  This paper compares three candidate large-scale propagation path loss models
for use over the entire microwave and millimeter-wave (mmWave) radio spectrum:
the alpha-beta-gamma (ABG) model, the close-in (CI) free space reference
distance model, and the CI model with a frequency-weighted path loss exponent
(CIF). Each of these models have been recently studied for use in standards
bodies such as 3GPP, and for use in the design of fifth generation (5G)
wireless systems in urban macrocell, urban microcell, and indoor office and
shopping mall scenarios. Here we compare the accuracy and sensitivity of these
models using measured data from 30 propagation measurement datasets from 2 GHz
to 73 GHz over distances ranging from 4 m to 1238 m. A series of sensitivity
analyses of the three models show that the physically-based two-parameter CI
model and three-parameter CIF model offer computational simplicity, have very
similar goodness of fit (i.e., the shadow fading standard deviation), exhibit
more stable model parameter behavior across frequencies and distances, and
yield smaller prediction error in sensitivity testing across distances and
frequencies, when compared to the four-parameter ABG model. Results show the CI
model with a 1 m close-in reference distance is suitable for outdoor
environments, while the CIF model is more appropriate for indoor modeling. The
CI and CIF models are easily implemented in existing 3GPP models by making a
very subtle modification -- by replacing a floating non-physically based
constant with a frequency-dependent constant that represents free space path
loss in the first meter of propagation.
