HUAWEI COMMUNICATE DEC 2016 ISSUE 80 Think Tech >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> HUAWEI COMMUNICATE 10/2016 ISSUE communicate 80 The ROADS to MBB Sprinting the last All about the user Up in the air 2020 with CloudRAN mile with WTTx with U-vMOS with 5G

CloudRAN Running with the clouds DEC 2016 ISSUE 80

Scan for mobile reading For more information about industry progress, enlightening viewpoints, innovative exhibitions, and webinars, please scan the QR code to visit the official website. Content and connectivity: Sponsor: Corporate Communications Dept. A magical combination Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Editor-in-Chief: We’re witnessing history’s largest technological migration – the digital Sally Gao ([email protected]) migration of humankind to a completely mobile Internet architecture. Mobile Editors: Internet has transformed life and work, realizing huge efficiency gains and Gary Marcus Maidment, Linda Xu presenting mobile operators with huge opportunities. But, questions remain. Julia Yao, Kyra Mi, Pan Tao Xue Hua, Cao Zhihui How can operators develop new wireless data services and grow their mobile broadband business? How should mobile networks evolve? How can we Art Editor: Zhou Shumin protect existing investment? Huawei has worked with mobile operators across the globe to formulate Contributors: Qiu Heng, Wang Yufeng the following priorities: Sun Xun, Chen Yifang, Zhao Zhipeng Deliver ubiquitous connectivity to realize a cycle of value creation based He Yingtao, Song Xiaodi Zhang Fupeng, Liu Zhen, Zhang Hua on enhancing bandwidth and boosting connectivity and service capabilities. Ding Jiangbo, Yu Luo With HD video, virtual, reality, augmented reality, and driverless vehicles all on the rise, we need to provide innovative services that maximize user freedom. E-mail: [email protected] Expand service boundaries by combining business models to cover various Tel: +86 755 28786665, 28787643 scenarios involving people and things. We can then build a fully connected Fax: +86 755 28788811 Address: B1, Huawei Industrial Base, world and extend operators’ service boundaries into new blue oceans. We Bantian, Longgang, Shenzhen must redefine wireless business models so they provide platforms and network 518129, China capabilities, not just connectivity. And we must re-engineer wireless business Publication Registration No.: markets so they connect households and vertical industries, not just individuals. Yue B No.10148 Evolve wireless network architecture to face an undefined future with Copyright © Huawei Technologies Co., definite rules. After all, we may not be able to predict traffic growth or service Ltd. 2016.All rights reserved. demand. Mobile operators need to rebuild their networks’ commercial capabilities No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means by enhancing basic capabilities and evolving network technologies sequentially, without prior written consent of Huawei including the co-existence of multiple generations: 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G. Technologies Co., Ltd. What have we done to achieve all this? We’ve innovated service-focused NO WARRANTY solutions such as video optimization. We’ve moved into wireless household The contents of this document are for information purpose only, and provided “as connectivity, IoT, and radio trunking networks to expand services from B2C to is”. Except as required by applicable laws, B2B. And we’ve developed CloudRAN, a next-gen, evolvable, and flexible cloud no warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to, the network architecture. implied warranties of merchantability and We thus hope to provide users with the ultimate experience through fitness for a particular purpose, are made content and pure freedom through full connectivity. in relation to contents of this document. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, in no case shall Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd be liable for any special, incidental, indirect, or consequential damages, or lost profits, business, revenue, data, goodwill For more information about or anticipated savings arising out of or in connection with any use of this document. industry progress, enlightening viewpoints, innovative exhibitions, and webinars, Deng Taihua, President of Huawei please scan the QR code to visit the official website. Wireless Network Product Line dd

COVER STORY CloudRAN: Running with the clouds CloudRAN features a re- segmented wireless management framework, 80

multiple connectivity capabilities, and elastic deployment architecture.

ISSUE P04

EXPERTS’ FORUM FOCUS The ROADS to MBB On the path to 5G 2020 with CloudRAN with 4.5G CloudRAN is a key support Evolving 4.5G in parallel to technology for mobile 5G new air interface will operators to create new help operators develop markets and target new new services, user segments and consumers. behaviors, and business models. municate P10 P16

FOCUS FOCUS

com Sprinting the last NB-IoT: A shot in the mile with WTTx arm for cellular IoT

Using WTTX avoids NB-IoT provides operators trenching and wiring, with a technological edge yielding quicker TTM, faster for a competitive shot in user growth rate, and a the arm in CIoT market and shorter payback period. for transformation.

P21 P25 CONTENTS dd

PERSPECTIVES PERSPECTIVES

All about the user Keeping safe with with U-vMOS 4.5G broadband trunking P28 P37 Broadening horizons with MBB Open Indoor digitalization Interconnect for full connectivity P33 P40

HOW TO OPERATE HOW TO OPERATE China Mobile's Philippines Globe: oriental pearl New network shines even configuration, new brighter With 4.5G MBB gains P48 Shanghai Mobile taps into the power of 4.5G. WTTx gives Sri Lanka wings to soar P44 P50

SOLUTIONS CUTTING EDGE

MBB: Where agility Up in the air with 5G and growth go hand in hand P62 P54

UMTS+: Adding up to success P59 COVER STORY

Yang Chaobin CloudRAN Chief Marketing Officer, Huawei Running with the clouds Wireless Network Product Line

Based on cloud architecture and SingleRAN, CloudRAN features a re-segmented wireless management framework, multiple connectivity capabilities, and elastic deployment architecture. The solution provides a powerful radio access network (RAN) development strategy to help operators achieve a better connected future.

4 2016.10 ISSUE 80 CloudRAN: Running with the clouds / Cover Story

he rise of mobile Internet has network management, basebands, and unleashed new types of services master control. The SingleRAN solution Over the next carried on public mobile networks significantly reduced RAN investment and two to three T that would have once been maintenance costs, becoming the wireless regarded as impossible. These include HD industry's de facto standard architecture. years, mobile video, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality network (AR), driverless vehicles, real-time industrial SingleRAN is one of Huawei Wireless' most operators' control, ubiquitous access to high-speed impressive achievements in the past ten most pressing cloud content anytime, Internet of Things years. But, for the future, how will Huawei issues will be services, and public safety services – all are Wireless meet the challenges to come? confirmed as key future wireless network maximizing the applications. As network capabilities are The next decade will see great changes value of mobile opened and mobile edge computing (MEC) in wireless communications. 4.5G, 5G and networks, goes mainstream, the number of innovative new forms of network construction and constructing mobile Internet business models will increase. mobile applications will revolutionize mobile future-facing connectivity. But, evolution from 4G to 5G alone Over the next two to three years, mobile will not prompt transformation. Far from it. mobile access network operators' most pressing issues will networks, and be maximizing the value of mobile networks, Reconstructing basic interconnectivity future service constructing future-facing mobile access capabilities as part of carriers’ digital innovation. networks, and future service innovation. New transformation will increase in prominence, wireless architecture will need to connect because it will kick off a new stage of service everything and adapt to an uncertain future. interconnections and open reconstruction. In the future, new network architecture will be needed Evolve to adapt to meet a multitude of new requirements like network flexibility. These requirements will RAN architecture has evolved over two come from diverse services, new business stages. In the era of traditional RANs – the models, and the need for faster connections and first stage – operators built networks using anytime, ubiquitous, and consistent experiences different technologies based on independent on complex multi-band, multi-standard designs, hardware components, and heterogeneous networks. operating teams. They were expensive and flexibility was poor. Huawei's SingleRAN With this uncertainty, Huawei Wireless solution in 2007 marked the start of has upped its game since SingleRAN with the second stage: SingleRAN enabled the CloudRAN, its latest breakthrough in wireless integrated deployment of the following communications networking. standards: GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, and LTE. This was completed on a single access Cloud tech on mobile platform that used the same hardware architecture components, spectrum, transmission,

2016.10 ISSUE 80 5 COVER STORY

Six distinctive features of CloudRAN architecture

Cloud-based Multi-standard Elastic 1 architecture 2 connectivity 3 networks Adopting a cloud-based hardware and CloudRAN integrates all access CloudRAN's new network layering software system, CloudRAN includes a Unleash the technologiesUnleash on to thea single platform,Build an agilestandard means theEnable system is oriented series of systematic cloudi capabilitiespower of including power4G, 4.5G, of data and future 5Garchitecture to functionsand rathercarriers' than network digital like functions virtualization, resource bandwidth and technology,and and drive various the non-licensed open platformelements. This allowstransformation flexible, fast, cloudification, distributed architecture,provide the spectrummigration access technologies of the such to address and elastic functionsand builddeployment the layered capabilities , and flexible best service as Wi-Fi.IT infrastructure the diverse based on servicenext-generation development coordination. experience to the cloud application requirements.operations scenarios systems

CloudRAN is designed to help difficult part to cloudify, putting the also be applied to terminals for the operators deal with the complexity last piece of the puzzle in place for optimum user experience. of tomorrow's tech integration, full cloudification – an unprecedented service diversification, and business innovation in wireless infrastructure. The industry agrees that 5G and LTE model fragmentation. Featuring multiple connectivity are the future. redesigned wireless management CloudRAN transforms the RAN and Mainstream mobile terminals are architecture and capabilities like delivers cloud capabilities like functions capable of multi-standards access, resource management, multi- virtualization, resource cloudification, but only in a single connectivity state. tech connectivity, and elastic architecture distribution, capabilities But, spurred by the industry, multiple- architecture, carriers can better layerization, and flexible coordination. connectivity will happen. CloudRAN cope with future uncertainties. The solution enables hardware consolidates all access technologies Cloud-based architecture resource pooling to maximize resource on a single platform; the completed sharing. With fully distributed standards include TDD and FDD LTE dual With cloud-based hardware and software architecture resembling connectivity and LTE Wi-Fi aggregation. software systems, CloudRAN enables those of Internet companies, CloudRAN operators to build a service-driven gives elastic capabilities such as The new architecture will be able to and user-centric elastic network flexible fault handling and resource connect to multiple types of access that supports 4G and 5G connectivity scheduling, and fully automates technologies, including traditional and embraces the diversity of future service deployment, resource 4G, 4.5G, and future 5G technology, MBB and services for verticals. scheduling, and troubleshooting. and various non-licensed spectrum Multi-standard connectivity access technologies such as Wi-Fi. Cloud architecture is the basis of future networking. Huawei's All Cloud CloudRAN architecture adopts CloudRAN architecture overcomes strategy sets out a blueprint for full multi-connectivity technology to anchor point selection with multiple- E2E network cloudification. Huawei's overcome the complexity of a multi- connectivity technology. The anchor CloudRAN fully integrates cloud standard, multi-band, and multi- point enables service distribution, concepts into the RAN, the most layer integration environment. It can carries out unified management, and

6 2016.10 ISSUE 80 CloudRAN: Running with the clouds / Cover Story

Elastic General virtualized Capability Mobile edge networks 4 containers 5 opening 6computing CloudRAN features the new function With CloudRAN, the network capabilities CloudRAN enables the flexible deployment element Mobile Cloud Engine to handle of wireless base stations can be more of core network gateways, service the physical deployment location of easily opened through virtualized gateways, cache servers, and application resource management and scheduling containers. CloudRAN's capability opening servers based on scenarios, allowing and provide loading and management function will continue to evolve from service development to be closer to for the E2E slicing functionality simple APIs to complex APIs. This base stations and users, which of 5G. will be scenario-based and enables mobile edge Internetized. computing.

allocates high-level data, which is optimal collaboration efficiency and restored on the terminal via different fast and elastic function deployment to air interface technology pipes. This reflect service growth requirements. Like the early enables operators to maximize the distributed base use of technology, spectrum, and Base station atomization considers hardware resources to increase the benefits as well as the technical station design, overall resource efficiency. costs. Dividing the horizontal layer CloudRAN balances Elastic networks of base stations into real-time and distribution and non-real-time sections will enable the centralization Like the early distributed base station system to better adapt to diverse through a design, CloudRAN balances distribution network environments and implement new, layered and centralization through a new, multiple connectivity, multi-carrier, layered framework. All network and multi-streaming technologies. framework. functions can be configured and In principle, real-time components managed on-demand to deal with are closer to base stations, enabling business model fragmentation and super-low latency and accelerating service growth in verticals. post-processing on complex data calculations at the front end. CloudRAN's new network-layering standard means the system is function- Centralizing non-real-time oriented rather than based on network components can support multi- elements. Resource management dimensional wireless standard adds more detailed functions to the management and service traditional vertically managed wireless distribution unification. With elastic architecture systems. These capabilities architecture, real-time and non-real- can be configured on-demand and time scheduling on different layers network functions atomization for enables transition from network-

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centric to service-centric deployment. by OTT companies and verticals to innovate CloudRAN General virtualized container design services. architecture CloudRAN will open management capabilities CloudRAN's capability opening function will can be used to better serve verticals. Huawei has keep evolving from simple to complex APIs in different included its Mobile Cloud Engine into the and into scenario-based and Internetized wireless new architecture to configure where capabilities, helping operators to further network resource management and scheduling are expand individual and household markets, physically located and to provide loading and traditional enterprises, vertical industries, environments management on E2E slicing for 5G by opening and Internet markets. Operators can then and scenarios capabilities and resource management. expand and succeed in the digital economy. to deal with Enabling mobile edge computing different Mobile Cloud Engine is an optimized virtual uncertainties. machine for wireless capabilities that can CloudRAN allows core network gateways, run on dedicated platforms and general service gateways, cache servers, and commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) platforms with application servers to be flexibly deployed Cloud OS under a COTS cloud infrastructure. based on scenario, allowing service It offers carrier-class disaster recovery and development to be closer to base stations on-demand deployment, flexible capacity and users. This will also enable MEC, expansion, independent feature upgrades, and functions like reducing transmission distance other functions of native cloud architecture. and latency, and optimization processing. Opening capabilities: A hotbed of service innovation Each function component can share computing and storage resources, lowering service Communications networks must be able to development costs and greatly increasing MEC open network capabilities. Thus, operators innovation. Running services as close to end need to get involved in the Internet users as possible slashes latency, enabling rapid industry chain, and by monetizing network feedback on network status and lessening capabilities, transform towards bilateral congestion on the rest of the network. Tighter business models. If RANs are closer to users, integration with wireless components enables network information is more accurate. CloudRAN to acquire information on traffic, Opening RAN capabilities can bring more wireless, and terminal device location more business value for operators. CloudRAN easily, which in turn allows big data analysis and architecture opens wireless base station new business models. network capabilities through virtualized containers, including anonymized user Benefits for verticals locations, network optimization parameters, QoS, billing, users' context network CloudRAN architecture can be used in different information, and service APIs. These valuable wireless network environments and scenarios data sources and interfaces can be used to deal with different kinds of uncertainty

8 2016.10 ISSUE 80 CloudRAN: Running with the clouds / Cover Story

that will occur in future as wireless collaboration and significantly improves to service type. For example, video networks evolve. This will enable cell edge user rates, thus guaranteeing services can be deployed closer wireless networks to become the core user experience. CloudRAN also to the end user to reduce the infrastructure and key innovation supports the automatic selection of transmission resources needed by driver of socioeconomic development. different collaboration levels according the system, shortening latency and Sharing network resources to deployment conditions to maximize ensuring an optimal user experience. the value of operator assets. Two issues are that different CloudRAN architecture also allows operators offer a wide variety of These functions greatly increase developers to fully leverage the network transmission resources and spectral usage efficiency. value of network capabilities fiber-to-the site rates differ from Ultimate experiences with through opening network country to country. Achieving on- ultra-broadband capabilities. Developing services demand provisioning of network that match user needs can increase resources requires resource sharing, CloudRAN's multiple concurrent commercial value and service including baseband resources and connections capability allows users innovation; for example, anonymized computing and storage. CloudRAN to receive signals from multiple user location data can help retailers architecture allows maximum technologies and simultaneously select sites and push advertising or adaptation to current network connect to multiple base stations. In yield IoT surveillance information on environments, enabling operator the future, when Wi-Fi operates on crops to predict crop yields. networks to flexibly provision unlicensed bands and LTE on licensed baseband, storage, and computing bands, multi-connectivity technology CloudRAN architecture also enables resources and services with maximum will allow simultaneous connections the on-demand deployment of real- efficiency. They can then provide to Wi-Fi and LTE, or enable users time/non-real-time resources based different services and deliver the best to simultaneously connect to LTE on particular service requirements experience for different users. and 5G and macro and micro base and the distribution of base stations, Higher spectral efficiency, stations. This multi-connectivity will server rooms, and fiber resources higher income improve user perception of speeds. to guarantee service experience and CloudRAN will also support functions minimize network deployment and CloudRAN architecture turn such as ultra-high bandwidth carrier OPEX. interferences into gains by centrally aggregation, fast collaboration, and deploying non-real-time management balanced scheduling. These functions Mobile IoT will increase the value units. This allows multi-dimensional will enable gigabit+ download brought by CloudRAN. According to collaboration between different speeds, meeting the requirements industry visionary Kevin Kelly, "We're standards, frequency bands, base of applications like video and VR/AR. at the most important stage, the stations, and layering technology Service diversification beginning. It's a process. Every new through greater ranges of time, and service innovation thing we create is in essence still at spectrum, space, and different capabilities the beginning stage." With CloudRAN, processing functions. It also allows operators will be ready for the increased system capacity through CloudRAN architecture allows the arrival of the better connected multi-site and multi-user MIMO flexible deployment of MEC according mobile era.

2016.10 ISSUE 80 9 Experts' Forum EXPERTS'FOCUS FORUM

Cover Story

The ROADS to MBB 2020 Wang Yufeng Director of MBB Solution with CloudRAN Support Dept., Huawei

Mobile operators must continue improving the value of their networks, evolve connectivity capabilities, and build a future-oriented mobile industry. To do so, they need to create new markets by opening platforms and network capabilities and target new segments and consumers, for example, households and verticals. CloudRAN is a key support technology for achieving this. By Sun Xun, Ding Jiangbo, Yu Luo

10 2016.10 ISSUE 80 The ROADS to MBB 2020 with CloudRAN / Experts' Forum

The MBB 2020 vision COMMUNICATE: MBB 2020 is a commercial vision. What are the e’re fast approaching main differences between MBB a key stage of 2020 and operators' aims? development for W the mobile industry: Wang Yufeng: The next five Rather than MBB 2020. Rather than describing years will see dramatic changes describing a type a type of network and particular in basic connectivity capabilities, of network and point in time, MBB 2020 represents and mobile operators will need particular point a commercial and solution-led vision to expand the scope of their of mobile network development current services and introduce in time, MBB 2020 over the next five to ten years. innovative business models to represents a create new revenue streams. With commercial and Huawei proposed the ROADS concept the rapid development of wireless solution-led vision for the MBB 2020 vision at the end of technology, wireless networks of mobile network 2015, setting out a path of continual can now carry services that they evolution for the commercial previously couldn’t. This forces us development over capabilities of mobile networks to redefine the business models the next five to ten and the construction process for and target markets of wireless years. the network technologies that will networks. Business models now support this. Huawei hopes to help include Connectivity as a Service, operators improve the commercial Platform as a Service, and – value of their networks and evolve to open network capabilities – the connectivity capabilities of their Infrastructure as a Service. networks to build a future-oriented Wireless commercial markets mobile industry. have expanded from Business to Customer (connectivity services CloudRAN is a key support for individual users) to Business to technology for achieving this vision. Household (B2H) and Business to Huawei will use CloudRAN as the Business (B2B). bridge linking 4G and 5G. How will this and MBB 2020 be achieved? We B2H: An interesting fact is the asked Wang Yufeng, Director of the B2H market, for example, family MBB Solution Support Department, plans with shared data and to share his views. bundled fixed broadband and mobile services, has the lowest Exploring new churn rate. User loyalty increases greatly once services extend from markets is a must for an individual user to a household. mobile operators Mobile operators can offer home

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broadband access for the B2H market COMMUNICATE: Do mobile operators have using their wireless networks to increase unique advantages in these new markets? revenues. These services also provide a solid foundation for providing smart home Wang Yufeng: Mobile operators have huge and home automation services. unique advantages in the new business scenarios of home broadband and CIoT. B2B: The Internet of Things (IoT) is expected to grow into a trillion-dollar Home broadband market: Mobile operators market. Operators need to build more can use wireless home broadband access IoT networks and leverage Low Power as a way to quickly boost their market Wide Area (LPWA) technology to increase share. When it comes to coverage, the share of cellular IoT (CIoT) from its traditional fixed-line networks are hindered current figure of 6 percent to 50 percent. by trenching and deployment difficulties as Operators' wireless networks can also well as high costs. Mobile broadband (MBB) provide services for previously closed but networks, however, can cover dozens lucrative markets such as public safety. of square kilometres from a single well- Current wireless networks can meet the located base station, with peak speeds of 1 needs of specialist applications for high Gbps and high-speed services that average levels of security and quality, and provide 30 Mbps. According to ITU, the average wide coverage, low cost, and fast service global cost of FBB is 1.7 times higher than rollout. B2B services represent a new MBB, which makes it easier to create a blue ocean market for operators. Diving wireless home broadband network. MBB into this market will help them increase enables coverage to be rapidly extended to revenue. rural and urban areas where FBB coverage is limited and shortens ROI from six years

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to two. operators need to rebuild the commercial capabilities across CIoT market: Operators have their entire networks. This will be LPWA is expected natural advantages in system divided into two steps. First, they to account for 70 security, wide area coverage, need basic capabilities to generate percent of the CIoT QoS guarantees, and ecosystem new value and cope with the market by 2020, maturity. A good IoT network coming network traffic explosion with up to 2 billion should meet the following four by eliminating capacity bottlenecks, connected devices. requirements: 1) Network security; utilizing spectrum, well-planned 2) Seamless network coverage; 3) base station solutions, innovating, LPWA will be vital for Support for a mature ecosystem; and indoor digitalization – factors enabling operators to and 4) Affordable terminals. CIoT unrelated to technology. Second, increase the number technology meets these four operators will need to deal with of CIoT devices. requirements. the problem of the generational evolution of network technologies, Wireless network technology has including strategic positioning innate advantages in security and and the coexistence of multiple wide coverage, and it’s easy to generations of technologies like 3G, accelerate ecosystem maturity and 4G, 4.5G, and 5G. make devices affordable. LPWA is Increasing air interface expected to account for 70 percent capacity of the CIoT market by 2020, with up to 2 billion connected devices. LPWA The three types of infrastructure will be vital for enabling operators involved in increasing air interface to increase the number of CIoT capacity are base stations, devices. spectrum, and indoor digitalization. The formula for air interface Reshaping capacity is as follows: Network capacity = no. of sites × spatial commercial gain (no. of cells and MIMO etc.) × capabilities amount of spectrum. The following methods can thus be used to COMMUNICATE: In the future, increase network capacity: mobile operators will meet many new commercial opportunities. Building more base stations: Crowd Will their networks provide sourcing when acquiring new types sufficient support? of sites, such as street light sites and wall sites, to accelerate the Wang Yufeng: To access these deployment of micro base sites and strategic opportunities, mobile enable precision investment.

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Innovating solutions: New splitting considerations: Whether or not a 5G is the future solutions that create parallel data technology remains in use depends on its streams over the air interface, enhancing commercial viability. GSM, which is a long- of wireless investment efficiency. term basic voice and universal access networking and network, will continue to be used as a thin a mid- to long- Obtaining more spectrum: By 2020, MBB network for supporting roaming and low- term evolution networks will require 1340 to 1960 MHz end users. UMTS will become a basic data target. of total spectrum. This means that most access network, and due to its maturity countries will need to add 600 to 800 and low-cost industry chain support, will MHz of spectrum. If this is insufficient, continue to deliver commercial returns unlicensed spectrum for on-demand use over the long term. will be required. CloudRAN is the bridge The evolution and coexistence of multiple generations of technology: Looking to COMMUNICATE: Can you give more detail the future and the advancement of IoT about the solution and how it will work? technology, all verticals will become digitalized, intelligent, and more efficient. Wang Yufeng: Huawei's answer to the However, different verticals require complex business objectives of the future different things from mobile networks. For is CloudRAN, a solution that considers operators, the best approach is to fully the unique traits of wireless networking. use their existing network resources. CloudRAN enables completely different network capabilities than the simple base Operators must continue to evolve station as access capability center model networks from 4G to 4.5G: The 4.5G of the past. evolution of networks – that is, incorporating 5G technology into 4G CloudRAN incorporates cloud technology networks – will help operators increase into wireless access networks and the value of their 4G networks and supports access for different air interface maximize the value of network resources. technologies. By modernizing 4G network architecture in advance using CloudRAN, 5G is the future of wireless networking operators won’t need to modify network and is a mid- to long-term evolution architecture when 5G is introduced. target: 5G will bring higher speeds (> 10 Deploying CloudRAN architecture will enable Gbps), shorter latency (< 1ms), and enable operators to improve 4G performance. many verticals by acting as a cross- And because the architecture is 5G-based, industry point of integration. operators only have to carry out simple air interface upgrades to support 5G when it’s The use of GSM/UMTS may persist over rolled out. the long term because of commercial

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CloudRAN can improve the nodes on an on-demand basis interoperable interface experience for end users. Current according to service requirements, technologies and implementation mobile phones can only receive one and flexible architecture that systems. Interoperable interfaces type of signal and connect to a adapts to different transmission include GSM, UMTS, and LTE, which single base station. In the future, network conditions, to maximize are defined by standards. These they’ll be able to receive multiple network efficiency and user ensure seamless connection signals and connect to multiple base experience. between terminals and networks, stations, which will increase mobile enabling end users to roam speeds by many times. CloudRAN deployment will be seamlessly anywhere in the divided into two stages. In the world. SingleRAN (which was In the future, mobile networks current stage of 4G and 4.5G defined by Huawei) is a type of will carry people-to-things construction, deploying CloudRAN implementation system that communication as well as people- will allow operators to better operators can use to implement to-people communication. CloudRAN support technologies such as standardized technologies such as supports the flexible deployment of LTE Dual Connectivity, LWA, and GSM, UMTS, or LTE. Operators favor different services, meeting the QoS LAA. In the next stage, when 5G SingleRAN over other methods requirements of different types of is introduced, CloudRAN network because it guarantees the lowest service. architecture will be ready to TCO. Likewise, CloudRAN is a type support new 5G air interfaces and of implementation architecture COMMUNICATE: What challenges standards without needing any that can implement LTE and will operators face when changes. 5G. We believe that CloudRAN deploying CloudRAN? What does architecture is the best choice for the commercial progress and Huawei has been talking with operators to deliver better end- timeline look like? top-tier operators around the user experiences, minimize TCO world for the past two years, for whole network deployment Wang Yufeng: CloudRAN and will begin testing CloudRAN and O&M, and better tap into architecture is flexible and it can with a number of them this year. future new business opportunities meet different usage scenarios. In addition, initial commercial other than people-to-people It’s no secret that operators' adoption is expected to commence communication. transmission networks have at the end of 2017. widely varying conditions and The future of MBB is impossible to quality. Deploying CloudRAN on COMMUNICATE: Will standards predict. Looking back at history, different transmission networks need to be developed for transformation in infrastructure with differing conditions is a huge CloudRAN? When will the has driven huge socioeconomic and challenge. Huawei's CloudRAN standardization process be cultural advances. The ongoing and is a complete solution, with a completed? future evolution of communications hierarchical design for network technology will transform the basic function elements. Real-time and Wang Yufeng: Mobile capability infrastructure of society non-real-time layers that can be communication systems are and usher in a Better Connected deployed on different network made up of two main things: World.

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On the path to 5G with 4.5G

In 2020, operators must support the coexistence of 4.5G and 5G new air interfaces if they want to deliver a superior mobile broadband experience. Evolving 4.5G in parallel to 5G new air interfaces will help operators develop new services, user behaviors, business models, and industry chains before 5G arrives, paving the way for next-gen 5G tech.

By Zhou Dongfei

16 2016.10 ISSUE 80 On the path to 5G with 4.5G / Focus

uawei announced the 4.5G concept standardization. With 5G widely predicted in October 2014, with the 3GPP to be commercially deployed in 2020, why standards organization later should operators invest in 4.5G now? What H officially dubbing it LTE-Advanced is the relationship between 4.5G and 5G? Pro. A year or so on, there‘s been major progress in 4.5G technology and deployment. The rise of mobile Meanwhile, the ITU set out the marker, broadband vision, and timeline for 5G in June 2015. 4G cannot meet new service and business demands 3GPP has started on the path to 5G Huawei's mLAB forecasts that MBB users will double to 6.7 billion between 2015 and 2020, while average monthly data consumption per user will balloon tenfold to 5 GB. In the next two to three years, new services with higher demands on MBB network speed, capacity, and latency will start to emerge, including 2K and 4K video, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and remote drones.

According to GSMA, the number of CIoT connections will surge to 1 billion by 2020, up from 243 million in 2014. As the report doesn’t take into account the possibility of new services that could generate explosive data growth, the actual number of connections may be much greater than predicted.

The demands of the latest MBB services in terms of peak speeds, capacity, massive connections, and low latency already exceed the capabilities of today’s 4G. Targeting new businesses individuals, homes, companies, and different verticals with MBB services requires 4G needs to be multi-purpose – something 4G networks were not designed to be. Ultra-high capacity, massive

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connections, and ultra-low latency RF modules. NB-IoT can also reuse the Next-gen mobile 4.5G and 5G technology vast majority of legacy RF modules. 4.5G will be defined using three measurement therefore only requires software upgrades criteria: peak speed (plus capacity), and a small amount of new hardware to number of connections, and latency. implement. 3GPP officially renames 4.5G Peak speed: 4G is defined as 150 Mbps, 4.5G as 1 Gbps and above, and 5G as 10 to 20 After Huawei proposed 4.5G, it approached Gbps. the 3GPP to standardize the name. Following a process of discussion involving Connection numbers: A 4G network cell operators, equipment vendors, and chip can carry several thousand, 4.5G uses CloT makers, 3GPP confirmed LTE-Advanced Pro to carry 100,000, and 5G will be required as the name for the LTE next-gen evolution to carry 1 million connections per square solution on October 22, 2015. The approval kilometer. of the marker and specifications indicated an industry consensus on 4.5G. E2E latency: Commercial 4G networks average 50 ms, 4.5G is required to deliver Major vendors have since released white 10 ms, and 5G aims for 1 ms. papers describing the evolutionary path Protecting investment to next-gen LTE, and have started to incorporate 4.5G into their product plans. When 4.5G was proposed, the aim was Qualcomm, for example, launched a 1 to achieve technical targets through 4G Gbps modem chipset at the Mobile World network evolution to protect operators’ Congress (MWC) 2016, and demonstrated a investments and maximize the value of 1 Gbps smart device prototype with Huawei. network resources. 4.5G goes global Key 4.5G technologies include Massive CA 4.5G network benchmarks: Gbps, (carrier aggregation), High Order MIMO, Experience 4.0, and Connection+ and 256QAM high order modulation, which can increase peak speeds and capacity, Huawei has worked closely with the world's and Narrow-Band IoT (NB-IoT) for massive leading operators to discover their network connections. Each of these technologies pain points and service development trends can be built on current technology. for the coming two to three years and has developed three network construction Massive CA reuses existing carrier benchmarks for 4.5G: Gbps, Experience 4.0, baseband boards, requiring only additional and Connection+. RF modules or baseband resources for new carriers. 256QAM high-order modulation Gbps: increases peak rates from 4G's 100 can reuse the vast majority of existing Mbps to 1 Gbps. Gbps is synonymous with

18 2016.10 ISSUE 80 On the path to 5G with 4.5G / Focus

MBB pipeline capability and boosting coexistence peak rates, capacity, and cell edge 4.5G is the path to 5G rates. As of May 2016, 20 4.5G is an essential step to 5G. 4.5G commercial Experience 4.0: requires MOS Although the ITU outlined the (voice service quality) and vMOS marker, vision, and timeline for 5G and test networks (video service quality) scores of 4.0 in June 2015, the telecom industry had been deployed for high-definition voice and video. has yet to set out a process for around the world, moving from 4G to 5G. Why? with 60 more Connection+: currently supports expected before the technologies such as NB-IoT, LiTRA Widespread commercial (LTE integrated Trunked Radio) deployment of 5G still a long way end of the year. broadband trunking for public off: According to the ITU's timetable safety, and WTTx (wireless to the x) for 5G, technical performance to power vertical markets. requirements and evaluation The year of 4.5G: 2016 to methods will be defined over 2016 see 60 networks rolled out and 2017, technical proposals will globally be accepted and evaluation carried out between 2018 and 2019, and plus devices per cell. In addition, As of May 2016, 20 4.5G commercial final specifications will be set in there is LTE-V Internet of Vehicles, and test networks had been 2020, which means widespread 5G which is the next major 4.5G deployed around the world, with 60 deployment will likely start after target market. 3GPP will begin more expected before the end of 2020. more standardization work on the year. this in 2016 and 2017 to speed up 5G is likely to adopt higher development. 1 Gbps-plus transmission rates on frequency spectrum: The commercial networks have been advantage of using higher 4G needs to lay the groundwork demonstrated in Norway, Turkey, frequency spectrum is greater for 5G's arrival: Adjusting wireless Germany, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, UAE, bandwidth. But, the cost of deep network architecture using China, Japan, Canada, Singapore, and wide-area network coverage is CloudRAN will make it easier for Thailand, and the Philippines. The UK too high, so legacy low-frequency operators to introduce new 5G air and Korea have begun constructing networks must coexist with 5G for interfaces onto existing networks national LiTRA-based public-safety the long-term to make up for a lack so as to avoid the need to carry networks, and pre-commercial of coverage. out large-scale E2E network deployment of NB-IoT is underway reconstruction. in Spain, South Korea, China, UAE, New 5G services can be cultivated 4.5G evolving in parallel with and Germany. on 4G networks: An example of 5G this is NB-IoT's first commercial 4.5G and 5G set deployment in 2016. NB-IoT From 2016, the 3GPP will start for long-term supports connectivity for 100,000 5G standardization in step with

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ongoing LTE evolution. This will permit individual users, gigabit throughput on introduction of 5G technology on 4.5G a single module, single site x-gigabit CloudRAN networks. This 4G-ization of 5G, or capability, and a seamless indoor enables introducing 5G technology on 4G networks, gigabit experience. GigaRadio is over operators in fact began before the standardization a year ahead of the industry in terms to carry out process. of capabilities, and will help drive 5G-oriented technological innovation, user experience, Massive MIMO: A key 5G technology. and commercial success for operators. network Commercial deployment of LTE TDD architecture supporting 128T128R (128 transceiver During the Huawei Global Analyst Summit cloud channels) is already underway in China. 2016, Huawei announced the CloudRAN transformation FDD Massive MIMO that can support 16, solution. Using a cloud-based hardware on 4G and 4.5G 32, and 64 antennas is being continually and software system, CloudRAN supports networks. refined in 3GPP's R13 and R14. functions virtualization, resource cloudification, and systematic cloud Shorter TTI (transmission time interval): capabilities that can be flexibly coordinated. A crucial technology for achieving the 1 ms CloudRAN enables fully flexible new latency target of 5G, and one that 3GPP network architecture from topology to has begun standardizing. 4.5G is expected resource distribution. The solution's multi- to support OFDM (Orthogonal frequency- connectivity supports 4G, 4.5G, 5G, and Wi- division multiplexing) symbol-level latency, Fi for multiple technology and multi-cell which approaches 5G air interface latency coordination, on-demand deployment of requirements. real-time and non-real-time functions, and network slicing. Network slicing: Another key 5G technology that has been introduced in CloudRAN enables operators to carry out 4.5G networks. Network slicing allows NB- 5G-oriented network architecture cloud IoT, LiTRA, and WTTx to be implemented transformation on 4G and 4.5G networks, on a single network. The next step will which will allow them to directly deploy 5G introduce CloudRAN architecture for air interfaces via CloudRAN architecture more flexible and efficient RAN slicing, when the 5G era rolls around. enabling multiple services on a single network. By 2020, it will be essential for operators to support 4.5G and 5G new air Huawei spearheads 4.5G interface collaboration and coexistence if they want to deliver a superior MBB At MWC 2016, Huawei announced experience. GigaRadio based on 4.5G network construction standards. The solution supports gigabit peak speeds for

20 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Sprinting the last mile with WTTx / Focus

Sprinting the last mile with WTTx

WTTx is a new approach for solving the old last mile problem. Using WTTx avoids trenching and wiring, yielding quicker time to market, faster user growth rate, and shorter payback period. By Wu Shengfei

ccording to the State of Broadband 2015 report issued by the ITU and UNESCO, A broadband connectivity is an important economic growth enabler that ordinary people should be able to afford.

ITU data shows that 4.2 billion people lack Internet access. For the 3 billion connected, basic broadband services no longer meet requirements, hence the slew of national broadband plans being implemented across the planet.

Whether the objective is connecting the unconnected or boosting speed, the last mile problem for broadband digit growth to reach this number WTTx: As fast as fiber networks persists. With the rapid in just six years. But, will this trend development of wireless tech and continue over the next five? Benefiting from 4G and 4.5G, peak fiber optic taking over from copper, rates from WTTx keep jumping. a new approach is necessary. If 4G is used to provide the last mile New tech like 4x4 MIMO, 256QAM, of broadband, a landmark turning FDD+TDD CA, Massive CA, and WTTx covers the gap point will have been reached. If 4G, Massive MIMO require only 40 to 4.5G, and 5G apply to fixed broadband 60 MHz of spectrum to enable Ovum states that the number of scenarios as WTTx, can they provide gigabit cell peak rates, so better global 4G users crossed the 1 billion a wireless access solution to rival the home broadband can arise from mark in 2015, with strong double- FTTx experience? WTTx based on 4.5G.

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WTTx As fast as fiber Shorter TTM Faster ROI B2H B2B Connecting the Boosting the SMEs unconnected connected

Fixed/nomadic Visualization of Customizable Start-up applications subs. development package subsidy

Numerous sites Powerful technologies More carriers Leveraging MBB sites 4G / 4.5G / 5G 40MHz - 100MHz

WTTx Value House

The jump in single user peak rates – from Other than video, VoIP over WTTx is a 150 Mbps (UE CAT 4) to 600 Mbps (UE CAT mature service that can provide triple-play 12) and then to 1 Gbps (UE CAT 16) – means – data, video, and voice – over WTTx as WTTx surpasses copper and matches easily as fixed-line broadband can. fiber optic in terms of experience. More Sharing resources importantly, improving cell capacity can solve direct restraints on capacity WTTx quickly provides high-quality services with growth; for example, supporting up to fast ROI, while FTTx is known for its stability and 100 MHz spectrum can increase cell reliability. Thus, the two are complementary. capacity. Using Massive MIMO to achieve In areas that need broadband, a WTTx solution spatial multiplexing for large numbers of can explore the potential of the business- users increases cell capacity fivefold, so to-household (B2H) and B2B markets. Once a operators can carry more WTTx users and certain user base has been developed, fiber boost single user rates. optic can be rolled out according to demand, WTTx: Same services enabling targeted FTTx construction.

TV has moved on from a device that WTTx and MBB are both based on 4G/4.5G receives broadcasts to one that provides technology. WTTx serves households, while video on demand. How can Internet video MBB serves individuals. Both can, to a be delivered to millions of households cost- certain extent, share network resources. effectively? WTTx, which can bear IPTV, When fiber optic is extended to areas can deliver TV shows, Internet video, and that have WTTx coverage, WTTx network web browsing. Its multifunctional design is resources can be released to meet the also affordable for most households. surging demand in MBB traffic.

22 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Sprinting the last mile with WTTx / Focus

Two types of resources can be is between six and eight times coverage in developing countries shared between WTTx and MBB: site higher than mobile APRU. It’s thus Searching for spectrum resources and carrier resources. a blue ocean of income for mobile When MBB loads are light, individual operators, with WTTx as the best Spectrum is the key to wireless MBB users and household WTTx vessel for sailing into the future. networks. A 3G carrier uses 5 users can share the same carrier WTTx for the home MHz, a 4G carrier 20 MHz, while without obvious conflict in resource a 5G carrier will use 100 MHz. demand. When loads are heavy, Typically low-churn, B2H services Technology has boosted spectrum WTTx and MBB typically use different include family plans with shared efficiency, but the market is calling frequency bands or carriers to avoid data and bundled fixed-broadband for greater bandwidth. Because it’s demand conflicts. For example, WTTx and mobile services. Mobile for household and enterprise users, uses 2.3 GHz, 2.6 GHz, and 3.5 GHz, operators can provide these types WTTx has a much larger demand which offer large bandwidth and are of services on wireless networks, for bandwidth than MBB, and so efficient and inexpensive. MBB uses paving the way for smart homes. operators are looking in earnest for frequency bands such as 1.8 GHz and more spectrums to provide a better 800 MHz, which often carry massive Household broadband penetration WTTx experience. For example, Saudi amounts of mobile users but have with fixed-broadband is typically less Arabia's largest operator STC has 50 comparatively limited resources. than 20 percent in many developing MHz of spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band Guaranteeing mobile user experience countries, and much lower in populous and 70 MHz of spectrum in the 3.5 is necessary so that main income countries like Indonesia, where it’s GHz band. Sri Lanka's leading mobile streams are not affected. only 6.7 percent. Fixed line broadband operator, Dialog, has 75 MHz of is often unfeasible: in many countries, spectrum in the 2.3 GHz band. In early WTTx creates a copper infrastructure is terrible, and 2016, Norway's number one and two new B2H blue ocean building FTTx is costly and hindered – Telenor and TeliaSonera – acquired market by private property rights and other 90 MHz and 100 MHz of spectrum in restrictions. the 3.7 GHz band, which they plan to Mobile operators' focus on B2C, use to expand B2H and B2B services. with SIM cards sitting at the core In more developed countries where of their service models from 2G to market leaders own copper and WTTx: The way to today’s 4G. Over the past 20 or so fiber resources, competitors cannot success years, operators have introduced provide household broadband or some B2B services, the majority of profit from doing so due to high rental WTTx offers a low barrier for which are bundled sales of simple costs. The big players can also offer entry, fast service provisioning, service combinations on a B2C basis. bundled packages with mobile, fixed- and rapid profits. Assuming a B2H is a good direction for operators line broadband, and IPTV. Providing certain amount of spectrum and seeking to move beyond B2C. home broadband services via WTTx, site resources are available, our therefore, can act as a powerful deployment recommendations are Little competition exists in the tool for smaller operators to take on as follows: fixed-line broadband market for the top-tier operators in developed Get scenario based households, the APRU of which countries and expand broadband

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In some developing countries, governments economic viability of WTTx has greatly expanded stipulate that newly released BWA spectrum the potential market size for operators and Through can only provide fixed broadband services, increased broadband penetration, bringing combining wired meaning that CPE can be locked to a certain enormous socioeconomic benefits. and wireless, cell to prevent roaming and thus meet universal regulatory requirements. In China, for example, the Chinese government broadband is launched a National Broadband Strategy in In developed countries, governments 2013, and in 2014 the Ministry of Industry becoming more generally have policies of spectrum neutrality. and Information Technology released a policy feasible, opening In addition to providing fixed broadband promoting rural broadband penetration. This up a new blue applications, operators also support nomadic generated a positive response in the nation’s ocean market applications, which suits out-of-town trips – a central and western provinces, with Jilin Mobile for operators common behavior in many countries. growing broadband penetration by 300,000 and, ultimately, Visualize for precise service rollout rural households in the span of just a year. connecting the WTTx is a wireless network, so it’s difficult In Saudi Arabia, where broadband development unconnected. to accurately predict which areas can grow has been relatively slow, just 2 million users at what rate, which in turn impacts households out of 5 million have fixed service rollout efficiency. Our mature broadband access. To increase broadband coverage and capacity planning methods and penetration, the government released a experience can visualize user development, wireless broadband plan in 2012. The two greatly increasing the success of WTTx. leading operators, STC and Mobily, constructed Don't forget enterprises WTTx on 2.3 GHz and 2.6 GHz bands and, in three years, added 3 million subscribers. Enterprise customers tend to generate Alongside wired networks, universal broadband high profits, often requiring VPN support access had almost been achieved. alongside broadband to set up their own private networks over public networks. With the advent of the digital era, universal Early subscriber subsidies broadband is viewed as a basic human right in many countries. ITU figures show that 148 nations Like MBB, WTTx requires a certain scale of already have national broadband plans in place subscriber base to succeed, and early stage to promote universal broadband penetration. subsidies provide some necessary fuel. The success of WTTx around the world shows WTTx drives universal how this new approach is an effective way to broadband solve the last mile problem. Through combining wired and wireless, universal broadband is WTTx has already been widely adopted around becoming more feasible, opening up a new blue the world, and not just in large emerging ocean market for operators and, ultimately, markets. The simple implementation and connecting the unconnected.

24 2016.10 ISSUE 80 NB-IoT: A shot in the arm for cellular IoT / Focus

NB-IoT: A shot in the arm for cellular IoT

Offering deep coverage, low power consumption, low cost, and large numbers of devices, Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) meets the requirements for LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) applications. It can provide operators with a technological edge for a competitive shot in the arm in the cellular IoT (CIoT) market and for transformation. By Yu Hui

s IoT devices become With ubiquitous coverage, high- meters was a few US dollars, which more commonplace, the speed connectivity, security and was too expensive. So, Company penetration of short- reliability, today's 4G networks are T sought to reduce the number of A range communications more than capable of supporting batteries per meter. technologies, such as Wi-Fi, ZigBee, such applications and are thus the Bluetooth, and Z-wave, continues best choice. Due to the high-power cellular to rise in the CIoT market. technology, each meter needed a Products released by innovators Low speed or LPWA applications minimum of three batteries for a like Sigfox and LoRa have kicked include smart meters, smart 10-year lifecycle. However, a low- off the global deployment of IoT parking, and asset tracking. power CIoT network would only networks, which have quickly These applications require require two batteries per meter, become established in a number broader networks of sensors and thus saving millions of dollars. of markets. With IoT becoming a information collection, but require Delivering a low-power network new driver of growth, how can ultra-low pricing alongside very would also give the telco supplying traditional operators respond to high network performance. it a competitive edge against the challenges of competition and other low-cost technologies on the opportunities offered by this blue Low-power NB-IoT market, something that would be ocean market? saves gas company difficult to achieve with current 2G, "T" millions 3G or 4G networks. NB-IoT: CIoT’s cutting edge Over a two year replacement Enter Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) and program, gas Company T in country its excellent low-power functions: High-speed CIoT applications include J planned to replace its legacy gas Power Saving Mode (PSM) and video surveillance and vehicle- meters, which had already been in Extended Discontinuous Reception mounted multimedia. They require use for two decades. Requiring a (eDRX). PSM is a new type of deep high speed, high capacity, and specific type of 2400 mAh battery, sleep state for IoT terminals. relatively high levels of power. the lowest price for new smart Terminals in PSM have a current

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intensity of only 0.005 mA, compared could support deep coverage because, in to 1 mA in traditional idle mode. Some apartment blocks, water meters could be As the NB- IoT applications, such as water meters, deployed up to two stories underground in IoT solution which only need to report data once basements or pipe shafts. is based on a day can enter PSM state between narrowband reporting intervals and consume ultra- The telco needed a CIoT technology that technology, NB- lower power. supports deep coverage to prevent rivals from providing company S with IoT services: IoT's Power eDRX mode meets the requirement NB-IoT provides excellent deep coverage. As Spectral of applications that need to support the NB-IoT solution is based on narrowband Density (PSD) downstream control messaging and technology, NB-IoT's Power Spectral Density is 10+ dB uphold certain latency requirements – (PSD) is 10+ dB higher than 2G, 3G, or 4G at higher than gas meters, for example, must provide equivalent transmission powers. NB-IoT also 2G, 3G or 4G remote shut-off with two minute-latency. features LTE 4R, UL CoMP technologies, and In DRX mode, terminals cycle through idle supports higher repetition, giving it 20 dB at equivalent and paging reception states, allowing for more coverage than 2G, 3G or 4G. NB-IoT transmit a fast response but at the cost of high provides better deep coverage than other power. power use. eDRX mode enables terminals competing technologies, and doesn’t have to enter PSM state after several cycles. the complexity of a short-range two-hop A timer triggers re-entry into paging network. reception state to balance response latency and power consumption. Implementing the NB-IoT solution only required an upgrade to the operator's With these technologies and the low power legacy network, and so deployment was consumption enabled by NB-IoT chipsets, fast. This met the requirements of Company gas Company T was able to power a smart S for rapid commercial application and meter for a 10-year lifecycle with just provided a powerful competitive advantage two batteries, giving the telco a powerful for the operator. competitive edge. Competition in the LPWA IoT market NB-IoT deep dives for continues to intensify, requiring operators Company S CIoT networks to be technologically leading- edge to meet the demanding technical Due to high labor costs, water Company requirements of different applications. S in country A wanted to introduce Offering deep coverage, low-power smart meters to slash OPEX from manual consumption, low cost, and large numbers meter reading. In Country A, meters were of devices, NB-IoT meets requirements for deployed in two main types of scenarios – LPWA applications and can give operators houses and apartments. Company S was a competitive shot in the arm in the CIoT therefore looking for a technology that market.

26 2016.10 ISSUE 80 NB-IoT: A shot in the arm for cellular IoT / Focus

NB-IoT: Helping and maintenance costs for solution and its IoT platform can customers, with the core service help operators transform their operators transform modules of different verticals still CIoT to help operators overcome CIoT independently deployed for service these challenges and tap into the differentiation. Operators can then available opportunities. With NB-IoT entering more move from being a pipeline to being verticals, operators will need a support service provider. Working together on to transform and change their NB-IoT CIoT operating models. For one The IoT platform's virtualization thing, service diversification and openness enhances operators' The commercial deployment of NB- means that IoT operations have IoT capabilities, enabling service IoT will be a step-by-step process become more complex. As the providers to build support for operators. They’ll need to think number of NB-IoT application capabilities targeted at verticals, about upgrading their cellular types increases, operators have including service metrics, process networks to provide ubiquitous seen a significant cost hike as definitions, and other public sub- NB-IoT services, and move deeper a result of aligning IoT network services. Vertical industries can into vertical industry applications, protocols between verticals and also leverage the platform's cloud- integrate and improve existing the differences between their based services and open interfaces services, and discover new service systems. to dynamically call for or share potential CIoT applications. data resources, enabling cross- To sail on IoT's untapped blue ocean industry service integration and As a leading ICT solutions market, mobile operators will operations and creating new provider, Huawei is the need to transform beyond pipeline business value. industry's most complete and services and tap into higher-value advanced provider of NB-IoT terminals and cloud operations. The Operators can also quickly and solutions. When it comes to NB-IoT E2E solution provides an IoT easily develop and bring online CIoT construction, tapping into platform that increases operators' thousands of services that vertical industry markets, and operating capabilities. The platform multiple operators can swiftly IoT operations, Huawei is the best provides a unified IoT operations replicate and which verticals can partner for operators. With its architecture that adapts to swiftly deliver without needing to understanding of operator CIoT network protocols in different IoT invest in network or application strategy, strong E2E product and service systems, and integrates the infrastructure. solutions capabilities, and global functions of infrastructure layers, business and terminal resources, including SIM management, device Facing competition from LoRa and Huawei knows it can give the management, asset management, short-range technology solution shot in the arm operators need and security authorization. providers, which use internetized for successful NB-IoT network operating models, traditional construction and development. Integrating the operations of mobile operators need to improve different verticals into a unified their operations support systems platform reduces customization and models. The NB-IoT E2E

2016.10 ISSUE 80 27 Industry Perspectives PERSPECTIVES

Cover Story

All about the user with U-vMOS

Huawei's U-vMOS is an E2E mobile video solution for measuring, planning, and optimizing viewing experience. It helps operators build video-centric mobile broadband (MBB) networks that makes the most out of the world’s increasing appetite for video. By Zhang Yongshun

By Mohammad Alakhras

28 2016.10 ISSUE 80 All about the user with U-vMOS / Perspectives

Video on the move Despite this, no unified standard exists to evaluate user experience. Huawei’s U-vMOS esearch by mLAB shows At the Huawei Global Analyst helps operators that 51.4 percent of mobile Summit 2016, Yang Kun, from the IP subscribers watch video Multimedia Commission under the buildvideo - centric R between one and three China Communications Standards mobile broadband times a day. YouTube corroborates Association, summed up the current networks that enable this trend, stating that more than situation: "Users don’t like frame them to plan, measure, half of its users watch video on their freezes and erratic displays at a and optimize user phone. Meanwhile, an even greater lower price, preferring instead to pay experience. proportion of Facebook users – 75 a moderate price for excellent quality. percent – watch videos on the go. The industry needs a complete set of evaluation standards to measure video service quality scientifically. Researchers have evaluated video picture quality before, but only in lab conditions. It’s doubtful that this reflects actual user experience."

Traditional networks that center on capacity and coverage are no longer up to the job, not least because networks with good KPIs can still provide a bad user experience. Therefore, network construction must involve a unified standard for evaluating video quality from the user perspective. Operators must consider how to define and evaluate user experience and how to build and manage experience-centric networks given the increasing demands on network performance.

Huawei’s U-vMOS helps operators build video-centric mobile broadband networks that enable them to plan, measure, and optimize user experience.

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U-vMOS: Subjective and tools: a user-level test app, a network- level data analysis tool, and a U-vMOS SDK objective for integrating third-party testing tools. ITU-T’s objective assessment model defines the conditions for objective experiments, as The user-level test app SpeedVideo allows well as measurement methods and evaluation users to test the video experience on standards. Its subjective assessment their smartphones. The app displays the model uses an algorithm to define a set of U-vMOS score, showing users the network's parameters based on objective inputs to current video quality and giving the option estimate multimedia quality. to improve their experience. Available on Google Play and the App Store, users in over Using the ITU-T standard assessment 140 countries have downloaded SpeedVideo, models, Huawei identified the top three creating over 700,000 test samples. impact factors on which to base U-vMOS: quality, interactivity, and viewing Operators need to know whether users experience. U-vMOS covers videos on are satisfied with their video experience, demand (VOD) in mobile scenarios, live and be able to identify what’s causing any videos, and VOD services in fixed scenarios, problems. Therefore, they have to evaluate and provides network indicators for each video experience on the entire network, impact factor. which cannot be done using a DT tool because they can only test a limited number In partnership with Oxford University and of samples for analysis. The network-level Beijing University, Huawei mLab fixed three U-vMOS, however, can analyze every video measurable qualitative network indicators service in an entire district. The Huawei affecting video experience: resolution, iDART/PRS tool supports network-wide initial buffering delay, and stalling ratio. For U-vMOS evaluation, and provides geographic quantitative measurements, they created displays and grid-level displays with 50x50 a unified model that combines users’ m precision based on measurement reports subjective scores with the objective scores (MR) and call history records (CHR). It's from perception measuring equipment. By a professional-grade tool for identifying applying machine learning for model training, video experience bottlenecks and problem the team devised a computational formula demarcation for analysis. for U-vMOS in mobile scenarios. To measure experience, U-vMOS gives a score from 0 to 5. Operators have already started using Huawei’s U-vMOS SDK, which is designed U-vMOS smashes for third-party testers and assessing bottlenecks OTT service integration. In January 2016, an operator in Nanjing used WorkTour – To simplify video experience evaluation, a drive testing tool with U-vMOS testing Huawei developed three U-vMOS testing functions developed by DingLi, one of

30 2016.10 ISSUE 80 All about the user with U-vMOS / Perspectives

Top three factors influencing video watching experience

Video quality Interactive experience View experience The target of traditional MBB network construction used to be pipelines, but it’s now moved to core service experience. 0 distortion 0 waiting 0 damage • HD • Fast video loading • 0 blocking • Smoothness • Fast video handover • 0 frame freezing • High fidelity

China's largest testing equipment quantitative measurement of manufacturers – to carry out mobile video performance and U-vMOS testing on a commercial analyze video consumption network in six different scenarios. habits using objective The test results helped the Nanjing indicators. operator understand the user experience of its network for •• Analyze gaps and causes: precise network optimization, and define problems and classify expanded tests are planned. root causes in areas where video experience is poor. Covering all sides •• Implement solutions and The target of traditional MBB optimize iteration: perform network construction used to be coverage and capacity planning pipelines, but it’s now moved to based on the causes of core service experience. Huawei's substandard results, including Video Coverage planning method solutions such as carrier for MBB networks helps operators expansion, sector splitting, build ubiquitous HD MBB networks. adding sites, and deploying new It comprises three steps: features. Iteration planning can continually improve network •• Evaluate networks and set experience. goals: identify key areas for network planning using Video Coverage has been used for

2016.10 ISSUE 80 31 PERSPECTIVES

network construction across the world OTT players to collaborate and encouraging including Australia, South Korea, the United new business models. Operators can open In the MBB Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. A up network information like available era, video leading UAE operator proposed a video-centric bandwidth for subscribers and their is gradually traffic strategy to provide a superior HD location information so OTT companies can supplanting video experience, opting to use the U-vMOS accurately transmit suitable bitrate and voice as a new evaluation system for analysis in target areas deliver a much smoother video experience. to provide 1080p online video services. core service Jiangsu Mobile worked with iQIYI to move for mobile After the mobile video solution was the CDN downstream to the Evolved Packet operators. deployed, the proportion of grids with a Core (EPC) gateway and open up user U-vMOS above 3.8 increased from 60.9 location information, allowing the gateway percent to 82.4 percent. Initial video to better carry location information using buffering delay was reduced by 0.49 the HTTP header, so iQIYI could carry out s, fulfilling targets and improving user precise CDN node selection. This doubled experience. As a result, data traffic average user download speeds and boosted consumption shot up by 38 percent within U-vMOS scores by more than 20 percent. three months, and encouraged overall network improvements that have boosted With the flexible charging policy, operators can other services. deploy different charging modes based on levels of video experience, video types, time periods, E2E mobile video for and content. For example, a combination of better business a free basic experience and charging for HD experience can attract more users to try a Huawei's E2E mobile video solution features video service, while backward charging and multi-carriers aggregation, 4x4 MIMO, and targeted OTT plans can boost profits. 256QAM advanced modulation techniques for increased last-mile capacity. A two- In the MBB era, video is gradually level TCP proxy reduces initial video supplanting voice as a new core service buffering delay on the wireless and PS for mobile operators. Huawei believes sides, while the distributed Content in openness and cooperation. We work Delivery Network (CDN) cuts the distance with operators and partners in the between the content source and user. video industry to build an internationally A video QoS mechanism ensures a good recognised evaluation system for video experience and minimally impacts other that’s agreed upon in the industry, optimize services, and medium and heavy video load user experience, and safeguard operators' scenarios prompt the load optimization investments. Huawei strives to support function. Huawei's mobile video solution also operator and OTT cooperation by opening supports network capability opening and network capabilities, thus boosting the fully flexible billing, helping operators and mobile video industry as a whole.

32 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Broadening horizons with MBB Open Interconnect / Perspectives

Broadening horizons with MBB Open Interconnect

With increasing ICT service convergence, MBB Open Interconnect opens up connectivity capabilities and network information. It can help mobile broadband (MBB) operators drive service growth, introduce new business models, and create new revenue streams.

By Liu Jian

New opportunities the communications market. Yet businesses that converge CT and with ICT convergence despite the explosive growth in IT. In recent years, the growth of mobile data traffic, operators mobile Internet, cloud computing, ver the last decade, there haven't seen a proportional and the Internet of Things (IoT) has been a continual rise in revenue. In response, has significantly boosted the value shift towards they’ve sought to internetize development of converged ICT OInternet IT services in their operations and form ICT services.

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Mobile internet connectivity, from real-time capabilities for the Internet of Vehicles to a low-power Due to the rise of mobile Internet, requirement for smart meters. This will traditional industries are incorporating make it increasingly difficult to strip away Internet tech into their operations, network connectivity capabilities from IT creating new ecosystems for banking, services. transportation, medicine, and education. According to Ralph Haupter, Microsoft With increasing ICT service convergence, CEO for Greater China, "In the future, all mobile broadband (MBB) operators can companies will be software companies." act as a key pipeline for mobile Internet Enterprises will increasingly use APIs to by transmitting data from services integrate with and provide services for to terminals, providing ubiquitous each other. In e-commerce, for example, connectivity, and collecting big data businesses might use China UnionPay's on network information. By opening online payment API to make payments. up these connectivity capabilities Or a loan company might invoke a telco's and network information, operators payment records API to find out a user’s will drive service growth, introduce credit score. Service diversification new business models, and create new means that operators will have many revenue streams. This is known as MBB opportunities to leverage their telecom Open Interconnect. capabilities to tap into this enterprise services market. In recent years, numerous operators Cloud computing and enterprises have trialed MBB Open- Interconnect models. Successful cases Cloud computing technology, in particular include opening up a billing API to allow Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) OTT providers to issue free data offers and Software Defined Networking (SDN), is through backward charging, which quickly driving telecoms networks to be software attracted many new users and drove based. Network functions have been service growth. 51 Credit Card Manager decoupled from customized hardware, and is an example of a financial service are now operated in cloud data centers that checks users' payment records by (DC), greatly speeding up version iteration invoking operator billing information API and innovation, creating agile networks, and issues small loans based on users' and facilitating new business. credit scores. IoT Putting telecom The growth of IoT technology has capabilities to use increased different types of connectivity requirements. Different types of services Today, ICT products and services are have led to varied requirements on becoming more diverse, with an increasing

34 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Broadening horizons with MBB Open Interconnect / Perspectives

number of different types of delete sponsored data plans that device model, available bandwidth, businesses moving into the ICT give users free traffic packages as mobile and session status, and industry. Operators have a part of a promotion. cell congestion status. Google's chance to take advantage of this Location APIs Congested Cells API, for example, and leverage telecom network obtains cell congestion information capabilities and pipeline big data, Location APIs include real-time from operators to optimize thus playing an important role in location APIs and location history services, including video bit rate the ICT industry ecosystem in the analysis APIs. Application scenarios selection. The online payment future. There are currently five for real-time location APIs include company Danal partnered with AT&T types of network capabilities that indoor positioning, navigation, on anti-fraud user authentication, can be opened: and car parking. Indoor real- making use of information such as QoS-class APIs time positioning technology, such user ID, account information, real- as Apple's iBeacon, has received time location, and device model. QoS-class APIs deliver network widespread attention in areas like Third-party app integration acceleration and QoS guarantees. guided shopping and electronic For example, mobile games that fence advertising for shopping Operator pipelines are not the involve real-time multiplayer malls. Compared to iBeacon, only source of pipeline capabilities. battles require very low latency. If using mobile networks for indoor Third-party partners are also able latency increases due to network positioning is low cost and easy to to provide pipeline capabilities, congestion or in places where set up. such as TCP optimization, video coverage is weak, users can invoke optimization, URL filtering, and network acceleration functions to The application scenarios of firewalls. This can help operators quickly lower latency and maintain location history analysis APIs increase pipelines’ capabilities and user experience. include managing crowd congestion, extract more value. In a win-win analyzing population movements, situation for both parties, cloudified The network acceleration function assessing outdoor billboard value, multi-service integrated platforms can be packaged as an in-game and selecting retail shop locations. allow third-party software vendors tool and sold to players. Network Another important application is big to easily access operator pipelines acceleration can also be used in data. Governments and commercial and quickly create value-producing other application scenarios to organizations have wide-ranging services. improve the chance of success, for requirements for location-based big example, purchasing tickets for data applications, and operators Huawei's solutions popular events, opening WeChat can provide the most reliable light the MBB Open red envelopes, or trading mobile sources of data. Interconnect fire stocks. User/network context Billing APIs information APIs Huawei's CloudMSE (Multi- Service Engine) for third-party Billing APIs enable sponsored data User/network context information app integration and CloudUIC functionality. Enterprise users can encompasses information such as (Unified Intelligence Center) can invoke a billing API to add, modify or user account type, billing status, open network capabilities to help

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operators develop the MBB Open joint commercial trial of game pipeline capabilities and data to Interconnect industry. Huawei has acceleration for WE FIRE, giving third parties, they will attract partnered with numerous operators users who purchased the tool an thousands of industry partners and third parties around the world advantage. with whom they can team up in successful commercial trials of to provide better services for Operator "Z" tests fraud these solutions. enterprise and individual users. prevention methods Sky plc's integrated video optimization service If a hacker attempts to use a The MBB Open Interconnect stolen account to carry out a industry must be rooted in CT With video optimization technology, mobile payment, the back-end and rely on IT to open up. The operators can perform real-time payment system calls the operator development of the industry video transcoding to provide low API to discover the real-time must be shaped by the current bit-rate video to users affected by location of the user's mobile phone. development status of MBB insufficient network bandwidth, If this differs from the payment networks and continually seek guaranteeing the video playback location, a payment confirmation new opportunities in enterprise experience. message is sent to the user, application requirements and preventing the unauthorized industry trends. To drive the Sky used Huawei's CloudMSE payment from proceeding. Credit development of the MBB Open solution to integrate Opera's card payments can also be Interconnect industry, Huawei has dynamic transcoding software, protected in a similar way. developed short-term, medium- and can now flexibly provide term, and long-term goals. video optimization services Operator "Z" has run commercial for users, increasing user trials of this service using Huawei's In the short-term, Huawei will satisfaction. CloudUIC. focus on mobile network QoS experience guarantees and billing Guangdong Mobile joins A bright future for forces with Tencent in for OTT applications. The medium- mobile game acceleration Open Interconnect term goal is to research how MBB trial networks and OTT applications Huawei predicts that by can be leveraged to enhance For online games, network speed is 2025 there will be 100 billion applications' network usage critical. Even 50-ms latency can be connections worldwide, 8 billion efficiency. a disadvantage in certain types of of which will be smart terminals. games. Mobile game acceleration At this time, average daily data Long-term research will be enables mobile gamers to maintain usage will be 1.7 GB per user. This shaped by evolutionary trends in low latency even in low-signal or will create a huge number of networking. It will explore how to congested spots. opportunities for mobile operators incorporate innovative Internet – they’ll be the platform for services based on future network Leveraging Huawei's CloudUIC this data and a vast range of architecture. platform, Guangdong Mobile and industry applications. If operators Tencent Gaming carried out a can organize and open up their

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Keeping safe with 4.5G broadband trunking

LTE-based broadband trunking is perfect for delivering broadband data services. It provides emergency communications technology that can enhance efficiency and ensure safe cities, making broadband trunking the new choice for public safety communication networks.

By Lin Peng

The face of the future trunking only supports narrowband Broadband trunking: voice and SMS, but not broadband A new chapter in ublic safety services data services like video and have traditionally used HD surveillance. This degrades public safety private network trunking public safety services, leaving LTE: standards and future systems such as TETRA user experience stuck in the P evolution of broadband and P25. However, these kinds 2G era. As a former New York trunking networks of communications systems are police chief puts it, "The wireless no longer able to meet growing communications capabilities of a Traditional private network public safety requirements – be teenager's smartphone far surpass trunking standards were it network coverage, service what police and auxiliary police are jointly developed by a number experience, or maintenance costs. equipped with." of standards organizations, Limitations include transmission including TCCA, OMA, and ETSI. speeds, dispatch capabilities, and With today’s proliferation of Oriented toward private users, inconsistent trunking system broadband networks, LTE-based the system's overall framework standards. broadband trunking represents is completely loose-coupled and the future of emergency network the industry chain is relatively Traditional private network solutions. closed. There are significant issues

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with interoperability between different for 2012 using the LTE 700 MHz spectrum vendors, leaving no scope for evolving the with a US$10 billion investment. In March technology to support broadband data 2014, 231 sites were built in Los Angeles services. as part of the first phase of the project at a cost of US$175 million. In cooperation with trunking standards organizations, government regulators, United Kingdom: A national public safety and operators, 3GPP formulated a new broadband LTE network is planned for Work Item (WI) focused on public safety. construction from 2015 to 2020, which The WI created an entirely new public will allow operators to build public safety safety standards framework based on LTE networks over the LTE public network network architecture, enabling Mission spectrum. The first phase of construction Critical Push to Talk (MCPTT) services on began in 2015 with an investment of £1.2 LTE. billion.

3GPP's R13 set out new standards for an South Korea: In 2014, the country began end-to-end standards framework in 2015. building a national broadband emergency Using standardized and opened interfaces disaster prevention network with a total solves the issues of interoperability investment of more than US$2 billion. The between different vendors and the first phase kicked off in 2015, with the closed industry chain. R13 defines key aim of constructing 205 base stations LTE public network trunking functions, and distributing 5,000 terminals in including MCPTT, IOPS, GCSE, and proSE. It Pyeongchang County at a cost of US$40 also enables emergency video and calling million. services on operator networks. With the New model for public safety freezing of R13, operators now have new networks commercial opportunities. Rebuilding the capabilities to build The UK Home Office announced in December safe cities 2015 that it would partner with the UK's largest wireless operator EE to build a As of 2015, more than 30 countries public safety network. EE's 4G mobile around the world had started assessing, network will provide public safety services planning, or deploying LTE public trunking for the UK's 330,000 public safety workers, networks with a view to building new including police, fire, and ambulance crews. communications capabilities for safe cities. Carrying broadband trunking services on The progress of these projects in various a public LTE network for the first time will countries is as follows: represent a historic step.

United States: FirstNet, a national public The decision by the UK government to safety broadband network, was planned replace the existing TETRA network with

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an operator’s public network to emergency communications supplants traditional narrowband provide public safety services, safeguards. push-to-talk (PTT) services, including with very stringent requirements, voice and SMS, and provides was not made lightly. A specialist After winning the contract for broadband trunking (e.g. Push to company was commissioned to building the UK's new public safety Video) as well, fully leveraging carry out detailed comparative network, EE CEO Olaf Swantee existing operator LTE networks. By analysis and feasibility studies said that, "We’re immensely utilizing the broadband trunking on carrying broadband trunking proud to be selected to deliver capabilities provided by LiTRA communication services on TETRA this vital new network...we've application servers, operators vs LTE public networks. The worked closely with police, fire, can quickly deploy national public research concluded that using a and ambulance crews to show safety networks and enhance the public network offered obvious the power of EE's 4G network in commercial value and brand of advantages in terms of coverage helping save time and save lives. their networks. and service experience, and We will now work tirelessly to would be able to meet demanding deliver a highly resilient, truly LiTRA is based on open 3GPP requirements on dimensions such nationwide 4G network to serve all protocols and uses an open as latency. of Britain's public safety workers." interface. This enables operators EE's wireless network will more to work with more partners Estimates show that deploying than likely become the UK's most to provide a wide variety of a trunking system on an LTE reliable network, offering the best services such as telemedicine, public network will save the coverage and experience, which video surveillance for major UK government £1 million a day will in turn provide a huge boost for events and incidents, and drones. compared to a private network. EE's brand value. LiTRA's openness also maximizes Over five years, the new solution compatibility with the mature LTE will see network construction and Lighting up new terminal industry chain, bringing maintenance costs fall from over markets with LiTRA in a large number of partners £2 billion to £1.2 billion. At the same that operators can work with to time, with government investment, According to estimates, LTE build future national public safety EE will be able to improve network trunking services will have been networks and safe cities. coverage and user experience, and deployed to 150,000 base stations boost its brand equity. globally by 2020, creating a With the construction of LTE Brand building market worth tens of billions of networks accelerating around the dollars. With the rapid growth globe, LiTRA will help operators Operators cover large chunks of broadband trunking services, enter the new arena of national of the population, but public we’re set to see a wave of public safety network solutions, safety services place higher trunking systems constructed adding a new string to their technical and service experience over public LTE networks in the revenue-creation bow. requirements on operator near future. networks, including reliability, coverage, user priority, and LTE integrated Trunked Radio (LiTRA)

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Let's stay indoors for full connectivity

Small Cell is packed with features for full indoor connectivity: E2E digitalized architecture, high capacity, high yield, fast deployment, and strong evolution potential.

By Ding Zhibin, Cui Xiaoying

ccording to GSMA's recent America, it will reach a massive spend more than 60 percent of Mobile Economy 2016 22 GB each month. More than 80 their time indoors. Here, they have report, the CAGR of mobile percent of this will be generated higher requirements for mobile A data traffic over the indoors. services, especially 2K and 4K video next five years will hit 49 percent, and loading times, in stationary or and the global average user will The great indoors slow-moving scenarios. consume 7 GB of mobile data per month by 2020. In Europe that Research by Huawei mLab on user We can also expect the first wave will stand at 12 GB, while in North dwell time reveals that people of commercialized ultra-broadband

40 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Indoor digitalization for full connectivity / Perspectives

services including virtual reality (VR) and depends on outdoor macro network augmented reality (AR) to take place absorption because it increases building indoors. penetration losses in outdoor macro Small Cell networks. This is also intensifying DAS's is the new The amount of traffic generated in super- capacity bottleneck. linchpin high traffic areas during major events can technology for be hundreds of times higher than network Accelerated technological evolution: building a fully averages. On the first day of Mobile World 1G-to-2G evolution took 20 years, 2G-to- Congress 2016, for example, attendees 3G evolution 10 years, and 3G to 4G just 5 connected transmitted 828 GB of mobile data in the years. Over this time, speeds have evolved indoor world. convention hall. from tens of Kbps to several Mbps. The pace of evolution of new technology is Indoor coverage is tough accelerating in the 4G era, and subscriber speeds have evolved quickly from several Big changes in user service models, available Mbps to hundreds of Mbps. Meanwhile, the spectrum, and the 4G, 4.5G, and 5G eras commercial application of some 5G tech means that the traditional analog indoor in 4G networks has caused a speed leap coverage solution – Distributed Antenna from megabits to gigabits. DAS's analog System (DAS) – can’t make the grade. radio frequency (RF) architecture makes it extremely difficult to incorporate it into Changes in service models: The shift multi-antenna and high-order technologies from synchronistic voice services to data without large-scale changes to existing services and an accompanying shift in networks. operators’ revenues are accelerating, placing greater challenges like service As a traditional indoor coverage solution, bursts and the tidal effect on DAS. DAS can meet the demands of 2G/3G era voice and mid-to-low-speed data Changes in spectrum resources: The services. But against a surge in indoor mobile data surge is pressuring spectral MBB requirements in the 4G/4.5G era, DAS resources, leading to the use of high has become a developmental bottleneck frequency bands, including 1.8 GHz, 2.1 for indoor MBB due to the lack of GHz, 2.3 GHz, 3.5 GHz, and even unlicensed network capacity, scalability, and poor 5 GHz spectrum. Although these bands are evolution potential, limiting demand for now the mainstream in mobile broadband subscriber services. In the future, DAS will (MBB) network construction, they’re even restrict the evolution of operator not suitable for DAS, which suffers high networks. With E2E digital architecture, transmission loss in high-frequency bands high capacity, high yield, fast deployment, through DAS coaxial feeds. High-frequency and evolvability, Small Cell is the new spectrum is reducing the efficiency of linchpin technology for building a fully the outside-in model, where indoor traffic connected indoor world.

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Huawei's indoor vision: architecture, so spectral efficiency and network capacity can constantly improve. From x to y Digitalized network architecture: From Flying high with LampSite centrally placed signal source of the analog system to RF digital processing elements Indoor scenarios are more complex and extended to the front end in digital systems. diverse than outdoor ones. Network The high number of passive components in construction in indoor scenarios must also be analog systems causes high interference more closely aligned with owners, requiring and limits capacity, while expansion requires diverse solutions to meet the varying service onsite re-modification, but digital systems demands of different segments. can greatly lower interference, improving MIMO performance and enabling on-demand Medium-to-large public areas, such as capacity expansion through software- stadiums, transportation hubs, conference defined frequency ranges. centers, and shopping malls, are priority areas for operator investment due to Digitalized O&M: From the black-box type their size and high crowd densities. Digital management of analog systems to the solutions based on CloudBB architecture precise monitoring of faults and service like Huawei's LampSite are the best volumes on each node to enable O&M choice for many operators worldwide in and visualization across the whole indoor this kind of scenario. LampSite supports system, improving O&M efficiency. multiband multimode, large capacity, flexible expansion, rapid deployment, E2E Digitalized service capability: From a management and control, and long-term focus on voice services and meeting smooth evolution with new technology. coverage the demands of analog systems to focusing on digital services, meeting The world's largest deployment of LampSite is at capacity demands, and providing value- Beijing International Airport, the world's second added service capabilities. This will increase largest airport, with 220,000 passengers per operator revenues through opening the day and nearly 84 million a year. Deployment capability of their digital pipelines and was completed in three months, with 2,200 fostering cooperation with application LampSite pRRUs providing comprehensive 4G developers. coverage of the terminal departure and arrival halls, baggage claim hall, VIP lounge, office area, Sustainable future evolution: From and even the airport parking lot and basement analog’s difficulty with upgrades to the area. Total deployment time was reduced by smooth software upgrades of digital. more than two-thirds compared with traditional This enables new technologies, such as DAS deployment. The new solution delivers peak distributed MIMO, 256QAM, LAA, and the user download speed of 140 Mbps, with figures latest 5G-oriented wireless cloudified showing yearly data traffic 27 times higher

42 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Indoor digitalization for full connectivity / Perspectives

after deployment, indicating greatly Wi-Fi AP’s sites, transmission, and the foreseeable future, Wi-Fi will enhanced user experience and thus power supplies to provide optimal continue to be the primary home profits for the operator. MBB services and maximize hotspot MBB solution. value. For these kinds of scenarios, Other successful examples where Pico is the optimal solution based on As well as providing an excellent LampSite has been successfully cost-performance ratio. MBB access experience, indoor commercially deployed include digitalized networks yield more exhibition halls for the Barcelona As LWA and LAA technologies value-added services like indoor Mobile World Congress, Beijing mature, Pico can tap into the navigation, visitor flow statistics, National Stadium, China's National potential of unlicensed bands in the and precision advertising. In indoor Centre for the Performing future for increased capacity and venues with digital systems, Arts, Beijing Workers' Stadium, better user experience. operators and owners can create Zhengzhou Railway Station, new revenue streams through Jakarta's main airport, Singapore's A Thai operator successfully opening network capabilities, Marina Bay Sands hotel, and Qatar deployed Huawei's Wi-Fi-integrating which in turn enables service Villaggio shopping mall. These Pico solution in its stores. New innovations such as digital shopping examples show how this indoor equipment deployment and service malls, airports, and stadiums, and network construction strategy has launch was completed in just maximizes the value of digital gained worldwide recognition. two weeks in more than 100 of networks and data traffic. the operator’s service centers. Small and medium businesses, such This was possible because the Upgrading for the win as coffee shops, retail stores, and solution fully utilizes the existing restaurants, have comparatively Wi-Fi AP’s site and transmission Indoor mobile networks are critical large capacity requirements. Many and power supply resources, and for operators in the MBB era, deploy Wi-Fi networks, but due to benefits from PnP and zero on- not only providing tremendous protocol and technological limitations, site configuration capability. opportunity but also raising a they cannot meet the requirements Following deployment, actual user series of challenges. Upgrading of HD voice and video-driven MBB peak rates exceeded 130 Mbps, the traditional analog network services, particularly in scenarios greatly improving network user ecosystem will not be achieved with high numbers of users. User experience. The operator plans to overnight and in isolation. Instead, experience tends to be very poor. carry out large-scale deployment realizing the concept of indoor of Pico in thousands of its other digitalization will require a The Pico solution leverages stores, 7-Elevens, and coffee shops concerted effort, impetus from multiband multimode to integrate in Thailand. multiple industries, and even cross- Wi-Fi and single-node fast industry partnerships. It will even networks. Based on Iub interfaces, When it comes to home scenarios, be necessary to break up the chain Pico supports automatic network immature business models have of interests in traditional analog discovery, Plug and Play (PnP), hampered the success of the Femto networks before the upgrade, so and automatic planning and home base station solution, despite business success can be achieved configuration to re-use existing trials by many mobile operators. In for all.

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China Mobile's oriental pearl shines even brighter with 4.5G

China Mobile has achieved great things with 4G network construction. In three years, the operator has deployed 1.32 million base stations and gained 429 million 4G subscribers. Shanghai has become China Mobile's shining pearl of 4G construction thanks to continual innovation and 4.5G technology.

By Wang Qiang

44 2016.10 ISSUE 80 China Mobile's oriental pearl shines even brighter with 4.5G / How to Operate

hanghai, China's pearl subscriber base has grown to more Growth in services, especially VoLTE of the Orient, is an than 429 million. services, led to requirements for international city that deep coverage. But it was becoming S stands at the forefront of Shanghai covers an area of 6,340 increasingly difficult for Shanghai rapid development in China. Equally, square kilometers and has a Mobile to acquire macro station China Mobile is the nation’s leading population of 25 million. Shanghai sites the traditional way. telco. In the span of three short Mobile has 22 million subscribers, years from when the operator including 10 million 4G users. The Shanghai Mobile worked with Huawei began building a 4G network in 2013, operator has built 20,000 4G base to solve this problem. The partners China Mobile has deployed over 1.32 stations, which provide 99.5 percent introduced D-band RRU (remote million 4G base stations and its 4G 4G service coverage. Shanghai radio units) that could support Mobile is the dominant player in the F-band signal reception during Shanghai communications market. the network capacity expansion phase. In addition, algorithms were Phase 1 (2012-2013) deployed that gave F-band reception capability to the new modules In the 3G era, China Mobile was and existing sites that would be constantly playing catch-up thanks used together. This supported 16 to a poor user experience. To turn upstream channels, increasing things around, China Mobile kick- the system's reception power started a 4G expansion pilot project and enhancing F-band upstream in 2012 on trial networks, Shanghai coverage by 3 dB. This solution Mobile deployed 1,000 4G sites, and greatly boosted F-band coverage. carried out network verification, Shanghai Mobile has now widely accumulating technical expertise deployed this solution, ensuring and experience. This later helped network capability for services the operator rapidly implement the such as VoLTE, which require deeper widest 4G network coverage in the coverage. city. Today, Shanghai Mobile's 4G Exploring micro station network service coverage has hit resources to deepen 99.5 percent thanks to a range of coverage and widen capacity innovations. Capacity of existing macro The cooperative F/D RF solution has stations maximized through helped improve coverage capabilities. a collaborative F/D RF However, it didn’t meet all coverage solution requirements. New station acquisition remained a necessary Shanghai Mobile's 4G network area in which to explore new macro stations cover F (2010-2025 solutions. As a large international MHz) and D (2575-2635 MHz) bands. city, Shanghai has many security

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and surveillance poles that need a potential rankings, but also to create a faster data platform for new cell sites. rate experience. Shanghai Leveraging mobile spectrum Mobile's Shanghai Mobile's innovative solution and TDD technology to increase innovative involved sharing big data with the Shanghai network speeds and build solution Public Security Bureau in exchange for poles capabilities for the fastest 4G for site deployment. By analysing mobile user involved network data in cells in its coverage area, Shanghai sharing big Mobile can obtain real-time information on In 2014, Shanghai Mobile rolled out 2CC CA data with the source, number, distribution, and flow in the City God Temple and Xintiandi areas, the Shanghai trends of people in the area. This kind of attaining a downstream rate of 220 Mbps. Public information is also useful for the police and In 2015, the operator successfully piloted DL security services. 3CC CA, UL 2CC CA, and 64QAM technologies, Security increasing download speeds to 330 Mbps and Bureau in Shanghai Mobile first conducted a pilot in upload speeds to 30 Mbps. In 2016, Shanghai exchange for the Bund area, deploying 20 micro stations Mobile attained a download rate of 1 Gbps poles for site on surveillance poles. The pilot helped and upload rate of 50 to 60 Mbps through deployment. improve coverage and gave security the use of 4x4 MIMO and 256/64QAM. services valuable information. Following By enhancing network speed capabilities, the pilot, the scheme entered its second Shanghai Mobile stepped into the Gigabit era phase at the end of 2015. Shanghai's in 2016. public security systems provide over 300 China Mobile became the first surveillance poles, covering the City God operator to roll VoLTE out city- Temple, Xintiandi, and Lujiazui areas of wide, enhancing 4G users' voice Shanghai. experience

Phase 2 (2014-2015) Voice services are the key to China Mobile's growth and the main part of its business. At the end of 2013, China issued 4G licenses, Developing VoLTE services is a strategic and the mobile market in China boldly focus for China Mobile in the 4G era. One stepped into the 4G era. With the big three factor behind this strategy is to enhance operators all making a big push for 4G, a user voice experience by increasing voice question that concerned China Mobile was quality from its original 2G level. Another how to ensure its competitive advantage. is to free up valuable 2G spectrum by The heart of Shanghai Mobile's strategy shifting the 2G network voice load to the 4G is user experience. The operator actively network, and thus create a flexible strategic promoted the commercial adoption of reserve of spectrum for future use. VoLTE while continuing to leverage new 4.5G technology. The aim was to not only Shanghai Mobile launched commercial VoLTE consolidate its lead in voice experience trials in 2015, the culmination of a year

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of comprehensive preparations efficiency compared to traditional Super base stations and in 2014. In 2016, with the rapid 8T8R networks, greatly enhancing user experience-centric maturation and proliferation of 4G mobile network capability. network construction will handsets, Shanghai Mobile rolled ensure industry leading user out VoLTE to customers, increasing Shanghai Mobile carried out the experience the number of customers using the world's first Massive MIMO pilot on service. a commercial network in September As networks continue to grow, 2015. On the 2615-2635 MHz band, 16 Shanghai Mobile and Huawei will Phase 3 (2016-) commercial handsets (Huawei Mate continue to explore ways to 7s) attained total cell throughput continue optimizing user experience Shanghai Mobile currently has 10 of 670 Mbps and 340 Mbps cell on networks in the future by million 4G subscribers, which is throughput when carrying out unleashing the full potential of expected to exceed 15 million by 50 percent scrambling on nearby traditional sites. These methods the end of 2016. In some hotspots, networks. Compared to the existing include super base stations, it’s difficult to meet experience 8T8R network, this was a five-to- construction strategies for user requirements by traditional sixfold increase in network capacity. experience-centric networks, expansion. This has become a interference suppression technology priority issue for Shanghai Mobile Huawei and Shanghai Mobile worked and algorithms, and flexible site as it enters the mature phase of 4G together to develop an innovative construction solutions. network development. Massive MIMO solution that uses BBU+AAU split architecture. This Continuous innovation has helped Shanghai Mobile's solution has been allowed the parties to leverage Shanghai Mobile to solidify its to 4G-ize 5G tech by using future 5G their experience of traditional competitive advantage. The operator technologies in its current network BBU+AAU network deployment, dominates the market, with close to to increase network capacity facilitating project implementation 80 percent of mobile subscribers and fivefold, which will help it easily and maintenance. In addition, the almost 90 percent of 4G subscribers deal with the challenge of explosive solution enables the full potential of in Shanghai. It’s also made service growth. baseband to be leveraged, enabling significant improvements in terms Deploying Massive MIMO subsequent adaptations based on of user DOU and average revenue boosts network spectrum algorithms and network evolution per user. China Mobile's shining efficiency requirements to be carried out to oriental pearl, Shanghai Mobile, lay the foundation for continual has continually tapped into the Massive MIMO is a key 5G performance improvements and power of 4.5G. Through continuous technology that uses a large- evolution to 5G. innovation, it’s consolidating its scale antenna matrix to support network capabilities, building a extremely powerful three- In 2016, Shanghai Mobile will improve superior experience, and developing dimensional beamforming and the technical requirements of Massive new site mode. The operator's algorithms. The technology boosts MIMO and further explore commercial wireless communications business network traffic capacity to realize scenarios by taking into account real- will continue to go from strength to a fivefold increase in spectrum world requirements and scenarios. strength.

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Philippines Globe: New network configuration, new MBB gains

The Philippines has a population of more than 100 million and a rapidly growing base of mobile broadband (MBB) subscribers. Like everywhere else, MBB subscribers enjoy surfing the web, playing online games, and using social media. The local mobile operator, Globe Telecom, is delivering a better broadband experience by deploying multi-sector networks that greatly increase network capacity.

By Ashish Pilani, Senior Technical Advisor of Wireless Engineering & Implementation, Globe

New MBB services, MBB subscribers by 2020 (GSMA The Huawei 6-sector solution Intelligence), with the number of 3G increases network capacity by new subscribers subscribers increasing by 1.6 times utilizing special antennas to split here are 121.8 million and 4G subscribers by 6.5 times a 120-degree sector into two mobile connections over the 2015 figures. 60-degree sectors, thereby doubling (GSMA Intelligence) in the the number of cells and air interface T Philippines, with mobile However, this rapid growth in data resources. This technology has broadband penetration hitting 45 services has placed enormous the advantages of higher capacity percent and growing at an ultra- pressure on the operator's wireless gains, lower cost, and a shorter fast rate. In 2013, Globe began network capacity. In Manila, a large deployment cycle compared to other attracting more subscribers and number of 3G sites experience a solutions, such as adding new sites. encouraging them to use data resource utilization rate of over 80 services by providing special percent during busy hours, which New network, new promotions for popular social leads to lower than desired user competitiveness media platforms like Facebook experience. The network was in and Viber. Globe also launched urgent need of capacity expansion Globe and Huawei jointly planned the highly attractive packages to due to the growth of new services deployment of the 6-sector solution gain more subscribers and boost and the need to improve user across the entire network in the data usage, triggering demand experience. Manila area to increase individual for data services to surge. Data site capacity by 70 percent and services since then have turned A quick-win and efficient solution thus cater for the requirements of into Globe's main revenue growth was needed to address this rising MBB user numbers and traffic driver. According to forecasts, challenge. growth. Globe will serve almost 60 million

48 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Philippines Globe: New network nonfiguration, new MBB gains / How to Operate

If 3-sector sites are reconstructed A good quality network that successfully launched in the highest- to 6-sector sites in a piecemeal, provides a better user experience value area (the capital area). patch-it-up fashion, only short-term attracts more subscribers. In May demand can be met and the network 2016, the number of active HSDPA Smooth evolution to will be unable to accommodate users in Globe's network grew by 68 LTE multi-sector growing capacity demands. To percent over the same period last improve the value of sites and year. As the prices for LTE terminals are consider future needs, Huawei and decreasing and LTE penetration rises, Globe jointly aligned Globe's whole Systematic LTE capacity bottlenecks in some network with future demand in deployment regions will occur in the short term. terms of spectrum, infrastructure, By splitting sectors and sharing user and new technology. In this way, When it comes to whole- numbers, deploying 6-sector on LTE Globe could deploy 6-sector as a network deployment, there are networks can also alleviate future benchmark for UMTS sites in urban still many challenges facing the pressure on capacity and guarantee areas, changing its strategy from 6-sector solution such as complex user experience. The whole-network passive capacity expansion to the deployment, un-targeted delivery deployment of 6-sector in urban whole network deployment of progress, and strong interference. areas is a simple capacity expansion 6-sector. The 6-sector deployment The situation was worse in urban solution that provides many years approach lays a solid foundation for areas where radio frequency of value. future network growth. (RF) issues occurred on targeted sites, affecting capacity gains and The whole-network six-sector Three types of sites were targeted network KPIs. solution in Manila area has provided for the 6-sector upgrade: congested Globe with a solid foundation sites, high-profile customer service The Huawei 6-sector solution is an for developing new services and sites, and sites with the potential end-to-end (E2E) solution that covers subscribers, monetizing data traffic, demand for high capacity. The initial the whole delivery procedure, and improving user experience. It plan was to reconstruct over 80 from planning and execution has addressed network capacity percent of sites in the Manila area to optimization. In the planning pressures and provided valuable to 6-sector sites, and thus increase stage, accurate site planning (ASP) lessons for deploying 6-sector, network capacity. In sites where meets the requirements of special which will be incorporated into 6-sector was already deployed scenarios to mitigate the potential future whole-network 6-sector on UMTS 2100 MHz, a large traffic network impact after deployment. deployment. boost was observed: downlink data In the execution and optimization traffic grew nearly by 50 percent, stages, site optimization tools such More importantly, the whole- uplink data traffic by 74.73 percent, as automatic cell planning (ACP) and network 6-sector solution in urban and voice traffic by 31.69 percent. SmartRNO accelerate deployment areas has set a new network In addition, the drive test results and reduce potential RF issues. deployment benchmark for the showed that user throughput had industry to develop 6-sector improved by more than 100 percent, With the help of these tools, over network topology. greatly boosting user experience. 1,000 6-sector sites have been

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By ?Zhang Aijun

WTTx gives Sri Lanka wings to soar

WTTx deployment has narrowed Sri Lanka's digital gap with the world, introduced the nation’s people to a new dawn of broadband services, and helped it businesses hop on to the fast track to growth. By Li Quanling, Xu Changqing

ocated at the southern tip of the Lanka’s infrastructure is underdeveloped; Indian subcontinent, Sri Lanka however, since the war, the Sri Lankan is famous for the beauty of its government has moved quickly with Lnatural environment and friendly economic reconstruction, placing a people. This pearl in the Indian Ocean has particular focus on developing ICT, having a population of approximately 20 million, developed its national broadband policy and despite its status as a developing and e-Sri Lanka strategy. country, education levels are high. Due to the civil war that ended in 2009, Sri Rapid advances in communications

50 2016.10 ISSUE 80 WTTx gives Sri Lanka wings to soar / How to Operate

technology based on the Internet has felt the profit squeeze and social media have made in the mobile market. Dealing By leasing customer people's lives better. However, with competition and finding a broadband penetration is only sustainable way to make money is premise equipment 2 percent, far below the global a problem facing all operators in (CPE) to users, the average of 9.3 percent, meaning this space. operator can reduce that many people are excluded the initial broadband from digital dividends. This is Dialog understands the strengths service fee, lowering because the rate of urbanization and benefits of wireless is relatively low, with some 80 broadband (WBB). In 2010, the the threshold for percent of Sri Lankans living in operator launched WiMAX WBB accessing broadband the countryside, where population services to satisfy the need for services. density is low and the provision of broadband access for some home fixed-line broadband coverage is users. In the last few years, with very expensive. Small and medium the TD-LTE industry chain rapidly enterprises (SMEs) are particularly maturing, Dialog has recognised affected. SME users have a the value of evolving from WiMAX high need for broadband, but to LTE and TDD spectrum. So in the slow speed of 3G broadband 2012, the operator acquired 75 technology is unable to meet their MHz of TDD 2.3 GHz spectrum needs. This impacts the growth after acquiring the broadcast and efficiency of businesses. company Sky TV; then, in 2013 it Developing broadband for home partnered with Huawei to roll out and SME users to bridge the digital Sri Lanka's first home broadband divide is a high priority for Sri service based on TD-LTE using a Lanka's government and telecoms WTTx (wireless to the x) access industry. solution.

WTTx deployment WTTx offers low network bridges the digital construction costs and rapid divide deployment. By leasing customer premise equipment (CPE) to Sri Lanka's mobile communications users, the operator can reduce market is relatively mature, the initial broadband service with five major mobile operators fee, lowering the threshold for providing mobile communications accessing broadband services. services in a fiercely competitive Compared to the high initial environment. Even Sri Lanka's deployment costs and equipment leading mobile operator, Dialog, usage fees of fixed-line

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broadband, the competitive advantages users. To provide enterprise solutions for of WTTx are clear. SME customers, Dialog offered packages that included voice, VPN, and multi-user Dialog's WTTx operating broadband access. The tariff was six times strategy higher than for a normal home user plan.

Before stepping into the broadband Third, it adopted strategies to increase services arena, Dialog formulated user stickiness and reduce churn such several key strategies after extensive as cultivating pre-paid users and bundles research, including where to develop for CPE and equipment, TV and broadband WTTx services, which users to target, services, and Wi-Fi and WBB services. and how to provide high-quality services. Fourth, it launched new innovative Detailed research on aspects such as Sri services for WBB, such as the Dialog Lanka's broadband market, population Video App. Fifth, Dialog set up experience distribution, per capita income, and data areas in customer service centers to let traffic distribution helped Dialog compile a customers experience the convenience of top 10 list of target areas, which included WBB services first hand. the capital Colombo, Galle, and Gamphaha. This answered the question of where to This series of measures helped Dialog develop WTTx services, so Dialog quickly rapidly attract users. Dialog also focused deployed a network and rolled out its on deploying new technologies, including WTTx service. 8T8R RRU, indoor and outdoor CPE, and 4x4 MIMO and CA. These innovative software As for which users to target, Dialog also and hardware solutions helped the had a unique strategy: First, the operator operator provide an excellent broadband quickly deployed WBB and rapidly experience for subscribers. attracted users who had no fixed-line broadband coverage by lowering initial WTTx deployment has narrowed Sri Lanka's broadband costs with measures like Buy digital gap with the rest of the world, & Plug & Play, operator subsidies, and introduced the Sri Lankan people to a new leasing CPE to users. dawn of broadband services, and helped Sri Lankan businesses hop on the fast Second, Dialog offered flexible tariffs track to growth. to target different types of users, for example, setting fees for plans with voice Consolidating WBB services 30 percent fee higher than those market lead with no voice services. The operator also used a differentiated QoS strategy to Dialog deployed the WTTx network in 2013, attract high-ARPU subscribers and SME quickly meeting the need for some SME

52 2016.10 ISSUE 80 WTTx gives Sri Lanka wings to soar / How to Operate

and home users for broadband, Continual evolution with the number of Dialog WTTx helps Dialog stay subscribers quickly breaking the 100,000 mark in less than two ahead In the future, years. In 2015, Dialog adopted 2CC On April 4, 2016, Huawei and WTTx will bring CA to deal with the rapid growth Dialog signed a Memorandum of broadband access in data traffic. At the end of Cooperation to conduct a joint 4.5G to even more 2015, the operator's broadband (TDD+) trial to verify the technology homes and give Sri subscriber base had surged to and accelerate its commercial Lanka's economic 300,000, and its mobile broadband adoption. Huawei will soon launch market share had grown to 10 CPE equipment that will provide development the percent. gigabit peak rates, using Qualcomm wings it needs to 1 Gbps 4.5G chip sets, which were soar. Huawei is a long-standing partner recently announced at MWC 2016. of Dialog, helping it stand at the Users will soon be able to enjoy the forefront of the WBB arena and ultimate zero-latency experience of achieve continuous commercial watching HD TV and virtual reality success. Looking to the future, over the Internet. The wide-scale traffic on mobile broadband and commercial adoption of 4.5G (TDD+) home broadband networks is technology will help WTTx continue set to grow at an astonishing to deliver higher capacity and a rate, as smartphones and HD better experience. TV services proliferate. In 2016, Dialog and Huawei launched a joint More than 300,000 users in Sri 4.5G (TDD+) trial. Dialog's aim is Lanka currently access WBB to provide users with a faster services through WTTx, enabling and better user experience by many to enjoy the convenience of leveraging new technology. Huawei mobile Internet. WTTx technology and Dialog's collaboration reaches will complement fixed-line a new level every year, and the broadband services and go a two jointly developed an optimal long way to achieving the e-Sri WTTx business model to achieve Lanka strategy of connecting commercial success. the unconnected. In the future, WTTx will bring broadband access Dialog's WTTx deployment project is to even more homes and give Sri a landmark in terms of broadband Lanka's economic development the construction in Sri Lanka and wings it needs to soar. a milestone for the Sri Lankan government's National Broadband Plan.

2016.10 ISSUE 80 53 SOLUTIONSSOLUTIONSIndustry Perspectives

MBB: Where agility and growth go hand in hand

With the total number of base stations set to double over the next five years, Huawei's MBB 2020-focused GigaRadio and Agile Site solutions can adapt to multiple scenarios and environments, simplifying site acquisition and accelerating deployment. By Chen Hui, Qi Youjun

o better deliver people- coverage and to meet demand for density is uneven, with the per to-things connectivity for mobile broadband (MBB), which capita number of sites in densely mobile users, operators continues to rise. populated regions such as Asia, Tneed to build many Africa, and Latin America far below more new base stations for full Globally, mobile base station the global average. As explosive

LampSite/Integrated Site

54 2016.10 ISSUE 80 MBB: Where agility and growth go hand in hand / Solutionstions

global growth in MBB continues, analysis services, the solutions projections show that the total provide innovative E2E site Delivered with number of sites worldwide will solutions and simplified site network consulting double within five years. acquisition. They can adapt to multiple scenarios and and analysis services, The Achilles heel environments to improve overall the solutions site investment and ROI, and help provide innovative Optimizing mobile networks operators resolve the pain points E2E site solutions requires new sites, but space in of increasing site density and and simplified site cities is increasingly scarce – a building mobile communications acquisition. conflict that’s intensifying. Factors networks ready for MBB 2020. such as public concern over signal radiation and complex site approval Joint innovation by Huawei and procedures add to the difficulties. its partners has found that an effective approach to increasing In the past, little consideration base station density includes the was given to how traditional base following features: stations fit in with the surrounding environment. Now people care, 1. Use existing site resources and operators have to defend by providing wireless network existing sites. Studies show a 5 to consultation and site construction 7 percent loss in the number of planning services. The agile site sites per year worldwide, which is construction concept involves a net loss for density. fully using existing sites and pole resources to improve network But, operators are ramping up construction topology (super-macro construction to the extent that multi-sector/centralized sites + investment is disproportionate to remote simple sites), simplifying income. With power consumption, sites and transmission, and rental, O&M, and service costs increasing coverage and capacity. for base stations on the rise, ROI and energy savings are operators’ 2. Develop new solutions to priorities. acquire site resources. For urban public infrastructure such as Getting agile street lights and bus stops, site sharing across industries plus With MBB 2020 approaching, faster and bulk site acquisition Huawei has released its GigaRadio can be realized through industrial- and Agile Site solutions. Delivered aesthetic site designs, innovative with network consulting and street light solutions, and Smart

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Site Access Node (SAN) solutions. There are two types of centralized sites: The first type is transmission with 3. Adopt agile site construction to provide centralized backup power. This type outdoor micro-sites and indoor Small Cell fully uses existing poles and municipal solutions for valuable regions and high- pipes and wiring, and BBU/Power/ traffic indoor areas to help operators Battery centralization and Easy Macro/ quickly capture high-value areas and remote RRU are used to streamline end increase ROI. sites. It suits scenarios where there Zero footprint are difficulties with mains supply and transmission, and where municipal Centralized base stations simplify site pipelines or overhead wiring are structure, while Huawei's Blade Site available. The second type is transmission solution resolves the issue of limited space centralized sites. These fully use existing for sites with base stations constructed poles, AirHub RRN and RLN one-to-many from stackable blades that can be flexibly transmission solutions, and Easy Macro/ installed outdoors. RRU end site local backup power. This site suits scenarios that have difficulties with Lite Site/Hub centralized base station: wired backhaul and power supply. The solution adopts a "1 carry n" mode to streamline simple sites. It lowers Blade Site: GigaRadio provides a complete acquisition time and electricity supply and Blade Site solution, and includes a full series transmission costs; simplifies site design, of outdoor BBU, BBU, battery, microwave planning, and deployment; streamlines transmission, and AirHub blades. This enables end sites, and increases site deployment flexible combinations and modules to be agility. assembled seamlessly on outdoor poles,

56 2016.10 ISSUE 80 MBB: Where agility and growth go hand in hand / Solutions

making base station installation Open cooperation with the industry multiband power (1-10W) sites, as easy as fitting together Legos. chain, such as local municipal the solution can adapt to a Site construction simply requires and electricity departments wide range of scenarios. These a pole to build a zero-footprint or operators, allows the bulk include outdoor utility poles and site. Other than standard macro acquisition of sites and utilization lamp posts, railway stations, site scenarios, Blade Site provides or transformation of existing billboards, and telephone booths the simplest site solution for linear infrastructure. Integrated street in central business districts, coverage scenarios (highways/ light/base station design enables residential areas, and other high-speed rail), and rural wide- invisible components and cables, as locations where site selection or coverage scenarios. well as completely natural outdoor coverage is difficult using macro Focusing on form factor cooling. sites. Projections show that micro sites will account for up to 20 Rapid advances in integrated In the UAE, Egypt, South Africa, and percent of sites by 2020. Outdoor circuits have reduced the size of China, operators and government micro sites have a modular equipment, enabling industrial- departments are working together design that supports automatic aesthetic designs. The agile site to use street lights for fast site deployment and utilizes solution uses unobtrusive site deployment and to create the distributed MIMO, 256QAM, and designs to better incorporate latest base station platform using LAA for 4.5G gigabit peak rates. equipment into urban environments. open IoT tech to unify planning Jointly designing and planning with smart city systems. Thus, Small Cell for high-traffic areas: base stations and municipal they can maximize site value. There are a high number of high- infrastructure creates a new way Boosting coverage for traffic indoor areas where MBB to acquire sites. quicker returns traffic has been restricted for a considerable time. The Small Cell Easy Macro lightweight street- High-value areas have long indoor digitalized solution comes side simple sites: Lightweight sites been a key battleground for at the perfect time to meet this lie between the level of a macro operators. Agile sites can provide need. The solution's indoor RRU/ site and a Small Cell, which account comprehensive indoor and outdoor LampSite and Pico solutions can for an estimated 20 percent of all coverage solutions to help be adapted to a wide range of sites. They can be deployed quickly operators capture high-traffic scenarios, including airports, to boost network coverage and areas and ensure rapid returns on stadiums, commercial office capacity. Easy Macro incorporates site investment. buildings, subways, campuses, ultra-wideband RF antennas and and residential areas. The solution can easily be integrated with an Outdoor micro sites: Lighter enables the flexible and smooth attractive design for integration micro-level base stations are multiband and multimode expansion with the surrounding environment, needed to meet requirements of single cell capacity. It can be significantly reducing the difficulty for deep coverage in high-traffic flexibly and conveniently installed, of site acquisition. urban areas. From single-mode including terminal RF coverage low-power (<1W) in the past visualization and direct network Street lights and green sites: to today's various multimode, management.

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Green thumbs million in OPEX annually. Connecting the 4 billion The mobile communications industry uses Mixed new energy: Adding multi-energy huge amounts of energy, causing heavy scheduling to power-hungry sites can unconnected carbon dioxide emissions. Moreover, the increase site-level efficiency to 94 percent. with MBB vast number of base stations means that In areas where mains supply is poor or connections, operators shoulder gigantic electricity unstable, mixed power supply can reduce and a 20- costs, placing pressure on them to cut power consumption by 50 to 70 percent. fold growth energy consumption. In areas where mains supply is good or energy prices are high, adopting site power in network Continual improvement of energy overlay can also reduce OPEX. For example, capacity efficiency of base stations: High- in a project in Pakistan, low-power base are central efficiency power amplification (PA), new stations and high-efficiency power, cooling, to the MBB materials/chip sets, cooling chimneys, and and mixed power supplies helped the client 2020 vision. cooling teeth have increased PA efficiency reduce OPEX by 80 percent and TCO by 56 from 19 percent to 55 percent. With percent in five years. distributed base stations, the RF is closer to the antenna, reducing feeder loss by New growth 3 dB. The outdoor modularization of the Blade Site solution enables natural cooling, Constructing base stations that are removing the need for air conditioners closer to people and objects and have and equipment rooms. Compared to the greater capabilities, connecting the 4 3,000W of power required by traditional billion unconnected with MBB connections, 2G base stations, SingleRAN multimode and a 20-fold growth in network capacity base stations reduce power consumption are central to the MBB 2020 vision. As a to below 1,600W, but give dozens of times valuable asset of operators, base stations higher capacity and connectivity capability. are critical to increasing network capacity and a cornerstone of achieving this vision. Maximized site energy efficiency: Existing network equipment rooms Huawei's series of innovative agile site have a large number of old power (and construction solutions, such as Blade Site, backup power) supply and air conditioning Easy Macro, Micro Site, and LampSite – components that operate at around 80 a joint innovation with operators – can percent efficiency. Replacing them with simplify the site construction process, high-efficiency ones that run at 96 to beautify site locations, and reduce 98 percent efficiency can reduce energy network TCO. These solutions will help waste and OPEX. For example, during a operators quickly increase site density modular transformation project, British and boost MBB coverage and capacity, Telecom replaced 10,000 equipment rooms creating new room for MBB growth and and 30,000 sets of old modules, saving £22 paving the way for MBB 2020.

58 2016.10 ISSUE 80 UMTS+: Adding up to success / Solutions

UMTS+: Adding up to success

Over the last 10 years, UMTS networks have proliferated in many countries. Mobile Broadband (MBB) adoption has grown rapidly around the world since 2008, when smart devices first emerged and sparked the first MBB revolution. Today’s surge in devices and social media use has seen UMTS network traffic skyrocket. By Wang Mingxuan

perators have seen their The rising popularity of new social provision half as much spectrum as growth increasingly media applications like Instagram developed ones. Moreover, 42 percent hindered by a number of and Snapchat has seen users of the world's operators have only 8 Opractical issues, including leaving more established brands like MHz of spectrum at the golden 900 the explosive rise in data, limited Facebook and Twitter in developed MHz spectrum. Operators urgently spectrum, and insufficient number markets, spurring the latter need new tech that can enhance of sites. Intense market competition to invest in emerging markets. spectrum utilization to help them has forced operators to consider However, today’s Facebook is more increase ROI. approaches that can maximize than the simple message-based returns from existing assets like social media platform it once was, The low-frequency 900 MHz band spectrum and sites. The UMTS+ as it now incorporates new types is crucial for MBB broad coverage. solution was developed in response of media such as video ads and live Traditional technology requires at to these requirements in this new broadcasts. least 7.4 MHz of spectrum for 2G and era. Encompassing Spectrum+, Site+, 3G to coexist on the 900 MHz band. Subscriber+, and Experience+, the This has led to a surge in network Huawei's Spectrum+ solution utilizes UMTS+ solution enables operators to traffic in developing nations. powerful narrowband and broadband extract value from existing assets According to Huawei's projections, interference suppression technology to maximize ROI and boost revenues. MBB traffic in these markets will to enable 2G and 3G subscribers to see a sevenfold increase over 2016 coexist on a minimum of 5 MHz of Due to large user numbers and the levels by 2020. spectrum. The solution boosts MBB late development of MBB, a huge capacity by 40 percent or more latent demand for MBB exists, Ubiquity with on the same amount of spectrum, promising enormous potential Spectrum+ meaning that operators never have demographic dividends for operators. to choose between 2G and 3G. According to GSMA, the number Spectrum scarcity has become a of UMTS users will grow to nearly major challenge for developing nations. Agile sites with Site+ 4 billion between 2016 and 2020, a According to Huawei's statistics on threefold increase. And most of these spectrum resources around the Globally, there are on average users will be in developing countries. world, developing countries can only 1,000 sites per 1 million people, but

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in some developing countries this number improve its network capacity by more than drops to as low as 100 to 200. Indeed, 30 percent, without negatively impacting the biggest obstacle to expanding MBB the visual environment around the Olympic coverage in emerging markets is the lack of sites in Brazil. sites and difficulty of deploying new ones. Huawei's Site+ solution was designed with Demographic dividends such situations in mind, applying sector with User+ splitting technology to maximize single site efficiency. The split antenna multi- At Mobile World Congress 2016, Facebook CEO sector solution can increase the number of Mark Zuckerberg called for the development sectors in a cell from three to six, or even of network infrastructure to bring the nine, boosting capacity by up to 2.2 times. Internet to more people, showing his With 3D-sector technology, capacity can be awareness of the vast potential of developing enhanced by as much as four times, greatly countries. As of 2016, 40 percent of people in increasing single site capacity. The solution emerging markets are still unconnected to has been deployed by over 70 operators the Internet, with the vast majority still on 2G around the globe, boosting UMTS network networks. Quickly migrating 2G subscribers capacity by an average of 70 percent. to MBB networks would increase operators' demographic dividends. The Site+ solution also includes agile site addition capabilities to facilitate new site Huawei's User+ solution uses visualization deployment, reduce equipment and labor tools to identify the high-value customers costs, and simplify site acquisition. The that operators should prioritize for migration. solution offers a number of different Subscribers who consume large amounts types of sites, including street light and of data every month, even on 2G networks, underground sites. Street light sites are have demonstrated a willingness to use MBB. installed inside the existing municipal Another type of potential MBB subscribers structures. Underground sites make use are those using 3G handsets on 2G networks. of underground-type APM30 cabinets that With reasonable tariffs, this type of customer contain equipment, including the RRU RF will also quickly migrate to 3G. module, power supply, and batteries. Several operators have adopted the User+ By using the underground site solution, VIVO solution with great success. Thailand AIS Brazil was able to obtain a site construction completed the migration of 5 million 2G license in a month, 95 percent quicker subscribers to 3G in five months using a than normal. It was then able to complete subscriber migration strategy with four site deployment in 15 days, 75 percent main measures: 1) Network level: increase faster than normal. Site construction coverage in areas of poor coverage costs and site rental fees were halved. The and reduce 3G subscriber fallback; 2) underground cabinet solution helped VIVO Flexible planning: set different plans for

60 2016.10 ISSUE 80 UMTS+: Adding up to success / Solutions

different user groups to appeal organizations and government Mbps, which easily satisfy 720p and to more subscribers. 3) Precise bodies also regularly test network even 1080p HD video requirements. user migration: employ telephone quality, with voice quality being the The H.265 video standard halves consultants or over-the-air most important metric. the required speed for HD video, technology to migrate subscribers enabling HD videos to be streamed using smart devices. 4) Economical Huawei's Experience+ solution over 3G networks without difficulty. MBB terminals: work with vendor leverages the 3G wideband AMR partners to launch low-cost codec, together with "crystal- Peak rates aren’t the only factor smartphones. clear voice seamless coverage" that impact HD experience for users. and "crystal-clear deep coverage" Video experience at cell edges is also The entire migration process went software capabilities, providing the key to user satisfaction. A lack without a hitch. A survey showed subscribers with an MOS 4.0 of site coordination capabilities in that 81 percent of subscribers immersive HD voice experience. In traditional site tech can lead to poor enjoyed an improved 3G network Switzerland, an independent Swiss user experience at cell edges, and experience post-migration, and 97 authority ranked the operator in particular at site edges. In 3GPP, percent were satisfied with the Sunrise first in voice in 2015, up from the X2 interface is a 4G element for migration process. third three years earlier. It achieved communication between eNodeB this by quickly improving its network base stations. In the UMTS+ solution, HD and more with capability with the HD voice solution. the technology is used between two Experience+ 1080p HD for growth 3G NodeB base stations. The UX2 interface supports cross-site DB As iMAX cinemas show, users will Operators are already switching HSDPA between two NodeB sites and pay for great quality. Similarly, their focus to video services. Even upstream COMP, greatly increasing operators are switching focus from in developing countries, data traffic upstream and downstream KPIs to user-oriented KQIs. A good from video is surging. In Egypt, for throughput, enabling users at cell network today is not simply one example, traffic from video services edges to enjoy 720p and 1080p HD that lets subscribers connect or grew from 21.5 percent to 30 video experiences. doesn’t drop calls; it must also be percent in the span of a year. Huawei able to deliver a great voice and predicts that video services will With a huge demographic dividend data experience, including HD voice account for over 50 percent of data still up for grabs, UMTS+ represents and video. traffic in emerging markets by 2020. a milestone in the 3G MBB era. Immersive HD voice Boosting service experience will help UMTS+ helps operators maximize operators raise their brand equity the value of existing network assets In developing countries, up to 80 with high-end subscribers. and boost revenues, and builds percent of operator income still networks to support MBB 2020 for comes from voice services. However, A common misconception is that all. Then, everyone can be connected with the rise of OTT apps, they HD video requires super high rates. and enjoy a better MBB experience aren’t the only choice. Moreover, With Dual-Cell High Speed Downlink wherever they are. apps are available that test network Packet Access (HSDPA) or Dual-Band quality, while independent testing (DB) HSDPA, 3G peak rates can hit 42

2016.10 ISSUE 80 61 CUTTINGCUTTINGIndustry PerspectivesEDGE EDGE

Cover Story Up in the air with 5G

F-OFDM, SCMA, and Polar Code are the three key technologies that underpin Huawei's 5G new air interface concept. F-OFDM is a basic waveform technology that supports a unified air interface and uses flexible numerologies to enable radio slicing. SCMA and Polar Code increase the number of connections, reliability, and spectral efficiency.

By Zhang Dong

62 2016.10 ISSUE 80 Up in the air with 5G / Cutting Edge

ir interface technology A matter of design meet diverse, even conflicting, is the jewel in the crown requirements. Revolutionary new 5G that differentiates each Requirements guide the goals and air interface technologies are needed Ageneration of mobile direction of 5G research. In June to meet ITU's 5G requirements. communications. It also has the 2015, the ITU-R defined three main most contending technologies, each 5G application scenarios: enhanced 2. Long-tailed: 5G will expand the vying to emerge victorious as the mobile broadband (eMBB); Massive boundaries of mobile communications 5G sky begins to clear thanks to Machine Type Communication by embracing verticals and boosting 3GPP 5G standardization. Of these (mMTC); and Ultra Reliable & Low their efficiency. Verticals have technologies, Huawei's series of Latency Communication (uRLLC). extremely varied requirements on new 5G air interface technologies The organization also defined 5G mobile Internet services, and as is the star that’s shining the network capability requirements in typical long-tailed markets, bring in brightest. eight areas, including throughput, much lower revenues. The long tail latency, connection density, and structure dictates that it will be spectral efficiency. impossible to develop different air interface designs to suit each type Future 5G services will be defined of industry. Instead, it will require by three main characteristics, the use of different parameters each of which will place different (numerology) or radio slicing, so that demands on air interfaces: the air interface can adapt to the requirements of different verticals. 1. Diversity: All generations up to 4G focused on people-to-people 3. Uncertainty: The next four to five communication via mobile Internet; years will bring a lot of uncertainty, but, 5G will need to enable the and may include services that were Internet of Things (IoT) and enhance impossible to predict. Therefore, we mobile Internet. must consider what drives services as well as keeps our technology a An unparalleled flourishing of little ahead of the industry. Future services and requirements will occur 5G services will be diverse, long- in the 5G era. We will see remote tailed, and hard to predict. This will control applications that require ms- require a new unified air interface level latency; demand for gigabit that has a high degree of flexibility broadband to support virtual reality to adapt to different services. The (VR), augmented reality (AR), and new air interface design will need ultra-high definition video; and to improve spectral efficiency – LPWA IoT that will require millions of always a goal of air interface design connections per square kilometer. – given its importance in lowering operator network deployment costs Air interface design will have to and ensuring the maturity and

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prosperity of the entire industry chain. technology. The Internet of Vehicles, for example, requires ms-level latency and New 5G air interface: key very short time symbol duration and TTI enablers (Transmission Time Interval), requiring sub- carrier spacing with wide frequency division. In IoT's massive connections scenario, the To overcome the challenges described overall system must handle a high number of above, Huawei has proposed a new 5G connections even though data transmission air interface concept and a series of from individual sensors is low. For frequency key enabling technologies, covering division configuration, this will require fundamental waveform, multiple access relatively narrow sub-carrier spacing. For schemes, channel coding, access protocols, time division, the ISI problem doesn’t need and frame structures. We’ve also carried to be considered, and there’s no need to out field tests and verification with use CP because symbol length and TTI are pioneering operators. sufficiently long. In addition, asynchronous operations save energy at the terminal side. Superstructure is determined by underlying infrastructure. The same applies in air OFDM cannot meet these flexibility interface design. This article will therefore requirements. OFDM's time-frequency explore new waveform, new multiple access, resource allocation is a fixed 15 KHz and new coding techniques, the critical new of frequency division on sub-carrier technologies of 5G physical layer design. bandwidth, compared with MBSFN, which Filtered-OFDM: new waveform is 7.5 KHz. Once the sub-carrier bandwidth is determined, numerology such as time Fundamental waveform design enables division symbol length and CP length are a unified air interface that supports also basically determined. flexibility and spectral efficiency. To illustrate the case for Filtered-OFDM, it’s If the system's time-frequency resources useful to explore the reasons why OFDM are like a train carriage, the OFDM solution cannot meet 5G requirements. is used to furnish it. OFDM can only provide seats (sub-carrier spacing) of a OFDM modulation converts high-speed data fixed size for all passengers regardless of into orthogonal sub-carriers via serial/parallel whether they are fat, thin, rich, or poor. converters, and uses cyclic prefix (CP) to A train design like this would be illogical, deal with Inter Symbol Interference (ISI). insufficiently user-centric, and unable to OFDM was widely used in the 4G era, but the meet people's diverse needs. technology's main problem was inflexibility. For 5G, the hope is to provide a variety In the 5G era, different applications will have of train seats (spacing) – hard, soft, very different requirements on air interface sleepers, private compartments – all

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flexibly customized based on flexibility and spectral efficiency. efficiency, more passengers need passengers' height and size (service Thus, it’s a key technology for 5G to fit into a limited number of seats. requirements), with whatever air interface slicing. For example, squeezing six people adjustments required possible. This New multi-access: Sparse into the space of four seats sounds would be like the Harmony Express Code Multiple Access easy enough, and would increase of the China high-speed rail with the number of connections by 150 its many customizable seating Sparse Code Multiple Access (SCMA) percent, but achieving it is another arrangements – this is the idea on determines the allocation of air matter. which F-OFDM is based. interface resources, and is thus a key technology for increasing This is where low-density spread F-OFDM can provide different sub- the number of connections and spectrum comes in. In this first key carrier spacing and numerology for spectral efficiency. With F-OFDM SCMA technology, the user data of different services to meet time- enabling flexible multiplexing a single sub-carrier is spread on to frequency resource requirements. on frequency division and time four sub-carriers, with six users Sub-carrier spacing in different division and minimizing the use of using these four sub-carriers. The bandwidths no longer possesses guard bands, what other domains name refers to the fact that user orthogonal properties, so guard can multiplexing be applied to data is only spread over two sub- bandwidth needs to be used. that further enhances spectral carriers, with the other two sub- For example, OFDM requires 10 efficiency? carriers empty. This is like six percent guard bandwidth. Guard passengers sitting on four seats, band guarantees the flexibility of The two that come to mind are with each passenger only able to F-OFDM, but does it lower spectral space domain and code domain. sit over two seats at most. This is efficiency? In the past, there’s Spatial multiplexing MIMO was what the "sparse" in SCMA refers always been a conflict between proposed during the LTE era; it to. Why must it be sparse? If data flexibility and system expenditure. will further flourish in the 5G era were not sparsely spread, it would But the optimized filter design of thanks to multi-antenna. As for be spread over an entire sub- F-OFDM greatly reduces out-of- code domain, the technique seems carrier. This would mean the same band leakage, and the spectrum to have been forgotten in the LTE sub-carrier carrying the data of six spent on guard bands between era, so can it be revived in the 5G users and there would be too much different sub-bands can be reduced era? In fact, this is what SCMA conflict and demodulating the data to around 1 percent, greatly does by using sparse codebooks of the six users would be impossible increasing spectral efficiency and sparse code multiple access to complete. and making it possible to utilize (SCMA) to increase the number of fragmented spectrums. connections threefold. However, once six people sit on four seats, the space between F-OFDM has inherited all the Returning to the train metaphor, them isn’t strictly orthogonal. Each advantages of OFDM like high F-OFDM adapts the seats (sub- passenger occupies two seats, spectral efficiency and MIMO carriers) according to passengers' so the passengers cannot be adaptability, but also addresses needs (service requirements). distinguished by seat number (sub- some of its flaws by boosting To further enhance spectral carrier). On a single carrier, conflict

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still exists between the data of three distinguish the passengers. users, so difficulties with demodulating the Using data of multiple users remains. In field validation tests under acceptable nonscheduling levels of complexity, a threefold increase technology This is where multidimensional modulation in the number of upstream connections can greatly (MD) – the second key SCMA technology – compared to OFDMA has been achieved plays a role. MD is a very abstract concept using SCMA and non-orthogonal sparse code reduce data because traditional IQ modulation only had division, as well as significantly improved transmission two dimensions – amplitude and phase. So downstream user throughput (over latency to what do the extra dimensions represent? 50 percent) using non-orthogonal code meet 1 ms division and power division multiplexing. In air interface Here we need to engage our imaginations addition, because SCMA allows a certain a little. Imagine the process of an Alpha level of conflict between users, using non- latency Centaurian alien opening up a proton into scheduling technology can greatly reduce requirements. a 3D multi-dimensional circuit and then data transmission latency to meet 1 ms air reducing the number of dimensions again. interface latency requirements. Eventually, a single proton is formed into New coding technology: Polar an all-powerful computer, but the proton is Codes still a proton, except its function has been greatly enhanced. The ultimate goal of Polar Codes – Shannon capacity: The goal of channel coding is Similarly, through MD technology, it’s to ensure the reliable transmission of still the phase and amplitude that are information using the least amount of modulated, but the Euclidean distance resources. At a particular error rate, the between the constellation points of the smaller the amount of resources needed, multi-users is shortened, considerably the higher the coding efficiency, and hence boosting the performance of multi-user the higher the spectral efficiency. For demodulation and anti-interference. researchers of channel coding techniques, Each user data uses sparse codebooks attaining the Shannon limit is the ultimate allocated by the system to carry out goal. multidimensional modulation. The system knows each user's codebook, making it So what is the Shannon limit? Shannon's possible to demodulate different users second theorem states that as long as the when a non-orthogonal waveform is used. information transmission rate is less than the channel capacity, a type of code exists This is equivalent to sticking coloured that can enable the information transmission stickers onto passengers to identify them error probability to be made arbitrarily when it’s no longer possible to do so by small. In the narrow sense, the Shannon seat number; the stickers together with limit describes the minimum signal-to-noise the seat numbers make it possible to ratio (SNR) required to achieve error-free

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transmission using a code. For example, the codes, Turbo codes, and LDPC codes, which Shannon limit of an AWGN channel under have been widely applied in different kinds ideal circumstances is around -1.6 dB. In of communications systems. However, no practice, however, the cost of achieving code has been able to achieve the Shannon error-free transmission is too high. In the limit, until the introduction of Polar Codes. general definition of the Shannon limit, that’s the minimum SNR required for a Basic principle of Polar Codes: Erdal particular acceptable error rate. Arikan, a professor at Turkey's Bilkent University, proposed the concept of channel Communications can be likened to logistics. polarization in 2007. The theory outlines the In logistics, the goal is to transport goods first known demonstrable channel coding to an end point. Take the example of a method to achieve the Shannon limit, which glass factory, a shipment of glass products Arikan termed Polar Codes. This discovery needs to be sent from A (information was a major breakthrough in coding source) to B (information sink). The road theory. Polar Codes have clear and simple between A and B is equivalent to the encoding and decoding algorithms, and the channel, and the potholes and bumps along error correction performance currently the road are channel noises. To reduce the achievable by Polar Codes is superior to the amount of losses due to breakage (errors) widely used Turbo and LDPC codes. during transport, the products need to be packed into cardboard boxes (coding) To understand Polar Codes, we must and then unpacked at point B (decoding). first understand the concept of channel Although packaging (coding) increases polarization. As the term suggests, it overheads and reduces the number of involves polarization of the channel products that can fit into each container and refers to a group of independent (information payload), the method greatly symmetric binary-input discrete reduces breakage rates (bit error rate). memoryless channels that use the When there is an allowable breakage rate coding method to enable different sub- (bit error rate), improving the packaging channel reliability. When the code length is (coding) method can minimize requirements increased, a ratio of the channels become on the road and transport vehicle (SNR). perfect (error-free), while the rest become This minimum requirement (minimum SNR) pure noise channels. is the Shannon limit. Continuing with the example of the glass Shannon's theorem posits the existence of factory, the original packaging method such a code, but doesn’t explain what code (coding method) makes it impossible to can achieve this. This has frustrated coding predict the location of products that will scientists who, for the past 50 years, have break during transport. But with a Polar proposed multiple error correction coding Codes packaging method, it’s possible techniques, including RS, convolutional to guarantee that a certain proportion

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of products in a certain location won’t in fact than Turbo codes under equivalent be damaged during transport (perfect complexity. This greatly extends the When channels) no matter how bumpy the road, battery life of IoT sensors, which demand standards are while the rest in the other locations will ultra-low power consumption. defined, all certainly break (pure noise channel). This technologies characteristics of channel polarization Some things bear repeating: F-OFDM is a allows products (information bits) to be fundamental waveform technology for and directions placed in the perfect channel and nothing supporting a unified air interface that are worthy of (constant bits) in the pure noise channel uses flexible numerology to enable air respect and location. And because the distribution interface slicing. In addition to F-OFDM, remembrance of the perfect channel is known when SCMA and Polar Codes enhance the number as the produce the goods are packed, decoding when of connections, reliability, and spectral of wisdom and unpacking them becomes much simpler. In efficiency, meeting ITU's 5G capability fact, improved Successive Cancelation List requirements. These are the three key for their role (SCL) decoding algorithms for Polar Codes technologies underpinning Huawei's new 5G in driving 5G approach the performance of maximum air interface concept. advancement. likelihood decoding with acceptable complexity. Competition drives 5G

The advantages of Polar Codes are: 1) The curtain has just been pulled back on 5G higher gain than Turbo codes: In actual and we stand on the cusp of a great era. In measurements under equivalent error each generation of mobile communications, rate, Polar Codes have 0.5-1.2 dB lower there are competing directions and SNR requirement than Turbo codes, and candidate technologies. higher code efficiency means increased spectral efficiency; 2) Thanks to Hamming Ultimately, the best directions and distance and strong SC algorithm design, technologies survive the filters of theory, Polar Codes have no error floor and practice, and market. Through integration reliability is much better than Turbo codes. and validation, they are transformed and (Turbo codes use sub-optimal algorithm, proliferate, leaving an indelible mark on the and thus have an error floor). For the world. ultra-high reliability requirements of 5G service applications (such as remote real- When standards are defined, all time control and driverless vehicles), technologies and directions are worthy Polar Codes support 99.999% reliability, of respect and remembrance as the ensuring reliability for vertical industries; producers of wisdom and for their role in 3) Polar Codes use a SC-based decoding driving 5G advancement. Let's look forward scheme that significantly reduces decoding to the new super connected world of 5G. complexity; terminal power consumption is therefore much lower, 20 times lower

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