Non-Standalone 5G NR Fiber-Wireless System Using FSO and Fiber-Optics Fronthauls

The fifth-generation of mobile networks (5G) claims for a radio access network (RAN) update in order to support the enormous incoming wireless data traffic. In this context, we experimentally evaluate two distinct hybrid architectures applied to 5G New Radio (NR) FiWi systems based on different optical fronthaul approaches. The first architecture operates in non-standalone (NSA) mode, defined by the 3(rd) generation partnership project (3GPP), for simultaneously transmitting 4G and 5G technologies through an unique FiWi system. The three considered waveforms are as follows: a filtered orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (F-OFDM) signal at 778 MHz with 10 MHz bandwidth from our 5G flexible-waveform transceiver; a long-term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) signal with five 20 MHz sub-bands centralized at 2.24 GHz; a 5G NR signal at 2.35 GHz with 100 MHz bandwidth. On the other side, the second architecture employs radio over fiber (RoF), free space optics (FSO), and wireless technologies converged into a heterogeneous network (HetNet). The additional multi-standard and multiband optical-wireless network is based on a 10-MHz bandwidth F-OFDM signal at 788 MHz, a 100-MHz bandwidth 5G NR signal at 3.5 GHz, and a 400-MHz bandwidth M-QAM signal at 26 GHz. Throughput up to 3 and 1.4 Gbps are demonstrated for RoF/FSO and RoF/FSO/Wireless transmission, respectively.

Automated summary

The fifth-generation of mobile networks (5G) requires an update to the radio access network (RAN) to handle the increased wireless data traffic. Experimental evaluation of two hybrid architectures for 5G NR FiWi systems based on different optical fronthaul approaches was conducted. The first architecture operates in NSA mode, while the second architecture utilizes a heterogeneous network combining RoF, FSO, and wireless technologies.