Hybrid Fiber Wireless (HFW) Extension for GPON Toward 5G

A seamless hybrid fiber‐wireless (HFW) architecture represents an alternative access technology that is especially beneficial for customers living in rural and underdeployed regions. As for the optical infrastructure, gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology is widely used nowadays in Europe and around the globe. GPON is a leading technology for passive optical networks. This chapter describes the key components required to build coherent radio‐over‐fiber radio access units (RAUs) for extending the reach of a GPON network. The target of the field trial was to verify that the developed RAUs work in a real life telecommunication environment. The chapter discusses the development of RAUs for transparently bridging a GPON network using an E‐band wireless point‐to‐point link. Some novel key photonic and electronic components required for seamlessly converting the optical baseband signals to E‐band wireless signals and vice versa are developed. The low‐cost goal of the wireless GPON extension system mandates deep integration of the active components.