AuthorsS. Moheb, F. I. Michelinakis, A. Elmokashfi, O. Grøndalen, K. Mahmood and A. Zanella
TitleSectors, Beams and Environmental Impact on the Performance of Commercial 5G mmWave Cells: An Empirical Study
AfilliationCommunication Systems
Project(s)The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications
StatusPublished
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2022
JournalIEEE Access
Volume10
Pagination133309-133323
Date Published12/2022
Publisher IEEE
ISSN2169-3536
Keywords5G, commercial 5G networks, coverage analysis, millimeter-wave, mmWave
Abstract

millimeter wave (mmWave) communication is one of the cornerstones of future generations of mobile networks. While the performance of mmWave links has been thoroughly investigated by simulations and testbeds, the behavior of this technology in real-world commercial setups has not yet been thoroughly documented. In this paper, we address this gap and present the results of an empirical study to determine the actual performance of a commercial 5G mmWave cell through on-field measurements. We evaluate the signal and beam coverage map of an operational network as well as the end-to-end communication performance of a 5G mmWave connection, considering various scenarios, including human body blockage effects, foliage-caused and rain-induced attenuation, and water surface effects. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to report on a commercial deployment while not treating the radio as a black box. Measurement results are compared with 3GPP’s statistical channel models for mmWave to check the possible gaps between simulated and actual performance. This measurement analysis provides valuable information for researchers and 5G verticals to fully understand how a 5G mmWave commercial access network operates in the real-world.

URLhttps://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9987496
DOI10.1109/ACCESS.2022.3229588
Citation Key43040