Het nets up close - Webinar with ThinkSmallCell and IXIA

HetNets Up Close: Adding Small Cells to the mix

Webinar 25 March 2014

David Chambers Rahul Iyer

Agenda • Market evoluAon of Small Cells •  DensificaAon of mobile networks •  Technical challenges •  Example use cases of tesAng •  Conclusion

Market Driver for HetNets

•  >50% CAGR for Mobile data

•  High density deployments (urban and enterprise)

•  Poor in building coverage

CoordinaAng Small Cells with Macrocells, sharing same frequencies = HetNet Best of both worlds

•  3GPP workshop[1] on how best to grow capacity

[1] June 2012: hUp://www.3gpp.org/Future-‐Radio-‐in-‐3GPP-‐300-‐aUend

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The different categories of small cells

Enterprise Residen,al Urban Rural

Small Cells

Small Cells Femtocells OR

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3G Licensed Spectrum

4G/LTE Licensed Spectrum

Unlicensed Spectrum

Planned (locaAon pre-‐determined prior to site build)

Unplanned (locaAon unknown unAl operaAonal)

Planned vs Unplanned

Carrier Wi-‐Fi

Enterprise Wi-‐Fi

ResidenAal Wi-‐Fi

LTE Urban

Enterprise Femtocells

ResidenAal Femtocells

3G Rural Small cells

3G Urban

ResidenAal Femtocells

Enterprise Femtocells

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Four ways of network densificaAon Macrocell Sector Spli=ng Physical antenna Dedicated macrocell hardware

Remote Radio Heads Physical antenna Dedicated macrocell hardware 2Gbps link between macrocell & radio head

Distributed Antenna System (DAS) Pipes the RF signal around a building. Typically needs dark fibre, remote antenna and macrocell. Can be shared between operators

Small Cells Shrinks full basestaAon capability onto a chip. Requires IP connecAon for backhaul. OpAonally, local controller opAmises between mulAple cells

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Enterprise Small Cells Technology: Mostly 3G, few LTE, evolving to mulAmode 3G/LTE/Wi-‐Fi Higher RF power = range and capacity = more calls CompaAble with all 3G smartphones. Tens of operators live today, some scaling to 10K’s of sites Primary focus is on deployment speed and business model. Stronger drive for 3G voice than data Likely to be largest revenue driver in short term, because can be quickly deployed. Buys loyalty from building owner, opAon for addiAonal services. Ideal equipment is powered and backhauled via Ethernet.

Enterprise

Different sizes require soluAons

10-‐49 employees

50-‐249 employees

250+ employees

<9 employees 8 User Standalone Femtocell

MulAple 16 User small cells

16 User Standalone Small cell

Distributed Antenna System

Group of small cells with local controller

10-‐49 employees

50-‐249 employees

250+ employees

50-‐249 employees

250+ employees 250+ employees

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Urban Small Cells Previously named “Metrocells” and/or “Picocells” Technology: Most focus on 4G LTE Much higher RF power = range; higher capacity = more calls/data Expected ramp-‐up of LTE or 3G/LTE during late 2014/2015 Primary focus is site acquisiAon, deployment process, backhaul Stronger drive for data capacity in dense urban areas More criAcal to those operators with limited spectrum Likely to be largest revenue driver in longer term, because of wider range of tools, skillsets, capabiliAes required. Ideal equipment is street mounted and backhauled via wired or wireless short haul link to nearby hub/macrocell. Low maintenance = low TCO criAcal.

Urban

DensificaAon Strategy Make most of exisAng macrocell sites

•  Expand to use all available spectrum •  Add LTE, refarm 2G/3G to 3G/LTE •  Expand sectors and/or remote radio heads

IdenAfy and resolve in-‐building issues •  Deploy suitable soluAons for

large/small buildings

•  Add microcells in high traffic/poor coverage areas (2-‐5W RF power)

•  Add further smaller cells to match traffic/usage demand (0.25-‐2W RF)

HetNets involve a wider ecosystem •  Deployment:

–  Site acquisiAon, installaAon, project management, provisioning

•  Opera,ons: –  Planning tools, SON (Self-‐Organising Networks),

Performance Management, Geo-‐locaAon •  Test and Valida,on:

–  De-‐risking prior to deployment, simulaAng network condiAons, troubleshooAng, opAmising

•  Services: –  Business case, partnerships, outsourcing

Small Cell Forecast

§  Residential Femtocells—not a compelling ROI for operators §  Enterprise Small Cells will grow with new business models

§  Big potential but slow growth due to a new business model

§  Carrier-‐deployed Small Cells will grow along with data demand

Annu

al

Summary •  Small Cells are mature, proven technology •  Can deliver the capacity and performance when tradiAonal

methods exhausted •  Requires a different deployment approach

–  Scale: More automaAon, simpler installaAon

•  Wider eco-‐system becoming involved

EssenAal Steps to Successful Deployments HetNets Up-‐close

25 March 2014

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•  Major LTE carriers have announced small cell plans

•  Carrier rollouts have been slow, so far •  “4G LTE” key access tech. – high lab test acAvity He

tNet M

arket S

tatus

Source: Mobile Experts -‐ hOp://www.mobile-‐experts.net/ An

nual

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Challenges Infrastructure

Small Cells

Gateways (eNB, LGW, Offload)

LTE – Wi-‐Fi Convergence

SON

LogisAcal

100s of Use cases

Zoning/Permissions

Backhaul

BSS system and process

HetNet Topology

S1

S1-‐u

S5

HeNB-‐GW

MME Pool

SGW PGW

HSS DRA

PCRF

PDN -‐ www

S1-‐mme

SGi Small cells 3g/4g/Wi-‐Fi

OSS (C-‐SON)

D-‐SON

Wi-‐Fi-‐GW

S2a

HetNet Topology

S1

S1-‐u

S5

HeNB-‐GW

MME Pool

SGW PGW

HSS DRA

PCRF

PDN -‐ www

S1-‐mme


LGW

Private Cloud OSS (C-‐SON)

D-‐SON

Wi-‐Fi-‐GW

S2a

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Infrastructure Network EvoluAon

New devices (Small cells, GWs)

MulA-‐layer (Macro, small cell)

SON (C-‐SON, D-‐SON)

Backhaul

Challenges

Order of magnitude, topology changes

Mobility, Interference

Great power, Great Responsibility

Planning and OpAmizaAon

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Valid

a,ng Small Cells

•  Evaluate funcAonality –  Scheduler, Handover, Bearer, Paging, etc.

•  Test under real network configuraAon –  Interop, load, subscriber models

•  LTE-‐Wi-‐Fi convergence –  Load balancing, Wi-‐Fi handover

S1

S1-‐u

S5

HeNB-‐GW

MME Pool

SGW

HSS DRA

PCRF

PDN -‐ www

S1-‐mme

SGi Small cells 3g/4g/Wi-‐Fi PGW

Wi-‐Fi GW

S2a

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Valid

a,ng Small Cells

SON-‐eICIC

•  Surround eNodeB on Uu and X2 •  Simulate interference

–  Neighbor cell interference over X2 –  UL interference over Uu

•  Measure eNodeB compensaAon factor

UE SIM

Uu

X2

DUT (source cell)

Ixia (target cell)

1. Simulate interference

Configure •  UL Interference •  RNTP •  ABS

1. Validate impact on UEs

2. X2 Load Indica,on 2. Simulate UL Interference

2. Evaluate Load Indica,on

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Valid

a,ng Small Cells

SON-‐M

LB

•  AutomaAc load balancing based on “triggers” –  Cell configuraAon updated in real Ame

•  Validate and measure funcAonality –  Success rate, opAmizaAon latency

•  Test under unique real world condiAons –  Loaded neighbor cell, Several target cells

UE SIM

Uu

X2

DUT (source cell)

Ixia (target cell)

Adjust Cell Reselec,on Param.

Renego,ate Handover threshold

Load based HO Request

HO Success

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eNod

eB GW Tes,n

g

•  Evaluate eNodeB-‐GW funcAonality –  Paging OpAmizaAon, NNSF, LIPA, SIPTO etc.

•  Model and Validate different deployment scenarios –  eNB-‐GW as MME Proxy, eNB-‐GW as MME and SGW Proxy etc.

•  Evaluate eNodeB-‐GW performance –  Under high load (10000s eNodeB 1000000s Subs) –  IPSec

S1

S1-‐u

S5

HeNB-‐GW

MME Pool

SGW

HSS DRA

PCRF

PDN -‐ www

S1-‐mme

SGi Small cells 3g/4g/Wi-‐Fi PGW

Wi-‐Fi GW

S2a

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Wi-‐Fi O

ffloa

d GW

Tes,ng Gi

Ww

Wi-Fi AP UE

PCRF

IP Services

IXIA SUT IXIA

Emulated Interface Internal Interface Traffic Path

Wi-Fi-GW

Network Emula,on Wi-‐Fi Access

•  Validate Wi-‐Fi GW FuncAonality – AuthenAcaAon, Interop etc.

•  Load, stress GW and measure QoE –  PMIPv6, GRE, GTPv1

AAA

PGW

GGSN

4G

3G

S2a

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Backha

ul Tes,n

g

•  Model backhaul through impairment –  Simulate DSL, Microwave, Fibre, NLOS etc.

•  OpAmize price/performance – QoE •  Determine exact backhaul configuraAon

S1

S1-‐u

S5

HeNB-‐GW

MME Pool

SGW PGW

HSS DRA

PCRF

PDN -‐ www

S1-‐mme


Wi-‐Fi Controller

S2a

Impaired Link

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Summary

•  HetNets are crucial to meeAng the growing demand for wireless data services

•  HetNets require new technologies to handle vastly larger numbers of cells

•  ValidaAng new techniques and technologies is going to be challenging

•  Lab and field tesAng with purpose-‐built equipment will be an essenAal ingredient for success

•  Book: hetnet.ixiacom.com •  For more informaAon:

ixiacom.com/soluAons/hetnet-‐test

Thank you Q&A

Het nets up close - Webinar with ThinkSmallCell and IXIA

Technology

Transcript of Het nets up close - Webinar with ThinkSmallCell and IXIA