An experimental framework for studying LTE and LTE-advanced

The Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) wireless communication standards was postulated by 3GPP to realize the objectives of the International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (IMT-A) organization for 4G cellular systems. To achieve these goals, modern and sophisticated communication techniques such as OFDM and MIMO are utilized at the physical layer. To verify and make measurements on such standards, instrumentation equipment with high specifications together with specialized software is required. In this paper, an experimental framework for studying and measuring LTE and LTE-A is presented, consisting of high-end laboratory equipment and software tools. Using this experimental framework, demonstration experiments for the physical layer are performed for SISO, MISO, and MIMO transmission according to the LTE and LTE-A standards, verifying the 3GPP Reference Measurement Channels (RMCs) specifications and depicting the framework's functionality.