How Does 5G Work and Why Is It Built Upon 25G?
To fulfill the requirements for more bandwidths, faster speed, and lower latency, the 5G network architecture has undergone tremendous changes, mainly in the splitting of BBU (base band processing unit) functions of 4G. In general, the 5G wireless access network architecture is more complicated than that of 4G. The 4G access network is mainly composed of three parts: EPC (core network), BBU, and RRU (radio remote unit). In 5G network architecture, it divides the original 4G BBU into CU (central unit) and DU (distributed unit), fully taking the advantages of cloudification and centralized control of the cell sites deployment.
In the front-haul transmission of 5G network, it will reach an estimated 100M~1G bandwidth speeds with peaks of 20G. The antenna port might be 64 or 128, and the granularity of the 5G front-haul network is 25Gbps. Consequently, 25G optical transceivers will play a big part in constructing the 5G network. The 5G middle-haul transmission will mainly adopt N x 25G technology and DWDM Ring network infrastructure over transmission distances from 10 to 40km, which denotes that the 100G optical transceivers will represent a significant share in 5G middle-haul transmission. In the back-haul transmission, if optical transport network is deployed to carry the signals, N x 100G technology will be adopted. If not, 200G/400G optical transceivers would be required. No matter which type of network will perform the task, the 5G back-haul transmission will be dominated by 100G optical modules or even modules with higher speed.
25G Optics Market Trend Forecast
In the year of 2017, the demand for 25G optical transceivers had increased perpendicularly as the wireless front-haul market proliferated unprecedentedly. In the year of 2019, 25G and 100G optical transceivers have been ready for mainstream deployments to keep up with the fast pace of 5G commercial services and applications. Right on time, the demand for 25G optical modules is expected to reach one million while the 40G optical module market will gradually decline. In the year of 2021, the carriers will work feverishly to prepare infrastructures and systems to support the shift to 5G, and the demand for 25G optical modules is expected to reach two millions then. In the future, data centers, wireless networks, access networks and transmission networks will form a cooperative demand for 25G optical transceivers, rising to the breaking point for newer demands. However, the 10G optical transceiver market has seen a shift with customer demands falling rapidly.
