Multi-Frequency Wireless Channel Measurements and Modeling in Urban Macro Scenarios

Channel similarity between different frequency bands can be utilized by the beyond fifth generation (B5G) and sixth generation (6 G) multi-frequency collaboration technologies to improve the capacity, coverage, and spectrum efficiency of wireless communication systems. To investigate the similarity of channels across different frequency bands, multi-frequency channel measurements at 0.7, 2.3, and 3.7 GHz in urban macro (UMa) scenarios are conducted. Besides, quantitative metrics for characterizing channel similarity at different frequency bands are given. Channel characteristics such as the delay power spectral density (PSD), angular PSD, large-scale parameters (LSPs), and clustering results at different frequency bands are compared. Results show that most multipath components (MPCs) exist across all frequency bands, while certain MPCs appear at one band and disappear at others. Based on the observation, a novel multi-frequency channel model (MFCM) considering the birth and death of clusters at different frequency bands is proposed. The proposed model is compared with two 5 G standard channel models, i.e., 3GPP TR 38.901 and quasi deterministic radio channel generator (QuaDRiGa), which assume that the MPCs observed at different frequency bands are exactly the same and are inconsistent with measurements. Results indicate that the proposed model outperforms two 5 G standard channel models in characterizing the similarity of channels at different frequency bands.