PoF System Using Standard 62.5-Micron Multimode Fiber for 5G NR Industrial Applications

This paper presents an experimental implementation of a radio-over-fiber (RoF)-based 5G new radio (NR) system and power-over-fiber (PoF) technique for industrial environ-ments. The generated 3.5-GHz 5G NR signal is transmitted throughout a 20-km single-mode optical fiber (SMF) link. Re-garding the PoF system, a 5-W optical power is transmitted by means of a 100-m standard multimode optical fiber (MMF) link. A photovoltaic power converter (PPC) and a DC/DC converter are employed to convert the power from the optical to the electrical domain and adjust the voltage level, respectively, aiming to power an RoF module. As a result, the PoF system power transmission efficiency (PTE) is analyzed, reaching a mean value of around 19%, and root mean square error vector magnitude (EVM
RMs
) performance investigation is conducted to evaluate the 5G transmission. A throughput of 600 Mbps is achieved with 100-MHz bandwidth and without performance degradation when compared to the conventionally powered RoF system, demonstrating the applicability and potential of the PoF technique for 5G NR-based industrial communications.