Radio-Over-Fiber Technology: Present and Future

Abstract

Radio-over-fiber (RoF) technology is a hybrid technology which was first introduced to the telecommunication arena in the eighties. The research topics have evolved over the last three decades with initial focus on backhaul transport to current focus of mobile fronthaul. This paper aims to provide an overview of the present research areas in RoF and discuss our recent work that highlights the benefits of centralized control configuration of RoF based fronthaul. The challenges and the future outlook of this research field will also be discussed.