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LTE Advanced

LTE Advanced logo
LTE Advanced signal indicator in Android
LTE Advanced signal indicator on Xiaomi phones
LTE Advanced signal indicator (4G+) on Samsung Galaxy phones in Europe

LTE Advanced (LTE+, LTE-A;[1] on Samsung Galaxy and Xiaomi phones — 4G+) is a mobile communication standard and a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard. It was formally submitted as a candidate 4G to ITU-T in late 2009 as meeting the requirements of the IMT-Advanced standard, and was standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) in March 2011 as 3GPP Release 10.[2]

Cellular network standards and generation timeline.

The LTE+ format was first proposed by NTT DoCoMo of Japan and has been adopted as the international standard.[3]

The work by 3GPP to define a 4G candidate radio interface technology started in Release 9 with the study phase for LTE-Advanced. Being described as a 3.9G (beyond 3G but pre-4G), the first release of LTE did not meet the requirements for 4G (also called IMT Advanced as defined by the International Telecommunication Union) such as peak data rates up to 1 Gb/s. The ITU has invited the submission of candidate Radio Interface Technologies (RITs) following their requirements in a circular letter, 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 36.913, "Requirements for Further Advancements for E-UTRA (LTE-Advanced)."[4] These are based on ITU's requirements for 4G and on operators’ own requirements for advanced LTE. Major technical considerations include the following:

Likewise, 'WiMAX 2', 802.16m, has been approved by ITU as the IMT Advanced family. WiMAX 2 is designed to be backward compatible with WiMAX 1 devices. Most vendors now support conversion of 'pre-4G', pre-advanced versions and some support software upgrades of base station equipment from 3G.

The mobile communication industry and standards organizations have therefore started work on 4G access technologies, such as LTE Advanced.[when?] At a workshop in April 2008 in China, 3GPP agreed the plans for work on Long Term Evolution (LTE).[5] A first set of specifications were approved in June 2008.[6] Besides the peak data rate 1 Gb/s as defined by the ITU-R, it also targets faster switching between power states and improved performance at the cell edge. Detailed proposals are being studied within the working groups.[when?]

Three technologies from the LTE-Advanced tool-kit – carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256QAM modulation in the downlink – if used together and with sufficient aggregated bandwidth, can deliver maximum peak downlink speeds approaching, or even exceeding, 1 Gbit/s. Such networks are often described as ‘Gigabit LTE networks’ mirroring a term that is also used in the fixed broadband industry.[7]

Proposals

The target of 3GPP LTE Advanced is to reach and surpass the ITU requirements. LTE Advanced should be compatible with first release LTE equipment, and should share frequency bands with first release LTE. In the feasibility study for LTE Advanced, 3GPP determined that LTE Advanced would meet the ITU-R requirements for 4G. The results of the study are published in 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 36.912.[8]

One of the important LTE Advanced benefits is the ability to take advantage of advanced topology networks; optimized heterogeneous networks with a mix of macrocells with low power nodes such as picocells, femtocells and new relay nodes. The next significant performance leap in wireless networks will come from making the most of topology, and brings the network closer to the user by adding many of these low power nodes – LTE Advanced further improves the capacity and coverage, and ensures user fairness. LTE Advanced also introduces multicarrier to be able to use ultra wide bandwidth, up to 100 MHz of spectrum supporting very high data rates.

In the research phase many proposals have been studied as candidates for LTE Advanced (LTE-A) technologies. The proposals could roughly be categorized into:[9]

Within the range of system development, LTE-Advanced and WiMAX 2 can use up to 8x8 MIMO and 128-QAM in downlink direction. Example performance: 100 MHz aggregated bandwidth, LTE-Advanced provides almost 3.3 Gbit peak download rates per sector of the base station under ideal conditions. Advanced network architectures combined with distributed and collaborative smart antenna technologies provide several years road map of commercial enhancements.

The 3GPP standards Release 12 added support for 256-QAM.

A summary of a study carried out in 3GPP can be found in TR36.912.[10]

Timeframe and introduction of additional features

An LTE Advanced base station installed in Iraq for provisioning of broadband wireless Internet service

Original standardization work for LTE-Advanced was done as part of 3GPP Release 10, which was frozen in April 2011. Trials were based on pre-release equipment. Major vendors support software upgrades to later versions and ongoing improvements.

In order to improve the quality of service for users in hotspots and on cell edges, heterogeneous networks (HetNets) are formed of a mixture of macro-, pico- and femto base stations serving corresponding-size areas. Frozen in December 2012, 3GPP Release 11[11] concentrates on better support of HetNet. Coordinated Multi-Point operation (CoMP) is a key feature of Release 11 in order to support such network structures. Whereas users located at a cell edge in homogenous networks suffer from decreasing signal strength compounded by neighbor cell interference, CoMP is designed to enable use of a neighboring cell to also transmit the same signal as the serving cell, enhancing quality of service on the perimeter of a serving cell. In-device Co-existence (IDC) is another topic addressed in Release 11. IDC features are designed to ameliorate disturbances within the user equipment caused between LTE/LTE-A and the various other radio subsystems such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and the GPS receiver. Further enhancements for MIMO such as 4x4 configuration for the uplink were standardized.

The higher number of cells in HetNet results in user equipment changing the serving cell more frequently when in motion. The ongoing work on LTE-Advanced[12] in Release 12, amongst other areas, concentrates on addressing issues that come about when users move through HetNet, such as frequent hand-overs between cells. It also included use of 256-QAM.

First technology demonstrations and field trials

This list covers technology demonstrations and field trials up to the year 2014, paving the way for a wider commercial deployment of the VoLTE technology worldwide. From 2014 onwards various further operators trialled and demonstrated the technology for future deployment on their respective networks. These are not covered here. Instead a coverage of commercial deployments can be found in the section below.

Deployment

The deployment of LTE-Advanced is in progress in various LTE networks.

In August 2019, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reported that there were 304 commercially launched LTE-Advanced networks in 134 countries. Overall, 335 operators are investing in LTE-Advanced (in the form of tests, trials, deployments or commercial service provision) in 141 countries.[41]

LTE Advanced Pro

LTE Advanced Pro logo

LTE Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro, also known as 4.5G, 4.5G Pro, 4.9G, Pre-5G, 5G Project)[42][43][44][45] is a name for 3GPP release 13 and 14.[46][47] It is an evolution of LTE Advanced (LTE-A) cellular standard supporting data rates in excess of 3 Gbit/s using 32-carrier aggregation.[48] It also introduces the concept of License Assisted Access, which allows sharing of licensed and unlicensed spectrum.

Additionally, it incorporates several new technologies associated with 5G, such as 256-QAM, Massive MIMO, LTE-Unlicensed and LTE IoT,[49][50] that facilitated early migration of existing networks to enhancements promised with the full 5G standard.[51]

See also

Bibliography

LTE for UMTS - OFDMA and SC-FDMA Based Radio Access, ISBN 978-0-470-99401-6 Chapter 2.6: LTE Advanced for IMT-advanced, pp. 19–21.

References

  1. ^ "4G LTE Advanced - What you need to know about LTE-A". www.4g.co.uk.
  2. ^ Stefan Parkvall, Erik Dahlman, Anders Furuskär et al.; Ericsson, Robert Syputa, Maravedis; ITU global standard for international mobile telecommunications ´IMT-Advanced´LTE Advanced - Evolving LTE towards IMT-Advanced[permanent dead link]; Vehicular Technology Conference, 2014. VTC 2014-Fall. IEEE 68th 21–24 Sept. 2014 Page(s):1 - 5.
  3. ^ "The Asahi Shimbun | Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis". The Asahi Shimbun.
  4. ^ "Requirements for further advancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) (LTE-Advanced)"
  5. ^ "Beyond 3G: "LTE Advanced" Workshop, Shenzhen, China". Archived from the original on 2008-09-13. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  6. ^ 3GPP specification: Requirements for further advancements for E-UTRA (LTE Advanced)
  7. ^ GSA: Gigabit LTE Networks: Analysis of Deployments Worldwide (February 2019)
  8. ^ Agilent "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-03-03. Retrieved 2011-07-28.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Introducing LTE-Advanced, p. 6 , March 8, 2011, accessed July 28, 2011.
  9. ^ Nomor Research: White Paper on LTE Advanced
  10. ^ 3GPP Technical Report: Feasibility study for Further Advancements for E-UTRA (LTE Advanced)
  11. ^ KG, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. "LTE- Advanced (3GPP Rel.11) Technology Introduction". www.rohde-schwarz.com.
  12. ^ "3GPP News & Events, Dec.12th, 2012 and Apr.8th, 2013 entries". Archived from the original on 2013-07-17. Retrieved 2013-07-17.
  13. ^ "NTT DoCoMo Achieves World's First 5 Gbit/s Packet Transmission in 4G Field Experiment". NTT DoCoMo. Archived from the original on 2008-09-25. Retrieved 2008-09-12.
  14. ^ "Agilent Technologies Introduces Industry's First LTE-Advanced Signal Generation, Analysis Solutions". Agilent. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
  15. ^ "Ericsson demonstrates LTE Advanced in Sweden". Telecompaper. 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  16. ^ "Touch, Huawei trial 250Mbps LTE FDD 800MHz/1800MHz carrier aggregation". TeleGeography. 2013-04-08. Retrieved 2014-08-24.
  17. ^ "Vodafone shows off next-gen mobile broadband". NZ Herald. 2013-05-24.
  18. ^ "A1 TELEKOM AUSTRIA DEMOS 580MBPS LTE-A SPEEDS WITH ERICSSON, NSN HARDWARE". Mobile Europe. 2013-06-06. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  19. ^ "Turkish delight? Turkcell unveils 900Mbps transmission speeds in LTE-A trial". TeleGeography. 2013-08-02. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
  20. ^ "World's first commercial LTE-Advanced call on 1800MHz and 900MHz". Ericsson. 2013-08-12. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  21. ^ J.M. Tuazon (21 August 2013). "200MBPS IN DAVAO - Smart tests LTE-Advanced system down south". Interaksyon. Archived from the original on 21 August 2013. Retrieved 21 August 2013.
  22. ^ "Softbank's trial LTE-A in 3.5GHz band achieves 770Mbps". TeleGeography. 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  23. ^ "beCloud to test LTE-A". TeleGeography. 2013-10-10. Retrieved 2014-08-13.
  24. ^ "SFR completes 'first' LTE Advanced trials in France". FierceWirelessEurope. 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  25. ^ "EE launches 'world's fastest' LTE-A network in London". Telecoms.com. 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  26. ^ "Now available at Telefónica: The fastest LTE radio cell in Germany and mobile VoLTE in live network". Telefónica. 2013-11-14. Archived from the original on 2017-10-03. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  27. ^ "[넓고 빠른 광대역 LTE-A] #1. 3배 빠른 광대역 LTE-A 시대가 열린다!" (in Korean). SK Telecom. 2013-11-28. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
  28. ^ "Vodafone zeigt in Dresden das schnellste Mobilfunknetz der Republik" (in German). Vodafone. 2013-11-15. Retrieved 2014-04-30.
  29. ^ "Telstra hits 300 Mbps in LTE-A trial". Computerworld. 2013-12-06. Archived from the original on 2019-02-11. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
  30. ^ "Optus tests TD-LTE carrier aggregation in Melbourne". iTnews. 2013-12-19. Retrieved 2014-03-29.
  31. ^ "Entel Chile carries out first LTE-A trial". BNAmericas. 2015-09-22. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  32. ^ "Claro faz primeiro teste externo com LTE Advanced na faixa de 700 MHz". Telesintese. 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2016-03-29.
  33. ^ "AIS launches the world's first 4.5G network in Thailand". 2016-03-24. Retrieved 2017-12-26.
  34. ^ "Take tour on the new AIS Next-G ready network" (in Thai). Retrieved 2017-12-27.
  35. ^ "MagtiCom launches LTE-Advanced network in Georgia". www.ucom.am. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
  36. ^ "Ucom Deployed Ericsson's Latest 4G+ Technology for the First Time in Armenia". www.ucom.am. Retrieved 2017-02-06.
  37. ^ "Altel: LTE-Advanced (4G+) Technology for the First Time in Kazakhstan". dknews.kz. Archived from the original on 2017-04-05. Retrieved 2017-04-04.
  38. ^ "By sounding off the Baltic Drummers' Summit, Bite unveils the first 4.5G network in Latvia with power" (in Latvian). Retrieved 2017-09-18.
  39. ^ "Wi-tribe Becomes Pakistan's First Operator to Cross 200Mbps Internet Speeds". 2017-08-28. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  40. ^ "Llega a México la GigaRed 4.5G de Telcel". Grupo Milenio. March 14, 2018.
  41. ^ GSA: LTE-Advanced Status Worldwide – August 2019
  42. ^ "The path to 5G: New services with 4.5G, 4.5G Pro and 4.9G". Nokia. 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-01-13. Retrieved 2017-01-11.
  43. ^ "Nokia's 4.9G races Ericsson's almost-5G, yet the finishing line is a mirage". The Register. 7 September 2016.
  44. ^ "SoftBank 5G | スマートフォン・携帯電話". ソフトバンク.
  45. ^ "War of the 'Gs' - Nokia promises 4.5G Pro and 4.9G". 5 September 2016. Archived from the original on 3 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  46. ^ Flynn, Kevin. "LTE-Advanced Pro Ready to Go".
  47. ^ "What is LTE-Advanced Pro?". 5g.co.uk.
  48. ^ "4.5G, Next Step Toward MBB 2020". www.huawei.com.
  49. ^ "Leading the path towards 5G with LTE Advanced Pro - Qualcomm". 19 January 2016. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 17 August 2021.
  50. ^ "LTE Advanced Pro - Qualcomm". 6 January 2016.
  51. ^ "LTE Advanced Pro enables Gigabit LTE on path to 5G". 11 October 2016.

External links

Resources (white papers, technical papers, application notes)