TLC509/EE 723

Wireless Communication Networks /

Wireless Communication

Lecture 15 part 1, 21st May 2020

14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics

(Part 4 of book: 4th Gen systems and LTE
Advanced)
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:

Factors Impacting in LTE:

 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Carrier Aggregation:
➢ By combining more than one carrier together, either in the same or
different bands it is possible to increase the bandwidth available and the
capacity of the link.

➢ The ultimate goal of LTE- Advanced is to increase bandwidth to 100 MHz.

Carrier aggregation (CA) is used in LTE-Advanced to increase the
bandwidth, and thereby increase the bit rates.

➢ Carrier aggregation can be used for both FDD and TDD. Each aggregated
carrier is referred to as a component carrier, CC

➢ The CC 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 aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:

Carrier Aggregation:

Figure 14.14a illustrates how three carriers, each of which is suitable for a
Release 8 station, are aggregated to form a wider bandwidth suitable for a
4G LTE- Advanced Station
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Carrier Aggregation:

As Figure 14.14b suggests, there are three approaches used in LTE-

Advanced for aggregation:
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Carrier Aggregation:
As Figure 14.14b suggests, there are three approaches used in LTE-
Advanced for aggregation:
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:

Factors Impacting in LTE:

 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Relaying: interference
issue
➢ Relay node concept was introduced in 3GPP release 10 to solve issues like the reduced
data rate, the weaker signal on the radio coverage edges of the macro-cells

➢ RN is connected to a macro eNodeB (basestation in LTE called Donor eNodeB (DeNB)

using a radio interface

➢ The eNodeB to RN transmissions and RN to NodeB transmissions are carried out in the
DL frequency band and UL frequency
bands respectively, for FDD systems.

➢ The eNodeB to RN transmissions and

RN to NodeB transmissions are carried
out in the DL subframes of the eNodeB
and RN and UL subframes of the eNodeB
and RN, respectively, for TDD systems
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Relaying: interference
issue
➢ If the RN receives from the eNodeB and transmits to the UE at the same time, it is both
transmitting and receiving on the downlink channel.

➢ RN receives, demodulates, and decodes the data and applies error correction as
needed, and then transmits a new signal to the base station,

➢ The RN functions as a base station with respect to its communication with the UE and
as a UE with respect to its communication with the eNodeB

i) eNodeB to RN and RN to UE links are time division multiplexed in a single

frequency band

ii) RN to eNodeB and UE to RN links are time division multiplexed in a single

frequency band
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:

Factors Impacting in LTE:

 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Heterogeneous Networks

➢ An essential component of the 4G strategy for satisfying demand is the use of picocells
and femto cells.

➢ A femtocell is a low-power, short range, self-contained base station.

➢ The term small cell is an umbrella term for

low-powered radio access nodes that
operate in licensed and unlicensed spectrum
and have a range of 10 m to several
hundred meters indoors or outdoors.

➢ Deployment of these cells is called network

densification and the result is a Heterogeneous network of large and small
cells called a HetNet.

➢ The femtocell access point is a small base station, much like a Wi-Fi hotspot base
station, placed in a residential, business, or public setting
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Heterogeneous Networks
➢ Figure 14.16 shows the typical elements in a network that uses femtocells. The
femtocell access point is a small base station, like a Wi-Fi hotspot base station

➢ Thus, a 4G smartphone or tablet can

connect wirelessly with a 4G femtocell with
no change.

➢ The femtocell connects to the Internet,

typically over a DSL, fiber, or cable landline.

➢ Packetized traffic to and from the femtocell

connects to the cellular operator’s core packet
network via a femtocell gateway.
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:

Factors Impacting in LTE:

 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Cooperative/Coordinated Multipoint Transmission and Reception:

➢ Release 11 implemented Cooperative/Coordinated Multipoint

Transmission and Reception (CoMP).

➢ In CoMP, antennas are guided to increase the power to mobiles at the cell
edges and reduce interference at those edges

➢ Antennas may be from those at the same eNodeB, those at separate

eNodeBs, those between macro cells and small cells, and those between
a cell and a remote radio head (RRH), which is a simple set of antennas
deployed away from a base station
 LTE-Advanced
14.7 LTE Advanced Characteristics:
Other Enhancements:
The following other enhancements are provided in LTE- Advanced Releases 10 and
11 and are also likely to be issued in Release 12.

➢ Traffic offload techniques to divert traffic onto non-LTE networks.

➢ Support for dynamic adaptation of TDD configuration so traffic fluctuations

can be accommodated, which are especially common in small cells.

➢ higher order modulation like 256-QAM, a new mobile- specific reference

signal, dual connectivity (for example, simultaneous connection with a macro-
cell and a picocell)

➢ user-specific elevation of beamforming, this is supported by massive MIMO or

full dimension MIMO created in a two-dimensional array