NTT and Nokia demonstrated mobile fronthaul between the antenna unit (Radio Unit/RU) and the control unit (Distributed Unit/DU) of a 5G RAN base station using the IOWN All Photonics Network (APN) architecture.
The demonstration showed that latency remains within established mobile backhaul parameters even when the distance between RU and DU is about 25 km. It was confirmed that the RU and DU of 5G operate normally.
This achievement will contribute to reducing the number of DUs and their power consumption by enabling long-distance transmission between RU and DU and wide-range base station operation.
The IOWN APN enables dynamic re-routing between RUs and DUs. If a failure occurs between an RU and a DU, the IOWN APN can bypass the failure, allowing the service to continue in the
area covered by the RU. There is currently a strict industry standard3 for mobile fronthaul with a delay time of 160 μs or less4, and 5G RUs and DUs are designed to operate under this standard.
The companies also confirmed that, in theory that, with the delay time of 133 μs, the maximum distance of long-distance transmission is approximately 30 km.
https://group.ntt/en/newsrelease/2024/01/18/pdf/240118aa.pdf
