5G@15 GHz Testbed Development and Evaluation

Sammanfattning: Due to the advancement in technology and the increase in the amount of data beingtransferred through wireless channels, many developments in the techniques and speedof data transfer have been observed in the past few decades. The current trend incellular technology is transforming from 4G to 5G. So, to meet future requirements,it is highly necessary to have further improvements in technology like modulationtechniques, Channel access methods, etc. Many top research institutes around the worldare investing heavily in research and development of 5G.Radio waves have been used for a very long time in mobile phone communication,but providers are experimenting with broadcasting on millimeter waves which usehigher frequencies ranging from 6GHz to 300GHz. Data characteristics like power,SNR, interference, etc. need to be evaluated for these high frequencies. As 5G is still ininitial phases of development, there are not many testing tools to check and evaluateits performance. A testbed is a testing tool which is used for conducting rigorous,transparent, and replicable testing, experimenting and evaluating the performance ofthese propagated data at these high frequencies.The thesis work evaluates the implementation structures of the 5G testbed @15GHzand its performance in indoor and outdoor scenarios. It also talks about the methods ofsignal generation through Matlab and it’s transmission at 15GHz using Xilinx FPGAand Analog devices’ FMCOMMS5 transceiver. This data is then transmitted andreceived by patch antennas provided by Ericsson AB. Various techniques were used inorder to improve the signal, like using RF hardware components and software modules.Different channel sounding techniques were used in order to achieve the synchronizationbetween the transmitter and the receiver node in order to measure the properties ofthe channel. All of the experiments were performed by implementing a single-inputsingle-output system (SISO) module of the 5G testbed. This SISO system can be easilytransformed into a multiple-input-multiple-output system (MIMO) by replicating theoriginal SISO system.The result shares some interesting findings on the readiness of the 5G testbed for aiiiivbetter understanding of the future technology. It is concluded that this testbed providessomewhat a reliable platform to test the performance of the 5G technology.