We present low-cost millimeter-wave (MMW) photonic techniques for implementing gigabit/s wireless links. A passive mode-locked laser consisting of a Fabry-Perot laser and a single-mode fiber is used to generate 120-GHz optical MMW signals. We modulated these MMW signals by controlling the bias voltage of the photodiode. The MMW generation and modulation methods do not need expensive photonic components or high-power drivers. A link employing these low-cost photonic techniques achieved 1.25-Gbit/s wireless data transmission.

Wireless data transmission at 3.0 Gbit/s was achieved by using millimeter-wave photonic techniques, such as optical 120-GHz subcarrier generation, optical modulation, and high-power photonic millimeter-wave emission. We have successfully demonstrated the transmission of optical Gigabit Ethernet signals over this link.