Development of SDR-based network positioning technology. LTE reference signals reception and processing validation

Introduction. The positioning of devices according to the base stations reference signals of LTE cellular radio networks deployed everywhere is an important area of research and development that is in demand due to dense urban development with unreliable signal reception from global navigation satellite systems. The instrument for experimental approbation of technical solutions is the software and hardware of the SDR software defined radio technology. This work continues the study on the use of SDR technology for network positioning problems in terms of the experimental testing of the device for receiving reference signals of the LTE standard.

Materials and methods. The correctness of the software implementation of the LTE reference signal processing procedures was verified in the course of laboratory tests that showed the accuracy of primary measurements in units of meters allowing us to speak about the satisfactory performance of the implemented SDR layout of the user device that receives the LTE reference signals.

Results. Insufficient synchronization accuracy of SDR models of base stations for navigation tasks confirmed the need for hardware-software implementation of the subsystem for generating LTE reference signals in HDL for FPGAs.

Discussion and conclusions. The next stage of research in the field of SDR network positioning technology is field testing of the implemented sub-system for generating LTE reference signals with sufficient synchronization accuracy of eNB models for navigation tasks.

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