Cell-specific Reference Signals Research Articles

Complexity Effective Integer Frequency Offset and Sector Cell Detection Scheme for LTE Downlink System

This paper proposes a low-complexity integer frequency offset (IFO) and sector cell index (CID) detection scheme in a long term evolution downlink system. In the proposed detection scheme, the IFO and CID are estimated in a decoupled manner. In doing so, the detection scheme is designed to first estimate IFO without a priori knowledge of cell-specific reference signals and then detect the CID consecutively. We show via simulations that such a design achieves not only a low computational load but also comparable performance, when compared to the conventional detection scheme.

Implementation of TD-LTE Downlink Channel Estimation Based on DSP

The implementation based on DSP (Digital Signal Processor) plays an important role in the LTE protocol development. Firstly, this paper introduces the generation process and mapping location of time-frequency of cell-specific reference signals and chooses LS algorithm to carry on the channel estimation after weighed the DSP implementation complexity and algorithm performance. Secondly, describes the design and implementation of the channel estimation key modules in the perspective of memory allocation, operation cycles and competition accuracy. Finally, the performance analysis and BER results show that the proposed scheme can not only meet the requirements of real-time processing but also provide superior performance.

Performance of carrier frequency synchronization for OFDM-based mobile cellular systems over time selective fading channels

This paper evaluates the performance of a cell-specific reference signal (RS)-assisted residual carrier-frequency offset (CFO) detection scheme for a long-term evolution (LTE) downlink in a time-varying channel. Channel variations severely degrade the performance of OFDM by introducing both a complicated multiplicative distortion and an additive inter-carrier interference. Taking into consideration the effect of time-variant fading channels, an analytical closed-form expression of the mean square error (MSE) of the post-FFT CFO detection scheme is derived. The analytical expression is verified through simulations using the parameters of the LTE standard.

A Lean Carrier for LTE

The next major step in the evolution of LTE targets the rapidly increasing demand for mobile broadband services and traffic volumes. One of the key technologies is a new carrier type, referred to in this article as a Lean Carrier, an LTE carrier with minimized control channel overhead and cell-specific reference signals. The Lean Carrier can enhance spectral efficiency, increase spectrum flexibility, and reduce energy consumption. This article provides an overview of the motivations and main use cases of the Lean Carrier. Technical challenges are highlighted, and design options are discussed; finally, a performance evaluation quantifies the benefits of the Lean Carrier.

MIMO 프리코딩을 고려한 셀 탐색 기법

CS/CB(Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming) 방식은 인접 기지국으로부터의 간섭신호를 최소화시키는 MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output) 프리코더를 선택함으로써 셀 경계 사용자의 수율을 증가시킨다. 그러나 현재의 LTE(Long Term Evolution) 시스템에서는 안테나 한 개를 사용하여 주위 기지국으로부터 전송된 동기신호와 기준신호를 사용하여 초기화 단계에서 서빙 셀이 선택된다. 이와 같이 선택된 셀은 초기화 단계에서 MIMO 프리코더 이득을 고려하지 않고 선택되었기 때문에 데이터 전송시 최적의 선택이 아닐 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 MIMO 프리코더를 갖는 LTE 시스템을 위하여 초기화 단계에서 프리코더의 영향을 고려하여 셀을 선택하는 기법을 제안한다. 제안된 기법은 후보 기지국들에서 전송한 기준신호를 사용하여 획득한 정보(랭크, 유효 채널 용량, 유효 SINR(Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio))를 사용하여 셀 경계의 단말이 서빙 기지국을 선택할 수 있도록 한다. 제안한 기법은 기존의 기법과 비교하여 다중 셀 환경하의 LTE 시스템에서 채널 용량을 크게 향상시킬 수 있음을 모의실험을 통하여 확인한다. In the CS/CB(Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming) scheme, the cell edge user throughput is increased by selecting MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) precoders which can minimize the interferences from adjacent base stations (BSs). However, in current LTE(Long Term Evolution) systems, the serving cell is selected in the initialization stage by using the synchronization signals and cell specific reference signals transmitted by adjacent BSs with a single antenna. The selected BS in the initialization stage may not be the best one since the MIMO precoding gain has not been considered in the cell selection stage. In this paper, a new cell selection technique is proposed for LTE systems with MIMO precoder by taking into account the effect of the precoder in the initialization stage. The proposed technique enables a user equipment (UE) in the cell boundary to select the serving BS by using the information (channel rank, effective channel capacity, and effective SINR(Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio)) acquired from cell specific reference signals of candidate BSs. It is verified by computer simulation that the proposed technique can increase the channel capacity significantly in the multi-cell environments, compared with the conventional CS/CB scheme.

Improvement of LTE System Performances by Using a New Pilot Structure

In this paper, a new pilot structure for LTE downlink system in SISO and MIMO cases is introduced in order to improve the channel estimation performances. The downlink reference signal structure in LTE is important for channel estimation. Pre-defined resource elements in the time and frequency domain are carrying the cell-specific reference signal sequence. However, those standard pilot scattering contains more empty resource element as the number of transmit or receiver antennas increases, leading to a decrease of the system performances. Simulation results shows that the proposed LTE pilot structure allows a high performance in terms of QoS and throughput for both SISO and MIMO cases.

Investigation on Interference Coordination Employing Almost Blank Subframes in Heterogeneous Networks for LTE-Advanced Downlink

This paper investigates the application of inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC) in heterogeneous networks for the LTE-Advanced downlink where picocells are overlaid onto macrocells. In LTE-Advanced, in order to perform ICIC, almost blank subframes (ABSs) are employed, where only the cell-specific reference signal (CRS) is transmitted to protect the subframes in the picocells from severe interference from the macrocells. Furthermore, multicast/broadcast over single-frequency network (MBSFN) subframes are employed to reduce the interference of the CRS on the data channel, although the control channel still suffers from interference from the CRS. When the cell range expansion (CRE), which offload the UEs from macrocells to picocells, is used to improve the system performance, the influence from the CRS increases. In order to assess the influence, the required CRE bias to improve the data channel is investigated based on a system-level simulation under various conditions such as the number of picocells, the protected subframe ratio, and the user distribution. The simulation results show that the cell-edge user throughput is improved with the CRE bias of more than 8dB, employing ABSs. Furthermore, simulation results show that one dominant source of interference is observed for the sets of user equipment (UEs) connected to the picocells via CRE with such a bias value. Based on observation, the influence that the CRS has on the control channel, i.e., physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH), and physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) is investigated based on a link-level simulation combined with a system-level simulation. The simulation results show that protecting the PCFICH is very important compared to protecting the PDCCH, since the block error rate (BLER) performance of the PCFICH becomes worse than the required BLER of 10-3 to support various conditions, although the BLER performance of the PDCCH can exceed the required BLER of 10-2 by spanning the PDCCH over three OFDM symbols.

Impact on Inter-Cell Interference of Reference Signal for Interference Rejection Combining Receiver in LTE-Advanced Downlink

This paper investigates the dominant impact on the interference rejection combining (IRC) receiver due to the downlink reference signal (RS) based covariance matrix estimation scheme. When the transmission modes using the cell-specific RS (CRS) in LTE/LTE-Advanced are assumed, the property of the non-precoded CRS is different from that of the data signals. This difference poses two problems to the IRC receiver. First, it results in different levels of accuracy for the RS based covariance matrix estimation. Second, assuming the case where the CRS from the interfering cell collides with the desired data signals of the serving cell, the IRC receiver cannot perfectly suppress this CRS interference. The results of simulations assuming two transmitter and receiver antenna branches show that the impact of the CRS-to-CRS collision among cells is greater than that for the CRS interference on the desired data signals especially in closed-loop multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems, from the viewpoint of the output signal-to-interference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR). However, the IRC receiver improves the user throughput by more than 20% compared to the conventional maximal ratio combining (MRC) receiver under the simulation assumptions made in this paper even when the CRS-to-CRS collision is assumed. Furthermore, the results verify the observations made in regard to the impact of inter-cell interference of the CRS for various average received signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR) and signal-to-interference power ratio (SIR) environments. key words: LTE-Advanced, interference rejection combining, inter-cell interference, reference signal, turbo equalizer

Interference-aware scheduling in the multiuser MIMO-OFDM downlink

With the introduction of orthogonal frequency- division multiplexing and multiple antennas in cellular networks, there are new opportunities to adapt the transmission to propagation and interference conditions. In this article we describe a practical approach using space-frequency-selective multiuser MIMO scheduling. Frequency-selective feedback is provided on achievable data rates for preferred single- and multistream transmission modes. The base station selects the best mode while providing instantaneous fairness. We observe that multiuser transmission increases the probability of using multistream transmission. Besides the benefits from optimal combining at the physical layer, there is an additional gain at the MAC layer since the estimation of achievable rates becomes more precise. Altogether, 93 percent of the theoretical throughput can be realized by synchronizing the base stations and providing cell-specific reference signals. We have implemented essential functions of the approach in real time on an experimental 3GPP LTE prototype in 20 MHz bandwidth. Feasibility of the key features is proven in laboratory and field trials.