LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for

Mobile Device Testing
June 2013

Rev. B 06/13

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Why Carrier Aggregation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
What is Carrier Aggregation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Carrier Aggregation Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Impacts of Carrier Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
The Impact of Carrier Aggregation on the RRC Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
UE Capability Transfer Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Measurement Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
RRC Connection Reconfiguration Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Handover and RRC Connection Reestablishment Procedures . . . . . . . 8
The Impact of Carrier Aggregation on the MAC Sub-Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SCell Activation and Deactivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
SCell and PCell Data Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Impact of Carrier Aggregation on the PHY Layer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Cross-Carrier Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Channel Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Downlink Monitoring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Timing Advance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Testing Carrier Aggregation In Mobile Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Functional Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Performance Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Acceptance Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Conformance Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Service Provider Testing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Test Solutions for Carrier Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
CS8 Mobile Device Tester . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
VR5 Channel Emulator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Introduction
LTE-Advanced was introduced to meet the worlds demand for faster data delivery and
increased coverage. LTE-Advanced target parameters are defined in the 3GPPs
TR 36.9131 document, but high-level requirements include:

Peak Downlink throughput: 1 Gbps

Peak Uplink throughput: 500 Mbps

Peak Downlink spectrum efficiency: 30 b/s/Hz

Peak Uplink spectrum efficiency: 15 b/s/Hz

Improve cell edge throughput

A quick calculation shows that both the uplink and downlink require more than 20 MHz
of bandwidth to achieve these targets. However, finding sufficient contiguous spectrum
is usually not an option for those deploying LTE & LTE-Advanced.
The term spectrum fragmentation is one that is often used to describe the large
number of spectral bands expected to be used for LTE deployments around the
world, which is an issue with respect to global roaming. Spectrum fragmentation also
describes the lack of contiguous bands for deploying the high data rates required by
advanced wireless services.
As an example, Figure 1 depicts one LTE network operators holdings in a top-tier city.
Note that this operators holdings in the region amount to 50 MHz of spectrum, but a
single contiguous 20-MHz band cannot be constructed from the available holdings.

1850

1870

1890

1910

1930

1950

1970

1990

Figure 1 - One operators spectral holdings in a major city.

This problem is universal, and is addressed in 3GPP Release 10 by the concept of carrier
aggregation.

1 3GPP TR 36.913: Requirements for further advancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
(E-UTRA) (LTE-Advanced)
1

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Why Carrier Aggregation?

Carrier aggregation enables high data rates by aggregating multiple Release 8 carriers
to support transmission bandwidths of up to 100 MHz. This approach provides the
following advantages:

Backward compatibility with release 8 and 9 capabilities

Dynamic scheduling over different carriers to mitigate varying channel

conditions

Higher throughput rates

A practical solution for the LTE spectrum fragmentation issue

Having the flexibility to schedule data across multiple carriers to the same device
provides spatial and frequency diversity, allowing for more reliable communication to
the mobile. Also, with cross carrier scheduling, all carriers can be managed by one cell.
This introduces a new option for managing Inter Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC).
It should be noted that the strategy driving the LTE-Advanced feature set is meant to
address the need for increased flexibility in network planning and data scheduling.
Carrier aggregation is just one part of the holistic implementation of that strategy; other
aspects include modulation, spatial multiplexing and Transport Block Size (TBS).

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

What is Carrier Aggregation?

Perhaps the most significant feature of LTE-Advanced, carrier aggregation provides
the means to enable wider transmission bandwidths not previously supported in 3GPP
Release 8 or 9. Carrier aggregation allows expansion of effective bandwidth delivered
to a user terminal through simultaneous utilization of radio resources across multiple
carriers; the multiple carriers are aggregated to form an overall larger bandwidth.
Carrier aggregation permits the LTE radio interface to be configured with up to five
component carriers of any bandwidth. Release 10 initially limits the number of
carriers to two. Uplink and downlink may be independently configured, but the number
of uplink carriers must be less than or equal to the number of downlink carriers.
Each component carrier is equivalent to a Release 8 or Release 9 carrier. Three types
of carrier aggregation are defined: inter-band aggregation, contiguous intra-band
aggregation and non-contiguous intra-band aggregation.

Inter-Band
Carrier Aggregation

Intra-Band
Carrier Aggregation
(Contiguous)
Intra-Band
Carrier Aggregation
(Non-Contiguous)

The mobile is connected to a primary cell (PCell) and one or more secondary cells
(SCells). The mobile establishes an RRC connection only to the primary cell and will only
transmit PUCCH (uplink control information) to the primary cell. The SCell(s) transmit
PDCCH and PDSCH (downlink control and data) and receives the PUSCH (uplink data).
SCells may optionally not use the PDCCH if a feature called cross-carrier scheduling is
supported by both the UE and the network; cross-carrier scheduling is a process where
scheduling for all the bearers are managed by one of them, namely the PCell bearer.
This reserves the SCell traffic pipes for data only.
In terms of network architecture, the main layers impacted by carrier aggregation are
the RRC, MAC and PHY layers. The core network, PDCP and RLC are not impacted by
carrier aggregation; in fact, from the perspective of the user plane, the aggregated
carrier is a single bearer just like any other.

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

CARRIER AGGREGATION TERMINOLOGY

PCell: The primary cell where the UE establishes the RRC

connection and where PUCCH is used
SCell: Secondary cell(s) that the UE could be monitoring for
downlink assignment and using to transmit uplink data
The serving cell(s): The PCell and one or more SCells, if
configured for a UE supporting carrier aggregation
Aggregated channel bandwidth: The cumulative channel
bandwidth for all the carriers
Cross-carrier scheduling: Scheduling information for an
SCell is transmitted over PDCCH of the PCell

Impacts of Carrier Aggregation

While the concept of carrier aggregation is simple, the feature has significant impact
on transceivers. Mobile device developers implementing carrier aggregation need to
consider impacts on the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Medium Access Control (MAC) and
PHY layers as well as receiver design. From the device point of view, the user plane and
layers above RRC are not impacted.
UEs are classified according to their carrier aggregation aggregate bandwidths as
shown in Table 1. Release 10 includes provisions for six classes but has only fully
defined three of them (A, B, and C). Table 1 lists the definition of each class by the
number of Component Carriers (CC) supported as well the aggregated resource blocks
(NRB,agg ) and aggregate bandwidth (BWagg ).
Carrier
Aggregation
Bandwidth Class

Aggregated Transmission
Bandwidth Configuration

Maximum Number
of Component
Carriers (CC)

N 100

N 100

100 N 200

200 N [300]

Under study

[300] N [400]

Under study

[400] N [500]

Under study

Table 1 - Carrier aggregation bandwidth classes

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

As of Release 10, a UE should be able to indicate which bands it supports and should
be able to report on its carrier aggregation capability for each band. Table 2 and Table 3
show intra-band continuous carrier aggregation capabilities and inter-band capabilities
defined in the Release 10 specification.
CA Configuration / NRB_agg
CA
Configuration

CA_1C
CA_7C
CA_38C
CA_40C
CA_41C

E-UTRA
Band

1
7
38
40
41

50RB+100RB
(10 MHz +
20 MHz)

75RB+75RB
(15 MHz +
15 MHz)

Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

75RB+100RB
(15MHz +
20 MHz)

100RB+100RB
(20 MHz +
20 MHz)

Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Maximum
Aggregated
Bandwidth
[MHz]

Bandwidth
Combination
Set

40

40
40

0
0

Maximum
Aggregated
Bandwidth
[MHz]

Bandwidth
Combination
Set

20

35

20

30

20

30

20

20

Table 2 - Release 10 carrier aggregation capabilities - contiguous intra-band

CA Operating / Channel bandwidth

CA
Configuration

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-12A
CA_4A-13A
CA_4A-17A
CA_7A-20A
CA_11A-18A

E-UTRA
Band

1.4
MHz

1
5
1
18
1
19
1
21
2
17
2
29
3
5
3
5
3
7
3
8
3
8
3
20
4
12
4
13
4
17
7
20
11

3
MHz

Yes

5
MHz

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

10
MHz

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

15
MHz

20
MHz

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes
Yes

Yes

Yes
Yes
Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Table 3 - Release 10 carrier aggregation capabilities - inter-band

It is important to note that there is work in progress to support different band

combinations in addition to the ones listed above.
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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

The Impact of Carrier Aggregation on the RRC Layer

RRC signaling has been modified to support carrier aggregation messaging and
procedures. The following summarizes impacts to the RRC layer. Further details are
outlined in the 3GPPs RRC protocol specification2 and UE radio access specification3.
The four most significant changes are to:

UE capability transfer procedure

Measurement events

RRC connection reconfiguration

Handover and RRC connection reestablishment procedures

UE Capability Transfer Procedure

Carrier aggregation requires the addition of new Information Elements (IEs). These
enable the communication of the UEs carrier aggregation capability, and include:

UE category:
Table 4 lists UE categories as of Release 10. Categories 6-8 imply carrier
aggregation support. It is worth noting that categories 6 and 7 do not offer
any improvement in downlink throughput over category 5. They offer different
configurations that can achieve the same throughput without relying on
contiguous 20 MHz bandwidth.

3GPP
Release

User
Equipment
Category

Maximum L1
Data Rate
Downlink

Maximum
Number of DL
MIMO layers

Maximum L1
Data Rate
Uplink

Release 8

Category 1

10.3 Mbits/s

5.2 Mbit/s

Release 8

Category 2

51.0 Mbits/s

25.5 Mbit/s

Release 8

Category 3

102.0 Mbits/s

51.0 Mbit/s

Release 8

Category 4

150.8 Mbits/s

51.0 Mbit/s

Release 8

Category 5

299.6 Mbits/s

75.4 Mbit/s

Release 10

Category 6

301.5 Mbits/s

2 or 4

51.0 Mbit/s

Release 10

Category 7

301.5 Mbits/s

2 or 4

102.0 Mbit/s

Release 10

Category 8

2998.6 Mbits/s

1497.8 Mbit/s

Table 4 - UE categories

2 3GPP TS 36.331: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC);
Protocol specification
3 3GPP TS 36.306: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio access
capabilities
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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Supported Band Combination

Indicates which band(s) and bandwidth class(es) support carrier aggregation.

Cross-Carrier Scheduling
Defines whether the UE supports cross-carrier scheduling operation.

Simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmission

If the UE indicates support of carrier aggregation in the uplink, the UE
supports simultaneous transmission of PUCCH and PUSCH across any uplink
component carriers which the UE can aggregate.

Multi-cluster PUSCH
If the UE indicates support of carrier aggregation in the uplink, then the UE
supports PUSCH transmissions over non-contiguous resource blocks across
any UL component carriers which the UE can aggregate.

Event A6 support
Indicates that the UE supports enabling and triggering measurement event
A6 related to a SCell. Event A6 is described in the next section (Measurement
Events) of this document.

SCell addition within the Handover to E-UTRAN

Indicates that the UE can support an E-UTRAN handover directly into carrier
aggregation mode.

Further details can be found in the 3GPPs specification for UE radio access
capabilities4.

Measurement Events
Measurement procedures and capabilities are used by the network to manage
network resources and perform different mobility procedures. Measurement event
A6 is introduced as an optional UE capability in release 10 to enable the addition and
removal of SCells. In Release 10, Events A3 and A5 are specific to PCells.
Table 5 describes events A3, A5 and A6.
Event

Relevant Cell

Description

A3

PCell

Neighbor becomes amount of offset better than PCell

A5

PCell

PCell becomes worse than absolute threshold1 AND Neighbor

becomes better than another absolute threshold2

A6

SCell

Neighbor becomes amount of offset better than SCell

Table 5 - Measurement events related to carrier aggregation

4 3GPP TS 36.306: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); User Equipment (UE) radio access
capabilities
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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

RRC Connection Reconfiguration Procedure

The RRC Connection Reconfiguration procedure is introduced to modify an established
connection configuration. With the introduction of carrier aggregation the addition or
removal of SCells is handled by this procedure. It is important to note that:

This procedure can only add an SCell after Access Stratum (AS) security has
been activated.

SCell(s) can be changed using the RRCConnectionReconfiguration.

ScellDeactivationTimer information is signaled to the mobile.

This IE indicates how many frames of inactivity on an SCell should cause the
UE to remove that SCell. More details are available in the 3GPPs TS 36.331
document.
Not including this IE will set the timer to infinity.

Handover and RRC Connection Reestablishment Procedures

The introduction of carrier aggregation does not directly impact handover and RRC
connection reestablishment procedures. However, it should be noted that all SCells are
released by the UE upon RRC reestablishment due to Radio Link failure or handover.
Release 10 allows for direct E-UTRAN handover in carrier aggregation mode if the UE
supports it.

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

The Impact of Carrier Aggregation on the MAC Sub-Layer

MAC procedures (e.g. power headroom reports, retransmissions, TTI bundling semipersistent scheduling, etc.) are modified to support carrier aggregation. Details
are best described in the Release 10 version of the 3GPPs TS 36.321 MAC protocol
specification5.
Two major areas are significantly impacted and warrant special attention:

SCell activation and deactivation

MAC scheduling over multiple carriers

SCell Activation and Deactivation

As was discussed earlier, RRC Connection reconfiguration is used to add or remove
SCells. Once a cell is added, it must be activated by the MAC layer.
With Release 10, one formerly reserved value for the Logical Channel ID (LCID) is added
to the list of valid values used for MAC control element activation and deactivation:
LCID= 11011 is used by the UE to activate or deactivate the reception of SCells. PCells
cannot be deactivated. More details are available in section 5.13 of 3GPP TS 36.3215.

SCell and PCell Data Scheduling

From the user plane perspective, the main change made to the MAC to support carrier
aggregation the enabling of scheduling on multiple component carriers as shown in
Figure 2.
Each component carrier has a unique HARQ entity and independent HARQ processes.
For each component carrier one or two code-words may be generated depending on the
transmission mode. Figure 2 shows the changes introduced by carrier aggregation to
the MAC layer scheduling and HARQ process.

5 3GPP TS 36.321: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Medium Access Control (MAC)
protocol specification
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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Release 8

Release 10

Radio Bearers

ROHC

ROHC

PDCP

ROHC

Security Security

RLC

ROHC

PDCP

Segm. Segm.
ARQ etc
ARQ etc

Security Security

RLC

Segm. Segm.
ARQ etc
ARQ etc

MAC

Multiplexing
UE1

Logical Channels

Scheduling / Priority Handling

MAC

Multiplexing
UE1

HARQ

HARQ

HARQ

Transport Channels

DL-SCH
on CC1

DL-SCH
on CCx

Figure 2 - Downlink Data Link layer (L2) structures in Release 8 (left) and Release 10 (right)6

The Impact of Carrier Aggregation on the PHY Layer

With the introduction of the secondary cell, two major points become noteworthy:

The PUCCH is only transmitted on primary cells. To provide information about

other carriers, the Carrier Indicator Field (CIF) is provided in the Uplink Control
Information (UCI) header.

The PDCCH may optionally not be transmitted (on the SCell) if cross-carrier
scheduling is enabled. In this case the Downlink Control Information (DCI)
header includes a CIF that identifies the intended carrier.

6 3GPP TS 36.300: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial
Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN); Overall description; Stage 2
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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Cross-Carrier Scheduling
Release 10 introduces an optional UE capability which allows for scheduling all carriers
via one carriers PDCCH. Enacting all scheduling on the PCell reserves SCells for user
data, minimizing SCell control channel overhead. It also enables coordinated scheduling
of data across multiple carriers, which in turn enables efficient network planning.

Channel Quality
Downlink channel quality is measured by the UE and reported to the base-station in
the Uplink Control Information (UCI). The UCI field includes a CIF that indicates which
component carrier is being referenced. This is used in the case when cross-carrier
scheduling is enabled.
Uplink channel quality is measured by the base-station using Sounding Reference
Symbols (SRS) transmitted by the UE. As of Release 10, an optional capability allows
the UE to transmit SRS on secondary cells as well as primary cells.

Downlink Monitoring
Release 8 introduced the Radio Link Failure procedure. This procedure remains the
same with the introduction of carrier aggregation. The only clarification made in the
specification is that Radio Link Failure is only triggered by the UE upon failure of the
PCell, and is not triggered by failure of a SCell. Upon radio link reestablishment, all
SCells are deleted from the UEs list of serving cells.

Timing Advance
Timing advance is a method in which a base-station requests that a mobile adjusts its
uplink timing (relative to downlink time) in order to mitigate the effect of propagation
delay. In carrier aggregation, only a single timing advance value is used by the
E-UTRAN; this value is applied to all carriers.

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Testing Carrier Aggregation In Mobile Devices

Carrier aggregation introduces new considerations for device design verification.
Additional RF testing and characterization is required, as is functional testing to verify
carrier-aggregation-specific features of the design, such as the ability of the mobile to
manage multiple data streams from multiple carriers. The following sections describe
some of these types of testing.

Functional Tests
Functional tests are targeted at testing specific sub-features or procedures introduced
to the specifications to support carrier aggregation. They cover RRC, MAC, PHY layers
and Radio Resource Management (RRM).
One example of a functional test introduced by carrier aggregation is verification of
the SCell deactivation MAC timer. A network that supports carrier aggregation must
configure each mobile with a deactivation timer. This timer tells the mobile when to
stop monitoring an SCell. To verify that a mobile being tested has stopped monitoring
an SCell, a test should schedule data on the SCell after the timer has expired. By
monitoring the behavior of the mobile, the tester or automated test can verify whether
or not the mobile has behaved properly with respect to the timer. The following table
lists additional examples of functional tests:
Test Focus

Example of Test Areas

RRC

- SCell addition and removal

- Event A6 support
- Radio link failure procedures
- Handover procedures including SCell addition
- Backward compatibility between carrier aggregation and Release 8 and
9 procedures

MAC and
Physical
Layer

- Decoding MAC control element to activate, deactivate the SCell

- Deactivation of SCell based on the SCellDeactivation Timer
- Deactivation of SCell because of radio link failure
- Deactivation of SCell because of mobility procedures
- Reception of downlink data from 2 component carriers
- Decoding of carrier indication field for cross-carrier scheduling
- Link quality monitoring and reporting for PCells and all SCells configured
- Verification of Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) on PCell and SCells

- SCell addition and activation

Radio
- SCell removal and deactivation
Resource
Management - Handover from PCell + SCell to a second PCell
- Handover from PCell to PCell + SCell (If supported by the UE)

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Performance Tests
Performance tests are system tests that are intended to characterize the RF and endto-end performance of a mobile under different scenarios and channel conditions. The
introduction of additional carriers provides new methods to reach target throughput
numbers, mainly by maintaining multiple streams from different carriers. This has a
direct impact on the mobiles performance, since throughput is now dependent on other
factors; each carrier will experience different channel conditions (especially in the case
of inter-band aggregation) and loading. Examples of performance test cases:

Evaluation of uplink and downlink throughput when the E-UTRAN is scheduling

over one carrier vs. two carriers (with separate sets of channel conditions)

Impact of cross-carrier scheduling on throughput performance

Impact of channel quality reporting on the mobiles performance

Acceptance Testing
Acceptance testing can be divided into two main groups: Conformance Testing and
Service Provider Testing.

Conformance Testing
These are tests mandated by standards bodies for device certification, in this case
3GPP, GCF and PTCRB. All mobile equipment must pass these tests before being
commercially deployed. Test specifications 36.521 and 37.571 list different carrier
aggregation test cases testing different aspects of carrier aggregation.

Service Provider Testing

These are tests that are developed by wireless service providers to validate whether
mobiles that are carrier aggregation capable are fit to be deployed in their specific
networks. They are typically a combination of conformance and operator-defined
performance test cases.

Test Solutions for Carrier Aggregation

Carrier Aggregation functionality will be deployed across Mobile Device/Chipset &
LTE Network Infrastructure. Spirent offers test solutions available today, for Carrier
Aggregation testing in following test areas:

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R10 LTE Chipset & Devices

LTE Network Infrastructure

Service Quality of Experience

LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

CS8 Mobile Device Tester

CS8 Mobile Device Tester is multi technology network emulator solution that provides
Carrier Aggregation test capability for R10 LTE Chipset & Devices. CS8 is the only
single box for two independent carriers with up to 4x2 MIMO for Carrier Aggregation
(CA) with independent fading, with support for multiple band combinations. CS8
Hardware is 4x2 MIMO ready, for future deployments of Carrier Aggregation. Key
benefits of CS8 Device Tester for Carrier Aggregation:

Configurable physical layer, MAC and RRC

Configurable MAC scheduler

Inter and Intra Band carrier aggregation

Cross carrier scheduling

SISO, 2x2 MIMO, 4x2 MIMO (with fading)

Logging capability to analyze functional aspects of RRC/MAC/PHY layers

Single Box for Two Independent Carriers with up to 4x2 MIMO

VR5 Channel Emulator

Spirent also offers the market leading channel emulator, VR5, with the ability to support
up to 8 simultaneous RF channels with different MIMO configurations up to 6GHz.
With scalable bandwidth support up to 100 MHz, the VR5 can be used for Carrier
Aggregation testing of both LTE chipset & network infrastructure testing.

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

CONCLUSION
Recognizing the looming spectrum shortage and the need to boost LTE speeds,
operators on a global scale are shifting gears to ensure their LTE networks will be
compatible with LTE-3GPP Release 10, LTE-Advanced. Carrier aggregation has been
specified by 3GPP as the method for addressing the wireless industrys requirement for
greater spectrum utilization and faster data delivery.
By enabling RRC connections with multiple cells at low protocol layers, this Release
10 feature creates wide-band bearers for delivery of higher data rates. With the
challenge of combining relatively disparate contiguous and non-contiguous bands of
spectrum into a single logical channel, comes the guarantee of significant complexity
in development and testing. When considering the various types of carrier aggregation
and the possible combinations, it is not difficult to imagine the numerous test cases
and scenarios that will need to be addressed.
This paper was produced to provide an overview of carrier aggregation, the impacts
of implementation on relevant protocol layers and a discussion on how implementing
carrier aggregation affects the requirements for mobile device testing during
development. With years of experience of bringing real-world network and radio
channel conditions into the lab, Spirent is well positioned to support device developers
in addressing the challenges of carrier aggregation implementation.

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LTE Advanced - Carrier Aggregation

Introduction and Implications for Mobile Device Testing

Acronyms
The following is a list of all acronyms/abbreviations used in this document:
3GPP

3rd Generation Partnership Project

AS

Access Stratum

CC

Component Carrier

CIF

Carrier Indicator Field

DCI

Downlink Control Information

E-UTRA

Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

E-UTRAN

Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network

EV-DO

EVolution - Data Only

GCF

Global Certification Forum

HARQ

Hybrid Automatic-Repeat-Request

HSDPA

High-Speed Downlink Packet Access

HSUPA

High-Speed Uplink Packet Access

IE

Information Element

LCID

Logical Channel Identifier

LTE

Long-Term Evolution

MAC

Medium Access Control

PCell

Primary Cell

PDCCH

Physical Downlink Control Channel

PDCP

Packet Data Convergence Protocol

PDSCH

Physical Downlink Shared Channel

PHY

PHYsical layer

PTCRB

(pseudo-acronym; previously stood for PCS Type Certification Review Board)

PUCCH

Physical Uplink Control Channel

PUSCH

Physical Uplink Shared Channel

RF

Radio Frequency

RRC

Radio Resource Control

RRM

Radio Resource Management

SCell

Secondary Cell

SRS

Sounding Reference Signal

TBS

Transport Block Size

UCI

Uplink Control Information

UE

User Equipment

UMTS

Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

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