W-band real-time transmission utilizing a reconfigurable RAU for NG-PON networks

In this article, we propose and test a reconfigurable Remote Access Unit (RAU) to interface optical and W-band wireless communication links (75-110 GHz), utilizing optical heterodyne signal upconversion. The RAU is composed of a tunable local oscillator, narrow optical filter and a control unit. The RAU can be software-reconfigured to select a specific dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) channel. Real-time tests with 100 GHz spaced DWDM signals have been performed. Real-time 2.5 Gbit/s error free radio transmission in the 75 GHz to 95 GHz range of the W-band was achieved after 15 km of standard single mode fiber and 50 m of wireless link.