450 Gbps Low-cost Intensity Modulation with Direct Detection (IM/DD) Wave Length Division Multiplexing (WDM-PON) for 5G Fronthaul

Abstract

This work designs an eighteen-channel bidirectional Intensity Modulation with Direct Detection (IM/DD) Wavelength Division Multiplexing-Passive Optical Network (WDM-PON) system. The proposed system meets the requirement of the ITU-T 5G fronthaul link suggested design in G-series Recommendations-Supplement 66. The newly designed system, with a 25Gb/s/λ data rate (450Gbps as a system capacity), has been tested and simulated using OptiSystem V.19 software. The system has been evaluated by the BER with respect to variable the optical span and CW laser power. Based on the ITU-T recommendations, the simulation results demonstrate that this system might be used as an F1 and as an Fx 5G fronthaul link for functional split choices starting from options 1 to 7a. These options are required under 25Gbps/λ for each upstream and downstream link direction. Furthermore, the proposed system utilized a bidirectional single-mode optical fiber within short optical spans of up to 10 km. The proposed system is characterized by a low-cost, simple, DSP-free and amplifier-free system with a reasonable system capacity.