PER and EVM measurements of a radio-over-fiber network for cellular and WLAN system applications

This paper investigates the transmission characteristics of an optical signal that is modulated by a radio-frequency signal using an electroabsorption modulator (EAM). The transmission performances of the radio-over-fiber (ROF) system were evaluated at cellular bands of 900 MHz, 1.8 GHz, 1.9 GHz, and 2.1 GHz and at ISM bands of 2.4 GHz and 5.8 GHz for wireless local area network and intelligent transportation systems applications. Error vector magnitude (EVM) and packet error rate (PER) measurements were carried out to evaluate the performance. Bias voltages of the EAM and bias currents of a distributed feedback laser diode were varied for the evaluation of the optical power measurements.