Path Loss Measurements and Models at 28 GHz for 90% Outdoor Suburban Coverage

Achieving adequate coverage with high gain antennas is key to realizing the full promise of the wide bandwidth available at mm/cm bands. We report an extensive outdoor suburban measurement campaign at 28 GHz, with over 1300 links measured for 6 NJ houses for ranges of 20m -200 m, using a specialized narrowband channel sounder. The measurements for the fixed wireless access application, with a 50o (10 dBi) transmit antenna on an exterior of a house and a 10o (24 dBi) receive horn antenna at 3 m height, emulating a lamp post-mounted base station. The 10o base horn antenna was spun at speeds up to 300 rpm to capture azimuthal angular power distribution. It is found that in this suburban environment the Line of Sight condition even on the same street is extremely unlikely beyond 30 m. Measured path gain-distance dependence is well represented by power-law models with a slope of 4, with log-normal deviation of 6.1 dB. Azimuth gains at the base are degraded by scattering by more than 4.5 dB for 10% of links.