RoFSO: A UNIVERSAL PLATFORM FOR CONVERGENCE OF FIBER AND FREE-SPACE
OPTICAL COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
Kamugisha Kazaura1 ,Kazuhiko Wakamori2 , Mitsuji Matsumoto2 ,
Takeshi Higashino3 , Katsutoshi Tsukamoto3 and Shozo Komaki3
1
Research Institute for Science and Engineering (RISE), Waseda University
2
Global Information and Telecommunication Institute (GITI), Waseda University
3
Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University
ABSTRACT
The demand on capacity and quality offered over wireless
communication links has pushed researchers to innovate
new design methodologies and concepts over wireless sys-
tems and networks with the ultimate aim towards achieving a
Next Generation Network (NGN). Among the emerging tech-
nologies is the Radio on Free Space Optics (RoFSO) system
described in this paper. With this technology it is possible
to simultaneously transmit multiple RF signals comprised
of various wireless services over FSO links using WDM
technology. The technology can be applied as a universal
platform for providing convergence of fiber and free-space
optical communication networks extending broadband con-
nectivity to underserved areas. We present the design con-
cept and highlight some experimental results obtained from
performance evaluation of the RoFSO system we have devel-
oped. The results demonstrate a satisfactory performance in
terms of reliability and stability based on the quality metric
parameters defined for the different RF service signals trans-
mitted over the RoFSO system. Considering the potential of
the RoFSO technology we propose a study for standardiza-
tion work in the ITU as an initiative which can lead to its
rapid adaptation.
Index Terms— RoFSO, NGN, W-CDMA, ISBD-T, WLAN
1. INTRODUCTION
The emergence of new technologies, services and applica-
tions in the past decade has led to a digital age of infor-
mation communications technology (ICT) in which access
has become a key component of peoples’ lives. However,
the rapid pace of the technological revolution has not bene-
fited all equally and a majority of people have been shut out
of the digital revolution thus creating a digital divide. The
ITU through various initiatives including the Valletta Action
Plan (VAP) adopted by the World Telecommunication Devel-
opment Conference (WTDC) in 1998 and subsequent initia-
tives adopted at the World Summit on the Information Soci-
ety (WSIS) held in 2003 and 2005 has been playing a leading
This work is supported by a grant from the National Institute of Infor-
mation and Communications Technology (NICT) of Japan.
92-61-12891-2/CFP0938E © 2009 ITU
role in trying to bridge the digital divide [1, 2]. Among the
key elements addressed to bridge the digital divide include
access to new technologies, rural development and univer-
sal service/access including special programs considering the
needs of Least Developed Countries (LDC).
Digital inclusion has been defined as the best use of digital
technology, either directly or indirectly, to improve the lives
and life chances of all citizens and the places in which they
live [3]. The ITU recognizes that infrastructure is central in
achieving digital inclusion, enabling universal, sustainable,
ubiquitous and affordable access to ICTs by all, applying ex-
isting and new solutions, to provide sustainable connectivity
and access to remote and marginalized areas at all levels. The
recent emergence of innovative broadband wireless technolo-
gies and standards e.g. 3G mobile cellular standard, WLAN,
bluetooth, WiMAX, UWB etc has enabled both businesses
and the public to access a wide variety of new ICT based
services previously unimagined. Broadband wireless tech-
nology offers a cost-effective solution and has an important
role to play in supporting rural communities, in tackling iso-
lation, delivering improved services to remote areas and in-
creasing opportunities to enterprises and help to bridge the
digital divide.
In this paper we present the design concept and performance
evaluation of a new innovative Radio-on-FSO (RoFSO) sys-
tem we have developed which has potential to play a key role
in support of digital inclusion. The RoFSO system is suitable
for rapid provisioning of heterogeneous wireless services in
underserved areas left out due to the high costs of installing
new networks thus limiting the availability of high bandwidth
services. This work is a continuation of a previous similar re-
search project reported in [4] in which we successful demon-
strated a free-space optical (FSO) communication system ca-
pable of reliably transmitting data at 10 Gbps and can be ap-
plicable as an alternative access technology for next gener-
ation networks (NGN). The ultimate goal of this work is to
develop a robust RoFSO system capable of simultaneously
transmitting multiple RF signals, which can operate in envi-
ronments characterized with strong atmospheric turbulence
manifested as scintillation effects, beam wander and angle-
of-arrival (AOA) fluctuations [5]. These effects severely im-
pair the performance of RoFSO links.
Kaleidoscope
2009 ITU-T Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

The paper is organized as follows: section 2 gives an

overview of FSO systems, section 3 provides details of the
proposed RoFSO system we have developed while section 4
highlights the experimental evaluation of the RoFSO system Main transmit and
receive aperture
when simultaneously transmitting different wireless service
signals. And finally section 5 provides the conclusion of the
work and highlights some future investigations.

2. OVERVIEW OF FSO SYSTEMS

Beacon signal
transmit aperture
In recent years, FSO communication systems have attracted
renewed interest and similar to the innovative broadband
wireless technologies mentioned in section 1, they are in-
creasingly being utilized for rapid provision of broadband Fig. 1. New RoFSO terminal.
point-to-point communication links in rural and urban set-
tings. New generation of FSO systems operating in the 1550
nm wavelength band have been developed [6] and since they giga-bit per seconds) for example 320 Gbps reported in [12]
operate in the 1550 nm wavelength band and utilize similar and even 1.28 Tbps [13] which is a world record for any
technology which has been successfully applied to give a wireless communication system. The bandwidth and proto-
major boost to optical fiber networks capacity, like EDFAs col independent nature of the new generation FSO systems
and WDMs, they are easily compatible with existing widely make them a suitable candidate for implementing our pro-
deployed optical fiber infrastructure [7]. posed RoFSO system.
Free-space optical communication systems can be applied It is important to note that the ITU has recognized the poten-
for metro network extension, last mile access, providing en- tial of FSO systems and through the ITU-T it has approved
terprise connectivity and as a fiber backup. The merits of recommendation [14] providing procedure for enabling in-
this technology are, among others, secure wireless system terference free coexistence of more than one point-to-point
which is not easy to intercept, license free operation, pro- FSO communication system at a location. The ITU-R has
vide communication up to several kilometers and can trans- also issued a report [15] on fixed service applications using
mit data at extremely high-speed. However, the technology free-space optical links providing device characteristics, pos-
also has several demerits which include high dependence on sible applications as well as technical and operational aspects
weather conditions (rain, snow, fog, dust particles etc) which of FSO systems.
can severely affect the performance of the links. They can-
not propagate through obstacles and are susceptible to at- 3. PROPOSED RoFSO SYSTEM
mospheric effects like scintillation and beam wander [8]. Re-
search on FSO systems is focused on developing robust tech- The proposed RoFSO system is implemented by simply
niques for atmospheric turbulence suppression especially in combining a new generation FSO system similar to the one
new generation FSO systems in which the optical signal is we developed in our previous research work [16, 17] with
seamlessly transmitted and received through free-space with- Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) technology. RoF is a technique of
out undergoing any opto/electical conversion in the trans- modulating RF subcarriers onto an optical carrier for dis-
ceivers [9]. tribution over fiber network [18]. RoF systems are widely
In the new generation FSO systems for transmission or re- applied to transmit and distribute RF signals at low cost, over
ception through free-space the signal does not undergo any long distance and low attenuation [19]. However RoF im-
optical-to-electrical or electrical-to-optical (OE/EO) conver-
sions, unlike conventional systems operating in the 800 nm
wavelength band. The optical beam is emitted directly to Table 1. Specifications of the RoFSO antenna.
free-space from the fiber termination point using the FSO Parameter Specification
transceiver and at the receiving end it is focused directly to
Operating wavelength band 1550 nm
the single mode fiber (SMF) core using the receiver optic
Transmit power 100 mW (20 dBm)
elements in the receiving antenna [10]. This configuration,
Antenna aperture 80 mm
i.e. direct emission and reception of optical signal through
Coupling losses 5 dB
the atmosphere, achieves a bandwidth and protocol trans-
Beam divergence ± 47.3 rad
parent communication system, eliminating the necessity of
Fiber coupling technique Direct coupling using FPM
reconfiguring the FSO transceiver even when the nature of
Frequency range of operation more than 5 GHz
the transmitted signals changes due to varying bit rates, sig-
nal formats or wavelength channels [11]. FSO systems de- Tracking method Automatic using QPD
signed based on this configuration have been demonstrated Rough: 850 nm beacon
to provide extremely high data rates (in the order of multiple Fine: 1550 nm
 Innovations for Digital Inclusion

RoFSO RoFSO
antenna 1 km antenna ISDB-T IF Digital Mobile Radio Optical IF Spectrum
Output Unit Transmitter Tester Unit Analyzer
monitor
SMF
3dB RF IF
802.11a
coupler Unit
Optical IF unit EDFA EDFA Optical IF unit amplifier
100 mW

2.5 Gbps 2.5 Gbps

Power Optical Antenna tracking
meter SA Opt. Tx. Opt. Rx. Optical
adjustment PC Boost
RF IF unit source
RF IF unit EDFA 802.11a
Filter
Atten. BERT IF Unit
BERT

Data
logging PC WLAN
W-CDMA WLAN AP 3GPP/WLAN/
SA SA Data
ISDB-T SGs logging PC
RF circulator
Power splitter ISDB-T TV
SA WLAN throughput
5 GHz amplifier unit measurement PC
Opt. spectrum Digital
Bldg. 55S Okubo Campus Bldg. 14 Nishi Waseda Campus Atmospheric effects Analyzer Oscilloscope
SA: Signal Analyzer recording PC Bit Error Rate Optical
SG: Signal Generator Tester (BERT) power meter

(a) (b)

Fig. 2. RoFSO system performance evaluation setup (a) schematic diagram and (b) measurement devices setup.

plementation is dependent on availability of installed optical

fiber cables, therefore in the absence of fiber infrastructure
the proposed RoFSO systems can be conveniently applied.
ISDB-T W-CDMA 802.11g 802.11a
RoFSO links can effectively be used for interconnectivity
of distributed antenna systems to provide links for remote
located base stations and antennas similar to RoF applica-
tion [20].
For transmission through the atmosphere in the RoFSO sys- 1551.72nm 1552.52nm 1553.33nm 1554.13n

tem configuration direct optical amplification and emission

of RoF signal into free-space is utilized [21] realizing a flex-
ible wireless system capable of simultaneous transmitting
multiple RF signals representing various wireless services.
Detailed design features and operation of the new RoFSO
system have been reported in [21, 22]. A photograph of the Fig. 3. Received WDM spectrum.
RoFSO antenna is shown in Figure 1 and the system specifi-
cations are given in Table 1.
rapid provisioning of broadband wireless communication
In order to transport as much optical power as possible to the
services especially in rural areas lacking fiber infrastructure.
opposite receiver the beam is usually narrow (a few tens of
The system is designed to be able to simultaneously transmit
rad). The RoFSO antenna’s beam divergence angle is ap-
multiple analog and digital signals representing various wire-
proximately ± 47.3 rad therefore an active tracking mecha-
less services thus providing a truly heterogeneous platform
nism to counteract the mispointing of the beam at the receiver
for delivering wireless services. The RoFSO system is well
side caused by building sway or atmospheric turbulence is
suited for providing broadband connectivity in the envisaged
necessary. In the RoFSO system we use an innovative tech-
NGN [4] and conveniently applied in the absence of installed
nique for directly focusing the received optical beam to the
optical fiber network as an effective alternative solution for
SMF core (i.e. fine tracking) at the receiver side. This fine
bridging the digital divide.
tracking process uses a quadrant photo detector (QPD) for
detecting and analyzing the beam position changes and a fine
pointing mirror (FPM) to counteract the changes and always 4. PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF RoFSO
lead the horizontal optical axis to the fiber connection port. SYSTEM
A digital signal processor (DSP) performs the actual position
detection and analysis and feeds the information back to the To evaluate the performance of the RoFSO system we setup
fine tracking system for counter measures such as moving two RoFSO transceivers at two buildings in the Waseda Uni-
the FPM mirror actuators. The fast beam tracking and con- versity campus area in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo. The link span
trol mechanism of the FPM is able to suppress atmospheric is 1 km. The system performance was evaluated using the
induced fluctuations like angle-of-arrival fluctuations and fo- specific quality metric parameters defined for transmission
cus most of the received optical beam onto a 10 m core of of the various wireless service signals including 3G mobile
the SMF. Detailed design and operation characteristics of the cellular, terrestrial digital television broadcasting and wire-
RoFSO antenna tracking mechanism are reported in [22]. less LAN IEEE 802.11g/a services. A schematic diagram
From the design concept and potential application areas the representing the setup used for evaluating the RoFSO system
new RoFSO system we have developed is well suited for performance is shown in Figure 2(a). A photograph show-
2009 ITU-T Kaleidoscope Academic Conference
60
5 MHz offset
55
50
45dB 50dB
ACLR [dB]
45
40
10 MHz offset
35
30
0:00
(a)
Fig. 4. Mobile cellular W-CDMA service transmission measurement characteristics (a) ACLR spectrum and (b) variation of
ACLR with received optical power.
ing the actual experimental devices setup in the laboratory
including signal analyzers, RF and Optical interface units,
optical sources and receivers etc is depicted in Figure 2(b).
In the experimental setup, at one site signal generators for
producing the various RF based wireless service signals un-
der investigation are placed and at a second site signal an-
alyzers and other measurement devices and equipment are
situated. The RoFSO system consists of two interface units
i.e. an optical interface unit (Optical IF unit) and a RF inter-
face unit (RF IF unit). The optical interface unit consists
of a wavelength multiplex and de-multiplex device, boost
and post amplifier and an optical circulator to separate trans-
mit and receive signals. The RF interface unit consists of
ROF modules responsible for electro/optical signal conver-
sion corresponding to each wireless service RF signal under
investigation.
To simultaneously transmit the different wireless service sig-
nals independently over the same RoFSO link wavelength
division multiplexing (WDM) is used. The wireless service
signals are placed on different wavelengths which are sepa-
rated using the ITU-T 100 GHz grid spacing [23]. Figure 3
depicts the received optical signal WDM spectrum showing
the wireless service signals carrying wavelengths.
The following subsections provide brief descriptions and de-
tails of results from performance evaluation of the different
wireless service signals transmitted over the RoFSO system.
The wireless service signals are evaluated based on the qual-
ity metric parameters specified for each.
4.1. Mobile cellular W-CDMA service
Wideband-CDMA (W-CDMA) also called Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System (UMTS) is one of 3G mobile
cellular standard proposed by the 3GPP and is one of the
Third Generation (3G) mobile systems developed within the
ITU’s IMT-2000 framework. It is designed for improved
capacity and data rates to provide multimedia communica-
tion. 3G W-CDMA has 5 MHz bandwidth in either uplink
23rd December 2008
0
Received power
-5
ACLR (-10 MHz offset)
Received power (dBm)
-10
-15
ACLR (-5 MHz offset)
-20
ACLR -10 MHz offset -25
ACLR -5 MHz offset
Received power (dBm)
-30
03:00 06:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 24:00
Time
(b)
or downlink channels and uses frequency bands in the 2 GHz
region [24, 25].
In our setup, to test the RoFSO system performance when
transmitting mobile cellular W-CDMA service, a signal gen-
erator (Agilent E4438C) was used to produce the W-CDMA
test signal (W-CDMA Test Model 1). The test signal consists
of 64 Dedicated Physical Channels (DPCH), with a spread-
ing factor of 128, distributed randomly across the code space,
at random power levels and random timing offsets so as to
simulate a realistic traffic scenario that may have high peak
to average ratio (PAR). The test signal generated at -20 dBm
is fed into a RoF module in the RF IF unit with an optical
modulation index (OMI) of 10%. The optical signal from the
RoF module is then fed to the Optical IF unit, multiplexed
then boosted by a 100 mW EDFA and subsequently sent to
the rooftop via optical fiber cables for transmission through
free-space using the RoFSO antenna. At the receiver side a
digital mobile radio transmission tester (Anritsu MS8609A)
is used to measure the quality of the W-CDMA signal.
In W-CDMA system, the downlink signal transmitted by the
base station is designed to fulfill the specification set in the
3GPP standard [26]. The spectral properties of the signal
are measured by the Adjacent Channel Leakage Power Ratio
(ACLR) defined as the ratio of the amount of leakage power
in the adjacent channel to the total transmitted power in the
main channel. The 3GPP specifies one main channel and
two adjacent channels. The standard requires the ACLR to
be better than 45 dB at 5 MHz offset and 50 dB at 10 MHz
offset. Other figure of merit parameters for evaluation of W-
CDMA signal transmission include Error Vector Magnitude
(EVM) and Peak Code Domain Error (PCDE), but we choose
to measure and evaluate ACLR in our experiments because
it is a more stringent quality metric parameter for W-CDMA
signal transmission evaluation.
Figure 4(a) shows an example of the received W-CDMA sig-
nal ACLR spectrum after transmission over the 1 km RoFSO
link. An example of ACLR measurement made over a con-
tinuous 24 hour period recorded on the 23rd December 2008
 Innovations for Digital Inclusion

13 segments
Layer A (6 MHz bandwidth) Table 2. Specification of ISDB-T waveform pattern.
Layer B
(LDTV, Audio, (HDTV or 3 SDTV
Data) Layer A Layer B
with data)
Number of segments 1seg 12seg
frequency Modulation scheme 16QAM 64QAM
Convolution code rate 1/2 7/8
Required CNR (dB) 11.5 22.2
Time interleaving 0 1
Handheld reception Fixed and mobile
(1seg service) reception (HDTV, etc)

To evaluate the performance of the RoFSO system for ISDB-

Fig. 5. ISDB-T channel segments and services.
is shown in Figure 4 (b). From Figure 4(b) it is observed
that a stable optical received power consistently above -10
dBm is recorded and the measured ACLR variation can be
closely correlated with the variations of the optical received
power. The recorded values for ACLR at the -5 MHz offset
satisfy the specification provided in the 3GPP standard which
requires it to be better that 45 dB. Unfortunately, at the -10
MHz offset the standard requires the ACLR value to be bet-
ter than 50 dB but in our experiments the measured values
fall below this required figure. This is due to the background
noise caused by the boost amplifier resulting in inadequate
degree of modulation of the 2 GHz W-CDMA RoF module
currently used leading to insufficient SNR. This can easily
be corrected by using an appropriately designed 2 GHz W-
CDMA RoF module with optimum input power level and
less background noise.
Figure 4(b) shows around noon increased fluctuations of the
measured ACLR and optical power can be observed. This is
attributed to the increase in atmospheric turbulence around
this time which is a common phenomenon in FSO links
caused by the temperature gradient as a result of difference
in temperature between the ground and air.
4.2. Digital television broadcasting service
Digital terrestrial television broadcasting is designed to pro-
vide reliable high-quality video, audio and data broadcast-
ing for both fixed receivers and mobile receivers. Integrated
Services Digital Broadcasting - Terrestrial (ISDB-T) is one
of the international standards on digital terrestrial television
broadcasting format developed in Japan. ISDB-T system
uses segmented OFDM with time interleave to achieve a ro-
bust flexible system enabling fixed/mobile/portable reception
in one channel. ISDB-T system operates in the UHF band at
frequencies between 470 MHz and 770 MHz, giving a to-
tal bandwidth of 300 MHz divided into 50 channels, from
channels 13 through 62. Each channel is further divided into
13 OFDM segments which includes a single segment (1seg)
for mobile receivers (Low Definition TV (LDTV), audio and
data reception) and remainder can be allocated for high de-
finition TV (HDTV) programs [27, 28]. Figure 5 shows an
example diagram of ISDB-T segmentation with 13 segments
in one 6 MHz channel showing the Layer A and Layer B
services.
T transmission, a vector signal generator (Anritsu MG3700)
is used to generate simple BER data and video waveform. In
our experiment the ISDB-T_16QAM_1_2 (Mode 3, Guard
Interval 1/8) consisting of Layer A (1seg) and Layer B (12
segment) waveform pattern is used. A summary of the ISDB-
T waveform pattern used in the experiment with correspond-
ing CNR as specified in [29] is given in Table 2. The ISBD-
T signal is generated at -20 dBm and fed into a RoF module
with 10% OMI and similar to the W-CDMA signal it is fed to
the Optical IF unit, multiplexed and boosted by the 100 mW
EDFA, then subsequently sent to the rooftop for transmission
over the RoFSO link.
A modulation error ratio (MER) quality metric parameter
used to evaluate the modulation signal quality of the digital
terrestrial television broadcasting signal directly is measured
and recorded. MER provides a figure of merit analysis of the
received signal and is defined as follows [30]:
; Q <
A P¡ 2 ¢ A
A
A
? Lm + T2m A
A
@
m=1
P HU[gE] = 10 × log10 Q ¡
(1)
A
A P ¢A
A
= Lm2 + T2m A
A
>
m=1
where the vector (Lm , Tm ) is the j-th carrier’s ideal symbol
position resulting from a symbol decision using the actual
received vector. The error vector (Lm , Tm ) is defined as the
difference between the actual received position vector and
the ideal position vector. Summation is carried out to average
the quality of all the carriers.
An example of a snapshot showing the constellation map
of the received ISDB-T service Layer B demodulated sig-
nal is shown in Figure 6(a). Figure 6(b) shows the mea-
sured MER for both Layer A and Layer B together with the
mean received optical power for a continuous 24 hour pe-
riod recorded on 12th January 2009. From 6(b) it is observed
that the measured MER characteristics can be closely corre-
lated with the received optical power. Stable consistent per-
formance is demonstrated. Ideally, the CNR and MER values
are the same which means that the minimum required MER
for Layer A and Layer B should be 11.5 dB and 22.2 dB re-
spectively as specified in [29]. The MER values for Layer
A in Figure 6(b) are consistently above 15 dB which shows
good performance for the system. For Layer B the MER val-
ues are around 20 dB which is slightly less than the required
value of 22.2 dB, but with increased received optical power,
the MER values also improve above the minimum required
threshold.
2009 ITU-T Kaleidoscope Academic Conference

12th January 2009

30 0

25 -5
MER Layer B

Received power (dBm)

20 -10

MER [dB]
15 MER Layer A -15

Received power
10 -20

5 MER Layer A -25

MER Layer B
Received power (dBm)
0 -30
0:00 03:00 06:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 24:00
Time

(a) (b)

Fig. 6. ISDB-T service transmission (a) modulation analysis constellation for Layer B (64 QAM) and (b) variation of MER
and received optical power.

Template: Pass Template: Fail

(a) (b)

Fig. 7. Wireless LAN Spectrum Mask measurement for (a) IEEE 802.11g and (b) IEEE 802.11a signals.

20th December 2008

20 0

Rx throughput
16 -4
Received power(dBm)
Throughput (Mbps)

12 -8
Tx throughput
Received power
8 -12

4 -16
Tx throughput (Mbps)
Rx throughput (Mbps)
Received power (dBm)
0 -20
0:00 03:00 06:00 09:00 12:00 15:00 18:00 21:00 24:00

Fig. 8. WLAN IEEE 802.11g measured throughput and received optical power characteristics.

4.3. Wireless LAN service
Wireless local area network (WLAN) also known as Wi-Fi
gained momentum in the late 1990s to become an important
and rapidly growing segment of wireless communication be-
cause of the phenomenal popularity of the Internet combined
with wide scale acceptance of portable computers. It pro-
vides high-bandwidth broadband wireless connection sup-
porting rich media delivery to hand held devices. Several
WLAN standards including IEEE 801.11b/g/a have been de-
veloped and standardized by the IEEE for operation in 2.4
GHz (802.11b/g) and 5 GHz for the 802.11a providing data
rates up to 54 Mbps.
Using another vector signal generator (MG3700A) an IEEE
802.11g/a compliant signal waveform pattern is generated
and after transmission through the RoFSO link a spectrum
analyzer (Anritsu MS2687B) is utilized to measure and ana-
lyze the quality of the received WLAN signals. For the IEEE
802.11g experiment the signal was generated at -20 dBm and
fed into the RoF module with a OMI of 10%. For the IEEE
802.11a the signal is generated at -10 dBm and amplified
by an RF amplifier and the 0 dBm signal is fed to the RoF
module with OMI in this case of 5%. The WLAN signal
transmission is evaluated using the quality metric parameters
specified in [31] and [32].
A pass/fail judgment of the spectrum mask is used to eval-
uate the quality of the transmitted WLAN signals. Figures
7(a) and (b) show the received WLAN signals with a spec-
trum mask in this case for IEEE 802.11g waveform at 2.4
GHz with 54 Mbps, 64QAM and IEEE 802.11a waveform at
5.22 GHz with 54 Mbps, 64QAM respectively. In the ex-
ample shown the IEEE 802.11g signal (Figure 7(a)) is in
compliance with the specified standard i.e. spectrum mask
test pass while for the IEEE 802.11a signal (Figure 7(b)) the
spectrum mask test fails. The reason for the IEEE 802.11a
signal spectrum mask fail is attributed to the limitation of the
5 GHz RoF module used in this case. While the 2.4 GHz
RoF module for the IEEE 802.11g service uses direct mod-
ulation of laser diode (LD) the 5 GHz RoF module requires
a larger input voltage therefore an external modulator is ap-
plied. Unfortunately, the amplifier does not provide enough
input voltage to the 5 GHz RoF module.
A data transmission experiment using two DELL laptop
computers placed at the two sites and connected via a WLAN
(IEEE 802.11g) access point (AP) to the RoFSO link is con-
ducted. A simple throughput measurement application is
utilized to transmit continuously a 64 MB file size in 8 kB
packet size chunks. The data transmit and receive through-
put is measured continuously, logged and correlated with
the monitor output derived received optical power which is
adjusted to the actual received optical power of the WLAN
IEEE 802.11g signal. The results are shown in Figure 8.
From the figure, the variation of the throughput characteris-
tics can be correlated to the measured mean received optical
power. In this particular measurement, the throughput (for
both transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) case) is consistently
above 12 Mbps and seems to drop below this value only
Innovations for Digital Inclusion
around midday a time which is usually characterized with
increased transmission errors because of atmospheric turbu-
lence induced scintillation etc. This result confirms that the
RoFSO system is stable and can provide consistent TCP/IP
data transmission even when the link quality deteriorates due
to atmospheric turbulence.
5. CONCLUSION
In this paper, we presented a new innovative broadband wire-
less communication system based on RoFSO links suitable
for application as a universal platform for providing con-
vergence of fiber and free-space optical communication net-
works extending broadband connectivity to underserved ar-
eas.
Evaluation of the RoFSO system has demonstrated consis-
tent performance in terms of the specified figure of merits
for the various wireless services when operating the system
in weak to moderate turbulence conditions and in the absence
of severe weather conditions by using properly engineered
RoF modules. This pioneering experiment reflects on real
operational environment of the RoFSO system.
From the design concept, performance characteristics and
merits of the RoFSO system, i.e. capable of seamlessly
transmitting multiple wireless service signals as well as
compatibility with existing widely deployed optical fiber
infrastructure, this technology is well suited for deploy-
ment as an advanced wireless communication system in the
emerging NGN. The system can be flexibly upgraded as new
technologies mature and new NGN related standards like
IPTV evolve.
At present there are no active standardization studies with
respect to FSO and RoFSO technology, therefore early ini-
tiatives by the ITU-T and ITU-R and other bodies on further
studying standardization of RoFSO technology will greatly
support in the rapid maturity and adaptation of the technol-
ogy especially in LDC to help in bridging the digital divide
and foster digital inclusion.
In the future, we intend to collect long-term measurement
data required for a comprehensive and statistical analysis of
the system performance in different weather and atmospheric
conditions as well as defining parameters for system design
optimization and performance enhancement.
6. REFERENCES
[1] The Valletta Action Plan, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/
conferences/wtdc/1998/VAP.html, (accessed on 2009-
05-12).
[2] World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
http://www.itu.int/wsis/index.html, (accessed on 2009-
05-12).
[3] Communities and Local Government Publications,
“Delivering Digital Inclusion: An Action Plan for Con-
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