Anchor-booster based heterogeneous networks with mmWave capable booster cells

Communication in millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum has gained an increasing interests for tackling the spectrum crunch problem and meeting the high network capacity demand in 4G and beyond. Considering the channel characteristics of mmWave bands, it can be fit into heterogeneous networks (HetNet) for boosting local-area data rate. In this paper, we investigate the challenges in deploying an anchor-booster based HetNet with mmWave capable booster cells. We show that due to the channel characteristics of mmWave bands, there could be a mismatch between the discoverable coverage area of booster cell at mmWave band and the actual supportable coverage area. Numerical results are provided in validating the observation. We suggest possible ways in addressing the coverage mismatch problem. This work provides insights on the deployment and implementation challenges in mmWave capable HetNets.