Analytical and comparative investigation of 60 GHz wireless channels

This work analytically studies the channel characteristics of 60 GHz wireless communication, particularly from five aspects: path loss, multi-path fading, spatial diversity, peak-to-average power ratio of OFDM and clear channel assessment. This investigation is performed in comparison to the 2.4 GHz wireless system. The observed merits of the 60 GHz wireless channels include: 1) the support of packing a large number of antennas at a transceiver to exploit spatial diversity, 2) light effect from multi-path fading due to its small average fade duration and 3) a fast detection of signals in carrier sense to achieve clear channel assessment. Its weaknesses consists of: 1) large path losses that lead to short communication ranges and 2) high peak-to-average power ratio that increases the cost and complexity in implementing OFDM in transceivers.