LG Uplus to use OTN for LTE-A CPRI backhaul

Huawei says that South Korean mobile services provider LG Uplus will use its equipment to create a mobile backhaul network based on WDM and Optical Transport Network (OTN) for common public radio interface (CPRI) backhaul on LG Uplus's LTE-A network. The CPRI-over-WDM/OTN approach enables pooled baseband processing for distributed base stations, which saves fiber resources and improves network reliability, Huawei says.

The transport systems vendor says LG Uplus was among the first to commercialize LTE-A and favors pooled baseband processing for distributed base stations on its LTE-A network to maximize bandwidth and spectrum efficiency, minimize interference caused by coverage overlap, and occupy less footprint. A centralized baseband processing pool in dense metro areas should connect to over 100 remote radio units (RRUs), Huawei estimates. In a traditional approach each RRUs is directly connected to the pool via fiber-optic cable. Such an approach requires a significant amount of fiber and does not support service protection configurations.

Conversely, the WDM/OTN approach LG Uplus has adopted with Huawei’s help requires only a single fiber pair to backhaul multiple CPRIs from RRUs to the baseband processing pool. Meanwhile, OTN ring protection for the CPRIs significantly enhances network reliability; OTN also offers accurate line performance monitoring and fault diagnosis.

"With the development of mobile broadband, high-speed WDM transport is no longer confined to the backbone. It has been extended to the metro core, and will be applied to the metro edge in the LTE-A era. LG UpLus and Huawei's innovation in LTE-A backhaul is a meaningful practice of WDM/OTN-to-the-edge," said Jack Wang, president of the Huawei transmission network product line.

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Want to learn more about OTN and WDM innovation? Attend the Lightwave Optical Innovation Summit The Lightwave Optical Innovation Summit will feature panels and presentations that will illuminate where optical innovation is required in carrier and enterprise/data center networks, what it should look like, and when it might appear. A wide range of experts from the user, technology development, academic, and analyst communities will offer their views on innovation in a variety of areas, including, OTN and WDM. Find out more about the Summit, which will be held in Austin, TX, July 14-16, at the Lightwave Optical Innovation Summit website.