FEATURED: Korean Companies on MWC 2015
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KTSK Telecom
LG U+Samsung
HFRKMW
DasanContela
LTE-H
LTE-U
LTE-B
LTE-M
LTE-TDD
mmWave
IoT
7.55Gbps
TDD
Fronthaul
SDN/NFV
Netmanias.comTechnologies
Leaders
Macro
Hetnet
Femto
WiFi
Cryptography
Korea Communication ReviewQ2 2015
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.comTable of Contents | April 2015
Articles
04-05 | LTE/LTE-A commercialization by South Korea’s big 3 operators as of April 1, 2015
18-23 | Unified mobile fronthaul & backhaul solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul solution
24-26 | Why do we need antenna-integrated RRH?
56-57 | 6 things you should know about enterprise WLAN
Netmanias Interview with Korean Companies at MWC 2015
30-33 | KT's demonstrations of LTE-H and LTE-U
34-36 | KT's demonstrations of LTE-TDD (9-carrier CA, LTE-UL/DL CA and triple mode
femto)
38-42 | SK Telecom's demonstrations of Pre-5G/5G Technologies at MWC 2015 - fast data
platform: T-PANI and APOLLO
43-43 | SK Telecom showcased 5G quantum cryptography system
16-16 | SK Telecom’s weather information system caught the visitors' eye at MWC 2015
09-10 | Contela integrated small cell technology into in-building DAS
12-13 | HFR presented its newest in-building DAS, C-RAN fronthaul and carrier Ethernet
solutions at MWC 2015
16-16 | Juni-Korea, with Korea's innovative small cell technologies, knocking on the door
of the global market
17-17 | Kisan Telecom introduced Korea's advanced repeater technologies in the world
market
17-17 | Infomark, to expand into IoT market with the launch of a wearable device
Korea ICT News | 6-17
• CEOs of Korea's Big 3 took different stances on 5G. Why?
• KT CEO Hwang Chang-Gyu gave keynote speech for “The Road to 5G” session at the
MWC 2015
• SK Telecom developed 'P-LTE (Private-LTE)', a new intelligent network control
technology
• KT, with Samsung and Qualcomm, to reveal the world's first LTE-H at MWC
• DASAN Networks, introduces next-generation fiber network solutions in Europe
• Samsung's virtualized core solution chosen to support SK Telecom's nationwide IoT
network
• Samsung presented ‘C-RAN 2.0’ solution at MWC 2015
• SK Telecom and Nokia Networks announce world’s first commercialization of eICIC
• KT to build GiGA IoT-based traffic signal control communication service
• MODACOM announced the development of interworking technology between
oneM2M and AllJoyn platforms
• DAVOLINK introduces enterprise WLAN controller and 802.11ac AP at 2015 CeBIT in
Hanover
• Finedigital unveiled a radio signal monitoring technology
IoT services available from Korean operators
27-28 | B2C IoT services available from Korean operators
29-29 | B2B IoT services available from Korean operators
Korea ICT Statistics
44-46 | Broadband
47-49 | IPTV
50-55 | Mobile
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 4
• Launched 3-band LTE-A (300Mbps) (available for all subscribers)
• Launched LTE-A (150Mbps)
13
• VoLTE (World’s first)
• World’s first full HD streaming
• Launched Wideband LTE (150Mbps)
• Launched LTE (75Mbps) service
• LTE subscribers: 12.3 M (45.1%)
• LTE subscribers: 7.5 M (27.9%)
• LTE subscribers: 634 K (2.4%)
10MHz (850MHz) + 10MHz (1.8GHz)
10MHz (850MHz)
• Launched unlimited LTE data plan
• LTE subscribers: 13.5 M (49.3%)
• Expanded Wideband LTE to metropolitan cities
• MWC 2013 Demonstration - CA (10+10MHz, 150Mbps)
LTELTE-AWideband LTEWideband LTE-A
10MHz10+10MHz20MHz20+10MHz
Max 150MbpsMax 225Mbps
Tri-band LTE-ATri-band LTE-A
20+10+10MHz20+20+20MHz
Max 300MbpsMax 450Mbps
x2x3
x4x6
• Wideband LTE-A (20+10MHz, 225Mbps) demonstration
Commercialized (by all 3 in 2013)
Commercialized (by all 3 in June 2014)
Commercialized (by all 3 in January 2015)
To be commercialized (2015 later)
• LTE subscribers: 14.9 M (53.1%)
• LTE subscribers: 1.8 M (6.7%)
20MHz (1.8GHz)
• Launched LTE-A (150Mbps)
• Multi-Carrier (World’s first)
• World’s first 4 CH multi-view
• Launched Wideband LTE (150Mbps)
• LTE subscribers: 6.5 M (61.1%)
• LTE subscribers: 4.1 M (43.1%)
• LTE subscribers: 557 K (5.9%)
10MHz (850MHz)• Launched LTE (75Mbps) service
• VoLTE (World’s first)
• Launched unlimited LTE data plan
• LTE subscribers: 7.1 M (65.2%)
• Expanded Wideband LTE to metropolitan cities
• MWC 2014 Demonstration - 3-Band CA (20+20+20MHz, 450Mbps) - Uplink CoMP - LTE + Giga Wi-Fi Femtocell
• LTE subscribers: 7.5 M (68.6%)
• LTE subscribers: 1.8 M (15.5%)
10MHz (850MHz) + 10MHz (2.1GHz)
20MHz (2.6GHz)
• HD 4Mbps streaming
• Multi-Carrier
• Launched LTE-A (150Mbps)
• LTE subscribers: 6.8 M (41.8%)
• LTE subscribers: 3.9 M (23.6%)
• Launched LTE (75Mbps) service
• VoLTE
• Launched Wideband LTE (150Mbps)
• Launched eMBMS (World’s first)
• Launched unlimited LTE data plan
• LTE subscribers: 7.9 M (47.9%)
• Expanded Wideband LTE to metropolitan cities
• MWC 2014 Demonstration - 3-Band CA (20+20+20MHz, 450Mbps) - LTE-A CA Femtocell - FDD-TDD LTE CA - LTE-A + Giga Wi-Fi
• MWC 2013 Demonstration - eMBMS (KT+Samsung+Quacomm)
• LTE subscribers: 8.6 M (52.4%)
• LTE subscribers: 351 K (2.1%)
10MHz (1.8GHz) + 10MHz (900MHz)
20MHz (1.8GHz)
• Multi-Carrier (World’s first)
Wideband LTE Spectrum Auction
13
14
As of Apr. 1, 2015
Max 75MbpsMax 150Mbps
x1x2
Commercialized (by SKT/LG U+ in 2011 and by KT in 2012)
Commercialized (by all 3 in 2013)
• MWC 2014 Demonstration - 3-Band CA (20+20+20MHz, 450Mbps) - LTE-A CA Femtocell - FDD-TDD LTE CA
20MHz (1.8GHz) + 10MHz (850MHz) 20MHz (2.6GHz) + 10MHz (850MHz) 20MHz (1.8GHz) + 10MHz (900MHz)
12
11
12
11
14
15 15
20MHz (1.8GHz) + 10MHz (900MHz) + 10MHz (2.1GHz)
• Launched 3-band LTE-A (300Mbps) (available for all subscribers)
• Launched Wideband LTE-A (225Mbps)
• Launched Wideband LTE-A (225Mbps)
• Launched Wideband LTE-A (225Mbps)
20MHz (1.8GHz) + 10MHz (850MHz) + 10MHz (2.1GHz)
• Launched 3-band LTE-A (300Mbps) (available for 100 subscribers only)
1
1
1
2 2
2
3
1
1
1 1
1
20MHz (2.6GHz) + 10MHz (850MHz) + 10MHz (2.1GHz)
• Launched 3-band LTE-A (300Mbps) (available for all subscribers)
1 World’s first
2 World’s second
• Launched eICIC
10MHz (1.8GHz)
• MWC 2015 Demonstration - DL CoMP (Dynamic Point Selection) - DL 256QAM (400Mbps)
• MWC 2015 Demonstration - mmWave System (28GHz, 7.5Gbps) - NFV/SDN Orchestration - Fast Data Flatform - Quantum Cryptography System
• MWC 2015 Demonstration - mmWave System (28GHz, 7.5Gbps) - LTE-HetNet (LTE+WiFi, 600Mbps) - LTE-Unlicensed (450Mbps) - Triple Mode Femto
11 21
LG U+ KTSK Telecom
World’s third3
LTE/LTE-A commercialization by South Korea’s big 3 operators as of April 1, 2015
2
1
3
7
8
10
12
7
12
6
8
11
12
7
9
1
3
4
2
6
12
3
1 1
11
12
1
2
6
8
7
9
2
1
3
7
8
10
12
7
12
3
4
6
12
3
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
850 MHz
900 MHz
1800 MHz
2600 MHz
Band 5
Band 8
Band 3
Band 7
1745 1755
KT
1725 17351715
SKT KT
2520 2530 2540
LG U+
MHz
SKT
905 915
KT
839 849
LG U+
829
SKT
NationNation
Major
884 894
Nationwide
Nation
Downlink
ㆍ The Big 3 launched ‘Wideband LTE-A’ service using 2-band CA in June 2014, offering max. 225 Mbps (20 + 10 MHz)
ㆍ The Big 3 launched ‘Tri-band LTE-A’ service using 3-band CA in January 2015, offering max. 300 Mbps (20 + 10 + 10 MHz)
UE
LTE Frequency Commercialization Status (as of April 1, 2015)
Carrier Aggregation (CA)
Uplink
225 Mbps
225 Mbps
Metro: Metropolitan areasMajor: Major citiesNation: Nationwide
n Carrier aggregation services in Korea (April 1, 2015)
MajorMajor
2-band
3-band
30 (20 + 10) MHz
40 (20 + 10 + 10) MHz
2014. 06
2015. 01
2-band
3-band
30 (20 + 10) MHz
40 (20 + 10 + 10) MHz
2014. 06
2015. 01
2-band
3-band
30 (20 + 10) MHz
40 (20 + 10 + 10) MHz
2014. 06
2015. 01
1.8 GHz (B3) + 850 MHz (B5)
1.8 GHz (B3) + 850 MHz (B5) + 2.1 GHz (B1)
2.6 GHz (B7) + 850 MHz (B5)
2.6 GHz (B7) + 850 MHz (B5) + 2.1 GHz (B1)
1.8 GHz (B3) + 900 MHz (B8)
1.8 GHz (B3) + 900 MHz (B8) + 2.1 GHz (B1)
225 Mbps
300 Mbps
225 Mbps
300 Mbps
225 Mbps
300 Mbps
Operator # of band Bandwidth (DL) LaunchedCarriers Max. rate (DL)
Category 3
Category 4
100 Mbps (Wideband LTE, 20 MHz)
150 Mbps (Wideband LTE, 20 MHz)
150 Mbps (LTE-A, 2-band CA, 10+10 MHz)
SKT
225 Mbps (Wideband LTE-A, 2-band CA, 20+10 MHz) Category 6
LG U+
KT
30 MHz: [B3]20 + [B5]10
30 MHz: [B5]10 + [B7]20
30 MHz: [B3]20 + [B8]10
225 Mbps2-bandCategory 6
LG U+ 20 MHz: [B1]10 + [B5]10 150 Mbps2-bandCategory 4
SKT
LG U+
KT
40 MHz: [B1]10 + [B3]20 + [B5]10
40 MHz: [B1]10 + [B5]10 + [B7]20
40 MHz: [B1]10 + [B3]20 + [B8]10
300
Mbps3-bandCategory 9
UE Category Max. Speed Operator UE Category CA Type BW: CA Combination Max. Speed
Major
SK Telecom
300 Mbps (Tri-band LTE-A, 3-band CA, 20+10+10 MHz) Category 9
300 Mbps
1930
SKT
1940
2100 MHzBand 1
1920
LG U+ KT
1960 1970
LG U+
KT
150 Mbps
MHz
MHz1840
950
1810
225 Mbps
150 Mbps
MHz2640 2650 2660
LG U+
Nationwide
KT
Major
2150 2160
300 Mbps
225 Mbps
225 Mbps
225 Mbps
150 Mbps
1830
960
1850
874
1820
SKT LG U+
Nation
2110 2120 2130
SKT
MajorMajor
LG U+
Nationwide
KTSKT
Nationwide
KT
Major
300 Mbps
Nation Nation
B1-B3-B8
B1-B5-B7
B1-B3-B5
B3-B8
B5-B7
B3-B5
B1-B5
5
LTE/LTE-A commercialization by South Korea’s big 3 operators as of April 1, 2015
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 6
CEOs of Korea's big 3
took different stances on
5G. Why? 03/ 05 | By Yun Sang-ho ([email protected])
SK Telecom and LG U+ to create more
customer value, and KT to lead
technology innovation through
standardization
5G era is arriving soon, probably by 2020
as planned, and is promising 100 times
faster speeds than current LTE.
Then, what benefits can customers get
from it? What values can it bring to
customers, and how?
CEOs of Korea's big 3 operators, SK
Telecom, KT and LG U+, shared
differing stances on 5G at press
conferences held in Barcelona, Spain on
March 2nd and 3rd.
SK Telecom and LG U+ placed more
weight on the future while KT did on the
present. SK Telecom and LG U+ seemed
to put 'customers' first while KT did
'technology' first.
SK Telecom CEO Dong-hyun Jang
noted, "The industry are talking more
about what technology evolution 5G can
achieve than about what 5G can bring to
customers." He added, "When there is a
new network evolving, we have to think
of what to do with it from the initial stage
of the network's evolution, to develop
service that can create customer value.
This is what I learned when LTE was
arriving."
The CEO of KT, Chang-gyu Hwang,
said, "5G is apparently a challenging
technology for platform manufacturers
as well as operators." He also pointed
out, "That's why we proposed
standardization of the Internet of Things
(IoT)."
CEO Sang-chul Lee at LG U+
emphasized, "With IoT just emerging in
5G, anyone who can offer better-
customized customer value will become
the winner in the market."
The different stances by the CEOs
seemed to result from different
situations they are in as a CEO.
Obviously, they all have different time
and paths behind and ahead.
SK Telecom's Dong-hyun Jang took
office in last December and had
previously worked as the COO of SK
Planet until then. So, with the
experience that he have had in both
communication and platform fields, he
is laying out a plan to produce profit.
is laying out a plan to produce profit.
KT's Chang-gyu Hwang is in his
second year as CEO, with only one year
to go. It is easier and faster to get the
result through standardization than
through building a new profit model.
CEO Sang-chul Lee at LG U+ was re-
elected last year. His leadership in LTE
business was recognized, but now he is
under pressure to come up with a new
profit model such as IoT soon.
There is no standards defined for 5G
yet. All three CEOs promised to make
efforts for successful implementation of
5G, and claimed to have the best
technology. Standardization of speeds
and frequencies is not likely to be
finalized until 2018. n
CEO of SK Telecom
Dong-hyun JangCEO of KT
Chang-gyu HwangCEO of LG U+
Sang-chul Lee
KT's demonstrations of
LTE-H and LTE-U 03/ 30 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress
(MWC) 2015, KT demonstrated a variety
of new 5G, Hetnet and IoT technologies
and services (see table 1). Of all those
presented, we will focus on our most
interested topics, WiFi-related pre-5G
technology, LTE-Hetnet (LTE-H) and LTE-
Unlicensed (LTE-U), and see how they
were demonstrated.
Read the full article (page 30-33). n
KT's demonstrations of
LTE-TDD: 9-carrier CA,
LTE-UL/DL CA and triple
mode femto 03/ 30 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
KT, in cooperation with Samsung,
implemented LTE-B that aggregates 9
LTE-TDD carriers, achieving 1Gbps (≈
9x110Mbps) at the event. 3GPP has
defined in Rel. 10 that up to 5 carriers
across up to 5 bands can be aggregated,
and now it is working on CA
enhancements to expand LTE CA up to
32 carriers in Rel. 13
32 carriers in Rel. 13 that is currently
under review.
Earlier in January, KT commercialized
3-band CA that combines 3 LTE-FDD
bands (Band 1, 3 and 8), supporting up to
300Mbps. Now, with this demonstration,
the company proved itself capable of
supporting 1Gbps through TDD CA (as
claimed through its marketing brand
GiGA).
This time, multiple (9) carriers within
one TDD band were aggregated (intra-
band CA).
Read the full article (page 34-36). n
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 7
KT CEO Hwang Chang-Gyu gave keynote speech
for “The Road to 5G” session at the MWC 201503/04|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Through his keynote speech on 5G
network services, KT CEO Hwang
Chang-Gyu showed a wonderful glimpse
of the future at the MWC 2015, held in
Barcelona, Spain.
As the primary speaker for “The Road
to 5G” session, CEO Hwang stated, “In
the era of the Internet of Things (IoT),
where all devices are connected through
a network, an ultra large 5G network
with real-time hyper speed is a must.” He
went on to state, “The upcoming era of
IoT that is 5G can be realized sooner
with cooperation from global operators.”
CEO Hwang’s keynote speech during
the 5G session at the MWC 2015, the
industry’s largest annual gathering, can
be viewed
be viewed as confirmation that KT’s
technological skill is being recognized
on a global level.
In CEO Hwang’s keynote speech titled,
“5G and Beyond, Accelerating the
Future,” CEO Hwang presented a video
of a self-driving car that aroused
excitement from the participants. In the
video, the year is 2020 and CEO Hwang
gets into his self-driving vehicle and
speaks the words, “Office,” upon which
afterwards, the self-driving vehicle
calculates the most optimal route using
a 5G network and begins to move.
While the vehicle is driving itself, CEO
Hwang has a video conference meeting
with executives in the United States,
China and Spain. During the video
conference meeting, all documents and
verbal communication is interpreted and
translated in real-time. The video ends
with CEO Hwang watching his
granddaughter’s hologram play the
violin.
China and Spain. During the video
conference meeting, all documents and
verbal communication is interpreted and
translated in real-time. The video ends
with CEO Hwang watching his
granddaughter’s hologram play the
violin. When the video concludes, CEO
Hwang states that in the future, we will
no longer need a driver’s license and our
vehicle will turn into our office.
CEO Hwang went on to explain that
one self-driving vehicle will need the
capability to process 1 GB of
information per second. He continued
by stating that billions of self-driving
vehicles operating simultaneously while
sending and receiving information is
simply impossible with the current LTE
network. Additionally, he stated that a
new 5G network will be needed to
handle the massive data traffic that will
be a reality in the future. n
SK Telecom completed
construction of 26,000 3-
band LTE-A base stations 03/ 31 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
SK Telecom on March 31 announced that
it has completed construction of 26,000
2.1GHz base stations across the nation for
3-band LTE-A service provision.
Now SK Telecom users can enjoy 3-band
LTE-A service in 85 major cities of Korea,
including Seoul and 6 metropolitan cities.
The company plans to build additional
5,000 base stations by August to make
sure it has the nation's largest 3-band LTE-
A coverage, providing a wider service area
for users.
for users.
SK Telecom has also upgraded its
repeaters deployed across the nation to
ones capable of supporting 3-band LTE-A,
to offer the 4-times faster 3-band LTE-A
service nationwide, even in areas with
poor reception like inside buildings or
underground.
The company noted that, in building the
3-band LTE-A base stations, it used ‘T-
PANI’ and ‘APOLLO’, which were
presented as big data-based intelligent
operation platforms at Mobile World
Congress 2015 held at Barcelona, Spain in
early March.
Using the two solutions, the company:
(1) determined the best locations to build
2.1G base stations, and
2.1G base stations, and
(2) will be providing the best network
service not only to users subscribing to 3-
band LTE-A service, but also those
subscribing to conventional LTE services
like wideband LTE-A service, by analyzing
and automatically optimizing the network
conditions in real time. n
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 8
SK Telecom developed 'P-LTE (Private-LTE)',
a new intelligent network control technology02/04/2015|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
SK Telecom announced on the 4th that it
has developed a new base station-based
intelligent mobile network control
technology called 'P-LTE (Private-LTE)'.
The new technology is known to be
capable of separating private networks
from public LTE networks.
The key element of P-LTE is that it can
separate private mobile networks from
public LTE networks by using an
intelligent network control. Previously, a
company who wants to build its own
private mobile network for intranet, etc.
had to have dedicated network
equipment and frequency, and also had
to invest tremendous amount of time and
money. SK Telecom claimed that P-LTE
can easily solve this problem.
The greatest strength of P-LTE is the
fact that its users can utilize their internal
data in a private enterprise network while
still using public LTE networks (RU, DU)
as well.
With P-LTE, an enterprise, hospital,
stadium, public institution, etc. can
transmit their internal data to their
enterprise servers directly through base
stations,
stations, without having to send them
through the Internet (see the illustration
above).
This new scheme will:
- allow traffic and service to be managed
in a way that only authorized users
within the private network can have
access to them
- prevent external users from accessing
the network
- help its users to manage their work
efficiently through intranet operation
within the private network, or by
offering services like smart office,
virtual meetings, etc.
SK Telecom expects that, once
commercialized, P-LTE will serve as a
foundation for mobile smart work
environments soon to be built by many
institutions or enterprises.
In addition, separated from public LTE
network and public Internet, the private
LTE network can support real-time data
processing with lower latency by having
data sent by its authorized user
transmitted through the shortest path
possible.
What is even better is that, not only the
private network users but also public
LTE network users can benefit from this
low latency. Because data sent by the
private network users do not travel
through the packet core equipment of
the public LTE network, data congestion
in the packet core equipment can be
alleviated.
With introduction of P-LTE, the
company hopes to begin and lead the
network innovation at a global level.
Also, ETSI has recently initiated the
standardization procedure of Mobile
Edge Computing (MEC), a technology
that processes cloud and various
intelligent services, reflecting an
increasing interest in intelligent service
across the world. Given that, SK
Telecom, now with P-LTE, should be
able to position itself as a global leader
in the intelligent service field.
Mr. Jin-hyo Park, the Head of Network
Technology R&D Center at SK Telecom,
said "With the successful development
of P-LTE, we are ready to offer services
for private networks through the
intelligent base stations in our recently-
built LTE high-speed network. We will
continue to make every effort to develop
more innovative intelligent network-
based technologies." n
Enterprise Servers
Enterprise User
Non-Enterprise User
Internet
Access to public network (Internet)
Access to enterprise private network
RUDUPrivate-LTE Server
Enterprise
Access to enterprise private network
P-LTE SystemPacket Core (S/P-GW)
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 9
Home/Enterprise small cell units are
designed to provide high-speed LTE
data service indoors - at home,
enterprise, etc. Though not
presented at MWC, the company's
outdoor small cell solutions are
useful for enhancing the coverage
capacity of the conventional macro
cells or improving small hotspot
coverage. Demand for this solution
is expected to grow.
Contela integrated small
cell technology into in-
building DAS03/04|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Contela, a leading small cell solution
provider based in Korea, introduced its
new small cell solutions at MWC 2015.
The company has provided SK
Telecom, a Korean network operator,
with LTE Femtocell solutions through
years of cooperation with SK Telecom.
At MWC, Contela presented three
wireless access units to be embedded in
LTE small cell solutions: Indoor Home/
Enterprise small cell AP, Outdoor small
cell AP, and small cell In-building
Solution (SIS). Especially, SIS drew
attention from lots of MWC attendants.
"SIS" is designed to cover wide areas
like in-building areas by combining
conventional small cell APs and DAS.
Mr. Hong Kweon Kim, Team Manager
of System 2 Team at Contela, explained,
"SIS is an upgraded small cell unit that
has a combined form of a small cell AP
and a DAS repeater system. There are 3
major components of SIS: (1) DU
connected to Backhaul network, (2) RUs
(with built-in antennas) installed within
in-building coverage areas, and (3) OEU
that relays signals between DU and RUs.
These components are interconnected
through an in-building DAS infra, just
like neurons in our body are
interconnected through a neural
network.
He also highlighted that, "Because SIS
enables a DU to distribute small cell
radio signals to RUs installed within in-
building coverage areas without
degradation, it ensures stable small cell
radio coverage even in the in-building
areas that are actually located far away
from the DU. Plus, because DU and RUs
as well as OEU and RUs can be
connected using UTP cables that have
been commonly used in LAN networks,
now building an in-building wireless
network can be more efficient and less
expensive than building one using
conventional RF cables."
In addition to SIS, Contela's Home/
Enterprise small cell units - not the
latest, but still powerful solution - also
attracted lots of attendants at MWC.
KT, with Samsung and Qualcomm, to reveal the
world's first LTE-H at MWC03/02/2015|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
KT, in collaboration with Samsung and Qualcomm, demonstrated the world's first
'LTE-WiFi Link Aggregation' (AKA 'LTE-H (HetNet)') that combines two
heterogeneous networks - LTE and WiFi - at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015
held in Barcelona. LTE-H does not merely combine frequency bands like the current
LTE-A Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology, but also combines links in different
radio access networks (Link Aggregation). It will serve as the core technology for
merging 4G and 5G as the evolution to 5G continues.
Because the new technology uses both LTE and WiFi networks at the same time, it
supports up to 600 Mbps - combination of 150Mbps of broadband LTE and 450
Mbps of GiGA WiFi speed.
Unlike the conventional software-based LTE-WiFi combination transmissions, LTE-
H enables LTE base stations to directly control Wi-Fi access for the first time in the
world. So, it is more transmission-efficient and easier to use.
Especially, base stations detect signal strength between user devices and WiFi AP,
and automatically control on/off function to allow/deny access to Wi-Fi. So, users
can enjoy uninterrupted and seamless service even when they are moving, which
has been an issue in WiFi.
By taking advantage of its extensive WiFi networks, KT plans to pilot the new
LTE-H network providing giga-class speeds at hotspots across South Korea in the
first half of 2016. n
CPRI
Ethernet450Mbps
150Mbps
600Mbps
Samsung
Samsung
Samsung
Qulacomm
Source: KT
Contela’s Small Cell In-building (SIS) Solution
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 10
He also said, "Because small cell
equipment interworks with the LTE core
network through public Internet, network
security between the two is one of the
most important requirements. For
enhanced security, dedicated security
equipment like SeGW (Security Gateway:
IPsec) is embedded in the solution."
Ms. Eun Hwan Lim, deputy general
manager at global business team of the
company, noted, "The technical
excellence and reliability of our small cell
solutions have been highly recognized.
In fact, we have been supplying our
FD-LTE-enabled solutions to SK
Telecom, and also plan to develop TD-
LTE-enabled solutions to supply to
KDDI in Japan." n
DASAN Networks,
introduces next-
generation fiber network
solutions in Europe02/11 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
DASAN Networks, a global network
solution provider in Korea, is pushing its
FTTx business forward to Europe and
the Middle East.
DASAN Networks participated at
‘FTTH Conference 2015’ in Warsaw,
Poland on the 11th and 12th of Feb to
introduce its next-generation fiber
network solutions, with its European
partner, FIBRAIN, one of the European
leaders in distribution and production of
the components used to build fiber optic
networks and structural cabling systems.
The main solutions include NG-PON
which provide up to 40Gbps download
speeds, 10G-EPON for 10Gbps speed on
fiber infrastructure, and G.Fast solutions
that enables up to 1Gbps Internet speed
on the existing phone line (copper).
Particularly, the G.Fast solution allows service providers to deliver higher bandwidth
services in areas with old buildings that only have telephone lines and also the legacy
areas where, due to preservation, it is difficult to go through major construction (e.g.
historical sites).
According to Alfred Song, an executive director of DASAN Networks Global Business
Division, at the Conference “The market is heading toward a more cost efficient solution
utilizing the existing infrastructure as a way of expanding bandwidth for today’s data
traffic growth. Introducing DASAN Networks next-generation fiber solutions in the
Conference, we consolidated our plans to expand new businesses in the European and
Middle Eastern markets.”DASAN Networks has recently been selected to supply network
solutions for Vietnam and Taiwan’s network constructions. Such global expansion was
possible due to DASAN Networks’ active R&D investment, which again allowed DASAN
Networks to provide products to 60 companies at 25 different countries around the
world. DASAN Networks currently operates R&D centers in India, Vietnam and China,
and also has Sales Offices located in the US, Japan, Taiwan, Vietnam and India. n
Samsung's virtualized core solution chosen to
support SK Telecom's nationwide IoT network02/05/2015|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Samsung Electronics today announced that it has been selected as the sole vendor
for SK Telecom’s nationwide Network Function Virtualization (NFV) deployment. As
part of the agreement, Samsung will provide its AdaptiV Core solution for the
operator’s dedicated mobile IoT (Internet of Things) network.
“We are delighted to collaborate with Samsung on our NFV solution for SK
Telecom’s IoT services,” said Jong-bong Lee, Executive Vice President and Head of
Network Division at SK Telecom. “SK Telecom is preparing for the IoT era through
active business collaboration. Through the application of virtualized network
technologies, we are confident that we can deliver a truly consistent and innovative
network as well as superior service quality.”
The IoT network, driven by Samsung’s AdaptiV Core, is scheduled to go live in the
first half of 2015, and will see initial applications targeting package delivery tracking,
CCTV monitoring and city-wide sensor monitoring.
“We are honored that SK Telecom has selected Samsung as the sole vendor to
support SK Telecom’s sophisticated mobile network,” said Youngky Kim, president
and head of networks business at samsung electronics. He added “NFV is one of the
core technologies of next-generation mobile networks and will play a critical role in
helping telecom operators in terms of network deployment, management and
operation as well as service efficiency and rapid scalability.” n
.
Contela’s Small Cell Portfolio
Source: Samsung
The AdaptiV EPC pulls together software-based virtualized network functions (VNFs) running on a KVM hypervisor, and can use standard Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) general-purpose hardware, or specialized purpose built Samsung servers, depending on the operator's specific requirements.
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 11
Samsung presented
‘C-RAN 2.0’ solution
at MWC 2015 03/ 05 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Samsung, a leading provider of mobile
broadband networking solutions, showed
its C-RAN 2.0 solution – an enhanced
Centralized RAN (C-RAN) platform
designed for radio performance
enhancement as well as additional cost
savings for operators – at MWC 2015.
C-RAN 2.0 builds upon Samsung's
successful C-RAN solution which
relocates baseband units (BBUs) – the
equipment used to process transmission
signals – from each base station to one
or more centralized locations. Major two
new innovations of C-RAN2.0 are
baseband capacity pooling and baseband
clustering.
Baseband pooling represents a new
line of defense against data spikes that
are often the result of large gatherings,
such as concerts, festivals or sporting
events. It works by allowing the network
to efficiently aggregate its baseband
resources across a large cluster of cells
and introducing dynamic capacity
management.
This is made possible by Samsung's
newly developed C-RAN switch, which
enables dynamic routing of traffic
between cell sites (remote radio units)
and the centralized BBUs. The C-RAN
switch also provides significant
switch also provides significant energy
savings by de-activating BBUs during
times of low network load. As a result, it
brings critical value to operators in
terms of network reactivity, flexibility
and scalability.
The second new innovation, baseband
clustering, enables very fast and efficient
coordination between BBUs, improving
cell edge performance and facilitating
the introduction of advanced scheduling
features, such as coordinated multi-
point (CoMP) and inter-site carrier
aggregation.
In a typical network with carrier
aggregation, a user device can connect
to multiple frequencies, or carriers, but
only from a single cell site. In many
situations, however, the coverage
patterns and signal propagation of these
frequencies may be different, potentially
leading to sub-par performance.
C-RAN 2.0's baseband clustering
enables Samsung's Best Cell
Aggregation feature, which allows a user
device to select the best signals
available, even across multiple cell sites.
For users, this results in a more
consistent mobile experience as they
move through the network.
"Samsung's C-RAN 2.0 is well-suited for
city deployments where there are
constraints in site procurement despite
continuing demand for improved
network coverage and performance,”
Joonho Park, Senior Vice President and
head of Global Sales & Marketing,
Networks Business. "In these situations,
densification is a high priority, and C-
RAN is optimally designed to enable
rapid deployment with a significantly
smaller footprint that a traditional
distributed base station. C-RAN2.0 adds
another level to this by introducing
significant and competitive capability
enhancements to the C-RAN
architecture.” n
l C-RAN Switch l RU (RRH)l Smart Schedulerl DU (BBU) Pooll Inter-DU Switch
C-RAN Switch
RRH (Cell Site)
Inter-DU Switch
DU Pool
http://www.samsung.com/global/business/networks
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 12
HFR presented its
newest in-building DAS,
C-RAN fronthaul and
carrier Ethernet
solutions at MWC 201503/12 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
HFR, a Korean specialist in optical and
radio Networking technologies,
presented its newest in-building DAS, C-
RAN fronthaul and carrier Ethernet
solutions at Mobile World Conference
(MWC) 2015.
In-building DAS
HFR unveiled uRadioTM (DRS product),
an upgraded version of its precedent In-
building DAS at MWC, generating a lot
of interests among network operators
who attended the event.
In-building DAS is a system designed to
evenly distribute and deliver radio
signals from base stations to shadowed
areas in large complexes like tall
buildings, shopping malls, subway, etc.
In a conventional in-building DAS
system, units are connected in order of
and eNB (or RRH), MU, HU, antenna
and UE. eNB (or RRH) and MU can be
located in an MDF room in buildings.
HUs are usually mounted onto the walls
on every or every few floors of a building
while antennas are mounted onto the
ceilings of rooms, conference rooms
inside a building (see the figure above).
For connection between eNB/RRH and
MU, and between MU and HU, fiber
cables are used while RF coaxial cables
are used for connection between HU and
antenna.
In a conventional DAS system, radio
signals from eNB (or RRH) are delivered
through fiber and RF coaxial cables to
the antenna in a building near UE, but
are radiated over the air from the
antenna to UE. That is, instead of going a
very long way directly from eNB (or
RRH) to UE, signals travel securely
through wired cables up to the antenna -
the last point possible on wire, and the
closest point to UE - but over the air
from the antenna to UE. This minimizes
the over-the-air travel distance of the
signals, consequently resulting
signals, consequently resulting in better
signal quality. And this way, the entire
building can work as a cell itself, offering
excellent signal quality (like there is no
wall or ceiling that blocks signals).
Unfortunately, however, there is a
critical issue with this system. It costs
too much and takes too long to install,
build and maintain indoor cablings,
wireless infra (especially antennas), etc.
To compensate for these issues, HFR
introduced uRadioTM.
HFR's Sales VP Peter Cho explained,
"New Remote Antenna Units
(RAUs) that replace the existing
antennas in DAS system come with
built-in antennas and useful
features that support radio network
optimization-related functions (e.g.
remote signal measurement and
control function). And this
eliminates the need to work
manually and individually when
building and maintaining an in-
building wireless infra, drastically
reducing costs and time required."
He also added, "Other benefits of
uRadio would be that, because it uses
UTP-type data cables which are
relatively cheaper than conventional RF
coaxial cables, cabling costs can be
reduced. Plus, because the new solution
alone can accommodate not only LTE
but also the existent WCDMA, it can
further lower costs of building and
maintaining a wireless infra."
The uRadio solution has been run in
some network sites of a Korean
operator, SK Telecom, since its adoption
in 2014. The company is currently
working hard on global marketing,
targeting markets in the US and Europe.
Fronthaul
In C-RAN (Centralized and Cloud RAN),
BBUs and RRHs, located in different
places separated from each other, are
connected using fiber-based "Fronthaul"
network such as "Dark Fiber". But, the
problem with the dark fiber is that it
would only work for those who already
have plenty of fiber cables, and others
including most operators would need a
higher CAPEX/OPEX for leasing them.
HFR's Fronthaul WDM solution
(flexHaulTM) is capable of aggregating
(fronthauling) CPRI traffic from LTE
BBUs and RRHs, and aggregating
(backhauling) GPON/GE backhaul
traffic from legacy base station, compact
base station (pico), and Wi-Fi traffic APs
to a single aggregation network.
HFR’s uRadioTM In-Building DAS Solution
HFR’s uRadioTM Solution (DRS product)
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 13
In addition, the solution helps operators
to build a more-efficient and flexible
mobile network, and also to keep their
CAPEX and OPEX low.
When asked to name actual cases of
deploying their solutions, Mr. Cho
answered, "We have been supplying
Fronthaul solutions to SK Telecom For
large deployment, and also to Chunghwa
Telecom (CHT), a Taiwanese operator,
who is expected to have growing
demand for large-scale commercial
network soon. Especially, CHT
recognized the technological excellence
and high reliability of our solutions, and
so we were selected as its sole vendor.
Currently, we are aggressively carrying
out overseas sales activities in Europe,
the Americas, Asia, and so on."
Carrier Ethernet
HFR presented its carrier Ethernet
switch, HA-800 series at MWC. HFR has
achieved certification of CE 2.0
compliance of its HA-800 series (Carrier
Ethernet switch). This switch is a small
form factor that supports 10Gbps
Ethernet speeds, and also gives the high
scalability to allow
scalability to allow users to
economically respond to the soaring
data traffic of these days. Last year,
Telecom Malaysia selected HFR as a
supplier of Carrier Ethernet solution for
its mobile backhaul network.
The follow-up interview after MWC Can you tell us about the coverage range
of DRS solution? How many RAUs can be connected to a single MU?DRS has a multi-level structure (MU-HU-
RAU). Each MU can have 16 HUs under it, and each HU can have 16 RAUs under it.
So, if you do the math, there are 256 RAUs under each MU.
How is the new DRS solution different from the conventional DAS system? And
what are the greatest benefit that it can give?
Unlike the conventional DAS, the DRS solution uses UTP cables to connect to
RAU, a radio antenna unit. So, it gives you an advantage of less
costs of materials and cabling installation. The actual costs of installation vary
depending on countries and regions, but in general installing the DRS solution in a
new building will cost only about 30% of the costs of installing the conventional
DAS solution.Tell us more about RAU.
Sure. RAU is a all-in-one device that works as a wireless transmission and control
module AND an antenna. Especially, the built-in control module allows MU to
remotely monitor the wireless link status, making it easy to efficiently manage in-
building wireless networks. In addition to that, thanks to POE technology, RAU does not require separate power supply, which can be convenient for installation and
operation. n
SK Telecom and Nokia
Networks announce
world’s first
commercialization of
eICIC01/28|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
SK Telecom announced that it, together
with Nokia Networks, commercialized a
core LTE-A technology called
‘Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference
Coordination (eICIC)’ for the first time
in the world.
eICIC is a technology that controls
signal interference between macro and
micro base stations to enhance the
quality of the LTE-A network. With the
deployment of eICIC, SK Telecom
expects to provide its customers with
enhanced experience by reducing inter-
cell interference by 15% in traffic
congested areas where macro and micro
cells are concentrated.
SK Telecom has applied eICIC to its
LTE-A network located in Gwangju
Metropolitan City and plans to apply the
technology to the rest of its nationwide
LTE-A network by the first half of 2016.
The two companies said that, with the
commercialization of eICIC, they have
also moved a step closer to realizing the
next generation network (5G) as eICIC
will be an essential technology in the era
of 5G where heterogeneous networks
will become more complex.
“Together with SK Telecom, we have
achieved an important milestone in
advancing the mobile network through
the development of eICIC. By using
eICIC, SK Telecom’s customers can
utilize their existing LTE devices with no
need to buy new smartphones” said
Tero Peltola, Vice President of FDD
LTE, Nokia Networks.
“SK Telecom’s partnership with Nokia
has led to the achievement of the
world’s first commercialization of eICIC,
a powerful technology that will further
improve our customer experience,” said
Park Jin-hyo, Senior Vice President and
Head of Network Technology R&D
Center at SK Telecom. n
HFR’s CE Solution (HA-800 Series)
HFR’s flexiHaulTM Mobile Fronthaul Solution
Small RRH
Small BSwith Wi-Fi
CPRI
GPON/GE
GE
Macro LTE RRH
BBU Pool
8300
Ethernet Backhaul
CPRI Fronthaul
CPRI
GE
SAE-GW
Macro Cell SiteSmall Cell
8500
8100
8300
Central Office
SAE-GW
EPC Site
IP/MPLS
Baseband I/Q stream
Ethernet frame
HSN 8300
HSN 8500flexHaulTM Solution
HSN 8100
ls : CPRI trafficls : Ethernet traffic
GE
HSN 8300
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 14
KT to build GiGA IoT-based traffic signal control communication service03/16/2015|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
KT announced on March 16th that it will be building a
GiGA IoT-based traffic signal control system that can
control and monitor traffic signals remotely.
The new system, the first of this kind in Korea, will be
able to monitor the status of traffic signal controllers
every second through KT's LTE network.
Installing 100 new conventional traffic lights required
2~3 months of excavation and cabling construction
because traffic lights were connected, through a wired
network, to traffic signal control centers.
However, the new system requires no construction. All
it takes to remotely control traffic signals in real time is
simple installation of a dedicated communication
modem.
This not only can save installation and operation costs,
but also can minimize the failure duration when traffic
lights are not working, effectively preventing congestion
in advance. Also, it does not cause any damage to streets
or sidewalks, nor discomfort to pedestrians because
again it requires no excavation or cabling construction at
all. Also as a preventative measure against illegal
hacking, KT already enhanced its security by integrating
a security solution called Secure Sockets Layer Virtual
Private Network (SSL VPN), capable of encrypting
communication data, into the traffic signal control
system. n
Standard Traffic Signal Controller
KT LTE/WCDMA dual modem(IoT node)Traffic status data updated every second
GiGA FTTH
GiGA UTP
GiGA Wire
GiGA WiFi
Wired Access
GiGA Infrastructure
Key Requirements
Future Convergence Services
GiGA Platform
Life-EnhancingCare (Remote Healthcare)
Capacity
Next Generation Media (UHD, 3D
Hologram)
Capacity
Networked Transportation
(ITS, Smart Car)
Connectivity
Integrated Safety (Disaster, Public
Safety)
Connectivity
Smart Energy (Smart Grid, Building Energy
Mgt.)
Connectivity
EPON/10G-EPON
New Media IoT
Telco Cloud Big Data Analysis
Backbone(IP/MPLS)
Mobile Access
GiGA Path
GiGA LTE-A GiGA Wireless(5G)
Multi-band CA
LTE-WiFi CA
Wi-Fi AP
n New Spectrum (mmWave)n New RATn Massive MIMO
n Dense Hetnet
Control Data
n IoT
n D2D
1Gbps500M
1Gbps500M500M 300M 450M (≥2015)
300M (2015)225M
600M (2015)450M (2015)
dozens of Gbps (2020~)
Blue: Commercialized in 2014Red: Planned
KT's GiGAtopia(See “Korea big 3, getting
ready for 5G”, KCR Jan. 2015)
LTE WCDMA(Backup)
KT VPN Server
Sites(Local government)
KT Mobile NetworkIf LTE network fails,
WCDMA can back up.
Traffic Signal Control Center(Local government)
KT VPN Server
Traffic Signal Control Server
Traffic information center monitor room
KT
GiG
AIo
T Se
rvic
e
Source: KT
Traffic Lights
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 15
MODACOM announced
the development of
interworking technology
between oneM2M and
AllJoyn platforms 03/ 05 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
MODACOM announced the world’s first
development of interworking technology
between oneM2M and AllJoyn IoT
platforms and introduced it in Mobile
World Congress(MWC) 2015 held in
Barcelona, Spain during 2-5 March 2015.
The AllSeen Alliance made a significant
impact at Mobile World Congress 2015
which culminated in the all-day Partner
Programme track on Wednesday, March
4th to demonstrate Alliance thought
leadership at the intersection of mobile
communications and the Internet of
Things.
Sixteen member companies participated
in thought leadership sessions throughout
the day. Over 350 people attended the
Partner Programme which was standing
room throughout much of the day.
Dr. Yongjin KIM, CTO and EVP of
MODACOM, chaired a technical session
entitled “Standards and Interoperability:
Creating a whole that is bigger than the
sum of the parts” at the AllSeen Partner
Programme track. At the session he also
introduced the interworking technology
between AllJoyn and oneM2M platform
and showed how to amplify the synergy
effects by combining the two technologies
in IoT industry.
AllJoyn platform has been becoming
popular in IoT market but its
communication area is limited in proximal
connectivity environment. By the way,
oneM2M platform as an international
global standard IoT platform, has remote
monitoring, management and control
functionalities. However, oneM2M devices
are not shown in the market yet because
oneM2M specifications were published
recently.
The interworking technology developed
by MODACOM makes it possible for
AllJoyn enabled IoT devices to be
managed and controlled remotely by using
oneM2M platform technology.
MODACOM has been a member of
oneM2M and ETSI since 2011 for leading
the international standardization activities
the international standardization activities
on M2M and IoT. In particular,
MODACOM has introduced the
interworking technique between AllJoyn
and oneM2M at the 15th oneM2M
technical plenary meeting held in Miami,
USA on January 2015 and was welcomed.
MODACOM has a plan to produce IoT
gateway devices with the AllJoyn and
oneM2M interworking technology in the
market this year. n
DAVOLINK introduces
enterprise WLAN
controller and 802.11ac
AP at 2015 CeBIT in
Hanover03/27 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Davolink has introduced the its smart
802.11ac-based WLAN Controller and
Access Point at the 2015 CeBIT under the
brand name of SmartAirTM.
As society enters the BYOD era, more
and more individuals are using three or
more mobile devices, including mobile
phones, smart pads and notebooks, which
has significantly increased the number of
terminals accessing one AP from 10
terminals in the past to currently
approximately 40~50 terminals.
Within the KOTRA Korean booth in
CeBIT, Davolink installed the company’s
SC-400 Controller and three units of
DVW-4038 APs to receive great reviews
by providing high-speed WiFi service free-
of-charge to the 34 participating
companies (150 participants). The
company achieved a significant PR effect
by stably providing WiFi services
equipped with the company’s exclusive
technologies, AP load balancing and
Airtime Fairness,
airtime fairness, especially when
considering the difficulties that existed in
providing WiFi during the 2014 CeBIT
due to signal interference between APs
and increased traffic amongst users.
In addition, Davolink showcases the
performance of its 802-11.ac based Giga
WiFi product at this year’s CeBIT. Despite
interference caused by various APs within
the expo, Davolink was able to achieve
download speeds of over 900Mbps on a
notebook and received great reviews from
audiences.
Davolink system technology team
assistant general manager Kang, Chang
Sik, who attended the conference,
explained the advantages of the product
by saying that “within large expos like
CeBIT, stable WiFi is difficult due to the
cross signal interference caused by the
numerous APs installed by the event
sponsors and participating companies.
Even within such a wireless
environment, APs equipped with
Davolink’s exclusive SmartAir wireless
management feature were able to provide
stable WiFi service at speeds of
700~900Mbps.
During the expo, Davolink also
showcased a system management feature
that allows real-time remote monitoring of
operational conditions (number of
terminals, wireless interference level, AP
malfunction level) of WiFi sites in Korea
within the CeBIT site
Dr. Yongjin KIM, CTO and EVP of MODACOM, chaired a technical session of AllSeen Partner Programme, MWC15, and introduced interworking technology
DAVOLINK’s WLAN Controller& 802.11ac Access Point
WLAN Controller (SC-2000/400)
802.11ac Access Point
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 16
SK Telecom’s weather information system caught the visitors' eye
at MWC 2015 03/16/2015|By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
within the CeBIT site using the company’s
Smart Tunnel technology.
With regards to business references and
marketing, assistant manager Kang, Chang
Sik displayed strong confidence by stating
that “as of March 2015, our company has
over 50 controller-based wireless solution
references in Korea as well as a customer
who has developed a system utilizing more
than 1100 APs. In the future, we will use
Italy as our base to aggressively market to
new European customers while cultivating
new markets in over 30 countries
globally.” n
Juni-Korea, with Korea's
innovative small cell
technologies, knocking
on the door of the global
market03/31 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Small cell technology is starting to shape
up as a very attractive next-generation
income source in the LTE system market.
While many small cell vendors are fiercely
competing with each other, some Korean
vendors are drawing attentions from
many operators, with their extensive
experience in meeting comprehensive and
demanding technical requirements of
Korean telecom operators.
Juni-Korea, one of such vendors,
introduced its three main products at
MWC 2015: home small cell (JL-514),
enterprise small cell (JL-620) and outdoor
small cell (JL-740).
The home/enterprise small cell
products are designed to provide a high
speed LTE data service indoors, like home
and enterprise office. The outdoor Small
cell solutions are intended to enhance the
coverage capacity of the conventional
macro cells or a small hotspot coverage.
What is interesting with Juni-Korea is
that it does not supply small cell gateway
(GW) itself, but
Cell site 1
IoT GW(3G)
Weather sensors Cell site
Cell site 1,100
3G
IoT PlatformWeather Information
Server (e.g. Korea Meteorological Administration)
Mobile Network
SK Telecom
Weather Information
API3G
Weather Information
Every minute, weather
information collected by the
sensors at cell sites is sent to
IoT platforms, via the mobile
network.
Today, there are over 1,100
weather sensors, located 1~3
km apart, across the cell sites
in Seoul metropolitan area,
collecting weather information
of higher precision and
accuracy than the Korean
Meteorological Administration
(KMA), which has only about
400 observation stations.
Unlike KMA, SK Telecom
has already had tens of
thousands of cell sites
nationwide, and thus requires
much less costs of leasing
installation sites.
In that regard, weather
information service would be
the IoT service that is best
suitable for mobile operators.
n
SK Telecom presented a
variety of fascinating IoT
services at MWC 2105. But,
the most fascinating of all was
Weather Pong.
Weather Pong is a real-time
weather information service
that installs dedicated weather
monitoring sensors and
communication modules (IoT
GWs) at cell sites, collects all
weather information (i.e.
precipitation, temperature,
humidity, atmospheric
pressure, wind direction, wind
speed, etc.), and provides it to
customers like Korea
Meteorological Administration,
etc.
Juni-Korea’s Outdoor Small Cell
Korea ICT News & Articles
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 17
(GW) itself, but instead provides
compatibility between its small cell
equipment and the GW systems from other
leading vendors, that are already used in
operators' LTE networks.
Serigio Domingo, Sales Director of Juni-
Korea, said, "We have already completed
interoperability tests with the small cell
gateway system of major LTE vendors
such as Ericsson, Samsung, NSN, Huawei.
We Have been recognized for our
excellent product reliability and
compatibility, by many operators. And we
have supplied our small cell products to
KT in Korea, Telefonica in Latin America,
and Telstra in Australia. Currently, we are
checking with US Cellular in US for
possible sales opportunities." n
Kisan Telecom
introduced Korea's
advanced repeater
technologies in the world
market 03/27 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Despite the recent trend of capacity-driven
network paradigm (such as small cell),
repeater solutions, such as In-building DAS
and RF/ICS repeater, have been
continuously playing a large part in radio
network infrastructure, from 2G/GSM to
LTE. Particularly, Korean telecom
operators have preferred to deploy their
radio network infrastructure with a large
number of repeater systems across the
nation, to win the coverage/service battle.
And the fierce battle has apparently
made Korean repeaters more competitive
than those from other countries, in terms
of product reliability and practical
performance.
Kisan Telecom, one of the well-known
repeater vendors in Korea, introduced its
flagship solutions at MWC 2015: In-
building DAS, RF Repeater, and WiFi
products.
building DAS, RF Repeater, and WiFi
products.
There are two types of In-building DAS
solutions available from Kisan Telecom
depending on antenna cabling types (RF
coaxial or UTP cable): UTP-based and RF
coaxial-based in-building systems.
The person who presented Kisan's
solutions at the event noted that, of the
two, the UTP-based in-building solution is
more attractive because it can utilize
inexpensive UTP cables and POE (Power
over Ethernet) in connecting Antenna
Units (AUs) with a built-in module, which
are to be installed instead of conventional
in-building antennas.
Kisan Telecom has supplied for
Softbank Mobile (SBM) in Japan, and is
currently contacting KDDI and NTT
Docomo to expand its client base in
Japan.
Repeater is another type of radio
equipment. It repeats the radio signals
received from external base stations, and
delivers them to outdoor shadow areas
around buildings or small in-building
shadow areas. The presenter explained
that since RF repeater relays signals in the
same frequency, it is very important to
minimize the processing time (delay time)
of RF repeater to eliminate chances of
signal interference issues (ISI/ICI).
He also said that they made the repeater
system more enhanced by minimizing
processing time (reducing by nearly half),
from 4.7us (reference value for LTE radio
service) to 2.5us.
Kisan's WiFi products exhibited at MWC
2015 were an indoor Giga WiFi AP and
long-range WiFi backhaul equipment,
both complying with IEEE 802.11ac
technology. Unlike a typical WiFi AP, the
indoor Giga WiFi AP supports three
frequency bands - one 2.4GHz band and
two 5GHz bands - and is used for traffic
capacity upgrade in urban areas with high
traffic. Kisan has been supplying this
indoor Giga WiFi AP domestically and
globally (e.g. SBM in Japan).
The outdoor WiFi backhaul solution is
designed for a long-range backhaul
connection, to serve remote areas that
require low capacity, like islands. The
company confirmed that the backhaul
product operates as a couple between
end-points, and it has been tested over
40km distance. n
Infomark, to expand into
IoT market with the
launch of a wearable
device 03/27 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
Infomark, generally well-known as "LTE/
WiMAX Mobile Router(Egg) vendor", is
transforming into an IoT device vendor,
supplying their new wearable devices to
SK Telecom..
At MWC 2015, the company introduced
a new wearable device for kids, called
"Kids phone Joon", which caught the
attention of MWC attendants. Kids phone
Joon allows parents to check the
whereabouts of their children, use other
voice call features to assure their safety,
and more. Currently Infomark is supplying
it to SK Telecom in Korea for its IoT
service, and the company is trying to
expand into global markets. Because of
the promising outlook of IoT market,
these types of wearable devices are
expected to get a spotlight globally.
In the meantime, Infomark will continue
to work on marketing/promoting of its
previously released LTE/WiMAX mobile
router that allows WiFi users to share
Internet connections around the mobile
router. The company has so far supplied
the mobile routers to over 30 countries,
and is expected to provide its LTE version
mobile routers to some major US telecom
operators in the second half of the year.
Finedigital unveiled a
radio signal monitoring
technology 03/27 | By NETMANIAS ([email protected])
At MWC 2015, Finedigital introduced a
portable RF monitoring system (RIM-430)
that analyzes ultra-wide frequency bands,
interfacing with smart devices like
smartphone, laptop, etc. The eye-catching
point of the system is that RF field
engineers can utilize it in conjunction with
the GPS module built in the system and a
geographical map DB, to locate the
corresponding source, find the direction-
of-arrival of signal, and outline the
coverage of mobile communication
services. nKisan’s Giga WiFi AP Portfolio
Korea ICT News & Articles
WDM
CPRI
GE GPON
▶ Macro cell Fronthauling
▶ Small cell Fronthauling
▶ Small Cell Backhauling
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul Solution | S.M. Shin and Dr. Michelle M. Do
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A HetnetHFR’s flexiHaul Solution
S.M. Shin ([email protected] ) and Dr. Michelle M. Do ([email protected])
The past few years have seen smartphones rapidly gain popularity and become one of the most loved daily essentials, especially with all of their ever-advancing multimedia processing features. Due to these advanced technologies behind mobile devices, the size of contents (video, music, picture, etc.) that users can enjoy on the devices are growing bigger and bigger every day (e.g. for videos, resolution SD (480p) → HD (720p) → now Full HD (1080p), and encoding rates, 500Kbps → 1Mbps → 2Mbps → now 4~8Mbps). Because of this growth, data traffic in mobile operators' network is soaring, and will do even more so from now on. To handle soaring data traffic, operators have been making macro cells smaller, and this
has apparently left the operators with more cells to build and operate. To save costs in building and operating cell sites, a new architecture called C-RAN was introduced. It is also known as “Centralized RAN” or “Cloud RAN”. With this C-RAN, operators can simply leave all RRHs in their cell sites, but move only BBUs to a centralized location at central offices or master cell sites. C-RAN has drastically lowered the cell site cost (Capex/Opex), and has maximized the effects of CoMP and eICIC of LTE-A. This helps to improve not only the service quality, but also the LTE-A network performance. So, many operators have been actively employing C-RAN in their networks. Now that RRHs and BBUs are
remotely separated in C-RAN, a new network was required in order to deliver a huge volume of baseband I/Q streams between the two across CPRI or OBSAI link. Previously, both RRHs (Remote Radio Heads) and BBUs (Base Band Units) were located in eNBs, and the transport network between them eNBs and EPC was called backhaul. Now in C-RAN, these new CPRI and OBSAI networks are called fronthaul. The fronthaul network should be able to satisfy requirements under LTE layer protocol operation and under the CPRI specification. First of all, ultra-high transmission capacity (as high as 2.5 GMbps~10 Gbps) for delivering baseband I/Q data is required, and latency caused within equipment in the fronthaul network should be minimized to a few secs to maximize the distance between BBUs and RRHs. In C-RAN, RRH traces clock and removes jitter from I/Q streams received from BBU to generate the clock (CPRI/sampling/carrier frequency. etc) to be used in RRH system. So, the RRH system performance varies depending on the quality of the recovered clock. That’s why jitter has to be minimized in the fronthaul network, and the CPRI specification defines the maximum frequency accuracy budget as 0.002 ppm. Also, to guarantee the time/phase synchronization required in LTE-A (eICIC, CoMP), the CPRI time/phase synchronization should be strictly ensured in the fronthaul as well. So, we can say ensuring low latency and synchronization between BBU and RRH are the most important and demanding jobs for the fronthaul. There have been several ways to satisfy such demanding technical requirements. The best option would be using dark fiber. But the problem with this option is that it would only work for those who
Distributed RAN (D-RAN) Centralized/Cloud RAN (C-RAN)
CO
BBUAC
Power(UPS)
RRH
Base Station 1
AC
Power(UPS)
AC
Power(UPS)
Base Station 2
Base Station 3
RRHs(Outdoor)
CO
BBU
RRHs
RRHs(Outdoor)
CO
BBU
RRHs
RRHs RRHs
CPRI Traffic
•BBU, RRH, A/C, UPS (power), transport, etc. are all installed at cell sites (located in leased spaces) •High costs of lease, installation, utilities, and maintenance •IP traffic aggregated by backhaul network
•In C-RAN, BBUs at cell site are moved to A centralized location (e.g. CO).
•C-RAN has drastically lowered the cell site cost (Capex/Opex), and has maximized the effects of CoMP and eICIC of LTE-A. •A new fronthaul network was required to deliver a huge volume of baseband I/Q streams between BBUs and RRHs over CPRI or OBSAI interfaces.
Ring(Active WDM)
P2P(Active WDM, Passive WDM)IP traffic
CPRI Traffic
Backhaul Fronthaul (Dark Fiber) Fronthaul (WDM Network)
Figure 1. LTE RAN Trends: Migration to C-RAN and Fronthaul
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 19
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul Solution | S.M. Shin and Dr. Michelle M. Do
Transponder
Muxponder
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
MUX/De-MUX(Optical filters)
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
λ1
λ2
λ3λ4
λ5
λN
λ6...
Active WDM (Wavelength conversion)
Passive WDM (No wavelength conversion, transparent)
Transponder
Muxponder
MUX/De-MUX(Optical filters)
Colored SFPPort
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
λ1
λ2
λ3λ4
λ5
λN
λ6
...
MUX/De-MUX(Optical filters)
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
MUX/De-MUX(Optical filters)
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
RXTX
RXTX
RXTX
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
TXRX
λ1
λ2
λ3λ4
λ5
λN
λ6
...
λ1
λ2
λ3λ4
λ5
λN
λ6
...
Colorless SFP
Figure 2. Passive WDM vs. Active WDM
already have plenty of fiber, and others including most operators would have to lease it. And obviously this can cost a lot. For example, a network with LTE Carrier BW of 20MHz, 2x2 antenna, 3-sector, 2 Bands would require 6 RRHs in each cell site, which means 6 leased fibers in each cell site. The practical option is WDM. With WDM, just one or two fibers can cover tens of CPRI channels. So, fiber costs can be lowered, and high-volume transmission is possible. There are two types of WDM, passive and active (Figure 2). The best part of passive WDM is that it is inexpensive, and requires no power supply. Besides, little latency or jitter is caused, and so the distance between BBU and RRH can be maximized, without affecting LTE/LTE-A performance much. Active WDM is bidirectional (single fiber). So, dark fiber costs can be lowered. And by using Muxponder, the number of required λs can be minimized, which can further lower the fiber costs. What’s even better, operators can even monitor the quality of the fronthaul network by running a self loopback test on WDM units. But, one thing to note is that active WDM may cause latency and jitter, which
should be kept under certain levels.
HFR's WDM Solutions for mobile fronthaul and backhaul HFR provides both passive WDM and active WDM solutions. Passive WDM enables operators to build a high capacity of C-RAN fronthaul with less cost. HFR also provides active WDM solutions called flexiHaulTM. What Our flexiHaul solutions do is to fronthaul CPRI traffic and backhaul Ethernet traffic to a single aggregation network.
Passive WDM Solution
Passive WDM does not contain any active components like transponder, but instead is consisted of passive components such as Add/drop filter, splitter. So, it is inexpensive and requires no power supply. Due to the lack of active components, passive WDM seldom causes any processing latency (excluding cable propagation delay) and jitter. Thus, it can maximize a cable distance between BBU and RRH, not affecting on the performance of LTE/LTE-A network. Consequently, operators can remove no need to perform interoperability tests with base station vendors. Passive WDM multiplexes optical input signals over a single fiber through WDM MUX, not converting a wavelength of an optic signal. An optic transceiver (i.e., SFP/Small Form Factor Pluggable) to be plugged into the customer’s equipment like LTE BBU/RRH should be tuned to the unique optical wavelengths (unit: nm) for TX and RX port respectively, referring to the pre-assigned wavelength/channel table. HFR’s passive WDM solution fully supports various features and options such as CWDM or DWDM, single fiber or fiber pair, protected or unprotected. In C-RAN, a physical failure like “Fiber cut” is likely to occur because BBU and RRH are placed tens of Kms away from each other. Inherently, passive WDM is consisted of passive components, so it cannot perform any switching function in itself. In order to complement the limitation, HFR provides a small optical switch as an optional part. The optical switch is attached to the forehead of passive WDM at RT(passive WDM at remote sites) in external or built-in type, providing two input ports (West, East) connected to COT respectively. The optical switch determines a route from RT to COT among the east and west direction. In addition, passive WDM also utilizes OTDR which can monitor a signal quality of optic cable by allocating a additional wavelength (1,625nm) for OTDR use.
Active WDM SolutionBasically, active WDM is also based on the passive components used in passive WDM, but unlike passive WDM it has the active components like transponder, muxponder, etc. added to the passive components. So, active WDM is relatively expensive compared to passive WDM and
RT
RT
COT
COT
RT
COT
BBU
BBU
BBU
OTDR
Optical Switch
Colored SFP
Colored SFP
Figure 3. HFR's Passive WDM solution
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 20
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul Solution | S.M. Shin and Dr. Michelle M. Do
Figure 5. Components of HFR's Active WDM solution (flexiHaulTM)
HSN 8300 (3U)HSN 8500 (5U) HSN 8100 (1U) HSN 8110
requires a power supply for operation. Active WDM can convert a wavelength of optic signal by O-E-O conversion and then multiplex optic signals over a single fiber through WDM MUX. Unlike passive WDM, active WDM removes the need for the colored optic transceiver (i.e., SFP) tuned according to the pre-assigned wavelength/channel table for WDM transmission, utilizing a common colorless optical transceiver for customer’s equipment (i.e., LTE BBU/RRH). HFR’s active WDM solution is flexiHaulTM. What Our flexiHaul series do is to aggregate (fronthauling) macro/micro/small RRH (CPRI) traffic, and aggregate (backhauling) legacy base station, compact base station (pico), and Wi-Fi traffic with this single aggregation network. Our flexiHaul solution consists of the HSN series (HSN 8500/8300/8100/8110).
HSN 8500 models are installed in BBU pool sites, and support 40 λs and 88 CPRI ports. These models support the three CPRI service cards, i) transponder card that supports four CPRI ports (option 3/5/7), ii) Muxponder card that supports four CPRI ports (option 2/3), and iii) Muxponder card that supports two CPRI ports (option 5). And all three CPRI cards have been deployed in SK Telecom’s commercial network. Muxponder cards use one λ per card. So, fewer λs are required. And that allows HSN 8500 to aggregate RRHs at the maximum level. HSN8300/8100/8110 models are RTs installed at cell sites. You can find their specifications in figure 5. The flexiHaulTM solution is a fronthaul solution using WDM, so has no capacity issue. One HSN 8500 RT can deliver CPRI traffic up to 180 Gbps. It has many excellent technical features we have
developed to minimize latency and jitter which can affect LTE/LTE-A. So, for example, in a ring with COT and RTs, a fronthaul end-to-end latency excluding fiber latency can be kept under 1μsec, and jitter can be kept under a few nsecs. More than 4,000 flexiHaulTM units are currently running in many commercial LTE/LTE-A networks. HFR’s flexiHaulTM solution offers extremely low latency and jitter. So, it can maximize the performance of LTE-Advanced features such as CoMP and eICIC, eventually improving the LTE-A service quality and network performance. These days operators are in fierce competition to attract customers. With HFR's solution, operators can prevent customer churn and attract new subscribers by providing better service quality than other competitors. HFR's ring protection within 50 msecs feature ensures any link failure is recovered instantly to minimize LTE service interruption. Not only that, operators can monitor the quality of the fronthaul link through BER and CV (Code Violation) of CPRI data that is being monitored in real time.
Implementing Mobile Fronthaul/Backhaul with HFR's WDM
solutions Every operator has their own RAN architectures/scenarios they want, depending on their needs and resources (available infrastructure, future roadmap, etc.). That’s what our flexiHaul solution is for. Because it supports many different RAN and fronthaul architectures. Table 1 depicts the fronthaul architectures presented by HFR. BBU pool is located at CO for the Full Fronthaul architecture, while it is distributed onto the master macro cell sites for Hybrid BH/FH architecture. In Integrated BH/FH architecture, HFR's WDM network aggregate both CPRI traffic form RRH and Ethernet traffic from 3G nodeB, small BS, or Wi-Fi AP. Operators should determine a proper WDM technologies and network architecture, considering available dark fibers, a holding and planning frequency for LTE, cell sites and COs, network evolution strategy, TCO and so on.
Small RRH
Small BSwith Wi-Fi
CPRI
GPON/GE
GE
Macro LTE RRH
BBU Pool
8300
Ethernet Backhaul
CPRI Fronthaul
CPRI
GE
SAE-GW
Macro Cell SiteSmall Cell
8500
8100
8300
Central Office
SAE-GW
EPC Site
IP/MPLS
Baseband I/Q stream
Ethernet frame
HSN 8300
HSN 8500flexHaulTM Solution
HSN 8100
ls : CPRI trafficls : Ethernet traffic
GE
HSN 8300
Figure 4. HFR's Active WDM solution (flexiHaulTM)
HSN 8500 HSN 8300 HSN 8100 HSN 8110
Dimension (WxDxH ) 483x435x220 483x435x134 483x435x44.6 Outdoor solution
WDM CWDM/DWDM CWDM/DWDM CWDM/DWDM CWDM
No. of services cards 22 9 2 Outdoor solution
Max CPRI Ports 88 36 8 4
CPRI Option 2-7 Option 2-7 Option 2-7 Option 2-7
OBSAI 3.072/6.144Gbps 3.072/6.144Gbps 3.072/6.144Gbps 3.072/6.144Gbps
Ethernet 4 GE ports 4 GE ports 4 GE ports -
G-PON OLT 4 GPON ports 4 GPON ports 4 GPON ports -
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 21
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul Solution | S.M. Shin and Dr. Michelle M. Do
Full Fronthaul Architecture In Full Fronthaul architecture, the BBUs are centralized at CO, RRHs (macro RRHs and small RRHs) at cell sites are connected to the BBU pool over CPRI interfaces. In this architecture, hundreds of RRHs are processed by a BBU pool, so the pooling effect is maximized.
effect is maximized. It is an optimal architecture to process LTE-A features such as CoMP and eICIC. HFR's active and passive WDM solutions enables the operators to implement various full fronthaul networks - all passive WDM fronthaul, all active WDM fronthaul or mixed
active WDM fronthaul or mixed configuration with active and passive WDM [Figure 6].
Hybrid BH/FH Architecture In Hybrid BH/FH architecture, the BBUs are centralized at master macro sites, RRHs (macro RRHs and small RRHs) at cell sites are connected to the BBU pool over CPRI interfaces. In this architecture, tens of RRHs are processed by a BBU pool. This concept describes the fronthaul network that is built from macro RRHs and small RRHs extending the macro D-RAN. The existing backhaul network to macro site is still utilized, and new fronthaul network is built based-on the D-RAN macro site.
Table 1. HFR's WDM solutions for various fronthaul architectures
Full Fronthaul Architecture
Hybrid BH/FH Architecture
Small RRH
Small RRH
Macro Cell
Macro RRH
Macro RRH + BBU
Integrated BH/FH Architecture Compact BS, WiFi Macro RRH
Fronthaul Architecture Small Cell HFR Solution
Active, Passive, Mixed
Active, Passive
Active
Figure 7. Hybrid BH/FH architecture (Active WDM case)
Figure 6. Full Fronthaul Architecture mixed with active and passive WDM solutions
BBUs
CO
Hybrid BH/FH Architecture
Fronthaul
Backhaul
Marco RRHs
CPRI Connectivity
Small cell(Small RRH)
Macro cell
Master Macro Cell
Cell Sites CO/MTSO EPC Site
Access Router
BBU Pool
CPRI
RURURRH
RURURRH
RURURRH
Small RRH
RRH
Small RRH
RRH
SAEGW
8300
8100
8110
CPRI Fronthaul Ethernet Backhaul
Small Cell
Macro Cell
Active WDM
flexiHaul HSN 8300: Up to 36 RRHsRRH
RRH
... 8300
Backhaul
Master Macro Cell
Ethernet Backhaul
CPRI Connectivity
Full FH Architecture
CO
BBUs
Marco RRHs
Small cell(Small RRH)
Fronthaul
Backhaul
Macro cell
Cell Sites
Access Router
Macro RRH
Backhaul
BBU Pool
CPRI
RURURRH
CPRI
RURURRH
RURURRH
Small RRH
Small RRH
RRH
Small RRH
SAEGW
RRH
RRH
8300
8300
8300
8500COT
RT
RT
Passive WDM Active WDM
CPRI Fronthaul Ethernet Backhaul
CO/MTSO EPC Site
Small Cell
Macro CellRURURRH
RURURRH
flexiHaul HSN 8500: Up to 88 RRHsRRH
RRH
...
... 8500
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 22
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul Solution | S.M. Shin and Dr. Michelle M. Do
The fronthaul network can be deployed with either active WDM or passive WDM solutions. Figure 7 shows an example of fronthaul network built from HFR's active WDM solutions (HSN 8300/8100).
Integrated BH/FH Architecture When a legacy operator builds an LTE network, there are already legacy 3G base stations in its cell sites.
stations in its cell sites. Our flexiHaul RT units (HSN 8300/8100) accommodate 3G BSs through the GE interface, and connect LTE RRHs through the CPRI interface. That way, they can accommodate the two access networks in a single network. GE and GPON cards connect small cells (pico) or Wi-Fi APs. If no fiber is available in a small cell area
in a small cell area, operators can connect small cells by accessing microwave devices through the GE interface of HSN series. Our flexiHaul series aggregate (fronthauling) macro/micro/small RRH (CPRI) traffic, and aggregate (backhauling) legacy base station, compact base station (pico), and Wi-Fi traffic in Integrated BH/FH architecture.
Case Study - SK Telecom's fronthaul architecture & HFR's
WDM solutions deployedC-RAN was initially proposed by China’s CM. But, it was Korean operators (e.g., SK Telecom) who actually commercialized it. And a fronthaul network, which made C-RAN work, was also commercialized by Korean operators for the first time in the world. HFR have deployed the flexiHaul solution in SK Telecom’s network since 2012, helping SK Telecom to build its nation-wide fronthaul network, in 84 major cities. 80% of the fronthaul networks were built with active WDM, and 50% of the units deployed were our flexiHaul. n
Cell Sites
Access Router
Macro RRH (LTE)
BBU PoolCPRI
Compact BS
SAEGW
Ethernet Backhaul
CO/MTSO EPC Site
RURURRH
RURURRH
8500GPON
Wi-Fi
RURURRH
GE
GE
Compact BS
Wi-Fi
Active WDM
CPRI Fronthaul
Ethernet Backhaul
8300
Legacy 3G BS
GE
Legacy 3G BS
GE8300
GPON
8300
Legacy 3G BS
GE
Macro RRH (LTE)
Figure 8. Integrated BH/FH architecture implemented with HFR's flexiHaul solution
IP/MPLS
Macro RRH
BBU
BBU
Macro RRH
Master Marco Cell(Macro cell site with
centralized BBUs)
Rooftop
WDM
RURURRH
1. Small Cell BS (Pico/Femto)2. Wi-Fi
BS
10GE (Ring, P2P)
GPON
GPON ...
BBU Macro Cell Backhaul
Small Cell Backhaul(planned)
WDM ...BBU
BBU
Traffic from GPON
Small Cell Backhaul(planned)
WDM
WDM
IP/MPLS Router (ALU, Cisco, Juniper)
Legacy Macro Cell Sites è C-RAN
WDM
LAST MILEVERY LAST MILE
BS
BS
MAX 30 RRHPer RT
Tens of BBUs(connecting hundreds of RRHs)
A few BBUs(connecting
tens of RRHs)A few RRHs
CPRI Fronthaul (Active WDM COT &RT: HFR HSN 8500/8300/8100)
IP/MPLS/Ethernet Backhaul
CPRI
CPRICPRI
CPRI
CPRI
CPRI
Wi-Fi
LTEBS
LTE RRH
GPON
GPON1. Small Cell BS (Pico/Femto)2. Wi-Fi
Small Cell
EPC
SAEGW
Rooftop
# of CO » 400# of BBU Marco Cell » 300# of RRHs » 180,000
RT
RT
RT
COT
RT
RT
COT
LTE
C-RAN: Centralized/Cloud RANBBU: Baseband UnitRRH: Remote Radio HeadSCAN: Smart Cloud Access Network
GE
GEMulti-10GE
BBU
Trafficfrom GPON
GE
CO (SK Telecom’s office building)
RURURRH
RURURRH
RURURRH
BBU
RURURRH
RURURRH
RT
RRH
RURURRH
Fronthaul: Active WDM
Fronthaul: Active WDM
HSN 8100 (1U)
▶Fronthaul Technology of SK Telecom: Active WDM
▶Deployed Fronthaul Vendor: HFR
▶Deployed HFR Solution: HSN Series
HSN 8500 (5U)
HSN 8300 (3U)
Figure 9. The fronthaul architecture of SK Telecom and HFR's WDM solutions deployed in SK Telecom
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 23
Unified Mobile Fronthaul & Backhaul Solutions for LTE-A Hetnet: HFR’s flexiHaul Solution | S.M. Shin and Dr. Michelle M. Do
About HFR (www.hfrnet.com)HFR has been actively responding to the Cloud RAN market under LTE environment. We expect that our front-haul solution will become representative product in global equipment market. Also, HFR has been leading the high-speed internet equipment with the development for Giga Internet service area. Based on its competitive solutions in the wire and wireless communications fields, HFR is determined to become Korea’s leading network equipment company.�l Location and Contact Information5th floor, Hana EZ tower,10, 43gil, Seongnam-daero, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do, KoreaTEL 82-31-712-7768 | FAX 82-31-712-7948 | E-MAIL [email protected] For more information, please visit us at http://www.hfrnet.com
HFR have been stabilizing and optimizing systems in
real commercial networks, and have accumulated
technical know-how for many years. And those
experiences and know-how are our biggest assets that
can make us ready to work any time. Our solutions are
not in the proof of concept (POC) step, but are fully
proven, ready to use. That’s what really put us ahead
of everyone else. We are the ONLY one who can
achieve the best time-to-market with the least trial
and error in building a fronthaul network.
Approximately 145,000 RRHs (80% of all LTE RRHs) are
connected to C-RAN fronthaul since 2011, and more
than 60% of the SK Telecom fronthaul is connected to
flexiHaul.
- Number of systems: about 4,000
- Number of 10G sub-rate muxponder cards: about
24,000
The interoperabilIty with leading RAN vendors has
been proven by field and/or lab. Tests in Korea, Japan,
China, Taiwan, Russia, Indonesia, etc.
- Ericsson LTE system
- Nokia LTE and 3G system
- Samsung LTE system
- Huawei LTE system
- ZTE LTE system
HFR have been supplying Fronthaul solutions to SK
Telecom for large deployment, and also to Chunghwa
Telecom (CHT), a Taiwanese operator, who is expected
to have growing demand for large-scale commercial
network soon. Especially, Chunghwa recognized the
technological excellence and high reliability of our
solutions, and so HFR were selected as its sole vendor.
HFR’s flexiHaulTM Solution !
Why do we need antenna-integrated RRH? | In-Ho Kim ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 24
Background of Antenna-Integrated RRH
Mobile data traffic has been soaring ever since smartphones were first introduced and spread throughout the world. The traffic increase gave rise to faster introduction of 4G - well maybe too fast because now operators are having a hard time lowering costs of building and operating networks. In response, mobile base stations are being transformed accordingly. RRHs are more commonly used because they can minimize radio transmission loss by allowing radio parts, which used to be installed indoor, to be placed closer to antennas. Most RRHs and antennas today are placed pretty close to each other on a building's rooftop, tower, etc., but they still need a 2~3-meter-long connection cable between them to exchange signals with each other. As RRHs are moved out of a building and onto a rooftop, where only antennas used to be placed, operators are facing new challenges - securing space for a variety of products from different manufacturers that are run by different operators for different frequency bands, and achieving reliability of the frame structures where those products are mounted.
Particularly installing RRHs and antennas on building rooftops or small towers in big cities can be not only undesirable from an aesthetic point of view, but also an obstacle in building a network from operators' point of view. To solve these issues in distributed cell sites, antenna-integrated RRH solution was introduced.
Features of Antenna-Integrated RRH
In 2012, Ericsson introduced Antenna-Integrated Radio (AIR), the first of this type, soon followed by our Remote Radio Antenna (RRA), Huawei's Active Antenna Unit (AAU), etc. These types of antenna-integrated RRHs have the following four characteristics: Less signal transmission loss between antenna and RRHIn a conventional cell cite, an antenna and RRH are connected usually with a 2~3-meter-long connection cable, and this contributes to transmission loss of about 0.6~0.7 dB. An antenna-integrated RRH solution however can eliminate this loss, resulting in more energy savings. Antenna-integrated RRH solutions from other developers may minimize the
length of connection cables, but still need a connection cable, short or long, to work. However, our Multi Semi Blind Mating (MSBC) solution can literally eliminate the necessity of a connection cable, consequently minimizing the transmission loss. Also it is the only solution that allows only the defective RRH to be replaced on the site. This RRH-replaceable solution is particularly helpful to RRHs that are intended to support multi-band frequencies (e.g. dual band, tri-band). For instance, let's say there is an all-in-one dual band RRH that supports both 1.8 GHz and 700 MHz. If 1.8 GHz RRH fails, then not only the failed RRH, but also the other working 700 MHz RRH has to be replaced. For this reason, some operators in Japan or Europe prefer onsite-replaceable solutions. We are currently developing a solution that will allow for onsite replacement of only the failed RRH. With this solution, any failed RRH can be easily replaced on the site without using any tool in just 3 steps. The key factors of this solution (Fig. 2) are :• Development of compact and light RRH
(2T4R, 12L, 12kg)• Multi Semi Blind Connection (MSBC)
solution• Special latch design
Why do we need antenna-integrated RRH?In-Ho Kim, Head of AAS group, KMW ([email protected])
Figure 1. Antenna, RRH and jumper cable
at cell site
RRH
Antenna
Jumper Cable
Figure 2. RRA (antenna-integrated RRH solution by KMW)Remote Radio Antenna (RRA) is a brand name of antenna-integrated RRH by the author's company
Why do we need antenna-integrated RRH? | In-Ho Kim ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 25
Less CAPEX/OPEX burden on operatorsIn conventional structures, antennas and RRHs have to be installed separately, which means higher installation costs and more space to lease. On the other hand, an antenna-integrated RRH Gives operators advantage of lower costs of installation and space lease because it only takes one installation of an antenna. So it is a very cost-efficient option when we think about the money that can be saved throughout the entire leasing period. Also, it is a smart space-saving solution to overcome limited lease space issues.
Reduction of physical load on frame structuresFrame structures on towers or rooftops of a building are affected not only by weight of the installed products, but also by wind loads. Because our new solution RRA allows RRHs to be attached right to the back of an antenna, wind loads on the face of RRHs can be eliminated. This can help to install more RRHs in limited space on towers or rooftops of buildings.
Development of eco-friendly structure and improvement of Passive Inter-modulation Distortion (PIMD) qualityOne of the most common cell site structures that we find on rooftops or small towers of buildings in cities consists of antennas, RRHs and cables that connect the two. I personally believe these eco-friendly structures should be modified to be, at least, without any connection cable. What has satisfied this need the most so far would be Ericsson's AIR. Probably because Ericsson cooperated with a professional design consulting firm from the initial stage of the development, the company could end up with AIR - with a nicer and simpler design. Not much impressive reliability or price competitiveness, though.
Connecting an antenna with RRHs in a tower is a pretty demanding and dangerous job that can be done by only those with experiences. Improper connection by a less-experienced person can cause poor PIMD and waterproofing issues. When more than two frequencies are combined, a new unwanted frequency can be generated as a result of the synthesis of fundamental and harmonic waves of the two original frequencies. This distortion is called PIMD. Distorted signals detected within the receiving frequency band can affect the receiving performance of system. This is why PIMD is considered as an important factor in RF products. So, if we can just skip this whole troublesome connecting process, there will be no problem to take care of at all.
As discussed so far, the antenna-integrated RRH solution certainly offers features that can take care of the issues the distributed cell sites have. However, the concept of the integrated solution – moving RRHs next to an antenna, where replacement of failed RRH(s) can be tricky - has been a concern, particularly to operators who tend to be conservative unavoidably. Operators have once had a similar concern. During the transition from the conventional cell site to the distributed cell site structure, they were worried about moving radio parts (filter + amplifier) up to towers, again where replacement can be tricky. Today, RRHs are commonly used in LTE networks, and the Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) issue has also been improved as more advanced production technologies and parts have become available.
Outlook for the Antenna-Integrated RRH Market Figure 5 shows the EJL Wireless Research’s forecast of the antenna-integrated RRH market. The market is expected to continue to grow after 2015. KMW is also planning to supply our products in the US market starting 2015.
Figure 3. RRA tower (less wind load in the back of antenna)
“We don’t have space on the tower anymore” (T-Mobile)
“We have difficulties of site build” (France Telecom)
Figure 4. Connecting antennas and RRHs
(not an easy job!)
Figure 5. Antenna-integrated RRH
(Semi-Active Antenna) market forecast
Why do we need antenna-integrated RRH? | In-Ho Kim ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 26
• A Head of Active Antenna System (AAS) Group at KMW's RF Research Center for R&D of antenna and RF radio
• Research/development fields: Active Antenna System, RF Radio (Antenna, RRH)
• Research interests: Beam forming Calibration, Small-cell, Massive MIMO, Thermal and Light Weight material architecture
Installation Issues in the Small Cell MarketDiscussion on installation of small cell base stations (except DAS), as well as macro cell stations, has also begun. While macro base stations can be installed in towers or on rooftops, small cell base stations are usually installed in places that can be easily spotted, like on street lights, bus stops, 2nd Or 3rd floor of buildings, etc. And the number of small cell base stations to be installed is likely to be greater than that of macro cell base stations.
To address this, lots of converged/integrated solutions are being introduced. The two most noteworthy solutions are KMW's Green Cell and Ericsson's Zero Site, both of which features a small cell base station that can be installed on a pole with energy-saving LED street lights.
The biggest benefit of these solutions is that they can improve street landscape by minimizing the appearance of all these IT equipment and eliminating all the messy cables (CCTV option available in Green Cell). There are some challenges facing these solutions as well. Installing new street lights with small cells is a quite expensive procedure. Besides, the solutions and their installations have to satisfy all the conditions under the relevant laws and regulations. Given that, it would take some time until they can be finally
implemented. Nevertheless, if we can somehow make them run on renewable energy, which happens to be one of my research areas, independently from the central energy source, they can actually be a feasible and useful idea in future urban planning.
A number of feasible ideas on small cell solutions have been shared. I personally believe that the No. 1 priority in small cell solutions should be design or convergence. That's because people do not like to see untidy and messy cables hanging off street lights or buildings, and thus operators are likely to face more challenges and restrictions when installing small cell base stations than when installing macro cell base stations. Anyway, the most practical approach for now would be an all-in-one solution similar to macro cell, which would not be easy due to limited installation spaces for the foregoing reasons. A Japanese operator has requested for a solution to this issue. Another possible approach would be installing RRHs somewhere that cannot be easily spotted, like behind signs or frame structures. However judging from my own experiences of conducting eco-friendly researches, it is less likely that operators would love the idea because of high costs required for product lineup, installation and management. For me, the keywords are naturalness and convergence. With a simpler design and softer light, we can make the small cell hardware platform not look like a typical communication device. Furthermore, we can add more features like street light, CCTV, beamvertising, etc., transforming it from a conventional mono-function platform into a useful multi-function platform. More interesting ideas can be brought up to help operator to build up a positive brand image. n
Figure 6. Street light-integrated small cell solutions
In-Ho Kim([email protected])
Head of AAS groupKMW(http://www.kmw.co.kr/eng/index.html)
Figure 7. Radio Bank (KMW Small Cell Hardware Platform)
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 27
B2C IoT services available from Korean operators (right green box: commercialized service)
Category Services Description
SK Telecom
Smart FurnitureUsers can use the Internet, listen to the radio, search for news or recipes, food prices and the weather, and even make a phone call using the touch screen on their furniture, such as dressing tables and cabinet doors.
C
Smart Mirroring Mirrors smartphone or tablet screen onto TVs or larger screens using Wi-Fi network.
Play With (Ballpark)
Provides smartphone users in a ballpark with various location-based information on events at the ballpark, promotions at shops, etc. in real time, by using Beacon devices installed at the ballpark and related IoT platforms.
Solar skinSolar-powered smartphone charging case that uses light to generate electric current to charge a smartphone battery.
C
EntertainmentSmart Audio Linkage (FLAC)
Portable Wi-Fi speaker capable of supporting a high quality music files such as Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC)
C
Smart HomeRemotely switches on/off and cOntrols all home appliances/devices through the IoT platform/network (1. Air-purifier/air-conditioning/refrigerator, 2. Boilers/door-locks/ dryers)
Smart Beam HDSmall sized projector built with laser technology to project a high definition and brighter image
C
Safety T kidsphone Joon
Allows parents to check the whereabouts and safety of children through the information transmitted from the wearable 3G phone of their children. Offers child safety-related features like emergency calling, SOS notification, real-time location tracking and Safe Zone setting.
Electronic AnkletKeeps track of sex offenders' whereabouts in real-time via an anklet with built-in sensor they are wearing.
C
C
PointCam Monitors CCTV footages recorded at remote sites in real-time via smartphone or PC. C
C
C
Health TelecareRemotely monitors activities of the elderly living alone or the severely disabled by using HD cameras, and sends alerts in case of fire, gas detection, emergency calls, etc.
Smart BandWearable watch that notifies users of incoming calls, SMS/MMS, emails and SNS updates, but also provides fun features like physical exercise and health-care for users.
Smart Hearing AidBluetooth earset that provides basic earset features plus a four-channel hearing aid feature for people with hearing loss
Life T-Car
Provides T-car service users (drivers) with vehicle-related information on their smartphone for easier maintenance using a wireless modem (3G, LTE) and a controller built into vehicles. The users can start their car remotely using T-Car app downloaded on their smartphone.
C
Eggo-mate Personal assistant service that arranges/organizes events, meetings and schedules and even sends messages on behalf of a user.
Smart ShopperAllows users to just scan the barcodes of desired items using a scanner instead of actually putting them in a cart, and pay at once at a kiosk. Extra service like home delivery of purchased items may be available too.
Smart StampAllows users to get electronic coupons or have reward cards stamped on their smartphone, and use them just like real printed coupons and cards.
Smart CreditcardSaves information of many credit cards onto one *BLE-enabled electronic card so that card holders can make payment using the card without having to carry all the cards.
ShopkickProvides shoppers with various shopping information related to nearby stores (like coupon, discount, rewards) on their smartphone as they pass by.
C
C
Bike solution (LBS)Provides IoT-based integrated bike management services, including i) theft/loss prevention service, and ii) registration/management service, through a built-in Beacon sensor.
C
C
C
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 28
B2C IoT services available from Korean operators (right green box: commercialized service)
KT
Category Services Description
Health Home FitnessChecks and provides statistics on speed, distance, and calories burned, by using sensors built into sportswear, sports shoes, training machines, etc., and connectivity options like IPTV set top box, smartphone.
C
Yodoc Portable self-diagnosis urine analyzer for self-checkup at home. C
Smart AirMonitors indoor air pollution levels and sends pollution alerts through interworking with an external IoT big data platform. Controls the IoT enabled air-cleaning system accordingly.
Home IoTRemotely switches on/off and controls lights and plugged-in appliances using the IoT platform at or away from home. Helps to conserve energy over time by preventing unnecessary power usage.
Tap signUnlike conventional E-commerce, this service allows a credit card company to authenticate an e-commerce transaction on a smartphone (NFC enabled), simply by placing a "Tap Sign" credit card (RF IC chip inside) on the smartphone.
Safety U secure service Alerts parents or caregivers if a child leaves the designated safety zone. C
Entertainment Giga SoundQualcomm's "Allplay" technology-based music service. It enables an IoT based wireless speaker to play the music (supporting FLAC) that is being played through a music app. on smartphone (e.g Genie service) via a wireless IoT network
C
Emergency safety care services
Sensors installed at home detect any emergency situation of the elderly living alone or the severely disabled, sending alerts to their designated caregivers as needed.
C
Life Smart DoorlockUnlocks a door using an NFC-enabled smartphone that has a mobile key stored into the USIM card. Apps for issuing mobile keys are available from operators at charge.
C
Smart Mirror
Senses IoT users' movement through D2D technology, and displays various information (weather, temperature, traffic and etc.) on the mirror by interworking with an IoT platform. Can also displays personal digital albums (photo/video) and SMS messages as well.
LG U+
Life Home managerRemotely switches on/off and controls lights and plugged-in appliances using the IoT platform/network (interworking home appliances: Gas lock, Smart bulb, smart plug, Door lock, door view, Air-conditioning, refrigerator)
Health Smart Healthcare IoT-based spiral health care solution (posture control, correction, etc.)
Life Magic MirrorPrecisely diagnoses skin conditions through the magic mirror equipped with a special camera and display, offering various skin care solutions
Life Car LinkDisplays services and features on smartphone in the display/screen in a vehicle (Connected car)
C
Safety LTE BlackboxIn case of accidents, LTE blackbox installed in a vehicle of a nursery/kindergarten automatically sends recorded data to LG U+'s control server through LTE network, while alerting an related administrator and parents.
Safety Home CCTV MomcaRemotely monitors children's academic and daily activities at nursery/kindergarten in real-time through CCTV.
C
Safety Gas LockRemotely checks and turns off the gas valve from anywhere using a smartphone, and also features overheat alert, automatic lock, timer setting, etc.
C
C
C
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 29
B2B LTE DronePerforms HD video transmission and real-time control using LTE modem-equipped drones : Broadcasting, Fire, Military area
C
Digital Tachograph(DTG)
Records and sends driving information of a vehicle, such as location, distance to the control center, etc., by using DTG (Digital Tachograph) system and a wireless modem in the vehicle.
C
LTE CCTV Monitors activities at remote sites in real-time on CCTV through LTE network
MOSRemotely monitors and controls the status of facilities and equipment in a big building complex, factory, plant, etc.*MOS: Monitoring, Maintenance and Management Operating System
C
Smart energyMeasures, analyzes and manages the amount of energy consumed by corporate or individual person.
Bus stop shelterProvides bus passangers with various information and advertising service through media outlets at bus stop shelters (partnered with KT media hub)
Eco Food BinKeeps track of the amount of waste discharged in an individual RFID built-in container, and delivers the information to the main system of “Korea Environment Corporation (KECO)” for billing.
Smart VotingIssues voting papers for remote voters through smart voting terminals installed by the Election Authority.
C
SK Telecom
B2B Smart DTGRemotely collects and transmits DTG (Digital Tachograph) information of vehicles through a wireless communication module (GPS-embedded).
Smart Eco-drivingOffers cost-efficient driving solutions for commercial vehicles (cargo, bus, etc.), supporting features such as real-time location/operation reporting, DTI, eco-driving information, travel route/tracking.
T Smart FarmProvides diverse remote control features for indoor/outdoor farms through IoT/M2M infrastructure (open/close water, turn on/off heater, pesticide application, CCTV footages).
Smart Fish FarmMonitors the growth and health of fish (eels), measuring the quality of water in the eel fish tank.
C
Location-based(Beacon+Glass)
The Beacon-based LBS helps workers to easily trace accurate locations items/products, and the Smart Glass transmits videos captured at sites to the control center, by combining Beacon with Smart Glass platform.
CLOUD BEMSMonitors/analyzes/manages energy usage in building facilities through a cloud-based BEMS (Building Energy Management System) for energy-saving
Wireless ATM service Provides the existing ATM service with a wireless connection using LTE router
B2GTraffic Signal Control Communication Service
Monitors the system status information of the traffic signal controllers remotely through a built-in LTE modem, minimizing traffic jams caused by traffic system errors.
C
B2G Weather PlanetProvides high-resolution weather information collected by AWS (Automatic Weather Stations) located at SKT’s base station sites.
Lake water monitoring
Monitors the quality of lake water and sends the collected data through a wireless modem.
LG U+
B2B Smart LockerEnables operators to check the conditions and status of the automated locker systems in subway stations in real time, by using LTE router device. Also, the systems can be upgraded and managed effectively through wireless connection.
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
C
B2B IoT services available from Korean operators (right green box: commercialized service)
KT
Category Services Description
Netmanias Interview with KT at MWC 2015 (1)
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-H and LTE-UDr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 30
At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, KT
demonstrated a variety of new 5G, Hetnet and IoT technologies
and services (see table 1, p. 33). Of all those presented, below we
will focus on our most interested topics, WiFi-related pre-5G
technology, LTE-Hetnet (LTE-H) and LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U),
and see how they were demonstrated.
5GHz WiFi AP operates with 40MHz. The mobile
device can simultaneously receive data from LTE
RRH as well as WiFi AP.
In the LTE-H demonstration, link aggregation
was performed between BBU and UE on Packet
Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer. On BBU's
PDCP layer, PDCP scheduler classifies PDCP
packets into two groups - destined for RRH and for
WiFi AP. Those destined for RRH are delivered
through CPRI interface as conventionally done,
whereas those destined for WiFi AP are delivered
through Ethernet.
Unlike conventional APs, the WiFi AP used in the
demonstration is aware of PDCP.
LTE-Hetnet (LTE-H)KT successfully demonstrated LTE-H, LTE-WiFi
Link Aggregation, for the first time in the world, by
using Samsung's LTE base station and WiFi AP,
and Qualcomm's modem chip for mobile devices.
As seen in Figure 1, the new LTE-H achieved a
speed higher than 600Mbps.
LTE-H is a link aggregation technology that
combines two different radio access technologies
(RATs) - LTE and WiFi - while the conventional
carrier aggregation (CA) in LTE-A combines
multiple LTE carriers. This new technology enables
a device to use both LTE and WiFi networks
simultaneously, and so it can significantly enhance
speeds by combining two networks' best achievable
rates.
In the demonstration, a total of 600 Mbps - 150
Mbps from LTE and 450 Mbps from WiFi AP - was
achieved.
With LTE-H, a base station collects from AP the
information on the signal received strength
between a device and WiFi AP, and automatically
controls (i.e. turns on/off) WiFi connection. That is,
whether to use both LTE and WiFi or just LTE is
the network's decision, not a user's decision.
[Network environment demonstrated] KT's demo
was run in cooperation with Samsung and
Qualcomm. The architecture of KT's commercial
RAN is Centralized-RAN (C-RAN) architecture.
So, in the demonstration, the same C-RAN
architecture was used for the base station,
separating Baseband Unit (BBU) and Remote Radio
Head (RRH) from each other.
An 802.11ac-based GiGA WiFi AP is also used.
BBU and RRH are connected through Common
Public Radio Interface (CPRI) interface, whereas
BBU and WiFi AP are connected through gigabit
Ethernet interface, which seems pretty interesting.
The 1.8GHz RRH operates with 20MHz and the
CPRI
LTEmodem
Wi-Fimodem
GE
LTE
802.11
Device Qualcomm
Wi-Fi APSamsung
600Mbps
Macro RRHSamsung
BBUSamsung
40MHz@[email protected]
150Mbps
450Mbps
EPCSamsung
LTE-H (LTE-Hetnet)
5GHz(Unlicensed)
Wi-Fi: 477.5MbpsLTE: 146.6 Mbps
Figure 1. KT's LTE-H demonstration at MWC 2015
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-H and LTE-U | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 31
whether each packet is to be delivered through WiFi
or LTE, which is practically impossible. The only
possible way would be for BBU, which determines
whether packets go through WiFi or LTE, to do
packet accounting and inform P-GW or charging
server.
However, there is no standard concerning this,
yet. So quite a lot of technological and policy-
related issues can be encountered when actually
commercializing LTE-H and determining WiFi
packet charging policy.
[Issue 2. How do we connect DU and WiFi AP?]
BBUs are mostly located at major Central Offices
(COs) while APs can be anywhere (typically,
hotspots). Then how can we connect them? (where
the GE lines are required)
LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U)Another new aggregation technology KT showcased
with Samsung and Qualcomm was LTE Unlicensed
(LTE-U, or Licensed-Assisted Access (LAA) as
defined in 3GPP). LTE-U is LTE CA between LTE
licensed and unlicensed bands. As seen in Figure 3,
LTE-U achieved almost 450 Mbps at the
demonstration site.
[Network environment demonstrated] As in LTE-
H, KT showcased LTE-U in cooperation with
Samsung and Qualcomm. The LTE base station was
provided by Samsung, and the modem chip for the
mobile device was provided by Qualcomm.
Again, the architecture of the LTE base station used
in the demonstration is C-RAN architecture, and
hence BBU and RRH are separated from each
So it can convert PDCP packets received from BBU
into 802.11 frames and forward them to UE. The
UE, upon receiving PDCP packets from both RRH
and WiFi AP, aggregates the PDCP packets on
PCDP layer and forwards user IP packets to the
upper layer.
According to a person from KT who conducted the
demonstration, although link aggregation was
demonstrated only on PDCP layer this time, the
company is currently considering possible link
aggregation on RLC level as well. He also confirmed
that many different deployment scenarios,
including macro/small RRH, are being reviewed
now.
Of all Korean big 3 operators, KT has the most
extensive hotspot WiFi sites, and it has also built a
dedicated backhaul network that connects all GiGA
WiFi APs installed at each site with 1GE. KT plans
to operate a trial LTE-H network that supports
giga-class speeds at its hotspots across the nation
through interconnection between the LTE-H
network and its extensive WiFi network, by the first
half of 2016.
[Issue 1. Once LTE-H is commercialized, will WiFi
service remain free?] Today, WiFi service is free but
LTE service is a pay-per-packet (volume-based
charging) service. In case of LTE service, P-GW is
in charge of packet accounting by user. But with
LTE-H, if a user downloads some data, then the
amount of data downloaded through WiFi should
not be charged because it is free. To determine the
amount of data to be charged, P-GW must know
Figure 2. Link aggregation by LTE-H demonstrated at MWC 2015
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-H and LTE-U | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
EPC
IP packetsGE
I/Q streamCPRI
RRH
802.11ac
RLC
LTE
User IP packets
25 4 3 1
BBU
WiFi
PDCP scheduling
150 Mbps
40MHz@5GHz
450 Mbps
600Mbps
PHYMAC
Wi-Fi AP(802.11ac )
UE
4 3
2
5
1
IP
25 4 3 1
Link aggregation
WiFi
LTE
PDCP-aware
RLC
MA
CP
HY
Ad
ap.
RLC
PH
YM
AC
2 1
45 3
PDCP
PD
CP
Adap.RLC
PHYMAC
LTE
CPRI
LTEmodem
LTEmodem
CPRI
LTE
Device Qualcomm
Small RRHSamsung
450Mbps
Macro RRHSamsung
BBUSamsung
20+20MHz@[email protected]
150Mbps
300M
bps
EPCSamsung
LTE
LTE
LTE-U (LTE-Unlicensed)
5GHz(Unlicensed)
Figure 3. KT's LTE-U demonstration at MWC 2015
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 32
currently working on establishment of LAA
standards, is putting efforts to have Listen Before
Talk (LBT) supported when LTE uses unlicensed
bands, for peaceful co-existence of LTE and WiFi. n
other. BBU is connected to two LTE RRHs (licensed
1.8GHz RRH and unlicensed 5GHz RRH) through
CPRI interface.
The 1.8GHz RRH operates with 20MHz and the
5GHz RRH operates with 40MHz (2x20MHz). So
the mobile device can download data at up to
450Mbps through total 60MHz obtained by
aggregating 3 carriers.
LTE-U aggregates LTE carriers just like the
conventional LTE-A CA does, but it is different
from the conventional LTE-A CA in that:
i) it uses the unlicensed 5GHz band.
ii) the cell that uses a licensed band always works
as a primary cell, and the one(s) that use an
unlicensed band work as secondary cell(s).
That is, mobile devices are always connected to
licensed bands, and unlicensed bands are used
supplementary only when SCells become activated
by PCell.
What makes LTE-U different form LTE-H is that
it uses LTE instead of WiFi in unlicensed bands.
The strong growth in LTE subscription/traffic has
imposed the burden on operators of acquiring
additional LTE frequency. Given the circumstance,
LTE-U is very attractive to operators because i)
unlicensed bands are free, and ii) LTE is more
frequency-efficient and more robust to interference,
compared to WiFi. But at the same time, there still
is an issue to be solved. BecauSe WiFi has long been
using unlicensed bands almost exclusively, the
question of how LTE co-exists with WiFi is left
unanswered [1]. Especially, as WiFi is now handling
more and more voice/video services, there is an
inevitable, growing concern about possible
degradation in delay performance to be caused by
co-existence of LTE and WiFi. 3GPP Rel.13,
Figure 4. KT's LTE-U architecture demonstrated at MWC 2015
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-H and LTE-U | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
I/Q streamCPRI
I/Q streamCPRI
RRH
BBU
RRH
IP
25 4 3 1PD
CP
RLC
UE
User IP packets
25 4 3 1
Unlicensed LTE
Licensed LTE
Link aggregation
PH
Y1
.8G
PH
Y5
GP
HY
5G
MA
C
5GHz (20MHz)
5GHz (20MHz)
LTELTE
LTE
1.8GHz(20MHz)P
HY
5G
PH
Y1
.8G
PD
CP
RLC
MA
CM
AC
PH
Y5
G
EPC
[1] See “Debates on LTE-Unlicensed and WiFi” in Netmanias KCR (Jan. 2015 issue)
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 33
Figure 2. Link aggregation by LTE-H demonstrated at MWC 2015
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-H and LTE-U | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
Category
Table 2. Comparison of link level Carrier Aggregation technologies (LTE-A CA, LTE-H and LTE-U)
LTE-H LTE-U
CA level
Licensed
Link level (MAC layer)
Licensed
Link level (PDCP layer)
Licensed
Link level (MAC layer)
PCell
Single RAT (LTE only) Multi-RAT (LTE and WiFi) Single RAT (LTE only)
CA band
SCell Licensed Unlicensed (5GHz) Unlicensed (5GHz)
RAT
CA using licensed LTE bands CA using licensed LTE and unlicensed WiFi CA using licensed LTE and unlicensed LTE
CA Type
Macro Cell Small Cell
LTE-A CA
Wi-Fi APMacro Cell
LTE
LTEmodem
Wi-Fimodem
BBUBBU
LTELT
E802.11
5 GHz
SCell
5 GHz
PCell
LTE
Small Cell
SCellPCell
SCellLT
ELTE
LTEmodem
LTEmodem
BBU
LTE
Macro Cell
PCell
LTE
SCellPCell
LTE-WiFi Link Aggregation
LTE Network LTE NetworkLTE Network WiFi Network
LTEmodem
LTEmodem
Licensed band
Unlicensed band
WiFi band (5 GHz)
LTE Band 5 (850 MHz)
LTE Band 3 (1.8 GHz)
Category
5G Access 5G Pre-stage
Table 1. KT @MWC 2015
Technology/Service
LET-HetNet (LTE-H)
LTE-Beyond (LTE-B)
LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U)
LTE-MTC (LTE-M)
LTE-DL/UL CA
Partner
Samsung & Qualcomm
Samsung
Samsung & Qualcomm
Nokia
Nokia
5G Infra
5G Innovation
5G Backhaul
5G UDN
mmWave Sytsem
Triple Mode Cell
10GiGA Internet
Ultra-Dense Network
Samsung
Broadcom
ubiQuoss
Ericsson
GiGAtopia GiGA Home Smart Air Care Service
Smart Home
Woogjin Coway
GiGA sound
Olleh GiGA home-fitneww
IoT G/W
Smart mirror
KT Music
EunSung Healthvill
Qualcomm
Samsung
GiGA Shop Smart Shop Window (LET D2D)
TapSign (IC chip card NFC payment)
Samsung
VP Inc., BC card
GiGA School
GiGA Vote
Yodoc (smart analysis)
Voting System
beTOUCH
ChattingCat
NEONEXSoft, S-connect
NEONEXSoft, MEHUS
Anyractive
ChattingCat
Netmanias Interview with KT at MWC 2015 (2)
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-TDD9-carrier CA, LTE-UL/DL CA and triple mode femto
Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 34
At Barcelona's Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, KT
demonstrated a variety of new 5G, Hetnet and IoT technologies
and services (see table 1, p. 33). Of all those presented, below we
will focus on our most interested topics, LTE TDD-related pre-
5G technology, LTE-B (9-carrier CA), LTE DL/UL CA and triple
mode femto, and see how they were demonstrated.
that combines 3 LTE-FDD bands (Band 1, 3 and 8),
supporting up to 300Mbps. Now, with this
demonstration, the company proved itself capable
of supporting 1Gbps through TDD CA (as claimed
through its marketing brand GiGA).
This time, multiple (9) carriers within one TDD
band were aggregated (intra-band CA). But, once
capable RF transceivers become available in the
market, multiple carriers can be aggregated across
multiple TDD bands (inter-band CA).
CA certainly is the most effective way of
improving user speeds and system capacities
through extension of radio transmission
bandwidth. The only downside is that it requires
more frequency to give higher speeds and better
capacities.
So far in Korea, LTE service has been
commercialized using FDD frequencies only. But,
over the next few years (by 2018), not only FDD
frequencies but also TDD frequencies are scheduled
to be allocated. Given that, the demonstration
seemed to serve well as an opportunity for KT to
show its readiness for provision of giga-class service
through TDD frequencies as well.
LTE DL/UL CAKT also showcased LTE-DL/UL CA, another LTE-
TDD technology, capable of aggregating not only
downlink (DL) but also uplink (UL). This
demonstration, conducted in cooperation with
Nokia (China), was the world's first "UL" CA
demonstration.
Unlike FDD, LTE-TDD system uses only one
carrier for both UL and DL transmission. The ratio
of UL to DL transmission in one radio frame
(UL:DL) is determined based on ratio
configurations. For example, in case of 20 MHz
bandwidth:
• with configuration 1, UL:DL=2:2 and max. UL/
DL speeds are about 20/80 Mbps.
• with configuration 2, UL:DL=1:3 and max. UL/
DL speeds are about 10/110 Mbps.
In the demonstration, two 20 MHz carriers in 2.3
GHz (Band 40) were aggregated (intra-band CA),
doubling maximum speeds in both UL and DL,
compared to one carrier transmission (UL: ≈40
Mbps, DL: ≈220 Mbps).
LTE-Beyond (LTE-B)KT, in cooperation with Samsung, implemented
LTE-B that aggregates 9 LTE-TDD carriers,
achieving 1Gbps (≈ 9x110Mbps) at the event. 3GPP
has defined in Rel. 10 that up to 5 carriers across up
to 5 bands can be aggregated, and now it is working
on CA enhancements to expand LTE CA up to 32
carriers in Rel. 13 that is currently under review.
Earlier in January, KT commercialized 3-band CA
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-TDD | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
LTE-B (LTE-Beyond)
TDDBand
(LTE-TDD)1Gbps
Intra-band CA
20MHz LTE Carrier x 9 = 180MHz
DeviceSamsung
RRHSamsung
20MHz20MHz20MHz20MHz20MHz20MHz20MHz20MHz20MHz
Figure 1. 9 intra-band CA demonstrated by KT and Samsung
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 35
cooperation with Broadcom, was the world's first
femto cell that can support LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD
and WiFi access all at the same time.
In the demonstration, the triple mode cell
operated with 20 MHz of FDD in 1.8 GHz, 20 MHz
of TDD in 2.3 GHz and 20 MHz of 802.11 WiFi in 5
GHz, allowing the mobile device to get download
speeds of 150 Mbps, 110 Mbps and 450 Mbps,
respectively through the three radio access modes.
Because it takes only one chipset to support three
different access modes, the triple mode cell
certainly has its merits: i) it is a space-saving
solution, and ii) it allows mobile devices with
different radio access modes to be served all at
once. Once TDD frequency is secured, the triple
In general, TDD has an advantage in that it allows
for optimized frequency utilization through
efficient handling of load balancing by dynamically
controlling UL-DL ratios. So, it can be very effective
especially when there is traffic burstiness, or when
providing service of which DL ratio is quite higher
than UL.
It seems KT through this demonstration wanted
to make itself become more responsive to traffic
variation by taking advantage of TDD CA in case
LTE-TDD frequency is acquired.
Triple Mode FemtoThe other LTE-TDD technology demonstrated was
triple mode cell. The triple mode cell, showcased in
Figure 2. LTE-TDD DL/UL CA demonstrated by KT and Nokia
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-TDD | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
CA applied (demonstrated), 40MHz
DL Speed ~ 160 Mbps ~ 220 Mbps
UL Speed ~ 40 Mbps ~ 20Mbps
Config. 1 (UL:DL=2:2) Config. 2 (UL:DL=1:3)
DL Speed ~ 80 Mbps ~ 110 Mbps
UL Speed ~ 20 Mbps ~ 10Mbps
LTE-TDD Throughput
20MHz
20MHz 2.3GHz Band(LTE-TDD)
Intra-band CADeviceNokia
BSNokia
20MHz
20MHz
D D D U D D D U
D D D U D D D U
time
f1: 20MHz @2.3GHz
...
...
freq.
f2
f1
Configuration 2 D220 Mbps 20 MbpsU
D D U U D D U U
D D U U D D U U
time
f1: 20MHz @2.3GHz
...
...
freq.
f2
f1
Configuration 1 D 160 Mbps 40 MbpsU
LTE FDD: 77.8 MbpsLTE TDD: 54.2 MbpsWi-Fi: 100.5 Mbps
Triple mode femto
Broadband
Wi-Fi LTE-FDD
LTE-TDD
Triple mode femtoBroadcom
LTE-FDD
LTE-TDD
WiFi
TDD: [email protected]
FDD: [email protected]
WiFi: 20MHz@5GHz
77.8 Mbps
54.2 Mbps100.5 Mbps
Figure 3. Triple Mode Femto Cell (LTE-FDD, LTE-TDD and WiFi) demonstrated by KT and Broadcom
TDD, 20MHz
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Ca
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protocols
Analyze trends, technologies and market
ReportTechnical documents
BlogOne-Shot gallery
AnalysisConcept DesignDRM
NETMANIASTM
••• We design the Future
NMC Consulting Group Co., Ltd.
• 2F, Namyeong Building 730-13, Yeoksam-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul 135-921, Korea
• 3832 NE 88th Street Seattle, WA 98115 USA
• e-mail: [email protected]
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 36
mode cell is expected to be commercialized right
away, enhancing indoor radio communication.
KT has been trying to convert the purpose of its
2.3GHz band from WiBro (Mobile WiMAX) to LTE-
TDD. If everything goes well, KT will be able to
acquire LTE-TDD frequency. The demonstration
seemed to reflect KT's keen desire to expedite the
process of converting WiBro into LTE-TDD
purpose.
Ever since the LTE-FDD service (with 10MHz)
launch in July 2011, Korea, with the highest LTE
penetration rate in the world, has been leading
development of LTE technology/service, for
example, through the world's first
commercialization of three new services: LTE-A
(10+10MHz), Wideband LTE-A (20+10MHz) and
Tri-band LTE-A (20+10+10MHz) services.
However, due to lack of available frequency, all
Korean big 3 operators have had a hard time
developing more advanced LTE technology with
enhanced speeds and service quality.
To address this issue, the Korea Communications
Commission (KCC) and the Ministry of Science, ICT
and Future Planning (MSIP) announced the
“National Mobile Broadband Plan” for allocation of
additional frequencies. As the plan includes
additional allocation of not only FDD but also TDD
frequency, LTE service is expected to be
commercialized through TDD as well.
Therefore, for continuous development of more
advanced LTE technologies, efforts to get ready for
LTE-TDD as well as LTE-FDD should be made. In
that context, KT seemed to make such effort
through its demonstrations using LTE-TDD. n
KT's Demonstrations of LTE-TDD | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
The number of managed APs
Self Authentication
RF resource management
Self Healing
Fast Roaming
802.11ac support
Section
HA cluster
DVW-504XH802.11a/g/n802.11ac(wave-2)
23dBm4X4 MIMOExternal/Internal
802.3at orPoE 12VDC
2 30W
Wi-Fi Total Solution leading future mobile networks world
New WLAN standard 802.11ac, GIGA WiFi
Main function
• 802.11ac,Giga WiFi
• 2.4GHz/5GHz dual band
• Management to 802.11ac AP as well as 802.11a/b/g/n AP• L2/L3 Seamless Roaming for mobility• WLAN resource management with AP - Auto channel configuration, Auto power control - Coverage hole detection, Self healing - Load banacing, Band steering(5GHz priority selecting)
• Security & QoS - Protection from wireless threat (DoS attack, TCP SYN flooding) - Bandwidth control by service, SSID and station
• System Redundancy (1+1, primary/secondary or 1:N)
DAVOLINK Inc. 112, Beolmal-ro, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do, 864-7, Korea TEL +82-31-387-3240 www.davolink.co.kr
DVW-4034XH 802.11a/g/n802.11ac 23dBm
3X3 MIMOExternal
802.3atPoE
1Outdoor dual-band AP,High transmit power 24W
DVW-403XH802.11a/g/n802.11ac 23dBm
3X3 MIMOExternal/Internal2 24W
DVW-402XH 802.11a/g/n802.11ac
23dBm2X2MIMOExternal/Internal2 20W
DVW-412X802.11a/g/n80211ac
17dBm 2X2 MIMOExternal/Internal
2Indoor dual-band AP,Normal transmit power,175(H) x 175(W) x 45(D)mm
15W
EthernetPorts(1Gbps)
WirelessStandards
TransmitPower
Antennas Power Sources
Maximumpower consumption
BriefDescription
ProductModel
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
512 256 4096
X 7 Port X
SC-300 SC-400 SC-2000 Remarks
Security (wireless DoS attack protection)
Flexible ACL/QoS policy
PoE PSE (802.3at)
*`DVW-504XH is available in 4Q 2015
Indoor dual-band AP,High transmit power,225(H) x 225(W) x 45(D)mm
Indoor dual-band AP,High transmit power,225(H) x 225(W) x 45(D)mm
Dual-band Indoor/Outdoor AP supporting 802.11ac wave-2 technologyHigh transmit power
802.3af orPoE 12VDC
802.3at orPoE 12VDC
802.3at orPoE 12VDC
Netmanias Interview with SK Telecom at MWC 2015
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform: T-PANI and APOLLODemonstrations of Pre-5G/5G Technologies at MWC 2015
Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 38
SK Telecom at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015
demonstrated its newest network operation platform for 5G
called “Fast Data Platform”, using two big data-based intelligent
operation platforms: T-Packet Analytics & Network Intelligence
(T-PANI) and Analytics Platform for Intelligent Operation
(APOLLO).
anywhere, by 2020.
To accommodate the ongoing drastic data traffic
growth, and ultra-high speed data transmission
expected in 5G, changes in network operating
systems have become inevitable. What if operators
cannot keep services that need different QoS
requirements, or the enormous traffic under proper
control? What if cells, which have become smaller
to ensure faster data transmission, cannot respond
to the fast-increasing traffic variation in the cells
quick enough? Apparently, the quality of user
experience will be degraded, and also network
operation can be at risk.
So, now a network operation platform should be
able to:
1. process the enormous amount of big data, which
has not been actually used much so far (big data
process)
2. analyze service quality that each user is
experiencing, in real time (real-time analytics)
3. efficiently control network resources for each
user to avoid quality degradation (user-level
optimization)
The company regards "Big Data + Real-time
Analytics" as the two key words of Fast Data. The
new platform not only efficiently processes “big
data” constantly generated in the network, but also
analyzes and optimizes them in real time,
addressing service degradation experienced by
users fast. So, it is expected to allow for user-level
optimization.
Then, let's find out what the background of Fast
Data Platform is? As of Q4 2014, monthly data
usage per SK Telecom subscriber increased by 36%,
compared to the last year. To catch up with the fast
growing high speed data usage, the company
launched 3-band LTE-A service in January 2015,
opening up a new era of 300 Mbps transmission.
SK Telecom should be able to expand to 5-band
once additional frequencies are acquired, and is
currently planning to commercialize a 5G network,
which will easily offer 1 Gbps speeds to its users
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform: T-PANI and APOLLO | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
Figure 1. Growth in monthly LTE data usage per subscriber (source: SK Telecom)
3-band LTE-A service uses CA across three bands
– two conventional LTE bands, Band 3 (20MHz)
and Band 5 (10 MHz), and one '3G-converted-LTE'
band, Band 1 (10 MHz).
As of March 31, SK Telecom has 26,000 Band 1
(2.1 GHz) base stations nationwide, offering 3-
band LTE-A service to 85 major cities in the
nation. And if everything goes as planned,
another 5,000 base stations will be ready to
operate by August, further expanding the service
coverage.
T-PANI and APOLLO have already been playing a
large role in determining service coverage of the
current 3-band LTE-A (i.e. in deciding on locations
of 2.1 GHz base stations). These two platforms
are expected to be fully leveraged in operating
LTE-A/5G networks as well.
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 39
Network operation and management for 5G: Fast Data PlatformIn contrast to the conventional platform, Fast Data
Platform allows for 'user and service-oriented'
network operation and management, and network
optimization as well. Network optimization using
the new platform is three-fold, and includes: i) big
data collection, ii) analysis of the data and user/
service-oriented optimization by T-PANI and
APOLLO, and iii) enforcement of optimization
through cSON.
Big data can be collected from UE, RAN (base
stations), and core network. At UE, all events that
are occurring at UE are collected through an
application called "DIAG on Device (DoD)"
installed on the UE. At base stations, cell-level data,
signaling data exchanged between base station and
UE, and instantaneous variations (e.g. radio
measurements at UE) are collected. And finally at
core network, data relating to user bearer/service
are collected.
For example, RRC messages exchanged between
base stations and UE alone are more than tens of
TB every day. And this massive data have been left
unused so far. The beauty of the new platform is
that, it can analyze this big data to identify
abnormality and problems, decide what to optimize
(e.g. service, user, cell, etc.), and perform
optimization on them. And then improvement
measures based on the optimization results are
enforced to base stations through cSON.
Conventional network operation and managementConventionally, network operation and
management have been focused on optimizing
performance of base stations. Network optimization
has been performed at cell level, by using vendor-
provided statistics of each cell. When O&M data is
generated from base stations, a vendor-provided
EMS collects it, processes it into statistics for
individual cells, and sends them to the centralized
Self-Organizing Network (cSON) server. Then the
cSON server uses them in optimizing the network
(EMS is not shown in the figure for simplified
illustration).
Data process is delayed while O&M statistics is
being generated. Because of such delay, the cSON
server can perform network optimization not in real
time, but only regularly or as scheduled.
Optimization in the conventional way is performed
at 'cell level', which makes 'user-level' QoE
management difficult. Besides, operators cannot
identify any QoE problems, which a user might be
facing, in time until the user calls the operator's
customer service complaining about it. So,
technically real-time QoE management is also
impossible, let alone user-level optimization.
SK Telecom has been operating cSON that it
developed, since its commercialization in 2012.
Mostly, cSON is used in neighbor optimization and
power control, and other cSON features, though not
very popular now, are expected to be used more
often in the near future.
Figure 2. Conventional network operation and management platform - cell optimization based on O&M data
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform: T-PANI and APOLLO | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
CO (RAN)
BBU
cSON
2
Cell optimization parameters ㆍneighbor cell list ㆍmax Tx power etc
Cell 1
1 3Cell information ㆍeNB configuration
ㆍResource status
ㆍUplink interference
ㆍHandover report
etc
Analytics using cell informationCell level optimization
e.g., neighbor list optimization
1 Cell data collection
2 Analytics & cell optimization
3 Optimization provisioningCell 2
Cell 3
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 40
core network. Just to name a few, big data includes:
• Data collected from core network: bearer/service
data
- Network performance info: link utilization,
call drop ratio
- Call attempts, successful calls and usage index
per application
• Data collected from RAN (base stations)
- Base station/Cell information: eNB
configuration, Resource status, Interference,
Handover report, Fault status
- Signaling data exchanged between base
Even for users at the same cell, at the same location
or route, optimization is customized for each user
depending on their subscriber class, or the service
subscribed. This means, network resources are
more efficiently used, in a way that can improve
QoE of more users.
The optimization procedure by Fast Data Platform
can be summarized as follows:
1) Big data collection
The platform collects big data from UE, RAN, and
Figure 3. Fast Data Platform: optimized customization based on real time analytics of big data
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform: T-PANI and APOLLO | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
CO
APOLLO Real-time User/Service Level OptimizationAnalytics using big data (from UEs, BBUs, core network)
T-PANI ㆍCustomer Experience Management
ㆍApp/Service Analytics
ㆍNetwork Monitoring
UE1: RRC signaling, Radio measurements
UE2: RRC signaling, Radio measurements
2
UE2: DoD data
Cell 1
Cell 2
Cell 3
Cell information
Cell 1:
Cell 2: ...
Service servers
Core servers (P-GW, MME,
HSS, etc)
UE1: Service and Performance Info
UE2: Service and Performance Info
21 Big Data Collection
UE Radio Access Network Core Network User Services
BBU EPC IMS
cSON
UE1
UE2
3 Optimization Provisioning
UE1: DoD data
Optimization Enforcement
Automatic Network Optimization
Mobile Network
UE1: Performance Info
UE2: Performance Info
UE1: Performance Info
UE2: Performance Info
Dro
pp
ed c
alls
...
H/O
fai
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s,..
.
RSR
P, R
SRQ
,
CQ
I...
Succ
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ul c
alls
...
call
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atio
...
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 41
APOLLO: APOLLO collects and analyzes base
station-originated raw big data in real time, and
optimizes the performance of each base station (or
cell) and user. It processes raw data to obtain
statistics every 10 seconds, and automatically
detects abnormality based on history log, allowing
for real-time optimization as well as user-level
optimization utilizing QoE information. And it,
capable of predicting traffic variation and base
station performance, helps to minimize degradation
in base station and user performance. Followings
are some features of APOLLO and their intended
effects:
• real-time interference monitoring → automatic
interference avoidance
• detecting abnormality in fronthaul and radio
unit → automatic recovery
• real-time analytics of call flow and radio
environment → optimization of call processing
parameters
3) Optimization Provisioning and
Enforcement
Once APOLLO determines what to optimize
through problem analysis, and completes
optimization, improvement measures based on the
optimization results are enforced at base stations
through cSON. cSON offers the interfaces between
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform and base stations.
When optimization provisioning by APOLLO is
completed, cSON enforces it into base stations to
adjust the operation parameters running on the
stations, so that the stations can operate with the
newly adjusted parameters from then on.
The greatest strength of Fast Data Platform is that it
can finally take advantage of quality measurement
data provided by UE (DoD app. to be accurate),
which has been unobtainable in the conventional
network operation and management system. To us,
DoD application works as a radio network quality
measurement tool added to UE, just like Speedtest,
Chariot, XCAL, etc. installed on UE. It enables
operators to collect i) quality of received radio
signals, ii) quality of download speeds, and iii)
quality of services (e.g. VoLTE) at individual UEs in
real time.
The size of cells is getting smaller, and the number
of base stations is increasing. As these trends
continue, measuring the operation quality of
increasing base stations using its current manpower
and measurement equipment will impose a greater
burden of operating cost on SK Telecom. Besides, as
station and UE: RRC messages for
connection establishment and handover
- Radio measurements at UE: RSRP, RSRQ,
CQI
• Data collected from UE
- Call events: out of service, dropped calls
(HD voice) , etc.
- Mobility events: handover failure, cell
reselection failure, etc.
At UE, 'DoD' app is installed, and it reports all call/
mobility events occurring as well as quality of
received radio signals at the UE. According to a
presenter from SK Telecom at the event, as this
application, running in the background, requires
very little power, it has a minimal impact on service
quality on the user side, and also is most effective in
problem analytics. Because DoD became available
only on the relatively recent models like Galaxy S5,
G3, etc., DoD data has been gathered from not
many users, yet. But, as more and more devices
come with DoD these days, user-level optimization
will become more convenient and efficient in years
to come.
2) Real-time analytics and optimization:
T-PANI and APOLLO
T-PANI and APOLLO analyze the collected big data
in real time, identify problems to be handled,
decides what to optimize, and finally perform
optimization.
T-PANI: T-PANI manages networks, customers
and services systematically. It measures Customer
Experience Index (CEI), monitors app/service
status, and analyzes CEI and app/service status for
each service and region in real time. In case of CEI
degradation or service failure, any service quality
problem or system fault can be identified within
less than one minute from an E2E perspective. T-
PANI then provides CE and service status
information to APOLLO so that it can perform
user-level optimization. T-PANI consists of
following modules:
• Network Topology: supports network operation
• Application Service: responds to external threats
through monitoring and analyzing service status
• Customer Experience Management (CEM):
analyzes CEI and manages quality of customer
experience
- CEI per service (e.g. Data, HD Voice, CSFB)
- Nationwide CEI map
- Bad CE level in regions
- Customers with bad CE
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform: T-PANI and APOLLO | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015 42
more and more small cells are working indoors, measuring radio quality indoors will be another challenge
for operators. Given the circumstance, DoD can be a great solution for this challenge. With DoD
application, the company will be able to obtain radio network quality data from DoD UEs everywhere (Just
imagine there are 20 million DoD UEs across the nation, all constantly collecting DoD data.
DoD application will help the company to not only improve users' QoE through user-level optimization,
but also remotely detect any faults in the company's radio network in real time, by making the most of the
data collected by UEs, allowing for precision management of the network. The presenter from the
company noted, "After the Fast Data Platform deployment in our network, time required for detecting and
handling faults at cell sites has been drastically reduced." n
SK Telecom's Fast Data Platform: T-PANI and APOLLO | Dr. Michelle M. Do and Dr. Harrison J. Son ([email protected])
Figure 4. T-PANI screenshot
Figure 5. APOLLO screenshot
Figure 6. DIAG on Device (DoD) App
Netmanias Interview with SK Telecom at MWC 2015
SK Telecom showcased 5G Quantum Cryptography System at MWC 2015
Chris Yoo ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015, SK Telecom showcased
Quantum Cryptography System (QCS) it had developed for
secure data transmission in ultra-capacity, ultra-high-speed
networks of 5G era.
SK Telecom showcased 5G Quantum Cryptography System at MWC 2015 | Chris Yoo ([email protected])
Unlike the traditional cryptography system that is
based on mathematics, QCS is based on quantum
physics. So it is 100% effective in preventing any
eavesdrop attempts as it generates secret keys using
photons.
Figure 1 shows QCS prototype consisting of a
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) server and 2-
channel encryptor. QKD enables one party to
produce a secret key at 10Kbps, share it with the
other party at the other end of the network (up to
50km away), and update the key if any eavesdrop
attempt is detected. An encryptor, with 2 channels,
can encrypt transmitted data at 20 Gbps (that is, 10
Gbps per channel) with less than 10 usec of
processing delay. This system allows for up to 800
Gbps data encryption using 40 stacked QCSs.
QKD uses photons, elementary particles of a
quantum, to share secret keys. When optic fiber
signal is on, there exist 9 trillion photons. QKD can
generate secret keys by using some of the photons,
specifically one photon per user. The sender of data
generates a secret key based on information on the
polarization and phase of single photon, and sends
it to the receiver to share. So, any eavesdrop
attempt will cause a state change in the photon
embedded in the key, making eavesdropping
impossible.
Traditional cryptosystems are based on
mathematics (e.g. RSA), and thus data encrypted
using traditional cryptosystems are inevitably
vulnerable to hacking. On the contrary, if encrypted
using QCS, it is virtually impossible to hack, or even
unlawfully access, the encrypted data. Mr. Seung
Hwan Kwak, Team Head of QKD Development at
SK Telecom, noted that now cryptosystems rely
more on physics, rather than mathematics.
In the demonstration, SK Telecom used a
prototype designed for backbone (high-capacity
QKD), which is scheduled to be commercialized in
late 2015. In addition to high-capacity QKD, low-
capacity QKD to be used between LTE RAN and
Core network is under development as well.
In addition to QKD that operates at network level,
the company is also working on development of
True Random Number Generation (TRNG) chips
that generate true random numbers at application
level (not demonstrated at the event, though). So
far, random numbers have been generated based on
SW, and thus they were pseudo. However, this HW-
based TRNG chip generates true random numbers
based on quantum mechanics. SK Telecom has
been making efforts to develop small-sized,
affordable TRNG chips. Thanks to its excellent
versatility, the TRNG chips can be used anywhere
that requires cryptography, and thus is expected to
be attractive in the fields such as IoT, smart grid,
etc., soon. n
Figure 1. Quantum Cryptography System (QCS)
“Cryptography, now
relies more on physics, and less on
mathematics.”
Mr. Seung Hwan Kwak, Team Head of QKD Development at SK Telecom
Encryptor (10Gbps 2-channel)
43
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
n Broadband penetration rate (% of household)
The broadband subscription rate in Korea has been steadily increasing, reaching 76.6% in Q1 2005, 100% in Q4
2010, and 104.0% in Q4 2014.
Broadband subscribers in Korea (Q1 2005 – Q4 2014)
Since its launch in 2006, FTTH service subscribers have continued to increase. As of the end of December 2014,
5.7M (29.9% of the total broadband subscribers) are subscribing to this service. Different FTTH technologies have
been adopted by the big 3 operators – E-PON by KT, G-PON by SK, and E-PON by LG U+ – but they all support 100
Mbps/1000Mbps in UL and DL.
n Broadband subscribers trace by access technology
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
10 Years Q4 2014
Q4 2010: 100%
Broadband subscribers
# of Households
Broadband subscribers: 19.2 M
# of Households: 18.4 M
Population: 50.4 M
Penetration rate (% of household): 104.0%
Penetration (% of population): 38.1%
Q4 2014: 104.0%
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q3
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
10 Years
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Q4 2014
LAN (UTP)
FTTH
HFC
XDSLLAN (UTP)
4.5M
(23.5%)
7.3M
(38.0%)
HFC
FTTH
5.7M
(29.9%)XDSL
1.6M
(8.5%)
19.2M Broadband subscribers
in Korea(Q4 2014)
44
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
Broadband subscribers in Korea (Q1 2005 – Q4 2014)
45
3.99
1.37
0.35 0.04
2.88
1.91
1.78
0.69
1.26
0.35
0.03
1.19
0.88
2.40
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
KT SK LG U+ MSO
Subscribers [Million]
XDSL
LAN (UTP)
HFC (Cable)
FTTH OLTONT
PON
OLT
L3 SW
ONU
Edge &
Backbone
Home CO
UTP PON
UTP
L2 SW
L3 SW
UTP
UTP
FTTH
LAN
Last mile line
• FTTH: Optical fiber (ONT at home)
• LAN: UTP cable (from L2 switch or ONU)
Korea has 5.7M FTTH subscribers, and 69.4% of them (i.e. 3.99M) are KT users, making the company the No. 1
FTTH service provider in the country.
8.1M
4.8M
3.0M 3.2M
n Broadband subscribers by operator - per access technology (December 2014)
XDSL
LAN
FTTH
HFC
n Broadband subscribers by operator (Q1 2005 – Q4 2014)
As of the end of December 2014, Korea has 19.2M broadband subscribers, and 42.3% of them (i.e. 8.1M) are
KT users, which makes the company the unrivaled No. 1 in the country’s broadband market.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
10 Years
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Q4 2014
KT
Cable operators
LG U+
SK KT
SK
LG U+
Cable Operators
8.1 M
(42.3%)
19.2M Broadband subscribers
in Korea(Q4 2014)
4.8M
(25.1%)
3.0M
(15.7%)
3.2M
(16.4%)
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
Broadband subscribers growth in Korea – by operator (Q1 2005 – Q4 2014)
BROADBAND SUBSCRIBERS TRACE BY OPERATOR: BREAKDOWN BY ACCESS NETWORK
As of Q4 2014, Korea has 5.7M FTTH subscribers, and 69.4% of them (i.e. 3.99M) are KT
users, making the company the No. 1 FTTH service provider in the country.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
FTTH
FTTH
LAN (UTP)
LAN (UTP)
HFC
HFC
XDSL
0.4
1.8
0.9
Q4 2014Subscribers [Million]
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
4.0
1.3
2.9
1.4
2.9
0.3
1.6
-
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
LAN (UTP)
XDSL
FTTH
46
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
Pay TV subscribers in Korea
47
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
n Pay TV subscribers trace
The number of IPTV subscribers is increasing fast. It exceeded 10M in Q4 2014. This was an increase of 210,000 a
month on average. With this growth rate, it is expected to exceed the number of cable subscribers this year.
n IPTV subscribers trace by telco
Growth in Korea’s IPTV market has been mostly driven by KT. As of Q4 2014, the company has 5.86M IPTV
subscribers, which is 55.1% of the country’s total. SK recorded 26.6% market share with 2.83 million subscribers
while LG U + recorded 18.3% with 1.95 million. IPTV operators in the market are in fierce competition with each
other as well as with cable operators.
Q4 2014
Cable
IPTV
Satellite
29.7MPay TV
subscribersin Korea
(Q4 2014)
14.4%
35.8%
49.8%
Subscribers [Million]
Cable
IPTV
Satellite
2006
Q4 2014
18.3%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
KT: 5.86 M
SK: 2.83 M
LG U+: 1.95 M
10.6MIPTV
subscribersIn Korea
(Q4 2014)
LG U+
KTSK
55.1%
26.6%
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
IPTV subscribers in Korea (Q4 2014)
· IPTV penetration rate (% of household): 57.6%
As of Q4 2014, the number of IPTV subscriptions in Korea reached 10.6 million, accounting for more
than half (57.6%) of the total households in the nation.
· IPTV subscription rate (% of broadband subscriber): 66.7%
The combined broadband subscription of all the big 3 reached 16.0 million, and 66.7% of them are
IPTV subscribers.
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
KT’s IPTV subscribers = 5.9M (Q4 2014)
KT Broadband Subscribers: 8.1 M (Q4 2014)
IPTV subscription rate = 72.1%
As of Q4 2014, KT has 8.1 million Internet subscribers and 5.9 million IPTV subscribers, with 72.1% of IPTV
subscription rate (% of IPTV out of Internet subscription).
Subscribers [Million]
n IPTV penetration rate
n KT’s IPTV subscribers growth (Q3 2016 – Q4 2014)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10 11
-
5
10
15
20
Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4 Q 1 Q 2 Q 3 Q 4
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Households in Korea
Broadband subscribers in Korea
Broadband subscribers of Telco(KT, SK, LG U+)
IPTV subscribers of Telco(KT, SK, LG U+)
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
[Million]19.1 M
18.4 M
16.0 M
10.6 M
KT SK LG U+
KT
+ +
48
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
IPTV subscribers in Korea (Q4 2014)
49
-
1
2
3
4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
-
1
2
3
4
5
Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3 Q1 Q3
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
LG U+’s IPTV subscribers = 1.9M (Q4 2014)
LG U+ Broadband Subscribers: 3.0 M (Q4 2014)
IPTV subscription rate = 64.7%
As of Q4 2014, LG U+ has 3.0 million Internet subscribers and 1.9 million IPTV subscribers, with 64.7% of IPTV
subscription rate (% of IPTV out of Internet subscription).
Subscribers [Million]
n SK’s IPTV subscribers growth (Q3 2006 – Q4 2014)
n LG U+’s IPTV subscribers growth (Q3 2016 – Q4 2014)
2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
SK’s broadband subscribers = 4.8M (Q4 2014)
SK’s IPTV subscribers = 2.8M (Q4 2014)
IPTV subscription rate = 58.8%
As of Q4 2014, SK has 4.8 million Internet subscribers and 2.8 million IPTV subscribers, with 58.8% of IPTV
subscription rate (% of IPTV out of Internet subscription).
Subscribers [Million]
SK
LG U+
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
Mobile statistics in Korea (Q4 2014): Smartphone
n Mobile subscribers in Korea
n Smartphone subscribers in Korea
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2011 2012 2013 2014
[Million]
2012 2013 2014
0.7M
21.3 M
50.0 M
52.3 M 57.2 M: Mobile subscribers
50.4 M: Population
40.6 M: Smartphone subscribers
36.0 M: LTE subscribers
Q4 2014
Mobile penetration rate (% of population): 113.5%
Smartphone penetration rate (% of population): 80.4%
LTE penetration rate (% of population): 71.4%
LTE subscription rate (% of mobile subscriber): 62.9%
Smartphone penetration rate (% of population): 80.4%
Smartphone subscription rate (% of mobile subscriber): 70.9%
Q4 2014-
10.0
20.0
30.0
40.0
50.0
60.0
11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2012 2012 2013 2014
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45Smartphone
(70.9%)
Smart pad(1.0%)
Feature phone(28.1%)
Feature phone
Smartphone
16.1 M
Smart Pad 0.6 M
40.6 M
Subscribers [Million]
2012 2013 2014
Q4 2014: 57.2 M
Subscribers [Million]
57.2M Mobile Subscribers in Korea
50
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
Mobile subscribers by access networks (2G/3G/4G) in Korea
51
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
2011 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
404G LTE
3G
2G
36.0 M
14.9 M
6.3 M
Q4 2014: 57.2 M
Start LTE
Q4 2014
LTE(63.4%)
2G(11.2%)
3G(26.2%)
57.2M Mobile Subscribers in Korea
Subscribers [Million]
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
3G Peak
2G Peak
4GThe number of 2G (CDMA)
subscribers reached 41 million,
the highest on record, in Q2 2007
while 3G (WCDMA) reached its
highest level, 35 million, in Q4
2011.
As of Q4 2014, 4G LTE service
launched in July 2011 has 36.0
million subscribers, which
accounts for 63.4% of the total
mobile subscriptions.
2012 2013 20142011
n Mobile subscribers in Korea - split per network (2G/3G/4G)
n Mobile subscribers, in Korea, by technology generation (Q1 2007 – Q4 2014)
0
1
2
3
1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11
2012 2013 2014
1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11
2012 2013 2014
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
* Data: Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning
LTE Traffic Statistics in Korea
113.2 PB(94.9%)
6.1 PB(5.1%)
4G LTE
3G (Feature phone +
Smartphone)
n Mobile data usage - per access technology
As of Q4 2014, the LTE traffic reached 113.2 PB,
which is 19 times higher than 3G traffic.
LTE traffic represented 94.5% of Korea’s total
mobile traffic (Verizon: as of Q3 2014, about 79% of
total data traffic currently on 4G LTE network)
n Monthly traffic - per device type
4G Smartphone
3G Smartphone
3.312 GB
1.064 GB
2G & 3G Feature phone 0.004 GB
As of Q4 2014, 4G smartphone, 3G smartphone and
2G/3G feature phone users generate 3.312 GB, 1.064
GB and 4 MB of traffic on average per month.
n Subscriber traffic distribution by Application
The chart above presents the results of
analysis of data traffic using DPI
equipment introduced by the Korea's big
3 operators. In the analysis, only 4G LTE
traffic was included and 3G traffic was
excluded. However, given the fact that as
of Q4 2014 the volume of LTE traffic is
19.0 times larger than that of 3G, the
results can sufficiently serve as references
for the entire mobile traffic. The chart
shows the distribution of data traffic by
application. We can see, the volume share
of video traffic reached 55.5%, proving
the surge in mobile traffic has been driven
by video traffic. 45.1% 44.3% 45.2%
48.9%55.5%
19.3% 18.9% 18.1%16.2%
13.90%
13.1% 13.5% 14.6%16.0%
14.5%
9.8% 11.2% 10.4%8.5%
7.7%7.9% 6.9% 7.6% 5.7% 3.6%4.8% 5.2% 4.1% 4.7% 4.8%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Q4 2013 Q1 2014 Q2 2014 Q3 2014 Q4 2014
Video Web SNS Multimedia (Music, etc) Market Download Etc.
52
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
SK Telecom’s mobile subscribers growth (Q4 2011 - Q4 2014)
53
Source: SK Telecom, MSIPn SK Telecom’s mobile subscribers – split per network (2G/3G/4G)
Since its launch in 2011, SK Telecom’s LTE subscribers have continued to increase. As of Q4 2014, 28.6M
(58.6% of the SK Telecom’s total 28.6M mobile subscribers) are subscribing to the LTE service.
n SK Telecom’s mobile subscribers – split per device type Source: SK Telecom, MSIP
0.0
5.0
10.0
15.0
20.0
25.0
30.0
11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2011 2012 2013 2014 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
4G LTE
3G WCDMA
16.7 M
8.4 M
Dec. 2014: 28.6M
3 Years Q4 2014
3G(29.2%)
28.6M SK Telecom
Mobile Subscribers(Q4 2014)
4G LTE(58.6%)
2G CDMA 3.5 M
2G(12.3%)
As of Q4 2014, 19.5M subscribers, which is 68.1% of the total 28.6M SK Telecom’s mobile subscribers, are
smartphone users.
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2011 2012 2013 2014 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
Smartphone
Feature phone
19.5 M
8.9 M
Dec. 2014: 28.6M
3 Years Q4 2014
28.6M SK Telecom
Mobile Subscribers(Q4 2014)
Smart pad 0.2 M
Featurephone
(31.1%)Smartphone
(68.1%)
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
KT’s mobile subscribers growth (Q4 2011 – Q4 2014)
Source: KT, MSIP
Source: KT, MSIP
n KT’s mobile subscribers – split per network (2G/3G/4G)
Since its launch in 2012, KT’s LTE subscribers have continued to increase. As of Q4 2014, 10.8M (62.4% of the
KT’s total 17.3M mobile subscribers) are subscribing to the LTE service.
n KT’s mobile subscribers – split per device type
As of Q4 2014, 12.4M subscribers, which is 71.7% of the total 17.3M KT’s mobile subscribers, are smartphone users.
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2011 2012 2013 2014 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
4G LTE
3G WCDMA
10.8 M
6.5 M
Dec. 2014: 17.3M
3 Years Q4 2014
3G(37.6%)
17.3M KT Mobile
Subscribers(Q4 2014)
4G LTE(62.4%)
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
14.0
16.0
18.0
20.0
11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
2011 2012 2013 2014 2012 2013 2014
Subscribers [Million]
Smartphone
Feature phone
12.4 M
4.6 M
Dec. 2014: 17.3M
3 Years Q4 2014
17.3M KT Mobile
Subscribers(Q4 2014)
Smart pad 0.3 M
Featurephone
(25.4%)Smartphone
(71.7%)
54
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
LG U+’s mobile subscribers growth (Q4 2011 – Q4 2014)
55
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
1112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 101112 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
2011 2012 2013 2014
0.0
2.0
4.0
6.0
8.0
10.0
12.0
11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11 1 3 5 7 9 11
2011 2012 2013 2014
Source: LG U+, MSIPn LG U+’s mobile subscribers – split per network (2G/3G/4G)
Since its launch in 2011, LG U+’s LTE service subscribers have continued to increase. As of the end of Q4 2014,
8.5M (75.1% of the LG U+’s total 11.3 M mobile subscribers) are subscribing to this service.
As of Q4 2014, 8.6M subscribers, which is 76.8% of the total 11.3 M LG U+’s mobile subscribers, are smartphone
users.
n LG U+’s mobile subscribers – split per device type Source: LG U+, MSIP
3 Years Q4 2014
Subscribers [Million]
11.3 M LG U+
Mobile Subscribers(Q4 2014)
LTE(75.1%)
4G LTE 8.5 M
2G CDMA 2.8 M
2G(24.9%)
Q4 2014: 11.3 M
3 Years Q4 2014
Subscribers [Million]
Smartphone
(76.8%)
11.3 M LG U+ Mobile Subscribers(Q4 2014)
Feature phone
Smartphone8.6 M
2.6 M
Feature phone(23.2%)
2012 2013 2014
2012 2013 2014
Q4 2014: 11.3 M
6 things you should know about enterprise WLAN | Jongmoon Choi ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN (WLAN) technology, commonly known as Wi-Fi, has been evolving so fast, adapting to the constantly changing mobile communication market. Especially as Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is becoming the growing trend in many companies which value the network security and stability, companies are deploying more WLANs every year to ensure their employees use smartphones and pads for work purposes as well. The most important job of an enterprise WLAN solution is to provide secure and robust wireless service to users. To do the job, we have to first admit the fact that WLANs are less secure by their nature than wired LANs. Wi-Fi uses unlicensed bands that anyone can use freely, and thus is inevitably vulnerable to various interferences, which can lead to service degradation. So, a good enterprise WLAN Solution must feature functions and technologies to address these issues and supply the best wireless network service to users.In general, an enterprise wireless network consists of three basic components - AP, AP controller and authentication server. But an additional component, WIPS (WIPS sensor and server), can be included as needed, for protection from wireless intrusion. The following is a brief explanation of functionalities and characteristics of the four components:•Access Point (AP): AP is essential for a Wi-Fi client to connect to a wired network (Internet or intranet). A Wi-Fi client scans SSIDs broadcasted from AP, selects an SSID and then connects to the network through standard authentication procedure.•AP Controller: AP controller is a management system that controls all APs. It collects information from individual APs and analyzes them to ensure and maintain the service quality of the entire wireless network.•Authentication Server (AAA): It provides authentication service to Wi-Fi clients not only by using user ID/password as conventionally done, but also by using user information in SIM/USIM of a smart device.•Wireless Intrusion Prevention System (WIPS): It detects rouge APs or unauthorized Wi-Fi devices in a WLAN and prevents them from accessing or attacking the network. To this end, WIPS sensors monitoring all the packets that travel through all the Wi-Fi frequency bands in real-time are placed throughout the network.
Now we will find out what conditions should be met and what specific features are needed to be a good enterprise WLAN solution that can satisfy high expectations in the enterprise market as well as new requirements in the future Internet of Things (IoT) era. 1. Distributed architecture is in and centralized architecture is outUntil a few years ago, centralized architecture had been preferred for enterprise WLANs. Centralized architecture passes all AP traffic from Wi-Fi clients to AP controllers (also known as wireless switch) transparently. In this architecture, APs have just a few simple functions (this type of AP is called ‘thin’ AP) and thus all 802.11 frames from Wi-Fi clients are simply passed to AP controllers. Then the AP controllers take care of high level functions, such as QoS, ACL, roaming, etc., leading to enhanced control over WLANs. However, as WLAN technologies improved to use broader bandwidths through standardizations of 802.11n in 2009 (450 Mbps, 3x3 antenna) and 802.11ac in 2013 (1.3 Gbps, 3x3 antenna), it became virtually impossible for an AP controller to process all traffic of Wi-Fi clients, as initially intended in the centralized architecture. Recently APs, upgraded to perform better, have become capable to process traffic control, QoS, ACL and firewall per Wi-Fi station and service, allowing AP controllers to focus on just managing distributed APs (this type of AP is called ‘fat’ or ‘intelligent’ AP). This so called distributed or bridged WLAN architecture is dominant these days. Accordingly, the distributed architecture is expected to impose a lesser burden on AP controllers, helping them to manage more APs, compared to the centralized architecture.
2. Secure network connection and various authentication servicesUser data encryption and secure authentication are essential for safe WLAN connection and use in enterprise WLANs.Encryption and security issues in the air link of WLANs seem to have been perfectly taken care of by IEEE 802.11i standards approved in the end of 2004. No vulnerability issues have been reported in relation to 802.11i WPA2/AES encryption so far. IEEE 802.1x-based authentication is most commonly used in enterprise WLANs, and it supports three authentication modes:
- EAP-PEAP/EAP-TTLS with user ID and password- EAP-TLS based on client Certification Authority (CA)- EAP-SIM or EAP-AKA using SIM/USIM chip in smartphone
Another common method is web-based authentication (also known as captive portal-based authentication), which is used mainly for guest authentication. With this authentication method, a Wi-Fi client can use Internet/intranet service only after going through an additional authentication process, where user credentials (e.g., user ID/password) must be entered on the web server even after WLAN standard authentication, such as Pre-Shared Key (PSK) with AP, is completed. The web-based authentication enables an AP to redirect HTTP packets (TCP port 80) of a Wi-Fi client to the AP controller or external web server.
3. AP with excellent functionalities and performance is the keyA good enterprise wireless AP should be able to meet high functionality and performance standards to ensure a certain level of service quality in the enterprise wireless network. An AP must be able to do:Supporting the latest WLAN standardsAPs should support IEEE 802.11ac standards approved in December 2013. Actually all recently released Wi-Fi clients support 802.11ac. 802.11ac compatible devices show 5 times better throughput than the previous 802.11n devices.Number of stations that can be served concurrentlyUsually dozens of Wi-Fi clients are connected to one AP in an enterprise WLAN, and hence an AP should be able to concurrently serve more than 100 Wi-Fi clients at each radio interface (2.4GHz and 5GHz).Airtime fairness for each Wi-Fi deviceAirtime fairness feature should be supported to ensure fair and balanced distribution of bandwidths to Wi-Fi clients that are using wireless resources competitively. Especially, APs should restrict bandwidth usage by slow devices using old technology, 802.11a/b/g, to prevent them from consuming radio resource too much, and thereby degrading performance of the enterprise WLAN.Guaranteed QoSAPs should provide granular Quality of Service (QoS), and bandwidth management capabilities on a per application, per user or
6 things you should know about enterprise WLANJongmoon Choi ([email protected])
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6 things you should know about enterprise WLAN | Jongmoon Choi ([email protected])
© Netmanias Consulting • www.netmanias.com
Korea Communication Review • April 2015
per SSID basis. QoS in the WLAN is controlled according to the Access Category (CA) policy defined in 802.11e.Detection and protection from harmful trafficAPs should support a function to detect harmful traffic coming from authorized Wi-Fi clients. Wi-Fi clients may make a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack or generate harmful traffic due to virus or worm. Sometimes CTS jamming attack by an unauthorized Wi-Fi device results in WLAN service quality degradation. In such case, AP controllers should provide detailed protection strategies and policies to APs.
4. What AP controller functionalities are essential?Control And Provisioning of Wireless Access Point (CAPWAP) is the international standard for AP and AP controller, published by IETF as RFC-5415/5416. Using this protocol, AP controllers can do AP control/management and Wi-Fi client authentication. An AP controller must be able to do:Management of AP group configuration informationIntegrated management of configuration data through grouping APs that provide the same service is one of the most critical features of an AP controller. If we have to access each AP and change their configurations one by one, it would be such a time-consuming hassle. This is why this grouping can be so useful – it groups configuration information in the form of profiles, making it easy to manage them.AP auto configuration & provisioningPlug & Play (PnP), also called auto provisioning, should be supported. According to CAPWAP standards, an AP should access an AP controller, automatically downloads configuration, and apply it to complete provisioning. Of course, AP firmware management should be supported as well.Station authentication and roamingAn AP controller should manage the master key (PMK) passed from AAA (authentication server) after Wi-Fi client authentication process is completed. When a Wi-Fi client is roaming between APs, the client should be able to skip the re-authentication process with the AAA to minimize its roaming time. The AP controller should pass the master key to the new AP, and command it to skip the authentication process with AAA when the roaming client attempts to access the new AP.RF resource control & managementIn case of an AP controller used in an enterprise WLAN with multiple APs, the fact that one AP’s wireless traffic can actually work as an interference signal to its neighbor APs should always be considered. Therefore, to maximize the quality of the entire WLAN service, an AP controller should consider many related factors when selecting Wi-Fi channels of each AP, and should also have a feature that controls APs individually. Some of the most common features that serve such purpose are: auto channel selection, dynamic transmit power control, self-healing or coverage hole
detection and auto-recovery, auto channel switching with interference detection.Load balancing and QoS guaranteeAP-based load balancing, also known as “band steering” or “band preference” function, makes sure AP loads are distributed to every radio interface provided by an AP. AP controller-based load balancing, however, ensures traffic loads are evenly distributed to each AP so that every client is equally served. For even distribution of traffic loads among APs, an AP controller monitors signal strength and quality between AP and Wi-Fi clients. Then when it detects an AP that can better serve one of its Wi-Fi clients, it has the client roam to the new AP.HA clusteringAn AP controller, if designed to concurrently manage multiple APs with certain capacity (e.g. 256 APs all at once), should support High Availability (HA) clustering function.
5. Hidden cost of GUI-based management consoleA GUI-based management console is a kind of EMS/NMS supporting Operation, Administration and Management (OAM) functions for network managers. So, if a network manager wants to configure a certain-sized WLAN, he should first consider the extra cost for deploying a management console in the new enterprise WLAN infra. A management console must have following features:Map-based management of AP and Wi-Fi clientsA management console should support user-friendly map-based location management of AP and Wi-Fi client that can be easily used to check signal strength and service coverage of APs. Also a feature that provides roaming paths of Wi-Fi clients on the map can be very useful.Profile-based configuration managementAs noted above, when managing a good number of APs, hierarchical approaching can be very efficient. For example, a network manager can configure profiles of radio interface, SSID, security/authentication, VLAN and QoS, and apply the profiles to AP groups as needed.Inventory management of AP and Wi-Fi clientsA management console should have a feature for managing a list of APs and Wi-Fi clients information (e.g. user ID, IP address, connection time, authentication status, etc.), preferably with useful functions like column filtering, searching and sorting for easier management of many APs and Wi-Fi clientsAlarm and statistics managementAlarm and statistics features are the most basic features of the management console because network managers can monitor service status by checking alarms and statistics frequently. Not only that, if the diagnostic and alarm features are available to monitor the network connectivity between AP and AP
controller, it can help to detect network failure and respond fast accordingly.Scheduled/unscheduled reportingScheduled/unscheduled reporting is also essential for a management console because it allows network managers to keep track of operation conditions in the WLAN through email and/or SMS notifications sent regularly. More detailed unscheduled reports should be accessible through the management console.DashboardDashboard provides a page that shows the general status of the entire network so that network managers can instantly respond to network issues detected.Wizard functionWizard function helps network managers, even without sufficient knowledge on WLAN, easily configure a complicated enterprise WLAN by following step-by-step instructions.
6. Ready for the IoT eraWLAN technologies have their advantages in that they give you broadband bandwidth and wider service coverage than other competitive technologies like Bluetooth, Zigbee, Z-wave, etc. But, they also have their disadvantages. They consume too much power, and thus it seems impossible to configure a sensor network where battery-powered IoT devices are directly connected Wi-Fi networks. However, most IoT hub devices are cable-powered, and thus can be easily connected to Wi-Fi interfaces. And using a Wi-Fi network to access the Internet is likely to be considered a very popular option in an IoT service network architecture. Especially, networks like Wi-Fi mesh or bridge that connect Wi-Fi APs will serve as a perfect backbone for IoT because Wi-Fi networks can securely deliver a large volume of traffic at a relatively low cost. Therefore, what an enterprise WLAN solution can do for the IoT would be one of the key factors in selecting a network solution from now on. ClosingThe past 10 or so years witnessed drastic changes in mobile communication – first the release of smartphones, then Wi-Fi technology innovation like 802.11ac, and the advent of the IoT. These changes are now making enterprise WLAN solutions evolve even more, and faster. Enterprise WLAN solutions so far have required AP and AP controller that support the new technology, 802.11ac. But the coming IoT ERA will require new solutions that can easily accommodate, integrate and manage the increasing number of IoT devices
and hubs. n -------------------------------------------------------
About author
Jongmoon Choi R&D Director, Davolink Inc. - [email protected] +82-31-387-3240
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About Netmanias (www.netmanias.com)NMC Consulting Group (Netmanias) is an advanced and professional network consulting company, specializing in IP network areas (e.g., FTTH, Metro Ethernet and IP/MPLS), service areas (e.g., IPTV, IMS and CDN), and wireless network areas (e.g., Mobile WiMAX, LTE and Wi-Fi) since 2002.
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