LTE application and congestion performance

• Published in: Bell Labs technical journal Vol. 18; no. 1; pp. 5 - 25
• Main Authors: Calin, Doru, Bong Ho Kim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Murray Hill IEEE 01.06.2013
• Subjects: Impact analysis; Internet; Logic gates; Long Term Evolution; Mobile communication systems; Networks; Optical buffering; Packet transmission; Protocol (computers); Quality of service; Smart phones; Traffic engineering; Traffic flow; Wireless communication; Wireless networks
• ISSN: 1089-7089; 1538-7305
• DOI: 10.1002/bltj.21590

The complexity of today's wireless networks and the new applications from smartphones call for an in-depth understanding of the mutual impact of networks and applications. We have created a unique Long Term Evolution (LTE) end-to-end network and application performance platform which fulfills several pre-identified needs: 1) to model an actual market so that when traffic models change one can quickly assess the overall impact to customers, 2) optimize products to achieve the best end user experience, 3) develop guidelines for network deployment and capacity analysis, and 4) understand and extend application performance results from the field and lab testing. In this paper we analyze and report the impact of thin traffic applications on the LTE network. In particular, we analyze the performance of underlying packet transmission protocols and the impact of machine-to-machine telemetry on the LTE control plane. We further propose a protocol enhancement to reduce the signaling load and packet transmission delays over a LTE network.