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A survey of millimeter wave communications (mmWave) for 5G: opportunities and challenges

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Abstract

With the explosive growth of mobile data demand, the fifth generation (5G) mobile network would exploit the enormous amount of spectrum in the millimeter wave (mmWave) bands to greatly increase communication capacity. There are fundamental differences between mmWave communications and existing other communication systems, in terms of high propagation loss, directivity, and sensitivity to blockage. These characteristics of mmWave communications pose several challenges to fully exploit the potential of mmWave communications, including integrated circuits and system design, interference management, spatial reuse, anti-blockage, and dynamics control. To address these challenges, we carry out a survey of existing solutions and standards, and propose design guidelines in architectures and protocols for mmWave communications. We also discuss the potential applications of mmWave communications in the 5G network, including the small cell access, the cellular access, and the wireless backhaul. Finally, we discuss relevant open research issues including the new physical layer technology, software-defined network architecture, measurements of network state information, efficient control mechanisms, and heterogeneous networking, which should be further investigated to facilitate the deployment of mmWave communication systems in the future 5G networks.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under grant No. 61201189 and 61132002, National High Tech (863) Projects under Grant No. 2011AA010202, Research Fund of Tsinghua University under No. 2011Z05117 and 20121087985, and Shenzhen Strategic Emerging Industry Development Special Funds under No. CXZZ20120616141708264.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yong Niu, Yong Li, Depeng Jin & Li Su

  2. Department of Computer Science, Kuwait University, Safat, Kuwait

    Athanasios V. Vasilakos

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  1. Yong Niu
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Niu, Y., Li, Y., Jin, D. et al. A survey of millimeter wave communications (mmWave) for 5G: opportunities and challenges. Wireless Netw 21, 2657–2676 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11276-015-0942-z

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