#WirelessWednesday – Is it fair to say that small cells and C-RAN have dedicated network resources, whereas RAN virtualization through SDN Radio Router™ share network resources?
Small cells have dedicated (1:1) and rather limited resources and are often rolled out in a “popcorn” fashion to close coverage holes or provide a punctual capacity increase. Since it’s a 1:1 relationship between the cell and its associated capacity and the coverage area, it often lacks the flexibility and scalability needed for expanding and dynamically allocate capacity as required.
C-RAN has dedicated (1:1) radio resources allocated to the respective coverage areas but baseband resources are shared. With base stations clustered or co-located in one location (ie. in a high density area), the baseband resources can be shared to cut some costs. However, the allocation of valuable radio resources to traffic hot-spots or hot-zones is still a one-to-one static relationship.
RAN virtualization through SDN Radio Router enables both the baseband and the radio resources to be shared. By sharing a common pool of radio resources, mobile operators can distribute the valuable radio resources to traffic hot-spots or hot-zones in a dynamic many-to-many relationship.
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