11 research outputs found
Millimeter-wave Wireless LAN and its Extension toward 5G Heterogeneous Networks
Millimeter-wave (mmw) frequency bands, especially 60 GHz unlicensed band, are
considered as a promising solution for gigabit short range wireless
communication systems. IEEE standard 802.11ad, also known as WiGig, is
standardized for the usage of the 60 GHz unlicensed band for wireless local
area networks (WLANs). By using this mmw WLAN, multi-Gbps rate can be achieved
to support bandwidth-intensive multimedia applications. Exhaustive search along
with beamforming (BF) is usually used to overcome 60 GHz channel propagation
loss and accomplish data transmissions in such mmw WLANs. Because of its short
range transmission with a high susceptibility to path blocking, multiple number
of mmw access points (APs) should be used to fully cover a typical target
environment for future high capacity multi-Gbps WLANs. Therefore, coordination
among mmw APs is highly needed to overcome packet collisions resulting from
un-coordinated exhaustive search BF and to increase the total capacity of mmw
WLANs. In this paper, we firstly give the current status of mmw WLANs with our
developed WiGig AP prototype. Then, we highlight the great need for coordinated
transmissions among mmw APs as a key enabler for future high capacity mmw
WLANs. Two different types of coordinated mmw WLAN architecture are introduced.
One is the distributed antenna type architecture to realize centralized
coordination, while the other is an autonomous coordination with the assistance
of legacy Wi-Fi signaling. Moreover, two heterogeneous network (HetNet)
architectures are also introduced to efficiently extend the coordinated mmw
WLANs to be used for future 5th Generation (5G) cellular networks.Comment: 18 pages, 24 figures, accepted, invited paper