The advent of fifth-generation (5G) systems and their mechanics have introduced an unconventional frequency spectrum of high bandwidth with most falling under the millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum. The benefit of adopting these bands of the frequency spectrum is two-fold. First, most of these bands appear to be unutilized and they are free, thus suggesting the absence of interference from other technologies. Second, the availability of a larger bandwidth offers higher data rates for all users, as there are higher numbers of users who are connected in a small geographical area, which is also stated as the Internet of Things (IoT). Nevertheless, high-frequency band poses several challenges in terms of coverage area limitations, signal attenuation, path and penetration losses, as well as scattering. Additionally, mmWave signal bands are susceptible to blockage from buildings and other structures, particularly in higher-density urban areas. Identifying the channel performance at a given frequency is indeed necessary to optimize communication efficiency between the transmitter and receiver. Therefore, this paper investigated the potential ability of mmWave path loss models, such as floating intercept (FI) and close-in (CI), based on real measurements gathered from urban microcell outdoor environments at 38 GHz conducted at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), Kuala Lumpur campus. The measurement data were obtained by using a narrow band mmWave channel sounder equipped with a steerable direction horn antenna. It investigated the potential of the network for outdoor scenarios of line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) with both schemes of co- (vertical-vertical) and cross (vertical-horizontal) polarization. The parameters were selected to reflect the performance and the variances with other schemes, such as average users cell throughput, throughput of users that are at cell-edges, fairness index, and spectral efficiency. The outcomes were examined for various antenna configurations as well as at different channel bandwidths to prove the enhancement of overall network performance. This work showed that the CI path loss model predicted greater network performance for the LOS condition, and also estimated significant outcomes for the NLOS environment. The outputs proved that the FI path loss model, particularly for V-V antenna polarization, gave system simulation results that were unsuitable for the NLOS scenario.
20 September 2018 in International Journal of Antennas and Propagation
The current propagation models used for frequency bands less than 6 GHz are not appropriate and cannot be applied for path loss modeling and channel characteristics for frequency bands above 6 GHz millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, due to the difference of signal propagation characteristics between existing frequency bands and mmWave frequency bands. Thus, extensive studies on channel characterization and path loss modeling are required to develop a general and appropriate channel model that can be suitable for a wide range of mmWave frequency bands in its modeling parameter. This paper presents a study of well-known channel models for an indoor environment on the 4.5, 28, and 38 GHz frequency bands. A new path loss model is proposed for the 28 GHz and 38 GHz frequency bands. Measurements for the indoor line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) scenarios were taken every meter over a separation distance of 23 m between the TX and RX antenna locations to compare the well-known and the new large-scale generic path loss models. This measurement was conducted in a new wireless communication center WCC block P15a at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia UTM Johor, Malaysia, and the results were analyzed based on the well-known and proposed path loss models for single-frequency and multifrequency models and for directional and omnidirectional path loss models. Results show that the large-scale path loss over distance could be modeled better with good accuracy by using the simple proposed model with one parameter path loss exponent PLE () that is physically based to the transmitter power, rather than using the well-known models that have no physical base to the transmitted power, more complications (require more parameters), and lack of anticipation when explaining model parameters. The PLE values for the LOS scenario were 0.92, 0.90, and 1.07 for the V-V, V-H, and V-Omni antenna polarizations, respectively, at the 28 GHz frequency and were 2.30, 2.24, and 2.40 for the V-V, V-H, and V-Omni antenna polarizations, respectively, at the 38 GHz frequency.
Millimeter wave technology will be dominating the fifth-generation networks due to the clear advantage of higher frequency bands and hence wider spectrum. In this paper, the indoor radio wave propagation at 28 GHz is studied by developing an efficient three-dimensional ray tracing (ETRT) method. The simulation software based on the ETRT model has been verified by measurement data. The received signal strength indication and path loss have shown significant agreement between simulation and measurement. Compared with the conventional shooting bouncing ray tracing method, the proposed ETRT method has better agreement with measurement data.
It has been widely speculated that the performance of the next generation based wireless network should meet a transmission speed on the order of 1000 times more than the current cellular communication systems. The frequency bands above 6 GHz have received significant attention lately as a prospective band for next generation 5G systems. The propagation characteristics for 5G networks need to be fully understood for the 5G system design. This paper presents the channel propagation characteristics for a 5G system in line of sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) scenarios. The diffraction loss (DL) and frequency drop (FD) are investigated based on collected measurement data. Indoor measurement results obtained using a high-resolution channel sounder equipped with directional horn antennas at 3.5 GHz and 28 GHz as a comparative study of the two bands below and above 6 GHz. The parameters for path loss using different path loss models of single and multi-frequencies have been estimated. The excess delay, root mean square (RMS) delay spread and the power delay profile of received paths are analyzed. The results of the path loss models show that the path loss exponent (PLE) in this indoor environment is less than the free space path loss exponent for LOS scenario at both frequencies. Moreover, the PLE is not frequency dependent. The 3GPP path loss models for single and multi-frequency in LOS scenarios have good performance in terms of PLE that is as reliable as the physically-based models. Based on the proposed models, the diffraction loss at 28 GHz is approximately twice the diffraction loss at 3.5 GHz. The findings of the power delay profile and RMS delay spread indicate that these parameters are comparable for frequency bands below and above 6 GHz.
Localization is an apparent aspect of a wireless sensor network, which is the focus of much interesting research. One of the severe conditions that needs to be taken into consideration is localizing a mobile target through a dispersed sensor network in the presence of physical barrier attacks. These attacks confuse the localization process and cause location estimation errors. Range-based methods, like the received signal strength indication (RSSI), face the major influence of this kind of attack. This paper proposes a solution based on a combination of multi-frequency multi-power localization (C-MFMPL) and step function multi-frequency multi-power localization (SF-MFMPL), including the fingerprint matching technique and lateration, to provide a robust and accurate localization technique. In addition, this paper proposes a grid coloring algorithm to detect the signal hole map in the network, which refers to the attack-prone regions, in order to carry out corrective actions. The simulation results show the enhancement and robustness of RSS localization performance in the face of log normal shadow fading effects, besides the presence of physical barrier attacks, through detecting, filtering and eliminating the effect of these attacks.
1 January 2018 in Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing
This paper presents millimeter wave (mmWave) measurements in an indoor environment. The high demands for the future applications in the 5G system require more capacity. In the microwave band below 6 GHz, most of the available bands are occupied; hence, the microwave band above 6 GHz and mmWave band can be used for the 5G system to cover the bandwidth required for all 5G applications. In this paper, the propagation characteristics at three different bands above 6 GHz (19, 28, and 38 GHz) are investigated in an indoor corridor environment for line of sight (LOS) and non‐LOS (NLOS) scenarios. Five different path loss models are studied for this environment, namely, close‐in (CI) free space path loss, floating‐intercept (FI), frequency attenuation (FA) path loss, alpha‐beta‐gamma (ABG), and close‐in free space reference distance with frequency weighting (CIF) models. Important statistical properties, such as power delay profile (PDP), root mean square (RMS) delay spread, and azimuth angle spread, are obtained and compared for different bands. The results for the path loss model found that the path loss exponent (PLE) and line slope values for all models are less than the free space path loss exponent of 2. The RMS delay spread for all bands is low for the LOS scenario, and only the directed path is contributed in some spatial locations. For the NLOS scenario, the angle of arrival (AOA) is extensively investigated, and the results indicated that the channel propagation for 5G using high directional antenna should be used in the beamforming technique to receive the signal and collect all multipath components from different angles in a particular mobile location.