Cell hearability analysis in UTRAN Long Term Evolution Downlink

In this paper we analyze cell hearability in UTRAN Long Term Evolution (LTE) Downlink for positioning purposes. The observed time difference of arrival technique has been specified in LTE for location estimation. Successful positioning estimate requires at least three geographically diverse base stations to be detected or heard. Reference signal hearability measurements, such as Reference Signal Received Power and signal-to-interference and noise ratio of the signal from a cell, are used for detection of the cell. By means of these measurements the cell hearability is evaluated by fully dynamic time-driven system simulator. In order to mitigate the interference and improve hearability, muting of the serving cell and fractional load technique are proposed. The simulation results show improved positioning capability with proposed techniques, since all user equipments can hear the required number of geographically diverse cells.