Verkotan’s in-house developed interference measurements

Verkotan has performed in-house GSM, WCDMA and VoLTE interference benchmarking for years. Verkotan offers Interference Performance Measurements with realistic channel models for city and highway environments. Data and voice call performance have their own test procedures.

Newest addition to our interference portfolio – LTE Data Throughput Performance with Base Station

We have developed a new measurement method to accurately estimate devices’ LTE data throughput in today’s congested networks. We are using real base stations to accurately simulate all the features of modern LTE networks since radio communication testers have limited capability to test the dynamic behavior of radio channels.

The test is based on 3GPP TR 37.976 Radiated MIMO Performance Test specification with some modifications. Major modifications are:

• Using real base station
• AWGN interference with varying arrival direction

Here we have some example results of our latest measurement. In this measurement, we compared two different smartphones.

Average throughput [Mbits/sec]

• Average throughput measured with iPerf using TCP-connection for different noise levels. DUT B throughput is 10-13% worse when signal conditions are relatively good. At high interference levels DUT B is performing 8% better compared to DUT A.

95% throughput limit [Mbits/sec]

• To study connection stability we calculated 95% throughput value. This is connection speed which is reached 95% of the time. Values are reported for three the different noise levels. Again, DUT B is performing well in high interference condition and DUT A is performing well in low interference condition.

Average packet BLER for different noise levels

• At low interference levels DUT B have slightly higher average BLER (Block Error Rate). On average about 9% BLER levels is archived.

Average MIMO Rank Indicator value reported by the DUT

• Average reported MIMO rank indicator for different noise levels. DUT A is very seldomly indicating MIMO rank 2.

Average CQI values

• At lower interference levels DUT A is reporting higher CQI (Channel Quality Indicator) values compared to DUT B. This is to compensate DUT A low MIMO rank.

Verkotan is always happy to provide more detailed information and make a proposal how we can verify the performance of your wireless device in the global environment.

If you have any questions or need assistance, contact us. We are happy to help you!