Advanced Receivers for Downlink MIMO in LTE Network

Raphael Visoz, Ziad El Rawas, Jean-Baptiste Landre

Orange Labs
Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France


Abstract In MIMO LTE Networks, closed loop link adaptation
together with precoding matrix selection try to reduce the
interference at the receiver side while maximizing the data rate
for a given QoS. However, due the constraints of limited feedback
and finite size precoding codebooks, the residual spatial layer
interference remains a major impediment to reach high spectral
efficiency. The aim of this paper is to evaluate for LTE downlink
both at link and system levels the potential gain of non linear
receivers with respect to their Linear Minimum Mean Square
Error (LMMSE) counterpart. Within the considered 4x4 MIMO
LTE network, adopting a Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
based Successive Interference Cancellation receiver potentially
improves the average rate by 5 and 10 in peak and off-peak
traffic hours, respectively. However, the interference-free upper
bound promises a gain of 45 and 60 for the same load
conditions. These results militate for the adoption of more
sophisticated receivers, e.g., turbo-SIC, for large MIMO systems.

Keywords: L1E, MIMO, Link adaptation, Advanced Receivers,
SIC, system performance evaluation.
I. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
LTE is considered as a major evolution oI the existing 2G
and 3G/HSPA wireless mobile networks. It is expected to
overcome the high and exponentially growing demand oI
mobile data traIIic, allowing peak rates oI 300Mbps in the
downlink and 75 Mbps in the uplink (20 MHz Bandwidth, 4x4
MIMO, LTE Release 8) |1| |2| |3|. LTE radio interIace is based
on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
in the downlink and Single Carrier Frequency Division
Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) in the uplink |2| |3| |4|. Besides,
MIMO technology is a Iundamental Ieature supported in LTE
Irom the outset |5|. In addition, LTE bandwidth is scalable and
varies Irom 1.4 MHz to a wide bandwidth oI 20MHz.
Modulations up to 64 QAM and appropriate precoding
matrices can be selected based on limited Ieedback. The
minimum resources allocation is 180 kHz during a
Transmission Time Interval (TTI) oI 1ms. 3GPP LTE release 8
(R8) has introduced a series oI User Equipments (UEs) that
diIIer by their capabilities and antenna conIigurations. UE
categories (CATs) 2, 3 and 4 support 2x2 MIMO and UE
CAT5 supports 4x4 MIMO. Release 10 has later improved
these categories to support an 8x8 MIMO Model (CAT8) |1|.
On the other hand, the receiver implementation is not
directly tackled by the standard. Since the adoption oI OFDMA
together with closed loop Link Adaptation (LA) techniques aim
at reducing the interIerence at the receiver side, simple Linear
Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE) were emphasized by
the standard, Ior LTE evaluation methodologies and minimum
perIormance requirements. As a matter oI Iact, the LMMSE
receiver is widely adopted by mobile chipset vendors, at least
in their Iirst implementations. Nevertheless, due to the
constraints oI limited Ieedback and Iinite size precoding
codebooks, the residual spatial interIerence remains a major
impediment to reach high spectral eIIiciency. This is
particularly the case when a high number oI spatial layers is
possible, i.e., Ior CAT 5 and 8 UEs. From an operator
perspective, it is important to know to what extent the
introduction oI advanced receivers and high category UEs can
improve the average data rate distribution oI its rolled-out LTE
network. The usual method Ior radio perIormance assessment
consists in carrying out drive test measurements. Network
operators collect the network average data rate distribution
during those campaigns. The drive test tool records the average
data rate with respect to its location. Interestingly, iI the
serving cell is unloaded (e.g., oII peak hours), the drive test
tool measures the average data rate that an UE will experience
alone in the cell beneIiting Irom all the available radio
resources. However, a drive test campaign suIIers Irom two
main drawbacks: it is costly and, obviously, it requires that the
technology to be evaluated is already deployed.
The aim oI this paper is to evaluate both at link and system
levels the potential gain oI non linear receivers Ior a downlink
live LTE network. The system level perIormance assessment is
extrapolated Irom Iield measurements perIormed Ior an
unloaded 2x2 MIMO LTE network. It extends the evaluation
methodology described in |6| to non linear receivers. In this
paper, we use the two radio inputs, namely ReIerence Signal
Received Power (RSRP) and Received Signal Strength
Indicator (RSSI), Irom an unloaded live 2x2 MIMO LTE
network. In this work, we extrapolate the average data rate that
an UE will experience, with respect to its receiver, iI it was
alone in its (serving) cell with surrounding (interIering) cells
that are either unloaded or loaded. We Iocus on both 2x2
MIMO LTE (CAT4 devices) and 4x4 MIMO LTE (CAT 5
devices) networks with Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
based Successive InterIerence Cancellation (SIC) receivers.
For a given ordering, it consists oI removing the interIerence
generated by the CodeWords (CWs) that have been previously
decoded without error (i.e., that have passed the CRC check
successIully). AIter interIerence subtraction, the (residual)
spatial interIerence keeps being dealt with an LMMSE
detector. In addition, we provide the Genie Aided Bound
(GAB) which models an ideal receiver, able to remove all the
spatial layer interIerence. The gap between the GAB and the
CRC-based SIC (CRC-SIC) gives a valuable indication on the
practical interest to adopt more sophisticated receivers, such as
turbo-SIC.
The paper is organized as Iollows. In Section II, the link
level data rate prediction method is described together with the
LA algorithm Ior a CRC-SIC receiver and the Genie Aided
Bound. In Section III, we describe the system level
perIormance evaluation methodology. In Section IV, we inIer
2013 IEEE 9th International Conference on Wireless and Mobile Computing, Networking and Communications (WiMob)
978-1-4799-0428-0/13/$31.00 2013 IEEE 630
Irom available 2x2 MIMO measurements the RSRP and RSSI
samples oI the same network upgraded to 4x4 MIMO. Finally,
in section V, simulation scenarios and results are presented and
discussed.
Notation: In the sequel, we use boldIace letters to denote
vector and matrices. Matrices are represented by capital letters.
Let A be a matrix, its
tb
l column is denoted
l
a and its trace
Lr( ) A . The n-square identity matrix is denoted
o
I . [.} is the
expectation operator. Superscripts
1
and
n
indicate transpose
and complex conjugate matrix transpose, respectively.
II. LINK LEVEL RECEIVER MODELLING
A. Frequencv domain baseband received samples
The baseband OFDM received signal
k
y Ior a physical
resource block (PRB) k is given by:

, 0, ,

k k l k k k l l k k
= + = + y n Wx n n x n (1)
where
, , ,1 , ,
1
l k l k l k l
x x = (

x is the transmitted symbol vector by
the l spatial layers (rank l transmission),
k
n is the AWGN
noise vector whose covariance is
0
t
N
N I ,
k
n is the
t t
N x N

Ilat
MIMO channel such that
( ) { }
n
k k t t
tt N N = n n ,
l
W is the
t
N l
precoding matrix, chosen within an adequate codebook by the
LA algorithm, such that
1
n
l l l
l
= W W I . We deIine the SNR per
receive antenna as:
{ }
{ }
{ }
2
, , 0 , , 0
/ / , 1, ,
n n
l k l l l k l k l
5Nk N x N l l l = = e x W Wx . (2)
A PRB consists oI 12 subcarriers and 7 OFDM symbols which
results in a total oI 84 Resource Elements (REs) |4|. The
channel coeIIicients are generated into the Irequency domain
according to the extended pedestrian A |7| and averaged over
a PRB to obtain the set oI { }
k
n . Both transmit and receive
antenna correlations are taken into account by a kronecker
model |7|.
B. Phvsical laver abstractions and advanced receivers
MIMO technology adapted Irom the Iirst release oI LTE
consists oI exploiting the channel capacity by transmitting up
to Iour spatial layers. However, the number oI spatially
multiplexed CWs cannot exceed two. ThereIore, a CW must be
mapped to more than one layer when spatial multiplexing is
enabled as it is indicated in Table I.
TABLE I. CODEWORD TO LAYER MAPPING |5|
Codeword 1 Codeword 2
l= 1 Layer 1 NA
l= 2 Layer 1 Layer 2
l= J Layer 1 Layer 2 and Layer 3
l= 4 Layer 1 and Layer 2 Layer 3 and Layer 4
At the UE side, the spatial layer interIerence impact on the
perIormance depends on the MIMO radio channel, the
precoding matrices experienced by the CWs and the receiver
type. The LA algorithm relies on a Iast and accurate physical
layer abstraction encompassing the receiver characteristics.
This kind oI physical layer abstraction exists Ior LMMSE
receivers and is extended to CRC-SIC in this paper. On the
other hand, physical layer abstractions Ior iterative non linear
receiver such as turbo-SIC (see, e.g., |8|) exceed the scope oI
this paper. However, the GAB gives a valuable Iirst order
indication oI their converged perIormance (inIinite number oI
iterations) within the LTE closed loop Iramework.
C. Link adaptation algorithm
The Iast LA algorithm as well as the underlying Mutual
InIormation EIIective SNR Mapping (MIESM) physical layer
abstraction are detailed in Algorithms 1 and 2 oI |6|. By
assuming that the drive test tool/UE Ieedback are received
without any error and are always Iollowed by the eNB, the Iast
LA will consists oI selecting one Precoding Matrix Indicator
(PMI) per sub-band, a wide band Channel Quality Indicator
CQIs and a Rank Indicator (RI, number oI spatial layers)
(mode 1-2 in |2|). One sub-band s consists oI a subset
s
8 oI
consecutive PRBs. BrieIly, Algorithm 1 aims to select Ior
every possible rank l , the optimal precoding matrix
( ) s
l
W that
maximizes the average mutual inIormation Ior a given sub-
band s and 64-QAM modulation (since the optimal precoding
is independent oI the modulation, the highest modulation order
is chosen). Knowing that the LMMSE SINRs according to Eq.
(1) Ior PRB k belonging to
s
8 is

( )
,
1
( ) ( )
,
( ) 1 ,
1
s
k l l
s n n s
l k k l
l l
5Nk
l l
5Nk

= s
(
| |
+
(
|
\
(

W
W n n W
(3)
the optimal precoding matrix
( ,opL) s
l
W that maximizes the mutual
inIormation is
( )
( )
( ,opL) ( )
64 ,
,
1
argmax ( ) ,
s
l
s s
l k l l
l l k 8 s
l
l 8

s e
=

W
W W (4)
where
s
8 is the cardinality oI
s
8 and
64
( ) l is the mutual
inIormation Ior an 64-QAM transmitted over an AWGN
channel whose SNR is . Algorithm 2 takes the SINRs
associated to the optimal precoding matrices as input Irom
Algorithm 1. It computes Ior each rank and each modulation
the eIIective SNR per codeword using the MIESM
technique |9| |10|. Conditional to a transport block size, each
eIIective SNR can be converted to a BLER by reading the
adequate pre-stored AWGN Look Up Tables (LUTs). Finally,
Algorithm 2 selects the transmission rank and the transport
block size per codeword in order to maximize the data rate and
to ensure a BLER per codeword below 10. Link level Monte
Carlo simulations are then perIormed to average the LA
algorithm (including retransmissions) perIormance over the
chosen MIMO Iast Iading channel statistics. Lab tests carried
out in a controlled propagation environment have shown a very
good match oI the measured and the predicted average data rate
Ior several CAT3 pre-commercial UEs Ior the selected MIMO
channel statistics |11|.
631
In order to simulate the CRC-SIC as well as the GAB, the
SINR computation within Algorithm 1 is modiIied to Iit the
desired receiver as described in Section II.D/F. We detail the
CRC-SIC retransmission process in Algorithm 3, Section II.E.
Since there are at most two CWs transmitted, we witnessed
that the SIC ordering optimization brings practically no gains.
As a result, in the Iollowing, we Iix the natural ordering: CW
1 is decoded beIore CW 2. At this stage oI our study, an
important speciIicity oI CRC-SIC must be highlighted: the
LA algorithm relies on the genie aided assumption that the
Iirst CW is always decoded without error (even iI its target
BLER is 10); while the perIormance evaluation at the
receiver side does take into account this BLER (by simulating
the CRC check, see, Section II.E).
D. CRC-SIC SINR derivation
In this Section, we omit the PRB subscript k, total number
oI layer subscript l and sub-band superscript
(s)
. Expressing
Eq. (1) by:

0,
1
0

l
l l
l
x
=
= + = +

y n n n h x . (5)
We compute the SINR
l
oI layer l ( ) l l s experienced by the
second CW (CW2), beneIiting Irom the Genie aided
interIerence cancellation oI the Iirst CW (CW1). They replace
the corresponding LMMSE SINRs oI Eq. (3) Ior Algorithms 1
and 2.
TABLE II. SINRS EXPERIENCED BY CW2 WITH GENIE AIDED SIC
2 l =
2 0,2 0,2

n
5Nk = h h

3 l =
1
2 0,2 0,3 0,3 0,2
1
( )
n n
5Nk

= + h h h h
1
3 0,3 0,2 0,2 0,3
1
( )
n n
5Nk

= + h h h h
4 l =
1
3 0,3 0,4 0,4 0,3
1
( )
n n
5Nk

= + h h h h
1
4 0,4 0,3 0,3 0,4
1
( )
n n
5Nk

= + h h h h
E. Chase combining for CRC-SIC
In this paper, we assume that the radio channel does not
change during the retransmission oI a CW. The retransmissions
are based on the same transport Iormat as the one oI the initial
transmission. Assuming that at least one oI the CWs has not
passed the CRC check successIully, we enter the
retransmission algorithm described in Algorithm 3 below Ior
L 2. Let CRC
1
anu CRC
2
and denote the CRC check value
Ior CW1 and CW2, respectively. The CRC check can be
simulated conditional on a BLER by drawing a uniIorm
random variable between 0 and 1. II the result is lower than the
BLER, a decoding error occurs and the CRC is Iixed to 1. II
the decoding is successIul the CRC is Iixed to 0. Let N
I,t
be the
total number oI transmitted bits by CWi, N
I,w
the total number
oI useless bits transmitted by CWi and N
I,r
the current
retransmission number oI CWi which cannot exceed the
maximum number oI retransmission Nt
max
. We assume,
hereaIter, that the LA algorithm provides the BLER and the
PMIs and the transport block size TBS
I
oI each CWi. We denote
I
I
the vector obtained by stacking all the SINRs experienced by
CWi. The vector I
2
can take two values, namely, I
2,sIc
when
CW1 is decoded correcty or I
2,MMSE
otherwise. The CRC
check based on the vector I is perIormed by the Iunction
CheckCRC( I) which returns 0 or 1. The CW1 and CW2
SINR vectors aIter Chase combining are denoted I
1,acc
and
I
2,acc
, respectively. Note that the residual noise and
interIerence at the output oI the LMMSE Ior each
(re)transmission oI the same CW are independent thanks to the
LTE scrambling |4|.
Algorithm 3: Chase combining Ior CRC-SIC ( 2 l > )
lnlLlallzaLlon:
1
1
_ ( ) ckc cbeck ckc = I
|f (
1
ckc =0)
2 2, 2 2, 5lc MM5
I =I I =I e|se end|f
2 2
_ ( ) ckc cbeck ckc = I
1, 2, 1, 1 2, 2
0, 0, ,
t t occ occ
N N = = I =I I =I
{ }
, , , ,
, 1,2
l t l t l l w l w l l
N N 185 N N 185 ckc l = + = + e
wh||e
1, max 2, max 1 2
( and ) and ( 1 1)
t t t t
N N N N ckc ot ckc < < = =
|f
1 2
( 0 and 1) ckc ckc = =
8eLransmlsslon { } = + e
, ,
1,2
l t l t l
N N 185 l
= = +
1, 2, 2,
0 and 1
t t t
N N N

1
1
_ ( ) ckc cbeck ckc = I
|f
1
( 0) ckc =
2, 2, 2, occ occ 5lc
I =I +I e|se
2, 2, 2, occ occ MM5
I =I +I end|f

2 2,
_ ( )
occ
ckc cbeck ckc = I , { }
, ,
1,2
l w l w l l
N N 185 ckc l = + e
end|f
|f
1 2
( 1 and 0) ckc ckc = =
8eLransmlsslon { } = + e
, ,
1,2
l t l t l
N N 185 l
= + =
1, 1, 2,
1 and 0
t t t
N N N

1, 1, 1 occ occ
I =I +I

1
1,
_ ( )
occ
ckc cbeck ckc = I
|f (
1
ckc =0)
2 2, 2 2, 5lc MM5
I =I I =I e|se end|f

2 2
_ ( ) ckc cbeck ckc = I , { }
, ,
1,2
l w l w l l
N N 185 ckc l = + e
end|f
|f
1 2
( 1 and 1) ckc ckc = =
8eLransmlsslon
, , l t l t l
N N 185 = +
{ }
, ,
1 1,2
l t l t
N N l = + e

1, 1, 1 occ occ
I =I +I

1
1,
_ ( )
occ
ckc cbeck ckc = I

|f
1
( 0) ckc =
2, 2, 2, occ occ 5lc
I =I +I e|se
2, 2, 2, occ occ MM5
I =I +I end|f

2 2,
_ ( )
occ
ckc cbeck ckc = I , { }
, ,
1,2
l w l w l l
N N 185 ckc l = + e
end|f
endwh||e
This process is repeated until the maximum number oI
allowed retransmission
max t
N is reached or both CWs are
received without error. The average throughput achieved by
each CW i can be computed as:

, ,
,
l t l w
l
l t
N N
u
N

= . (6)
632
F. Genie Aided SNRs
We can deIine the Genie Aided SNR per layer l l s and per
PRB k:

, 0, , 0
( )
, ,
( )
CA n
k l k l k
s
l l
5Nk = W h h . (7)
These SNRs replace the LMMSE SINRs oI Eq. (3) Ior
Algorithms 1 and 2. The average perIormance over the LA
algorithm and the channel statistics yields the GAB average
data rate perIormance.
III. SYSTEM LEVEL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
In this Section, we combine the LTE link level Monte
Carlo simulations and drive test measurements Irom an
unloaded live LTE network. The collected LTE metrics are
RSRP and RSSI samples |12|. These metrics are used to
compute the average Carrier to InterIerence ratio C/I
probability distribution Iunction over the network. Once
calculated, the throughput is obtained according to the LTE
radio-link tables generated Irom the link level simulations by
assuming that the interIerence is Gaussian distributed. Note
that several drive tests, perIormed in unloaded networks,
showed that the recorded average data rate distributions
statistically match well the simulated ones Ior the selected
MIMO channel and a CAT3 drive test tool with LMMSE
receiver |11|.
A. Downlink Data transmit power
The average Data Symbol (DS) transmit power
u5
1xlowet
per antenna and per Resource Element (RE) is computed Irom
the knowledge oI common ReIerence Symbol (RS) transmit
power
k5
1xlowet , the power oIIsets between RS and RE
carrying Data Symbol (DS)
A
and
8
, the number oI OFDM
symbols reserved Ior control and signaling Iixed dynamically
by the Control Frame Indicator (CFI) and the PRB
structure |4|. The CFI can take three values: 1, 2 or 3. Let

5 8 k
1xlowet and
5 A k
1xlowet be the transmit power oI OFDM
symbols with RS and without, respectively |2|. The average
transmit power per transmit antenna and per RE in OFDM
symbols 0 and 4 is expressed in watts Ior 2x2 MIMO by:

+ =
(2)
[0,4}
8 ) / 2 12, (
k5 8 k5
1xlowet 1xlowet 1xlowet
(8)
while Ior 4x4 MIMO, it is

( ) + =
(4)
[0,4}
32 / 4 48.
k5 8 k5
1xlowet 1xlowet 1xlowet
(9)
The average transmit power over all RE carrying data is
denoted by
(2)
u5
1xlowet
Ior 2x2 MIMO and
(4)
u5
1xlowet
Ior 4x4
MIMO. The expressions oI
(2)
u5
1xlowet
and
(4)
u5
1xlowet
depend
on the CFI value,
A
,
8
and
k5
1xlowet . They are not given
Ior the sake oI conciseness.
B. Downlink Data received power
The received downlink signal Ior a DS is deduced Irom
RSRP by adding the transmit power oIIset between a RE
carrying DS and RE carrying RS. As result, the received
power per DS and per receive antenna can be expressed in
(dBm):

| |
|
|
\
= +
( )
( )
10
10log
t
t
N
N u5
u5
t
k5
N1xlowet
kxlowet k5kl
1xlowet
(10)
where
t
N is the number oI transmit antenna that can be 2 or 4
in this paper.
C. LTE inter-cell interference
Thanks to OFDMA, the LTE interIerence is only caused
by the inter-cell interIerence
oc
l .This latter is computed Irom
the RSSI deIined as the total wideband received power Irom
all REs including inter-cell interIerence and thermal noise.
The RSSI is reported per receive antenna and only on OFDM
symbols containing RSs (i.e., OFDM symbol 0 and 4 oI a
PRB):

( )
0
( )
t
N
cell oc
k55l wotts lsetv l N = + + , (11)
where
cell
lsetv is the total serving cell power, and
o
N the
thermal noise power over the whole bandwidth. The thermal
noise power is expressed in watts by:
12
o 1
N lk1 f N = A (12)
where F is the noise Iactor, K the Boltzmann's constant, T the
temperature, Af the subcarrier spacing oI 15kHz and
1
N is the
total number oI available PRBs.
As in Eq.(10), the received power over RE calculated only on
OFDM symbol 0 and 4 can be obtained in dBm as Iollows:

{ }
{ }
( )
0,4
( )
0,4 10
10log
t
t
N
N
t
k5
N1xlowet
kxlowet k5kl
1xlowet
| |
|
|
\
= + . (13)
As a result,
cell
lsetv is calculated as:
=
( ) ( )
[0,4}
12n ( )
t t
N N
cell 1
lsetv kxl wo wet tts o , (14)
where
1
N is the total number oI available PRBs.
Finally, I
oc
is obtained using Eq. (11). Interestingly, the inter
cell interIerence generated by surrounding loaded cells can be
extrapolated by multiplying I
oc
by an average downlink cell
load
DL
x (in watts):
.
looJeJ
oc ul oc
l x l = (15)
Measurements in live networks show that 3dB Ior
DL
x is a
good value Ior the increase oI
oc
l Irom an oII-hour to peak
hour traIIic.
D. Signal to noise ratio and Throughput Calculation
The downlink signal to noise ratio SNR is calculated as
Iollows:

( )
( )12


t
N
u5 1
u5
oc o
kxlowet wotts N
5Nk
l N
=
+
. (16)
633
The throughput is then deduced using the radio link
perIormance tables.
IV. RSRP AND RSSI FOR 4X4 MIMO
In this Section we omit the superscript ( )
t
N since it is
obvious Irom the context. RSRP and RSSI samples are
collected Ior 2x2 MIMO. Their extrapolation to 4x4 MIMO is
detailed hereaIter. We distinguish two cases, the loaded and the
unloaded network. In both cases, we need to recalculate the
inter-cell interIerence
oc
l and the received power per DS.
Assuming that we know
New
A
,
New
8
,
New
k5
1xlowet ,
New
cll oI the
4x4 MIMO system, we can compute the three ratios

{ } { } 0,4 0,4
/
/
/


u5 u5
tot
New
k5 k5
New
New
k5
u5
p
1xlowet 1xlowet
1xlowet 1xlowet
1xlowet 1xlowet

A =
A =
A =
. (17)
Note that the
u5
New
1xlowet computation must take into account
the RS in OFDM symbol 2 according to the PRB structure Ior
Iour antenna ports |4|. On the one hand, in a loaded network,
assuming that all the network eNBs transmit with the same
total power
[0,4}
12
tot 1
l N 1xlowet = , the intercell interIerence
becomes:

( )
= + A
10
10log
tot
New OlJ
oc oc p
l l . (18)
Consequently, the recalculated RSSI in watts is given by:

= A A + +
= A + A
0
0
(1 )
tot tot
tot tot
New
p p oc cell
p p
k55l lsetv l N
k55l N
. (19)
Also the recalculated RSRP in dBm will be:
= + A
10
10log ( )
New
k5
k5kl k5kl . (20)
On the other hand, assuming that the surrounding cells oI the
serving cells are empty, the inter cell interIerence depends
mainly on the RS power level. As a result,
oc
l becomes in
dBm:
( ) = + A
10
10log
New
oc oc k5
l l . (21)
In both cases, the received power per data subcarrier is deduced
as Iollows:
( ) = + A
10
10log
New
u5 u5 u5
kxlowet kxlowet . (22)
In this way a new C/I distribution can be computed and, thus,
the throughput statistics oI a category 5 UE within the same
network. As mentioned in the introduction, this throughput
corresponds to the situation oI an unloaded serving cell where
the UE is always served and monopolizes all the radio
resources.
V. SIMULATIONS SCENARIOS AND RESULTS
LTE R8 CATs 4 and 5 have been simulated Ior 20 MHz
bandwidth considering the same power ampliIier. CAT 4
operates with 2x2 MIMO and allows a peak data rate oI 150
Mbps while CAT 5 operates with 4x4 MIMO and allows a
peak data rate oI 300 Mbps |1|. In this Section, we assume
that the CFI is Iixed to one.
A. Link Level Simulations scenarios and results
Link level simulations are running according the scenario
described in the table III.
TABLE III. DOWNLINK POWER BUDGET PARAMETERS
Scenario Configuration
Bandwidth 20 MHz
Channel Type ePA 3
Correlation at eNb side Medium (0.5)
Correlation at UE side Medium (0.2)
Transmission Mode
BeamIorming (TM6), Closed loop precoding
(TM4)
UE Reporting Mode Mode 1-2: WideBand CQI, Multiple PMI
HARQ Chase Combining (up to 4 retransmissions)
UE Category 4|2x2 MIMO|, 5 |4x4 MIMO|
Receiver Type LMMSE, CRC-SIC and Genie-Aided
In Fig. 1, we present the link level simulations results Ior
LTE CATs 4 and 5 with typical transmit and receive antenna
spatial correlation oI 0.5 and 0.2, respectively. The throughput
increase given by the CAT 5 is explained by the presence oI
two supplementary antennas at transmitter and receiver side.
In Iact, these additional antennas give more spatial
multiplexing Degree oI Freedom. We observe that the gain
brought by the CRC-SIC is disappointing in the SNR region oI
interest and keeps Iar away Irom the Genie-Aided Bound. This
is particularly the case Ior CAT 5 UE since the CRC based
SIC can eliminate only the inter-CW interIerence. However,
when the number oI spatial layers exceeds 2, a CW is spread
over 2 spatial layers: intra-CW interIerence exists.

Figure 1. Single user LTE Link Level Simulation LTE categories 4/5
Fig. 2 and 3 illustrates the eIIect oI the receiver
perIormance on the percentage oI high rank transmissions Ior
mobile CAT4 and CAT5, respectively.
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Figure 2. Percentage oI Rank Indicator oI LTE CAT 4 device

Figure 3. Percentage oI Rank Indicator oI LTE CAT 5 device
B. Scenarios and Drive test measurements
Drive test measurements have been collected Irom recent
LTE network deployment Irom a major dense urban city in
Western Europe. Most oI the radio sites are co-localized with
the existing 2G/3G sites and have three sectors in most cases.
3000 samples are collected Irom 16 serving cells within a drive
test distance oI 4Km. A part oI the test path is showed in Fig. 4.

Figure 4. Drive test measurements Urban area
The downlink service is a FTP transIer with large Iile.
Several radio metrics are available like the RSRP and RSSI.
Theses measurements are used to estimate the real SNR
distribution oI live network as explained in Section III.
However all these metrics are representative oI a network with
2x2 MIMO antenna conIiguration. In Section IV, these metrics
are recalibrated to Iit the network conditions oI 4x4 MIMO
with the same achieved coverage. We notice that the network is
unloaded during drive test and only a drive test tool is present
in the network. Otherwise, simulations with load are also
processed by adding a cell load oI 3dB. This value is
representative oI the power load increase observed on live
network between oII hour and busy hour. The chosen LTE
scenario parameters and Power budget Ior a network operating
with 2x2 / 4x4 MIMO are presented in table IV.
TABLE IV. LTE DOWNLINK SCENARIO PARAMETERS
Parameter LTE FDD
Carrier Irequency 2.6GHz
Carrier bandwidth 20 MHz
MIMO Close loop Iull mode
Radio Remote Head (RRH)
2x40W (2x2 MIMO)
4x20W (4x4 MIMO)
Pilot/reIerence signal power 18dBm
Control channels power
2x4W (2x2 MIMO)
4x2W (4x4 MIMO)
PDSCH power oIIset
A

-3dB (2x2 MIMO)
-6dB (4x4 MIMO)
PDSCH power ratio index
8
l 1 = ( )
8 A

cell load Iactor
ul
x
Unload (0 dB)
Loaded (3 dB)
1) UE Categorv 4 performance
Fig. 5 shows the LTE category 4 Cumulative Distribution
Function (CDF) oI throughput achieved with respect to the
receiver type. For the Genie-Aided Bound, the percentage oI
users that beneIit Irom high rate is larger than with LMMSE or
CRC-SIC.
Radio sites
Drive test road
2 kilometers
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Figure 5. CDF oI Throughput LTE category 4 device
In terms oI coverage, no improvement is notice either Ior
CRC-SIC or Genie Aided Bound over LMMSE. The coverage
improvement is computed by comparing the cell edge
throughput deIined as the 5th percentile oI the throughput
CDF.
Fig. 6 shows the throughput achieved with Genie Aided,
CRC-SIC and LMMSE receiver. Statistics shows that the
average throughput is about 15 to 20 better with Genie-
Aided, respectively Ior loaded and unloaded network, and 2 to
5 better with CRC-SIC compared to LMMSE, while the cell-
center throughput with Genie-Aided is 30 to 35 better than
the one achieved with LMMSE. The cell center is deIined as
the 95
th
percentile oI the throughput CDF.

Figure 6. PDF oI Throughput LTE category 4 device
The reason why the throughput achieved in unloaded network
is signiIicantly larger than with the loaded one, especially in
cell-center, is due to the SNR level which decrease the
proability that spatial multiplexing is not used.
2) UE Categorv 5 performance
Fig. 7 shows the LTE category 5 CDF oI throughput
achieved with respect to the receiver type. Due to the presence
oI Iour spatial layers, the Genie-Aided Bound beneIit Irom
higher rates than the LMMSE or CRC-SIC (see Fig. 3).

Figure 7. CDF oI Throughput LTE category 5 device
In terms oI coverage, CRC-SIC presents a coverage
improvement over LMMSE oI 2 while the Genie Aided
Bound improvement with respect to LMMSE is about 40
(15 Ior loaded network).
In Fig. 8 the throughput statistics shows that the average
throughput is about 45 to 60 better with Genie-Aided and 5
to 10 better with CRC-SIC compared to LMMSE, Ior
unloaded and loaded conIigurations, respectively. The cell-
center throughput with Genie-Aided SNR are twoIold the one
achieved with LMMSE Ior an unloaded network and is 85
better Ior the loaded one.

Figure 8. Genie-Aided, CRC-SIC and LMMSE Throughputs comparison
VI. CONCLUSION
Advanced receivers together with large MIMO systems are an
eIIective way to increase the spectral eIIiciency oI LTE
network. However, the CRC-SIC can not deal with the intra-
codeword interIerence related to high rank transmission Ior
UE CAT5. It can explain why its perIormance keeps Iar away
Irom the Genie Aided Bound. These results militate Ior the
636
adoption oI even more sophisticated receivers, e.g., turbo-SIC,
Ior large MIMO systems. Future work will try to evaluate
more accurately the perIormance oI turbo-SIC based on
recently developed physical layer abstractions inspired by
EXtrinsic InIormation TransIer (EXIT) chart.

VII. REFERENCES
|1| 3GPP Technical SpeciIication 36.306 User Equipment (UE) radio
access capabilities, v10.8, 12/2012.
|2| 3GPP Technical SpeciIication 36.213 Physical layer procedures
(FDD), v8.8, 09/2009.
|3| H. Holma, A. Toskala, 'LTE Ior UMTS, OFDMA and SC-FDMA based
radio access, Wiley Publishing, 2009.
|4| 3GPP Technical SpeciIication 36.211 Physical Channels and
Modulation, v8.9, 12/2009.
|5| J. Lee, J-K Han and J. Zhang, 'MIMO Technologies in 3GPP LTE and
LTE Advanced, EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and
Networking, March 2009.
|6| J.B. Landre, Z. Rawas, R. Visoz and S. Bouguermouh 'Realistic
PerIormance oI LTE in a macro-cell environnement, Proc. IEEE VTC-
spring, Yokohama, Japan, May 2012.
|7| 3GPP Technical SpeciIication 36.101 V8.19.0 - User Equipment (UE)
radio transmission and reception, 9/2012.
|8| R. Visoz, A.O. Berthet, and M. Lalam, "Semi-Analytical PerIormance
Prediction Methods Ior Iterative MMSE-IC Multiuser MIMO Joint
Decoding," IEEE Trans. Commun., vol. 58, no. 9, Sept. 2010.
|9| E. Ohlmer and G. Fettweis, 'Link adaptation in linearly precoded
Closed-Loop MIMO-OFDM systems with linear receivers, IEEE ICC
09, Dresden, Germany, June 2009.
|10| A.M. Cipriano, R. Visoz and T. Slzer, 'Calibration issues oI phy layer
abstractions Ior wireless broadband systems, IEEE, VTC Fall 08,
Calgari, Canada, Sept. 2008.
|11| J.B. Landre, Z. Rawas, R. Visoz, 'LTE perIormance assessment -
Prediction versus Iield measurements, IEEE PIMRC13, London, UK,
Sept. 2013.
|12| 3GPP Technical SpeciIication 36.214 v8.7.0 Physical layer
measurements, 09/2009.
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