Long distance fiber optic transmission of C-band microwave signals to and from a satellite antenna.

We demonstrate here the use of high speed semiconductor lasers and detectors with low loss optical fiber for transmission of the 500 MHz C-band microwave signal spectrum to and from a satellite antenna. The optical system has low attenuation and large bandwidth, so the microwave signals can be transmitted directly at the microwave frequency (4 or 6 GHZ) over 20 km of fiber without regeneration or equalization. The optical system introduces ~1 dB or less of degradation for both low spectral density QPSK signals and high spectral density FM video signals present in typical satellite transmission systems.