  Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) is being investigated as a means to
overcome deployment costs of ultra-dense 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) networks
by realizing wireless backhaul links to relay the access traffic. For the
development of these systems, however, it is fundamental to validate the
performance of IAB in realistic scenarios through end-to-end system level
simulations. In this paper, we shed light on the most recent standardization
activities on IAB, and compare architectures with and without IAB in mmWave
deployments. While it is well understood that IAB networks reduce deployment
costs by obviating the need to provide wired backhaul to each cellular
base-station, in this paper we demonstrate the cell-edge throughput advantage
offered by IAB using end-to-end system level simulations. We further highlight
some research challenges associated with this architecture that will require
further investigations.
