Subcarrier Multiplexing RF Plans for Analog Radio Over Fiber in Heterogeneous Networks

• Published in: Journal of lightwave technology Vol. 34; no. 16; pp. 3859 - 3866
• Main Authors: Giorgi, Luca, Bruno, Gianmarco, Nijhof, Jeroen, Urban, Patryk J., Vall-llosera, Gemma, Ponzini, Filippo, Ladvanszky, Janos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 15-08-2016; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Intermodulation distortion; nonlinear distortion; optical communication; Optical fiber cables; Optical fiber devices; Optical fiber networks; Optical fibers; Radio frequency; subcarrier multiplexing (SCM)
• ISSN: 0733-8724; 1558-2213
• DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2016.2581883

Analogue Radio over Fibre together with subcarrier multiplexing and wavelength division multiplexing is proven to be more cost-efficient when compared to CPRI fronthaul solutions. Furthermore, the results of the allocation of RF channels to better exploit the available modulation bandwidth of commercial transceivers show that the uniformly spaced channel plan is bandwidth efficient but susceptible to interference. The ITU-T G.692 plan results in much higher tolerance to interference but it is more bandwidth consuming. Finally, the proposed `mind the gap' RF channel plan shows an acceptable compromise between bandwidth consumption and robustness against intermodulation interference.