INTRODUCTION:

3GPP Long Term Evolution, referred to as LTE is a standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals. LTE is successor to the current generation of UMTS 3G technology. Its based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network technologies. It is increasing the capacity and speed using new modulation techniques. Being an update to the UMTS technology it provides significantly faster data rates for both uploading and downloading. LTE, whose radio access is called Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), is expected to substantially improve end-user throughputs, sector capacity and reduce user plane latency, bringing significantly improved user experience with full mobility. With the emergence of Internet Protocol (IP) as the protocol of choice for carrying all types of traffic, LTE is scheduled to provide support for IP-based traffic with end-to-end Quality of service (QoS). Voice traffic will be supported mainly as Voice over IP (VoIP) enabling better integration with other multimedia services. 3GPP is specifying a new Packet Core, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network architecture to support the E-UTRAN through a reduction in the number of network elements, simpler functionality, improved redundancy and most importantly allowing for connections and hand-over to other fixed line and wireless access technologies, giving the service providers the ability to deliver a seamless mobility experience . LTE has been set aggressive performance requirements that rely on physical layer technologies, such as, Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems, Smart Antennas to achieve these targets. The main objectives of LTE are to minimize the system and User Equipment (UE) complexities, allow flexible spectrum deployment in existing or new frequency spectrum and to enable co-existence with other 3GPP Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

DEPLOYMENT OF LTE
The network architecture for LTE is greatly simplified from its predecessors because LTE is a packetswitched network. It provides interconnection of source to destination on a dynamic basis allocating resources to users quite dynamically. Resources are shared by the users resulting in efficiency and lower costs. Also its quite suitable for interactive application. An LTE network uses : eNodeB (evolved node B, essentially an LTE base station) MME (mobile management entity) HSS (home subscriber server) SGW (serving gateway) PGW (a packet data network gateway). With the exception of the eNodeB, everything is considered as part of the EPC (evolved packet core) network . Serving Gateway (SGW) : The SGW routes and forwards user data packets, while also acting as the mobility anchor for the user plane during inter-eNB handovers and as the anchor for mobility between LTE and other 3GPP technologies. It manages and stores UE contexts, e.g. parameters of the IP bearer service, network internal routing information. It also performs replication of the user traffic in case of lawful interception.

Mobility Management Entity (MME) The MME is the key control-node for the LTE access-network. It is involved in the bearer activation/deactivation process and is also responsible for choosing the SGW for a UE at the initial attach and at time of intra-LTE handover involving Core Network (CN) node relocation. It is responsible for authenticating the user (by interacting with the HSS). Packet Data Network Gateway(PGW)- provides the connection to external data networks. The PDN GW provides connectivity to the UE to external packet data networks by being the point of exit and entry of traffic for the UE. It performs policy enforcement, packet filtering for each user, charging support, lawful Interception and packet screening. If the network operator desires handover with a non-UMTS network like CDMA2000, WiMAX, or a WiFi hotspot network run by the network operator, then an ePDG (evolved packet data gateway) and an ANDSF (Access Network Discovery and Selection Function) for the eNodeB can be installed to support those networks on the EPC.

WORKING OF LTE
LTE uses two different types of air interfaces: One for downlink (from tower to device) One for uplink (from device to tower).

1.DOWNLINK:
LTE uses an OFDMA (orthogonal frequency division multiple access) air interface. In OFDMA multiplexing technique, MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) is used.

MIMO: Multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) employs multiple transmit and receive antennas to substantially enhance the air interface. It uses space-time coding of the same data stream mapped onto multiple transmit antennas. This offers a substantial improvement over traditional reception diversity schemes where only a single transmit antenna is deployed to extend the coverage of the cell. MIMO processing also uses spatial multiplexing, allowing different data streams to be transmitted simultaneously from different transmitter antennae. Spatial multiplexing increases the end-user data rate and cell capacity. MIMO can implement beam-forming to further increase available data rates and spectrum efficiency. Multiple antennas are also used to transmit the same data stream, thus providing redundancy and improved coverage, especially close to cell edge. OFDM In the downlink, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) was selected as the air interface for LTE. OFDM is a particular form of multicarrier modulation (MCM). In general, MCM is a parallel transmission method that divides a radio frequency channel into several, more narrow-bandwidth subcarriers and transmits data simultaneously on each subcarrier. OFDM is well suited for high data rate systems that operate in multipath environments because of its robustness to delay spread. The cyclic extension enables an OFDM system to operate in multipath channels without the need for a complex Decision Feedback Equalizer (DFE) or Maximum Likelihood Sequence Estimation (MLSE) equalizer. It is straightforward to exploit frequency selectivity of the multipath channel with low-complexity receivers. This allows frequency-selective scheduling, as well as frequency-diverse scheduling and frequency reuse one-deployments. Smart antenna technologies are also easier to support with OFDM, because each subcarrier becomes at faded and the antenna weights can be optimized on a per-subcarrier or block of subcarriers basis.

2. UPLINK:
For the uplink , LTE uses the DFTS-OFDMA (discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiple access) scheme of generating a SC-FDMA (single carrier frequency division multiple access) signal.

SC-FDMA SC-FDMA is better for uplink as it has a better peak-to-average power ratio over OFDMA. LTE uses a SC-FDMA 12 configuration, which means that for every one antenna on the transmitting device, there are two antennae on the base station for receiving. So basically SC-FDMA was chosen to reduce Peak to Average Ratio (PAR), which has been identified as a critical issue for use of OFDMA in the uplink where power-efficient amplifiers are required in mobile devices. Another important requirement was to maximize the coverage. For each time interval, the base station scheduler assigns a unique time frequency interval to a terminal for the transmission of user data, thereby ensuring intracell orthogonality. Slow power control, for compensating path loss and shadow fading, is sufficient as no near-far problem is present due to the orthogonal uplink transmissions. The chosen SC-FDMA solution is based on using a cyclic prefix to allow high-performance and lowcomplexity receiver implementation in the eNodeB.

FEATURES:
Peak download rates up to 300Mbit/s and upload rates up to 75.4 Mbit/s depending on the user equipment category (with 4x4 antennas using 20 MHz of spectrum). Low data transfer latencies, 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. 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. Increased spectrum flexibility: 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz wide cells are standardized 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. Simplified architecture. 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 W-CDMA-based UMTS or even 3GPP2 networks such ascdmaOne 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.

ADVANTAGES
1. Higher data rates: With the Verizon Wireless 10 + 10 MHz implementation, LTE will be supporting average data rates per user of 5 to 12 Mbps in the forward link, and 2 to 5 Mbps in the reverse link. The maximum and average LTE data rates are significantly greater in magnitude in the reverse and forward link correspondingly, than those supported by existing 3G technologies. In addition, LTE has much better edge-of-cell data rates. LTE will enable video application on the downlink as well as uplinkincluding, but not limited, to videosharing, surveillance, conferencing, and streaming in higher definition than is possible with existing 3G technology today. 2. Coverage: Deployment of LTE in the beachfront 700 MHz spectrum provides coverage and in-building penetration advantages over existing 3G technologies (and other 4G competitive implementations) deployed at higher frequency bands. This enhanced in-building coverage/penetration will make indoor applications even more powerful. 3. Better multipath, mobility, and power performance: The advanced radio characteristics of LTE address several issue those have traditionally crippled cellular wireless, including multipath and multiuser interference. LTEs use of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) in the downlink transmission effectively eliminates intra-cell multiuser interference and minimizes inter-cell multiuser interference, thereby maximizing performance. Similarly, the single-carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) uplink transmission allows for user equipment to transmit low power signals without the need for expensive power amplifiers. Improvement in battery power consumption in end-user devices (UEs) is a side-benefit of the coverage and multipath/power performance advantages offered by LTE. 4. Latency: The user plane latency achieved in LTE is approximately one-fourth of the corresponding latency in existing 3G technologies. This provides a direct service advantage for highly immersive and interactive application environments, such as multiplayer gaming and rich multimedia communications. 5. Security: LTE provides enhanced security through the implementation of UICC Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) and the associated robust and non-invasive key storage and symmetric key authentication using 128-bit private keys. LTE additionally incorporates strong mutual authentication, user identity confidentiality, integrity protection of all signaling messages between UE and Mobility Management Entity (MME), and optional multi-level bearer data encryption 6. Simplified worldwide roaming: The Verizon Wireless chosen migration path to LTE, the widely adopted next generation 3GPP standard, will provide greater opportunities for seamless international roaming and for global device economies of scale as well.