Hybrid FSO/mmWave based Fronthaul C-RAN Optimization for Future Wireless Communications

Cloud radio access network (C-RAN) architecture is actively considered as a major candidate for future wireless communications. The aerial communication network such as high altitude balloon (HAB) is used to transport the fronthaul among radio transceivers and processing units. Both free space optic (FSO) and millimeter wave (mmWave) are promising technologies, but each one has its impairments that affect its efficiency under different weather conditions. So, a hybrid channel is considered to match with the requirements of fronthaul networks. This paper aims to optimize the hand over process between FSO and mmWave channels to maximize the sum data rate for the fronthaul in C-RAN architecture. The problem is formulated as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. The mathematical programming is applied on the hybrid transmission technology FSO/mmWave channel. The obtained numerical results indicate the potential of hybrid FSO/mmWave channel in counteracting the effect of different weather conditions.