Heliyon (Nov 2024)
The concept of effective coverage radius use of the unlicensed high-frequency range in the operation of the 5G network
Abstract
Economic expediency encourages mobile operators to deploy 5G networks in places with a high concentration of speed-demanding subscribers. In such conditions, sharp fluctuations in the volume of traffic with regulated requirements for the quality of service are inevitable. Note that 5G operates in the millimeter range. Accordingly, the quality of traffic service is affected both by the number of subscribers simultaneously initiating requests from one sector of coverage, and by the appearance of obstacles opaque to radio radiation in the space between the subscriber device and the base station. Effective smoothing of 5G traffic fluctuations, taking into account these disturbing factors, is an urgent task. The goal of this research is to evaluate the service quality parameters in a target area characterized by a specific user density. It takes into account that if the declared QoS requirements for connection speed for users in a network segment deployed within the licensed frequency range for 5G are not met, they can utilize a network segment deployed in the unlicensed high-frequency range for 5G under conditions of free competition. The metric being studied is the probability of session loss in the licensed network segment and the achievable transmission speed in the unlicensed network segment. Based on this, a method for assessing the density of base station deployment in the unlicensed network segment necessary to support the specified user density in the licensed network segment with defined QoS guarantees in terms of bandwidth is formalized. The experiment results showed that the probability of losing sessions with regulated requirements for the quality of service in both network segments, in addition to the base station placement density and subscriber devices, is significantly affected by the minimum data transfer rate, the intensity of obstacles, and the value of the Contention Window.
