Tag Archives: SIB

Viewing the SIB – The LTE System Information Block with SDRs

I’ve been experimenting with Inter-RAT & Inter-Frequency handovers recetly, and had an issue where what I thought was configured on the eNB I wasn’t seeing reflected on the UEs.

I understood the Neighbouring Cell reelection parameters are broadcast in the System Information Blocks, but how could I view them?

The answer – srsUE!

I can’t get over how cool the stuff coming out of Software Radio Systems is, but being able to simulate a UE and eNB on SDR hardware is pretty awesome, and also allows you to view low layer traces the vast majority of commercial UEs will never expose to a user.

After running srsUE with the PCAP option I let it scan for networks and find mine. I didn’t actually need to authenticate with the network, just lock to the cell.

Deocoding it using the steps I laid out here for decoding LTE MAC traces in Wireshark, there it all was!

I’ve attached a copy of the pcap here for your reference.