Towards high capacity and low latency backhauling in 5G: The 5G STEP-FWD vision

This paper presents the vision of the 5G STEP-FWD project, funded by the European Commission, with the objective to propose a novel optical-wireless networking solution for the provision of high speed connectivity to end users. The features of the new architecture, based on the utilization of Ultra-Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing Passive Optical Networks as the backhaul network, providing access to hyper dense mmWave networks, are presented in detail. Moreover, the research challenges to meet the 5G requirements in terms of low latency, spectral and energy efficiency are highlighted, followed by the description of way the project 5G STEP-FWD is going to address them.