On Bounds of Spectral Efficiency of Optimally Beamformed NLOS Millimeter Wave Links

Beamforming is an indispensable feature for millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless communications in order to compensate for the severe path loss incurred due to high-frequency operation. In this paper, we introduce a novel framework to evaluate the spectral efficiency (SE) of non-line-of-sight (NLOS) mmWave links with optimal analog beamforming. Optimality here implies the joint selection of antenna beams at the transmitter and receiver, which simultaneously maximize the received power. We develop a mathematical framework based on the extended Saleh–Valenzuela channel model to embody the impact of optimal analog beamforming into the performance metrics for NLOS mmWave links. Practical mmWave channels are characterized by sparsity in terms of number of multipath components; we exploit this feature to derive upper and lower bounds on SE of beamformed directional links. Simulation results reveal that the proposed approach is fairly accurate to model beamformed links in most practical operating scenarios. We also study the impact of overhead due to antenna beam training on the throughput (TP) of a link and obtain an approximate solution for optimal antenna half-power beamwidth that maximizes TP.