1.3 Targets and Scope of the Book

This book is intended to give an overview of different aspects of mobile backhaul networks, and also provide a more detailed discussion on protocols, functionalities and technologies on both the radio network side and on the backhaul and networking technologies.

By nature, some terminology will be more 3GPP and radio-oriented, while a part comes from the networking world.

The book covers the mobile backhaul networks from the base station sites up to the core sites; however, it puts more emphasis on network segments closer to the base station sites (access tier, see Figure 2.2), as these parts have more mobile specific characteristics and are also economically the most important part of the backhaul.

Upper MBH network tiers often serve a combination of mobile and fixed traffic, are more built based on fixed traffic requirements and have a smaller influence on the mobile network economy; however, it is important to take into account also their impact on mobile network performance. Backhauls for indoor solutions are often a mix of fixed and mobile traffic and are beyond the scope of this book.

Technically, the book covers networking (or transport and transmission) related functionalities. Radio network protocols and key functionalities are reviewed as the radio network is the client layer for the mobile backhaul. While reading the backhaul oriented chapters it is useful to keep the basic mobile network architecture and operation in mind as this helps to identify interactions that are of a more subtle nature.