Ericsson Technology Review - issue 2, 2017

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#02 2017 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW 1
ERICSSON
TECHNOLOGY
C H A R T I N G T H E F U T U R E O F I N N O V A T I O N | V O L U M E 9 5 I 2 0 1 7 – 0 2
FIVETECHTRENDS
DRIVINGINNOVATION
MICROWAVE
BACKHAUL
EVOLUTION
COGNITIVE
AUTOMATIONAS
ANIOTENABLER

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2 #02 2017 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEWERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ #02 2017 3

#02 2017 ✱ ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEWERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ #02 2017 5
CONTENTS ✱
08 EVOLVING LTE TO FIT THE 5G FUTURE
LTE is one of the most successful mobile communication technologies in the world,
and is set to play a major role in mobile communications for many years to come.
The process of making it 5G-ready involves a variety of enhancements and new
features in Rel-14 and Rel-15, including improved user data rates and system
capacity with FD-MIMO, improved support for unlicensed operations, and
latency reduction in both control and user planes.
24 MICROWAVEBACKHAULEVOLUTION:REACHINGBEYOND100GHZ
No matter how efficiently we use it, existing spectrum will not be sufficient
to meet future requirements on network performance. Both radio access
and backhaul will need more spectrum in the mid to long term. In light of this,
work has started on the use of frequencies beyond 100GHz, enabled largely
by advances in high-frequency semiconductor technology.
38 SECURING THE CLOUD WITH COMPLIANCE AUDITING
To gain and retain user trust, cloud providers must be able to deploy tenants’
applications, store their data securely and ensure compliance with multiple
regulations and standards. Moving toward a continuous automated compliance
verification model that provides tenants with complete compliance visibility is
the key to successfully managing security risks in the cloud.
60 TACKLING IOT COMPLEXITY WITH MACHINE INTELLIGENCE
IoT-based systems require a high level of decision making automation both in
terms of infrastructure management and within the logic of the IoT applications
themselves. Our cognitive automation framework speeds up the development
and deployment of intelligent decision support systems (DSSs) by reusing
as much knowledge as possible, including domain models, behaviors and
reasoning mechanisms.
70 DEVOPS: FUELING THE EVOLUTION TOWARD 5G NETWORKS
Ericsson has worked closely with open source communities such as OPNFV
and academic partners to define DevOps as it applies to next-generation
telecom networks, identifying the specific steps of the DevOps cycle that
are most relevant for 5G infrastructure. This work has resulted in the creation
of a DevOps reference pipeline for a 5G business slice, as well as processes
and advanced features supporting dynamically software-defined network
functions and infrastructure.
Radio
Robots
UI
200MHz
1UE
10GE
< 5ms
2GB
<1ms
Programmable
Learning
2GB
<1ms
Transport Core
VNFs VNF
VNVNFs
Access
Local DC Ce
CoreRobots app
local
Business slice
Network slice Core
Radio
Transport
Robotics Rob
Resource management
Physical infrastructure
Terminal Radio Access Local DC WAN Ce
Robots
70
QoS
Reliability
Mobility sup
LTE m
perfor
Licensed spec
08
24
60
Compliance
evaluation tool
Continuous real-time
compliance status
FedRAMPHIPAA3GPP ISO 2700 series
HIPAA-compliant slice
ISO 26262-compliant slice
FedRAMP-compliant slice
38
FEATURE ARTICLE
Technology trends driving innovation
– Five to watch
The five trends presented here are based on our CTO’s understanding
of the ongoing transformation of the industry, including rapid
digitalization, mobilization and continuous technology evolution, and how
this transformation will affect the future development of network platforms.
48
48

EDITORIAL ✱✱ EDITORIAL
balance between change and stability, by extending the
agile software development culture to deployment and
operations. The DevOps article in this issue presents
the outcome of our efforts to define DevOps for next-
generation telecom networks by scaling it in the OPNFV
project and working with academic partners.
I hope you find the contents of the magazine as
engaging and thought-provoking as I do. All of the
articles included here are also available online at
www.ericsson.com/ericsson-technology-review
ERIK EKUDDEN
GROUP CTO AND HEAD OF
TECHNOLOGY AND ARCHITECTURE
Ericsson Technology Review brings you
insights into some of the key emerging
innovations that are shaping the future of ict.
Our aim is to encourage an open discussion
on the potential, practicalities, and benefits
of a wide range of technical developments,
and help provide an insight into what
the future has to offer.
a d d r e s s
Ericsson
se-164 83 Stockholm, Sweden
Phone: +46 8 719 00 00
p u b l i s h i n g
All material and articles are published on the
Ericsson Technology Review website:
www.ericsson.com/ericsson-technology-review
p u b l i s h e r
Erik Ekudden
e d i t o r
Tanis Bestland (Nordic Morning)
tanis.bestland@nordicmorning.com
e d i t o r i a l b o a r d
Håkan Andersson, Aniruddho Basu,
Stefan Dahlfort, Björn Ekelund, Dan Fahrman,
Jonas Högberg, Sara Kullman, Börje Lundwall,
Ulf Olsson, Patrik Roseen, Robert Skog,
Gunnar Thrysin and Erik Westerberg
f e at u r e a r t i c l e
Technology trends driving innovation
– Five to watch by Erik Ekudden
a r t d i r e c t o r
Kajsa Dahlberg (Nordic Morning)
p r o d u c t i o n l e a d e r
Susanna O’Grady (Nordic Morning)
l ay o u t
Lina Axelsson Berg (Nordic Morning)
i l l u s t r at i o n s
Nordic Morning Ukraine
c h i e f s u b e d i t o r
Birgitte van den Muyzenberg (Nordic Morning)
s u b e d i t o r s
Paul Eade and Ian Nicholson (Nordic Morning)
issn: 0014-0171
Volume: 95, 2017
■ as ericsson’s new cto, I am excited to take over
the role of publisher of Ericsson Technology Review and
continue the excellent work of my predecessors since
the first article was published 93 years ago. I want to take
this opportunity to welcome both new and longstanding
readers in joining us to gain more technology insights from
Ericsson’s Research and Development units.
Rapid digitalization, mobilization and continuous
technology evolution are all having profound effects on
the ongoing development of network platforms, which
are a cornerstone of the emerging digital economy.
Within, beneath and between these megatrends are a
variety of technology trends that we must understand
and leverage as we continuously move forward in our
work to create top-notch next generation solutions.
This year’s technology trends article outlines what I
consider to be the ‘five to watch’ in our industry in the
years ahead, namely: an adaptable technology base,
*the dawn of true machine intelligence, end-to-end
security and identity for IoT, an extended-distributed
IoT platform, and overlaying reality with knowledge.
Two of the other articles in this issue are closely related
to the tech trends article. The first explores how machine
intelligence can be used to enhance human decision
making ability in the form of decision support systems
(DSSs) that automate the management of IoT-based
systems. The second touches upon the topic of end-to-
end security, looking at how the particular challenges
of security compliance in the cloud can be overcome as
effectively and cost-efficiently as possible.
This issue also contains three other interesting articles
that shed light on important topics such as the evolution
of LTE to fit the 5G future; an overview of the latest
NETWORK
PLATFORMS:
A CORNERSTONE
OF THE EMERGING
DIGITAL ECONOMY
developmentsinmicrowavebackhaul;andhowDevOps
canbeusedtosatisfydemandsforfasterturnaroundin
feature development.
LTE is the most successful mobile communication
technology in the world and it is sure to play a major
role in mobile communications for many years to come.
The process of making it 5G-ready involves a variety of
enhancements and new features in Rel-14 and Rel-15. The
most significant ones are enhancements to user data rates
and system capacity with FD-MIMO, improved support
for unlicensed operations, and latency reduction in both
control and user planes. These enhancements will allow
an operator to move the existing LTE deployments to be
a part of the overall 5G solution, as a complement to the
deployments of New Radio (NR).
Microwave backhaul technology has been used widely
over the years and currently connects a large number of
network nodes and base stations, ranging from dense
city sites to remote rural sites. It is a technology that is
worth paying attention to because it plays a significant
role in providing reliable mobile network performance
and it is well prepared to support both the evolution of
LTE and the introduction of 5G. Efforts are now underway
to enable microwave backhaul beyond 100GHz,
capitalizing on the rapid evolution of high-frequency
semiconductor technologies that support devices
operating beyond 100GHz.
As part of the transition to 5G, equipment vendors and
telecom operators alike are looking to DevOps as a tool
to improve their competitiveness. With DevOps it is
possibletoreducetheturnaroundtimeforfeaturedelivery
cycles and boosting feature hit rates through feedback
loops. DevOps also helps companies to strike the right
RAPID DIGITALIZATION, MOBILIZATION AND CONTINUOUS
TECHNOLOGY EVOLUTION ARE ALL HAVING PROFOUND
EFFECTS ON THE ONGOING DEVELOPMENT OF NETWORK
PLATFORMS.

wellasenhancedsupportformulti-antennas,
heterogeneousdeploymentsandrelaying[4].These
featuresenabledpeakdataratesinexcessof1Gbps
inDLand500MbpsinUL.
Rel-11andRel-12includedenhancementssuch
asthesupportofmachinetypecommunications
(MTC),dualconnectivity(DC),LTE-WLANradio
interworking,andnationalsecurityandpublic
safety(NSPS)servicesincludingdirectdevice-to-
device(D2D)communication[5].Furtheradvances
weremadeinRel-13,includingspectralefficiency
enhancementsviaFullDimensionmultiple-input,
multiple-output(FD-MIMO),supportforutilizing
unlicensedspectrumviaLicensedAssistedAccess
(LAA)andLTE-WLANaggregation,extended
supportforMTCthroughNarrowbandInternet
ofThings(NB-IoT)andenhancedMTC(eMTC),
enhancedCA(upto32carriers),indoorpositioning
enhancements,andsingle-cell-point-to-multipoint
(SC-PTM)forbroadcast/multicastservices[6].
SinceOctober2015,3GPPhasusedtheterm
LTE-AdvancedProforRel-13andonwards,
signifyingthatLTEhasreachedamaturitylevel
thatnotonlyaddressesenhancedfunctionality/
efficiencybutalsothesupportofnewusecases.
Why5G?
Globalmobiledatatrafficisexpectedtogrowata
compoundannualrateof45percentinthecoming
years,whichrepresentsatenfoldincreasebetween
2016and2022[2].Thisincreaseisdrivenlargelyby
themassiveadoptionofmobilevideostreaming.
Ontopofthat,theIoTisshiftingfromvisionto
reality,andofthe29billionconnecteddevicesitis
expectedtoincludeby2022,18billionwillbeIoT
(ormachine-to-machine)devices[2].Future5G
networkswillneedtosupportthesechallenging
newusecasesinacostandenergyefficientmanner.
OUMER TEYEB,
GUSTAV WIKSTRÖM,
MAGNUS STATTIN,
THOMAS CHENG,
SEBASTIAN FAXÉR,
HIEU DO
With 5G research progressing at a rapid pace, the standardization
process has started in 3GPP. As the most prevalent mobile broadband
communication technology worldwide, LTE constitutes an essential piece
of the 5G puzzle. As such, its upcoming releases (Rel-14 and Rel-15) are
intended to meet as many 5G requirements as possible and address the
relevant use cases expected in the 5G era.
Since its first commercial deployment by
TeliaSonera in December 2009 [1], LTE has
become one of the most successful mobile
communication technologies worldwide.
Currently, there are 537 commercial LTE
networks deployed in 170 countries with
1.7 billion subscribers – a number that is
expected to rise to a staggering 4.6 billion
by 2022 [2].
■Inthesevenyearsthathavepassedsincethe
launchofLTE,majoradvanceshavebeenmade
intermsofbothperformanceandversatility.
Forexample,LTERel-8introduceda20MHz
bandwidthwithpeakdownlink(DL)dataratesof
300Mbpsanduplink(UL)dataratesof75Mbps
[3].MinorexpansionsweremadeforRel-9,such
asmulticast/broadcastservices,location-based
servicesandduallayerbeamforming.LTERel-
10,alsoknownasLTE-Advanced,introduced
severalnewfeaturessuchascarrieraggregation
(CA)toprovideupto100MHzbandwidthas
LTE HAS REACHED
A MATURITY LEVEL
THAT NOT ONLY
ADDRESSES ENHANCED
FUNCTIONALITY/EFFICIENCY
BUT ALSO THE SUPPORT OF
NEW USE CASES
Abbreviations
AS – access stratum | BS – base station | CA – carrier aggregation | CN – core network | CP – control plane |
CSI – channel state information | CSI-RS – CSI reference signal | D2D – device-to-device | DC – dual connectivity |
DL – downlink | DoNAS – data over non-access stratum | DSRC – dedicated short range communications |
eMBB – enhanced mobile broadband | eMTC – enhanced MTC | eNB – evolved node B | FD-MIMO – Full Dimension
MIMO | HARQ – hybrid automatic repeat request | IoT – Internet of Things | ITS – intelligent transportation system
| ITU – International Telecommunication Union | LAA – Licensed Assisted Access | MBMS – Multimedia Broadcast/
Multicast Service | MCL – maximum coupling loss | MIMO – multiple-input, multiple-output | mMTC – massive
machine type communications | mm-wave – millimeter wave | MTC – machine type communications |
MU-MIMO – multi-user MIMO | NAS – non-access stratum | NB-IoT – Narrowband Internet of Things |
NR – New Radio | PCell – primary cell | RRC – Radio Resource Control | RS – reference signal | RTT – round-trip
time | SCell – secondary cell | SL – sidelink | SR – scheduling request | TTI – transmission time interval |
UL – uplink | UP – user plane | URLLC – ultra-reliable low latency communications | V2I – vehicle-to-infrastructure |
V2N – vehicle-to-network | V2P – vehicle-to-pedestrian | V2V – vehicle-to-vehicle | V2X – vehicle-to-everything |
3GPP – 3rd generation partnership project
EvolvingLTE
TO FIT THE
5Gfuture
5G AND THE EVOLUTION OF LTE ✱✱ 5G AND THE EVOLUTION OF LTE

Althoughtherequirementsfor5Gcapabilitiesare
stillbeingfinalizedbothintheITU[7]and3GPP
[8],thereisapreliminaryagreementregardingthe
threemainusecasesthetechnologymustsupport.
AsillustratedinFigure1,theyare:enhanced
mobilebroadband(eMBB),ultra-reliablelow
latencycommunications(URLLC)andmassive
machinetypecommunications(mMTC).eMBB
referstotheextendedsupportofconventional
MBBthroughimprovedpeak/average/cell-edge
datarates,capacityandcoverage.URLLCisa
requirementforemergingcriticalapplicationssuch
asindustrialinternet,smartgrids,infrastructure
protection,remotesurgeryandintelligent
transportationsystems(ITSs).Lastbutcertainly
notleast,mMTCisnecessarytosupportthe
envisioned5GIoTscenariowithtensofbillionsof
connecteddevicesandsensors.
Therearetwotracksthatmakeupthe5Gradio
accessroadmapin3GPP,asillustratedinFigure 2.
OneisbasedontheevolutionofLTEandtheother
onNewRadio(NR)access.IntheLTE-5Gtrack,
enhancementswillcontinuetoenableittosupport
asmany5Grequirementsandusecasesaspossible.
UnliketheLTE-5Gtrack,theNR-5Gtrackisfree
frombackwardcompatibilityrequirementsand
therebyabletointroducemorefundamentalchanges,
suchastargetingspectrumathigh(mm-wave)
frequencies.However,NRisbeingdesignedina
scalablemannersoitcouldeventuallybemigratedto
frequenciesthatarecurrentlyservedbyLTE.
WhiletheprospectsfortheNR-5Gtrackare
exciting,theoperatorsthathavealreadymade
significantinvestmentsinLTEdonotneedtobe
concerned–atransitionfromLTEto5Gthrough
5Gplug-insisthemostlogicalcourseofaction.
BoththeexpectationsforLTERel-14[9]–whichis
scheduledforcompletioninMarch2017–andthe
strongambitionsforLTERel-15indicatethatthe
developmentplansfortheLTE-5Gtrackaresolid.
TheprocessofmakingLTE5G-readyinvolves
avarietyofenhancementsandnewfeaturesin
Rel-14andRel-15.Themostsignificantonesare
enhancementstouserdataratesandsystem
capacitywithFD-MIMO,improvedsupportfor
unlicensedoperations,andlatencyreduction
inbothcontrolanduserplanes(UPs).The
enhancementsinRel-14andRel-15alsoaim
toprovidebettersupportforusecasessuchas
massiveMTC,criticalcommunicationsandITS.
Userdatarateandsystemcapacity
enhancements
FD-MIMO and unlicensed operations are the
two main features in the upcoming releases of
LTE that are intended to bring about improved
user data rates and system capacity that meet
5G standards.
FD-MIMO
TheMIMOenhancementin3GPPmakesit
possibletodynamicallyadapttransmissionboth
verticallyandhorizontallybyutilizingasteerable
two-dimensionalantennaarray.Theconcept
ofFD-MIMOinfutureLTEreleasesbuildson
thechannelstateinformation(CSI)feedback
mechanismsintroducedinLTERel-13,inwhich
precodingmatrixcodebookssupporttwo-
dimensionalportlayoutswithupto16antenna
ports.Non-precodedCSIreferencesignals(CSI-
RSs)aretransmittedfromeachantennaand
broadcastinthecell,andtheprecoderisderived
bytheterminal.LTERel-13alsointroduced
anotherCSIfeedbacktypewithterminal-specific,
beamformedCSI-RS,inthesamefashionas
physicaldownlinksharedchannel(PDSCH).
Figure 2
5G radio access
roadmap
Figure 1
The three main 5G use
cases and examples of
associated applications
Video
Smart office
ITS
Connected
city/home
Smart
logistics
Smart
grid
Factory
automation
URLLC mMTC
eMBB
Smart
sensors
Remote
operation
5G wireless access
Gradual migration
Tight interworking
LTE Evolution
Existing spectrum
1GHz 3GHz 10GHz 30GHz 100GHz
New spectrum
NR
No compatibility constraints
1GHz 3GHz 10GHz 30GHz 100GHz
THE PROCESS OF
MAKING LTE 5G-READY
INVOLVES A VARIETY OF
ENHANCEMENTS AND
NEW FEATURES IN REL-14
AND REL-15

Inthiscase,thebeamformingdirectionforeach
terminalisdecidedbythebasestationratherthan
beingderivedfromterminalfeedback.
Toenhancebothnon-precodedand
beamformedCSI-RSoperation,Rel-14will
introduceseveralnewfeatures,includinghybrid
non-precoded/beamformedCSImodewith
optimizedfeedback;aperiodictriggeringofCSI-
RSmeasurements;supportforupto32antenna
ports;spatiallyrich,advancedCSIfeedback;anda
semi-open-looptransmissionscheme.
Hybridnon-precodedandbeamformedCSI
modewithoptimizedfeedbackwillmakeit
possibletointermittentlytransmitaninitial,
non-precodedCSI-RS.Theterminalscanthen
respondwithadesireddirectionforasecond,more
frequent,beamformedCSI-RS.
AperiodictriggeringofCSI-RSmeasurements
facilitatesCSI-RSresourcepooling,enabling
theefficientuseofmeasurementresourcesand
thereductionofCSI-RSoverhead.Asaresult,
moreterminalsinthecellwillhaveaccessto
beamformedCSI-RSoperation.
Supportfor32antennaportsmakesitpossible
tousefeedback-basedoperationwithmassive
antennasetups,whichincreasesthegainsfrom
multi-userMIMO(MU-MIMO).
Spatiallyrich,advancedCSIfeedbackwill
includeinformationaboutmultiplechannel
propagationpaths,sothatinterferencebetween
co-scheduledterminalscanbeavoidedor
suppressed.Performanceisthencomparableto
reciprocity-basedmassiveMU-MIMOsystems.
Thesemiopen-looptransmissionscheme
combinesfull-dimensionbeamformingand
transmitdiversity,targetinghigh-speedterminals
whereabeamdirectionisknownbutshort-term
CSIchangestooquickly.
Theanticipatedimprovementinsystemcapacity
anduserthroughputwithRel-14FD-MIMOis
illustratedinFigure3–a3GPP3Durbanmicro
scenariofeaturing8x4dualpolarizedarrayand
non-full-buffertraffic.Performanceonthecelledge
increasesroughly2.5timeswithadvancedCSI
feedbackandsupportfor32antennaports.
LTEoperationsinunlicensedspectrum
Toaddresseverincreasingtrafficdemands,many
networkoperatorsareconsideringcomplementary
useofunlicensedspectrum.LAAwasintroduced
inLTERel-13forDLoperation,anditisbeing
enhancedinRel-14tosupportUL.LAAusesCA
tocombinealicensedbandprimarycell(PCell)
withunlicensedbandsecondarycells(SCells).The
SCellsusuallyhaverestrictedtransmissionpower,
however,whichresultsincoverageareasthatare
smallerthanthosethatPCellsareabletoprovide.
Inthisarrangement,aPCellprovidesreliable
coverageforcontrolmessagesandhigh-priority
traffic,whiletheSCellsprovidealargeamount
ofspectrumandhighdatarateswhenavailable.
Figure4showshowLAAoffersacombinationof
themainbenefitsprovidedbybothlicensedand
unlicensedspectrum.
Severalsolutionshavebeenincorporated
into3GPPtoachievecoexistencewithother
technologies–suchasWLAN–thatoperatein
thesamebandasLAA.Theseincludedynamic
carriermeasurement/selection,Listen-Before-
Talkprotocol,anddiscontinuoustransmission
withlimitedmaximumduration.Smartand
adaptivetrafficmanagementbetweenlicensed
andunlicensedcarriers–andbetweenunlicensed
carriers–couldalsofurtherenhancecoexistence.
Figure5showsthenetworkcapacityinanLAA
outdoorcoexistencescenariowhereeachof
SEVERAL SOLUTIONS
HAVE BEEN INCORPORATED
INTO 3GPP TO ACHIEVE
COEXISTENCE WITH OTHER
TECHNOLOGIES – SUCH AS
WLAN – THAT OPERATE IN
THE SAME BAND AS LAA
Capacity
Data rate
QoS
Reliability
Mobility support
LAA unlicensed
LTE macro
performance
LTE small cells
Improved performance
Licensed spectrum Unlicensed spectrum
Relativegain[%]
Rel-14 32 ports Rel-14 32 ports + advanced CSIRel-14 16 ports + advanced CSI
Cell edge throughput gain [%]
Capacity gain [%]
Mean user throughput gain [%]
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
16
56
28
36
119
47
42
135
52
20
0
Figure 4
Illustration of LAA
Figure 3
Performance of Rel-14
FD-MIMO over a 16 port
Rel-13 baseline (without
advanced CSI) at high
system load

twooperatorsdeployfourLAAorfourWLAN
nodesperhotspot[10].TheLAAcellssupport
substantiallyhigheroffloadingcapacityonthe
same20MHzchannelcomparedwiththeWLAN
nodes.ThisisbecausetherobustLAAphysical
layerdesignallowsreliableandefficientfrequency
reuse.Infact,themoreefficientLAAnetwork
leavesmorecapacityfortheco-channelWLAN.
FurtherLAAenhancementsareexpectedin
LTERel-15,mostnotablyULcontrolinformation
transmissionandrandomaccesschannelsupport
ontheunlicensedbandSCells.Thiswouldmake
itpossibletooffloadmoretrafficfromthelicensed
bandPCellsandallowforfurtherdeploymentas
wellasenablingusecasessuchasfiberconnected
remoteradioheads.
AnotherpotentialenhancementinLTERel-15
isdualconnectivitybetweenlicensedbandmain
evolvednodeB(eNB)andunlicensedbandsecondary
eNB.Thiswouldfurtherbroadendeployment
possibilitiesbyallowingaggregationbetween
networknodesthatarenotconnectedvialow-latency
backhaul.Finally,Rel-15mayenablemoredeployment
optionsandscenarios,suchasstandaloneandmMTC
operationsinunlicensedspectrum.
Latencyreduction
AnotherimportantaspectofLTEenhancement
istheimplementationoflatencyreduction
techniquesfortheuserandcontrolplanes(UPs
andCPs).Latencyreductionnotonlycontributes
todatarateenhancementsbutalsoenablesnewuse
casessuchascriticalcommunicationandITS.
Userplanelatencyreduction
ImplementingfastULaccessisthefirststep
towardreducingUPlatency.AsspecifiedinRel-
14,fastULaccessmakesitpossibletoconfigure
aterminalwithanuplinkgrantavailableineach
millisecond,tobeusedonlywhenthereisuplink
datatotransmit.Usingthecurrentscheduling
request(SR)basedaccess,theterminalmust
transmitarequest,waitforagrant,andthenwait
tousethegrant.AcomparisonoffastULaccess
withSRaccessisillustratedintheaandbtracks
ofFigure6.Thepre-configuredgrantinfastUL
accessminimizesthewaitingtime,whichreduces
theaverageradioaccessdelayforuplinkdataby
morethanhalf.
Theotherlatencyreductionstepconsists
oftwoenhancementsthatarebothtargeted
forspecificationinRel-15.Thefirstisreduced
processingtime:makingtheterminalrespond
todownlinkdataanduplinkgrantsinthree
millisecondsinsteadoffour.Thesecondisthe
introductionofshortertransmissiontimeintervals
(TTIs):speedingupthewholechainofwaitingfor
atransmitopportunity,schedulingandpreparing
foratransmission,transmittingthedata,and
ultimatelyprocessingthereceiveddataand
sendingfeedback.
WithashortTTI,asillustratedinthectrack
ofFigure6,transmissionscanbemadewitha
shorterduration(aslittleasone-seventhofthe
lengthofanormalLTETTI).Eachoftheseshort
transmissionscanbescheduledseparatelywitha
newDLin-bandcontrolchannel,withfeedback
sentinanewULcontrolchannel.Thescheduling
andfeedbackaresentinadjacentsubframesforthe
shortesttransmissiontime,resultinginatotalradio
accessone-waytransmissiondelayofabout0.5ms,
includingdataprocessingtime.
Figure7illustratesthegainsinround-triptime
(RTT)madebyemployingshortTTIandfastUL
access.Fromsimulations,improvementshavealso
beenobservedinthethroughputforFileTransfer
LATENCY REDUCTION
NOT ONLY CONTRIBUTES TO
DATA RATE ENHANCEMENTS
BUT ALSO ENABLES NEW
USE CASES SUCH AS
CRITICAL COMMUNICATION
AND ITS
Fast UL grant
Fast UL grant
UL grant
inactiveinactiveinactive
active
active active
Data
Data
Data
Data
Data
Delay
Delay
Delay
UL data UL data UL data
SR
a) SR based access b) Fast UL access c) Short TTI + Fast UL access
Figure 5
LAA-WLAN outdoor
coexistence (40MHz
shared carriers, both
networks operating at
5GHz)
Figure 6
SR access (a), fast UL
access (b), and short TTI
in conjunction with fast
UL access (c)
Networkcapacity[%]
Two Wi-Fi networks LAA and Wi-Fi networks
Wi-Fi
network 1
Wi-Fi
network 2
Wi-Fi
network 2
LAA
network 2
160
180
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0

LTE MTC
(Cat-M1)
NB-IoT
Bandwidth
1.4MHz
200kHz
164dB 300/375kbps1)
0.8/1Mbps2)
Connected and
idle mode
mobility
Idle mode
mobility
21/63kbps
1) Half duplex, 2) Full duplex
10+ years
10+ years164dB+
Coverage
(MCL)
Battery life Throughput
(DL/UL)
Mobility
Protocol(FTP)downloadbyupto70percent:
aneffectcausedbyafasterTCPbitrateramp-up
thankstotheshorterRTTofdataandresponse.
Signalingreduction
LTEstatetransitionsinvolvesignificantsignaling:
goingfromRRC_IDLEtoRRC_CONNECTED
comprises9transmissionsovertheairinterface.
Twooptionsforsignalingreductionwere
introducedinRel-13:RRCconnectionsuspend/
resumeforusewithUPbaseddatatransferover
dataradiobearers(DRBs)anddataovernon-
accessstratum(DoNAS)forCP-baseddata
transferoverthesignalingradiobearer(SRB).
Thesuspend/resumefeatureallowsthedata
connectiontobesuspendedtemporarilyandthe
contexttobestoredintheRANandcorenetwork
(CN)duringRRC_IDLE.Atthenexttransitionto
RRC_CONNECTED,theconnectionisresumed
withthestoredcontext,significantlyreducing
thesignalingtofourorfivetransmissions.The
DoNASfeatureachievesasimilarreductionof
signalingbyomittingaccessstratum(AS)security
andbytransferringdataovertheCPinsteadof
establishingtraditionalUPradiobearers.
Toaccommodatetheeverincreasingnumber
ofdevices,smalland/orinfrequentdatavolumes
andstricterdelayrequirements,Rel-14andRel-
15aimforfurtherreductionofsignalingbetween
terminalsandnetworknodes(RANandCN).
InRel-14,thesuspend/resumefeatureisbeing
improvedbyreducingthesignalingbetween
thebasestation(BS)andtheCN.InRel-13,the
BS-CNconnectionwasreleasedtogetherwith
theairinterfaceconnection.InRel-14,theBS-CN
connectioncanbekeptwhentheBS-terminal
connectionissuspended.TheRANtakesover
theresponsibilityofpagingtheterminaluponthe
arrivalofDLdata,forexample.
Twoadditionalcontrolplanelatencyreduction
Figure 8 NB-IoT and LTE MTC key performance indicators (Rel-13)
Ping round-trip latency (ms)
120%
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
<4 5 10 15 20 25 30
LTE Rel-14/15 LTE Rel-13
ShortTTI+FastUL
ShortTTI
FastUL
SRperiodicity1ms
SRperiodicity5msSR
periodicity10m
s
Figure 7 Impact of short TTI and fast UL access on RTT
improvementsareexpectedinRel-14orRel-15.
Thefirstisanenhancementthatwouldenable
earlierdatatransmissionbymakingitpossibleto
multiplexUPradiobearerdatawithconnection
resumesignaling.Thesecondisknownasrelease
assistanceindication,whichwouldallowthe
terminaltoindicatethatithasnomoreULdata
andthatitdoesnotanticipateDLdata,thereby
enablingearlytransitiontoRRC_IDLE.
Newusecasesfor5G
AnumberofimprovementsinLTERel-14and
Rel-15aredesignedtoprovideimprovedsupport
forusecasessuchasmassiveMTC,critical
communicationsandITS.
Massivemachinetypecommunications
LTEMTCandNB-IoTweredevelopedto
addressmMTCusecases[11].Theyoffer
similarimprovementswithregardtocoverage
enhancement,batterylife,signalingefficiencyand
scalability,butaddressslightlydifferentdemands
intermsofflexibilityandperformance.Asshownin
Figure8,LTEMTCismorecapableofsupporting
higherdataratesandbothintra-RATandinter-
RATconnectedmodemobility.Withthenew
LTEMTCCategoryM1(Cat-M1)andNB-IoT,
whichwerespecifiedin3GPPRel-13,itis
anticipatedthatmodemcostcanbedrastically
reducedcomparedwithRel-8Cat-1devices.
Costwillvarydependingonfeatures,options
andimplementation.Modemcostreductionsare
expectedtobeintheorderof75-80percentfor
Cat-M1[12]andevenmoreforNB-IoTwithits
furtherreducedfeatureset.
LTERel-14aimstofurtherenhanceLTE
MTCandNB-IoTbyimprovingperformance
andaddressingmoreusecases.Higherdata
ratesandefficiencywillbeachievedinRel-14by
allowinglargerchunksofdatatobecarriedineach

transmissionandincreasingthenumberofhybrid
automaticrepeatrequest(HARQ)processesto
enableparalleloutstandingtransmissionswhile
waitingforfeedback.Largerchannelbandwidth
forLTEMTC(upto5MHz)enhancessupport
forvoiceandaudiostreamingaswellasother
applicationsandscenarios.NB-IoTenhancements
forrandomaccessandpagingincreasethe
versatilityofnon-anchorcarriers.
Rel-14willfurtherenablepositioning
applications(inwhichknowledgeofdevice
locationiscritical)bysupportingenhanced
referencesignalsthattakeintoaccountthesmaller
NB-IoT/LTEMTCbandwidth.Enhancements
toconnectedmodemobilitywillimproveservice
continuity.Multicasttransmissionwillmakethe
deliveryofthesamecontenttomultipledevices
moreefficient,optimizingusecasessuchas
firmwareupgradesandsynchronouscontrolof
thingslikestreetlights,forexample.Supportforthe
lowerNB-IoTpowerclassof14dBmwillenablethe
useofsmallerbatteriesandsupportdeviceswitha
smallformfactor.
VoicecoverageforLTEMTCwillbeimproved
inRel-14byincreasingVoLTEcoverageforhalf-
duplexFDD/TDDthroughtechniquesthat
reduceDLrepetitions,newrepetitionfactors,and
adjustedschedulingdelays.MTCdevicesanduse
caseswillalsobenefitfromthesignalingreduction
enhancementsinLTERel-14.
mMTCusecaseswillalsobenefitfromafew
otherenhancementsinLTERel-15,including:
〉〉 latencyimprovementsresultingfromthemultiplexingof
userdatawithconnectionresumesignaling
〉〉 efficiencyimprovementsresultingfromenhancedaccess/
loadcontrolinidleandconnectedmodes
〉〉 batterylifeimprovementsresultingfromrelaxedDL
monitoringrequirementsinidlemode
〉〉 improvedsupportforadditionalusecasessuchas
wearables.
Criticalcommunication
Usecasessuchaspowergridsurveillance,safety-
criticalremotecontrol,andcriticalmanufacturing
operationsrequirebothlowlatencyandhigh
reliabilityabovethecurrentHARQlevel(see
Figure9).InorderforLTEtomeetthese5G
requirements,thereisanaimfortwoimprovements
tobemadeforRel-15:reliableshortTTIoperation
andreliable1msoperation.
BybuildingontheshortTTIandfastUL
features,thepacketerrorratecanbereduced
toa10-5levelthroughacombinationofrobust
codingofcontrolanddatamessages,diversity,and
automaticrepetitionswithoutfeedback.Sincethe
processingiskeptonashorttimescale,theentire
chainoftransmissionscanbedeliveredwithin1ms
withthecombinedreliabilityofmultipletrials.(The
targetissmallcells,suchasfactoriesandoffices.)
Inaddition,wide-areacoveragewithrelaxed
latencybutextremereliabilitycanalsobetargeted
byautomaticrepetitionsofrobustlycoded1ms
transmissionswithenhancedfeedback.
Intelligenttransportationsystems
TheuseofICTtoenablesaferandmore
efficient transportation systems is known as ITS.
3GPP has been developing a solution for vehicle-
to-everything (V2X) communications for Rel-14,
addressing the connection between vehicles
(vehicle-to-vehicle or V2V), vehicle-to-network
(V2N), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and
vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), as illustrated
in Figure 10.
LTE-basedITSbenefitsfromthecoverageof
theexistingnetworksandthecentralizedsecurity.
However,newITSusecasesaredemandingin
termsoflatencyandsystemcapacity.Therefore,the
directD2Dinterface,knownassidelink(SL),and
theLTEcellularairinterfacearebeingenhancedin
Rel-14tosupporttheserequirements.
Forexample,increasedpilotsymboldensity
willmakeitpossibletooptimizetheSLfor
quicklychangingpropagationconditionsand
severefrequencyshiftsatthereceiverduetohigh
relativespeed(upto500km/h)andhighercarrier
frequency(upto6GHz).
Improvedradioresourcemanagementis
anotherimportantenhancementtosupportITS
V2P over optimized LTE
cellular interfaceV2N over LTE cellular with
enhanced multicast
V2V/V2P/V2I over enhanced LTE sidelink interface
1s
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
100ms
10ms
1ms
Reliability (error rate 10–x
)
5G URLLC requirements
LTE Rel-13
Latency
Figure 10
Illustration of different
ITS scenarios and
interfaces
Figure 9
Critical communication
use cases and
requirements

applications.Thisisbasedonasensing-based
resourceselectionprotocol,whereeachdevice
autonomouslylearnshowotherdevicesusethe
radioresourcesandpredictstheirfuturebehavior,
takingadvantageofthequasi-periodicnatureof
theITSmessages.
Rel-14supportstheusageofgeographical
locationinformationtoenablecentralizedresource
allocationintheeNBortoautonomouslyselecta
resourcewithinaconfiguredradioresourcepool.
ItalsosupportsMultimediaBroadcast/Multicast
Service(MBMS)protocolsthatareoptimizedfor
lowlatencyandcoverage,andefficientdeliveryof
V2Xmessages.Finally,theexpectedenhancements
willprovidefairandefficientcoexistencewith
non-3GPPITStechnologiessuchasdedicated
shortrangecommunications(DSRC).
Figure11showsanumericalcomparisonofthe
capabilityofdifferenttechnologiesforbroadcasting
V2Vmessages.Intypicalscenarios(urbanand
highway),thesolutionsbasedonLTE(SLwith
centralizedresourceallocationandcellular
multicast)performsignificantlybetterthantheone
basedonDSRC.
Conclusion
LTEiswellpositionedtodeliveronallthemost
important5Grequirements,includinguserdata
rateandsystemcapacityenhancementswith
FD-MIMO,improvedsupportforunlicensed
Figure 11 Comparison of different
technologies for broadcasting ITS messages
Reliability(packetreceptionratio)
Highway scenario, distance = 300m
10 messages per second
Reliability of broadcasting ITS packets
Urban scenario, distance = 80m
2 messages per second
0.8
0.9
1
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
LTE sidelink
DSRC
LTE cellular multicast
1. Network Computing, First Commercial LTE Network Goes Live,
available at: http://www.networkcomputing.com/networking/
first-commercial-lte-network-goes-live/752107374
2. Ericsson, Ericsson Mobility Report 2016, November 2016, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/mobility-report/documents/2016/
ericsson-mobility-report-november-2016.pdf
3. David Astély et al., LTE: The Evolution of Mobile Broadband, IEEE
Communications Magazine, April 2009, available at:
http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4907406/
4. Stefan Parkvall et al., Evolution of LTE toward IMT-Advanced, IEEE
Communications Magazine, February 2011, available at:
5. David Astély et al., LTE Rel-12 and Beyond, IEEE Communications
Magazine, July 2013, available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/
document/6553692/
6. Juho Lee et al., LTE-advanced in 3GPP Rel-13/14: an evolution toward
5G, IEEE Communications Magazine, March 2016, available at:
7. ITU-R, IMT Vision – Framework and overall objectives of the future
development of IMT for 2020 and beyond, Recommendation ITU-R
M.2083-0, September 2015, available at: http://www.itu.int/
dms_pubrec/itu-r/rec/m/R-REC-M.2083-0-201509-I!!PDF-E.pdf
8. 3GPP Technical Report 38.913, Study on Scenarios and Requirements
for Next Generation Access Technologies, October 2016, available at:
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/38_series/38.913/38913-e00.zip
9. C. Hoymann et al., LTE Rel-14 Outlook, IEEE Communications
Magazine, June 2016, available at:
10. 3GPP Technical Report 36.899, Study on Licensed-Assisted Access
to Unlicensed Spectrum (Rel-13), June 2015, available at:
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/36_series/36.889/36889-d00.zip
11. Alberto Rico-Alvarino et al., An Overview of 3GPP Enhancements
on Machine to Machine Communications, IEEE Communications
Magazine, June 2016, available at:
12. 3GPP Technical Report 36.888, Study on provision of low-cost
Machine-Type Communications (MTC) User Equipment (UEs) based
on LTE (Rel-12), June 2013, available at:
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/archive/36_series/36.888/36888-c00.zip
References:
operations,andlatencyreductioninbothuserplane
andsignaling.TheimprovementsplannedinRel-
14andRel-15willnotonlyensurethatLTEwill
providebettersupportformassiveMTCandITS;
theywillalsoenableLTEtoaddressnewusecases
suchascriticalcommunications.

22 ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ #02 2017
Oumer Teyeb
◆ is a senior researcher.
He earned a Ph.D. in
mobile communications
from Aalborg University,
Denmark, in 2007 and has
been working at Ericsson
Research in Stockholm,
Sweden, since 2011. His
main areas of research
are protocol and the
architectural aspects of
cellular networks, and the
interworking of cellular
networks with local area
wireless networks such as
WLAN.
Gustav Wikström
◆ is a senior researcher. He
received his Ph.D. in particle
physics from Stockholm
University, Sweden, in
2009. After a postdoctoral
position at the University
of Geneva, Switzerland, he
joined Ericsson Research in
2011, where he is currently
leading the work to reduce
user plane latency and
enable high reliability for
future use cases in LTE
and NR.
Magnus Stattin
◆ joined Ericsson
Research in 2005 after
completing a Ph.D. in
radio communication
systems at the KTH Royal
Institute of Technology in
Stockholm, Sweden. He is
now a principal researcher
whose work focuses on
the areas of radio resource
management and radio
protocols of various
wireless technologies.
He is active in concept
development and 3GPP
standardization of LTE,
LTE-Advanced and future
wireless technologies.
In 2015, he received the
Ericsson Inventor of the
Year Award.
Thomas Cheng
◆ is a senior specialist in
wireless communication
technologies. He holds an
M.Sc. from National Taiwan
University and a Ph.D. from
the California Institute of
Technology. Since joining
Ericsson in 1999, he has
been driving a wide range
of R&D projects evolving
cellular wireless PHY and
MAC layer designs from
2.5G EDGE, 3G HSPA, 4G
LTE and 5G technologies.
He received the Ericsson
Inventor of the Year Award
in 2012.
Sebastian Faxér
◆ is a researcher at
Ericsson Research. He
received an M.Sc. in applied
physics and electrical
engineering from Linköping
University, Sweden, in
2014 and joined Ericsson
the same year. Since
then, he has worked on
concept development and
standardization of multi-
antenna technologies for
LTE and 5G.
Hieu Do
◆ is a researcher at
Ericsson Research.
He received a Ph.D. in
electrical engineering from
the KTH Royal Institute of
Technology in Stockholm,
Sweden in 2013. Since
joining Ericsson in 2014 he
has been active in concept
development and 3GPP
standardization of V2X
communications.
theauthors
✱ 5G AND THE EVOLUTION OF LTE

THE NEW MICROWAVE BACKHAUL FRONTIER ✱✱ THE NEW MICROWAVE BACKHAUL FRONTIER
period.Makingsuchleapsrequiresmanyyearsof
researchanddevelopmentandagreatdealofwork
onspectrumregulation,aswellastheexperience
ofseveraltechnologyandproductgenerations
tomatureperformanceforlarge-scaleuse.The
aimistoopenupspectrumbeyond100GHz
frequenciesforuptoward100Gbpscapacity
tosupportdifferentapplicationsandusecases
withhopdistancesofuptoafewkilometers.In
thelongerterm,itisexpectedtoserveasahigh-
capacitycomplementtotheuseofotherfrequency
bands[2],especiallyinurbanandsuburbanareas,
asshowninFigure1.Thesmallerphysicalantenna
sizeatthesehigherfrequencieswillbeofparticular
advantageintheselocations.
Higherfrequenciesaremorelimitedinterms
ofreachandcoverage,buttheycangenerally
providewiderfrequencybands,andassuchhave
higherdata-carryingcapacities.Drivenbygrowing
communicationneeds,everhigherfrequencies
havebeentakenintousesincethemiddleofthe
lastcenturywhentheuseoffrequenciesofjusta
fewGHzwasthenormformicrowavetransmission
networks.Atpresent,the70/80GHzband –
71-76GHzpairedwith81-86GHz–israpidly
gainingpopularity,asitenablescapacitiesinthe
1-20Gbpsrangeoverafewkilometers[2,3].It
hastakenabout15yearsfromtheinitialeffortsin
thisbandforlarge-scaleusagetostarttakingoff.
Similareffortsarenowunderwaytoenabletheuse
offrequenciesbeyond100GHz[5,6]forcapacities
inthe5-100Gbpsrangeoverdistancescomparable
to70/80GHztoday.
Microwavebackhaulbeyond100GHz
Microwavebackhaulorfixedservicesystems
(astheyareknowninITU-Rterminology)are
commonlyusedinamultitudeoffrequencybands
rangingfrom6-86GHz.Therangeoffrequency
bandsisneededtoprovidebackhaulfordiverse
typesoflocations,fromsparseruralareastoultra-
denseurbanenvironments,withhopdistances
rangingfromaslittleas100mto100kmormore.
Theuseoffrequencybandsisgovernedby
regulatoryrecommendationsonchannel
arrangements[7].Beyond100GHz,spectrum
hasbeenallocatedforfixedservicesystemsup
to275GHz[1],butnochannelarrangements
havebeenmade.However,regulatorystudies
onchannelarrangementsareongoinginEurope
[5],withthefocusonthe92-114.25GHzand130-
174.8GHzranges:commonlyreferredtoasthe
WandDbandrespectively.JONAS EDSTAM,
JONAS HANSRYD,
SONA CARPENTER,
THOMAS
EMANUELSSON,
YINGGANG LI,
HERBERT ZIRATH
Microwave backhaul technology plays a significant role in providing
reliable mobile network performance and is well prepared to support
both the evolution of LTE and the introduction of 5G. Work has now
started on the longer-term use of frequencies beyond 100GHz, targeting
the support of 5G evolution toward 2030.
Constant pressure to improve performance
levels results in a need for more spectrum,
and the more efficient use of it – not just for
radio access, but for backhaul as well. By
continuously pushing technology limits, ever
higher frequencies have been brought into use
during the last few decades – a trend that will
continue in the future.
■ Asafinitenaturalresource,radiospectrumis
governedbynational,regionalandinternational
regulationstoensurethatsocialandeconomic
benefitsaremaximized.Spectrumisdividedinto
frequencybandsthatareallocatedtodifferent
typesofradioservices,suchascommunication,
broadcastingandradar,aswellasforscientificuse[1].
By2021,65percentoftheworld’scellsites
(excludingthoseinnortheastAsia)willbe
connectedusingmicrowavebackhaultechnology
[2].Therapidlygrowingcapacityrequirements
thatthisentailswillcreateaneedforsignificant
performanceimprovementsenabledbytechnology
evolutionandmoreefficientuseofexisting
spectrum[2,3,4].
Themicrowavebackhaulindustryhasstarted
preparingforthenextmajortechnologyand
performanceleaptoaccommodatethemarket’s
expectedvolumeneedsforthe2025to2030
THE AIM IS TO OPEN
UP SPECTRUM BEYOND
100GHZ FREQUENCIES FOR
UP TOWARD 100GBPS
CAPACITY
Terms and abbreviations
BER – bit error rate | BPSK – binary phase shift keying | CMOS – complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
| DHBT – double heterojunction bipolar transistor | GaAs – gallium arsenide | GaN – gallium nitride | HBT –
heterojunction bipolar transistor | HEMT – high electron mobility transistor | InP – indium phosphide | ITU-R –
International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector | LOS – line-of-sight | mHEMT – metamorphic
high electron mobility transistor | MIMO – multiple-input, multiple-output | MMIC – monolithic microwave
integrated circuit | MOSFET – metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor | NFmin – minimum noise figure |
pHEMT – pseudomorphic high electron mobility transistor | QAM – quadrature amplitude modulation | SOI – silicon
on insulator | SiGe – silicon-germanium
backhaul
evolution– REACHING BEYOND 100GHZ
MICROWAVE

Thespectrumabove100GHzconsistsofa
multitudeofsub-bandsofdifferentsizeswith
passiveserviceallocationsinbetween,asshown
inFigure2.Thereasonevenwidercontinuous
spectrumisnotmadeavailableistoprevent
interferencewithpassiveradiocommunication
servicessuchastheEarthExploration-Satellite
ServiceandtheRadioAstronomyService.
Thereissomeinterestintheuseoffrequencies
beyondtheDbandforfixedservicesystemsin
theevenlongerterm.Severalfrequencybandsin
the275-1000GHzrangehavebeenidentifiedfor
passiveservices,butthisdoesnotprecludetheiruse
foractiveservices[1].ITU-Rwillcarryoutstudies
untiltheWorldRadiocommunicationConference
2019ontheidentificationoffrequencybandsinthe
275-450GHzrangeforlandmobileradioandfixed
servicesapplications[1].Itshouldbenotedthatthe
252-275GHzfrequencyrangeisalreadyallocated
tofixedservices.If275-320GHzwasaddedto
this,itwouldformacontinuous68GHzwideband
withmoderateatmosphericabsorption,asshown
inFigure2.Thiscouldbeusefulforfixedservice
applicationsinthedistantfuture.
Attenuationduetoatmosphericgasesandrain
[8]increaseswithfrequencyandtherearealso
severalabsorptionpeaks,asillustratedinFigure
2.However,betweenthepeaks,theattenuation
increasesquiteslowlybeyond70GHz.Forexample,
itincreasesabout2dB/kmfrom70GHztotheD
bandandabout4dB/kmfrom70GHzto275GHz.
Thefreespacepathloss[8]alsoincreaseswith
frequency:byabout6dBfrom70GHztotheD
bandandabout11dBfrom70GHzto275GHz,for
Figure 2
Frequency bands and
atmospheric attenuation
beyond 100 GHz
Figure 1
Future use of spectrum
for microwave backhaul,
including solutions
beyond 100GHz
70/80GHz and
beyond 100GHz
Multiband 70/80GHz,
15/18/23GHz and
beyond 100GHz
Multiband 15/18/23GHz
and 6/7/8/11/13GHz
70/80, 60, 15/18/23GHz,
6/7/8/11/13GHz and
beyond 100GHz
Future 5G bands, 60GHz and beyond 100GHz
Airport connectivity
Port communication Broadcast
network
Network for
authorites
Business access
Utility
communication
Fiber closure
Events
Macro cell backhaul Other uses for
microwave transport
Small cell backhaul
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450
0.1
1
10
100
Frequency (GHz)
Attenuation(dB/km)
N x 250MHz
channels
Frequency
bands
100mm/h
50mm/h
20mm/h
5mm/h
0mm/h
90
22 29 87 15 29 49 30
100 110 120 130 140
68GHz Spectrum not yet allocated
W band D band
150 160 170 180GHz
IT IS IMPORTANT FOR
SPECTRUM REGULATIONS
BEYOND 100GHZ TO ENABLE
EMERGING AND FUTURE
INNOVATIONS
example.Thepropagationconditionsarethusonly
slightlyworsebeyond100GHz.
Itisimportantforspectrumregulations
beyond100GHztoenableemergingandfuture
innovationsthatcansupportcapacitiesontheroad
toward100Gbps.Theyshouldcovertraditional
linkconfigurations,suchasFDD,aswellas
complementaryfutureinnovationsthatmight
betterhandletheasymmetricandpartlyunpaired
sub-bands,asillustratedinFigure3.
Likefibertransportnetworks,microwave
backhaulhashistoricallybeendesignedtobe
symmetrical.Inmostcases,thefrequencybands
aredividedsymmetricallyintohighandlowsub-
bands,usedwithFDD.Usedtoboostcapacityand
spectralefficiency,line-of-sight(LOS)multiple-
input,multiple-output(MIMO)isaninnovation
thatinitiallygainedinterest[4,9],buthaswaned
latelyonaccountthemoreattractivemultiband
solutions.However,thesmallspatialantenna
separationrequiredforLOSMIMOintheDband
makesitinterestingontheroadtoward100Gbps
capacity.Multibandsolutions,whichenable
enhanceddataratesbycombiningresourcesin
multiplefrequencybands,constituteanessential
partofmodernradioaccess.Assuch,theyhave
recentlyalsobecomeatopicofgreatinterestin
microwavebackhaul[3]bymakingitfeasibletouse
higherfrequenciessuchas70/80GHzovermuch
longerdistances.Multibandisalsoaveryattractive
optionbeyond100GHz.
Today,thelimitedspectrumwithunpairedor
asymmetricsub-bandsisusedwithTDD.FDD
withasymmetricchannelshasbeenstudied,
butdeemedtoocomplexandoflimitedvalue
inexistingsymmetricbands[10].Asymmetric
multibandsolutionsmightbeofinterestin
unpairedspectrum,ratherlikesupplemental
downlinkforradioaccess.FlexibleFDD
configurationsuseseparatetransmitandreceive

100MHz
N x 250MHz 1 4 8 20 40
250MHz 1GHz 2GHz 5GHz 10GHz
100Gbps
40Gbps
20Gbps
10Gbps
1Gbps
Aggregated channel width
Capacity
20% of total spectrum per band 70/80GHz W D band
Dual polarization
Single
polarization
MIMO
potential
MIMO
Multiband
TDD
Time
Asymmetric FDD
Frequency
Asymmetric
multiband
Flexible FDD
FrequencyMultiple antenna
elements
Lower frequency band
for high availability
High-capacity configurations
Traditional configuration
Unpaired and asymmetric
spectrum configurations
FDD
Frequency
Figure 4
Realistic capacity versus
channel bandwidth with single
polarization, dual polarization
and MIMO
Figure 3
Examples of potential
configurations beyond
100GHz, to support high
capacities and facilitate
use of unpaired and
asymmetric spectrum
antennasinsteadofdiplexfiltersforisolation
[5,6].Thisdoesnotaddanyspectrumefficiency,
butmightprovideforbetterperformancethanthat
enabledbyTDDinunpairedspectrum.
Theroadto100Gbpstransportsolutions
Microwavebackhaultechnologyhasevolved
tremendouslyinrecentdecades,repeatedly
exceedingcapacitylimitsandreaching
performancelevelsonlybelievedpossibleforfiber
solutions.Thecommercial70/80GHzequipment
thatiscurrentlybeingintroducedsupports
10Gbpsin2GHzchannels(8x250MHz)andit
isreasonabletoexpect20Gbpssolutionsinthe
future.Highercapacitiesarefacilitatedbywider
channels,butnationalspectrumadministrations
commonlylimitthemaximumallowedchannelsize
tosecureafairdivisionamongdifferentusers.The
maximumchannelsizeistypicallylimitedtoabout
10percentofthetotalband.Forhigherfrequency
spectrum,withagreaterpossibilityoffrequency
reuse,channelsofuptoabout20percentofthe
totalbandmaybeallowed.
Realisticsolutionsonthecontinuedroad
towards100Gbpsindifferentfrequencybandsare
showninFigure4.Evenwiderchannelsuptoabout
5GHz(20x250MHz)mightbeobtainableinthe
Dband,enablingsolutionssupporting20Gbps,
40Gbpsandevenupto100Gbpsinthelonger
term,asindicatedbythediamondsinFigure4.
Buttherearemanytechnologychallengesonthis
road,suchastransmitternoise,signaldistortion
andotherimpairmentsthatmightlimitmaximum
modulationorderforextremelywidechannels.
Highercapacitiesandwiderchannelbandwidths
alsoplacemorerequirementsondigitaldata
converters.Moreadvancedsolutionsusingdual
polarization–andevenLOSMIMO–would
enhancecapacitybuttheyalsoaddcost.
TheuseofLOSMIMOsolutionsbeyond
100GHzcarrierfrequenciesisattractivedueto
thereductioninrequiredspacingbetweenthe
antennaelementsasthefrequencyincreases.The
optimalantennaseparationd_opt,inaverticaland
horizontaldirection,maybewrittenas[11]:
Wherefisthefrequency,cisthespeedoflight,
Nisthenumberofantennaelementsinthevertical
orhorizontaldirectionandDisthehoplength.A
separationof70-80percentoftheoptimalvalue
ispossible,withonlyalimiteddecreaseinsystem
gain[9].Forexample,at155GHz,anantenna
separationof0.4mwouldbeneededfora300m
hopdistance,and0.8mfora1kmhop.Thereare
technologicalchallenges(suchassignalprocessing)
involvedindevelopingLOSMIMOintheDband,
butinthelongertermitisexpectedtoenablethe
finalstepto100Gbpscapacities,andevenbeyond,
asillustratedinFigure4.
Hoplengthsbeyond100GHz
Whenassessingtheabilityofmicrowavebackhaul
toprovidehigh-capacitytransportoverdistance,
threeparametersshouldbeconsidered:
〉〉 thetotalsystemgain–thetransmittedpowerplusthe
antennagainsminustherequiredreceivedsignalpower
〉〉 thetargetedavailability–theaccumulatedtimeaselected
capacityshouldbesustainedoverthehop,whichisusually
expressedinapercentageoftimeperyear,where
99.99-99.999percentarecommontelecomgradetargets
〉〉 thelocalclimate–thehopplanningisdonewith
propagationpredictionmethodsusinglong-termrainand
multipathstatisticaldataforthehoplocation
Themaximumhoplengthversustotalsystemgain
fordifferinglevelsofavailabilityandlocalclimate
d_opt=
cD
fN

*Ready to be commercialized in 1–2 years
**NFmin is proportional to the frequency.
Technology
Feature size
(nm) fMAX (GHz) Vbr (V)
NFmin (dB)
at 50GHz**
Production
or research?
GaAs pHEMT 100 185 7 0.5 P
GaAs mHEMT 70 450 3 0.5 R*
GaAs mHEMT 35 900 2 1 R
InP HEMT 130 380 1 <1 R
InP HEMT 30 1200 1 <1 R
GaN HEMT 60 250 20 1
1.2GaN HEMT 40 400 42 R
SOI CMOS 45 280 1 2–3 P
SiGe-HBT 130 400 1.4 2 P
InP DHBT 250 650 4 3 R*
R
InP DHBT 130 1100 3 R
Figure 5
Maximum hop length
versus total system
gain at 155GHz, for
different rain intensities
(exceeded 0.01 percent
of the year) and for
two different antenna
configurations
Figure 6
Overview of
semiconductor
technologies beyond
100GHz and their key
parameters
SEMICONDUCTOR
TECHNOLOGIES FOR
BEYOND 100GHZ USE HAVE
UNDERGONE A TREMENDOUS
EVOLUTION IN THE PAST FEW
DECADES
conditionsat155GHzisshowninFigure 5.It
illustratesthetotalsystemgainfortwoequipment
examples:onewith50dBiantennas,whichisthe
generalrecommendedmaximumantennagainin
practicalmicrowavedeployments;andonewith
35dBi,whichistherecommendedmaximum
antennagainforsiteswithmastsway,suchas
smallcellbackhaulsitesmountedonlighting
poles.Eachoftheexamplesisforconfigurations
supportingthe10to100GbpsexamplesinFigure 4,
whichallhavesimilarsystemgains.AsDband
technologyismaturing,transmittedpowerand
receiversensitivityofthesameorderasfortoday’s
70/80GHzequipmentareexpected,evenifearly
implementationsmighthavemuchlowersystem
gain,asillustratedinFigure5.
The20,50and100mm/hrainrates,exceededfor
0.01percentoftimeperyear,arerepresentativefor
mild,moderateandseverelocalclimateconditions.
Theavailabilitiesof99.9percentand99.995
percentinFigure5correspondtoapropagation
lossthatexceedsthetotalsystemgainforabout
9hours/yearandof26minutes/year.Using
adaptivemodulation,alowermodulationlevel
inheavyrainincreasesthesystemgaintoavoid
transmissionerrors,butresultsinreducedcapacity.
Forexample,reducingmodulationfrom64QAM
toBPSKcorrespondto15dBincreaseofsystem
gain,butareductionto17percentofcapacity.As
Figure5illustrates,hoplengthsofafewhundred
metersareachievableforlowergainantennas.
Usinghighgainantennas,itispossibletoachieve
hoplengthsofabout1-2kmandevenupto2-4km
forloweravailabilitytargets,suchasmultiband
configurations.Thehoplengthsinthe
Dbandarethuswellsuitedforurbanand
suburbandeployments.
Semiconductortechnologiesaskeyenablers
Semiconductordevicesareessentialinallmodern
radiotechnology.Microwavebackhaulequipment
hashistoricallyreliedongalliumarsenide(GaAs)
circuits.Morerecently,galliumnitride(GaN)
hasbeenintroducedincommercialproductsdue
toitshighbreakdownvoltageenablinghigher
transmitpower.Thereisalsoconsiderableinterest
insiliconchipsets,basedonCMOSorSiGe-HBT,
duetotheirlowerproductioncostperchipinhigh
volumesandhighintegrationdensity.Theseare
particularlyrelevantforshortrangedeployments
wherehighoutputpowerislessimportant,suchas
inthe60GHzfrequencyband.
Drivenbythespace,defenseandimaging
industries,semiconductortechnologiesforbeyond
100GHzusehaveundergoneatremendous
evolutioninthepastfewdecades[12].Thereare
todayafewcommercialtechnologiesavailablefor
beyond100GHzapplicationsandseveralmoreare
beingresearchedforevenhigherperformance,
asshowninFigure6.Thethreemaintransistor
technologyclassesareHBT,HEMT,andMOSFET
[12],whereMOSFETistypicallyimplementedin
SOICMOSforhighfrequencyoperation.Akey
propertyisthefeaturesize,sinceatransistorwith
smallerfeaturesizesupportshigherfrequencies.
Asaruleofthumbcircuitsaredesignedtooperate
atbelowhalffMAX,wherefMAXisthefrequency
atwhichthetransistor’spowergainisequaltoone.
Itispossibletobringtheoperationfrequencymuch
closertofMAXbutdoingsoresultsinlowerenergy
efficiencyandhigherdesigncosts.Otherimportant
materialpropertiesaretheminimumnoisefigure
(NFmin)andthebreakdownvoltage(Vbr),which
determinereceiversensitivityandmaximum
transmittedpower,respectively.Therightcolumn
inFigure6indicatesthecommercialmaturityof
thetechnology,whereadditionalaspectsarethe
developmentandproductioncost.Flickernoise
Total system gain [dB]
Maxhoplength[km]
110
0
1
2
3
4
5
120
Maturing technology
Adaptive modulation
130 140 150 160 170 180
35dBi antenna 50dBi antenna
0mm/h
20m
m/h99.9%
5
0m
m
/h
99.9%
100mm/h 99.9%
50mm/h 99.995%
100mm/h 99.995%
20mm/h 99.995%

generation,memoryeffectsandtemperature
behaviorarenotincludedinthetable,butshould
alsobeconsidered.
Themaximumtransmittedpowerlimits
thesystemgain.Researchhasbeenpublished
onpoweramplifiersinGaAs,InPandSiGe
technologiesdeliveringmorethan10dBmofoutput
powerbeyond100GHz[13-15].GaNisinthefuture
expectedtodemonstrateevenhigheroutputpower
duetothematerialshighbreakdownvoltage.GaAs
pHEMTprovideshighbreakdownvoltageand a
lownoisefigureand,inafewyears,isalsoexpected
tobeabletosupporttheDband.InPsupports
veryhighfrequencies,albeitatahighmaterial
cost.Becauseofitsgoodperformanceitcouldbe
usefulforresearchandpredevelopmentactivities
ofequipmentintheDband.Itmightalsobe
applicableforlongertermcommercialapplications
around275GHz.
SilicontechnologiessuchasSOICMOSand
SiGe-HBTaretodayfeasibleuptotheDband
althoughthemaximumoutputpowerislimited
duetothelowbreakdownvoltageofsiliconand
thenoisefigureisworsecomparedtoGaNand
GaAstechnologies.Duetotheexcellentproperties
forhighintegration,silicontechnologiesare
promisingforshort-range,low-costapplications
beyond100GHz.
Therearemanyadditionalobstaclestoovercome.
Packagingandinterconnectabove100GHzare
challengingduetotheshortwavelengths.Parasitic
effectsaremorepronouncedandthetolerance
requirementishighindesign,manufacturing
andassembly,especiallywhenconsideringwide
bandwidths.Crosstalkandunwantedresonances
areadditionalissuessincethetypicalmonolithic
microwaveintegratedcircuit(MMIC)sizeisofthe
orderofthewavelength.Thismakestraditional
interconnects,suchaswirebondingandflipchip,
difficulttousewithhighyield.
Researchonhigh-frequencytechnologiesis
gainingglobalinterest.Oneexampleisthenon-
galvanicchip-waveguideinterconnectscurrently
beinginvestigatedbytheEuropeanUnion
fundedHorizon2020projectM3TERA,where
low-losssiliconwaveguidesaremadeusinga
3Dmicromachiningtechniquethatprovidesa
siliconplatformwithembeddedcomponents
forindustrializedassembly.Anotherexampleis
theresearchprogramcommissionedbyJapan’s
MinistryofInternalAffairsandCommunications,
“R&DProgramonMulti-tensGigabitWireless
CommunicationTechnologyatSubterahertz
Frequencies,”whichinvestigatesradiosources
beyond275GHz.AthirdexampleistheHorizon
2020fundedresearchprogramTWEETHER,
whichfocusesonhigh-poweramplifiers
beyond100GHz.
Itisalongandwindingroadfromresearchtofull
fledgecommercialequipmentthatmeetstheright
performanceandcost.Ultimatelythiscanonlybe
achievedwithacompetitiveindustryeco-system
sharingacommonvision[6].
Puttingtheorytothetest
WorkingwithresearchersatChalmersUniversity
ofTechnologyinGothenburg,Sweden,Ericsson
ResearchhasdevelopedaDbandtransceiver
module,showninFigure7.Themodulecontains
anInPDHBTMMICandaseparatecircuitboard
forbiascontrolandconnectors.TheMMIC
coverstheentireD-band.Theredsquareinthe
photoshowsthelocationoftheMMIC,which
measures1.3mmx0.9mm.Theclose-uponthe
rightshowsthetransceiverMMICgluedtoa
siliconcarrierandconnectedtothemodulewith
wirebonds.
BothtransmitterandreceiverMMICscontaina
Gilbertcellmixerforupordownconversionanda
frequencytriplerforlocaloscillatorgeneration.A
low-noiseamplifierisimplementedinthereceiver
RESEARCH ON HIGH-
FREQUENCY TECHNOLOGIES
IS GAINING GLOBAL
INTEREST
Figure 7
D band transceiver module
(left) with a red square
indicating the position of
the wire-bonded InP DHBT
transceiver MMIC (shown in
close-up on the right)
MMIChavingapproximately15dBofgain,while
amedium-poweramplifierisimplementedinthe
transmitterMMICsupportingasaturatedoutput
powerofmorethan10dBm[15].TheMMICs
areassembledinaslotinsidea50µmthicksoft
substratethatalsoextendsintoawaveguideasan
E-planeprobe.Thewaveguideconnectstoadiplex
filterthatinterfaceswithanantenna.
Thetransmitterandreceivermoduleswere
measuredback-to-backbeforebeingassembled
intotheradioprototype.Figure8showsthe
measuredbiterrorrate(BER)versusreceived
signalpowerfora125MHzchannelat143GHz.
Themodulessupportedupto5GHzchannelsand
theinsetinFigure8showsthemeasurederror-
freeconstellationforasymbolrateof4GBaud
using16QAMforintotal16Gbps[15].Anoisefigure
of9.5dBwasmeasuredforthereceiverMMIC,
whichisagoodresultforreceiverchipsetsbased
onbipolartechnologiesatthesefrequencies.
The10-6
BERthresholdof-63dBmfor4QAM(in
Figure8)indicatesthattheseearlytransmitterand
receivermodulesaddapenaltyofmorethan8dB
tothereceiversensitivity.Theseresultsemphasize
theneedforcarefulcontrolofhowthemoduleis
designedandbuilt.
ThephotoontheleftinFigure9showsthe
completeradioprototypemountedinanenclosure
togetherwiththemodemandantennaforoutdoor
over-the-airmeasurements.Theantennais
only7.5cmindiameter,butstillprovides40dBi
gain.Long-termtestsonfrequenciesbeyond
100GHzwillbeimportanttovalidatetheITU-R
propagationandavailabilitymodels,similartowhat
wasinitiallydoneinthe70/80GHzband[16].The
smallantennafootprintsatthesehighfrequencies
couldenablenewcompactradioconcepts,as
illustratedtotherightinFigure9.

Figure 9
D band radio prototype
(left) and visionary design
idea (right)
Received signal power, dBm
Biterrorrate
-70
10-12
10-10
10-8
10-6
10-4
0
0
-1
I (a.u.)
Q(a.u.)
-1
-2
-2
-3
-3
-4
-4
-5
-5
1
1
2
2
3
3
4
4
5
5
10-2
-65
4QAM
16QAM
32QAM
64QAM
128QAM
256QAM
-60 -55 -50 -45 -40 -35
125MHz channel
Figure 8
Measured bit error rate at
143GHz versus received
signal power. Inset shows
measured constellation
diagram at 4GBaud and
16QAM modulation for in
total 16Gbps
1. ITU,2016,RadioRegulations,part1chapterIIarticle5(Frequencyallocations)and
part3resolution767(Studiestowardsanidentificationforusebyadministrations
forland-mobileandfixedservicesapplicationsoperatinginthefrequencyrange
275-450GHz),availableat:https://www.itu.int/pub/R-REG-RR-2016
2. Ericsson, October 2016, Ericsson Microwave Outlook report 2016, available at:
https://www.ericsson.com/assets/local/microwave-outlook/documents/
ericsson-microwave-outlook-report-2016.pdf
3. Ericsson Technology Review, January 2016, Microwave backhaul gets a boost
with multiband, available at: https://www.ericsson.com/res/thecompany/docs/
publications/ericsson_review/2016/etr-multiband-booster-bachhaul.pdf
4. Ericsson Review, June 2011, Microwave capacity evolution, available at:
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/review/Microwave-Capacity-Evolution.pdf
5. CEPT ECC WG SE19, Work items SE19_37 and SE19_38, more information can
be found at: http://eccwp.cept.org/default.aspx?groupid=45
6. ETSI mWT ISG, Work item DGS/mWT-008, more information can be found at:
https://portal.etsi.org/webapp/WorkProgram/Report_WorkItem.asp?WKI_ID=47907
7. ITU-R, 2012, Recommendation F.746, Radio-frequency arrangements for fixed
service systems, available at: https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-F.746/en
8. ITU-R, 2015, Recommendation P.530, Propagation data and prediction methods
required for the design of terrestrial line-of-sight systems, available at:
https://www.itu.int/rec/R-REC-P.530/en
9. ECC Report 258, 2017, Guidelines on how to plan LOS MIMO for Point-to-Point
Fixed Service Links, available at:
http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ECCREP258.PDF
10. ECC Report 211, 2014, Technical assessment of the possible use of
asymmetrical point-to-point links, available at:
http://www.erodocdb.dk/Docs/doc98/official/pdf/ECCREP211.PDF
11. 2005 IEEE 61st Vehicular Technology Conference, Vol. 1, 2005, Lattice array
receiver and sender for spatially orthonormal MIMO communication, available
at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1543276/
12. IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology, vol. 1, no. 1,
September 2011, An overview of solid-state integrated circuit amplifiers in the
submillimeter-wave and THz regime, available at:
13. 2014 IEEE Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits Symposium, Tampa, FL, 2014, A
112-134GHz SiGe amplifier with peak output power of 120mW, available at:
14. 11th European Microwave Integrated Circuits Conference (EuMIC),
London,2016, 150GHz GaAs amplifiers in a commercial 0.1-μm GaAs PHEMT
process, available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7777493/
15. IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, vol. 64, no.4, April
2016, A D-Band 48Gbit/s 64QAM/QPSK Direct-Conversion I/Q Transceiver
Chipset, available at: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7433461/
16. Proceedings of the Fourth European Conference on Antennas and Propagation,
Barcelona, 2010, Long term path attenuation measurement of the 71-76GHz
band in a 70/80GHz microwave link, available at:
References:Conclusion
Theceaselessquesttoprovidehigherdata-
carryingcapacitieshasledtotheuseofever
higherfrequencieswheremorespectrumis
generallyavailable.Thetremendousgrowth
intheuseofthe70/80GHzbandthatwecan
seetodaywasmadepossiblebyseveralyears
ofresearchanddevelopmentandagreatdeal
ofworkonspectrumregulation,aswellasthe
experiencegainedfromseveraltechnologyand
productgenerations.Similareffortsarenow
underwayontheroadtomicrowavebackhaul
beyond100GHz,supportedbytherapid
evolutionofhighfrequencysemiconductor
technologiesandpromisingnewdevices.In
lightofthis,weexpecttoseethelarge-scale
deploymentofbeyond100GHzsolutionsin2025
to2030.TheWandDbandswillundoubtedly
beabletosupportcapacitiesinthe5to100Gbps
range,overdistancesuptoafewkilometers.

ERICSSON TECHNOLOGY REVIEW ✱ #02 201736
✱ THE NEW MICROWAVE BACKHAUL FRONTIER
Jonas Edstam
◆ is wireless strategy
manager at Business
Unit Network Products,
Ericsson. He is an expert
in microwave backhaul
networks with more than 20
years of experience in the
area. Since joining Ericsson
in 1995, he has held various
roles, working on a wide
range of technology,
system, network and
strategy topics. His current
focus is on the strategic
network evolution to 5G
and the convergence of
access and backhaul. He
holds a Ph.D. in physics
from Chalmers University
of Technology in
Gothenburg, Sweden.
Jonas Hansryd
◆ leads Ericsson’s
research on microwave
and millimeter-wave radios
including antennas and
high-capacity frontends to
meet traffic demands on
future microwave backhaul
and 5G radio access. He
has more than 20 years
of R&D experience in
advanced communication
systems and joined
Ericsson Research in
2008. He holds a Ph.D. in
electrical engineering from
Chalmers University of
Technology in Gothenburg,
Sweden, and served as a
postdoctoral fellow at the
applied engineering physics
department at Cornell
University between 2003
and 2004.
Sona Carpenter
◆ received an M.E.
(Hons.) in electronics and
telecommunication from
the Shri G. S. Institute of
Technology and Science
in Indore, India, in 2008.
She is currently working
toward a Ph.D. at Chalmers
University of Technology in
Gothenburg, Sweden. Her
research interests include
the design of millimeter-
wave integrated circuits
and systems with a focus on
millimeter-wave high-speed
wireless communication. In
2013, she was a recipient of
the GaAs Association Ph.D.
Student Fellowship Award.
Thomas
Emanuelsson
◆ is an expert in microwave
technology at Ericsson
whose work focuses on
microwave point-to-point
communication for the
MINI-LINK system. This
role includes coordination
of future technology
development, system
and subsystem design
as well as interaction
with universities about
research on upcoming
technologies. He received
his M.Sc. in electronic
engineering from Chalmers
University of Technology
in Gothenburg, Sweden,
where he currently holds
the position of adjunct
professor at the Microwave
Electronics Laboratory
in the Department of
Microtechnology and
Nanoscience.
Yinggang Li
◆ is a senior specialist in
microwave and millimeter-
wave circuits, components
and subsystems at Ericsson
Research. He holds a Ph. D.
in theoretical physics from
Gothenburg University in
Gothenburg, Sweden. Since
joining Ericsson in 1996 he
has worked on a number
of product development
projects and research
programs. He is currently
involved in Ericsson’s
5G hardware research
program, focusing on the
development of millimeter-
wave technologies beyond
100GHz.
Herbert Zirath
◆ is a research fellow
leading the development
of a D-band (110–170GHz)
chipset for high-data-rate
wireless communication at
Ericsson. He holds a Ph.D.
in electrical engineering
from Chalmers University of
Technology in Gothenburg,
Sweden, where he has
served as a professor
in the Department of
Microtechnology and
Nanoscience since 1996.
His research interests
include MMIC designs for
wireless communication
and sensor applications
based on III-V, III-N,
graphene, and silicon
devices.
theauthors
The authors
would like to
acknowledge
the support and
inspiration they
received from
their colleagues
Mingquan Bao,
Björn Bäckemo,
Simon He, Johan
Jonsson, Magnus
Johnsson, Git
Sellin, Martin
Sjödin, Per-Arne
Thorsén and
Vessen Vassilev.

CLOUD AUDITING ✱✱ CLOUD AUDITING
auditreportsandlogs,andpossiblydynamictests
conductedatruntime.However,applyingsuch
techniquesinthecloudwouldbetimeconsuming
andcostlyowingtocloudcharacteristics.
Forinstance,toprovenetworkisolation,all
layerssuchascloudmanagementaswellasthe
virtualnetwork,overlaynetwork,realnetwork
(non-virtual),andphysicalnetworkhavetobe
verified.Theresultsofeachverificationprocesson
thelayersarecorrelatedtoavoidanygaps.Current
practicessuchasdesigndocumentverification,
networktrafficinjectionandpenetrationtesting
don’tworkinanenvironmentwheretenantsshare
resources,andnetworkparameterschangequickly
anddynamically.
Operatorsandcloudprovidersthereforeneed
anewsetofautomatedtoolsandtechniquesthat
canmanagesecurityandcompliance,protect
consumers’assets,andenablesecurity-related
services–inacontinuousandcost-effective
fashion.Intelecomcontext,theEuropean
TelecommunicationsStandardsInstitute(ETSI)
hasproposedanarchitectureforcontinuous
securitymonitoringandlifecyclemanagementfor
networkfunctionvirtualizationtosatisfysecurity
requirementsatboththeoperatorandconsumer
level[1].
Thewaysinwhichevidenceofcomplianceis
providedinthecloudmarketplacevarywidelyat
present.Itisproblematicforatenanttoevaluate
cloudproviders’capabilitiesandtounderstand
whichpartyisresponsibleforwhatfroma
complianceperspective.Trustbetweentenants
andtheirprovidersisoftenbasedonlegaltextsand
disclaimersthatcanbedifficulttocomprehend.
Thereisclearlyroomforimprovement,as
evidencedbytheEuropeanUnion’scallforcloser
adherencetoprivacyregulationsbyglobalCSPs.
Compliancestandardsinthecloud
Toensurecompliancewithdifferentsecurity
frameworksinthecloud,therearetwomaintypes
ofstandards:verticalandhorizontal.Horizontal
standardsaregenericstandardsthatareapplicable
tomanyindustries.Verticalstandardsare
applicabletospecificindustries.Severalstandards
(horizontalandvertical)havebeensupplemented
YOSR JARRAYA,
GIOVANNI ZANETTI,
ARI PIETIKÄINEN,
CHIADI OBI, JUKKA
YLITALO, SATYAKAM
NANDA, MADS
BECKER JORGENSEN,
MAKAN POURZANDI
More and more companies are moving their applications and data to the
cloud, and many have started offering cloud services to their customers as
well. But how can they ensure that their cloud solutions are secure?
Security compliance auditing is an
assessment of the extent to which a subject
(a cloud services provider or CSP, in this case)
conforms to security-related requirements.
At a minimum, a CSP must be able to deploy
tenants’ applications, store their data
securely and ensure compliance with multiple
regulations and standards.
■ Manyindustrysectors–healthcareand
utilities,forexample–arehighlyregulatedand
havetomeetstringentdataprivacyandprotection
requirements.Toservethesetypesofcompanies,
cloudprovidersmustbeabletoprovetheir
alignmentwiththelateststandardsandregulations
suchastheHealthInsurancePortabilityand
AccountabilityAct(HIPAA),thePaymentCard
IndustryDataSecurityStandard(PCIDSS)and
theFederalRiskandAuthorizationManagement
Program(FedRAMP).Withouttherightsetoftools
inplace,cloudcharacteristicssuchaselasticity,
dynamicityandmulti-tenancymakeproving
compliancewithsuchstandardsbothchallenging
andcostly.
RegulationssuchasHIPAAandPCIDSS
defineauditingandprovingcompliancewith
industrystandardsandregulationsasshared
responsibilities.Toaddressusers’compliance-
relatedneeds,cloudprovidersmustdemonstrate
evidenceofcompliancewithregulatory
requirementsacrossindustrysegments.
Figure1illustratesthecloudsecuritycompliance
landscape.Providersthatcanoffertenantscredible,
trustworthycomplianceinformationonrelevant
requirementsatanytime,inacost-efficientmanner,
standtogainasignificantcompetitiveadvantage.
Auditingsecuritycompliancetypicallyinvolves
themanualinspectionofregularlygenerated
CLOUD PROVIDERS
MUST DEMONSTRATE
EVIDENCE OF COMPLIANCE
WITH REGULATORY
REQUIREMENTS ACROSS
INDUSTRY SEGMENTS
Terms and abbreviations
AICPA – American Institute of Certified Public Accountants | AWS – Amazon Web Services | CCM – Cloud
Controls Matrix | CCS – Control Compliance Suite/Services | CSA – Cloud Security Alliance | ETSI – European
Telecommunications Standards Institute | FedRAMP – Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program |
GRC – governance, risk management and compliance | HIPAA – Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996 | IaaS – infrastructure as a service | ISO 27001 – specification for an Information Security Management
System (ISMS) | ISO 27018 – code of practice for protection of personal data | NIST – Network Information
Security & Technology | NIST SP – Network Information Security & Technology Special Publication | NoSQL
– not only Structured Query Language | PaaS – platform as a service | PCI DSS – Payment Card Industry Data
Security Standard | SaaS – software as a service | SIEM – security information and event management | SOC 1, 2,
3 – Service Organization Controls type 1, 2, 3 report | SQL – Structured Query Language | V&V – verification and
validation | VM – virtual machine
Securing
thecloudWITH COMPLIANCE AUDITING

toguidecertificationhandlinginthecloud
computingdomain.
Besidestheestablishmentofhorizontaland
verticalstandardsbystandardizationbodies,
otherorganizationsandinformalgroupssuch
astheCloudSecurityAlliance(CSA)address
standardizationissuesrelatedtocloudcomputing
andworkonpromotingbestpracticesandreaching
aconsensusonwaystoprovidesecurityassurance
inthecloud.Forexample,theCSA’scloudsecurity
governance,riskmanagementandcompliance
(GRC)stack[2]supportscloudtenantsandcloud
providerstoincreasetheirmutualtrustand
demonstratecompliancecapabilities.
Currentauditingtools
Theauditee–inthiscasethecloudprovideror
consumer–isrequiredtoproducecompliance
reportstoprovethattheirsecuritymeasures
areprotectingtheirassetsfrombeing
compromised.Additionally,regulatorybodies
requiretheauditeetoretainlogdataforlong
periodsoftime,makingitpossibleforauditors
toanalyzeaudittrailsandlogs.Tothisend,
theauditeecanusedifferenttypesoftoolsto
manageandmaintainaholisticviewofthe
securityofitsenvironment.
Severalopensourceandcommercialtools,
includingsecurityinformationandevent
management(SIEM)andGRCtools,thatenable
generationofcompliancereportsonaperiodic
and/oron-demandbasis,existinthemarket.
Figure2illustratesthemaininput,outputand
functionalityofanSIEMtool.
InadditiontoSIEMfunctionality,GRC[3]
toolsdeliverthecoreassessmenttechnologies
toenablesecurityandcomplianceprograms
andsupportIToperationsinthedatacenter.
Figure 1
Cloud security compliance
landscape with OpenStack
as the cloud infrastructure
management system
and OpenDaylight as the
network controller
$
$
$
$$
e-commerce
CCM
AUDIT
ISO 27002/17
NIST
PCI-DSS
AICPA-SOC
FedRAMP
HIPAA
Tenants’
policies
e-banking
e-health
Network
functions
Demand for auditing
compliance increases
Network
More and more applications
from regulated sectors move
to the cloud
StorageComputer
$
Theyenableinformationsecuritymanagersto
addressITgovernance,riskandcompliance
issuesbyhelpingthemtopreventandrespond
tonon-complianceofsecuritycontrolswhile
takingintoaccounttoleratedrisk.
Enterpriseclasstools
Withtheadventofthecloud,themakersofseveral
enterpriseclasstoolshaveproposedintegration
oftheirsolutionsintothecloudenvironment.
Whilemanyenterprise-classSIEMenginesrely
exclusivelyoncorrelationtoanalyzeauditdata,
anewgenerationofcloud-specifictoolsincludes
logsearchenginesandadvancedanalyticsto
processthelargeamountofdataandgainsecurity
intelligenceandknowledge.Nonetheless,most
ofthesetoolshavebeendesignedtoworkin
enterpriseenvironmentswhosecharacteristics
differsignificantlyfromthecloud.
Opensourceprojects
Duetotheincreasingimportanceofauditingand
monitoringinthecloud,opensourceprojectshave
beencreatedaspartofexistingcloudmanagement
software.Forexample,OpenStackCongressaims
tooffergovernanceandcomplianceassurance
byprovidingpolicyasaservice.IttargetsIaaS
anddoesnotcoveranyPaaSorSaaSdeployment.
Specifically,itallowsdeclare,auditandenforce
policiesinheterogeneouscloudenvironments.
AdrawbackofOpenStackCongressisthat
itdoesnotallowafullverificationthroughall
layers–verificationislimitedtotheinformation
providedbyOpenStackservices.Anelasticstack
basedonopensourcetoolsisanotheroption.This
alternativeconsistsofadatasearchstackthat
encompassesseveralcomponents,namely:Kibana
fordatavisualization;Elasticsearchforsearching,
analyzingandstoringdata;aswellasBeatsand
Figure 2
Summary of main
SIEM input, output
and functionality
INPUT AUDITING OUTPUT
Raw audit data
Log and context data
collection
Normalization and
categorization
Threat intelligence
Identity and access
management
Asset inventories
Vulnerabilities databases
Business workflow
Risk management
Data retention
Rule/correlation engine
Compliance V&V
Visualization and reporting
Notification/alerting
Events
Logs
Flows
Data
collection &
processing
Compliance
assessment
Reporting
Contextual data
Use casesSIEMCCM
ISO 27002/17
HIPAA NIST
PCI-DSS
Standards and regulations
Compliance
reporting
Real-time
security monitoring
Incident
investigation
Historical
analysis
Policy review
and process
improvement

Logstashfordatacollectionfromvarioussources
indifferentformats.
Whencomparingcommercialtoolswith
theseopensourceprojects,anotablebenefitof
commercialtoolsisthattheyhavemostoftheaudit
processreadytouseout-of-the-box.
Cloud-basedservicesofferedbycloudproviders
SomecloudIaaSprovidersarecurrentlyproposing
partialsolutionstohelpconsumersverifythattheir
applicationsarehandledinconformancewith
theirsecuritypolicies.Forinstance,AWSoffers
dynamiccustomizablecompliancecheckingof
cloudresourcesusingAWSconfigurationrules.
Othertoolshavealsobeenproposed,suchas
InspectorbyAmazon,whichisanautomated
securityassessmentservicethatfindssecurityor
complianceissuesonapplicationslaunchedwithin
AWSinstances.
Cloud-specifictools
Cloud-specifictoolssuchasCatbirdSecureoffer
policycomplianceautomationandmonitoring
solutionsforprivateandhybridcloudenvironments
andfocusonsoftware-definedsecurity.Another
exampleisRiskVisionContinuousCompliance
Service(CCS),anon-demandserviceallowing
providerstogainvisibilityintotheircloudrisk
exposureandtomanagecompliance.
Challengesandimplementationgaps
Anumberofchallengesmaketechniquesfor
auditingconventionalITsystemsunsuitablefor
useinacloudenvironmentwithoutsignificant
adaptation.Whileseveralcommonconcernsarise
whenauditinginbothdomains,acloudsecurity
auditmustaddressuniqueproblems.
Complianceresponsibility
Cloudapplicationsrunindifferentdeployment
models(IaaS,PaaS,orSaaS)andondifferent
typesofcloud(public,privateorhybrid).Thisrich
setofcombinationsleadstoacomplexcontrol
dependencyandcomplicatestheresponsibilities
ofdifferentactors.TherelianceontheCSPvaries
accordingtothedeploymentandtypeofcloud.
Forexample,inapublicIaaS,thehardwareand
virtuallayersaremanagedbytheCSPwhile
theapplicationlayerismanagedbythetenant.
Therefore,thereislimitedrelianceonCSPin
IaaS,butmostrelianceonCSPinSaaS.Thus,itis
necessarytodefineaclearmodelfortheshared
responsibilityofcompliancemanagement.
Themassivesizeofthecloud
Thelargescaleofcloudenvironments–withthe
increasednumberofvirtualresourcesandsources
ofdata–hasadirectimpactonthesizeofaudit
trailsandlogs.Giventhehugeamountofdataheld
inthem,efficientcollection,manipulationand
storagetechniquesarerequired.Conventional
toolswerenotconceivedforlarge-scaledata–they
useoff-the-shelffixed-schemaSQLdatabases
withacentralizedsystemfortheanalysisofaudit
trails.Thescaleandperformancelimitationsof
thistypeofarchitecturerepresentasinglepoint
offailure.Auditingandcomplianceverification
toolsforthecloudmustbedesignedfromscratchto
processaverylargequantityofdatawhilemeeting
performancerequirements.
Therapidityanddynamicityofcloudservices
Thespeedofeventsandoperationsinthecloud
constantlychangeslogsandconfigurationdata.For
example,eachtimeanewvirtualmachine(VM)is
createdormigrated,newdataisgeneratedthatmay
changethecompliancestatus.Thisisbecoming
morecomplexascloudprovidersaremovingtoward
morereal-timeprogrammablecontrolsbyusing
software-definednetworksandNFVintheircloud
datacenters.Oneofthemajorissuesinconventional
solutionsisthattheyareconceivedtoexecuteina
quasi-staticenvironmentwhereauditingisgenerally
performedperiodicallyandremainsvaliduntilthe
nextperiod.Theymainlyverifyasnapshotofthe
securitystateatthetimeoftheaudit.Thisisnot
sufficientinthecloud,whereauditandcompliance
assuranceisrequiredeachtimetheinfrastructure
changestoassesswhetherthesechangesgiveriseto
securitygapsorinfrastructuremisuse.
Ifanauditandcomplianceassessmenttoolcannot
copewiththehighrateofconfigurationchangesfor
largedatacenters,itisnotfitforthetask.Changes
inthecloudrequiretheabilitytoautomatically
collectdatatopresentnear-real-timevisibilityabout
compliancetotenantsandauditorsalike.
Multi-tenancyinthecloud
Audittrailsandlogsarecurrentlybeinggenerated
fordifferentactors(tenants,users,cloudprovider
andsoon)onsharedphysicalandvirtuallayers
withoutaclearseparationbetweenthem.This
approachcannotaddressalltheneedsrising
fromcomplexusecasessuchaswhenacloud
brokerleasesvirtualresourcestoathirdparty.
Furthermore,itmaynotbepossibleforauditing
toolstomonitorthefullstackfromthehardware
layeruptotheapplicationlayerbecauseof
potentialcompromiseoftheprivacyofother
tenantsandoftheconfidentialityofsensitive
informationconcerningthecloudinfrastructure.
Thisiswhysomeproviders(particularlySaaS
ones)restrictvulnerabilityassessmentsand
penetrationtesting,whileotherslimitavailability
ofauditlogsandactivitymonitoring.Most
conventionaltoolsaresimplynotdesignedto
supportmulti-tenantenvironments.Therefore,
differentaccessibilityschemasmustbeputin
placetogivetherightaccesstothecommon
logsfordifferenttenantsbasedontherolesand
privilegesofdifferentactors.
PrivacyprotectionandGRCsupport
ACSPwithamulti-tenantenvironmentis
forbiddentorevealdetailsormetadatathatwould
compromisetenants’privacyorsecurity.Norisit
allowedtodiscloseanysensitiveinformationtoa
thirdpartyanditmustprotectagainstattackers
accessinganysignificantinformationaboutthe
tenants.Atthesametime,mandatedauditors
needtoaccessusefulandcompleteinformation
toprovideevidenceofcompliance.Inaddition,
tenantsneedtoreceivetherightassurancesfrom
theCSPandtheauditorsorperformtheirown
complianceauditoftheirsettinginthecloud,
independentlyofthecloudprovider.Therefore,
auditingtoolsshouldallowforsecurelyoutsourcing
anonymizedlogsandaudittrailstodifferent
interestedentitieswithoutsacrificingprivacyand
sensitiveinformationforanevidence-basedaudit
andGRCapproachinthecloud.
Trustandintegrityofauditdata
Audited data is often considered to be inherently
reliable. But before being presented to the
auditor, the original pieces of data will have been
passed from the source to the presentation layer
via communication interfaces and processed
by dynamic software instances. The degree of
trust in such a chain is hard to evaluate. Many
cloud solutions enable an assessment of the
trustworthiness of the hardware platform and
bootstrapping of the virtual machines, and
safeguard the integrity of log files at rest and in
transit. However, audit data would not necessarily
be approved as evidence in court if the data
integrity had been compromised during any
step of the process. The integrity of the audit
data source, of the data collector and of the
log server should be attestable, assuming that
appropriate controls are in place for securing the
audit data itself and that there is proof of mutual
authentication between the processing elements
with an accepted security strength.
AUDITING AND
COMPLIANCE VERIFICATION
TOOLS FOR THE CLOUD
MUST BE DESIGNED FROM
SCRATCH TO PROCESS A
VERY LARGE QUANTITY OF
DATA WHILE MEETING
PERFORMANCE
REQUIREMENTS

Achievingtrulyeffectiveauditinginthecloud
Inlightofthechallengestocreatinganeffective
auditingapproachinthecloudusingthe
conventionaltechniques,itisusefultohighlight
someofthekeycharacteristicsofaneffectivecloud
auditingsolution.
Continuousmonitoringandhighautomation
forcompliance
Asthecloudisinherentlyelasticanddynamic,an
effectiveauditingframeworkmustbeaugmented
bycontinuouscomplianceandmonitoring
features[1].Thisisnotonlynecessarytomaintain
compliancebutalsotoimproveoverallsecurity.
Itmustalsoprovideahighlevelofautomation
tocopewithquickandtransparentchanges
incollaborationwiththecloudmanagement
system.Automationisnecessarytocollectthe
rightinformationinnearreal-timeandfromthe
rightsource.Additionally,toenforceanevidence-
basedcomplianceverificationinamulti-tenant
environment,theCSPsshouldexposeinformation
gatheredfromtrustedmonitoredsourcesinan
openstandardformatwhileprotectingtenants’
privacybyusing,forexample,anonymizationof
tracesandaudittrailsfortheauditors’andtenants’
benefit.Therefore,movingtowardsacontinuous
automatedcomplianceverificationmodelthat
providescompletecompliancevisibilitytothe
tenantsiskeytoreducingandlimitingexposureto
risksrelatedtocomplianceandsecuritybreaches.
Buildingauditingcapabilitiesintothe
cloudinfrastructure
Itismuchmoreeffectiveandcost-efficientto
buildintrinsicauditingcapabilitiesintothecloud
infrastructurethantoattempttoretrofitexisting
auditingapproachestothecloudenvironment.To
providevariousactorswiththenecessaryaudit
trailswithoutviolatinguserandtenantprivacy,
thecloudinfrastructurecouldimplementlabeling
mechanismstotracethelogstotheirtarget
tenants.Tacklinglogsandaudittrailsinthecloud
asopposedtoaclassicalcentralizedlogserverin
anenterpriseenvironmentrequiresadistributed
logcollectionandretrievalmechanism.Building
accountabilityandtraceabilityintothecloud
infrastructureisthebestwaytoprovideanefficient
andeffectiveauditingsolution.
Usinganalyticsforcomplianceverification
Whileconventionalauditsystemsspecializein
detectingknownthreats,providingsupportfor
identifyingunknownthreatsisanewtrendin
auditingthatishighlyrelevanttothecloud.Owingto
thegreatquantityofauditdataandlogsinlargedata
centers,theuseofbigdataanalyticsbasedondata
mining,machinelearningandbehavioralmonitoring
techniquesforcloudauditingtoolsandSIEMsis
increasing.Inthesamevein,storingrawauditdata
requiresnewdatabasearchitectureandtechnology
(suchasNoSQL)orsupportofflatfiledatabases.
Forthesakeofscalability,newdeploymentoptions
arebeingconsideredtomovefromcentralized
auditanalysestodistributedones.Analyticsmust
befurtherexploredandimprovedtotacklecloud-
specificcharacteristicsandtheiractualpotential
mustbeinvestigatedinreal-worlddeployments.
Modularcomplianceapproach
Manycloudapplicationsaredeployedforhighly
regulatedindustrieswithdifferentcompliance
needssuchasPCI/DSS,HIPAA,ISO27017
andISO27001.Thesecomplianceframeworks
correspondtodifferentsecurityrequirements,
whichinturnnecessitatealargesetofcontrolsthat
mustbeputinplaceinthecloudinfrastructure.
Thereare,however,manycommonalitiesbetween
therequirementsofalltheseframeworksintermsof
datastorageobfuscation,datastorageintegrityand
accesscontrol,forexample.Therefore,abaseline
securityrequirementneedstobedefinedtocoverthe
majorcommonrequirements.Thisbaselineshould
beaugmenteddynamicallyinthecloudtoprovide
supportfordifferentcomplianceframeworks.
Consequently,anefficientauditingapproachshould
bemodular,supportingthecommondenominator
requirementsasabaselinesecurityrequirementand
addingdifferentcontrolmodulestosupportspecific
securityframeworks.TheCSACCMcompliance
matrixisagoodstartingpointforaggregatingthe
majorcommonsecurityrequirements.
Applicationto5G
5Gnetworksareexpectedtoplayacentralrolein
providingacommonbackboneforinformation
exchangebetweenvariousapplicationsthatbelong
todifferentindustrysegments,whichwould
meanthatthesecurityoftheseapplicationswould
dependonthesecurityofthe5Gnetwork[4].This
wouldresultintheneedtocertify5Gnetworks
againstall(oratleastpartsof)thesecurity
standardsthatarerelatedtotheservedverticals.
Implementingisolatednetworkslicesfordifferent
typesofapplicationswouldeasecompliance
assurancebyconfiningcertificationeffortstoeach
singlesliceagainsttheappropriatesubsetofthe
securityrequirements.Figure3showsonewaythis
couldbeaccomplished.
Conclusion
Thecloudhasbecomeastandardinmodern
computing,andcompaniesinmanyindustry
verticalsaremovingtheirdatatoit.Therefore,
securityassurance,auditingandcomplianceinthe
cloudisgainingmomentum.Unfortunately,several
challengesrelatedtotheparticularspecificitiesof
cloudarelimitingthepotentialbenefitofapplying
currentauditingpracticesandtools.
Compliance
evaluation tool
Continuous real-time
compliance status
Slice-specific complianceFedRAMPHIPAA3GPP ISO 2700 series
Virtualization/isolation
mechanisms and network
products compliance
Baseline compliance
HIPAA-compliant slice
ISO 26262-compliant slice
FedRAMP-compliant slice
Figure 3
Application to 5G security
compliance auditing
A CONTINUOUS
COMPLIANCE VERIFICATION
MODEL PROVIDING TENANTS
WITH COMPLETE
COMPLIANCE VISIBILITY IS
KEY TO REDUCING AND
LIMITING EXPOSURE TO
RISKS

1. ETSINetworkFunctionsVirtualisation(NFV);Security;SecurityManagementandMonitoringspecification
[Release3],ETSINFV-SECV3.1.1(2017-02),2017,availableat:
http://www.etsi.org/deliver/etsi_gs/NFV-SEC/001_099/013/03.01.01_60/gs_nfv-sec013v030101p.pdf
2. CSA,CSAGovernanceRiskandComplianceStack(V2.0),2011,availableat:
http://megaslides.com/doc/159998/the-grc-stack---cloud-security-alliance
3. DavidCau,Deloitte,Governance,RiskandCompliance(GRC)SoftwareBusinessNeedsandMarket
Trends,05022014,availableat:https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/lu/Documents/risk/lu_en_
ins_governance-risk-compliance-software_05022014.pdf
4. Ericsson,5GSecurity:ScenariosandSolutions,EricssonWhitePaperUen28423-3269,2016,availableat:
https://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/whitepapers/wp-5g-security.pdf
References:
Yosr Jarraya
◆ joined Ericsson in 2016 as
a security researcher after
a two-year postdoctoral
fellowship with the
company. She holds a
Ph.D. in electrical and
computer engineering
from Concordia University
in Montreal, Canada. In
the past six years she has
produced more than 25
research papers on topics
including SDN, security,
software and the cloud.
Giovanni Zanetti
◆ joined Ericsson in 2010 as
a senior security consultant
in the IT & Cloud regional
unit. His work focuses
on security compliance
design. He holds an M.Sc.
in industrial engineering
from Milan University, Italy,
as well as CISSP and ISO
27001-22301 Lead Auditor
certifications.
Ari Pietikäinen
◆ is a senior security
specialist. He joined
Ericsson in 1990 and has
worked in the security
domain since 2003, most
recently with cloud, NFV
and IoT security topics. He
holds an M.Sc. from Helsinki
Espoo, Finland.
Chiadi Obi
◆ joined Ericsson in 2015
as a principal consultant in
global IT and cloud services.
He has over 19 years of
experience centering
around information
security, the cloud as well
as adjacent platforms such
as the IoT, with a keen focus
on strategy, compliance,
governance and privacy
aspects. He holds an M.Sc.
in information security from
Colorado University in the
USA as well as industry-
driven designations
such as the CISSP, CISM
and CRISC. He has also
authored white papers on
cloud and IoT security.
Jukka Ylitalo
◆ is a chief security architect
who joined Ericsson in
2001. He has contributed
to security standardization
work and published several
scientific articles during his
career. He holds an M.Sc. and
a D.Sc. Tech. from Helsinki
Espoo, Finland.
Satyakam Nanda
◆ joined Ericsson in 2010
where he worked as a
principal consultant in global
IT & cloud services until 2017.
Over the past two decades,
he has served in various
leadership roles in consulting,
product design, operations
and product management
driving security strategy
and execution for critical
infrastructure protection. He
holds dual masters’ degrees
in software engineering and
business management from
the University of Texas in
Dallas, USA.
Mads Becker
Jorgensen
◆ is a strategic product
manager whose work
focuses on the cloud
and data platforms area.
He has more than 15
years of experience as
an information security
professional in both the
public and private sectors.
His current research
interests are within secure
identity and holistic security.
Makan Pourzandi
◆ is a researcher who
joined Ericsson in 1999. He
holds a Ph.D. in computer
science from the University
of Lyon, France. An inventor
with 28 US patents granted
or pending, he has also
produced more than
50 research papers.
theauthors
Further reading
〉〉 Y. Wang, T. Madi, S. Majumdar, Y. Jarraya, A. Alimohammadifar, M. Pourzandi, L. Wang and M. Debbabi,
TenantGuard: Scalable Runtime Verification of Cloud-Wide VM-Level Network Isolation, Network and
Distributed System Security Symposium (NDSS 2017), San Diego, USA, February 26 - March 1, 2017,
available at: https://www.internetsociety.org/sites/default/files/ndss2017_06A-4_Wang_paper.pdf
〉〉 S. Majumdar, Y. Jarraya, T. Madi, A. Alimohammadifar, M. Pourzandi, L. Wang and M. Debbabi, Proactive
Verification of Security Compliance for Clouds through Pre-Computation: Application to OpenStack, 21st
European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (ESORICS 2016), Heraklion, Greece, September
28-30, 2016, available at: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-45744-4_3
Movingtowardacontinuousautomated
complianceverificationmodelthatprovides
tenantswithcompletecompliancevisibilityiskey
toreducingandlimitingexposuretosecurity-
relatedrisk.Aneffectiveandefficientcloud
auditingsolutionmust:
〉〉 supportlarge-scalecloudenvironments
〉〉 offerahighlevelofautomation
〉〉 allowfornear-real-timecompliancevisibilitywithout
compromisingstakeholders’privacyandthe
confidentialityofsensitivedata
〉〉 fullysupportmulti-tenancy
〉〉 providemodularcomplianceverificationtoaddress
severalstandards.
Inlightoftheserequirements,newauditing
solutionsadaptedtothecloudenvironmentmust
beproposed.

technology
trends driving
innovation
Our industry has an increasingly important role to play in creating the foundation for new
business in a broad range of industry sectors in countries all around the world. As Ericsson’s
new Chief Technology Officer, it’s my job to keep track of technological advancements on
the horizon and leverage them to create new value streams for society, consumers and
industries. The challenge is timing, and to see new things in the context of the present
without losing sight of history.
I have selected the five trends presented here based on my understanding of the ongoing
transformation of the industry, including rapid digitalization, mobilization and continuous
technology evolution, and how they affect the future development of network platforms
– one of the essential components of the emergent digital economy. At Ericsson, our role
is to keep these top trends in sight to guide our innovation, test our limits and ultimately
create a thriving market for the next generation of technology.
→
#1
AN ADAPTABLE TECHNOLOGY
BASE
Blending technologies in new
ways to unleash next generation
computational networks
#2
THE DAWN OF TRUE MACHINE
INTELLIGENCE (MI)
Moving from cognitive MI toward
augmented human intelligence
#3
END-TO-END SECURITY AND
IDENTITY FOR THE INTERNET
OF THINGS (IOT)
A holistic approach to trust in all
dimensions
#4
AN EXTENDED DISTRIBUTED
IOT PLATFORM
Acceleration toward a distributed
and connected IoT platform
#5
OVERLAYING REALITY WITH
KNOWLEDGE
Immersive communication
that ties user experience to the
physical world
by erik ekudden, cto
– five to watch
TECHNOLOGY T R E N D S ✱✱ TECHNOLOGY T R E N D S
4948

Ericsson Technology Review - issue 2, 2017

Ericsson Technology Review - issue 2, 2017

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