Integration of fiber and FSO network with fault-protection for optical access network

Abstract

In this paper, we proposed and experimentally demonstrated the integration of optical fiber and free-space optic (FSO) with fault protection for the optical access network. The proposed architecture has a fault protection or self-healing function when a link failure is occurred in the network. Thus, the proposed self-healing architecture is a promising network for improved reliability and survivability of optical network especially for the remote area when the fiber is broken or cut between each remote node (RN) and optical network unit (ONU). Moreover integration of optical fiber with the FSO network is used to increase the coverage range of the broadband wireless network and improve the flexibility of the network. In the experiment, the signal is generated by using the signal generator, and propagates through a hybrid of 25 km SMF, and FSO link and then transmitted into each ONU. Finally, we compare and evaluate the signal transmission performance of channels in terms of bit error rate (BER) and error vector magnitude (EVM) after back-to-back (BTB) transmission, 25 km SMF transmission, and after a hybrid of 25 km SMF with FSO link transmission. The experimental result proves that the hybrid of 25 km SMF with FSO link increases the communication coverage range with a reasonable performance.