Impact of discovery reference signals in LTE small-cell eNB on audio devices

Abstract

The impact of acoustic interferences caused by discovery reference signals (DRS) in the long-term evolution small-cell evolved node B (eNB) in the proximity of audio devices is investigated. The spectra of DRS and the sound pressure levels of the acoustic interferences due to DRS are examined through both a theoretical analysis and experiments. As the key parameters, the period and the duration of DRS are considered for minimising acoustic interferences. Based on the analysis results, the period and the duration of DRS are set to 160 and 1 ms, respectively, within Third Generation Partnership Project release 12. In addition, the proposed DRS setting values allow to increase the eNB transmit power up to 6 dB without increasing the acoustic interference levels on audio devices