A Converged Evolved Ethernet Fronthaul for the 5G Era

We assess the performance of two distinct functional splits based on latency/latency variation and mapping efficiency, both individually and in unison. By considering hardware-offloading possibilities for a low-layer split (especially a preresource mapper split) using an option-6 software-based local thermal equilibrium split as an example, we show how data rate, Ethernet frame size and, in general, traffic generation characteristics will be very important aspects in the design of the future Ethernet mapping function. Then, an integrated Ethernet fronthaul with legacy and new/evolved split functionality operating at 100 Gb/s link rate is presented with the state-of-the art sub-100-ns latency variation for a timing-protocol flow. This is achieved through the application of a gap-filling aggregator, used for the first time in such a mobile fronthaul application.