Wireless Constellation Detection in Seamless Digital Wireless-Photonic Receivers

This paper investigates wireless constellation detection in seamless digital wireless-photonic receivers. The two intermediary stages in the presented detection model are discussed: wireless-to-optical (W-O) and optical-to-electrical (O-E) symbol mapping stage. The inherent barrier of erroneous constellation detection due to symbol degeneracy in the W-O and O-E mapping stages is reported, supported by physical and analytical reasoning. Independent solutions are proposed to overcome this barrier in the individual stages. The respective solutions are then merged to propose a novel architecture that simultaneously breaks degeneracies in the two stages. Breaking degeneracy not only lays the foundation for reliable detection of wireless constellations in seamless digital wireless-photonic receivers, but also ensures their compatibility with practical digital modulation schemes such as M-PSK and M-QAM.