Estimation and equalization of fiber-wireless uplink for multiuser CDMA 4G networks

Fiber-wireless (Fi-Wi) access fronts can support 100s of Mb/s envisioned by 4G networks. However, a major issue associated with Fi-Wi links is the nonlinear distortion of the radio-over-fiber (ROF) link coupled with the multipath dispersion of the wireless channel. Estimation and subsequent equalization of the concatenated fiber-wireless channel needs to be done, especially at high bit rates. The uplink is severely affected due to large fluctuations in the radio signal. This paper proposes an estimation and subsequent equalization algorithm for the Fi-Wi CDMA uplink. The estimation employs the properties of pseudo noise (PN) sequences and the equalization uses a novel Hammerstein type decision feedback equalizer (HDFE). The estimation and equalization are performed in the presence of multiple access interference (MAI) and wireless and optical channel noise. The cumulative effects of multiuser interference, multipath dispersion, nonlinear distortion, and noise are all considered in our analysis. Correlation properties of white-noise like PN sequences enable decoupling of the linear (wireless) and nonlinear (optical) channel portions. Furthermore, we propose a unique algorithm to mitigate MAI. Numerical evaluations show a good estimation and equalization of both the linear and nonlinear channels. Bit error rate (BER) simulations show that this algorithm leaves only small residual MAI.