Rapid Increase of Mobile Data Traffic and Industry's Move to LTE Makes SPs Invest in Mobile Backhaul Test Equipment

With the rapid increase of data traffic globally and the telecommunications industry’s move to Long Term Evolution ( LTE), 4G wireless standard, it is absolutely necessary for service providers (SPs) to have sufficient backhaul capacity in order to handle the traffic. However, as wireless data applications and increased data traffic do not translate into significant revenues for service providers, it is important to find a cost-effective solution. To that end, carrier Ethernet has become the preferred technology for today’s mobile backhaul infrastructure. This technology offers significant advantages in dealing with the exponential growth in mobile traffic by reducing SPs’ operational expenses. While Ethernet mobile backhaul offers tremendous benefits to SPs, it also introduces a number of serious challenges, such as the need to guarantee the same quality as time division multiplexing.

The Challenges of Increased Mobile Data Traffic

Mobile data traffic continues to increase significantly, with the United States leading the way. Availability of high-speed networks, growing numbers smartphones, tablets, laptops, netbooks and notebooks, along with next generation applications continue to drive demand for more bandwidth. However, not all data traffic is generated by consumers. A significant portion of it results from handset- or network-initiated processes, such as handset signaling, application updates and syncing, and software updates. The challenge for mobile operators is to intelligently manage the shared wireless spectrum and maximize the data capabilities of their networks within the allowable boundaries of physics, such as Shannon’s law. This is a very difficult undertaking considering the fact that the spectrum remains a very limited resource while data demand continues to increase rapidly. Increasing mobile data traffic puts a strain on networks that makes it a necessary for SPs to test for quality of service (QoS) and quality of experience (QoE). The rise in mobile data use is also leading to changes in the transmission pipeline. Specifically, the conversion from copper to optics is creating new markets for testing 1G, 10G, 40G and so on.

Frost & Sullivan provided an initial assessment of the backhaul test equipment market in its latest research service called “World Wireless Test Equipment Market.”  Test equipment that is used to test Ethernet and IP switching and routing transport mechanisms between radio base stations and the wireless core network is covered under the mobile backhaul section of the study.

The mobile backhaul test equipment reached $215.1 million in 2010 and is expected to exceed $460 million mark by 2017, with an expected CAGR of 11.6% from 2010 through 2017 according to Frost & Sullivan’s recent research. The mobile backhaul test equipment market offers tremendous opportunities to test equipment vendors mainly due to industry’s move to all-IP networks. As the backhaul evolves from time division multiplexing to all-IP, there are a number of testing challenges related to the lack of timing and synchronization involved with an all-IP architecture.

Mobile Backhaul Test Equipment Market: Challenges and opportunities

Constantly increasing demand for bandwidth has shaped the priorities of SPs, NEMs  and test equipment vendors. As mentioned previously, the growth in mobile data creates the need for more bandwidth and requires the industry to move to Ethernet mobile backhaul, creating challenges service providers, backhaul providers and end users.

•       The migration to Ethernet mobile backhaul can present challenges for service providers and backhaul providers since they are less familiar with the Ethernet as a technology. Challenges include planning and testing during installation and maintenance (I&M) of a network. It becomes difficult to ensure that the equipment and procedures and processes required during the I&M phase guarantee that service level agreements (SLAs) are met.

•       End-user Education - Ethernet mobile backhaul is an emerging technology; therefore, there are a number of questions that arise from end users regarding types of interfaces between base stations and wireless backhaul. According to JDSU’s testing engineers, the only interface necessary between the base station and backhaul is an Ethernet Virtual Connection (EVC).  There could be multiple EVCs on the physical interface.  The EVCs are expected to carry interfaces such as X2 and S1 for technologies such as LTE.  Another consideration with the EVC are the service attributes.  As providers move towards LTE, they will have to map 9 QCIs into different EVCs.

Backhaul is being developed for 3G and pre-4G networks.  These networks are known to be very centralized in their management.  Networks are expected to become more dispersed as the industry moves to LTE, creating a number of quality-related issues.  Thus, the above factors are expected to increase the need for wireless backhaul testing tools.

With the introduction of eNodeBs, the IP-based mobile backhaul architecture will experience a combination of access technologies over a single packet-switched network, which will create quality issues for the latest aggregation equipment. The following are key areas that must be tested and validated:

•       Layers 2 and 3 - While the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) does not require a specific configuration, it allows various network and transport-level options to be used. At the initial stage of the deployment process, there is a need for a multi-technologyn test and validation of transport layers.

•       IPv6 deployment - Even thoughInternet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is required for LTE, networks continue to use IPv4. As a result, the industry will see a combination of IPv4 nodes and possible dual IPv4/IPv6 stack systems deployed. Today's mobile devices are expected to support both IPv4 and IPv6 and connect at the same time to IPv4/IPv6 packet data networks. Therefore, the IPv4/v6 integration must be tested carefully.

•       IP-routing - Network addressing is a challenge in the IP realm. Mobility management entities (MMEs) are expected to support thousands of eNodeBs positioned across numerous private or public networks. Random and methodical addressability tests are absolutely necessary for the evolved packet core.

Getting Ahead of the Technology Curve

Getting ahead of the technology curve is critical for wireless test equipment vendors. Staying ahead of wireless operators to provide cutting-edge test equipment for new technology deployments presents a challenge for wireless test equipment vendors. Some of the advantages of staying ahead are:

•          Early access to scarce new technology devices

•          Access to trial networks to validate and test new products

A test equipment vendor can either be ahead of the technology curve or compete in a commodity-type environment by producing low-end equipment. Maintaining robust support for existing technologies while moving forward with new technologies is a challenge.