Digital Television Interference on the LTE System in the 700 MHz Band

Today, the coexistence of Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems operating in adjacent channel with Digital Television (DTV) in the 700 MHz band is under investigation. Many countries are using both technologies to provide respectively high capacity broadband connection and terrestrial television broadcasting. However, the interference between the systems may cause direct impact on their co-existence in the 700 MHz band. This work aims to provide a comprehensive study to evaluate the impact of the interference caused by DTV in the LTE system performance. We determine the minimum separation distance to ensure that LTE system can operate without suffering interference from DTV system. Moreover, we use Monte Carlo simulation to assess the impact of interference from different classes of DTV (Special, A, B and C) on LTE system. The results show that interference from Special class DTV may restrain the LTE channel capacity. On the other hand, the results show that the LTE capacity loss provoked by DTV interference may be significantly reduced if the separation distances between DTV tower and LTE base stations are respected.