Call for Papers

Fronthaul is the fiber-based connection in the radio access network (RAN) infrastructure. Fronthaul links territorially dispersed remote units (RU) to distributed units (DU) in regular or open RAN. With the fifth generation (5G) roll out worldwide and the active research on technologies beyond 5G, fronthaul has become a critical part of RAN to balance the throughput, delay, reliability, and security. Advanced applications of 5G and beyond (also called 6G) require the fronthaul connection to support features such as high speed, ultra-low latency, supporting frequency and phase synchronization, traffic protection, and secure data privacy. Fronthaul plays an important role in network operations for macro and small cells, distributed antenna systems with RAN sharing, and evolution toward openness and virtualization of RAN. Network controller coordination of fronthaul access networks (FAN) and RAN is also an open topic.

This Special Issue promotes enhanced fronthaul interface and the associated transport technologies as an essential building block of the 5G & 6G RAN infrastructure. It will present the latest research endeavors, industry implementations, as well as standard development in the field of fronthaul. This Special Issue will also investigate the theoretical and practical challenges to encourage a joint effort from both academia and industry. Authors are invited to submit articles on topics including, but not limited to:

• Fronthaul challenges and new applications in 5G & 6G
• New technologies and solutions for 5G & 6G fronthaul
• Standards and recommendations on fronthaul enhancement
• Experiments, trials, open testing and integration and implementations of enhanced fronthaul
• Fronthaul network management, data security, and reliability
• Traffic patterns, network slicing and communication models
• Network controller coordination of FAN and RAN
• RAN openness, virtualization, and sharing with enhanced fronthaul
• Opportunities and challenges in joint efforts from academia and industry in 5G & 6G fronthaul

Submission Guidelines

Prospective authors should prepare their submissions in accordance with the rules specified in the Information for Authors of the IEEE Wireless Communications guidelines. Authors should submit a PDF version of their complete manuscript to Manuscript Central. Select “April 2022/ Enhanced Fronthaul for 5G and Beyond” from the dropdown menu of topics.

Important Dates

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 15 July 2021 30 July 2021 (Extended Deadline)
Initial Decision Date: 1 October 2021
Revised Manuscript Due: 1 November 2021
Final Decision Date: 1 December 2021
Final Manuscript Due: 15 February 2022
Publication Date: April 2022

Guest Editors

Yuanqiu Luo
Futurewei Technologies, USA

Philippe Chanclou
Orange Labs, France

Knud Erik Skouby
Aalborg University, Denmark

Hong Zhao
Fairleigh Dickinson University, USA

Kota Asaka
NTT Access Service System Laboratories, Japan