Trends of optically fed wireless communication systems

Mobile communication systems such as cellular radio and PHS are rapidly penetrating into our real life, and have gained many subscriber numbers. User demands will be growing to higher data rates that support multimedia mobile computing demands, such as graphics and motion pictures. These demands require more band width and/or spectrum utilization efficiency enhancement, and optically fed communication systems are considered to be one of the most powerful solutions. In this paper, the roles, technologies and application examples of optically fed communication systems are described. In the final part, prospects for systems and requirements for photonic devices are mentioned.