FTTR for the Next Generation of Home Network: System Concept and Technology Challenges

Eric WANG

Huawei, China

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, home network becomes a key role for education, working, meeting, social event, etc. because most of them are conducted online. The quality especially the data rate of the home network is important for supporting those online services.

To promote the beyond Gigabit network connection evolution, since 2019 the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) has established Industry Specification Group (ISG) Fifth Generation Fixed Network (F5G) to study the 5th generation fixed networks. According to its published reports, the full-fibre connection (FFC) characterized by evolving the traditional fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) to fiber-to-the-room (FTTR) is one of the key aspects of F5G. Via deploying the combination of FTTR cascaded with WiFi 6, Gigabit broadband access can be provided for the best in-door coverage, thus can enable all those immersive education, working and entertainment for in-home applications.

For such FTTR scenario, the mature Gigabit service is obtained by spatially separated WLAN accesses whereas backhauling to the ONT via superfast speed fibre. This solution is unlike the common single router connection or the AC-AP topology. For cutting edge competitiveness, the over-the-air link budget should be optimized per the short distance transmission inside the room; the rate-vs-reach should be maximum leveraged; the interference and roaming latency between different access areas should be maximum depressed. It results to a very complex multi-targets optimization and balancing problem. The fundamentals to develop creative valuable solutions for this complication reside in the advancing of the baseband, RF and antenna technologies, from perspectives of not only the chipset or module level but also the system level. In addition, the usable spectrum also impacts the system greatly. Apart from the existing sub-6GHz frequency bands widely used for WiFi, there are multiple available mmWave bands, e.g. the Q-Band around 45GHz in China. An obvious advantage by using mmWave is the limited cross room interference by the radio penetration against walls. It thus is worth studying the hybrid solutions using sub-6GHz and mmWave, which would be comprised in the next generation fixed network (i.e., F6G) for the future. On the other hand, the essence of F6G consists of not only an ultrafast data connection but also a well-connected sensing. The well designed integration of communication and sensing within FTTR is indeed challenging but apparently very promising for enlightening a smarter in-home life.

Biodata:

Eric Wang holds a Ph.D. from Nanjing University in Computational Mathematics. He joined Huawei in 2010. Since then, he has spent more than 10 years working in the access and home network area technologies leading the researches and standardization strategy developments. He also has been working in many standardization organizations, such as ITU-T and CCSA. In ITU-T SG9, he serves as the WP2 Vice Chairman and Q9 Rapporteur leading the work on the integrated cable network platform for advanced services deliveries, e.g. 4K, AR and VR videos. In ITU-T SG15, he is the G.mgfast editor, and has contributed for a long time to xDSL, G.fast and G.mgfast technologies targeting beyond Gigabit access.