Optical Harness for Digital Antennas
The advanced optical digital harness (ODH) substantiates a separation of front-end analog design from back-end digital signal processing, heralding the arrival of fully digital antennas. It provides links to transfer data, clock, configuration, and system-wide synchronization signaling for multi-element smart digital antennas. Streaming sample, control, configuration data, and reference clock and synchronization signals via optical fibers simplifies signal distribution and reduces cable mass. It eliminates all copper signal wiring in the radio, which offers increased architectural flexibility while reducing crosstalk and inter-channel interference. The use of an optical data link also provides lossless, long-range transmission, freedom of separation between front-end receive and signal processing systems and reduces EMI.
(29)
