Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (publ)

Marconi Communications Gmbh

Antonio D'Errico

Luca Giorgi

Antonella Bogoni

Fabio Cavaliere

Giulio Bottari

Paola Iovanna

Marzio Puleri

Paolo Ghelfi

Francesco Testa

Claudio Porzi

Alessandra Bigongiari

Ernesto Ciaramella

Wei-Ping Huang

Marco Presi

Filippo Scotti

Patryk Urban

Piero Castoldi

Fabrizio Di Pasquale

Francesco Fondelli

Teresa Pepe

Francesco Laghezza

Marco Secondini

Renato Grosso

Nicola Sambo

Giovanni Sacchi

Mauro Rudi Casanova

Antonio Malacarne

Vito Sorianello

Francesco Giurlanda

Giovanni Serafino

Enrico Dutti

Guilio Bottari

Anna Molony

Gianfranco Sfameni

Paolo Pintus

A photonic radio frequency, RF, signal generation apparatus has a source to output a coherent optical signal at a carrier frequency; an optical splitter to split the signal into a first and a second optical carrier signal; an RF signal generation apparatus generating an RF signal at an initial frequency; an optical modulation apparatus modulating the first and second signals at the initial frequency to generate optical harmonic signals around each signal; a first optical filter to select an nth order optical harmonic signal of a first sign, +n, of the optical harmonics around the first signal; a second optical filter to select the nth order optical harmonic signal of an opposite sign, −n, of the optical harmonics around the second signal; and a combiner to combine the selected +n and −n signals to generate an optical beat signal forming an output photonic RF signal.

Photonic RF signal generation apparatus, network units and method

Embodiments described herein provide a waveguide for transmitting electromagnetic radiation. The waveguide comprising a core region, a cladding region extending around the core region; and a first layer of a material having a thickness of less than a skin depth of the material for electromagnetic radiation of a first wavelength; wherein the first layer is configured with a periodic refractive index and positioned within the waveguide such that a first surface polariton wave is excited at an interface between the core region and cladding region when electromagnetic radiation of the first wavelength is transmitted through the core region. There is also provided a method of manufacture of the waveguide.

Photonic waveguide

Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatus for generating electromagnetic radiation in an electro-optical apparatus. An electro-optical apparatus comprises a core region; a cladding region extending around the core region, and a first layer of a material extending along an interface between the core region and the cladding region, wherein the first layer is configured with a changing refractive index along at least a first direction; and a set of driving electrical contacts configured to apply a voltage in a second direction on the first layer, such that electrons in the first layer are accelerated between the set of driving electrical contacts to generate a surface polariton wave at the interface between the core region and the cladding region, wherein the surface polariton wave propagates in the first direction, and wherein a thickness of the first layer is less than an extinction length of the surface polariton wave in the material, and the first layer is positioned a distance less than or equal to the extinction length of the surface polariton from the interface between the core region and the cladding region.

Electro-optical apparatus

A method () for managing Optical Wireless Communication (OWC) in a User Equipment (UE) is disclosed, the UE being configured for Radio Frequency (RF) communication with a network and comprising at least two OWC receivers. The method comprises monitoring a captured luminous flux intensity at the OWC receivers () and, if a captured luminous flux intensity at at least one of the OWC receivers is above a viability threshold (), selecting the OWC receiver having the highest captured luminous flux intensity () and extracting client data from an optical signal received on the selected OWC receiver (). Also disclosed are a UE () configured for RF communication with a network and for OWC, the UE comprising at least two OWC receivers, and a controller () for managing OWC in a UE.

Method and apparatus for optical wireless communication

A polarization controller is configured to control polarization of an optical signal. The polarization controller includes a first polarization rotator and a second polarization rotator controllable by control settings. The polarization controller includes a monitor unit configured to generate a monitoring value indicating a performance of the polarization controller. The polarization controller is configured to determine from the monitoring value if the polarization controller is operating in a selected one of a plurality of optimal performance states. If operation is not in an optimal performance state, the polarization controller is further configured to select different control settings to select an alternate one of the plurality of optimal performance states for the polarization controller.

Methods and apparatus for optical polarization control

Transmitting and receiving apparatuses, transmitting and receiving methods, and a transceiver for a phased array antenna are provided. The transmitting apparatus may comprise a laser light source configured to provide an optical beam comprising one or more spectral components. The transmitting apparatus may comprise a modulator configured to modulate the optical beam with a signal to be transmitted. The transmitting apparatus may comprise one or more group delay controlling units configured to add one or more controllable time delays to the one or more spectral components. Further, the transmitting apparatus may comprise a plurality of waveguides each having a chromatic dispersion configured to guide the optical beam, wherein the laser light source is tunable to control time delays added by the plurality of waveguides.

Transmitting and receiving apparatuses and methods for a phased array antenna

A receiver () for a phased array antenna comprises a laser light source () arranged to provide an optical spectrum comprising a first spectral component having a first wavelength and a second spectral component having a second wavelength. The first wavelength is spaced from the second wavelength. A wavelength separator () is configured to separate the first spectral component from the second spectral component, such that the first spectral component is directed onto a first path (A) and the second spectral component is directed onto a second path (B). A first delay unit () is configured to add a controllable time delay to the first spectral component on the first path. A second delay unit () is configured to add the time delay to the second spectral component on the second path. A modulator () is configured to modulate the first spectral component on the first path with a received RF signal from the phased array antenna. A heterodyning device () is configured to heterodyne the resulting first and second spectral components.

Receiver for a phased array antenna

A periodic phase modulation, having a period shorter than a symbol period, is applied as a source modulation, in addition to a symbol modulation, to signals transmitted between a transmitter and a receiver in a communication network. Symbol value elements can be sent from multiple transmitters () to a receiver () in the same symbol period can be processed on the basis of the source modulation without destructive interference. In some embodiments, the symbol value elements sent by different transmitters can be combined in the receiver. In some embodiments, symbol value elements sent by different transmitters can be distinguished in the receiver.

Multipoint transmission and reception in a radio communication network

A data center network node comprising at least one server connection for connecting to a server, a connectionfor connecting the at least one serverto a first subnetwork. The first subnetwork is a conventional subnetwork which comprises at least one of a switch or a router. The node further comprises an optical receiver arrayfor connecting the node to an optical offload subnetwork, wherein the optical receiver arraycomprises a plurality of optical receivers. The array is configured such that each receiver is connectable to an optical path within a multi-path optical connection. The node further comprises an optical transmitter arrayfor connecting the node to an optical offload subnetwork. The optical transmitter array comprises a plurality of optical transmitters. The array is configured such that each receiver is connectable to an optical path within a multi-path optical connection. The node further comprises an electrical switching arrangementfor directing an incoming data stream from a receiver in the receiver arrayto at least one of the at least one server connection to serveror at least one transmitter in the transmitter array, and for directing an outgoing data stream from one of the at least one serverto at least one transmitter in the transmitter array. The electrical switching arrangementprovides for effective transport of data in a data center, e.g. transporting high bandwidth elephant flows on an optical offload network. The electrical switching arrangementenables the provision of point to multipoint connections for data streams by enabling a data stream to be passed to multiple transmitters or received at a node, sent to a server in the node, and transmitted to a subsequent node in the network. Once high bandwidth flow demands have been identified, a schedule of logical links between the nodes of the network is constructed so as to enable the high bandwidth flows to be transmitted on the offload network. The development of the schedule is implemented by an orchestratorand comprises constructing a booking list for high bandwidth flows, wherein a high bandwidth flow is a data stream which has a capacity requirement greater than a threshold.

Data center network

A data center network node () comprising a first data connection () for connecting at least one server to a conventional subnetwork comprising at least one of a switch or a router, an optical transceiver () comprising a transmitter () and a receiver (), a second data connection () for connecting the at least one server to the optical transceiver, a switching arrangement () for linking the optical transceiver () to an offload subnetwork (), the switching arrangement configurable between a first configuration () in which the offload subnetwork bypasses the optical transceiver and a second configuration () in which the optical transceiver is optically linked to the offload subnetwork.

Data center network node

An opto-electronic oscillator () comprising: an optical source () to generate an optical carrier signal having a carrier wavelength; an optical phase modulator () to apply a sinusoidal phase modulation to the optical carrier signal to generate two first order sidebands having a &#x3c0; phase difference between them; an optical phase shifter () comprising an optical resonator configured to apply a substantially &#x3c0; phase-shift to one of the first order sidebands at a preselected wavelength within an optical spectrum of said first order sideband; and a photodetector () configured to perform optical heterodyne detection of the optical carrier signal with both: said one of the first order sidebands substantially it phase shifted by the optical resonator; and the other of the first order sidebands, to generate an electrical carrier signal (), and wherein a first part of the electrical carrier signal () is delivered to an electrical output () and a second part of the electrical carrier signal () is delivered to the optical phase modulator as a drive signal.

Opto-electronic oscillator and method of generating an electrical carrier signal

An optical source comprises a first laser arranged to generate a first optical signal having a first state of polarization (SOP) and a first optical frequency; a second laser arranged to generate a second optical signal having a second SOP, substantially orthogonal to the first SOP, and having a second optical frequency, different from the first optical frequency by a preselected frequency difference; a polarisation beam coupler arranged to combine the first optical signal and the second optical signal into a composite optical signal comprising both the first optical signal and the second optical signal having said substantially orthogonal SOPs; and an output arranged to output the composite optical signal.

Optical source, communications network optical apparatus and method of providing an optical signal

A beamforming device for a phased array antenna, comprising: a laser light source () arranged to provide an optical spectrum comprising a plurality of spaced wavelengths, and a distribution unit () configured to distribute one or more of the plurality of spaced wavelengths onto a plurality of optical paths (). A wavelength selection device () configured to receive the plurality of spaced wavelengths on each of the plurality of optical paths. One or more phase shift unit () connected to a said wavelength selection device, wherein the phase shift unit is configured to introduce a phase shift to a received wavelength. The wavelength selection device on each optical path is configured to selectively transmit a wavelength to the phase shift unit. The wavelength selection device is configured to receive the said phase shifted wavelength from the phase shift unit (). The beamforming device further comprising a heterodyning device () configured to generate a signal for transmission by an element of the phased array antenna, wherein the heterodyning device is configured to heterodyne a plurality of selected spectral components of the spaced wavelengths of the laser light source.

Optical beamforming

A plurality of sub-cells are defined within a cell area of a radio communication network by the intersection of a radio paths of a plurality of directional radio antennas. The plurality of directional radio antennas are arranged to broadcast radio signals simultaneously, and to receive radio signals simultaneously. This disclosure relates to determining of signal values transmitted by or received from the plurality of directional radio antennas in a radio communication network.

The present invention provides an optical source comprising a laser, a first optical power splitter, phase changing equipment, polarisation state setting equipment, a polarisation beam coupler and an output. The laser is configured to generate an optical signal. The first optical power splitter is configured to split the optical signal into a first optical signal and a second optical signal. The phase changing equipment is configured to change the phase of at least one of the first optical signal and the second optical signal such that the first optical signal has a first phase and the second optical signal has a second phase different from the first phase by a preselected phase difference. The polarisation state setting equipment is configured to set the polarisation state of at least one of the first optical signal and the second optical signal such that the first optical signal has a first state of polarisation and the second optical signal has a second state of polarisation substantially orthogonal from the first state of polarisation. The polarisation beam coupler is configured to combine the first optical signal and the second optical signal into a composite optical signal comprising both the first optical signal and the second optical signal having said orthogonal states of polarisation. The output is arranged to output at least a portion of the composite optical signal.

Growing community of inventors

Pisa, Italy

Antonio D'Errico