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Blind Calibration of Phase Drift in Millimeter-Wave Channel Sounders

Published by National Institute of Standards and Technology | National Institute of Standards and Technology | Catalog Last Checked: August 03, 2026 at 03:51 AM | Dataset Last Updated: June 11, 2020
Millimeter-wave channel sounders are much more sensitive to phase drift than their microwave counterparts by virtue of shorter wavelength. This matters when coherently combining untethered channel measurements ? scanned over multiple antennas either electronically or mechanically in seconds, minutes, or even hours ? to obtain directional information. To eliminate phase drift, a synchronization cable between the transmitter and receiver is required, limiting deployment range and flexibility indoors, and precluding most outdoor and mobile scenarios. Instead, we propose a blind technique to calibrate for phase drift by post-processing the channel measurements; the technique is referred to as blind because it requires no reference signal and, as such, works even in non-line-of-sight conditions when the (reference) direct path goes undetected. To substantiate the technique, it was tested on real measurements collected with our 60-GHz virtual phased-array channel sounder, as well as through simulation. The technique was demonstrated robust enough to deal with the most severe case of phase drift (uniformly distributed phase) and in non-line-of-sight conditions.

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Complete Metadata
@type dcat:Dataset
accessLevel public
bureauCode 
[
  "006:55"
]
contactPoint 
{
  "fn": "Camillo Gentile",
  "hasEmail": "mailto:camillo.gentile@nist.gov"
}
description Millimeter-wave channel sounders are much more sensitive to phase drift than their microwave counterparts by virtue of shorter wavelength. This matters when coherently combining untethered channel measurements ? scanned over multiple antennas either electronically or mechanically in seconds, minutes, or even hours ? to obtain directional information. To eliminate phase drift, a synchronization cable between the transmitter and receiver is required, limiting deployment range and flexibility indoors, and precluding most outdoor and mobile scenarios. Instead, we propose a blind technique to calibrate for phase drift by post-processing the channel measurements; the technique is referred to as blind because it requires no reference signal and, as such, works even in non-line-of-sight conditions when the (reference) direct path goes undetected. To substantiate the technique, it was tested on real measurements collected with our 60-GHz virtual phased-array channel sounder, as well as through simulation. The technique was demonstrated robust enough to deal with the most severe case of phase drift (uniformly distributed phase) and in non-line-of-sight conditions.
distribution 
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identifier ark:/88434/mds2-2326
issued 2021-01-05
keyword 
[
  "5G",
  "beamforming",
  "clock drift",
  "mmWave",
  "phase coherence",
  "phased-array antennas"
]
landingPage https://data.nist.gov/od/id/mds2-2326
language 
[
  "en"
]
license https://www.nist.gov/open/license
modified 2020-06-11 00:00:00
programCode 
[
  "006:045"
]
publisher 
{
  "name": "National Institute of Standards and Technology",
  "@type": "org:Organization"
}
references 
[
  "https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3001852"
]
theme 
[
  "Advanced Communications:Wireless (RF)"
]
title Blind Calibration of Phase Drift in Millimeter-Wave Channel Sounders

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