Suburban Fixed Wireless Access Channel Measurements and Models at 28 GHz for 90% Outdoor Coverage

Achieving adequate coverage with high gain antennas is key to realizing the full promise of the wide bandwidth available at cm/mm bands. We report extensive outdoor measurements at 28 GHz in suburban residential areas in New Jersey and Chile, with over 2000 links measured for same-street link types (vegetation blocked LOS) from 13 streets and other-street link types (true NLOS) from 7 streets, using a specialized narrowband channel sounder at ranges reaching 200 m. The measurements, applicable to fixed wireless access, involved a 55$^\circ$ transmit antenna placed on the exterior of a street-facing window and a 10$^\circ$ receive horn antenna spinning on top of a van mast at 3 m height, emulating a lamppost-mounted base station. Measured path gain-distance dependence is well represented by power-law models, and azimuth gains at the base are degraded through scattering by more than 4.3 dB for 10% of links. It was found that, with 51 dBm EIRP at the base station and 11 dBi antenna at an outdoor mounted terminal, 1 Gbps downlink rate can be delivered up to 100 m from a base station deployed in the same street with 90% coverage guarantee.
Comment: This work was presented in part at 2018 IEEE Symposium on Antennas and Propagation, Boston, MA, Jul. 2018