We discuss the following topics in this blog:
- Reasons why BSNL Chose EliteAAA in WiMax Rollout
- Key Differentiations offered to BSNL
In addition to these topics, we shall also be answering the following FAQs:
- What is an LTE network?
- What is 5G NR?
Why BSNL Opted for EliteAAA in WiMax Rollout?
Contents
BSNL has chosen EliteAAA for WiMAX roll out in both Rural & Urban circles. BSNL plans to have 1.8 million subscribers using its services in Rural areas of India. EliteAAA is Access network Agnostic which supports multiple Digital Networks & services on the same platform.
BSNL received an upgraded WiMAX feature on the existing EliteAAA platform which has been running smoothly at BSNL supporting multiple access digital networks such as MPLS Virtual Private Dial-up, MPLS Virtual Private Network (VPN), XDSL, Wifi, WiMAX, this helped BSNL in the faster rollout of services and a significant reduction in CapEX, OpEX by Leveraging existing infrastructure for WiMAX.EliteAAA deployed by BSNL is compliant with the latest WiMAX forum NWG standards, It supports EAP-TTLS & EAP-TLS and Certificate-based Authentication.
What are the Key Differentiations Offered to BSNL?
The Key differentiation offered to BSNL was Multi-Vendor support with different QoS Parameters in EliteAAA in a single deployment, thereby eliminating Vendor lock-in which was critical for BSNL having a huge geographic spread. EliteAAA is integrated with Huawei & Point Red ASN gateways & the existing upstream Billing System. EliteAAA has been deployed as a Centralized AAA, Policy Management and Resource Management for offering prepaid and postpaid models for multiple services such as Virtual Private Dial Network (VPDN), Virtual Private Network (VPN), Dial-up and ISDN, Broadband, WiMAX, Wifi, IPTV, Bandwidth on Demand on the same platform.
FAQs
What is an LTE network?
LTE or commonly known as long-term evolution is a global open interoperable standard for wireless high-speed cellular data and is the technology behind today’s 4G Cellular Digital Networks. LTE provides high-speed mobile broadband data, telephone services like VoLTE ie Voice over LTE, Multimedia video support, public safety functions such as secure database access, computer-aided design, mapping, remote management systems, and non-mission critical push to talk service. This standard is developed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
An LTE network has four major components: Core Digital Network (Often called the brain of the subsystem, it consists of gateways and servers that control access, quality of service, billing, and network policies), Radio Access Network (These are the cell sites/towers and consists of transceiver equipment eNodeB and antennas that provides wireless coverage to the device), backhaul network(It consists of fibre & microwave connections and it connects the radio access network to the core network), User Equipment (It consists of mobile devices, routers, etc. and it helps connect directly to the radio access network).
Four major features of LTE are:
a) Exclusive Spectrum – Better spectrum allocation with the division between commercial and mission-critical services.
b) High Speed – LTE Digital networks are typically designed with three sectors on each site and each sector supports the same amount of data. Each sector usually supports 40Mbps of data.
c) Priority and Preemption – It allows the network operator to make sure that the most important traffic always gets allocated to the priority user even if the network gets busy.
d) Self-Organising Networks (SON) – It allows Digital Networks to automatically self-heal themselves during outages ie temporarily one cell site can compensate for the non-functional site avoiding a communication blackout. This allows the users in the sector to access the service but the throughput may vary because more users get added to the specific sector.
What is a 5G NR?
“5G typically refers to the fifth generation of wireless technology. NR, commonly known as New Radio, is a standard developed by the 3GPP Group (Release 15 being the first version introduced back in 2018) outlining the technology required to harness the newly-available millimeter-wave frequencies. The two frequency bands in which 5GNR operates are Frequency Range 1, i.e., Sub 6GHz band (410 MHz to 7125 MHz), and Frequency Range 2, i.e., millimeter-wave (24.25 to 52.6 GHz). Over 4G LTE, 5G NR provides better spectrum utilization, faster data rates, hardware efficiency, and improved signal processing.
From a deployment standpoint, we have Non-Standalone Mode(NSA), Dynamic Spectrum Sharing(DSS), and Standalone Mode (SA). The initial deployments of 5G NR are based on NSA standards, meaning the existing 4G LTE network will operate on the control plane, and 5G NR will be introduced to the user plane. This particular standard was introduced by 3GPP, keeping in mind the industry’s push to faster 5G services rollout while utilizing the existing 4G LTE infrastructure currently in place. On the other hand, operators are also implementing Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) to accelerate the deployment cycle, reducing costs and improving spectrum utilization. In this standard, the same spectrum is shared between the 5G NR and 4G LTE, multiplexing overtime per user demands. Lastly, we have the Standalone Mode (SA), which moves towards a complete 5G based network where both signaling and the information transfer are driven by a 5G cell.
In the future, 5G will enable new services, connect new industries and devices, empower new experiences, and much more, providing mission-critical services, enhanced mobile broadband, and various other things.
a) Enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) Applications: High device connectivity, High mobile data rates, and Mobile AR & VR applications
b) Ultra-reliable, low-latency communications (uRLLC)Applications: Autonomous vehicles, Drones, Data monitoring, Smart mfg.
c) Massive machine-type communications (mMTC)Applications: Healthcare, Industry 4.0, Logistics, Environmental monitoring, Smart farming, Smart grids.