{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,21]],"date-time":"2026-04-21T04:47:14Z","timestamp":1776746834257,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,19]],"date-time":"2026-04-19T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1776556800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000780","name":"European Union","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["6GWINET"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["6GWINET"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000780","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Network"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The use of millimeter-wave spectrum in fifth-generation (5G) systems is increasing the need for accurate prediction of received power and coverage in real deployment scenarios. In this context, ray tracing (RT) is a promising approach for site-specific analysis, although its reliability depends on how accurately different tools reproduce measurements in complex urban environments. This work presents a comparative assessment at 27 GHz of three RT tools: in-house Exact tool based on Vertical Plane Launching (VPL), Matlab 5G and open-source Sionna RT based on Shooting and Bouncing Rays (SBR). The comparison relies on a large outdoor walk-test campaign, including about 14,725 measurement points collected in a real urban area around a 27 GHz mMIMO base station, using real operator-provided antenna radiation patterns. Measured and simulated power levels are compared using statistical metrics, including Mean Absolute Error (MAE), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and a planning-oriented coverage-rate metric. The results show a reasonable agreement between simulations and measurements, with RMSE and MAE values around 10\u201312 dB, highlighting tool-specific behaviors related to boundary effects, interaction modeling, and high-power overestimation. This work confirms that RT is a flexible support for 5G preliminary network design, reducing the need for extensive drive tests.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/network6020026","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,20]],"date-time":"2026-04-20T08:24:23Z","timestamp":1776673463000},"page":"26","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Ray Tracing Simulators for 5G New Radio Systems: Comparative Analysis Through Urban Measurements at 27 GHz"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0000-4072-217X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesca","family":"Lodato","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics \u201cEttore Pancini\u201d, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3293-5754","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pierpaolo","family":"Salvo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, 00161 Rome, Italy"}]},{"given":"Marcello","family":"Folli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, 00161 Rome, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-1459-1387","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Simona","family":"Valbonesi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, 00161 Rome, Italy"}]},{"given":"Andrea","family":"Garzia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, 00161 Rome, Italy"}]},{"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Ruello","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4104-2405","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Riccardo","family":"Suman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mobile Access Engineering, Vodafone Servizi e Tecnologie, Ivrea, 10015 Turin, Italy"}]},{"given":"Massimo","family":"Perobelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mobile Access Engineering, Vodafone Servizi e Tecnologie, Ivrea, 10015 Turin, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6936-8418","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rita","family":"Massa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics \u201cEttore Pancini\u201d, University of Naples Federico II, 80126 Naples, Italy"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6173-3601","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonio","family":"Iodice","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, University of Naples Federico II, 80125 Naples, Italy"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,19]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bhushan, B., Sharma, S.K., Kumar, R., and Priyadarshini, I. 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