Multi-Format Wired and Wireless Signals over Large-Core Plastic Fibers for In-home Network

Abstract

This paper presents successful simultaneous transmission of an IEEE802.11n 16-QAM 40 MHz bandwidth WLAN, 9 64-QAM LTE-A bands, and a 1.7 Gb/s 4-PAM baseband signal over 50 m of 1-mm core diameter graded-index polymethyl methacrylate plastic optical fiber. The optical link is an intensity modulation with direct detection link, using a Fabry Pérot laser diode emitting visible light at 650 nm and a p-i-n Silicon photodiode followed by a transimpedance amplifier. The signals were simultaneously transmitted using frequency division multiplexing. The radio signals were sent transparently over the optical link by analog radio over fiber technique. The LTE-A peak power was reduced by digital signal clipping at the transmitter side, which results in error vector magnitude values complying with the standard. Furthermore, the noise figure of the optical link was measured and its impact on the received signal is analyzed. After the optical link, the radio signals were re-emitted over an indoor line-of-sight wireless link up to 12-m distance.