Empirical Results for Human-Induced Shadowing Events for Indoor 60 GHz Wireless Links

Satisfying the exponential data growth is one of the main challenges for the design of future wireless networks. Given the abundant spectrum availability at millimeter-wave bands, exploiting these frequencies is a natural choice. WiGig (also known as 60 GHz WiFi) allows multi-gigabit transmissions in short range wireless links. The maximum data transfer rates occur in line of sight (LOS) connections. Given the small operating wavelength, obstructing the LOS causes significant power losses, severely impacting the attainable throughput of each user. This article presents empirical results to parameterize typical small-scale fades caused by pedestrians when blocking the LOS, in areas where a WiGig access point serves indoor users. Our results show that fades can be as large as 21 dB, in average. Furthermore, burst of fades are common, lasting up to 5200 ms in 90% of the observed cases.