An Empirical Study of Urban Macro Propagation at 10, 18 and 28 GHz

This paper investigates the propagation characteristics of the urban macro cells at centimeter-wave (cmWave) frequencies, in particular at 10, 18 and 28 GHz. The measurements are performed at several transmitter (Tx) locations and heights, in both line-of-sight (LOS) and non line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions, and with distances up to 1,400 m. The distancedependent mean path loss and shadow fading standard deviation (std) are extracted for all cases based on a single-slope path loss model, and offered here for quick determination of link budget and system capacity. The results show the potential usage of the cmWave band for mobile cellular services in the years to come: the NLOS path loss slopes at 10 and 18 GHz are not much different from the 2 GHz reference, and the corresponding offsets are in the order of 20-23 dB for 25 m Tx height. This gap is expected to be overcome by the usage of high-gain miniaturized steerable antennas, which is feasible due to the reduced antenna aperture size at the cmWave band. Similar to the 2 GHz band, the NLOS shadow fading std for cmWave is within 6 dB. The effect of Tx height is clearly shown in the NLOS scenario: at 10 GHz, for example, 7.5 dB reduction in attenuation could be achieved by raising the Tx antenna from 15 m (below average roof-top) to 25 m (above roof-top), or 23.4 dB if the Tx height is elevated to 54 m.