Design of link-to-system mapping interface for lte-a uplink system level simulations

Abstract

The paper is devoted to design of a link-to-system mapping interface (also known as PHY abstraction) for uplink channel of the LTE-A communication system. A link-to-system mapping interface is a mathematical model used in system level and network simulators for accurate prediction of block error rate (BLER) for given signal propagation conditions in order to avoid direct modeling of physical layer processing in the system. The proposed model is based on using mean mutual information per bit (MMIB) between the coded bits and the received logarithms of likelihood ratio (LLR) as a link quality metric. The major feature of the proposed model is the ability to perform fast and accurate BLER prediction for an arbitrary specified code rate and a transport block size, which is especially important for accurate modeling of complex LTE-A system operation. The paper provides the principles of the link-to-system interface design and a full description of the developed model. Verification results for the proposed link-to-system mapping interface are also presented demonstrating the claimed high accuracy of the BLER prediction.