Exploiting multi-antenna technologies for robust beamsteering to overcome the effects of blockage and beam misalignment is the key to providing seamless multi-Gbps connectivity in millimeter-wave (mm-wave) networks. In this paper, we present the first large-scale outdoor mm-wave measurement study using a phased antenna array in a typical European town. We systematically collect fine-grained 3D angle-of-arrival (AoA) and angle-of-departure (AoD) data, totaling over 50,000 received signal strength measurements. We study the impact of phased antenna arrays in terms of number of link opportunities, achievable data rate and robustness under small-scale mobility, and compare this against reference horn antenna measurements. Our results show a limited number of 2--4 link opportunities per receiver location, indicating that the mm-wave multipath richness in a European town is surprisingly similar to that of dense urban metropolises. The results for the phased antenna array reveal that significant losses in estimated data rate occur for beam misalignments in the order of the half-power beamwidth, with significant and irregular variations for larger misalignments. By contrast, the loss for horn antennas is monotonically increasing with the misalignment. Our results strongly suggest that the effect of non-ideal phased antenna arrays must be explicitly considered in the design of agile beamsteering algorithms.

中文翻译：

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相控天线阵列对毫米波链路机会和波束未对准影响的城市室外测量研究

利用多天线技术实现强大的波束控制以克服阻塞和波束未对准的影响，是在毫米波 (mm-wave) 网络中提供无缝多 Gbps 连接的关键。在本文中，我们展示了在典型的欧洲城镇中使用相控天线阵列进行的首次大规模室外毫米波测量研究。我们系统地收集了细粒度的 3D 到达角 (AoA) 和离开角 (AoD) 数据，总计超过 50,000 个接收信号强度测量值。我们研究了相控天线阵列在链接机会数量、可实现的数据速率和小规模移动性下的稳健性方面的影响，并将其与参考喇叭天线测量结果进行比较。我们的结果显示每个接收器位置的 2--4 个链接机会数量有限，表明欧洲城镇的毫米波多径丰富度与密集的城市大都市惊人地相似。相控天线阵列的结果表明，对于半功率波束宽度数量级的波束未对准，估计数据速率会发生重大损失，对于较大的未对准，会出现显着且不规则的变化。相比之下，喇叭天线的损耗随着未对准而单调增加。我们的结果强烈表明，在设计敏捷波束控制算法时必须明确考虑非理想相控天线阵列的影响。对于较大的错位具有显着和不规则变化。相比之下，喇叭天线的损耗随着未对准而单调增加。我们的结果强烈表明，在设计敏捷波束控制算法时必须明确考虑非理想相控天线阵列的影响。对于较大的错位，具有显着和不规则的变化。相比之下，喇叭天线的损耗随着未对准而单调增加。我们的结果强烈表明，在设计敏捷波束控制算法时必须明确考虑非理想相控天线阵列的影响。