Providing digital data services in optical fiber-based distributed radio frequency (rf) communications systems, and related components and methods

Abstract

Optical fiber-based distributed communications systems that provide and support both RF communication services and digital data services are disclosed herein. The RF communication services and digital data services can be distributed over optical fiber to client devices, such as remote antenna units for example. In certain embodiments, digital data services can be distributed over optical fiber separate from optical fiber distributing RF communication services. In other embodiments, digital data services can be distributed over common optical fiber with RF communication services. For example, digital data services can be distributed over common optical fiber with RF communication services at different wavelengths through wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) and/or at different frequencies through frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). Power distributed in the optical fiber-based distributed communications system to provide power to remote antenna units can also be accessed to provide power to digital data service components.

1 . A distributed antenna system for distributing radio frequency (RF) communications and digital data services (DDS) to at least one remote antenna unit (RAU), comprising:
 a head-end unit (HEU) configured to:
 receive at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal; 
 convert the at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal into at least one downlink optical RF communications signal to be communicated over at least one communications downlink to the at least one RAU; 
 receive at least one uplink optical RF communications signal over at least one communications uplink from the at least one RAU; and 
 convert the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal into at least one uplink electrical RF communications signal; and 
   a DDS controller configured to:
 receive at least one downlink optical digital signal containing at least one DDS; and 
 provide the at least one downlink optical digital signal over at least one second communications downlink to the at least one RAU. 
   
     
     
         2 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , wherein the DDS controller is further configured to:
 receive at least one uplink optical digital signal over at least one second communications uplink from the at least one RAU; and   convert the at least one uplink optical digital signal to at least one uplink electrical digital signal.   
     
     
         3 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 2 , wherein the DDS controller is further configured to:
 receive at least one second uplink optical digital signal over the at least one second communications uplink from at least one media controller (MC);
 and 
   convert the at least one second uplink optical digital signal to the at least one second uplink electrical digital signal.   
     
     
         4 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one DDS is comprised from the group consisting of Ethernet, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Digital Subscriber Line (DSL), and Long Term Evolution (LTE). 
     
     
         5 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , wherein the DDS controller is comprised of a media converter. 
     
     
         6 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one communications downlink and the at least one communications uplink include optical fiber. 
     
     
         7 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , further comprising an interconnect unit (ICU) configured to:
 receive the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal;   receive the at least one downlink optical digital signal;   provide the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal over the at least one communications downlink to the at least one RAU; and   provide the at least one downlink optical digital signal over the at least one second communications downlink to the at least one RAU.   
     
     
         8 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 2 , further comprising an interconnect unit (ICU) configured to:
 receive the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal from the at least one RAU over the at least one communications uplink;   provide the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal to the HEU;   receive the at least one uplink optical digital signal from the at least one RAU over the at least one second communications uplink; and   provide the at least one uplink optical digital signal to the DDS controller.   
     
     
         9 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 8 , wherein the ICU is further configured to:
 provide the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal to the HEU; and   provide the at least one uplink optical digital signal to the DDS controller.   
     
     
         10 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one wave-division multiplexer (WDM) configured to wave-division multiplex the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal and the at least one downlink optical digital signal at different wavelengths over at least one optical fiber communications downlink. 
     
     
         11 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 10 , further comprising at least one wave-division de-multiplexer (WDD) associated with the at least one RAU and configured to separate the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal from the at least one downlink optical digital signal received over the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         12 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 2 , further comprising at least one wave-division de-multiplexer (WDM) associated with the at least one RAU and configured to wave-division multiplex the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal and the at least one uplink optical digital signal at different wavelengths over the at least one communications uplink. 
     
     
         13 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 12 , further comprising at least one wave-division de-multiplexer (WDD) configured to separate the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal from the at least one uplink optical digital signal received over the at least one communications uplink. 
     
     
         14 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 10 , further comprising at least one frequency-division multiplexer (FDM) configured to frequency-division multiplex the at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal and at least one downlink electrical digital signal at different frequencies over the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         15 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 14 , further comprising at least one frequency-division de-multiplexer (FDD) associated with the at least one RAU and configured to separate the at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal from the at least one downlink electrical digital signal from the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         16 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 12 , further comprising at least one frequency-division multiplexer (FDM) associated with the at least one RAU and configured to frequency-division multiplex the at least one uplink electrical RF communications signal and the at least one uplink electrical digital signal at different frequencies from the at least one communications uplink. 
     
     
         17 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 16 , further comprising at least one frequency-division de-multiplexer (FDD) configured to separate the at least one uplink electrical RF communications signal from the at least one uplink electrical digital signal from the at least one communications uplink. 
     
     
         18 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , further comprising at least one frequency-division multiplexer (FDM) configured to frequency-division multiplex the at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal and the at least one downlink electrical digital signal at different frequencies over the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         19 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 18 , further comprising at least one frequency-division de-multiplexer (FDD) associated with the at least one RAU and configured to separate the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal from the at least one downlink optical digital signal received over the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         20 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 2 , further comprising at least one frequency-division multiplexer (FDM) associated with the at least one RAU and configured to frequency-division multiplex the at least one uplink electrical RF communications signal and the at least one uplink electrical digital signal at different frequencies from at least one communications uplink. 
     
     
         21 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 20 , further comprising at least one frequency-division de-multiplexer (FDD) configured to separate the at least one uplink electrical RF communications signal from the at least one uplink electrical digital signal from the at least one communications uplink. 
     
     
         22 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one second communications downlink is comprised of at least one second optical fiber communications downlink. 
     
     
         23 . The distributed antenna system of  claim 2 , wherein the at least one second communications uplink is comprised of at least one second optical fiber communications uplink. 
     
     
         24 . A method of distributing radio frequency (RF) communications and digital data services (DDS) to at least one remote antenna unit (RAU) in a distributed antenna system, comprising:
 receiving at a head-end unit (HEU) at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal;   converting the at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal into at least one downlink optical RF communications signal to be communicated over at least one communications downlink to the at least one RAU;   receiving at the HEU at least one uplink optical RF communications signal over at least one communications uplink from the at least one RAU;   converting the at least one uplink optical RF communications signal into at least one uplink electrical RF communications signal;   receiving at a digital data services (DDS) controller at least one downlink optical digital signal containing at least one DDS; and   providing the at least one downlink optical digital signal over at least one second communications downlink to the at least one RAU.   
     
     
         25 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising:
 receiving at the DDS controller at least one uplink optical digital signal over at least one second communications uplink from the at least one RAU; and   providing at least one second uplink optical digital signal to a DDS network.   
     
     
         26 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising wave-division multiplexing the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal and the at least one downlink optical digital signal at different wavelengths over at least one optical fiber communications downlink. 
     
     
         27 . The method of  claim 26 , further comprising wave-division de-multiplexing the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal from the at least one downlink optical digital signal received over the at least one optical fiber communications downlink. 
     
     
         28 . The method of  claim 24 , further comprising frequency-division multiplexing the at least one downlink electrical RF communications signal and the at least one downlink optical digital signal at different frequencies over the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         29 . The method of  claim 28 , further comprising frequency-division de-multiplexing the at least one downlink optical RF communications signal from the at least one downlink optical digital signal received over the at least one communications downlink. 
     
     
         30 . A remote antenna unit for use in a distributed antenna system, comprising:
 an optical-to-electrical ( 0 -E) converter configured to convert received downlink optical radio frequency (RF) communications signals to downlink electrical RF communications signals and provide the downlink electrical RF communications signals at least one first port;   an electrical-to-optical (E-O) converter configured to convert uplink electrical RF communications signals received from the at least one first port to uplink optical RF communication signals; and   a digital data services (DDS) interface coupled to at least one second port and configured to:
 convert downlink optical digital signals into downlink electrical digital signals to provide to the at least one second port; and 
 convert uplink electrical digital signals received from the at least one second port into uplink optical digital signals. 
   
     
     
         31 . The remote antenna unit of  claim 30 , wherein the downlink optical RF communications signals are received over at least one first communications downlink connected to a head-end unit (HEU). 
     
     
         32 . The remote antenna unit of  claim 30 , wherein the downlink optical digital signals are received over at least one second communications downlink connected to a DDS controller. 
     
     
         33 . The remote antenna unit of  claim 30 , wherein the DDS interface further comprises a power interface configured to receive electrical power and provide the electrical power to the at least one second port. 
     
     
         34 . The remote antenna unit of  claim 33 , wherein the at least one second port is configured to support Power-over-Ethernet (PoE). 
     
     
         35 . The remote antenna unit of  claim 34 , wherein the DDS interface is configured to receive the electrical power from an electrical power line provided in at least one array cable. 
     
     
         36 . The remote antenna unit of  claim 30 , configured to receive the downlink optical RF communications signals and downlink digital optical signals from at least one array cable.