Influence of climate variability on performance of millimeter wave cellular 5th generation wireless systems in consequence of precipitation

Since wireless service providers have to overcome a global bandwidth shortage, one of the main concepts of future 5th generation wireless systems is the application of the millimeter wave bands that offers a larger channel bandwidth than actual wireless networks. However, propagation of the wireless signal in the millimeter wave spectrum is different from the spectrum of the currently applied 2G, 3G and 4G networks. For microwave telecommunications links that are operating above 10 GHz one of the most harmful circumstantial factors is the attenuation caused by precipitation, especially by rain. Recent studies indicate that future cellular 5G networks will apply a cell-radius of 200 meters. Detailed analysis of the effects of path loss caused by multipath delay spread can be found in relevant literature, however effects of rain attenuation on these short links is less studied. Moreover, a non-constant climate indicates special considerations for the planning of 5G networks, therefore attenuation caused by precipitation needs to be investigated. In this paper effects of the varying climate and varying precipitation distribution on the performance of millimeter wave 5G networks is investigated on the basis of the data provided by a millimeter wave measurement system that is operating at our premises.