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This paper presents a beyond 5G fronthaul network with dynamic beamforming and -steering. The proposed fronthaul solution deploys optical beamforming (OBF) by combining space division multiplexing (SDM), analogue radio-over-fiber (ARoF), and the novel optical beam forming network (OBFN) technologies. From the service management and orchestration (MANO) point of view, the proposed fronthaul solution also deploys an advanced software defined networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) control and orchestration architecture developed with the goal to optimally manage and reconfigure the physical layer resources (i.e., optical and radio) at the central office and cell sites (i.e., pool of baseband units (BBUs), remote radio heads (RRHs), ARoF transceivers and OBFNs). The proposed beyond 5G fronthaul architecture is primarily oriented to deploy massive machine-type communication (mMTC) services with high-bandwidth requirements, such as for industry 4.0. In this paper we experimentally validate the novel OBFN system, and the dynamic SDN/NFV MANO of the transport connectivity and network services for optical beamforming. The obtained experimental results show that the overall delay for the provisioning and removal of an OBF service, considering the contribution of the involved optical and radio systems and the SDN/NFV MANO layer, is 134s and 18s respectively. The reconfiguration of the OBF service to add or remove a beam can be performed in the range of 65-87s. © 1995-2012 IEEE.

Future mobile networks will offer high data rates based on high-capacity fronthaul. Current fronthaul design has two main components that communicate via the common public radio interface and fiber links, i.e., remote units (RUs) that implement simple signal processing and centralized baseband units (CBBUs) in high power-consuming data centers that perform complex network functions. Various functional splits between CBBUs and RUs are feasible, inducing trade-offs between centralization gains and bandwidth demands. This design lacks in capacity and flexibility, motivating the use of converged fiber-wireless (Fi-Wi) fronthaul with high-bandwidth fiber and millimeter-wave links, and splits that move functionalities to RUs reducing the delay demands. Further flexibility is offered by analog radio-over-fiber fronthaul that supports dynamic functional splitting via software-defined networking (SDN). Ensuring acceptable delay for all RUs, i.e., minimizing fronthaul grade-of-service (GoS), requires selection of CBBUs, channel bandwidth and functional splits of RUs. The split type affects fronthaul power consumption determining which fronthaul components are active and their processing power. Using a simulated annealing-based dynamic fronthaul resource allocation (DFRA) scheme, we jointly optimize GoS and power consumption in a novel SDN Fi-Wi fronthaul. Our results show that DFRA minimizes GoS and power consumption for all load levels outperforming baseline approaches. © 1983-2012 IEEE.