A consortium of twenty companies and organizations in the telecommunications sector has announced the successful completion of the European research project 5G-Crosshaul, coordinated by the Carlos III University of Madrid (UC3M). After three years of work, they have defined what is now the de facto concept of an integrated 5G transport network, a crucial step towards the implementation of the future 5G communications system. The 5G-Crosshaul consortium was selected in 2015 to develop a 5G transport network that integrates backhaul and fronthaul, two classic segments of 4G telecommunications networks. In the fifth generation of communication networks, which is expected to replace 4G around 2020, these two segments merge into something known as crosshaul, which should allow for adaptable, software-defined reconfiguration of all network elements in a unified, multi-user, service-oriented management environment.
The transport network they are now presenting is capable of flexibly connecting 5G radio access points and cloud-hosted core network functions. This configuration is achieved through the implementation of a control infrastructure along with a unified data plane, which integrates innovative high-capacity transmission technologies as well as new switching architectures with deterministic latency. “The data plane is like a muscle, while the control infrastructure is like a brain. And thanks to their integration, what we achieve in this case is the ability to move a huge amount of data in a very short time, and to do so while controlling how long this process takes,” the researchers explain.
“It has been an honor to oversee one of the most ambitious research and development efforts to date to define the 5G transport network,” says Arturo Azcorra, 5GCrosshaul project coordinator, professor in the Department of Telematics Engineering at UC3M, and director of IMDEA Networks. “The results of the 5G-Crosshaul project represent a significant advance for scientific knowledge and the international standardization of 5G systems. Ultimately, they have contributed to increasing Europe’s global competitiveness in 5G.”
The 5G-Crosshaul solution has been demonstrated and validated through 18 experiments integrating multiple technological components from the project partners. The field trials were conducted in Berlin, Madrid, Barcelona, and Taiwan, achieving sub-millisecond latency, throughput of tens of Gbps, and energy and cost savings of up to 70 percent, depending on the deployment scenario. The tests also demonstrated the speed of service implementation (in a matter of minutes), thanks to the use of SDN (software-defined networking) and NFV (network functions virtualization) concepts.
“The 5G-Crosshaul project has produced a novel transport network that achieves overall resource optimization and delivers a reasonable return on capital investment and operating expenses,” stated Xavier Costa, Technical Director of the project and Deputy General Manager of the R&D division for security and networks at NEC Laboratories Europe. “The level of innovation achieved by the project has paved the way for delivering the enormous increase in bandwidth and ultra-low latency required by fifth-generation network technologies.”
The results of the project’s final review, conducted at the 5TONIC R&D laboratory at IMDEA Networks by independent experts appointed by the European Commission, confirm that the 5G-Crosshaul project “has achieved its objectives and milestones and has obtained exceptional results with a significant immediate or potential impact,” according to the report prepared by these experts. Furthermore, this project has resulted in 91 scientific publications in various prestigious journals, 74 conference presentations, 28 demonstrations (including several at events such as the Mobile World Congress), and 35 contributions to international standardization regulations, among other outcomes. The EU expert report also noted that "several key innovations have been identified, and some have been assigned to products for commercialization. To date, the project has registered five patent applications. Future commercialization plans are expected to emerge from the partners, outside the project framework, and based on these innovations."
“Throughout its lifecycle, the 5G-Crosshaul project has successfully delivered more than 60 technological and informational contributions to the advancement of 5G standards,” added Paola Iovanna, Ericsson’s 5G-Crosshaul Innovation Manager. “The project has resulted in groundbreaking technological innovations, several directly linked to products, making it one of the most innovative and unique projects to date.”
“The project’s significance will extend beyond its impressive track record of bringing together a diverse group of partners from across the 5G ecosystem and the advanced research conducted, complemented by a groundbreaking set of demonstrations,” concluded Thomas Deiß, Mobile Networks, Nokia. "In current and future 5G deployments, not only in the EU but globally, the importance of the transport network should not be overlooked; 5G-Crosshaul has made significant contributions to this recognition, maintaining a holistic perspective on all the technologies that are shaping the mobile transport networks of the future."
The 5G-Crosshaul project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement number 671598. For more information about the project, please visit its website at: http://5g-crosshaul.eu.
Source(s): IMDEA Networks Institute; UC3M
