An IP-Based Packet Test Environment for TD-LTE and LTE FDD

In recent years, Long Term Evolution systems have been developed to replace 3G mobile networks. During LTE network deployment, it is essential that mobile operators and manufacturers conduct tests on user equipment and the base station (eNB). Besides conformance testing at the radio layer, it is also important to conduct network-layer performance tests between UE and eNB. This article develops an LTE test environment that can be used to test the IP-based packet performance for TD-LTE and LTE FDD. Specifically, we consider the latency and the throughput performance of IP, TCP, and VoIP (i.e., G.711) packet delivery. This multi-purpose test environment can be utilized to investigate the performance of the UE and/or eNBs of various manufacturers. Furthermore, we use this environment to compare TD-LTE and LTE FDD. The measurement results provide guidelines for UE and eNB vendors to improve their products, and operators to deploy their LTE networks and subsidized UE devices.