30.2 km D-band transmission of delta–sigma-modulated signals with IQ-MRC reception
Abstract
In this Letter, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel, to the best of our knowledge, IQ-receiver architecture for high-capacity D-band wireless transmission, enabled by delta-sigma modulation (DSM). An improved IQ-maximal-ratio-combining (IQ-MRC) algorithm is introduced to mitigate performance degradation induced by frequency-selective fading and IQ imbalance, providing an additional signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gain of approximately 1 dB. Using the proposed system, we demonstrate 30.2 km transmission of an 8 Gbaud DSM 256 quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) signal with a net data rate of 13.91 Gb/s, achieving a BER below the threshold of 15% overhead soft decision forward error correction (SD-FEC). To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest reported transmission distance for DSM-modulated signals in the D-band.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Advancements in PLL and VCO Technologies
Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit Design
Analog and Mixed-Signal Circuit Design
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Optics Letters
- Publisher
- Optica Publishing Group
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1792–1792
- Publication date
- 9 March 2026
- Language
- EN