12. 24–26  GHz radio-over-fiber and free-space optics for fifth-generation systems

Jan Bohata, Matěj Komanec, Jan Spáčil, Zabih Ghassemlooy, Stanislav Zvánovec, and Radan Slavík, Opt. Lett. 43, 1035-1038 (2018)

https://doi.org/10.1364/OL.43.001035

This Letter outlines radio-over-fiber combined with radio-over-free-space optics (RoFSO) and radio frequency free-space transmission, which is of particular relevance for fifth-generation networks. Here, the frequency band of 24–26 GHz is adopted to demonstrate a low-cost, compact, and high-energy-efficient solution based on the direct intensity modulation and direct detection scheme. For our proof-of-concept demonstration, we use 64 quadrature amplitude modulation with a 100 MHz bandwidth. We assess the link performance by exposing the RoFSO section to atmospheric turbulence conditions. Further, we show that the measured minimum error vector magnitude (EVM) is 4.7% and also verify that the proposed system with the free-space-optics link span of 100 m under strong turbulence can deliver an acceptable EVM of <9% with signalto- noise ratio levels of 22 dB and 10 dB with and without turbulence, respectively.