The advent of the new fifth generation (5G) network has brought with it new challenges and issues for public mobile network operators. The 5G network, as well as all future mobile networks, is expected to deliver high bandwidth, high responsiveness or minimum latency, continuous availability, and of course, reliable transmission. The amount of data transferred over mobile networks is increasing year by year, but data rates are not the only reason for the development of new generations of mobile user networks. The transition to more spectrally efficient technologies is inevitable as interest in the use of the electromagnetic spectrum in general grows. Operators are now faced with the challenge of how to connect a growing number of cellular base stations to meet all user expectations, or rather, to research, develop, and implement technology capable of addressing the challenge of convergence of the Optical Access Network (OAN) and the Radio Access Network (RAN). The benefits of the development of new mobile networks are immense (economic, cultural, etc.). Their implementation represents a long and complex journey, as this is a technology that will transform global connectivity. So far, China, the U.S. and South Korea have been the most successful in deploying 5G in practice. Europe is lagging behind the leading technological forces, but significant progress has been made in recent years. In Slovenia, Telekom Slovenije, A1, Telemach and T2 have operational 5G networks.
The thesis provides an overview and detailed analysis of all existing and future optical technologies that will be able to solve these convergence problems and meet expectations. The thesis answers the following important research questions:
• What are the basic quantities and requirements of the new 5G generation mobile network (KPI requirements)?
• What are the existing optical technologies that are most suitable / useful for interconnecting the different parts of a cellular network?
• What do we know about future optical technologies?
• Compare all the mentioned technologies and identify which is the most suitable to address the listed challenges.
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