Why are 5g mmwave signals more likely to be blocked by physical barriers such as walls, buildings, and trees?

Millimeter wave (mmWave) communication is one of the hottest topics in the fifth- generation communication (5G) research. The influence of blockages on mmWave communication is very serious. This paper provides an overview of the research status of the blockage effect. First, it briefly introduces the impact of natural environment blockages and human blockages. Second, it focuses on the building blockage effect which is the most serious blocking form of cellular networks communication, and then discusses a tractable stochastic analysis approach for modeling the building blockage effect. Combining with the system performance analysis, some more practically simplified methods for the complex system models are condensed. Finally, the direction that can be studied to solve obstacle blockage effect is proposed. Keywords • Blockage effect • Millimeter wave • Stochastic geometric theory • Cellular networks • Rajagopal, S., Abu-Surra, S., Malmirchegini, M.: Channel feasibility for outdoor non-line-of-sight mmWave mobile communication. In: 2012 IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference, pp. 1–6. Canada (2012) • 5G Channel Model for Bands Up to 100 GHz: Aalto University. Espo, Finland, White Paper (2015) • Ghosh, A. et al.: Heterogeneous cellular networks. From theory to practice. IEEE Commun. Mag. 50(6), 54–64 (2012) • Bai, T., Robert Jr., W.H.: Coverage analysis for millimeter wave cellular networks with blockage effects. In: Global Conference on Signal and Information Processing, pp. 7...

New technologies often follow Gartner’s classic hype cycle, progressing from initial innovation to overenthusiasm and disillusionment to enlightenment and eventual productivity. 5G is no exception. As the bold headlines and hype surrounding 5G give way to practical realities, advocates and critics alike agree that a number of technical issues must be resolved before 5G reaches its full potential. 5G networks based on millimeter-wave (mmWave) frequencies in the 24-GHz to 40-GHz range hold the most promise for high-bandwidth and low-latency wireless connectivity. However, 5G transformation: Wireless networks with fiber-like speeds Cellular evolution is never-ending: 2G enabled text messaging, 3G brought mobile internet connectivity, and 4G introduced mobile streaming video. 5G New Radio, the fifth generation of cellular technology, is poised to succeed today’s 4G LTE, delivering peak data rates 100× faster than 4G, along with dramatically higher bandwidth, lower latency, greater availability, and more consistent coverage. 5G will be a catalyst for innovation in how we live, work, and connect, transforming industries and enhancing our lives in ways we’ve yet to imagine. Just as the proliferation of high-speed fiber communications revolutionized the internet, 5G networks will supercharge mobile connectivity everywhere. Fiber-like 5G speeds with 10× spectrum availability will blur the lines between wired and wireless access in our homes, offices, factories, and cityscapes. Appl...

It's the new improved mobile technology that everyone is eagerly awaiting.F ifth generation mobile, or 5G as it's known, will greatly increasethe amount of data that can be sentat one time and the speed within which it can be sent. Crucially, it will enable the Internet of Things to go from being a plaything of the elite to an affordable mass market proposition. "5G isn’t one thing,"highlightsSaul Einbinder, VP venture development at telco testing company Spirent Communications."It’s many technologies coming together to speed up cellular service; enable new devices that haven’t had cellular connectivity before, hospitals, factories, drones, you name it; and, provide new servicessuch as broadband and TV to the home without fiber or cable." 5G technology isnot without its challenges, however. Significantly, there are two different parts of the radio spectrum that are being used to deliver 5G and one of these frequencies finds it harder to pass through objects, confirms Einbinder. "These are radio frequencies that are similar to current cellular frequencies, this is what is called Sub 6 Gigahertz, and extremely high frequency millimeter wave bands, commonly abbreviated as mmWave. At these frequencies- such as the proposed 28 GHz and 39 GHz - radio behaves differently. These short wavelength mmWaves are much more easilyblocked by tree leaves and by your body. "And, to make matters worse, they are quickly absorbed by the air. That means that even without obstacles, they may onl...

Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • What frequency is 5G mmWave? 5G Ultra Wideband, Verizon’s millimeter wavelength (mmWave)-based 5G, operates at frequencies of about 28 GHz and 39GHz. This is considerably higher than 4G networks, which use about 700 MHz-2500 MHz frequency to transfer information. What is millimeter wave in 5G? These high-frequency bands are often referred to as mmWave due to the short wavelengths that can be measured in millimeters. Although the mmWave bands extend all the way up 300 GHz, it is the bands from 24 GHz up to 100 GHz that are expected to be used for 5G. What is MM wave band? Millimeter wave (MM wave), also known as millimeter band, is the band of spectrum with wavelengths between 10 millimeters (30 GHz) and 1 millimeter (300 GHz). It is also known as the extremely high frequency (EHF) band by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Read More: What do you hunt ducks with? What is the bandwidth of millimeter wave? The main benefit that Millimeter Wave technology has over lower RF frequencies is the spectral bandwidth of 5GHz being available in each of the E-Band ranges, resulting in current speeds of 1.25Gbps Full Duplex with potential throughput speeds of up to 10Gbps Full Duplex being made possible. What frequency is mmWave? between 30 and 300 GHz The mmWave systems have frequency ranges in between 30 and 300 GHz where a total of around 250 GHz bandwidths are available. Is 5G mmWave? MmWave is just part of ...

The reason for this expected growth in 5G small cell technology is because millimeter wave signals – the gold standard of 5G connectivity – don't travel very far, and can’t penetrate walls, therefore making small cells vital for in-building coverage. 5G small cell networks There are different types of 5G small cells; femtocells, picocells, and microcells, all providing different coverage limits. Broadly speaking, femtocells reach 10 meters, picocells 200 meters, and microcells around two kilometers. And the term small cell is a catch-all that describes all the above mobile base stations, used to boost signals in indoor areas, such as shopping centres and offices. With the deployment of mmWave technologies within urban areas currently requiring the need for thousands of these small cell antennas to boost network capacity. This densification of 5G network infrastructure is both expensive and time-consuming, and it's why 5G small cell technology, for now, will be the preserve of dense urban environments, as well as buildings in crowded places such as sports stadiums. Not a new kid on the block Small cells aren’t new tech. Indeed, the femtocells used in 3G/4G cellular boosters – which work over your home or business broadband – are small cells. One of the best-known of these is Vodafone SureSignal. (Although using this technology for making calls is increasingly being sidelined in favour of Wi-Fi Calling, with more and more handsets now able to route calls over Wi-Fi when a ce...

Expectations from 5G are huge. However, a major challenge facing 5G deployment is that the available sub-6-GHz spectrum does not support the latency and throughput needed to deliver the optimal performance required by advanced applications and simultaneous users. While current sub-6-GHz 5G networks provide marginal improvements over existing 4G LTE networks, they fail to deliver on the promise of 5G coverage, performance, and latency in dense urban environments and crowded event venues. mmWave technology can help address this, but there are also challenges. This article looks at the key factors to consider in addressing these 5G deployment challenges. Cellular technologies are always evolving to meet the growing data demands of the modern age. GSM led to 2G which allowed text messaging and basic data transfer. 3G allowed effective mobile internet browsing and 4G allowed users to stream video more reliably and enjoy stable VoIP calls. 5G promises much more, being up to 100 times faster than its predecessor, with higher bandwidth, lower latency, more reliable coverage, and greater availability. We expect much more from 5G, especially in data-intensive scenarios where real-time processing is essential. Upcoming 5G rollouts will bring innovations such as autonomous driving, and other emerging use cases include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, smart buildings, cities, telemedicine, medical robotics (for surgical consults and training, for example), and virtual and augme...

reader comments 91 with US mobile customers are almost never able to connect to millimeter-wave networks even though the cellular industry and Verizon in particular have spent years hyping the fastest form of 5G. AT&T and T-Mobile customers with devices capable of using millimeter-wave networks were connected to mmWave 5G only 0.5 percent of the time during the 90-day period between January 16 and April 15, 2021, according to an Average download speeds on mmWave 5G were 232.7Mbps for AT&T, 215.3Mbps for T-Mobile, and 692.9Mbps for Verizon. You can see the average time connected to mmWave 5G and the average speeds in these charts from OpenSignal: OpenSignal The "average time connected to mmWave 5G" chart represents the percentage of time connected to mmWave among users who have a mmWave 5G-capable device and have connected to mmWave at least once, OpenSignal told Ars today. That means the numbers aren't driven down by devices that simply aren't new enough to use mmWave 5G—the percentages for all three major carriers are under 1 percent when evaluating users who definitely have devices compatible with the mmWave networks. "In Opensignal's analytics, we consistently see our Verizon mmWave 5G users experiencing a higher average time connected to mmWave 5G than users on the other US carriers," the report said. "In this 90-day period, our Verizon users saw a mean time connected to mmWave 5G of 0.8 percent compared with 0.5 percent on AT&T and T-Mobile. However, despite Verizon a...

It's the new improved mobile technology that everyone is eagerly awaiting.F ifth generation mobile, or 5G as it's known, will greatly increasethe amount of data that can be sentat one time and the speed within which it can be sent. Crucially, it will enable the Internet of Things to go from being a plaything of the elite to an affordable mass market proposition. "5G isn’t one thing,"highlightsSaul Einbinder, VP venture development at telco testing company Spirent Communications."It’s many technologies coming together to speed up cellular service; enable new devices that haven’t had cellular connectivity before, hospitals, factories, drones, you name it; and, provide new servicessuch as broadband and TV to the home without fiber or cable." 5G technology isnot without its challenges, however. Significantly, there are two different parts of the radio spectrum that are being used to deliver 5G and one of these frequencies finds it harder to pass through objects, confirms Einbinder. "These are radio frequencies that are similar to current cellular frequencies, this is what is called Sub 6 Gigahertz, and extremely high frequency millimeter wave bands, commonly abbreviated as mmWave. At these frequencies- such as the proposed 28 GHz and 39 GHz - radio behaves differently. These short wavelength mmWaves are much more easilyblocked by tree leaves and by your body. "And, to make matters worse, they are quickly absorbed by the air. That means that even without obstacles, they may onl...

Expectations from 5G are huge. However, a major challenge facing 5G deployment is that the available sub-6-GHz spectrum does not support the latency and throughput needed to deliver the optimal performance required by advanced applications and simultaneous users. While current sub-6-GHz 5G networks provide marginal improvements over existing 4G LTE networks, they fail to deliver on the promise of 5G coverage, performance, and latency in dense urban environments and crowded event venues. mmWave technology can help address this, but there are also challenges. This article looks at the key factors to consider in addressing these 5G deployment challenges. Cellular technologies are always evolving to meet the growing data demands of the modern age. GSM led to 2G which allowed text messaging and basic data transfer. 3G allowed effective mobile internet browsing and 4G allowed users to stream video more reliably and enjoy stable VoIP calls. 5G promises much more, being up to 100 times faster than its predecessor, with higher bandwidth, lower latency, more reliable coverage, and greater availability. We expect much more from 5G, especially in data-intensive scenarios where real-time processing is essential. Upcoming 5G rollouts will bring innovations such as autonomous driving, and other emerging use cases include vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications, smart buildings, cities, telemedicine, medical robotics (for surgical consults and training, for example), and virtual and augme...

The reason for this expected growth in 5G small cell technology is because millimeter wave signals – the gold standard of 5G connectivity – don't travel very far, and can’t penetrate walls, therefore making small cells vital for in-building coverage. 5G small cell networks There are different types of 5G small cells; femtocells, picocells, and microcells, all providing different coverage limits. Broadly speaking, femtocells reach 10 meters, picocells 200 meters, and microcells around two kilometers. And the term small cell is a catch-all that describes all the above mobile base stations, used to boost signals in indoor areas, such as shopping centres and offices. With the deployment of mmWave technologies within urban areas currently requiring the need for thousands of these small cell antennas to boost network capacity. This densification of 5G network infrastructure is both expensive and time-consuming, and it's why 5G small cell technology, for now, will be the preserve of dense urban environments, as well as buildings in crowded places such as sports stadiums. Not a new kid on the block Small cells aren’t new tech. Indeed, the femtocells used in 3G/4G cellular boosters – which work over your home or business broadband – are small cells. One of the best-known of these is Vodafone SureSignal. (Although using this technology for making calls is increasingly being sidelined in favour of Wi-Fi Calling, with more and more handsets now able to route calls over Wi-Fi when a ce...