10 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO.
1, FIRST QUARTER 2019
The Design and Applications of High-Performance
Ray-Tracing Simulation Platform for 5G and
Beyond Wireless Communications: A Tutorial
Danping He , Member, IEEE, Bo Ai , Senior Member, IEEE, Ke Guan , Member, IEEE,
Longhe Wang, Student Member, IEEE, Zhangdui Zhong, Senior Member, IEEE,
and Thomas Kürner, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract—The application scenarios and requirements are
more diverse in the fifth-generation (5G) era than before. In
order to successfully support the system design and deploy-
ment, accurate channel modeling is important. Ray-tracing (RT)
based deterministic modeling approach is accurate with detailed
angular information and is a suitable candidate for predict-
ing time-varying channel and multiple-input multiple-output
(MIMO) channel for various frequency bands. However, the
computational complexity and the utility of RT are the main
concerns of users. Aiming at 5G and beyond wireless commu-
nications, this paper presents a comprehensive tutorial on the
design of RT and the applications. The role of RT and the
state-of-the-art RT techniques are reviewed. The features of aca-
demic and commercial RT based simulators are summarized
and compared. The requirements, challenges, and developing
trends of RT to enable the visions are discussed. The prac-
tices of the design of high-performance RT simulation platform
for 5G and beyond communications are introduced, with the
publicly available high-performance cloud-based RT simulation
platform as the main reference. The hardware structure, net-
working, workflow, data flow and fundamental functions of a
flexible high-performance RT platform are discussed. The appli-
cations of high-performance RT are presented based on two 5G
scenarios, i.e., a 3.5 GHz Beijing vehicle-to-infrastructure sce-
nario and a 28 GHz Manhattan outdoor scenario. The questions
on how to calibrate and validate RT based on measurements,
how to apply RT for mobile communications in moving scenar-
ios, and how to evaluate MIMO beamforming technologies are
answered. This tutorial will be especially useful for researchers
who work on RT algorithms development and channel mod-
eling to meet the evaluation requirements of 5G and beyond
technologies.
Manuscript received October 15, 2017; revised June 11, 2018; accepted
August 7, 2018. Date of publication August 16, 2018; date of current ver-
sion February 22, 2019. This work was supported in part by NSFC under
Grant 61771036, Grant 61501021, and Grant 61725101, in part by the Beijing
Natural Science Foundation under Grant L161009 and Grant L172020, in
part by the National Key Research and Development Program under Grant
2016YFE0200900, in part by the State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control
and Safety Project under Grant RCS2018ZZ006 and Grant RCS2017ZT008,
and in part by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. (Corresponding
author: Ke Guan.)
D. He, B. Ai, K. Guan, L. Wang, and Z. Zhong are with the State
Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong
University, Beijing 100044, China, and also with the Beijing Engineering
Research Center of High-speed Railway Broadband Mobile Communications,
Beijing 100044, China (e-mail: hedanping@bjtu.edu.cn; boai@bjtu.edu.cn;
kguan@bjtu.edu.cn; longhe@bjtu.edu.cn; zhdzhong@bjtu.edu.cn).
T. Kürner is with the Institut für Nachrichtentechnik, Technische
Universität Braunschweig, 38106 Braunschweig, Germany (e-mail:
kuerner@ifn.ing.tu-bs.de).
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/COMST.2018.2865724
1553-877X  c 2018 IEEE. Personal use is permitted, but republication/redistribution requires IEEE permission.
See http://www.ieee.org/publications_standards/publications/rights/index.html for more information.
Index Terms—Channel modeling, cloud computing, 5G and
beyond wireless communications, high-performance comput-
ing, millimeter wave, MIMO, ray-tracing simulation, vehicular
communication.
I. I NTRODUCTION
HE FIFTH generation (5G) communication is expected
T to support diverse scenarios and applications to include
but not limited to enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra
reliable low latency communication (URLLC) and massive
machine type communication (mMTC) [1]. eMBB is tar-
geting high data rate mobile broadband communications, in
ultra-dense networks (UDNs), moving scenarios (vehicular and
rail communications) [2]–[5] and virtual reality applications;
URLLC is defined for applications that have stringent latency
and reliability requirements [6], [7], such as the communica-
tions that can enable autonomous driving [8] and the control
networks in industrial plants; mMTC is the basis for connectiv-
ity in Internet of Things (IoT), which allows for infrastructure
management, environmental monitoring, and healthcare appli-
cations [9], [10]. In order to meet various requirements of 5G
and beyond communications, the future new radio not only
considers the traditional sub-6 GHz but also considers the
millimeter-wave (mmWave) band and terahertz (THz) band to
overcome spectrum scarcity and provide wide bandwidth from
hundreds of MHz to several GHz [11]–[15]. Efficient transmis-
sion technologies like massive multiple-input multiple-output
(MIMO) are proposed [16]–[18] to improve system capacity.
New network architectures are proposed for various applica-
tions [19]–[21]. In order to effectively support the design,
deployment, and evaluation of the 5G and beyond wireless
communication technologies, accurate channel characteriza-
tion and modeling are of great importance.
The channel modeling approaches in the literature can be
classified as stochastic and deterministic channel models. For
the stochastic model, there are two types of geometry-based
stochastic channel models – GSCM and GBSM. The GSCM
families include WINNER-style (e.g., 3GPP spatial chan-
nel model (SCM), extended SCM (SCME) [22], WINNER
(WIM1), WINNER II (WIM2) [23]–[26], WINNER+
(WIM+), 3D MIMO channel models [18], [27], and
QuaDRiGa [28]) and COST-style (e.g., COST2100 [29], [30]).
The GBSMs [31]–[36] can be divided into regular-shaped
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
GBSMs (RS-GBSM) (such as one-ring, two-ring, and ellipse
models), irregular shaped GBSMs (IS-GBSMs), and non-
geometrical stochastic models (NGSMs) [37], [38]. In
principle, these generic models can theoretically gener-
ate channel impulse responses (CIRs) from the scattering
geometry [39]–[41]. However, when they are implemented for
certain scenarios of interest, it is still critical to determine the
values of probability distribution parameters and validate the
models according to channel measurements [42], [43].
On the other hand, the deterministic modeling methods are
based on either full-wave solutions such as method of moments
(MoM) [44], Finite Element Method (FEM), finite-difference
time domain (FDTD) [45] and Finite Integration Technique
(FIT), or asymptotic technique like ray tracing (RT) [46], [47]
and uniform theory of diffraction (UTD). Full-wave solutions
are much more complex than the asymptotic techniques, and
the later can be used purely, or as a hybrid technique. The
combination between RT and uniform theory of diffraction
(UTD) [48] is frequently applied to radio coverage predic-
tion [49]. Compared to stochastic channel modeling, RT needs
higher computation time, and it strongly depends on detailed
and reliable environment description, which requires efforts
and time to reconstruct. However, RT can accurately describe
multi-path effects for a given environment model and deploy-
ment configuration. It has been applied to radio frequencies for
field prediction in the indoor and the urban environments since
the early 1990s [50], [51]. In the recent decades, it has also
been utilized to investigate the propagation characteristics and
models in a number of complex scenarios such as multi-floor
stairwell [52] and open-trench drains [53], which demonstrated
the capability and advantages of RT to quantitatively identify
the fundamental propagation mechanisms.
Aiming at 5G and beyond wireless communications, this
paper presents a comprehensive tutorial on the design of RT
and the applications. The role of RT and the state-of-the-art
RT techniques are reviewed. The features of academic and
commercial RT based simulators are summarized and com-
pared. The requirements, challenges and developing trends
of RT to enable the visions are discussed. The practices
in the design of high-performance RT simulation platform
and the applications for 5G and beyond communications
are introduced, with the publicly available high-performance
cloud-based RT simulation platform (CloudRT) as the main
reference. The hardware structure, networking, workflow, data
flow and fundamental functions for realizing a flexible high-
performance RT platform are discussed. The applications of
high-performance RT are provided by studying two 5G scenar-
ios, i.e., a 3.5 GHz Beijing vehicle-to-infrastructure scenario
and a 28 GHz Manhattan outdoor scenario. Based on which,
the issues on how to calibrate and validate RT based on mea-
surements, how to apply RT for mobile communications in
moving scenarios, and how to evaluate MIMO beamforming
technologies are tackled. This tutorial will be especially useful
for researchers who work on RT algorithms development and
channel modeling to meet the evaluation requirements of 5G
and beyond technologies.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows: In Section II,
the role of RT in 5G systems and beyond is discussed.
11
Section III introduces the propagation principles and mod-
els that can be implemented in RT. The reviews of the RT
acceleration techniques are provided and the selected RT based
simulation tools are compared in Section IV. The designs of the
hardware structure, networking, workflow, data flow and fun-
damental functions for realizing a flexible high-performance
RT platform are introduced in Section V. The applications
of high-performance RT to 5G scenarios are presented in
Section VI. Conclusions are drawn in Section VII.
II. T HE ROLE OF RT IN 5G S YSTEMS AND B EYOND
The popularity of RT is increasing in 5G and beyond wire-
less communications. In the standardization organizations, the
map-based hybrid channel modeling approach is adopted by
both 3GPP [54] and ITU-R WP-5D [55] in 2016 for evaluating
5G communication technologies, and RT is a key step of this
approach. In IEEE Standards working groups (802.11ad and
802.15 3d-2017), RT has been successfully applied to assist
developing stochastic channel models for various scenarios in
the mmWave and THz bands. The deeper reason that RT plays
a more important role than before is manifold:
First of all, RT is less restricted by bandwidth and the
carrier frequency compared with measurement based stochas-
tic channel modeling approaches. Its applications can be
found from sub-6 GHz to THz, and from narrowband
to ultra-broadband in various environments with approved
accuracy [12], [56]–[62].
Secondly, the evaluation of key MIMO technologies such
as beamforming and beam tracking have high demands on
channel spatial resolution. The sizes and shapes of the MIMO
arrays, which significantly influence the propagation and sys-
tem design, can be very different in practical applications.
By taking advantage of the high spatial resolution of the RT
results, [63]–[67] propose and verify the RT-assisted beam-
forming algorithms. In [67], RT is used to compute MIMO
gain matrices and determine achievable data rate with var-
ious MIMO transmission modes. The authors show that, in
urban microcells, data rate prediction using site-specific RT
is more informative than using stochastic models. With the
help of RT, a new beamforming mode-switching algorithm
is proposed with lower switching rates by a factor greater
than 10.
Thirdly, in the moving communication scenarios of 5G and
beyond, not only the transmitter (Tx) and receiver (Rx) but also
the surrounding scattering objects can move. Due to the con-
straints on the capability of measurement equipment, device
installations and workforce, the time-varying channel mea-
surements and MIMO channel measurements become more
difficult. Obtaining comprehensive channel parameters is chal-
lenging. The measurement-based stochastic modeling is more
challenging and complex than before in describing the birth
and death of multi-path components, the coherence between
different drops and the correlations of key parameters. As
an alternative, RT is an effective method to overcome the
limits of both channel measurements and stochastic mod-
els. The academic research works in [68] and [69] combine
constrained mmWave channel measurements with extensive
12 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2019
RT simulations to explore angular domain channel charac-
teristics. Similarly, in IEEE 802.11ad task group [70], [71],
channels are measured and RT is combined to develop stochas-
tic channel models for 60 GHz indoor scenarios. IEEE
802.15.3d [72], [73] work on an amendment of the stan-
dard targeting at 100 Gbit/s data links operating in the band
from 252 GHz to 325 GHz. THz channels are measured
with limited deployment configurations, and RT is used to
explore and model comprehensive channel parameters for
more deployments. Based on this approach, 3D stochastic
channel models are realized and standardized for wireless data
center [74], wireless front/back-haul [73], indoor communica-
tions [60], [75], intra-device [76] communications and kiosk
downloading applications [62]. Moreover, by taking advan-
tage of the accuracy in tracing rays, RT has been combined
with different stochastic channel modeling approaches, e.g., a
deterministic approach to model by combining a neural net-
work and a 3-D RT algorithm is proposed in [77] for complex
indoor environment communications. In [78], the stochastic
and deterministic models are combined, and a one-nuclei-
based channel model is proposed. A Geometry-based Efficient
propagation Model for vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communica-
tion (GEMV2 ) is proposed and validated in [79] and [80],
in which RT is used to determine the influence of moving
vehicles and blockage of static objects. The RT developed by
Universität Karlsruhe [81] can support both moving train and
vehicles in the simulation scenario. The CloudRT [82], [83]
developed by Beijing Jiaotong University can support vari-
ous mobile scattering objects, e.g., moving train for mmWave
railway communications [84], [85], multiple mobile robots in
smart warehouse scenarios at sub-6 GHz [86].
III. P ROPAGATION P RINCIPLES AND M ODELS FOR RT
In the RT, the channel transfer function H(f ) at frequency
f is expressed as the coherent sum of different multi-path
components Hi (f ) coupling with the polarimetric Tx and Rx
antenna radiation patterns (Gtx , Grx ):
  
Hi (f ) = ai (f )ejϕi (f ) δ θAOD − θAOD,i δ θEOD − θEOD,i
   
·δ θAOA − θAOA,i δ θEOA − θEOA,i
NRays
 face irregularities. The “Directive Model” has been incorpo-
H(f ) = G tx Hi (f )Grx
i=1
where ai is the amplitude of ray i. ϕi is the phase of ray i.
θAOD,AOA,EOD,EOA are the azimuth angle of departure/arrival
and elevation angle of departure/arrival.
The basic rays in RT can be classified as direct rays,
reflected rays, transmitted rays, diffracted rays and scattered
rays [87]. Calculations of the direct rays and reflected rays
are fundamental. The direct rays are related to the line of
sight (LOS) propagation mechanism and are calculated by
using Friis equation. The reflected (transmitted) rays cor-
respond to the reflection (transmission) of radio waves at
interfaces between different media. The propagation direction
of a reflected (transmitted) ray is determined by the Snell’s
law with image-based method [88]. The magnitude of the
reflected (transmitted) field is calculated by Fresnel equation
for different polarizations [88].
Calculation of the diffracted rays is more complicated com-
pared with the above rays. In the 1960s, Keller [89] developed
the geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) by applying the
Fermat’s principle and formulating the law of diffraction: the
diffracted rays lay on the exterior surface of a cone (Keller’s
cone), which has its vertex at the diffraction point and an
opening angle equal to that formed by the incident ray with the
edge. However, the result of GTD is not continuous across the
shadow boundaries. Thus, the UTD method was pioneered by
Kouyoumjian and Pathak [48], which is valid for perfect elec-
tric conductors (PEC). For lossy wedges, the authors of [45]
and [90]–[93] developed heuristic methods to determine UTD
diffraction coefficients. For the wedges with impedance sur-
faces, the electromagnetic diffraction is formulated by Tiberio
et al. [94] and Rojas [95]. The diffraction coefficients for trans-
parent wedges are modeled in [96] and [97]. Apart from the
UTD families, the uniform asymptotic theory (UAT) meth-
ods can also provide continuous diffracted field across shadow
boundaries developed in [98] and [99]. Comparisons between
UTD and UAT methods can be found in [100]. Besides,
some multi-edge diffraction models, such as the Deygout
model [101], [102], the Epstein-Peterson model [103], have
been widely used in combination with other propagation
mechanisms, empirical models or improved for different envi-
ronments [104]–[107]. Other theories of diffraction like the
physical optics method [108] and the spectral method [109],
[110] have been studied as well.
The scattered rays from rough surfaces have been stud-
ied for many different objects, e.g., building façades
[111]–[121], trees [122]–[125], lampposts [126], [127], vehi-
cles [126]–[128], traffic signs [129], [130], and railway typical
objects [84], [85]. The scattering from building façades is
divided into specular and non-specular components [111],
and a sort of effective roughness (ER) is associated with
each building wall which takes into account not only
real surface roughness but also wall discontinuities, small
 objects effects, etc. The authors then modified the ER
model by orienting the scattering pattern lobe toward the
(1) specular direction [112], and the “Directive Model” and
“Backscattering Lobe Model” are proposed for different sur-
(2)
rated into RT and validated at sub-6 GHz bands and mmWave
bands [84], [85], [113], [115], [116], [131] in both urban and
railway environments. Regarding the scattering of the vege-
tation, the multiple scattering theory (MST) [132], [133] is
the most common method in obtaining the coherent and inco-
herent scattering fields. In the current version of ITU-R Rec.
P.833-9 [134], MST is incorporated to model the propagation
with vegetation. Bistatic radar cross section (RCS) has been
used to investigate the scattering propagation upon metalic
objects like lampposts, bus shelters [126] and various traffic
signs [130]. The geometries of the objects were decomposed
as discretized conductor cylinders, boxes, circular and rectan-
gular plates, etc., which have closed-form RCS expressions.
By summing up the decomposed parts, the total RCS of a
complex object can be obtained.
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
IV. ACCELERATION T ECHNIQUES
“Image method” based RT is computationally expensive
when the number of scattering objects and ray intersections
increase. Thus, applying acceleration techniques is inevitable
and many efforts have been made to improve the efficiency of
RT. Efficient computer graphics algorithms, such as dimen-
sion reduction, space partitioning, etc., are proposed. The
basic principle of dimension reduction method is to speed
up the process by simplifying the 3D environment model
to 2D or 2.5D [135], [136]. Although this method improves
the efficiency in tracing rays and is suitable for fast net-
work planning in large scale environments, the accuracy is
reduced, and therefore, it is not suitable for evaluating and
planning 3D deployments. The space partitioning is done by
constructing visibility tree and partitioning the propagation
environment into small sub-spaces (tree nodes) so that not
all the surfaces are traversed when detecting intersections. A
number of structures have been proposed for handling multi-
dimensional point data, and a survey of methods can be found
in [87] and [137]. Among those methods, the K-d tree space
division algorithm [138], [139] and binary space partitioning
(BSP) algorithm [140]–[142] are the most common methods in
accelerating RT. Although space partitioning methods require
more time in pre-processing the environment model, it is able
to significantly accelerate the tracing ray procedure without
reducing accuracy. An alternative technique that originating
from computer graphics is the “shooting and bouncing” based
RT method, called “ray launching” (RL) [77], [143]–[146].
According to the workflow, rays are launched from a fixed Tx
in all relevant directions, discretized into small angular incre-
ments, field strength is summed up at all potential Rx points
and the ray search is stopped when energy falls below a min-
imum or a given maximum number of interactions is reached.
The computation time of RL depends on the spatial resolu-
tion in launching rays. The accuracy of RL is greatly reduced
for those rays traveling long distances from the transmitter
(divergence). In these situations, important interactions may be
missed by such ray tracers [147]. Ray splitting can be a solu-
tion: more rays are introduced after a given distance from the
Tx to reduce the angular separation [148]. Also, proper angu-
lar discretization methods based on polygonal shapes can be
adopted to overcome resolution limitations [149]. Moreover,
RL is basically an area oriented algorithm and therefore not
very well suited for point to point prediction (e.g., moving
scenarios, MIMO channel).
In the moving scenarios where both the scattering objects
and communication devices can move, the visibility relation-
ship of surfaces might change between snapshots. Moreover,
in order to analyze small-scale features like Doppler spectrum,
coherence time, and quasi-stationary region, the sampling dis-
tance of snapshots (granularity) in RT should be comparable
with the wavelength. Hence, the number of simulation snap-
shots increases when the simulated frequency increases. When
the Massive MIMO is applied to moving scenarios or UDN
with many communication devices, the number of simula-
tion tasks is massive and only applying the aforementioned
“algorithm-based” acceleration techniques is not sufficient.
Recently, parallel multi-core GPU-based RL algorithms have
13
been proposed [150]–[152]. NVIDIA OptiX developed an RT
engine which can realize efficient parallel RL computation on
the GPU [153], based on which, the works in [154]–[156]
adapted and realized efficient 3D electromagnetical wave prop-
agation simulators. Apart from GPU acceleration, [82], [83]
proposed a multi-threaded and distributed CPU comput-
ing method to accelerate RT computation for numerous
simulation tasks. The results indicate that the speedup of
compute-intensive tasks via parallel hardware technology is
outstanding.
Besides the academic RT simulators, there are already rec-
ognized commercial RT based simulators used by industry and
academia. Table I summarizes the features of the selected com-
mercial and public available academic RT based simulators.
All of the commercial tools support MIMO/massive MIMO
simulations and include empirical, RT and hybrid empirical/RT
models:
WinProp [157] was originally designed by AWE
Communications limited that was later acquired by Altair
HyperWorks in 2016. WinProp engine supports simulations
for frequency up to 75 GHz. This tool supports a wide
range of propagation scenarios. Compared with other selected
commercial tools, it is the only one that supports mobile
scattering objects in the simulation. Beyond the standard RT,
it employs acceleration techniques including the dimension
reduction, space partitioning, Intelligent Ray Tracing (IRT)
and Dominant Path Model (DPM).
Ranplan Professional [158] developed by Ranplan Wireless,
supports simulations from 100 MHz to 70 GHz for both
the indoor and outdoor environment, whereas the material
database enables up to 60 GHz for RT simulation. Mobile scat-
tering objects are not supported. Dimension reduction, space
partitioning, and hybrid RL/RT are the acceleration techniques
for tracing multiple transmissions, reflections, diffractions and
scattering.
EDX Advanced Propagation [159] developed by EDX
Wireless, supports simulation over a frequency range from
30 MHz to 100 GHz. It is mainly for urban indoor and
outdoor environments, and does not support mobile scatter-
ing objects. Free space propagation including atmospheric
losses, wall reflection, corner and edge diffraction, wall and
foliage transmission, scattering due to wall roughness are the
main concerned propagation mechanisms. Dimension reduc-
tion technique is applied for acceleration.
Volcano [160] by Siradel can simulate sub-6 GHz and 5G
mmWave band up to 73 GHz. It provides reflection, trans-
mission and diffraction mechanism, with dimension reduction,
space partitioning RL acceleration techniques. The current
version does not support mobile scattering objects in the
simulated scenario.
Wireless Insite [161] developed by Remcom, provides
empirical models and ray tracing coupled with empirical mod-
els for a frequency range from 50 MHz to 100 GHz. This tool
does not support mobile scattering objects. It employs dimen-
sion reduction and RL acceleration algorithms, as well as GPU
and multi-threaded CPU hardware acceleration.
CrossWave [162] is a high-performance universal prop-
agation model based on the cooperation between Orange
14 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2019

TABLE I
C OMPARISON OF C OMMERCIAL AND P UBLIC AVAILABLE ACADEMIC RT BASED S IMULATORS

Labs and Forsk. This model is developed for 200 MHz -
5 GHz simulations mainly for GSM, UMTS, LTE networks.
Dimension reduction, RL acceleration algorithms, as well as
multi-threaded distributed CPU computing is supported.
Aster [163] developed by Forsk, is more advanced than
CrossWave. This tool can support below and above 6 GHz
including the mmWave bands. Similar as CrossWave, it also
employs dimension reduction, RL and multi-threaded dis-
tributed CPU computing as acceleration methods. Both tools
do not support mobile scattering objects.
According to the above discussions, the RT that enables
5G and beyond communication channel simulation should
efficiently and accurately support mobile scattering objects,
massive MIMO and massive task, and the developing of flex-
ible high-performance RT platform is highly demanded to
realize the vision.
V. T HE D ESIGN OF H IGH -P ERFORMANCE RT
In this section, the discussions on the design of high-
performance RT will use the practices on CloudRT as the
main reference. The networking and hardware components,
workflow, data flow and models are introduced.
A. Networking and Hardware Components
As shown in Fig. 1, the hardware components of CloudRT
include an HPC cluster, a data storage server and user equip-
ment (UE). The HPC contains 96 computing nodes (1600
CPUs and 10 GPUs), 1 managing node and 1 Web server. The
RT engine is installed on the computing nodes to realize paral-
lel processing. The simulation tasks and computing resources
are monitored and controlled by the managing node. The mes-
sage passing interface (MPI) is employed to assign tasks to the
computing nodes. The HPC cluster and the data storage server
are interconnected via switches with 10 Gbps data rate per
link, which makes sure that the network input/output (I/O) will
not be the bottleneck of the data I/O of the whole platform.
The HPC and the data storage server can be either within the
same local network as the UE or on the cloud. The CloudRT
belongs to the later case and is open access to the community
via http://www.raytracer.cloud/. The UE of CloudRT can be a
personal computer running Windows, Linux, or macOS. With
a Web browser, MATLAB, and SketchUp installed, users
can prepare the needed models, configure/trigger simulation
tasks and download results. The demand on UE access data
rate is much less than that on the data I/O of the HPC, i.e.,
100 Mbps per UE connection is enough.
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
Fig. 1. Networking of CloudRT.
Fig. 2. Workflow of CloudRT.
B. Workflow
As shown in Fig. 2, registration and logging in are required
before users accessing the functions and models of the
CloudRT. After successful authentication and authorization,
simulation tasks can be configured via the user interface (UI)
on the website. Environment model, antenna pattern, snapshot,
frequency, propagation mechanism, computation nodes should
be specified. Parallel computing is automatically realized if
the number of snapshots in the task is greater than 1, and the
maximum computing resource is constrained by the requested
number of computing nodes. By clicking the “submit” but-
ton, the simulation is triggered at the HPC. Simulation results
contain CIRs and the details of all the traced rays for each
snapshot, including the type of rays, intersection order, time of
arrival, complex field intensities, path loss, 3D angles of depar-
tures and arrivals, intersected plane IDs, intersected points,
inbound and outbound angles at intersected points. Based on
which, key channel parameters like path loss, power delay
profile (PDP), root-mean-square delay spread, Rician K-factor,
etc., can be calculated for further analysis.
C. Data Flow and Models
As shown in Fig. 3, there are 5 layers in the data flow
of the platform: data collection layer, data transport layer,
data storage layer, data analytic layer, and application layer.
In the data source layer, various data are collected and con-
verted to the predefined structure. Then, they are transported
to the data storage server (in the cloud), which is composed of
disk arrays with I/O managing system. Three libraries (envi-
ronment library, material library, and antenna library) and
three databases (user database, task database, and measure-
ment database) are constructed to manage different data and
models for the simulation platform. Based on which, the data
analytic layer can realize RT-based channel modeling, channel
15
Fig. 3. Data flow of CloudRT.
characterization, as well as the propagation modeling and algo-
rithms that improve the efficiency and accuracy of the RT. The
outputs of the data analytic layer can be used for link/system
level simulation, network planning, and antenna design.
The models, libraries and databases on the data storage
server are introduced as follows:
Environment Library: Contains the 3D environment mod-
els for RT simulation. Geometry and material information are
the key elements of an environment model. Fig. 4 and Fig. 5
are some 3D models of railway scenarios and urban scenar-
ios reconstructed via SketchUp tool. The geometric shapes of
objects are described and different materials are assigned to
the surfaces of the objects. JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
format [164] is used for data (configuration, model description,
etc.) transmission for CloudRT simulation. It is a lightweight
format based on a subset of the JavaScript Programming
Language, which is easy for humans to read and write, and
easy for machines to parse and generate. An add-on is devel-
oped in ruby to directly export the SketchUp model to JSON
format with required properties listed in Table II. The objects
are grouped by layers (e.g., buildings, cars, etc.), and the poly-
gons are described by the composition of triangles with the
corresponding material names. The assigned materials in the
environment modeled should exist in the material library; If
not, it should be added to the material library before conduct-
ing a simulation. The Web UI allows the users uploading and
managing their environment models for RT simulation.
Besides the vector data, the raster data are also widely
used. Raster data, like digital elevation model (DEM), is
especially in describing large scale terrain variation (moun-
tains, desert, etc). SketchUp is just one of the computer-aided
design (CAD) tools that can model vector 3D environments
for RT simulation. The aforementioned commercial tools sup-
port designing simple models, importing complex models from
CAD tools, converting raster data to vector data, and hybrid
use of vector data and raster data. The support of different data
types can make the RT more flexible in simulating different
environments.
A major concern about RT utilization is the need for a
detailed and precise description of the environment [66]. A
preferred digital map precision should be comparable to the
considered wavelength [108]. The rougher and the more incor-
rect the scenario is modeled, the poorer the corresponding
prediction accuracy will be. As reported in [165], errors of the
positions of walls within ±2 m in the 95% of cases result in a
16
Fig. 4. 3D environment models of railway scenarios.
Fig. 5. 3D environment models of indoor and outdoor scenarios.
1 dB increase in the standard deviation of the prediction error
for microcell communication. In the early 21st century, satel-
lite imagery became widely available and affordable. Many
Geographic Information System (GIS) companies bought ser-
vices from satellite operator to obtain high-resolution images
and reconstructed 3D maps. The reported precision of satellite-
based digital map is 0.6 m in the azimuth domain, while
the error in the elevation domain might reach 3 m–5 m. The
Airborne Laser Scanning approach can achieve an error less
than 0.01 m [166] but the cost is much higher than the satel-
lite imaging. Multi-stereo image based scenario reconstruction
is widely applied nowadays, 3D street view, museum virtual
tour are typical applications [167]. While it is also a very
tough work to fetch images with different stereos and requires
a lot of efforts on reconstructing 3D models. To reduce the
cost and efforts on map digitalization, He et al. [168] pro-
pose an image-based automatic 3D scenario reconstruction
approach. A machine learning algorithm is developed to auto-
matically recognize and extract multiple objects from images.
The proposed method is incorporated to RT and the path loss
results are validated by COST231 measured data in Munich
scenario [169] at 947 MHz frequency.
Vegetation and the human body can be important objects
to propagation channel, but modeling their 3D geometries is
challenging. ITU-R P.833 [134] distinguishes the case of a
woodland and an isolated tree, and different modeling meth-
ods are given. For example, in woodlands, it is only necessary
to consider specific attenuation in dB/m at the frequency of
interest and obtain the resulting signal attenuation based on the
path length through the vegetation. In both [134] and [170], a
tree can be modeled by cuboid, sphere or cylinder. Based on
the MST, the canopy of a tree is usually modeled as a cylin-
drical volume containing thin disks representing the leaves,
and randomly distributed and oriented cylinders representing
the branches [122]. A new scattering model of tree canopies
IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2019
TABLE II
JSON OF E NVIRONMENT M ODEL
TABLE III
P RINCIPLES A PPLIED IN R AY-T RACING M ODLES
is developed based on a modified physical optics and MST
approach in [170]. In [171], the forest is composed of trees fol-
lowing the uniform distribution with the separation of 8-10 m.
A tree is modeled by an 8-facet polygonal prism with the
diameter of 6-10 m, and each facet consists of 2 m × 2 m
quadrangles. Each polygonal canopy prism volume is com-
posed of leaves and branches where leaves are modeled as
thin lossy dielectric discs and branches are modeled as thin
lossy dielectric cylinders, all having prescribed location and
orientation statistics. The scattered field of the tree is obtained
by using the multiple scattering theory of Foldy-Lax [132].
For human blockage, MacCartney et al. [172] and Kunisch and
Pamp [173] provide simple models based on the double knife-
edge diffraction (DKED) model. Similar to the model given by
the METIS project [174], the human body is approximated by
a cuboid with infinite vertical height. Jacob et al. [175] extend
the double knife edge model to a multiple knife-edge model,
and a person is assumed to be composed of six knife edges.
Material library stores different material parameters for
different propagation models. The propagation models that
are implemented on the current version of CloudRT are
summarized in Table III.
Accordingly, the dielectric parameters, transmission loss,
scattering coefficients, and equivalent roughness are needed,
and applying appropriate material parameters in the RT is a
pre-condition to obtain practical results. In Rec. ITU-R P.
2040 [177] and Rec. ITU-R P.1238-7 [178], the dielectric
parameters and transmission loss of some typical indoor
and outdoor materials, like concrete, glass, wood, and
resin, are provided for some frequency points within 1
GHz–100 GHz. Many parameters are provided in academic
researches [179]–[183] for various objects and frequencies.
Nevertheless, the types of material of existing works are a
small part of the real environments, and applicable frequen-
cies and propagation models are limited. In this work, JSON
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
TABLE IV
JSON OF M ATERIAL I NFORMATION
Fig. 6. Examples of materials in the material library.
TABLE V
JSON OF A NTENNA I NFORMATION
is used to describe material information and key attributes,
including the applicable frequency range, material name, and
electromagnetic (EM) parameters, which are listed in Table IV.
With this format, the material parameters can be modified or
new material can be added with high flexibility. Fig. 6 shows
examples of materials in the library, which are studied via ded-
icated propagation measurement approach like [179]–[183].
Moreover, material parameters can also be calibrated based
on channel measurements, and the details are presented in
Section VI-B.
Antenna library stores information for various types of
antennas. Users can create their own antenna radiation pat-
terns and upload them to the library. JSON is used to describe
the key properties, including the applicable frequency, angu-
lar resolution, 3D polarimetric pattern (listed in Table V).
Fig. 7 shows different examples of the uploaded antenna pat-
terns. Details of antenna pattern implementation and MIMO
simulation are introduced in Section VI-D.
17
Fig. 7. Examples of antenna patterns.
User database records user profile and authorities. The
basic authorities include running RT simulations, upload-
ing and editing models, checking simulation progress, and
downloading results.
Task database has all the information related to simula-
tion tasks. The specified environment model, antenna pattern,
snapshot, propagation models, frequency ranges, requested
computing resources (e.g., CPUs or GPUs) and correspond-
ing simulation results are recorded. A log file is generated
when a simulation task is triggered, and the progress of the
task can be tracked real-time through the user interface.
Measurement database is constructed to store the measured
propagation and channel data with various scenarios, materials,
antenna types, frequencies, and mobility. The data are useful
for further analysis of channel characterization, RT calibration,
and propagation modeling.
VI. T HE A PPLICATIONS OF RT TO 5G AND B EYOND
W IRELESS C OMMUNICATIONS
A 3.5 GHz V2I scenario (Scene-I) and a 28 GHz out-
door scenario (Scene-II), where measurements are conducted,
are considered as two practical 5G scenarios to introduce the
applications of RT. Based on the case studies, the questions
on how to calibrate and validate RT based on measurements,
how to apply RT for mobile communications in moving sce-
narios, and how to evaluate MIMO beamforming technologies
are answered.
A. Introduction of Measurement Campaigns
1) Scene-I: The V2I measurement was conducted in 2017
in Zhongguancun Cuihu Tech Park, Beijing. Fig. 8(a) and
Fig. 8(b) show the measurement routes. The Tx is placed at
the intersected corner of two roads with a height of 2.55 m.
A planar antenna with a gain of 16 dBi is used, and the tilted
angle is θ = 10 degree. The Rx is placed on the top of
a Suburban Utility Vehicle (SUV) with a height of 1.88 m.
A biconical antenna is used and the antenna gain is 0 dBi.
Fig. 8(c) and Fig. 8(d) show the deployment of antennas and
their patterns, respectively. The width of the road is approx-
imately 14 m. In route1, there are buildings along two sides
of the road. Only one side of route2 has buildings, and the
other side is a fence with advertisements. Buildings are with
a height of 15-20 m. The average distance between two build-
ings in route1 and route2 is 10 m and 8 m, respectively. As the
measurement was conducted in March, there was no leaf on
the trees. A few cars parked on the street. In the whole mea-
surement run, there was no people or car moving on the road
18
Fig. 8. Measurement campaign: (a) Bird’s view of the measured routes,
(b) Street view of the measured routes, (c) Antenna deployments, (d) Antenna
patterns.
Fig. 9. Measurement system.
TABLE VI
M EASUREMENT PARAMETERS
and the propagation condition was LOS for the two routes.
Fig. 9 shows the channel sounding system, and a summary of
the measurement parameters are given in Table VI. The NI
PXIe-5673E is used at the Tx, and the NI PXIe-5668 is used
at the Rx. The carrier frequency is 3.5 GHz with a bandwidth
of 100 MHz. After connecting an amplifier to the transmitter,
the total transmission power at the antenna output is 43 dBm.
The XHTF3311 Global Positioning System (GPS) is used at
the Rx. With rubidium clocks, the synchronization of both Tx
and Rx is ensured.
2) Scene-II: 28 GHz propagation measurements were con-
ducted in 2012 in downtown Manhattan around NYUs main
campus, with a maximum RF transmit power of 30.1 dBm
over an 800 MHz first null-to-null RF bandwidth and a max-
imum measurable dynamic range of 178 dB. The map of
Tx and Rx locations is shown in Fig. 10(a) and the recon-
structed 3D environment model is shown in Fig. 10(b). Details
of the measurement description can be found in [184]. The
omnidirectional SISO path loss data are provided in [185].
IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2019
Fig. 10. 28 GHz measurement campaign: (a) Map of Tx and Rx locations,
(b) Reconstructed 3D environment model.
B. RT Calibration and Validation
As mentioned above, necessary inputs for an RT simula-
tion includes the environment model, antenna model, snapshot
configuration and material parameters for EM calculation
according to the propagation models. The first three inputs
can be obtained either from practical measurements or from
virtual reality; however, the material parameters that deter-
mine the reliability of RT result can only be obtained through
measurement. One can either look for references of typical
material parameters [177], [178], or determine each material
parameter via propagation measurements [186], [187], or cal-
ibrate the RT simulator from a few channel measurements
using optimization approaches [62], [188]. The commercial
tools (Table I) have integrated measurement based calibra-
tion function. However, the current versions are for calibrating
empirical models based on measured reference signal receiving
power rather than for calibrating the multi-path propagation
parameters of the involved materials. In practice, materials
are diverse while the categories are limited in the available
references. Obtaining parameters from individual propagation
measurements for different propagation mechanisms is accu-
rate for most homogenous materials, but is not suitable for
composite materials or multi-layer materials. Calibrating RT
from a few channel measurements is feasible for all types of
materials, and is more efficient than individual dedicated prop-
agation measurement. However, its accuracy depends on an
appropriate combination of different propagation mechanisms
for the whole scenario. Therefore, it does not always lead to
the same high precision as dedicated propagation measure-
ments. In this study, we present the experiences on calibrating
RT based on channel measurement for the two considered
scenarios.
The calibration workflow is shown in Fig. 11, which begins
from environment modeling, deployment configuration, and
parameter initialization. The locations and antenna patterns of
Tx and Rx are the same as in the measurement. The recon-
structed 3D environment model of Scene-I is shown in Fig. 12.
There are 7 types of objects and 7 materials (Table. VII)
in the environment model. The LOS path, scattering, and up
to 4th order reflections are considered. The initialized dielec-
tric parameters are listed in Table VIII. The cost function is
defined as the mean absolute error of the power delay profile
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
Fig. 11. Workflow of RT calibration based on channel measurement.
Fig. 12. Reconstructed 3D environment model for Scene-I.
between simulation result and measured data along with all
the evaluated snapshots s:
τmax
 tions. The calibrated parameters are provided in Table VIII.
A(s) = abs(Prt (s, τ ) − Pm (s, τ ))
τ =0
cost = A
where τ is the excess delay, s denotes the snapshot index, Prt
and Pm represent the power delay profile (PDP, in dBm) of the
RT and measurement. In this work, a down threshold of 30 dB
relative to the maximum power is used to keep the influence of
dominant paths. The phase of the signal can be categorized into
interception and relative parts. The interception part is usually
influenced by complex superposition of initial phase, material
properties, traveling distance, reference frequency and noise,
which is often modeled as random parameters within [−π, π ]
in standard channel models, such as WINNER, 3GPP, and
METIS models [24], [189], [190]. The relative part, which
is determined by complex superposition of traveling distances
(delay) and amplitudes of rays, is more important to reproduce
small-scale channel characteristics. Thus, calibrating the RT
in terms of ray amplitude and delay according to (3)-(4) is
sufficient and critical.
Totally 4080 measured CIRs along the two routes are
selected and are split into a calibration set (2 CIRs for each
route) and a validation set (4076 CIRs). Simulated annealing
method [62], [188] is employed to reduce the cost iteratively
by simultaneously seeking appropriate dielectric parameters
for all the considered materials. When varying the maximum
reflection order from 1 to 4, the cost decreases from 4.89 dB
to 1.73 dB. Fig. 13 compares the results when the maximum
reflection order is 4. Fig. 13(a) is the progress of the cost,
19
TABLE VII
V2I S CENARIO C OMPOSITION
TABLE VIII
M ATERIAL PARAMETERS
TABLE IX
C OMPARISON B ETWEEN THE C ALIBRATED RT AND M EASUREMENT:
T HE F ITTING R ESULTS FOR CI M ODEL
which is reduced from 9.47 dB to 1.73 dB after 10 itera-
(3) Fig. 13(b) compares the calibrated PDP at a single snapshot
and the RT result agrees well with the measurement in terms of
(4) delay and amplitude. Fig. 14 demonstrates the traced rays of a
snapshot in route2. The path losses (PLs) of the RT and mea-
surement are fitted based on the close-in free space reference
distance (CI) path loss model:
 2  
4π d0 d
PL(d)[dB] = 10log10 + 10nlog10 + Xσ
λ d0
(5)
where Xσ is a zero mean Gaussian random variable with
standard deviation σ in dB. d0 is the reference distance and
d > d0 = 1. Fig. 13(c) and Fig. 13(d) compare the PLs
between measured data and the calibrated result for route1 and
route2, respectively. The fitted CI model parameters are com-
pared in Table IX. In route1, the difference ratios of n and σ
between the simulation result and measurements are 1.06%
and 5.93%, respectively. The difference ratios of n and σ in
route2 are 6.03% and 5.93%, respectively.
Different measurement data can result in different cost func-
tion and calibration result. In Scene-II, only omnidirectional
path loss data are publicly available [185]. As the small-
scale information is missing, the cost function is re-defined
by comparing the path loss between RT and measurement all
the Tx/Rx pairs. Following the same framework in Fig. 11,
the RT is calibrated and detail results can be found in [191].
The environment model of Scene-II is shown in Fig. 10(b).
As the building material is much more complex in Scene-II
20 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2019

Fig. 13. Calibration result and RT validation for Scene-I: (a) The calibration progress, (b) PDP comparison of a snapshot in route2, (c) Path loss comparison
for route1, (d) Path loss comparison for route2.

Fig. 14. Traced rays of a calibrated snapshot in route2.

Fig. 15. Workflow of simulating moving scenarios.

compared to Scene-I, a uniform material is assigned to sim-
plify the modeling. The mean absolute errors of the calibrated
RT with up to 3 and 4 reflection orders are 3.72 dB and
2.05 dB, respectively. The difference ratios of n and σ are
3.95% and 3.21%. The dielectric parameters calibrated in this
scenario can be used in similar environments, which bring ben-
efits on simplifying the environment model, but also reduce
the accuracy of the simulation result. In addition, varying the
combination of propagation mechanisms (e.g., the maximum
reflection order) has an influence on the calibration result.
The work on effectively determining dominant propagation
mechanisms is still needed to improve the performance of RT Fig. 16. Modeling of moving objects and mobility pattern along route2.
calibration.
The validation results of both scenarios indicate that RT
can practically reflect the target propagation environment after Scene-I is used as stationary part of 3D environment model.
calibrating with a few measurement samples. Thus, reliable The height of the Tx is increased to 6 meters. A bus and
channel information can be generated for environments with an SUV are modeled as moving scattering objects which are
similar materials. Moreover, other channel information like driven in the same direction along route2 (see Fig. 16). The
angles, the influence of objects/materials, which were not SUV is in front of the bus and the speed of the bus is slower
captured from the measurements, can be analyzed via RT than the SUV. The height of the bus is 3.7 m, which is 1.82 m
simulations. higher than the Rx on the SUV. Up to 2nd order reflections,
diffraction, and scattering are considered, and the other config-
C. Support of Moving Scenarios urations are the same as mentioned before. The PDPs along the
moving distance are shown in Fig. 17. The LOS path between
In the moving scenarios, not only the Tx and Rx can move,
the Tx and the Rx is blocked by the bus when SUV is moving
but also the scattering objects can move. Aiming at support-
farther than 159 m.
ing these features, the workflow shown in Fig. 15 is used by
CloudRT. The moving scattering objects and stationary objects
should be modeled separately. Dynamic mobility patterns of D. Support of MIMO Channel and Beamforming
moving objects and Tx/Rx should be defined prior to simu- Another important feature of the CloudRT is to support
lation. After all the models and configurations are uploaded MIMO channel simulation and beamforming evaluation. As
to CloudRT, the geometry and visibility relationship of the shown in Fig. 18, Scene-II is used in this case. 4 small-cell
objects are updated for each snapshot. base stations (S-BSs) are deployed linearly on the street. A
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
Fig. 17. PDP of the moving scenario.
Fig. 18. Deployment of mmWave wireless backhaul scenario in Manhattan
city.
Fig. 19. Comparison of equivalent ZFBF beam pattern between 4-by-5 and
4-by-25 UPAs.
single omnidirectional antenna is used at the S-BS with a
height of 5 m and the separation distance between S-BSs is
50 m. A macrocell base station (M-BS) is placed on top of
a building whose height is 73 m. Thus, the total height of
M-BS is 75 m. A uniform planar array (UPA) is used to real-
ize Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MU-MIMO)
connections between the M-BS and S-BSs, which is called
wireless backhaul links (BL). With this deployment, there is
no object blocking the LOS paths of the BLs. The antenna
elements of the UPA are omnidirectional and the transmission
power is 40 dBm. LOS path, up to 4th order of reflected paths,
scattering path and diffracted paths are considered. By vary-
ing the array size from 4-by-5 to 4-by-25 with 0.5 λ element
spacing, the influence on MU-MIMO channel capacity can be
21
Fig. 20. MU-MIMO backhaul link capacity vary with array size.
observed. The BL channel state information is collected and
channel matrix is obtained via RT simulation. By applying
zero-forcing beamforming (ZFBF) algorithm, the weights are
obtained. The antenna elements at the UPA are then excited
with the corresponding weights. The equivalent antenna radi-
ation patterns of the 4-by-5 array and the 4-by-25 array are
compared in Fig. 19. When the array size increases, the beam-
forming gain increases, and the beam width decreases. The
variation of the BL capacity with the array size is shown in
Fig. 20, the capacity of each BL link increases nonlinearly as
the array size increases. As the distance between the S-BS1
and M-BS is the farthest, the capacity of S-BS1 is the smallest.
VII. C ONCLUSION
In this paper, a comprehensive tutorial is presented on
the design of high-performance RT and the applications for
5G and beyond wireless communications. The role of RT
and the state-of-the-art RT techniques are reviewed. The fea-
tures of academic and commercial RT based simulators are
summarized and compared. Aiming to fulfill requirements
of the 5G system and beyond, RT should support massive
simulation tasks for moving scenarios and MIMO simula-
tion with high performance (accuracy and efficiency), good
usability and availability. The practices in the design of high-
performance RT simulation platform and the applications for
5G and beyond communications are introduced, with the
publicly available high-performance cloud-based RT simula-
tion platform – CloudRT (http://www.raytracer.cloud/) as a
22 IEEE COMMUNICATIONS SURVEYS & TUTORIALS, VOL. 21, NO. 1, FIRST QUARTER 2019
main reference. The hardware structure, networking, work-
flow, data flow and fundamental functions are discussed in
details. By taking advantage of the HPC computing, RT can
significantly reduce the runtime. In the 3.5 GHz Beijing
vehicle-to-infrastructure scenario and the 28 GHz Manhattan
outdoor scenario, the RT calibration and validation method is
introduced. Discussions on the calibration methodology indi-
cate that the cost function and calibration performance vary
with the type of measurement data as well as the combina-
tion of propagation mechanisms. The workflows of simulating
moving scenario and MIMO channel are introduced and results
are demonstrated. The discussions and development experi-
ences here will hopefully shed lights on recent challenges
that RT-based channel prediction faces and help in develop-
ing more realistic channel models for 5G and beyond wireless
communications.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors thank NYU WIRELESS for their Manhattan
campus scenario and measurement data. The authors would
also like to thank Guangkai Li, Xue Lin, Yichuan Lin and
Jialong Xu for their valuable contributions to the CloudRT
platform.
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Danping He (M’16) received the B.E. degree
from the Huazhong University of Science and
Technology in 2008, the M.Sc. degree from the
Université Catholique de Louvain and Politecnico
di Torino in 2010, and the Ph.D. degree from the
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid in 2014. In 2012,
she was a Visiting Scholar with the Institut national
de recherche en informatique et en automatique,
France. She was with Huawei Technologies from
2014 to 2015 as a Research Engineer. From 2016
to 2018, she was a Post-Doctoral Researcher with
the State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and Safety, Beijing Jiaotong
University, where she is currently an Associate Professor.
She has authored/co-authored over 40 papers, three patents, and one IEEE
Standard. Her current research interests include radio propagation and chan-
nel modeling, ray tracing simulator development, and wireless communication
algorithm design. She was a recipient of five Best Paper Awards for her
research papers.
Bo Ai (M’00–SM’10) received the master’s and
Ph.D. degrees from Xidian University, China, in
2002 and 2004, respectively. He was an Excellent
Post-Doctoral Research Fellow (with great Hons.)
with Tsinghua University in 2007. He is currently
with Beijing Jiaotong University as a Professor
and an Advisor of Ph.D. candidates. He is the
Deputy Director with State Key Laboratory of Rail
Traffic Control and Safety. He is an Associate
Editor of the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON C ONSUMER
E LECTRONICS and an Editorial Committee Member
of journal of Wireless Personal Communications.
His current interests are the research and applications OFDM tech-
niques, HPA linearization techniques, radio propagation and channel mod-
eling, GSM for railway systems, and LTE for railway systems. He has
authored/co-authored six books, 140 scientific research papers, and 26 inven-
tion patents in the above area. He is an IET Fellow.
Ke Guan (S’10–M’13) received the B.E. and
Ph.D. degrees from Beijing Jiaotong University in
2006 and 2014, respectively. He is an Associate
Professor with the State Key Laboratory of Rail
Traffic Control and Safety and the School of
Electronic and Information Engineering, Beijing
Jiaotong University. In 2015, he has been awarded
a Humboldt Research Fellowship for Post-Doctoral
Researchers. In 2009, he was a Visiting Scholar
with the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain.
From 2011 to 2013, he was a Research Scholar with
the Institut für Nachrichtentechnik, Technische Universität Braunschweig,
Germany. From 2013 to 2014, he was invited to conduct joint research in
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. His current research interests are in the
field of measurement and modeling of wireless propagation channels, high-
speed railway communications, vehicle-to-x channel characterization, and
indoor channel characterization for high-speed short-range systems includ-
ing future terahertz communication systems. He was a recipient of the 2014
International Union of Radio Science Young Scientist Award, seven Best Paper
Awards for his research papers, the Huawei Excellent Student Award of China
in 2013, and the First National Scholarship for Ph.D. Candidates in 2012.
He has authored/co-authored two books and one book chapter, over 180
journal and conference papers, and one patent. He is the Pole Leader of
European Railway Research Network of Excellence. He is an Editor of
the IEEE ACCESS, IET Microwave, Antenna & Propagation, and Physical
Communication, and a Guest Editor of the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON
V EHICULAR T ECHNOLOGY. He serves as the Publicity Chair in PIMRC
2016, the Publicity Co-Chair in ITST 2018, the Track Co-Chair in EuCNC,
the Session Convener of EuCAP 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018, and a TPC
Member for many IEEE conferences, such as Globecom, ICC, and VTC. He
has been a member of the IC1004 and CA15104 initiatives.
Longhe Wang (S’17) was born in Rizhao, China, in
1992. He is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree with
the State Key Laboratory of Rail Traffic Control and
Safety, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China.
His research interests include ray-tracing acceler-
ation algorithm based on high performance comput-
ing techniques, large-scale coverage prediction, and
mmWave channel modeling.
Zhangdui Zhong (SM’16) is a Professor and an
Advisor of Ph.D. candidates with Beijing Jiaotong
University, where he is currently the Director of the
School of Computer and Information Technology
and a Chief Scientist of the State Key Laboratory
of Rail Traffic Control and Safety. He is also
the Director of the Innovative Research Team of
Ministry of Education, and a Chief Scientist of
Ministry of Railways in China. He is an Executive
Council Member of Radio Association of China,
and the Deputy Director of Radio Association of
Beijing. His interests are wireless communications for railways, control the-
ory and techniques for railways, and GSM-R system. His research has been
widely used in the railway engineering, such as Qinghai-Xizang Railway,
Datong-Qinhuangdao Heavy Haul Railway, and many high-speed railway lines
of China.
He has authored/co-authored seven books, five invention patents, and over
200 scientific research papers in his research area. He was a received the
MaoYiSheng Scientific Award of China, ZhanTianYou Railway Honorary
Award of China, and Top 10 Science/Technology Achievements Award of
Chinese Universities.
HE et al.: DESIGN AND APPLICATIONS OF HIGH-PERFORMANCE RT SIMULATION PLATFORM
Thomas Kürner (S’91–M’94–SM’01) received the
Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering and the
Dr.-Ing. degree from the University of Karlsruhe,
Germany, in 1990 and 1993, respectively. From
1990 to 1994, he was with the Institut für
Höchstfrequenztechnik und Elektronik, University of
Karlsruhe, researching on wave propagation model-
ing, radio channel characterization, and radio net-
work planning. From 1994 to 2003, he was with
the Radio Network Planning Department, headquar-
ters of the GSM 1800 and UMTS operator E-Plus
Mobilfunk GmbH & Company KG, Düsseldorf, where he was a Team
Manager radio network planning support responsible for radio network plan-
ning tools, algorithms, processes and parameters from 1999 to 2003. Since
2003, he has been a Full University Professor for Mobile Radio Systems
with the Technische Universität Braunschweig. In 2012, he was a Guest
Lecturer with Dublin City University within the Telecommunications Graduate
Initiative in Ireland. His working areas are indoor channel characterization
and system simulations for high-speed short-range systems including future
terahertz communication system, propagation, traffic and mobility models
for automatic planning and self-organization of mobile radio networks, car-
to-car communications as well as accuracy of satellite navigation systems.
He has been engaged in several international bodies such as ITU-R SG 3,
UMTS Forum Spectrum Aspects Group, COST 231/273/259, where he chaired
the working group “Network Aspects,” COST 2100 and COSTIC 1004.
27
He participated in the European projects FP-5-IST-MOMENTUM on
methods for “Automatic Planning of Large-Scale Radio Networks,” ICT-
FP7-SOCRATES on “Self-Organisation in Wireless Networks,” FP7-SME-
GreenNets on “Power Consumption and CO2 Footprint Reduction in Mobile
Networks by Advanced Automated Network Management Approaches,”
FP7-SEMAOUR on “Self-Management for Unified Heterogeneous Radio
Access Networks,” Medea+-Qstream on “Ultra-High Data Rate Wireless
Communication,” and H2020-iBroW on “Innovative Ultra-Broadband
Ubiquitous Wireless Communications Through Terahertz Transceivers.” He
has been an Associate Editor of the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON V EHICULAR
T ECHNOLOGY since 2008 and the IEEE T RANSACTIONS ON A NTENNAS
AND P ROPAGATION since 2016. He represents Technische Universität
Braunschweig at the Next Generation Mobile Networks alliance as an
Advisory Member. He has actively contributed to the channel modeling doc-
ument supporting the standardization of IEEE 802.11ad. He is currently a
Voting Member of IEEE 802.15 and is chairing the IEEE 802.15 IG THz and
the IEEE 802.15.3d TG 100G. He is the Project Coordinator of the “Terahertz
Communications for Future Personal Area Networks” (TERAPAN) project
funded by the German Ministry of Research and Development. He is a mem-
ber of the Board of Directors of the European Association on Antennas and
Propagation (EurAAP) and chairs the EurAAP WG Propagation. He served
as the Vice-Chair Propagation at the European Conference on Antennas and
Propagation in 2007, 2009, and 2014. He is a Founding Member and Co-
Organizer of all six editions of the International Workshop on Self-Organizing
Networks.