Chapter 10
Performance
10.1 Introduction
This chapter illustrates LTE capabilities from the end user's and from the operator's point of view. Radio performance has a direct impact on the cost of deploying the network in terms of the required number of base station sites and in terms of the transceivers required. The operator is interested in the network efficiency: how many customers can be served, how much data can be provided and how many base station sites are required. The efficiency is considered in the link budget calculations and in the capacity simulations. The end user application performance depends on the available bit rate, latency and seamless mobility. The radio performance defines what applications can be used and how these applications perform.
The link level studies in this chapter illustrate the main factors affecting LTE performance including mobile speed and transmission bandwidth. The LTE link performance is benchmarked with the theoretical Shannon limit. The capacity studies present the impact of the environment and show the bit rate distributions in typical network deployments. The relative capacity gains compared to HSPA networks are shown analytically and with simulations. The chapter presents also general dimensioning guidelines and the specific aspects of refarming LTE to the GSM spectrum. The network capacity management is illustrated with examples from High ...
