High-Capacity 5G Fronthaul Networks Based on Optical Space Division Multiplexing

Network slicing architecture for SDM and analog-radio-over-fiber-based 5G fronthaul networks

“…The analog waveform that is destined for the air interface, i.e., that is to be radiated towards the end users, can be transported as analog signal over the optical fiber either at baseband (potentially with separated I and Q streams), at an intermediate frequency (IF) or as RF signal at the target radio frequency. While for the traditional radio bands below 6GHz the use of RFoF is common and easily possible within the available modulation bandwidth of optical modulators, for the mm-wave bands introduced in 5G this is not necessarily the case and intermediate frequency over fiber (IFoF) becomes the preferred option to limit the required modulator bandwidths and minimize spectrum usage [4]. At the RRU, therefore, a final upconversion is required to the targeted RF frequency, which can be performed by electrical upmixing or -as proposed in blueSPACE -through the use of optical heterodyning.…”

“…In this paper we focus on an alternative 5G fronthaul net-work solution developed in the blueSPACE project that is based on combining Space Division Multiplexing (SDM) and Analog Radio over Fiber (ARoF) technologies [3]. SDM is the key technology to overcome the capacity requirements for the 5G fronthaul transport between the RRUs and the BBUs [4]. SDM can be deployed by making use of the already deployed bundles of single mode fibers, or by exploiting the spatial dimension of the multi-core fibers (MCF).…”

Digitized Radio-over-Fiber Transceivers for SDM/WDM Back-/Front-Haul

“…This implies DRoF technology to be upgraded in order to guarantee its scalability while meeting its stringent capacity/latency requirements [1]. This may come with a simple adaptation of DRoF to space division multiplexing (SDM) by deploying multicore fibers (MCFs) [2]. This approach does not only deal with the network external plant, but also with the architectures for central office (CO) and cell sites (CSs).…”

“…Thus, DRoF-B is proposed as a long term solution, when fully flexible connections are expected. These two solutions will be encompassed with the network evolution, which is expected to gradually acquire more functionalities as the blueSPACE network concept (including SDM) is adopted [2].…”

“…We also review the programmability and interaction with the control plane. Also, we discuss a possible architecture to generate the different radio signals from the DRoF based on direct RF conversion in combination with optical beamforming using the blueSPACE analog radio over fiber (ARoF) transceivers [2] and a suitable optical beamforming network (OBFN). Fig.…”