Integrating Light Fidelity and Millimeter-Wave through Gigabit Passive Optical Networks

This paper investigates the integration of Light Fidelity (LiFi) and millimeter wave (mm-wave) via Gigabit Passive Optical Networks (GPONs) aiming to 5G and future 6G networks. The proposed heterogeneous network (HetNet) dual-access architecture combines high-throughput mm-wave and secure, high-speed LiFi communications. Experimental results confirm the feasibility of this integration, demonstrating LiFi and mm-wave technologies operating simultaneously. We exploited the effectiveness of media converters in maintaining high data rates and the capillarity of GPON infrastructure to distribute the signals. The proposed topology presents a promising approach to meet the increasing demand for high-capacity communication in future 6G networks.