Proactive Link Blockage Avoidance for Reliable mmWave Communication

Blockage of a mmWave communication link, due to movement of one or both of the wireless devices, and/or movement of an obstacle, is predicted. An environment is monitored by imaging devices, which may be fixed or mobile, and may be on the wireless devices. Objects in the environment are detected and their motion tracked from the image data. Based on the motion of the wireless device(s) and/or an obstacle, a link blockage event-whereby an obstacle interrupts communications on the link-is predicted, and a start time is estimated. Prior to the start time, directional antenna beams of both wireless devices are directed to a passive reflector, and the mmWave communication link is routed around the obstacle. Passive reflectors may be deployed through the environment. They may be moveable in angle and tilt to assist in avoiding link blockage. Beam re-training is performed on a group of directional antenna beam pairs directed towards the passive reflector. The directional antenna beam pairs are ranked by a channel quality metric, such as SINR, and a pair is chosen for use during the blockage (two pairs for duplex links). A different frequency may be used for the blockage avoidance communication link, reducing interference and allowing the same passive reflector to be used by more than one wireless communication link. The wireless communication link is transferred to the re-trained direction antenna beams, directed to a passive reflector, prior to the start of the link blockage event. For the duration of blockage, the wireless devices communicate via the passive reflector, without loss or interruption, which is critical in URLLC use cases.