New innovation approach called -centralized radio access network
(Cloud-RAN or C-RAN) - architecture is developed to meet the
explosive growth in mobile traffic in the 5th generation (5G) mobile
networks especially in the need of high-speed, high capacity, realtime
data, and high-reliability. In C-RAN architecture, fronthaul
networks connect between the radio units called -Remote Radio
Heads (RRHs)- and the processing unit called -Base Band
Processing Unit (BBU)-. Recently, hybrid free space optics (FSO)
and millimeter waves (mmW) network is considered to be a
promising solution that can match with the requirements of 5G
fronthaul networks. In this paper, hybrid FSO/mmW links at each
RRH is proposed to enhance the performance of C-RAN fronthaul
network at various weather conditions. The performance of hybrid
FSO/mmW technology as a fronthaul network is evaluated at
different weather conditions and compared to other technologies.
The numerical results reveal that improvements are obtained in
network reliability using hybrid FSO/mmW fronthaul network,
especially at severe weather conditions.