Exploring the evolution of Ethernet bandwidth for 5G bearer

From the voice services in the 2G era, to the rise of data services in the 3G era, to the popularity of video services in the 4G era, the development of communication technology has quietly changed people's lives. In the future, 5G will meet the development needs of mobile Internet and the Internet of Everything. The popularity of ultra-high-definition, 4K and immersive video will drive a significant increase in bandwidth rate. As a pipeline transmission platform between wireless and core networks, the bearer network needs to meet the trend of rapid growth in bandwidth rate in the future 5G era and provide guarantees for the differentiated needs of various services.

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5G-oriented bearer networks require continuous evolution of Ethernet bandwidth

To cope with the massive connections and dramatic increase in traffic in the 5G era, the bearer network must have the ability to be deployed and evolved quickly and economically, which is the key for operators to seize the 5G opportunity and realize its commercial value.

According to the wireless base station bandwidth estimation method provided by the NGMN standardization organization, it can be deduced that the 5G-oriented bearer network needs to have access ring 50GE~100GE and aggregation ring 200GE~400GE networking capabilities. NGMN believes that to realize the service functions of the 5G era, the wireless spectrum efficiency needs to be greatly improved compared with the spectrum efficiency of the 4G era, and the peak bandwidth and average bandwidth of 5G base stations will also be greatly improved. For typical station types where 4G and 5G share base station sites, the demand for access ring bandwidth of the 5G bearer network is about 3 times higher than the current 10GE ring bandwidth. According to the average annual growth rate of 61% of actual mobile traffic and considering the access aggregation convergence ratio, the demand for aggregation ring bandwidth will exceed 100GE.

The technical development of optical interfaces and the support of the industrial chain are important factors affecting the direction of bandwidth development. In recent years, as 25G optoelectronic devices have become mature in the industrial chain, 25GE/50GE optical interfaces have developed rapidly and have been gradually applied to large-scale data center interconnection. They are favored by virtue of their high speed, high cost performance and low power consumption. The 50GE optical module using 25G optoelectronic devices plus 50G PAM4 (fourth-order pulse amplitude modulation) modules only needs to have a built-in single-channel optical transceiver component to obtain a higher optical interface rate, and the implementation scheme is very simple; in comparison, the 40GE/100GE optical module based on four 10G optoelectronic devices or four 25G optoelectronic devices has a built-in multi-channel optical transceiver component, which is more expensive to implement.

In the case that 10GE bandwidth is insufficient at the access layer of the 5G bearer network and 100GE is still too early for commercialization, the use of 50GE networking will provide operators with the most cost-effective solution; the industry can also quickly implement and apply 200GE optical modules based on four-channel optical transceiver components and 50G PAM4 modules to the aggregation layer of the 5G bearer network. The access layer 50GE networking and the aggregation layer 200GE networking will lay a commercial foundation for the early construction of the 5G bearer network.

International standards organizations and industries continue to promote the healthy development of Ethernet

In the first 30 years of Ethernet, six Ethernet rates from 10M to 100GE were generated. With its inherent advantages of flexible implementation, simplified operation and economical deployment, Ethernet has been widely popularized and continuously enriched and improved around the world. In May 2016, IEEE established the 802.3cd Task Force, aiming at the standardization of 50GE Ethernet interface based on PAM4 technology and 100GE/200GE Ethernet interface based on it, which will help realize the high-speed solution with cost optimization as soon as possible in the future. In addition, the 400GE Ethernet interface standard 802.3bs has passed the draft and is expected to be released in 2017. The evolution of Ethernet will continue to have strong vitality in the future.

Flexible Ethernet, which implements network slicing based on interface channelization, supports the future network architecture that provides differentiated service experience and has become a key direction for the development of 5G bearer networks. In March 2016, the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) officially released the first generation Flex-ETH standard based on 100Gb/s rate. Flex-ETH is defined as the middle layer between Ethernet L2/L1 layers, which supports bundling multiple PHY rates into one MAC layer to provide a higher rate Bonding solution to meet the flexible and large bandwidth bearer requirements in ultra-dense areas; it can realize on-demand configuration of user-side interface rates, and isolate services between different interfaces. The current configuration granularity is 5Gb/s, and it will reach 1G/ps granularity in the next generation Flex-ETH standard; it can ensure service quality and security through dedicated hard pipes and provide low-latency solutions; it will continue to integrate with new network technologies in the future to support the continuous evolution of bearer networks and the development of 5G services.

International standard organizations and industries have supported IEEE802 Ethernet technology for many years, committed to promoting the extensive interconnection and interoperability of Ethernet interfaces, and seeking new applications to continuously expand the Ethernet market.

Huawei Launches Single-Port 200GE Line Card, Leading the Way in Ethernet Ultra-Broadband Pipeline

As the demand for 4.5G/5G bandwidth continues to grow, the bandwidth of the IP bearer network will continue to evolve based on the existing network. 200GE and 100GE will become the basic rates of the aggregation layer and will be widely deployed. At present, the industrial chain of 200GE switching network, backplane, connector, and service processing chip tends to mature, and the key technologies of 200GE optical module components are also available. 200GE module packaging, connectors, optical devices and 100GE can share the same industrial chain, and optical module manufacturers can quickly develop and produce. Compared with 100GE modules, the capacity of 200GE modules is doubled, and the power consumption does not increase significantly. Compared with the 400GE implementation solution, the 200GE implementation solution has fewer channels of built-in optical transceiver components, lower power consumption, and easier to achieve long-distance capabilities. 200GE and 100GE and future 400GE will coexist for a long time.

To match the impact of the rapid development of wireless air interface technology and the surge in user traffic on the bearer network, Huawei launched the 200GE line card supporting Flex-ETH in 2016, providing a single-port 200GE ultra-wide pipe to help operators calmly cope with the demand for large bandwidth in the bearer network. With the upcoming launch of the 400GE Ethernet standard IEEE802.3bs in 2017, Huawei will further launch a single-port 400GE solution to cope with the smooth upgrade of the bearer network.

Huawei's IP bearer network solution supports the long-term evolution of video services and future 5G, meets the needs of bearer network evolution and bandwidth growth in the next 5 to 10 years, and works with operators to build a high-quality bearer network with the best experience in the future.