5G-Crosshaul: An SDN/NFV Integrated Fronthaul/Backhaul Transport Network Architecture

TLDR

The paper proposes the 5G‑Crosshaul architecture, an integrated 5G transport solution that unifies existing and emerging fronthaul and backhaul technologies and interfaces. The architecture centers on an SDN/NFV‑based management and orchestration entity (XCI) and an Ethernet‑based packet forwarding entity (XFE), leveraging ETSI NFV, OpenDaylight, and ONOS to support diverse QoS profiles and network slicing. The resulting 5G‑Crosshaul enables the 5G transport network to be offered as a service, providing multi‑tenancy, resource management, and flexible, cost‑effective provisioning of network and IT resources.

Abstract

This article proposes an innovative architecture design for a 5G transport solution (dubbed 5G-Crosshaul) targeting the integration of existing and new fronthaul and backhaul technologies and interfaces. At the heart of the proposed design lie an SDN/NFV-based management and orchestration entity (XCI), and an Ethernet-based packet forwarding entity (XFE) supporting various fronthaul and backhaul traffic QoS profiles. The XCI leverages widespread architectural frameworks for NFV (ETSI NFV) and SDN (Open Daylight and ONOS). It opens the 5G transport network as a service for innovative network applications on top (e.g., multi-tenancy, resource management), provisioning the required network and IT resources in a flexible, cost-effective, and abstract manner. The proposed design supports the concept of network slicing pushed by the industry for realizing a truly flexible, sharable, and cost-effective future 5G system.