Power-over-fiber technologies using double-clad fibers for remote antenna units in mobile networks

Abstract

In future mobile networks, it is expected that more and more remote antenna units will be used, especially densely populated areas. To improve the ease of installation and operation of these remote antenna units with high availability, power-over-fiber technologies utilizing optical fibers have attracted much attention. In particular, this paper introduces power-over-fiber using double-clad fibers as a means of supplying electric power to drive a remote antenna unit. Double-clad fibers comprises a single-mode core and a much larger inner cladding core surrounded the single-mode core. This scheme enables us to provide not only broadband transmission into the single-mode core, but also high-power transmission into the inner cladding using a single optical fiber. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of this scheme, our group’s experimental demonstration of over 40-W electric power transmission with data signals is introduced. This paper also discusses the latest trends and future prospects of power-over-fiber technologies.