Radio-on-radio-over-fiber: efficient fronthauling for small cells and moving cells

A combination of fiber and radio links would be attractive for efficient fronthauling to small cells and moving cells. However, achieving connectivity by using wired-wireless media converters significantly increases system complexity, power consumption, and latency. A seamless combination of fiber and radio links in which photonics-based technologies are used to generate and transmit radiowave signals is more suitable. In this article, we present an overview of fiber-radio link combination for mobile signal transmission. We propose an efficient solution for future mobile fronthauling based on the analog transmission of mobile signals over a bidirectional seamless system. We discuss the potential as well as the challenges and perspectives of the systems applied for mobile fronthauling in small-cell- and moving-cell- based networks. We also present a proof-of-concept demonstration of the transmission of mobile signals over the system. Satisfactory performance is obtained for different high-speed advanced signals. The transmission range over fiber links and the estimated range of the radio links are sufficiently long to facilitate the practical implementation of the system. The system is scalable to include new deployments of small cells and wireless services using wavelength-division and subcarrier multiplexing techniques. It can provide a high-speed, low-latency, and flexible solution for fronthauling in new emerging wireless systems such as 5G networks.