Ericsson RAN Compute: Why a smaller footprint produces a bigger 5G deployment

Today, communication service providers (CSPs) are faced with an exponential rise in the processing demands placed on the so-called “digital front end” or “layer one” of radio access networks (RAN). In other words, the processing capacity placed at the site of the radio and delivered through RAN processors, radio processors and baseband units.

Increased demand for RAN compute processing

This is being driven by multiple factors, such as a rapid growth of radio site deployments – including an explosion in the numbers of antenna branches (through Massive MIMO), higher carrier bandwidth at increasingly higher frequencies, wider spectrum allocations in new band deployments and new demands for shorter transmission time intervals (TTI).

Let’s put that into some context. In 2010, with LTE networks, a typical 20 MHz carrier would receive only two transmit branches, with a transmission time interval of about one millisecond. Today, with 5G, the carrier bandwidth is now typically around 100 MHz – five times the size it was ten years ago – and served through Massive MIMO radios, containing 32 times the amount of transmit branches, at a transmission time of 0.5 milliseconds. Again, with context: that means that today’s CSPs are now required to deliver 160 times more processing, in less than half the time.

The need for compact and energy-efficient basebands

To solve those processing challenges, we have also seen an explosion in the way CSPs can deploy RAN computing power across their networks. In recent years, we have seen the network architecture evolve at a rapid pace, meaning that CSPs can choose between decentralized RAN (D-RAN) where the baseband and software functions are distributed in single units at or close to the radio site, centralized RAN (C-RAN) which delivers centralized processing through packet fronthaul transport, integrated processing in the radio itself – such as with our Street Macro and Massive MIMO solutions, and soon, Cloud RAN where all processing is performed in the cloud.

Decentralized RAN, where computing power is placed at closer proximity to the user and also lowers RAN transport requirements and cost, remains the most commonly deployed architecture among CSPs today. However, with an explosion in the number of radio sites across CSP networks – which has clear implications on energy consumption and site rental costs – it very quickly becomes business critical that RAN processing units, such as baseband, are energy efficient, compact, and flexible in supporting multiple band technologies.

Ericsson Silicon – the small chip that makes a big difference

Our industry-leading RAN Compute portfolio, which we launched in 2015, allows us to offer that critical value to our customers – delivering higher throughput, lower power consumption and bringing the necessary flexibility to support all technologies and network segments to offer our customers a much faster time to market.

At the heart of this system, and the foundation for our unique advanced processing capabilities, footprint and energy efficiency advantages, is our unique and robust custom silicon strategy.

With Ericsson Silicon, we have a crucial edge in offering our customers unrivaled energy efficiency and network performance, lower total cost of ownership, a wider range of portfolio innovation, and security which is built into the hardware from the start.

Ericsson RAN Compute: Leading the market since 2015

Based on modular architectureand using the Ericsson Silicon range of System on a Chip (SoC), an integrated circuit custom-made for mobile networks, we deploy Ericsson Silicon across the entire Ericsson Radio System, including our market-leading baseband offering - the Ericsson RAN Compute portfolio. . Relentless innovations such as this enable CSPs to surpass the expectations of end customers and cater for a wide range of deployment scenarios.

Thanks to Ericsson Silicon, our RAN Compute offering delivers many unique benefits to our customers, including:

Integrated multi-band support in a single unit

Ericsson RAN Compute delivers the highest possible processing capacity and simultaneous support of all carrier technologies and frequency bands from 2G to 5G standalone, FDD band to TDD band, and CAT-M to NB-IoT. Furthermore, we are also unique in offering full multi-band support in a single, monolithic baseband unit – 33 percent more compact than other market units, and flexible enough to meet increasingly challenging radio site deployments.

60 percent more energy efficient

The demand for higher capacity and wider coverage is creating a demand for more radio site deployments, particularly in dense urban areas. As a result, for CSPs it becomes even more business critical that they can maintain low operating expenses (OPEX). The Ericsson RAN Compute portfolio not only brings tangible OPEX benefits in terms of significantly reducing energy consumption by up to 60 percent, but it also reduces weight on tower and ensures faster upgradability through remote software configuration.

Baseband which is future-proof

In addition to OPEX benefits, remote software activation also makes the Ericsson RAN Compute  entirely future-proof – meaning that our customers can add capacity, new technologies and new features to their RAN compute network without the need for their engineers to physically visit all their live radio sites. This of course saves costs, but it also gives our customers a significant time to market advantage ahead of their competitors.

Today, Ericsson RAN Compute delivers the vital processing power across our customers’ 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G networks worldwide – including both non-standalone and standalone architecture. They have also been deployed to power groundbreaking 5G use cases which, in addition to ongoing trials behind closed doors at Ericsson’s many R&D labs, also include commercial trials such as the recent end-to-end multivendor voice call with Deutsche Telekom, the 5G orchestra with Vodafone Portugal and the ongoing 5G robotics and mixed reality use cases at the MTS 5G innovation hub in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

For us, the journey is not over. In the coming months and years, the acceleration of 5G standalone and mid-high band deployments will produce a wave of new 5G use cases and we expect this to evolve the network architecture further – placing even higher demands on RAN Compute.

As ever, we are ready to partner with our customers to meet those challenges together.

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