Modeling and Analysis of Point-to-Multipoint Millimeter-Wave Backhaul Networks

A tractable stochastic geometry model is proposed to characterize the performance of the novel point-to-multipoint (P2MP) assisted backhaul networks with millimeter wave (mmWave) capability. The novel performance analysis is studied based on the general backhaul network (GBN) and the simplified backhaul network (SBN) models. To analyze the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) coverage probability of the backhaul networks, a range of the exact- and closed-form expressions are derived for both the GBN and SBN models. With the aid of the tractable model, the optimal power control algorithm is proposed for maximizing the trade-off between energy-efficiency (EE) and area spectral-efficiency (ASE) for the mmWave backhaul networks. The analytical results of the SINR coverage probability are validated, and they can match those obtained from Monte-Carlo experiments. Our numerical results for ASE performance demonstrate the significant effectiveness of our P2MP architecture over the traditional point-to-point (P2P) setup. Moreover, our P2MP mmWave backhaul networks are able to achieve dramatically higher rate performance than that obtained by the ultra high frequency (UHF) networks. Furthermore, to achieve the optimal EE and ASE trade-off, the mmWave backhaul networks should be designed to limit the link distances and line-of-sight (LOS) interferences while optimizing the transmission power

An Efficient Uplink Multi-Connectivity Scheme for 5G mmWave Control Plane Applications

The millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies offer the potential of orders of magnitude increases in capacity for next-generation cellular systems. However, links in mmWave networks are susceptible to blockage and may suffer from rapid variations in quality. Connectivity to multiple cells - at mmWave and/or traditional frequencies - is considered essential for robust communication. One of the challenges in supporting multi-connectivity in mmWaves is the requirement for the network to track the direction of each link in addition to its power and timing. To address this challenge, we implement a novel uplink measurement system that, with the joint help of a local coordinator operating in the legacy band, guarantees continuous monitoring of the channel propagation conditions and allows for the design of efficient control plane applications, including handover, beam tracking and initial access. We show that an uplink-based multi-connectivity approach enables less consuming, better performing, faster and more stable cell selection and scheduling decisions with respect to a traditional downlink-based standalone scheme. Moreover, we argue that the presented framework guarantees (i) efficient tracking of the user in the presence of the channel dynamics expected at mmWaves, and (ii) fast reaction to situations in which the primary propagation path is blocked or not available.Comment: Submitted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (TWC