Performance Evaluation of Millimeter Wave Full-Duplex Cellular Networks

The idea of implementing full-duplex (FD) under a millimeter wave (mmWave) context can be jointly beneficial, as FD may enhance the spectral efficiency of mmWave systems, and on the other hand, a beamforming-based mmWave model can help reduce the excessive co-channel interference experienced in traditional sub-6 GHz FD networks. In this paper, we investigate the possibility for base stations (BSs) to switch between half-duplex (HD) and FD, as it is proposed in sub-6 GHz to reduce interference, while users equipment and BSs employ beamforming techniques. The system is analyzed using stochastic geometry and realistic models are used to validate its performance. Results show that contrary to sub-6 GHz, an hybrid FD/HD network is not required in mmWave. We also show that reducing the transmission power of FD BSs avoids uplink spectral efficiency degradation, while still enabling a downlink enhancement with respect to a HD deployment.