60 GHz UWB-over-fiber system for in-flight communications

An impulse-radio ultra-wideband (IR-UWB) radio-over-fiber system targeting in-flight communications in the 60 GHz band is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Baseband monocycles at 1.244 Gbit/s data rate with 3.8 GHz bandwidth are optically generated and up-converted in frequency to 57 GHz employing a Mach-Zehnder electro-optic modulator in nonlinear regime. The performance of the up-converted IR-UWB signal after the transmission in a cabin installation of 100 m of standard single-mode fiber is studied. The results show that excellent quality IR-UWB pulses are obtained after the in-cabin fiber transmission.