UK partnership boosts fibre-optic radio communications reliability

This article takes a look at a new three-year collaboration between Aston University civil engineers and Pulse Power & Measurement (PPM). Their goal? To build a commercial prototype for advanced radio-over-fibre systems.

Instead of sending traditional radio frequency (RF) signals through copper cables, they’ll convert those signals into light and transmit them through fibre optic cables. The idea is to deliver more reliable, higher-quality radio communications over long distances—while cutting down on signal loss and cost.

Table of Contents

Bringing Radio-Over-Fibre Technology into Widespread Commercial Use

Radio signals tend to weaken and degrade as they travel through conventional copper or coaxial cables. This is especially true over long runs or in tough industrial environments.

That’s been a big limitation for communication systems—think critical infrastructure monitoring or live broadcasting. The Aston University–PPM Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) aims to tackle this head-on by creating a commercially viable radio-over-fibre prototype that’s not just for high-end, specialized installations.

How Radio-Over-Fibre Works

Radio-over-fibre technology boils down to a simple but powerful idea. Instead of sending electrical RF signals through metal cables, you convert those signals into light, transport them through optical fibre, and then turn them back into radio at the other end.

Signal conversion: Analogue RF signals get modulated onto a light source, usually a laser. This creates an optical version of the radio signal.

Fibre transmission: The light travels down fibre optic cables, which lose much less signal over distance than coaxial cables and aren’t affected by electromagnetic interference.

Reconversion to RF: At the destination, the optical signal turns back into an RF signal that existing radio equipment can use.

By switching from copper to glass, radio-over-fibre offers lower attenuation and higher stability. Plus, there’s the potential for longer reach—no need for complicated or expensive intermediate amplification.

From Niche Applications to Broad Industrial Adoption

Radio-over-fibre isn’t just a lab experiment. It already plays a key role in several high-performance communication environments.

But honestly, its wider use has been held back by cost, complexity, and the need for specialized engineering know-how.

Existing Uses in High-Demand Communication Systems

Today, radio-over-fibre pops up in infrastructure where signal integrity matters most:

Satellite communications: It links ground station antennas to control and processing gear, keeping RF paths stable and low-noise.

Data centers: It distributes high-frequency reference signals or timing info without losing performance over distance.

Media and live sports broadcasting: It supports ultra-stable, long-distance links for events like Formula 1, where broadcasters need consistent, low-latency connections.

The Aston–PPM project wants to take these performance advantages and pack them into a cost-effective, scalable prototype. With that, more sectors—transportation, civil infrastructure, industrial automation, you name it—could get on board.

A Knowledge Transfer Partnership Aimed at Real-World Impact

This three-year initiative runs as a Knowledge Transfer Partnership, a UK program connecting businesses with academic expertise to speed up innovation. Innovate UK funds these KTPs to help companies boost competitiveness and productivity by tapping into advanced knowledge and technology.

Aston University and Pulse Power & Measurement: A Proven Collaboration

Aston University stands out as one of the UK’s top KTP providers, both in quality and number of projects. This is the second collaboration between Aston and Pulse Power & Measurement, so there’s already a solid relationship and a shared sense of what industry actually needs.

PPM brings deep knowledge in precision measurement and RF systems. Aston offers world-class expertise through its Institute of Photonic Technologies, one of the UK’s major photonics research centres.

This institute has pushed innovations from medical laser systems to high-speed optical communications. That’s a pretty broad range, if you ask me.

Leveraging Photonics Excellence for Next-Generation Radio Networks

The project benefits directly from Aston’s recent breakthroughs in optical fibre tech. In 2024, researchers at the Institute of Photonic Technologies helped set a data transfer speed record using standard commercial optical fibres.

That record just goes to show the enormous capacity and performance still waiting to be unlocked in fibre infrastructure.

Turning Cutting-Edge Research into Practical Engineering Solutions

The radio-over-fibre prototype from this KTP aims to turn lab-grade photonics research into systems you can actually deploy for long-distance radio communication. It’s not just about technical performance—cost efficiency and reliability matter, too. The team wants a solution people can use at scale, not just in theory.

By amplifying and extending radio signals with fibre optics, the project could:

Boost signal quality and coverage in tricky or spread-out locations.

Cut down infrastructure costs compared to long coaxial cables or loads of repeaters.

Make systems tougher against noise, interference, and rough environments.

Here is the source article for this story: UK partnership extends fibre optic tech for more reliable radio com…

Additional Reading: