LiDAR-Aided Millimeter-Wave Range Extension using a Passive Mirror Reflector

TL;DR

This paper introduces LiDAR-aided techniques to improve millimeter-wave link reliability and coverage in NLoS scenarios with passive reflectors, addressing irregular beam patterns and coverage gaps.

Contribution

It proposes two novel LiDAR-based methods for location-dependent link control and user selection to enhance NLoS mmWave communication performance.

Findings

Reduced outage probability in NLoS regions

Improved signal strength and coverage reliability

Validated effectiveness through experimental results

Abstract

Passive reflectors mitigate millimeter-wave (mmwave) link blockages by extending coverage to non-line-ofsight (NLoS) regions. However, their deployment often leads to irregular reflected beam patterns and coverage gaps. This results in rapid channel fluctuations and potential outages. In this paper, we propose two LiDAR-aided link enhancement techniques to address these challenges. Leveraging user position information, we introduce a location-dependent link control strategy and a user selection technique to improve NLoS link reliability and coverage. Experimental results validate the efficacy of the proposed techniques in reducing outages and enhancing NLoS signal strength.