A Novel Architecture for Peer-to-Peer Interconnect in Millimeter-Wave Radio-Over-Fiber Access Networks

A novel peer-to-peer (P2P) interconnection architecture in a 60-GHz millimeter-wave (mm-wave) radio-over-fiber (RoF) access network is proposed for the first time. In this scheme, the beating of the lightwaves for downlink and P2P transmissions at the photodiode (PD) can provide signal up-conversion for both signals. Phase noise and frequency instability between the two independent lightwaves can be eliminated by a self-heterodyned radio frequency (RF) receiver (envelope detector) located on the user terminal, which can also downconvert simultaneously the two mm-wave signals to their associated intermediate frequencies. No high-frequency clock sources or other high bandwidth devices are required for signal up/down-conversions. A proof-of-concept experimental demonstration has also been carried out. Error-free transmission of the 1-Gb/ signals is achieved over 50km fiber (downlink) or 25-km fiber (P2P) plus 4-m air link.