3GPP Long Term Evolution

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Adoption of LTE technology as of January 5, 2012. Countries with commercial LTE service Countries with commercial LTE network deployment on-going or planned Countries with LTE trial systems (pre-commitment)

3GPP Long Term Evolution, referred to as LTE and marketed as 4G LTE, is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using new modulation techniques.[1][2] The standard is developed by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) and is specified in its Release 8 document series, with minor enhancements described in Release 9. The world's first publicly available LTE service was launched by TeliaSonera in Oslo and Stockholm on 14 December 2009.[3] LTE is the natural upgrade path for carriers with GSM/UMTS networks, but even CDMA holdouts such as Verizon Wireless, who launched the first large-scale LTE network in North America in 2010,[4][5] and au by KDDI in Japan have announced they will migrate to LTE. LTE is, therefore, anticipated to become the first truly global mobile phone standard, although the use of different frequency bands in different countries will mean that only multi-band phones will be able to utilize LTE in all countries where it is supported. Although marketed as 4G wireless service, LTE as specified in the 3GPP Release 8 and 9 document series does not satisfy the requirements set forth by the ITU-R organization. The LTE Advanced standard satisfies the ITUR requirements to be considered 4G.

Contents
[hide]

1 Overview 2 Features 3 Voice calls

o o information

3.1 Full-HD Voice 4 Frequency bands 5 Patents 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External links 9.1 White papers and other technical

[edit]Overview
See also: LTE timeline and List of LTE networks

Telia-branded Samsung LTE modem

HTC ThunderBolt, the second commercially available LTE smartphone

LTE is a standard for wireless data communications technology and an evolution of the GSM/UMTS standards. The goal of LTE was to increase the capacity and speed of wireless data networks using new DSP (digital signal processing) techniques and modulations that were developed around the turn of the millennium. A further goal was the redesign and simplification of the network architecture to an IP-based system with significantly reduced transfer latencycompared to the 3G architecture. The LTE wireless interface is incompatible with 2G and 3G networks, so that it must be operated on a separate wireless spectrum. LTE was first proposed by NTT DoCoMo of Japan in 2004, and studies on the new standard officially commenced in 2005.[6] In May 2007, the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) alliance was founded as a global collaboration between vendors and operators with the goal of verifying and promoting the new standard in order to ensure the global introduction of the technology as quickly as possible.[7][8] The LTE standard was finalized in December 2008, and the first publicly available LTE service was launched by TeliaSonera in Oslo and Stockholm on December 14, 2009 as a data connection with a USB modem. In 2011, LTE services were launched by major North American carriers as well, with the Samsung Galaxy Indulge offered by MetroPCS starting on February 10, 2011 being the first commercially available LTE smartphone[9][10] and HTC ThunderBolt offered by Verizon starting on March 17 being the second LTE smartphone to be sold commercially.[11][12] Initially, CDMA operators planned to upgrade to a rival standard called the UMB, but all the major CDMA operators (such asVerizon, Sprint and MetroPCS in the United States, Bell and Telus in Canada, au by KDDI in Japan, SK Telecom in South Korea and China Telecom/China Unicom in China) have announced that they intend to migrate to LTE after all. The evolution of LTE is LTE Advanced, which was standardized in March 2011.[13] Services are expected to commence in 2013.[14]

The LTE specification provides downlink peak rates of 300 Mbit/s, uplink peak rates of 75 Mbit/s and QoS provisions permitting a transfer latency of less than 5 ms in the radio access network. LTE has the ability to manage fast-moving mobiles and supports multi-cast and broadcast streams. LTE supports scalable carrier bandwidths, from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz and supports both frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time-division duplexing (TDD). The IP-based network architecture, called the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and designed to replace the GPRS Core Network, supports seamless handovers for both voice and data to cell towers with older network technology such as GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000.[15] The simpler architecture results in lower operating costs (for example, each EUTRAN cell will support up to four times the data and voice capacity supported by HSPA [16]).

[edit]Features
See also: E-UTRA Much of the standard addresses upgrading 3G UMTS to what will eventually be 4G mobile communications technology. A large amount of the work is aimed at simplifying the architecture of the system, as it transits from the existing UMTS circuit + packet switching combined network, to an all-IP flat architecture system. E-UTRA is the air interface of LTE. Its main features are:

Peak download rates up to 299.6 Mbit/s and upload rates up to 75.4 Mbit/s depending on the user

equipment category (with 4x4 antennas using 20 MHz of spectrum). Five different terminal classes have been defined from a voice centric class up to a high end terminal that supports the peak data rates. All terminals will be able to process 20 MHz bandwidth.

Low data transfer latencies (sub-5 ms latency for small IP packets in optimal conditions), lower

latencies for handover and connection setup time than with previous radio access technologies.

Improved support for mobility, exemplified by support for terminals moving at up to 350 km/h or

500 km/h depending on the frequency band.[17]

OFDMA for the downlink, SC-FDMA for the uplink to conserve power Support for both FDD and TDD communication systems as well as half-duplex FDD with the same

radio access technology

Support for all frequency bands currently used by IMT systems by ITU-R. Increased spectrum flexibility: 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz wide cells are

standardized. (W-CDMA requires 5 MHz slices, leading to some problems with roll-outs of the technology in countries where 5 MHz is a commonly allocated amount of spectrum, and is frequently already in use with legacy standards such as 2G GSM and cdmaOne.)

Support for cell sizes from tens of metres radius (femto and picocells) up to 100 km radius macrocells.

In the lower frequency bands to be used in rural areas, 5 km is the optimal cell size, 30 km having reasonable performance, and up to 100 km cell sizes supported with acceptable performance. In city and urban areas, higher

frequency bands (such as 2.6 GHz in EU) are used to support high speed mobile broadband. In this case, cell sizes may be 1 km or even less.

Supports at least 200 active data clients in every 5 MHz cell.[18] Simplified architecture: The network side of E-UTRAN is composed only of eNode Bs Support for inter-operation and co-existence with legacy standards

(e.g. GSM/EDGE, UMTS and CDMA2000). Users can start a call or transfer of data in an area using an LTE standard, and, should coverage be unavailable, continue the operation without any action on their part using GSM/GPRS or WCDMA-based UMTS or even 3GPP2 networks such as cdmaOne or CDMA2000)

Packet switched radio interface. Support for MBSFN (Multicast-Broadcast Single Frequency Network). This feature can deliver services

such as Mobile TV using the LTE infrastructure, and is a competitor for DVB-H-based TV broadcast.

[edit]Voice

calls

LTE CSFB to GSM/UMTS network interconnects

The LTE standard only supports packet switching with its all-IP network. Voice calls in GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000 arecircuit switched, so with the adoption of LTE, carriers will have to re-engineer their voice call network. Three different approaches sprang up:

VoLTE (Voice Over LTE): This approach is based on the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network. CSFB (Circuit Switched Fallback): In this approach, LTE just provides data services, and when a voice

call is to be initiated or received, it will fall back to the CS domain. When using this solution, operators just need to upgrade the MSC instead of deploying the IMS, and therefore, can provide services quickly. However, the disadvantage is longer call setup delay.

SVLTE (Simultaneous Voice and LTE): In this approach, the handset works simultaneously in the LTE

and CS modes, with the LTE mode providing data services and the CS mode providing the voice service. This is a solution solely based on the handset, which does not have special requirements on the network and does not require

the deployment of IMS either. The disadvantage of this solution is that the phone can become expensive with high power consumption. One additional approach which is not initiated by operators is the usage of Over-the-top content services, using applications like Skype and Google Talk to provide LTE voice service, However, now and in the foreseeable future, the voice call service is, and will still be, the main revenue source for the mobile operators. So handing the LTE voice service over completely to the OTT actors is thus something which is expected to not receive too much support in the telecom industry.[19] Most major backers of LTE preferred and promoted VoLTE from the beginning. The lack of software support in initial LTE devices as well as core network devices however led to a number of carriers promoting VoLGA (Voice over LTE Generic Access) as an interim solution.[20] The idea was to use the same principles as GAN (Generic Access Network, also known as UMA or Unlicensed Mobile Access), which defines the protocols through which a mobile handset can perform voice calls over a customer's private Internet connection, usually over wireless LAN. VoLGA however never gained much support, because VoLTE (IMS) promises much more flexible services, albeit at the cost of having to upgrade the entire voice call infrastructure. VoLTE will also require Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) in order to be able to smoothly perform a handover to a 3G network in case of poor LTE signal quality. [21] While the industry has seemingly standardized on VoLTE for the future, the demand for voice calls today has led LTE carriers to introduce CSFB as a stopgap measure. When placing or receiving a voice call, LTE handsets will fall back to old 2G or 3G networks for the duration of the call.

[edit]Full-HD

Voice

Fraunhofer IIS has proposed and demonstrated Full-HD Voice, an implementation of the AAC-ELD (Advanced Audio Coding Enhanced Low Delay) codec for LTE handsets.[22] Where previous cell phone voice codecs only supported frequencies up to 3.5 kHz and upcoming wideband audio services up to 7 kHz, Full-HD Voice supports the entire bandwidth range from 20 Hz to 20 kHz. For end-to-end Full-HD Voice calls to succeed however, both the caller and recipient's handsets as well as networks have to support the feature. [23]

[edit]Frequency

bands

See also: E-UTRA#Frequency bands and channel bandwidths The LTE standard can be used with many different frequency bands. In North America, 700/ 800 and 1700/ 1900 MHz are planned to be used; 800, 1800, 2600 MHz in Europe; 1800 and 2600 MHz in Asia; and 1800 MHz in Australia.[24][25][26][27][28][29] As a result, phones from one country may not work in other countries. Users will need a multiband capable phone for roaming internationally. Also, the Brazilian government and CPqD, are testing a specific version of LTE under 450 MHz frequency band, specific for the rural market.

[edit]Patents
According to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute's (ETSI) "IPR-database" (with "IPR" standing for intellectual property rights), about 50 companies have declared, as of March 2012, holding essential patents covering the LTE standard.[30] The ETSI has made no investigation on the correctness of the declarations however,[30] so that "any analysis of essential LTE patents should take into account more than ETSI declarations." [31]

[edit]See

also
Comparison of wireless data standards E-UTRA the radio access network used in LTE Flat IP flat IP architectures in mobile networks LTE Advanced the successor to LTE System architecture evolution the re-architecturing of core networks in LTE TD-LTE (LTE TDD) an alternative LTE standard developed by China UMB a proposed rival to LTE, never commercialized WiMAX a competitor to LTE HSPA+ -a competitor to LTE ZadoffChu sequence Next-generation network

[edit]References
1. 2. 3. 4. ^ "An Introduction to LTE". 3GPP LTE Encyclopedia. Retrieved December 3, 2010. ^ "Long Term Evolution (LTE): A Technical Overview". Motorola. Retrieved July 3, 2010. ^ TeliaSonera first in the world with 4G services ^ Verizon Wireless rolled out their LTE network in 38 major markets on December 5,

2010, Happy 1st Anniversary, Verizon Wireless 4G LTE! 5. ^ "Verizon 4G LTE speed test using Droid Bionic (video)". September 20, 2011.

Retrieved February 4, 2012. 6. 7. 8. March 2012. 9. ^ "MetroPCS debuts first 4G LTE Android phone, Samsung Galaxy Indulge". Android and ^ "Work Plan 3GPP (Release 8)". 16 January 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012. ^ "LSTI job complete". Retrieved 1 March 2012. ^ "LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI) Delivers Initial Results". 7 November 2007. Retrieved 1

Me. 2011-02-09. Retrieved 2012-03-15.

10. 11. 2012-03-15. 12.

^ "MetroPCS snags first LTE Android phone". Networkworld.com. Retrieved 2012-03-15. ^ "Verizon launches its first LTE handset". Telegeography.com. 2011-03-16. Retrieved

^ "HTC ThunderBolt is officially Verizon's first LTE handset, come March 17th".

Phonearena.com. Retrieved 2012-03-15. 13. Encyclopedia. 2009. 14. ^ "AT&T commits to LTE-Advanced deployment in 2013, Hesse and Mead unfazed". ^ LTE An End-to-End Description of Network Architecture and Elements. 3GPP LTE

Engadget. 2011-11-08. Retrieved 2012-03-15. 15. 16. 17. page 11. Wiley, 2009. 18. 19. 20. 21. Voice Call Continuity 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. ^ Fraunhofer IIS Demos Full-HD Voice Over LTE On Android Handsets ^ Firm Set to Demo HD Voice over LTE ^ 1800 MHz The LTE spectrum band that was almost forgotten ^ CSL begins dual-band 1800/2600 LTE rollout ^ Telstra switches on first LTE network on 1800MHz in Australia ^ Optus still evaluating LTE ^ "Europe plans to reserve 800MHz frequency band for LTE and WiMAX". 16 May 2010. ^ "Evolution of LTE". LTE World. Retrieved October 24, 2011. ^ [1] Huawei Communicate Magazine, Issue 61, September 2011. ^ VoLGA whitepaper ^ Qualcomm Chipset Powers First Successful VoIP-Over-LTE Call With Single Radio ^ LTE an introduction. Ericsson. 2009. ^ "Long Term Evolution (LTE)". Motorola. Retrieved April 11, 2011. ^ Sesia, Toufik, Baker: LTE The UMTS Long Term Evolution; From Theory to Practice,

Retrieved 11 March 2012. 29. ^ "EC makes official recommendation for 790862 MHz release". 29 October 2009.

Retrieved 11 March 2012. 30. 31. ^

a b

"Who Owns LTE Patents?". ipeg. March 6, 2012. Retrieved March 10, 2012.

^ Elizabeth Woyke (2011-09-21). "Identifying The Tech Leaders In LTE Wireless

Patents". Forbes. Retrieved March 10, 2012. Second comment by the author: "Thus, any analysis of essential LTE patents should take into account more than ETSI declarations."

[edit]Further

reading

Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, Johan Skld "4G LTE/LTE-Advanced for Mobile Broadband",

Academic Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0-12-385489-6

Stefania Sesia, Issam Toufik, and Matthew Baker, "LTE The UMTS Long Term Evolution From

Theory to Practice", Second Edition including Release 10 for LTE-Advanced, John Wiley & Sons, 2011, ISBN 978-0470-66025-6

Chris Johnson, "LTE in BULLETS", CreateSpace, 2010, ISBN 978-1-4528-3464-1 Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall, Johan Skld, Per Beming, "3G Evolution HSPA and LTE for Mobile

Broadband", 2nd edition, Academic Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-12-374538-5

Borko Furht, Syed A. Ahson, "Long Term Evolution: 3GPP LTE Radio And Cellular Technology", Crc

Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4200-7210-5

F. Khan, "LTE for 4G Mobile Broadband Air Interface Technologies and Performance", Cambridge

University Press, 2009

Mustafa Ergen, "Mobile Broadband Including WiMAX and LTE", Springer, NY, 2009 H. Ekstrm, A. Furuskr, J. Karlsson, M. Meyer, S. Parkvall, J. Torsner, and M. Wahlqvist, "Technical

Solutions for the 3G Long-Term Evolution," IEEE Commun. Mag., vol. 44, no. 3, March 2006, pp. 3845

E. Dahlman, H. Ekstrm, A. Furuskr, Y. Jading, J. Karlsson, M. Lundevall, and S. Parkvall, "The 3G

Long-Term Evolution Radio Interface Concepts and Performance Evaluation," IEEE Vehicular Technology Conference (VTC) 2006 Spring, Melbourne, Australia, May 2006

K. Fazel and S. Kaiser, Multi-Carrier and Spread Spectrum Systems: From OFDM and MC-CDMA to

LTE and WiMAX, 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, 2008, ISBN 978-0-470-99821-2

Agilent Technologies, "LTE and the Evolution to 4G Wireless: Design and Measurement Challenges",

John Wiley & Sons, 2009 ISBN 978-0-470-68261-6

2.

Sajal Kumar Das, John Wiley & Sons (April 2010): "Mobile Handset Design", ISBN 978-0-470-82467-

Beaver, Paul, "What is TD-LTE?", RF&Microwave Designline, September 2011.

LTE Technology
BY BLAKE SANDERS

What is LTE Technology

To be able to offer users a mobile broadband service over a truly fourth generation or 4G network a provider will have to completely upgrade their entire network infrastructure. One such technology currently being considered by mobile broadband providers is Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, which is currently one of the most likely candidates to be officially classes as a 4G technology by the telecommunications industry. When mobile broadband providers do roll out LTE technology over their networks it will offer users a whole range of benefits and new facilities, which will allow them to get far more out of their mobile broadband service.

What new features will LTE technology offer users?

Users will find a whole host of great new advantages over their current 3G connections when LTE technology is finally deployed by mobile broadband operators. This will include much faster

connection speeds that will allow users to stream high quality audio and video over the internet and also the ability the download much larger data files than they are currently able to over their 3G service. For mobile network providers LTE technology will allow them to support far more users over their network and the extra bandwidth will also allow them to handle much data moving around their network, even during the busiest times of the day. Far better network coverage will also be available using LTE technology and providers will need to install less equipment in order to achieve this extra coverage, which will greatly reduce the cost of upgrading their network and this will allow them to provide much cheaper services. Users living in rural and remote parts of the country that are currently very limited in the level of fixed-line and mobile broadband services they are able to receive will stand to benefit the most from the introduction of this technology as it will provide them with internet access over an affordable high-speed broadband connection.

Which users will get the most out of using this technology?
The improvements that will be made when LTE technology is finally rolled out in terms of speed, network capacity and coverage will make mobile broadband a far more viable option for many users, whether they are using the service for personal or business use. Faster connection speeds and greater levels of coverage will allow users to access the internet from almost anywhere in the UK at a speed that is similar to a fixed-line broadband connection and this will appeal to existing users who wish to upgrade to a better service and new users who now feel that LTE technology will allow them to do everything they want to do.

What alternative will users have to Long Term Evolution technology?

At the moment the biggest rival to LTE technology is WiMAX and although they offer almost identical benefits in terms of speed and coverage they are completely different technologies. The cost of the two technologies will also differ, and this may have a major impact on which of the technologies network providers opt for. Even after a number of successful trials of LTE technology there is no guarantee that this will be the technology they use for their next generation networks.

What is lte technology - lte 4g technology

Long Term Evolution abbreviated as LTE is a project of 3rd Generation Partnership Project working in association with the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. LTE was introduced after the outcome of GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies and is considered as the latest standard in the mobile network technology sector. It is marketed as 4G but as it is not fulfilling the IMT advanced 4G (4th generation) requirements it is said to be 3.9G Technology. It is not backwards compatible with 3G systems but LTE advanced is compatible with LTE and hence uses the same frequency bands Need of LTE Technology: The appetite for advanced and speeding services of mobile or internet never ends and for the purpose of satisfying the users with a vast range of facilities and benefits far more out of the existing ones the broadband providers have to bring out LTE technology over their networks. Because of this the providers have to shift or say upgrade their network infrastructure completely in order to classify this technology as 4G and is being considered by many mobile broadband providers. So we can say the reason of the advancement of this technology is to feed the never ending appetite of the mobile technology users. Features: 1. It peaks download rates of 326.4 Mbit/s and upload rates of 86.4 Mbit/s. It uses 4x4 antennas in case of download rates but single antenna for upload rates. 2. Peak data rates are supported by five different terminal classes that are defined from a voice centric class up to a high end terminal and they will enable the terminals to process 20 MHz bandwidth. 3. At low cost it provides much better services. 4. It is Flexible in use of existing as well as new frequency Band. 5. It has open interface and has simple structural design. 6. It also allows evenhanded terminal power consumption. Technologies Introduced by LTE: If we look upon the earlier cellular systems, we will see that there are much more efficient new technologies introduced by LTE. It operates proficiently with respect to

the use of continuum and according to todays need much higher data rates are provided by them. They are 1. 2. 3. OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) SAE (System Architecture Evolution)

Advantages and Disadvantages: Talking about its advantages, it produces high amount of output, has low expectancy, plug and play, FDD and TDD are found to be on the same platform, compared to others much better end-user experience and last but not the least it has simple structural design. LTE also supports smooth passing to cell towers with previous network technology like GSM, UMTS and CDMA2000. When the costs of setting up new network infrastructure, upgrading them and installation of new equipment comes, disadvantages arises. For this purpose LTE engages MIMO technology which for data transmission raises the need to use additional antennas. To experience new network infrastructure, the network users must buy new cell phones. Future of LTE Technology All network users whether for their personal or business use will experience the enhancement in this technology regarding its speed, capacity, coverage and reliability that will make mobile broadband way too feasible. Users being anywhere will be able to access faster connection speeds and greater levels of coverage of internet. Existing users will certainly wish to upgrade to better service and the new users will also benefit from it. The only thing is that WiMAX is considered as the rival of LTE technology for now, though they provide same benefits regarding speed and coverage but they are entirely different technologies. LTE technology even being successful in its various trials cannot guarantee to be the technology practiced by the users for their next generation.

LTE: Long Term Evolution

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a radio platform technology that will allow operators to achieve even higher peak throughputs than HSPA+ in higher spectrum bandwidth. Work on LTE began at 3GPP in 2004, with an official LTE work item started in 2006 and a completed 3GPP Release 8 specification in March 2009. Initial deployments of LTE began in late 2009.

LTE

is

part

of

the

GSM

evolutionary

path

for and

mobile HSPA

broadband, Evolution
Q&A: LTE

following EDGE,UMTS, HSPA (HSDPA and HSUPA combined)

(HSPA+). Although HSPA and its evolution are strongly positioned to be the dominant mobile data LTE Information technology for the next decade, the 3GPP family of standards must evolve toward the future. HSPA+ will provide the stepping-stone to LTE for many operators.
Global Status Update White Papers Presentations

LTE The overall objective for LTE is to provide an extremely high performance radio-access technology that Operator Commitments

offers full vehicular speed mobility and that can readily coexist with HSPA and earlier networks. Because of scalable bandwidth, operators will be able to easily migrate their networks and users from HSPA to LTE over time.

LTE assumes a full Internet Protocol (IP) network architecture and is designed to support voice in the packet domain. It incorporates top-of-the-line radio techniques to achieve performance levels beyond what will be practical with CDMA approaches, particularly in larger channel bandwidths. However, in the same way that 3G coexists with second generation (2G) systems in integrated networks, LTE systems will coexist with 3G and 2G systems. Multimode devices will function across LTE/3G or even LTE/3G/2G, depending on market circumstances.

Standards development for LTE continued with 3GPP Release 9 (Rel-9), which was functionally frozen in December 2009. 3GPP Rel-9 focuses on enhancements to HSPA+ and LTE while Rel-10 focuses on the next generation of LTE for the

International Telecommunication Unions (ITU) IMT-Advanced requirements and both were developed nearly simultaneously by 3GPP standards working groups. Several milestones have been achieved by vendors in recent years for both Rel-9 and Rel-10. Most significant was the final ratification by the ITU of LTE-Advanced (Rel-10) as IMT-Advanced in November 2010.

The first commercial LTE networks were launched by TeliaSonera in Norway and Sweden in December 2009; as of October 2011, there were 33 commercial LTE networks in various stages of commercial service. Many trials are underway with up to 50 LTE deployments expected in 2011.

For many years now, a true world cellular standard has been one of the industrys goals. GSM dominated 2G technologies but there was still fragmentation with CDMA and TDMA as well as iDEN. With the move to 3G, nearly all TDMA operators migrated to the 3GPP technology path. Yet the historical divide remained between GSM and CDMA. It is with the next step of technology evolution that the opportunity has arisen for a global standard technology. Many operators have converged on the technology they believe will offer them and their customers the most benefits. That technology is Long Term Evolution. Most leading operators, device and infrastructure manufacturers, as well as content providers support LTE as the mobile technology of the future. Operators, including leading GSM-HSPA and CDMA EV-DO operators as well as newly licensed and WiMAX operators, are making strategic, long-term commitments to LTE networks. All roads lead to LTE.

In June of 2008, the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (NGMN) selected LTE as the first technology that matched its requirements successfully. 4G Americas, GSMA, UMTS Forum, and other global organizations have reiterated their support of the 3GPP evolution to LTE. Additionally, the LSTI Trial Initiative has provided support through early co-development and testing of the entire ecosystem from chipset, device and infrastructure vendors.

LTE products have been tested, trialed and commercially announced in the market by manufacturers that are already part of a well-planned LTE eco-system. The LTE ecosystem will build upon the economies of scope and scale of the entire 3GPP family of technologies.

LTE uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) on the downlink, which is well suited to achieve high peak data rates in high spectrum bandwidth. WCDMA radio technology is, essentially, as efficient as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for delivering peak data rates of about 10 Mbps in 5 MHz of bandwidth. Achieving peak rates in the 100 Mbps range with wider radio channels, however, would result in highly complex terminals and is not practical with current technology. This is where OFDM provides a practical implementation advantage.

The OFDMA approach is also highly flexible in channelization, and LTE will operate in various radio channel sizes ranging from 1.4 to 20 MHz. LTE also boosts spectral efficiency.

On the uplink, however, a pure OFDMA approach results in high Peak to Average Ratio (PAR) of the signal, which compromises power efficiency and, ultimately, battery life. Hence, LTE uses an approach for the uplink called Single Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), which is somewhat similar to OFDMA, but has a 2 to 6 dB PAR advantage over the OFDMA method used

by

other

technologies

such

as

WiMAX

IEEE

802.16e.

LTE capabilities include: study phase Increased spectral efficiency over Release 6 HSPA by two to four times Reduced latency, up to 10 milliseconds (ms) round-trip times between user equipment and the base station, Downlink peak data rates up to 326 Mbps with 20 MHz bandwidth Uplink peak data rates up to 86.4 Mbps with 20 MHz bandwidth Operation in both TDD and FDD modes Scalable bandwidth up to 20 MHz, covering 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz in the

and to less than 100 ms transition times from inactive to active

LTE vs WiMAX
Has mobile WiMAX been permanently crippled in the 4G technology battle?
By Jim Duffy, Network World June 07, 2010 12:07 AM ET

11 Comments

Print What's this?

The argument between LTE and WiMAX continues to rage at least three years after it ignited. Though many, except for Sprint and Clearwire, think it might already be over, with LTE the winner. A few years ago, it seemed mobile WiMAX was on the fast track to be the 4G wireless technology of choice for evolving mobile broadband networks. Sprint put a stake in the ground, committing $5 billion to be the first in the industry by two years to offer a 4G mobile

broadband network. Cisco bought Navini Networks for more than $300 million to produce mobile WiMAX radio access network equipment, and Sprint and Clearwire formed a $14.5 billion venture to combine mobile WiMAX operations into a new company. PROVIDER UPDATES: Verizon Wireless: 4G LTE or bust in 2012 | AT&T outlines spring LTE rollout plans But late in 2007, the two biggest carriers in North America, Verizon and AT&T, said they would adopt Long Term Evolution (LTE), viewed as a competing technology to mobile WiMAX, as the underpinning of their 4G networks. Both carriers said LTE provides a more natural upgrade for their GSM/UMTS/HSPA/CDMA-based networks and subscribers and GSM is the dominant mobile standard worldwide, with more the 3 billion global customers as of February 2010. The rug had been pulled out from under mobile WiMAX. IN THE NEWS: NetZero offers free WiMAX ... but only if you use 200MB per month or less Both wireless technologies are intended to offer ubiquitous broadband at multiple megabits per second. Mobile WiMAX is an IEEE specification also known as 802.16e and designed to support as high as 12Mbps data-transmission speeds. It uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access, which transmits data by splitting radio signals that are broadcast simultaneously over different frequencies. These signals are immune to interference and cansupport high data rates. LTE was developed in the Third-Generation Partnership Project as the natural progression of High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), the GSM technology that is currently used by carriers such as AT&T to deliver 3G mobile broadband. LTE is a modulation technique that is designed to deliver 100Mbps per channel and give individual users performance comparable to today's wired broadband. But as events have unfolded, it appears as if mobile WiMAX has lost momentum in the 4G race. Not only did the two largest wireless operators in North America and the GSM world back LTE, Sprint has been hemorrhaging wireless customers for years. On the equipment side, Cisco plunked down $3 billion for Starent Networks, a maker of enhanced packet core gateways for mobile networks that clearly sees LTE as the future. Shortly after, Cisco killed the WiMAX RAN business it acquired with Navini. But Mobile WiMAX looks to have beaten LTE in terms of service rollout. Sprint and Clearwire turned up service in Baltimore in late 2008. As of May 2010, Clearwire has commercial WiMAX services available in 27 U.S. markets, covering more than 34 million points of presence (POP). Clearwire is offering the service on a wholesale basis to Sprint,

Comcast and Time Warner Cable. By the end of 2010, Clearwire will have built out a WiMAX network that spans all major U.S. markets and covers 120 million POPs. The WiMAX community plans a significant upgrade to the technology. The IEEE 802.16m standard will be much faster than its predecessor, 802.16e. The goal is for the new WiMAXstandard to deliver average downlink speeds of more than 100Mbps to users. In contrast, Sprint's initial Xohm WiMAX offering delivered downlink speeds ranging between 3.7M to 5Mbps. Meanwhile, Verizon expects to be offering its 4G Long-Term Evolution (LTE) services commercially in 25 to 30 major U.S. markets. It plans to double its total number of 4G markets by the early part of 2012. By the end of 2013, the company plans to have its entire current 3G footprint covered by its 4G technology and to expand its 4G services into areas that don't currently have 3G.