Fundamental Wireless Performance of a Building

Over 80 percent of wireless traffic already takes place in buildings. Like water, gas, and electricity, wireless communication is becoming one of the most fundamental utilities of a building. It is well known that building structures have a significant impact on in-building wireless networks. If we seek to achieve the optimal network performance indoors, buildings should be designed with the objective of maximizing wireless performance. So far, wireless performance has not yet been considered when designing a building. In this article, we introduce a novel and interdisciplinary concept of building wireless performance (BWP) to a wide audience in both wireless communications and building design, emphasizing its broad impacts on wireless network development and deployment, and on building layout/material design. We first give an overview of the BWP evaluation framework proposed in our state-of-the-art works and explain their interconnections. Then, we outline the potential research directions in this exciting research area to encourage further interdisciplinary research.

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