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Vodacom 4G
RL10 LTE Trial Benchmark Report
NSN - Network Planning & Optimisation
29 March 2011
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Content
Introduction
LTE eNB Equipment Setup
LTE Coverage Plots
LTE Mobility Tests
LTE Stationary Tests
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Introduction
Following the completion of LTE tests in the Vodacom Test Exchange, NSN installed two LTE eNBs in
the Germiston area. The aim was to setup two live sites that will allow for drive test measurements to be
collected from a real network environment.
The following requirements had to be met during site selection:
1. The LTE sites were to share the 2100Mhz 3G RF spectrum and so the chosen site locations, as
well as the immediate surrounding sites, should currently not be using the 3
rd
3G frequency
band (i.e. only existing 1/1/1 and 2/2/2 sites could be chosen)
LTE would be configured to run on the third 5Mhz band (in the Vodacom Test Exchange the LTE eNBs
were setup to run with 20Mhz bandwidth)
2. Because the LTE sites would be co-located with existing 3G hardware, RF combining would not
be possible within the BTS RF amplifiers. Instead RF combining would need to be done using
external MIMO combiners, or a separate antenna would have to be installed for the LTE signal
It was decided that separate antennas would be used and so the chosen sites would need
to have enough free tower capacity to accommodate the weight of the additional antennas
Additional RF combining is not required in Multi-RF configurations (i.e. 2G/3G/LTE
transmitted through the same BTS hardware)
3. The sites should be neighbours to allow for inter-eNB handover testing
4. The sites should be configured with at least two sectors to allow for intra-eNB handover testing
5. IP transmission, with a minimum of 40Mbps bandwidth, should be available to the sites
6. The LTE sites would run on the commercial RL10 software release
It should be noted that RL20 is available as a commercial release since February 2011
Two sites were identified in the Germiston area that met the requirements; Primrose and Driehoek.
The following report provides a summary of the results from drive tests performed between February and
March 2011.
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup BTS HW
The eNBs are setup to share the
existing 3G 2100Mhz band and are
fitted with the following hardware
modules:
1xFSME System Modules
These are identical to the System Modules
used for all current 3G Flexi BTS deployment.
The FSME module can be configured to
process either WCDMA or LTE
2xFRGP 2100Mhz 60W RF Modules
Two RF modules were installed to allow for
MIMO operation with a 1/1/1 20Mhz cell
configuration.
Because the sites are sharing spectrum with
the existing 3G sites (which are currently
running 2/2/2 WCDMA configurations), the
eNBs have been configured with the following
cell configurations:
1/1/0 5Mhz @ 20W
The picture on the right shows the eNB at
Primrose during installation
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup BTS HW
The eNBs have been
configured with two RF
modules to allow for MIMO
operation
*Additional (currently
unused) RF ports on the
modules will allow for up to
4-way UL diversity (in later
SW releases)
Tx1/Rx1
Tx2/Rx2
Div Rx2
Rx3*
Rx4*
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup - TMA
For improved UL gain, the
two eNBs have been fitted
with Dual-Input Mast Head
Amplifiers (MHAs)
The amplifiers were lent to the trial
by the Vodacom SGS Region
The amplifiers were taken out of the
Vodacom SGS Region spares store
As can be seen in the picture, the
DTMAs had previously already
been used in the field
The model type is DTMARETFV3
The MHAs used are part of
standard existing network
equipment and are suitable for
MIMO operation
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup - Antenna
The eNBs were fitted with Kathrein XX-Polarised
Dualband (900Mhz & 2100Mhz) antennas
X-polarised antennas rotate the V and H polarizations
giving +/- 45 degrees slanted polarizations. Antenna
branches admit equal power providing an easier
signal from receiver perspective. This allows both RX
and TX to be embedded to the same physical antenna
box and hence provides a compact antenna design.
The antennas were lent to the trial by the Vodacom
SGS Region
The amplifiers were taken out of the Vodacom SGS
Region spares store
As can be seen in the picture, the antennas had
previously already been used in the field
Antennas were of model:
Type No.: 742222
XXPol Panel 806-960/1710-2170
C 65/60 12/14dBi 0/0T
The antennas used are part of standard existing
network equipment and are suitable for MIMO
operation
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup Driehoek
Driehoek LTE eNB
1/1/0 5Mhz @ 20W
Sector 1 PCI 100
Sector 2 PCI 101
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LTE eNB Equipment Setup Primrose
Primrose LTE eNB
1/1/0 5Mhz @ 20W
Sector 2 PCI 201
Sector 1 PCI 200
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LTE Coverage Plots
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Predicted RF Coverage Plot
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Predicted RF Coverage Plot (Zoomed)
Each circle represents
250m distance
Inter site distance is just over 2km
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Driehoek & Primrose Terrain Map
Quarry directly between the two sites provides a challenge for RF cover
Hill
Hill
Poor Coverage Area
Poor Coverage Area
Quarry/Dump Site
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Driehoek & Primrose Terrain Map
Quarry directly between the two sites provides a challenge for RF cover
Hill
Hill
Hill
Hill
Poor Coverage Area
Poor Coverage Area
Quarry/Dump Site
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Driehoek & Primrose Terrain Map
Quarry directly between the two sites provides a challenge for RF cover
Hill
Hill
Poor Coverage Area
Poor Coverage Area
Quarry/Dump Site
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Total Received Wideband Power Field Measurements
Drive tests show that the measured LTE
coverage closely matches the predicted plot
Poor coverage may
result in loss of signal
during drive tests
Poor coverage may
result in loss of signal
during drive tests
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Greater Area Scanner Coverage Measurements
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LTE Mobility Tests
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LTE Coverage Drive Test Measurements (dBm)
Poor coverage due
to shadowing from
the quarry hills
Poor coverage due to
shadowing from the
earth/quarry mounds
along the road
Poor coverage due to
shadowing from a hill
and industrial buildings
along the road
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SINR Measurements (dB)
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Mobility DL Throughput Measurements
Low throughput
due to poor RSRP
Low throughput
due to poor RSRP
Low throughput
due to poor RSRP
Low throughput
at cell edge
Throughput frequently
between 25-31Mbps
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Handovers (Intra and Inter eNodeB)
Serving Physical Cell Identities representing Inter and Intra eNodeB Handover locations
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LTE Stationary Tests
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Throughput and RTT (Stationery Tests)
Test Scenarios
Radio Conditions Tested:
Good Conditions: RSRP > -75dBm
Average Conditions: RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm
Poor Conditions : RSRP < -100dBm
DL & UL Tests:
Vodacom Speed Test
FTP Download
FTP Upload
Round-trip Time Tests:
Vodacom Speed Test
Multiple Ping Commands
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Good Radio Conditions, RSRP= -70dBm
31 Mbps DL Throughput on 5Mhz LTE
With LTE the DL performance is a
lot more constant, with relatively
stable 31Mbps achievable in good
radio conditions in the field
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Very Poor Radio Conditions, RSRP= -116dBm
4.2 Mbps DL Throughput on 5Mhz LTE
Tests at an RSRP of -115 to -120dBm achieve an average of 3-5Mbps in DL. The upload reduces to
200Kbps or lower (limited by UE power output) and also RTT increases (mainly due to higher
packet loss and re-transmissions in these conditions). In WCDMA we reach the noise floor at -
112dBm, i.e. absolutely no calls possible. LTE is able to provide 3-5Mbps DL on 5Mhz in
conditions well below the 3G cell-end.
The following test was performed at an RSRP of -116dBm
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Very Poor Radio Conditions, RSRP= -120dBm
3.6 Mbps DL Throughput on 5Mhz LTE
The following test was performed at an RSRP of -120dBm
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Driehoek Sector 1 (Good Radio Conditions)
RSRP > -75dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 26,100 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 27,5 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 7,721 Mb/sec
RTT: 25ms
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Driehoek Sector 1 (Average Radio Conditions)
RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 28,675 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 25,1 Mb/sec
FTP UL:7,692 Mb/sec
RTT: 23ms
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Driehoek Sector 1 (Poor Radio Conditions)
RSRP < -100dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 14,669 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 14,184 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 5,406 Mb/sec
RTT: 23ms
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Driehoek Sector 2 (Good Radio Conditions)
RSRP > -75dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 28,062 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 26,4 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 7,744 Mb/sec
RTT : 25ms
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Driehoek Sector 2 (Average Radio Conditions)
RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 27,386 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 24.9 Mb/sec
FTP UL:7,630 Mb/sec
RTT: 25ms
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Driehoek Sector 2 (Poor Radio Conditions)
RSRP < -100dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 11,298 Mb/sec
FTP DL:10,110 Mb/sec
FTP UL:2,153 Mb/sec
RTT: 27ms
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Primrose Sector 1 (Good Radio Conditions)
RSRP > -75dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 26,880 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 27,4 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 7,362 Mb/sec
RTT: 24ms
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Primrose Sector 1 (Average Radio Conditions)
RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 28,011 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 23,9 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 7,576 Mb/sec
RTT: 26ms
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Primrose Sector 1 (Poor Radio Conditions)
RSRP < -100dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed Test: 9718 Mb/sec
FTP DL:10,103 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 1,316 Mb/sec
RTT: 24ms
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Primrose Sector 2 (Good Radio Conditions)
RSRP > -75dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed test: 29,832 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 30,4 Mb/sec
FTP UL: 7,185 Mb/sec
RTT : 25ms
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Primrose Sector 2 (Average Radio Conditions)
RSRP -75dBm to -85dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed test: 29,814 Mb/sec
FTP DL: 30,5 Mb/sec
FTP UL:4,529 Mb/sec
RTT: 25ms
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Primrose Sector 2 (Poor Radio Conditions)
RSRP < -100dBm
Average from three separate
test sessions:
Speed test: 12,817 Mb/sec
Ftp download:12,860 Mb/sec
Ftp Upload: 6,856 Mb/sec
RTT: 23ms
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