5G High Frequency Band Channel Modeling and Insights on System Design

There are two main opposing views in the wireless industry on the feasibility of developing 5th generation(5G) cellular networks in mm-Wave bands. The optimistic view is based on the fact that the path loss in mm Wave bands is not significantly worse than that in cellular bands when beamforming gain is also considered. The cautious view points out the significant blockage issues due to the lack of diffraction and adequate penetration in mm Wave bands. The implementation of 5G mm Wave cellular networks also faces major challenges due to the high link budget needed for long- range communication and the strong dependency on beamforming technology. This paper addresses some of these fundamental technology issues, from mm Wave channel characters and channel modeling to the implications on system and network architecture design.Although we believe that mm Wave can be used for 5G networks, we show that the air interface, device and network design will be very different from existing cellular design.