System Level Simulation of LTE Networks

In order to evaluate the performance of new mobile network technologies, system level simulations are crucial. They aim at determining whether, and at which level predicted link level gains impact network performance. In this paper we present a MATLAB computationally efficient LTE system level simulator. The simulator is offered for free under an academic, noncommercial use license, a first to the authors' knowledge. The simulator is capable of evaluating the performance of the Downlink Shared Channel of LTE SISO and MIMO networks using Open Loop Spatial Multiplexing and Transmission Diversity transmit modes. The physical layer model is based on the postequalization SINR and provides the simulation pre-calculated "fading parameters" representing each of the individual interference terms. This structure allows the fading parameters to be pregenerated offline, vastly reducing computational complexity at run-time.