Effects of rain fading in 5G millimeter wavelength mesh networks

Millimeter wave point to point links have been used as backhaul links for cellular networks for decades. These have always been carefully planned so that their link budgets include a reserve for rain fading. Fast and low cost deployment of 5G backhaul networks may be enabled by a system of millimeter wavelength point to point links where the network is not carefully planned; instead the nodes are semi-randomly deployed and afterwards organized into a network. While this concept has many benefits, rain fading may cause some links to fail, thereby threatening the connectivity of the network. This paper presents the effects of rain fading in such millimeter wavelength mesh networks. The issue is investigated with simulations, and with the use of rain fading measurement data covering a span of five years. Our main result quantifies the probability of network failure due to rain fading in millimeter wave flexible backhaul mesh networks of future 5G systems.