On the Feasibility of High Throughput mmWave Backhaul Networks in Urban Areas

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the design of high throughput relay-assisted millimeter-wave (mmWave) backhaul networks in urban areas. Different from most related works, we consider the deployment of dedicated simple mmWave relay devices to help enhance the line-of-sight (LoS) connectivity of the backhaul network in urban areas with abundant obstacles. Given a set of (logical) backhaul links between base stations in the network, we propose an algorithm to find high-throughput LoS paths with relays for all logical links by minimizing interference within and between paths. We also propose methods to modify the backhaul topology to increase the probability of finding high-throughput paths using our algorithm. Extensive simulations, based on a 3-D model of a section of downtown Atlanta, demonstrate that high-throughput topologies, with minimal inter-path and intra-path interference, are feasible in most cases. The analyses also yield some insights on the mmWave backhaul network design problem.