Evaluation of cell load of the LTE network based on control information decoding

Abstract

Cell load evaluation is the one of the tools used for the development of methods to increase quality of service (QoS) in cellular networks. For instance, the analysis of mobile traffic usage can be used for network optimization and management in terms of radio resources. Existing assessing methods, such as drive tests or passive evaluations based on analysis of physical channel indicators are either unreliable, inaccurate, or inconvenient. A cell load evaluation method based on decoding and analysing the control channels is presented. The method can reliably monitor the resource allocations and the throughput in a public mobile cell. A real LTE signal recorded from the eNodeB using software defined radio was analysed. The main indicators of the cell were determined, including the efficiency of using resource blocks, the number of active users, and the cell’s throughput. The accuracy of the algorithm was also evaluated in this paper.