800 Gbps 6G Fronthaul over Space Division PON with Weakly-Coupled Multicore Fiber

In this paper, we present a novel approach to 6G fronthaul transport by enabling interoperability in open radio access network (O-RAN) architectures using space-division multiplexing passive optical network (SDM-PON) technology. The proposed method employs a weakly coupled multi-core fiber (MCF) to enable high-capacity and efficient data transmission. Experimental results demonstrate bidirectional throughput of up to 800 Gbps. The end-to-end average latency remains below 16.2 μs, with slight variations among the MCF cores. Additionally, power consumption analysis at the optical line terminal (OLT) indicates that utilizing an integrated transceiver for the MCF can reduce power usage by up to 54.17%. These findings highlight the potential of SDM-PON to support adaptable functional split options for future 6G open radio units (O-RUs), offering a scalable and energy-efficient solution for next-generation fronthaul networks.