Millimeter-Wave V2X Channels: Propagation Statistics, Beamforming, and Blockage

5G millimeter wave (mmWave) technology is envisioned to be an integral part of next-generation vehicle-to-everything (V2X) networks and autonomous vehicles due to its broad bandwidth, wide field of view sensing, and precise localization capabilities. The reliability of mmWave links may be compromised due to difficulties in beam alignment for mobile channels and due to blocking effects between a mmWave transmitter and a receiver. In this paper, we study the channel characteristics for mmWave and sub-6 GHz V2X communications using ray-tracing simulations. We present results for time-varying path-loss, delay spread, and angular spreads in the presence of a moving vehicle for line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) trajectory, respectively. Additionally, we study the effect of delay spread and angular spread when the base station (BS) and user equipment (UE) are capable of adjusting the beam directions and beamwidths dynamically. Finally, we explore the impact of blockage effects on the quality of receive beams at 28 GHz for the considered vehicle trajectories.