Performance analysis of multiple radio-access provision in a multicore-fibre optical fronthaul

[EN] In this work we report a comprehensive experimental study targeting the dimensioning of the next-generation multicore-fibre (MCF) optical fronthaul employing space-division multiplexing (SDM). This fronthaul is capable of simultaneous provision of multiple radio-access technologies (multi-RATs) with advanced multi-antenna MIMO capabilities per RAT. The different parameters required for fronthaul dimensioning are evaluated considering state-of-the-art 4G LTE-Advanced altogether other legacy wireless standards in operation nowadays. In particular, the modulation characteristics, the antenna quality requirements (in terms of EVM, phase error or rho) and the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) thresholds are evaluated employing fully-standard cellular signals transmitted on a multicore fibre (MCF) fronthaul. The study includes bi-directional signal transmission and multi-antenna MIMO multiplexing. The MCF optical fronthaul is evaluated with a multiplexed transmission of 2G, 3G, 3.9G and 4G MIMO signals in radio-over-multicore-fibre (RoMCF) employing a commercially available four-core MCF. The SNR requirements at the transmitter antenna are obtained for each cellular signal considering GSM, EDGE, EGPRS2-A, cdma2000 1xEV-DO, UMTS HSPA+ and LTE-Advanced standards. LTE-Advanced singleantenna and two-antenna systems implementing 2 x 2 MIMO transmission can be accomplished with SNR levels over 25 dB. In the case of LTE-Advanced 4 x 4 MIMO multiplexing over four cores of MCF media, 32 dB SNR is needed to achieve almost four times provided bitrate per user.This research was supported in part by Spain National Plan MINECO/FEDER UE TEC2015-70858-C2-1-R XCORE and GVA AICO/2018/324 NXTIC projects. The work of M. Morant is supported by Spain Juan de la Cierva, Spain IJCI-2016-27578 grant and Fundacion BBVA Leonardo 2018 HYPERCONN project.Morant, M.; Llorente, R. (2019). Performance analysis of multiple radio-access provision in a multicore-fibre optical fronthaul. Optics Communications. 436:161-167. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.optcom.2018.11.036S16116743