Cellular Backhaul Technology

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Satellite Networks Ltd. and may not be reproduced in whole
or in part without the express written consent of Gilat
Satellite Networks Ltd. The disclosure by Gilat Satellite
Networks Ltd. of information contained herein does not
constitute any license or authorization to use or disclose the Gilat Network Systems
information, ideas or concepts presented. The contents of
this document are subject to change without prior notice 30/03/2009
[] Cellular Backhaul Technology

1. Introduction
Widespread popular demand for mobile services such as GSM, CDMA, UMTS and TETRA is
increasingly motivating mobile operators to extend wireless services to small, isolated and remote
communities as well as to provide mobile services during emergencies and in extreme conditions .
Considering that most of these areas are beyond the reach of terrestrial infrastructure, satellite has
become a preferred backhaul solution in these circumstances.

Gilat's superior satellite technology provides an end-to-end solution that reduces the capital
expenditures (CAPEX) and operational costs (OPEX) incurred by operators by up to 50% making
satellite backhaul a profitable and efficient solution.

Gilat’s range of cellular backhaul solutions can handle sites with traffic ranging between a single TRX
to virtually unlimited number of TRXs. For very large deployments, Gilat provides a solution based on
SCPC that can provide up to E3 (34Mbps) connectivity. Mid-range sites are usually based on MF-
TDMA VSATs with SkyAbis Adapters. For smaller sites Gilat provides a split BSC architecture that
includes a remote gateway instead of the SkyAbis Adapter.

Figure 1: Network Overview

A SkyAbis adapter connects to the BTS via the E1 interface enabling full Abis support. The
SkyAbis adapter connects to the SkyEdge VSAT over the LAN interface. A similar SkyAbis adapter
at the Hub side converts the LAN traffic at the Hub back to E1 physical interface with Abis traffic,
thus achieving transparency for Abis all the way from BTS to BSC.

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2. Network design and Bandwidth on Demand

Mobile network design is based on designing the network for the peak transmission capacity required.
This translates to designing the network for each BTS’s peak site. Peak transmission is a relatively short
occurrence and the peak does not always occur at the
same time for all sites. In addition, the peak changes from
day to day with even seasonal effects. The actual traffic
snapshot from a mobile network, and this variability can
be clearly seen. When designing satellite transmission
based on SCPC, the design needs to be for the peak traffic
that is to be supported.

The diagram below shows how in a GSM network in South East Asia the amount of excess satellite
transmission capacity designed. The graph displays the amount of deployed capacity versus the
maximum traffic ever encountered in the site

It is clear from the diagram above that a large proportion of the satellite capacity was never used. In
practice, even the peak traffic is a rare occurrence and most of the time much less capacity was
required.

Why is so much excess capacity designed into the

network?

The graph on the right shows the voice quality

dependent on packet loss rate (%). If there is not
enough capacity, all calls are affected (not just a few
of the calls), practically the BTS will cease to function
and no calls will be possible.

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Gilat’s cellular backhaul solution uses

Dynamic Allocation Multiple Access (DAMA)
to re-use the satellite capacity between sites.
The traffic snapshot on the right displays the
actual bandwidth allocated for the mobile
calls versus the amount of traffic actually
transmitted. Gilat’s VSAT technology
allocated the bandwidth dynamically
ensuring no packet loss and no waste of
valuable satellite resources.

This is summarized in the tables below, which show the savings of Gilat’s cellular backhaul solution
over standard SCPC, dependent both on the capacity of the sites (TRXs) and numbers of sites (BTSs)

The VSAT transmits and receives the packetized Abis information over the satellite channel
supporting Ku, C or extended C band frequencies. The VSAT’s bandwidth on demand along with the
software of the adaptor reduces the throughput required over the inbound and outbound channels
by 50% to 60% compared to carrying the payload over traditional point-to-point modems.

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3. Split-BSC architecture
For very low traffic sites (1-2 TRX) Gilat’s split-BSC architecture solution optimizes traffic between
the Picocells and the hub site. The solution splits the BSC functionality between the RGW (Remote
Gateway) embedded in the VSAT IDU and the GGW (Ground Gateway) located at the hub site as
shown in the following illustration.

Split BSC

Ground GW
(GGW)
MSC IP

E1( A)
SkyEdge
Hub
SkyEdge II
RGW
SkyEdge II Pro
With embedded SkyEdge II
IP
Remote RGW
Gateway
(RGW)
IP
Picocell
IP
Picocell
Picocell

Figure 2: Split BSC architecture

Abis signaling from the remote BTS is carried in an optimized IP based format over the satellite link.
The hub GGW function adapts this signaling to standard ‘A’ interface format before sending it to the
MSC in 64 Kbits E1/T1 channels. To reduce the amount of data sent over the satellite links, the GGW
function either discards or terminates unnecessary signaling traffic from the MSC and BTS, as well as
compressing voice over satellite, much of the Abis signaling such as all radio resource management is
handled at the RGW.

The Gilat VSAT is connected via an Ethernet port directly to the Pico IP packet BTS. The SkyEdge Hub
is connected to the GGW which is connected via standard E1/T1 ports transparently to the MSC.

3.1 Bandwidth savings

The split BSC solution introduces significant
bandwidth savings. Zero bits are transferred in
idle mode which ensures transmission is only
used when a call is made. A voice call uses
6kbps versus 38kbps for a non-optimized
solution. On a network wide basis this
represents a saving of 90% or more.

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3.2 Local Call Connectivity

The split BSC solution also enables a key feature – local call connectivity. For local calls – mobile to
mobile calls that are both connected to the same backhaul link, there is no need to actually
transmit the traffic via satellite. The remote gateway’s special features enable identifying these
local calls and then having them terminated locally. This feature is especially important for
emergency response teams, since most of the calls are within the disaster site and only a small
portion to the central HQ.

The following diagram illustrates the advantage of Local Call Forwarding compared to standard
GSM operation.

Figure 3 - Local Call Forwarding

4. Cellular Bandwidth Optimization

The communications protocols used by cellular equipment are designed based on the typical links
that were available at the time the cellular transmission standards were written. For example, GSM
radio access equipment is designed for E1 circuits and therefore they transmit a high percentage of
“empty” bytes in order to fill the E1 circuits. When using satellite bandwidth, which is generally more
costly than terrestrial links, it is necessary to use the minimal amount of data. A satellite system used
for backhaul needs to be able to adapt the traffic transmitted by the cellular equipment to be
“satellite-friendly” by suppressing any unnecessary bytes and only transmitting the “information”
bytes.

Gilat’s cellular backhaul solution includes the following mechanisms for optimizing the traffic before
it is transmitted over the satellite link:

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• Idle channel suppression – In most of the cellular systems deployed today, bytes of data are
transmitted by base stations even if when there are no actual calls. This is because these systems
were designed to transmit over E1/T1 circuits. Gilat’s SkyAbis does not transmit any non -active
voice channels and only transmits real voice calls. This Idle Channel Suppression introduces
significant savings of the bandwidth.

• Silence suppression – In most phone conversations only one of the speakers talks at a time.
Gilat’s SkyAbis can recognize silence, and instead of digitizing and transmitting the silence, it can
instead transmit a short packet indicating silence every few seconds. When the receiving side
gets the silence indication, it generates a constant “background noise” until it receives an
indication that the silence has ended. Assuming that each speaker is silent while the other is
speaking, this method can save up to half of the bandwidth.

• Packetization and statistical multiplexing –Gilat’s SyAbis extracts the relevant voice and signaling
information at the cell site and encapsulates it into packets making it possible to fit the
transmission more neatly into the available satellite bandwidth. This statistical gain increases the
lower the activity ration is.

5. Special events and emergency coverage

Mobile Operators that need to
provide additional coverage and
capacity for special events often
have to conduct timely and
expensive line of sight surveys,
lengthy planning, testing and
integration to offer services in a
relatively small commercial window. In
many cases, the pressure to provide
the additional capacity is to reduce
churn, increase brand awareness and
with minimum overall commercial
benefit. With satellite backhaul an
operator can instantly add capacity virtually
anywhere on new towers within the coverage area with no line of sight surveys or other restrictions.
This reduces the operational burden of setting up for special events but also allows the operator to
deploy the transportable “Cell on Wheels” (COW) at short notice where services have been
interrupted or in the event of a major outage such as natural disasters.

One of the common solutions for Emergency response teams is TETRA solution. TETRA enables
private and secure mobile communications. Gilat’s SkyAbis solution provides efficient backhaul for
TETRA networks thus enabling quick response teams to deploy their command post while
maintaining communications with the main HQ.

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6. The SkyEdge II System

SkyEdge II is a high performance, high efficiency two-way satellite communication solution used for a
variety of applications and services. It combines reliable support for IP communication as well as
telephony and multimedia applications utilizing advanced technologies for efficient usage of the
satellite’s space-segment resources. SkyEdge II is the optimized solution for every satellite
networking need, easily built, maintained and then expanded as the networks requirements change.
Offering more than mere connectivity, optional value added services are enabled by add-ons and
equipment from Gilat which is integrated with the SkyEdge II system. SkyEdge II is based on the
concept of a single hub which can efficiently work with different types of VSATs to support different
needs and applications.

Figure 4: The SkyEdge II Family of VSATs

The SkyEdge II System is a comprehensive solution for satellite networking. Key benefits of SkyEdge II
are:

High performance for data and multimedia traffic:

o High bit rates in both forward and return link, with up to 135Mbps per outbound
carrier and 6Mbps per inbound carrier

o Comprehensive application acceleration solutions embedded in the VSATs hardware

o Advanced built in QoS mechanisms, allowing high flexibility in meeting user

requirements per the required SLAs and the applications used

Lowest Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) with efficient bandwidth handling:

o High order modulations with Turbo coding on both the inbound and outbound:

o Outbound – 32APSK, 16APSK, 8PSK, QPSK

o Inbound – QPSK, 8PSK

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o Dynamic optimization of bandwidth efficiency through the use of Adaptive Coding

and Modulation (ACM) for both the inbound and outbound

o Acceleration, optimization and compression for TCP and HTTP traffic.

o Shared inbound bandwidth for mesh and star traffic

Based on standard technologies

o DVB-S2 outbound

o DVB-RCS inbound

High system reliability

o Highest MTBF for hub and VSAT equipment

o Powerful redundancy schemes for all hub components

o Robust access schemes with adaptive technology in both the inbound and outbound

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