Blockage Type Detection Process in Triangular-wave Topology for mmWave Wireless Backhaul

TL;DR

This paper investigates a blockage detection scheme in a triangular-wave topology for mmWave wireless backhaul, aiming to enhance network robustness against blockages in dense 5G small cell deployments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel blockage detection process tailored for triangular-wave topology to improve backhaul network resilience.

Findings

Effective detection of blockage types in real-time

Enhanced path reconfiguration capabilities

Improved network survivability in mmWave backhaul

Abstract

Due to the rapid densification of small cells in 5G and beyond cellular networks, deploying wired high-bandwidth connections to every small cell base station is difficult, particularly in older metropolitan areas where infrastructure for fiber deployment is lacking. For this reason, mmWave wireless backhaul is being considered as a cost-effective and flexible alternative that has potential to support the high-rate transmission needed to accommodate backhaul traffic demands. However, maintaining a high network survivability is extremely important since networks based on mmWave communication are susceptible to short-term blockages or node failures caused by unforeseen events. Therefore, to realize a robust mmWave backhaul network, several works propose to adopt a triangular-wave topology in roadside environments, which can eliminate the mutual interference among backhaul links, and provide robustness to blockage effects. Based on this novel topology, we investigate a blockage type detection scheme, which reacts to blockage effects quickly and assists in various path reconfiguration approaches.