Maximizing LTE MIMO

Throughput Using
Drive Test
Measurements
PCTEL RF Solutions

James Zik, Senior Product

Marketing Manager, PCTEL, Inc.

Bruce Hoefler, Vice President

Product Management, PCTEL, Inc.

Mobile Bandwidth Need

18X growth from 2011 to 2016

3

Spectrum Crunch
300

Spectrum Surplus (MHz)

200

100

-100

-200

-300
2011

2012

2013

2014

FCC Licensed Spectrum Needs*

Need to get maximum throughput on available spectrum

4

*FCC, Mobile Broadband: The Benefits of Additional Spectrum (October 2010).

How do we Get There?

Air Interface Bottleneck Solutions
More Spectrum

Limited licensed spectrum available

Expensive

WiFi Offload

Carrier grade WiFi and backhaul required

22% of mobile traffic by 2016 (Cisco VNI Mobile 2012)

Increased Cell
Density

Small Cells and DAS (expensive)

Backhaul required to each cell/DAS

Spectrum
Efficiency

Migration
LTE
Migration to to
LTE
and LTE Advanced
LTE MIMO
LTE
MIMO

Must employ all of these solutions to solve the spectrum crunch

5

Why MIMO?
Low to medium cost method to improve transmission performance
(already built-in on many LTE base stations)
Increases physical layer capacity (w/ spatial multiplexing MIMO)
Throughput gain dependent on number of Tx and Rx antennas
i.e. 2x2, 4x4, etc.
LTE Peak Spectral Efficiency per 3GPP
35

LTE Peak Throughput of 4x

30

25
20
Peak Physical Layer
Spectral Efficiency (b/s/Hz)

2x1
2x2

15

4x4

10

8x8

LTE Peak Throughput of 2x

0
-10

-5

0
-5

10
SNR (dB)

15

20

25

30

What is MIMO?
MIMO is a smart antenna
technoIogy that employs
multiple antennas at the
Tx and Rx ends
MIMO is NxM (i.e. 2x2,
4x2, 4x4, 8x8, etc.) where
N>1 and M>1
2x2 (deployed), 4x4 and
4x2 (emerging),
8x8 (LTE Advanced)

Radiated signals traveling

on different paths provide
the possibility of
performance
improvements
7

How Does MIMO Work?

Spatial Multiplexing:
Transmits multiple data
streams simultaneously in
the same frequency and
time, taking advantage of
different paths
Requires separate paths
Requires high SNR to
improve throughput
8

Transmission shown one way (eNB to UE) for simplicity

Transmission Modes

Single User MIMO Modes

Currently deployed
transmission modes

Why Test MIMO?

What are we trying to accomplish by testing MIMO?
Determine the air interface Maximum Throughput capacity
for different MIMO Modes (MIMO Gain)
Provide throughput gain of the physical layer for each
transmission mode (using standards number)

Optimize the RAN physical layer for Maximum Throughput

Characterize Link efficiency

Troubleshoot the RAN physical layer

Isolate path issues
Test for channel independence

10

What Parameters are

Necessary for MIMO Testing
Premise: Operators need to understand MIMO transmission
characteristics of the physical layer in RAN

11

Path measurements
Channel Quality Indicator (CQI as defined by 3GPP)
Throughput (maximum air interface throughput capability)
Channel Condition Number (CN)

RF Path Measurements
Determines if there is a problem with base station port or
a particular antenna with regard to MIMO paths

Antenna, cabling or TX port issues

Measurements are provided for each Tx/Rx antenna pair
4 paths for 2x2 MIMO
RSRP, RSRQ, RS CINR for each path

12

CQI
CQI Index

Modulation

Consistent indicator of theoretical

transmission physical layer
efficiency
CQI measurement is an essential
tool for MIMO
With SISO, CINR translates
directly to CQI
With MIMO, CINR does NOT
translate to CQI i.e. throughput

Code Rate x
1024

Efficiency
(b/s/Hz)

out of range

QPSK

78

0.1523

QPSK

120

0.2344

QPSK

193

0.3770

QPSK

308

0.6016

QPSK

449

0.8770

QPSK

602

1.1758

16QAM

378

1.4766

16QAM

490

1.9141

16QAM

616

2.4063

10

64QAM

466

2.7305

11

64QAM

567

3.3223

12

64QAM

666

3.9023

13

64QAM

772

4.5234

14

64QAM

873

5.1152

15

64QAM

948

5.5547

Source: 3GPP TS 36.213 Ver. 10.7.0 (Sept. 2012)

Table 7.2.3-1: 4-bit CQI
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Throughput
How and where is throughput measured?
Maximum Throughput
Capacity of the Air Interface
(Physical Layer)

Physical Layer Throughput

(for RAN optimization)
Throughput measurement includes RAN, Backhaul,
Network Loading, Server, etc.
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Throughput (Mbps)

CQI
Index

5 MHz

10 MHz

20 MHz

0.55

1.10

2.19

0.84

1.69

3.38

1.36

2.71

5.43

2.17

4.33

8.66

3.16

6.31

12.63

4.23

8.47

16.93

5.32

10.63

21.26

6.89

13.78

27.56

8.66

17.33

34.65

10

9.83

19.66

39.32

11

11.96

23.92

47.84

12

14.05

28.10

56.19

13

16.28

32.57

65.14

14

18.41

36.83

73.66

15

20.00

39.99

79.99

User layer throughput

reduced up to 10X due
to control overhead
-

Handshaking
Synchronization
Retransmission

Condition Number (CN)

CN is a measure of the independence (or correlation) of the
channels (paths)
Measured from 0 to 50 dB; lower values are better indicating low
correlation
CN helps analyze potential causes for throughput issues but is not used
to calculate throughput
Studies show MIMO can still be effective with high CN if CINR is high

Industry Norm
CN (dB)
0
~<13*
~13 to 19*
~>19*

Indication
Two totally independent channels, an ideal condition that
can enable maximum throughput
Favorable condition that can enable much better throughput
than SISO/MISO based transmission systems
Medium correlation that can provide marginal throughput
improvement
High correlation where MIMO generally would not induce a
condition that would increase throughput

*The CNs indicating the level of correlation are based on industry published approximations and can vary by several dB depending on conditions

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Interpreting MIMO
Measurements
Separate CN, ECQI and transmission mode
measurements allow operators to diagnose the
causes of low throughput
Low CN and low CQI means there is an interference
or a power issue
High CN and low CQI means high channel correlation
and probable low SINR

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MIMO Testing Benefits

Characterize RF propagation for MIMO
Consistent, repeatable RF data independent of the backhaul, network layer overhead &
server loading
Higher dynamic range to determine noise floor and potential interference effects
High data density to locate fading issues and reduced MIMO throughput

Determine channel independence

Analyze network problems related to multipath conditions with condition number
Understand how antenna tilt or relocation can affect throughput

Provides result for various transmission modes

Understand how different transmission modes affect RAN performance

Troubleshoot antenna/cabling issues and base station Tx port issues

Path measurements

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MIMO oDAS Case Study

FDD-LTE 2x2 MIMO outdoor DAS
When: April 2012
Outdoor DAS deployed due to cell tower restrictions
Area characterized by high foliage and low antenna height

Antenna Locations
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How we Tested
Simultaneous oDAS Testing with Scanner and UE Data Card
PCTEL SeeGull EX Scanner
Test data card on another system
Orientation Test
Walk Test vs Drive Test
MIMO Transmission Modes (on the scanner)
RSRP, CN, CINR and Throughput

19

Why Use a Scanner

3GPP TR 37.976:
3GPP already defined conducted tests for MIMO and
multiple antenna receivers . but it is clear that the ability to
duplicate these gains in the field is highly dependent on the
performance of the receive-antenna system..
The MIMO OTA throughput is measured at the top of
physical layer of HSPA and LTE system
Scanner use omni-directional antennas
Scanners measure throughput at the physical layer
Scanners provide throughput for multiple MIMO transmission
modes
UEs only provide throughput for the MIMO mode the UE is
locked onto
20

Orientation Analysis
UE Data Card

Frequency

Position: 0
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

kb/s

Position A Average: 2.820 Mbps

Frequency

Position: 90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

kb/s

21

Position C Average: 1.232 Mbps

2.3X difference depending on

orientation due to directionality
of UE antennas
(stationary test)

MIMO antennas in UEs

are typically very
directional

Speed Analysis
UE Drive Test (~20 mph)

UE Walk Test

((
4
2
)
4
)

(24)

45

80

40

70

35

60

30
25
20
15
10

# of Data Points

# of Data Points

(42)

50
40
30
20

10

0
1

Throughput (kb/s)

22

500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500 5000

Throughput (kb/s)

UE Throughput drops by 2X w/ drive test, scanner is not affected by speed

Drive Test Data

(Throughput)
UE
Lost Connection

Data

UE Data

Significant differences
between scanner & UE

600

Note: Throughput is very low.

Scanner show higher throughput
since its measuring at the physical
layer

400
200

Scanner
# of Data Points

# of Data Points

UE

Scanner Data

5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0

23

100

Tput (kb/s)

1000

2500

5000

10000

More

Tput (kb/s)

Scanner Transmission
Modes (MIMO Gain)

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0

Tput (kb/s)

24

Closed Loop Spatial

Multiplexing (mode 4)
1000
Frequency

# of Data Points

Open Loop Transmit Diversity

(mode 2)
800
600
400
200
0
100

1000

2500

5000 10000 20000 30000 More

Tput (kb/s) 100

1000

2500

5000 10000 20000 30000 More

No throughput gain from multiple data streams

RSRP

# of Data Points

RSRP

dBm

Test results show marginal RSRP

25

CINR for MIMO

# of Data Points

CINR

dB

Test results show very LOW CINR

26

CN for MIMO

# of Data Points

Condition Number (CN)

dB

Test results show low CN

27

MIMO requires high CINR and prefers low CN to maximize throughput

oDAS Case Study

Conclusions
MIMO is ineffective in this network
Network has a severe interference and/or noise problem
Marginal RSRP and very poor CINR

Conditions favorable for MIMO to improve throughput

Low CN
UE Measurements for MIMO must be carefully examined since they
are affected by:
UE Orientation
Speed of movement during the test
Drive test vs walk test for outdoor systems.

MIMO Transmission mode the UE is operating in

Another UE may operate in a different transmission mode

A scanner is very effective in characterizing a MIMO network

28

MIMO Macro Cell

Case Study (Oct 2011)
PCI-Best Server by RSRP (Baltimore: Urban Environment)
Focus on Best
Server Region
for PCI (best
server)
(PCI, # of data pts)

29

LTE RSRP (Best Server)

Excellent RSRP
30

MIMO Drive Test

Transmit Diversity and MIMO Throughput
Best Server Region
for PCI of interest

Transmit Diversity

MIMO (mode 4)

Mbps

31

MIMO Drive Test

Delta (MIMO-Transmit Diversity)
Throughput
Large MIMO gain for much
of the center region of the cell

Why is (MIMO Transmit Diversity)

negative at the cell edge (pink)?
For extremely low CINR, transmit diversity
is more efficient. The UE will switch to
transmit diversity in this region.

Mbps

32

MIMO Drive Test

Condition Number and CINR
High CN with high
MIMO Gain

Condition Number

Very High CINR

CINR

dB
dB

33

Significant MIMO gain exists for LOS condition

if CINR is high even with high CN

Summary
MIMO was very effective for maximizing throughput in the Baltimore
Macro cell case study
MIMO may not be effective in sub-optimal designs, deployments or
terrains as shown in the oDAS case study
Testing Benefits with a Scanner
Characterize RF propagation for MIMO
Consistent, repeatable RF data independent of the backhaul, network layer
overhead & server loading
Higher dynamic range to determine noise floor and potential interference effects
High data density to locate fading issues and reduced MIMO throughput

Determine channel independence

Analyze network problems related to multipath conditions with condition number
Understand how antenna tilt or relocation can affect throughput

Provides result for various transmission modes

Understand how different transmission modes affect RAN performance

Troubleshoot antenna/cabling issues and base station Tx port issues

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Path measurements

Questions?
Thank you
For a free LTE MIMO poster, please visit PCTEL RF Solutions website:
http://rfsolutions.pctel.com/content.cgi?id_num=36

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