Outdoor to Indoor Coverage in 5G Networks

Abstract: Outdoor to indoor mobile coverage is evaluated for differentfrequencies in two scenarios, a single building scenario and a cityenvironment. A new model for outdoor to indoor propagation issuggested, connecting existing, highly detailed indoor and outdoorray-tracing propagation models. The model is compared to previous,site specific as well as statistical, propagation models. Resultsconclude that the new model gives higher path gain for edge users inthe single building scenario, whereas results from the city scenarioare inconclusive. Furthermore, results from the single buildingscenario suggest that indoor coverage is possible at 5 GHz and belowfor most buildings, whereas for the city scenario indoor coverage at5 GHz will be possible only for buildings without metally coatedwindows. Achieving indoor coverage at 30 GHz is highly problematicfor all cases, and it is concluded that indoor base stations arenecessary if frequencies of 10 GHz and above are to be used infuture mobile networks. In addition, an indoor analysis is made to verify existing lossper meter indoor models. It is concluded that such models are oftenoptimistic, although their assumption of log-normal shadowing remainvalid, at least for closed offices. Furthermore, the assumption ofloss as a linear function of distance might be unfeasible for higherfrequencies, where a breakpoint in the linear model was observed ata distance of roughly 10 meters.