Joint Fiber and Free Space Optical Infrastructure Planning for Hybrid Integrated Access and Backhaul Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Madapatha, Charitha, Lechowicz, Piotr, Natalino, Carlos, Monti, Paolo, Svensson, Tommy
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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_version_ 1866916867074949120
author Madapatha, Charitha
Lechowicz, Piotr
Natalino, Carlos
Monti, Paolo
Svensson, Tommy
author_facet Madapatha, Charitha
Lechowicz, Piotr
Natalino, Carlos
Monti, Paolo
Svensson, Tommy
contents Integrated access and backhaul (IAB) is one of the promising techniques for 5G networks and beyond (6G), in which the same node/hardware is used to provide both backhaul and cellular services in a multi-hop architecture. Due to the sensitivity of the backhaul links with high rate/reliability demands, proper network planning is needed to ensure the IAB network performs with the desired performance levels. In this paper, we study the effect of infrastructure planning and optimization on the coverage of IAB networks. We concentrate on the cases where the fiber connectivity to the nodes is constrained due to cost. Thereby, we study the performance gains and energy efficiency in the presence of free-space optical (FSO) communication links. Our results indicate hybrid fiber/FSO deployments offer substantial cost savings compared to fully fibered networks, suggesting a beneficial trade-off for strategic link deployment while improving the service coverage probability. As we show, with proper network planning, the service coverage, energy efficiency, and cost efficiency can be improved.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_20367
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Joint Fiber and Free Space Optical Infrastructure Planning for Hybrid Integrated Access and Backhaul Networks
Madapatha, Charitha
Lechowicz, Piotr
Natalino, Carlos
Monti, Paolo
Svensson, Tommy
Networking and Internet Architecture
Information Theory
Integrated access and backhaul (IAB) is one of the promising techniques for 5G networks and beyond (6G), in which the same node/hardware is used to provide both backhaul and cellular services in a multi-hop architecture. Due to the sensitivity of the backhaul links with high rate/reliability demands, proper network planning is needed to ensure the IAB network performs with the desired performance levels. In this paper, we study the effect of infrastructure planning and optimization on the coverage of IAB networks. We concentrate on the cases where the fiber connectivity to the nodes is constrained due to cost. Thereby, we study the performance gains and energy efficiency in the presence of free-space optical (FSO) communication links. Our results indicate hybrid fiber/FSO deployments offer substantial cost savings compared to fully fibered networks, suggesting a beneficial trade-off for strategic link deployment while improving the service coverage probability. As we show, with proper network planning, the service coverage, energy efficiency, and cost efficiency can be improved.
title Joint Fiber and Free Space Optical Infrastructure Planning for Hybrid Integrated Access and Backhaul Networks
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
Information Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.20367