LTE PHY Lab

Overview

LTE PHY Lab is designed to serve customers at all stages of the LTE software, hardware and IPR development – from research, prototyping and implementation, up to system benchmarking, verification and testing.

LTE PHY Lab is a complete implementation of E-UTRA physical layer according to 3GPP Release 8, with substantial elements of Release 9 and 10. It runs under Matlab and can be used as a link-level simulation tool or a reference of the PHY library.
Testing and verification		 where LTE PHY Lab provides test signal vectors ODM, OEM, Operator
R&D		 LTE PHY Lab provides simulation framework Research Institute
LTE PHY prototyping		 LTE PHY Lab shortens the development time Chip manufacturer, ODM
Education		 LTE PHY Lab serves as an environment to visualize LTE PHY operation University, Training Company
Development of MAC protocols and RF processing		 LTE PHY Lab serves as a reference model ODM, Research Institute, Protocol Stack Developer
Learn more about the LTE PHY Lab

LTE PHY Lab is implemented as a library of modular functions with well-defined interfaces, which allows the user to experiment with the whole system, or any part of it – including providing his own implementation for selected components. There are plenty of predefined use cases and examples with well-documented functions. LTE PHY Lab is additionally designed to work with 5G waveforms – the first 5G waveform implemented in LTE PHY Lab is Universal Filtered Multi-Carrier (UMFC).

LTE PHY Lab models a bit-by-bit and sample-by-sample baseband processing for UE and eNB physical (PHY) layer in both downlink and uplink. It implements all 3GPP-compliant functionalities for Transport Channels, Control Info, Physical Channels and Physical Signal processing (including channel coding, MIMO precoding and OFDM / SC-FDMA modulation) and extends it by possible 5G waveforms. LTE PHY Lab provides algorithms for signal reception and recovery, including time and frequency synchronization, channel estimation and correction, MIB / DCI / SIB1 decoding. The tool supports cooperation with popular SDR hardware (e.g., USRP), in order to generate or receive the LTE waveform using VHF / UHF/ SHF frequency ranges, as well as writing and reading of the complex samples to / from a file. The key operations for eNB transmitter and receiver are presented in Figures 1 and 2, respectively, whereas Figure 3 depicts the combined processing chain for end-to-end downlink transmission. The main scenarios for simulation and experimentation using LTE PHY Lab are presented in Figure 4.

Scheme key operations eNB transmitter
Figure 1. LTE PHY Lab PHY and transport channels (eNB TX baseband processing).
Scheme key operations eNB receiver
Figure 2. LTE PHY Lab PHY and transport channels (eNB RX baseband processing).
Scheme LTE PHY Lab transmitter and receiver
Figure 3. LTE PHY Lab transmitter and receiver (downlink).
Scheme LTE PHY Lab scenarios
Figure 4. LTE PHY Lab simulation and experimentation scenarios.

Specifications

Physical layer models of 3GPP Release 8, 9 and 10 E-UTRA physical layer:

  1. Downlink and uplink (including RACH) support
  2. OFDMA and SC-FDMA end-to-end processing
  3. MIB / DCI generation and decoding
  4. Feedback generation and decoding (CQI, PMI, RI estimation)

5G capabilities:

  1. UFMC modulator and demodulator
  2. Environment for developing novel waveform

Channel models included (AWGN, SUI IEEE 802.16, E-UTRA 3GPP TS 36.101 – EPA, EVA, ETU)

Support for MIMO (SM (SU-MIMO), TX diversity)

Support for carrier aggregation (for up to 5 CC)

Signal decoding:

  1. RX functionalities including cell search, synchronization, channel estimation / correction, regeneration of MIB and SIB1
  2. Cooperation with popular SDR hardware, including USRP (APIs for signal recording)
  3. Demodulation and decoding of LTE signals from a file

Usage:

  1. Use case scenarios (e.g. UL feedback generation, system sync procedure)
  2. Interoperability with LTE MAC Lab – system level simulation tool

Examples

Screenshot LTE-PHY-Lab-time-and-frequency-results
LTE PHY Lab: time and frequency results
Screenshot LTE PHY Lab GUI overview
LTE PHY Lab: GUI overview
Screenshot LTE PHY Lab Real Signal Analysis
LTE PHY Lab GUI real signal analysis

Contact us

We would be excited to learn about your business and technical needs and propose a product or customization to fulfill them. To receive more information about our products, request a quote or get a trial, please contact us at [email protected].