LTE-Advanced

Physical Layer Design

and Test Challenges:
Carrier Aggregation

Presented by
Agilent Technologies
Agenda

• Overview of carrier aggregation

- Carrier aggregation modes
- Operating bands
- Cell configuration
- Deployment scenarios
- Layer 1 and 2 structure
- Resource scheduling
• Design and test challenges
• Summary/Agilent solutions
• Resources

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
2
LTE Major Features
Feature Capability
Access modes FDD & TDD
Channel BW (1RB = 12 1.4 MHz 3 MHz 5 MHz 10 MHz 15 MHz 20 MHz
subcarriers = 180 kHz)
6 RB 15 RB 25 RB 50 RB 75 RB 100 RB
Transmission Scheme Downlink: OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)
Uplink: SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access
Modulation Schemes QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM
MIMO Technology Downlink: Tx diversity, Rx diversity, Single-User MIMO (up to 4x4),
beamforming
Uplink: Multi-User MIMO
Peak Data Rates Downlink: 150 Mbps (2x2 MIMO, 20 MHz, 64QAM); 300 Mbps (4x4
MIMO, 20 MHz, 64QAM)
Uplink: 75 Mbps @ 20 MHz BW, 64QAM
Bearer services Packet only – no circuit switched voice or data services are
supported  voice must use VoIP
Transmission Time 1 ms
Interval
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
3
Release 10 and Beyond Proposals
Radio Aspects
1. Carrier aggregation
2. Enhanced uplink multiple access
a) Clustered SC-FDMA
Rel 10 LTE-A
b) Simultaneous Control and Data
proposed to ITU
3. Enhanced multiple antenna transmission
a) Downlink 8 antennas, 8 streams
b) Uplink 4 antennas, 4 streams

4. Relaying
5. Home eNB mobility enhancements
Other Release 10
6. Heterogeneous network support
and beyond
7. Self Optimizing networks (SON)
8. Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP)
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
4
What is Carrier Aggregation?

• Extends the maximum transmission bandwidth, up to 100 MHz, by aggregating up to five LTE
carriers – also known as component carriers (CCs)
• Lack of sufficient contiguous spectrum forces use of carrier aggregation to meet peak data
rate targets:
- 1 Gbps in the downlink and 500 Mbps in the uplink
• Motivation:
- Achieve wide bandwidth transmissions
- Facilitate efficient use of fragmented spectrum
- Efficient interference management for control channels in heterogeneous networks

Band A
≈ Band B
f

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
5
Carrier Aggregation Modes

Component Carrier (CC): max 20 MHz

Intra-band
contiguous
f allocation
Band A

e.g. Intra-band
W-CDMA carriers non-contiguous
f allocation
Band A

Inter-band
allocation
Band A
≈ Band B
f

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
6
Modes and Deployments

CA Band Combinations
Release 10:
o Signaling to support up to 5 CC
Rel.10 3 1 2
o
o
Scenarios limited to 2 CCs
Maximum aggregated bandwidth is 40MHz
o TDD inter-band with same DL-UL configurations
Inter-band Intra-band cont o Prioritized support intra band contiguous and inter band
o Rest of scenarios were postponed to later Releases

Intra - band Contiguous CA

Uplink (UL) band Downlink (DL) band

E-UTRA E-UTRA
UE transmit / BS receive UE receive / BS transmit Duplex
CA operating Channel Channel
FUL_low (MHz) – FUL_high FDL_low (MHz) – FDL_high mode
Band Band BW MHz BW MHz
(MHz) (MHz)
1) 1)
CA_40 40 2300 – 2400 [40 ] 2300 – 2400 [40 ] TDD
CA_1 1 1920 – 1980 40 2110 – 2170 40 FDD
[1) For the first phase of LTE TDD CA for UE side, with eventual goal for 50MHz]

Inter - band Non -Contiguous CA

Uplink (UL) band Downlink (DL) band

E-UTRA
E-UTRA UE transmit / BS receive Channel UE receive / BS transmit Duplex
operating Channel
CA Band FUL_low (MHz) – FUL_high BW MHz FDL_low (MHz) – FDL_high mode
Band BW MHz
(MHz) (MHz)
1 1920 – 1980 10
1)
2110 – 2170 10
CA_1-5 FDD
5 824 – 849 10
1)
869 – 894 10
1) Only one uplink component carrier is used in any of the two frequency bands at any time.

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
7
Modes and Deployments
Release 11:

CA Band Combinations
o Maximum aggregated bandwidth is 40MHz
Support multiple timing advances (required for UL CA)
3
o
Rel.10 o TDD inter-band with different DL-UL configurations
1 2 o Core requirements for intra-band non-cont
o Performance requirements for new inter-band and
Inter-band Intra-band cont intra-band combinations

Rel-11 inter-band Carrier Aggregation Rapporteur

CA Band Combinations

LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 7 & Band 20 Huawei

LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 2 & Band 17 AT&T

25
Rel.11 LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 4 & Band 5 AT&T
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 & Band 20 Vodafone
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 & Band 5 SK Telecom
3 LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 1 & Band 18 KDDI
20 2 LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 1 & Band 19
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 4 & Band 13
NTT DOCOMO
Ericsson
Intra-band cont Intra non-cont LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 & Band 5 SK Telecom
Inter-band
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 4 & Band 17 AT&T
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 4 & Band 12 Cox
Communications
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 & Band 8 KT
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 & Band 7 TeliaSonera
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 5 & Band 12 US Cellular
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 1 & Band 7 China Telecom
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 4 & Band 7 Rogers Wireless
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 5 & Band 17 AT&T
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 8 & Band 20 Vodafone
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 11 & Band 18 KDDI
LTE Advanced Carrier Aggregation of Band 1 & Band 21 NTT DOCOMO

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
8
Modes and Deployments
Release 12:

CA Band Combinations
o Core requirements uplink CA in inter-band
Performance requirements for intra-band non-contiguous
3
o
Rel.10 o Core analysis for 3 component carriers in inter-band
1 2 o Maximum aggregated bandwidth is 50MHz

Inter-band Intra-band cont

CA Band Combinations

25
Rel.11

3
20 2
Inter-band Intra-band cont Intra non-cont

CA Band Combinations
13 new
CA Band Combinations

configs
95
Rel.12 Rel.13
so far

48 12 10 25
Inter-band Intra-band cont Intra non-cont Inter 3 CC
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
9
New UE Categories

Data Rate Downlink Uplink

UE
DL/UL
Category Max number Max number Support for
(Mbps) of layers of layers 64QAM

1 10 / 5 1 1 No
2 50 / 25 2 1 No
LTE

3 100 / 50 2 1 No
4 150 / 50 2 1 No
5 300 / 75 4 1 Yes
6 300 / 50 2 or 4 1 or 2 No
LTE-A

7 300 / 100 2 or 4 1 or 2 No
8 3000 / 1500 8 4 Yes

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
10
Carrier Aggregation- Cell Configuration

• PCell (primary serving cell): handles

the RRC connection establishment/re- Downlink
establishment

• SCell (secondary serving cell):

configured after connection establishment, to PCC SCC
provide additional radio resources

• PCell:
- PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH/PUCCH can be
transmitted Uplink
- Measurement and mobility procedure are
based on PCell
- Random access procedure is performed over PCC SCC
PCell
- Can not be deactivated
- DL PCell and UL PCell are linked via SIB2
Examples of primary and
• SCell: secondary component carriers
- PDCCH/PDSCH/PUSCH can be transmitted for uplink and downlink
(not PUCCH)
- Can be deactivated by higher layer
- Can be cross scheduled

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
11
TDD Carrier Aggregation with Different Subframe
Configuration – 3GPP Release 11
• Release 10 only allowed same UL/DL configuration in all component carriers
• Release 11 different UL/DL configuration can be used - the UE is required to
transmit and receive in parallel in some subframes
• TDD UEs would need duplex filter similar to FDD UEs to be able to transmit and
receive simultaneously
• If UE doesn’t have duplex filter, it would follow the UL/DL configuration of PCC
and conflicting subframes in SCC are not used by the UE

#0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9
PCC DL S UL DL DL DL S UL DL DL
UL/DL Config #1

SCC DL S UL UL DL DL S UL UL DL
UL/DL Config #2

Subframes 3 and 8 of SCC can only be used by full-duplex UEs

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
12
Carrier Aggregation Deployment Scenarios (1 of 2)
Scenario #1:
• F1 and F2 cells are co-located and overlaid, providing
same coverage.
• Likely scenario when F1 and F2 are of the same band.
F1 F2

Scenario #2:
• F1 and F2 cells are co-located and overlaid, but F2
has smaller coverage
• Only F1 provides sufficient coverage and F2 is used to
improve throughput.
• Likely scenario when F1 and F2 are of different bands

Scenario #3:
• F1 and F2 cells are co-located but F2 antennas are
directed to the cell boundaries of F1 so that cell edge
throughput is increased.
• F1 provides sufficient coverage but F2 potentially has
holes
• Likely scenario when F1 and F2 are of different bands
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
13
Carrier Aggregation Deployment Scenarios (2 of 2)

Scenario #4:
• F1 provides macro coverage and on F2 Remote
Radio Heads (RRHs) are used to improve
throughput at hot spots.
• Likely scenario when F1 and F2 are of different
bands,

Scenario #5:
• Similar to scenario #2, but frequency selective
repeaters are deployed to extend coverage for
one of the frequencies.

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
14
Layer 2 Structure for Carrier Aggregation
• Data aggregation happens in MAC layer, changes to protocol layer is kept to a minimum
except some new RRC messages to add, remove or reconfigure SCC
• The MAC layer divides the data between different CCs and separate HARQ processes for
each CC
IP RRC IP RRC
Radio Bearers
RRC Radio Bearers
ROHC ROHC
ROHC ROHC ROHC ROHC PDCP
PDCP Security Security
Security Security Security Security

Segm. Segm.
RLC ...
Segm. Segm. Segm. Segm. ARQ etc ARQ etc
RLC ... ...
ARQ etc ARQ etc ARQ etc ARQ etc

Independent Logical Channels

Logical Channels
HARQ per
Scheduling / Priority Handling
Scheduling / Priority Handling CC
MAC Multiplexing
MAC Multiplexing UE1 Multiplexing UEn

HARQ ... HARQ HARQ ... HARQ HARQ ... HARQ

Transport Channels Transport Channels

CC1 ... CCx CC1 ... CCy CC1 ... CCx

Layer 2 Structure for the DL Layer 2 Structure for the UL
(Derived from 3GPP TR 36.912 V10.0.0, Figure 5.2.1--1) (3GPP TR 36.912 V10.0.0, Figure 5.2.1-2)
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
15
MAC to Physical Layer Mapping for Carrier Aggregation

• There is one transport block, up to two in case of spatial multiplexing, and one HARQ entity
per scheduled component carrier
• A UE can be scheduled over multiple component carriers simultaneously

TrBlk 1 TrBlk 2 TrBlk 5

Channel coding Channel coding Channel coding

HARQ HARQ HARQ

modulation modulation modulation

Resource Resource Resource

mapping mapping mapping

CC1 CC2 .. ….CC5

One UE Example of 5 component carriers each

with different modulation format

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
16
Carrier Aggregation - Resource Scheduling

Resources can be assigned to a user equipment (UE) in

two ways:
Same-carrier scheduling

Cross-carrier scheduling

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
17
Same Carrier Scheduling
• Separate PDCCH for each CC
• Resource scheduling are on the same component carrier
(Downlink assignments/ Uplink grants)

• Reusing Release 8/9 PDCCH structure and DCI (Downlink Control

Information) formats for backward compatibility
• Each component carrier can be analyzed individually

CC#0 CC#1 CC#2

PDCCH PDCCH PDCCH

Subframe
PDSCH PDSCH f PDSCH

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) carries the uplink and downlink resource grant.
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
18
Cross Carrier Scheduling

• Common PDCCH (on PCell) for multiple CC

• Resource scheduling are NOT on the same component carrier

(downlink assignments/ uplink grants)

• New carrier indicator field (CIF) in DCI

• Analysis of one carrier depends on another carrier

CC#0 CC#1 CC#2

PDCCH, PDCCH,
3-bit CIF PDCCH
included in DCI
Subframe
PDSCH PDSCH PDSCH

Primary Cell (PCell) Secondary Cells (SCells)

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
19
Cross-Carrier Scheduling:
Interference management for control channels in heterogeneous networks

• Cross-carrier scheduling provides

Macro Cell interference management for
control channels known as Inter-
CC2 Cell Interference Coordination
for Macro Cell (ICIC) for PDCCH.
CC1 Pico Cell • In this example, CC1 of Macro Cell
for Macro Cell CC1 would cause high interference to
Low Power CC1 of pico cell, therefore pico cell
CC2 uses CC2 for PDCCH messages to
Low Power
schedule PDSCH transmission on
CC1

Macro Cell • Macro cell uses CC1 to schedule

Pico Cell
PDSCH transmission on both CC1
CC1 PDSCH scheduled
and CC2
PDCCH

PDSCH CC1 by PDCCH from

CC2
Cross-carrier scheduling
PDSCH scheduled
avoids control
PDCCH

CC2 by PDCCH from PDSCH channel interference

CC2
CC1

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
20
An Example Configuration of Cross Carrier Scheduling
CC#1 CC#2
10 MHz 10 MHz
ServCellIndex: 0 (Pcell) ServCellIndex: 1 (Scell)

Same Carrier scheduled PDSCH Cross carrier scheduled PDSCH:

• “PDSCH start” symbol is obtained • “PDSCH start” symbol is given
by decoding PCFICH (PCFICH by a higher layer parameter
carries how many PDCCH symbols
are transmitted) • PDSCH allocation is defined in
PDCCH(DCI) in CC#1
• PDSCH allocation is defined in
PDCCH(DCI) in CC#1

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
22
Enhancement of Uplink Control Information (UCI) for
Carrier Aggregation
Updated UCI to support up to 5 downlink CCs
New PUCCH format 3

• Convey large ACK/NACK payload (48 coded bits)

• QPSK modulation
• Not based on Zadoff-Chu sequences, uses DFT-S-OFDM similar to
PUSCH transmissions

Enhanced PUCCH format 1b with channel

selection
• Supports up to 4 ACK/NACK bits for 2 CCs

Update control data bits on PUSCH

• The number of HARQ-ACK, RI and CQI/PMI bits are increased

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
23
Agenda

• Overview of carrier aggregation

- Carrier aggregation modes
- Operating bands
- Cell configuration
- Deployment scenarios
- Layer 1 and 2 structure
- Resource scheduling
• Design and test challenges
• Agilent solutions
• Resources

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
24
UE Transmitter Architecture for Various Intra-Band
Aggregation Scenarios
Scenario A L1
RF filter

Scenario C
Multiplex IFFT D/A RF PA
1 and 2 BB

Single (baseband + IFFT + DAC + mixer + PA) Multiplex IFFT D/A

1 BB L1
Aggregation Scenario: Intra-band contiguous

Scenario B
RF PA
RF filter
Multiplex IFFT D/A
2 BB L2

Multiplex IFFT D/A

L1
1 BB
Multiple (baseband + IFFT + DAC + mixer), low-
power combiner @ RF, and single PA
RF PA
RF filter Aggregation Scenarios: Intra-band contiguous
L2 and non-contiguous
Multiplex IFFT D/A
2 BB

Multiple (baseband + IFFT + DAC), single (stage-1 IF mixer

+ combiner @ IF + stage-2 RF mixer + PA)
Aggregation Scenarios: Intra-band contiguous and non- Reference: 3GPP TR 36.912 v.10.0.0. Figure 11.3.2.1-1
contiguous
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
25
UE Receiver Architecture
Rx Characteristics
Intra Band aggregation Inter Band
aggregation
Description (Rx
Option Contiguous Non Non
architecture)
(CC) contiguous contiguous
(CC) (CC)
Single (RF + FFT +
A baseband) with Yes
BW>20MHz
Multiple (RF + FFT
B + baseband) with Yes Yes Yes
BW≤20MHz
Option A
Single wideband-capable (i.e., >20MHz) RF front end (i.e., mixer, AGC, ADC) and a
single FFT, or alternatively multiple "legacy" RF front ends (<=20MHz) and FFT
engines.

Option B
In the case non adjacent Inter band separate RF front end are necessary.
Reference: 3GPP TR 36.912.
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
26
Design Challenges – Intra-Band CA
• Several technical challenges, especially for a
UE
• From RF perspective, intra-band contiguous
aggregated carriers have similar properties as
a corresponding wider carrier being transmitted
and received
• Release 10 requires more stringent linearity
requirements on the power amplifier than
Release 8/9 2 uplink contiguous CCs

- UE will need to use less transmitter power for

the amplifier to remain in the linear region
• Use of multiple CC on UL should be optional
Single uplink CC
and only used for cases where UEs are not at
the cell edge
• For the base station, it has less impact - similar
to multi-carrier configuration already supported Example of CCDF plot using N7624B LTE/LTE-
in earlier releases Advanced Signal Studio software

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
27
Design Challenges - Inter-band CA
RF filter

Major challenges for the UE

• Multiple simultaneous receive chains Multiplex 1 IFFT D/A
RF filter
L1 RF PA
BB
• Multiple simultaneous transmit chains

Challenging radio environment Multiplex 2 IFFT D/A

L2 RF PA RF filter
BB
• In terms of intermodulation and
cross-modulation within the UE Reference:
device. 3GPP TR 36.912 v.10.0.0. Figure 11.3.2.1-1

• Need to design front-end components

that help reduce harmonics, and other
intermodulation products, which meet 3GPP requirements.

• Simultaneous transmit or receive with MIMO support add significantly to the challenge
of antenna design

Less impact for the base station

• Similar to current base stations supporting multi-bands
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
28
SystemVue LTE-Advanced
Carrier Aggregation
Scenario Transmission BWs Duplex
Deployment scenario # of LTE-A component carriers
number of LTE-A carriers modes

Single-band contiguous spec. UL: 40 MHz UL: Contiguous 2x20 MHz CCs
1 FDD
alloc. @ 3.5GHz band for FDD DL: 80 MHz DL: Contiguous 4x20 MHz CCs
Single-band contiguous spec.
2 100 MHz Contiguous 5x20 MHz CCs TDD
alloc. @ Band 40 for TDD

Single-band, non-contiguous UL: 40 MHz UL: Non-contiguous 1x20 + 1x20 MHz CCs
4 spec. alloc. @ 3.5GHz band FDD
DL: 80 MHz DL: Non-contiguous 2x20 + 2x20 MHz CCs
for FDD

11010
HARQ _Bit s UE1_PM I
SC_St at us

UE1_ChannelBit s
LTE_A
UE1_Dat a UE1_M odSym bols
DL
Fre q
f r m _FD
Im Ph a s e QUAD
11010 Src Q OUT
f r m _TD Mod CCDF
I OUT
LTE_A_DL_Src_1 Re Am p
UserDefinedAntMappingMatrix=NO
UEs_n_SCID=0;0;0;0;0;0 [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]

WoCA CCDF
Start=0s
Stop=10ms

11010 CCDF_CA
HARQ _Bit s UE1_PM I
SC_St at us

Start=0s
UE1_ChannelBit s
Stop=10ms
LTE_A
UE1_Dat a UE1_M odSym bols
DL
Fre q
f r m _FD
Im Ph a s e QUAD
11010 Src
Q OUT
Mod
20MHzC LTE_A_DL_Src_2
UserDefinedAntMappingMatrix=NO
f r m _TD

Re
I
Am p
OUT

UEs_n_SCID=0;0;0;0;0;0 [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]

Cs
11010 HARQ _Bit s UE1_PM I
SC_St at us
Fc Spect r um Anal yzer

UE1_ChannelBit s Change
LTE_A Env
UE1_Dat a UE1_M odSym bols

DL
Fre q
f r m _FD
Im Ph a s e QUAD
11010 Src Q OUT
f r m _TD
Mod
I OUT
LTE_A_DL_Src_3 Am p
Re
UserDefinedAntMappingMatrix=NO
UEs_n_SCID=0;0;0;0;0;0 [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]

11010
HARQ _Bit s UE1_PM I
SC_St at us

UE1_ChannelBit s

LTE_A
UE1_Dat a UE1_M odSym bols
DL
Fre q
f r m _FD
Im Ph a s e QUAD
11010 Src Q OUT
f r m _TD
Mod
I OUT
LTE_A_DL_Src_4 Re Am p

UserDefinedAntMappingMatrix=NO
UEs_n_SCID=0;0;0;0;0;0 [[0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]]

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
29
Test Challenges: Power Amplifier Characterization
Test Challenge: Characterizing the LTE-Advanced UE or eNB power amplifier presents
RF challenge. The different carrier aggregation configurations will stress the amplifier in
different ways since each will have different peak-to-average ratios.

Agilent Solution:
• Signal Studio software generates LTE- Configure up to
Advanced signals compliant to 3GPP 5 component
standard to test power and modulation carriers
characteristics of components and
transmitters.
• Supports up to 5 component carriers
within up to 160 MHz I/Q bandwidth with
MXG vector signal generator
• CCDF curve to get insight into the
waveform power statistics as system
parameters are varied

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
30
Test Challenges: Analyze eNB Unwanted Emissions
inside Sub-Block Gap
Test Challenge: For Release 11, there is new RF conformance testing required for base
station transmitters to measure unwanted emissions inside sub-block gap contributed
from carriers on both sides of the gap
Depending on sub-block
Agilent Solutions: gap, one or both inner
• X-Series LTE-Advanced measurement offsets can overlap
application (N9080B/N9082B) resulting in CACLR
• Supports LTE-Advanced RF conformance testing
per 3GPP Release 10/11 for both UE and eNB
• Supports the new cumulative ACLR (CACLR)
and cumulative SEM requirement inside sub-
block gap

Sub-block 1 Sub-block 2
Sub-block gap
Ex. W-CDMA
carriers
f
Band A Refer to “LTE-Advanced Base Station RF Conformance
Testing” paper for full detail on RF conformance testing
Base Station RF Bandwidth
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
31
Test Challenges: Inter-Band Carrier Aggregation Analysis
Test Challenge: acquiring truly simultaneous events across carriers is important in device
verification and troubleshooting tasks but in inter-band case, this would require signal
analyzer with bandwidth that spans multiple frequency bands (ex. 800 MHz and 2100 MHz)
Resource block

Band A
≈ Band B

Agilent Solution:
 Dual input hardware, fully synchronized , plus 89600 VSA software. VSA software acquires
all the CCs simultaneously, demodulate the captured signals, and analyze them all
simultaneously

•10 MHz Freq ref.

•Time sync
OR
CC from
“Band A”

CC from
“Band B”

N7109A
Dual signal analyzer Two CCs at 800 MHz
Three CCs at 2100 MHz
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
32
Test Challenges: Analyze Time Alignment Error between
Multiple Component Carriers
Test Challenge: In order for the UE to properly receive the multiple component carriers
from the eNB, the timing offset between the component carriers must be kept at a
minimum - 155 ns for intra-band contiguous; 285 ns for non-contiguous & inter-band

Agilent Solutions:
89600 VSA software
 Both simultaneous and sequential
demodulation of component carriers to
perform time alignment error (TAE)
measurement

X-Series Measurement Application

 Sequential acquisition of the multiple
component carriers. Use frame trigger
or external trigger for accurate TAE 89600 VSA Cross-carrier Summary trace providing
TAE across all CCs
measurement
Test Challenges: Simultaneous Analysis of Inter-Band
Aggregation plus Downlink MIMO
Test Challenge: when inter-band carrier aggregation is combined with spatial multiplexing
MIMO, it requires test tools that has a minimum of 4 inputs (two inputs per CC).

Up to 8
Agilent Solution: channels
• N7109A multi-channel signal
analysis system: 2, 4 or 8
MIMO
channels, 40 MHz Info trace
demodulation BW per channel for CC0
Constellation Frequency
for CC0 response
for CC0

MIMO
Info trace
Constellation for CC1
for CC1
Frequency
response
for CC0

Example of 2x2 MIMO and inter-band carrier aggregation with two

component carriers
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
34
Test Challenges: LTE-Advanced eNB Receiver Test

Test Challenge: Test eNB ability to decode UCI transmissions with feedback for multiple
component carriers.

Agilent Solution
• Create either FDD or TDD signals

• PUCCH format 3 and 1b enable

generation of feedback for multiple
component carriers

• PUSCH UCI multiplexing enhanced for

feedback of up to 5 component carriers

• Predefined configuration of LTE-

Advanced conformance tests with
randomized HARQ-ACK in PUCCH

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
35
Agenda

• Overview of carrier aggregation

- Carrier aggregation modes
- Operating bands
- Cell configuration
- Deployment scenarios
- Layer 1 and 2 structure
- Resource scheduling
• Design and test challenges
• Summary/Agilent solutions
• Resources

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
37
Summary

• Carrier aggregation is one of the most important features for LTE-

Advanced enabling:
- Higher data rates
- Facilitate efficient use of fragmented spectrum
- Interference management in heterogeneous networks
• It is introduced in LTE Release 10 with enhancements in Release 11 and
more improvements planned in Rel. 12 and beyond
• It introduces various design challenges, especially for UE
• New test challenges for both UE and eNB
• Agilent was first to market with LTE-Advanced solution addressing system
simulation, signal generation and analysis tools

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
38
Agilent LTE and LTE-Advanced Portfolio
Signal
creation
software 89600 VSA
89600 WLA
Signal Scopes and
Logic Analyzers
Generators
SystemVue (BB)
ADS/GG (RF/A) Baseband RDX for
Generator and Signal Analyzers with LTE/LTE- Battery drain
DigRF v4
Channel Emulator Advanced Measurement Apps characterization

RF Module Development RF and BB

Pre-Conformance
Design
RF Proto RF Chip/module
Integration
L1/PHY
System Conformance
BTS and Mobile
Design
Design BB Chipset Development
DigRF v4 Validation
Simulation L1/PHY
System Level
FPGA and ASIC RF Testing Manufacturing
BTS
Protocol Development or
L2/L3 Mobile Network Deployment

EXM Manufacturing test

RF & Protocol test set
platforms

N5971A IFT
E7515A UXM wireless Software N7109A Multi-Channel
test set Systems for RF and Signal Analysis
Protocol Conformance RF Handheld Analyzers
System
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
39
LTE/LTE-Advanced Signal Studio Software
For RF Transmitter & Receiver Tests
Physical layer-coded signals for Transmitter amplifier test (Basic option)
Transport layer-coded signals for Receiver BLER test (Advanced option)
User-friendly, parameterized, and reconfigurable setup
Real-time uplink LTE FDD / TDD signal creation
Create multi-carrier signals in one waveform
Create MIMO precoding with embedded multi-path fading
Supports multiple signal-generator platforms:
X-Series MXG/EXG PXB EXM

1st generation MXG

EXT

M9381A VSG
ESG-C / PSG

SystemVue
EDA software

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
40
Signal Studio LTE and LTE-Advanced
Version 12.0 (Released March 2014)
• Uplink MIMO (Advanced R10, Option TFP/TTP)
• 2x and 4x ANT
• Spatial Multiplexing for PUSCH
• OCC for PUSCH DMRS
• SORTD for PUCCH
eNB
• PUCCH wizard to support uplink MIMO tests
(8.3.7, 8.3.8)
• Other LTE-A uplink features
ANT 0 MXG/EXG • Carrier Aggregation
Rx A • PUCCH format 3, 1b with channel selection
• Clustered PUSCH
ANT 1 MXG/EXG
• Simultaneous PUSCH/PUCCH
Rx B
• Downlink
• Downlink Control Information (DCI) updates
- DCI format 4 is added
- Other DCI formats also updated
• Carrier Aggregation

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
41
N7649B Test Case Manager
Now Supports Receiver Performance Tests
• Simple and easy to use user interface
- Provides minimum set of parameters and
configure instruments according to the
standard requirements
• TS36.141 Receiver Test for FDD and TDD
- Clause 7 Receiver Characteristics (Rel-10)
- Clause 8 Receiver Performance (Rel-9)
- eNB Type selection
• Wide Area, Local Area, Home BS
• Supported Platforms
- Clause 7: MXG-B, EXG-B, MXG-A, ESG-C,
PXB
- Clause 8: MXG-B(*), EXG-B(*), PXB
• * Requires external fader
• Graphic to show how carriers are positioned
• SCPI log to assist remote automation Visit www.agilent.com/find/TCM to
• 30 days free trial license is available find out more!

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
42
 LTE/LTE-Advanced Signal Analysis Applications
For RF Transmitter Test
X-Series Signal Analyzer
(EXA/MXA/PXA)
89600B VSA Software
ultimate analysis flexibility
for R&D
Scalable transmitter test solutions
Tailor capability & performance from
SISO to MIMO/beamforming
Use 89600 VSA with varieties of
demodulation result traces/capabilities for
deep-dive analysis in R&D, design validation,
troubleshooting, etc.
Use X-Series measurement applications
with ease-of-use presets, demodulation and
N9080B/82B Software power/ spectrum measurements for manual
One-button measurements
& automated tests in QA, conformance
for conformance testing
testing, manufacturing, etc.
Co-reside with multi-formats in one
box
W-CDMA/HSPA+, GSM/EDGE, cdma2000,
1xEV-DO, WLAN…
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
43
LTE/LTE-Advanced RF Transmitter Test Solution
89600 VSA Software
• Carrier Aggregation: Simultaneous demodulation of up to
5 CCs.

• DL (OFDMA) & UL (SC-FDMA) in a single option

• All LTE/LTE-A modulation types: BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM,

64QAM, CAZAC (Zadoff-Chu)

• FDD/TDD 4x4 DL MIMO analysis & TDD 8x2 DL

Beamforming analysis

• 8x8 DL MIMO analysis for LTE-Advanced FDD & TDD 89600 VSA
• UL MIMO single channel analysis for LTE-Advanced

• 89600 WLA: MAC, RRC, RLC layer add-on to the 89600

VSA for UL & DL LTE FDD

• Rich varieties of modulation analysis results & traces

with full PHY channel-based color coding

• Supports multiple platforms: Systemvue EDA simulation

SW, X-Series signal analyzers, Oscilloscopes, logic
analyzers, PXI VSAs, N7109A multi-channel signal
analyzer 89600 WLA
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
44
LTE/LTE-Advanced RF Transmitter Test Solution
N9080B/N9082B X-Series Measurement Application
Output power level tests
- Channel power
- Transmit ON/OFF power (TDD base station
only)
Transmitted signal quality
- EVM, frequency error, I/Q offset…
- Time alignment error
- Comprehensive list of EVM measurements and
color-coded displays to troubleshoot errors
Unwanted emissions
- Spectrum emissions mask (SEM)
- Adjacent channel leakage ratio (ACLR)
- Cumulative ACLR (CACLR) and cumulative
SEM for non-contiguous CA
- Occupied bandwidth
- Spurious emissions
- Transmitter intermodulation

All measurements support LTE and LTE-A with up to 5 component carriers, both contiguous and non-
contiguous carrier aggregation (CA)
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
45
Resources
Chapters in this 600 plus page book include:
•LTE Introduction
•Air Interface Concepts
•Physical Layer
•Upper Layer Signaling
•System Architecture Evolution
•Design and Verification Challenges
•Conformance Test and Acceptance Testing
•Looking Towards 4G: LTE-Advanced

LTE-Advanced
Application Note

Agilent LTE-Advanced solution information:

www.agilent.com/find/lteadvanced

3GPP specification:
http://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/36-series.htm

LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation

March, 2014
48
LTE-Advanced Carrier Aggregation
March, 2014
49