C O O R D I N AT E D A N D D I S T R I B U T E D MIMO

COORDINATED MULTIPOINT TRANSMISSION/RECEPTION TECHNIQUES FOR LTE-ADVANCED

MAMORU SAWAHASHI, TOKYO CITY UNIVERSITY YOSHIHISA KISHIYAMA, AKIHITO MORIMOTO, DAISUKE NISHIKAWA, AND MOTOHIRO TANNO, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

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ABSTRACT
This article presents an elaborate coordination technique among multiple cell sites called coordinated multipoint transmission and reception in the Third Generation Partnership Project for LTE-Advanced. After addressing major radio access techniques in the LTE Release 8 specifications, system requirements and applied radio access techniques that satisfy the requirements for LTE-Advanced are described including CoMP transmission and reception. Then CoMP transmission and reception schemes and the related radio interface, which were agreed upon or are currently being discussed in the 3GPP, are presented. Finally, system-level simulation evaluations show that the CoMP transmission and reception schemes have a significant effect in terms of improving the cell edge user throughput based on LTE-Advanced simulation conditions.

eNodeB

(a)
Fast sele

eNodeB

The authors present an elaborate coordination technique among multiple cell sites called coordinated multi-point transmission and reception in the 3rd generation partnership project for LTE-Advanced.

INTRODUCTION
In the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the specifications for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Long-Term Evolution (LTE) called the evolved universal terrestrial radio access (UTRA) and universal terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) were completed as Release 8 [1, 2]. Release 8 LTE supports only efficient packet-based radio access and radio access networks that provide Internet Protocol (IP)-based functionalities with low latency and low cost. After the completion of the specifications, commercial equipment is under development aiming at the forthcoming launch of broadband radio access services. The principle behind international standardization of International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT)-Advanced and the new spectra for IMT were agreed upon at the Radiocommunication Assembly 2007 (RA 07) and the World Radiocommunication Conference 2007 (WRC 07) in the International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R),

respectively [3]. With the circular letter (CL) to invite proposals for IMT-Advanced radio interface technologies as the motivation, the 3GPP initiated a Study Item (SI, i.e., feasibility study) for LTE-Advanced in March 2008. In the 3GPP, LTE-Advanced represents LTE enhancement in Release 10 and beyond. The system requirements for LTE-Advanced were agreed upon in [4]. The technical components to achieve the system requirements were discussed in the 3GPP, and summarized in a technical report [5]. Based on Release 8 LTE and agreements on LTEAdvanced, the 3GPP submitted its final proposal to the ITU-R as a complete submission in October 2009. Following the SI, Work Items (WIs, i.e., specification work) for the LTE-Advanced radio interface in Release 10 were initiated and it is expected that the specifications will be completed according to the IMT-Advanced standardization schedule. In addition to multiple access schemes, advanced multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel transmission techniques and elaborate coordination among multiple cell sites called coordinated multipoint (CoMP) transmission/reception were adopted as key techniques for LTE-Advanced at the Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network (TSG-RAN) Working Group 1 (WG1) meeting in the 3GPP [5]. In this article we present the purpose for CoMP based on the system requirements, and actual CoMP transmission and reception schemes for LTE-Advanced based on the discussion in the 3GPP. In the rest of the article we first address major radio access techniques including intercell interference coordination (ICIC) in the Release 8 LTE, which form the basis for the radio interface for LTE-Advanced. Then we explain the necessity for CoMP transmission and reception to satisfy the system requirements in terms of capacity and cell edge user throughput through tighter intercell orthogonality as well as intracell orthogonality among simultaneously accessing sets of user equipment (UE) in LTE-Advanced. To achieve intercell

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orthogonality, we address two types of intercell radio resource management configurations: centralized and autonomous. In particular, CoMP transmission and reception provide a significant gain in terms of capacity and cell edge user throughput in centralized tight intercell radio resource management, which takes advantage of remote radio equipment (RRE), that is, a remote base station (BS). Finally, we present system-level simulation results on gains of CoMP transmission in the downlink and reception in the uplink assuming the LTE-Advanced simulation conditions of the 3GPP.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS AND APPLIED TECHNIQUES FOR LTE-ADVANCED

LTE-Advanced has two-faceted general requirements. The first facet is that LTE-Advanced shall be an evolution of Release 8 LTE. This means that LTE-Advanced should achieve much higher levels of system performance than those for Release 8 LTE to satisfy the increasing future traffic demand. Moreover, LTE-Advanced must be fully backward compatible with Release 8 LTE to enable continuous enhancement and deployment. The second facet to the requirements is that LTE-Advanced shall meet or exceed the IMT-Advanced requirements within the ITUR time plan. Based on the general requirements, the capability-related requirements and system requirements focusing on physical layer performance are summarized in Table 1. Based on the description in the CL referring to ITU-R Recommendation M.1645, the target peak data rate in the downlink is 1 Gb/s for LTE-Advanced. The target peak data rate in the uplink is set to 500 Mb/s considering the future traffic demand in cellular networks. The achievement values regarding the peak spectrum efficiency for Release 8 LTE are 15 and 3.75 b/s/Hz in the downlink and uplink, respectively. They are achieved by using four-stream or single-stream transmission, respectively, both with 64-quadrature amplitude moduation (QAM). Taking into account the increasing traffic demand and spectrum availability when LTE-Advanced is deployed, further improvement in the peak spectrum efficiency is necessary. Accordingly, the target values in terms of the peak spectrum efficiency are set to 30 and 15 b/s/Hz in the downlink and uplink, respectively. It should be noted that these targets are not mandatory for all UE categories, and are to be achieved by a combination of BSs and high-class UE with a larger number of antennas. The target values in terms of the peak data rate and peak spectrum efficiency will mainly be achieved by extending the transmission bandwidth to around 100 MHz and increasing the number of transmitter and receiver antennas in MIMO channel transmission (maximum of eight and four antennas in the downlink and uplink, respectively, were approved as optional usage for LTE-Advanced). The capacity corresponds to the average cell spectrum efficiency. The cell edge user throughput is defined as the 5 percent value in the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the user throughput assuming 10 UE sets with a full buffer per cell. Both are very important requirements from the system performance viewpoint. In addition to the requirements for IMTAdvanced, the 3GPP defined its own targets for LTE-Advanced assuming the same evaluation scenario that was used for Release 8 LTE (case 1 in [5]) as shown in Table 1. Since LTEAdvanced will support BSs and UE with various antenna configurations, the target figures in terms of capacity and cell edge user throughput were defined for each antenna configuration. In LTE-Advanced 1.4 to- 1.6-fold improvements in capacity and cell edge user throughput are expected from Release 8 LTE except for increasing the number of antennas.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS RELATED TO COMP TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION

RELEASE 8 LTE
The system requirements for Release 8 LTE are specified in [6]. The performance evaluation results for Release 8 LTE are given in [7]. They show that the system requirements are satisfied and validate the radio interface in the Release 8 LTE specifications. In the Release 8 LTE, orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) and single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) based on discrete Fourier transform (DFT)-spread orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) are adopted in the downlink and uplink, respectively. Hence, intracell orthogonality among simultaneously accessing UE sets is achieved in the time and frequency (and code) domains for both links. Intercell macro diversity is not applied in either link. In the downlink a distinct macro diversity gain is not obtained for the physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) due to the slight gain caused by mutual interference, which is similar to the high-speed physical downlink shared channel (HS-PDSCH) in High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in intercell asynchronous cell site operation. It is reported in [8] that a distinct macro diversity effect is gained in the uplink even with channel-dependent scheduling and hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) with soft combining. However, intercell macro diversity is not adopted in the uplink either. This is because the single-node (i.e., eNode B) architecture is required to achieve the required short control and transmission delays and efficient radio resource management, and reduce implementation and deployment costs. Moreover, a radio interface pertaining to FDMA-based ICIC using backhaul signaling with semi-static control was introduced to reduce the influence of other-cell interference in Release 8 LTE. However, intercell randomization is the baseline in Release 8 LTE, and the introduction of ICIC employing partial frequency reuse at the cell boundary is an implementation matter for the operator. This is because the system requirements, including capacity and cell edge user throughput, are satisfied mainly due to intracell orthogonal multi-access and frequency domain channel-dependent scheduling associated with mandatory two-branch antenna diversity reception at the UE without intercell macro diversity and ICIC.

The target values in terms of the peak data rate and peak spectrum efficiency will be mainly achieved by extending the transmission bandwidth to around 100 MHz and increasing the number of transmitter and receiver antennas in MIMO channel transmission.

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Since LTE-Advanced will support BSs and UEs with various antenna configurations, the target figures in terms of the capacity and cell-edge user throughput were defined for each antenna configuration.

Downlink/ Uplink Downlink Peak data rate Uplink Peak spectrum efficiency [b/s/Hz] Downlink Uplink

Antenna configuration 22

Rel. 8 LTE achievement 300 Mb/s 75 Mb/s 15 3.75 1.69 1.87 2.67 0.74 0.05 0.06 0.08 0.024

LTE-Advanced 1 Gb/s

IMT-Advanced

1 Gb/s 500 Mb/s 30 15 2.4 2.6 3.7 1.2 2.0 0.07 0.09 0.12 0.04 0.07 15 6.75 2.2* 1.4* 0.06* 0.03*

Downlink Capacity [b/s/Hz/cell] Uplink

42 44 12 24 22

Downlink Cell edge user throughput [b/s/Hz/cell/user] Uplink

42 44 12 24

*Required values in base coverage urban test environment

Table 1. System performance requirements for LTE-Advanced. Here, we consider techniques that will satisfy the requirements for capacity and cell edge user throughput. In LTE-Advanced the concept of carrier aggregation is adopted to achieve a wider transmission bandwidth up to approximately 100 MHz [5]. In carrier aggregation the entire transmission bandwidth comprises multiple frequency blocks called component carriers (CCs). The bandwidth of a CC corresponds to the transmission bandwidth of the system bandwidth specified in Release 8 LTE to enable the radio link connection for Release 8 LTE UE within the same spectrum. Moreover, to achieve flexible spectrum utilization, it was decided that carrier aggregation shall support both contiguous and non-contiguous spectra. Note that the non-contiguous spectrum usage in the same link is called spectrum aggregation. Multiple access schemes for LTE-Advanced are decided based on the concept that higher priority is given to backward compatibility and easy implementation rather than performance gain (e.g., by channel-dependent scheduling). Actually, OFDMA with a CCbased structure is adopted in the downlink, and N times, i.e., CC based, SC-FDMA using DFTSpread OFDM is adopted in the uplink (N indicates the number of CCs in the transmission bandwidth) [5]. Hence, the frequency span for frequency domain channel-dependent scheduling and frequency diversity with distributed transmission is confined within one CC for one transport block. Thus, the achievable frequency diversity gain for LTE-Advanced is almost identical to that for Release 8 LTE. The peak data rate increases by increasing the number of CCs and that of the transmitter or receiver antennas in MIMO multiplexing. The peak spectrum efficiency can be improved mainly by increasing the number of transmitter or receiver antennas as well. However, to satisfy the requirements on capacity and cell edge user throughput, multiuser MIMO transmission and intercell interference control through intercell orthogonal radio resource assignment among simultaneous accessing users are necessary. In particular, intercell orthogonal radio resource assignment is recognized as a key enhancement from the Release 8 LTE based on intracell orthogonal radio access as shown in Table 2, and has been actively investigated for CoMP transmission and reception for LTE-Advanced in the 3GPP associated with multiple antenna implementations at a BS and UE. The CoMP mainly contributes to increasing the cell edge user throughput (which means it can also extend the effective coverage).

FAST INTERCELL RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SCHEMES FOR COMP TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION
To achieve tight intercell orthogonal radio resource assignment, fast intercell radio resource management (or, equivalently, interference management) is necessary. Figure 1 illustrates the radio access network structure for fast intercell

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W-CDMA Downlink Intracell Uplink Downlink Intercell Uplink Non-orthogonal Non-orthogonal Non-orthogonal (Partially) orthogonal

Rel. 8 LTE Orthogonal Orthogonal Non-orthogonal Non-orthogonal

LTE-Advanced Orthogonal Orthogonal (Quasi)-orthogonal (Quasi)-orthogonal

Table 2. Intra- and inter-cell orthogonality in radio access systems.

radio resource management schemes that achieve CoMP transmission and reception. As shown in the figure, two approaches are considered for fast intercell radio resource management: centralized and autonomous.

Inter-eNode B (X2) I/F Centralized control Baseband signaling over optical fiber eNodeB RRE RRE RRE RRE RRE eNodeB Autonomous control

Centralized Intercell Radio Resource Management As shown in Fig. 1, we deploy a group of RREs, which are connected to the central BS (eNode B) by an optical fiber. Hence, complete coordinated transmission or reception is achieved among RREs through unified radio resource management at the central BS. Since the interface between the central BS and RRE can be designed within one transceiver, fast transfer of the baseband digital signal is possible. RREs are effectively used in the existing second- and thirdgeneration networks by installing small BSs in limited space and reducing the cable loss. Hence, centralized intercell radio resource management employing RREs is deployed more aggressively to achieve CoMP transmission and reception among different cell sites for LTE-Advanced. Autonomous Intercell Radio Resource Management This method was already introduced into Release 8 LTE using the X2 interface (i.e., intereNode B interface). The X2 interface is mainly used for inter-eNode B handover, that is, to transfer the UE context in the control plane and forward user data in the user plane using IP transport. The X2 interface is also used for multicell radio resource management functions including ICIC employing semi-static partial frequency reuse. It was reported in [9] that the typical average delay in the X2 interface via the backhaul is expected to be in the neighborhood of 10 ms. Thus, the radio interface must be enhanced with respect to the delay in both the control and user planes via the backhaul and/or air to achieve faster radio resource management among different cell sites for autonomous intercell radio resource management. According to the deployment environment, fast centralized radio resource management, autonomous intercell radio resource management, or a combination of these is applied. In particular, centralized intercell radio resource management using RRE is very effective, and assumed to achieve CoMP transmission and reception. One of the promising applications of coordinated multicell transmission is efficient support of heterogeneous networks. In a heterogeneous cell configuration such as when macro/microcells coexist with picocells within the cell area, link connection to the same cell site in

Figure 1. Radio network structure for fast inter-cell radio resource management.

both the downlink and uplink is not necessarily optimum from the viewpoints of minimum transmission power and reduction in interference. In this case, nevertheless, the optimum independent link connection to different RREs is possible between the downlink and uplink by centralized intercell radio resource management. That is, the uplink can be connected to the RRE of the picocell, while the downlink is connected to the RRE of the macro/microcell. By having centralized radio resource management utilize the RREs, the scheduling and ARQ operations are achieved in a unified manner at the central BS. Moreover, ICIC with autonomous intercell radio resource management is being discussed aggressively in the 3GPP as an essential technique to support heterogeneous cell configuration. The gains of ICIC using the X2 interface are presented for mitigating the interference between eNode Bs in macrocells and home eNode Bs in femtocells which may provide restricted access only to UE belonging to the allowed group, called a closed subscriber group (CSG).

COMP TRANSMISSION AND RECEPTION SCHEMES FOR LTE-ADVANCED

DOWNLINK
Transmission Scheme In downlink CoMP transmission, two transmission schemes are mainly considered: joint processing (JP) and coordinated scheduling/beamforming (CS/CB) [10, 11]. In CoMP transmission the related control channels, including the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), are transmitted only from the serving (anchor) cell regardless of the transmission scheme [5].
Joint Processing JP is further categorized into joint transmission (JT) and dynamic cell selection (DCS). Figure 2a shows the operating prin-

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Coherent transmission

eNodeB

RRE Not scheduled

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Fast selection

eNodeB

RRE Not scheduled

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Interference coordination beamforming

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Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming Figure 2c shows the operating principle of CB (note that CS corresponds to the case without beamforming). Unlike the aforementioned DCS, an RB of the PDSCH is transmitted only from the serving cell together with the PDCCH. Hence, an RB is assigned to the UE with CS/CB by scheduling of the serving cell. However, scheduling/beamforming is coordinated among multiple coordinated cells. In this case transmit beamforming weights for each UE set are generated to reduce the unnecessary interference to other UE scheduled within the coordinated cells. Therefore, in particular, the cell edge user throughput can be improved due to the increase in received SINR. As we mention later, since the downlink CoMP transmission mainly contributes to improving the cell edge user throughput, more advanced CoMP transmission schemes combined with MIMO multiplexing (particularly multiuser MIMO) techniques were proposed to improve the capacity and its potential gain has been reported in many papers [10, 11].

(c)

Figure 2. CoMP transmission in downlink: a) joint transmission (JT); b) dynamic cell selection (DCS); c) coordinated beamforming.

ciple of JT in the downlink. In JT the same resource block (RB) of the PDSCH is transmitted from multiple cells associated with a UEspecific demodulation reference signal (US-RS) among coordinated cells (i.e., from non-serving cell(s) as well as the serving cell). For instance, JT is achieved by codebook-based precoding to reduce feedback signal overhead. In principle, the best precoding matrixes for intercell site coordination are selected in addition to the individual selection of the best precoding matrix at each cell site so that the received signal-tointerference-plus-noise power ratio (SINR) is maximized at a UE set among the predetermined precoding matrix candidates. Other implementation methods are also considered to achieve the principle operation. A UE set feeds back a channel quality indicator (CQI) based on the combined received SINR to the serving cell, and then an RB is dynamically assigned to the UE by fast scheduling at the central BS. Since the transmission power resources of multiple cell sites can be used through coherent transmissions, the cell edge user throughput is improved significantly. Figure 2b shows the operating principle of DCS. In DCS an RB of the PDSCH associated with a US-RS is transmitted from one cell among the coordinated cells, and the cell transmitting the PDSCH with the minimum path loss is dynamically selected through fast scheduling at the central BS. Then, for instance, the other cells among the coordinated cells are muted (i.e., they do not transmit the RB), so the cell edge UE does not receive other-cell interference. Therefore, the maximum received signal power is obtained, and the interference from neighboring cells is significantly mitigated.

Radio Interface to Support Downlink CoMP Transmission In Release 8 LTE a cell-specific RS (CS-RS) for up to four antennas is specified and used for channel state information (CSI) measurement for channel-dependent scheduling, handover, and demodulation for coded data symbols. In LTE-Advanced two types of RSs are specified in addition to the Release 8 CS-RS for the purpose of CoMP transmission and to support more antennas than four and up to eight in MIMO multiplexing: CSI-RS and US-RS. The CSI-RS is transmitted sparsely (e.g., longer than a 5 ms duration) to achieve low overhead. The US-RS is transmitted with the same precoding scheme as that for the PDSCH. Hence, channel estimation and demodulation in a unified manner is possible irrespective of the CoMP transmission scheme. Moreover, explicit CSI feedback (i.e., direct feedback of the channel gain) is investigated to conduct precise precoding, in addition to implicit CSI feedback including the precoding matrix index (PMI) based on Release 8 LTE. In this case the key factor is the trade-off between the achievable gain and the feedback signaling overhead.

UPLINK
In CoMP reception in the uplink, the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) is received at multiple cells. In this case, maximal ratio combining (MRC) is used at multiple RREs. Figures 3a and 3b show the CoMP reception with interference rejection combining (IRC) and that with coordinated scheduling, respectively. As shown in Fig. 3a, multiple UE sets transmit the PUSCH simultaneously using the same RB; however, received weights are generated so that the received SINR or signal power after combining at the central eNode B is maximized in CoMP reception with IRC. The minimum mean squared error (MMSE) or zero forcing (ZF) algorithm is typically used to combine the received PUSCHs at multiple cell sites. As shown in Fig. 3b, only one UE set transmits the PUSCH using an RB based on the coordinated scheduling among cells in CoMP reception with coordinated scheduling.

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System bandwidth Cellular layout Inter-site distance Number of UEs per cell Minimum distance between UE and cell Distance dependent path loss Shadowing standard deviation Shadowing correlation Penetration loss Channel model Maximum Doppler frequency eNode B/UE Tx power eNode B/UE antenna gain eNode B/UE antenna height eNode B vertical antenna pattern Front-to-back ratio of eNode B antenna Antenna configurations Scheduling algorithm Control delay (scheduling, AMC, downlink PMI selection, and cell selection for CS) Modulation and coding schemes Hybrid ARQ Traffic model

10 MHz Hexagonal grid, 19 cell sites, 3 cells per cell site with 70 degree sector beam width 500 m 10 (randomly assigned with a uniform distribution) 35 m 128.1 + 37.6log10(r) dB, r in kilometers 8 dB 0.5 (inter-site)/1.0 (intra-site) 20 dB 6 ray typical urban fD = 5.55 Hz (3 km/h @ 2 GHz) 46 dBm/23 dBm 14 dBi/0 dBi 32 m/1.5 m 10 degree vertical beam width with tilt angle of 15 degrees 25 dB Downlink: 2-by-2, 4-by-2, Uplink: 1-by-2, 1-by-4 Proportional fairness 6 msec QPSK (R = 1/85/6), 16-QAM (R = 1/25/6), 64-QAM (R = 3/54/5) Chase combining (8 msec round trip delay for retransmission) ON/OFF traffic (activity factor parameterized)

Table 3. Simulation conditions for LTE-Advanced in 3GPP. In both schemes, the cell-edge user throughput is improved due to the increase in the received signal power. Note that CoMP reception in the uplink is an implementation matter and does not require a significant change in the physical layer radio interface. neous effective SINR over one transmission time interval (TTI). In the system-level simulation the cell throughput and cell edge user throughput are calculated by adding random errors according to the mapping between the measured effective SINR and the BLER performance derived from the link-level simulation. We employ the exponential effective SIR mapping (EESM) method in the combined link- and system-level simulations. Table 3 lists the major parameters in the link- and system-level simulations, which basically correspond to those agreed upon in the 3GPP for LTE-Advanced [5].

SIMULATION EVALUATIONS
SIMULATION CONFIGURATION
We evaluate the cell throughput and cell edge user throughput performance applying CoMP transmission and reception schemes by combining link-level and system-level simulations. More specifically, in the link-level simulation we measure the average block error rate (BLER) of each modulation and coding scheme (MCS) associated with turbo coding and iterative softdecision turbo decoding against the instanta-

Link-Level Simulation Parameters The RB bandwidth is 180 kHz with 12 subcarriers. The subband bandwidth is 1.08 MHz (= 6 RBs) in the downlink. One 1-ms-long TTI contains 14 OFDM symbols, each of which comprises a 66.7 s effective symbol and a 4.7 s cyclic prefix

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MMSE, ZF

eNodeB

RRE

(a)
MRC

SC-FDMA symbols for demodulation. Moreover, a Zadoff-Chu sequence is used for the DM-RS. The channel gain is computed from a coherent averaging of two DM-RS symbols at each TTI. A frequency domain equalizer based on the MMSE is used. One sounding reference signal (SRS) symbol multiplexed into the last SC-FDMA symbol per two TTIs is considered as the overhead of CSI measurement for scheduling.

eNodeB

RRE

No transmission (b)

Figure 3. CoMP reception in uplink: a) multipoint reception with interference rejection combining; and b) multipoint reception with coordinated scheduling.

(CP). The modulation schemes are quaternary phase shift keying (QPSK), 16-QAM, and 64QAM in both the downlink and uplink. We use turbo coding with the constraint length of four bits using the variable coding rates given in Table 3. In the downlink two- or four-antenna transmission and two-antenna diversity reception are assumed. In the case of single-cell transmission we use the CS-RS for two or four transmission antennas used for CSI measurement and demodulation specified in the Release 8 LTE [12]. In the case of JT and fast CS, we employ the CSI-RS and US-RS specified in LTEAdvanced [5]. In this article we assume that USRSs are mapped every six subcarriers onto the fourth, seventh, tenth, and thirteenth OFDM symbols. In the uplink one-antenna transmission and two or four-antenna diversity reception are assumed. The demodulation RS (DM-RS) symbols are multiplexed into the fourth and eleventh

System-Level Simulation Parameters The entire system bandwidth is 10 MHz (the occupied bandwidth is 9 MHz, which corresponds to 50 RBs). We assume a carrier frequency of 2.0 GHz. A 3sectored 19-hexagonal cell site model is assumed with a sector antenna beam pattern with a 70 beam width (opening angle), which is defined as a beam width with the gain 3 dB lower than the peak value [13]. The propagation model follows distance-dependent path loss with a decay factor of 3.76, lognormal shadowing with the standard deviation of 8 dB, and instantaneous multipath fading. For each trial, it is assumed that the distance-dependent path loss is constant during the throughput measurement period, while the timevarying shadowing and instantaneous fading variations are added. We employ proportional fairness-based time and frequency domain channel-dependent scheduling, and adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) for instantaneous channel variation. We apply Chase combining as HARQ with packet combining. We employ the ON/OFF traffic model. In the ON/OFF traffic model, TTIs scheduled to a UE set are randomly assigned, and the ratio of the assigned TTIs to the entire time duration is parameterized as the activity factor. In the downlink we assume that the CQI after coherent combining in JT is ideally measured, and the CQI and PMI are fed back to the eNode B without decoding error. Furthermore, we select the best precoding matrix for each cell site

2 2 downlink 12 Joint transmission Coordinated scheduling Single-cell transmission Cell edge user throughput (Mb/s) 12

4 2 downlink Joint transmission Coordinated scheduling Single-cell transmission

10 Cell edge user throughput (Mb/s)

10

12

16

20

24

12

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Cell throughput (Mb/s) (a)

Cell throughput (Mb/s) (b)

Figure 4. Cell edge user throughput as function of cell throughput in downlink: a) 2 2; b) 4 2.

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1 2 uplink MMSE ZF Coordinated scheduling Single-cell reception Cell edge user throughput (Mb/s)

1 4 uplink MMSE ZF Coordinated scheduling Single-cell reception

1.6 Cell edge user throughput (Mb/s)

1.6

1.2

1.2

0.8

0.8

0.4

0.4

0 0 4 8 12 16 Cell throughput (Mb/s) (a)

12

16

Cell throughput (Mb/s) (b)

Figure 5. Cell edge user throughput as function of cell throughput in uplink: a) 1 2; b) 1 4.

individually and for inter-cell-site coordination among the four precoding matrix candidates defined in Release 8 LTE; that is, equivalently select the best precoding matrix among the 4 4 4 candidates, and the best cell subband by subband. The cell edge UE to which CoMP transmission is applied is defined to be when the difference in the UE path loss between the serving cell and the second strongest cell is within 3 dB. We assume single-user CoMP transmission where an RB is scheduled to only one UE in the downlink. As the overhead, we assume the PDCCH of two OFDM symbols per subframe. In the uplink we apply fractional transmission power control with = 0.6 and P0 = 60 dBm, where and P0 indicate the attenuation factor of the target received signal level and the target received signal level when the path loss from the BS is zero, respectively. For CoMP reception in the uplink, we assume combined reception between two cells with the highest and second highest average received power. We assume the PUCCH of 10 RBs as the overhead.

SIMULATION RESULTS
Figures 4a and 4b show the cell edge user throughput performance in the downlink as a function of the cell throughput assuming 2 2 and 4 2 antenna configurations, respectively. We plot the performance of the CoMP transmission schemes employing JT and fast CS, and single-cell transmission as a reference. In the figures the activity factor of the ON/OFF traffic model is parameterized to obtain each plot. More specifically, the plot achieving the highest cell throughput for each transmission scheme corresponds to the full load case with an activity factor of one, while the plots for the lower cell throughput values are obtained in the fractional loaded cases with lower activity factors. The figures show that the CoMP transmission schemes increase the cell edge user throughput when the same cell throughput is achieved in the fraction-

al loaded cases. For instance, when the cell throughput of 12 Mb/s is achieved in the 2 2 antenna configuration case, the cell edge user throughput is increased approximately 58 and 43 percent compared to the single-cell transmission by applying JT and fast CS, respectively. Moreover, JT achieves higher cell edge user throughput than fast CS, since it fully utilizes the higher signal power from multiple cell sites through coherent combining at the UE receiver. The relative improvement in the cell edge user throughput with JT or fast CS compared to that for single-cell transmission for a 4 2 antenna configuration is almost identical to that for a 2 2 configuration. However, the cell edge user throughput for the 4 2 configuration is further improved by approximately 34 and 30 percent when using JT and fast CS, respectively, compared to that for the 2 2 configuration due to the increasing precoding gain. Figures 5a and 5b show the cell edge user throughput performance in the uplink as a function of the cell throughput with 1 2 and 1 4 antenna configurations, respectively. We plot the performance of the CoMP reception schemes employing MMSE combining, ZF combining, and MRC with coordinated scheduling, and that of single-cell reception as a reference. The figures show that similar to the downlink CoMP transmission, CoMP reception increases the cell edge user throughput when the same cell throughput is achieved in the fractional loaded cases. For instance, when the cell throughput of 8 Mb/s is achieved with a two-receiver-antenna configuration, the cell edge user throughput is increased approximately 54, 38, and 16 percent compared to single-cell reception by applying the CoMP reception schemes using MMSE combining, ZF combining, and MRC with coordinated scheduling, respectively. Moreover, the CoMP reception scheme with MMSE or ZF combining achieves higher cell throughput in a full load case since these schemes do not require coordi-

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The system-level simulation results showed that the CoMP transmission in the downlink and reception in the uplink are very effective in improving the cell-edge user throughput. Considering actual application, further investigation is necessary.

nated scheduling, which has a negative impact on the cell throughput. For instance, CoMP reception with MMSE (ZF) combining increases the cell throughput in a full load case by approximately 19 (11) and 22 (19) percent with a twoor four-receiver-antenna configuration, respectively. This is due to the decreasing noise enhancement in MMSE or ZF combining according to the increase in the number of receiver antennas at the BS.

CONCLUSION
This article provides an overview of the system requirements and applied radio access techniques that satisfy the requirements, including CoMP transmission and reception, for LTEAdvanced. Moreover, we present fast intercell radio resource management schemes that achieve elaborate CoMP, and the CoMP transmission and reception schemes including the related radio interface agreed upon by the 3GPP for LTE-Advanced. The system-level simulation results show that CoMP transmission in the downlink and reception in the uplink are very effective in improving the cell edge user throughput. Considering actual application, further investigation is necessary on the influence of timing error and the propagation time delay. Along with a wider transmission bandwidth comprising multiple CCs, enhanced multiple access schemes, and advanced MIMO channel techniques including multiuser MIMO transmission, CoMP transmission and reception will provide broadband packet radio access with much higher performance than those for Release 8 LTE regarding spectrum efficiency, capacity, and cell edge user throughput. It should be noted that the LTE-Advanced radio interface using multiple access schemes with the presented key techniques satisfies the system requirements for IMT-Advanced [14].

[7] 3GPP TR 25.912, V8.0.0, Feasibility Study for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Dec. 2008. [8] H. Kawai et al., Investigations on Inter-Node B Macro Diversity for Single-Carrier Based Radio Access in Evolved UTRA Uplink, Proc. IEEE Sarnoff Symp., May 2007. [9] 3GPP R3-070702, Reply LS to R3-070527/R1-071242 on Backhaul (X2 interface) Delay, Mar. 2007. [10] M. K. Karakayali, G. J. Foschini, and R. A. Valenzuela, Network Coordination for Spectrally Efficient Communications in Cellular Systems, IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 13, no. 4, Aug. 2006. [11] J. G. Andrews, W. Choi, and R. W. Heath Jr., Overcoming Interference in Spatial Multiplexing MIMO Cellular Networks, IEEE Wireless Commun., vol. 14, no. 6, Dec. 2007, pp. 95104. [12] 3GPP TS 36.211, V9.1.0, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical Channels and Modulation, Mar. 2010. [13] B. Christer, V. Johansson, and S. Stefansson, Optimizing Antenna Parameters for Sectorized W-CDMA Networks, Proc. of IEEE VTC-Fall, vol. 4, Sept. 2000, pp. 152431. [14] A. Furuskr, Performance Evaluations of LTE-Advanced The 3GPP ITU Proposal, Proc. WPMC 09, Sept. 2009.

BIOGRAPHIES
MAMORU SAWAHASHI [M] (sawahasi@tcu.ac.jp) received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Tokyo University in 1983 and 1985, respectively, and his Dr.Eng. degree from the Nara Institute of Technology in 1998. While at NTT and NTT DOCOMO, he was engaged in the research and development of radio access technologies for W-CDMA, and broadband packet radio access technologies for 3G longterm evolution and systems beyond IMT-2000. In April 2006 he assumed the position of professor with the Department of Information Network Engineering, Tokyo City University. Y OSHIHISA K ISHIYAMA received his B.E., M.E., and Dr.Eng. degrees from Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, in 1998, 2000, and 2010,respectively. In 2000 he joined NTT DOCOMO, Inc. His research interests include radio access technologies for 3G long-term evolution and systems beyond IMT-2000. He was a recipient of the 2003 Active Research Award in Radio Communication Systems from the IEICE. He was a recipient of the IEICE Young Engineer Award in 2004. AKIHITO MORIMOTO received his B.E. and M.E. degrees in information electronics from Nagoya University, Japan, in 1997 and 1999, respectively, and received his Dr. Eng. degree from Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan, in 2008. In 1999 he joined NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc. (now NTT DOCOMO, Inc.). His research interests include mobile communication systems. He is a member of the IEICE. DAISUKE NISHIKAWA received his B.E. and M.E. degrees from Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan in 2004 and 2006, respectively. In 2006, he joined NTT DOCOMO, Inc. His research interests include mobile communication systems. He is a member of the IEICE. M OTOHIRO T ANNO received his B.E. and M.E. degrees from Kyoto University, Japan in 1993 and 1995, respectively. In 1995 he joined NTT Mobile Communications Network, Inc. (now NTT DOCOMO, Inc.) His research interests include mobile communication systems. He is a member of the IEICE.

REFERENCES
[1] 3GPP TS 36.300, V8.9.0, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (EUTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN); Overall Description, June 2009. [2] D. Astely et al., LTE: The Evolution of Mobile Broadband, IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 47, no. 4, Apr. 2009, pp. 4451. [3] Final Acts WRC 07, Geneva, Nov. 2007. [4] 3GPP TR 36.913, V9.0.0, Requirements for Further Advancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) (LTE-Advanced), Dec. 2009. [5] 3GPP TR 36.814, V9.0.0, Further Advancements for EUTRA Physical Layer Aspects, Mar. 2010. [6] 3GPP TR 25.913, V8.0.0, Requirements for Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) and Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN), Dec. 2008.

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