Title:  Optimizing Millimeter-wave Backhaul Networks in Urban Environments

Committee: 

Dr. Blough, Advisor     

Dr. Sivakumar, Chair

Dr. Chang

Abstract:

The objective of the proposed research is to optimize the millimeter-wave (mmWave) backhaul network in the urban environment for 5G communication systems. With the pervasive deployment of small cells in the 5G era, the crucial challenge of providing backhaul to the gateway node arises, because of the prohibitive cost of connecting all small cell base stations (BSs) through fiber. mmWave band based wireless backhaul becomes a promising solution to this challenge due to the massive available bandwidth and the advantages brought by the use of high-gain highly-directional antennas. However, the poor propagation characteristics and severe blockage effect of mmWave signals must be considered and overcome within the design and optimization of mmWave backhaul networks. To address the backhaul challenge, we propose a new relay-assisted network architecture for mmWave backhaul in urban environments. Through deploying mmWave relays dedicated to the backhaul usage, multi-hop relay paths with multi-Gbps capacity are established between BSs, where direct line-of-sight (LoS) paths are not available. Two pieces of preliminary research have been done aiming to 1) select relays and schedule transmissions along the multi-hop relay path so that high end-to-end throughput can be maintained between any pair of BSs in an urban area; 2) design an optimal backhaul topology deployed along roadsides with controlled mutual interference to provide 5G service to vehicles. Upon the preliminary research, we will further address three proposed sub-problems in which we will explore the methods to establish the relay-assisted backhaul network with the minimum number of relays deployed under different problem settings.