[Video] Unboxing wireless CPRI solution

By Dudy Cohen 6 min read

Watch the exclusive and exciting unboxing of Ceragon's new wireless CPRI solution. Learn how easy it is to eliminate the dependency on fiber availability and feasibility when deploying 4G fronthaul.

 

Full transcript:


Hi and welcome back to the Backhaul Lounge. And here in the backhaul lounge - we listen to you!
You asked for more people from R&D and we brought you Mor from R&D people.
Hi!
Hi Mor, how are you?
I'm good. How are you?
And today we are going to run some unboxing of a new product of Ceragon.
I can hear it coming. Yes.
Fresh off the press, we have the Ceragon CPRI solution, right?
This is a CPRI, wireless CPRI solution for 4G networks.
Yes, it is.
And Mor, why are we talking about CPRI in an age in which 5G rules
and everyone is going to eCPRI and split 7.2?
Why do we need a CPRI solution?
We know the 5G will not replace the 4G and we have many customers that
still use CPRI as the connectivity
between the base station and the radio unit.
And this is why we came up with the solution.
So basically, this is another level of flexible wireless hauling
allowing operators to have the flexibility to put the remote radio unit
wherever they need, regardless of whether they have fiber there or not, right?
Exactly.
Ok, so let's unbox it and see what you brought for us.
Mor is the project manager for this product in our R&D and we are now unboxing
this great radio solution.
Let's see what it looks like.
It feels light.
Yeah. It is a surprise in a big box.
Yeah. OK, so we have this, we have that.
Are we sure this is it?
This is everything? Ok wow.
What is this Mor? This is a radio solution?
Where do you connect the antenna?
This is our solution for CPRI, yes.
OK, so Mor, how does it work?
It looks like a clever dongle or something.
Our idea is to use the same IP-50E radio link that we have today that supports Ethernet, and eCPRI and actually connect this model to the QSFP cage on this side and on this side, we have the SFP+, supports up to 10Gbps and this is the entire solution.
So basically this is a CPRI SFP that we put into some kind of converter which takes the CPRI signal and transfers it to QSFP Ethernet signal?
Yeah, it's a protocol called RoE. It's Radio over Ethernet.
The transition we are doing, our solution is a transition of the CPRI into Ethernet and then send it on our radio.
So Mor, you mentioned 10 Gbps, which options of CPRI are we supporting?
Up to option 7, which is a bit less than 10Gbps, but this is our maximum capacity.
So CPRI Option 7 wirelessly, I think this is more than enough.
So the "smarts" is inside here, right?
Yes.
You have some kind of circuit inside, do you want to show us?
Yeah, I can show it.
This is our secret. You can see how small it is.
Want to take a look?
So basically what we have here is the entire CPRI solution.
You have on one side the CPRI interface and on the other side, 40Gig Ethernet interface and it runs the CPRI over the Ethernet.
So, for instance, if we connect it to the IP-50E, which is near the BBU and
the second one on the IP-50E, which is on the other end of the link
near the radio unit, you have transparent CPRI connectivity.
Well, that's great.
And Mor, I understand that you had a huge dilemma with this product, right,
regarding the color of the lever of this dongle?
This is called the QSFP latch and we had a big dilemma on the color.
Actually, the first prototype we got was pink.
I didn't choose this color, but this is what they remembered that I chose.
I picked yellow, actually. And then marketing came
and marketing changed it,
said we have to have it red.
Yes.
So if you are an operator that seeks to run 4G fronthaulon CPRI interface
and you want this unique solution that can be plugged in into our IP-50E,
which delivers Ethernet, which delivers eCPRI in the same product,
this is a simple plugin with the red touch.
You can put it in and you have a CPRI wireless solution.
You don't need to have another type of radio and you can maintain the utmost flexibility in your network.
Thank you very much Mor for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
And thank you for watching this episode of The Backhaul Lounge.
We'll be back with more exciting news, like this.
Thank you very much.

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Download the IP-50 brochure

 

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