ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

IJCSt Vol. 1, ISSue 1, September 2010

LTE-Advanced and Mobile WiMAX: Meeting the IMT-Advanced specifications for 4G

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College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, 210037 China 2 Department of Computer Science, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab - India
E-mail : amit.nfu@gmail.com

Amit Kumar1; Dr. Yunfei Liu1; Dr. Jyotsna Sengupta2

Abstract: The increased customer demand for high bandwidth data services has accelerated the urgency for operators to deploy broadband 4G networks. WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) is the IEEE 802.16 standards-based wireless technology where as the LTE- Advanced (Long Term Evolution- Advanced) is the 3GPP (Third generation Partnership Project) standard, for making broadband for all a reality everywhere in the future 4G wireless mobile networks. This paper provides a high-level overview of some technology requirements being studied by 3GPP for LTE-Advanced and by IEEE in mobile WiMAX. The high level targets of LTE-Advanced and mobile WiMAX are to meet or exceed the IMT-Advanced requirements set by ITU-R and furthermore, meet any additional operator requirements. Keywords: Mobile WiMAX, LTE-Advanced, IMT-Advanced, 4G, 3GPP, IEEE 802.16m I. Introduction The explosive growth of the Internet over the last decade has lead to an increasing demand for high-speed, ubiquitous Internet access [2]. The uninterrupted growth in terms of telecommunication and ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure development and service uptake resulting in more than 4.8 billion mobile cellular subscriptions worldwide justify the market demand [1]. As shown in Fig. 1, Mobile data traffic is expected to more than double every year between 2008 and 2013 [12]. The market is set to continue its expansion thanks to broadband for individuals, enterprises, and for society as a whole. Mobile broadband will be a larger part of this future broadband growth helping to deliver the broadband everywhere vision [3]. Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) are among the leading technologies to meet the demand for broadband connectivity in a wide range of devices from smart phones to notebook computers [2].

LTE-Advanced is the future release of existing LTE standard whereas mobile WiMAX (IEEE 802.16m) is the future release of present WiMAX standard (IEEE 802.16e). The aim of LTEAdvanced and mobile WiMAX is to fulfill and even surpass the requirements of IMT-Advanced or 4G as defined by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-R) [4,5]. II. IMT-Advanced Requirements IMT-Advanced is the term used by ITU for radio-access technologies beyond IMT-2000 and an invitation to submit candidate technologies for IMT-Advanced has been issued by ITU in March, 2008. LTE-Advanced and mobile WiMAX are among the leading technology standards to respond to this call from ITU. The following table lists the IMT-Advanced requirements specified by ITU: Table: 1 IMT-Advanced requirements [6]. Item Peak Data Rate (DL) Peak Data Rate (UL) Spectrum Allocation Latency (User Plane) Latency (Control Plane) Peak Spectral Efficiency (DL) Peak Spectral Efficiency (UL) Average Spectral Efficiency (DL) Average Spectral Efficiency (UL) Cell-Edge Spectral Efficiency (DL) Cell-Edge Spectral Efficiency (UL) Mobility IMT-Advanced 1 Gbps 500 Mbps >40 MHz 10 ms 100 ms 15 bps/Hz (4 X 4) 6.75 bps/Hz (2 X 4) 2.2 bps/Hz (4 X 2) 1.4 bps/Hz (2 X 4) 0.06 bps/Hz (4 X 2) 0.03 bps/Hz (2 X 4) Up to 350 km/h

Source: Cisco, 2009. Fig. 1: Mobile Data Traffic Growth [12]

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III. LTE-Advanced 3GPP initiated a study item called LTEAdvanced, with the task of defining requirements and investigating the technology components of the evolution of LTE, to meet all the requirements of IMT-Advanced as defined by ITU. LTE-Advanced is a future release of the LTE standard (3GPP Release-10). Being an evolution of LTE, LTE-Advanced should be backwards compatible in the sense that it should be possible to deploy LTE-Advanced in spectrum already occupied by the first release of LTE with no impact on existing LTE terminals. Such spectrum compatibility is of critical importance for a smooth, low-cost transition to
InternatIonal Journal of Computer SCIenCe and teChnology

IJCSt Vol. 1, ISSue 1, September 2010

ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

LTE-Advanced capabilities within the network and is similar to the evolution of WCDMA to HSPA [5]. The current agreements on the requirements for LTE-Advanced are [6]: 1. Peak data rate of 1 Gbps for downlink (DL) and 500 Mbps for uplink (UL). 2. Regarding latency, in the Control plane the transition time from Idle to Connected should be lower than 50ms. In the active state, a dormant user should take less than 10ms to get synchronized and the scheduler should reduce the User plane latency at maximum. 3. Downlink peak spectral efficiency up to 30 bps/Hz and uplink peak spectral efficiency of 15 bps/Hz with an antenna configuration of 8 8 or less in DL and 4 4 or less in UL. 4. The average user spectral efficiency in DL (with inter-site distance of 500m and pedestrian users) must be 2.6 bps/ Hz/cell with MIMO 4 2, whereas in UL the target average spectral efficiency is 2.0 bps/Hz/cell with MIMO 2 4. 5. In the same scenario with 10 users, cell edge user spectral efficiency will be 0.09 in DL 4 2. In the UL, this cell edge user spectral efficiency must be 0.07 with MIMO 2 4. 6. The mobility and coverage requirements are identical to LTE Release 8. There are only differences with indoor deployments that need additional care in LTE-Advanced. 7. LTE-Advanced system will support scalable bandwidth and spectrum aggregation with transmission bandwidths up to 100MHz in DL and UL. 8. Backward compatibility and inter-working with LTE and with other 3GPP legacy systems. In order to fulfill the rather challenging targets for LTE-Advanced, several key technology components are being investigated currently in 3GPP as part of the Study Item. The technology components considered for LTE-Advanced include extended spectrum flexibility to support up to 100MHz bandwidth, enhanced multi-antenna solutions with up to eight layer transmission in the downlink and up to four layer transmission in the uplink, coordinated multi-point transmission/reception, and the use of advanced repeaters/relaying [5]. IV. Mobile WiMAX Mobile WiMAX, or Institute of Electronic and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) 802.16e-2005, has emerged as a potential alternative to cellular technology for wide-area wireless networks. Based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) and approved by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) as an IMT-2000 (3G technology) under the name OFDMA Time Division Duplex (TDD) Wireless Metropolitan Area Network (WMAN), mobile WiMAX has gained its greatest traction in developing countries as a fixed wireless alternative to wireline deployment [7]. Mobile WiMAX is the next revolution in wireless technology that will enable pervasive, high-speed connectivity to meet the ever-increasing demand for broadband Internet on the go. Delivering the next leap in the mobile network evolution with fourth generation (4G) wireless, WiMAX will drive a wide array of devices well beyond whats available today. Based on the IEEE 802.16e standard, mobile WiMAX is designed to deliver superior data rates and scalability, lower costs, and reduced network complexity. WiMAX is continuously evolving. It started with Fixed WiMAX based on the IEEE 802.16-2004 followed by the IEEE 802.16e- 2005 standard upon which Mobile WiMAX is based and the latest is being developed in the IEEE 802.16m project (see Table 2) which will introduce

new technologies like Multi-carrier support, Hierarchical frame structure, Multihop Relay support, Femtocell support and Extension of MIMO Technology, in order to meet the IMTAdvanced requirements [7]. Table 2: Summary of Objectives for IEEE 802.16m [7,9]. Item Carrier Frequency Scalable Channel Bandwidth Duplex Advance Antenna Systems Peak DL Spectral Efficiency Peak DL Spectral Efficiency Latency Multi-carrier support for contiguous or non-contiguous Channels Handover Interruption Time Requirement Under 6GHZ (Licensed band) (Typical: 450 MHz to 3800 MHz) 5, 7, 8.75, 10, 20 and 40 MHZ TDD, FDD and H-FDD DL: (2x2), (2x4), (4x2), (4x4), (8x8) UL: (1x2), (1x4), (2x4), (4x4) 8.0 bps/Hz with (2x2) MIMO 15.0bps/Hz with (4x4) MIMO 2.8 bps/Hz with (2x2) MIMO 6.75 bps/Hz with (4x4) MIMO User Plane: <10 ms UL or DL Control Plane: Idle to Active <100ms Up to 100 MHz operating BW with channel aggregation Intra-frequency Handover Latency <30 ms Inter-frequency Handover Latency <100 ms Average Sector throughput Average User throughput Cell Edge User throughput VoIP Capacity Spectral Efficiency (MBS) DL 2.6 bps/Hz/sector, UL 1.3 bps/Hz/ sector DL 0.26 bps/Hz/sector, UL 0.13 bps/ Hz DL 0.09 bps/Hz/sector, UL 0.05 bps/ Hz DL 30 active call/MHz/sector UL 30 active call/MHz/sector > 4bps/Hz (Inter-base station distance 0.5 km) > 2bps/Hz (Inter-base station distance 1.5 km) Mobility Support Up to 500 Km/hr

The low-cost, all-IP network architecture and backwards compatibility with existing 2G and 3G cellular network deployments, WiMAX is well-positioned to meet the challenges and demands anticipated for the next generation of mobile networks. V. Path to 4G The new 4G technologies are fast becoming reality. Both the 3GPP LTE and WiMAX migration paths are targeting to meet the same end result; the performance goals established by IMT-Advanced (see Fig. 2). LTE and WiMAX provide comparable performance, because they both use an Internet Protocol (IP) core and an Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) air interface as their core technologies. However, in commercial networks in most countries, WiMAX has reached a more mature state that will take a few years for LTE to match
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InternatIonal Journal of Computer SCIenCe and teChnology

ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

IJCSt Vol. 1, ISSue 1, September 2010

[9,10]. Estimates by the WiMAX Forum indicate that as of the end of 2009, WiMAX service providers have covered more than 600 million people with over 500 deployments in over 140 telecommunications markets worldwide [11].

Fig. 2: Timeline for Mobile WiMAX and 3GPP LTE [9] Also, the WiMAX-m/IEEE 802.16m standard will be finalized by the end of 2010 and the first production networks are expected roll out in 2011 if devices become available. 3GPP LTE networks are only in very preliminary trials now with widespread commercial availability expected in 2012 or 2013 [13]. It will be difficult for the market to support two 4G technologies with comparable services, cost, and performance. With a strong commitment from mobile operators worldwide that have deep pockets and a large subscriber base, LTE is set to dominate the mobile broadband market within a few years, with WiMAX likely to meet the requirements of niche market segments. LTE-Advanced, is intended to meet the diverse requirements of advanced applications that will become common in the wireless marketplace in the foreseeable future. It will also dramatically lower the Capital Expenses (CAPEX) and OPEX of future broadband wireless networks [10]. Initially, coexistence of the two technologies seemed appropriate for meeting the market demand, because LTE focused more on Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) spectrum and WiMAX on Time Division Multiplexing (TDD) spectrum, given that spectrum allocations in many countries are made specifically for either TDD or FDD transmission [10]. VI. Conclusion The evolving mobile broadband business opportunity calls for high performance all-IP mobile broadband networks. 3GPP LTEAdvanced and IEEE 802.16m/mobile WiMAX are well positioned to meet the requirements of next-generation mobile networks. Both will enable operators to offer high performance, massmarket mobile broadband services, through a combination of high bit-rates and system throughput with low latency. This paper has provided a high-level overview of LTE-Advanced and mobile WiMAX requirements, to further enhance the performance of existing wireless standards beyond the IMT-Advanced or 4G requirements while maintaining backwards compatibility with earlier releases. References [1] 3gamericas (2009), Global Mobile Market share. Informa Telecom and Media, WCIS+, December, 2009, h t t p : / / w w w. 3 g a m e r i c a s . o r g / i n d e x . cfm?fuseaction=page&pageid=565 [2] Fujitsu Microelectronics America (2009), Mobile WiMAX Solutions Leading the Momentum Forward, http://www.
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fujitsu.com/us/services/edevices/microelectronics/ broadbandwireless/whitepaper/mobilesolutions.html [3] Ericsson (2009), HSPA, the Undisputed Choice for Mobile Broadband, http://www.ericsson.com/technology/ whitepapers/hspa_Rev_b.pdf [4] Astly, D.; Dahlman, E.; Furuskr, A.; Jading, Y.; Lindstrm, M.; Parkvall, S., LTE: The Evolution of Mobile Broadband, Ericsson Research, IEEE Communications Magazine, 2009. [5] Parkvall, S.; Astely, D., The Evolution of LTE towards IMT-Advanced, Journal of communications, Vol. 4, No. 3, 2009. [6] Martn-Sacrist an, D.; Monserrat, J. F.; CabrejasPenuelas, J.; Calabuig, D.; Garrigas, S.; Cardona, N., On the Way towards Fourth-Generation Mobile: 3GPP LTE and LTE-Advanced. EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking. Hindawi Publishing Corporation Vol. 2009. [7] Marcos D. Katz and Frank H.P. Fitzek, WiMAX Evolution: Emerging Technologies and Applications, John Wiley & Sons, 2009. [8] M. Ergen, Mobile Broadband: Including WiMAX and LTE, Springer, Berkeley, CA, USA, 2009. [9] WiMAX Forum (2009), WiMAX, HSPA+, and LTE : A comparative Analysis, http://www.wimaxforum. org/resources/documents/marketing/whitepapers/ wimax%E2%84%A2-hspa-and-lte-comparative-analysis [10] Bridgewater Systems (2010), The transformation to 4G: LTE for WiMAX operators, global.wimax-vision.com/__.../ Bridgewater_-_The_Transformation_to_4G-LTE_for_ WiMAX_Operators_7Jun10.pdf [11] WiMAX Forum (2010), WiMAX and the IEEE 802.16m Air Interface Standard, www.wimaxforum.org/.../wimax-andieee-80216m-air-interface-standard-april-2010 [12] Bridgewater Systems (2009), Take Control: The Importance of Subscriber, Service and Policy Control in Long Term Evolution, http://www.eurocomms. com/white_papers/113297/Bridgewater_Systems_ White_Paper_-_Take_Control%3A_The_Importance_of_ Subscriber,_Service_and_Policy_Control_in_Long_Term_ Evolution.html [13] WiMAX 16E (2010), Evolutionary Choices Between 16m And Td-Lte, www.portals.aviatnetworks.com/exLink. asp?9023976OP36K25I69957576b

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IJCSt Vol. 1, ISSue 1, September 2010

ISSN : 0976-8491(Online)

Amit Kumar received his bachelors degree in Mathematics from the Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, India, in 2002 and Masters degree in Computer Application from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, India, in 2006. He completed his M.Phil. in Computer Science from Annamalai University, Annamalainagar, Tamilnadu, India, in 2010. He is currently working as a Lecturer in the Department of Computer Science, College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, China. He has many publications in National /International Conference proceedings and International Journals. He is a reviewer for many international Journals. His current interest includes TechnoEconomic Analysis of Broadband Wireless Networks viz. WiMAX, HSPA, EV-DO and LTE. His future focus is to explore the Green Wireless Technologies and Sustainable development. Yun-fei Liu was born in Nanjing, China, on December 20, 1962. He received the B.S. degree in physics from Zhenjiang Normal College, Zhenjiang, China, in 1984, the M.S. degree in optics from Sichuan Normal University, Chengdu, China, in 1991, and the Ph.D. degree in testing measuring technology and instrument from Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China, in 2005. He was a teaching assistant, lecturer, associate professor, with Department of Basic Courses, Nanjing Forestry University, in 1991, 1994 and 2000 respectively. He was an associate professor, professor, College of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing Forestry University, in 2000 and 2007 respectively. His research interests include digital signal processing, electronic measurement techniques, microwave and optical technique. At present, He is engaged in Gaussian optics and terahertz technique in forestry application. Jyotsna Sengupta received her B.E. d e g r e e i n E l e c t ro n i c s a n d Communications, and her Ph.D. degree in Computer Science and Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, India, in 1982 and 2002, respectively. She received her M.S. in computer Science and Engineering from University of Santa Clara, California, USA, in 1985. She worked as a Software Engineer at EXL, Ltd., Sunnyvale, California, in 1985-86. During 1986-87, she worked in the Department of Computer Science, Delhi University, India. Since 1989, she has been in the faculty of Punjabi University, Patiala, India where She is currently a Reader and Head of the Department of Computer Science. Her current research interests primarily lie in the area of network security and secure computing.

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