Internet Access

mmWave – More Essential than Ever for all Backhaul Requirements

Like the transition from 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G will represent a sea change in mobile network (and Wi-Fi) network operations.


Like the transition from 3G to 4G, 4G to 5G will represent a sea change in mobile network (and Wi-Fi) network operations.  Networks will become much more dense and “meshier” with much more high-bandwidth edge computing requirements.  In short, backhaul connectivity is going to go through the roof and Siklu’s multi-Gigabit product line will be there to keep traffic running smoothly.

For instance, a report from the Small Cell Forum projects that, by 2025, 23 percent of all private LTE and 5G networks will be deployed by smart cities, with various industrial sectors accounting for an additional 20+ percent.  The industrial sectors that will be negotiating their own spectrum and managing their wireless networks will be manufacturing, retail, transport, and utilities.  All of these entities will need multi-Gigabit backhaul to tie it all together. 

As for public network operators, they will have to accommodate a number of emerging issues to deliver a consistently high QoS to their customers.  These issues include:

  • 5G heralds increased video-streaming and an explosion of mission-critical applications. This means more demanding end to end latency requirements, with a subsequent impact on the backhaul latency budget. With an end-to-end latency figure of under 10 ms, latency across the backhaul segment would have to be under 1 ms mmWave connections can and do support such low latency requirements. 
  • Several analyst firms and OEMs forecast Internet growth and a substantial component of that is mobile data. One such projection shows that an increasing number of subscribers and increased bandwidth usage will result in a 28.9 percent CAGR of mobile data traffic through 2025.  This growth obviously will fuel the need for more and higher capacity backhaul links. 
  • The emergence of 5G itself will lead to significantly denser networks. Including LTE, operators worldwide are forecast to add more than 3 million macrocell sites by 2025.  As for small cells, which can be deployed indoors and outdoors and in femto-, micro- and picocell sizes, they will become even for prevalent in 5G.  As a result, one forecast calls for small cell deployment to grow globally from approximately 700,000 to more than 4 million in the 2017 – 2025 time frame. 

It is well established that backhaul links using the V-Band or the E-Band perform well in supporting 5G due to their massive multi gigabit data throughput capabilities.  Siklu’s advanced EtherHaul™ series works alone or in tandem with fiber-based backhaul to support small cells (4G, 5G or WiFi) and macro cell base stations with a range of capacities and features.  The EtherHaul™ Kilo series is designed for rooftop or tower deployments and capacities form 1 Gbps up to 10 Gbps Full Duplex.  The EtherHaul™ Hundreds series provides small, efficient and rugged systems designed for street level installations with capacities of 1 Gbps aggregate.

Siklu can go the distance – taking 10Gbps Full Duplex as far as 3 miles (5.5 km).  When used in conjunction with our patented “ExtendMM” software, the Siklu Kilo series radios can achieve links as far as 6 or 7 miles (11 – 13 km). 

How about reliability and resiliency?  Because our radios operate in the 60/70/80Ghz bands, spectrum is virtually limitless.  And interference is not even remotely a concern -- even in dense urban areas, where 5GHz links can suffer from high noise floors.  For instance, the 5 GHz band has a high noise floor after years of deployments, and this same issue will be moving to the 6 GHz band as well -- as illustrated by certain regulatory agencies authorizing the use of spectrum in that band for Wi-Fi 6E applications.

Further, deployment options include cascade, ring or any high resilience topology with a built-in Gigabit switch and extra ports, standards-based networking and synchronization -- all in a discreet and unobtrusive outdoor box.

Compared to connecting to dark fiber or trenching new fiber optic lines, installation is a relative breeze.  It will only take 15 minutes to install with zero touch commissioning, and no special skills necessary.  Our alignment toolkit makes it easy even for a non-telco. Add to that the remote zero-touch activation from a NOC.  And that’s it - you’re up.

In short, Siklu has been delivering 60, 70/80GHz mmWave backhaul systems for over a decade. Siklu is the mmWave leader with the largest portfolio of systems, longest range on the market, and reliability that is measured in decades.

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