Fronthaul links based on Analog Radio over Fiber

Current Information and Communication Technology systems are nowadays close to a 'capacity crunch' as global IP traffic increases. This problem will be particularly important in the Mobile Fronthaul. This scenario is driving the search for new multiplexing techniques that could solve short-term bandwidth problems and provide a good scalability in the long-term view. Space division multiplexing in the optical domain is currently considered as the best option to provide a new degree of freedom to scale the bandwidth of optical communication systems. On top of using space division multiplexing a further increase in the spectral efficiency of the mobile fronthaul can be achieved using a centralized radio access network based on analog radio over fiber. In this work, we address the experimental demonstration of the transportation of 5G New Radio signals on fronthaul optical links using Analog Radio over Fiber.