LTE-Advanced (Release 10)

Technology Overview
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has coined the term 3GPP Release 10 and beyond, be evaluated as a candidate technology Rohde & Schwarz test solutions for LTE were the first on the mar-
IMT-Advanced to identify mobile communications systems with capa- for IMT-Advanced. LTE-Advanced maintains the basic LTE approach to ket and since then have evolved to a full product portfolio. The
bilities that go beyond those of IMT-2000 (International Mobile Telecom- a large extent. Enhancements include carrier aggregation, higher order modular and highly flexible solutions can easily be extended to
munications). IMT-Advanced requirements include compatibility with MIMO schemes in DL and UL, enhanced UL transmission and enhanced cover LTE-Advanced testing needs. From GSM to 4G, from R & D
IMT-2000 systems, interworking, high-quality service support and in- inter-cell interference coordination (eICIC). According to 3GPP, LTE- to conformance, from testing chipsets and assembled end-user
creased data rates. To support advanced services and applications, Advanced fulfills and partly exceeds the IMT-Advanced requirements. devices to infrastructure equipment, Rohde & Schwarz is the right
mobility scenarios with 100 Mbit/s for high mobility and 1 Gbit/s for Therefore, mobile operators running commercial LTE networks are able partner to satisfy your test requirements.
low mobility must be implemented. The 3GPP partners made a for- to provide an evolutionary path towards a true 4G system.
mal submission to the ITU proposing that LTE-Advanced, i.e. LTE as of

Carrier aggregation Extended MIMO schemes

Example of non-contiguous band aggregation
Frequency band A Frequency band B Two to five component carriers are
aggregated to support wider trans-
mission bandwidths up to 100MHz.
Spectrum deployments can be ei-
ther contiguous or non-contiguous.
Carrier 1 Carrier 2 Carrier 5
Initial LTE-Advanced deployments
were limited to two adjacent com-
1 subframe = 1 ms ponent carriers in the same fre-
Time 1 slot = 0.5 ms quency band or two single compo-
nent carriers in different frequency
bands. Further product enhance-
Frequency
Single-user and multi-user MIMO in downlink and uplink
Downlink MIMO schemes, including single-
SU-MIMO user (SU) MIMO to increase peak
max. 8x8 data rates and multi-user (MU)
MIMO to increase the cell capacity,
have been further extended.
UE1 The downlink direction now sup-
ports up to eight layers. The neces-
sary modifications include a new
MU-MIMO
eNB reference signal structure (common
e.g. 2x2 UE3
CSI-RS and dedicated DMRS) to
support eight TX antennas. In ad-
dition, feedback mechanisms have

ments allow multiple carriers to be been enhanced with periodic/aperi-

UE2
PDCCH

applied in both downlink and uplink

PDCCH

Secondary cell odic reporting (CQI, PMI, RI) and a

PDSCH PDSCH direction. new precoding type indicator (PTI)
The existing scheduling mechanism reporting to distinguish slow from
Uplink fast fading environments.
(method 1) is extended to enable SU-MIMO
cross-carrier scheduling (method 2). max. 4x4 In uplink direction, up to four layers
PDCCH

are supported. Modulation symbols

PDCCH

PDSCH PDSCH The DCI formats include an addi-

tional 1 bit to 3 bit carrier indicator associated with each of the trans-
Primary cell port blocks are mapped onto one
field. The PDCCH on the primary cell
UE1 or two layers according to the same
now schedules resources for all ag-
gregated carrier frequencies. The principle as for LTERelease8 down-
MU-MIMO link spatial multiplexing. The nec-
3GPP Release 8 PDCCH structure eNB UE3
Method 1 Method 2 is maintained, i.e. the same coding essary modifications include the
and CCE-based resource mapping is introduction of aperiodic sounding
used. reference signals (SRS) and need-
based SRS triggering, as well as or-
UE2 thogonal spread (OCC) DMRS.

Enhanced ICIC Enhanced uplink

Example of a heterogeneous network Enhanced uplink transmission scheme
Heterogeneous networks consist Single-carrier frequency division
of different cell sizes with overlap- multiple access (SC-FDMA) is main-
ping areas operating at the same Frequency
tained as the basic LTE-Advanced
1 slot
frequency, such as femto and pico uplink transmission scheme.
eNBs applied within the range of a 1 subframe = 1 ms = 1 TTI
macro eNB. Overlapping areas re- New enhancements are control-
Pico
Macro sult in new interference scenarios data decoupling (simultaneous
eNB
eNB caused by different path losses and PUCCH and PUSCH transmission)
restricted access due to closed sub- and non-contiguous data transmis-
Femto scriber groups. This is a challenge sion.
eNB Time
for control channel demodulation Consecutive subcarrier operation
PUSCH Uplink transmission is no longer
and UE measurements. eICIC cre- PUCCH restricted to the use of consecu-
ates DL transmission gaps in the
tive subcarriers. Instead, two clus-
time domain. These almost blank Frequency
1 slot ters of subcarriers can be allocated.
Sub-frame (1 ms) subframes only contain information
This enables frequency-selective
Macro
Sub-frame for macro eNB transmission
required for Release 8/9 UEs to en-
Almost blank subframe (ABS) 1 subframe = 1 ms = 1 TTI scheduling, which will increase link
sure backward compatibility. eICIC
performance.
Pico
also enables UEs, equipped with in-
Sub-frame for pico eNB transmission
terference cancellation techniques,
to stay connected even with low
Pico cells can also serve
UEs that receive a
Pico cells can reuse the same
frequency as macro cells when
SINR, which effectively increases
Time
stronger macro cell signal the UE is closer to the pico eNB
the range of femto and pico cells. Clusters of consecutive subcarriers

Rohde & Schwarz LTE-Advanced test solutions

SMW200A vector signal generator FSW signal and spectrum analyzer CMW500 wideband radio communication tester
LTE-Advanced FDD and TD-LTE DL and UL signal generation for LTE-Advanced FDD and TD-LTE DL and UL signal analysis for terminal Multi-RAT covering all main cellular communications standards and
PD 3606.6392.82 V 03.01 (as)

terminal and base station receiver tests, including closed-loop HARQ and base station transmitter tests, including built-in multistandard radio multiple band support up to 6GHz
feedback and UL timing adjustments analyzer (MSRA) function Carrier aggregation up to 4 DL and 2 UL carriers, supporting up to
Support of all key MIMO modes such as 3x3, 4x4, 8x2 and 2x8, Support of sequential and parallel carrier aggregation measurements, 8x2MIMO (including fading) in the DL and eICIC
including realtime fading, ABS and enhanced SC-FDMA MIMO signal analysis and simultaneous PUSCH/PUCCH measurements All layers, from RF parametric tests and protocol tests to end-to-end
Interband and intraband carrier aggregation, including cross carrier Up to 500MHz analysis bandwidth, low phase noise of 137dBc (1Hz) application tests, in one box
scheduling for up to 5 component carriers at 10kHz offset (1GHz carrier) and 88dB dynamic range (with noise Support of wireless connectivity, GNSS and broadcast standards
Combination of MIMO and carrier aggregation cancellation) for ACLR measurements
Multistandard platform supporting all main cellular communications Multistandard platform supporting all main cellular communications
and wireless connectivity standards and wireless connectivity standards
Glossary:
3GPP=3rd Generation Partnership Project, 4G=4th Generation Mobile Communications Technology, ABS=Almost Blank Subframe, ACLR=Adjacent Channel Leakage Ratio, CCE=Control Channel Element, CQI=Channel Quality Indicator, CSI-RS=Channel State Information Reference Symbols, DCI=Downlink Control Information, DL=Downlink, DMRS=Demodulation Reference Signal,
eICIC=Enhanced Inter-Cell Interference Coordination, eNB=Enhanced NodeB, FDD=Frequency Division Duplex, GNSS=Global Navigation Satellite System, GSM=Global System for Mobile Communications, HARQ=Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, IMT=International Mobile Telecommunications, ITU=International Telecommunication Union, LTE=Long Term Evolution,
MIMO=Multiple Input Multiple Output, MU-MIMO=Multi-User MIMO, OCC=Orthogonal Cover Code, PDCCH=Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDSCH=Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PMI=Precoding Matrix Indicator, PTI=Precoding Type Indicator, PUCCH=Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUSCH=Physical Uplink Shared Channel, RAT=Radio Access Technology,
3606639282

RI=Rank Indicator, SC-FDMA=Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access, SINR=Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio, SRS=Sounding Reference Signal, SU-MIMO=Single-User MIMO, TD-LTE=Time Division LTE, TTI=Transmission Time Interval, TX=Transmission, UE=User Equipment, UL=Uplink.

www.rohde-schwarz.com/technology/LTE

LTE_advanced_po_en.indd 1 22.01.2015 17:08:01