OQAM-OFDM RoF with IM-DD remote heterodyne 28 GHz upconversion for 5G millimeter RANs

This paper presents a novel highly spectral efficient 5G offset-QAM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OQAM-OFDM) Radio over Fibre (RoF) systems for small cell RANs at 28 GHz. The wide bandwidth photodiode at the remote radio head (RRH) is used for remote heterodyning centralized optical local oscillator (LO) and the downstream optical single sideband (OSSB) signal to generate the millimeter wave carrier for wireless transmission. A simple intensity modulation with direct detection (IM-DD) scheme is designed reducing the cost of RRH antennas. At the wireless receiver a concept of local oscillator (LO) carrier extraction from the received signal is employed for self-heterodyne avoiding the need for high frequency down conversion oscillators. The comprehensive analysis employing industrial standard VPI platform has demonstrated error-free transmission up to 40 km fibre lengths and 10.78 Gbps data rates.