LTE-Advanced

The Need for LTE-Advanced

LTE-Advanced, a cornerstone of modern mobile broadband, addresses the exponential demand for data capacity, targeting a 1000x increase over traditional cellular networks. Launched in June 2013, LTE-Advanced introduces innovative technologies and deployment models to meet the needs of multimedia applications, streaming video, and other data-intensive services. Supported by CableFree LTE Base Station and CPE products, LTE-Advanced aligns with the latest 3GPP standards, including Release 15 (2019), and continues to evolve to support future demands. 

Why a 1000x Increase in Capacity?

The surge in mobile data usage, driven by multimedia applications, video streaming, AR/VR, and IoT devices, has saturated legacy cellular networks. LTE-Advanced tackles this challenge through:

  • Hyper-Dense Small Cell Deployments: Small cells are central to scaling network capacity, enabling efficient spectrum use in high-demand areas.

  • Carrier Aggregation (CA): Combines multiple spectrum bands to boost data rates and capacity, supporting bursty applications like video streaming and cloud gaming.

  • Advanced Interference Management: Techniques like Further Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination (FeICIC) and Interference Cancellation (IC) optimise performance in dense deployments.

  • Higher-Order MIMO: Supports up to 8×8 MIMO in downlink and 4×4 in uplink for enhanced throughput and efficiency.

  • Unlicensed Spectrum Integration: Extends LTE-Advanced to bandwidth-rich 5 GHz unlicensed bands, augmenting capacity while maintaining a licensed spectrum anchor.

Key Features of LTE-Advanced

Carrier Aggregation

Carrier aggregation enables operators to combine multiple carriers across licensed and unlicensed bands, as well as Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD). Milestones include:

  • June 2013: Aggregation of two 10 MHz carriers, achieving 150 Mbps peak data rates (Cat 4).

  • November 2013: Aggregation of two 20 MHz carriers, reaching 300 Mbps peak data rates (Cat 6).

  • Release 13 (2016): Support for up to 32 component carriers, aggregating up to 640 MHz for multi-Gbps speeds. 

  • Evolution: Supports cross-cell Multiflow, FDD/TDD aggregation, and licensed/unlicensed band aggregation, including Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) and enhanced LAA (eLAA). 

Hyper-Dense Heterogeneous Networks (HetNets)

LTE-Advanced optimises hyper-dense small cell deployments through:

  • Range Expansion: Increases small cell coverage to scale capacity with densification.

  • FeICIC: Coordinates interference between small cells on the network side.

  • IC: Cancels interference on common and data channels at the device level, improving cell-edge performance.

  • Coordinated Multipoint (CoMP): Enables data sharing across non-collocated transmitters for improved throughput. 

Enhanced Receivers

Advanced receiver technologies enhance performance, particularly in dense environments:

  • Interference Cancellation: Mitigates inter-cell interference on common and data channels, boosting capacity and user experience at cell edges.

  • 4x Receive Diversity: Builds on 2×2 MIMO, leveraging four antennas for significant performance gains, with later releases supporting higher-order MIMO. 

Advanced Antenna Techniques

LTE-Advanced supports higher-order MIMO (up to 8×8 in downlink, 4×4 in uplink, evolving to 64 antenna ports in Release 13), improving spectral efficiency and throughput for data-intensive applications like AR/VR and massive IoT.

Expanding LTE-Advanced to New Frontiers

LTE-Advanced extends beyond traditional mobile broadband, enabling innovative use cases:

  • Unlicensed Spectrum: Targets the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands through Licensed Assisted Access (LAA, Release 13) and enhanced LAA, for deployments in countries like the USA, Korea, and China. A licensed spectrum anchor ensures robust connectivity. 

  • LTE Direct: Enables proximity-based device-to-device communication for applications like public safety, proximity services, and IoT (Release 12). 

  • LTE Broadcast: Leverages enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS) for terrestrial TV broadcasting and public warning systems (Release 9). 

  • Machine-Type Communications (MTC): Optimises low-power, low-bandwidth devices for massive IoT deployments (Release 12 and beyond). 
  • Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X): Supports vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for automotive applications (Release 14). 
  • WiFi Integration: Enables seamless traffic steering between LTE and WiFi networks (Release 12). 

Ongoing Evolution

LTE-Advanced is a dynamic framework evolving through 3GPP releases. Key advancements include:

  • Release 12 (2015): Enhanced carrier aggregation, small cell optimisations, MTC, and initial unlicensed spectrum support.

  • Release 13 (2016): Up to 32 component carriers, enhanced MTC for IoT, and unlicensed spectrum aggregation (LAA).

  • Release 14 (2017): V2X, CIoT, and improved WiFi/unlicensed spectrum coordination.

  • Release 15 (2019): LTE enhancements alongside 5G NR, including network slicing and improved MTC.

  • Beyond: LTE-Advanced continues to complement 5G NR, supporting non-standalone 5G deployments and specialized use cases like IoT and V2X.

By leveraging advanced technologies and a robust ecosystem, LTE-Advanced remains pivotal in addressing the 1000x capacity challenge, complementing 5G NR, and supporting operators and users with high-speed, reliable, and versatile mobile networks for years to come.

Latest Generation Technology

Wireless Excellence is at the forefront of Wireless Technology development and supports the very latest LTE developments in the CableFree range of Software Defined Base Stations, which enable upgrade of features via software updates.

For Further Information

Please Contact Us for more information on our exciting range of solutions using LTE technology.

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