6.1.6) Ericsson Experiments

Overview#

This section provides sample experiments using the Ericsson 5G NSA network. The provided software for these experiments were tested by the AERPAW team in the AERPAW testbed.

Additional sample experiments are expected to be added in the future. Each experiment is prefixed with EE (EricssonRAN Experiment) and indexed in a chronological order based on the first time they are introduced in the user manual.

Note to the Experimenter#

• AERPAW experiments are typically run in Development or Emulation mode first, then on the TESTBED, but for the experiments on Ericsson network the Emulation or Development mode option is not available or applicable. Hence, the Ericsson network experiments shall be run straight away on the Testbed in the field by the Aerpaw operator.
• The Experimenter who wishes to create an experiment on Ericsson network is required to follow the workflow procedure outlined in Section 4.6.1)
• Ericsson 5G NSA network is already preconfigured, say the frequency, channel bandwidth, power etc., as specified in this page below so the Experimenter is required to review them.
• The radio logging of parameters from the Quectel modem on the SPN are preset as specified below in this page, so the experimenter can review them if that meets their experiment objectives.
• However, the experimenter is required to prepare a flight path plan file for the vehicle trajectory the experiment needs to be run and the logs need to be collected.

Ericsson Network Testbed setup for Experimentation#

Ericsson 5G network based experiments typically involves the following components :

• Ericsson 5G network
• Portable Radio Node (APRN)
• Fixed node (wired) (AFN)
• Vehicle (drone or a rover) to carry the APRN

Typical Ericsson Experimentation software functional block diagram#

Ericsson 5G NSA network#

AERPAW testbed for these experiments includes a commercial grade Ericsson 5G NSA network.

Please refer to Section 5.3.4 for more details about the network capabilities and equipments information. For the sample experiments, the 5G RAN is preconfigured to the following values:

• LTE Carrier
  • Channel bandwidth: 5 MHz DL + 5 MHz UL, FDD
  • Frequency Band: 1755-1760 MHz & 2155-2160 MHz (Band 66A)
    • • Downlink: 2157.5 MHz (EARFCN 66911)
      • Uplink: 1757.5 MHz (EARFCN 132447)
  • 2x2 MIMO
  • Tx Power: 5 watts per antenna port
  • Physical Cell Id: 1 & 2
• NR Carrier
  • Channel bandwidth: 100 MHz TDD
  • Frequency band: 3.35 - 3.45 GHz (Sub n77/78 band)
  • 2x2 MIMO
  • Tx Power: 5 watts per antenna port
  • Physical Cell Id: 1 & 2
  • Subcarrier spacing 30 KHz
  • SSB:
    • frequency 3355.680 MHz (ARFCN 623712)
    • Periodicity 20 ms
    • Subcarrier spacing 30 KHz

AERPAW Portable Radio Node (APRN)#

The sample Ericsson 5G experiments use a Small Portable Node SPN using Quectel model as APRN.

A Quectel modem based SPN shall include

• Quectel 5G modem for AERPAW 5G network
• AT&T 5G modem
• LattePanda single board computer

Please refer to Section 5.3.4.2 for more details on the Poartable nodes

5G signal Radio logging on the Quectel modem is through AT commands from the LattePanda. Please refer to the Quectel modem AT Commands Manual for details on the AT commands used to log the radio parameters

Preprogrammed Radio logging configuration:#

The radio parameter logging at the Portable node is pre-programmed to collect the following parameters:

Serving Cell Parameters#

System parameters

• MCC, MNC
• LTE Cell ID, NR PCID
• LTE earfcn, frequency band
• NR earfcn, frequency band
• LTE Tx Power
• NR subcarrier spacing (SCS)

RF parameters

PHY layer parameters

• LTE: MCS, CQI, RI, PMI
• NR: MCS, CQI, RI, PMI

Neighbor Cell Parameters#

• earfcn, PCID
• RSRQ, RSRP, RSSI, SINR

The AT commands below give the detailed list parameters logged:

Primary Serving Cell Parameters

In EN-DC mode:

+QENG: "servingcell",<state>

+QENG: "LTE",<is_tdd>,<MCC>,<MNC>,<cellID>,<PCID>,<earfcn>,<freq_band_ind>,<UL_bandwidth>,<DL_bandwidth>,<TAC>,<RSRP>,<RSRQ>,<RSSI>,<SINR>,<CQI>, <tx_power>,<srxlev>

+QENG: "NR5G-NSA",<MCC>,<MNC>,<PCID>,<RSRP>,<SINR>,<RSRQ>,<ARFCN>,<band>

+QNWCFG: "lte_csi",<mcs>,<ri>,<cqi>,<pmi>

+QNWCFG: "nr5g_csi",<mcs>,<ri>,<cqi>,<pmi>

Neighbour Cell Parameters

+QENG: "neighbourcell intra","LTE",<earfcn>,<PCID>,<RSRQ>,<RSRP>,<RSSI>,<SINR>,<srxlev>,<cell_resel_priority>,<s_non_intra_search>,<thresh_serving_low>,<s_intra_search>

The description of these parameters are given in Quectel AT Commands document on the main page, please refer to it for the details.

AERPAW Fixed Node (AFN)#

Ericsson experiments that requires traffic, like ping or Iperf, shall use this fixed node in CC1 as the end-point for the traffic.