Towards optimization of 5G NR transport over fiber links performance in 5G Multi-band Networks: An OMSA model approach

The application of analog radio over fiber (A-RoF) systems for 5G new radio (NR) multiband waveforms presents challenges, including nonlinearity introduced by the Mach Zehnder Modulator and the dispersion and attenuation of the optical signal over long fiber lengths. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a new version of the magnitude-selective affine (MSA) model, named the optimized magnitude-selective affine (OMSA) model, which incorporates a power-reliant weighting function to improve performance while reducing complexity via Digital Predistortion (DPD). The OMSA model is tested using 5G NR signals at 10 GHz with 50 MHz and flexible-waveform signals at 2.14 GHz with a 20 MHz bandwidth, transmitted over a 10 km fiber length using a Mach Zehnder Modulator and a 1550 nm optical carrier. The performance of the OMSA model is compared to the MSA and generalized memory polynomial (GMP) models in terms of adjacent channel power ratio, error vector magnitude, and complexity. The results show that the OMSA model outperforms the MSA and GMP models in terms of performance reducing the error vector magnitude to 1.9% as compared to 4% and 3% in case of GMP and MSA respectively. Additionally, in terms of complexity measured via coefficients, OMSA is 168 times more efficient as compared to GMP and offers 1.93 times higher efficiency as compared to MSA while maintaining lower complexity. The experimental demonstration of 5G NR multiband waveforms over A-RoF links using the OMSA model represents a significant step towards the practical implementation of high-performance, low-complexity 5G NR systems over fiber-optic links and provides a promising solution to the challenges associated with DPD linearization for A-RoF systems.