Millimeter-wave technology and research trends for 5G Access and Wireless Transmission applications An industry view

High interest in millimeter-wave bands has risen in the recent years due to the enormous amount of under-utilized bandwidth that lies in this part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The significant advantages offered by the propagation characteristics in terms of frequency re-usability and large channel bandwidths, make millimeter-wave suitable for the very high capacities required by 5G enhanced Mobile BroadBand (10 Gpbs peak throughput and 10 Mbps/m
²
) both for the Radio Access Network and the Backhaul. The millimeter-wave bands can be suitably used for the access networks to increase the throughput to the User Equipment and the backhaul/front-haul of the base stations. At the same time the use of millimeter-wave bands, thanks to very compact antenna size that makes products "blend'' in the environment, allows the densification of the cells in dense urban scenarios.