Open-source physical-layer simulator for LTE systems

This article describes a physical-layer simulator for both uplink and downlink connections of LTE systems, whose performances are assessed by simulating standardized environments. The simulator is compliant with Release 9 of LTE standard and it is publicly available for educational purposes, allowing students and researchers to test the performance of Signal Processing and Digital Communications techniques in an easy-to-use MATLAB framework. Users may benefit from implemented features such as channel estimation using different demodulation reference signals, channel coding, equalization, multiple access schemes in which multiple cells are employed, as well as diversity, spatial multiplexing, and beamforming transmissions. As an example, we evaluate the impact on the performance of an uplink connection due to inaccuracy in channel estimation and multi-user interference. In addition, we include the evaluation of using diversity and spatial multiplexing transmissions on downlink connections.