Aviat Networks
Aviat Networks is the leading pure play microwave, software and services provider, with unrivaled microwave expertise. Learn more about our end-to-end transport solution portfolio in our corporate presentation.
Mobile backhaul networks today support Ethernet microwave transport for 3G and 4G wireless technology services alongside legacy 2G and 3G TDM-based microwave equipment. However, as late as 2009 these wireless network services were solely TDM transport. One of the primary benefits of moving to Ethernet microwave transport has been the inherent statistical multiplexing (stat mux) gains. Stat mux relies on the fact that not everyone is “talking” at the same time and when they do, their IP radio packet sizes are variable, whereas networks based on TDM have to be provisioned statically for peak rates to individual wireless microwave sites.
With the advent of Ethernet, the typical practice is to oversubscribe all the wireless network services (based on individual peak rates) knowing that there is a statistical improbability of hitting the peak rate across all your wireless communication towers at the same exact moment.
Now enter video streaming where data is “streamed” between two wireless communication points over a sustained period (e.g., 30-second YouTube video clips, Skype HD Video Conferencing, Netflix movies). The sustained aspect of these video streams begins to strain the overall stat mux paradigm. Not only does video remain sustained but also it uses large-size IP radio packets that do not vary greatly. VoIP does the same thing, but the effect is much less significant as the overall bandwidth utilization is much lower.
Oversubscription becomes more challenging the more active video streaming is at any given moment. Imagine a scenario where the latest cat-playing-a-piano video gets posted online and everyone starts viewing it at virtually the same time. For a large swath of bandwidth, stat mux will reach zero for approximately four minutes. The upside is that you can add more bandwidth and/or offer differentiated wireless network services levels that guarantee certain bandwidth or application performance. Even so, video streaming does not totally negate the benefits of an Ethernet microwave transport, it just needs to be properly understood and managed to ensure a consistent user experience across all applications and services for your global wireless solutions.
Steve Loebrich
Director of Product and Solutions Marketing
Aviat Networks
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.