This paper presents a beyond 5G fronthaul network with dynamic beamforming and -steering. The proposed fronthaul solution deploys optical beamforming (OBF) by combining space division multiplexing (SDM), analogue radio-over-fiber (ARoF), and the novel optical beam forming network (OBFN) technologies. From the service management and orchestration (MANO) point of view, the proposed fronthaul solution also deploys an advanced software defined networking (SDN) and Network Function Virtualization (NFV) control and orchestration architecture developed with the goal to optimally manage and reconfigure the physical layer resources (i.e., optical and radio) at the central office and cell sites (i.e., pool of baseband units (BBUs), remote radio heads (RRHs), ARoF transceivers and OBFNs). The proposed beyond 5G fronthaul architecture is primarily oriented to deploy massive machine-type communication (mMTC) services with high-bandwidth requirements, such as for industry 4.0. In this paper we experimentally validate the novel OBFN system, and the dynamic SDN/NFV MANO of the transport connectivity and network services for optical beamforming. The obtained experimental results show that the overall delay for the provisioning and removal of an OBF service, considering the contribution of the involved optical and radio systems and the SDN/NFV MANO layer, is 134s and 18s respectively. The reconfiguration of the OBF service to add or remove a beam can be performed in the range of 65-87s.

中文翻译：

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超 5G 空间复用前传网络的动态光波束成形实验演示


本文提出了一种具有动态波束成形和控制功能的超 5G 前传网络。所提出的前传解决方案通过结合空分复用 (SDM)、模拟光纤无线电 (ARoF) 和新型光束形成网络 (OBFN) 技术来部署光束形成 (OBF)。从服务管理和编排（MANO）的角度来看，所提出的前传解决方案还部署了先进的软件定义网络（SDN）和网络功能虚拟化（NFV）控制和编排架构，旨在优化管理和重新配置物理层中心局和小区站点（即基带单元（BBU）池、远程无线电头端（RRH）、ARoF 收发器和OBFN）的资源（即光学和无线电）。所提出的超5G前传架构主要面向部署具有高带宽要求的大规模机器类型通信（mMTC）服务，例如工业4.0。在本文中，我们通过实验验证了新颖的 OBFN 系统以及用于光波束形成的传输连接和网络服务的动态 SDN/NFV MANO。获得的实验结果表明，考虑到所涉及的光学和无线电系统以及SDN/NFV MANO层的贡献，OBF服务的开通和移除的总体延迟分别为134秒和18秒。 OBF服务的重新配置以添加或删除波束可以在65-87s的范围内执行。