Enabling Next-generation Gbps Full-duplex Communications Systems Applying Radio- and Power-over-Fiber Integration
Letícia Carneiro de Souza, Tomás Powell Villena Andrade, Felipe Batista Faro Pinto, Eduardo Saia Lima, Francisco M.P., Evandro L. Anderson, Arismar Cerqueira S.
Abstract
We experimentally demonstrate the integration of radio-over-fiber (RoF) and power-over-fiber (PoF) technologies to enable simultaneous data and power transmission for the next generation of full-duplex communications systems . Our approach is based on a dedicated individual fiber scenario, in which data and power signals are transmitted through independent optical fiber links within the centralized radio access network (C-RAN) architecture, giving rise to a radio- and power-over-fiber (RPoF) system. The PoF system, operating over a 500-m multimode fiber (MMF) link, delivers a stable electrical power of 2.73 W with power transmission efficiency (PTE) of 22% and global efficiency of 10%. Given these capabilities, the PoF system could effectively power an RoF module, which comprises both transmitter and receiver components, i.e., a laser diode (LD) and low-noise amplifier (LNA) for uplink operation and a photodetector (PD) and electrical amplifier (EA) for downlink operation, respectively. Regarding data transmission , the performance of the 3.5-GHz downlink and 2.1-GHz uplink is evaluated in terms of root mean square error vector magnitude (EVM RMS ) using the 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) requirements as reference. Additionally, a comparative analysis is carried out between the PoF-powered full-duplex system and a conventionally-powered counterpart. Both systems performed similarly, with no significant difference in their respective EVM RMS results, demonstrating the PoF potential. Overall, the RPoF system is able to achieve throughput of 3.2 Gbps and 1 Gbps for the downlink and uplink, respectively, using 16-QAM, resulting in a combined maximum throughput of 4.2 Gbps when both directions are considered.