Ericsson Technology Review, issue #1, 2016

SECURITY IN THE POST-SNOWDEN ERA ✱
#01, 2016 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 1
ERICSSON
TECHNOLOGY
C H A R T I N G T H E F U T U R E O F I N N O V A T I O N V O L U M E 9 3 | 2 0 1 6 — 0 1
INDUSTRIALREMOTE
OPERATION
5GRISESTO
THECHALLENGE
HARALDLUDANEK
ONICTANDINTELLIGENT
TRANSPORTATIONSYSTEMS
MICROWAVE
BACKHAUL
GETSABOOST
WITHMULTIBAND

4 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ #01, 2016

08 CRYPTOGRAPHY IN AN ALL
ENCRYPTED WORLD
Cyber attacks are on the increase,
global fears over personal security
and privacy are rising, and quantum
computing might soon be reality.
These concerns have created a
number of shifts in how encryption
technologies are being developed
and applied. Today, it is no longer
sufficient to encrypt data as it
passes through the access part
of the network; information needs
to be protected from source to
destination.
20 MICROWAVE BACKHAUL GETS
A BOOST WITH MULTIBAND
Is there a spectrum shortage?
The answer to the question is
both yes and no; in some locations
spectrum is severely congested,
while in other places it is highly
underutilized. New methods that will
maximize spectrum efficiency, and
new technologies that can exploit
unused spectrum are needed.
Multiband booster is one such
method, fundamentally shifting
the way spectrum can be used,
with a promise to deliver a massive
improvement in the performance
levels of microwave backhaul.
30 LUDANEK ON ICT
AND INTELLIGENT
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Over the past 50 years, the
automotive industry has undergone
what could be described as
a technology revolution. Fuel
efficiency, environmentally sound
vehicle powertrain concepts,
increased electronics, driver
assistance, and safety features like
abs and airbags are just a few of
the improvements that have taken
place, which have led to sustainable,
safer, and more comfortable driving.
40 FLEXIBILITY IN 5G
TRANSPORT NETWORKS:
THE KEY TO MEETING THE
DEMAND FOR CONNECTIVITY
As applications like self-driving
vehicles and remotely operated
machinery evolve, become more
innovative, and more widespread,
the level of performance that
5g networks need to deliver will
inevitably rise. Keeping pace with
ever-increasing demand calls for
greater flexibility in all parts of the
network.
54 INDUSTRIAL REMOTE
OPERATION:
5G RISES TO THE CHALLENGE
Ericsson and abb are
collaborating to determine
how to make the most of 5g
and cellular technologies
in an industrial setting. This
article presents some of the
use cases being assessed,
highlights the challenges
posed by remote operations,
and describes how 5g technology
can be applied to overcome them.
(This article was written in
collaboration
with abb)
68 IDENTIFYING AND
ADDRESSING THE
VULNERABILITIES AND
SECURITY ISSUES OF
SDN
The promises of agility,
simplified control, and real-
time programmability offered
by software-defined networking
(sdn) are attractive incentives
for operators to keep network
evolution apace with advances in
virtualization technologies. But
do these capabilities undermine
security? To answer this question,
we have investigated the potential
vulnerabilities of sdn.
80 A VISION OF THE 5G
CORE: FLEXIBILITY
FOR NEW BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITIES
Next generation 5g networks
will cater for a wide range of
new business opportunities,
some of which have yet to be
conceptualized. Being able to
provide customized connectivity will
benefit many industries around the
world. But how will future networks
provide people and enterprises with
the right platform, with just the right
level of connectivity?
CONTENTS ✱
SDNc
68
54
80
40
Distance (km)
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
10 20 30 40 50
Bands
20
Encrypted data
Encrypted analysis
Cloud service providerClient
08
CPU
ABS
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
Comfort
and
acoustics
US safety
law
CO, HC, and NOx
emissions
Fuel consumption
CO2 regulations
and taxes
Power ABS
Connected vehicle
Microelectronic
Lightweight construction
and fuel consumption
Communication
and information
Mechatronic,
microtechnique
US emission
requirements
Oil crisis
Economy boom
Leveloftechnology
Safety airbag
30

■ every morning, I get out of bed and go to work
because I believe technology makes a difference. I
believe that in the midst of global growth, numerous
humanitarian crises, the increasing need for better
resource management, and an evolving threat landscape,
a new world is emerging. And I believe technology is
playing a key role in making that world a better, safer, and
healthier place for more people to enjoy. It feels good to
be part of that.
Fundamentally, I believe the breakdown of traditional
industry boundaries and increased cross-industry
collaboration have enabled us to maximize the
benefits of technology. Today, Ericsson works with
partners in many different industries that all rely on
connectivity embedded into their solutions, services,
and products. Our early collaborations, which were
with utilities and the automotive industry, have led
to innovations like the Connected Vehicle Cloud and
Smart Metering as a Service.
I am delighted that Harald Ludanek, Head of r&d at
Scania (a leading manufacturer of heavy trucks, buses,
coaches, and industrial and marine engines) agreed to
contribute to this issue. His article on the significance
ofict— how digitalization and mobility will impact the
automotive industry and bring about the intelligent
transportation system (its) — illustrates the importance
of new business relationships, ensuring that different
sectors create innovative solutions together, and
maximize the value they bring to people and society.
Technology is making it easier for people to
protect their homes, families, and belongings. The
standardization of antitheft systems in automobiles,
for example, has led to a decline in car theft in most
parts of the world. However, while technology
offers improved security, somehow criminal
countermeasures manage to keep up. In an article
about end-to-end cryptography, a number of Ericsson
experts highlight how car theft is no longer carried
out with a slim jim and a screwdriver, but rather
with highly sophisticated decryption algorithms,
smartphones, and illegal access to software keys.
The protection of data — and the people who own it
— as it travels across the network has always been a
WHY
FLEXIBILITY
COUNTS…
E R I C S S O N T E C H N O L O G Y R E V I E W
Bringing you insights into some of the key emerging
innovations that are shaping the future of ict.
Our aim is to encourage an open discussion on the
potential, practicalities, and benefits of a wide range
of technical developments, and help provide
an insight into what the future has to offer.
a d d r e s s
Ericsson
se-164 83 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 719 00 00
p u b l i s h i n g
All material and articles are published on the Ericsson
Technology Review website: www.ericsson.com/
ericsson-technology-review.
Additionally, content can be accessed on the Ericsson
Technology Insights app, which is available for Android
and ios devices. The download links can be found on the
Ericsson Technology Review website.
p u b l i s h e r
Ulf Ewaldsson
e d i t o r
Deirdre P. Doyle (Sitrus)
deirdre.doyle@sitrus.com
e d i t o r i a l b o a r d
Aniruddho Basu, Joakim Cerwall, Stefan Dahlfort,
Deirdre P. Doyle, Björn Ekelund, Dan Fahrman,
Geoff Hollingworth, Jonas Högberg, Cenk Kirbas,
Sara Kullman, Börje Lundwall, Hans Mickelsson,
Ulf Olsson, Patrik Roseen, Robert Skog, Gunnar Thrysin,
Tonny Uhlin, Javier Garcia Visiedo, and Erik Westerberg
i c t a n d i n t e l l i g e n t
t r a n s p o r tat i o n s y s t e m s
Harald Ludanek (Scania)
a r t d i r e c t o r
Kajsa Dahlberg (Sitrus)
i l l u s t r at i o n s
Claes-Göran Andersson
cg@cga.se
Rikard Söderström
rikard.soderstrom@tt.se
s u b e d i t o r s
Paul Eade, Ian Nicholson, and
Birgitte van den Muyzenberg
issn:
0014-0171
Volume: 93, 2016

EDITORIAL ✱
cornerstone of the telecoms industry. But in today’s
world, no single organization can maintain end-to-
end control over information as it is carried from
source to destination, and so upholding the right to
privacy is becoming an increasingly complex issue.
And with quantum computing posing a threat to our
current security systems, our experts point out that
this will render certain existing methods of protection
useless. Not only do protocols need a shake up, so
does software — so it can work in lightweight mode for
constrained or hardware-limited devices.
The idea that technology can manage an
underground mine efficiently, operate construction
machinery from a distance, or carry out a complex
surgical procedure on a remote basis, is not
far from magical. Imagine a world in which the
hazardous work environment is a thing of the
past, where manufacturing operations are run
smoothly using remotely operated machines and
robots, where everyone has access to vital medical
expertise… This is the stuff of my boyhood science
fiction comics. But today, these are the technical
innovation challenges my colleagues intend to solve
— and in some cases, they already have.
The article on 5g remote control, which was cowritten
with experts from abb, is yet another example of how
collaboration has become embedded in our ways of
working, and how different industries can help each
other to create more innovative solutions.
If you were to ask me to pick a few words to
summarize this issue of Ericsson Technology
Review, I would choose security, new business
opportunity, flexibility, sdn, virtualization, and
5g. But, it is flexibility that clearly stands out for
me. If networks are going to provide the kind of
connectivity that industry needs, flexibility is not
only required in the technical solution, but at all
other levels too — even in business models and
internal processes.
Flexibility will be achieved in the network through
greater abstraction, programmability, and a core built
on the concept of network slicing — which is where 5g
comes in. As the article on the 5g core shows, a flexible
network architecture is needed by service providers
and industries that depend on connectivity to develop
new solutions. It will enable them to fail fast, and to
adapt their networks as quickly as business models
change. In his article on the multiband booster for
microwave backhaul, Jonas Edstam points out that in
a 5g world, capacity needs will no longer represent
the main determining factor for network architecture;
instead, total cost of ownership will take over, with a
more holistic approach to networking.
As always, I hope you find our stories relevant and
inspiring. All of our content is available at www.
ericsson.com/ericsson-technology-review, through
the Ericsson Technology Insights app, and on
SlideShare.
ULF EWALDSSON
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
GROUP CTO, AND HEAD OF GROUP FUNCTION
TECHNOLOGY
BY 2021, OVER 90% OF THE
WORLD´S POPULATION WILL BE
COVERED BY MOBILE BROADBAND
NETWORKS*
*Ericsson Mobility Report, November 2015

✱ SECURITY IN THE POST-SNOWDEN ERA
CHRISTINE JOST
JOHN MATTSSON
MATS NÄSLUND
BEN SMEETS
Ensuring that communication is secure, including the ability to encrypt
sensitive traffic, has always been a fundamental pillar of the telecom industry.
Users expect their right to privacy to be respected, and operators expect
to be able to protect themselves and their customers from various kinds of
attacks. But the world is changing. Encryption technologies are advancing,
regulations are changing, criminals are becoming highly tech savvy, and
security awareness has become a popular conversation topic. So, in light of
new threats and security demands, security protocols need a shake-up.
t r a d i t i o n a l ly, e n c r y p t i o n has
been applied to data carried over the access
network — other parts of the network being
trusted inherently. But the shift to cloud
networking, the increased awareness of
threats, exposure of the weaknesses of
traditional security algorithms, and the rise in
the value of owning data, have all contributed
to the need to protect data in all parts of the
network, and tighten encryption methods
against unwanted intrusion.
■ Inthepost-Snowdenera,revelationsrelating
totheapparentlyindiscriminatewaypervasive
surveillanceiscarriedouthaveheightenedpublic
awarenessofprivacyissues.Securityandprivacy
havesincemoveduponthelistoftopprioritiesfor
standardizationgroupsinmanyindustries.Strong
reactionstothesabotageofanencryptionstandard
haveledtomistrustanderodedconfidenceinsome
standardsthatarewidelyusedtoprotectdata.
Ourcollectivedependenceonnetworkshasmade
protectingthedatatheycarryatopicofconcernfor
governments,regulators,andsecuritycompanies,
IN AN ALL ENCRYPTED WORLD
Cryptography

butheightenedpublicandmediaawarenessis
signalingamovetoamoreconservativeapproach.
Asthesensitivityofdataisnotaneasilydefined
concept,manystandardizationgroups,suchasthe
ietf,havechosentoadoptthesameapproachas
modernmobilenetworks;inotherwords,encrypt
everything—notjustdataasitiscarriedoverthe
accessnetwork,butovertheentirepath,end-to-end.
Encryption-enforcingprotocolssuchashttp/2,
webrtc,andtls 1.3 areessentialforott service
providers.Theyarealsorequiredwhenoperators
introduceims,volte,rcs,cdn andcloudservices
ontopofthecoremobilenetwork.
Theincreaseduseofencryptionisgoodfor
enterprisesecurityandprivacy,butcomesatthe
expenseofmorecomplicatednetworkmanagement,
morecomplexcontentdeliveryoptimization,and
hamperedabilitytooffervalue-addedservices.
Heuristicmechanisms,likethosebasedonthe
frequencyandsizeofpackets,aswellasip-based
classification,willhelptoovercomethesedifficulties
andcontinuetoworkwellinmanycases,evenwhere
trafficclassificationisrequired.
Theglobalriseinawarenessandimpending
stricterregulationssurroundingindividualsecurity
andprivacyrequirementshavedriventheneed
forcommunicationstandardsthatenablelevels
ofsecurity.Industryuseofencryption,however,
isbeingdrivenbyadesiretocontroldeliveryend-
to-end.Forexample,enterprisesneedtobeable
toavoidpotentialproblemscausedbynetwork
intermediaries,suchasadinjectorsorapplication
layerfirewalls,ensuringthattheintegrityand
exclusiveownershipofvaluableanalyticsdata
continuetobeprotected.
Communicationsecurityincellularnetworksis
changing.Thealgorithmsdevelopedby3gpp and
gsma forconfidentiality,integrity,authentication,
andkeyderivationhaveevolveddramaticallysince
theywerefirstintroduced.Theoriginalalgorithms
deployedin2g/gsm networkswerekeptsecret—
securitybyobscurity—anddesignedtomeetthe
import/exportrestrictionsrelatedtoencryption
ofthetime(early1990s).Thesealgorithmswere
subsequentlyleakedandfoundtohaveweaknesses.
Theencryptionalgorithmsdevelopedfor3g
andlte havebeenmadeavailableforpublic
analysis.Theyusewell-knownandstandardized
cryptographicalgorithmssuchasaes,snow,
andsha-3,andtodate,noweaknesseshavebeen
found.Communicationsecurityhasnotonly
evolvedintermsofhowtoencryptdatabutalso
whattoprotect:traditionally,onlytheaccesspart
ofthenetworkwasencrypted.Intoday’snetworks,
protectionhasbeenextendedtocoverbackhaul,
corenodecommunicationlinksusingipsec or
tls aswellasservicesusingsrtp,tls,dtls,or
throughobjectsecurityprovidedby,forexample,
xml encryption.
Complementingprotectionontrustedinterfaces
andnodesprovidesadditionalassuranceagainst
unexpectedcompromises,securesoperational
ownership,andenablesend-to-endsecurity—
makingiteasiertocreatetherightservicesfor
Termsandabbreviations
abe–Attribute-Based Encryption | aead–Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data| aes–Advanced
Encryption Algorithm | cdn–content delivery network | irtf cfrg– irtf Crypto Forum Research Group |
dtls–Datagram tls | ecc–Elliptic Curve Cryptography | ecdsa–Elliptic Curve Digital Signature | gcm–Galois
Counter Mode | iot–Internet of Things | ipsec–Internet Protocol Security | irtf–Internet Research Task Force |
ott–over-the-top| pqc–post-quantum cryptography | quic– Google's Quick udp Internet Connections |
rcs–Rich Communication Services | rsa–Rivest-Shamir-Adelman cryptosystem | sha–Secure Hash Algorithm |
snow–synchronous stream cipher | srtp–Secure Real-time Transport Protocol | tls–Transport Layer Security

security-awarecustomersliketheit departmentof
anorganization.
Fromanethicalstandpoint,stronguser
protectionisprobablythebestguidetohowto
usesecuritymechanismsinstandardization
aswellasinproducts.Atthesametime,law
enforcementauthoritiesneedtobeabletointercept
thecommunicationofanindividualorofan
organization—inotherwords,networksneed
tosupportlawfulintercept(li)authorizedbya
courtorder.However,astheapplicationoflimay
intrudeuponprivatecommunication,atrade-
offbetweentheoverallsafetyofsocietyanduser/
enterpriseprivacyisnecessary.Inmanycases,itis
sufficienttosupplylawenforcementwithsignaling
and/ornetworkmanagementdata;accesstothe
actualcontentofacommunicationtendstobeless
frequent.However,inthelightoftheincreasing
threatofattack,thescopeandconceptofli is
changing,andsomecountrieslikeFranceandthe
uk arealreadyamendingtheirregulations.
Withtherighttechnicalsolutionsandstandards
inplace,theneedfornextgenerationnetworksto
workinanall-encryptedmannerisnotinconflict
withprovidingvaluetoallstakeholders.However,
inanewworldwhereencryptionisappliedinaccess
networks,aswellasinbackhaul,core,andforservices,
newdemandsareplacedoncryptographicprimitives
andhowtheyareused.Ericssonisthereforeactively
pushingstandardization,andthedevelopmentof
productsandserviceswiththisgoalinmind.
Developmentsandchallenges
Asalgorithmdesignandtechnologydevelop,
givingrisetopowerfulcomputersandlarge
memorycapacity,theneedtostrengthencurrent
cryptographymethodsagainstbrute-forcekey-
recoveryattackshasbecomeawidelyacceptedfact.
Atthesametime,newcapabilitiesresulting
fromadvancesincomputingcanbeappliedto
increasethestrengthofencryptionalgorithms.
Asidefromthepracticalissuesrelatedtokey
management,strengtheningencryptioncanbequite
simplyachievedbyusinglongerkeys.However,
theheightenedsecurityenvironmentof2015has
drasticallyalteredexpectationsfromindividuals
andsocietyasawhole.Demandforsecurity
andprivacycapabilitieshassoared,andsothe
requirementsplacedoncryptographictechniques
haverisenaccordingly.Thissituationhasput
existingalgorithmsintoquestion,leadingtoefforts
tostandardizenewalgorithmsandprotocols.
Securityissuesarenottheonlyfactorshapingthe
designofnewsecurityprotocolsandcryptographic
algorithms.Performancecharacteristicslikelatency
andenergyefficiency,aswellasnewbusiness
opportunitiesaresignificantfactorsthatneed
tobeincludedinthedesign.High-performance
algorithmsneedtobedeveloped,andchallenges
suchasprovidingsecurityinthevirtualizedworld
needtobeovercome.Buthowwilldevelopments
liketheseaffecttheict industry,andwhatbusiness
opportunitiesdotheybring?
High-performancealgorithmsandprotocols
Somelegacyalgorithmsnolongermeetthe
increasedsecurityandperformancedemandsin
today’stechnologicalenvironment.Insomecases,
theyareperceivedastooslowandconsumetoo
muchenergy.Theabilitytoensurethesecurityof
informationisfundamentalinanall-encrypted
world.Yetinthisenvironment,theperformanceand
efficiencyofcryptographicalgorithmshasbecome
anadditionalessential,sothatsystemscandeliver
theexpectedserviceperformancewithminimum
impactontheenergybudget.
Keyedcryptographicalgorithmscomeintwo
varieties:symmetric,andasymmetric(publickey),
andprovideencryptionandintegrityprotection.In
asymmetricalgorithm,thesenderandthereceiver
shareanidenticalsecretkey.Symmetricalgorithms,
suchasaes,arerelativelyfastandareassuchoften
usedtoprotecttrafficorstoreddata.Torevealthe
key,itwouldtakeanattacker2n
evaluationsofthe
decryptionalgorithm,wherenisthekeylength,
whichforaes-128 is2128
evaluations.
Inlegacysymmetricalgorithms,theprocessesof
encryptionandintegrityprotectionareseparated.
Byinsteadcombiningthem,neweraead algorithms
achievehugeperformancegainsovertheir
legacycounterparts.Forexample,whenaes is
usedinGaloisCounterMode(aes-gcm),ithas

outstandingperformanceonmodernprocessors,
andistoday’ssolutionofchoiceformanyhigh-
endsoftwareapplications.However,alternative
solutionsareneededforconstraineddevicesor
deviceswithouthardwaresupportforaes.aead
algorithms,suchasaes-ccm orchacha20-
poly1305, mightbepreferableinsuchcases.Toget
afeelingforthegainsthatcanbemade,tls 1.2 with
aes-gcm isaboutthreetimesfasterthanaes-cbc
withsha-1,andcanbeupto100timesfasterthan
tls with3des.Figure 1showstheperformance
gainsthatcanbeachievedwithvariousciphers
inopenssl runningona2ghzIntelCorei7.In
additiontothespeedgainsthataead algorithms
canachieve,someofthesecurityweaknessesfound
inolderversionsoftls havealsobeenresolved.
Inasymmetricalgorithms,dataencryptedwith
thepublickeycanonlybedecryptedbytheprivate
key,andsignaturescreatedwiththeprivatekeycan
beverifiedwiththepublickey.Asitsnameimplies,
thepublickeyisnotsecretandisfreelydistributed.
Typically,public-keyalgorithmslikersa anddh are
usedforauthenticationandkeyexchangeduring
sessionsetup,andnotfortheprotectionofdata
traffic;thesealgorithmsarefarlessperformant
forbulkencryptioncomparedwithsymmetric
cryptographicalgorithms.
Similartothewayaead algorithmshaveledto
improvedsecurityandperformanceofsymmetric
cryptography,EllipticCurveCryptography(ecc)is
enablingsmallerkeysizesandbetterperformance
forpublic-keycryptography.Thekeysizesused
inpublic-keyalgorithmsneedtobelongerthan
thoseusedinsymmetricalgorithmsofcomparable
strength,andarechosensothatrecoverytakes
roughly2128
operations.Suchkeysizesaresaidto
provide128-bitsecurity.Toprovidesecurityatthe
128-bitlevel,theecc signaturealgorithmecdsa
(withthenist p-256 curve)usessignificantly
smallerkeysizesthanrsa (256 bitscompared
with3072 bits)anddeliverssignificantlybetter
performanceinusecaseswherebothsigningand
verificationareneeded.Thenewecc curves[1]
andsignaturealgorithmed25519 [2]standardized
RC4_128_MD5
AES_256_CBC_SHA
AES_128_CBC_SHA
CHACHA20_POLY1305
AES_128_GCM
0 500 1 000 1 500 2 000
Speed (MB/s)
Figure 1
Data rate transfer
of various ciphers

Verify
Sign
EdDSA
Curve25519
ECDSA
P-256
RSA-3072
Verify
Sign
Verify
Sign
0 50 000 100 000 150 000 250 000200 000
Speed (operations/s)
Figure 2:
Signing and verification speeds of 59 byte messages with
128-bit security algorithms on Intel Xeon E3-1275 [3]
Client Server Client Server Client Server
TCP + TLS 1.2 TCP + TLS 1.3 QUIC
QUIC
Data
TLS
TLS
TCPTCP
Data
Data
2 RTT 1 RTT 0 RTT
Figure 3:
Repeated connection establishment using tls 1.2, tls 1.3, or quic

bytheirtf cfrg willfurtherimprovethe
performanceofecc,sothatitwillbeabletooffer
over100timesbettersigningperformancethan
rsa.Figure 2showstheperformancecomparison
ofecc torsa.Notonlyarenewstandardssuchas
curve25519 andeddsa muchfasterthantheir
predecessors,theyarealsomoresecure,astheir
designstakeintoaccounttwodecadesworthof
securityimprovementsuggestionsdevelopedbythe
scientificcommunity.
Newprotocolssuchastls 1.3 andthesoon-
to-be-standardizedquic significantlyreduce
connectionsetuplatencybyloweringthenumberof
messagesneededtocompletesecurityassociation
onsetup.Theseprotocolsdisableanyoptions
thatweakensecurityandforwardsecrecyisonby
default.Forwardsecrecyprotectsacommunication
sessionagainstfuturecompromiseofitslong-
termkey.Oldversionsoftls,excepttcp,required
tworoundtripstosetupaconnectiontoanew
server,andoneroundtripforarepeatconnection.
Newerversionssuchastls 1.3 onlyuseoneround
tripmessageexchangetosetupaconnectiontoa
newserver,andnoadditionaltripsforsubsequent
secureconnectionestablishments.quic takesthis
improvementonestepfurther,requiringjustaone-
directional(clienttoserver)messagelinktoestablish
serverconnections.Figure 3explainsthelatency
reductionsobtainedbytheimprovedconnection
establishmentoftls 1.3 andquic.
Theict industryisintheprocessofabandoning
theuseofseverallegacyalgorithmsandprotocols
including3des,rc4,cbc-mode,rsa,sha-1,and
tls 1.1 optingfornewer,moresecure,andfaster
algorithmssuchasaes-gcm,ecc,sha-2,and
tls 1.2,andlaterversions.
ThisshiftisembracedinEricsson’sstrategyon
theuseofnextgenerationcryptographyandin
theproductroadmaps.Inaddition,Ericssonhas
recentlyinitiatedanupgradeofthe3gpp security
profilesforcertificatesandsecurityprotocolssuch
astls,ipsec,andsrtp [4].Ideally,allsecurity
shouldbeimplementedusingefficientandwell-
testedalgorithmsthatofferacryptographicstrength
thatisequivalentofatleast128-bitsecurityforaes
—eventheworld’sfastestsupercomputer,breaking
thislevelofsecuritybybrute-forceexhaustivesearch
wouldbeexpectedtotakelongerthanthetimethat
haselapsedsincetheBigBang.
iot andtheNetworkedSociety
Thetwoprominentmessagingpatternsusediniot
devicecommunicationarestore-and-forwardand
publish-subscribe.iotdevicecommunicationoccurs
inahop-by-hopfashionandreliesonmiddleboxes,
whichlimitsthepossibilityforend-to-endsecurity.
Traditionaltransport-layersecurityprotocols,such
asdtls,havedifficultyinprovidingend-to-end
dataprotectionforthisiot-typetraffic—dtls,
forexample,onlyoffershop-by-hopsecurity.To
overcomethisissue,fullytrustedintermediaries
arenecessary,whichmakesithardertooffer
iotcommunicationservicestoenterprisesand
governmentsthatarehighlysecurityandprivacy
sensitive.
Thedebateregardingpervasivemonitoringhas
illustratedtheneedtoprotectdataevenfromtrusted
intermediarynodes—astheycanbecompromised.
Torespondtothisneed,theietf (supportedby
Ericsson)isworkingonobjectsecurityfortheiot
[5]—asillustratedinFigure 4.Theaimofobject
securityistoprovideend-to-endprotectionof
sensitivedata,whileatthesametimeenabling
servicestobeoutsourced.Forexample,data
collectionfromalargeiot sensordeploymentisa
typicalservicethatcouldbeoutsourcedtoathird
party.
Thesecuritypropertiesofcyber-physicalsystems
(cpss),suchasasmartpowergrid,arequite
differenttothoseofatypicaliot deployment,
whichtendtocontainamassofsensors.Theability
tocontrolacps inasecuremannerisessentialina
worldwherebillionsofconnectedandnetworked
thingsinteractwiththephysicalworld.The
purposeofaremote-controlledcps,likeadrone
oragroupofrobots,canoftenbemission-critical.
Thesesystemstendtobeopenorclosed-loop
controlled,andanydenial-of-serviceattackssuch
astheblocking,delaying,orrelayingofmessages
canhaveseriousconsequences.Forexample,by
relayingmessagesout-of-band,usingsaywalkie-
talkies,attackerscanunlockanddriveawaywith

Channel
security
Channel
security
Channel
security
Cache
Cloud service Client
Authentication,
authorization
(identity/policy
key management)IoT device
Application layer
(object security)
Data object 1 (plain text)
Data object 2 (encrypted and/or integrity protected)
Policy data (integrity protected)
Figure 4:
Object security in the iot
exclusivevehiclesusingautomaticcarkeysbased
onproximity(anattackthathasbeenexecuted
againstrealassets).
Clouddatasecurity
Inthepost-Snowdenera,thesignificanceofdata
securityandprivacy,askeyselectioncriteria
forcloud-infrastructureproviders,hasrisen
considerably[6].Tomakeiteasierfororganizations
tooutsourcetheircommunicationsolutions,
Ericsson’sapproachistopushstandardization,
sothatend-to-endprotectionofcontentcan
becombinedwithhop-by-hopprotectionof
lesssensitivemetadata[7].Manycloud-storage
providershaveadoptedclient-sideencryptionto
preventunauthorizedaccessormodificationofdata,
whichsolvestheissuessurroundingsecurestorage
andforwardingforclouddata.
Dataencryptionhasotherbenefits;inmany
jurisdictionsusersneedtobeinformedofdata
breachesunlesstheirinformationwasencrypted.
However,encryptiondoesnotnecessarilymean
bettercompliancewithprivacyregulations.
Homomorphicencryptionisoneofthekey
breakthroughtechnologiesresultingfromadvances
incryptographicresearch.Incontrasttoaes,for
example,thisapproachallowsoperationstobe
performeddirectlyonencrypteddatawithout
needingtoaccessdatainitsdecryptedform.
Unfortunately,fullyhomomorphicencryption,
whichincludesmethodsthatallowarbitrary
computationsonencrypteddata,haveyetto
overcomesomeperformanceissues.However,
anumberofspecializedmethodslikepartially
homomorphicencryption,deterministicencryption,
order-preservingencryption,andsearchable
encryptionallowaspecificsetofcomputationsto
beperformedonencrypteddata,withasufficient
levelofperformancesothattheycanbeappliedto
real-lifescenarios.Bycombiningthesemethods,it
ispossibletocovermanytypesofcomputationsthat
ariseinpractice.Forexample,differentproofsof
concepthaveshownthatbycombiningencryption
methods,typicalsql operationssuchas SUM,
GROUP BY, andJOIN canbecarriedouton
encrypteddatabases[8].Manycomputations,

bestoutsourcedtothecloud,usearestrictedset
ofoperationsthatcanbedealtwithusingthese
specializedmethodswithgoodperformance.For
example,sums,averages,counts,andthreshold
checkscanbeimplemented.However,further
researchisneededtomakethesemethods
applicabletoreal-worldusecases.Forexample,data
encryptionperformanceiscrucialforusecaseswith
highdatathroughput.Ericsson’sresearch[9]into
theencryptionperformanceofthemostpopular
partiallyhomomorphiccryptosystem(thePaillier
system)hasshownaperformanceincreaseoforders
ofmagnitude,whichmakesPailliersuitableforhigh-
throughputscenarios.
Specializedmethods,likehomomorphic
encryption,usedforcarryingoutcomputationson
encrypteddata,couldalsobeusedforpreserving
confidentialityincloudcomputationandanalytics-
as-a-service.Withthesemethods,clientswith
largedatasetstobeanalyzed—suchasnetwork
operators,healthcareproviders,andprocess/
engineeringindustryplayers—wouldbeableto
outsourcebothstorageandanalysisofthedatato
thecloudserviceprovider.Onceoutsidetheclient’s
network,dataisencrypted,therebypreserving
confidentiality,andallowingthecloudproviderto
performanalyticsdirectlyontheencrypteddata.
AsillustratedinFigure 5,suchanapproachenables
cloudcomputationforanalysisofconfidentialdata.
Identityandattribute-basedencryption
Strongcryptographyalonedoesnotworkwithout
properkeymanagement.Specifically,management
covershowkeysaregeneratedanddistributed,and
howauthorizationtousethemisgranted.
Protectingdataexchangebetweennendpoints
usingsymmetrickeycryptographyrequiresthe
securegenerationanddistributionofroughlyn2
pair-wisesymmetrickeys.Withthebreakthrough
inventionofpublickeycryptographyintheworksof
Diffie,Hellman,Rivest,Shamir,andAdlemaninthe
mid-1970s,theuseofasymmetrickeypairsreduced
thequadraticcomplexity,requiringonlynkeypairs.
However,thisreductioninthenumberofkeysis
offsetbytheneedtooftenensurethatthepublic
portionofthekeypaircanbefirmlyassociated
withtheownerofitsprivate(secret)portion.For
alongtime,aPublicKeyInfrastructure(pki)was
themainwaytoaddressthisissue.Butpkisrequire
managementandadditionaltrustrelationsforthe
endpointsandarenotanoptimalsolution.
Identity-BasedEncryption(ibe)allowsan
endpointtoderivethepublickeyofanother
endpointfromagivenidentity.Forexample,byusing
ane-mailaddress(name.surname@company.com)
asapublickey,anyonecansendencrypteddata
totheownerofthee-mailaddress.Theabilityto
decryptthecontentlieswiththeentityinpossession
ofthecorrespondingsecret/privatekey—theowner
ofthee-mailaddress—aslongasthenamespaceis
properlymanaged.
Attribute-BasedEncryption(abe)takesthis
ideafurtherbyencodingattributes,forexample,
rolesoraccesspolicies,intoauser’ssecret/private
keys.ibe and abe allowendpointswithoutnetwork
connectionstosetupsecureandauthenticated
device-to-devicecommunicationchannels.Assuch,
itisagoodmatchforpublicsafetyapplicationsand
usedinthe3gpp standardforproximity-based
servicesforlte.
Post-quantumcryptography
Althoughtheconstructionofquantumcomputers
isstillinitsinfancy,thereisagrowingconcernthat
inanottoodistantfuture,someonemightsucceed
inbuildingmuchlargerquantumcomputersthan
thecurrentexperimentalconstructions.This
eventualitymayhavedramaticconsequences
forcryptographicalgorithmsandtheirability
tomaintainthesecurityofinformation.Attack
algorithmshavealreadybeeninventedandareready
foraquantumcomputertoexecuteon.
Forsymmetrickeycryptography,Grover’s
algorithmisabletoinvertafunctionusingonly√N
evaluationsofthefunction,whereNisthenumber
ofpossibleinputs.Forasymmetric128-bitkey
algorithm,suchasaes-128,Grover’salgorithm
enablesanattackertofindasecretkey200
quintilliontimesfaster,usingroughly264
evaluations
insteadof2128
—thecomplexityofanexhaustive
search.Quantumcomputingthereforeweakensthe
effectivesecurityofsymmetrickeycryptographyby

half.Symmetrickeyalgorithmsthatuse256-bitkeys
suchasaes-256 are,however,secureevenagainst
quantumcomputers.
Thesituationforpublic-keyalgorithmsis
worse;forexample,Shor’salgorithmforinteger
factorizationdirectlyimpactsthesecurityofrsa.
Thisalgorithmisalsoeffectiveindealingwithall
otherstandardizedpublic-keycryptosystems
usedtoday.WithShor’salgorithm,today’spublic-
keyalgorithmslosealmostallsecurityandwould
nolongerbesecureinthepresenceofquantum
computing.Figure 6showstheeffectofquantum
computingontoday’salgorithms.
Althoughcurrentresearchisfarfromthepoint
wherequantumcomputingcanaddressthesizeof
numbersusedtodayincryptoschemes,theability
toperformquantumcomputingisincreasing.The
largestnumberfactoredbyaquantumcomputer
usedtobetheinteger21(3×7),butin2014,a
quantumcomputerfactored56,153(233×241).The
termpost-quantumcryptography(pqc)isused
todescribealgorithmsthatremainstrong,despite
thefledglingcapabilitiesofquantumcomputing.In
2014,etsi organizedaworkshoponquantum-safe
cryptography,andin2015theus NationalSecurity
Agency(nsa)said[10]itwouldinitiateatransition
toquantum-resistantalgorithms.Thepotential
impactofquantumcomputinghasreachedthelevel
ofindustryawareness.
So,wheredoesresearchstandtodaywithrespect
topqc?Understandingly,mosteffortisbeing
focusedonfindingalternativesforthepotentially
brokenpublic-keyalgorithms—particularlythose
thatproducedigitalsignatures.Intheirefforts,
researchersfollowdifferenttrackssuchastheuseof
codingtheory,lattices,hashfunctions,multivariate
equations,andsupersingularellipticcurves.For
example,someschemesgobacktoideassetforth
byMerkleandusehashfunctionsinMerkletrees
asacomponent.Asquantumcomputingbecomes
areality,suchschemeswouldreducetheeffective
keysizeby33percent,stillenablingthemtoremain
practicallysecure.Thechallengefornewschemes
istofindsolutionsthathavethesameproperties,
suchasnon-repudiation,thatdigitalsignatures
havetodayorprovidedataintegritywithpublic
verification.Fromthisperspective,theblockchain
constructionusedinBitcoinisinteresting.Although
Bitcoinitselfisnotquantumimmune,thereisan
interestingingredientinitsconstruction:whenthe
chainhasgrownlongenough,theintegrityofhash
valuedoesnotrelyonverificationagainstadigital
signaturebutbyhavingitendorsedbymanyusers.
Bycreatingapublicledger,anytamperingofahash
valueisrevealedbycomparingitwiththepublic
value.Theideaofapublicledgerissignificantin
theksi solution[11]fordataintegrityavailablein
Ericsson’scloudportfolio.Yetthesearchforpqc
schemesthatcanprovidedigitalsignatureswith
non-repudiationcontinues.
Today'ssystemsthatuseorintroducesymmetric
schemes,shouldbedesignedwithsufficientmargin
Encrypted data
Encrypted analysis
Cloud service providerClientFigure 5:
Cloud-based analytics on
encrypted data

256
128
64
0
Symmetric, pre 128 bit
Symmetric, pre 256 bit
RSA, pre 3072 bit
RSA, pre 7680 bit
Symmetric, post 128 bit
Symmetric, post 256 bit
RSA, post 3072 bit
RSA, post 7680 bit
Securitylevel
192
Figure 6:
Relative complexities for breaking cryptographic algorithms
before quantum computers and post-quantum computers

inkeysize,sotheycancopewiththepotential
capabilityofquantumcomputers.However,justas
advanceshavebeenmadeinthefieldsofcomputer
engineeringandalgorithmdesignoverthepast
half-century,developersmaywellbringusnew
cryptographicschemesthatwillchangethesecurity
landscapedramatically.
Summary
Concernsaboutsecurityandprivacynowrank
amongtheict industry’stoppriorities.For
Ericsson,overcomingtheseconcernsisanon-
negotiableelementoftheNetworkedSociety.The
worldisheadinginthedirectionofcomprehensive
protectionofdata(intransitandatrest),where
encryptiontechniquesarenotjustreservedfor
accessnetworks,butareappliedacrosstheentire
communicationsystem.This,togetherwithnew,
morecomplexcommunicationservicesplacesnew
demandsoncryptographytechnology.
Newcryptographicalgorithmssuchasaead and
ecc overcometheperformanceandbandwidth
limitsoftheirpredecessors,inseveralcasesoffering
improvementsofseveralordersofmagnitude.On
theprotocolside,tls 1.3 andquic significantly
reducelatency,astheyrequirefewerroundtripsto
setupsecurecommunications.
Homomorphicencryptionmaycreatenew
businessopportunitiesforcloud-storageproviders.
Shouldquantumcomputersbecomeareality,the
futurechallengewillbetoreplacemanyestablished
algorithmsandcryptosystems.Ericssonhasa
deepunderstandingofappliedcryptography,its
implications,andtheopportunitiesitpresentsfor
theict industry.Weactivelyusethisknowledgeto
developbettersecuritysolutionsinstandardization,
services,andproducts,wellinadvanceoftheirneed
intheworld. d
References
1. irtf cfrg, October 2015, Elliptic Curves for
Security, available at:
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-irtf-cfrg-curves
2. irtf cfrg, December 2015, Edwards-curve
Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA), available at:
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-irtf-cfrg-eddsa
3. ecrypt, ebacs: ecrypt Benchmarking of
Cryptographic Systems, available at:
http://bench.cr.yp.to/results-sign.html
4. 3gppsa3 Archives, 2015, Update of the 3gpp
Security Profiles for tls, IPsec and Certificates,
available at: https://list.etsi.org/scripts/
wa.exe?A2=3GPP_TSG_SA_WG3;cf1a7cc4.1506C
5. ace wg, 2015, Object Security of coap
(oscoap), available at:
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-selander-ace-object-
security
6. Gigaom Research, 2014, Data privacy and
security in the post-snowden era, available at:
http://www.verneglobal.com/sites/default/files/
gigaom_research-data_privacy_and_security.pdf
7. perc, 2015, Secure Real-time Transport Protocol
(srtp) for Cloud Services, available at:
https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-mattsson-perc-srtp-
cloud
8. Proceedings of the 23rd acm,2011, Cryptdb:
Protecting confidentiality with encrypted query
processing, abstract available at: http://dl.acm.
org/citation.cfm?id=2043566
9. Ericsson, 2015, Encryption Performance
Improvements of the Paillier Cryptosystem,
available at:
https://eprint.iacr.org/2015/864.pdf
10. National Security Agency, 2009, Cryptography
Today, available at:
https://www.nsa.gov/ia/programs/suiteb_
cryptography/
11. iacr, Keyless Signatures’ Infrastructure: How to
Build Global Distributed Hash-Trees, available at:
https://eprint.iacr.org/2013/834.pdf

Christine Jost
◆ joined Ericsson in 2014,
where she has been working
with security research,
including applications of
homomorphic encryption
methods. She holds a
Ph.D. in mathematics from
Stockholm University, and
an M.Sc. in mathematics
from Dresden University of
Technology in Germany.
John Mattsson
◆ joined Ericsson Research
in 2007 and is now a senior
researcher. In 3GPP, he
has heavily influenced the
work on ims security and
algorithm profiling. He is
coordinating Ericsson’s
security work in the ietf,
and is currently working on
applied cryptography as well
as transport and application
layer security. He holds
an M.Sc. in engineering
physics from the Royal
Institute of Technology in
Stockholm (kth), and an
M.Sc. in business admin and
economics from Stockholm
University.
Mats Näslund
◆ has been with Ericsson
Research for more than
15 years and is currently
a principal researcher.
Before joining Ericsson
he completed an M.Sc. in
computer science and a
Ph.D. in cryptography, both
from kth. During his time at
Ericsson he has worked with
most aspects of network
and information security,
making contributions to
various standards (3gpp/
etsi, ietf, iso, csa). He
has taken part in external
research collaborations
such as eu fp7 ecrypt
(Network of Excellence in
Cryptography). He is also
a very active inventor, and
was a recipient of Ericsson’s
Inventor of the Year Award
in 2009. Recently, he was
appointed adjunct professor
at KTH in the area Network
and System Security.
Ben Smeets
◆ is a senior expert in
Trusted Computing at
Ericsson Research in
Lund, Sweden. He is also a
professor at Lund University,
from where he holds a Ph.D.
in information theory. In
1998, he joined Ericsson
Mobile Communications,
where he worked on
security solutions for
mobile phone platforms. His
worked greatly influenced
the security solutions
developed for the Ericsson
mobile platforms. He also
made major contributions
to Bluetooth security
and platform security-
related patents. In 2005,
he received the Ericsson
Inventor of the Year Award
and is currently working
on trusted computing
technologies and the use of
virtualization.
theauthors
The authors greatly
acknowledge
the support and
inspiration of their
colleagues Christoph
Schuba, Dario Casella,
and Alexander Pantus

✱ A BOOSTER FOR BACKHAUL
JONAS EDSTAM Is there a spectrum shortage? The answer to the question is both yes and no;
in some locations spectrum is severely congested, while in other places it is
highly underutilized. As the performance level demands on services like mobile
broadband continue to rise, networks are going to need some innovative tools.
New methods that will maximize spectrum efficiency, and new technologies
that can exploit unused spectrum are going to be needed. Multiband booster
is one such method. This concept fundamentally shifts the way spectrum can
be used, with a promise to deliver a massive improvement in the performance
levels of microwave backhaul, while at the same time accelerating the much
needed shift toward the use of higher frequency bands.
Microwave
backhaulGETS A BOOST WITH
MULTIBAND

A BOOSTER FOR BACKHAUL ✱
t e c h n o l o g y e v o l u t i o n, increased
mobility, and massive digitalization
continue to place ever more demanding
performance requirements on networks —
a trend that shows no signs of leveling off.
As the dominant backhaul media in today’s
networks, microwave plays a significant
role in providing good mobile network
performance. However, the constant
pressure to increase performance levels
translates into a need for more spectrum,
and more efficient use of it — not just when
it comes to radio access, but for microwave
backhaul as well.
■ Asafinitenaturalresource,radiospectrumis
governedbynationalandinternationalregulations
toensurethatsocialandeconomicbenefitsare
maximized.Spectrumisdividedintofrequency
bandsthatareallocatedtodifferenttypesofradio
services,suchascommunication,broadcasting,
radar,aswellasscientificuse.Allocationisbased
onpropagationcharacteristics,whichvarywith
frequency.Lowerfrequencies,forexample,enable
radiosignalstobetransmittedoverlongerdistances,
andcanpenetratebuildingfacades.Higher
frequencies,ontheotherhand,aremorelimitedin
termsofreachandcoverage,buttheycangenerally
providewiderfrequencybands,andassuchhave
highdata-carryingcapacities.Drivenbygrowing
communicationneeds,everhigherfrequencies
havebeentakenintouseoverthepastfewdecades.
Historically,microwavebackhaulhasusedmuch
higherfrequencies(fromabout6ghzto86ghz)than
mobileradioaccess,whichtodayusesspectrum
rangingfromabout400mhzto4ghz.For5g radio
access,researchiscurrentlyunderwayontheuse
ofmuchhigherfrequencies(above24ghz).The
findingsofthisworkwillbepresentedatthenext
itu WorldRadiocommunicationConference,due
tobeheldin2019(wrc-19)[1].
By2020,65percentofallcellsites(excluding
thoseinNortheastAsia)willbeconnectedtothe
restofthenetworkusingmicrowavebackhaul
technology[2].Betweennowandthen,the
performanceofmicrowavebackhaulwillcontinue
toimprove,supportinggrowingcapacityneeds
throughtechnologyevolutionandmoreefficient
useofspectrum.Thedecision-makingprocessused
toestablishwhatmediacanbestprovidebackhaul
toagivensitewillalsochange;itwillnolongerbe
determinedbycapacityneeds,butratherwhich
solution—fiberormicrowavebackhaul—provides
thelowesttotalcostofownership(tco).
Multibandsolutions,whichenableenhanceddata
ratesbycombiningresourcesinmultiplefrequency
bands,alreadyconstituteanessentialpartof
modernradioaccesssystems.Theirsignificance
will,however,increaseinthecomingyears,asthey
enableefficientuseofdiversespectrumassets,
andassuchwillsupporttheevolutionoflte and
5g technologies.
Thequestiontoday,however,ishowtoexploit
themultibandconceptforbackhaul.Andhowcan
aholisticviewenablemoreefficientuseofdiverse
backhaulspectrumassets.
Useofspectrumforbackhaul
Spectrumindifferentfrequencyrangesisusedby
backhaulsolutionstosupportcommunicationin
manytypesoflocations,fromsparselypopulated
ruralareastoultra-denseurbanenvironments.
Globally,about4millionmicrowavebackhaul
hopsareinoperationtoday.Figure 1illustrates
theextentofmicrowavebackhaulusagebyregion
andband—thesizeofeachcircleisrelativetothe
pdh–Plesiochronous Digital Hierarchy | qam–quadrature amplitude modulation |sdh–Synchronous Digital Hierarchy

Northern Europe
and Central Asia
Middle East
India
Southeast Asia
and Oceania
Northeast Asia
Western and
Central Europe
Mediterranean
Sub-Saharan
Africa
Latin America
North America
Region 6 7 8 10 11 13 15 18 23 26 28 32 38 42 60 70/80
Frequency band (GHz)
Source: Ericsson 2015
Figure 1:
Global use of microwave
backhaul
numberofmicrowavehopsinoperation.Which
frequencybandisusedvariesgreatlyfromoneplace
tothenext,becausethemostappropriatebandis
chosendependingonregionalclimateandnational
spectrumregulations[3].Otherfactorslikeinter-
sitedistance,targetperformancerequirements,and
fiberpenetrationarealsotakenintoconsideration
whenselectingthebackhaulfrequencybandthat
bestfitsagivenlocation.
Ascapacityneedshavegrown,theuseof
spectrumhasshifted.Higher,previouslylessutilized
frequencieshavegrowninpopularity.Abouta
decadeago,new26ghz,28ghz,and32ghzbands
wereintroduced,andsincethen,theuseofthese
bandstosupportlte backhaulhasbecomepopular
inpartsofEurope,CentralAsia,theMediterranean,
andtheMiddleEast.Theolder38ghzbandisquite
popularintheseregions,anditsattractivenessis
currentlygrowingintherestoftheworld.Thenewer
70/80ghzbandistodaygainingpopularity[2,4],as
itofferswidespectrumandchannelsalike,enabling
capacitiesinthe10gbpsrangeoverafewkilometers.
Lookingtothefuture,industryhasaninterestin
theuseoffrequenciesabove100ghz,astheywill
enablecapacitiesinthe40gbpsrangeoverhop
distancesofaboutakilometer[2].
Technologiesarebeinginvestigated[5],
andregulatorystudiesareexaminingchannel
arrangementsanddeploymentscenariosinthe
92-114.5ghz,and130-174.7ghzfrequencyranges,
commonlyreferredtoasthew-andd-bandfor
microwavebackhaul[6].
Unfortunately,theuseofspectrumisunbalanced:
hotspotsoccurinbandsthatareheavilyused,while
therearelargegeographicalareaswithuntapped
spectruminallfrequencybands.
Microwavebackhaultechnology
Unlikethevariousgenerationsofradioaccess
technology(2g,3g,and4g),thereisnoformal

classificationformicrowavebackhaultechnology
evolution.Nevertheless,itsperformancehas
improvedtremendouslyoverthepastfewdecades
withtheintroductionofinnovativetechnologiesand
enhancedfeatures[2,7,8].
Oneissuethatinsomewaycharacterizes
microwavebackhaulistheimpactonsignalstrength
ofadversepropagationeffects,suchasthosecaused
byrain.Planninganddimensioningofmicrowave
linksneedtobecarriedoutusingrecommended
propagationpredictionmethodsandlong-term
statistics,toensurethattargetedserviceavailability
(theratioofactualserviceprovidedtothetargeted
servicelevel,measuredover365days,andexpressed
asapercentage)canbesecured[9].
Originally,microwavesupportedpdh andsdh
transportusingfixedmodulationdesignedfora
serviceavailabilityofupto99.999percent(five-nines
availability),whichallowsforfiveminutesoftotal
outageinayear.
Sincethen,adaptivemodulationhasbeen
introducedforpackettransport:atechniquethat
isnowwellestablished,andsupportsextreme
ordermodulationwithupto4096qam.Adaptive
modulationmaximizesthebit-error-freethroughput
underallpropagationconditions.Itcanbe
configuredtoprovideguaranteedcapacityfor
high-availabilityservices,andstillprovidemore
thandoublethecapacitywithsomewhatlower
availability,asillustratedinFigure 2.
Multibandboosterforbackhaul
Radio-linkbondingisawell-establishedmethod
formicrowavebackhaul,enablingmultipleradio
carrierstobeaggregatedintoasinglevirtualone[7]
—somewhatsimilartocarrieraggregationinradio
access.Bondingnotonlyenhancespeakcapacity,
italsoincreaseseffectivethroughputbyusing
statisticalmultiplexing.Sinceitsintroduction,the
technologyhasevolvedcontinuously,supporting
Figure 2:
Evolution of microwave
backhaul technology
Capacity
363 days 365 days Availability
99.5%
99.9%
99.95%
99.99%
99.995%
99.999%
1.8 days
8.8 hours
4.4 hours
53 minutes
26 minutes
5 minutes
Unavailability
30 minutes
Multiband
Adaptive modulation (4096 QAM)
Fixed modulation (128 QAM)
High band
Low band

Distance (km)
0
0
5
10
15
20
25
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Frequency (GHz)
Bands
Limit without fading
99.9% availability, mild climate
99.9% availability, severe climate
99.999% availability, mild climate
99.999% availability, severe climate
Multiband potential
Figure 3:
Achievable distances with
high-capacity microwave
backhaul
363 days
4Gbps
600Mbps
1.5Gbps
300Mbps
1.5Gbps
300Mbps
365 days
363 days 365 days
363 days 365 days
Moderate climate
5km distance
70/80GHz, 500MHz channel, 256 QAM
23GHz, 56MHz channel, 4096 QAM
Moderate climate
12km distance
Moderate climate
25km distance
Figure 4:
Examples of multiband
microwave backhaul
configurations

ever-highercapacitiesandmoreflexiblecarrier
combinations.Sofar,focushasbeenonbonding
carrierswithinthesamefrequencyband.Thebeauty
ofthemultibandboosterconceptliesinthefact
thatitusesradio-linkbondingtoaggregatecarriers
indifferentfrequencybands,enablingthefull
spectrumpotentialtobeunleashed.
Widerchannelsareeasiertoobtainathigher
frequencies,butasrainattenuationincreaseswith
frequency,availabilitydropsforagivendistance.
Multibandboosterovercomesthisissuebybonding
awidehigh-frequencychannelwithanarrowlow-
frequencychannel,asillustratedinFigure 2.The
resultingcombinationprovidesthebestofboth
channels,givinghighercapacitiesovermuchlonger
distances—drasticallychangingthewayspectrum
canbeusedforbackhaul.Multibandbooster
bringsaboutahugeincreaseinperformance,and
introducesahighdegreeofflexibilityintothedesign
ofthebackhaulsolution.Ultimately,itenablesthe
performanceandavailabilityrequirementsfor
differentservicestobemet.
Howdifferentmicrowavebackhaulfrequency
rangescanbeusedistoalargeextentdetermined
bypropagationproperties[9].Asrainattenuation
andfree-spacelossesincreasewithfrequency,the
achievablehopdistanceathigherfrequenciesis
limited.Themaximumdistancesforhigh-capacity
microwaveareshowninFigure 3fordifferent
climatesandlevelsofavailability.Themildclimate
hasarainzoneofabout30mmperhour(rainrate
exceededfor0.01percentoftheyear),andistypical
forlargepartsofEurope.Thesevereclimateisfora
rainzoneofabout90mmperhour,whichistypical
forIndia.Theavailabilitytargetsinthisexample
aresetforhalfthemaximumlinkcapacity,which
correspondsto64outof4096qam inthe6-42ghz
range,andto16outof256qam inthe60ghzand
70/80ghzbands.Thefulllinkcapacityhaslower
availability,butismaintainedformostoftheyear.
Forapplicationsthatrequirelowercapacities,longer
distancescanbeachievedusinglowermodulation
levels.Figure 3alsoshowsthelimitformaximum
modulationwithoutfading,stillincludingfree-
spacelossandatmosphericattenuation.The
oxygenabsorption
peak,whichoccurs
ataround60ghz,
severelylimitshop
distance—this
phenomenonisclearly
illustratedbythedipin
thecurve.
Thewidthofa
frequencyband
generallyscales
withfrequency;thehigherthefrequency,themore
bandwidthitoffers.Backhaulfrequencybandscan
beroughlycategorizedintothreefrequencyranges:
〉〉 6-15ghzbandswithanaverageof750mhzperband
〉〉 18-42ghzbandswithanaverageof2.2ghzperband
〉〉 70/80ghzbandthatis10ghzwide.
Foragivenhopdistance,thetypicalmultiband
combinationsthatwouldboostcapacityare
illustratedinFigure 3.Theyinclude:18-42ghz
bandsbondedwiththeverywide70/80ghzband
forhopdistancesofuptoabout5km;orthenarrow
6-15ghzbandsbondedwiththewider18-42ghz
bandsforlongerhopdistances.Themultiband
solutionis,however,highlyflexible,andanylocally
availablefrequencycombinationsthatmeetthe
targetedperformancecanbeused.
Boostingbackhaulperformance
Themultibandboosterisanexcellenttoolfor
upgradingthecapacityofmicrowavebackhaul
networksuptotenfold.Figure 4showsthree
differentmultibandexampleswithtypicalhop
distancesfoundindifferentpartsofthenetwork—
insuburbanareashopstendtobeafewkilometers
long,andtensofkilometersinremoteruralregions.
Examplesaregivenforamoderateclimate,witha
rainzoneofabout60mmperhour(whichistypical
forplaceslikeMexico).Bearinginmindthatthese
configurationsarejustexamples,themultiband
boosterprovidesahighlyflexiblewaytobond
differentcarrierandfrequencybandcombinations.
Combiningdifferentfrequencybandsmakesit
possibletogetmoreoutofavailablespectrum,
AS RAIN ATTENUATION AND
FREE-SPACE LOSSES INCREASE
WITH FREQUENCY, THE
ACHIEVABLE HOP DISTANCE AT
HIGHER FREQUENCIES IS
LIMITED.

High availability
Lower availability
Multiband
70/80GHz
18–42GHz
6–15GHz
Dense urban Remote rural
Figure 5:
Efficient use of
microwave backhaul
spectrum
Global deployments per frequency range
0
0%
100%
10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Frequency (GHz)
Bands
Multiband potential
Single band today
Figure 6:
Increased use of high
frequencies with multiband
microwave backhaul

andsohelpnetworksmeettheperformanceand
availabilityrequirementsoffutureservices.
Unleashingspectrumpotential
Itisclearthatifnetworksaretomeetfuture
performancerequirements,efficientuseofspectrum
isessential.Thereare,however,manydifferent
aspectstospectrumefficiency,andthelevelthat
canbeachieveddirectlydependsonthelocal
deploymentdensityandtopologyofmicrowavehops.
Microwavebackhaulperformanceis,forthemost
part,determinedbythepropagationpropertiesof
differentfrequencies.Athigherfrequencies,rain
attenuationandfree-spacelossesaregreater,while
antennasizedropsforthesameantennagain.Best
practicedictatesusingthehighestfrequencyband
possiblethatcanstillmeettheavailabilityand
performanceobjectivesforagivenlinkdistance.
Thisapproachpreservesthelowerfrequencybands
forusebygreaterlinkdistances.Inmanycountries,
regulatoryincentivespromotetheuseofhigher
bandsthroughlowerspectrum-licensingcosts,and
byimposingpoliciesthatdictateminimumhop-
lengthdistances.
Increasingthespectralefficiencyofalinkcan
beachievedbyusinghigher-ordermodulation,
butthiscomesatthecostofincreasedsensitivity
tointerference—whichmayinturnlimittheuseof
moreextremeordermodulationinlocalhotspots.
Consequently,thesignificanceofinterference
mitigationtechnologies,likesuperhighperformance
antennas(Class4[10]),isgrowing.
Today,theuseofhigherfrequencybandsis
limitedtoshorterhoplengths,whichtendtobemost
commoninurbanenvironments.Asaresult,higher-
frequencyspectrumisseldomusedoutsidethese
areas.Clearlysuchbiasedusageisinefficient,and
asignificantamountofvaluablespectrumremains
untapped.
AsFigure 5illustrates,themultibandbooster
enableshigherbackhaulfrequencybandstobe
usedoverlongerdistancesandmuchwiderareas.
Theconceptcanbeappliedtoadvantageinall
geographicalareas,althoughdifferentfrequency
bandsareappropriatedependingonthedesired
hopdistance.Widerchannelsshouldalsobemuch
easiertoobtainintheselesscongestedareas,further
increasingthebenefitofmultibandsolutions.
Regulatoryauthoritiescanapplydifferent
licensingmodelstoencourageefficientuseof
spectrum,weighinginfactorslikefrequencybands,
geographicregion,andlocalmicrowavehopdensity.
Introducingandallowingwiderchannelsinless
deployedareaswouldfurtherencouragetheuseof
multibandsolutions.
Futurebackhaulspectrumuse
Inmostgeographicalareas,hopdistancesare
generallybecomingshorterduetothedensification
ofthemacrocellnetworkandintroductionofsmall
cells.Likewise,thedistancetoafiberpoint-of-
presenceisdroppingasfiberpenetrationincreases.
Ashopdistancesfall,theuseofhigherfrequency
bandsrises.Forexample,useofthe70/80ghz
bandisgrowingsignificantly,andifthegrowth
curvecontinues,willaccountfor20percentof
newdeploymentsby2020[2].Today,bandsinthe
26-42ghzrangearepredominatelyusedinEurope,
theMediterranean,CentralAsiaandMiddleEast
(seeFigure 1),butuseinotherregionsisbeginningto
showsignsofgrowth.
Figure 6showstherelativeamountofsingle-
bandmicrowavehopsinglobaloperationtodayin
the6-15ghz,18-42ghz,and70/80ghzfrequency
ranges(seealsoFigure 1).Themultibandboosteris
ahighlyattractivesolutiontoenhanceperformance
formicrowavebackhaul.Upgradingexistingsingle-
bandmicrowavelinkstomultibandsolutionswill
resultintheaccelerateduseofhigherfrequency
bands,asillustratedinFigure 6.
Densernetworks,increasingperformanceneeds,
andnewefficienttechnologies,suchasmultiband
booster,willallleadtoadramaticincreaseintheuse
ofthe70/80ghzband,aswellasalargeincreasein
theuseofbandsinthe18-42ghzrange.
Summaryandconclusions
Theperformanceofmicrowavebackhaulhas
evolvedcontinuouslywithnewandenhanced
technologiesandfeaturesthatmakeeverbetter

Jonas greatly acknowledges the support and
inspiration of his colleagues:
Git Sellin, Martin Sjödin, Björn Bäckemo, David Gerdin,
Anders Henriksson, Peter Björk, Jonas Hansryd, Jonas
Flodin, and Mikael Öhberg.
References
1. itu-r, 2015, Provisional Final Acts World Radio
Conference (wrc-15), Resolution com6/20
(pages 424-426), available at: http://ow.ly/Xg4Ci
2. Ericsson, Sep 2015, Microwave Towards 2020
Report, available at:
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2015/
microwave-2020-report.pdf
3. itu-r, 2012, Recommendation F.746, Radio-
frequency arrangements for fixed service
systems, available at: https://www.itu.int/rec/R-
REC-F.746/en
4. etsi, June 2015, white paper no. 9, E-Band
and V-Band - Survey on status of worldwide
regulations, available at: http://ow.ly/Xg4JA
5. ieee, 2014, A Highly Integrated Chipset for 40
Gbps Wireless D-Band Communication Based
on a 250 nm InP dhbt Technology, Abstract
available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/
articleDetails.jsp?arnumber=6978535
6. cept ecc wg se19, Work items se19_37 and
se19_38, available at:
http://eccwp.cept.org/default.aspx?groupid=45
7. Ericsson Review, June 2011, Microwave
capacity evolution, available at: http://ow.ly/
Xg4OU
8. Ericsson, Microwave Towards 2020 Report,
September 2014, available at:
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/2014/
microwave-towards-2020.pdf
9. itu-r, 2015, Recommendation p.530,
Propagation data and prediction methods
required for the design of terrestrial line-of-
sight systems, available at: https://www.itu.int/
rec/R-REC-P.530/en
10. etsi, 2010, etsi en 302-217-4-2, Fixed Radio
Systems - Characteristics and requirements
for point-to-point equipment and antennas
available at:
http://ow.ly/Xg4Vg
11. Ericsson Review, February 2013, Non-line-
of-sight microwave backhaul for small cells,
available at: http://ow.ly/Xg4YM
useofavailablespectrum[2,7,8].Today,microwave
backhaulcanprovidefiber-likemulti-gigabitcapacity
—eveninlocationswherethereisnodirectline-of-
sight[11].
Multibandsolutionsareessentialformobile
systems,astheyenablediversespectrumassetsto
beusedefficiently.Theimportanceofthesetypes
ofsolutionsformobilecommunicationwillriseas
lte evolvesand5g becomesareality.Anumberof
yearsago,wedocumentedthebenefitsofadapting
multibandformicrowavebackhaulinaprevious
article[7].It’snowtimetofullyexploittheconcept.
Multibandboosterprovidesamassiveincreasein
theperformanceofmicrowavebackhaul,andisan
excellenttoolthatcanincreasenetworkcapacityup
totenfold.Itsupportsflexiblebondingofdifferent
carriersandfrequencybandcombinations,enabling
networkstomeettheperformanceandavailability
requirementsforfutureservices.Multibandbooster
representsaparadigmshifttowardmuchmore
efficientuseofdiversebackhaulspectrumassets,
unleashingtheuseofhigherfrequenciesovermuch
widergeographicalareas.
Thetechnologyevolutionforspectrum—howit
isusedandhowitisallocated—ismovingfast,with
manynewinnovationsbecomingavailableforboth
radioaccessandmicrowavebackhaul.Regulatory
authoritiesarecarefullyconsideringthecurrentand
futureuseoffrequencybands,notonlyformobile
systemsbutalsoformicrowavebackhaul.
Asnetworksbecomedenser,andperformance
needsgrow,newefficienttechnologies,likethe
multibandbooster,willdramaticallyincreasethe
useofthe70/80ghzband,aswellasthebandsinthe
18-42ghzrange.Tosupportevolvingtechnology,
andensuregoodbackhaulperformance,regulatory
incentivesthatpromoteefficientandholisticuseof
backhaulspectrumarekey.

Jonas Edstam
◆ joined Ericsson in 1995,
and is responsible for
technology strategies
and industry-wide
collaborations at Product
Area Microwave Networks,
Business Unit Radio. He
is an expert in microwave
backhaul networks, having
more than 20 years of
experience in this area.
Throughout his career, he
has fulfilled various roles,
working on a wide range of
topics including detailed
microwave technology
and system design. His
current focus is on the
strategic evolution of mobile
networks and wireless
backhaul to 5g. He holds
a Ph.D. in physics from
Chalmers University of
Technology, Gothenburg,
Sweden.
theauthor

BY CONNECTING VEHICLES
AND COMBINING THE VALUABLE
DATA THEY TRANSMIT WITH
INFORMATION ABOUT THEIR
ENVIRONMENT, WE CAN CREATE
A PLATFORM THAT CAN HELP
IMPROVE TRAFFIC FLOW AND
INCREASE SAFETY
—HaraldLudanek

Over the past 50 years, the automotive industry has
undergone what could be described as a technology
revolution. Fuel efficiency, environmentally sound vehicle
powertrain concepts, increased electronics, driver
assistance, and safety features like ABS and airbags are just
a few of the improvements that have taken place, which have
led to sustainable, safer, and more comfortable driving.
LUDANEK ON
ICTINTELLIGENT
TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEMS
&

✱ ICT AND INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
today, we are in the era of connectivity.
Vehicles are no longer isolated entities
moving from one place to another, but are
an intricate part of a greater transportation
system. In the future, we can look forward
to increased levels of comfort in vehicles,
greater degrees of driver assistance, and
more advanced safety features. To achieve
this, we need to partner up and develop
solutions together with a holistic and end-
to-end approach. We need to learn from
each other and share advancements in
technology. Thankfully, today’s industries
are ripe for the collaboration that is needed
to build integrated solutions. How Scania
and Ericsson work today highlights just how
greater we are together.
■ Howdoyouseetheautomotiveindustryevolving
inthecontextofdigitalizationandmobility?
Throughoutitshistory,boththeautomotive
industryandict havereliedheavilyontechnology,
standardization,continuousimprovement,andnot
leastr&d.Newtechnologiesareshapedbyexternal
influencesandregulations,butthedirection
developmenttakesisprimarilydeterminedby
customerdemand.Thecustomersinmyindustry
includeawiderangeofenterprisesandindividuals
—fromprofessionaltruckersandbusdrivers,to
regularcitizenswhoneedavehicletogetaround.
Theenterprisesector—includinglogistics,shipping,
andtourism,forexample—hasasignificant
influenceonthetechnologicalinnovationswe
prioritize.Onceagain,clearsimilaritiesarise
betweenmyindustryandict.
Thetechnologicaladvancesthathavetaken
placeintheautomotiveindustry,alongwiththe
developmentsthathavecomeaboutinanumberof
tangentialsectorslikematerialsandelectronics,and
governmentalregulationsthathavecomeintoforce,
haveshapedseveralwavesofinnovation(illustrated
inFigure 1)overthepast65years.Theresultofall
ofthesedevelopmentsisasafer,moreefficient,and
morecomfortabledrivingexperience.
The1970s oilcrisishashadalong-lasting
impactontheautomotiveindustryalloverthe
world,puttingfuel-efficiencyfirmlyatthetopofour
listoftechnologicaldevelopmentpriorities.The
crisisledtoadramaticshiftinR&d,asfuel-saving
technologies,andmoreefficientenginesbecame
toppriorities.Thepowertrain,forexample,was
improvedwithinnovationslikegasolinedirect
injectionandstart-stopsystems,which,alongwith
newlightweightvehiclematerials,ledtoimproved
fuelconsumptionandfewerefficiencylosses.These
technologiesareprettymuchstandardcomponents
inthevehiclesbeingbuilttoday.
The1990s weremarkedbythebirthof
mechatronics.Theintroductionofsensor
technologiesandaffordableelectroniccontrol
units(ecus)ledtothereplacementofcontrol
andmechanicalsystemswithelectricaland
electronicallysteeredactuators.
Theboomintheconsumerelectronicsmarket
beganattheturnofthe21stcentury.Userdemand
fornewfunctionalitieslikenavigationalsupport
systems,airbags,anddriverassistancehadtobe
met,andsotheeraofautomotiveelectronicsbegan.
Lookingahead,Figure 2illustratessomeofthe
developmentsthatdriverscanlookforwardto.
Whiletoday,developmentfocusisonend-to-end
resourcemanagement(duringmanufacturing,
operation,aswellastheend-of-lifephaseofa
vehicle),inthefuture,wecanlookforwardtomuch
greaterlevelsofdriverassistance.ThewayIsee
it,manufacturingandproductionprocesseshave
undergonefourrevolutions,becomingmoreefficient
witheachone.Inthebeginningofmassproduction,
engineswerepoweredbysteam,thenelectricity
tookover.Lateron,computingpowertookcontrol,
andnowtheInternetofThings(IoT)hasusheredina
wholeneweraofpossibilities.
Thefourthindustrialrevolutionofproduction—
whichwerefertoasIndustry 4.0 —isnotactually
limitedtotheIoT,butencompassesotheraspects
likecybersecurity,bigdataanalytics,andintegration
acrosstraditionalorganizationalboundaries.But,as
morethingsbecomeconnected,thesignificanceof
eachaspectrises.Whenpeople,forexample,share
theirlocationdata,alotofinformationisgenerated.
HARALD LUDANEK
Executive Vice President
and Head of Research
and Development, Scania
cv ab

ICT AND INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS ✱
Figure 1
Waves of innovation
CPU
ABS
1950
1960
1970
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
Comfort
and
acoustics
US safety
law
CO, HC, and NOx
emissions
Fuel consumption
CO2 regulations
and taxes
Power ABS
Connected vehicle
Microelectronic
Lightweight construction
and fuel consumption
Communication
and information
Mechatronic,
microtechnique
US emission
requirements
Oil crisis
Economy boom
Leveloftechnology
Safety airbag
© Scania 2016

Figure 2
Evolution of technology
Buttomakeanyuseifit,bigdataanalyticsmust
comeintoplay.
Today,weliveinaworldbasedonconnectivity
anddigitalization.Individualsandenterprisesalike
aretakingadvantageofthecapabilitytoconnect
almostanythingtoanetwork,thepossibilityto
makedataavailablethroughthecloud,andthe
abilitytomashmassiveamountsofdatatogetherto
createanenrichedunderstandingofeverything,
everyone,andeveryinchofspaceontheglobe.
Theopportunitiesopenedupbymobilityand
digitalizationhaveenabledtheautomotiveindustry
tocreatenewfunctionalitiesandcapabilities,
boostingefficiencyandsafety,whileofferingahigher
levelofcomfort.
Byconnectingvehiclesandcombiningthe
valuabledatatheytransmitwithinformationabout
theirenvironment,wecancreateaplatformthatcan
helpimprovetrafficflowandincreasesafety.Inthis
newbusinessmodel,thecarmanufacturerturnsinto
aproviderofmobility,andthetruckmanufacturer
shiftsintothetransportmanagementdomain.
Butthroughoutthewholeprocessof
transformation,digitalization,development,and
connectivity,theautomotiveindustryhasremained
truetoitsbasicprinciple:tocomeupwithever
Driver assistance
(second generation)
Driver assistance
systems
(first generation)
Fuel consumption and
efficiency
(hybrid solutions,
waste, and heat recovery)
Connected
vehicle
© Scania 2016

moreefficient,andenvironmentallysoundvehicle
powertrainconcepts.
Whatisyourviewontheintelligenttransportation
system(its),andwhatkindoftechnologyevolution
isrequiredforittobeabusinesssuccess?
Logistics,bothinEuropeandintheus,arewell-
developedandoptimizedsystems.Europespends
about 8.2 percentofitsgdp onthetransportation
ofpersonsandgoods:belowus spendingofabout
9.4 percent.China,however,spends18percentof
itsgdp onlogistics.ThatChina’srelativespendis
arounddoublethatofEurope/USisanindication
ofthedegreetowhichEuropean/American
transportationsystems(afundamentalparameter
forasuccessfuleconomy)havebeenoptimized.
Yetdespitetheseseeminglypositivefigures,24
percentoftrucksrunempty,andtransportation
utilizationcapacityisjust54 percent–highlightinga
commonissuesharedbycellularandtransportation
networks.
Intheory,utilizationoftransportationsystems
couldberaisedtoabout85 percent.Achieving
suchalevel,however,wouldrequireimprovedflow
controlandaconnectedsystemthatincorporates
order,supply,aswellasallthetransportation
partners.Inshort,whatweneedisanits thatcan
connectthevariousstakeholderstoeachother.
Thesestakeholdersincludesuppliers,
infrastructureowners,society,andlogistics
providers.Anadditionalchallengefortheits isthe
globaltrendtowardurbanization.Transportation
ofgoodsandpersonsacrossbustlingcitycentersis
akeyelementofmodernurbanlogistics.However,
implementinganits tocopewithourcomplexcity
structuresrequiresstate-of-the-artconnectivity,
aswellasnewbusinessandgovernancemodels
thatgivedueweighttotheneedsandwishesofall
stakeholders.
TheIntegratedTransportandResearchLab
(itrl)atkth RoyalInstituteofTechnologywas
establishedtoaddressthisveryissue.Here,under
onecollaborativeumbrella,Scania,Ericsson,and
kth havebeguntodevelopinnovativeandholistic
technicalsolutionstoaddressglobalenvironmental
transportchallenges,
bytakingalong-term
andmultidisciplinary
approachtothematter
(asillustratedin
Figure 3).Aspartners,
weareworkingtogether
todevelopseamless
transportationservices
forusewithinmodern
infrastructures,novelvehicleconcepts,aswellas
newbusinessmodelsandpolicies—allofwhich
needtobetunedandoptimized.
Whatarethekeyusecasesandconnectivity
requirementsforits/ict?
Fundamentally,thefutureits needstobeable
todelivereconomicalandecologicalbenefitsto
everyoneandeverythingitencompasses.This
includescommutersanddrivers,enterprises
(likeshippingcompaniesandcouriers),andthe
organizationsthatcontrolthem(liketransportation
operators).Scania’saimsandcommitmentlieinthe
developmentanddeliveryofcustomizedsolutions
forsustainabletransportation.Inthiscontext,our
aimisnotonlytosatisfytheneedsofourdirect
customers(suchastruckingcompanies),butalso
thoseofthepeopleandenterprisesthatuseour
solutionsdailyastheycommutetowork,travel
around,orshipgoodsfromoneplacetoanother.
Todevelopthefutureits,weneedtoidentifythe
opportunitiesforimprovementfromaholisticpoint
ofview,sotheoverallsolutioncanbeintegratedin
thelogisticschainend-to-end.Theict industryis
afundamentalenablerinthischain,asitprovides
thevitalingredientofconnectivity,allowingthe
varioustransportationstakeholderstoconnect.
Akeyelementforthefuturesystemisguaranteed
andcontrolleddatasecurity,withdefinedaccess
andhandlingresponsibility.Togetherwiththe
usersoftransportation,thetechnologyprovider
fortheconnectedinfrastructureneedstodevelop
methodsandtechniquesthatwillprovidetheright
levelofsecurityandtherighttoolsforaccessand
responsibility.
FUNDAMENTALLY, THE
FUTURE ITS NEEDS TO BE ABLE
TO DELIVER ECONOMICAL AND
ECOLOGICAL BENEFITS TO
EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING IT
ENCOMPASSES

Thekeyicttechnologies
aremobility,broadband,
andcloud.Willtheyallbe
adoptedbytheits?
Yes,thesekey
technologieswillbe
adoptedbyitsswith
permanentavailabilityand
ahighlevelofsecurity.The
connectivityrequirements
fortransportationare
vastlydifferentfrom
otherapplicationssuchas
providingconnectivityto
consumers,say,orremoteoperationofmachineryin
anundergroundmineoronaconstructionsite.The
demandsofits intermsofavailabilityandsecurity,
forexample,arehigh.Andwhilethelatencyofthe
linkforcommunicationwithresponseservices
needstobelow,itneedstobeevenlowerforhaptic
systems,wherethecontrollerneedsinstantfeedback
—suchasisthecasefortelesurgery.
Whatarethegreatestopportunitiesandchallenges
involved,andwhatspecifickindofsecurity
technologyisneeded?
Cars,trucks,buses,trains,andevenpeople
willdeliverhighvolumesofdata—including
informationonlocation,agiventrafficsituation,
speed,andweather—tocloudcomputingcenters
overabroadbandconnection.Allthisdataneeds
tobemashedwithinformationdeliveredbyother
stakeholdersinthetransportationsystemtocreate
aholisticviewoftheflowofpeopleandallmodes
oftransportationinagivengeographicalarea.
Fast,intelligentanalyticsareneededtoassessthe
aggregateddata,andofferanoverallviewbeforea
real-timetransportationflowcontrolcanbecarried
out.Inthefuture,transportationsystems—both
withinandoutsideurbanconglomerations—will
becomehighlydependentonanalytics,sothefailure
orincorrectresultsofdataminingwillriskcollapsing
theentirevaluechain.
Inmyopinion,atwo-stepapproachshouldbe
takentoprovidingasolution.First,playerslike
Scaniashoulddevelopsolutionswithpartners
inict.Second,acloudarchitectureandadata
infrastructureareneededtotestusecasesforawide
varietyofapplicationsaroundtheworld,considering
differentcountries,andincludingcross-border
scenarios.
Thetelecomindustryhascreatedascalableand
cost-effectivetechnologyplatformthatprovides
connectivitytoover7billionpeople.Howdoyou
thinkthisplatformisrelevanttoyourindustry?
Connectivityandthetelecomnetworkareessential
componentsofthefutureintelligenttransport
systemandIndustry4.0.Asascalablearchitecture
technology,connectivityandnetworksprovidea
cost-effectiveplatformthatcansupporttherapid
developmentofnewusecasesandinnovative
applications,whichreflecttheintensifyingdemands
ofusers.InChina(thesecond-largestgrowing
telecomsmarket),forexample,morethan7 million
newmobilesubscriptionswereestablishedinQ3,
2015.Forthesameperiod,morethan13million
subscriberswerecreatedinIndia*.So,theict and
transportationindustriesneedtoadoptalong-
termglobalperspective;weneedtoknowhowto
organizethedata,andhowtoanalyzeittoavoidself-
acceleratinganduncontrolleddatamining.
Togainthisglobal,long-termperspective,
specialistswithdifferentkindsofexpertiseworking
inavarietyofindustriesneedtobeabletocome
togetherandcollaborateonpossibleusecases.
Giventhisfundamentalrequirement,Scaniaand
Ericssonareidealstrategicpartners;wecanconduct
thenecessaryresearch,usingconcreteusecases,
aswellasconsideringthedemandsoftheentire
problemspace.Thisisindirectcontrasttothe
traditionalwayofworking,whereeachindustry
playerdevelopedtheirpartofthesolutionin
isolation.
Whatistheimpactofbigdataandanalytics?Can
youshareyourviewsontheinformationmodelfor
theautomotiveindustry,forexample?
*Ericsson Mobility Report
http://www.ericsson.com/mobility-report
TO GAIN THIS GLOBAL,
LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVE,
SPECIALISTS WITH DIFFERENT
KINDS OF EXPERTISE WORKING
IN A VARIETY OF INDUSTRIES
NEED TO BE ABLE TO COME
TOGETHER AND COLLABORATE
ON POSSIBLE USE CASES.

Integrated Transport and Research Lab (ITRL)
Infrastructure
Services
Policies Society
Vehicle concepts
Connectivity
Figure 3:
Vision of a sustainable transportation system
© Scania 2016

Intheautomotiveindustry,wedistinguish
informationmodelsfromeachotheronthebasis
offunction,suchasdrivingsupport,andintelligent
drivingfunctions.Eachmodelbringswithit
tougherdemandsforbothsecurityandavailability.
Applicationsthatusevehicle-to-vehicle(v2v)or
vehicle-to-infrastructure(v2x)communication,
forexample,enabletraffictobeorganizedinasafer
mannerthanitistoday,buttheyaredemandingin
termsofsecurity,availability,andlatency.Real-time,
secureinformationreceivedfromtrafficcontrol
signals,fromsensorsontheroadthatcandetect
obstacles,orfrompotentiallyhazardoussituations
—suchasroadaccidents—andothersystemscanbe
usedasinputtothewarningstrategyforpredictive
automaticinfluenceforcar,busandtruckdrivers.
Today’struckscomecompletewithanonboard
camerasystemthatworksinconjunctionwiththe
automaticemergencybraking(aeb)system.Images
fromthecamerasystemcanbecombinedwithradar
information,takenfromsensorspermanentlyfixed
tothefrontofthetruck.Thetechnologyneeded
tosharethedatacollectedbythesesystemswith
trafficcontroltowersalreadyexists.However,
beforeitcanbeputtowide-scaleuse,anumber
ofquestionsneedtobeanswered,suchas:how
toregulateresponsibilityandsecurity,andhow
tohandleadditionaldataanalysis.Somesortof
abreakthroughisneeded—eitherbycreating
astandalonesolution,orbycreatingasolution
togetherwithacommunicationproviderand
otherstakeholders,inanorganizedandregulated
manner.Drivers—bothprivateandprofessional
—areexpectingmassiveimprovementsinterms
ofcomfortandfueloptions,aswellasbetter
functionalitywhenitcomestoincreasedautomation
invehicles.
Howshouldwepushforacollaborationbetween
theictandautomotiveindustriesintermsof
innovation,bothfromatechnologicalanda
businessmodel/bestpracticesstandpoint?
Thequestionherealsocontainstheanswer.We
needaneutralandindependenttestarenainwhich
todevelopusecasesandbuildcooperationas
partners.TheConnectedMobilityArena(cma)
projectinKista,Stockholmisjustsuchatest
arena.Andso,withinthecontextoftheitrl,the
nextstepistodefinetheoperatingenvironment
needed.Othercooperationareaswillincludethe
autonomousoperationofminingequipment,which
willrequiretheintegrationofadditionalpartners.
Howandwhereshouldwecollaborateon
standardization,interoperability,andregulatory
issuestocreateasystemofsystems?
Scaniahasmanyyearsofexperienceinbuilding
customizedbusesandtrucksusingitsmodular
kitsystem.Eachconstructionkitincludesasetof
smart,well-definedinterfacesbetweenthedifferent
componentparts,andvariousperformancesteps.
Thiscomponentbox/interface/api approachcould
bethebasisofasolutionthatwouldfitwellwith
Ericsson’sapproachtocustomizedconnectivity,
basedonnetworkslicing;bothapproachesbeing
firmlyrootedinstandardsandbestpractices.
Ourteamworklookssettocreateawholenew
ecosphereintermsofsafety,resourcemanagement,
andcomfort.Iamproudtobepartofitandgladto
haveEricssononboard.

Dr. Harald Ludanek
Executive Vice
President, Research and
Development, Scania CV,
Södertälje
◆ Attending the Clausthal
University of Technology as
a postgraduate engineer,
German-born Harald
Ludanek chose rotor
dynamics and mechanical
vibrations as the topic for
his PhD thesis.
Today, he maintains a
keen interest in technology
both at work and at home.
He has a few science-
based hobbies, as well as
a love of gardening, guitar
playing, and handcrafts.
But it is doubtless that it
is his undying passion for
engine mechanics that
really drives him, and he
applies this passion daily
in his job as Head of RD
for Scania in Södertälje,
Sweden.
He also has a fervent
interest in cultivating
collaboration between
Scania and other key
players — both within and
outside the automotive
industry. He is constantly
on the lookout for
companies to collaborate
with, for the benefit of all
partners and ultimately all
vehicle drivers. He believes
that creating efficiencies
will help to hit emissions
targets, and minimize
environmental impact.
in the pa s t, Scania’s
development of robust,
practical, reliable
technology has been
boosted by collaborations
with car companies like
Porsche. Now, Ericsson is
providing the connectivity
that will one day enable
the truck driver to have an
office and a comfortable
living space all in one:
Ludanek’s vision for the
ultimate in cabin comfort.
How then has Ludanek
mastered the tricks of the
truck trade?
Early on, with a doctorate
in engineering, he joined
Volkswagen’s Research
Centre in 1992, moving
on in 2000 to head up the
global coordination of the
company’s 25 worldwide
development centers.
In 2002, he became
Head of Technical
Development and member
of the executive board
at Škoda auto a.S. in the
Czech Republic.
He then moved on in
2007 to head up Complete
Vehicle Development and
Prototyping at Volkswagen
AG until September 2012,
when he was appointed
Executive Vice President
and Head of Research and
Development at Scania.
since 2 0 11, he has
chaired the supervisory
board of the engineering
consultancy IAV GmbH,
Berlin, Germany and been a
member of the supervisory
board of the IMF TÜV Nord
in Sweden.
Having come full circle
since his student days,
today he lectures in
automotive management
and technology at
Clausthal University of
Technology, where he
is also a member of the
supervisory board.
author

✱ A FLEXIBLE TRANSPORT NETWORK
PETER ÖHLÉN
BJÖRN SKUBIC
AHMAD ROSTAMI
KIM LARAQUI
FABIO CAVALIERE
BALÁZS VARGA
NEIVA FONSECA
LINDQVIST
The more people have been able to achieve while on the move, the more
dependent society has become on mobile broadband networks. As
applications like self-driving vehicles and remotely operated machinery evolve,
become more innovative, and more widespread, the level of performance
that 5g networks need to deliver will inevitably rise. Keeping pace with ever-
increasing demand calls for greater flexibility in all parts of the network, which
in turn requires tight integration between 5g radio, transport networks, and
cloud infrastructures.
a d va n c e s i n t e c h n o l o g y and a
shift in human behavior are influencing how
5g networks are shaping up. With 3g, things
got faster, data volumes surpassed voice, new
services were developed, and people started
using mobile broadband. With 4g, mobile
broadband soared. Today’s networks provide
advanced support for data. Building on this
success, 5g aims to provide unlimited access
to information and the ability to share data
anywhere, anytime by anyone and anything.
So, as we move deeper into the Networked
Society, the connections that link things
and people will become almost exclusively
wireless.
■ Serviceslikemobilebroadbandandmedia
distributionwillcontinuetoevolveinlinewith
ourgrowingglobaldependenceonconnectivity.
Networkswillexperiencehugeincreasesintraffic
andwillneedtoserviceanever-expandingnumber
FLEXIBILITY IN
5G transport
networksTHE KEY TO MEETING THE DEMAND
FOR CONNECTIVITY

A FLEXIBLE TRANSPORT NETWORK ✱
ofconnecteddevices—bothmassivemtc (iot)
andmission-criticalmtc.Thelattersetsstringent
requirementsforperformancecharacteristicslike
reliabilityandlatency.
Thedigitalandmobiletransformationscurrently
sweepingthroughindustriesworldwidearegiving
risetoinnovativecross-sectorapplicationsthatare
demandingintermsofnetworkresources.Andso,
5Gnetworkswillnotonlyneedtomeetawiderange
ofrequirementsderivedfromuserdemandand
devicedevelopment;theywillalsoneedtosupport
advancedservices—includingthoseyettobe
developed.
Limitlessinnovationinapplicationdevelopment,
deviceevolution,andnetworktechnologyare
shiftingfromamodelthatisoperatorsteeredto
onethatisuserdriven.Flexibilityandoperational
scalabilityarekeyenablersforrapidinnovation,
shorttimetomarketfordeploymentofservices,and
speedyadaptationtothechangingrequirementsof
modernindustry.
Howwillfuturenetworksevolve?
Toensurethatnetworkswillbeabletocopewith
thevariedlandscapeoffutureservices,avarietyof
forumslikengmn,itu-r,and5g ppp areworking
onthedefinitionofperformancetargetsfor5g
systems [1].
Incomparisonwith2015levels,theperformance
projectionsthatwillhavemostimpactontransport
networksare:
〉〉 1000xmobiledatavolumepergeographicalarea,
reachingtargetlevelsoftheorderofTbpspersqkm
〉〉 1000xthenumberofconnecteddevices,reachinga
densityofoveramillionterminalspersqkm
〉〉 5ximprovementinend-to-endlatency,reachingtoas
lowas5ms—asisrequiredbythetactileinternet.
However,themaximumlevelsofperformancewill
notallapplyatthesametimeforeveryapplication
orservice.Instead,5g systemswillbebuilttomeet
arangeofperformancetargets,sothatdifferent
serviceswithwidelyvaryingdemandscanbe
deployedonasingleinfrastructure.
Gettingnetworkstoprovidesuchdifferenttypes
ofconnectivity,however,requiresflexibilityin
systemarchitecture.
Asidefrommeetingthestringentrequirements
forcapacity,synchronization,timing,delay,and
jitter,transportnetworkswillalsoneedtomeet
highlyflexibleflowandconnectivitydemands
betweensites—andinsomecasesevenfor
individualuserterminals [2].
Emerging5g radiocapabilitiesandthe
convergenceofradioaccessandwireless
backhaulhavetriggeredanuptakeoffixed
wirelesstechnologiesasacomplementtofixed
broadband [3].Withhybridaccess5g networkswill
beabletoprovidetheincreasedcapacityneededto
handlepeaktrafficforresidentialusers.Assuch,5g
radiowillincreasinglycomplementandoverlapwith
traditionalfixed-broadbandaccesses.
5g ppp–5G Infrastructure Public Private Partnership | api–application programming interface | bb–baseband |
cpri–Common Public Radio Interface | cwdm–coarse wavelength division multiplexing | dwdm–dense wavelength
division multiplexing | epc–Evolved Packet Core | ftth–fiber-to-the-home | mimo–multiple-input, multiple-output |
mpls–multi-protocol label switching | mtc–machine-type communication | nfv–Network Functions Virtualization |
ngmn–Next Generation Mobile Networks | ng-pon2–next-generation passive optical network | p router–provider
router | pe router–provider edge router | pgw–pdn gateway | roadm–reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexer |
sdn–software-defined networking | sla–Service Level Agreement | ue–user equipment

5G radio and
deployment
models
Legacy
and
migration
Services
and
flexibility
Affordable
and
sustainable
Technological
advances
Abstraction and
programmability
5G transport
Figure 1
Landscape for 5G transport

The5g transportnetwork
As5g radio-accesstechnologiesdevelop,transport
networkswillneedtoadapttoanewandchallenging
landscape,asillustratedinFigure 1.
Services
Theexpectationsfor5g networksarehigh—
providingsupportforamassiverangeofservices.
Industrytransformation,digitalization,theglobal
dependenceonmobilebroadband,mtc,theiot,
andtheriseofinnovativeindustrialapplications
allrequirenewservices,whichhasaconsiderable
impactonthetransportnetwork.Forexample,anew
radio-accessmodelthatsupportshighlyscalable
videodistributionormassivemtc datauploading
mightrequireadditionaltransportfacilities—such
asascalablewaytoprovidemulticasting.
5g radio
Howthe5g radioisdeployeddeterminesthelevelof
flexibilityneededinthetransportnetwork.Capacity,
multi-siteandmulti-accessconnectivity,reliability,
interference,inter-sitecoordination,andbandwidth
requirementsintheradioenvironmentplacetough
demandsontransportnetworks.
In5g,traditionalmacronetworksmightbe
densified,andcomplementedthroughtheaddition
ofsmallcells.Highercapacityintheradiowillbe
providedthroughadvancesinradiotechnology,
likemulti-usermimoandbeamforming,aswell
astheavailabilityofnewandwiderspectrum
bands[4].Consequently,thecapacityofthe5g
radioenvironmentwillreachveryhighlevels,
requiringtransportnetworkstoadapt.Notonly
willtransportservealargenumberofradiosites,
buteachsitewillsupportmassivetrafficvolumes,
whichmightbehighlyburstyduetothepeakrate
availablein5g.
Forexample,aue thatisconnectedtoanumber
ofsitessimultaneously,mayalsobeconnectedto
severaldifferentaccesstechnologies.Thedevice
maybeconnectedtoamacrooverlte,andtoa
smallcellusinganew5g radio-accesstechnology.
Multi-siteandmulti-rat connectivityprovides
greaterflexibilityintermsofhowuesconnectto
thenetworkandhowe2e servicesaresetupacross
radioandtransport.Forexample,allowingfor
efficientloadbalancingofuesamongbasestations
notonlyimprovesuserexperience,italsoimproves
connectionperformance.
Theimpactofinterferencemayfavordeployment
modelswherecoordinationcanbehandledmore
effectively.Insmall-celldeployments,uesare
oftenwithinreachofanumberofbasestations,
whichincreasesthelevelofinterference,andat
timesrequiresradiocoordinationcapabilitiesfor
mitigation.However,themethodusedforhandling
interferencedependsonhowtransportconnectivity
isdeployed.Inacentralizedbasebanddeployment,
tightcoordinationfeatures,suchasjointprocessing,
canbeimplemented.IntraditionalEthernetand
ip-basedbackhaul,tightcoordinationrequireslow-
latencylateralconnectionsbetweenparticipating
basestations.
Centralizedbasebandprocessingtendsto
resultinloweroperationalcosts,whichmakes
thisapproachinteresting.However,ittypically
comesatthecostofhighcpri bandwidthsinthe
transportnetwork.Thehighbandwidth,together
withstringentdelayandjitterrequirements,makes
dedicatedopticalconnectivityapreferredsolution
forfronthaul.
In5g networks,thebandwidthrequirementsfor
fronthaulcouldbeveryhigh.Thedemandwillbe
createdby,forexample,antennasformu-mimo and
beamforming—whichcoulduseintheorderof100
antennaelementsateachlocation.Incombination
withdensedeploymentsandwiderfrequency
bands(inthe100MHzrange)traditionalcpri
capacityrequirementscanquicklyreachlevelsof
severalTbps.Anewsplitofran functionalityis
underinvestigationtosatisfyrequirementsforcost-
effectivedeploymentsandradioperformance,while
keepingcapacityrequirementsontransportwithina
manageablerange.
Butsomeprimarynetworkingprinciplesremain
valid,suchastimingandsynchronization.Defining
newpacket-basedfronthaulandmidhaulinterfaces
requirestheunderlyingnetworktoincludeprotocols
andfunctionsfortime-sensitivetransportservices.
Relatedstandardizationeffortsarecurrently
underway [5].

Fronthaul
Backhaul
Packet
Packet
Wireline access
CWDM/DWDM
dedicated fiber
Access Aggregation Core
Data center
Data center
Data center
Service
edge
BB
IP
IP
IP
IP
Internet
DWDM
CWDM/
DWDM
Figure 2
Main technology options to connect
ran and transport infrastructure
Abstractionandprogrammability
Abstractingnetworkresourcesandfunctionality,
aswellasmanagingserviceson-the-flythrough
programmaticapisarethepillarsofsdn,andthe
sourceofitspromisetoreducenetworkcomplexity,
andincreaseflexibility.
Withanewsplitintheran,somefunctionscan
bedeployedongeneral-purposehardware,while
others,thoseclosertotheairinterfacewithstrict
real-timecharacteristics,shouldcontinuetobe
deployedonspecializedhardware.Mostofthe
functionsoftheepc willbedeployedassoftware
—followingtheconceptofNetworkFunctions
Virtualization(nfv).Deployingnetworkfunctions
inthiswaymakesitpossibletobuildend-to-end
networkslicesthatarecustomizedforspecific
servicesandapplications.Eachlayerofthenetwork
slice,includingthetransportlayer,willbedesigned
tomeetaspecificsetofperformancecharacteristics.
Thesignificanceofnetworkslicesisbest
illustratedbycomparingapplicationswithdifferent
requirements.Anetworkofsensors,forexample,

requiresthecapabilitytocapturedatafromavast
amountofdevices.Inthisinstance,theneedfor
capacityandmobilityisnotsignificant.Media
distribution,ontheotherhand,ischallengedby
largecapacityrequirements(whichcanbeeased
throughdistributedcaching),whereasthenetwork
characteristicsforremote-controlapplications
basedonreal-timevideoarehighbandwidthand
lowlatency.
Froma5g-transportperspective,thereisaneed
toprovideefficientmethodsfornetworksharing,
sothatapplicationslikethese—eachwiththeir
individualrequirements,includingmechanismsto
satisfytrafficisolationandsla fulfillment—canbe
supportedforseveralclients.Inaddition,distributed
networkfunctionsneedtobeconnectedoverlinks
thatfulfillsetperformancelevelsforbandwidth,
delay,andavailability.
Transportnetworkswillneedtoexhibitahigh
degreeofflexibilitytosupportnewservices.
Tothisend,keyfeaturesareabstractionand
programmabilityinallaspectsofnetworking—not
justconnectivitybutalsostorageandprocessing.
Legacy,migration,andnewtechnologies
Themaintechnologiesthatcontributeto
performanceenhancementandthenetwork
segment—access,aggregation,orcore—theyapply
toareoutlinedinFigure 2.5g transportwillbea
mixoflegacyandnewtechnologies.Long-term,
networkevolutionplanstendtoincludefiber-to-
the-endpoint.Inpractice,however,providing
small-cellconnectivityrequiresthatlocalconditions
betakenintoconsideration,whichresultsinthe
needforseveraltechnologies—suchascopper,
wirelesslinks,self-backhauling,andfree-space
opto—tobeincludedintheconnectivitysolution.
Re-useofexistingfixedaccessinfrastructure [6]and
systemswillbeimportant,andnewtechnologies
andsystemsmayinturnprovidemoreefficientuse
ofavailableinfrastructure.Forexample,additional
capacitycanbeprovidedbyextendingtheuseof
cwdm anddwdm closertotheaccesssegmentof
thenetwork.Atthesametime,interworkingwith
ip isessentialtoprovideend-to-endcontrol,andto
ensurethatthefiberinfrastructureisusedefficiently.
Existinginfrastructure,
togetherwithoperator
preferences,determines
thenecessaryevolution
steps,andhowthe
migrationprocess
fromlegacytodesired
architectureshouldproceed.
Thedesignof5g transportnetworkswillneedto
continuetobeaffordableandsustainable,keeping
thecostperbittransportedcontained.Handling
legacyinasmartway,andintegratingsustainable
advancesintechnologyintopacketandoptical
networkswillhelptokeepalidoncosts.
Programmablecontrolandmanagement
Flexibilitythroughprogrammabilityisasignificant
characteristicthatwillenable5g transportnetworks
tosupportshorttimetomarketfornewservicesand
efficientscaling.
Programmabilitygearsupnetworks,sothey
cantakeoninnovationsrapidly,andadaptto
continuouslychangingnetworkrequirements.A
coupleofcapabilitiesneedtobedeterminedto
enableprogrammabilityfortransportnetworks:
〉〉 therequireddegreeofflexibilityorabilityto
reconfigure
〉〉 thelayerorlayersthatneedtobeprogrammable.
Determiningthesecapabilitiesisatrade-off
betweenneedandgain;inotherwords,howdoes
thebenefitofprogrammabilitycomparewiththe
costofthetechnologyneededtoprovideit?A
significantfactorfortransportprovidersinweighing
upneedagainstgainishowtoaddresspacket-
opticalintegration.Thisisbecauseextending
programmabilitytotheopticallayernotonly
providesgreaterflexibilityandeaseofprovisioning
toallocatetransportbandwidth;italsosimplifies
theprocessofoffloadingthepacketlayerthrough
optical/routerbypass,aswellasprovidingimproved
cross-layerresiliencemechanisms [7].
Thetelecomindustryhaslongsetitselftwo
principaltargetsfortransportnetworks:efficient
resourceutilization,anddynamicservice
provisioningandscaling.Whilethesegoalsstill
PROGRAMMABILITY
IN 5G TRANSPORT
NETWORKS WILL
IMPROVE FLEXIBILITY

stand,theyneedtoberevisedcontinuallytomatch
thechangingneedsofclientlayers.Theseneeds
includetheshortreactiontimesdemandedby
modernapplications,andthefactthatdifferent
clientswillneedtointerfacewiththenetworkat
differentlayers.Addconnectioncapabilitieslike
bandwidthandlatencyintothemix,andtheneedfor
networkprogrammabilitybecomesmoreevident.
Sojusthowdoesincreasednetwork
programmabilityhelpthetelecomindustrymeet
thetargetsithassetforitself,giventheneedfor
differentperformancecharacteristicsfordifferent
applications?
Efficientresourceutilization
Transportprogrammabilityenablesnetwork
operatorstoexploittrafficdynamicitytooptimize
theutilizationofresourcesacrossdifferentsegments
ofthenetwork.
Aprogrammabletransportnetworkfacilitates
thedivisionoftransportresourcesintomultiple
(isolated)slices.Theseslicescanbeallocatedto
differentclients—enterprisesorserviceproviders—
enablingefficientsharingofresources.
Dynamicserviceprovisioningandscaling
Beingabletoprovisionresourcesontheflyis
particularlycrucialfordynamicservicechaining,
whichinvolvesinterconnectingdistributed,
virtualizednetworkfunctionsandultimately
facilitatingdynamicservicecreation.Inparticular,
establishingconnectionservicesacrossseveral
networkingdomainshaslongbeenachallenge—
hereenhancedprogrammabilitycanmakesuch
proceduresmoreefficient.Inmostcases,flow
controlinthetransportdomainshouldbecarried
outonaggregatedtraffictoavoiddetailedsteering
forindividualuserswhenitisnotneeded.
Aprogrammabletransportnetworkenables
thecapacityallocatedtoaservicetobescaledup
ordown,whenandwhereitisneededacrossthe
network—inotherwords,providingelasticservices.
Centralizedordistributedcontrol
Controlplaysanessentialroleinprogrammability.
Networkcontrolcanbecentralizedordistributed,
andnetworksareoperateddifferentlydependingon
theapproachused.
Centralizedcontrol—theconceptusedinsdn
—enablesshorterservicedevelopmentcycles
andspeedierrolloutofnewcontrolfunctionality
(implementationoccursonceinthecentralstack).
Fornetworksbuiltwithadistributedcontrolplane,
changesmustbemadeinmultiple—already
deployed—controlstacks(especiallyinmulti-
providernetworks).
Thetopicofsdn isbeingdiscussedinthetelecom
industryasapromisingtoolsettofacilitatenetwork
programmability.Insdn architecture,themain
intelligenceofnetworkcontrolisdecoupledfrom
dataplaneelementsandplacedintoalogically
centralizedremotecontroller:thesdn controller
(sdnc).Assuch,thesdncprovidesaprogrammatic
api,whichexposesabstractednetworking
infrastructurecapabilitiestohigherlayercontrol
applicationsandservices,enablingthemto
dynamicallyprogramnetworkresources.
Theroleoftheapi insdn goesbeyondtraditional
networkcontrol.Itallowsapplicationstobe
deployedontopofthecontrolinfrastructure,which
enablesresourcestobeautomaticallyoptimized
acrossheterogeneousnetworkdomains,andnew
end-to-endservicestobeinstantiatedeasily.The
control/managementsystemneedstoprovide
methodsforcontrollingresourcesandforexposing
infrastructurecapabilities—usingtheright
abstractionwiththelevelofdetailsuitableforhigher
layerapplications.
Tohighlightthispoint,inourresearchwechose
toexemplifythecaseofresourceandservice
orchestrationacrossmultiplenetworkdomainswith
heterogeneoustypesofresources.Theresulting
hierarchicalsdn-basedcontrolarchitecture,which
orchestratesacrossthreedomains—transport,
radioaccessnetworks(rans),andcloud—isshown
inFigure 3.Amanagementfunction [8],whichcan
bepartlyoverlapping,isincludedbutnotdiscussed
indetailinthisarticle.
sdn flavors
Theimpactofupgradingthecontrolplaneofalegacy
transportnetworktosdn dependsonanumber

Transport
edge
Network
app 1
Network
app n
RAN controller Transport controller
Orchestrator
Integrated packet-optical transport
Cloud controller
Edge
router
Service
edge
PGW
Transport
edge
Transport
switching
Transport
switching
Transport
edge
Packet
microwave
Fixed
Enterprise
IP
IP IPBB
BB
Figure 3
Hierarchical sdn control
architecture for multi-
domain orchestration

Optical networks
Implementation
SDN controlled functions
Node local functions
Management controlled functions
Low
Legacy Legacy +
CMPLS
(Full) SDN
High/moderate Low
Features
Node
complexity
Figure 4a
Centralizing control
functionality in the optical
domain
Packet networks
Implementation
SDN controlled functions
Node local functions (protocol driven)
Management system driven functions
High
Legacy Hybrid SDN Full SDN
Moderate Low
Features
Node
complexity
Figure 4b
Centralizing control
functionality in the packet
domain

Ericsson Technology Review, issue #1, 2016

Ericsson Technology Review, issue #1, 2016

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