Radio over Fiber (RoF) Transmitter Architecture for Fronthaul 5G and beyond Networks

Abstract

We propose a linearized cost-effective radio-over fiber (RoF) downlink transmitter architecture for centralized radio access networks (CRANs) based on the near-millimeter wave range. A linearized Mach-Zehnder Modulator (MZM) is employed to reduce the distortion resulting from the detection process of the photodiode. The proposed RoF architecture can be employed as a fronthaul for 5G and beyond networks, where a downlink transmitter architecture that uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) is employed in a system where the signal processing is centralized at a baseband unit (BBU) rather than at the remote radio heads (RRHs). The outcomes of the simulation show that the suggested linearized CRAN transmitter design is well-suited for 5G and future networks.