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LTE is specified in 3GPP release 8 and

9. LTE advanced is specified in 3GPP
release 10. The main difference between
them is, carrier aggregation has
been introduced in LTE Advanced. Also
the number of antennas supported by
MIMO has been increased to 8 in LTE
Advanced.

1. Carrier Aggregation
Carrier aggregation (CA) is used in LTE-
Advanced in order to increase the
bandwidth, and thereby increasing the
bitrate. Hence it will support higher data
rate compared to non-CA device. It is
applied for both TDD and FDD (DL
Speeds up to 1 Gbps and UL Speeds up
to 500Mbps).

Each aggregated carrier is referred to as

a component carrier, CC. The
component carrier can have a bandwidth
of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a
maximum of 5 component carriers can
be aggregated, hence the maximum
aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In
FDD the number of aggregated carriers
can be different in DL and UL.
However, the number of UL component
carriers is always equal to or lower than
the number of DL component carriers.
The individual component carriers can
also be of different bandwidths. For
TDD the number of CCs as well as the
bandwidths of each CC will normally be
the same for DL and UL.

LTE Carrier Aggregation

1.1 Types of CA
1. Intra-band contiguous - The
component carriers belong to the
same operating frequency band.
This might not always be possible,
due to operator frequency allocation
scenarios. E.g. 3C, 7C, 38C
2. Intra-band non-contiguous - The
component carriers belong to the
same operating frequency band, but
have gaps, in between so that they
don’t overlap. E.g. 3A-3A, 7A-7A.
3. Inter-band non-contiguous – The
component carriers belong to
different operating frequency bands
so they have gaps in between. E.g.
3A-7A, 7A-20A, 3A-38A.

BandA BandA

Intra-band,contiguous

Frequency

BandA BandA
Intra-band,non-contiguous

Frequency

BandA BandB
Inter-band,non-contiguous

>Frequency

1.2 Carrier Aggregation - Secondary

Cells (SCell)
In CA the UE is camped to only one cell
(PCell) called the Primary serving cell,
served by the Primary component carrier
(PCC). The other component carriers are
all referred to as Secondary
component carriers (SCC), served by the
Secondary serving cells (SCell). The
SCC’s are added and removed as
required, while the PCC is only changed
at handover.

If the UE is configured with one or more

SCells, the eNodeB may activate and
deactivate the configured SCells.
Activation/Deactivation does not apply
to PCell. When 2 CC’s are combined it
is called 2 Carrier Aggregation (2CA).
Similarly we can combine 3CC, 4CC
and 5CC and are called as 3CA, 4CA
and 5CA respectively. Below diagram
shows the throughput based up on
number of component carriers when
combined together.

A typical use case of activation of the

SCell would be when there is a need of
more data to delivered to the UE in the
downlink, the network can activate
several secondary CCs to maximize
downlink throughput. Another use case
could be that if the PCell is fully loaded,
the SCell can be activated and the data
transfer can be scheduled only on the
SCell (Load balancing). The network
can deactivate the SCell when there is no
more data to be delivered to the UE or
the channel quality of the SCell turning
to be bad.

SCell Activation is done via MAC

Control Element whereas the
deactivation mechanism is either by
using MAC control element or by the
expiry of the SCellDeactivationTimer.

1.3 CA Bandwidth Class

It indicates a combination of maximum
ATBC (Aggregated Transmission
Bandwidth Configuration) and
maximum number of Component
Carriers (CC).

1.4 Intra-band contiguous channel

spacing
For Intra-band contiguous we have to
take in to account the nominal channel
spacing. For intra-band contiguous
carrier aggregation with two or more
component carriers, the nominal channel
spacing between two adjacent E-UTRA
component carriers is defined as the
following:

BItChameil)+BI, -0.1BIcharmail)
Nominalchannelspacing= 03MHz
0.6

where BW Channel(1) and

BWChannel(2) are the channel
bandwidths of the two respective E-
UTRA component carriers.
PCC – Primary Component Carrier
(PCell)
SCC – Secondary Component
Carrier (SCell)

For example: 2CA band 40C

If we are planning to set a PCell of
bandwidth 20 MHz(BW1) and a SCell
of bandwidth 20 MHz(BW2) then the
nominal spacing will be calculated as
follows,

Nominal Channel Spacing =

FLOOR.MATH((20+20-0.1*ABS(20-
20))/0.6)*0.3
=
FLOOR.MATH((40+0.1*0)/0.6)*0.3
= FLOOR.MATH(40/0.6)*0.3
= FLOOR.MATH(66.6666667)*0.3
Nominal Channel Spacing = (66)*0.3 =>
19.8 MHz

NOTE: (You can put the line “FLOOR.MATH((20+20-

0.1*ABS(20-20))/0.6)*0.3” directly into Excel and it
should give you 19.8).

Which means for Intra-band contiguous

the Channel Spacing should be a
multiple of 300 KHz and equal to (or)
less than Nominal Channel Spacing,
Channel Spacing < Nominal Channel
Spacing

Channel Spacing = ((BW1+BW2)/2).

If we take the PCC EARFCN=39000,
Frequency=2335, Bandwidth=20 MHz
then the SCC is calculated as,
SCC EARFCN = PCC EARFCN + 19.8
* 10
= 39000 + 198
= 39198

SCC EARFCN=39198,
Frequency=2354.8, Bandwidth=20 MHz

The Nominal Channel Spacing is 19.8

MHz (2335 – 2354.8) which is less than
or equal to Channel Spacing of 19.8
MHz. Only when this condition is
satisfied it is treated as Intra-band
contiguous.

For intra-band non-contiguous carrier

aggregation the channel spacing between
two E-UTRA component carriers in
different sub-blocks shall be larger than
the nominal channel spacing. (ie) The
combination is considered as 40A-40A,
Channel Spacing > Nominal Channel
Spacing

The same method, but let’s say for 2CA

band 7C with 10 and 20 MHz bandwidth
and PCC EARFCN=3100,
Nominal Channel Spacing =
FLOOR.MATH((10+20-0.1*ABS(10-
20))/0.6)*0.3
= 14.4 MHz
SCC EARFCN =
3100+14.4*10 = 3244

Similarly for bandwidth 10 + 10

Nominal Channel Spacing = 9.9MHz;
For bandwidth 10 + 5 Nominal
Channel Spacing = 7.2MHz;
For bandwidth 5 + 5 Nominal
Channel Spacing = 4.8MHz;

1.5 Difference between Primary Cell

and Secondary Cell (PCell vs SCell)

2. Understanding the CA Downlink

Band Combinations from UE
Capability
Lets have a look at how the LTE
downlink CA band combinations are
retrieved from the "UE Capability
Information" message. The list of
downlink CA band combinations
supported by the UE are mentioned
under the IE
“supportedBandCombination-r10”.
The element “bandEUTRA-r10”
mentions the LTE bands and the
element “ca-BandwidthClassDL-r10”
mentions the Aggregated
Transmission Bandwidth Combination
a, b or c in downlink.

In Carrier Aggregation downlink there

is only one PCell(Serving cell) but can
contain any number of
SCell's(Neighboring cell). In
downlink CA combination there will
only be one LTE band with both the
elements "ca-BandwidthClassDL-r10"
and "ca-BandwidthClassUL-r10".
This will always be the PCell and the
other bands will be the SCell(s).

In the below figure, there are some

examples of how to find the 2CA and
3CA band combinations in downlink.
When you understand 2CA & 3CA
then you will easily understand how to
find 4CA & 5CA combinations from
the UE capability.

In the below figure you will see some

examples of 2CA band combinations.
The supported 2 CA downlink band
combinations are 3a-7a, 3c and 3a-3a.

catacoy •1020

Parameters VUzU

ban

Band7a
Dandparameterspy-ril

ca-BandwidthClassUL-=10
Band3a

GMIMO-CapabilityDi-x10twoLayers

pandparapeterspyar1
Band32(Downlinkonly)

ca-bandwnlassDriu

supportedMINO-CapabilityDI-x10twoLayers
2CA:3a-7a(Interband) 3,
PCell-3a panParanetersuiar?

SCell-7a

pandparameterspy-ril

supportedMiMO-CapabilityDy-r10ENOLayers

2CA:3c(Intrabandcontiguous) ca-BandwidthlassUr-r10a
PCell-3a
SCell-3a
supportedMIMO-CapabilityDi-x10twolayer3

=10

2CA:3a-3a(Intrabandnon-contiguous)
-YO
PCe=32
SCell-32

widthClassDi-r10a,
gupportedMIMO-CapabilityDL-x10twolayers

In the below figure you will see some

examples of 3CA band combinations.
The supported 3 CA downlink band
combinations are 3a-7a-20a and 3c-7a.

bandEUTRA-r1020,
bandParametezsDz-210
ca-BandwidehclassDE-¢10d,
supportedENo-CapabilityDI-=10trolayers
bandEUTRA-r10
panparameteysir-riO
ca-BandwridthclassDI-z10
3CA:3a-7a-20a
cell-3a
supportedMINO-CapabilityDI-r10twolayers
SCell's-7aand20a
bandEUTRA-r103,
nxametersum-riO
ca-BandwidthClassUl-r10a

bandParametersDI-r10
-BandwidthClaggDI-r10a,
gupportedMIMO-CapabilityDL-r10twolayers

bandEUTRA-r107,
bandParametersDi-y10
ca-BandwidthClassDI-r10a
,
supportedMINO-CapabilityDI-x10twolayers
3CA:3c-7a
Pcell-3a bandEUTRA-r103,
Cell's-3aand7a bandParametergUl-r10
ca-BandwidthClassUL-r10

bandfarametersDI-r10
ca-BandwidthClaggDI-r10c,
gupportedMIMO-CapabilityDI-x10twolayers

3. Understanding the CA Uplink

Band Combinations from UE
Capability
UL CA combines two or more
component carriers, transmitted from
a UE to the wireless base station,
dramatically increasing the speed with
which a user can upload content and
files. As of now there is only 2 carrier
aggregation (2CA) in
uplink. Therefore in Carrier
Aggregation uplink there is only
one PCell(Serving cell) and only one
SCell(Neighboring cell).

Lets have a look at how the LTE

uplink CA band combinations are
retrieved from the "UE Capability
Information" message. The list of
uplink CA band combinations
supported by the UE are mentioned
under the IE
“supportedBandCombination-r10”.
The element “bandEUTRA-r10”
mentions the LTE bands and the
element “ca-BandwidthClassUL-r10”
mentions the Aggregated
Transmission Bandwidth Combination
a, b or c in uplink.

In uplink CA combination both LTE

bands will contain the elements "ca-
BandwidthClassDL-r10" and "ca-
BandwidthClassUL-r10". In this case
the PCell and SCell can be
any(However the UE selects its PCell
and SCell based up on the priority set
by the network operator).

In the below figure you will see some

examples of 2CA band combinations.
The supported 2 CA uplink band
combinations are 3c and 3a-20a/20a-
3a.

CA Bandwidth Class

A −

Aggregated NRB,agg ≤ 100

Transmission
Bandwidth
configuration

Number of 1
contiguous
Componenet
Carriers

B +

C +

D +

E +

F +

I +

handparanat
&-N-Parastersu-3

panarastersppr?u

BanacosD_nat.onPazameLers-yI
Bandearanatare-y.

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