Ray Tracing Analysis of Sub-6 GHz and mmWave Indoor Coverage with Reflecting Surfaces

Abstract

Indoor coverage and channel modelling is crucial for network planning purposes at mmWave bands. In this paper, we analyzed received power patterns and connectivity in an indoor office environment for sub-6 GHz and mmWave bands using ray tracing simulations and theoretical models over different scenarios. We discussed the effect of using metallic walls instead of regular drywall, base station (BS) location, and open/shut doors. Our results showed that ray tracing solutions are consistent with theoretical calculations, and using reflective walls significantly improves average received power and connectivity at mmWave bands, e.g., for the given floor plan, coverage increases from 86% to 97.5% at 60 GHz band.