Resource element-level computations for long term evolution networks

The long term evolution base station transmits a power that is shared by all downlink channels, i.e. user data plus control channels. The powers shared by these channels result from spreading the entire transmission power of the cell over the resource elements corresponding to those channels within an LTE frame. A wide range of decisive dimensioning activities; such as cell capacity, coverage, overall available cell resources, and system overhead rely heavily on those resource elements and most importantly their corresponding power contributions. This paper gives a resource element-level analysis of the long term evolution physical layer channels. The expressions for calculating channels resource elements, their power contributions and resultant overhead are fully presented. Based on realistic frame characteristics, this paper fills the gap of the previous approaches found in literature.