Mm wave antenna gain switching to mitigate indoor blockage

Official URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/APUSNCURSINRSM.2018.8608384

Indoor blockage in a millimeter wave (mmWave) wireless communication link introduces significant signal attenuation. Solving the indoor blockage problem is critical to effectively using the unlicensed 60 GHz band spectrum. This work used various V-band horn antennas to collect signal measurements in an indoor lab environment. As an object blocks the Tx- Rx line of sight (LOS) path, the signal fades deeply. Experimental results showed that switching to a wider beam with lower gain has the potential to partially restore or maintain a communicating link. Effective beam switching and coordinated beam steering can shorten deep fades which is crucial for mm Wave communication systems that are very sensitive to the spatial characteristics of the environment. The experimental results in this paper thus motivate the design of future indoor mm Wave antennas capable of beam switching and facilitate fast beam search.