Millimeter-wave networking tutorial

Abstract

The tutorial will highlight some of the challenges of and possible approaches for networking in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) band. Communication at such high frequencies brings unique challenges, primarily due the high signal attenuation, which can only be overcome by the use of highly directional antennas. On the one hand side, this results in much less interference compared to omni-directional communication at lower frequencies, allowing for a high degree of spatial reuse and potentially simpler Medium Access Control Protocols (MAC) and interference management mechanisms. On the other hand, high directionality may cause deafness due to beam misalignments, whereas channels may appear and disappear over very short time intervals and cause sudden communication blockages, in particular for mobile devices. The tutorial specifically focuses on networking aspects of the MAC layer and above. It starts by an overview of mm-wave communication aspects and characteristics, and then delves into the most important network and protocol design aspects, ranging from beam-training and medium access to the impact on transport protocols and efficient network architectures.