Measured and Modeled Outdoor Indoor Coverage at 28 GHz into High Thermal Efficiency Buildings

Abstract: 28 GHz outdoor-indoor coverage into modern office buildings with high thermal efficiency windows is found to be severely limited due to 46 dB median penetration loss at normal incidence and additional 15 dB median oblique incidence loss. The study is based on measurements of path gain over 280 outdoor-indoor links, at ranges up to 100 m. A simple theoretical path gain model is extended to include building penetration through multiple sides of the building as well as a reflection from another building. The theoretical model accounts for the building orientation relative to the source, resulting in 4.9 dB RMSE relative to data, as compared to 5.7 dB RMSE from a linear fit and 14.7 dB RMSE for the 3GPP recommended model. Only coarse description of the buildings is required: building orientation and exterior wall composition, without any interior details. Coverage range for SNR>-8 dB from an outdoor base to a terminal just inside a high-efficiency building is under 35 m