LTE (both radio and core network evolution) is now on the market.

Release 8 was
frozen in December 2008 and this has been the basis for the first wave of LTE
equipment. LTE specifications are very stable, with the added benefit of enhancements
having been introduced in all subsequent 3GPP Releases.

The motivation for LTE

Need to ensure the continuity of competitiveness of the 3G system for the future
User demand for higher data rates and quality of service
Packet Switch optimised system
Continued demand for cost reduction (CAPEX and OPEX)
Low complexity
Avoid unnecessary fragmentation of technologies for paired and unpaired band operation
LTE Overview
Author: Magdalena Nohrborg, for 3GPP
LTE (Long Term Evolution) or the E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Access
Network), introduced in 3GPP R8, is the access part of the Evolved Packet System
(EPS). The main requirements for the new access network are high spectral efficiency,
high peak data rates, short round trip time as well as flexibility in frequency and
bandwidth.

Figure 1 Network Solutions from GSM to LTE

GSM was developed to carry real time services, in a circuit switched manner (blue in
figure 1), with data services only possible over a circuit switched modem connection,
with very low data rates. The first step towards an IP based packet switched (green in
figure 1) solution was taken with the evolution of GSM to GPRS, using the same air
interface and access method, TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access).
To reach higher data rates in UMTS (Universal Mobile Terrestrial System) a new access
technology WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) was developed. The
access network in UMTS emulates a circuit switched connection for real time services
and a packet switched connection for datacom services (black in figure 1). In UMTS the
IP address is allocated to the UE when a datacom service is established and released
when the service is released. Incoming datacom services are therefore still relying upon
the circuit switched core for paging.
The Evolved Packet System (EPS) is purely IP based. Both real time services and
datacom services will be carried by the IP protocol. The IP address is allocated when
the mobile is switched on and released when switched off.
The new access solution, LTE, is based on OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiple Access) and in combination with higher order modulation (up to 64QAM), large
bandwidths (up to 20 MHz) and spatial multiplexing in the downlink (up to 4x4) high data
rates can be achieved. The highest theoretical peak data rate on the transport channel
is 75 Mbpsin the uplink, and in the downlink, using spatial multiplexing, the rate can be

as high as 300 Mbps.

The LTE access network is simply a network of base stations, evolved NodeB (eNB),
generating a flat architecture (figure 2). There is no centralized intelligent controller, and
the eNBs are normally inter-connected viathe X2-interface and towards the core
network by the S1-interface (figure 2). The reason for distributing the intelligence
amongst the base-stations in LTE is to speed up the connection set-up and reduce the
time required for a handover. For an end-user the connection set-up time for a real time
data session is in many cases crucial, especially in on-line gaming. The time for a
handover is essential for real-time services where end-users tend to end calls if the
handover takes too long.

Figure 2. X2 and S1 Interfaces

Another advantage with the distributed solution is that the MAC protocol layer, which is
responsible for scheduling, is represented only in the UE and in the base station leading
to fast communication and decisions between the eNB and the UE. In UMTS the MAC
protocol, and scheduling, is located in the controller and when HSDPA was introduced
an additional MAC sub-layer, responsible for HSPA scheduling was added in the NB.
The scheduler is a key component for the achievement of a fast adjusted and efficiently
utilized radio resource. The Transmission Time Interval (TTI) is set to only 1 ms.
During each TTI the eNB scheduler shall:

consider the physical radio environment per UE. The UEs report their
perceived radio quality, as an input to the scheduler to decide which Modulation and
Coding scheme to use. The solution relies on rapid adaptation to channel variations,
employing HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) with soft-combining and rate
adaptation.

prioritize the QoS service requirements amongst the UEs. LTE supports both
delay sensitive real-time services as well as datacom services requiring high data
peak rates.

inform the UEs of allocated radio resources. The eNB schedules the UEs both
on the downlink and on the uplink. For each UE scheduled in a TTI the user data will
be carried in a Transport Block (TB). DL there can be a maximum of two TBs
generated per TTI per UE if spatial multiplexing is used. The TB is delivered on a

transport channel. In LTE the number of channels is decreased compare to UMTS.

For the user plane there isonly one shared transport channel in each direction. The
TB sent on the channel, can therefore contain bits from a number of services,
multiplexed together.
To achieve high radio spectral efficiency as well as enable efficient scheduling in both
time and frequency domain, a multicarrier approach for multiple access was chosen by
3GPP. For the downlink, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) was
selected and for the uplink SC-FDMA (Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple
Access) also known as DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) spread OFDMA (figure 3).

Figure 3 OFDMA and SC-FDMA

OFDM is a multicarrier technology subdividing the available bandwidth into a multitude
of mutual orthogonal narrowband subcarriers. In OFDMA these subcarriers can be
shared between multiple users. The OFDMA solution leads to high Peak-to-Average
Power Ratio (PAPR) requiring expensive power amplifiers with high requirements on
linearity, increasing the power consumption for the sender. This is no problem in the
eNB, but would lead to very expensive handsets. Hence a different solution was
selected for the UL. As illustrated in figure 3, the SC-FDMA solution generates a signal
with single carrier characteristics, hence with a low PAPR.
To enable possible deployment around the world, supporting as many regulatory
requirements as possible, LTE is developed for a number of frequency bands E-UTRA
operating bands- currently ranging from 700 MHz up to 2.7GHz. The available
bandwidths are also flexible starting with 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz. LTE is developed to
support both the time division duplex technology (TDD) as well as frequency division
duplex (FDD). In R8 there are 15 bands specified for FDD and eight bands for TTD. In
R9 four bands were added for FDD. Also added in R9 were for example Multimedia
Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), and Home eNB (HeNB), see figure 4. MBMS is
used to provide broadcast information to all users, for example advertisement, and
multicast to a closed group subscribing to a specific service, e.g. streaming TV. HeNBs
are introduced mainly to provide coverage indoors, in homes or offices.The HeNB is a
low power eNB that will be used in small cells femto cells. Normally it will be owned by
the customer, deployed without any network planning and connected to the operators
EPC (Evolved Packet Core).

In LTE-Advanced focus is on higher capacity:The driving force to further

develop LTE towards LTEAdvanced - LTE Release10 was to provide higher bitrates in
a cost efficient way and, at the same time, completely fulfil the requirements set by ITU
for IMT Advanced, also referred to as 4G.
Increased peak data rate, DL 3 Gbps, UL 1.5 Gbps
Higher spectral efficiency, from a maximum of 16bps/Hz in R8 to 30 bps/Hz in R10
Increased number of simultaneously active subscribers

Improved performance at cell edges, e.g. for DL 2x2 MIMO at least 2.40 bps/Hz/cell.
The main new functionalities introduced in LTE-Advanced are Carrier Aggregation (CA),
enhanced use of multi-antenna techniques and support for Relay Nodes (RN).
Carrier Aggregation
The most straightforward way to increase capacity is to add more bandwidth. Since it is
important to keep backward compatibility with R8 and R9 mobiles the increase in
bandwidth in LTE-Advanced is provided through aggregation of R8/R9 carriers. Carrier
aggregation can be used for both FDD and TDD.
Each aggregated carrier is referred to as a component carrier. The component carrier
can have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of five component
carriers can be aggregated. Hence the maximum bandwidth is 100 MHz. The number of
aggregated carriers can be different in DL and UL, however the number of UL
component carriers is never larger than the number of DL component carriers. The
individual component carriers can also be of different bandwidths, see figure 1.

Figure 1. Carrier Aggregation FDDThe R10 UE can be allocated

resources DL and UL on up to five Component Carriers (CC). The R8/R9
UEs can be allocated resources on any ONE of the CCs. The CCs can be
of different bandwidths.
For practical reasons different carrier aggregation configurations specified by e.g.
combinations of E-UTRA operating band and the number of component carriers - are
introduced in steps. In R10 there are two component carriers in the DL and only one in
the UL (hence no carrier aggregation in the UL), in R11 there are two component
carriers DL and one or two component carriers in the UL when carrier aggregation is
used.
The easiest way to arrange aggregation is to use contiguous component carriers within
the same operating frequency band (as defined for LTE), so called intra-band
contiguous. This might not always be possible, due to frequency allocation scenarios.
For non-contiguous allocation it could either be intra-band, i.e. the component carriers

belong to the same operating frequency band, but are separated by a frequency gap, or
it could be inter-band, in which case the component carriers belong to different
operating frequency bands, see figure 2.

Figure 2 Carrier Aggregation Intra- and inter-band alternatives.

When carrier aggregation is used there is a number of serving cells, one for each
component carrier. The coverage of the serving cells may differ due to e.g.
component carrier frequencies. The RRC connection is handled by one cell, the Primary
serving cell, served by the Primary component carrier (DL and UL PCC). The other
component carriers are all referred to as Secondary component carrier (DL and possibly
UL SCC), serving the Secondary serving cells.
In the inter-band CA example shown in figure 3, carrier aggregation on all three
component carriers is only possible for the black UE, the white UE is not within the
coverage area of the red component carrier.

Figure 3. Carrier Aggregation; Serving CellsEach Component Carrier

corresponds to a serving cell. The different serving cella may have
different coverage.
Introduction of carrier aggregation influences mainly MAC and the physical layer
protocol, but also the RLC buffer must be larger and RRC must be able to make
decisions about addition/removal of secondary CC.
MIMO, Multiple Input Multiple Output or spatial multiplexing

MIMO is used to increase the overall bitrate through transmission of two (or more)
different data streams on two (or more) different antennas - using the same resources in
both frequency and time, separated only through use of different reference signals - to
be received by two or more antennas, see figure 4.

Figure 4. Simplified illustration of 2x2 MIMO (Spatial Multiplexing).

Two different data streams are transmitted on two TX antennas and
received by two RX antennas, using the same frequency and time,
separated only by the use of different reference signals.
One or two transport blocks are transmitted per TTI. A major change in LTE-Advanced
is the introduction of 8x8 MIMO in the DL and 4x4 in the UL.
MIMO can be used when S/N (Signal to Noise ratio) is high, i.e. high quality radio
channel. For situations with low S/N it is better to use other types of multi-antenna
techniques to instead improve the S/N, e.g. by means of TX-diversity, see figure 5.

Figure 5. MIMO is recommended for high S/N and TX diversity is

preferably used for low S/N scenarios.

To be able to adjust the type of multi-antenna transmission scheme, according to e.g.

radio environment, a number of different Transmission Modes (TM) has been defined.
The UE will through RRC signalling be informed about the transmission mode to use. In
the DL there are nine different transmission modes, where TM1-7 were introduced in
R8, TM8 was introduced in R9 and TM9 was introduced in R10. In the UL there are
TM1 and TM2, where TM1, the default, was introduced in R8 and TM2 was introduced
in R10. The different transmission modes differ in;
Number of layers (streams, or rank)
Antenna ports used
Type of reference signal, Cell-specific Reference Signal (CRS) or Demodulation
Reference Signal (DM-RS), introduced in R10.

Precoding type
Through the introduction of TM9 8x8 MIMO is supported DL, and through the
introduction of TM2 UL use of 4x4 MIMO UL is enabled. Naturally it is also required that
the UE support this. In R10 three new UE categories are introduced, category 6, 7 and
8 where UE category 8 supports the maximum number of CC and 8x8 spatial
multiplexing.
In multi-antenna techniques precoding is used to map the modulation symbols onto the
different antennas. The type of precoding depends on the multi-antenna technique used
as well as on the number of layers and the number of antenna ports. The aim with
precoding is to achieve the best possible data reception at the receiver.
Note that the signal will be influenced by fading of various types, which can also be
seen as some type of coding caused by the radio channel.To handle this, known
reference signals will be transmitted together with the data, and used by the receiver for
demodulation of the received signal.
In R8 the reference signal is added to the signal after precoding, one CRS (Cell-specific
Reference Signal) per antenna. From the received CRS the UE estimates how the radio
channel influenced the signal. Using this together with knowledge about the used codebook based precoding, the UE can demodulate the received signal and regenerate the
information sent.
In R10 the DM-RSs (Demodulation Reference Signals) are added to the different data
streams before precoding. Knowledge about the reference signal will provide
information about the combined influence of radio channel and precoding, no preknowledge about the precoder is required by the receiver, this case is referred to as
non-codebook based precoding, see figure 6.

Figure 6. MIMO DL with precoding and reference signal for

demodulation in R8 and R10. CRS is a cell specific reference signal, DMRS is a UE specific reference signal, also specific per data stream.
Relay Nodes
In LTE-Advanced, the possibility for efficient heterogeneous network planning i.e. a
mix of large and small cells - is increased by introduction of Relay Nodes (RNs). The
Relay Nodes are low power base stations that will provide enhanced coverage and
capacity at cell edges, and hot-spot areas and it can also be used to connect to remote
areas without fibre connection. The Relay Node is connected to the Donor eNB (DeNB)
via a radio interface, Un, which is a modification of the E-UTRAN air interface Uu.
Hence in the Donor cell the radio resources are shared between UEs served directly by
the DeNB and the Relay Nodes. When the Uu and Un use different frequencies the
Relay Node is referred to as a Type 1a RN, for Type 1 RN Uu and Un utilize the same
frequencies, see figure 7. In the latter case there is a high risk for self interference in the

Relay Node, when receiving on Uu and transmitting on Un at the same time (or vice
versa). This can be avoided through time sharing between Uu and Un, or having
different locations of the transmitter and receiver. The RN will to a large extent support
the same functionalities as the eNB however the DeNB will be responsible for MME
selection.

Figure 7. The Relay Node (RN) is connected to the DeNB via the radio
interface Un. UEs at the edge of the donor cell are connected to the RN
via Uu, while UEs closer to the DeNB are directly connected to the DeNB
via the Uu interface. The frequencies used on Un and Uu can be different,
outband, or the same, inband. In the inband case there is a risk for self
interference in the RN.
Coordinated Multi Point operation (CoMP) R11
LTE-Advanced continues to evolve. New CA configurations are added (additions of new
bands for CA are not bound to specific releases) and there are new features introduced
in coming releases of the 3GPP specifications, such as Coordinated Multi Point (CoMP)
introduced in R11.
The main reason to introduce CoMP is to improve network performance at cell edges. In
CoMP a number of TX (transmit) points provide coordinated transmission in the DL, and
a number of RX (receive) points provide coordinated reception in the UL. A TX/RX-point
constitutes of a set of co-located TX/RX antennas providing coverage in the same
sector. The set of TX/RX-points used in CoMP can either be at different locations, or cosited but providing coverage in different sectors, they can also belong to the same or
different eNBs. CoMP can be done in a number of ways, and the coordination can be
done for both homogenous networks as well as heterogeneous networks. In figure 8
two simplified examples for DL CoMP is shown. In both these cases DL data is
available for transmission from two TX-points. When two, or more, TX-points, transmit
on the same frequency in the same subframe it is called Joint Transmission. When data
is available for transmission at two or more TX-points but only scheduled from one TXpoint in each subframe it is called Dynamic Point Selection. For UL CoMP there is for
example Joint Reception, a number of RX-points receive the UL data from one UE, and
the received data is combined to improve the quality. When the TX/RX-points are
controlled by different eNBs extra delay might be added, since the eNBs must

communicate, for example in order to make scheduling decisions. When CoMP is used
additional radio resources for signaling is required e.g. to provide UE scheduling
information for the different DL/UL resources.