On supporting multiple radio channels over a SCM-Based distributed antenna system: A feasibility assessment

Abstract

The emerging distributed antenna system (DAS) network commonly uses optical fibre as the transmission medium of radio signals sent to/from the remote antenna locations from/to a central unit. As in all access networks, the cost factor is a very critical issue and the maximization of network resource sharing is essential to optimize deployment costs. Resource sharing can significantly benefit from high spectral efficiency DAS networks, where multiple radio channels are transported by a single wavelength. This type of DAS is suitable for delivering future services to the end-users, since they require high bandwidth radio channels, or even several channels serving the same antenna site, when multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) is supported. Therefore, the aim of this work is to analyze the use of sub-carrier multiplexing to transport multiple high-bandwidth channels over a single wavelength, evaluating the feasibility of the system by simulation and experimentally.