Ray Tracing Analysis and Field Trials of 3D Beamforming in Real Deployments
28 October 2013
In this paper, the properties and capabilities of 3D beamforming in a real propagation scenario have been analyzed by ray tracing simulation and been compared with field measurements for this environment. Therefore, a real propagation scenario comprising line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) areas has been modeled and applied to a ray tracing simulation tool. The parameters of interest are the angle spreads of azimuth and elevation on base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) at different characteristic outdoor locations. The purpose of this investigation is twofold. First, the ray tracing simulation model has been verified by field measurements. Second, it is to show the suitability of a specific area for 3D beamforming, i.e. the achievable separation of vertical beam directions in NLOS situations can be derived from ray tracing simulations even with a relatively simplified ray tracing model of the area.
