ECOC 2009, 20-24 September, 2009, Vienna, Austria Paper 4.5.

13.75-Gb/s OFDM Signal Generation for 60-GHz RoF System

within 7-GHz License-Free Band via Frequency Sextupling
Po-Tsung Shih (1), Chun-Ting Lin (1), Han-Sheng Huang (1), Wen-Jr Jiang (1), Jyehong Chen (1),
(2) (2) (1,3)
Anthony Ng’oma , Michael Sauer , Sien Chi
(1)
Department of Photonics, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu 300, Taiwan.,
jinting@ms94.url.com.tw; boris.eo95g@nctu.edu.tw
(2)
Corning Incorporated, One Science Center Dr., Corning, NY 14831, USA.
(3)
Department of Electrical Engineering, Yuan-Ze University, Chung-Li 320, Taiwan.

Abstract A 60-GHz RoF system with frequency sextupling is experimentally demonstrated. Based on modified
SSB, a 13.75-Gb/s OFDM signal is generated within the 7-GHz license-free band. No penalty is observed after
transmission over 25-km single-mode fiber.

Introduction
Broadband wireless systems have been considered
AWG +90 V -20
(a) 20G
as a potential solution for future quad play services. -30
Hz

Level(dBm)
With the release of a 7-GHz wide license-free band, MZ1-a
-40

-50

MZ1-b
60-GHz millimeter-wave wireless systems have been Laser ʌ/2
-60

-70

widely investigated recently. Many standards and 10GHz +90 V

1547.5 1547.6 1547.7
WaveLength(nm)
1547.8 1547.9

applications at this 60-GHz band have been proposed,

such as IEEE 802.15.3c WPAN, IEEE 802.16 WiMAX, 0V
-20
(b)
-30

and WirelessHD. However, the range of 60-GHz

Level(dBm)
-40
MZ2-a
-50
MZ2-b
wireless signals is rather limited due to the high path ʌ -60

-70
and atmospheric losses. To extend the signal +90
Frequency 1547.2 1547.4 1547.6 1547.8 1548.0 1548.2

0V Quadrupling
WaveLength(nm)
10GHz 10
60
coverage, radio-over-fiber (RoF) techniques are a 0
(c) GHz
Wireless
promising solution for broadband wireless networks. -10

Level(dBm)
Scope BPF -20

The generation of 60-GHz RoF signals remains a SMF

60 GHz O/E -30

great challenge. Electro-absorption-modulation (EAM) 55 GHz Remote Node

-40

1547.2 1547.4 1547.6 1547.8

WaveLength(nm)
1548.0 1548.2

is one of the solutions to generate 60-GHz RoF
signals. Although EAMs have been shown to provide
high radio frequency (RF) modulation bandwidth up to
60 GHz, there is dispersion-induced performance
fading in the generated double sideband (DSB) signal
[1]. Moreover, costly 60-GHz RF devices are required
in EAM systems. To generate 60-GHz RoF signals
with frequency multiplication and to overcome the
dispersion-induced fading issue, double sideband
modulation with carrier suppression (DSB-CS)
scheme using Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZM) was
proposed [2]. However, only on-off-keying (OOK)
modulation can be used in the DSB-CS systems. To
provide very high throughput services within the 7-
GHz license-free band at 60 GHz, high spectral
efficiency modulation formats are necessary.
In this work, a modified single sideband (SSB)
modulation scheme with frequency sextupling using
two dual-parallel MZM is proposed. A modified SSB
signal with frequency doubling is generated using a
dual-parallel MZM. Then, the modified SSB signal is
sent into the proposed colorless optical up-conversion
system with frequency quadrupling. To select the
desired optical sidebands and obtain the modified
SSB signal with frequency sextupling, an optical
interleaver is utilized. Due to the modified SSB
modulation scheme, there is no dispersion-induced
Fig. 1 Experimental setup of the proposed system.
performance fading, and high spectral efficiency
13.75-Gb/s orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing
(OFDM) modulation format is experimentally
demonstrated. The receiver performance can be
optimized by adjusting the optical power ratio (OPR)
between the OFDM modulated and the unmodulated
optical sidebands because the optical powers of the
OFDM-modulated and of the unmodulated optical
sidebands can be freely adjusted by controlling the
amplitude of the driving signals. Wavelength-division-
multiplexing (WDM) up-conversion sharing only one
optical up-conversion system can be achieved due to
the colorless up-conversion system. Most importantly,
only approx. 10-GHz bandwidth components are
required in the proposed system, resulting in lower
cost compared to higher-frequency components.
Experimental Setup and Results
Figure 1 shows the experimental setup. There are two
stages of the proposed system. The first stage is the
modified SSB generation with frequency doubling
using one dual-parallel MZM [3]. The second stage is
the colorless optical up-conversion with frequency
quadrupling using another dual-parallel MZM [4]. A
distributed-feedback laser serves as the optical
source.

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Authorized licensed use limited to: Corning. Downloaded on February 17,2010 at 15:30:26 EST from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
ECOC 2009, 20-24 September, 2009, Vienna, Austria Paper 4.5.4

6 5
8 8
BTB BTB 4
6
(a) 6
(b)
(b) 3 25km 3

7
4 4
2
2 2
1
0 0
0

Q
-2 -2
-1

8 -4 -4
-2
-6

-8
-6

-8
4 -3
-4

-log(BER)
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8 -8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
-log(BER)

I I
-5
9 -5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0
I
1 2 3 4 5

5
5

(c) 25km 4

8 3
10 (c) 2
6
6

4 1

2 0

Q
-1
11 0
7
Q

-2
-2

-4 (a) -3

-6 8 -4

12 -8
-5
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5
9
-8 -6 -4 -2 0 2 4 6 8
I I

-2 0 2 4 6 8 10 -13 -12 -11 -10 -9 -8 -7 -6 -5 -4 -3 -2

OPR Level(dBm)
Fig. 2 Optimization of optical power ratio (OPR) between the Fig. 3 BER measurement and constellation diagrams of
optical carrier and OFDM sideband. the received OFDM signals.
(OPR=unmodulated sideband power/modulated sideband
power) Since the OPR between the OFDM-modulated and
unmodulated optical sidebands can be freely adjusted
In the first stage, sub-MZM (MZ1-a and MZ1-b) of the
by controlling the amplitude of the driving signals, the
dual-parallel MZM are biased at the null point, while
60-GHz OFDM signal can be optimized by adjusting
the main MZM is biased at the quadrature point. Two
the OPR. Fig. 2 shows the experimental results of the
signals are generated to drive the first dual-parallel
OPR optimization. The OPR is defined as the ratio of
MZM. One is the OFDM signal which is generated by
the unmodulated sideband optical power to the
an arbitrary waveform generator (AWG) and up-
OFDM-modulated sideband optical power. When the
converted to 10-GHz using an electrical mixer. The
OPR equals to 6 dB, the receiver has the best
other signal is the 10-GHz LO signal which generates
performance. The constellation diagrams for different
the unmodulated optical sideband. The up-converted
OPR values are also shown in the insets of Fig. 2.
OFDM signal is generated with 20-GHz DAC
Fig. 3 shows the estimated bit error rate (BER) curves
sampling rate, 256 FFT size, 88 subcarriers, and
of the 60-GHz 13.75-Gb/s OFDM signal. After
6.875-GHz total bandwidth. After the division of the
transmission over 25-km single-mode fiber, no
signals using two electrical hybrid couplers, a 90 deg
significant receiver power penalty was observed. The
phase delay is introduced to the upper arm of the
constellation diagrams of the QPSK-OFDM signals
OFDM signal while a -90 deg phase delay is
are also shown in the insets of Fig. 3. After
introduced to the lower arm of the LO signal. After the
transmission over 25 km of standard single-mode
respective combination of the upper and lower arm
fiber, no signal degradation was observed.
signals, the combined signals are sent into the MZM.
Then, a modified SSB signal with frequency doubling Conclusion
as shown in the inset (a) of Fig. 1 is obtained at the A 60-GHz RoF signal generation and distribution
output of the first stage of the proposed system. system with frequency sextupling is experimentally
In the second stage, another dual-parallel MZM is demonstrated. Because of the colorless optical up-
employed for the colorless optical up-conversion with conversion system with frequency quadrupling, WDM
frequency quadrupling. The sub-MZM (MZ2-a and up-conversion can be achieved. By using the
MZ2-b) are biased at the full point while the main modified SSB modulation approach, a high spectral
MZM is biased at the null point. There is a 90 deg efficiency was achieved. A total bit-rate of 13.75-Gb/s
phase difference between the 10-GHz driving signals using QPSK-OFDM modulation within the 7-GHz
of MZ2-a and MZ2-b. After the second dual-parallel license-free band was experimentally demonstrated.
MZM, both the OFDM modulated and unmodulated Due to SSB modulation, no dispersion-induced
optical sidebands are up-converted in frequency by a performance fading was observed. After transmission
factor of four. An optical spectrum as shown in the over 25-km single-mode fiber, no significant receiver
inset (b) of Fig. 1 is obtained at the output of the power penalty and signal distortion was observed.
second stage. Then, an optical interleaver is utilized
References
to select the desired optical sidebands for the 60-GHz
1 Y. X. Guo et al., Proc. GSMM’08, Invited paper
RoF signals as shown in the inset (c) of Fig. 1. After
(2008).
transmission over standard single mode fiber, the 60-
2 H. C. Chien et al., Opt. Express. 17, 3036 (2009).
GHz modified SSB signal is received and down-
3 C. T. Lin et al., Photon. Technol. Lett, 20, 1106
converted to 5-GHz using an electrical mixer. The
(2008).
waveform of the down-converted signal is captured
4 P. T. Shih et al., Opt. Express. 17, 1726 (2009).
with a real time oscilloscope for off-line analysis.

978-3-8007-3173-2 © VDE VERLAG GMBH

Authorized licensed use limited to: Corning. Downloaded on February 17,2010 at 15:30:26 EST from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.