We envision the application of optical Space-division Multiplexing (SDM) to
the next generation fiber-wireless communications as a firm candidate to
increase the end user capacity and provide adaptive radiofrequency-photonic
interfaces. This approach relies on the concept of fiber-distributed signal
processing, where the SDM fiber provides not only radio access distribution but
also broadband microwave photonics signal processing. In particular, we present
two different SDM fiber technologies: dispersion-engineered heterogeneous
multicore fiber links and multicavity devices built upon the selective
inscription of gratings in homogeneous multicore fibers.Comment: 4 pages, 20th International Conference on Transparent Optical
Networks (ICTON), Girona (Spain), 2017. arXiv admin note: text overlap with
arXiv:1810.1213