Implementation and performance investigation of radio‐over‐fiber systems in wireless sensor networks

We report the performance investigation and implementation of four different radio‐over‐fiber (ROF) systems as backhaul for wireless sensor networks based on frequency shift keying modulation at 915 MHz. Its applicability was experimentally verified as a function of packet error rate, received signal strength indicator, and system reach. Furthermore, a performance noise analysis was carried out by taking into account the optical transmitter and receiver parameters, such as: equivalent input noise, noise figure, relative intensity noise, laser wavelength, and output power. The implementation of the proposed technical solution implies in a outstanding enhancement in the system reach, management, and flexibility. It has been achieved an improvement of 17.45 dB in the system performance by using high‐quality pieces of equipment of ROF technology.