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Journal ArticleDOI

Millimeter Wave Mobile Communications for 5G Cellular: It Will Work!

TL;DR: The motivation for new mm-wave cellular systems, methodology, and hardware for measurements are presented and a variety of measurement results are offered that show 28 and 38 GHz frequencies can be used when employing steerable directional antennas at base stations and mobile devices.
Abstract: The global bandwidth shortage facing wireless carriers has motivated the exploration of the underutilized millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequency spectrum for future broadband cellular communication networks. There is, however, little knowledge about cellular mm-wave propagation in densely populated indoor and outdoor environments. Obtaining this information is vital for the design and operation of future fifth generation cellular networks that use the mm-wave spectrum. In this paper, we present the motivation for new mm-wave cellular systems, methodology, and hardware for measurements and offer a variety of measurement results that show 28 and 38 GHz frequencies can be used when employing steerable directional antennas at base stations and mobile devices.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper discusses all of these topics, identifying key challenges for future research and preliminary 5G standardization activities, while providing a comprehensive overview of the current literature, and in particular of the papers appearing in this special issue.
Abstract: What will 5G be? What it will not be is an incremental advance on 4G. The previous four generations of cellular technology have each been a major paradigm shift that has broken backward compatibility. Indeed, 5G will need to be a paradigm shift that includes very high carrier frequencies with massive bandwidths, extreme base station and device densities, and unprecedented numbers of antennas. However, unlike the previous four generations, it will also be highly integrative: tying any new 5G air interface and spectrum together with LTE and WiFi to provide universal high-rate coverage and a seamless user experience. To support this, the core network will also have to reach unprecedented levels of flexibility and intelligence, spectrum regulation will need to be rethought and improved, and energy and cost efficiencies will become even more critical considerations. This paper discusses all of these topics, identifying key challenges for future research and preliminary 5G standardization activities, while providing a comprehensive overview of the current literature, and in particular of the papers appearing in this special issue.

7,139 citations


Cites background from "Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..."

  • ...This interference, so-called “pilot contamination,” does not vanish as the number of BS antennas grows large, and so is the one impairment that remains asymptotically....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe five technologies that could lead to both architectural and component disruptive design changes: device-centric architectures, millimeter wave, massive MIMO, smarter devices, and native support for machine-to-machine communications.
Abstract: New research directions will lead to fundamental changes in the design of future fifth generation (5G) cellular networks. This article describes five technologies that could lead to both architectural and component disruptive design changes: device-centric architectures, millimeter wave, massive MIMO, smarter devices, and native support for machine-to-machine communications. The key ideas for each technology are described, along with their potential impact on 5G and the research challenges that remain.

3,711 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This survey makes an exhaustive review of wireless evolution toward 5G networks, including the new architectural changes associated with the radio access network (RAN) design, including air interfaces, smart antennas, cloud and heterogeneous RAN, and underlying novel mm-wave physical layer technologies.
Abstract: The vision of next generation 5G wireless communications lies in providing very high data rates (typically of Gbps order), extremely low latency, manifold increase in base station capacity, and significant improvement in users’ perceived quality of service (QoS), compared to current 4G LTE networks. Ever increasing proliferation of smart devices, introduction of new emerging multimedia applications, together with an exponential rise in wireless data (multimedia) demand and usage is already creating a significant burden on existing cellular networks. 5G wireless systems, with improved data rates, capacity, latency, and QoS are expected to be the panacea of most of the current cellular networks’ problems. In this survey, we make an exhaustive review of wireless evolution toward 5G networks. We first discuss the new architectural changes associated with the radio access network (RAN) design, including air interfaces, smart antennas, cloud and heterogeneous RAN. Subsequently, we make an in-depth survey of underlying novel mm-wave physical layer technologies, encompassing new channel model estimation, directional antenna design, beamforming algorithms, and massive MIMO technologies. Next, the details of MAC layer protocols and multiplexing schemes needed to efficiently support this new physical layer are discussed. We also look into the killer applications, considered as the major driving force behind 5G. In order to understand the improved user experience, we provide highlights of new QoS, QoE, and SON features associated with the 5G evolution. For alleviating the increased network energy consumption and operating expenditure, we make a detail review on energy awareness and cost efficiency. As understanding the current status of 5G implementation is important for its eventual commercialization, we also discuss relevant field trials, drive tests, and simulation experiments. Finally, we point out major existing research issues and identify possible future research directions.

2,624 citations


Cites background from "Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..."

  • ...Rappaport and his group [28] propose site specific node layout for 5G radio network design....

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  • ...The propagation and penetration of mm-wave signal in outdoor environment is quite limited [28]....

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  • ...rials present high penetration resistance to mm-waves [28]....

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  • ...over Non Line of Sight (NLOS) communication [28], [30]....

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  • ...Technical understanding of channel behaviour presents new architectural techniques, different multiple access and novel methods of air interface [28]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
05 Feb 2014
TL;DR: Measurements and capacity studies are surveyed to assess mmW technology with a focus on small cell deployments in urban environments and it is shown that mmW systems can offer more than an order of magnitude increase in capacity over current state-of-the-art 4G cellular networks at current cell densities.
Abstract: Millimeter-wave (mmW) frequencies between 30 and 300 GHz are a new frontier for cellular communication that offers the promise of orders of magnitude greater bandwidths combined with further gains via beamforming and spatial multiplexing from multielement antenna arrays. This paper surveys measurements and capacity studies to assess this technology with a focus on small cell deployments in urban environments. The conclusions are extremely encouraging; measurements in New York City at 28 and 73 GHz demonstrate that, even in an urban canyon environment, significant non-line-of-sight (NLOS) outdoor, street-level coverage is possible up to approximately 200 m from a potential low-power microcell or picocell base station. In addition, based on statistical channel models from these measurements, it is shown that mmW systems can offer more than an order of magnitude increase in capacity over current state-of-the-art 4G cellular networks at current cell densities. Cellular systems, however, will need to be significantly redesigned to fully achieve these gains. Specifically, the requirement of highly directional and adaptive transmissions, directional isolation between links, and significant possibilities of outage have strong implications on multiple access, channel structure, synchronization, and receiver design. To address these challenges, the paper discusses how various technologies including adaptive beamforming, multihop relaying, heterogeneous network architectures, and carrier aggregation can be leveraged in the mmW context.

2,452 citations


Cites background or methods from "Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..."

  • ...In both 28- and 73-GHz measurements, each point was classified as either being in a NLOS or LOS situation, based on a manual classification made at the time of the measurements; see [26] and [28]–[33]....

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  • ...• Empirical NYC: These curves are based on the omnidirectional path loss predicted by our linear model (1) for the mmW channel with the parameters from Table 1, as derived from the directional measurements in [26]....

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  • ...Details of the measurements can be found in [26], [28]– [33], [81]....

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  • ...This tremendous potential has led to considerable recent interest in mmW cellular both in industry [7]–[9], [18], [19] and academia [20]–[26], with a growing belief that mmW bands will play a significant role in beyond 4G and 5G cellular systems [27]....

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  • ...In particular, we survey our own measurements [26], [28]–[33] made in New York City (NYC) in both 28- and 73-GHz bands and the statistical models for the channels developed in [34]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An adaptive algorithm to estimate the mmWave channel parameters that exploits the poor scattering nature of the channel is developed and a new hybrid analog/digital precoding algorithm is proposed that overcomes the hardware constraints on the analog-only beamforming, and approaches the performance of digital solutions.
Abstract: Millimeter wave (mmWave) cellular systems will enable gigabit-per-second data rates thanks to the large bandwidth available at mmWave frequencies. To realize sufficient link margin, mmWave systems will employ directional beamforming with large antenna arrays at both the transmitter and receiver. Due to the high cost and power consumption of gigasample mixed-signal devices, mmWave precoding will likely be divided among the analog and digital domains. The large number of antennas and the presence of analog beamforming requires the development of mmWave-specific channel estimation and precoding algorithms. This paper develops an adaptive algorithm to estimate the mmWave channel parameters that exploits the poor scattering nature of the channel. To enable the efficient operation of this algorithm, a novel hierarchical multi-resolution codebook is designed to construct training beamforming vectors with different beamwidths. For single-path channels, an upper bound on the estimation error probability using the proposed algorithm is derived, and some insights into the efficient allocation of the training power among the adaptive stages of the algorithm are obtained. The adaptive channel estimation algorithm is then extended to the multi-path case relying on the sparse nature of the channel. Using the estimated channel, this paper proposes a new hybrid analog/digital precoding algorithm that overcomes the hardware constraints on the analog-only beamforming, and approaches the performance of digital solutions. Simulation results show that the proposed low-complexity channel estimation algorithm achieves comparable precoding gains compared to exhaustive channel training algorithms. The results illustrate that the proposed channel estimation and precoding algorithms can approach the coverage probability achieved by perfect channel knowledge even in the presence of interference.

2,424 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...Index Terms—Millimeter wave cellular systems, sparse channel estimation, adaptive compressed sensing, hybrid precoding....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
18 Jul 2011
TL;DR: An overview of the technological advances in millimeter-wave circuit components, antennas, and propagation that will soon allow 60-GHz transceivers to provide multigigabit per second (multi-Gb/s) wireless communication data transfers in the consumer marketplace is presented.
Abstract: This tutorial presents an overview of the technological advances in millimeter-wave (mm-wave) circuit components, antennas, and propagation that will soon allow 60-GHz transceivers to provide multigigabit per second (multi-Gb/s) wireless communication data transfers in the consumer marketplace. Our goal is to help engineers understand the convergence of communications, circuits, and antennas, as the emerging world of subterahertz and terahertz wireless communications will require understanding at the intersections of these areas. This paper covers trends and recent accomplishments in a wide range of circuits and systems topics that must be understood to create massively broadband wireless communication systems of the future. In this paper, we present some evolving applications of massively broadband wireless communications, and use tables and graphs to show research progress from the literature on various radio system components, including on-chip and in-package antennas, radio-frequency (RF) power amplifiers (PAs), low-noise amplifiers (LNAs), voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs), mixers, and analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). We focus primarily on silicon-based technologies, as these provide the best means of implementing very low-cost, highly integrated 60-GHz mm-wave circuits. In addition, the paper illuminates characterization techniques that are required to competently design and fabricate mm-wave devices in silicon, and illustrates effects of the 60-GHz RF propagation channel for both in-building and outdoor use. The paper concludes with an overview of the standardization and commercialization efforts for 60-GHz multi-Gb/s devices, and presents a novel way to compare the data rate versus power efficiency for future broadband devices.

907 citations


"Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..." refers background in this paper

  • ...INTRODUCTION The rapid increase of mobile data growth and the use of smartphones are creating unprecedented challenges for wireless service providers to overcome a global bandwidth shortage [1], [2]....

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  • ...Mm-wave spectrum would allow service providers to significantly expand the channel bandwidths far beyond the present 20 MHz channels used by 4G customers [1]....

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  • ...Atmospheric absorption across mm-wave frequencies in dB/km [1]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Measurements and models that may be used to design future fifth-generation millimeter-wave cellular networks are provided and insight into antenna beam steering algorithms for these systems are given.
Abstract: The spectrum crunch currently experienced by mobile cellular carriers makes the underutilized millimeter-wave frequency spectrum a sensible choice for next-generation cellular communications, particularly when considering the recent advances in low cost sub-terahertz/millimeter-wave complementary metal–oxide semiconductor circuitry. To date, however, little is known on how to design or deploy practical millimeter-wave cellular systems. In this paper, measurements for outdoor cellular channels at 38 GHz were made in an urban environment with a broadband (800-MHz RF passband bandwidth) sliding correlator channel sounder. Extensive angle of arrival, path loss, and multipath time delay spread measurements were conducted for steerable beam antennas of differing gains and beamwidths for a wide variety of transmitter and receiver locations. Coverage outages and the likelihood of outage with steerable antennas were also measured to determine how random receiver locations with differing antenna gains and link budgets could perform in future cellular systems. This paper provides measurements and models that may be used to design future fifth-generation millimeter-wave cellular networks and gives insight into antenna beam steering algorithms for these systems.

812 citations


"Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...9Mcps at the TX and RX, respectively, to offer a slide factor of 8000 and adequate processing gain [33]....

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  • ...A total of 43 TX-RX combinations were measured with up to 12 various antenna configurations for each measurement location [33]....

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  • ...Themaximummeasurable path loss was about 160 dB [23], [33]–[35]....

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  • ...The coverage radius of 200 m is identical to that measured in New York City, thus suggesting that 200 m is a very achievable cell size for future 5G mm-wave cellular communications systems [23], [33]–[35]....

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  • ...38 GHz cellular propagations measurements were conducted in Austin, Texas at the University of Texas main campus [33]....

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Proceedings ArticleDOI
09 Jun 2013
TL;DR: Reflection coefficients and penetration losses for common building materials at 28 GHz show that outdoor building materials are excellent reflectors with the largest measured reflection coefficient of 0.896 for tinted glass as compared to indoor building materials that are less reflective.
Abstract: In this paper, we present reflection coefficients and penetration losses for common building materials at 28 GHz for the design and deployment of future millimeter wave mobile communication networks. Reflections from walls and buildings and penetration losses were measured for indoor and outdoor materials, such as tinted glass, clear glass, brick, concrete, and drywall at 28 GHz in New York City. A 400 Mega-chip-per-second sliding correlator channel sounder and 24.5 dBi steerable horn antennas were used to emulate future mobile devices with adaptive antennas that will likely be used in future millimeter wave cellular systems [1]. Measurements in and around buildings show that outdoor building materials are excellent reflectors with the largest measured reflection coefficient of 0.896 for tinted glass as compared to indoor building materials that are less reflective. We also found that penetration loss is dependent not only on the number of obstructions and distance between transmitter and receiver, but also on the surrounding environment. The greatest penetration loss containing three interior walls of an office building was found to be 45.1 dB, with 11.39 m separation between the transmitter and receiver.

439 citations


"Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...5 dBi gains with 10 half power beamwidth [28]....

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  • ...No signal detected denotes an outage, where penetration loss is greater than 74 dB relative to a 5 m free space test [28]....

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  • ...We conducted penetration and reflection measurements at 28 GHz throughout the summer of 2012 in New York City [28]....

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  • ...The black cross denotes an outage [28]....

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  • ...Images of the 28 GHz reflection measurement for outdoor tinted glass at ORH (top left), outdoor concrete wall at ORH (top right), penetration loss measurement for indoor clear non-tinted glass at MTC (bottom left) and tinted glass at ORH (bottom right) [28]....

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Proceedings ArticleDOI
10 Jun 2012
TL;DR: This work presents urban cellular and peer-to-peer RF wideband channel measurements using a broadband sliding correlator channel sounder and steerable antennas at carrier frequencies of 38 GHz and 60 GHz, and presents measurements showing the propagation time delay spread and path loss as a function of separation distance and antenna pointing angles for many types of real-world environments.
Abstract: As the cost of massively broadband® semiconductors continue to be driven down at millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequencies, there is great potential to use LMDS spectrum (in the 28–38 GHz bands) and the 60 GHz band for cellular/mobile and peer-to-peer wireless networks. This work presents urban cellular and peer-to-peer RF wideband channel measurements using a broadband sliding correlator channel sounder and steerable antennas at carrier frequencies of 38 GHz and 60 GHz, and presents measurements showing the propagation time delay spread and path loss as a function of separation distance and antenna pointing angles for many types of real-world environments. The data presented here show that at 38 GHz, unobstructed Line of Site (LOS) channels obey free space propagation path loss while non-LOS (NLOS) channels have large multipath delay spreads and can exploit many different pointing angles to provide propagation links. At 60 GHz, there is notably more path loss, smaller delay spreads, and fewer unique antenna angles for creating a link. For both 38 GHz and 60 GHz, we demonstrate empirical relationships between the RMS delay spread and antenna pointing angles, and observe that excess path loss (above free space) has an inverse relationship with transmitter-to-receiver separation distance.

409 citations


"Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..." refers background or methods in this paper

  • ...We have conducted extensive propagation measurements in urban environments in New York City and suburban environments in Austin, Texas in order to understand the mm-wave channel....

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  • ...By observing the measured path loss and delay spread values from the heavy urban environment of New York City and the light urban environment of Austin, Texas, we found substantial differences in propagation parameters....

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  • ...16), which are much lower than those at 28 GHz, further demonstrating the propagation conditions in the less cluttered, less dense nature of the urban environment measured in Austin, Texas....

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  • ...As a comparison, the average and maximum RMS delay spread in NLOS cases obtained from 38 GHz cellular measurements in Austin, Texas are 12.2 ns and 117 ns, respectively (see Fig....

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  • ...14, signals in Austin, Texas could still be acquired for TXRX distances greater than 200 m, and the average RMS delay spread is much lower than that at 28 GHz, thus indicating the relatively sparse urban environment of the UT-Austin campus, where there were fewer buildings to cause obstructions or reflections....

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Proceedings ArticleDOI
09 Jun 2013
TL;DR: The world's first empirical measurements for 28 GHz outdoor cellular propagation in New York City are presented, suggesting that millimeter wave mobile communication systems with electrically steerable antennas could exploit resolvable multipath components to create viable links for cell sizes on the order of 200 m.
Abstract: The millimeter wave frequency spectrum offers unprecedented bandwidths for future broadband cellular networks. This paper presents the world's first empirical measurements for 28 GHz outdoor cellular propagation in New York City. Measurements were made in Manhattan for three different base station locations and 75 receiver locations over distances up to 500 meters. A 400 megachip-per-second channel sounder and directional horn antennas were used to measure propagation characteristics for future mm-wave cellular systems in urban environments. This paper presents measured path loss as a function of the transmitter - receiver separation distance, the angular distribution of received power using directional 24.5 dBi antennas, and power delay profiles observed in New York City. The measured data show that a large number of resolvable multipath components exist in both non line of sight and line of sight environments, with observed multipath excess delay spreads (20 dB) as great as 1388.4 ns and 753.5 ns, respectively. The widely diverse spatial channels observed at any particular location suggest that millimeter wave mobile communication systems with electrically steerable antennas could exploit resolvable multipath components to create viable links for cell sizes on the order of 200 m.

400 citations


"Millimeter Wave Mobile Communicatio..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The variation of RMS delay spread versus path loss in NLOS for all TX-RX location combinations at 28 GHz in NewYork City is displayed in Fig....

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  • ...The RX was positioned in a number of LOS, partially obstructed LOS, and NLOS locations representative of an outdoor urban environment including foliage, high-rise buildings, and pedestrian and vehicular traffic....

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  • ...As a comparison, the average and maximum RMS delay spread in NLOS cases obtained from 38 GHz cellular measurements in Austin, Texas are 12.2 ns and 117 ns, respectively (see Fig....

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  • ...The values in the legend represent the PLE of each environment (LOS and NLOS) [31]....

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  • ...Compared to measurements in Manhattan at 28 GHz, where the LOS PLE and NLOS PLE were 2.55 and 5.76 respectively, it is clear that PLE at 38 GHz in the light urban environment in Austin is considerably lower....

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