An Experimental Study on Digital Predistortion for Radio-over-Fiber Links

Luis C. Vieira, Nathan J. Gomes, Anthony Nkansah Broadband and Wireless Communications Group, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK CT2 7NT
ABSTRACT
Radio-over-fiber (RoF) has been proposed as an enabling technology for broadband networks, such as WiMAX and WiFi. Besides the inherent high bandwidth and reliability of RoF systems, they also allow the reduction of installation and maintenance cost of the remote antenna units (RAUs) and improvement in the coverage area of the base station/access point. However, the nonlinear distortion of the optical link, which stems mainly from the laser diode, may impose serious limitations on the system performance, especially when high PAPR, wideband signals are used. Thus, distortion compensation is a key issue in order to facilitate the application of the RoF technology for broadband networks. In this work, digital predistortion for directly modulated RoF links is experimentally investigated. A memorypolynomial-based predistorter model is identified from measurements of the baseband OFDM input-output signals and through the use of an indirect learning architecture. Then, a predistorted signal is generated and fed to the RoF link for comparing its output with that of the non-predistorted one. As a result of this compensation technique, an improvement of the static link linearity and the output constellation diagram has been found, with an EVM reduction of 1.73 %. Keywords: Radio-over-Fiber, digital predistortion, memory polynomial

1. INTRODUCTION
Broadband wireless access networks demand both higher data rates and improved coverage. Radio-over-fiber (RoF) has been proposed as an alternative for distributing RF signals between a base station/access point and remote antenna units (RAUs), being seen as an enabling technology for broadband networks, such as WiMAX [1] and WiFi [2]. The advantages of RoF are high available bandwidth, reliability, interference tolerance, transparency, and low attenuation. Additionally, RoF technology allows the reduction of installation and maintenance cost of the RAUs and improvement in the coverage area of the base station/access point. However, the nonlinear distortion of the optical link, due mainly to the laser diode, may impose serious limitations on the system performance, especially in a multi-user environment [3]. Also, signal envelopes with high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), such as orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) signals, demand large dynamic range. Thus, the use of some nonlinear compensation technique becomes a crucial issue in order to facilitate the application of the RoF technology for transmission of wideband wireless signals. Predistortion is a common and cost-effective approach to linearization of power amplifiers [4], [5], as well as radio over fibre links [3], [6]. In this technique, if the nonlinear transfer function of the optical transmitter is well known and stable, a circuit with inverse nonlinearity can be inserted before the modulation device, counteracting its distortions. For compensation of RoF link nonlinearities, adaptive digital predistortion has been proposed as a more commercially viable solution compared to optical and/or electro-optical compensation methods [3], [7], [8]. Using this approach, high performance can be achieved by taking advantage of the accuracy of digital signal processing and the predistorter can be easily adapted by tracking any device and link operation changes. In addition, the composite effects of the link nonlinearity can be modeled and compensated with no need to focus on specific link components. Nonlinear systems can be considered as either having memory effects or not. A nonlinear system in which the output at any instant is only dependent on the input at that instant is considered as a memoryless one, whereas a system in which its signal output also depends on the past input values is said to have memory effects. For RoF links, a memoryless model may not be adequate to describe the electro-optic conversion process [6]. Generally, memory effects should be taken into account when wideband OFDM signals are applied to RoF links [9]. In this work, digital predistortion for directly modulated RoF links is experimentally investigated. The behavioural modeling approach presented in [9] is applied for extracting the RoF link inverse model. Accordingly, the predistorter

Optical Transmission Systems, Switching, and Subsystems VIII, edited by Yikai Su, Ernesto Ciaramella, Xiang Liu, Naoya Wada, Proc. of SPIE-OSA-IEEE Asia Communications and Photonics, SPIE Vol. 7988, 798828 2011 SPIE-OSA-IEEE CCC code: 0277-786X/11/$18 doi: 10.1117/12.888602 SPIE-OSA-IEEE/ Vol. 7988 798828-1

coefficients are directly identified from measurements of the baseband OFDM input-output signals and using a fitting algorithm in Matlab. With this off-line process, the predistorter adaptation complexity is reduced.

2. PREDISTORTION APPROACH
2.1 Predistorter modeling The predistorter structure is based on a memory polynomial model [10], which is a simplified version of the original Volterra series, with the advantages of making the parameter identification easier and capturing memory effects while keeping the number of coefficients required low. The predistorter model is given by

y(n) akq x(n q) x(n q)

k 1 q 0

k 1

where, x is the predistorter input signal, y is the output, akq are the model coefficients, Q is the memory length, and K is the nonlinear order. This model was estimated using the least-squares method in Matlab, with Q set to 2 and K set to 5. The indirect learning architecture [10] is used here for predistorter identification, as described in Fig. 1. In this architecture, the inverse model of the RoF link nonlinearity is extracted by the predistorter training block, which performs the adaptation algorithm. G is the diagram is the linear gain of the RoF link. When the error between the predistorter output z and the training block output z is minimized, the predistorter coefficients are estimated by the predistorter training block, and then they are used for updating the actual predistorter. In this work, after obtaining a block of input-output data samples directly from the non-predistorted RoF link using a time-domain measurement technique, the training branch and predistorter block process the data off-line. Then, the predistorted signal z is fed to the RoF link for comparing its output with that of the non-predistorted one.

Figure 1. Indirect learning architecture for digital predistortion

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2.2 Experimental setup The experimental setup is depicted in Fig. 2. A 64QAM-OFDM input signal is generated in Matlab for the experiments, with a bandwidth of 6.25 MHz and consisting of 2048 subcarriers. The RoF link consists of a 1550-nm Teradian DFB laser with an optical power of 5 dBm, FC/UPC-FC/UPC fiber patch cord, 10-dB optical attenuator, and Appointech InGaAs PIN photodiode, with bandwidth of 2.5 GHz. The DFB laser has a slope efficiency around 0.13 W/A, threshold current of 7.8 mA, and relaxation resonance around 3.8 GHz. A current source module is used to bias the laser at 31 mA through a surface mount bias tee and a resistance for impedance matching. All the laser module components are enclosed in a metallic box for RF radiation shielding. The photodiode module, mounted on a printed circuit board with a bias tee, is also enclosed in a metallic box. For the predistorter identification, the OFDM input signal was modulated onto a 50-MHz RF carrier by the Agilent E4438C vector signal generator (VSG) and transmitted through the RoF link, with an average power of +8 dBm (at the laser input). The link input-output signals were measured by the Agilent E4440A vector signal analyzer (VSA) and preprocessed by the Agilent Distortion Suite (ADS) software. The ADS performs the precise frequency and time alignment required to find the amplitude and phase distortions. Then, the predistorter coefficients were estimated in Matlab and the resulting predistorted signal was downloaded to the VSG and transmitted through the RoF link for measuring the predistorted output signal.

Figure 2. Experimental setup for RoF link predistortion. PD = Photodiode, ATT = Optical attenuator.

3. RESULTS
The nonlinearity and memory effect of a RoF link can be described by displaying its dynamic amplitude (AM-AM) and phase (AM-PM) characteristics. In Fig. 3 and Fig. 4, the AM-AM and AM-PM characteristics of the non-predistorted RoF link are compared with those of the predistorted one. Memory effects appear as dispersed points in these graphs. It can be seen that the predistorter improves the static link linearity. The link memory effects have been far from completely eliminated, since the dispersion in the amplitude/phase characteristics is almost the same for both non-predistorted and predistorted link cases. We suppose that this is due mainly to the memory effects coming from the VSG internal circuits. If these effects are large enough, the predistorter used here cannot compensate for them since the predistorter identification was done based on the RoF link measured data. Thus, no memory effects from the VSG have been taken into account and compensated for.

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Figure 3. RoF link amplitude (AM-AM) transfer characteristic

Figure 4. RoF link phase (AM-PM) transfer characteristic

The non-predistorted and predistorted link output signals were used in a comparison of the error vector magnitude (EVM) results. The EVM calculations were carried out in Matlab/Simulink. The improvement in the predistorted link over the non-predistorted system can clearly be observed in their constellation diagrams in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6 and with EVM values of 0.65% and 2.38% respectively.

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Figure 5. Constellation diagram of the non-predistorted RoF link output

Figure 6. Constellation diagram of the predistorted RoF link output

4. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

This work reports preliminary results on digital predistortion for RoF links using memory polynomials and OFDM input signals. The predistorter has improved the static link linearity and the output constellation diagram, with an EVM reduction of 1.73 %. However, the memory effects have not been completely reduced in the amplitude/phase link characteristics, which suggests that some level of memory coming from other sources (e.g. the VSG) should also be compensated for. Despite the promising results, this methodology still requires more complete validation against other experimental and simulation data sets. In the future, we plan new experiments using different models and changing the OFDM signal bandwidth. We also intend to better identify all sources of memory effects in the experimental setup.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This work was carried out within the framework of the European Union Integrated Project FUTON (FP7 ICT-2007215533). Luis C. Vieira - lecturer at UTFPR and PhD student at the University of Kent - is sponsored by the Brazilian Government through CNPq and UTFPR, whose support is gratefully acknowledged.

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REFERENCES
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