Using Modeling and Simulation to Assess Challenges and Solutions for 5G Fixed Wireless Access

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is one of the initial planned technologies that may change the digital landscape in the early rollouts of 5G providing new and more flexible wireless solutions for broadband for the last mile to the home.  In this paper, we use new modeling and simulation techniques to investigate some of the most critical challenges that FWA faces for operation in the physical environment at millimeter waves.  Our approach uses enhanced ray-tracing that captures the full details of polarization and multipath so that we can predict how the placement, environment, and complex new techniques such as massive MIMO beamforming can impact the effectiveness of a solution.  Results are presented in terms of the predicted signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) and the potential throughput for wireless broadband. The objective of the study is to provide insight into some of the key issues posed by FWA, as well as to provide a new proposed methodology for evaluating different designs and to plan for their placement within realistic environments.