Reconfigurable and efficient fronthaul of 5G systems

Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) is a popular standard to interface the Radio Equipment Control (REC) and the Radio Equipment (RE) in the fronthaul of 5G systems. However, CPRI is expensive to deploy, consumes high bandwidth and, currently, is statically configured. Reconfigurability is highly desirable in 5G systems, and can be classified into two categories: network and bandwidth reconfigurability. This paper gives an overview of advantages, and issues of providing fronthaul reconfigurability along with the advantages and drawbacks of an Ethernet-based fronthaul. Having CPRI protocol run over ubiquitous Ethernet protocol makes CPRI cost-efficient and easily reconfigurable for a dynamic scenario. An FPGA-based pre-synthesis Verilog simulation on Ethernet encapsulation of CPRI data gives the estimate of delay overhead and, correspondingly, of the distances supported by Ethernet-based fronthaul.