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LTE

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LTE
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LTE
LTE(bothradioandcorenetworkevolution)isnowonthemarket.Release8was
frozeninDecember2008andthishasbeenthebasisforthefirstwaveofLTE
equipment.LTEspecificationsareverystable,withtheaddedbenefitofenhancements
havingbeenintroducedinallsubsequent3GPPReleases.
ThemotivationforLTE

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Needtoensurethecontinuityofcompetitivenessofthe3Gsystemforthefuture
Userdemandforhigherdataratesandqualityofservice
PacketSwitchoptimisedsystem
Continueddemandforcostreduction(CAPEXandOPEX)
Lowcomplexity

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Avoidunnecessaryfragmentationoftechnologiesforpairedandunpairedbandoperation

LTEOverview
Author:MagdalenaNohrborg,for3GPP
LTE(LongTermEvolution)ortheEUTRAN(EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialAccessNetwork),introducedin3GPPR8,isthe
accesspartoftheEvolvedPacketSystem(EPS).Themainrequirementsforthenewaccessnetworkarehighspectral
efficiency,highpeakdatarates,shortroundtriptimeaswellasflexibilityinfrequencyandbandwidth.

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Figure1NetworkSolutionsfromGSMtoLTE

GSMwasdevelopedtocarryrealtimeservices,inacircuitswitchedmanner(blueinfigure1),withdataservicesonly
possibleoveracircuitswitchedmodemconnection,withverylowdatarates.ThefirststeptowardsanIPbasedpacket
switched(greeninfigure1)solutionwastakenwiththeevolutionofGSMtoGPRS,usingthesameairinterfaceandaccess
method,TDMA(TimeDivisionMultipleAccess).
ToreachhigherdataratesinUMTS(UniversalMobileTerrestrialSystem)anewaccesstechnologyWCDMA(Wideband
CodeDivisionMultipleAccess)wasdeveloped.TheaccessnetworkinUMTSemulatesacircuitswitchedconnectionforreal
timeservicesandapacketswitchedconnectionfordatacomservices(blackinfigure1).InUMTStheIPaddressisallocated
totheUEwhenadatacomserviceisestablishedandreleasedwhentheserviceisreleased.Incomingdatacomservicesare
thereforestillrelyinguponthecircuitswitchedcoreforpaging.
TheEvolvedPacketSystem(EPS)ispurelyIPbased.BothrealtimeservicesanddatacomserviceswillbecarriedbytheIP
protocol.TheIPaddressisallocatedwhenthemobileisswitchedonandreleasedwhenswitchedoff.
Thenewaccesssolution,LTE,isbasedonOFDMA(OrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultipleAccess)andincombinationwith
higherordermodulation(upto64QAM),largebandwidths(upto20MHz)andspatialmultiplexinginthedownlink(upto4x4)
highdataratescanbeachieved.Thehighesttheoreticalpeakdatarateonthetransportchannelis75Mbpsintheuplink,and
inthedownlink,usingspatialmultiplexing,theratecanbeashighas300Mbps.
TheLTEaccessnetworkissimplyanetworkofbasestations,evolvedNodeB(eNB),generatingaflatarchitecture(figure2).
Thereisnocentralizedintelligentcontroller,andtheeNBsarenormallyinterconnectedviatheX2interfaceandtowardsthe
corenetworkbytheS1interface(figure2).ThereasonfordistributingtheintelligenceamongstthebasestationsinLTEisto
speeduptheconnectionsetupandreducethetimerequiredforahandover.Foranendusertheconnectionsetuptimefora
realtimedatasessionisinmanycasescrucial,especiallyinonlinegaming.Thetimeforahandoverisessentialforrealtime
serviceswhereenduserstendtoendcallsifthehandovertakestoolong.

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Figure2.X2andS1Interfaces

AnotheradvantagewiththedistributedsolutionisthattheMACprotocollayer,whichisresponsibleforscheduling,is
representedonlyintheUEandinthebasestationleadingtofastcommunicationanddecisionsbetweentheeNBandtheUE.
InUMTStheMACprotocol,andscheduling,islocatedinthecontrollerandwhenHSDPAwasintroducedanadditionalMAC
sublayer,responsibleforHSPAschedulingwasaddedintheNB.
Theschedulerisakeycomponentfortheachievementofafastadjustedandefficientlyutilizedradioresource.The
TransmissionTimeInterval(TTI)issettoonly1ms.
DuringeachTTItheeNBschedulershall:

considerthephysicalradioenvironmentperUE.TheUEsreporttheirperceivedradioquality,asaninputtothe
schedulertodecidewhichModulationandCodingschemetouse.Thesolutionreliesonrapidadaptationtochannel
variations,employingHARQ(HybridAutomaticRepeatRequest)withsoftcombiningandrateadaptation.

prioritizetheQoSservicerequirementsamongsttheUEs.LTEsupportsbothdelaysensitiverealtimeservicesas
wellasdatacomservicesrequiringhighdatapeakrates.

informtheUEsofallocatedradioresources.TheeNBschedulestheUEsbothonthedownlinkandontheuplink.
ForeachUEscheduledinaTTItheuserdatawillbecarriedinaTransportBlock(TB).DLtherecanbeamaximumof
twoTBsgeneratedperTTIperUEifspatialmultiplexingisused.TheTBisdeliveredonatransportchannel.InLTE
thenumberofchannelsisdecreasedcomparetoUMTS.Fortheuserplanethereisonlyonesharedtransportchannelin
eachdirection.TheTBsentonthechannel,canthereforecontainbitsfromanumberofservices,multiplexedtogether.
Toachievehighradiospectralefficiencyaswellasenableefficientschedulinginbothtimeandfrequencydomain,a
multicarrierapproachformultipleaccesswaschosenby3GPP.Forthedownlink,OFDMA(OrthogonalFrequencyDivision
MultipleAccess)wasselectedandfortheuplinkSCFDMA(SingleCarrierFrequencyDivisionMultipleAccess)alsoknown
asDFT(DiscreteFourierTransform)spreadOFDMA(figure3).

Figure3OFDMAandSCFDMA

OFDMisamulticarriertechnologysubdividingtheavailablebandwidthintoamultitudeofmutualorthogonalnarrowband
subcarriers.InOFDMAthesesubcarrierscanbesharedbetweenmultipleusers.TheOFDMAsolutionleadstohighPeakto
AveragePowerRatio(PAPR)requiringexpensivepoweramplifierswithhighrequirementsonlinearity,increasingthepower
consumptionforthesender.ThisisnoproblemintheeNB,butwouldleadtoveryexpensivehandsets.Henceadifferent
solutionwasselectedfortheUL.Asillustratedinfigure3,theSCFDMAsolutiongeneratesasignalwithsinglecarrier
characteristics,hencewithalowPAPR.
Toenablepossibledeploymentaroundtheworld,supportingasmanyregulatoryrequirementsaspossible,LTEisdeveloped
foranumberoffrequencybandsEUTRAoperatingbandscurrentlyrangingfrom700MHzupto2.7GHz.Theavailable
bandwidthsarealsoflexiblestartingwith1.4MHzupto20MHz.LTEisdevelopedtosupportboththetimedivisionduplex
technology(TDD)aswellasfrequencydivisionduplex(FDD).InR8thereare15bandsspecifiedforFDDandeightbandsfor
TTD.InR9fourbandswereaddedforFDD.AlsoaddedinR9wereforexampleMultimediaBroadcastMulticastService
(MBMS),andHomeeNB(HeNB),seefigure4.MBMSisusedtoprovidebroadcastinformationtoallusers,forexample
advertisement,andmulticasttoaclosedgroupsubscribingtoaspecificservice,e.g.streamingTV.HeNBsareintroduced
mainlytoprovidecoverageindoors,inhomesoroffices.TheHeNBisalowpowereNBthatwillbeusedinsmallcellsfemto
cells.Normallyitwillbeownedbythecustomer,deployedwithoutanynetworkplanningandconnectedtotheoperatorsEPC
(EvolvedPacketCore).

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Figure4NewinLTER9:a)MBMS,b)HeNB.

Furtherreading
TS36.211EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)Physicalchannelsandmodulation
TS36.212EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)Multiplexingandchannelcoding
TS36.213EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)Physicallayerprocedures
TS36.300EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)andEvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess
Network(EUTRAN)OveralldescriptionStage2

TS36.321EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)MediumAccessControl(MAC)protocolspecification
TS36.331EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)RadioResourceControl(RRC)Protocolspecification
TS36.413EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccessNetwork(EUTRAN)S1ApplicationProtocol(S1AP)
TS36.423EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccessNetwork(EUTRAN)X2ApplicationProtocol(X2AP)

LTEHistoricalInformation
ThetechnicalpaperUTRAUTRANLongTermEvolution(LTE)and3GPPSystemArchitectureEvolution(SAE)isagood
startingpoint.

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Initiatedin2004,theLongTermEvolution(LTE)projectfocusedonenhancingtheUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(UTRA)
andoptimizing3GPPsradioaccessarchitecture.
The3GPP36seriesofspecifications,coversthe"EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)".
SeealsothetechnologiespageonLTEAdvanced,whichdescribestheworkbeyondLTERelease8/9.
...GetdetailsofhowtousetheLTEandLTEAdvancedlogos

F UL L MEET ING CAL ENDAR

GERAN

72

US

1418Nov2016

CT

74

Vienna

0506Dec2016

RAN

74

Vienna

0508Dec2016

SA

74

Vienna

0709Dec2016

GERAN

73

EU

1317Feb2017

CT

75

Dubrovnik

0607Mar2017

RAN

75

Dubrovnik

0609Mar2017

SA

75

Dubrovnik

0810Mar2017

GERAN

74

1519May2017

CT

76

US

0506Jun2017

RAN

76

US

0508Jun2017

SA

76

US

0709Jun2017

GERAN

75

Berlin(TBC)

2125Aug2017

CT

77

Sapporo

1112Sep2017

RAN

77

Sapporo

1114Sep2017

SA

77

Sapporo

1315Sep2017

ABO UT REL EASES

Release14
Release13
Release12
Release11
Release10
Release9
Release8
Release7
Release6
Release5
Release4
Release1999

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BRO WSET ECHNO L O G IES

LTEAdvanced
LTE
CarrierAggregationExplained
HetNet/SmallCells
NAS
TheEvolvedPacketCore
HSPA
UMTS
WCDMA
GPRS&EDGE
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