Toward High Accuracy Positioning in 5G via Passive Synchronization of Base Stations Using Thermally-Insensitive Optical Fibers
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Seyed Reza Sandoghchi; Radan Slavík; Yong Chen; Francesco Poletti; David J. Richardson; Marco N. Petrovich; Thomas D. Bradley; Mingshan Zhao; Wenwu Zhu; Eric Numkam Fokoua; Meng Ding; Gregory T. Jasion
- Source
- IEEE Access
IEEE Access, Vol 7, Pp 113197-113205 (2019)
- Subject
- Optical fiber
General Computer Science
Computer science
02 engineering and technology
Synchronization
law.invention
Base station
020210 optoelectronics & photonics
Radio over fiber
law
Dispersion (optics)
0202 electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
Electronic engineering
General Materials Science
OTDOA
General Engineering
Single-mode optical fiber
Multilateration
Polarization mode dispersion
positioning
hollow core fiber
lcsh:Electrical engineering. Electronics. Nuclear engineering
synchronization
lcsh:TK1-9971
5G
Data transmission
- Language
- ISSN
- 2169-3536
Positioning accuracy in 5G networks (achieved via techniques based on observed time difference of arrival (OTDoA)) is limited by the synchronization error between the cellular base stations. Here, we demonstrate that these base stations can be synchronized entirely passively through the use of emerging forms of hollow core fiber (HCF) as the data transmission medium in the 5G front-haul network. This is possible due to the excellent thermal stability of HCF which allows the synchronization error among cellular base stations to be reduced significantly as compared to systems based on standard single mode fibers. Reducing this synchronization error is necessary to meet the strict timing requirements envisaged for 5G networks. We analyze the polarization mode dispersion, chromatic dispersion, and thermal stability of the HCF and give suggestions on how to use the HCF to balance overall radio over fiber (RoF) link performance in 5G front-haul networks. In a proof of concept experiment we show that HCF links enable the positioning error (calculated with the OTDoA method) to be reduced down to the centimeter level even when subject to tens of degrees Celsius temperature variations. This represents a 20-fold improvement over standard single mode fiber systems which would require active compensation schemes to achieve similar levels of time synchronization accuracy.