A Lightweight and Accurate Link Abstraction Model for System-Level Simulation of LTE Networks in ns-3

In this work we present a link abstraction model for the simula- tion of downlink data transmission in LTE networks. The purpose of this model is to provide an accurate link performance metric at a low computational cost by relying solely on the knowledge of the SINR and of the modulation and coding scheme. To this aim, the model combines Mutual Information-based multi-carrier com- pression metrics with Link-Level performance curves matching, to obtain lookup tables that express the dependency of the Block Er- ror Rate on the SINR values and on the modulation and coding scheme being used. In addition, we propose a 3GPP-compliant Channel Quality Indicator evaluation procedure, based on the pro- posed Link Abstraction Model, to be used as part of the LTE Adap- tive Modulation and Coding mechanisms. Finally, we discuss how these contributions have been tested, validated and integrated in the ns-3 simulator.