DRAFT

Measurement Methodology and Post Processing for LTE Evaluation

Prepared by: Florian Kaltenberger, Raymond Knopp Mobile Communications Department EURECOM, Sophia Antipolis 24.03.10 Version history: Date 13.9.2009 22.2.1010 2.3.2010 8.3.2010 Version 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 Author FK GS FK FK Comment First draft First comments Response to comments Minor edits and clarifications

Table of Contents
Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ 2 1 2 Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 3 Measurement Equipment ....................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Hardware .......................................................................................................................... 3 Enhanced Node B ...................................................................................................... 3 User Equipment ........................................................................................................ 3 PHY measurements ................................................................................................... 4 Two-way wideband MIMO channel estimates. ........................................................ 5 GPS location tracking (UE only) ................................................................................ 5 PDCH (UE only).......................................................................................................... 5 Throughput measurements ...................................................................................... 5 Overall structure that is stored to disk ..................................................................... 7 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.2 2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.2.4 2.2.5 2.2.6 3 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 4 4.1 4.2 5 6 7

Software ........................................................................................................................... 3

Measurement Methodology ................................................................................................... 7 Measurement Sites .......................................................................................................... 7 Link Budget ....................................................................................................................... 7 Objectives to be achieved by the measurements............................................................ 9 Measurement Procedure ............................................................................................... 10 Throughput post processing .......................................................................................... 11 List of figures to be produced ........................................................................................ 12

Post processing ..................................................................................................................... 11

Data integrity and quality verification .................................................................................. 15 Data elaboration flow ........................................................................................................... 15 References ............................................................................................................................ 15

1 Introduction 2 Measurement Equipment

2.1 Hardware
2.1.1 Enhanced Node B 2.1.2 User Equipment

2.2 Software
The measurement software runs on the host PCs (both eNB and UE) on top of the LTE software modem. It allows to control the modem (such as the MIMO mode) as well as to visualize various channel parameters.

Figure 1: GUI for measurement software

The measurement software allows the real-time acquisition of the following real-time radio parameters:

2.2.1 PHY measurements In the following we list the measurements that are estimated and stored at the UE and the eNodeB. These measurements are independent of the transmission mode. 2.2.1.1Common PHY Measurements (UE and eNb) rx_power[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX][NB_ANTENNAS_RX] n0_power[NB_ANTENNAS_RX] rx_power_dB[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX][NB_ANTENNAS_RX] rx_spatial_power[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NB_ANTENNAS_RX][NB_ANTENNAS_TX] rx_spatial_power_dB[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NB_ANTENNAS_RX][NB_ANTENNAS_TX] rx_avg_power_dB[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] rx_rssi_dBm[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] n0_power_dB[NB_ANTENNAS_RX] n0_avg_power_dB rx_correlation[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NB_ANTENNAS_RX] rx_correlation_dB[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NB_ANTENNAS_RX]

estimated received signal power (linear) estimated noise power (linear) estimated received signal power (dB) estimated received spatial signal power (linear) estimated received spatial signal power (dB) estimated avg power (dB) received signal

estimated rssi (dBm) estimated noise power (dB) estimated avg noise power (dB) estimated correlation (wideband linear) between spatial channels estimated correlation (wideband dB) between spatial channels

2.2.1.2UE PHY Measurements wideband_sinr[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] subband_sinr[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NUMBER_OF_SUBBANDS]; wideband_cqi[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] subband_cqi[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NUMBER_OF_SUBBANDS] wideband_pmi[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX] [NB_ANTENNAS_RX]; subband_pmi[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX]

Estimated wideband SINR Estimated subband SINR Estimated wideband CQI (feedback) Estimated subband CQI (feedback) Estimated wideband PMI per RX antenna (feedback) Estimated subband PMI per RX an-

[NUMBER_OF_SUBBANDS] [NB_ANTENNAS_RX]; selected_rx_antennas;

tenna (feedback) chosen RX antennas (1=Rx antenna 1, 2=Rx antenna 2, 3=both Rx antennas)

2.2.2 Two-way wideband MIMO channel estimates. 1. UE: We store the channel estimates from the reference symbols (RS) of the first subframe in every frame. This corresponds to 937.5kbyte/sec (= 4 byte/sample * 2 RX antennas * 300 subcarriers * 4 OFDM symbols * 100 frames) or 3.3Gbyte/h. 2. eNb: We store the channel estimates from the sounding reference symbols (SRS) which is every subframe. This corresponds to 1172 kbyte/sec (= 4 byte/sample * 2 RX antennas * 300 subcarriers * 5 OFDM symbols * 100 frames) or 4.12Gbyte/h 2.2.3 GPS location tracking (UE only) The locations (latitude, longitude, altitude, speed) are stored every second (every 100 LTE frames) along with the measurement data. 2.2.4 PDCH (UE only) Contains the unique frame number that allows aligning the data with the one from the opposite link. We also record the frame error rates on the PDCH. 2.2.5 Throughput measurements Throughput measurements will be collected at different levels of the protocol stack as shown in Figure 2. IP IP Throughput RLC RLC Throughput MAC MAC Throughput (without signalling, with HARQ) PHY Coding Uncoded Throughput PHY Modulation

Figure 2: Different throughput measurements

2.2.5.1Uncoded throughput & MAC throughput The coded and the uncoded throughput can be derived from the DCI and the UCI PDU, which we store both at the UE and the eNb. The DCI (Downlink Control Information) transports downlink or uplink scheduling information, or uplink power control commands for one RNTI (Radio Network Temporary Identifyer). Length of DCI in bits Aggregation level rnti Format DCI pdu unsigned char dci_length; unsigned char L; unsigned short rnti; DCI_format_t format; unsigned char dci_pdu[1+(MAX_DCI_SIZE_BITS/8)];

The format can be one of the following format0, format1, format1A, format1B, format1C, format1D, format2, format2_2A_L10PRB, format2_2A_M10PRB, format2_4A_L10PRB, format2_4A_M10PRB, format2A_2A_L10PRB, format2A_2A_M10PRB, format2A_4A_L10PRB, format2A_4A_M10PRB, format3

Each format has a specific number of bits, which are stored in the PDU field. See 3GPP 36.212 (v8.6) for details. This control information allows to recover the Coding and Modulation scheme and the number of allocated ressource elements. It also contains information of the HARQ processes. Thus we can recover the throughput with and without HARQ. It also contains the scheduling allocations for the uplink, which allows to recover the UL througput as well.

2.2.5.2RLC throughput (openair2) To measure the throughput at the MAC and the RLC we store the variables UE_mac_inst (type UE_MAC_INST) at the UE and the variable CH_mac_inst (type CH_MAC_INST) at the eNb once a (sub?)frame.

2.2.6 Overall structure that is stored to disk 2.2.6.1Openair1

struct fifo_dump_emos_struct_UE { RTIME timestamp; //! Timestamp of the receiver unsigned int frame_tx; //! Framenumber of the TX (encoded in the BCH) unsigned int frame_rx; //! Framenumber of the RX PHY_MEASUREMENTS PHY_measurements; //! Structure holding all PHY measurements char pbch_pdu[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX][PBCH_PDU_SIZE]; /// Contents of the PBCH unsigned int pdu_errors[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX]; /// Total number of PDU errors unsigned int pdu_errors_last[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX]; /// Total number of PDU errors 128 frames ago unsigned int pdu_errors_conseq[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX]; /// Total number of consecutive PDU errors unsigned int pdu_fer[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX]; /// FER (in percent) DCI_type_t DCI_format[MAX_DCI_PER_FRAME]; /// chosen DL format (DCI) char DCI_pdu[MAX_DCI_PER_FRAME][6]; /// content of DCI UCI_type_t UCI_format[MAX_UCI_PER_FRAME]; /// chosen feedback format (UCI) char UCI_pdu[MAX_UCI_PER_FRAME][5]; /// content of the feedback information int timing_offset; /// Timing offset int freq_offset; /// Frequency offset unsigned int rx_total_gain_dB; /// Total gain int channel[NUMBER_OF_eNB_MAX][NB_ANTENNAS_RX*NB_ANTENNAS_TX][N_RB_DL_EMOS*N_PILOTS_PER_RB*N_SLOTS_EMOS]; };

2.2.6.2Openair2

3 Measurement Methodology
3.1 Measurement Sites
Possible measurement sites include: 81320 / MURAT-SUR-VEBRE 81320 / BARRE 81530 / VIANE

3.2 Link Budget

Link budget to be detailed down to the components (power compared to sensitivity and SNR with noise factor) both for DL and UL + to derivate for all channels. To be expressed as Excel sheet so as to agree on the formulas. A link budget has been established based on the following assumptions:

Path loss model for 800MHz channel: Okumura-Hata model [COST231] Path loss model for 2.6GHz: WINNER D1 [WINNER] DL Link Budget is based on the 5MHz reference channel defined in 36.101-851 Annex A.3.2 (~2Mbit/sec) UL Link Budget is based on the 1.4MHz reference channel A4.2 defined in 36.104-850 Anex A.1 (~580kbit/sec)

Figure 3: Path loss models for urban scenarios

Column1 Tx power Tx antenna gain EIRP (dBm) Rx sensitivity Total margin Distance (km) Column1 Tx power Processing gain

UHF 43 14 57 -98 155 32 UHF

2.6GHz Comments 43 17 60 -98 as defined in 36.101-851 7.3.1 158 18

Figure 4: Downlink link budget

2.6GHz Comments 23 23 6,2 6,2 minimum #RB in uplink: 6

Rx antenna gain Rx sensitivity Total margin Distance (km)

14 -101,5 144,7 22,5

17 -101,5 as defined in 36.104-850 7.2.1 147,7 9,3

Figure 5: Uplink link budget

Figure 6: Coverage regions for measurement sites based on UL link budget

3.3 Objectives to be achieved by the measurements

The goal of the measurements is to show the best throughput a real LTE release 8 nomadic terminal will be able to get in every location in the coverage area of each of the three sites. This implies: covering all the road network in each of the areas -> this requires first to identify the real limits of the coverage areas (a first estimate can be done with theoretical radio planning prior to the verification; the real limits will be identified during a pre-test as outlined in the test plan), demonstrating that the measurements obtained with vehicular antennas are transposable to outdoor nomadic antennas (since it is chosen to make most measurements in vehicular conditions so as to make measurements quicker) -> this suggests that some measurements shall be done in sufficient locations with nomadic antennas in out-ofvehicular conditions to calibrate the vehicular-nomadic delta conditions,

demonstrating that mobile measurements are representative of fixed measurements, this requires : o fixed point measurements both with outdoor vehicular antennas and outdoor nomadic antennas, o a method to translate the performance of the MODEM at vehicular speed to nomadic speed (this might be based on the instantaneous SNR and/or the wideband channel measurements), o to define a speed limit when measuring in vehicular conditions ?

measuring (or as a minimum extrapolating) the best throughput the terminal will get with the most appropriate modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO scheme and LTE release 8 compliant performances. To this end we will carry out measurements with and without link adaptation as outlined in the next section, demonstrating that the physical channels implementation in the e-nodeB and terminal is representative of LTE release 8 behavior (based on the non-compliance clause in the contract while more precise), demonstrating that the handover between sectors of the e-nodeB is representative of a real e-nodeB or how it can be translated, demonstrating that the measurements in TDD mode are representative of FDD mode (overheads, signalization).

3.4 Measurement Procedure

Throughput measurements will be conducted for different transmission modes. We will do actual throughput measurements for three different LTE transmission modes: 1: Single antenna transmission (with link adaptation and with one fixed coding and modulation scheme) 2: Transmit diversity (Alamouti) 6: Closed loop rank1 precoding The throughput of the following transmission modes will be extrapolated from the UE PHY measurements (see Section 4 for details) 4: Closed loop spatial multiplexing 5: MU-MIMO The transmission mode has to be set at the eNB prior to the measurement run. Before starting the actual measurements, the coverage of the eNB shall be calibrated using the procedure described in the test plan. A route that covers as much as possible of the cell shall be identified. It is estimated that the covered area corresponds to about 200-300km of roads for the 800MHz configuration. The route shall include zones with and without LOS, for high speed tests, villages with street canyons and zones for nomadic tests. Checkpoints shall be included on the routes at least every 30

min. The routes shall be documented using a log (including photos and or videos). In any case one measurement should not take longer than 4-6h, making it possible to finish it in one day. One measurement run will result in apx. 16-24 Gbytes of data that should be copied to an external hard disk at the end of the day. The integrity of the files shall be checked using the procedures outlined in the test plan. For information how to use the EMOS software to conduct the measurements please refer to the user manual.

4 Post processing
The recorded measurements will be post-processed in Matlab. Import filters to load the measurement data into Matlab will be provided.

4.1 Throughput post processing

The following table lists all the LTE transmission modes. The ones in green will be measured, while the ones on red are not implemented in the current version of the test bench. The ones in orange can be extrapolated from the recorded UE measurements. Also throughput curves with different receive processing (1 RX antenna instead of two) can be extrapolated. By default, there is automatic link adaptation for all modes. For the single antenna transmission mode there will also be one measurement with a fixed modulation and coding scheme.
Actual RX processing for throughput measurements SIMO SIMO

Transmission Mode 1: Single antenna 2: Transmit diversity (Alamouti) 3: Open Loop Spatial Multiplexing 4: Closed loop spatial multiplexing 5: MU-MIMO

Extrapolated Throughput in post processing SISO SISO

not implemented full RX for 2 layers not implemented only one UE available MIMO with RI=2 throughput extrapolated from measurements of mode 6 MU-MIMO throughput extrapolated from measurements of mode 6 MISO not implemented

6: Closed loop rank1 precoding 7: UE-specific

MIMO

4.2 List of figures to be produced

RSSI indicators (UL/DL) across the test cell (based on measurement 1 and 5). The data will be visualized in several ways: o overlaid a real map using the recorded GPS coordinates (see Figure 7 for an example). o plotted as a function of the distance from the base station (path loss) o plotted as a function of the distance traveled by the measurement car (allows to compare different measurement runs given that the measurement routes were the same). Ricean factor. Achievable instantaneous throughput (UL/DL) on data channels (based on measurement 3, 4, and 5). The data will be visualized in several ways: o overlaid a real map using the recorded GPS coordinates (see Figure 7 for an example). o plotted as a function of the distance from the base station o plotted as a function of the speed of the UE o plotted as a function of the distance traveled by the measurement car (allows to compare different measurement runs given that the measurement routes were the same).

Figure 7: RSSI in a measured cell

Curves showing throughput as a function of the UE-enodeB distance :

o with superposition of the curves for all measured and extrapolated transmission modes as outlined in Section 4.1, o with superposition of either fixed modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO scheme or (real and theoretical) link adaptation, o with superposition automatic MIMO coexistence between single stream (transmit diversity) and multi-stream (spectral multiplexing), o for all levels of throughputs (as shown in Figure 2), o Both for DL and UL. o Extrapolation for FDD. Curves showing throughput as a function of distance traveled : o with superposition of the curves for all modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO modes either really measured or theoretically extrapolated, o with superposition of either fixed modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO scheme or (real and theoretical) link adaptation, o with superposition automatic MIMO coexistence between single stream (transmit diversity) and multi-stream (spectral multiplexing), o in case of link adaptation (either real or theoretical), add information of the instantaneous scheme for the e-nodeB-UE link, o for all levels of throughputs, o with speed, o with Ricean factor, o Both for DL and UL. o Extrapolation for FDD. Curves showing throughput as a function of speed : o with superposition of the curves for all modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO modes either really measured or theoretically extrapolated, o with superposition of either fixed modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO scheme or (real and theoretical) link adaptation, o with superposition automatic MIMO coexistence between single stream (transmit diversity) and multi-stream (spectral multiplexing), o for all levels of throughputs, o Both for DL and UL. o Extrapolation for FDD. Curves showing throughput as a function of the Ricean factor :

o with superposition of the curves for all modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO modes either really measured or theoretically extrapolated, o with superposition of either fixed modulation-coding-puncturing-MIMO scheme or (real and theoretical) link adaptation, o with superposition automatic MIMO coexistence between single stream (transmit diversity) and multi-stream (spectral multiplexing), o for all levels of throughputs, o Both for DL and UL. o Extrapolation for FDD. Extrapolation to cell loaded with other terminals (use of Proportionally Fair as Nokia ?). Distributions of capacity (outage events) for constant bit-rate services (based on measurement 2).

Figure 8: Example of capacity distribution

Please describe how : GPS coordinates will be translated into distance traveled, especially how to cope with the fact that in urban environment GPS position may jump backwards or sideway. Two sets of measurements made on the same path at different times will be correlated, especially if on one of the path is slightly different to the other due for instance to a blocked street or road. Typically, it was agreed end of December that a method based on total path distance complemented with check points on the path (typically every crossraod) and manual suppression of unshared sections.

5 Data integrity and quality verification

Description of the post-processing verifying the quality of the data acquired (while not generating all curves).

6 Data elaboration flow

Detail (scheme + formulas) the way raw data stored by the e-nodeB and UE are elaborated into all the data needed to show the end results. Detail how all data files will be stored before generating the curves.

7 References
[WINNER] Kyosti, P.; Meinila, J.; Hentila, L.; Zhao, X.; Jamsa, T.; Schneider, C.; Narandzic, M.; Milojevic, M.; Hong, A.; Ylitalo, J.; Holappa, V.; Alatossava, M.; Bultitude, R.; de Jong, Y. & Rautiainen, T., WINNER II Channel Models, Project Deliverable, European Commission, 2007 [COST231] E Damosso, LM Correia Digital Mobile Radio Towards Future Generation Systems, COST 231 Final Report, European Commission, 1999