In order to meet the requirement of high-volume data throughput for future wireless telecommunication networks, new radio frequency spectrums for communication networks have to be exploited. The millimetre wave (mmWave) frequency band from 30 GHz to 300 GHz, which offers a wide bandwidth up to 4 GHz, is a promising candidate for 5G networks. Different from the radio frequency below 6 GHz, the mmWave has a higher path loss, verified by measurements on 28 GHz, 38 GHz, 60 GHz and 73 GHz recently. Furthermore, these measurements showed that the mmWave channel path loss is subject to various environmental factors.
The future wireless networks aim to provide ubiquitous wireless connections with high data throughput, especially in network application environments with high mobility and high heterogeneity. To guarantee the high quality-of-service of the networks, the mmWave wireless networks deployment needs to consider environmental impacts on the mmWave communication channels. Furthermore, with advanced channel models considering the characteristics of radio wave propagations, the network design and optimisation engineering industry benefit from highly efficient and accurate deployment of future wireless networks.
However, despite many recent research efforts to measure and to characterize the mmWave channel, a channel model developed for future wireless networks planning is still challenging. In order to develop such a channel model for future wireless network design applications, the following challenges need to be tackled. First, a parameterized channel model needs to be developed. Second, channel measurements need to be carried out to extract parameters for the developed channel model. Last, channel models need to be applied to evaluate and optimise the performance of the 5G networks in real-world environments. In this project, we developed advanced channel propagation models by addressing the above challenges specifically in the 5G and future wireless networks.
The overall technical objectives of this project are development and improvement of channel models for mmWave network design applications. These objectives are implemented in three stages in the project. In the first stage, new parameterised mmWave channel models with environmental factors are developed. In the second stage, channel data are acquired and used in training the model parameters. In the third stage, these newly developed models with new parameter values are applied to real-world wireless network application and demonstrated their effectiveness as network design tools. The achievements of these objectives offer a new set of tools for planning and optimising future wireless networks and yield new insights into future network performance.
The conclusions of this action include the following. In the first step, we developed parameterised channel models focusing on the mmWave frequency characteristics and environmental factors. In the second stage, we developed statistical method to train the modelling parameters using channel measurement data. In the third stage, the parameters and the models are demonstrated to be accurate and efficient tools in planning and optimisation of future wireless networks. The models and techniques developed in this action will benefit the research and development of future wireless networks in the long term.
