RHEINISCHWESTFLISCHE TECHNISCHE HOCHSCHULE AACHEN

Prof. i.R. Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Walke Tel.: ++49.241.80-27913 RWTH Aachen, ComNets Research Group Bernhard-Walke-Haus Kopernikusstr. 5 D-52074 Aachen

ComNets

Research Group

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Fax: ++49.241.80-22242 walke@comnets.rwth-aachen.de www.comnets.rwth-aachen.de

8. April 2011

Diplom-/Studienarbeit (Master-/Bachlorarbeit)

Analytical Evaluation of a Beamforming Enhanced Communication System of the Fourth Generation (4G)
Supervisor: Dipl.-Ing. Benedikt Wolz bmw@comnets.rwth-aachen.de Tel:+49241 8027916, Room 108 New worldwide coordinated spectrum will be made available to the fourth generation (4G) of cellular wireless systems and ensure the evolution of mobile radio networks towards ubiquitous higher data rates. Data rates of 100 Megabits with peak data rates of 1 Gbps will be provided according to the IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications Advanced) requirements. One possible mean to meet the required data rates and spectral efficiencies is employing antenna arrays and beamforming algorithms. They allow steering transmissions well directed (intelligent or adaptive antennas). As adaptive antennas reduce not only undesired transmission power in the direction of an aimed minimum but also reduce the overall transmission power, they allow reducing the interference produced by a cell. The figure depicts, that concurrent transmission of adjacent cells do not mutually interfere through using directional radio pattern (blue lobe). This behaviour is advantageous within a cellular network deployment as co channel cells do less disturb each other. The capacity increases and the frequency demand decreases. If main lobes of adjacent cells steers towards one receiving station (SS) at the same time, harmful interference occur (red lobe). In order to improve the interference reduction between co channel cells the directional radio pattern of neighbour base stations can be Figure 1: WiMAX/LTE-Advanced network topology coordinated. The coordination of the base stations targets to effectively reduce the transmitted and received interference and hence to improve the system performance. Goal of this work is developing and evaluating methods for interference reduction by coordinating the beams of neighbour cells. Different concepts with different degrees of complexity should be elaborated. Afterwards the enhancement of the MAC layer will be implemented and investigated. The implementation will be embedded in the software tool used during the IMT-Advanced evaluation process, in which the research group of Communication Networks (ComNets) worked in one of the 14 registered external calibration groups. The MAC layer is supposed to be evaluated in a multi cellular environment according to the IMT-Advanced evaluation methodology. Systems with and without utilization of coordination of base stations should be compared. What can you learn during this work ??? At the end of this work you will have gained detailed knowledge about LTE-Advanced technology, a system that will be certainly relevant in the future. By working with the evaluation tool you will make experiences with programming in Python language. By means of the developed software tool you will be enabled to conduct realistic performance evaluation of 4G systems enhanced by smart antennas. This knowledge does not exist worldwide. The working atmosphere at our research group, collaboration with other assistants and students will give you insights in other mobile systems. You will get presentations and discussions about GSM/GPRS, UMTS, WiMAX, wireless LAN, wireless PAN and further topics. ... and by the way we have fun while sport and collective BBQ. We offer team oriented work in a modern environment and expect the necessary engagement in order to be able to solve such a task.

Dipl.-Ing. Benedikt Wolz, bmw@comnets.rwth-aachen.de Tel: 80-27916, Kopernikusstr.5 Raum 108