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In this paper we demonstrate an analytical model for computing the end to end packet delay of a converged Optical/Wireless 60GHz Radio-over-Fiber (RoF) network operating under the Medium-Transparent MAC (MT-MAC) protocol. For the calculation of the cycle times this model takes into account contention both at the optical and the wireless layer, that effectively enables the MT-MAC to provide a seamless and dynamic capacity allocation over both optical and wireless transmission media. This new analytical model enables us to conduct an extensive delay performance analysis of the various performance aspects of hybrid RoF networks operating under the fixed service paradigm, such as various optical capacity availability scenarios, varying load conditions, optical network ranges, transmission window lengths and data packet sizes. The derived theoretical results are found to be in excellent agreement with the respective simulation-based findings, providing sub millisecond latency values for a plethora of network conditions, confirming that the Medium Transparent MAC protocols can effectively be incorporated into the upcoming mm-wave 5G era.

Peer Reviewed