ↗
54. Software Defined Optical Networks (SDONs): A Comprehensive Survey10.1109/COMST.2016.2586999 ↗
55. T-trail: Link failure monitoring in software-defined optical networks10.1364/JOCN.10.000344 ↗
56. Virtual network provisioning over distance-adaptive flexible-grid optical networks [Invited]10.1364/JOCN.7.00A318 ↗
57. Software-defined optical networks and network abstraction with functional service design [Invited]10.1364/JOCN.9.000C65 ↗
58. Blockchain-based secure distributed control for software defined optical networking10.23919/JCC.2019.06.004 ↗
59. Experiment demonstration of multi-layer restoration in service-oriented software defined optical network10.1049/el.2017.1559 ↗
60. Coordination between control layer AI and on-board AI in optical transport networks [Invited]10.1364/JOCN.12.000A49 ↗
61. Integration of IoT, Transport SDN, and Edge/Cloud Computing for Dynamic Distribution of IoT Analytics and Efficient Use of Network Resources10.1109/JLT.2018.2800660 ↗
62. Hybrid SDN Networks: A Survey of Existing Approaches10.1109/COMST.2018.2837161 ↗
63. Performance Evaluation of Integrated Multi-Access Edge Computing and Fiber-Wireless Access Networks10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2833619 ↗
64. Power-shaped advanced resource assignment (PSARA) for fixed broadband wireless access systems10.1109/TWC.2004.837419 ↗
65. Resource assignment in a fixed broadband wireless system10.1109/4234.602599 ↗
66. Quasi-static resource allocation with interference avoidance for fixed wireless systems10.1109/49.753733 ↗
67. Unified approach of GOS optimization for fixed wireless access10.1109/25.992080 ↗
68. Mohsin, M., Batalla, J.M., Pallis, E., Mastorakis, G., Markakis, E.K., and Mavromoustakis, C.X. (2021). On Analyzing Beamforming Implementation in O-RAN 5G. Electronics, 10.10.3390/electronics10172162 ↗
69. Johnston, D., and Lee, R. (2018). Fixed Wireless Access Technical Challenges and Solutions, Telecoms. Available online: https://telecoms.com/opinion/fixed-wireless-access-technical-challenges-and-solutions/.
70. A low-cost and very compact wireless terminal integrated on the back of a waveguide planar array for 26 GHz band fixed wireless access (FWA) systems10.1109/TAP.2005.852320 ↗
71. Miura, O., Shirosaki, T., Taniguchi, S., Kazama, A., Kimura, U., Hirokawa, J., and Ando, M. (2003, January 15–17). A low-cost and very small wireless terminal integrated on the back of a flat panel array for 26 GHz band fixed wireless access systems. Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE Topical Conference on Wireless Communication Technology, Honolulu, HI, USA.
72. Itokawa, K., Nishikawa, T., Matsushita, A., Nishino, M., Takahata, Y., and Shindo, Y. (December, January 30). Advanced Wireless IP Access System (WIPAS) for Higher Speed and Real-Time Communication Services. Proceedings of the GLOBECOM 2009—2009 IEEE Global Telecommunications Conference, Honolulu, HI, USA.10.1109/GLOCOM.2009.5425917 ↗
73. Yoshie, T., Nishino, M., Takahata, Y., and Shindo, Y. (2008, January 15–18). Advanced Wireless IP Access System (WIPAS) for fixed wireless access (FWA)—Broadband access system for triple play services by “fiber + radio”. Proceedings of the 2008 IEEE 19th International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications, Cannes, France.10.1109/PIMRC.2008.4699603 ↗
74. Fixed wireless access: A market and system overview10.1049/ecej:19980503 ↗
75. A Multiband OFDMA Heterogeneous Network for Millimeter Wave 5G Wireless Applications10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2604364 ↗
76. Advanced Integration Techniques on Broadband Millimeter-Wave Beam Steering for 5G Wireless Networks and Beyond
77. Interference Reduction by Millimeter Wave Technology for 5G-Based Green Communications10.1109/ACCESS.2016.2602318 ↗
78. Millimeter-Wave Continuous-Mode Power Amplifier for 5G MIMO Applications10.1109/TMTT.2019.2906592 ↗
79. 5G Trial Services Demonstration: IFoF-Based Distributed Antenna System in 28 GHz Millimeter-Wave Supporting Gigabit Mobile Services10.1109/JLT.2019.2918322 ↗
80. A Multiband Millimeter-Wave 2-D Array Based on Enhanced Franklin Antenna for 5G Wireless Systems10.1109/LAWP.2017.2756560 ↗
81. Integrated Millimeter-Wave Wideband End-Fire 5G Beam Steerable Array and Low-Frequency 4G LTE Antenna in Mobile Terminals10.1109/TVT.2019.2899178 ↗
82. Stacked Microstrip Linear Array for Millimeter-Wave 5G Baseband Communication10.1109/LAWP.2018.2816258 ↗
83. Multi-gigabit millimeter wave wireless communications for 5G: From fixed access to cellular networks10.1109/MCOM.2015.7010531 ↗
84. Joint Power Allocation and Beamforming for Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access (NOMA) in 5G Millimeter Wave Communications10.1109/TWC.2018.2804953 ↗
85. ANN-based design of a versatile millimetre-wave slotted patch multi-antenna configuration for 5G scenarios10.1049/iet-map.2016.0987 ↗
86. Joint Tx-Rx Beamforming and Power Allocation for 5G Millimeter-Wave Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Networks10.1109/TCOMM.2019.2906589 ↗
87. Far-Field-Based Nonlinear Optimization of Millimeter-Wave Active Antenna for 5G Services10.1109/TMTT.2019.2909898 ↗
88. A High-Precision Hybrid Analog and Digital Beamforming Transceiver System for 5G Millimeter-Wave Communication10.1109/ACCESS.2019.2923836 ↗
89. Compact Tapered Slot Antenna Array for 5G Millimeter-Wave Massive MIMO Systems10.1109/TAP.2017.2700891 ↗
90. Full-Angle Digital Predistortion of 5G Millimeter-Wave Massive MIMO Transmitters10.1109/TMTT.2019.2918450 ↗
91. Digital Beamforming-Based Massive MIMO Transceiver for 5G Millimeter-Wave Communications10.1109/TMTT.2018.2829702 ↗
92. Tang, Y., Huang, M., Chen, Y., Peng, P., Wang, H., and Chang, G. (2019, January 3–7). A 4-Channel Beamformer for 9-Gb/s MMW 5G Fixed-Wireless Access Over 25-km SMF with Bit-Loading OFDM. Proceedings of the 2019 Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC), San Diego, CA, USA.10.1364/OFC.2019.W3J.7 ↗
93. Optically beamformed beam-switched adaptive antennas for fixed and mobile broad-band wireless access networks10.1109/TMTT.2005.863049 ↗
94. Suburban Residential Building Penetration Loss at 28 GHz for Fixed Wireless Access10.1109/LWC.2018.2835473 ↗
95. Packet error statistics of LOS broadband fixed wireless access channels10.1109/TCOMM.2009.0901.060419 ↗
96. Data Transmission over Rain-Faded Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Channels10.1109/TCE.2007.4341559 ↗
97. MIMO OFDM for broadband fixed wireless access10.1049/ip-com:20040969 ↗
98. Rician K-Factor Distribution in Broadband Fixed Wireless Access Channels under Rain Fades10.1109/LCOM.2007.348281 ↗
99. Characterization of Line-of-Sight MIMO Channel for Fixed Wireless Communications10.1109/LAWP.2007.890761 ↗
100. Quality of Service of Broadband Fixed Wireless Access QPSK Channels Interfered by Adjacent Terrestrial Links10.1109/TAP.2006.883958 ↗