Transmission of RF and Microwave Signals by Optical Fiber

Jean-Pierre VILCOT, Christophe LETHIEN

Institut d'Electronique, de Microélectronique et de Nanotechnologie, UMR CNRS 8520
Transmanche Centre for Telecommunications Research
Université des Sciences et Technologies de Lille
Avenue Poincaré, BP 69
59652 Villeneuve d'Ascq cedex FRANCE
jean-pierre.vilcot@iemn.univ-lille1.fr

Abstract as a relay for these signals. The second one is more

We will present the different indoor
applications and relative device requirements for the
transmission of RF or microwave signals by optical
means. Systems are based on the picocell distribution
scheme which uses the remote antenna concept
consisting in a base station which optically feeds several
remote antenna units. Two kinds of systems can be
distinguished. The first one deals with RF signals in the
1 GHz to 5 GHz frequency band and is mainly dedicated
to the optical transport of mobile communication bands
(GSM, DECT, DCS, UMTS, Hiperlan,…). The second
one is more advanced and is based on an optically
generated micro- or even millimeter wave signal (40
GHz and 60 GHz frequency bands); the achievable data
bitrate could be then as high as several hundred of
Mbits/s.
1. Introduction
advanced and is based on an optically generated micro-
or even millimeter wave signal (40 GHz and 60 GHz
frequency bands); the achievable data bitrate could be
then as high as several hundred of Mbits/s and up to the
Gbits/s. These systems are dedicated to the transfer of
huge amount of data within the same building such as
hospitals or banks. They can act as stand-alone internal
systems without any external connections.
Base
station
Remote Picocell
Antenna
Unit
fiber

Radio over Fiber (RoF) systems use optical

carriers to distribute micro- or millimeter-wave signals.
Such systems are used on applications, such radars, on
several kilometers spans. An interesting use of these
systems in telecommunications is to distribute wireless
telecom signals all over an indoor or shadowed area. In
that case, multiple access points are needed on a
coverage zone that is typically less than 1km diameter Figure 1. Schematic of radio over fiber picocellullar
wide. The concept is then declined as a picocellular indoor system.
system in which each elementary cell covers a maximum
of some hundreds of meters. But most of time these We will now describe these systems depending
elementary cells will cover a unique space or room on the frequency range they use: (i) RF over fiber
(figure 1). The coverage of a building can then be done systems up to 5 GHz and, (ii) millimeter-wave systems
using a base station which receives/emits signals either for 40 or 60 GHz range systems.
by hertzian or fiber optics systems and distributes them
to a multitude of remote antenna units which are 2. RF over fiber systems
optically fed. These antenna units deliver the downlink
signals and receive the uplink ones in their picocell area. 2.1. General considerations
Two kinds of systems can be distinguished. The
first one deals with RF signals in the 1 GHz to 5 GHz For indoor or shadow area coverage of mobile
frequency band and is mainly dedicated to the optical communications systems, picocellular systems are fine
transport of mobile communication bands (GSM, alternatives since they allow distributing signals where
UMTS, Hiperlan,…). In that case, the RoF system acts global distribution systems are ineffective. Their

0-7803-8482-2/04/$20.00 ©2004 IEEE. 1

coverage range is some tens to hundred meters. A typical
system uses a base station which optically fed remote
antenna units with the RF signal which is modulated on
the optical carrier. Since the coverage is rather small,
electromagnetic pollution can be greatly reduced since
emitted RF power can be 30 dB lower than for classical,
i.e. 20 mW in spite of 20W.
This optical carrier is carried on optical fiber up
to the remote antenna units. Three types of optical fiber
can be distinguished, each of them corresponding more
or less to a specific wavelength of the optical carrier: (i)
single mode fiber (SMF) for mainly 1300 nm, (ii)
multimode fiber (MMF) for mainly 850 nm, and (iii)
polymeric optical fiber for visible or even infrared
wavelengths. This does not prevent the existence of
"cross-mixed" systems such as the use of multimode
fiber at 1300nm.
Whatever the optical carrier and wavelength
are, the transmission of signals can also been done using
mainly three main schemes:
- data over fiber. The received mobile telecom
signal is received and the data are extracted (A/D).
These data are use to modulate the optical emitter (OE).
At the remote antenna unit, once detected (EO) they
modulate again (D/A) a RF carrier (LO) that is locally
generated (figure 2). This scheme adds complexity and
cost in each remote antenna due to the embedded
required electronics. Anyway, it is the less stringent on
optical link requirements since only the data stream (few
tens of Mbits/s) is carried on it. MMF is a cost effective
solution here but obviously SMF can be used.
Remote antenna unit
Base station
IF
RF
A/D EO OE D/A
MMF
˜ ˜
LO SYNC LO
Figure 2. Data over fiber transmission scheme
- RF over fiber. This is the simplest way of
implementation as well as the lower cost for the remote
antenna units. The RF signal directly modulates the
emitter and is directly re-emitted at the remote antenna
unit (figure 4). But this scheme requires enhanced
performance for the optical emitters and receivers since
they have to transmit the carrier frequency of the mobile
telecom signals, i.e 900 MHz for GSM band, 1800 MHz
for DCS, 2 GHz for UMTS,….
Basestation
Base station
RF
EO OE
Figure 4. RF over fiber transmission scheme
In the following, we will consider the last case,
i.e. RF over fiber since it is potentially THE low cost
solution owing to the fact that very few electronics are
required within the remote antenna units. This solution
will be even more effective if transmission can be done
on MMF that constitutes the main part (more than 90%)
of the pre-installed fibers in buildings for gigabit
ethernet applications. The modal characteristic of this
kind of fibre (bandwidth of 50/125 MMF: 500 MHz.km)
restricts the system bandwidth: in fact, there is a lot of
propagated modes in the fibre which interact. Therefore,
we demonstrated that it is possible to overcome this
limitation even transmitting complex modulation
schemes (32 QAM) on a RF sub-carrier (2 GHz) trough
1 km of MMF at 1.3µm [1]. On figure 5, the
constellation as well as the eye diagrams of such a signal
RF
is represented before and after the optical transmission.
As it can be observed, no real degradation appears even
considering the bandwidth of the optical fibre is 500
MHz.km.

- IF over fiber. The received mobile telecom

signal is down-converted to a lower frequency and the
resulting IF signal is sent through the fiber. At the
remote antenna unit, this IF signal is mixed with a local
oscillator one to re-generate the RF signal (figure 3).
This scheme adds lower complexity at remote antenna
units that the previous one since only RF circuitry is
needed. Same comment as above concerning the type of
fiber that can be used.

Remote antenna unit

Base Base
station
station

RF IF RF
EO OE
Figure 5. Constellation (top) and eye (bottom)
˜ ˜
LO LO
diagrams of a 32 QAM signal on 2 GHz RF carrier
before (left) and after (right) its transmission on a
Figure 3. IF over fiber transmission scheme MMF based RoF system [1].

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2.2. Required devices
Data or IF over fiber systems do not require the
development of new devices, current commercially
available ones fulfill their needs. As we saw, RF over
fiber is particularly interesting since it can lead to cost
effective remote antenna units. Nevertheless, since the
carrier frequency of wireless systems can reach 5 GHz,
some developments are still needed. The direct
modulation of laser diodes is commonly used. This kind
of modulation can be made either on VCSELs or edge
emitting devices since commercially available
components allow such high modulation rates. Optical
detectors with such bandwidths are also available.
Taking into account the bi-directional aspect of
the RoF system, the MMF compatibility and the overall
system cost, it is interesting to evaluate breakthrough
devices that can relax the need of optical emitters in the
remote antenna units. The Electro-Absorption Modulator
(EAM) can be used as a detector for the downlink and a
modulator for the uplink assuming alone all the
functionalities that are required at the remote antenna
unit [2] (Figure 6)
Remote antenna
Base station unit
EO
downlink
E
A
M
OE
uplink
Figure 6. Optimized RoF scheme using an EAM
device at the remote antenna unit.
Several devices have already been reported for
infrared wavelength and SMF [3]. In order to benefit of
potential lower costs of 850 nm wavelength and MMF
systems, such a device is currently under investigation.
Ac t iv e MQW s t ru c t u re
S iO2 s u bs t rat e
Figure7. 850 nm transmission type electro-
absorption modulateur transferred on SiO2
substrate.
0-7803-8482-2/04/$20.00 ©2004 IEEE.
It is composed of a MQW structure which
realizes the electro-absorption modulator at λup and the
detector at λdown. The uplink wavelength λup (continuous
wave) is generated within the base station and
distributed to each remote antenna unit avoiding the
need of optical emitter in these.
In order to get a transmission type device,
GaAs substrate shall be removed since it is absorbing at
850 nm. Once device fabricated, its substrate is removed
and its active part is transferred onto a silica substrate
(figure 7) [4]. Some interesting developments could be to
move to higher wavelength where GaAs substrate is no
more absorbing but GaAs material line materials are
optically active, i.e. 980 nm.
Polymer optical fiber (POF) could be
potentially used for data over fiber transmission
schemes. But, up to now, no real development is made
on that. Main advantage of POF is its simplicity of use.
2.3. System performance
Right now, all existing systems are working at
infrared wavelengths either on SMF (RF over fiber) or
MMF (data or IF over fiber) systems. Some commercial
links are listed at the end of the references chapter.
3. Millimeter-wave over fiber systems
3.1. General considerations
Picocellular systems are also studied using
higher frequencies such as 40 or 60 GHz. The main
problem is here to generate the millimeter wave within
the remote antenna unit since either direct or external
modulation can not be used (due to modulation
bandwidth limitation and chromatic dispersion in the
fiber) to optically launch the microwave carrier signal
into the system. All these systems have been studied at
1550 nm and with SMF, up to now. Several schemes of
carrier generation have been developed that can be
roughly separated in two families.
The first one is mainly using "electrical"
solutions: a "low" frequency (i.e. 7 GHz) is transmitted
via the fiber using, for example, direct modulation of a
laser diode; once detected, this carrier is electrically
multiplied (i.e. x8) to create the millimeter wave (56
GHz) carrier, the baseband data are generally sent on a
different fiber and mixed at the remote antenna unit [6]
(Figure 8). Three wavelengths are used transporting
respectively, the downlink data (λ0), the downlink
millimeter-wave subharmonic (λ1) and the uplink data
(λ2). No specific optoelectronic component is required
and systems can be built with already commercially
available devices, main developments are reported on
the electronic part. In that case, remote antenna units are
not specifically low cost since they require a lot of
3
electronics but dedicated integration rules can lower the synchronization such as Optical Phase Locked Loops
cost. (OPLL) [7] or Optical Injection Locking (OIL) [8] to
reduce this effect.
The OIL technique (figure 9) is may be the
simplest way to achieve optical phase lock of two lasers:
Mod. IQ Transducer
a "master" laser is modulated with a subharmonic of
fi
λ0 Down link λ0 fi U/C requested millimetre-wave carrier (fmm/n), a part of its
data DFB Det. x
fdown
output power his launched in a "slave" laser which
λ1 λ1
l.o. DFB Det. x n flo frequency corresponds to one of the harmonic sidebands
fsub λ2 λ2 fi’ which are generated by the "master" laser; this locks the
Up link
~ Det.
fi’
x
"slave" laser emission wavelength to the "master" one.
Laser D/C fup
To demodulation Main disadvantage of that technique is a low detuning
fi D/C

Base station
x range. A technique combining the two above mentioned
fdown
Mobile

Modem ones, the Optical Injection Phase Locked Loop (OIPLL)

IQ ~ flo
fup [9] technique allows to gather the advantages of those
fi’
x two but results in a very complex system to handle.
U/C

So, several solutions including master-slave

Figure 8. Millimeter-wave over fiber using electrical laser arrangements, optical phase loops,… have been
frequency multiplication within the remote antenna reported. Nevertheless, no real compact and versatile
unit. solutions have been reported today.
The other principle which is widely used for
3.2. Required devices
creating millimetre-wave at the remote antenna unit is
based on optical heterodyning. Two optical carriers (one
On the contrary of RF over fiber systems, the
of these two is modulated with data) mix within the
development of specific optoelectronic components is
photodetector and generate a frequency which is directly
required here. As examples, the best results on master-
the difference of their own respective frequency. High
slave laser arrangement have been obtained using
detected power as well as high frequencies can then be
specifically fabricated laser devices or complex
generated. The other advantage of this solution is that it
arrangement of more or less on-the-shelf components.
reduces greatly the chromatic dispersion effect due to the
Except for the first solution where compactness
optical path within the fibre which acts lowering the
and performances can be achieved by integrating
phase noise of received signals (important for OFDM or
electronics, the heterodyne generation scheme needs still
QPSK type phase modulated data).
some device developments.

fmm/n
Photodetection requires high bandwidth and if
possible high power detector capabilities. This allows
generating high power millimeter-wave signals limiting
fopt1 fopt1 fopt2 fopt1 fopt2
even avoiding the need of electrical amplification. Such
detectors have been studied and fabricated; they are
"master"
Laser
declined as traveling-wave (TW-PD) [10] and uni-
(fopt1) traveling carrier (UTC-PD) [11] photodetectors.
polar. Mod.
att.
diffusion light
barrier absorption
layer region
"slave" carrier
e-
Laser
P+ collecting
(fopt2)
Sub-harmonic
PP layer
Oscillator (fmm/n)
data
I
h+ I
Figure 9. OIL technique principle. The space- N+
synchronization signal coming from the "master" charge
laser is launched in the "slave" laser using an region
optical circulator.
Figure 10. Schematic band diagram of UTC-PD
The main drawback of that solution is that the
two optical carriers shall be phase correlated in order to UTC-PD's seem the most promising and cost
lower the phase noise of generated millimetre-wave effective devices for RoF systems. A UTC-PD (figure
signal. This leads to add complex structures of 10), contrary to a classical PIN photodiode absorbs light

0-7803-8482-2/04/$20.00 ©2004 IEEE. 4

in the P-doped region. As a consequence, photo-
generated holes response is governed by the dielectric
relaxation time which is very short. So, only
photogenerated electrons travel into the undoped layer
leading to a quick response time and, by the way, to the
name of that device. Cut-off frequencies greater than
100 GHz and millimeter-wave power greater than 0 dBm
are commonly achieved. Some devices are commercially
available since soon.
The emission of a dual-mode optical spectrum
requires specific devices. Even considering the OIL
technique which is represented on figure 8, it can be
seen that the "slave" laser is not so classical since an
optical input is needed for the laser device. This means
that it is ever a standard (one output) telecom device
without any optical isolator or a specific device (one
input, one output) with adequate facet coating.
Focusing on semiconductor based solutions
since they are the best candidates to provide compact
systems, specific semiconductor laser sources can also
be investigated. As examples, dual mode DFB devices
have been made either in in-line [12] or Y [13]
configuration. More recently BiVCSEL structures have
also shown some potentialities [14]. As an example of
OIL technique, the electrical spectrum of detected signal
at the photoreceiver output (figure 11) is shown when the
system is unlocked (free-running) and locked. The
behavior of the locking system is obvious.
Injection locked
-20
-40
dBc/Hz
Free running
-60
-80
-100
17.8 18.0 18.2 18.4 18.6 18.8
Frequency (GHz)
Figure 11: Photogenerated spectrum from a dual
source laser using OIL technique [13].
Some research is made on polymer fiber which
is investigated as transport medium at 1300nm [5] but
right now, research is beginning using POF or GIPOF.
3.3. System performance
Millimeter-wave over fiber systems have been
widely studied. Nevertheless, no commercial product is
today available mainly for two reasons: (i) affordable,
reliable and compact components are not currently
available mainly concerning the dual-mode optical
source that has to be included in the base station, (ii) no
significant demand on high bitrates has encouraged the
development of this missing block.
0-7803-8482-2/04/$20.00 ©2004 IEEE.
However laboratory experiments have showed
very interesting results such the transmission of 140
MBits/s ASK and 68 Mbits/s DPSK signals modulated
on a 36GHz carrier error free and without any
amplification on a 65 kms span using an OIPLL
generation scheme [9, 15, 16]
4. Conclusion
RF over fiber systems are currently available
under different forms. Anyway the cost effective
solution which consists in transmitting directly the RF
modulated signals on a MMF network still needs some
developments in order to cover all the mobile
telecommunications standards from GSM 900MHz to
Hiperlan/2 around 5GHz.
Millimetre-wave over fiber systems can provide
large data bitrates. The carrier frequency requires huge
bandwidth detectors and possibly large output power in
order to minimize the remote antenna electronics. Such
kind of devices are not or few commercially available
but their development is enough mature to envisage
production. The critical point is concerning the
millimeter-wave optical generation. Research
demonstration has showed the feasibility of pure
millimeter-wave carrier generation. Nevertheless, these
systems need the development of either new devices or
integration solution in order to be affordable and reliable
in commercial systems.
However, the "all electrical" solution using the
transmission of a subharmonic of the millimeter-wave
carrier frequency has shown reliable results. Few
developments in millimeter-wave circuits can quickly
lead to commercial systems;
5. Acknowledgements
19.0
Parts of this work are supported under
"ROSETTE" British-French INTERREG III and
"NEFERTITI" Vth PCRD Network of Excellence
European projects.
Authors want also to thank D. Wake from
Microwave Photonics for fruitful discussions.
6. References
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5
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Links to commercial existing systems:
- data over fiber (MMF or SMF)
Digivance™: http://www.adc.com/Library/Literature/1646.pdf
- IF over fiber (MMF)
LGCell: http://www.lgcwireless.com/products/lgcell.html
- RF over fiber (SMF)
BriteCell®: http://www.andrew.com/products/inbuilding/
FiberDAS™: http://www.avitec.se/files/pdf/FiberDAS/
FiberDas.PDF
6