LTE Base Station Software
Introduction
LTEENB allows to build a real 4G LTE base station (called
an eNodeB) using a standard PC and a low cost software
radio frontend. All the physical layer and protocol layer processing
is done in real time inside the PC, so no dedicated LTE hardware is
necessary.
It simulates an LTE infrastructure, so it can work without a real LTE
network behind it. In short, it is possible to use it like a Wifi
access point.
Features
- Implements LTE release 8 with FDD configuration.
- Bandwidth: from 1.4 to 20 MHz.
- Implements the LTE PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS layers.
- Runs in real time on a standard PC using Linux.
- A Core Network emulation is implemented so that no LTE network
infrastructure is needed to use the base station. The IP traffic is
redirected to a Linux virtual network interface.
- Supports test USIM cards using the standard XOR authentication algorithm.
- Flexible configuration system to support various LTE
parameters.
Tested configuration
| PC | Core i7 (Nehalem) at 2.93 GHz.
|
| Software radio frontend | USRP N210 with the SBX daughterboard.
|
| RF configuration | Band 7 (2600 MHz FDD), 20 MHz bandwidth,
single antenna.
|
| User Equipment | Huawei E398 USB dongle (Qualcomm MDM9200 chipset)
|
| SIM card | Anritsu Test USIM card
|
The following speed was measured at the TCP/IP level on the PC
connected to the User Equipment (using the wget
and scp Unix commands):
| Downlink | 60 Mb/s
|
| Uplink | 25 Mb/s
|
Potential use
- Low cost LTE network simulator. Since everything runs on a PC, it is
very easy to add and test new LTE features.
- Educational purposes. Configuring and running a base station is a
way to learn many details of LTE.
- Basis of a low cost LTE network infrastructure for private or
public networks.
Availability
The LTEENB software is commercialized by Amarisoft.
Relevant Tools
- My LTE Tools were used to simulate and
validate all the aspects of the base station software.
- My FFASN1 ASN.1 compiler
was used to implement the RRC layer.
References
- sharetechnote.com is a
good starting point to learn more about LTE and other mobile standards.
- OpenBTS is an open
source base station implementation for the GSM (2G) standard running on a
standard PC.
- The LTE 3GPP specifications are freely available.
Fabrice Bellard - http://bellard.org/