6. Base Station to Single Commercial UE (2 PCs)

The aim of the following experiment is establishing a LTE downlink between the fixed node (B205 mini) and a single commercial UE (moto x4) then test its performance through iPerf tool over 20 MHz channel bandwidth.

Prerequisites:

This experiment assumes that the user already have establish a successful SSH connection into the testbed and able to access AERPAW's nodes remotely. If you have any problem with the establishment of the remote connection, you can check this information here(TBA). The experiment is using an open source LTE software provided by srsLTE for the implementation of LTE base station (srsENB) on AERPAW's fixed node and user equipment (srsUE) on AERPAW's mobile node. For more information about current images available on AERPAW testbed, you may check this SDR Profiles.

The specifications of AERPAW's fixed and mobile nodes can be found here (TBA).

The required image for this experiment for both nodes is: (TBA)

Experiment Execution:

For execution, you will need two steps. First, install the required images and check successful compilation of required packages. Next, program the sim card using a sim card reader and sim writing software. The configuration of the EPC will need to be modified for the settings used for the commercial UE. Then, the execution commands of the intended experiment. Finally, download an app in order to perform ping and throughput testing. Some commercial UEs are able to be pinged without 3rd party apps. The one used here is not.

• Images Building and Installation:

(TBA)

• Program Sim Card

  • • Insert the sim card into the sim card reader and open the writing software.

    • Once the card is detected, use the settings shown in the picture below.

• Once the settings have been entered, click "Write Card" to program them to the sim card.

• Once the software confirms a successful write, you can insert the sim card back into the commercial UE.

• Modify EPC Configuration

  1. 1. The EPC must be configured for the same settings that the commercial UE is now looking for. This can be done using a premade script or configuration file.

     2. The premade script used in this case can be found at: TBA

     3. A configuration file that will perform like the previous script can be found at: TBA

• Execution Commands:

• EPC+eNodeB (Fixed node):

  • Run srsEPC

Run srsENB with default parameters

• Commercial UE (Mobile Node):

  • At this point, if the EPC and sim card have been properly configured, you should see the commercial UE attach to the network.

  • It is important to note that this process may take some time.

For further information about the default parameters of srsLTE EPC and eNodeB and how to configure it, you may check srsLTE configuration files (eNB, EPC).

• iPerf Test:

This test is used for calculating the maximum achievable bandwidth between the server and client nodes on IP networks. For this experiment we are testing the downlink rate from eNodeB to the UE. For more information about the iPerf tool, check this.

First, the commercial UE requires an app, pingtools, to have these capabilities.

The app can be downloaded at: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ua.com.streamsoft.pingtools&hl=en_US&gl=US

To run a basic downlink iperf test between the EPC and UE:

On the commercial UE, navigate to the pingtools app. Select the menu option "iPerf". Change the settings by selecting the three dots in the top right and clicking settings. Change the iPerf mode to "Server" instead of "Client". Click "start" to begin listening for a connection.

On the EPC system:

To run a basic uplink iperf test between the EPC and UE:

On the EPC system:

On the commercial UE, navigate to the pingtools app. Select the menu option "iPerf". Enter the IP address of the EPC. Click "start" to begin a throughput test with the EPC.