New configurations for integration of microwave/millimetre wave and optoelectronic devices for compact radio on fibre modules

Communication systems incorporating both millimetre-wave radio and optical fibre elements are very attractive for transmitting broadband signals. Radio on fibre systems is expected to play a significant role in telecommunication networks such as interactive multimedia services (IMS), intelligent vehicle highway systems (IVHS), mobile broadband services based on pico-cellular architecture (MBS), and high speed millimetre-wave wireless local area networks (WLAN). Asignificant advantage of the radio on fibre technology is the concentration of expensive equipment at a central location which can be shared among a number of remote sites. For any transmission system, practical issues such as size, weight, reliability, cost and power consumption of remote equipment are very important. This paper identifies the major issues of the radio on fibre system and suggests new system configurations for the integration of microwave/millimetre wave and optoelectronic devices.