Performance Parameter of Hybrid Wireless-optical Broadband-access Network (WOBAN): A Study on the Physical Layer of Optical Backhaul and Wireless Front-end

The hybrid wireless-optical broadband-access network (WOBAN) is a promising broadband access network. It provides blanket coverage of broadband and flexible connection for wireless end-users. In this paper, the architecture of the WOBAN is proposed and designed based on both a wavelengths division multiplexing/time division multiplexing passive optical network (WDM/TDM PON) at the optical backhaul and wireless fidelity/worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiFi/WiMAX) technologies at the wireless front-end. The power budget of the optical backhaul based on maximum split ratio of 1/32 for each wavelength channel and a fiber length of 23 km from the central office (CO) to the access point (AP) is analyzed with bit error rate (BER) of 10(-9). Most of the existing works, based on performance evaluation are concerned on network layer aspects. We report the performance analysis in terms of BER, eye diagram, error vector magnitude (EVM), and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the WOBAN physical layer. It is demonstrated 2 Gb/s for downstream/upstream can be achieved at optical backhaul for each wavelength channel, at data rates of 54 Mb/s (WiFi) and 30 Mb/s (WiMAX) per AP along a 50 m and 5 km wireless links respectively.