A Study on LCoS-Based Remote Nodes for 60 GHz Fiber-Wireless Links

In this paper, we investigate and study the performance of a WDM-based 60 GHz mm-wave fiber-wireless link incorporating a liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS)-based programmable optical processor (POP) in the remote node (RN) for demultiplexing and processing of multiple channels. To ensure that the fiber-wireless link is compatible with existing WDM optical backbones, we have evaluated the performance of the 60 GHz link using a typical WDM channel plan with 100 GHz spacing. A number of different filter profiles are investigated for the POP within the RN and the link performance is quantified and fully characterized. To demonstrate the robustness and flexibility of the POP as a RN, we also investigate wavelength-interleaved 60 GHz fiber-wireless link which requires a more complex filter profile for channel demultiplexing. Our results demonstrate that the POP allows error-free reception of demultiplexed channels, though the performance depends on the type of profile used to process the individual channels.