SDN/NFV 5G Fronthaul Networks Integrating Analog/Digital RoF, Optical Beamforming, Power over Fiber and Optical SDM Technologies

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.

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