Millimeter Wave Wireless Communications

Chapter 3. Radio Wave Propagation for MmWave

3.1 Introduction

Radio wave propagation holds the key to understanding receiver design, the transmitter power requirements, antenna requirements, interference levels, and expected distances for wireless communication links. At mmWave frequencies, where the wavelengths are smaller than a centimeter — even smaller than the size of a human fingernail — most objects in the physical environment are very large relative to the wavelength. Lampposts, walls, and people are large relative to the wavelength, and this causes very pronounced propagation phenomena, such as signal blockage (e.g., shadowing) when an obstacle is in the way of the path between the transmitter and receiver. However, reflection and scattering ...