5G NR and LTE Downlink Coexistence Measurements Using Software-Defined Radios

Published

August 20, 2024

Author(s)

Nadia Yoza Mitsuishi, Yao Ma, Jason Coder

Abstract

With the rapid deployment of 5G New Radio (NR) in the sub-6 GHz frequency bands, cellular operators need to accommodate this new technology within the limited spectrum licensed to them, mostly occupied by 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE). This poses the challenge of migrating their 4G infrastructure to 5G, while supporting current 4G systems in the same band. This indicates a need for wireless coexistence between 4G and 5G systems. In this paper, we present measurements of mutual downlink interference between two adjacent 4G and 5G cells. The setup is based on software-defined radios (SDR) operating with cellular open-source software. The measurements show the effect of different levels of frequency overlap, from adjacent channel to co-channel, and different levels of Signal-to-Interference Ratio (SIR). The network performance is quantified using throughput and packet loss. The results show that higher frequency overlap and lower SIR cause lower throughput and increased packet loss and that the region of overlap might affect the performance. This setup can be used to study further coexistence scenarios.

Proceedings Title

ICC 2024 - IEEE International Conference on Communications

Conference Dates

June 9-13, 2024

Conference Location

Denver, CO, US

Conference Title

IEEE International Conference on Communications

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

4G LTE, 5G New Radio, Intercell Interference (ICI), Software-defined radio, Wireless Coexistence

Citation

Yoza Mitsuishi, N. , Ma, Y. and Coder, J. (2024), 5G NR and LTE Downlink Coexistence Measurements Using Software-Defined Radios, ICC 2024 - IEEE International Conference on Communications, Denver, CO, US, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=957217 (Accessed October 6, 2025)