Astrophotonics-assisted 5G communication system within radio astronomy areas without introducing RFI effects

Abstract

We have demonstrated spectrum sharing and coexistence between a 5G network and a radio telescope without causing interference to the radio astronomer. This was realized by using optical heterodyning between two distributed feedback (DFB) semiconductor lasers as a flex-spectrum photonic RF transmitter. The 5G network was designed to identify and avoid any radio frequency interference (RFI). The generated 5G RF carrier signal is used as the primary RF data carrier for the 5G network. A second RF signal, acting as noise signal, is introduced to the 5G network using an electrical mixer. When the frequencies at the mixer ports are the same, an error signal is generated which triggers the control circuit of the 5G network to correct for the RFI by shifting the primary RF data carrier of the 5G network to a new RF carrier frequency. An impressive RFI correction time of about 3 milliseconds was recorded.