Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, KL, MALAYSIA, March 2730, 2012 1467

LTE-FDD and LTE-TDD for Cellular Communications

A. Z. Yonis1 , M. F. L. Abdullah1 , and M. F. Ghanim2
1

Faculty of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Department of Communication Engineering

University of Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Johor, Malaysia
2
Computer Engineering Department, College of Engineering, University of Mosul, Mosul, Iraq

Abstract LTE-Advanced (Long Term Evolution-Advanced) is used on fourth generation (4G)

in mobile phone technology as many providers are beginning to augment their networks with LTE.
As known, mobile phone traffic is divided into two parts: an uplink and a downlink. This paper
presents the LTE two duplexing modes: LTE-TDD (Time Division Duplexing) and LTE-FDD
(Frequency Division Duplexing). Where LTE-TDD favored by a majority of implementations
because of flexibility in choosing uplink to downlink data rate ratios, ability to exploit channel
reciprocity, ability to implement in non-paired spectrum and less complex transceiver design. In
the case of FDD operation there are two carrier frequencies, one for uplink transmission (fU L ) and
one for downlink transmission ( fDL ). During each frame, there are thus ten uplink subframes and
ten downlink subframes, so uplink and downlink transmission can occur simultaneously within a
cell. LTE-FDD implies that downlink and uplink transmission take place in different, sufficiently
separated, frequency bands, while TDD implies that downlink and uplink transmission take
place in different, non overlapping time slots. Thus, TDD can operate in unpaired spectrum,
whereas FDD requires paired spectrum. Also the required flexibility and resulting requirements
to support LTE operation in different paired and unpaired frequency arrangements are discussed
in this Paper. This paper focuses on the main difference between LTE-FDD and LTE-TDD in
how they divide the single channel to provide paths for both uploading (mobile transmit) and
downloading (base-station transmit). FDD does this by dividing the frequency band allotted into
two discrete smaller channels. TDD uses the entire channel but alternates between uploading
and downloading and in the case of TDD uplink and downlink communication taking place in
the same frequency band but in separate non-overlapping time slots; there is typically a high
fading correlation between the downlink and uplink.
1. INTRODUCTION

With full coverage in the 3 GPP Release 8 specifications of both TDD and FDD modes of operation,
LTE can effectively be deployed in both the paired and unpaired spectrum. LTE TDD and FDD
modes have been greatly harmonized in the sense that both modes share the same underlying
framework, including radio access schemes OFDMA in downlink and SC-FDMA in uplink, basic
subframe formats, configuration protocols, etc.. As clear indication of the harmonization, the
TDD mode is included together with the FDD mode in the same set of specifications, including
the physical layer where there are just a few differences due to the uplink/downlink switching
operation. In terms of architecture there are no differences between FDD and TDD and the
very few differences in the MAC and higher layer protocols relate to TDD specific physical layer
parameters. Procedures are kept the same. Thus there will be high implementation synergies
between the two modes allowing for efficient support of both TDD and FDD in the same network
or user device. Coexistence would of course still require careful analysis. Another key feature of
the LTE-TDD mode (known also as TD-LTE) is the commonality with TD-SCDMA. In this paper,
the detailed aspects of LTE-TDD that differ from the LTE-FDD mode are introduced. Further,
information related to both the link and system performance of the LTE TDD mode of operation
is given [1].
2. SPECTRUM FLEXIBILITY

A high degree of spectrum flexibility is the main characteristic of the LTE radio-access technology.
The aim of this spectrum flexibility is to allow for the deployment of LTE radio access in difference
frequency bands with different characteristics, including different duplex arrangements and different
sizes of the available spectrum [2].
2.1. Flexibility in Duplex Arrangement

One important part of the LTE requirements in terms of spectrum flexibility is the possibility to
deploy LTE-based radio access in both paired and unpaired spectrum. Therefore, LTE supports

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both frequency- and time-division-based duplex arrangements. FDD as illustrated on the left
in Figure 1, implies that downlink and uplink transmission take place in different, sufficiently
separated, frequency bands. TDD as illustrated on the right in Figure 1 implies that downlink and
uplink transmission take place in different, non-overlapping time slots. Thus, TDD can operate in
unpaired spectrum, whereas FDD requires paired spectrum [1].
Operation in both paired and unpaired spectrum has been supported by 3GPP radio-access
technologies even before the introduction of LTE by means of FDD-based WCDMA/HSPA in
combination with TDD-based TD-SCDMA radio. However, this was then achieved by means of,
at least in the details, relatively different radio-access technologies leading to additional effort and
complexity when developing and implementing dual-mode terminals capable of both FDD and
TDD operation. LTE, on the other hand, supports both FDD and TDD within a single radioaccess technology, leading to a minimum of deviation between FDD and TDD for LTE-based radio
access.
In the case of differences between FDD and TDD, these differences will be explicitly indicated.
Furthermore, the TDD mode, also known as TD-LTE, is designed with coexistence between TDLTE and TD-SCDMA in mind to simplify a gradual migration from TD-SCDMA to TD-LTE.
LTE also supports half-duplex FDD at the terminal (illustrated in the middle of Figure 1). In
half-duplex FDD, transmission and reception at a specific terminal are separated in both frequency
and time. The base station still uses full-duplex FDD as it simultaneously may schedule different
terminals in uplink and downlink; this is similar to, for example, GSM operation. The main benefit
with half-duplex FDD is the reduced terminal complexity as no duplex filter is needed in the
terminal. This is especially beneficial in the case of multi-band terminals which otherwise would
need multiple sets of duplex filters.
3. DUPLEX SCHEMES

Spectrum flexibility is one of the key features of LTE. In addition to the flexibility in transmission
bandwidth, LTE also supports operation in both paired and unpaired spectrum by supporting both
FDD- and TDD-based duplex operation with the timefrequency structures illustrated in Figure 2.
Although the time-domain structure is, in most respects, the same for FDD and TDD, there are
some differences, most notably the presence of a special subframe in the case of TDD. The special
subframe is used to provide the necessary guard time for downlinkuplink switching.
3.1. Frequency-division Duplex (FDD)

In the case of FDD operation (upper part of Figure 2), there are two carrier frequencies, one for
uplink transmission (fU L ) and one for downlink transmission (fDL ). During each frame, there

Figure 1: Frequency and time-division duplex [1].

Figure 2: Uplink/downlink time-frequency structure for FDD and TDD [2].

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, KL, MALAYSIA, March 2730, 2012 1469

Figure 3: Guard time at the terminal for half duplex FDD [2].

are thus ten uplink subframes and ten downlink subframes, and uplink and downlink transmission
can occur simultaneously within a cell [3]. Isolation between downlink and uplink transmissions is
achieved by transmission/reception filters, known as duplex filters, and a sufficiently large duplex
separation in the frequency domain. Even if uplink and downlink transmission can occur simultaneously within a cell in the case of FDD operation, a terminal may be capable of full-duplex
operation or only half-duplex operation for a certain frequency band, depending on whether or not
it is capable of simultaneous transmission/reception. In the case of full-duplex capability, transmission and reception may also occur simultaneously at a terminal, whereas a terminal capable of only
half-duplex operation cannot transmit and receive simultaneously. Supporting only half-duplex
operation allows for simplified terminal implementation due to relaxed duplex-filter requirements.
This applies especially for certain frequency bands with a narrow duplex gap.
Hence, full duplex support is frequency-band dependent such that a terminal may support only
half-duplex operation in certain frequency bands while being capable of full-duplex operation in
the remaining supported bands. It should be noted that full/half-duplex capability is a property
of the terminal; the base station is operating in full duplex irrespective of the terminal capabilities.
Hence, as the relevant transmission structures and timing relations are identical between full-duplex
and half-duplex FDD, a single cell may simultaneously support a mixture of full-duplex and halfduplex FDD terminals. Half-duplex operation has an impact on the sustained data rates that can
be provided to/from a single mobile terminal as it cannot transmit in all uplink subframes, but the
cell capacity is hardly affected as typically it is possible to schedule different terminals in uplink
and downlink in a given subframe. Since a half-duplex terminal is not capable of simultaneous
transmission and reception, the scheduling decisions must take this into account and half-duplex
operation can be seen as a scheduling restriction. If a terminal is scheduled such that downlink
reception in one subframe immediately precedes a subframe of uplink transmission, a guard time is
necessary for the terminal to switch from reception to transmission. This is created in such cases
by allowing the terminal to skip receiving the last OFDM symbol(s) in the downlink subframe, as
illustrated in Figure 3.
3.2. Time-division Duplex (TDD)

In the case of TDD operation (Upper part of Figure 2), there is a single carrier frequency only
and uplink and downlink transmissions are separated in the time domain on a cell basis [4]. As
seen in the figure, some subframes are allocated for uplink transmissions and some subframes
for downlink transmission, with the switch between downlink and uplink occurring in the special
subframe (subframe 1 and, in some cases, subframe 6).
Like FDD, LTE TDD supports bandwidths from 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz but depending on the
frequency band, the number of supported bandwidths may be less than the full range. For example,
for the 2.5 GHz band, it is not likely that the smallest bandwidths will be supported. Since the
bandwidth is shared between uplink and downlink and the maximum bandwidth is specified to be
20 MHz in Release 8, the maximum achievable data rates are lower than in LTE FDD. This way the
same receiver and transmitter processing capability can be used with both TDD and FDD modes
enabling faster deployment of LTE.
The TDD system can be implemented on an unpaired band (or in two paired bands separately)
while the FDD system always requires a pair of bands with a reasonable separation between uplink
and downlink directions, known as the duplex separation. In a FDD UE implementation this
normally requires a duplex filter when simultaneous transmission and reception is facilitated. In
a TDD system the UE does not need such a duplex filter. The complexity of the duplex filter
increases when the uplink and downlink frequency bands are placed in closer proximity. In some of
the future spectrum allocations it is foreseen that it will be easier to find new unpaired allocations
than paired allocations with sensible duplex separation thereby increasing further the scope of
applicability for TDD.

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However, since uplink and downlink share the same frequency band, the signals in these two
transmission directions can interfere with each other. This is illustrated in Figure 4, with the use of
TDD on the same frequency without coordination and synchronization between sites in the same
coverage area.
For uncoordinated deployment (unsynchronized) on the same frequency band, the devices connected to the cells with different timing and/or different uplink/downlink allocation may cause
blocking for other users. In LTE TDD the base stations need to be synchronized to each other at
Table 1: Comparison between FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE.
FDD-LTE
Uses Frequency-Division Duplex

TDD-LTE
Uses Time-Division Duplex

Generally better suited for applications Is better at reallocating traffic than

like voice calls that have symmetric FDD-LTE such as Internet or other data
traffic, because traffic in both directions is centric services.
always constant.
It requires paired spectrum with different Does not require paired spectrum since
frequencies with guard band.
transmit and receive occurs in the same
channel
Is appears when planning sites for base
stations. Because FDD base stations use
different frequencies for receiving and
transmitting, they effectively do not hear
each other and no special planning is
needed.

With TDD, special considerations need to

be taken in order to prevent neighboring
base stations from interfering with each
other.

Allows for easier planning than TDD It is cheaper than FD LTE since in
LTE.
TDD-LTE no need of duplexer to isolate
transmission and receptions.
FDD LTE is full duplex this means that TDD LTE is half duplex as either upload
both the upload and download are always or download can use the channel but not
available.
at the same time.
With FDD, the bandwidth cannot be TDD can allocate more time for the part
dynamically reallocated and the unused that requires more bandwidth, thereby
bandwidth is wasted.
balancing the load
FDD-LTE every downlink subframe can TD-LTE the number of downlink and
be associated with an uplink subframe
uplink subframes is different and such
association is not possible.
An FDD system uses a duplexer and/or
two antennas that require spatial
separation and, therefore, cannot reuse the
resources. The result is more costly
hardware [5].

In TDD, both the transmitter and receiver

operate on the same frequency but at
different times. Therefore, TDD systems
reuse the filters, mixers, frequency
sources and synthesizers, thereby
eliminating the complexity and costs
associated with isolating the transmit
antenna and the receive antenna.

FDD cannot be used in environments TDD utilizes the

where the service provider does not have efficiently than FDD.
enough bandwidth to provide the required
guard-band between transmit and receive
channels.
It is requires
channels.

two

spectrum

more

interference-free It is requires only one interference-free

channel.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, KL, MALAYSIA, March 2730, 2012 1471

Figure 4: Interference from uplink to downlink in uncoordinated TDD operation.

frame level in the same coverage area to avoid this interference. This can be typically done by using, for example, satellite based solutions like GPS or Galileo or by having another external timing
reference shared by the LTE TDD base stations within the same coverage area. LTE FDD does
not need the base station synchronization. There is no interference between uplink and downlink
in FDD due to the duplex separation of the carriers.
4. SUMMARY AND COMPARISON

The two versions of LTE are very similar. In fact, they differ only in the physical layer and, as
a result, the version implemented is transparent to the higher layers. This means that UEs will
be able to support both TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE with one chipset with only minor modifications
required. The Table 1 shows the main comparison between FDD-LTE and TDD-LTE.
5. CONCLUSION

The uplink coverage with respect to a specific data rate in TDD-LTE is generally worse than FDDLTE due to the fact that the uplink transmission is not continuous. The percentage of coverage
for control and data channels is, however, very similar to that of FDD-LTE. In terms of spectrum
efficiency, the performances of TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE are similar for non-delay sensitive traffic.
The lower performance of TDD-LTE is due to the guard periods mentioned above. Overall, TDDLTE offers operators a great alternative to FDD. Its natural suitability for asymmetric applications,
low latency, high throughput, and security make it a flexible and cost-effective solution for the next
generation wireless networks. TDD is more flexible than FDD in meeting the need to dynamically
reconfigure the allocated upstream and downstream bandwidth in response to customer needs. In
summary, TDD is a more desirable duplexing technology that allows system operators to receive
the most from their investment in spectrum and telecom equipment, while meeting the needs of
each individual customer
ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Authors are grateful to University of Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia, Faculty of Electrical and
Electronic Engineering, Communication lab for their valuable suggestions and help in carrying out
this study.
REFERENCES

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