GeRoFan : une architecture et un plan de contrôle basés sur la radio-sur-fibre pour la mutualisation des réseaux d'accès mobile de nouvelle génération

摘要

Current radio access networks architectures are not suited in terms of capacity and backhauling capabilities to fit the continuing traffic increase of 4G cellular systems. The objective of the thesis is to propose an innovative and generic mobile backhauling network architecture, called GeRoFAN (Generic Radio-over-Fiber Access Network), for next generation mobile systems (WiMAX, 4G LTE). Two major technological innovations are used to implement GeRo-FAN: analog Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) and reflective amplified absorption modulators. The aim of this thesis is to design for such an architecture an original Control Plane (CP) and a signaling channel enabling to balance radio resources between a set of neighboring cells at the access/metropolitan scale according to traffic fluctuations. The transmission of several radio frequencies by means of an analog RoF link suffers from several impairments that may degrade the capacity of the radio system. The originality of the GeRoFAN-CP consists in mapping radio frequencies with optical carriers by means of Sub-Carrier Multiplexing (SCM) in order to optimize the Shannon’s capacity within the various cells covered by the system according to the current traffic load. For that purpose, a deep analysis and modeling of the various physical layer impairments impacting the quality of the radio signal is carried out. Unlike comparable approaches, the GeRoFAN-CP is as independent as possible from the radio layer protocols. Thus, the "radio MAC-agnostic" nature of the GeRoFAN-CP enables to federate multiple operators using different radio technologies onto the same backhauling optical infrastructure. Subcarrier and wavelength division multiplexing (SCM/WDM) as well as WDM optical routing capabilities are exploited onto the GeRoFAN transparent architecture. More globally, the GeRoFAN-CP enables a form of "radio frequency virtualization" while promoting new business models for Telecom service providers. The last part of the thesis focuses on the business value of the GeRoFAN paradigm. The expectations of the different stake-holders and main regulatory/organizational entities that could be involved in the deployment of GeRoFAN infrastructures should be addressed in order to achieve a smooth deployment of this new type of mobile backhauling. Economics of the GeRoFAN architecture are investigated in terms of OpEx/CapEx valuation and investment profitability, especially in reference to digitized RoF. Two business models are then proposed to study how GeRoFAN contributes to enriching the cellular backhauling service value chain.