Transmode has announced the availability of a new Fronthaul Muxponder that is optimised for transport of multiple CPRI and synchronous Ethernet services over a single 10G wavelength. The device has been evaluated and type-approved during a lab test event by Orange Labs, a division of a major European incumbent operator, for CPRI and Ethernet transport.
Available now as part of the TM-Series R23 release, the product is based on Transmode's existing and widely-deployed Multi-Service Muxponder. The company says the new unit provides better latency performance than the previous unit and the company clams that both units provide significantly better synchronisation performance than comparable products to support the demanding specifications required for CPRI transport. The new unit also supports both macro and small cell applications through the mix of CPRI and Synchronous Ethernet transport over the single wavelength.
Mobile fronthaul, and CPRI transport generically, requires extremely high performance for latency and network synchronisation. The demanding performance criteria mean multiplexing multiple CPRI signals onto a single higher-speed wavelength is very challenging and most solutions are unable to meet the required performance level. This new muxponder has been independently evaluated and type-approved during a lab test event by Orange Labs using third-party RAN equipment from multiple vendors. The tests showed that the end-to-end solution, including muxponder based CPRI transport, meets the 3GPP requirements and exceeds the required performance levels.
The new Fronthaul Muxponder supports either 3x CPRI-3 (2.5G) plus 2x SyncE or 3x CPRI-4 (3G) plus 1x SyncE over a single 10G wavelength. The unit also includes a high level of networking functionality such as inbuilt line protection and G.709 FEC. It also has latency performance as low as seven microseconds, a key parameter in CPRI transport.