Study of coexistence between indoor LTE femtocell and outdoor-to-indoor DVB-T2-Lite reception in a shared frequency band

Nowadays, the demand for high-quality multimedia services (video, audio, image, and data) is rapidly increasing. The Digital Video Broadcasting - terrestrial (DVB-T) standard, its second-generation version (DVB-T2), and the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) standard are the most promising systems to fulfill the demand for advanced multimedia services (e.g., high-definition image and video quality), especially in Europe. However, LTE mobile services can operate in a part of the UHF band allocated to DVB-T/T2 TV services previously. The main purpose of this work is to explore the possible coexistences of DVB-T2-Lite and LTE systems in the same shared frequency band (co-channel coexistence) under outdoor-to-indoor and indoor reception conditions. Furthermore, an applicable method for evaluating coexistence scenarios between both systems is shown with a particular example. These coexistence scenarios can be noncritical and critical. In the first case, both systems can coexist without significant performance degradation. In the second one, a partial or full loss of DVB-T2-Lite and/or LTE signals can occur. We consider an indoor LTE femtocell and outdoor-to-indoor DVB-T2-Lite signal reception in a frequency band from 791 up to 821 MHz. Simulations of combined indoor and outdoor signal propagation are performed in MATLAB using 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) channel models, separately for both DVB-T2-Lite and LTE systems. Correctness of path loss simulation results is verified by measurements. Afterwards, an appropriate linear model is proposed which enables to evaluate the impact of coexistence on performance of both systems in outdoor-to-indoor and indoor-to-indoor reception scenarios. The results are related to an actual location in the building and are presented in floor plans. The floor plans include different coexistence conditions (different power imbalance and different amount of overlay of the radio channels). Service availability of both systems is verified again by measurements. The resulting maps help better understand the effect of coexistence on achievable system performance under different indoor/outdoor reception situations considering real transmission conditions.