Integration of Carrier Aggregation and Dual Connectivity for the ns-3 mmWave Module

TL;DR

This paper enhances the ns-3 mmWave module by implementing and integrating Carrier Aggregation and Dual Connectivity techniques to improve the modeling and analysis of 5G mmWave network performance.

Contribution

It introduces a novel implementation of multi connectivity techniques in the ns-3 mmWave module, enabling detailed simulation of 3GPP NR at mmWave frequencies.

Findings

Improved simulation capabilities for multi connectivity in mmWave networks.

Enhanced modeling of 3GPP NR features in ns-3.

Facilitates end-to-end performance analysis of 5G mmWave systems.

Abstract

Thanks to the wide availability of bandwidth, the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies will provide very high data rates to mobile users in next generation 5G cellular networks. However, mmWave links suffer from high isotropic pathloss and blockage from common materials, and are subject to an intermittent channel quality. Therefore, protocols and solutions at different layers in the cellular network and the TCP/IP protocol stack have been proposed and studied. A valuable tool for the end-to-end performance analysis of mmWave cellular networks is the ns-3 mmWave module, which already models in detail the channel, Physical (PHY) and Medium Access Control (MAC) layers, and extends the Long Term Evolution (LTE) stack for the higher layers. In this paper we present an implementation for the ns-3 mmWave module of multi connectivity techniques for 3GPP New Radio (NR) at mmWave frequencies, namely Carrier Aggregation (CA) and Dual Connectivity (DC), and discuss how they can be integrated to increase the functionalities offered by the ns-3 mmWave module.