IEEE Publishes IEEE 802.1CM-2018 Standard Addressing Time-Sensitive Networking for Fronthaul

IEEE and the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) announced the publishing and availability of IEEE 802.1CM-2018—IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks—Time-Sensitive Networking for Fronthaul.  The new standard is the first available IEEE standard developed to connect a cellular network’s radio equipment to its remote controller via a packet network, in particular, over a bridged IEEE 802.3 Ethernet network.

IEEE 802.1CM supports fronthaul interfaces, such as the recently published eCPRI specification to provide Ethernet-based fronthaul.  IEEE 802.1CM has been developed in collaboration with the CPRI Cooperation that contributed the requirements of a fronthaul transport network.  IEEE 802.1CM describes how these requirements can be met by a fronthaul bridged network including synchronization solutions developed by Study Group 15 of ITU’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), whose input also contributed to the development of IEEE 802.1CM.

Deployment of technology defined by IEEE 802 standards is already globally pervasive, driven by the ever-growing needs of data networks around the world. New application areas are constantly being considered that might leverage IEEE 802 standards in their networks from wireless, through twisted-pair cabling, to fiber-optic cabling solutions.  To better address the needs of all of these areas, IEEE 802 standards are constantly evolving and expanding.  The success of IEEE 802 standards—from their inception through today—has been their fair, open and transparent development process.