Coverage and rate trends in dense urban mmWave cellular networks

Abstract

The use of dense millimeter wave (mmWave) cellular networks with highly directional beamforming stands as an intriguing solution to the current spectrum congestion problem. Due to significantly different propagation characteristics at such high frequencies, however, the coverage and rate trends differ drastically from conventional microwave networks. This paper aims to gain insights into the coverage and rate performance of mmWave cellular networks in major metropolitan cities. Our results confirm that, unlike conventional cellular networks, mmWave networks operating at 73 GHz carrier frequency are pre-dominantly noise-limited. Though larger system bandwidth leads to higher peak rates, it does not improve the cell edge rates. It is observed that dense base station (BS) deployment is the key to achieve both better coverage and rates in mmWave cellular networks. Further, based on actual building locations, we show the inadequacy of existing blockage models and validate a better blockage model.