LTE Advanced

3 days

Download brochureThe course highlights and explains all the technical enhancements brought by the LTE Advanced. We start by reviewing 3GPP E-UTRAN Rel. 8 and introducing features of Rel. 9. Then, Rel. 10 enhancements are discussed, which include PHY and MAC modifications (with 8x8 MIMO and Carrier Aggregation being the most prominent examples), procedural improvements and the concept of relays. Additionally, architectural enhancements are presented including Home eNB, Heterogeneous Networks and SON. As some features sneaked into Rel. 11, we address them too; they include Cooperative Multipoint Transmission and Reception and Mobile Relays concept.

In addition to the solid theoretical treatment of this topic, we provide practical deployment considerations, as well as show real LTE Advanced signals generated with the state-of-the art LTE PHY Lab – a Link Level Simulator.

Introduction to LTE Advanced

• Evolution path of 3GPP LTE systems (standardization time plan in 3GPP)
• Features of LTE releases
• Requirements and performance targets of LTE Advanced and its relation to requirements of IMT Advanced for 4G systems
• Identified IMT-Advanced spectrum allocations
• Release 8 and 9 air interface features
• Summary of LTE-Advanced enhancements on the radio interface
• LTE Bands, bandwidths, throughputs and UE categories
• Possible services for LTE-Advanced (e.g. positioning, internet of things, MBMS, broadband access, etc.)

EPS Network Architecture Improvements

• Release 8 nodes and interfaces (UE, eNB, MME, SGW, PGW)
• Release 9 scenarios (MBMS, Positioning)
• Release 10 enhancements in EPS (added Relays and enhanced Home eNodeB)

E-UTRA Rel. 9 Features

• Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS)
• MBMS architecture and PHY issues
• Self-organizing and self-optimizing networks (SON)
• SON architecture and functionalities
• LTE Positioning concept, architecture and possible location services

E-UTRA Rel. 10 PHY Enhancements

• Multicarrier transmission (OFDM/OFDMA/SCFDMA)
• Refreshment of the Rel. 8 E-UTRA (including protocol stacks, downlink and uplink radio frames, PHY channels and signals)
• Clustered SCFDMA for uplink in Rel. 10
• Bandwidth extension by carrier aggregation (use of component carriers)
• Processing of Component carriers
• Various scenarios of carrier aggregation
• RF aspects related to carrier aggregation
• Enhanced Downlink MIMO (for up to 8 antennas)
• Additional Downlink MIMO reference symbols for higher order MIMO (CSI-RS, DM-RS)
• Processing chain for DL MIMO (and comparison to Rel. 8 processing chain)
• New UL MIMO schemes (SU-MIMO for PUSCH and TX Diversity for PUCCH)
• Processing chain for UL MIMO (and comparison to Rel. 8 processing chain)

E-UTRA Rel. 10 Protocols and Procedures

• Protocol stack for Carrier Aggregation
• CA procedures (addition and release, activation and deactivation of component carrier)
• Primary and Secondary Component Carriers for Downlink OFDMA and Uplink SCFDMA
• Idle and Connected mode issues (System info acquisition and RRC signaling for CA usage, RRC idle-to-connected state change and HO timing requirements)
• CA challenges (scheduling and Handover aspects)
• MAC issues with relation to CA: user data allocation and signaling aspects (including cross carrier scheduling)
• Additional L1 signaling formats (PUCCH format 3 and DCI format 4)

E-UTRA Rel. 10 Relays

• Relay concept and roles for capacity and coverage enhancements
• Types of relays (Repeaters and Relay Nodes)
• L3-Relay Node (RN) in LTE-Advanced specifications (protocol stacks, architecture and roles of DeNB)
• RN procedures (activation and relaying operation)
• L1 issues (R-PDCCH & MBSFN sub-frame usage for relay link)
• Timing requirements for relay link

E-UTRA Rel. 10 Home eNBs, HetNets and SON

• LTE HeNB architecture possibilities (HeNB, HeNB GW and SeGW)
• Access control and CSG management (types of cells: open, hybrid and closed)
• Heterogeneous Network (HetNet) concept (Macro, Pico, Femto cells and relays)
• Interference scenarios
• LTE inter cell interference coordination (ICIC) in time and frequency

E-UTRA Release 11 and Beyond Features

• Cooperative Multipoint Transmission/Reception
• CoMP downlink and uplink scenarios
• Mobile Type Communications (MTC) concept and possible services
• Mobile Relays concept

LTE Advanced Deployment

• Backward compatibility to LTE Rel. 8 requirements
• Transparency of Relay nodes (and RNs deployment issues)
• Migration from LTE Rel. 8 to LTE Advanced Rel. 10
• HetNet deployment

LTE Advanced Demo and Experiments (tool-based)

• Usage of 8 antennas in the downlink for spatial multiplexing
• Spatial multiplexing in the uplink
• Bandwidth aggregation