Design, Deployment and Performance of 4G-LTE Networks: A Practical Approach

Chapter 4Performance Analysis and Optimization of LTE Key Features: C-DRX, CSFB, and MIMO

Mohamed A. El-saidny and Ayman Elnashar

With the growing demand for data services, it is increasingly challenging to meet the required air interface data capacity and cell edge efficiency. On the other side of the cellular ecosystem, the transition to smartphones presents a significant revenue opportunity for operators, as there is substantially higher average revenue per user (ARPU) from smartphone sales and services. While the rollout of 4G LTE (long term evolution) radio networks is proceeding rapidly, smartphone penetration is also increasing exponentially. Hence, network operators need to ensure that the 4G subscribers' experience is as good or even better than with 3G systems, given the inherent high speed broadband deployed with 4G systems. Nonetheless, smartphone users or application behaviors add more demand on the network operators to apply methods and features that stabilize the system's capacity and consequently improve the end-user experience.

Several LTE features were initially introduced in 3GPP (third generation partnership project) Release 8 and further enhanced in later releases addressing the challenges discussed. Utilizing the spectrum and providing a better user reception at the edge of LTE coverage is essential and for this, different types of MIMO (multiple-input, multiple-output) derivatives are introduced: open-loop, closed-loop, or higher rank 4 × 4 MIMO. Additionally, ...