Integration of Sensing and Communication in a W-Band Fiber-Wireless Link Enabled by Electromagnetic Polarization Multiplexing

• Published in: Journal of lightwave technology 2023-12, Vol.41 (23), p.7128-7138
• Main Authors: Lei, Mingzheng, Zhu, Min, Cai, Yuancheng, Fang, Miaomiao, Luo, Wei, Zhang, Jiao, Hua, Bingchang, Zou, Yucong, Liu, Xiang, Tong, Weidong, Yu, Jianjun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Carrier frequencies; Communication; Crosstalk; LFM; Microwave photonics; Millimeter waves; mmW; Multiplexing; OFDM; Optical fiber polarization; Optical polarization; Photonics; photonics-assisted wireless communication; Polarization; radar sensing; Single sideband transmission; Spatial resolution; Time-frequency analysis; Ultrawideband; Wireless communication; Wireless communications
• ISSN: 0733-8724; 1558-2213
• DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2023.3280388

The coexistence needs of sensing and communication in millimeter-wave (mmW) bands have urgently driven the seamless integration of sensing and communication in the upcoming mmW era. However, the time-frequency competition between the two functions makes it difficult to accommodate both high sensing resolution and large communication capacity. In this article, we have designed a W-band fiber-wireless link with the integrated sensing and communication functions enabled by electromagnetic polarization multiplexing. The ultra-wideband fiber-wireless link in W band is enabled by the asymmetrical single-sideband modulation along with the optical heterodyne up-conversion. The electromagnetic polarization multiplexing allocates the sensing and communication functions on two orthogonal electromagnetic polarizations, respectively. Thus, all time-frequency resources of the fiber-wireless link can simultaneously serve these two functions without any resource competition, contributing to an ultra-high spatial resolution and an ultra-large data capacity at the same time. Our experimental results show the spatial resolution of up to 15 mm and data rate as high as 92 Gbit/s were simultaneously realized in W band after delivering over a 10.8-m wireless distance. The overall improvement of both the sensing and communication performance, to the best of our knowledge, led to a record capacity-resolution quotient of 61.333 Gbit/s/cm. In addition, we have qualitatively investigated the integrated sensing and communication fiber-wireless link, in terms of the carrier frequency, system bandwidth, multi-mmW access, and electromagnetic polarization crosstalk.