Propagation Channel Models

The LTE Toolbox™ product provides a set of channel models for the test and verification of UE and
eNodeB radio transmission and reception as defined in [1] and [2]. The following channel models are
available in the LTE Toolbox product.
 Multipath fading propagation conditions
 High speed train conditions
 Moving propagation conditions

Multipath Fading Propagation Conditions

The multipath fading channel model specifies the following three delay profiles.
 Extended Pedestrian A model (EPA)
 Extended Vehicular A model (EVA)
 Extended Typical Urban model (ETU)
These three delay profiles represent a low, medium, and high delay spread environment, respectively.
The multipath delay profiles for these channels are shown in the following tables.

hannel model Maximum Doppler frequency

EPA 5Hz 5 Hz
EVA 5Hz 5 Hz
EVA 70Hz 70 Hz
ETU 70Hz 70 Hz
ETU 300Hz 300 Hz

High Speed Train Condition

The high speed train condition defines a non-fading propagation channel with single multipath
component, the position of which is fixed in time. This single multipath represents the Doppler shift, which
is caused due to a high speed train moving past a base station, as shown in the following figure.

The expression Ds/2 is the initial distance of the train from eNodeB, and Dmin is the minimum distance
between eNodeB and the railway track. Both variables are measured in meters. The variable ν is the
velocity of the train in meters per second. The Doppler shift due to a moving train is given in the following
equation.

fs(t)=fdcosθ(t)
The variable fs(t) is the Doppler shift and fd is the maximum Doppler frequency. The cosine of
angle θ(t) is given by the following equation.
2 2
cosθ(t)= s √Dmin +(Ds/2−vt) ,0≤t≤Ds/v
D /2−vt
2 2
cosθ(t)= s √Dmin +(−1.5Ds+vt) ,Ds/v<t≤2Ds/v
−1.5D +vt
cosθ(t)=cosθ(t mod (2Ds/v)),t>2Ds/v
For eNodeB testing, two high speed train scenarios are defined that use the parameters listed in the
following table. The Doppler shift, fs(t), is calculated using the preceding equations and the parameters
listed in the following table.

Parameter Value
Scenario 1
Ds 1,000 m

Dmin 50 m

ν 350 km/hr
fd 1,340 Hz
Both of these scenarios result in Doppler shifts that apply to all frequency bands. The Doppler shift
trajectory for scenario 1 is shown in the following figure.
For UE testing, the Doppler shift, fs(t), is calculated using the preceding equations and the parameters
listed in the following table.

Parameter Value

Ds 300 m

Dmin 2m

ν 300 km/hr
fd 750 Hz
These parameters result in the Doppler shift, applied to all frequency bands, shown in the following figure.
Moving Propagation Condition:

The moving propagation channel in LTE defines a channel condition where the location of multipath
components changes. The time difference between the reference time and the first tap, Δτ, is given by the
following equation.

Δτ= ⋅sin(Δω⋅t)
A2
The variable A represents the starting time in seconds and Δω represents angular rotation in radians per
second.
The parameters for the moving propagation conditions are shown in the following table.

Doppler shift only applies for generating fading samples for scenario 1. In scenario 2, a single non-fading
multipath component with additive white gaussian noise (AWGN) is modeled. The location of this
multipath component changes with time, according to the preceding equation.
An example of a moving channel with a single non-fading tap is shown in the following figure.
MIMO Channel Correlation Matrices
In MIMO systems, there is correlation between transmit and receive antennas. This depends on a number
of factors such as the separation between antenna and the carrier frequency. For maximum capacity, it is
desirable to minimize the correlation between transmit and receive antennas.
There are different ways to model antenna correlation. One technique makes use of correlation matrices
to describe the correlation between multiple antennas both at the transmitter and the receiver. These
matrices are computed independently at both the transmitter-receiver and then combined by means of a
Kronecker product in order to generate a channel spatial correlation matrix.
Three different correlation levels are defined in [1].
1. low or no correlation
2. medium correlation
3. high correlation
The parameters α and β are defined for each level of correlation as shown in the following table of
correlation values.
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What is a cloud radio access network (C-RAN)?

A cloud radio access network (C-RAN) is a centralized, cloud computing-based architecture for radio
access networks. A C-RAN enables large-scale deployment, collaborative radio technology support and
real-time virtualization capabilities.

A C-RAN is an evolution of the current wireless communication system and uses the latest common
public radio interface standard, coarse or dense wavelength-division multiplexing technology and
millimeter wave (mmWave) transmission for long distance signals. The C in C-RAN can stand
for centralized or collaborative.
A RAN establishes a connection or communication between base stations and end users. In the C-RAN
architecture, baseband units (BBUs) relocate from individual base stations to a centralized control and
processing station, often referred to as a BBU hotel.

The BBU hotel connects to the network with high-speed optical fiber and maximizes the distance
between cells. This type of cloud computing environment operates on open hardware and network
interface cards that dynamically handle fiber links and interconnections within the station.

C-RANs are significant in the future progression of wireless technology, such as 5G and the internet of
things. With easier deployment and scaling capability, the transition from Long-Term Evolution to 5G
networks will rely heavily on C-RAN development. It also provides a cost-effective, manageable
approach to support more users.

Components of C-RAN
C-RAN networks comprise three primary components:

1. A BBU hotel. This is a centralized site that functions as a data or processing

center. Individual units can stack together without direct linkage or interconnect
to dynamically allocate resources based on network needs. Communication
between units has high bandwidth and low latency.
2. A remote radio unit (RRU) network. Also known as a remote radio head, an RRU
is a traditional network that connects wireless devices to access points.

3. A fronthaul or transport network. Also known as a mobile switching center,

a fronthaul or transport network is the connection layer between a BBU and a set
of RRUs that use optical fiber, cellular or mmWave communication.

Advantages of C-RAN
Some advantages of C-RAN are the following:

 enables higher spectrum efficiency;

 is more cost- and footprint-effective due to less hardware;

 leads to lower heating, cooling and power requirements;

 creates a more simplified, scalable and flexible network;

 supports a larger number of mobile users and wireless standards;

 enables efficient network upgrades, enhancements, testing, monitoring and

maintenance;

 pools resources or reuses infrastructure;

 achieves faster speeds than distributed RANs; and

 uses cloud computing open platforms and real-time virtualization to dynamically

allocate shared resources between BBUs.

Traditional architectures of cellular networks come up with tremendous

challenges due to rapid increase in mobile data traffic. Limited spectrum
availability make data traffic to consume high power.
Due to such demerits industries as well as research communities are in
constant search in developing novel network architectures for supporting the
exploding user demand, with reduction in capital as well as operational
expenditures for network operators.
So, network operators are meet such demand by adopting Cloud/Centralized
Access Networks(C-RAN)
This C-RAN approach to network have two main advantages:-
1. Reduced Capital Expenditures (CAPEX) or Operating Expenses (OPEX)
2. Improved user experience through less interference
C-RAN Solution :

Area where Network Users Concentration is high, such as transportation

stations or large commercial complexes put high stress on the Base transceiver
station (BTS) that serve them. With addition of more base stations increases
cost and increases signal inferences if E-UTRAN Node B (eNB) is not properly
coordinated.
If network is separated into two parts as following –
1. Baseband Unit (BBU)
2. Remote Radio Head (RRH)
Then Network Operators can increase the number of Network Access Points
while centralizing the baseband processing functions into a “master base
station”.
C-RAN System Structure :

C-RAN System Structure is divided into 3 parts:-

1. Fully Centralized –
A fully centralized structure would move all physical, MAC and network
layers into Baseband Unit. This Baseband Unit is capable of handling all the
functions of managing and processing resources and hence such structure
can benefit from easy operation and maintenance significantly.

2. Partially Centralized –
In this partially Centralized structure, the physical layer functioning is
accomplished at BBU Baseband Unit while MAC layer is performed at RRU
Remote Radio Unit. This will simply reduce the overhead of RRUs-BBUs
communication due to reason being the physical layer take a major
computation burden of C-RANs.

3. Hybrid Centralized –

In this centralized system physical layer functioning is done at RRU while

others are done at BBU layer. Remote Radio Unit (RRU) take major
responsibility of users which is mainly concerned with signal processing.
Virtualization Concept :
In C-RAN Network Visualization is done at Baseband Unit (BBU) pool level.
BBU will act as a virtual node and the link between them is Virtual Link. The
pool will operate at one physical Virtual machine sharing CPU. Remote Radio
Unit (RRU) will be connected to BBU, which will distribute them over virtual
machine. This technology will offer many advantages such as cost reduction
and minimization of time requirement and most important is scalability.
Addition and removal is easier as BBU’s are virtual machines, which are much
easier to turn off and up than physical machines.
Below figure shows the virtualization of BBU in C-RAN –

Advantages of C-RAN :
 Possibility of implementing advanced technologies.
 Resource virtualization
 Service deployment at the edge facilitation
 Resource sharing can become feasible and hence allocation can be more
flexible and on demand unlike traditional networks.
 Improves resource utilization and reduce backbone server pressure.
 More user satisfaction due to the larger pool of resources.
 What Is Network Slicing?

Network slicing is a method of creating multiple unique logical and virtualized networks over
a common multi-domain infrastructure. Using Software-Defined Networking (SDN), Network
Functions Virtualization (NFV), orchestration, analytics, and automation, Mobile Network
Operators (MNOs) can quickly create network slices that can support a specific application,
service, set of users, or network. Network slices can span multiple network domains,
including access, core, and transport, and be deployed across multiple operators.

Network slicing, with its myriad use cases, is one of the most important technologies in 5G.
It will support new services with vastly different requirements—from a connected vehicle to
a voice call, which require different throughput, latency, and reliability.

The use cases identified for 5G and network slicing fall into three major categories:

 Extreme (or enhanced) Mobile Broadband (eMBB). These applications are very video-centric and
consume a lot of bandwidth and will generate the most traffic on the mobile network.

 Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC). This is more commonly known today as the
Internet of Things, but at a much larger scale, with billions of devices being connected to the
network. These devices will generate far less traffic than eMBB applications, but there will be many
magnitudes more of them.

 Ultra-reliable Low-Latency Communications (urLLC). These will allow for things like remote
surgery or vehicle-to-X (v2x) communications and require MNOs to have mobile edge computing
capacity in place.

With network slicing, each slice can have its own architecture, management, and security to
support a specific use case. While functional components and resources may be shared
across network slices, capabilities such as data speed, capacity, connectivity, quality,
latency, reliability, and services can be customized in each slice to conform to a specific
Service Level Agreement (SLA).

Automation will be a critical component of network slicing, as it is expected that MNOs will
have to design and maintain hundreds or thousands of network slices. MNOs cannot
manage this volume of slices manually at the speeds required by their customers. Instead,
end-to-end automation must be used to perform zero-touch slice lifecycle management
dynamically at scale, and in real time, as traffic load, service requirements, and network
resources change. Once this ability is in place, however, it will open many new revenue
opportunities for MNOs.

With 5G, MNOs can now incorporate cloud-native applications into their networks, avoiding
vendor lock-in and enabling lower-cost development, improved modification and upgrade
abilities, and enhanced vertical or horizontal scalability. MNOs should strongly consider
adopting cloud-native slicing applications to take advantage of this benefit and ensure they
can support evolving 5G standards.

How Blue Planet can help

Blue Planet® is a vendor-agnostic intelligent automation software portfolio that helps MNOs
transition to 5G. With the Blue Planet 5G Automation solution, MNOs can seamlessly
manage the lifecycle of an end-to-end network slice by automating its design, creation,
modification, and monitoring, and by provisioning underlying resources to a slice when
required. The solution supports scaling and orchestrating network resources for 5G core,
xHaul (combination of backhaul, midhaul, and fronthaul), and Radio Access Network (RAN),
creating and operating network slices, and assuring service performance through closed-
loop automation.