Uplink and downlink of RF signals using optical frequency multiplication in radio over fiber

Abstract

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an upconversion, downconversion signal in radio-over-fiber (RoF) systems. Upconverter consisting of an optical interleaver and a semiconductor optical amplifier. With this upconversion technique, RF frequency ranging from 15 GHz to 42.5 GHz, shows negligible dispersion-induced carrier suppression effects, which are usually observed for an optical double-sideband RF signal. This system provides high conversion efficiency ,large spurious free dynamic range. This paper describes the practical implementation of a RoF downlink employing the principle of OFM. OFM enables the use of only lowfrequency electro-optical components at the headend. This helps to reduce the RoF system costs, while providing high-frequency operation at the RAU. Furthermore, the ability of the OFM system to distribute RF signals with different fibre infrastructure is also experimentally investigated.