Abstract
We developed an electrically insulated remote antenna that protects radio equipment from lightning
strikes. Power over fiber (PoF) and radio over fiber (RoF) techniques are used in our system to transmit
power and radio signals over optical fibers. This paper introduces our developed system and results of
its impulse tests. The proposed system can remove waveguides or coaxial cables, both of which are
main paths of a surge current from an antenna to a transceiver. We developed a 6.5-GHz band radio frequency
(RF) amplifier module with 500-mW RF output power using a high power PoF, which can successfully
supply approximately 20 W of electric power. Through 18-kA impulse tests that simulate a direct
lightning hit to an antenna or an antenna tower, we showed that our developed remote antenna had
high lightning resistance. This technique can be applied to various distributed remote antennas.
