Survey of millimeter-wave propagation measurements and models in indoor environments

Abstract

The millimeter-wave (mmWave) is expected to deliver a huge bandwidth to address the future demands for higher data rate transmissions. However, one of the major challenges in the mmWave band is the increase in signal loss as the operating frequency increases. This has attracted several research interests both from academia and the industry for indoor and outdoor mmWave operations. This paper focuses on the works that have been carried out in the study of the mmWave channel measurement in indoor environments. A survey of the measurement techniques, prominent path loss models, analysis of path loss and delay spread for mmWave in different indoor environments is presented. This covers the mmWave frequencies from 28 GHz to 100 GHz that have been considered in the last two decades. In addition, the possible future trends for the mmWave indoor propagation studies and measurements have been discussed. These include the critical indoor environment, the roles of artificial intelligence, channel characterization for indoor devices, reconfigurable intelligent surfaces, and mmWave for 6G systems. This survey can help engineers and researchers to plan, design, and optimize reliable 5G wireless indoor networks. It will also motivate the researchers and engineering communities towards finding a better outcome in the future trends of the mmWave indoor wireless network for 6G systems and beyond.