Sunday, 25 July 2021

5G NR: mmWave in 5G NR


                                                 

Frequency Range

Millimeter wave (also millimeter band) is the band of spectrum between 30 gigahertz (Ghz) and 300 GHz.

Millimeter wave, which is also known as extremely high frequency (EHF) or very high frequency (VHF) by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), can be used for high-speed wireless broadband communications. 

Radio signals are measured by their wavelengths. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency. 5G signals will use wavelengths (between 30 and 300 gigahertz) that are measured in millimeters. That's why 5G is considered a millimeter wave technology

In NR, there are roughly two large frequency range specified in 3GPP.
One is what we usually call (sub 6 GHz) and the other is what we usually call millimeter wave.

Depending on the ranges, the maximum bandwidth and subcarrier spacing varies. In sub 6 GHz, the maximum bandwidth is 100 MHz and in millimeter wave range the maximum bandwidth is 400 MHz

Some subcarrier spacing (15, 30 KHz) which is used only in Sub 6 Ghz and some subcarrier spacing (120 KHz) can be used in millimeter wave range only, and some subcarrier spacing (60 KHz) can be used both in sub 6 GHz and millimeter wave range.  

As mentioned above, two types of frequency range is defined in 3GPP. Sub 6 GHz range is called FR1 and millimeter wave range is called FR2.

The exact frequency range for FR1 (sub 6 GHz) and FR2 (millimeter wave) are defined as below.


                     
<  38.101-1  Table 5.1-1: Definition of frequency ranges >

Millimeter waves have short wavelengths that range from 10 millimeters to 1 millimeter; they have high atmospheric attenuation (weakness) and are absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, which reduces the range and strength of the waves. Rain and humidity can impact performance and reduce signal strength, a condition known rain fade. Due to its short range of about a kilometer, millimeter wave travels by line of sight, so its high-frequency wavelengths can be blocked by physical objects like buildings and trees.


High frequencies have short range, and 5G may only be able to span a few blocks of any given area. That means 5G may not project over long distances. Smaller frequencies also don't penetrate obstacles very well, so everything from concrete walls to tree leaves may disrupt signals. That makes it a line-of-sight technology – your wireless modem or phone will need to be close to a base station for best transfer speeds.

                     Table 5.3.3-1: Minimum GuardBand for each UE channel bandwidth and SCS (kHz)
SCS (kHz)
5 MHz
10 MHz
15 MHz
20 MHz
25 MHz
30 MHz
40 MHz
50MHz
60 MHz
80 MHz
90 MHz
100 MHz
15
242.5
312.5
382.5
452.5
522.5
592.5
552.5
692.5
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
30
505
665
645
805
785
945
905
1045
825
925
885
845
60
N/A
1010
990
1330
1310
1290
1610
1570
1530
1450
1410
1370









Channel Bandwidth (CBW) is about [N_RB x NumOfSubcarrier x SCS + GuardBand x 2]
Where N_RB = Maximum Transmission Bandwidth in 38.101-1 Table 5.3.2-1, 38.101-2 Table 5.3.2-1

Example >
In case of CBW = 60 MHz, SCS = 60 KHz, meaning the second row in 38.101-1 Table 5.3.2-1
[N_RB x NumOfSubcarrier x SCS] = 79 x 12 x 60 = 56880 [kHz] ----- (a)
[GuardBand x 2] = 1530 x 2 = 3060 -------------------------------- (b)
(a) + (b) = 56880 + 3060 = 59940 kHz = 59.940 MHz which is close to 60 MHz CBW

NOTE: GuardBand is defined as 'Minimum' value in the table, so (a) + (b) may not be exactly same as CBW, but close enough to the CBW.
One possible approach to solve the blockage effect is through a collection of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) communications. Although reflection and diffraction reduce the range of mmWave LOS transmissions, it also facilitates NLOS link communications. When a LOS link breakage happens, the transmitter needs to
Quickly search through different beam directions to bypass the obstacles such that the receiver can collect some NLOS link signals to maintain the acceptable channel quality. In other words, an adaptive beamforming prototype needs to be designed to support the transformation from LOS links to NLOS links due to blockage effect. However, the path loss of a NLOS link is much more severe than that of a LOS link. We can look at an example of the Urban Micro (UMi) scenario [11] defined in the IMT-Advanced radio interface, where the height of both the antennas at the base station (BS) and those at the user devices are assumed to be well below the tops of sur-rounding buildings, and all these antennas areas summed to be outdoors in an area where streets are laid out in a Manhattan-like grid.



The pathloss model for this UMi scenario is (2) where d is the distance in meters and fc is the carrier frequency in GHz. The best NLOS links can still be tens of dBs weaker than LOS signals.

Another possible approach to solving the blockage effect is through a higher density infra-structure and/or relays [6]. The BSs and relays are densely deployed in an outdoor urban area for mmWave communications, such that when-ever a LOS beam blockage occurs and the collection of NLOS links does not give satisfactory channel quality, the transmitter may steer the beam direction to a target at a nearby BS or a relay which can have a LOS link with the desti-nation.

Hence, the adaptive beamforming proto-type needs to be designed to support the trans-formation from LOS links to NLOS links, and to establish multihop LOS links to the destination. The two possible approaches are illustrated in Fig. 3.

Other possible approaches may include separation between control and data planes so that a higher quality stringent control plan can be put into a reliable lower frequency band, while a more bandwidth demanding data plane can be put into the mmWave bands [12], and so on.
It should be noted that the blockage issues in typical commercial deployment environments still need extensive channel measurements and modeling at the targeted frequency bands.
This is an important area that requires further study. In addition, depending on the severeness and the time varying nature of the channel blockage behavior, new multiple access schemes and beamforming techniques may be required.




A possible solution is macro-assisted small cell, called the phantom cell [12], or the booster cell in an anchor-booster architecture [15], which establishes a new form of multicell cross-tier cooperation between macro cells and small cells required for further network densification and spectrum extension into higher frequency bands. This new radio access network architecture is also referred to as the anchor-booster architecture.
It is a key enabling technology for efficient utilization of high frequency bands through carrier aggregation techniques. In such a system, lower frequency bands such as existing sub 3GHz cellular bands are used in wide areas for macro cells to provide blanket Coverage and mobility, while higher frequency bands such as mmWave bands are employed in the small areas for small cells to provide high capacity. The control plane (C-plane) and user data plane (U-plane) of phantom cells are separated: the control information is sent by high-power nodes at lower frequencies, whereas the payload data is conveyed by low-power nodes at mmWave frequencies [6]. The phantom cell solution is illustrated in Fig. 5.  For this phantom cell approach with a C-plane/U-plane split, there are no issues related to macro-to-small cell cross-tier interference. In the meantime, the control signaling due to frequent handover between small cells and macro cells, or among small cells, can be significantly reduced to enable millimeter wave communications for 5G wireless systems.

MMWave Video
LTE Measurement Link


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