On Link-level Performance of Passive IRS-boosted Indoor mmWave Communications and Road Ahead

Private cellular network deployments are increasingly adopted globally to connect machines on industrial campuses. Millimeter-wave (mmWave) cells need to be utilized when high wireless traffic volumes are expected, e.g., owing to high application requirements in conjunction with large number of devices. However, mmWave connectivity is highly sensible to non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions. For cost- and energy-efficiency reasons, 6G aims to illuminate under-connected shadow regions within the targeted service area using intelligent reflecting surfaces (IRSs). We present promising indoor measurement results for the attained performance boost using commercial equipment, where the introduction of a custom-designed passive IRS seamlessly restores throughput to 2 Gbit/s with the new propagation path increasing the link margin by more than 10 dB.