Single Optical Micro-Ring-Resonator-Based Fading Compensation for Single-Sideband Modulated Radio over Fibre Link

Radio-over-fibre (RoF) technology has emerged as a key enabler for next-generation millimetre-wave (mmW) wireless-communication systems, as it features high-data-rate and long-range capabilities as a result of the high bandwidth and low attenuation, respectively. However, RoF links are susceptible to unwanted fading effects due to fibre’s chromatic dispersion (CD), especially mmW communication links. In this paper we propose and investigate a simple approach to compensate the signal fading in RoF links using a single optical micro-ring resonator (MRR) enabling single-sideband (SSB) modulation. However, this approach faces temperature-induced instability in practice, which we also address. By utilizing the otherwise unused drop port of the MRR we provided a feedback signal to the closed-loop control system that operates to interlock the laser-carrier and MRR resonant wavelengths. We show that our proposed scheme effectively mitigates the fading effects and improves the overall performance of mmW RoF links. Furthermore, we investigate the practical implementation aspects and potential applications of the proposed compensation scheme in next-generation RoF-mmW communication networks. Overall, this study contributes to advancing the understanding and practical realization of efficient fading compensation techniques in RoF links and paving the way for improved performance and reliability in emerging mmW wireless-communication systems.