X-haul Outage Compensation in 5G/6G Using Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces

07/03/2022
by   Mohamed Y Selim, et al.
0

5G network operators consider the dense deployment of small base-stations (SBSs) to increase network coverage and capacity. Hence, operators face the challenge of X-hauling, i.e., backhauling or fronthauling, their traffic to the core network. Also, SBSs densification will increase the possibility of failure of these X-haul links. To cope with this problem, an X-haul outage compensation scheme with the assistance of Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) is proposed to mitigate or at least alleviate the effect of X-haul failure. The RIS is a newly adopted technology that is able to improve the performance of wireless networks. In this paper, we present and evaluate an X-haul outage compensation scheme based on placing a number of RIS panels in pre-planned locations to mitigate the effect of X-haul failure. This evaluation is done using frequencies below and beyond 6 GHz. Based on our analytical results, the proposed RIS scheme shows that placing a sufficient number of RIS elements in proximity to the failed SBS under certain conditions can help acquire the same X-haul rate before the occurrence of the failure. Also, we show that for high X-haul spectral density, the RIS-assisted transmission with a certain number of elements can be more energy-efficient than line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight transmissions. Finally, the system's energy efficiency is addressed with and without RIS, and the optimal number of RIS reflecting elements is derived.

READ FULL TEXT

Please sign up or login with your details

Forgot password? Click here to reset