Revolutionizing Last-Mile Backhaul

A wide variety of fixed and mobile operators, ISPs and other, non-telco businesses (enterprises, utilities and governmental organizations), are today in need of cost-effective and future-proof high-capacity transport systems that are easy to deploy and operate.

In particular, 4G operators need to cope with higher capacity per Base Station (BS) and higher density of macro / micro / pico BSs. Last-mile LTE backhaul will consist of a large number of short-range links having capacity between 50 Mbit/s and 150 Mbit/s per pico cell (sector) and approximately 150 Mbit/s to 450 Mbit/s per macro cell (for a tri-sector LTE BS). Cascading three or more sites, or combining them in a ring, will yield traffic capacities in the order of 1 Gbit/s. The upcoming LTE-Advanced standard may also require Gigabit backhaul traffic rates per BS.

UltraLink™ is an innovative, all-outdoor Gigabit Ethernet PtP radio platform, operating in the licensed, bandwidth-rich E-Band area of the spectrum (71-76 GHz and 81-86 GHz). Exploiting an advanced and highly-integrated design, rich Ethernet networking features and the truly wideband channels available in the E-Band, UltraLink™ ideally satisfies the service requirements for relatively short-range, high-capacity connectivity applications, while achieving the lowest TCO with respect to traditional microwave (MW) - or even wireline - technologies. Typical applications include: 3G/4G backhaul and aggregation in dense urban areas, xDSL backhaul, campus LANs, construction site, shipping port area communications systems, storage connection backup, Wi-Fi hotspot backhaul and fiber backup links to name a few.

When combined with traditional MW systems, UltraLink™ offers significant benefits to 3G/4G wireless backhaul networks in terms of enhanced and future-proof performance. It best leverages Intracom Telecom's OmniBAS™ MW packet radio line in combined UltraLink™ - OmniBAS™ deployments, particularly in dense urban areas. uni|MS, the own-developed, feature-rich and one-for-all management suite from Intracom Telecom, provides the operator with a unified, single-view management screen that greatly simplifies network OAM.

UltraLink™ offers a number of highly-valued features, which are elaborated below:

Advanced Radio with High Spectral Efficiency

UltraLin™'s Gigabit capacity on a single radio link is achieved by combining an industry-high spectral efficiency (achieved through 64-QAM modulation) with a 500 MHz-wide channel. This enables the use of narrow channels, narrower than those offered by competitive E-Band radio systems, allowing denser link deployments through the facilitation of radio planning for interference management and mitigation. More importantly, narrower channel may incur significant license fee savings.

Innovative 5 level , 4-Dimensional Hitless Link Adaptation

UltraLink™'s OFDM signal format enables unique link adaptivity features. Four physical layer parameters - Modulation / Coding / Bandwidth / Power - are adapted in an error-free, hitless manner, in response to changes in the communication channel conditions. The seamless adaptation of these four parameters can yield a link budget gain increase of up to 25 dB, allowing the deployment of high availability links with small form factor antennas that respect the city environment.

Traffic Pattern Flexibility

The UltraLink™ platform offers both FDD and TDD radio link variants. While FDD supports symmetrical traffic patterns and doubles the total aggregate capacity, the TDD variant can be adjusted for asymmetric transmission to flexibly match the traffic patterns arising in broadband fixed and 3G / 4G mobile access networks. In this way, the spectral efficiency is further optimized.

MEF Standards-based Service Delivery

UltraLink™'s ability to add, remove or replace C-VLAN or S-VLAN tags, combined with its Provider Bridge (IEEE 802.1ad) functionality, adds flexibility in provisioning and offering Carrier Ethernet services ranging from EPL and EVPL to ELAN without the need for external switching devices. This allows faster and easier deployments that are more manageable and cost-efficient.

Standards-based Service & Link OAM Support

Support of service OAM, based on the IEEE 802.1ag and Y.1731 standards, and Link OAM, based on IEEE 802.1ah standard, means that UltraLink™ is capable to offer Carrier-grade Ethernet OAM features, enabling operators to provide manageable services to their customers.

Comprehensive QoS

UltraLink™ offers per-service QoS treatment of the transported traffic based on both L2 and L3 classifiers. Fixed priority and WFQ scheduling schemes are cleverly applied to eight queues to enable the most suitable prioritization treatment for management and control traffic, while supporting revenue generating service differentiation and assured service delivery for user plane traffic.

Carrier-grade Ring Protection

UltraLink™ can be used in high availability ring configurations to provide sub-50 ms ring protection based on G.8032 v2 standard. Fiber ring closure applications are also made possible as the standardized ring protection mechanism works with third-party equipment supporting the same standard. Additionally, 1+1 Hot standby protection can be achieved without the need for an indoor unit.

Packet-based Network Synchronization

Being an advanced packet radio, which is designed for mobile network backhaul applications, UltraLink™ supports packet synchronization methods. Its Gigabit Ethernet interfaces support Standards-based Synchronous Ethernet (SyncE) frequency synchronization distribution, as well as, the associated signaling channel. Furthermore, IEEE 1588v2 Transparent Clock functionality is supported in hardware with a time stamping accuracy of 100ns. Thus the distribution of frequency and phase synchronization using the PTP standard is supported.

Increased Security

In UltraLink™, over-the-air security is achieved through 128-bit or 256-bit AES encryption, which works on top of the security benefits arising out of the ultra-narrow beamwidth and short-range propagation characteristics of E-Band radiation.

Compact, All-in-one Solution

UltraLink™ can be offered as a stand-alone extremely lightweight, zero-footprint, and all-outdoor system featuring E-Band industry's lowest power consumption. Links can be implemented with small form factor ODUs (24.5 cm x 22.5 cm x 7 cm ), which weigh no more than 2.5 kg and antennae of 1 and/or 2 ft diameters thus minimizing the size and cost requirements for the supporting infrastructure.

High Reliability

UltraLink&trade's innovative, highly-integrated and power-efficient design yields an impressive MTBF that exceeds 70 years for the TDD model and 65 years for the FDD model, enabling service delivery with minimized downtime and maintenance requirements.

Wherever high-capacity connectivity over a relatively short distance is required, UltraLink™ provides the lowest-cost, technically-complete solution for a myriad of connectivity applications and a variety of organizations.

Fixed Line & Mobile Operators / ISPs

• Backhaul of 3G / 4G / WIMAX Base Stations (macro / micro / pico).
• Backhaul of xDSL and DSLAM nodes.
• Fiber extension and fiber ring closure.
• Direct access connectivity for large corporate customers.

Utilities & Mining Industries

Electricity, water and other utility companies can deploy UltraLink™ in their plants, distribution stations and office locations to:

• Convey SCADA controller data and traffic from security / surveillance cameras to the monitoring location / control room.
• Create Gigabit LANs among their buildings in a site.

International Shipping Hubs

Port authorities can deploy UltraLink™ to satisfy connectivity needs among:

• Loading stations.
• Depots / large storage areas.
• Security posts and surveillance cameras.
• Data Center / control rooms.

Public Sector & Governmental Networks

UltraLink™ can be used to interconnect public buildings in municipal areas and cities. City halls, police headquarters, hospitals, schools and other buildings can converge on the same high-speed network infrastructure to enhance governance efficacy and efficiency.

Higher Education & Health Institutions

University campuses and hospitals with multi-building sites can take advantage of UltraLink™ to cost-effectively and rapidly deploy high-bandwidth links to:

• Create Gigabit LANs among their buildings.
• Upgrade and consolidate their ICT infrastructure.
• Backhaul traffic from security / surveillance cameras.

Large Corporations in Services or Manufacturing Sector

Large businesses with multi-building plants, storage depots or office facilities expanding in large areas, can deploy UltraLink™ to enable Gigabit LAN connectivity for enhancing their transaction automation, control, productivity and security.

The UltraLink™ all-outdoor Point-to-Point (PtP) Gigabit Ethernet radio system is offered in two variants:

• UltraLink™-T70 (TDD variant), operating in the 71-76 GHz portion of the E-Band.
• UltraLink™-F80 (FDD variant), operating across the entire E-Band (71-76 GHz & 81-86 GHz).

Radio

• Maximum Throughput:
  • 1 Gbit/s aggregate (UltraLink™-T70).
  • 1 Gbit/s full duplex (UltraLink™-F80).
• Frame Configurations DL / UL (UltraLink™-T70):
  • 50 / 50, 75 / 25, 90 / 10
• Dynamic Hitless Link Adaptation, by:
  • Modulation, Channel bandwidth, Tx power, Repetitions
• Modulation Schemes:
  • 64-QAM, 16-QAM, QPSK_1, QPSK_2, QPSK_4
• Coding Scheme Repetitions:
  • 1, 2, 4
• Channel Sizes:
  • 500 MHz, 250 MHz
• Transmit (Tx) Power:
  • TDD : +5 dBm (64-QAM) to +8 dBm (QPSK)
  • FDD : +7 dBm (64-QAM) to +10dBm (QPSK)
• Link Adaptation Gain Range:
  • 25 dB, dynamic.

Functionality

• Carrier Ethernet:
  • IEEE 802.1d (Transparent Bridging).
  • IEEE 802.1ad (Provider Bridge).
  • 4,096 active VLANs.
  • MAC address learning (4k addresses).
  • Jumbo frames support (up to 16000 bytes)
• Quality of Service (QoS):
  • Eight quality classes (8 queues).
  • Packet classification per : port, VLAN id, p-bit, DSCP, MPLS EXP-bits.
  • Scheduler Schemes: Strict Priority, Weighted Fair Queuing (WFQ), hybrid.
  • Two rate Three colour Ingress traffic policing.
• Synchronization:
  • ITU-T G.8262 /4 (SyncE).
  • IEEE 1588v2 Transparent Clock.
• Link Protection:
  • ITU-T G.8032 (Ethernet Ring Protection).
  • 1+1 Hot standby
• Operations, Administration & Maintenance (OAM):
  • IEEE 802.1ag - Service OAM (CFM).
  • IEEE 802.3ah - Link OAM (EFM).
  • ITU-T Y.1731 (OAM mechanisms).
• Encryption:
  • AES 128, AES 256

Management

• uni|MS™ / Web-based EMS / CLI.
• Statistics per radio link / Ethernet port / VLAN / queue.

Other

• Interfaces (option 1):
  • 2 x 100/1000Base-T (RJ45).
  • 2 x 1000Base-X (SFP).
• Interfaces (option 2):
  • 1 x 100/1000Base-T (RJ45).
  • 3 x 1000Base-X (SFP).
• Antennas (Cassegrain reflector type, V/H polarization):
  • 31 cm (43 dBi).
  • 65 cm (50 dBi).
• Electrical:
  • Input DC Power: 24 V or 48 V, or PoE.
  • Power Consumption: 35W (TDD) , 45W (FDD).
• Mechanical & Environmental:
  • ODU Weight: 2.5 kg.
  • IP67 Ingress Protection.
  • Operating Temperature: -45 °C to +55 °C.
  • Relative Humidity (RH): 0% to 100%.