Capacity performance of millimeter wave heterogeneous networks at 28GHz/73GHz

Current communication technologies at the microwave band are insufficient to meet the exponential increase in wireless data demands, essentially due to scarcity in bandwidth. Millimeter wave (mmW) offers a potential means to fulfill such soaring demands with wide bandwidth and beamforming capabilities. In this paper we investigate the mmW heterogeneous network (HetNet) capacity operating at 28GHz and 73GHz by system simulations, in both the 3GPP scenario and Munich urban city. Two types of control channel modes for pico cell coverage are analyzed. Simulation results show that control signaling at microwave band provides better coverage, while data communications at the mmW band enable up to multi-Tbps/km2 system capacity, which is also dependent on the pico-user association. It is found that in both scenarios the capacity gain of 73GHz over 28GHz is in the range of 7~10-fold under the same user-pico association.