Full-duplex self-backhauling for small-cell 5G networks

TLDR

In 5G small‑cell systems, in‑band self‑backhauling—especially with full‑duplex relaying and flexible frame formats—allows efficient reuse of frequency and time resources for uplink, downlink, and backhaul transmissions. The study evaluates full‑duplex in‑band self‑backhauling in indoor 5G scenarios for mobile broadband and ultra‑reliable communication use cases. The authors coordinate radio resources between self‑backhauling and access hops to maximize end‑to‑end performance in indoor 5G scenarios. The results indicate that self‑backhauling is promising for achieving 5G targets in indoor mobile broadband and ultra‑reliable communication scenarios.

Abstract

We consider in-band self-backhauling for small cell 5G systems. In-band self-backhauling enables efficient usage of frequency resources. When coupled with a flexible frame format, it also enables efficient time-division duplexing of uplink, downlink, and backhaul transmissions. Self-backhauling is particularly efficient when coupled with FD relaying. Antenna design, as well as cancellation in radio frequency and digital domains at an FD relay enables reuse of the same resources for backhaul and access hops. The use of radio resources in the self-backhauling and access hops can be coordinated to maximize end-to-end performance. We evaluate FD in-band self-backhauling in indoor 5G scenarios, targeting mobile broadband and ultrareliable communication use cases. Self-backhauling shows considerable promise for reaching 5G targets in these scenarios.