Feasibility of D-band Fixed Radio Links for 5G and Beyond Access Networks

The legacy frequency bands of 42 GHz and below are in practice saturated in densely populated regions, like Central Europe. In the last decade new frequency bands have been opened in the millimetre-wave region to support the capacity needs for 4G, 5G and 5G beyond networks. 58 GHz links have been reported already two decades ago. A strong focus started for the terrestrial application of E-band a decade ago. As a result, nowadays the use of 71-86 GHz frequencies became a common practice in several countries. Recently intensive research began to benefit the extremely wide bands offered in the unused frequencies around 90 and 130 GHz. Equipment development and rain attenuation measurements are widely investigated. For the regular use of these bands, models are required that can estimate the availability and hop length of the links. For network design accurate models shall be incorporated in planning tools that is a pre-requisite for the wide usage of the new frequencies. This paper estimates link characteristics based on available experimental data and existing precipitation and attenuation models.