Huan Cong Nguyen

3D mmWave Channel Model Proposal

There is growing interest in using millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies for future access communications based on the enormous amount of available spectrum. To characterize the mmWave channel in urban areas, wideband propagation measurements at 73 GHz have recently been made in New York City. Using the measurements, a ray-tracing study has been conducted using databases for the same environments as the measurements, allowing a simple ray-tracer to predict measured statistics such as path loss and angles of arrival in the same physical environment of the measurements. In this paper a preliminary 3GPP-style 3D mmWave channel model is developed with special emphasis on using the ray tracer to determine elevation model parameters. The channel model includes distance-dependent elevation modeling which is critical for the expected 2D arrays which will be employed at mmWave.

Investigation of Prediction Accuracy, Sensitivity, and Parameter Stability of Large-Scale Propagation Path Loss Models for 5G Wireless Communications

This paper compares three candidate large-scale propagation path loss models for use over the entire microwave and millimeter-wave (mmWave) radio spectrum: the alpha-beta-gamma (ABG) model, the close-in (CI) free-space reference distance model, and the CI model with a frequency-weighted path loss exponent (CIF). Each of these models has been recently studied for use in standards bodies such as 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and for use in the design of fifth-generation wireless systems in urban macrocell, urban microcell, and indoor office and shopping mall scenarios. Here, we compare the accuracy and sensitivity of these models using measured data from 30 propagation measurement data sets from 2 to 73 GHz over distances ranging from 4 to 1238 m. A series of sensitivity analyses of the three models shows that the four-parameter ABG model underpredicts path loss when relatively close to the transmitter, and overpredicts path loss far from the transmitter, and that the physically based two-parameter CI model and three-parameter CIF model offer computational simplicity, have very similar goodness of fit (i.e., the shadow fading standard deviation), exhibit more stable model parameter behavior across frequencies and distances, and yield smaller prediction error in sensitivity tests across distances and frequencies, when compared to the four-parameter ABG model. Results show the CI model with a 1-m reference distance is suitable for outdoor environments, while the CIF model is more appropriate for indoor modeling. The CI and CIF models are easily implemented in existing 3GPP models by making a very subtle modification - by replacing a floating non-physically based constant with a frequency-dependent constant that represents free-space path loss in the first meter of propagation. This paper shows this subtle change does not change the mathematical form of existing ITU/3GPP models and offers much easier analysis, intuitive appeal, better model parameter stability, and better accuracy in sensitivity tests over a vast range of microwave and mmWave frequencies, scenarios, and distances, while using a simpler model with fewer parameters.

Adaptive frequency rolling for coexistence in the unlicensed band

Frequency Hopping (FH) technology has been widely used for short-range networks operating in unlicensed band. As the short-range FH networks gain momentum in ubiquitous usage, the interference that collocated FH networks cause to each other, termed self-interference, becomes one of the major sources that degrade the communication performance. This paper proposes the Adaptive Frequency Rolling (AFR), a particular adaptive instance of FH that enables FH networks to cooperate and effectively avoid the self-interference. The AFR uses as input solely the observed packet error rate (PER) and it does not require any exchange of information among the collocated networks. The effect of the AFR over a longer time interval is that the networks use the complete set of disposable channels in an implicit time-division and cooperative manner. The parameter choice is such that a network which uses AFR never occupies the channels in the unlicensed spectrum more than what is permitted by the current regulation. AFR is designed to be robust towards the noise-induced channel errors. We also design AFR with probing (AFR-P), a modified version of AFR, which can also overcome frequency-static interference from collocated non-FH network by introducing channel removal strategy with probing. Our simulation results show that AFR and AFR-P have superior goodput performance to pseudorandom frequency hopping (PFH), and also standard adaptive frequency hopping (AFH), where the latter is designed to exclusively combat frequency-static interference. All these features promote the great potential of AFR as a coexistence mechanism for unlicensed operation

Path Loss, Shadow Fading, and Line-of-Sight Probability Models for 5G Urban Macro-Cellular Scenarios

This paper presents key parameters including the line-of-sight (LOS) probability, large-scale path loss, and shadow fading models for the design of future fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems in urban macro- cellular (UMa) scenarios, using the data obtained from propagation measurements at 38 GHz in Austin, US, and at 2, 10, 18, and 28 GHz in Aalborg, Denmark. A comparison of different LOS probability models is performed for the Aalborg environment. Alpha-beta-gamma and close-in reference distance path loss models are studied in depth to show their value in channel modeling. Additionally, both single-slope and dual-slope omnidirectional path loss models are investigated to analyze and contrast their root-mean-square (RMS) errors on measured path loss values. While the results show that the dual-slope large-scale path loss model can slightly reduce RMS errors compared to its single-slope counterpart in non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions, the improvement is not significant enough to warrant adopting the dual- slope path loss model. Furthermore, the shadow fading magnitude versus distance is explored, showing a slight increasing trend in LOS and a decreasing trend in NLOS based on the Aalborg data, but more measurements are necessary to gain a better knowledge of the UMa channels at centimeter- and millimeter-wave frequency bands.

Radio Propagation into Modern Buildings: Attenuation Measurements in the Range from 800 MHz to 18 GHz

Energy-efficient buildings are gaining momentum in order to comply with the new energy regulations. Especially in northern cold countries, thick reinforced walls and energy-efficient windows composed of several layers of glass plus metal coating are becoming the de facto elements in modern building constructions, and it has been noticed that they can impact heavily on radio signal propagation. This paper presents a measurement-based analysis of the outdoor-to-indoor attenuation experienced in several modern constructions compared to an old building. The measurements are performed for frequencies from 800 MHz to 18 GHz with the aim of identifying the frequency dependence and the impact of the new materials on not only the cellular frequency bands used today (mainly below 3 GHz), but also the potential future bands (above 3 GHz). The results show a material dependent and a frequency dependent attenuation, with an average increase of 20-25 dB in modern constructions compared to the old construction, which presents a low and almost constant attenuation below 10 dB. The different measurement results and observations presented along the paper are useful for future radio network planning considerations.

Evaluation of Empirical Ray-Tracing Model for an Urban Outdoor Scenario at 73 GHz E-Band

In the summer of 2013, a wideband propagation measurement campaign using rotating directional antennas at 73 GHz was conducted at the New York University (NYU) campus, in order to collect extensive field measurements for use in a millimeter wave (mmWave) E-band statistical channel model. While the measurement campaign provided over 50 Gigabytes of wideband power delay profiles and angular responses [1], [2], the time and labor intensive measurements were based on only 5 transmitter (Tx) locations and 27 receiver (Rx) locations, making up a total of 74 Tx-Rx link combinations. To help generalize the measurements for immediate model development and eventual site planning, this paper presents an empirical ray-tracing model, with the goal of finding a suitable approach such that ray-tracing (RT) can fill in the gaps of the measurements. Here, we use the measured data to investigate the prediction capability of an empirical RT model, in which the 3D model of New York City (including the building structures and interaction losses) are greatly simplified. The comparison between the measured and predicted results show good accuracy is obtained when a simplified RT model is used, suggesting that fast and simple ray tracers will be able to correctly predict the propagation characteristics at mmWave bands.

A Prediction Study of Path Loss Models from 2-73.5 GHz in an Urban-Macro Environment

It is becoming clear that 5G wireless systems will encompass frequencies from around 500 MHz all the way to around 100 GHz. To adequately assess the performance of 5G systems in these different bands, path loss (PL) models will need to be developed across this wide frequency range. The PL models can roughly be broken into two categories, ones that have some anchor in physics, and ones that curve- match only over the data set without any physical anchor. In this paper we use both real-world measurements from 2 to 28 GHz and ray-tracing studies from 2 to 73.5 GHz, both in an urban-macro environment, to assess the prediction performance of the two PL modeling techniques. In other words, we look at how the two different PL modeling techniques perform when the PL model is applied to a prediction set which is different in distance, frequency, or environment from a measurement set where the parameters of the respective models are determined. We show that a PL model with a physical anchor point can be a better predictor of PL performance in the prediction sets while also providing a parameterization which is more stable over a substantial number of different measurement sets.

Path loss validation for urban micro cell scenarios at 3.5 GHz compared to 1.9 GHz

The 3.5 GHz band is a strong candidate for future urban micro cell deployment with base station antennas located below rooftop. Compared to other frequency bands, propagation in the 3.5 GHz band is relatively unexplored for the micro cell deployment. This paper presents a measurement-based analysis of outdoor and outdoor-to-indoor propagation at 3.5 GHz in comparison to the more well-known frequency of 1.9 GHz. A simple two-slope line-of-sight/non-line-of-sight outdoor path loss model is proposed and compared to different existing path loss models. The outdoor path loss is found to be approximately 5 dB higher for 3.5 GHz compared to 1.9 GHz. The outdoor-to-indoor propagation is investigated for two office buildings and different street shops. For the different presented scenarios, penetration loss increases with frequency and is found to be up to 5 dB higher for 3.5 GHz compared with 1.9 GHz. Although some existing models predict the observations with good accuracy, we propose a model based on line-of-sight probability that is simpler and easier to apply.

Multi-User Interference Cancellation Schemes for Carrier Frequency Offset Compensation in Uplink OFDMA

Each user in the uplink of an Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) system may experience a different carrier frequency offset (CFO). These uncorrected CFOs destroy the orthogonality among subcarriers, causing inter-carrier interference and multi-user interference, which degrade the system performance severely. In this paper, novel time-domain multi-user interference cancellation schemes for OFDMA uplink are proposed. They employ an architecture with multiple OFDMA-demodulators to compensate for the impacts of multi-user CFOs at the base stations side. Analytical and numerical evaluations show that the proposed schemes achieve a significant performance gain compared to the conventional receiver and a reference frequency-domain multi-user interference cancellation scheme. In a particular scenario, a maximum CFO of up to 40% of the subcarrier spacing can be tolerated, and the CFO-free performance is maintained in the OFDMA uplink.

Session mobility solution for client-based application migration scenarios

Application migration is a promising technique to enable users of computational devices to continue a task even though the executing device changes. One key challenge to realise application migrations is to maintain the network sessions in case a network based application is migrated. This article presents a solution to maintain network sessions in application migration scenarios. We develop a prototype of the session mobility solution and an application to demonstrate the use of session preservation. We evaluate the performance of the prototype in terms of TCP connection duration. Since the last hop network in migration scenarios is often a wireless network, the experimental evaluation is performed in parameter settings motivated by wireless scenarios. An analytic model for the migration duration is developed and validated with the experimental results. The results show that the chosen model can be used to estimate the network contribution to the duration of a migration. Being able to predict the migration duration is an important part of developing an automatic decision mechanism concerning when to migrate in order to enhance the user experience.