Testing of the Carrier Aggregation Mode for a Live LTE Base Station in Reverberation Chamber

For the first time, the carrier aggregation feature of a live fourth-generation Long-Term Evolution (4G-LTE) base station (BS) is checked, adopting a reverberation chamber as a propagating environment. For this purpose, two nonadjacent bands were chosen, i.e., 800 and 1800 MHz, and alternatively set as primary and secondary cells. The multipath conditions were tuned by adding the absorbing material inside the chamber and ranging from an empty condition with a rich multipath to a real environment such as an indoor scenario. The latter is a very interesting and popular situation as it represents one in which people use mobile phones. The multipath variation effect on the BS performance was accurately verified by introducing power compensation to account for the variation of the chamber quality factor $Q$ due to the insertion of absorbers. A complete over-the-air test was carried out by checking typical transmission quality parameters, which are of interest to manufacturers and mobile network operators. Results highlight the differences between the performance of the two bands as a function of multipath degree and signal strength.

[1]  Valter Mariani Primiani,et al.  Numerical Analysis of a New Location for the Working Volume Inside a Reverberation Chamber , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[2]  Romano Fantacci,et al.  Handset and network quality performance benchmarking for QoE improvement , 2013, 2013 IEEE Globecom Workshops (GC Wkshps).

[3]  Xuemin Shen,et al.  Joint Subcarrier and Power Allocation for Cooperative Communications in LTE-Advanced Networks , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[4]  Olivier Delangre,et al.  Coupled reverberation chambers for emulating MIMO channels , 2009 .

[5]  V. M. Primiani,et al.  Analysis of the Independent Positions of Reverberation Chamber Stirrers as a Function of Their Operating Conditions , 2011, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[6]  Zhongming Zheng,et al.  Equivalent Capacity in Carrier Aggregation-Based LTE-A Systems: A Probabilistic Analysis , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[7]  A. Delfini,et al.  Measurement of Electromagnetic Field Attenuation by Building Walls in the Mobile Phone and Satellite Navigation Frequency Bands , 2015, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[8]  Valter Mariani Primiani,et al.  Coupling Between Multipath Environments Through a Large Aperture , 2015, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[9]  G. B. Tait,et al.  Wireless RF Energy Propagation in Multiply-Connected Reverberant Spaces , 2011, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[10]  Valter Mariani Primiani,et al.  Over-the-air performance testing of a real 4G LTE base station in a reverberation chamber , 2014, 2014 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC).

[11]  A. Hussain,et al.  Experimental and theoretical study of OTA throughput of 4G LTE wireless terminals for different system bandwidths and coherence bandwidths in Rich Isotropic Multipath , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Wireless Information Technology and Systems (ICWITS).

[12]  P.-S. Kildal,et al.  Investigation of Heavily Loaded Reverberation Chamber for Testing of Wideband Wireless Units , 2006, 2006 IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society International Symposium.

[13]  Xiaoming Chen,et al.  Channel Sounding of Loaded Reverberation Chamber for Over-the-Air Testing of Wireless Devices: Coherence Bandwidth Versus Average Mode Bandwidth and Delay Spread , 2009, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[14]  Xiaoming Chen.  On Independent Platform Sample Number for Reverberation Chamber Measurements , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[15]  Xiaoming Chen,et al.  Measurement Uncertainty of Antenna Efficiency in a Reverberation Chamber , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[16]  Franco Moglie,et al.  Numerical Simulation of LOS and NLOS Conditions for an Antenna Inside a Reverberation Chamber , 2010 .

[17]  F. Moglie,et al.  Numerical Simulation of Reverberation Chamber Parameters Affecting the Received Power Statistics , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[18]  D. Hill,et al.  On the Use of Reverberation Chambers to Simulate a Rician Radio Environment for the Testing of Wireless Devices , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[19]  L. R. Arnaut,et al.  Probability Distribution of the Quality Factor of a Mode-Stirred Reverberation Chamber , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[20]  P. Kildal,et al.  Radiation efficiency, correlation, diversity gain and capacity of a six-monopole antenna array for a MIMO system: theory, simulation and measurement in reverberation chamber , 2005 .

[21]  Per-Simon Kildal,et al.  Correlation and capacity of MIMO systems and mutual coupling, radiation efficiency, and diversity gain of their antennas: simulations and measurements in a reverberation chamber , 2004, IEEE Communications Magazine.

[22]  Franco Moglie,et al.  4G-LTE base station output power estimation from statistical counters during over-the-air tests in reverberation chamber , 2014, 2014 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[23]  G. Ferrara,et al.  Antenna pattern in a multipath environment emulated in a reverberating chamber , 2013, 2013 7th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EuCAP).

[24]  Maurizio Migliaccio,et al.  Estimate of the Probability Density Function of the Quality Factor of Mode Tuned, Source Stirred and Mode Stirred Reverberation Chambers , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[25]  Qiong Wu,et al.  Reverberation-Chamber Test Environment for Outdoor Urban Wireless Propagation Studies , 2010, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[26]  Geoffrey Ye Li,et al.  User Classification and Scheduling in LTE Downlink Systems with Heterogeneous User Mobilities , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[27]  Valter Mariani Primiani,et al.  Power Boosting and Compensation During OTA Testing of a Real 4G LTE Base Station in Reverberation Chamber , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[28]  Kate A. Remley,et al.  Uncertainty From Choice of Mode-Stirring Technique in Reverberation-Chamber Measurements , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[29]  Valter Mariani Primiani,et al.  Performance and Immunity Evaluation of Complete WLAN Systems in a Large Reverberation Chamber , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[30]  H. A. Shah,et al.  Reverberation Chamber Techniques for Determining the Radiation and Total Efficiency of Antennas , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[31]  Kate A. Remley,et al.  Examining the true effectiveness of loading a reverberation chamber: How to get your chamber consistently loaded , 2010, 2010 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[32]  Kate A. Remley,et al.  Early Time Behavior in Reverberation Chambers and Its Effect on the Relationships Between Coherence Bandwidth, Chamber Decay Time, RMS Delay Spread, and the Chamber Buildup Time , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[33]  A. Hussain,et al.  LTE MIMO multiplexing performance measured in reverberation chamber and accurate simple theory , 2012, 2012 6th European Conference on Antennas and Propagation (EUCAP).

[34]  Xiaoming Chen,et al.  Estimation of Average Rician K-Factor and Average Mode Bandwidth in Loaded Reverberation Chamber , 2011, IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters.

[35]  P. Kildal,et al.  Characterization of Reverberation Chambers for OTA Measurements of Wireless Devices: Physical Formulations of Channel Matrix and New Uncertainty Formula , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[36]  Preben E. Mogensen,et al.  Carrier load balancing and packet scheduling for multi-carrier systems , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[37]  Nestor Alejandro Paz Portela,et al.  Performance Comparison between the Air Interfaces of LTE and Mobile WiMAX , 2013 .

[38]  Yong Soo Cho,et al.  Receive Beamforming Techniques for an LTE-Based Mobile Relay Station With a Uniform Linear Array , 2015, IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology.

[39]  Robert E. Richardson,et al.  Wireless Channel Modeling of Multiply Connected Reverberant Spaces: Application to Electromagnetic Compatibility Assessment , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[40]  Visa Koivunen,et al.  Performance of Mobile MIMO OFDM Systems With Application to UTRAN LTE Downlink , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications.

[41]  C.L. Holloway,et al.  Requirements for an effective reverberation chamber: unloaded or loaded , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[42]  G. Ferrara,et al.  Characterization of GSM Non-Line-of-Sight Propagation Channels Generated in a Reverberating Chamber by Using Bit Error Rates , 2007, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[43]  Srikrishna Bhashyam,et al.  Queue-aware optimal resource allocation for the LTE downlink , 2013, 2013 IEEE Global Communications Conference (GLOBECOM).

[44]  K. Remley,et al.  Experimental Evaluation of the Statistical Isotropy of a Reverberation Chamber’s Plane-Wave Spectrum , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[45]  Kate A. Remley,et al.  Parameter Estimation and Uncertainty Evaluation in a Low Rician K-Factor Reverberation-Chamber Environment , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[46]  Jan Carlsson,et al.  OTA Testing in Multipath of Antennas and Wireless Devices With MIMO and OFDM , 2012, Proceedings of the IEEE.

[47]  M. Migliaccio,et al.  The Reverberating Chamber as a Line-of-Sight Wireless Channel Emulator , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation.

[48]  Davide Micheli,et al.  Measurements of the Outdoor-To-Indoor Attenuation of Mobile Phone Signal , 2014 .

[49]  K A Remley,et al.  Simulating the Multipath Channel With a Reverberation Chamber: Application to Bit Error Rate Measurements , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Electromagnetic Compatibility.

[50]  Valter Mariani Primiani,et al.  Uncorrelated frequency steps in a reverberation chamber: A multivariate approach , 2015, 2015 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC).