Design of Radio Over Fiber System for Hospital Building

Assignment Title:
Radio Over Fiber Systems

CIS117-6 – Digital, Microwave and Optical Communications
Design of a Radio over Fiber system for a four Storey hospital building that has 15 rooms per
floor. The communication link is to be used for a wide variety of functions including locating
physicians, requesting test results, checking patient records and calling mobile test data.
Introduction
The radio over fiber system, ROF, is designed to incorporate the fiber optic cable link in
the hospital building alongside a free space radio path. The two are used simultaneously to
ensure the digital communication is well-achieved. The fiber in the system with a wireless access
point serves to connect users on a very high-capacity multimedia service. The system seeks to
integrate the wireless radio system to the fiber optic communication technology. The wireless
signals are modulated over the optical carriers for data transmission at fiber optic light speeds.
The ROF enables the centralization of the signal processing of the communication system [1]. It
allows for performance and error monitoring, sharing of resources, and control and management.
The economies of scale are met as the ROF equipment tends to be relatively cheaper, smaller in
size and has a simple implementation of a base station. The use of fiber guarantees higher
bandwidth and it allows more users to communicate over a single channel by implementing very
robust modulation techniques in the system [2]. The major costs are incurred during installation
and integration within a building, thereafter, the maintenance costs are relatively affordable and
can be included in the organization’s budget alongside other expenses [3].
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CIS117-6 – Digital, Microwave and Optical Communications
The ROF accommodates the passive optical network, PON, infrastructure. It is possible
for one to use wavelength division multiplexing technique so as to improve the network
throughput in the wireless or radio section of data transmission [4]. For a four-storey building, a
designer would use the fiber optic cable to tap through all the floors. Upon reaching the floors,
one can have a local area network for each floor. The LAN should have both the wired and
wireless connection. For instance, in the hallways of the hospital and the reception area, the
wireless access points should be installed. All the rooms ought to have one or two LAN ports to
connect to the wired internet for voice and data use especially where network hospital equipment
is connected.
Part A
System Design and Block Diagram
Area 4-Storey Hospital Building
System Functions (i) GIS Function
(ii) Information sharing function
(iii) Database and storage function
(iv) Voice-over-IP function
Hospital Building Four floors
15 rooms per floor
Floor Design 1 wireless access point – reception
1 wireless access point – Hallway
30 LAN ports (wired connection -15 rooms)
1 Rack Cabinet per floor
The design proposes the use of wireless network access point as the final component in
the open regions where hospital equipment is not connected [5]. In the rooms 2 LAN ports are
set to be installed for the hospital equipment connection such as the lifesaving machine or the
MRI system connection, and an extra port for the patients or staff. ROF enlarges the coverage of
the radio signal itself and is used to transport the radio signal from wireless devices onto the
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CIS117-6 – Digital, Microwave and Optical Communications
optical carrier for further distribution to other remote sections [6]. The optical fiber acts as a
repeater as the connection is moved from one floor to another [7]. The design block diagram is as
illustrated below,
Figure 1 Block Diagram of System Architecture of ROF in hospital implementation
Figure 2 The multiplexing and Demultiplexing using WDM Technique for the ROF system
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