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Executive summary 3
Latency – a key experience driver 4
Why does latency matter to users? 4
Why reduce latency? 5
Why 1 s overall latency experience translates into a 50 6
ms two way network response time
Networks have to be even faster 7
Real time services 8
Advanced network concepts build on low latency 9
Performance gain of intersite co-ordination depends on 10
latency
Throughput: The higher the achieved bandwidth, the 11
lower the latency
Radio and backhaul evolution to meet future latency 11
requirements
Proximity: Bring content and processing power closest to 13
the user
Shorten the real path through the network 14
Optimizing queuing to minimize router delay 14
LTE for device to device communication 14
Control: From reaction to automated prediction and 15
network level orchestration
Application-aware networks. Network-aware applications 16
Dynamic Experience Management (DEM) - supplement 17
reaction with prediction
Network level orchestration 17
Control the endpoints 18
SDN to dynamically control networks 18
Conclusion 19
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Executive summary
Network latency refers to the time taken by a network to respond to an action
initiated by an end-user through any application. The growing number of
real-time apps will demand that end-to-end network latency be reduced to
milliseconds, so there is no perceivable lag for end users while browsing or
watching videos, playing games or even controlling a drone or robot from a
mobile device. Achieving millisecond latency is a major challenge as it reflects
orders of magnitude reduction from latency values measured in today’s
mobile networks.
The latency of networks is an important measure of quality of service. As
latency rises, users’ quality of experience of many applications declines and
could lead to churn.
Lowering latency is an important way in which operators can differentiate by
improving the overall customer experience of existing and future applications
with the chance to charge them at a premium, providing new monetization
opportunities. Today’s video services, web browsing and gaming are all
latency-sensitive. Advanced gaming applications in particular can require
latencies below 10 milliseconds to achieve a good experience.
In fact, reducing latency is even more critical for operators to launch the next
wave of applications such as augmented reality, virtual reality and dynamic
machine type communications (e.g. car to car), as they will simply not work
properly if network delays are too high. In addition, the booming use of the
cloud by enterprises and consumers for all kinds of services means that
‘networks’ act as a bridge between users and services, and thus need to have
instant response times.
Minimal network latency is also critical to exploit the benefits of advanced
network design concepts that require fast coordination and transmission
between different network entities, including the Centralized Radio Access
Network (RAN) and inter-site coordination.
Today’s mobile broadband networks typically contribute a substantial
portion of the overall response time that many users experience. There is
considerable scope for operators to reduce the sources of network-induced
delay, primarily in three focus areas – throughput, control and proximity.
• Throughput: The latest innovations in radio and backhaul reduce latency
drastically by providing higher throughput, eliminating the bottlenecks that
cause delays. Examples include Dual Connectivity with Carrier Aggregation,
which connects a device to two LTE base stations at the same time,
maximizing the bandwidth available to a service, Coordinated Multi Point
(CoMP) and smart scheduling.
• Control: As well as merely increasing capacity, it is vital to introduce
some control to manage the traffic more effectively. Technologies such
as Quality-of-Service (QoS) differentiation, policy control across network
domains, real-time analysis, preventive actions and Self-Optimizing
Networks (SON), together with Software Defined Networking (SDN), allow
Page 3 networks.nokia.com
latency-sensitive traffic to take a different path through the network or
receive preferred treatment over plain data transfers, automatically and
efficiently.
• Proximity: Latency is about proximity, the physical distance and the number
of involved network entities that data must traverse. Although caching of
content can work for some applications, apps such as cloud gaming demand
instant responses, which cannot be cached. The answer is to move the
processing and storage for time-critical services closer to the edge of the
network.
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Dynamic machine type communications (MTC) are also increasingly common.
These include applications such as car to car, auto pilot pre-crash warning
and collision detection/prevention. Other latency sensitive mission critical
MTC applications are telesurgery, railway surveillance and smart grid demand
response.
In addition to the well-known voice and video services, an increasing number
of real-time apps will test the performance of networks. These apps will also
increasingly rely on fast access to cloud content. Applications containing video
will account for nearly 70 percent of mobile traffic by 2020. (Source: Cisco
Virtual Networking Index 2014).
Secondly, minimal network latency is critical to exploit the performance
enhancements provided by advanced network concepts that require fast
coordination and transmission between different network entities, including
the Centralized Radio Access Network (RAN) and LTE Advanced features with
inter-site or inter-cell coordination.
Page 6 networks.nokia.com
for the network - the two-way response time should be less than 50 ms to
achieve a 1 s overall latency.
1 ms max. 20 ms 20 ms
processing transmission processing
10 ms max. 20 ms 10 ms
decoding transmission encoding
Figure 1. Response time and network budget for enterprise cloud application
and online gaming
Page 7 networks.nokia.com
The perceived latency of services comprises processing in the user
equipment, in systems at the server side and travel through the network. Thus
the network performance has to be much better than the desired or required
overall value. With more demanding services and related improvements in
clients and servers, efforts to reduce latency will focus even more on the
network.
Awareness of how latency affects the customer experience has motivated
over-the-top (OTT) providers to tailor their messaging protocols to minimize
latency over today’s networks. However, since the biggest factors affecting
latency are in the networks, operators are better placed to address the issue
and also potentially benefit commercially by reducing latency.
Grid protection 10 ms
Machine to
Car pilot 40 ms machine
interaction
HF Trading << 1 ms
1 ms 10 ms 100 ms 1,000 ms
For mobile networks its a challenge to meet Nokia 4G global average
the latency values for real-time services mobile networks * mobile networks **
* Field measurements 2013 ** Cisco Global Cloud Index White Paper 2013
Page 8 networks.nokia.com
Advanced network concepts build on low latency
A 3GPP feature roadmap has been developed to improve Radio Access
Network (RAN) performance, but also affects fronthaul and backhaul latency
requirements. New RAN concepts provide tight site and cell interworking and
precise synchronization to improve the performance of available network
resources. This becomes particularly essential in dense deployments, where
interference is a major issue and power and spectrum need to be used most
efficiently.
One of these concepts is Centralized RAN (C-RAN), which links together
multiple base stations and uses interference to achieve throughput gains,
especially in dense traffic areas with a large number of smart devices. It
doubles the average uplink capacity across a cell, while uploads at the cell
edge can be up to ten times faster.
C-RAN builds on the real-time availability of information from several radio
receivers at the central site in addition to the inter-site coordination.
The concept depends on low latency connections between remote radio sites
and the central site. Functions co-located in traditional site architectures
are separated and some are pooled in a central site, but still need to be as
tightly coupled as before. To achieve the required latency values of less than
1 ms between the radio sites and central baseband functions, dedicated fiber
channels are needed for the fronthaul.
Page 9 networks.nokia.com
Performance gain of intersite co-ordination depends on
latency
CoMP and its newer development enhanced COMP (eCoMP), which can turn
interference into a useful signal and boost capacity and performance at the
cell edge, can only benefit from inter-site alignments if the backhaul latency
is very low. Depending on the conditions, the threshold for benefitting
from inter-site over intra-site eCoMP can be as low as a few milliseconds.
Simulations and proof of concept tests show that with 1-2 ms latency, inter-
cell scheduling can achieve around 10 percent cell-edge gain over intra-cell
scheduling. Yet, with a backhaul latency of only 10 ms, gains were negligible.
Today, latency values of 100 ms for the backhaul may still be adequate.
However, for forthcoming throughput and efficiency targets, the gain from
coordination of neighboring radio sites or cells will be essential. The actual
gain depends strongly on the latency of the connection between these sites,
particularly when the devices are moving.
This means that low backhaul latency is a key enabler to exploit the benefits of
advanced RAN features.
*Research simulation and PoC, 1-2 ms latency provides ca. 10% cell-edge gain **from measurements in live network and lab simulations
After understanding the importance of latency reduction, the question is, how
do we solve the latency challenge? The Nokia Networks approach is to focus
on more effective bandwidth, optimized proximity and network control, with
latency as one of the key performance indicators (KPIs).
Page 10 networks.nokia.com
Throughput: The higher the achieved
bandwidth, the lower the latency
Put simply, in most cases, the bigger the pipe available to an application, the
lower the latency. Yet simply overprovisioning bandwidth is not efficient and
often not possible and it is not the nominal bandwidth or channel capacity of a
network that is important, but the throughput or achieved, usable bandwidth
for a particular application. The achieved bandwidth can be dramatically
smaller than the nominal bandwidth for a number of reasons, leading to
higher perceived latency.
Millions of users or connected things mean that most network resources are
shared, potentially leading to congestion, packet loss and the challenge of
optimal prioritizing or scheduling, taking into account Quality of Service (QoS)
rules.
Queuing and processing in network nodes also affects the throughput for
certain higher traffic load conditions.
Another consideration limiting the throughput is that protocols for reliable
transmission with acknowledgements, such as TCP, have limits on the usable
bandwidth. These stem from the need to avoid exceeding the network
capacity and receiver capacity. Many methods of optimization are employed
and network vendors are working on enhancing protocols. Self-aware and
dynamically self-optimizing networks can use these methods to greatly
improve the throughput.
Page 11 networks.nokia.com
radio resources, increasing the probability that appropriate capacity can
be allocated. Research is underway on even more advanced hybrid multi-
connectivity to substantially improve the throughput, particularly for mobility
use cases where a user device is moving between radio cells.
Steady innovation in the protocol area, especially in the radio domain, will also
increase the throughput. In addition, Nokia Smart Scheduler is being further
developed in its role of smartly assigning spectrum in the LTE RAN for best-in-
class downlink and uplink latency experience.
Self-aware networks automatically optimize their performance based on
measurements, analysis, pattern comparison and corrective measures. These
principles, proven for the RAN, can also be applied to transport networks for
higher achieved bandwidth or throughput and thus reduced latency for a
service.
A Nokia Networks study shows that fiber deployments aimed at providing
broadband access to households and enterprises in many countries will
also become available to many radio sites. This provides a large amount of
bandwidth in addition to advanced, flexible microwave solutions and can
reduce latency where other technologies have reached their limits.
Page 12 networks.nokia.com
Proximity: Bring content and processing
power closest to the user
There is one absolute constraint on latency - distance and the speed of light.
A user located in Europe accessing a server in the US will face a 50 ms round-
trip time, due simply to the physical distance involved, no matter how fast
and efficient the network is. The only way to improve this will be to reduce
the distance between devices and the content and applications they are
accessing.
Today’s content distribution networks already provide storage functionality,
or caching, at the peering points in the network and are suitable for static
content. However, many future applications such as cloud gaming depend on
dynamically generated content that cannot be cached. This means that both
the processing and storage for time-critical services needs to be moved closer
to the edge of the network.
An example solution of how to make use of proximity is Nokia Liquid
Applications which implements the principle of ‘Mobile-edge Computing’
by placing applications and services in close proximity to where people and
objects connect, enabled by the Radio Applications Cloud Server (RACS). The
RACS enables localized processing, content storage and access to real-time
radio and network information in the base station. By turning their base
stations into local hubs for service creation and delivery, operators can offer
a service experience that is local and personal and works hand-in-hand with
existing charging, messaging and location-based services.
Another promising development is Software Defined Networking (SDN).
Applied to mobile network functions such as gateways, SDN can bring
applications and network resources closer to the end user. A Proof of Concept
with a large Asian operator showed that, in advance of a planned large event,
with many visitors expected from another region or country, the network can
be adapted to better cope with the traffic from these users.
Connections can be reconfigured via software to account for the increased
traffic between home and event domains. The known top applications used
by visitors or the special applications for the event can also be provided from
a local data center to reduce cross-domain traffic. Network resources in the
event domain, where the probability of overload is high, can be increased
by configuring free resources or using the resources of less critical network
functions.
Page 13 networks.nokia.com
Shorten the real path through the network
In addition to geographical proximity, it is important to consider and minimize
the real end-to-end network path, which can be much longer than the
geographical distance might indicate. The reduction in the number of involved
entities along the path through the network is an effective way to reduce
latency considerably.
For example, even when a client device and a web server being accessed are
both in the same city, if a distant peering point is involved, data must travel a
long distance and thus create unexpectedly high RTT values.
Reducing the number of hops should also be considered as a first measure
to simply reduce the number of network elements in the path processing the
signal. This can also be achieved through architecture evolution that leads
to fewer network elements for a domain, as the evolution of RAN from HSPA
to LTE showed, or when protocol evolution means that higher layers of the
protocol are processed in fewer elements.
Page 14 networks.nokia.com
The key advantage of mobile broadband networks with LTE is that it provides
all the options of proximity depending on the needs - services or content from
the cloud would be delivered as usual via the mobile broadband network. For
time-sensitive services, latency can be as low as 10 ms with proximity, while
still being able to exchange information over a distance of several 100 meters
or kilometers. For instant reaction, direct communication between devices can
also be supported by LTE.
* Milliseconds matter for accidents, HERE and Nokia Networks explain
(http://360.here.com/2014/09/10/milliseconds-matter-accidents-here-
nokia-networks), LTE edge computing advances Connected Car road hazard
alerts (https://blogs.nsn.com/mobile-networks/2014/09/10/lte-edge-
computing-advances-connected-car-road-hazard-alerts)
Figure 5. Proximity bringing content and processing power close to the user
Page 15 networks.nokia.com
Overprovisioning bandwidth in all network domains is simply not efficient.
Good network design in combination with smart adaptation of the network are
needed to optimize latency under real, dynamic conditions such as changing
traffic loads, along the end-to-end path in the network.
Page 16 networks.nokia.com
Dynamic Experience Management (DEM) - supplement
reaction with prediction
It has long been proven that QoS differentiation enhances service experience,
such as video streaming, as our White Paper “Netflix over a QoS enabled LTE
network”, February 2013, shows. As research results indicate, an analytics
server will be able to measure and analyze the Quality of Experience (QoE)
from big data and to make decisions in real-time. Nokia research has achieved
23 ms from request to action in a recent proof of concept project.
Tactile applications, safety solutions (car to car) or mobility solutions will
increase latency requirements beyond the technically feasible reaction time.
The only way forward is to supplement fast reaction with insight-based,
preventive QoS-ensuring action. At the same time, the availability of insights
from devices and network elements and the increasing ability to evaluate such
big data in real-time, means applications will be ever more aware of optimized
devices, networks and conditions.
Advanced analytics will make it possible to predict user or device movement
and the location of coverage holes, overloaded areas or other critical
conditions. This knowledge will be applied to dynamic LTE traffic steering and
Wi-Fi offloading as well as other dynamic control methods, such as automated
backhaul transport configuration using SDN, to adapt the network in advance.
The key for best latency experience as part of the QoE is a fast loop control
with predictive elements for each session or service. Measurement, analytics,
decisions and related actions have to happen all in real-time to ensure that
the network is optimized according to current and expected conditions and
defined targets.
Nokia Dynamic Experience Management (DEM) focuses on the user’s
experience, including measured and perceived latency, and addresses all
elements of the optimization process. The principles and architecture are
thoroughly tested and proven.
Page 17 networks.nokia.com
and deciding the measures needed to meet the desired network performance,
including latency values.
Page 18 networks.nokia.com
Conclusion
Low latency is essential to offer a quality experience for many services such
as video streaming and online gaming. It will become even more important
for new applications such as augmented reality, virtual reality and dynamic
machine type communication. It is also necessary to realize advanced
concepts that boost network performance, which are based on inter-site or
inter-cell coordination.
Reducing latency requires increasing the throughput, absolute control of
network resources and putting processing assets nearer the users. Low
latency is a chance for operators to differentiate, while it also introduces new
revenue opportunities.
As the awareness of the value of low latency traffic increases, the service
quality can be charged at a premium, providing network operators with new
monetization options. An example of this was the early 2014 agreement
between Netflix and Comcast and Verizon to get faster streaming video
connection for Netflix users.
Most of the technologies to drive down network latency to the required
level exist today. For latency values of single-digit milliseconds and even
less, network architecture evolution, new concepts and technologies will be
needed, as the ongoing discussions on 5G technologies are revealing.
Page 19 networks.nokia.com
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respective owners.
Nokia
Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
P.O. Box 1
FI-02022
Finland
Visiting address:
Karaportti 3,
ESPOO,
Finland
Switchboard +358 71 400 4000
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