On Fixed Beamforming in Sectored mmWave Ultra Dense Networks at 73GHz

We investigate the use of fixed analogue transmit beamforming for downlink communication in millimetre-wave (mmWave) band ultra-dense networks (UDNs) at 73GHz. Our simulation study is based on 3D radiation patterns using a real design of large planar antenna arrays with different horizontal beamwidths and full characterisation of interference. The effects of network densification are captured through different ratios of the number of access points (APs) to the number of users. We quantify the system's performance by evaluating outage and achievable rate. The results show that users with rates around the mean benefit more from the densification than from narrowing the beamwidth, but for users with low rates, narrow beams also provide a significant increase in throughput.