Mobile Scanning of LTE Frequency with SDR Technology

Abstract

Getting connected with acceptable performance is always a user expectation. Moreover, it is critical when network users are in a mobile position. Receiving an adequate level of signals ensures the users get a good signal to noise ratio (SNR) which then promotes good data connections. Furthermore, measuring the signal from a user perception is always important for optimizing the network coverage. This work proposes a scanning process in a range of frequency to asses the coverage. By the use of software-defined radio (SDR), the research has performed measurement in LTE frequency band 3 in a defined track in the City of Yogyakarta. With a low-cost device, some valuable information such as the actual bandwidth used and the benchmark between operators can be obtained. For instance, the measurement acquired a result that an operator leads covering the track by around 5dB.