Anguel Nikolov, nikolov@apichip.com
Apic Corporation, 5800 Uplander Way, Culver City, CA 90230-6608, USA
Abstract:
Using a highly linear fiber optic transceiver with IIP3 > 35 dBm, operating at noise level of -160dB/Hz, we demonstrate 71 km RF over Fiber LTE-Ultra transmission links with five 20 MHz intra-band aggregated carriers for a total of 100 MHz with 3% Total EVM (rms) for 64QAM modulation. Results meet the ≤ 8% requirement for 64QAM set in 3GPP specification 36.104 for signal transmission between base station and remote radio head. This demonstrates that the CPRI/OBSAI transmission layer can be completely eliminated and replaced with much higher bandwidth, lower cost and lower power direct RF over Fiber LTE transmission. The technology can be implemented using wavelength division multiplexing and offers a solution for implementing next generation 5G fronthaul Cloud Radio Access Networks with BBU to RRH separation exceeding 100km.