LTE 4G is the next generation of cellular network which specifically aims to improve the network performance for data traffic and is currently being rolled out by many network operators. We present results from an extensive LTE measurement campaign in Dublin, Ireland using a custom performance measurement tool. Performance data was measured at a variety of locations within the city (including cell edge locations, indoors, outdoors etc) as well as for mobile users on public transport within the city. Using this data we derive a model of the characteristics of link layer RTT and bandwidth vs link signal strength. This model is suited to use for performance evaluation of applications and services, and since it is based on real measurements it allows realistic evaluation of performance.
Since LTE is a relatively new technology, the existing literature on performance of cellular networks mostly deals with earlier or alternative cellular technologies @cite_17 @cite_1 @cite_23 and on particular measurements of specific physical-level characteristics or events @cite_15 @cite_9 @cite_4 @cite_16 .
@cite_4 @cite_9 @cite_1 @cite_23 @cite_15 @cite_16 @cite_17
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As society continues to integrate information-based technologies into daily life, there is an increased need for small, powerful mobile phones. Recently, relaying technologies have been researched for standardization of the next generation of mobile communication systems, including third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) LTE-Advanced, IEEE 802.16j, and IEEE 802.16m. Especially, LTE-Advanced is an evolutionary version of IMT-2000 defined by the ITU. To satisfy these requirements, relaying technology is considered as a powerful candidate scheme with carrier aggregation, MIMO, and CoMP. Relaying technology has been introduced to guarantee high data rates to multiple users. It can also extend cell coverage or effectively increase the average throughput of the cell by installing relay nodes at cell edges or in shadow areas. Thus, in this paper, we propose a method for boosting reception performance using the downlink transmission method of the LTE system, which is the next-generation mobile communication technology standard currently underway in 3GPP. At the moment, orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), which is suitable for high-speed data transmission and multipath, is commonly used in an LTE downlink system. However, the OFDM method has a disadvantage of displaying a relatively higher PAPR at the terminal since it basically uses a multi-carrier. To this end, single carrier division multiple access (SC-FDMA) is used in an LTE uplink system in order to compensate for this defect related to high PAPR of OFDM at such an important terminal where power efficiency is important. However, when the channels in the frequency domain deteriorate signals, SC-FDMA reveals a defect in that the impact of deteriorated parts spreads and causes performance degradation. To this end, we propose that a relay be installed between the station and terminal, the distance between BS and RS be set at 500 or 1,000 m, and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and SC-FDMA be chosen as transmission methods of RS. This paper found SC-FDMA to be a better choice when RS is closer to BS, whereas OFDMA is a better choice when the distance between BS and RS is farther. The system's reception performance improved when the transmission method fit the circumstances in the middle between BS and MS. Mobile broadband networks play an increasingly important role in society, and there is a strong need for independent assessments of their robustness and performance. A promising source of such information is active end-to-end measurements. It is, however, a challenging task to go from individual measurements to an assessment of network reliability, which is a complex notion encompassing many stability and performance related metrics. This paper presents a framework for measuring the user-experienced reliability in mobile broadband networks. We argue that reliability must be assessed at several levels, from the availability of the network connection to the stability of application performance. Based on the proposed framework, we conduct a large-scale measurement study of reliability in 5 mobile broadband networks. The study builds on active measurements from hundreds of measurement nodes over a period of 10 months. The results show that the reliability of mobile broadband networks is lower than one could hope: more than 20 of connections from stationary nodes are unavailable more than 10 minutes per day. There is, however, a significant potential for improving robustness if a device can connect simultaneously to several networks. We find that in most cases, our devices can achieve 99.999 ("five nines") connection availability by combining two operators. We further show how both radio conditions and network configuration play important roles in determining reliability, and how external measurements can reveal weaknesses and incidents that are not always captured by the operators' existing monitoring tools. Network service providers, and other parties, require an accurate understanding of the performance cellular networks deliver to users. In particular, they often seek a measure of the network performance users experience solely when they are interacting with their device---a measure we call in-context. Acquiring such measures is challenging due to the many factors, including time and physical context, that influence cellular network performance. This paper makes two contributions. First, we conduct a large scale measurement study, based on data collected from a large cellular provider and from hundreds of controlled experiments, to shed light on the issues underlying in-context measurements. Our novel observations show that measurements must be conducted on devices which (i) recently used the network as a result of user interaction with the device, (ii) remain in the same macro-environment (e.g., indoors and stationary), and in some cases the same micro-environment (e.g., in the user's hand), during the period between normal usage and a subsequent measurement, and (iii) are currently sending receiving little or no user-generated traffic. Second, we design and deploy a prototype active measurement service for Android phones based on these key insights. Our analysis of 1650 measurements gathered from 12 volunteer devices shows that the system is able to obtain average throughput measurements that accurately quantify the performance experienced during times of active device and network usage. The performance of LTE at high velocities (larger than @math km h) is badly understood. Operators have largely deployed LTE in urban environments where velocities are low and the benefits of LTE core features, for instance MIMO, are well demonstrated. With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, mobile Internet access became ubiquitous and the pressure of rising traffic demands on operator infrastructures is increasing. Furthermore, mobile users now expect access to audio and HD video streams or IPTV while traveling in cars, public transports or intercity trains. Expectations evolve and high-quality connectivity is desired anywhere. To address these demands, operators are expanding their LTE deployments to semi-urban and rural areas of importance, typically along main transportation axes. However, it is unclear (1) how much LTE still benefits from MIMO spatial multiplexing or link adaptation at velocities above a few tens of kilometer per hours; and (2) how overall performance degrades with higher velocities. This paper presents results of a measurement study of a live LTE system at velocities up to @math km h. The results show that while velocity has an effect on performance, its influence remains limited if the SNR coverage is well dimensioned. The percentage of spatial multiplexing usage can exceed 65 from @math to 200 km h. With the recent advent of 4G LTE networks, there has been increasing interest to better understand the performance and power characteristics, compared with 3G WiFi networks. In this paper, we take one of the first steps in this direction. Using a publicly deployed tool we designed for Android called 4GTest attracting more than 3000 users within 2 months and extensive local experiments, we study the network performance of LTE networks and compare with other types of mobile networks. We observe LTE generally has significantly higher downlink and uplink throughput than 3G and even WiFi, with a median value of 13Mbps and 6Mbps, respectively. We develop the first empirically derived comprehensive power model of a commercial LTE network with less than 6 error rate and state transitions matching the specifications. Using a comprehensive data set consisting of 5-month traces of 20 smartphone users, we carefully investigate the energy usage in 3G, LTE, and WiFi networks and evaluate the impact of configuring LTE-related parameters. Despite several new power saving improvements, we find that LTE is as much as 23 times less power efficient compared with WiFi, and even less power efficient than 3G, based on the user traces and the long high power tail is found to be a key contributor. In addition, we perform case studies of several popular applications on Android in LTE and identify that the performance bottleneck for web-based applications lies less in the network, compared to our previous study in 3G [24]. Instead, the device's processing power, despite the significant improvement compared to our analysis two years ago, becomes more of a bottleneck. This paper presents an empirical study on the performance of mobile High Speed Packet Access (HSPA, a 3.5G cellular standard) networks in Hong Kong via extensive field tests. Our study, from the viewpoint of end users, covers virtually all possible mobile scenarios in urban areas, including subways, trains, off-shore ferries and city buses. We have confirmed that mobility has largely negative impacts on the performance of HSPA networks, as fast-changing wireless environment causes serious service deterioration or even interruption. Meanwhile our field experiment results have shown unexpected new findings and thereby exposed new features of the mobile HSPA networks, which contradict commonly held views. We surprisingly find out that mobility can improve fairness of bandwidth sharing among users and traffic flows. Also the triggering and final results of handoffs in mobile HSPA networks are unpredictable and often inappropriate, thus calling for fast reacting fallover mechanisms. We have conducted in-depth research to furnish detailed analysis and explanations to what we have observed. We conclude that mobility is a double-edged sword for HSPA networks. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first public report on a large scale empirical study on the performance of commercial mobile HSPA networks.