Performance analysis of MMW/RoF link in broadband optical-wireless access networks

In this paper, we investigate the performance of a millimeter-wave (MMW) radio-over-fiber (RoF) link, which is used to provide high data-rate and flexible connections in next-generation broadband optical-wireless access networks. The mixed optical fiber/wireless channel is assumed to be a dispersive and fading channel. Other physical layer impairments including noise and nonlinear distortion are also included in our analysis. The numerical results show that fiber dispersion and fading are key factors that limit the link performance. Therefore, dispersion shifted fibers should be used to reduce the effect of dispersion so as to improve the bit-error rate. To mitigate the effect of multipath fading, the remote radio heads (RRHs) or users should be located as near the remote antenna unit (RAU) as possible.