Integrated Wireless-PON Access Network Architectures

Integrated Wireless-PON Access Network Architectures i Abstract Next generation access networks should be able to cultivate the ongoing evolution in services and applications. Advancements on that front are expected to exhibit the transformation of high definition television (HDTV) and 2D services into ultra-HDTV and individual interactive 3D services. Currently deployed passive optical networks (PONs) have been certified to be able to deliver high quality video and internet services while in parallel broadband wireless standards are increasing their spectral efficiency and subscriber utilisation. Exploiting the benefits of both by providing an integrated infrastructure benefiting from the wireless mobility and ease of scalability and escalating bandwidth of next generation PONs are expected to offer service providers the business models justifying the evolved services. In this direction, this thesis deals with the means of transparent routing of standard worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX) signal formats over legacy PONs to and from wireless end users based on radio over fibre (RoF). The concept of frequency division multiplexing (FDM) with RoF is used for efficient addressing of individual base stations, bandwidth on-demand provisioning across a cell/sector, simple remote radio heads and no interference with the baseband PON spectrum. Network performance evaluation, initially through simulation, has displayed, in the presence of optical non-linearites and multi-path wireless channels, standard error vector magnitudes (EVMs) at remote radio receivers and bit error rates (BERs) of 1E-4 for typical WiMAX rates bidirectionally. To provide enhanced scalability and dynamicity, a newly applied scheme based on extended wavelength band overlay over the splitter, wireless-enabled PONs has been progressively investigated. This allows for the routing of multiple FDM windows to different wavelengths resulting in significantly reduced optical and electrical component costs and no dispersion compensation over the fibre. This has been implemented through the application of a dense array wave guide grating (AWG) and tuneable filter in the optical line terminal (OLT) and optical network unit/base stations (ONU/BSs) respectively. Although with the use of a splitter the distribution point of the optical network remains largely the same, vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL) arrays provide colourless upstream transmission. In addition, an overlapping cell concept is developed and adopted for increased wireless spectral efficiency and resilience. Finally, an experimental test-bed using commercially available WiMAX transceivers was produced, which enabled repetition of the simulation outcomes and therefore confirmed the overall network performance. Acknowledgments Integrated Wireless-PON Access Network Architectures