Evaluating the effectiveness of Cooperative/Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP) LTE feature in uplink and downlink transmissions

Shannon demonstrated that the channel capacity depends of the ratio of the received signal power to interference plus noise power (SINR). Inter-cell interference caused by neighbouring base stations (BSs) has been identified as one of the most severe problem towards the deployment of LTE technology as it can significantly deteriorate the performance of cellside User Equipment (UE). However, because of regulatory and radiation restrictions as well as operational costs, signal power may only be increased only up to a certain limit to reduce the interference. The other common radio propagation impairment is multipath. Multipath refers to a scenario where multiple copies of a signal propagate to a receiver using different paths. The paths can be created due to signal reflection, scattering and diffraction. As will be discussed later the effects of multipath contribute little to intercell interference because multipath characteristics such as delay spread are compensated for using cyclic prefixes. In this work, we will limit our scope to interference as it has been identified as the main cause of performance degradation for cell edge users due to the full frequency reuse technique used in LTE. To mitigate interference 3GPP devised options of increasing the capacity in LTEAdvanced Release 12 which include the use of spectral aggregation, employing Multiple Input and Multiple Output (MIMO) Antenna techniques, deploying more base stations and micro and femto cells, increasing the degree of sectorisation and Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP). We are primarily interested in evaluating performance improvements introduced when uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) coordinated/cooperative multipoint (CoMP) is enabled in LTE Advanced Release 12 as a way of reducing interference among sites. The CoMP option of reducing interference does not require deployment of new equipment compared to the other options mentioned above hence network deployment costs are minimal. CoMP in theory is known to reduce interference especially for cell edge users and therefore improves network fairness. With CoMP, multiple points coordinate with each other such that transmission of signals to and from other points do not incur serious interference or the interference can even be exploited as a meaningful signal. In September 2011 work on specifications for CoMP support was started in 3GPP LTEAdvanced as one of the core features in LTE-Advanced Release 11 to improve cell edge user throughput as well as the average network throughput. We set to do field measurements in the evaluation of the effectiveness of CoMP in LTE. 3GPP LTE Release 12 was used and cell edge users' performance was the focus. The network operates in 2330 - 2350 MHz band (Channel 40). From the field measurements, it was demonstrated that the CoMP (Scenario 2) feature indeed effective in improving service quality/user experience/fairness for cell edge users. CoMP inherently improves network capacity. A seven (7) percent throughput was noticed

PROCESS FOR BREAKING DOWN THE LTE SIGNAL TO EXTRACT KEY INFORMATION

The increasingly important role of Long Term Evolution (LTE) has increased security concerns among the service providers and end users and made security of the network even more indispensable. The main thrust of this thesis is to investigate if the LTE signal can be broken down in a methodical way to obtain information that would otherwise be private; e.g., the Global Positioning System (GPS) location of the user equipment/base station or identity (ID) of the user. The study made use of signal simulators and software to analyze the LTE signal to develop a method to remove noise, breakdown the LTE signal and extract desired information. From the simulation results, it was possible to extract key information in the downlink like the Downlink Control Information (DCI), Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) and physical Cell Identity (Cell-ID). This information can be modified to cause service disruptions in the network within a reasonable amount of time and with modest computing resources.Defence Science and Technology Agency, SingaporeApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

LTE-verkon suorituskyvyn parantaminen CDMA2000:sta LTE:hen tehdyn muutoksen jälkeen

CDMA2000 technology has been widely used on 450 MHz band. Recently the equipment availability and improved performance offered by LTE has started driving the operators to migrate their networks from CDMA2000 to LTE. The migration may cause the network performance to be in suboptimal state. This thesis presents four methods to positively influence LTE network performance after CDMA2000 to LTE migration, especially on 450 MHz band. Furthermore, three of the four presented methods are evaluated in a live network. The measured three methods were cyclic prefix length, handover parameter optimization and uplink coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission. The objective was to determine the effectiveness of each method. The research methods included field measurements and network KPI collection. The results show that normal cyclic prefix length is enough for LTE450 although the cell radius may be up to 50km. Only special cases exist where cyclic prefix should be extended. Operators should consider solving such problems individually instead of widely implementing extended cyclic prefix. Handover parameter optimization turned out to be an important point of attention after CDMA2000 to LTE migration. It was observed that if the handover parameters are not concerned, significant amount of unnecessary handovers may happen. It was evaluated that about 50% of the handovers in the network were unnecessary in the initial situation. By adjusting the handover parameter values 47,28 % of the handovers per user were removed and no negative effects were detected. Coordinated multipoint transmission has been widely discussed to be an effective way to improve LTE network performance, especially at the cell edges. Many challenges must be overcome before it can be applied to downlink. Also, implementing it to function between cells in different eNBs involve challenges. Thus, only intra-site uplink CoMP transmission was tested. The results show that the performance improvements were significant at the cell edges as theory predicted.CDMA2000 teknologiaa on laajalti käytetty 450 MHz:n taajuusalueella. Viime aikoina LTE:n tarjoamat halvemmat laitteistot ja parempi suorituskyky ovat kannustaneet operaattoreita muuttamaan verkkoaan CDMA2000:sta LTE:hen. Kyseinen muutos saattaa johtaa epäoptimaaliseen tilaan verkon suorituskyvyn kannalta. Tämä työ esittelee neljä menetelmää, joilla voidaan positiivisesti vaikuttaa LTE-verkon suorituskykyyn CDMA2000:ste LTE:hen tehdyn muutoksen jälkeen erityisesti 450 MHz:n taajuusalueella. Kolmea näistä menetelmistä arvioidaan tuotantoverkossa. Nämä kolme menetelmää ovat suojavälin pituus, solunvaihtoparametrien optimointi ja ylälinkin koordinoitu monipistetiedonsiirto. Tavoite oli määrittää kunkin menetelmän vaikutus. Tutkimusmenetelmiin kuului kenttämittaukset ja verkon suorituskykymittareiden analyysi. Tutkimustulosten perusteella voidaan sanoa, että normaali suojaväli on riittävän pitkä LTE450:lle vaikka solujen säde on jopa 50km. Vain erikoistapauksissa tarvitaan pidennettyä suojaväliä. Operaattoreiden tulisi ratkaista tällaiset tapaukset yksilöllisesti sen sijaan, että koko verkossa käytettäisiin pidennettyä suojaväliä. Solunvaihtoparametrien optimointi osoittautui tärkeäksi huomion aiheeksi CDMA2000:sta LTE:hen tehdyn muutoksen jälkeen. Turhia solunvaihtoja saattaa tapahtua merkittäviä määriä, mikäli parametreihin ei kiinnitetä huomiota. Lähtötilanteessa noin 50 % testiverkon solunvaihdoista arvioitiin olevan turhia. Solunvaihtoparametreja muuttamalla 47,28 % solunvaihdoista per käyttäjä saatiin poistettua ilman, että mitään haittavaikutuksia olisi huomattu. Koordinoidun monipistetiedonsiirron on laajalti sanottu olevan tehokas tapa parantaa LTE-verkon suorituskykyä, etenkin solujen reunoilla. Monia haasteita pitää ratkaista, enne kuin sitä voidaan käyttää alalinkin tiedonsiirtoon. Lisäksi sen käyttöön eri tukiasemien solujen välillä liittyy haasteita. Tästä syystä monipistetiedonsiirtoa voitiin testata vain ylälinkin suuntaan ja vain yhden tukiaseman välisten solujen kesken. Tulokset osoittivat, että suorituskyky parani merkittävästi solun reunalla

PAPR In LTE UPLINK : Problem and Improvement

LTE-Advanced is one of the most competing and widely adopted families of standards that will meet the 4G broadband wireless mobile communications requirements recommended by the IMT-Advanced for the terrestrial radio interface specifications. Pre-commercial deployments have proved that LTE-Advanced will ensure the competitiveness of the 4G mobile networks by providing a high-data-rate , low latency and optimized system. Unlike the IEEE802.16m WiMAX which uses OFDMA in both downlink and uplink multiple access schemes, LTE and its advanced version systems continue to use different multiple access transmissions in which OFDMA and SC-FDMA are supported in the downlink and the uplink, respectively. The idea to use OFDMA in the LTE uplink communications invoked discord among the members of the 3GPP standardization body because of the growing concern over the signal peakiness which degrades the efficiency of mobile station power battery consumption. The dire consequence of the peak amplitudes generated by the superposition of several subcarriers of identical phases led 3GPP to adopt SC-FDMA as an uplink multiple access method. Thus in this paper , the effect of pulse shaping on the performance of the uplink PAPR of distributed FDMA and localized FDMA will be dealt deeply. The performance improvement will be done by varying the roll-off factor of the raised-cosine filter for pulse shaping after IFFT.fi=Opinnäytetyö kokotekstinä PDF-muodossa.|en=Thesis fulltext in PDF format.|sv=Lärdomsprov tillgängligt som fulltext i PDF-format