ADVA Optical Networking drives synchronization of radio access networks

“As mobile operators gradually introduce LTE-Advanced, they're finding network synchronization increasingly complex,” said Christoph Glingener, CTO, ADVA Optical Networking. “This is all due to the necessary rollout of interference coordination and radio spectrum control techniques. Base station clocks now need to operate in phase within tolerances of less than a micro-second. This is a considerable challenge. But by deploying the miniGM functionality at the edge of the backhaul network and introducing our Syncjack™ timing assurance technology, mobile operators and their mobile backhaul service providers can meet these synchronization demands while improving their customer’s quality of experience.”

Many legacy installed mobile backhaul networks can benefit from the new functionality by combining GPS and a PTP miniGM clock in a cost-effective service demarcation device. Deploying the miniGM as close as possible to the cell site enables the utilization of existing networks for backhaul services connecting LTE-Advanced radio access networks and supporting unpaired spectrum operation. Since GPS is considered being not reliable enough when used as an exclusive clock source, the PTP fallback capability significantly enhances the stability of the synchronization architecture compared to a traditional GPS-only solution.

The ADVA FSP 150 family is an intelligent Ethernet access, backhaul and aggregation solution supporting Syncjack™ timing distribution and assurance. Whether a greenfield installation, or an older first generation Carrier Ethernet network, Syncjack™ enables new revenue from delivery of SLA-based synchronization services with both PTP and SyncE network monitoring and performance analysis. Precise clock accuracy measurements and enhanced statistics can be gathered with external and internal references, or even when no synchronization reference is available.