Experimental Assessment of Modulation Formats for Beyond 5G mm-Wave ARoF Systems

Fifth-generation (5G) mobile networks consist of a range of novel technologies to fulfill different and exigent requirements and serve a wide range of services. To reach this, analog radio over fiber (ARoF) fronthaul with millimeter-wave (mm-wave) cells is a firm candidate to be part of the 5G architecture. Nonetheless, combined mm-wave and ARoF systems present new challenges such as high free-space path loss (FSPL), phase noise, chromatic dispersion, and other impairments. Therefore, the selection of the modulation format is crucial to reduce these effects and their impact. This work compares and analyzes different modulation formats in this type of system in order to choose the best waveform candidate for mm-wave 5G and beyond with ARoF fronthaul. An experimental comparison of OFDM, SC-FDM, UFMC, GFDM, and multi-CAP, shows that the standard OFDM may not be the best choice for mm-wave 5G.