Performance evaluation for optical backhaul and wireless front-end in hybrid optical-wireless access network

The hybrid optical-wireless access network (HOWAN) is a promising broadband access network. In this paper, the new architecture of the HOWAN is proposed and designed based on both a wavelengths division multiplexing/time division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM/TDM PON) at the optical backhaul and a wireless fidelity (WiFi) technology at the wireless front-end. The power budget of the optical backhaul based on maximum split ratio of 1/32 for each wavelength channel and a fiber length of 23 km from the central office (CO) to a 54 Mb/s access points (APs) along a 50 m outdoor wireless link is analyzed.