Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Transport Channels
HARQ
ROHC
Security
Segm.
ARQ etc
Multiplexing
UE
1
DL-SCH
on CC
1
ROHC
Security
Segm.
ARQ etc
DL-SCH
on CC
x
HARQ HARQ
PDCP
RLC
MAC
Release 8 Release 10
6 3GPP TS 36.300: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial
Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2
LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation
Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
11 SPIRENT WHITE PAPER
Cross-Carrier Scheduling
Release 10 introduces an optional UE capability which allows for scheduling all carriers
via one carriers PDCCH. Enacting all scheduling on the PCell reserves SCells for user
data, minimizing SCell control channel overhead. It also enables coordinated scheduling
of data across multiple carriers, which in turn enables efficient network planning.
Channel Quality
Downlink channel quality is measured by the UE and reported to the base-station in
the Uplink Control Information (UCI). The UCI field includes a CIF that indicates which
component carrier is being referenced. This is used in the case when cross-carrier
scheduling is enabled.
Uplink channel quality is measured by the base-station using Sounding Reference
Symbols (SRS) transmitted by the UE. As of Release 10, an optional capability allows
the UE to transmit SRS on secondary cells as well as primary cells.
Downlink Monitoring
Release 8 introduced the Radio Link Failure procedure. This procedure remains the
same with the introduction of carrier aggregation. The only clarification made in the
specification is that Radio Link Failure is only triggered by the UE upon failure of the
PCell, and is not triggered by failure of a SCell. Upon radio link reestablishment, all
SCells are deleted from the UEs list of serving cells.
Timing Advance
Timing advance is a method in which a base-station requests that a mobile adjusts its
uplink timing (relative to downlink time) in order to mitigate the effect of propagation
delay. In carrier aggregation, only a single timing advance value is used by the
E-UTRAN; this value is applied to all carriers.
SPIRENT WHITE PAPER 12
LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation
Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
TESTING CARRIER AGGREGATION IN MOBILE DEVICES
Carrier aggregation introduces new considerations for device design verification.
Additional RF testing and characterization is required, as is functional testing to verify
carrier-aggregation-specific features of the design, such as the ability of the mobile to
manage multiple data streams from multiple carriers. The following sections describe
some of these types of testing.
FUNCTIONAL TESTS
Functional tests are targeted at testing specific sub-features or procedures introduced
to the specifications to support carrier aggregation. They cover RRC, MAC, PHY layers
and Radio Resource Management (RRM).
One example of a functional test introduced by carrier aggregation is verification of
the SCell deactivation MAC timer. A network that supports carrier aggregation must
configure each mobile with a deactivation timer. This timer tells the mobile when to
stop monitoring an SCell. To verify that a mobile being tested has stopped monitoring
an SCell, a test should schedule data on the SCell after the timer has expired. By
monitoring the behavior of the mobile, the tester or automated test can verify whether
or not the mobile has behaved properly with respect to the timer. The following table
lists additional examples of functional tests:
Test Focus Example of Test Areas
RRC - SCell addition and removal
- Event A6 support
- Radio link failure procedures
- Handover procedures including SCell addition
- Backward compatibility between carrier aggregation and Release 8 and
9 procedures
MAC and
Physical
Layer
- Decoding MAC control element to activate, deactivate the SCell
- Deactivation of SCell based on the SCellDeactivation Timer
- Deactivation of SCell because of radio link failure
- Deactivation of SCell because of mobility procedures
- Reception of downlink data from 2 component carriers
- Decoding of carrier indication eld for cross-carrier scheduling
- Link quality monitoring and reporting for PCells and all SCells congured
- Verication of Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) on PCell and SCells
Radio
Resource
Management
- SCell addition and activation
- SCell removal and deactivation
- Handover from PCell + SCell to a second PCell
- Handover from PCell to PCell + SCell (If supported by the UE)
LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation
Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
13 SPIRENT WHITE PAPER
PERFORMANCE TESTS
Performance tests are system tests that are intended to characterize the RF and end-
to-end performance of a mobile under different scenarios and channel conditions. The
introduction of additional carriers provides new methods to reach target throughput
numbers, mainly by maintaining multiple streams from different carriers. This has a
direct impact on the mobiles performance, since throughput is now dependent on other
factors; each carrier will experience different channel conditions (especially in the case
of inter-band aggregation) and loading. Examples of performance test cases:
Evaluation of uplink and downlink throughput when the E-UTRAN is scheduling
over one carrier vs. two carriers (with separate sets of channel conditions)
Impact of cross-carrier scheduling on throughput performance
Impact of channel quality reporting on the mobiles performance
ACCEPTANCE TESTING
Acceptance testing can be divided into two main groups: Conformance Testing and
Service Provider Testing.
Conformance Testing
These are tests mandated by standards bodies for device certification, in this case
3GPP, GCF and PTCRB. All mobile equipment must pass these tests before being
commercially deployed. Test specifications 36.521 and 37.571 list different carrier
aggregation test cases testing different aspects of carrier aggregation.
Service Provider Testing
These are tests that are developed by wireless service providers to validate whether
mobiles that are carrier aggregation capable are fit to be deployed in their specific
networks. They are typically a combination of conformance and operator-defined
performance test cases.
TEST SOLUTIONS FOR CARRIER AGGREGATION
Carrier Aggregation functionality will be deployed across Mobile Device/Chipset &
LTE Network Infrastructure. Spirent offers test solutions available today, for Carrier
Aggregation testing in following test areas:
R10 LTE Chipset & Devices
LTE Network Infrastructure
Service Quality of Experience
SPIRENT WHITE PAPER 14
LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation
Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
CS8 Mobile Device Tester
CS8 Mobile Device Tester is multi technology network emulator solution that provides
Carrier Aggregation test capability for R10 LTE Chipset & Devices. CS8 is the only
single box for two independent carriers with up to 4x2 MIMO for Carrier Aggregation
(CA) with independent fading, with support for multiple band combinations. CS8
Hardware is 4x2 MIMO ready, for future deployments of Carrier Aggregation. Key
benefits of CS8 Device Tester for Carrier Aggregation:
Configurable physical layer, MAC and RRC
Configurable MAC scheduler
Inter and Intra Band carrier aggregation
Cross carrier scheduling
SISO, 2x2 MIMO, 4x2 MIMO (with fading)
Logging capability to analyze functional aspects of RRC/MAC/PHY layers
Single Box for Two Independent Carriers with up to 4x2 MIMO
VR5 Channel Emulator
Spirent also offers the market leading channel emulator, VR5, with the ability to support
up to 8 simultaneous RF channels with different MIMO configurations up to 6GHz.
With scalable bandwidth support up to 100 MHz, the VR5 can be used for Carrier
Aggregation testing of both LTE chipset & network infrastructure testing.
LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation
Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
15 SPIRENT WHITE PAPER
CONCLUSION
Recognizing the looming spectrum shortage and the need to boost LTE speeds,
operators on a global scale are shifting gears to ensure their LTE networks will be
compatible with LTE-3GPP Release 10, LTE-Advanced. Carrier aggregation has been
specified by 3GPP as the method for addressing the wireless industrys requirement for
greater spectrum utilization and faster data delivery.
By enabling RRC connections with multiple cells at low protocol layers, this Release
10 feature creates wide-band bearers for delivery of higher data rates. With the
challenge of combining relatively disparate contiguous and non-contiguous bands of
spectrum into a single logical channel, comes the guarantee of significant complexity
in development and testing. When considering the various types of carrier aggregation
and the possible combinations, it is not difficult to imagine the numerous test cases
and scenarios that will need to be addressed.
This paper was produced to provide an overview of carrier aggregation, the impacts
of implementation on relevant protocol layers and a discussion on how implementing
carrier aggregation affects the requirements for mobile device testing during
development. With years of experience of bringing real-world network and radio
channel conditions into the lab, Spirent is well positioned to support device developers
in addressing the challenges of carrier aggregation implementation.
SPIRENT WHITE PAPER 16
LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation
Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
ACRONYMS
The following is a list of all acronyms/abbreviations used in this document:
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
AS Access Stratum
CC Component Carrier
CIF Carrier Indicator Field
DCI Downlink Control Information
E-UTRA Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access
E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
EV-DO EVolution - Data Only
GCF Global Certication Forum
HARQ Hybrid Automatic-Repeat-Request
HSDPA High-Speed Downlink Packet Access
HSUPA High-Speed Uplink Packet Access
IE Information Element
LCID Logical Channel Identier
LTE Long-Term Evolution
MAC Medium Access Control
PCell Primary Cell
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PHY PHYsical layer
PTCRB (pseudo-acronym; previously stood for PCS Type Certication Review Board)
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
RF Radio Frequency
RRC Radio Resource Control
RRM Radio Resource Management
SCell Secondary Cell
SRS Sounding Reference Signal
TBS Transport Block Size
UCI Uplink Control Information
UE User Equipment
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System