A scalable and continuous-upgradable optical wireless and wired convergent access network.

Area of Science:

• Telecommunications Engineering
• Optical Networking
• Wireless Communication

Background:

• Existing optical access networks face limitations in scalability and future-proofing for increasing bandwidth demands.
• The need for higher frequency wireless services (60 GHz and beyond) necessitates advancements in network infrastructure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a scalable and continuously upgradable convergent optical access network architecture.
• To enable future-proof wireless services beyond 100 GHz with minimal central office modifications.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing a multi-wavelength coherent comb source and a programmable waveshaper at the central office (CO).
• Generating optical millimeter-wave (mm-wave) signals across a wide frequency range (baseband to > 100 GHz).
• Employing wavelength separation for desired mm-wave frequencies, with user-side upgrades limited to the optical networking unit (ONU).

Main Results:

• Demonstrated wired data rates of 17.45 Gb/s.
• Achieved W-band wireless data rates up to 3.36 Gb/s.
• Successful transmission over 40 km of single-mode fiber (SMF).

Conclusions:

• The proposed network provides a scalable and continuously upgradable solution for current and future wireless service needs.
• Centralized control and waveshaping offer system stability and ease of adding new services and users.
• The architecture allows for cost-effective future upgrades by only modifying the ONU.