Beam-Selection for 5G/B5G Networks Using Machine Learning: A Comparative Study

A challenging problem in millimeter wave (mmWave) communications for the fifth generation of cellular communications and beyond (5G/B5G) is the beam selection problem. This is due to severe attenuation and penetration losses that are inherent in the mmWave band. Thus, the beam selection problem for mmWave links in a vehicular scenario can be solved as an exhaustive search among all candidate beam pairs. However, this approach cannot be assuredly completed within short contact times. On the other hand, machine learning (ML) has the potential to significantly advance 5G/B5G technology, as evidenced by the growing complexity of constructing cellular networks. In this work, we perform a comparative study of using different ML methods to solve the beam selection problem. We use a common dataset for this scenario found in the literature. We increase the accuracy of these results by approximately 30%. Moreover, we extend the given dataset by producing additional synthetic data. We apply ensemble learning techniques and obtain results with about 94% accuracy. The novelty of our work lies in the fact that we improve the existing dataset by adding more synthetic data and by designing a custom ensemble learning method for the problem at hand.