Empirical and Simulated Analysis of 28 GHz Propagation in Indoor Office Environments

Indoor office propagation at 28 GHz is studied using empirical measurements and ray-tracing simulations. Measurements were conducted in a typical office setting, capturing angular power profiles, pathgain, and RMS azimuth spreads for two transmitter locations and their corresponding receiver tracks. Ray-tracing simulations are conducted incorporating specular reflections, diffractions, and diffuse scattering, using a 3D office model with realistic material properties. A good alignment between the simulations and the measurements is observed. Discrepancies between simulations and measurements were typically noted for low signal to noise ratios in the measurements. This typically coincided with locations where the ray-tracing tool produced poor coverage, too. For these locations diffuse scattering and diffractions could slightly improve the performance. However, higher-order specular interactions are observed to be the dominant type of interaction. This study indicates that ray-tracing can aid in the design of next-generation wireless systems in complex indoor environments.