Dataplane Measurements on a Fronthaul and Backhaul integrated network

Future transport networks serving next generation accesses are expected to carry both fronthaul (FH) and backhaul (BH) traffic simultaneously. This new concept of network which integrates the FH and BH traffic over the same transport substrate is called Crosshaul. A Crosshaul network will use heterogeneous technologies, such as fiber, mmWave, or microwave, and selects the most appropriates ones depending on the use case. Moreover,
the softwarization/virtualization trend on the networking industry indicates that Virtual Network Functions (VNFs) will process and exchange both BH and FH data plane traffic. This paper presents performance measurements on promising technologies for the implementation of a Crosshaul network. We investigate to which extent the requirements to carry FH traffic are satisfied by
mmWave links, software and multi-layer hardware switches.