Signals Research

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During the week of February 8th we conducted what is arguably the most scientific and exhaustive independent performance analysis ever conducted of an LTE network(s). During our tests, which were almost entirely conducted in vehicular or pedestrian mode, we transferred nearly 186GB of data, or nearly twenty-five times more data usage than what a typical fixed broadband user consumes in an entire month.

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As part of this research project we had the opportunity to use XCAL LTE drive test tool and XCAP LTE post-processing tool from Accuver. To the best of our knowledge the XCAL/XCAP solution was the only solution available at the time which could interface with the Samsung and LG LTE solutions, not to mention other vendor's HSPA+ or Mobile WiMAX chipsets, and this capability proved invaluable during this entire effort. With the use of this tool and our methodical
approach to testing and analyzing the network, we have arguably reached fairly conclusive and statistically valid opinions about how LTE performs today.

Given the breadth and depth of this analysis we have divided the report into two separate issues.

Specific topics in this report include the following:

The KPIs.  In addition to the typical downlink and uplink data rates, we looked at a number of other KPIs, including CINR, RSSI, resource block allocation, modulation scheme (Antenna 1 and Antenna 2), MIMO type, and BLER.  Further, during the post-processing phase we analyzed these KPIs by several different means, including, throughput versus CINR, CINR versus RSSI, handover success rate, throughput during a handover, and CINR versus modulation scheme, to name a few.

The Video.  Check out the video that we posted to the SRG website.

The Data.  If your organization is interested in obtaining the complete set of raw data, please contact us for licensing
information.

Comparing the Incomparable.  While comparing the two networks is somewhat an apples-to-oranges comparison, we do present a wealth of information that makes such a comparison possible (with a few caveats), not to mention comparisons with HSPA/HSPA+ and Mobile WiMAX.

A Perspective.  We offer a perspective on what LTE means for the typical mobile data user and we include results from using LTE to do basic mobile data applications.

The Appendix.  In total, the report contains 92 figures or tables.  In order to not over burden the reader with a ton of
information, we include many of the figures in the appendix for future reference.

186GB in an LTE Network - been there done that (Oslo - part II)