Novel radio environment map for the ns-3 NR simulator

Abstract

Radio Environmental Map (REM) is a useful tool to visualize the network coverage, including signal quality and interference, in multi-cell scenarios. Although REM maps for omnidirectional transmissions/receptions and tools to visualize the spatial shape of a single directional transmission are available in ns-3, for example in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiGig modules, respectively, REM maps for directional transmissions/receptions in multi-cell scenarios are not available yet, despite the fact that they constitute an extremely useful tool for the beam design phase in complex realistic settings. In this paper, we present a REM map implementation that includes various REM map definitions for multi-cell scenarios with directional transmissions/receptions. This includes Beam Shape REM maps, in which a pre-configured beam at each transmitting device is used, and Coverage Area REM maps, in which a worst-case propagation scenario is considered for each location, assuming the worst-case directional interference towards each point of reception of the REM map. We particularize REM maps for Downlink (DL) and Uplink (UL) communications, as well as for heterogeneous networks and scenarios with blockages originated by the surrounding environment. Finally, we present multiple illustrative images as examples of each of the possible REM maps that can be extracted with the newly developed tool. The work presented in this paper is publicly available in the 5G-LENA module.