Radar inband and out-of-band interference into LTE macro and small cell uplinks in the 3.5 GHz band

Abstract

National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has proposed vast exclusions zones between radar and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) systems which are also being considered as geographic separations between radars and 3.5 GHz Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems without investigating the changes induced by the distinct nature of the LTE systems as opposed to WiMAX. This paper performs a detailed system-level analysis of the interference effects from shipborne radar systems into LTE macro cells and outdoor small cells. Even though the results reveal impacts of radar interference on LTE systems performance, they provide clear indications of conspicuously narrower exclusion zones for LTE vis-à-vis those proposed for WiMAX and pave the way toward deploying 3.5 GHz LTE within the exclusion zones.