Despite the appealing advantages of reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) aided mmWave communications, there remain practical issues that need to be addressed before the large-scale deployment of RISs in future wireless networks. In this study, we jointly consider the non-neglectable practical issues in a multi-RIS-aided mmWave system, which can significantly affect the secrecy performance, including the high computational complexity, imperfect channel state information (CSI), and finite resolution of phase shifters. To solve this non-convex challenging stochastic optimization problem, we propose a robust and low-complexity algorithm to maximize the achievable secrete rate. Specially, by combining the benefits of fractional programming and the stochastic successive convex approximation techniques, we transform the joint optimization problem into some convex ones and solve them sub-optimally. The theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that the proposed algorithms could mitigate the joint negative effects of practical issues and yielded a tradeoff between secure performance and complexity/overhead outperforming non-robust benchmarks, which increases the robustness and flexibility of multiple RIS deployments in future wireless networks.

The application of millimeter wave (mmWave) directional transmission technology in high-speed railway (HSR) scenarios helps to achieve the goal of multiple gigabit data rates with low latency. However, due to the high mobility of trains, the traditional initial access (IA) scheme with high time consumption is difficult to guarantee the effectiveness of the beam alignment. In addition, the high path loss at the coverage edge of the millimeter wave remote radio unit (mmW-RRU) will also bring great challenges to the stability of IA performance. Fortunately, the train trajectory in HSR scenarios is periodic and regular. Moreover, the cell-free network helps to improve the system coverage performance. Based on these observations, this paper proposes an efficient IA scheme based on location and history information in cell-free networks, where the train can flexibly select a set of mmW-RRUs according to the received signal quality. We specifically analyze the collaborative IA process based on the exhaustive search and based on location and history information, derive expressions for IA success probability and delay, and perform the numerical analysis. The results show that the proposed scheme can significantly reduce the IA delay and effectively improve the stability of IA success probability.

This paper proposes a dual-polarized filtering antenna with extracted-pole unit (EPU) using LTCC substrate. The EPU realizes the high skirt characteristic of the bandpass filter with transmission zeros (TZs) located near the passband without cross coupling. The filtering antenna with EPU is designed and fabricated in 28GHz band for 5G Band-n257 (26.5-29.5GHz). The measured S11 is less than -10.6dB in Band-n257, and the isolation between two ports for dual polarization is greater than 20.0dB. The measured peak antenna gain is 4.0dBi at 28.8GHz and the gain is larger than 2.5dBi in Band-n257. The frequency characteristics of the measured antenna gain shows the high skirt characteristic out of band, which are in good agreement with electromagnetic (EM)-simulated results.

Intelligent traffic monitoring provides information support for autonomous driving, which is widely used in intelligent transportation systems (ITSs). A method for estimating vehicle moving target parameters based on millimeter-wave radars is proposed to solve the problem of low detection accuracy due to velocity ambiguity and Doppler-angle coupling in the process of traffic monitoring. First of all, a MIMO antenna array with overlapping elements is constructed by introducing them into the typical design of MIMO radar array antennas. The motion-induced phase errors are eliminated by the phase difference among the overlapping elements. Then, the position errors among them are corrected through an iterative method, and the angle of multiple targets is estimated. Finally, velocity disambiguation is performed by adopting the error-corrected phase difference among the overlapping elements. An accurate estimation of vehicle moving target angle and velocity is achieved. Through Monte Carlo simulation experiments, the angle error is 0.1° and the velocity error is 0.1m/s. The simulation results show that the method can be used to effectively solve the problems related to velocity ambiguity and Doppler-angle coupling, meanwhile the accuracy of velocity and angle estimation can be improved. An improved algorithm is tested on the vehicle datasets that are gathered in the forward direction of ordinary public scenes of a city. The experimental results further verify the feasibility of the method, which meets the real-time and accuracy requirements of ITSs on vehicle information monitoring.

One key to implementing the smart city is letting the smart space know where and how many people are. The visual method is a scheme to recognize people with high accuracy, but concerns arise regarding potential privacy leakage and user nonacceptance. Besides, being functional in a limited environment in an emergency should also be considered. We propose a real-time people counting and tracking system based on a millimeter wave radar (mmWave) as an alternative to the optical solutions in a restaurant. The proposed method consists of four main procedures. First, capture the point cloud of obstacles and generate them using a low-cost, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) mmWave radar. Next, cluster the individual point with similar properties. Then the same people in sequential frames would be associated with the tracking algorithm. Finally, the estimated people would be counted, tracked, and shown in the next frame. The experiment results show that our proposed system provided a median position error of 0.17 m and counting accuracy of 83.5% for ten insiders in various scenarios in an actual restaurant environment. In addition, the real-time estimation and visualization of people's numbers and positions show a potential capability to help prevent crowds during the pandemic of Covid-19 and analyze customer visitation patterns for efficient management and target marketing.

High-frequency wireless communication is drawing attention because of its potential to actualize huge transmission capacity in the next generation wireless system. The use of high-frequency bands requires dense deployment of access points to compensate for significant distance attenuation and diffraction loss. Dense deployment of access points in a mobility environment triggers an increase in the frequency of handover because the number of candidate access points increases. Therefore, simple handover schemes are needed. High-frequency wireless systems enable station position to be determined using their wideband and highly directional communication signals. Thus, simple handover based on position information estimated using the communication signal is possible. Interruptions caused by handover are also a huge barrier to actualizing stable high-frequency wireless communications. This paper proposes a seamless handover scheme using multiple radio units. This paper evaluates the combination of simple handover and the proposed scheme based on experiments using a formula racing car representing the fastest high-speed mobility environment. Experimental results show that seamless handover and high-speed wireless transmission over 200Mbps are achieved over a 400-m area even at station velocities of greater than 200km/h.

We attempt to design and fabricate of a 4×4 Butler matrix for short-millimeter-wave frequencies by using the microfabrication process for a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) by the synchrotron radiation (SR) direct etching of PTFE and the addition of a metal film by sputter deposition. First, the dimensions of the PTFE SIW using rectangular through-holes for G-band (140-220 GHz) operation are determined, and a cruciform 90 ° hybrid coupler and an intersection circuit are connected by the PTFE SIW to design the Butler matrix. Then, a trial fabrication is performed. Finally, the validity of the design result and the fabrication process is verified by measuring the radiation pattern.

In this study, we propose an accurate range-Doppler analysis algorithm for moving multiple objects in a short range using microwave (including millimeter wave) radars. As a promising Doppler analysis for the above model, we previously proposed a weighted kernel density (WKD) estimator algorithm, which overcomes several disadvantages in coherent integration based methods, such as a trade-off between temporal and frequency resolutions. However, in handling multiple objects like human body, it is difficult to maintain the accuracy of the Doppler velocity estimation, because there are multiple responses from multiple parts of object, like human body, incurring inaccuracies in range or Doppler velocity estimation. To address this issue, we propose an iterative algorithm by exploiting an output of the WKD algorithm. Three-dimensional numerical analysis, assuming a human body model in motion, and experimental tests demonstrate that the proposed algorithm provides more accurate, high-resolution range-Doppler velocity profiles than the original WKD algorithm, without increasing computational complexity. Particularly, the simulation results show that the cumulative probabilities of range errors within 10mm, and Doppler velocity error within 0.1m/s are enhanced from 34% (by the former method) to 63% (by the proposed method).

In this paper, we propose new radio access network (RAN) architecture for reliable millimeter-wave (mmWave) communications, which has the flexibility to meet users' diverse and fluctuating requirements in terms of communication quality. This architecture is composed of multiple radio units (RUs) connected to a common distributed unit (DU) via fronthaul links to virtually enlarge its coverage. We further present grant-free non-orthogonal multiple access (GF-NOMA) for low-latency uplink communications with a massive number of users and robust coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission using blockage prediction for uplink/downlink communications with a high data rate and a guaranteed minimum data rate as the technical pillars of the proposed RAN. The numerical results indicate that our proposed architecture can meet completely different user requirements and realize a user-centric design of the RAN for beyond 5G/6G.

Millimeter wave (mmWave) massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems generally adopt hybrid precoding combining digital and analog precoder as an alternative to full digital precoding to reduce RF chains and energy consumption. In order to balance the relationship between spectral efficiency, energy efficiency and hardware complexity, the hybrid-connected system structure should be adopted, and then the solution process of hybrid precoding can be simplified by decomposing the total achievable rate into several sub-rates. However, the singular value decomposition (SVD) incurs high complexity in calculating the optimal unconstrained hybrid precoder for each sub-rate. Therefore, this paper proposes PAST, a low complexity hybrid precoding algorithm based on projection approximate subspace tracking. The optimal unconstrained hybrid precoder of each sub-rate is estimated with the PAST algorithm, which avoids the high complexity process of calculating the left and right singular vectors and singular value matrix by SVD. Simulations demonstrate that PAST matches the spectral efficiency of SVD-based hybrid precoding in full-connected (FC), hybrid-connected (HC) and sub-connected (SC) system structure. Moreover, the superiority of PAST over SVD-based hybrid precoding in terms of complexity and increases with the number of transmitting antennas.

GaN microwave monolithic integrated circuit (MMIC) power amplifiers (PAs) technologies for millimeter-wave (mm-wave) applications are reviewed in this paper. In the mm-wave band, GaN PAs have achieved high-output power as much as traveling wave tube amplifiers used in satellite communications. Additionally, GaN PAs have been integrated enough to be used for 5G and Beyond-5G. In this paper, a high accuracy large-signal GaN-HEMT modeling technique including the trapping effects is introduced in mm-waves. The prototyped PAs designed with the novel modeling technique have achieved RF performance comparable to that of the state-of-the-art GaN PAs in mm-wave.

In this paper, a linear array of 4 leaf-shaped bowtie slot antennas is proposed for use in quasi-millimeter wave band. The slot antennas array is designed to operate at 28GHz frequency band. The leaf-shaped bowtie slot antenna is a type of self-complementary antenna with low profile and low cost of fabrication. The proposed antenna structure offers improvement in radiation pattern, gain, and -10dB impedance bandwidth. Through out of this paper radiation pattern, actual gain, and -10dB impedance bandwidth are evaluated by Finite Different Time Domain (FDTD) simulation. Antenna characteristics are analyzed in the frequency range of 27GHz to 29GHz. To improve antenna characteristics such as actual gain and -10dB impedance bandwidth, a dielectric superstrate layer with relative permittivity of 10.2 is placed on top of ground plane of the slot antennas array. Three antenna structures are introduced and compared. With two layers of dielectric superstrate on top of the antennas ground plane, analysis results show that -10dB impedance bandwidth occupies the frequency range of 27.17GHz to 28.39GHz. Therefore, the operational impedance bandwidth is 1.22GHz. Maximum actual gain of the slot antennas array with two dielectric superstrate layers is 20.49dBi and -3dB gain bandwidth occupies the frequency range of 27.02GHz to 28.57GHz. To validate the analysis results, prototype of the designed slot antennas array is fabricated. Characteristics of the slot antennas array are measured and compared with the analysis results.

This letter proposes a transmission scheme called spatial vector (SV), which is effective for Nakagami-m fading multiple-input multiple-output channels. First, the analytical error rate of SV is derived for Nakagami-m fading MIMO channels. Next, an example of SV called integer SV (ISV) is introduced. The error performance was evaluated over Nakagami-m fading from m = 1 to m = 50 and compared with spatial modulation (SM), enhanced SM, and quadrature SM. The results show that for m > 1, ISV outperforms the SM schemes and is robust to m variations.

Communication systems operating in the millimeter-wave (mmWave) band have the potential to realize ultra-high throughput and ultra-low latency vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications in 5G and beyond wireless networks. Moreover, because of the weak penetration nature of mmWave, one mmWave channel can be reused in all V2V links, which improves the spectrum efficiency. Although the outstanding performance of the mmWave above has been widely acknowledged, there are still some shortcomings. One of the unavoidable defects is multipath interference. Even though the direct interference link cannot penetrate vehicle bodies, other interference degrades the throughput of the mmWave V2V communication. In this paper, we focus on the multipath interference caused by signal reflections from roads and surroundings, where the interference strength varies in road scenarios. Firstly, we analyze the multipath channel models of mmWave V2V with relay in three typical road scenarios (single straight roads, horizontal curves, and slopes). Their interference differences are clarified. Based on the analysis, a novel method of ZigZag antenna configuration is proposed to guarantee the required data rate. Secondly, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated by simulation. It proves that the ZigZag antenna configuration with an optimal antenna height can significantly suppress the destructive interference, and ensure a throughput over 1Gbps comparing to the conventional antenna configuration at 60GHz band. Furthermore, the effectiveness of ZigZag antenna configuration is demonstrated on a single straight road by outdoor experiments.

In sixth-generation (6G) mobile communication system, it is expected that extreme high data rate communication with a peak data rate over 100Gbps should be provided by exploiting higher frequency bands in addition to millimeter-wave bands such as 28GHz. The higher frequency bands are assumed to be millimeter wave and terahertz wave where the extreme wider bandwidth is available compared with 5G, and hence 6G needs to promote research and development to exploit so-called terahertz wave targeting the frequency from 100GHz to 300GHz. In the terahertz wave, there are fundamental issues that rectilinearity and pathloss are higher than those in the 28GHz band. In order to solve these issues, it is very important to clarify channel characteristics of the terahertz wave and establish a channel model, to advance 6G radio access technologies suitable for the terahertz wave based on the channel model, and to develop radio-frequency device technologies for such higher frequency bands. This paper introduces a direction of studies on 6G radio access technologies to explore the higher frequency bands and technical issues on the device technologies, and then basic computer simulations in 100Gbps transmission using 100GHz band clarify a potential of extreme high data rate over 100Gbps.

The microfabrication technique based on synchrotron radiation (SR) direct etching process has recently been applied to construct PTFE microstructures. This paper proposes a PTFE substrate integrated waveguide (PTFE SIW). It is expected that the PTFE SIW contributes to the improvement of the structural strength. A rectangular through-hole is introduced taking the advantage of the SR direct etching process. First, a PTFE SIW for the Q-band is designed. Then, a cruciform 3-dB directional coupler consisting of the PTFE SIW is designed and fabricated by the SR direct etching process. The validity of the PTFE SIW coupler is confirmed by measuring the frequency characteristics of the S-parameters. The mechanical strength of the PTFE SIW and the peeling strength of its Au film are also additionally investigated.

This paper presents the physical-layer cell identity (PCID) detection probability using the narrowband primary synchronization signal (NPSS) and narrowband secondary synchronization signal (NSSS) based on the narrowband Internet-of-Things (NB-IoT) radio interface considering frequency offset and the maximum Doppler frequency in the 28-GHz band. Simulation results show that the autocorrelation based NPSS detection method is more effective than the cross-correlation based NPSS detection using frequency offset estimation and compensation before the NPSS received timing detection from the viewpoints of PCID detection probability and computational complexity. We also show that when using autocorrelation based NPSS detection, the loss in the PCID detection probability at the carrier frequency of fc =28GHz compared to that for fc =3.5GHz is only approximately 5% at the average received signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 0dB when the frequency stability of a local oscillator of a user equipment (UE) set is 20ppm. Therefore, we conclude that the multiplexing schemes and sequences of NPSS and NSSS based on the NB-IoT radio interface associated with autocorrelation based NPSS detection will support the 28-GHz frequency spectra.

We propose two simple weight calculation methods (primary method and enhanced method), that estimate approximated phase plane from a few antenna phase and calculate weights of all antenna elements, for wireless backhaul systems that utilize millimeter wave band massive antenna arrays. Such systems are expected to be used instead of optical fiber for connecting many small cell base stations (SCBSs) to the core network, and supporting the rapid deployment of SCBSs. However, beamforming with massive antenna arrays requires many analog-digital converters (ADCs) and incurs the issue of implementation complexity. The proposed methods overcome the problem by reducing the number of ADCs. Computer simulations clarify the appropriate layout and the number of ADCs connected to antenna elements; the effectiveness of the proposed methods is confirmed by evaluations with measured channel state information (CSI) in propagation experiments on a wireless backhaul system. Experimental verifications on the case of calculating the weight of 200 elements from the phases of just 9 elements show that the array gain degradation from ideal (the case in which the phases of all elements are used estimation) with both methods is less than 0.4 dB in the direct wave dominant environment. In addition, the enhanced method holds the array gain degradation to under 0.8dB in an environment existing reflected waves. These results show that the proposed methods can attain high accuracy beamforming while reducing ADC number.

The hybrid precoding (HP) technique has been widely considered as a promising approach for millimeter wave communication systems. In general, the existing HP structure with a complicated high-resolution phase shifter network can achieve near-optimal spectral efficiency, however, it involves high energy consumption. The HP architecture with an energy-efficient switch network can significantly reduce the energy consumption. To achieve maximum energy efficiency, this paper focuses on the HP architecture with switch network and considers a novel adaptive analog network HP structure for such mmWave MIMO systems, which can provide potential array gains. Moreover, a multiuser adaptive coordinate update algorithm is proposed for the HP design problem of this new structure. Simulation results verify that our proposed design can achieve better energy efficiency than other recently proposed HP schemes when the number of users is small.

This paper proposes a transparent glass quartz antenna for 5G-millimeter-wave-connected vehicles and clarifies the characteristics of signal reception when the glass antennas are placed on the windows of a vehicle traveling in an urban environment. Synthetic fused quartz is a material particularly suited for millimeter-wave devices owing to its excellent low transmission loss. Realizing synthetic fused quartz devices requires accurate micromachining technology specialized for the material coupled with the material technology. This paper presents a transparent antenna comprising a thin mesh pattern on a quartz substrate for installation on a vehicle window. A comparison of distributed transparent antennas and an omnidirectional antenna shows that the relative received power of the distributed antenna system is higher than that of the omnidirectional antenna. In addition, results show that the power received is similar when using vertically and horizontally polarized antennas. The design is verified in a field test using transparent antennas on the windows of a real vehicle.