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The small coverage footprint of mmWave sites means they are not suited to providing contiguous coverage. But their high bandwidth means they are very well suited to high-capacity requirements where the location of the traffic is known. So, it becomes very important to choose the right strategy to plan mmWave network depending upon the use case and available resources. Below are the key points that needs to be taken under consideration while planning mmWave networks. mmWave RF Planning
Strategic planning
Spectrum Strategy To realize all the use cases of 5G it is recommended to use mmWave along with mid band and low band with the right spectrum strategy. It is recommended to use low band frequency as an overarching coverage layer. Mid band can be used to cater both capacity and coverage requirements. However, the high user density and high demand areas can be covered with mmWave as a capacity layer. Using mmWave as co-existence with low or mid band: 5G in low and mid bands will be good for wider coverage and decent capacity but will not meet the huge demand and low latency requirements for use cases like FWA, HD video and gaming, metaverse, holographic applications. So, building a small cell network using mmWave will help to address these high demand and low latency requirements. 5G mmWave small cells as an underlay can be deployed in two scenarios. • User experience enhancement at the cell edge: in this scenario the mmWave small cell will be deployed at the edge of the macro cell to improve the cell edge user experience. In this case a partial overlap of Macro cell and small cell coverage will be there, and this can be applied to both indoor and outdoor scenarios. Using mmWave as standalone: Due to large amount of spectrum in mmWave band, the spectrum cost is quite less as compared to mid or low bands which makes it an ideal choice of enterprises and wider use like smart cities, public transport areas, hotspots and FWA. 3GPP standards do support stand-alone (SA) deployment on mmWave, however due to lack of product ecosystem this option is not feasible at present. Soon, once the product ecosystem is ready mmWave deployment in SA mode will be supported. • Capacity enhancement: in this scenario the mmWave small cell will be deployed under complete umbrella layer of mid/low band Macro cell to increase the capacity of a targeted area/hotspot.
Subcarrier spacing and frame configuration
1. Subcarrier spacing: One of the most distinguishing features of 5G NR from LTE is variable subcarrier spacing (SCS) or also termed as numerology. The multiple numerologies viz. 15 KHz, 30 KHz, 60 KHz, 120 KHz and 240 KHz allows 5G to support diverse deployment scenarios and diverse end-user applications. Low/mid (FR1) bands use 15, 30, 60 KHz SCS and provides
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