EdgeLink™

Solution

© 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 1

Transport Network Definition

Internet of
Everything Local Data Center Core Network

Edge
Transport Core
High Capacity, Low Transport
Latency, Wired and Control Plane
User Plane Optical Transport
Wireless,
Networks Long-Haul NFV
Diverse Integrated vBBU
Traffic
Edge Computing Billing
Content Caching Orchestration

RRU Small Cell

External Networks

2 © 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2

EdgeLink™ Solution – mmW 5G Transport
SDN-based Multi-hop Mesh Network composed of
Gigabit, Low-Latency Millimeter Wave Links
– WiGig / 802.11ad baseband
– 60GHz long range, 38dBi gain antennas
InterDigital’s
– Multi-tenant, multi-service level transport slice management
Cloud-Based Network Unit
– Mesh topology for fault tolerance and availability Software Platform
EdgeLink Nodes: OpenFlow Mesh Controller
– Network Discovery and Neighbor Selection
– OpenFlow-based, mmW MAC/PHY/RF
Mesh Controller Software: INTERDIGITAL MESH LAYER SOFTWARE
Software
– SDN-based, manages the mesh topology to maintain
Hardware Antenna Unit
Transport Slice Service Level requirements WiGig Baseband WiGig Baseband
O&M Software ...
– Cloud-enabled, web-interface for remote operations and RF RF
monitoring

© 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 3

 Intelligent Software to Build a Carrier Grade
Edge Network Northbound APIs (REST)
• EdgeLink™ solution is a SDN controlled EdgeLink™ Base Network Service
Controller Functions
multi-hop mesh network of mmWave EdgeLink™ Controller Service Abstraction Layer
transport nodes OpenFlow

• Cluster of EdgeLink nodes connected by

mesh to EdgeLink Gateway InterDigital’s EdgeLink
Mesh Controller
• Key Components Operator 1
Software, O&M
• EdgeLink™ solution Nodes IP CLOUD
• Network Discovery and Neighbor Selection
Operator 2
• OpenFlow Switch (Open vSwitch)
Gateway Node
• mmW MAC/PHY/RF air interface
• Mesh Controller Software
• Built on SDN frameworks (OpenDayLight, ONOS) Non-Gateway
Node
• O&M Software
• Web-based interface for remote O&M
EdgeLink Cluster EdgeLink Cluster
Easily Customizable Software using Flexible Interfaces

6 © 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 4

Mesh Software Functions Mesh Controller
Centralized Network Metrics
• Network discovery and autonomous neighbor Routing and Status
selection Internet or
Neighbor QoS
Selection (EIR and CIR Traffic)
Private Network
• Proprietary in-band signaling with the Mesh OpenDayLight, ONOS
Network Controller for Topology management
• Management of node and sector state machines Mesh Node

Buffer Management Mesh Controller Interface (OpenFlow)

• Link Failure handling and switching to alternate Configuration
path Virtual Switch (OVS)
Node Manager Manager
Link Metrics
and State Routing Scheduling &
Machine
• Sector Recovery and Node Recovery Ethernet Convergence Layer /
Manager QoS Manager

Layer 2 Bridge Event Manager

• Link metric collection
Ethernet Baseband-Host Interface (Adaptation Layer)
• L2 transport implemented by OpenVSwitch
Gateway Host IF Host IF
• SNMP support with EdgeLink™ MIB and/or Access
802.11ad PHY 802.11ad PHY
Point
• Ease of configurability via text file configuration 60GHz Phased Array 60GHz Phased Array
parameters Ethernet WiGig BB & RF (Sector 1) 2023
WiGig BB & RF (Sector
N)

© 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 5

Supports Integrated 5G Transport Networks - Crosshaul
• Today’s C-RAN mobile transport network will not scale to • An integrated fronthaul/backhaul (Crosshaul) will support
support additional spectrum and antennas diverse 5G traffic types
• Separated fronthaul and backhaul management adds • Unified management built on SDN frameworks
complexity and cost • Wireless and wired transport for dense network edge
• C-RAN functional splits are fixed and static connections, with path diversity for high reliability

Core Crosshaul: Integrated FH/BH

Packet-based network
Core Backhaul (BH) Fronthaul (FH)

Point-to-point network

CPRI
Processing
cloud Processing
CPRI
cloud

CPRI

© 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 6

 EdgeLink at 5G Berlin Testbed
• EdgeLink™ solution deployed into the 5G Berlin
Testbed, hosted by Fraunhofer HHI – under the 5G
Crosshaul project
• 3 EdgeLink mmW Nodes – outdoor installation on
buildings within the Fraunhofer and Berlin Technical
University campuses:
• Ranging from 95 to 185 meters distances
• 1 GW + 2 non-GW Nodes

• Multiplexing of Fronthaul and Backhaul traffic over

the InterDigital mmW EdgeLink Mesh transport
network:
• Backhaul == Commercial LTE Small Cell
• Fronthaul == Cloud-RAN (remote radio units and centralized
baseband) provided by Core Network Dynamics, Crosshaul
Partner
• Executed a range of experiments considering traffic loading
profiles under real-world conditions

© 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 EdgeLink™ Solution – Live MWC 2017 Demo
Live EdgeLink ™ solution matches 5G Berlin – Crosshaul Testbed
Control Plane 3D Video Goggles
HD, 3D Camera

EdgeLink™ solution EMS

EdgeLink™ solution Mesh

SDN Controller
Core Network
Open EPC

Backhaul – eNodeB MME

Emulation
S-GW,
PGW

Cloud RAN
Baseband
Processing Unit
Remote Radio Unit
(Next Generation
Fronthaul)
EdgeLink™ solution Wireless
mmW Crosshaul Transport

© 2017 InterDigital, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 8