64-GHz millimeter-wave photonic generation with a feasible radio over fiber system

Abstract

A full-duplex radio over fiber (RoF) link with the generation of a 64-GHz millimeter wave (mm-wave) is investigated. This system is proposed as a solution to cope with the demands of a multi-Gb/s data transmission in the fifth generation (5G) and beyond for small cell networks. Cost reduction and performance improvement are achieved by simplifying the mm-wave generation method with an RoF technique. High-frequency radio signals are considered challenging in the electrical generation domain; therefore, our photonic generation method is introduced and examined. RoF design is proposed for mm-wave generation using both phase modulation and the effect of stimulated Brillouin scattering in the optical fiber for the first time. RoF system with transmission rates of 5 Gb/s is successfully achieved. In our scheme, one laser source is utilized and a fiber Bragg grating is used for wavelength reuse for the uplink connection. Stable mm-wave RoF link is successfully achieved in up to a 100-km fiber link length with high quality carrier. Simulation results show a reduction in fiber nonlinearity effects and the mm-wave signal has low noise equal to −75 dBm. This study ensures a practical mm-wave RoF link, and it could be appropriate for small cell 5G networks by reducing the installation cost.