4G LTE Advanced Tutorial

- overview, information, tutorial about the basics of LTE Advanced, the 4G

technology being called IMT Advanced being developed under 3GPP.

With the standards definitions now available for LTE, the Long Term Evolution of the 3G
services, eyes are now turning towards the next development, that of the truly 4G technology
named IMT Advanced. The new technology being developed under the auspices of 3GPP to
meet these requirements is often termed LTE Advanced.

In order that the cellular telecommunications technology is able to keep pace with technologies
that may compete, it is necessary to ensure that new cellular technologies are being formulated
and developed. This is the reasoning behind starting the development of the new LTE Advanced
systems, proving the technology and developing the LTE Advanced standards.

In order that the correct solution is adopted for the 4G system, the ITU-R (International
Telecommunications Union - Radiocommunications sector) has started its evaluation process to
develop the recommendations for the terrestrial components of the IMT Advanced radio
interface. One of the main competitors for this is the LTE Advanced solution.

One of the key milestones is October 2010 when the ITU-R decides the framework and key
characteristics for the IMT Advanced standard. Before this, the ITU-R will undertake the
evaluation of the various proposed radio interface technologies of which LTE Advanced is a
major contender.

Key milestones for ITU-R IMT Advanced evaluation

The ITU-R has set a number of milestones to ensure that the evaluation of IMT Advanced
technologies occurs in a timely fashion. A summary of the main milestones is given below and
this defines many of the overall timescales for the development of IMT Advanced and in this
case LTE Advanced as one of the main technologies to be evaluated.

Milestone Date

Issue invitation to propose Radio Interface Technologies. March 2008

ITU date for cut-off for submission of proposed Radio October

Interface Technologies. 2009

Cutoff date for evaluation report to ITU. June 2010

Decision on framework of key characteristics of IMT October

 Milestone Date

Advanced Radio Interface Technologies. 2010

Completion of development of radio interface specification February

recommendations. 2011

LTE Advanced development history

With 3G technology established, it was obvious that the rate of development of cellular
technology should not slow. As a result initial ideas for the development of a new 4G system
started to be investigated. In one early investigation which took place on 25 December 2006 with
information released to the press on 9 February 2007, NTT DoCoMo detailed information about
trials in which they were able to send data at speeds up to approximately 5 Gbit/s in the downlink
within a 100MHz bandwidth to a mobile station moving at 10km/h. The scheme used several
technologies to achieve this including variable spreading factor spread orthogonal frequency
division multiplex, MIMO, multiple input multiple output, and maximum likelihood detection.
Details of these new 4G trials were passed to 3GPP for their consideration

In 2008 3GPP held two workshops on IMT Advanced, where the "Requirements for Further
Advancements for E-UTRA" were gathered. The resulting Technical Report 36.913 was then
published in June 2008 and submitted to the ITU-R defining the LTE-Advanced system as their
proposal for IMT-Advanced.

The development of LTE Advanced / IMT Advanced can be seen to follow and evolution from
the 3G services that were developed using UMTS / W-CDMA technology.

HSPA
WCDMA LTE Advanced
  HSDPA / HSPA+ LTE
(UMTS) (IMT Advanced)
HSUPA

Max downlink speed

384 k 14 M 28 M 100M 1G
bps

Max uplink speed

128 k 5.7 M 11 M 50 M 500 M
bps

Latency
50ms
round trip time 150 ms 100 ms ~10 ms less than 5 ms
(max)
approx

3GPP releases Rel 99/4 Rel 5 / 6 Rel 7 Rel 8 Rel 10

 HSPA
WCDMA LTE Advanced
  HSDPA / HSPA+ LTE
(UMTS) (IMT Advanced)
HSUPA

2005 / 6
Approx years of initial roll HSDPA
2003 / 4 2008 / 9 2009 / 10  
out 2007 / 8
HSUPA

OFDMA / SC- OFDMA / SC-

Access methodology CDMA CDMA CDMA
FDMA FDMA

LTE Advanced is not the only candidate technology. WiMAX is also there, offering very high
data rates and high levels of mobility. However it now seems less likely that WiMAX will be
adopted as the 4G technology, with LTE Advanced appearing to be better positioned.

LTE Advanced key features

With work starting on LTE Advanced, a number of key requirements and key features are
coming to light. Although not fixed yet in the specifications, there are many high level aims for
the new LTE Advanced specification. These will need to be verified and much work remains to
be undertaken in the specifications before these are all fixed. Currently some of the main
headline aims for LTE Advanced can be seen below:

1. Peak data rates: downlink - 1 Gbps; uplink - 500 Mbps.

2. Spectrum efficiency: 3 times greater than LTE.
3. Peak spectrum efficiency: downlink - 30 bps/Hz; uplink - 15 bps/Hz.
4. Spectrum use: the ability to support scalable bandwidth use and spectrum aggregation where
non-contiguous spectrum needs to be used.
5. Latency: from Idle to Connected in less than 50 ms and then shorter than 5 ms one way for
individual packet transmission.
6. Cell edge user throughput to be twice that of LTE.
7. Average user throughput to be 3 times that of LTE.
8. Mobility: Same as that in LTE
9. Compatibility: LTE Advanced shall be capable of interworking with LTE and 3GPP legacy systems.

These are many of the development aims for LTE Advanced. Their actual figures and the actual
implementation of them will need to be worked out during the specification stage of the system.
LTE Advanced technologies

There are a number of key technologies that will enable LTE Advanced to achieve the high data
throughput rates that are required. MIMO and OFDM are two of the base technologies that will
be enablers. Along with these there are a number of other techniques and technologies that will
be employed.

OFDM forms the basis of the radio bearer. Along with it there is OFDMA (Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiple Access) along with SC-FDMA (Single Channel Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiple Access). These will be used in a hybrid format. However the basis
for all of these access schemes is OFDM.

Note on OFDM:

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) is a form of transmission that uses a large
number of close spaced carriers that are modulated with low rate data. Normally these signals
would be expected to interfere with each other, but by making the signals orthogonal to each
other there is no mutual interference. The data to be transmitted is split across all the carriers to
give resilience against selective fading from multi-path effects..

Click on the link for an OFDM tutorial

One of the other key enablers for LTE Advanced that is common to LTE is MIMO. This scheme
is also used by many other technologies including WiMAX and Wi-Fi - 802.11n. MIMO -
Multiple Input Multiple Output enables the data rates achieved to be increased beyond what the
basic radio bearer would normally allow.

Note on MIMO:

Two major limitations in communications channels can be multipath interference, and the data
throughput limitations as a result of Shannon's Law. MIMO provides a way of utilising the
multiple signal paths that exist between a transmitter and receiver to significantly improve the
data throughput available on a given channel with its defined bandwidth. By using multiple
antennas at the transmitter and receiver along with some complex digital signal processing,
MIMO technology enables the system to set up multiple data streams on the same channel,
thereby increasing the data capacity of a channel.

Click on the link for a MIMO tutorial

For LTE Advanced, the use of MIMO is likely to involve further and more advanced techniques
with additional antennas in the matrix to enable additional paths to be sued, although as the
number of antennas increases, the overhead increases and the return per additional path is less.

In additional to the numbers of antennas increasing, it is likely that techniques such as

beamforming may be used to enable the antenna coverage to be focused where it is needed.

With data rates rising well above what was previously available, it will be necessary to ensure
that the core network is updated to meet the increasing requirements. It is therefore necessary to
further improve the system architecture.

These and other technologies will be used with LTE Advanced to provide the very high data
rates that are being sought along with the other performance chara

LTE CA: Carrier Aggregation Tutorial

- 4G LTE Advanced CA, carrier aggregation or channel aggregation enables
multiple LTE carriers to be used together to provide the high data rates required
for 4G LTE Advanced.

LTE Advanced offers considerably higher data rates than even the initial releases of LTE. While
the spectrum usage efficiency has been improved, this alone cannot provide the required data
rates that are being headlined for 4G LTE Advanced.

To achieve these very high data rates it is necessary to increase the transmission bandwidths over
those that can be supported by a single carrier or channel. The method being proposed is termed
carrier aggregation, CA, or sometimes channel aggregation. Using LTE Advanced carrier
aggregation, it is possible to utilise more than one carrier and in this way increase the overall
transmission bandwidth.

These channels or carriers may be in contiguous elements of the spectrum, or they may be in
different bands.

Spectrum availability is a key issue for 4G LTE. In many areas only small bands are available,
often as small as 10 MHz. As a result carrier aggregation over more than one band is contained
within the specification, although it does present some technical challenges.

Carrier aggregation is supported by both formats of LTE, namely the FDD and TDD variants.
This ensures that both FDD LTE and TDD LTE are able to meet the high data throughput
requirements placed upon them.
LTE carrier aggregation basics

The target figures for data throughput in the downlink is 1 Gbps for 4G LTE Advanced. Even
with the improvements in spectral efficiency it is not possible to provide the required headline
data throughput rates within the maximum 20 MHz channel. The only way to achieve the higher
data rates is to increase the overall bandwidth used. IMT Advanced sets the upper limit at 100
MHz, but with an expectation of 40 MHz being used for minimum performance. For the future it
is possible the top limit of 100 MHz could be extended.

It is well understood that spectrum is a valuable commodity, and it takes time to re-assign it from
one use to another in view - the cost of forcing users to move is huge as new equipment needs to
be bought. Accordingly as sections of the spectrum fall out of use, they can be re-assigned. This
leads to significant levels of fragmentation.

To an LTE terminal, each component carrier appears as an LTE carrier, while an LTE-Advanced
terminal can exploit the total aggregated bandwidth.

RF aspects of carrier aggregation

There are a number of ways in which LTE carriers can be aggregated:

Types of LTE carrier aggregation

 Intra-band:   This form of carrier aggregation uses a single band. There are two main formats for
this type of carrier aggregation:

o Contiguous:   The Intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation is the easiest form of LTE
carrier aggregation to implement. Here the carriers are adjacent to each other.
 Contiguous aggregation of two uplink component carriers

The aggregated channel can be considered by the terminal as a single enlarged channel
from the RF viewpoint. In this instance, only one transceiver is required within the
terminal or UE, whereas more are required where the channels are not adjacent.
However as the RF bandwidth increases it is necessary to ensure that the UE in
particular is able to operate over such a wide bandwidth without a reduction in
performance. Although the performance requirements are the same for the base
station, the space, power consumption, and cost requirements are considerably less
stringent, allowing greater flexibility in the design. Additionally for the base station,
multi-carrier operation, even if non-aggregated, is already a requirement in many
instances, requiring little or no change to the RF elements of the design. Software
upgrades would naturally be required to cater for the additional capability.

o Non-contiguous:   Non-contiguous intra-band carrier aggregation is somewhat more

complicated than the instance where adjacent carriers are used. No longer can the
multi-carrier signal be treated as a single signal and therefore two transceivers are
required. This adds significant complexity, particularly to the UE where space, power
and cost are prime considerations.
 Inter-band non-contiguous:   This form of carrier aggregation uses different bands. It will be of
particular use because of the fragmentation of bands - some of which are only 10 MHz wide. For
the UE it requires the use of multiple transceivers within the single item, with the usual impact
on cost, performance and power. In addition to this there are also additional complexities
resulting from the requirements to reduce intermodulation and cross modulation from the two
transceivers

The current standards allow for up to five 20 MHz carriers to be aggregated, although in practice
two or three is likely to be the practical limit. These aggregated carriers can be transmitted in
parallel to or from the same terminal, thereby enabling a much higher throughput to be obtained.
Carrier aggregation bandwidths

When aggregating carriers for an LTE signal, there are several definitions required for the
bandwidth of the combined channels. As there as several bandwidths that need to be described, it
is necessary to define them to reduce confusion.

LTE Carrier Aggregation Bandwidth Definitions for Intra-Band Case

LTE carrier aggregation bandwidth classes

There is a total of six different carrier aggregation, CA bandwidth classes which are being
defined.

Carrier Aggregation Aggregated Transmission Number of component

Bandwidth Class BW Configuration carriers

A ≤100 1

B ≤100 2

C 100 - 200 2
 Carrier Aggregation Aggregated Transmission Number of component
Bandwidth Class BW Configuration carriers

NB: classes D, E, & F are in the study phase.

LTE aggregated carriers

When carriers are aggregated, each carrier is referred to as a component carrier. There are two
categories:

 Primary component carrier:   This is the main carrier in any group. There will be a primary
downlink carrier and an associated uplink primary component carrier.
 Secondary component carrier:   There may be one or more secondary component carriers.

There is no definition of which carrier should be used as a primary component carrier - different
terminals may use different carriers. The configuration of the primary component carrier is
terminal specific and will be determined according to the loading on the various carriers as well
as other relevant parameters.

In addition to this the association between the downlink primary carrier and the corresponding
uplink primary component carrier is cell specific. Again there are no definitions of how this must
be organised. The information is signalled to the terminal of user equipment as part of the overall
signalling between the terminal and the base station.

Carrier aggregation cross carrier scheduling

When LTE carrier aggregation is used, it is necessary to be able to schedule the data across the
carriers and to inform the terminal of the DCI rates for the different component carriers. This
information may be implicit, or it may be explicit dependent upon whether cross carrier
scheduling is used.

Enabling of the cross carrier scheduling is achieved individually via the RRC signalling on a per
component carrier basis or a per terminal basis.

When no cross carrier scheduling is arranged, the downlink scheduling assignments achieved on
a per carrier basis, i.e. they are valid for the component carrier on which they were transmitted.
For the uplink, an association is created between one downlink component carrier and an uplink
component carrier. In this way when uplink grants are sent the terminal or UE will know to
which uplink component carrier they apply.

Where cross carrier scheduling is active, the PDSCH on the downlink or the PUSCH on the
uplink is transmitted on an associate component carrier other than the PDCCH, the carrier
indicator in the PDCCH provides the information about the component carrier used for the
PDSCH or PUSCH.

It is necessary to be able to indicate to which component carrier in any aggregation scheme a

grant relates. To facilitate this, component carriers are numbered. The primary component carrier
is numbered zero, for all instances, and the different secondary component carriers are assigned a
unique number through the UE specific RRC signalling. This means that even if the terminal or
user equipment and the base station, eNodeB may have different understandings of the
component carrier numbering during reconfiguration, transmissions on the primary component
carrier can be scheduled.

4G LTE CoMP, Coordinated Multipoint

Tutorial
- 4G LTE Advanced CoMP, coordinated multipoint is used to send and receive
data to and from a UE from several points to ensure the optimum performance is
achieved even at cell edges.

LTE CoMP or Coordinated Multipoint is a facility that is being developed for LTE Advanced -
many of the facilities are still under development and may change as the standards define the
different elements of CoMP more specifically.

LTE Coordinated Multipoint is essentially a range of different techniques that enable the
dynamic coordination of transmission and reception over a variety of different base stations. The
aim is to improve overall quality for the user as well as improving the utilisation of the network.

Essentially, LTE Advanced CoMP turns the inter-cell interference, ICI, into useful signal,
especially at the cell borders where performance may be degraded.

Over the years the importance of inter-cell interference, ICI has been recognised, and various
techniques used from the days of GSM to mitigate its effects. Here interference averaging
techniques such as frequency hopping were utilised. However as technology has advanced, much
tighter and more effective methods of combating and utilising the interference have gained
support.
LTE CoMP and 3GPP

The concepts for Coordinated Multipoint, CoMP, have been the focus of many studies by 3GPP
for LTE-Advanced as well as the IEEE for their WiMAX, 802.16 standards. For 3GPP there are
studies that have focussed on the techniques involved, but no conclusion has been reached
regarding the full implementation of the scheme. However basic concepts have been established
and these are described below.

CoMP has not been included in Rel.10 of the 3GPP standards, but as work is on-going, CoMP is
likely to reach a greater level of consensus. When this occurs it will be included in future
releases of the standards.

Despite the fact that Rel.10 does not provide any specific support for CoMP, some schemes can
be implemented in LTE Rel.10 networks in a proprietary manner. This may enable a simpler
upgrade when standardisation is finally agreed.

LTE CoMP - the advantages

Although LTE Advanced CoMP, Coordinated Multipoint is a complex set of techniques, it

brings many advantages to the user as well as the network operator.

 Makes better utilisation of network:   By providing connections to several base stations at once,
using CoMP, data can be passed through least loaded base stations for better resource
utilisation.
 Provides enhanced reception performance:   Using several cell sites for each connection means
that overall reception will be improved and the number of dropped calls should be reduced.
 Multiple site reception increases received power:   The joint reception from multiple base
stations or sites using LTE Coordinated Multipoint techniques enables the overall received
power at the handset to be increased.
 Interference reduction:   By using specialised combining techniques it is possible to utilise the
interference constructively rather than destructively, thereby reducing interference levels.

What is LTE CoMP? - the basics

Coordinated multipoint transmission and reception actually refers to a wide range of techniques
that enable dynamic coordination or transmission and reception with multiple geographically
separated eNBs. Its aim is to enhance the overall system performance, utilise the resources more
effectively and improve the end user service quality.

One of the key parameters for LTE as a whole, and in particular 4G LTE Advanced is the high
data rates that are achievable. These data rates are relatively easy to maintain close to the base
station, but as distances increase they become more difficult to maintain.
Obviously the cell edges are the most challenging. Not only is the signal lower in strength
because of the distance from the base station (eNB), but also interference levels from
neighbouring eNBs are likely to be higher as the UE will be closer to them.

4G LTE CoMP, Coordinated Multipoint requires close coordination between a number of

geographically separated eNBs. They dynamically coordinate to provide joint scheduling and
transmissions as well as proving joint processing of the received signals. In this way a UE at the
edge of a cell is able to be served by two or more eNBs to improve signals reception /
transmission and increase throughput particularly under cell edge conditions.

Concept of LTE Advanced CoMP - Coordinated Multipoint

In essence, 4G LTE CoMP, Coordinated Multipoint falls into two major categories:

 Joint processing:   Joint processing occurs where there is coordination between multiple entities
- base stations - that are simultaneously transmitting or receiving to or from UEs.
 Coordinated scheduling or beamforming:   This often referred to as CS/CB (coordinated
scheduling / coordinated beamforming) is a form of coordination where a UE is transmitting
with a single transmission or reception point - base station. However the communication is
made with an exchange of control among several coordinated entities.

To achieve either of these modes, highly detailed feedback is required on the channel properties
in a fast manner so that the changes can be made. The other requirement is for very close
coordination between the eNBs to facilitate the combination of data or fast switching of the cells.

The techniques used for coordinated multipoint, CoMP are very different for the uplink and
downlink. This results from the fact that the eNBs are in a network, connected to other eNBs,
whereas the handsets or UEs are individual elements.
Downlink LTE CoMP

The downlink LTE CoMP requires dynamic coordination amongst several geographically
separated eNBs transmitting to the UE. The two formats of coordinated multipoint can be
divided for the downlink:

 Joint processing schemes for transmitting in the downlink :   Using this element of LTE CoMP,
data is transmitted to the UE simultaneously from a number of different eNBs. The aim is to
improve the received signal quality and strength. It may also have the aim of actively cancelling
interference from transmissions that are intended for other UEs.

This form of coordinated multipoint places a high demand onto the backhaul network because
the data to be transmitted to the UE needs to be sent to each eNB that will be transmitting it to
the UE. This may easily double or triple the amount of data in the network dependent upon how
many eNBs will be sending the data. In addition to this, joint processing data needs to be sent
between all eNBs involved in the CoMP area.
 Coordinated scheduling and or beamforming:   Using this concept, data to a single UE is
transmitted from one eNB. The scheduling decisions as well as any beams are coordinated to
control the interference that may be generated.

The advantage of this approach is that the requirements for coordination across the backhaul
network are considerably reduced for two reasons:

o UE data does not need to be transmitted from multiple eNBs, and therefore only needs
to be directed to one eNB.
o Only scheduling decisions and details of beams needs to be coordinated between
multiple eNBs.

Uplink LTE CoMP

 Joint reception and processing:   The basic concept behind this format is to utilise antennas at
different sites. By coordinating between the different eNBs it is possible to form a virtual
antenna array. The signals received by the eNBs are then combined and processed to produce
the final output signal. This technique allows for signals that are very low in strength, or masked
by interference in some areas to be receiving with few errors.

The main disadvantage with this technique is that large amounts of data need to be transferred
between the eNBs for it to operate.
 Coordinated scheduling:   This scheme operates by coordinating the scheduling decisions
amongst the ENBs to minimise interference.

As in the case of the downlink, this format provides a much reduced load in the backhaul
network because only the scheduling data needs to be transferred between the different eNBs
that are coordinating with each other.
Overall requirements for LTE CoMP

One of the key requirements for LTE is that it should be able to provide a very low level of
latency. The additional processing required for multiple site reception and transmission could
add significantly to any delays. This could result from the need for the additional processing as
well as the communication between the different sites.

To overcome this, it is anticipated that the different sites may be connected together in a form of
centralised RAN, or C-RAN.

4G LTE Advanced Relay

- 4G LTE Advanced relay technology, how LTE relaying works and details about
relay nodes, RNs.

Relaying is one of the features being proposed for the 4G LTE Advanced system. The aim of
LTE relaying is to enhance both coverage and capacity.

The idea of relays is not new, but LTE relays and LTE relaying is being considered to ensure that
the optimum performance is achieved to enable the expectations of the users to be met while still
keeping OPEX within the budgeted bounds.

Need for LTE relay technology

One of the main drivers for the use of LTE is the high data rates that can be achieved. However
all technologies suffer from reduced data rates at the cell edge where signal levels are lower and
interference levels are typically higher.

The use of technologies such as MIMO, OFDM and advanced error correction techniques
improve throughput under many conditions, but do not fully mitigate the problems experienced
at the cell edge.

As cell edge performance is becoming more critical, with some of the technologies being pushed
towards their limits, it is necessary to look at solutions that will enhance performance at the cell
edge for a comparatively low cost. One solution that is being investigated and proposed is that of
the use of LTE relays.
LTE relay basics

LTE relaying is different to the use of a repeater which re-broadcasts the signal. A relay will
actually receive, demodulates and decodes the data, apply any error correction, etc to it and then
re-transmitting a new signal. In this way, the signal quality is enhanced with an LTE relay, rather
than suffering degradation from a reduced signal to noise ratio when using a repeater.

For an LTE relay, the UEs communicate with the relay node, which in turn communicates with a
donor eNB.

Relay nodes can optionally support higher layer functionality, for example decode user data from
the donor eNB and re-encode the data before transmission to the UE.

The LTE relay is a fixed relay - infrastructure without a wired backhaul connection, that relays
messages between the base station (BS) and mobile stations (MSs) through multihop
communication.

There are a number of scenarios where LTE relay will be advantageous.

 Increase network density:   LTE relay nodes can be deployed very easily in situations where the
aim is to increase network capacity by increasing the number of eNBs to ensure good signal
levels are received by all users. LTE relays are easy to install as they require no separate
backhaul and they are small enabling them to be installed in many convenient areas, e.g. on
street lamps, on walls, etc.

LTE relay used to increase network density

 Network coverage extension :   LTE relays can be used as a convenient method of filling small
holes in coverage. With no need to install a complete base station, the relay can be quickly
installed so that it fills in the coverage blackspot.
 LTE relay coverage extension - filling in coverage hole

Additionally LTE relay nodes may be sued to increase the coverage outside main area. With
suitable high gain antennas and also if antenna for the link to the donor eNB is placed in a
suitable location it will be able to maintain good communications and provide the required
coverage extension.

LTE relay coverage extension - extending coverage

It can be noted that relay nodes may be cascaded to provide considerable extensions of the
coverage.

 Rapid network roll-out:   Without the need to install backhaul, or possibly install large masts,
LTE relays can provide a very easy method of extending coverage during the early roll-out of a
network. More traditional eNBs may be installed later as the traffic volumes increase.
 LTE relay to provide fast rollout & deployment

LTE relaying full & half duplex

LTE relay nodes can operate in one of two scenarios:

 Half-Duplex:   A half-duplex system provides communication in both directions, but not

simultaneously - the transmissions must be time multiplexed. For LTE relay, this requires careful
scheduling. It requires that the RN coordinates its resource allocation with the UEs in the uplink
and the assigned donor eNB in the downlink. This can be achieved using static pre-assigned
solutions, or more dynamic ones requiring more intelligence and communication for greater
flexibility and optimisation.
 Full Duplex:   For full duplex, the systems are able to transmit and receive at the same time. For
LTE relay nodes this is often on the same frequency. The relay nodes will receive the signal,
process it and then transmit it on the same frequency with a small delay, although this will be
small when compared to the frame duration. To achieve full duplex, there must be good
isolation between the transmit and receive antennas.

When considering full or half duplex systems for LTE relay nodes, there is a trade-off between
performance and the relay node cost. The receiver performance is critical, and also the antenna
isolation must be reasonably high to allow the simultaneous transmission and reception when
only one channel is used.

LTE relay types

There is a number of different types of LTE relay node that can be used. However before
defining the relay node types, it is necessary to look at the different modes of operation.

One important feature or characteristic of an LTE relay node is the carrier frequency it operates
on. There are two methods of operation:

 Inband:   An LTE relay node is said to be "Inband" if the link between the base station and the
relay node are on the same carrier frequency as the link between the LTE relay node and the
user equipment, UE, i.e. the BS-RN link and the BS-UE link are on the same carrier frequency.
  Outband:   For Outband LTE relay nodes, RNs, the BS-RN link operates of a different carrier
frequency to that of the RN-UE link.

For the LTE relay nodes themselves there are two basic types that are being proposed, although
there are subdivisions within these basic types:

 Type 1 LTE relay nodes:  These LTE relays control their cells with their own identity including the
transmission of their own synchronisation channels and reference symbols. Type 1 relays appear
as if they are a Release 8 eNB to Release 8 UEs. This ensures backwards compatibility. The basic
Type 1 LTE relay provides half duplex with Inband transmissions.

There are two further sub-types within this category:

o Type 1.a:   These LTE relay nodes are outband RNs which have the same properties as
the basic Type 1 relay nodes, but they can transmit and receive at the same time, i.e. full
duplex.
o Type 1.b:   This form of LTE relay node is an inband form. They have a sufficient isolation
between the antennas used for the BS-RN and the RN-UE links. This isolation can be
achieved by antenna spacing and directivity as well as specialised digital signal
processing techniques, although there are cost impacts of doing this. The performance
of these RNs is anticipated to be similar to that of femtocells.
 Type 2 LTE relay nodes:  These LTE relaying nodes do not have their own cell identity and look
just like the main cell. Any UE in range is not able to distinguish a relay from the main eNB
within the cell. Control information can be transmitted from the eNB and user data from the LTE
relay.

LTE Relay Class Cell ID Duplex Format

Type 1 Yes Inband half duplex

Type 1.a Yes Outband full duplex

Type 1.b Yes Inband full duplex

Type 2 No Inband full duplex

Summary of Relay Classifications & Features in 3GPP Rel.10

There is still much work to be undertaken on LTE relaying. The exact manner of LTE relays is to
be included in Release 10 of the 3GPP standards and specifications.

4G LTE Device to Device, D2D

- 4G LTE Advanced device to device, D2D communication for high data rate
local direct communications using LTE devices.

One of the schemes that is being researched and considered for 4G LTE Advanced is the concept
of Device to Device communications.

This form of communication using the LTE system is used where direct communications are
needed within a small area.

LTE D2D communications is a peer to peer link which does not use the cellular network
infrastructure, but enables LTE based devices to communicate directly with one another when
they are in close proximity.

One of the particular applications where LTE device to device communications is for the
emergency services. With proprietary systems like TETRA being expensive to maintain because
of the separate infrastructure required, the LTE is becoming increasingly attractive as a result of
cost, and performance. The main issue is that of reliability.

LTE device to device communication is also being investigated for applications where peer
discovery is required for commercial applications in the presence of network support.

LTE D2D was a feature that appeared in LTE REl 12.

Benefits of D2D communications

Direct communications between devices can provide several benefits to users in various
applications where the devices are in close proximity:

 Data rates:   Devices may be remote from cellular infrastructure and may therefore not be able
to support high data rate transmission that may be required
 Reliable communications:   LTE Device to Device can be sued to communicate locally between
devices to provide high reliability communications especially if the LTE network has failed for
any reason - even as a result of the disaster.
 Instant communications:   As the D2D communications does not rely on the network
infrastructure the devices could be used for instant communications between a set number of
devices in the same way that walkie-talkies are used. This is particularly applicable to t e way
communications may be used by the emergency services.
 Use of licensed spectrum:   Unlike other deveice to device systems including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth,
etc, LTE would use licensed spectrum and this would enable the frequencies to be used to be
less subject to interference, thereby allowing more reliable communications.
 Interference reduction:   By not having to communicate directly with a base station, fewer links
are required (i.e. essentially only between devices) and this has an impact of the amount of data
being transmitted within a given spectrum allocation. This reduces the overall level of
interference.
  Power saving :   Using device to device communication provides energy saving for a variety of
reasons. One major area is that if the two0 devices are in close proximity then lower
transmission power levels are required.

LTE D2D basics

4G LTE device to device, D2D would enable the direct link of a device, user equipment UE, etc
to another device using the cellular spectrum. This could allow large volumes of media or other
data to be transferred from one device to another over short distances and using a direct
connection.. This form of device to device transfer would enable the data to be transferred
without the need to run it via the cellular network itself, thereby avoiding problems with
overloading the network.

Other examples of direct communication include Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth, etc. Networks can be
formed in many ways.

LTE device to device, D2D concept

The D2D system would operate in a manner where devices within a locality would be able to
provide direct communications rather than transmitting via the network. The cellular
infrastructure, if present, may assist with issues like peer discovery, synchronisation, and the
provision of identity and security information.

LTE D2D issues

The addition of the LTE D2D or device to device communication capability impacts the whole
of the network and is therefore not a trivial addition, Issues like authorisation and authentication
are currently handled by the network and the overall LTE system would need to be extended to
accommodate device to device to communication without the essential presence of the network.

Another issue would be that of direct communication between devices that are under
subscriptions with different operators, although this is unlikely to occur in the event of public
service or emergency services.
LTE Advanced Heterogeneous Networks,
HetNet
- LTE heterogeneous network, HetNet technology, how LTE HetNets work and
details about their operation and deployment..

LTE heterogeneous networks, HetNet are fast becoming a reality.

Within LTE and LTE Advanced, operators see the need to very significantly increase the data
capacity of all areas of the network while also reducing the costs as cost per bit rates are falling.

Whilst LTE HetNet technology is starting to be defined, many operators are seeking to utilise the
concepts to ensure that the delivery of service to the users meets expectations under the very
varying conditions and scenarios that users are placing on the networks.

LTE heterogeneous network basics

To achieve this LTE and LTE Advanced operators need to adopt a variety of approaches to meet
the needs of a host of scenarios that will occur within the network.

Different types of user will need use the network in different places and for different
applications. Coupled to this operators introducing LTE and LTE Advanced networks will have
many legacy systems available. In any LTE heterogeneous network it will be necessary to
accommodate other radio access technologies including HSPA, UMTS and even EDGE and
GPRS. In addition to this other technologies including Wi-Fi also need to be accommodated.

These solutions for LTE heterogeneous networks need to incorporate not only the radio access
network solutions, but also the core network as well. In this way a truly heterogeneous network
can become functional.

To ensure the best use is made of the available capabilities, all the various elements need to be
operated in a manner that is truly seamless to the user. The user should be given the best
experience using the best available technology at any given time. The performance and hence the
user experience should also be very much the same whatever the location and whatever the
application.

Note on Heterogeneous Networks, HetNet:

The concept of the Heterogeneous Network or HetNet has arisen out of the need for cellular
telecommunications operators to be able to operate networks consisting of a variety of radio
access technologies, formats of cells and many other aspects, and combining them to operate in a
seamless fashion.

Click on the link for further information about Heterogeneous Networks, HetNet

LTE HetNet features

There are a number of features for LTE that can be incorporated into an LTE heterogeneous
network above and beyond some of what may be termed the basic wireless heterogeneous
network techniques..Although they could conceivably be used with other forms of wireless
heterogeneous network, they are currently found in LTE.

 Carrier aggregation:   With spectrum allocated for 4G networks, operators often find they have
a variety of small bands that they have to piece together to provide the required overall
bandwidth needed for 4G LTE. Making these bands work seamlessly is a key element of the LTE
heterogeneous network operation.
 Coordinated multipoint:   In order to provide the proper coverage at the cell edges, signal from
two or more base stations may be needed. Again, providing the same level of service regardless
of network technology and areas within the cell can prove to be challenging. Adopting a
heterogeneous network approach can assist in providing he same service quality regardless of
the position within the cell, and the possibly differing cell and backhaul technologies used for
the different base stations.

Heterogeneous networks are now an established concept within LTE networks. The requirement
to provide a better level of coverage and performance in a greater variety of situations means that
a greater variety of techniques is required. Making all the different technologies from radio
access networks to base station technologies and backhaul paths all come together needs careful
planning. Early cellular systems had a far more standard approach, where base stations were
characterised by the mast and antennas. Now a much greater variety of approaches is needed.