Fronthaul Signal Compression in C-RAN with Carrier Aggregation

Cloud-radio access networks (C-RAN) and carrier aggregation are enabling technologies for high data rate in mobile communications. However, a drawback of C-RAN is the high volume of data that must be transmitted between the baseband unit (BBU) and the remote radio head (RRH). Moreover, this amount of data increases linearly with the number of components carriers that are used in carrier aggregation. Fronthaul signal compression can reduce this huge volume of data, but the available compression schemes have been tested only with LTE signals, not taking into consideration specific characteristics of carrier aggregation. This paper provides an overview of important aspects of carrier aggregation signals that are relevant for the compression of these signals in C-RAN, and discusses simulation results in different scenarios.