Compensation of Multicore Fiber Skew Effects for Radio over Fiber mmWave Antenna Beamforming

Abstract: In 5G networks, a Radio over Fiber architecture utilizing multicore fibers can be adopted for the transmission of mmwave signals feeding phased array antennas. The mmwave signals undergo phase shifts imposed by optical true time delay networks, to provide squint free beams. Multicore fibers are used to transfer the phase shifted optical signals. However, the intercore static skew of these fibers, if not compensated, distorts the radiation pattern. We propose an efficient method to compensate the differential delays, without full equalization of the transmission path lengths, reducing the power loss and complexity. Statistical analysis shows that regardless of the skew distribution, the frequency response can be estimated with respect to the rms skew delays. Simulation analysis of the complete Radio over Fiber and RF link validates the method.