Optical Zonu’s RFoF solution addresses 5G direct-to-cellular satellite services

Optical Zonu, a provider of radio frequency over fiber (RFoF) transport solutions, has enhanced its RFoF offering to improve connectivity for 5G direct-to-cellular satellite services by naming former AST SpaceMobile Gateway Engineer Luis Tellez-Giron as an Aerospace and Defense Sales Engineer.

Tellez-Giron comes to the new role with 30 years of satellite communications sales and engineering experience. During his tenure at AST SpaceMobile, Tellez-Giron analyzed waveform transport optimization for the Gateway equipment in ST Engineering, which is required for a 5G non-terrestrial network (NTN) with higher bandwidth requirements.

He was also tasked with analyzing the Digital Intermediate Frequency Interoperability (DIFI) interfaces to meet these higher bandwidth needs. During this period, he was introduced to in-production Optical Zonu equipment in this capacity and observed a full-scale deployment.

New technological advancements in low earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations enable operators to establish Internet and direct-to-phone satellite services, which are critical for providing connectivity to remote United States locations and many countries around the globe that lack sufficient wireless infrastructure. However, these innovative networks require Satellite Gateways to beam considerable bandwidth to/from LEO constellations and maintain the low-latency quality connection between the antenna to 5G radio access nodes.

According to Optical Zonu, RFoF has become a cost-effective and resilient solution to address the need to provide high bandwidth, low latency and resilient RF signal transport between these points.

“It became clear very quickly that by joining Optical Zonu, I would be part of a team offering critical solutions for the satellite communications market, particularly in supporting the emerging direct-to-cellular 4G/5G services,” said Tellez-Giron. “As LEO satellite technology continues to mature, it holds great promise for transforming global communication that will require RFoF solutions to support intensive low-latency and high bandwidth requirements.” 

For related articles, visit the Optical Tech Topic Center.

For more information on optical components and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.

To stay abreast of optical communications technology, subscribe to Lightwave’s Enabling Technologies Newsletter.