Advanced wireless communication systems and services, such as 5G (fifth generation) systems and service, include use of millimeter wave frequency-based radio communication between radio stations and user equipment (UE) devices (including, for example, mobile stations (MS) or customer premise equipment (CPE) devices). The term “millimeter wave” (as well as the terms “mmWave,” “mmwave,” and “mmW”) applies to frequency bands in the range of 30-300 GHz, as well as more broadly to include a number of frequency bands in the 24-30 GHz range (for example, a frequency band from 27.5-28.35 GHz band referred to as the “28 GHz” band).
Wireless communications in millimeter wave frequency bands are qualitatively different from wireless communications in frequency bands below 6 GHz used for radio communication in older generations of radio access technologies (RATs), such as in various 4G LTE implementations, 3G UMTS implementations, and 2G GSM implementations. In contrast to frequency bands below 6 GHz, millimeter wave frequency bands tend to have high atmospheric attenuation, such as absorption by gases in the atmosphere, and also tend to be more severely affected by weather conditions such as rain (an effect referred to as “rain fading”) or humidity. Also, the shorter wavelengths for millimeter wave frequency bands are more easily blocked by buildings, hands (for handheld mobile wireless communication devices), movement of people and vehicles, and bodies of users. As a result, although millimeter wave frequency bands offer high data rates, operation of a wireless communications network in millimeter wave frequency bands generally requires a greater base station density to overcome shorter range and increased likelihood of signal blocking. It is desirable to introduce improvements that reduce such impacts across a millimeter wave-based advanced wireless communication network and make effective user of available bands across users.