In-House Networks Using Multimode Polymer Optical Fiber for Broadband Wireless Services

A novel system concept is presented to transport microwave signals over an in-house multimode graded-index polymer optical fiber network, in order to feed the radio access points in high-capacity wireless LANs. By employing optical frequency multiplying, the network's intrinsically limited bandwidth is overcome. The feasibility of this concept to carry data at several hundreds of Mbit/s speed for various microwave signal formats at carrier frequencies in the tens of GHz range is shown. The concept enables cost-effective system implementation, and easy upgrading by offering data signal transparency. It can readily be integrated with other system technologies such as wired Gigabit Ethernet in a single multi-service in-house polymer optical fiber network.