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Carrier Aggregation explained

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CarrierAggregationexplained
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Author: Jeanette Wannstrom, for 3GPP, (Submission, June 2013) Searchanddownloadspecs,docs,CRsandmorefrom

CarrieraggregationisusedinLTEAdvancedinordertoincreasethebandwidth,andtherebyincreasethebitrate.Sinceitis importanttokeepbackwardcompatibilitywithR8andR9UEstheaggregationisbasedonR8/R9carriers.Carrier aggregationcanbeusedforbothFDDandTDD,seefigure1foranexamplewhereFDDisused.

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Figure1.CarrierAggregation(FDD)TheLTEAdvancedUEcanbeallocatedDLandULresourcesontheaggregated resourceconsistingoftwoormoreComponentCarriers(CC),theR8/R9UEscanbeallocatedresourcesonanyONEof theCCs.TheCCscanbeofdifferentbandwidths.

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Eachaggregatedcarrierisreferredtoasacomponentcarrier,CC.Thecomponentcarriercanhaveabandwidthof1.4,3,5, 10,15or20MHzandamaximumoffivecomponentcarrierscanbeaggregated,hencethemaximumaggregatedbandwidth is100MHz.InFDDthenumberofaggregatedcarrierscanbedifferentinDLandUL,seefigure1.However,thenumberofUL componentcarriersisalwaysequaltoorlowerthanthenumberofDLcomponentcarriers.Theindividualcomponentcarriers canalsobeofdifferentbandwidths.ForTDDthenumberofCCsaswellasthebandwidthsofeachCCwillnormallybethe sameforDLandUL. Theeasiestwaytoarrangeaggregationwouldbetousecontiguouscomponentcarrierswithinthesameoperatingfrequency band(asdefinedforLTE),socalledintrabandcontiguous.Thismightnotalwaysbepossible,duetooperatorfrequency allocationscenarios.Fornoncontiguousallocationitcouldeitherbeintraband,i.e.thecomponentcarriersbelongtothe sameoperatingfrequencyband,buthaveagap,orgaps,inbetween,oritcouldbeinterband,inwhichcasethecomponent carriersbelongtodifferentoperatingfrequencybands,seefigure2.

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Figure2.CarrierAggregationIntrabandandinterbandaggregationalternatives.Thespacingbetweenthecentre frequenciesoftwocontiguousCCsisNx300kHz,N=integer.FornoncontiguouscasestheCCsareseparatedbyone,or more,frequencygap(s).

ForpracticalreasonsCAisinitiallyspecifiedforonlyafewcombinationsofEUTRAoperatingbandsandnumberofCCs.To specifydifferentCAcombinationssomenewdefinitionsareused: AggregatedTransmissionBandwidthConfiguration(ATBC):totalnumberofaggregatedphysicalresourceblocks(PRB). CAbandwidthclass:indicatesacombinationofmaximumATBCandmaximumnumberofCCs.InR10andR11three classesaredefined:

ClassA:ATBC100,maximumnumberofCC=1 ClassB:ATBC100,maximumnumberofCC=2 ClassC:100<ATBC200,maximumnumberofCC=2 CAconfiguration:indicatesacombinationofEUTRAoperatingband(s)andCAbandwidthclass(es),toexemplifythe configurationCA_1CindicatesintrabandcontiguousCAonEUTRAoperatingband1andCAbandwidthclassC, CA_1A_1A,indicatesintrabandnoncontiguousCAonband1withaoneCConeachsideoftheintrabandgap,finally CA_1A5BindicatesinterbandCA,onoperatingband1withbandwidthclassAandoperatingband5withbandwidth classB.

InR10threeCAconfigurationsaredefined,seetable1. TypeofCAand duplextype Intrabandcontiguous FDD Intrabandcontiguous TDD Interband FDD CAconfiguration Maximumaggregated bandwidth(MHz) 40 MaxnumberofCC

CA_1C

CA_40C

40

CA_1A_5A

20

1+1

Table1.CAconfigurationsdefinedforR10

InR11alargenumberofadditionalCAconfigurationsaredefined,seetable2.Themaximumaggregatedbandwidthisstill 40MHzandmaximumnumberofCCis2.NotealsothatforbothR10andR11anyULCCwillhavethesamebandwidthas thecorrespondingDLCC.AlsoforinterbandCAtherewillonlybeONEULCC,i.e.noULCA. ++UpdatedtableofRel11BandscanbefoundinSection7ofthe"CarrierAggregationforLTE"document...here++ TypeofCAand duplextype Intrabandcontiguous FDD CAconfiguration Maximumaggregated bandwidth(MHz) 40 40 40 40 40 MaxnumberofCC

CA_1C CA_7C

2 2 2 2 2

Intrabandcontiguous TDD

CA_38C CA_40C CA_41C

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Interband FDD CA_1A_5A CA_1A_18A CA_1A_19A CA_1A_21A CA_2A_17A CA_2A_29A CA_3A_5A CA_3A_7A CA_3A_8A CA_3A_20A CA_4A_5A CA_4A_7A CA_4A_12A CA_4A_13A CA_4A_17A CA_4A_29A CA_5A_12A CA_5A_17A CA_7A_20A CA_8A_20A CA_11A_18A Intrabandnoncontiguous FDD CA_25A_25A 20 35 35 35 20 20 30 40 30 30 20 30 20 30 20 20 20 20 30 20 25 20

Carrier Aggregation explained

1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1 1+1

Table2.CAconfigurationsdefinedinR11

Inlaterreleasesmoreconfigurationswillbeadded.Forexample,inR12configurationsforULinterbandCAconfigurationwill beintroduced. ++AtableofRel12BandscanbefoundinSection8ofthe"CarrierAggregationforLTE"document...here++ Whencarrieraggregationisusedthereareanumberofservingcells,oneforeachcomponentcarrier.Thecoverageofthe servingcellsmaydiffer,forexampleduetothatCCsondifferentfrequencybandswillexperiencedifferentpathloss,seefigure 3.TheRRCconnectionisonlyhandledbyonecell,thePrimaryservingcell,servedbythePrimarycomponentcarrier(DL andULPCC).ItisalsoontheDLPCCthattheUEreceivesNASinformation,suchassecurityparameters.Inidlemodethe UElistenstosysteminformationontheDLPCC.OntheULPCCPUCCHissent.Theothercomponentcarriersareall referredtoasSecondarycomponentcarriers(DLandULSCC),servingtheSecondaryservingcells,seefigure3.TheSCCs areaddedandremovedasrequired,whilethePCCisonlychangedathandover.

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Figure3.CarrierAggregationPrimaryandSecondaryservingcells. Eachcomponentcarriercorrespondstoaservingcell.Thedifferentservingcellsmayhavedifferentcoverage.

Differentcomponentcarrierscanbeplannedtoprovidedifferentcoverage,i.e.differentcellsize.Inthecaseofinterband carrieraggregationthecomponentcarrierswillexperiencedifferentpathloss,whichincreaseswithincreasingfrequency.In theexampleshowninfigure3carrieraggregationonallthreecomponentcarrierscanonlybeusedfortheblackUE,the whiteUEisnotwithinthecoverageareaoftheredcomponentcarrier.NotethatforUEsusingthesamesetofCCs,canhave differentPCC. IntroductionofcarrieraggregationinfluencesmainlyMACandthephysicallayerprotocol,butalsosomenewRRCmessages areintroduced.InordertokeepR8/R9compatibilitytheprotocolchangeswillbekepttoaminimum.Basicallyeach componentcarrieristreatedasanR8carrier.Howeversomechangesarerequired,suchasnewRRCmessagesinorderto handleSCC,andMACmustbeabletohandleschedulingonanumberofCCs.Majorchangesonthephysicallayerarefor examplethatsignalinginformationaboutschedulingonCCsmustbeprovidedDLaswellasHARQACK/NACKperCCmust bedeliveredULandDL,seefigure4.

Figure4.LTEprotocolsfortheradiointerface,withmainchangesduetointroductionofCA.

RegardingschedulingtherearetwomainalternativesforCA,eitherresourcesarescheduledonthesamecarrierasthegrant isreceived,orsocalledcrosscarrierschedulingmaybeused,seefigure5.

Figure5.CAscheduling(FDD)CrosscarrierschedulingisonlyusedtoscheduleresourcesonSCCwithoutPDCCH. TheCIF(CarrierIndicatorField)onPDCCH(representedbytheredarea)indicatesonwhichcarrierthescheduled resourceislocated.

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Forheterogeneousnetworkplanningtheuseofforexampleremoteradioheads(RRH)isofimportance.FromR11itwillbe possibletohandleCAwithCCsrequiringdifferenttimingadvance(TA),forexamplecombiningCCfromeNBwithCCfrom RRH,seefigure6.

Figure6.InR11itwillbepossibletosupportservingcellswithdifferentTimingAdvance(TA).Servingcellswiththesame TAbelongstothesameTAGroup(TAG).

Furtherreading
TR36.808EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)CarrierAggregationBaseStation(BS)radiotransmission andreception TR36.814EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)FurtheradvancementsforEUTRAphysicallayeraspects TR36.815FurtherAdvancementsforEUTRALTEAdvancedfeasibilitystudiesinRANWG4 TR36.823EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)CarrierAggregationEnhancementsUEandBSradio transmissionandreception TR36.912FeasibilitystudyforFurtherAdvancementsforEUTRA(LTEAdvanced) TR36.913RequirementsforfurtheradvancementsforEvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)(LTEAdvanced) TS36.101EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)UserEquipment(UE)radiotransmissionandreception TS36.211EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)Physicalchannelsandmodulation TS36.212EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)Multiplexingandchannelcoding TS36.213EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)Physicallayerprocedures TS36.300EvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess(EUTRA)andEvolvedUniversalTerrestrialRadioAccessNetwork(E UTRAN)OveralldescriptionStage2 Correctionsandcomments Pleasesendanysuggestionsandcommentsaboutthisarticleto:kevin.flynn@3gpp.org,Kevinisresponsibleformarketing andcommunicationsfor3GPP.

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