Fibre-supported MM-waves: a flexible technology for broadband service delivery

The paper begins by outlining the topology and operating principle of a fibre/mm-wave generation and distribution technology demonstrator being developed under the European Community RACE program. This description highlights a novel method for the optical generation of mm-waves and describes how a full-duplex optical mm-wave system can be implemented. A description of possible application areas will outline some possible network topologies and deployment scenarios that could benefit from the availability of fibre supported mm-wave systems. It is intended to provide a basis for more detailed discussion between network planners, who will specify future network topologies and protocols, and optical technologists, who can provide the system components and effect performance assessments. Finally, some of the results achieved to date by the demonstrator are given in order to illustrate the performance potential of optical methods