Implementation of a Hybrid FiWi System Using FSO, VLC and mm-Waves Toward 6G Applications
Celso Henrique de Souza Lopes, Tomás Powell Villena Andrade, Luiz Augusto Melo Pereira, Antonella Bogoni, Evandro Conforti, Arismar Cerqueira S.
Abstract
This letter presents an experimental investigation that integrates various technologies, such as fiber-wireless (FiWi), free-space optics (FSO), and visible light communication (VLC), as a network physical layer solution to meet the requirements for 5G and beyond scenarios. The implemented architecture is centered on the concept of a centralized radio access network (C-RAN), utilizing 20 km of optical fiber followed by an FSO link as the fronthaul of the network, with a focus on last-mile applications. In the access network, a 2-meters reach 5G New Radio (NR) mm-wave link operating at 39 GHz was simultaneously deployed with a VLC transmission utilizing quadrature amplitude modulation (M-QAM) at 550 MHz. The experimental results demonstrate a satisfactory coexistence among these technologies, achieving a total data throughput of 4.92 Gbit/s. The proposed architecture underwent evaluation based on the root mean square error vector magnitude (EVM textsubscript RMS) requirements specified in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 18.