Upcoming perspectives and future challenges for ROF

B. Charbonnier, H. Le Bras, P. Urvoas, Q.T. N'Guyen, M. Huchard, A. Pizzinat

Next Generation Optical Access France Tlcom R&D Lannion, FRANCE benoit.charbonnier@orange-ftgroup.com
Abstract The potential use of radio over fiber techniques (RoF) is analyzed and discussed in the context of recent large scale optical fiber deployments in Europe for broadband access but as well in the context of home or in-building networks to provide very high data rates to the end-users in harmony with expected evolution of broadband connections. Main challenges for RoF include the current evolution toward an all IP network, the rapidity with which networks evolve and the lack of standardization work.

I. INTRODUCTION Optical networks are developing extremely rapidly in Europe [1][2]. They are spreading fast to provide broadband access. Their usage is now well established to interconnect remote base stations for mobile communications. The use of optical fiber for distributed antenna systems in building is accepted today and is even spreading to the homes thanks to new, easy to use fibers such as Plastic Optical Fiber (POF) [3]. We will review first in the following paragraphs the use of optical fiber for access networks and the potential for radio over fiber (RoF) over these infrastructures. Then we will turn to the use of optical fiber in homes. Finally we will discuss three main challenges that RoF must respond to in order to become a widely adopted technique. II. OPTICAL ACCESS CONVERGENCE

Figure 1: Expected growth of FTTH connected houses in Europe (source: Heavy Reading July 2006).

A massive deployment of fiber for access is considered today in Europe where the number of fiber to the home (FTTH) connected houses is expected to rise above 13M by 2011 [1] with CAPEX investments in the next ten years estimated to be between 10.4 and 11.3 billion Euros [2]. 70% of this sum is engineering work for the actual fiber installation. Today, only 1.5% of the 79 million European broadband users are optically connected but this figure is expected to rise substantially in the coming years (Figure 1) similarly to what is currently seen is Asia. In France, FTTH connection costs are estimated to be around 2000 in most densely populated areas (i.e. Paris) and rising to 5000 for average density areas [4]. This is the most expensive connectivity solution among all the others (WiFi Hot spots, xDSL, WiMAX, etc). Nevertheless, it is the technology of choice by all operators because of the large bandwidth provided and its ability to meet all potential future

Figure 2: Evolution of the number of broadband lines in Asia-Pacific Region depending on technology. Optical Fibre (FTTP) is the main driver (source: OVUM 2006).
Mobile Network Metro Network
Central Office

Mobile signal distribution

PON

Fixed Wireless Access

PON signal + FemtoCells

Figure 3: Passive Optical Network Infrastructure convergence for broadband, Fixed Wireless Access and Mobile Networks.

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bandwidth demands. For instance, IDATE has identified 139 optical fibre current deployments in Europe. As well, we can refer to the current trend in Asia (Figure 2) where the FTTx deployments more than compensate the decline in deployments using other broadband connection methods (DSL, cable etc) [5]. Current cost model for optical access (i.e. revenue streams identified) considers only the broadband connections to end users (plus telephony and video on demand) but it is clear that this fibre infrastructure can be used to distribute, at the same time, other signals such as Mobile telephony (and data) and Wireless Access such as WiMAX (Figure 3) [6][7][8][9]. Even TV signals are considered for distribution in order to replace advantageously cable operators and allow for penetration in densely populated areas. This is very important as the fiber installation costs are very high and, as a result, must be shared between revenue streams which must be diversified. As well, the engineering and legal burden to install the fiber must be carried by as many services as possible. In this context and because mobile signals and WiMAX are, by nature, analogue radio signals, the use of RoF to distribute these over the FTTH infrastructure offers an enormous potential and may be a very strong factor affecting the future deployments of fiber. The question is as well whether it is economical compared to digitally transmitting the data over the fiber then converting it into a radio signal at the remote base station. In any case, the potential of such techniques must be envisaged. III. HOME NETWORK CONVERGENCE

UTP cables). Optical fiber seems to be the only medium capable of offering much larger bandwidths and, as a result, being able to guarantee a long life span to the network infrastructure and justify the work associated with the installation of a new cable. Furthermore, the principle of using an optical fiber into the home is seen as a natural evolution of the optical access. On top of these requirements, users have developed a strong taste for wireless connectivity (ease of use, flexibility etc) and will require that future connectivities evolve to higher data rates while staying wireless. The only radio technology whose capacity approaches 1Gb/s is Ultra Wide Band (UWB) [11][12] and although different variations exist, it is becoming clear that the main requirements of these emerging high capacity radio links are a large spectral bandwidth occupied and a short distance over which they can achieve the expected data rates (< 10 m). The main consequence of this fact is the necessity of deploying several radio access points to cover the whole home (Figure 4). The radio home networks will then become a multicellular network where the cell interference and management issues are similar to that of larger scale mobile/radio networks. In this context, again, the use of the optical infrastructure to link the different remote antennas and the potential offered by radio over fiber to provide a cost effective and flexible solution must be considered. Another added value for radio over fiber is the potential to transparently distribute, in parallel with the UWB signal mentioned above, other conventional baseband data signals (GbE etc..) or other radio signals throughout the house such as mobile signals (UMTS, 3G etc) or different standards of WiFi (e.g. IEEE802.11n [13]) [14]. The important point is the mutualisation of the infrastructure that RoF achieves. On a more technical level, RoF has been demonstrated over many types of optical fiber even the possibility of reusing legacy multimode fiber has been demonstrated [15] proving the potential of such a technique to reuse already installed infrastructures. IV. CHALLENGES FOR ROF

Today it is forecasted that a well connected home will need an internal network working at speeds of 1 Gb/s by 2010 [10]. This is a consequence of: The multiplication of connected devices (i.e. computers, media centers, media renderers etc). The multiplication of services available to the end user (i.e. domestic storage area network, videophony and video conferencing, TVoIP, ToIP, etc). The increase in media storage space necessary (and available) for various digital media (video, photo and audio). This speed requirement is at the limit of the potential of current wired solutions (e.g. power line communications or

Today, the introduction of RoF has been performed in several niche markets such as the provision of in-building mobile and wireless access systems (distribution of 3G mobile signals or WiFi coverage) or antenna remoting in satellite communication systems. To increase the penetration of RoF in the network several challenges have to be addressed. The first challenge to address is the current access and in house network evolution which tend to use one single protocol (e.g. IP) to aggregate and convey the digital data of the different services (ToIP, TVoIP, UMTSoIP etc) [16]. This trend is contrary to the use of RoF in the network as, in this case, different protocols are used in parallel and the services are transported transparently on their native protocols as much as possible. However, an all-IP network evolution may not be entirely desirable as the prioritisation of traffic to respond to the increasing services diversity will be extremely difficult to realise. This is being reinforced by the rapidly evolving situation where there is a constant introduction of new

Bedroom
1Gb UWB

Office

1Gb UWB

3G Phone

Optical infrastructure

Lounge
1Gb UWB

LDR UWB House control NAS HDTV DVR HiFi

1GbE + UWB Gateway

FTTH
1GbE DL >>100Mb/s UL >>100Mb/s

Figure 4: Very High Data Rate Home Area Network supported by an optical infrastructure

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services, interfaces and standards each requiring their own specific quality of service. As well, the network resource being limited, it is already required to provide dynamic network functions to preserve universal service access. This difficulty will be reinforced by generalising the single protocol approach. The second challenge for RoF in access networks come from the necessary mutualisation of the optical infrastructure between the different network types which may have different evolutions. For instance, in the context of PONs, the possibility of reducing drastically the number of Central Offices (CO) by a factor greater than 10 will enable large OPEX cost saving and enormous effort on this topic is deployed by major telecom operators such as British Telecom [17] or France Telecom [18]. The extension and fusion between the Access and Metro networks is being planned today. A scenario for using RoF over current Access Networks architectures must be defined but, on top of this, a scenario for the introduction of RoF over Metro-Access networks must be prepared. The challenge is then to demonstrate the cost savings that will be realised today by using RoF to deploy Mobile and Wireless Access over current optical infrastructures but as well how these cost savings will evolve when the access networks evolve. The third challenge we can identify is the lack of standardisation for RoF. Some very preliminary work has started at the IEC SC46F/TC103 WG3 [19] to establish and maintain the standard specifying measurement methods for microwave and millimeter-wave to photonic converter, which are used in RoF communication systems. At present time, the techniques and architectures used in RoF are very diverse and the adequate solutions must be identified collegially between the different actors in this sector (operators, system suppliers and component manufacturers) in order to push for the most adapted solutions and increase the deployment opportunities. V. CONCLUSION

industrial and academic partners through national and European projects. We would like to acknowledge: BILBAO: broadband infrastructure for UWB over fiber very high data rates home networks (National project) TECHIMAGES: multi-connectivity hybrid very high data rate home networks (National project) IPHOBAC [20]: optoelectronic components for millimeter wave applications (European project) E-Photon ONE+ VD-A and VD-H [21]: future access and home network architectures (European network of excellence) REFERENCES
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[7]

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[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

The current massive deployments of optical fiber for access in Europe are a very fertile ground over which RoF could spread. They represent an ideal scenario that could enable RoF to be used on a large scale both for access and home networks. The technical potential of such a technique applied in this context is well established but RoF must prove its worth in a context which favors unified protocol approach and who is evolving very fast. As well standardization is key to enabling large scale deployment of RoF systems. ACKNOWLEDGMENT We explore the potential of RoF for access and home networks on the basis of collaborative studies along with

[15]

[16] [17]

[18]

[19] [20] [21]

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