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arXiv · 2205.09202

Integrated Access and Backhaul in Millimeter-Wave Cellular: Benefits and Challenges

Abstract

The recently proposed NR-ready integrated access and backhaul (IAB) architecture promises to bring a cost-efficient deployment solution for both coverage extension and capacity boosting in future 5G/5G+ systems. While its impact on the coverage extension was thoughtfully addressed in the literature, the effect of advanced functionalities such as multi-hop, multi-connectivity, and multi-beam operations on the throughput remains unclear. We review and characterize the system-level impact of these capabilities on the performance of self-backhauled IAB systems operating in half-duplex mode and utilizing millimeter-wave (mmWave) technology across both access and backhaul. Our results indicate that the throughput gain of multi-hopping and multi-beaming is significant even without multi-connectivity operation. Another important learning is that in all-mmWave systems with link blockage, multi-connectivity with link switching allows achieving self-load balancing. Finally, we outline future research directions.

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Yekaterina Sadovaya, Dmitri Moltchanov, Wei Mao, Oner Orhan, Shu-ping Yeh, Hosein Nikopour, Shilpa Talwar, Sergey Andreev. 2022-05-18. Integrated Access and Backhaul in Millimeter-Wave Cellular: Benefits and Challenges. https://arxiv.org/abs/2205.09202

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