Analysis and Modeling of Mobile Traffic Using Real Traces

Abstract

The analysis of real mobile traffic traces is helpful to understand usage patterns of cellular networks. In particular, mobile data may be used for network optimization and management in terms of radio resources, network planning, energy saving, for instance. However, real network data from the operators is often difficult to be accessed, due to legal and privacy issues. In this paper, we overcome the lack of network information using a LTE sniffer capable of decoding the unencrypted LTE control channel and we present a temporal and spatial analysis of the recorded traces. Moreover, we present a methodology to derive a stochastic characterization for the daily variation of the LTE traffic. The proposed model is based on a discrete-time Markov chain and is compared with the real traces. Results show that, with a limited number of states, our model presents a high level of accuracy in terms of first and second order statistics.