Broadband fiber-wireless access networks based on a BPR architecture

A two-level bidirectional path-protected ring (BPR) architecture for the dense wavelength division multiplexing/subcarrier multiplexing (DWDM/SCM) broadband fiber-wireless access network is proposed and experimentally verified. This architecture can perform self-healing function that utilizes a distributed controller placed at each remote node (RN) and each concentration node (CN) under link failure. If fiber cut occurs between two RNs or CNs, two separate rings are constructed and the up/downstream signals can be delivered adequately. Consequently, the BPR is a reliable architecture for fiber-wireless network. Moreover, we employ a 16-quadrature amplitude modulation (16-QAM) modulated scheme to achieve better spectral efficiency on both up/downstream subcarrier channels. The data rate for each channel is up to 12 Mbit/s for a 3 MHz bandwidth. According to simulated and analyzed results, this architecture can provide large bandwidth, high reliability and excellent flexibility for future broadband wireless networks. Finally, we set up an experimental fiber-wireless network to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed architecture.