Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine May 2018 - 51

Cooklev et al.

Figure 5.

Mobility of the LTE RBs.

are dependent on the environmental and climatic conditions. In
practice, the identified interferences have a uniform bandwidth of
1.25 MHz and vary in time in a similar way. By installing RF clients at several different locations, it was possible to determine the
angle of arrival (AoA) of these signals. It was concluded that the
SINR degradation is due to the effect of ducting, propagating signals from the DL of Code-Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000
operators in the 800-MHz range located at a big distance from the
receiving BS. The statistical analysis of the RF data, correlated
with the analysis of the environmental conditions and AoA, lead to
the conclusion that the reception of CDMA 2000 radio signals over
relatively long distances is a result of the effect of ducting.
From the previously mentioned information, it could be argued
that applying such predictive RF data analytics approaches, on the
basis of linking the results from the long-term spectrum monitoring
RF data analysis with the analysis of other environmental, structural,
or mobile data, the occurrence of such effects could be forecasted
with a high probability. The determination of the causes of SINR
degradation and sources of interference are also a strong basis for the
application of corresponding measures for interference avoidance,
which is a good example of the RF prescriptive analytics application.
Another example of a prescriptive RF data analytics is the
determination of opportunities for using different unoccupied freMAY - JUNE 2018

quency bands, for offering additional or new 4th-generation mobile communication services in a given area or location. Figure
11 is an illustration of merging (overlaying) measurement RF data
from a number of RF clients we have installed at different locations over a given area for overall spectrum monitoring. The initial
consideration of a mobile operator was to use two frequency bands
for the UL and DL channels for mobile communications. The results of the measurements showed that digital broadcast television
(DBTV) signals from neighboring areas interfere in the frequency
bands of the preselected UL and DL channels. The analysis of the
merged data from the RF clients placed at different locations all
over the area lead to the conclusion that the frequency bands are
practically unoccupied and not used for other services in the corresponding area; but due to the interference from licensed DBTV
transmitters located in some of the neighboring areas, the direct
deployment of mobile services all over the area in these frequency
bands should be reconsidered and readdressed, with the spectrum
utilization optimized accordingly.

SOCIETAL ASPECTS OF RF DATA ANALYTICS
The rapid development of telecommunications in recent years
poses a number of challenges not only to scientists and engineers

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine May 2018