UEC1701

High Frequency Communication

Systems
MILLIMETER WAVE PROPAGATION
 Session Meta Data

Author R Kishore

Version No 1.1

Release Date 13.07.2021

Reviewer
 Revision History

Date of Revision Details Version Number

 Spatial Characterization of Multipath and
Beam Combining
• Measurements made in New York City during summer 2012 with 175 dB
of maximum measurable path loss reveal the impact of beam combining,
wherein the powers contained in various lobes or angular segments at the
receiver are combined to obtain a higher received power level.
• These measurements provide a glimpse into achievable improvements of
path loss through the use of beam combining.
• Beam combining was analyzed for steerable high gain antennas (24.5 dBi
antennas at both the TX and RX, and 30 dBm applied to the TX antenna) at
28 GHz in NLOS channels.
• The RX locations were set on New York City streets, with a rotatable horn
antenna situated at ear level for a typical person.
• The powers that were received when pointing at all of the different 10°
angular segments (the 3 dB beamwidth of the steerable antennas),
measured at 75 different receiver (RX) locations from 3 typical microcell
base station transmitter (TX) were compared.
 Spatial Characterization of Multipath and
Beam Combining
• At each RX location, the improvement in received power is obtained if the
RX beamforming antenna system could combine the strongest, two
strongest, and three strongest signals that were received over 3-D space at
all RX locations.
• The plots illustrate the reduction in path loss that can be achieved when a
mobile handset using 10° steerable beams combines individual multipath
signals arriving at different angles from the same transmitter.
 Beam combining results

The single best beam pointing direction is used to make a link at

each RX location.
 Beam combining results

The two best beam pointing directions are non-coherently combined

(where the powers in each unique beam are simultaneously added).
 Beam combining results

The two best beams are coherently added (where the total voltage in each
unique beam is simultaneously added and then squared to produce power).
 Beam combining results

The three best beam are coherently added (where the total voltage in each
unique beam is simultaneously added and then squared to produce power).
 Beam combining results

Path loss exponents (PLEs) in 28 GHz urban channels decrease along with
shadowing as the signals of different beams are combined at a receiver in both LOS
and NLOS environments
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival
• Angle spread is a propagation metric that promises to have important
relevance as future mmWave wireless systems exploit directional, adaptive
antennas.
• Angle spread represents the spatial spread of the received signals that arrive
through multipath propagation, as measured with respect to a mean angle of
arrival or departure.
• An angular spread of value 1 indicates a channel that does not favor any
angle in space (i.e., propagation is received over the entire,
omnidirectional, azimuthal directions). An angular spread of 0 indicates a
channel is received in a single narrow beam.
• At mmwave frequencies, it was discovered that the angular spread varied
from 0.3 to 0.8 in indoor environments, meaning that reflections contribute
a significant portion of the signal in a variety of directions. Outdoor
scenarios had a reduced angular spread of 0.1-0.5.
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival
• Angular characterization of multipath propagation will be
critical for mmWave systems that exploit adaptive arrays and
high gain steerable antennas.
• Measurements in urban outdoor channels show that there are
generally a few distinct directions of arrival with significant
energy, even in NLOS environments.
• These directions of arrival (DOA) have distinct angular spread
about the main directions.
• Each unique direction has a lobe of energy that has a particular
spread (in angle).
• Different locations provide a different number of lobes, different
angle spreads, and varying power levels.
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival -
Experimentation
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival

Polar plot of 28 GHz

propagation at track position 1,
along a 21-step linear track
with λ/2 step sizes show two
lobes of received power across
azimuth.

Measurements are for a

partially obstructed NLOS
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival

Polar plot of 28 GHz

propagation at track position 5,
along a 21-step linear track
with λ/2 step sizes show two
lobes of received power across
azimuth.

Measurements are for a

partially obstructed NLOS
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival

Polar plot of 28 GHz

propagation at track position 10,
along a 21-step linear track with
λ/2 step sizes show two lobes of
received power across azimuth.

Measurements are for a partially

obstructed NLOS
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival

Polar plot of 28 GHz

propagation at track position
21, along a 21-step linear track
with λ/2 step sizes show two
lobes of received power across
azimuth.

Measurements are for a

partially obstructed NLOS

Thus, the site-specific nature of the environment will give rise to a particular angle
spread at a particular location
Angle spread and multipath angle of arrival

Summary of 28 GHz
angular propagation
statistics, the procedure
used to compute
angular statistics, their
physical meaning, and
the initial empirical
distributions from New
York City RX locations
 Antenna Polarization
• Polarization refers to orientation of the electric and magnetic fields of the
emitted or received electromagnetic waves.
• Circular polarization at mmWave frequencies can be used as an effective
method to reduce multipath contributions.
• Thus making circular antennas advantageous from the perspective of
reducing equalization requirements while possibly also reducing the
effectiveness of multi-beam combining.
• It was observed that circularly polarized signals may reduce RMS delay
spread values by a factor of two over linearly polarized signals.
• It may be possible to exploit MIMO concepts in concert with polarization
agile antennas to achieve spatial multiplexing gains.
 Summary
• Mmwave signals also observe a large percentage of multipath contributions
due to large surface scattering.
• Measurements in mmwave shows that the delay spread increases when the
dimensions of the room increase and when the wall reflection coefficient
increases.
• Angular characterization of multipath propagation will be critical for
mmWave systems.
• Circular polarization at mmWave frequencies can be used as an effective
method to reduce multipath contributions.
 Test Your Understanding
• What is the effect of beam coming in mmwave signals?
• Explain angular spread and multipath angle of arrival for
mmwaves.
• Discuss antenna polarization effect at mmwaves.
 References
• Robert W. Heath, Robert C. Daniel, James N. Theodore S.
Rappaport, Murdock, Millimeter Wave Wireless
Communication, Prentice Hall, 2014.
Thank you !