Wireless Channel Dynamics and Robustness for Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communications

Abstract

Interactive, immersive, and other timing-critical applications demand ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC). To build wireless communication systems that can support these applications, understanding the relevant characteristics of the wireless medium is paramount. Although wireless channel characteristics and dynamics have been extensively studied, it is important to revisit these concepts in the context of the strict demands of low-latency and ultra-high reliability. In this paper, we bring a modeling approach from robust control to wireless communication-the wireless channel characteristics are given a nominal model around which we allow for some quantified uncertainty. We propose certain key URLLC-relevant parameters along which the model uncertainty is to be bounded. To validate the nominal model of the spatially independent quasi-static Rayleigh fading, we take an in-depth look at the spatial and temporal correlations based on Jakes' model. We find that although the Rayleigh fading process is band-limited, the quasi-static assumption is not safe for relay selection even well within a single coherence time. We also find that under reasonable conditions, the spatial correlation of channels provide a fading distribution that is not too far off from an independent spatial fading model. In addition, we look at the impact of these channel models on cooperative communication-based systems. We find that while spatial-diversity-based techniques are necessary to combat the adverse effects of fading, time-diversity-based techniques are necessary to be robust against unmodeled errors. Robust URLLC systems need to operate with both an adequate SNR margin and a time margin through repetitions.