Multicore fibre (MCF) has attracted considerable attention in mobile fronthaul networks as a promising solution to face the ever-increasing mobile traffic demand and to support network capacity scaling in a cost-effective manner. However, MCF-based systems suffer from the inter-core crosstalk (IC-XT) noise, which could incur severe performance degradation. In this study, we investigate for the first time, to our knowledge, the performance of an analogue radio-over-fibre mobile fronthaul link employing MCF under the joint impact of fibre dispersion and frequency chirp. Herein, the authors consider the radio frequency (RF) power fading induced by fibre dispersion and frequency chirp. In addition, the frequency-dependent IC-XT power fluctuations induced by dispersion and frequency chirp have been discussed. Closed-form equations for the carrier-to-noise ratio penalty due to power fading and IC-XT are derived. Moreover, new expressions for the average and variance of the crosstalk transfer function are obtained. Also, the analysis accounts for inter-core skew, laser relative intensity noise, shot noise and thermal noise. It has been shown that both the desired signal and IC-XT signals show the same behaviour in the presence of fibre dispersion and frequency chirp. Moreover, results show that RF power fading is the key issue.

中文翻译：

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光纤色散和频率线性调频对基于MCF的无线光纤移动前传的共同影响

多核光纤（MCF）作为一种有前途的解决方案，已经在移动前传网络中引起了广泛关注，它可以应对不断增长的移动业务需求，并以经济高效的方式支持网络容量扩展。但是，基于MCF的系统遭受内核间串扰（IC-XT）噪声的影响，这可能导致严重的性能下降。在本研究中，我们首次了解到，在光纤色散和频率线性调频的共同影响下，采用MCF的模拟无线射频移动前传链路的性能。本文中，作者考虑了由光纤色散和频率线性调频引起的射频（RF）功率衰减。另外，还讨论了由色散和频率线性调频引起的频率相关的IC-XT功率波动。推导了由于功率衰减和IC-XT引起的载噪比损失的闭式方程。此外，获得了关于串扰传递函数的平均值和方差的新表达式。此外，分析还考虑了芯间偏斜，激光相对强度噪声，散粒噪声和热噪声。已经表明，在存在光纤色散和频率线性调频的情况下，所需信号和IC-XT信号都表现出相同的行为。此外，结果表明射频功率衰减是关键问题。已经表明，在存在光纤色散和频率线性调频的情况下，所需信号和IC-XT信号都表现出相同的行为。此外，结果表明射频功率衰减是关键问题。已经表明，在存在光纤色散和频率线性调频的情况下，所需信号和IC-XT信号都表现出相同的行为。此外，结果表明射频功率衰减是关键问题。