Long term evolution multimedia broadcast and multicast services in single frequency network

Abstract

The emerging of broadcasting in wireless telecommunication has brought many interesting features to the users. Besides, the evolution in communication devices such as mobile phones and tablets has introduced many interesting applications that satisfy the user demands. One of them is Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS) that has been reintroduced in Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. However, the increment in users’ traffic decreases the average data rate performance. This problem becomes more critical when the service is accessed in indoor area and at the cell edge. Indoor users experience signal loss due to wall penetration while users at cell edge face interference from the adjacent cells. To overcome the problem, Single Frequency Network (SFN) is chosen to deliver LTE MBMS as it is able to produce almost consistent data rate and Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR) for the user even in cell edge area. It is based on broadcasting technology but using mobile platform to deliver the service. LTE MBMS over SFN employs multi cell transmission where all evolved Node B (eNB) are transmitting the same signal by using the same frequency carrier. The existing eNB infrastructures and frequency resources can be used in its implementation. The performance is evaluated in indoor and outdoor environment by using propagation models such as 3GPP TR 36.814, Okumura-Hata and ITU-R in LTE utilizing digital dividend frequency bands. The investigation aims to tackle the shortcoming in the existing reported research as none of them focusing on different carrier frequency and propagation models. The average data rate for the SFN model is simulated in SEAMCAT simulator with various number of User Equipment (UE). The evaluation in outdoor and indoor environment is continued with SINR evaluation in different UE locations and propagation models. The carrier frequency is varied for both evaluations and all the calculations involved are computed in MATLAB. The results show that the MBSFN performance improves by 9.53% in average data rate and SINR values increases up to 40.28% by using digital dividend frequency compared to other conventional carrier frequency. These findings can be used as a reference for future MBMS implementation.