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5G
mmWave Offers New Potential for Indoor Locations June 17, 2019 To realize the full potential of 5G for enhanced mobile broadband, it is essential to mobilize mmWave (millimeter wave) for smartphones. To date, not only have multiple 5G NR mmWave smartphone been announcement, but many global mobile operators are also expected to support mmWave in their networks starting this year, with U.S. leading the way with live commercial networks today. Mobile operators are prioritizing mmWave service rollouts at metropolitan cities that need more network capacity to address the growing mobile data demand (e.g., Verizon has now launched in 20+ cities including Chicago and Minneapolis), and gradually expand their mmWave footprint to smaller cities. These 5G NR mmWave networks will initially focus on providing macro outdoor coverage, while indoor deployments for indoor coverage are expected to come later. With more than 80% of mobile data traffic originating or terminating indoors, one enormous opportunity for mobile operators and service providers is to bring mmWave services to indoor locations. One example is how a dense metropolitan city with an existing outdoor LTE network can re-use sites deploying 5G NR mmWave. By using rooftop CPEs, simulation showed that co-siting 5G NR mmWave with LTE small cells can deliver service speeds of 1.6 Gbps downlink and 150 Mbps uplink to 80% of the buildings in the city. |
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mmWave does not propagate well from the outside to inside is beneficial for deploying mmWave indoors as well, since the same mmWave spectrum can be reused indoors with limited coordination with the outdoor deployment, which opens possibilities for mobile operators to offer private indoor mmWave networks, in addition to expanding mmWave indoors as part of their public networks.
5G NR mmWave will bring multi-Gigabit speed, ultra-low latency, and virtually unlimited capacity to a wide range of devices such as smartphones, tablets, XR (extended reality) headsets, and always-connected laptops.
Today, most offices have Wi-Fi connectivity for computers and other enterprise devices. With 5G NR mmWave private networks, enterprises can realize the vision of “mobile office of the future”, bringing enhanced performance, convenience, security, and user experiences not possible with today’s connectivity solutions.
Qualcomm looked at one office floor at its San Diego headquarters and simulated coverage and performance with 5G NR mmWave small cells placed at the same locations as existing Wi-Fi access points. The rationale behind co-siting is that both power supply and wired backhaul connectivity are already available at these locations, and it is the most efficient way to start any 5G NR mmWave deployments. With 1-to-1 co-siting, they were able to achieve ~98% downlink coverage and ~99% uplink coverage. The median throughput achieved was 5 Gbps. Note that the red outline shown in the figure below are areas not covered by the co-sited mmWave small cells, as they are surrounded by concrete walls (e.g., balcony, stairwell). Such areas could typically be covered with macro sites, or if needed, additional small cells can be deployed to provide a more comprehensive coverage.
Figure 1: 5G Indoor Coverage in Qualcomm Building
5G NR mmWave will bring multi-Gigabit speed, ultra-low latency, and virtually unlimited capacity to a wide range of devices such as smartphones, tablets, XR (extended reality) headsets, and always-connected laptops.
Today, most offices have Wi-Fi connectivity for computers and other enterprise devices. With 5G NR mmWave private networks, enterprises can realize the vision of “mobile office of the future”, bringing enhanced performance, convenience, security, and user experiences not possible with today’s connectivity solutions.
Qualcomm looked at one office floor at its San Diego headquarters and simulated coverage and performance with 5G NR mmWave small cells placed at the same locations as existing Wi-Fi access points. The rationale behind co-siting is that both power supply and wired backhaul connectivity are already available at these locations, and it is the most efficient way to start any 5G NR mmWave deployments. With 1-to-1 co-siting, they were able to achieve ~98% downlink coverage and ~99% uplink coverage. The median throughput achieved was 5 Gbps. Note that the red outline shown in the figure below are areas not covered by the co-sited mmWave small cells, as they are surrounded by concrete walls (e.g., balcony, stairwell). Such areas could typically be covered with macro sites, or if needed, additional small cells can be deployed to provide a more comprehensive coverage.
Figure 1: 5G Indoor Coverage in Qualcomm Building
Source: Company
Figure 2: 5G in LVCC—North Hall
Source: Company
Qualcommalso looked at various transportation hubs, such as airports and train stations. For an airport concourse that is about 160 thousand square feet in size, comprehensive coverage and a median throughput of ~4.2 Gbps could be achieved using just ten co-sited 5G NR mmWave small cells. From: Qualcomm
Figure 3: Potential 5G Apps in Airport Environment
Figure 3: Potential 5G Apps in Airport Environment
Source: Company