Authors:
Reza Soosahabi
and
Magdy Bayoumi
Affiliation:
Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, LA 70504, U.S.A.
Keyword(s):
5G-NR, mmW Network Design, Fixed-Wireless Access, Line-of-Sight Assessment, LiDAR Application, Visibility Algorithm.
Abstract:
Utilizing mmW carrier frequency bands (aka above-6 GHz) at the network edge, is a key enabling factor to achieve near Gbps throughput in 5G-NR technology. The propagation characteristics of mmW signals in outdoor environment complicates 5G mmW network design. Previously used in backhaul networks, the service availability of mmW radio technologies significantly relies on the Line-of-Sight (LoS) signal path between the communicating radios. LiDAR is considered a popular source of high-resolution aerial survey data suitable for accurate LoS assessment. Maintaining low radio mounting height is another cost-related factor in practical 5G mmW network design. In this work we present a comprehensive LoS assessment problem incorporating radio mounting height. Then we propose a new LoS assessment algorithm using LiDAR data that is computationally optimized for the practical aspects of 5G mmW network design. Empowered by a novel method to topologically sort terrain data, it achieves constant-ti
me, O(1), complexity to execute LoS assessment per user location, whereas the complexity of retrofitted LoS algorithms for the same task grows linearly with respect to the data dimensions. The improvements in the run-time efficiency are verified in numerical results for a real deployment scenario.
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