An LTE-WiFi Interworking Platform with Real-Time PHY Layer Interface

New use cases and requirements of future communication systems have driven the focus of research towards the coordination and coexistence of heterogeneous wireless technologies such as LTE, WiFi as well as 5G. In this paper we present a prototyping system focused on the joint real-time experimentation of LTE and WiFi systems utilizing a single software-defined radio platform. We present a new general API architecture that connects FPGA based PHY layer implementations to higher layers. End-to-End throughput measurements underline the capabilities of this approach. This platform allows new experimentation results that will lead to a better understanding of the tradeoffs when using different radio access technologies together as it would be the case in practical wireless network deployments.