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The generation and transmission of millimeter-wave signals for 5G applications require the use of broadband and high output power photodetectors to bridge from the optical and electronic domains. Therefore, the deep knowledge on the equivalent circuit characteristics of these devices is vital. This study reviews and analyzes de-embedding techniques contributing to the characterization of the physical aspects within the active region of uni-traveling carrier photodiodes. De-embedding methods analytically remove the parasitic effects of the electrical transmission lines connected to their active area allowing the extraction of their series resistance and junction capacitance toward the synthesis of an equivalent circuit with lumped elements. The open-short technique is examined and a systematic error introduced by this process underlines the vulnerability of the method on removing parasitics with higher complexity. This error is quantified leading to the implementation of a corrected equation converging with the characteristic features of an $S$-parameter-based de-embedding. These characteristics are also analyzed through simulation approaches showing minimal equivalent inaccuracies on eliminating more complex symmetrical parasitics. A thorough comparison between these three methods is conducted through the calculation of lumped components corresponding to the active region of diodes with different sizes.

This article presents the experimental demonstration of a fully photonics-based heterodyne subterahertz (sub-THz) system for wireless communications. A p-i-n photodiode is used as a broadband transmitter to upconvert the signal to the sub-THz domain and a photoconductive antenna downconverts the received wave to an intermediate frequency around 3.7 GHz. The optical signals used for photomixing are extracted from two independent optical frequency combs with different repetition rates. The optical phase locking reduces the phase noise of the sub-THz signal, greatly improving the performance of the system when phase modulation formats are transmitted. The sub-THz carrier is tuned between 80 and 320 GHz in 40-GHz steps, showing a power variation of 21.8 dB. The phase noise at both ends of the communication link is analyzed and compared with the phase noise of the received signal with different wireless carriers. As a proof-of-concept, a 100-Mbit/s binary-phase-shift-keying signal is successfully transmitted over 80-, 120-, and 160-GHz carriers, achieving a bit error rate below 10 −5 in the first two cases. These results show the great potential of THz communications driven by photonics to cover an extensive portion of the THz range without relying on electronic components that limit the operating range of the system to a concrete frequency band.

[EN] The sixth generation (6G) mobile systems will create new markets, services, and industries making possible a plethora of new opportunities and solutions. Commercially successful rollouts will involve scaling enabling technologies, such as cloud radio access networks, virtualization, and artificial intelligence. This paper addresses the principal technologies in the transition towards next generation mobile networks. The convergence of 6G key-performance indicators along with evaluation methodologies and use cases are also addressed. Free-space optics, Terahertz systems, photonic integrated circuits, softwarization, massive multiple-input multiple-output signaling, and multi-core fibers, are among the technologies identified and discussed. Finally, some of these technologies are showcased in an experimental demonstration of a mobile fronthaul system based on millimeter 5G NR OFDM signaling compliant with 3GPP Rel. 15. The signals are generated by a bespoke 5G baseband unit and transmitted through both a 10 km prototype multi-core fiber and 4 m wireless V-band link using a pair of directional 60 GHz antennas with 10 degrees beamwidth. Results shown that the 5G and beyond fronthaul system can successfully transmit signals with both wide bandwidth (up to 800 MHz) and fully centralized signal processing. As a result, this system can support large capacity and accommodate several simultaneous users as a key candidate for next generation mobile networks. Thus, these technologies will be needed for fully integrated, heterogeneous solutions to benefit from hardware commoditization and softwarization. They will ensure the ultimate user experience, while also anticipating the quality-of-service demands that future applications and services will put on 6G networks., This work was partially funded by the blueSPACE and 5G-PHOS 5G-PPP phase 2 projects, which have received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 programme under Grant Agreements Number 762055 and 761989. D. PerezGalacho acknowledges the funding of the Spanish Science Ministry through the Juan de la Cierva programme.

Fifth-generation mobile networks (5G) are the solution for the demanding mobile traffic requirements, providing technologies that fulfill the requisites of different type of services. The utilization of the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band is the straightforward technique to achieve high bit rates. Moreover, analog radio-over-fiber (ARoF) brings outstanding benefits such as low cost, low power consumption, and high spectral efficiency, among others. Thereby, mm-wave ARoF is a strong candidate to pave the way for common public radio interface (CPRI) in the fronthaul for the future 5G architecture. As orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) is the adopted waveform in the 5G standard, it should be also utilized in mm-wave ARoF systems for 5G. However, phase noise is one of the most degrading factors in mm-wave OFDM ARoF systems. Therefore, in this work, an analysis of the phase noise is carried out through an experimental setup up. The configuration of this setup enables to gradually modify the final phase noise level of the system. Furthermore, an original and novel algorithm to compensate the phase noise in OFDM receivers is proposed. The performance of this algorithm is experimentally evaluated through the setup for different phase noise levels and different subcarrier spacings. The obtained results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm under those conditions, highlighting the viability of mm-wave OFDM ARoF for 5G and beyond.

This article presents an experimental demonstration of a high-capacity millimeter-wave 5G NR signal transmission with analog radio-over-fiber (ARoF) fronthaul over multi-core fiber and full real-time processing. The demonstration validates the core of the blueSPACE fronthaul architecture which combines ARoF fronthaul with space division multiplexing in the optical distribution network to alleviate the fronthaul capacity bottleneck and maintain a centralized radio access network with fully centralized signal processing. The introduction of optical beamforming in the blueSPACE architecture brings true multi-beam transmission and enables full spatial control over the RF signal. The proposed ARoF architecture features a transmitter that generates the ARoF signal and an optical signal carrying a reference local oscillator employed for downconversion at the remote unit from a single RF reference at the central office. A space division multiplexing based radio access network with multi-core fibre allows parallel transport of the uplink ARoF signal and reference local oscillator at the same wavelength over separate cores. A complete description of the real-time signal processing and experimental setup is provided and system performance is evaluated. Transmission of an 800 MHz wide extended 5G NR fronthaul signal over a 7-core fibre is shown with full real-time signal processing, achieving 1.4 Gbit/s with a bit error rate $$ < 3.8 × 10 - 3 and thus below the limit for hard-decision forward error correction with 7% overhead.

Three convergent processes are likely to shape the future of the internet beyond-5G: The convergence of optical and millimeter wave radio networks to boost mobile internet capacity, the convergence of machine learning solutions and communication technologies, and the convergence of virtualized and programmable network management mechanisms towards fully integrated autonomic network resource management. The integration of network virtualization technologies creates the incentive to customize and dynamically manage the resources of a network, making network functions, and storage capabilities at the edge key resources similar to the available bandwidth in network communication channels. Aiming to understand the relationship between resource management, virtualization, and the dense 5G access and fronthaul with an emphasis on converged radio and optical communications, this article presents a review of how resource management solutions have dealt with optimizing millimeter wave radio and optical resources from an autonomic network management perspective. A research agenda is also proposed by identifying current state-of-the-art solutions and the need to shift all the convergent issues towards building an advanced resource management mechanism for beyond-5G.

We evaluate the impact of Power-over-Fiber (PoF) technology on the fronthaul of a 5G-NR network with an Analog-Radio-over-Fiber at 25.5 GHz on a 10 km long multicore fiber. The study in this Letter analyzes the bit error rate (BER) performance for different levels of energy transmitted by the PoF system. 133 mW of maximum optical power at reception is demonstrated showing negligible BER impact or data transmission BER improvement in a dedicated and shared scenario. Comunidad de Madrid (Y2018/EMT-4892); Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RTI2018-094669-B-C32); Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (762055).

Component characterization is fundamental for understanding the limits of optical devices, sub-systems, and transmission systems. With the introduction of space division multiplexing in optical fiber transmission systems, new impairments, such as mode dependent loss and differential mode dispersion arise. Spatially-diverse optical vector network analyzers are capable of measuring these characteristics in a fast single sweep over a very large bandwidth. As a result of this large bandwidth, these analyzers are sensitive to differential chromatic dispersion within the interferometric measurement setup. This study discusses the influence and compensation of differential chromatic dispersion in such systems. Partial chromatic dispersion compensation is demonstrated to improve the representation and accuracy of impulse response measurements obtained from optical vector network analyzers for fibers and components with large differential chromatic dispersion. Analysis of a 39-core few-mode multi-core fiber is discussed, reporting variances of -2.9-0.1 ps/nm, and 0.6-6.9 ps/nm for the two mode groups, respectively, between the few-mode cores. A correlation with the total impulse response is observed. Furthermore, a maximum propagation skew of 20 ns between cores is observed after 13.6 km.

The introduction of 5G mobile networks, bringing multi-Gbit/s user data rates and reduced latency, opens new opportunities for media generation, transport and distribution, as well as for new immersive media applications. The expected use of millimeter-wave carriers and the strong network densification resulting from a much reduced cell size--which enable the expected performance of 5G--pose major challenges to the fronthaul network. Space division multiplexing (SDM) in the optical domain has been suggested for ultra-high capacity fronthaul networks that naturally support different classes of fronthaul traffic and further enable the use of analog radio-over-fiber and advanced technologies, such as optical beamforming. This paper discusses the introduction of SDM with multi-core fibers in the fronthaul network as suggested by the blueSPACE project, regarding both digitized and analog radio-over-fiber fronthaul transport as well as the introduction of optical beamforming for high-capacity millimeter-wave radio access. Analog and digitized radio-over-fiber are discussed in a scenario featuring parallel fronthaul for different radio access technologies, showcasing their differences and potential when combined with SDM.

The sixth generation (6G) mobile systems will be the ultimate technology to support any networking requirement. 6G along with fog computing mobile nodes can support any application and use case within the supply chain delivery, regardless of the systems of systems complexity. In this paper, a holistic end-to-end framework platform based on the integration and leverage of 6G and fog mobile systems for physically-entangled systems is proposed. The framework platform, which relies on 6G fog enabled-delivery drones, terahertz communication, and artificial intelligence technologies, is described. The framework can be applied for highly cooperative, autonomous, and dynamic applications and systems such as supply chain’s last mile delivery of goods, harbour cranes, and maritime ports to help increasing access to goods in general, reduce traffic congestion and energy comsumption, and ease CO2 emissions from transportation. The proposed framework paves the way towards next generation supply chain management including last mile delivery.

We experimentally demonstrate a heterodyne communication link using a p-i-n photodiode and a photoconductor coupled to THz antennas without bandwidth-limiting electronic components. As a proof-of-concept, a 100 Mbit/s BPSK stream is successfully transmitted at three different channels, spaced by 40 GHz, down-converting the wireless carrier to an intermediate frequency of 3.7 GHz. Optical frequency combs are employed for sub-THz generation and down-mixing to reduce the phase noise of the system.

In this paper we propose to combine the concepts of outphasing and analog-radio over fiber. The analog outphasing signals are generated centrally and transported to the remote antenna system over fiber. There, high-performance and highly non-linear power amplifiers can be used. This approach creates an energy efficient communications infrastructure based on a centralized radio network. A first demonstrator is built at Ka-band using discrete components, experimentally showing the feasibly of this concept at millimeter-wave. Preliminary results show a measured error-vector magnitude of 4.18% over a wireless channel.

This paper presents and experimentally validates an SDN/NFV architecture for the management of optical beamforming connectivity and network services for beyond 5G fronthaul, controlling OBFN coherent and incoherent systems, ARoF transceivers, BBUs with analog output/input and RRHs. © 2020 IEEE.

This paper presents an experimental demonstration of analog radio-over-fiber (ARoF) fronthaul for high-bandwidth, high-capacity millimeter wave (mm-wave) extended fifth generation mobile network (5G) new radio (NR) signals over an optical distribution network with optical space division multiplexing (SDM). ARoF is shown to alleviate fronthaul capacity bottlenecks, transporting an 800 MHz wide extended 5G NR signal and allowing to maintain full centralization in a centralized radio access network (C-RAN). The proposed ARoF fronthaul architecture features a transmitter that generates the ARoF signal and an optical signal carrying a reference local oscillator (LO) employed for downconversion at the remote unit (RU) from a single radio frequency (RF) reference at the central office (CO). An SDM based RAN with 7-core multi-core fiber (MCF) allows parallel transport of the uplink ARoF signal and reference LO at the same wavelength over separate cores. Transmission of an 800 MHz wide extended 5G NR fronthaul signal over 7-core MCF is shown with full real-time processing, achieving 1.4 Gbit/s with BER

Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks consist of a range of novel technologies to fulfill different and exigent requirements and serve a wide range of services. To reach this, analog radio over fiber (ARoF) fronthaul with millimeter-wave (mm-wave) cells is a firm candidate to be part of the 5G architecture. Nonetheless, combined mm-wave and ARoF systems present new challenges such as high free-space path loss (FSPL), phase noise, chromatic dispersion, and other impairments. Therefore, the selection of the modulation format is crucial to reduce these effects and their impact. This work compares and analyzes different modulation formats in this type of system in order to choose the best waveform candidate for mm-wave 5G and beyond with ARoF fronthaul. An experimental comparison of OFDM, SC-FDM, UFMC, GFDM, and multi-CAP, shows that the standard OFDM may not be the best choice for mm-wave 5G.

A multi-core fiber (MCF) patch panel was designed, allowing easy coupling of individual signals to and from a 7-core MCF. The device was characterized, measuring insertion loss and cross talk, finding highest insertion loss and lowest crosstalk at 1300 nm with values of 9.7 dB and -36.5 dB respectively, while at 1600 nm insertion loss drops to 4.8 dB and crosstalk increases to -24.1 dB. Two MCF splices between the fan-in module, the MCF, and the fan-out module are included in the characterization, and splicing parameters are discussed.

© 2017 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works In this paper, a combined non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and multiband carrierless amplitude phase modulation (multiCAP) scheme is proposed for capacity enhancement of and flexible resource provisioning in 5G mobile networks. The proposed scheme is experimentally evaluated over a W-band millimeter wave radio-over fiber system. The evaluated NOMACAP system consists of six 1.25GHz multiCAP bands and two NOMA levels with quadrature phase shift keying and can provide an aggregated transmission rate of 30 Gbit/s. The proposed system can dynamically adapt to different user densities and data rate requirements. Bit error rate performance is evaluated in two scenarios: a low user density scenario where the system capacity is evenly split between two users and a high user density scenario where NOMA and multiCAP are combined to serve up to twelve users with an assigned data rate of 2.5 Gbit/s each. The proposed system demonstrates how NOMA-CAP allows flexible resource provisioning and can adapt data rates depending on user density and requirements.

Future generation mobile communications running on mm-wave frequencies will require great robustness against frequency selective channels. In this paper, we evaluate the transmission performance of 4.9 Gb/s wavelet-coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals on a 10 km fiber plus 58 m wireless radio-over-fiber link using a mm-wave radio frequency carrier. The results show that a 2 × 128 wavelet-coded OFDM system achieves a bit-error rate of 1e-4 with nearly 2.5 dB less signal-to-noise ratio than a convolutional coded OFDM system with equivalent spectral efficiency for 8 GHz-wide signals with 512 subcarriers on a carrier frequency of 86 GHz. Our findings confirm the Tzannes’ theory that wavelet coding enables high diversity gains with a low complexity receiver and, most notably, without compromising the system's spectral efficiency.

The introduction of millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequency bands for cellular communications with significantly larger bandwidths compared to their sub-6 GHz counterparts, the resulting densification of network deployments and the introduction of antenna arrays with beamforming result in major increases in fronthaul capacity required for 5G networks. As a result, a radical re-design of the radio access network is required since traditional fronthaul technologies are not scaleable. In this article the use of analog radio-over-fiber (ARoF) is proposed and demonstrated as a viable alternative which, combined with space division multiplexing in the optical distribution network as well as photonic integration of the required transceivers, shows a path to a scaleable fronthaul solution for 5G. The trade-off between digitized and analog fronthaul is discussed and the ARoF architecture proposed by blueSPACE is introduced. Two options for the generation of ARoF two-tone signals for mm-wave generation via optical heterodyning are discussed in detail, including designs for the implementation in photonic integrated circuits as well as measurements of their phase noise performance. The proposed photonic integrated circuit designs include the use of both InP and SiN platforms for ARoF signal generation and optical beamforming respectively, proposing a joint design that allows for true multi-beam transmission from a single antenna array. Phase noise measurements based on laboratory implementations of ARoF generation based on a Mach–Zehnder modulator with suppressed carrier and with an optical phase-locked loop are presented and the suitability of these transmitters is evaluated though phase noise simulations. Finally, the viability of the proposed ARoF fronthaul architecture for the transport of high-bandwidth mm-wave 5G signals is proven with the successful implementation of a real-time transmission link based on an ARoF baseband unit with full real-time processing of extended 5G new radio signals with 800 MHz bandwidth, achieving transmission over 10 km of 7-core single-mode multi-core fiber and 9 m mm-wave wireless at 25.5 GHz with bit error rates below the limit for a 7% overhead hard decision forward error correction.

Precise characterization of space division multiplexing fibers is a key requirement for their further development and deployment in the field. Optical vector network analysis allows to measure all linear parameters of such fibers in a single, fast acquisition over a large bandwidth. As the reference arm of the optical vector network analyzer must approximately match the length of the measured fiber, additional fiber must be introduced when measuring longer fibers. This results in the polarization of the reference arm varying with wavelength over the sweep range employed in the measurement. The resulting fading of the recorded interference signal produces severe distortions of the measurement and hence must be compensated for. This work introduces a simple equalization technique to compensate for this fading, based on introducing a polarizer in the reference path and recording a fraction of the polarized reference as a correction signal. Applying the inverse of the correction signal to the recorded signal, the impact of the polarization fading is almost entirely removed, as are the corresponding measurement distortions. The proposed technique is validated in the measurement of a 39-core few-mode multi-core fiber, significantly improving measurement of wavelength dependent insertion loss.

This article reports on a W-Band (75–110 GHz) Schottky diode based balanced envelope detector in microstrip technology, featuring a transition from WR-10 to microstrip. The manufactured detector provides 20 GHz of input RF bandwidth within the W-band. A video bandwidth between 4 GHz and 6 GHz is achieved for input RF frequencies between 75 GHz and 88 GHz, allowing error free transmission of signals up to 12 Gbit/s.

The increasing demands for high capacity and ultra-low latency services require to introduce a 5G mobile communications infrastructure based on a centralized radio access network with space division multiplexed optical fronthaul using radio-over-fiber. The transmission of carrier aggregated 5G OFDM signals over an analog radio-over-fiber fronthaul link is experimentally demonstrated. Multi-Gbit/s data rates are achieved in limited bandwidth, with BER below the 25 % overhead FEC limit after millimeter-wave wireless transmission over 2.2 m.

A bidirectional analogue radio-over-fiber link relying on photonic heterodyning and time-division duplex is experimentally demonstrated, successfully transmitting 5G OFDM signals with data rates of 2.4 Gbit/s and 1.2 Gbit/s in down- and uplink directions over 4 m of wireless distance. An optical frequency comb laser is used together with a demultiplexing module based on injection locking to generate stable K-band (18 – 27 GHz) signals, which eliminates the need for complex high-speed electronics for mm-wave generation.

The most radical evolution in recent mobile communication technology is imminent in the coming years. The fronthaul network architecture is part of this evolution and is expected to support dense deployment of infrastructure to provide increased bandwidth and ultra-low latency for 5th generation (5G) networks in a cost-effective manner. The new fronthaul architecture called cloud radio access network (C-RAN) has been introduced over the last years to increase scalability, manageability, and flexibility of mobile systems. In this context, this paper addresses the principal technology enablers of the C-RAN 5G fronthaul architecture, namely radio-over-fiber, ribbon optical fibers, wavelength-division multiplexing, and millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies. The convergence of optical fiber networks and mmWave radio pave the way towards a truly efficient fronthaul infrastructure for 5G mobile communications with seamless connectivity for millions of devices and quality-of-service guarantees in terms of latency for the first time ever. We perceive a network scenario with seamless starting and ending interfaces by exploiting space diversity in both radio frequency and optical domains with efficient integrated photonics technology. Furthermore, we introduce the ongoing developments of the Eindhoven-based 5G Brainport testbed towards an open environment for validation and test of end-to-end emerging applications benefitting from the 5G key-performance indicators.

In this paper we analyze the perspective of digitized radio over fiber (DRoF) fronthaul, showing how to meet the requirements to cope with the future radio access networks (RANs). This entails the introduction of space division multiplexing (SDM) while increasing the flexibility and capacity of the DRoF transceivers.Since the evolution of the DRoF fronthaul is being revised and re-defined, in the blueSPACE project we propose two different DRoF transceiver options. The first option consists on simple transceiver, based on the recent standard specifications and, therefore, expected to be deployed in the short-term. The second options is a more advanced transceiver that features high flexibility, relying on a strong DSP and targeting a long-term deployment. Besides a basic characterization of both solutions, we also analyze additional aspects related to the design and implementation of these two DRoF solutions and their integration into an SDM based RAN. This includes the programmability and interaction with the control plane.

This letter proposes a W-band hybrid photonic wireless link based on a commercial small form-factor pluggable (SFP+) module and experimentally demonstrates its performance. Using a free running laser as local oscillator and heterodyne photonic upconversion, good frequency stability is achieved. Outdoor wireless transmission over 225 m with a bit error rate below 10 -6 is demonstrated, and the maximum reach of the system with typical RF components is calculated, finding wireless distances above 2 km to be feasible. Being based on a commercial SFP+, the proposed hybrid photonic wireless link offers seamless integration with existing distribution networks and passive optical networks, and thus paves the way for future mobile frontand backhaul architectures.

We report on the first experimental demonstration of carrierless amplitude/phase modulation in a flexible multiband approach for ultrawideband high-data-rate wireless communications. An effective bitrate of 2 GB/s is achieved while complying with the restrictions on the effective radiated power established by the Russian State Commission for Radio Frequencies. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 58:1603–1607, 2016

The fifth generation (5G) mobile systems can be considered the way to ubiquitous Internet, pervasive computing paradigm, and a revolution in industries like automotive, media and entertainment, and eHealth. New 5G fronthaul systems based on centralized radio access networks will eventually use technology enablers such as reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexers, space-division multiplexing, ribbon fibers, software-defined networking, multiple-input multiple-output signaling, analog radio-over-fiber signals, and beamforming. In this context, this paper addresses the principal technology enablers of the 5G PPP phase 2 projects blueSPACE and 5G-PHOS and their potential interoperability. The convergence of 5G key-performance indicators (KPIs) along with methodologies and usage scenarios is also addressed. Furthermore, the 2020 European championship is perceived here as a unique opportunity to leverage a 5G pan-European trial platform. The technologies developed in both projects are seen as potential candidates for next generation mobile networks, where ultra-low latency, energy efficiency, and millions of connected devices are major network KPIs requirements.

5G mm-wave communications requires a highly densified network of radio access stations to ensure sufficient coverage. Low-complexity nodes based on C-RAN and ARoF fronthaul combined with advanced antenna concepts offer a suitable and potentially low cost technology for single and multi-beam 5G applications.

This paper presents the novel SDN/NFV 5G fronthaul network scenarios deployed in the blueSPACE project. blueSPACE envisions the upgrade of the fronthaul network to include optical SDM transmission for further increasing the network capacity. One of the novelties is the introduction of ARoF transceivers to reduce the 5G fronthaul bandwidth requirements, in addition to the DRoF solutions that are used for the 4G fronthaul interface and the 3GPP's NGFI. Moreover, ARoF transceivers enable to develop optical beamforming technologies for beam steering and multi-beam transmission. Finally, power of fiber solutions to remotely feed small cells are also considered.

A low complexity Ka-band hybrid photonic-wireless link based on a commercial SFP+ module is demonstrated, offering an economical and efficient solution for access provisioning to rural areas. A rain forest environment is emulated and low BER is achieved.

In this work, the impulse response of a 39-core 3-mode fiber is measured and analyzed, finding durations of 0.6 ns-3.0 ns, with total group delay varying by 17 ns between cores and observing largely different modal dispersion and wavelength dependence of propagation delay.

We experimentally demonstrate a hybrid millimeter wave/photonic system with beamforming capabilities at 60 GHz. The true time delay configuration is remotely set in the optical domain and it is maintained by using a 7-core fiber with sub-picosecond accuracy.

The key-performance indicators (KPIs) that will be delivered by 5G networks such as extremely low-latency, high capacity, robustness and highly flexible network are key enablers for applications such as autonomous driving, cooperative robotics, transport and processing of large volumes of video and images, to name but a few. This paper presents the ongoing build up and deployment of the Eindhoven based 5G-Brainport testbed towards an open environment for validation and test of end-to-end applications benefitting from the 5G KPIs.

First demonstration of photonically-enabled 1 Gb/s secret wireless data transmission at W-band based on Duffing chaotic systems. The presented results validate a new methodology to increase security by exploiting chaos for gigabit data transmissions.

This paper regards photonically enabled millimeter wave links for use in 5G. Following a short review of the tradeoff between link directivity, achievable capacity and coverage area, it discusses the use of optical space division multiplexing as suggested in the 2nd phase 5G-PPP project blueSPACE. Finally it relates the latter to the potential use of millimeter waves for broad- and multicast within the framework of 5G.

Ultra-wideband impulse-radio wireless transmission under the stringent conditions and complex shape of the Russian spectral emission mask is experimentally demonstrated for the first time. Transmission of 1 and 1.25 Gbit/s signals over distances of 6 and 3 m is achieved with a bit error rate below 3.8 × 10−3.

Analog radio-over-fiber transmission and millimeter-wave and terahertz signal generation through photonic heterodyning are a valuable and versatile solution for many applications. This talk will discuss recent advances, focusing 5G networks, wireless communications and sensing applications.

This paper discusses spatially diverse optical vector network analysis for space division multiplexing (SDM) component and system characterization, which is becoming essential as SDM is widely considered to increase the capacity of optical communication systems. Characterization of a 108-channel photonic lantern spatial multiplexer, coupled to a 36-core 3-mode fiber, is experimentally demonstrated, extracting the full impulse response and complex transfer function matrices as well as insertion loss (IL) and mode-dependent loss (MDL) data. Moreover, the mode-mixing behavior of fiber splices in the few-mode multi-core fiber and their impact on system IL and MDL are analyzed, finding splices to cause significant mode-mixing and to be non-negligible in system capacity analysis.

Few-mode multi-core fiber systems tend to be more prone to core misalignments at splice points. By using the true vector modes of few-mode waveguides we analyze how waveguide properties affect the shape of coupling and mode-dependent loss distributions due to alignment errors between waveguides.

The increasing demand for bandwidth in datacenter interconnect links is currently driving a transition towards four level pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM-4) as the de facto modulation format. Nevertheless, other schemes with even higher spectral efficiency will be required in the future given the challenges of increasing baud rate or number of channels. As enabling technology, we propose and demonstrate a coherent link concept inspired from passive optical networks (PON) where carrier delivery and remote modulation are used to achieve single wavelength transmission of polarization multiplexing quadrature phase shift keying (PM-QPSK) at 112 Gb/s in channels of 5 and 10 km single mode fiber (SMF). By using a single laser for modulation and local oscillator the required complexity of digital signal processing is reduced in comparison to traditional digital coherent links.

Transmission of a 46.8 Gbit/s multi-band cap signal is experimentally demonstrated over a 50 m W-band radio-over-fiber link. Bit error rates below 3.8×10−3 are achieved, employing nine cap bands with bit and power loading.

We experimentally demonstrate pre-emphasis based performance for a 2 km long 7-core multicore fiber link. Simultaneous transmission below the FEC threshold is achievable for all cores by using signal equalization in a FPGA.

The behavior of splices in a 3-mode 36-core fiber is analyzed using optical vector network analysis. Time-domain response analysis confirms splices may cause significant mode-mixing, while frequency-domain analysis shows splices may affect system level mode-dependent loss both positively and negatively.

In this paper a new type of radio access unit is proposed and demonstrated. This unit is composed only of the reduced amount of components (compared to conventional unit designs) to optically generate wireless signals on the W-band (75-110GHz) in combination with a switching system. The proposed system not only achieves BER values below the FEC limit, but gives an extra level of flexibility to the network by easing the redirection of the signal to different antennas.

60Gbit/s single side-band multi-band cap radio-over-fiber transmission at W-band is demonstrated. A spectral efficiency of 3.8bit/s/Hz and bit error rates below 3.8×10−3 are achieved after 50m wireless transmission.

A fiber-coupled 108-port photonic lantern spatial-MUX is characterized with a spatially-diverse optical vector network analyzer. Insertion loss, mode-dependent losses, and time response are measured, showing significant mode mixing at a fiber splice.

In this letter a reconfigurable Remote Access Unit (RAU) is proposed and demonstrated, interfacing dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) optical and W-band wirelesslinks. The RAU is composed of a tunable local oscillator, a narrow optical filter and a control unit, making it reconfigurable via software. The RAU allows selection of a DWDM channel and tuning of the radio carrier frequency. Real-time transmission results at 2.5 Gbit/s and performance measurements with offline data processing at 4 and 5 Gbit/s are presented. Error free real-time transmission was achieved after 15km of standard single mode fiber and 50m of wireless transmission with carriers between 75 and 95 GHz.