10/10/2017 LTE Tutorial | LTE Basics | What is LTE - Radio-Electronics.

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LTE Long Term Evolution Tutorial & Basics

- developed by 3GPP, LTE, Long Term Evolution is the successor to 3G UMTS and HSPA providing much higher data download speeds
and setting the foundations for 4G LTE Advanced. Discover more about LTE basics in this tutorial.

IN THIS SECTION

LTE Introduction (3g-lte-basics.php) OFDM, OFDMA, SC-FDMA (lte-ofdm-ofdma-scfdma.php) LTE MIMO (lte-mimo.php) TDD & FDD (lte-fdd-tdd-duplex.php)
Frame & subframe (lte-frame-subframe-structure.php) Physical logical & transport channels (physical-logical-transport-channels.php)
Bands and spectrum (lte-frequency-spectrum.php) UE categories (ue-category-categories-classes.php)
SAE architecture (sae-system-architecture-evolution-network.php) LTE SON (lte-son-self-organising-networks.php) VoLTE (voice-over-lte-volte.php)
SRVCC (srvcc-single-radio-voice-call-continuity.php) LTE-M (lte-m-m2m-machine-to-machine.php) LTE-U / LAA (lte-u-unlicensed-laa-license-assisted-access.php)
Security (lte-security-authentication.php)

See also
4G LTE Advanced (3gpp-4g-imt-lte-advanced-tutorial.php)

LTE, Long Term Evolution, the successor to UMTS and HSPA is now being deployed and is the way forwards for high speed cellular services.

In its first forms it was a 3G or as some would call it a 3.99G technology, but with further additions the technology fulfilled the requirements for a 4G standard. In this form
it was referred to as LTE Advanced.

There has been a rapid increase in the use of data carried by cellular services, and this increase will only become larger in what has been termed the "data explosion". To
cater for this and the increased demands for increased data transmission speeds and lower latency, further development of cellular technology have been required.

The UMTS cellular technology upgrade has been dubbed LTE - Long Term Evolution. The idea is that 3G LTE will enable much higher speeds to be achieved along with much
lower packet latency (a growing requirement for many services these days), and that 3GPP LTE will enable cellular communications services to move forward to meet the
needs for cellular technology to 2017 and well beyond.

Many operators have not yet upgraded their basic 3G networks, and 3GPP LTE is seen as the next logical step for many operators, who will leapfrog straight from basic 3G
straight to LTE as this will avoid providing several stages of upgrade. The use of LTE will also provide the data capabilities that will be required for many years and until the
full launch of the full 4G standards known as LTE Advanced.

3G LTE evolution
Although there are major step changes between LTE and its 3G predecessors, it is nevertheless looked upon as an evolution of the UMTS / 3GPP 3G standards. Although it
uses a different form of radio interface, using OFDMA / SC-FDMA instead of CDMA, there are many similarities with the earlier forms of 3G architecture and there is scope
for much re-use.

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10/10/2017 LTE Tutorial | LTE Basics | What is LTE - Radio-Electronics.com
In determining what is LTE and how does it differ from other cellular systems, a quick look at the specifications for the system can provide many answers. LTE can be seen
for provide a further evolution of functionality, increased speeds and general improved performance.

WCDMA HSPA HSPA+ LTE

(UMTS) HSDPA / HSUPA
Max downlink speed 384 k 14 M 28 M 100M
bps
Max uplink speed 128 k 5.7 M 11 M 50 M
bps
Latency 150 ms 100 ms 50ms (max) ~10 ms
round trip time
approx
3GPP releases Rel 99/4 Rel 5 / 6 Rel 7 Rel 8
Approx years of initial roll out 2003 / 4 2005 / 6 HSDPA 2008 / 9 2009 / 10
2007 / 8 HSUPA
Access methodology CDMA CDMA CDMA OFDMA / SC-FDMA

In addition to this, LTE is an all IP based network, supporting both IPv4 and IPv6. Originally there was also no basic provision for voice, although Voice over LTE, VoLTE was
added was chosen by GSMA as the standard for this. In the interim, techniques including circuit switched fallback, CSFB are expected to be used

LTE basics:- specification overview

It is worth summarizing the key parameters of the 3G LTE specification. In view of the fact that there are a number of differences between the operation of the uplink and
downlink, these naturally differ in the performance they can offer.

LTE BASIC SPECIFICATIONS

PARAMETER DETAILS
Peak downlink speed 100 (SISO), 172 (2x2 MIMO), 326 (4x4 MIMO)
64QAM
(Mbps)
Peak uplink speeds 50 (QPSK), 57 (16QAM), 86 (64QAM)
(Mbps)
Data type All packet switched data (voice and data). No circuit switched.
Channel bandwidths 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20
(MHz)
Duplex schemes FDD and TDD
Mobility 0 - 15 km/h (optimised),
15 - 120 km/h (high performance)
Latency Idle to active less than 100ms
Small packets ~10 ms
Spectral efficiency Downlink: 3 - 4 times Rel 6 HSDPA
Uplink: 2 -3 x Rel 6 HSUPA
Access schemes OFDMA (Downlink)
SC-FDMA (Uplink)
Modulation types supported QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM (Uplink and downlink)

These highlight specifications give an overall view of the performance that LTE will offer. It meets the requirements of industry for high data download speeds as well as
reduced latency - a factor important for many applications from VoIP to gaming and interactive use of data. It also provides significant improvements in the use of the
available spectrum.

Main LTE technologies

LTE has introduced a number of new technologies when compared to the previous cellular systems. They enable LTE to be able to operate more efficiently with respect to
the use of spectrum, and also to provide the much higher data rates that are being required.

OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex): OFDM technology has been incorporated into LTE because it enables high data bandwidths to be transmitted
efficiently while still providing a high degree of resilience to reflections and interference. The access schemes differ between the uplink and downlink: OFDMA
(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access is used in the downlink; while SC-FDMA(Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple Access) is used in the uplink. SC-
FDMA is used in view of the fact that its peak to average power ratio is small and the more constant power enables high RF power amplifier efficiency in the mobile
handsets - an important factor for battery power equipment. Read more about LTE OFDM / OFDMA / SCFMDA (lte-ofdm-ofdma-scfdma.php)

MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output): One of the main problems that previous telecommunications systems has encountered is that of multiple signals arising
from the many reflections that are encountered. By using MIMO, these additional signal paths can be used to advantage and are able to be used to increase the
throughput.

When using MIMO, it is necessary to use multiple antennas to enable the different paths to be distinguished. Accordingly schemes using 2 x 2, 4 x 2, or 4 x 4 antenna
matrices can be used. While it is relatively easy to add further antennas to a base station, the same is not true of mobile handsets, where the dimensions of the user
equipment limit the number of antennas which should be place at least a half wavelength apart. Read more about LTE MIMO (lte-mimo.php)

SAE (System Architecture Evolution): With the very high data rate and low latency requirements for 3G LTE, it is necessary to evolve the system architecture to
enable the improved performance to be achieved. One change is that a number of the functions previously handled by the core network have been transferred out
to the periphery. Essentially this provides a much "flatter" form of network architecture. In this way latency times can be reduced and data can be routed more
directly to its destination. Read more about LTE SAE (sae-system-architecture-evolution-network.php)

A fuller description of what LTE is and the how the associated technologies work is all addressed in much greater detail in the following pages of this tutorial.

By Ian Poole (https://plus.google.com/104687638164370436625?rel=author)

. . . . | Next >> (lte-ofdm-ofdma-scfdma.php)

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3G LTE (/info/cellulartelecomms/lte-long-term-evolution/3g-lte-basics.php)
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