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DOCUMENT

097.07.02
Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum:
Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA/LWIP
June 2015

Solving the HetNet puzzle

www.scf.io/ www.smallcellforum.org
SMALL CELL FORUM

RELEASE 7.0 scf.io

Small Cell Forum accelerates small cell adoption to drive the

wide-scale adoption of small cells and accelerate the delivery of
integrated HetNets.

We are not a standards organization but partner with organizations that inform
and determine standards development. We are a carrier-led organization. This
means our operator members establish requirements that drive the activities
and outputs of our technical groups.

We have driven the standardization of key elements of small cell technology

including Iuh, FAPI/SCAPI, SON, the small cell services API, TR‑069 evolution
and the enhancement of the X2 interface.

Today our members are driving solutions that include small cell/Wi-Fi
integration, SON evolution, virtualization of the small cell layer, driving mass
adoption via multi-operator neutral host, ensuring a common approach to
service APIs to drive commercialisation and the integration of small cells into
5G standards evolution.

The Small Cell Forum Release Program has now established business cases and
market drivers for all the main use cases. This document is part of
Release 7: HetNet and SON.

Small Cell Forum defines HetNet as a ‘multi-x environment – multi-technology,

multi-domain, multi-spectrum, multi-operator and multi-vendor. It must
be able to automate the reconfiguration of its operation to deliver assured
service quality across the entire network, and flexible enough to accommodate
changing user needs, business goals and subscriber behaviors.’

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Executive summary
Integration of license-exempt capability into conventional licensed cellular propositions
looks to be now accepted as an essential ingredient of mobile network evolution. In
particular, compared to the possibly fragmented allocation of licensed spectrum, 5
GHz license-exempt solutions offer operators the opportunity to leverage over 450
MHz of spectrum.

From a 3GPP perspective, we now have four different approaches to license-exempt

integration, two that integrate license-exempt networks at the core network level and
two that integrate license-exempt capabilities into the LTE access network. A further
technique for integrating license-exempt access above the core network makes five
different alternative approaches for carriers to consider.

This paper looks to compare and contrast these different approaches to licensed and
license-exempt system integration, to examine how small cells can enhance the core
capabilities and to focus in on key system requirements that may lead operators to
prefer one approach versus alternatives.

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
Version: 097.07.02
Contents
1. Introduction .....................................................................1
2. Comparison criteria ..........................................................3
3. Comparing alternative approaches ...................................5
4. Combined LAA/LWA with small cells ................................6
5. Combined R-11 TWAG with ePDG .....................................7
6. Combined R-11 TWAG with MP-TCP ..................................8
7. Connection manager requirements ...................................9
8. Conclusions ....................................................................10
References ................................................................................11

Tables
Table 3-1 Comparison of alternative approaches to license-exempt integration ..... 5
Table 4-1 Combined LAA/LWA and small cell solution ........................................ 6
Table 5-1 Combined R11-TWAG and ePDG solution ........................................... 7
Table 6-1 Combined R11-TWAG and MP-TCP solution ........................................ 8
Table 7-1 Connection management requirements .............................................. 9

Figures
Figure 1-1 Five alternative approaches for license-exempt integration .................. 2

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
Version: 097.07.02
1. Introduction

As mobile networks evolve, there is near universal consensus around the importance
of increasing the density of the base station grid. Densification enables operators to
address the ever growing consumption from the range of traditional smartphones, to
the latest IoT sensors, that look set to increase traffic by perhaps 1,000 times by
2020. The Small Cell Forum has been at the forefront of defining small cell
technologies and practicalities needed for network densification.

In addition to the deployment of more cell sites, the Small Cell Forum is also working
to increase the amount of spectrum available to each site: In collaboration with the
Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) we address issues
around the integration of license-exempt systems into heterogeneous networks. In
particular, compared to the possibly fragmented allocation of licensed spectrum, 5
GHz license-exempt solutions offer operators the opportunity to leverage over 450
MHz of spectrum. Our joint paper Integrated Small Cell Wi-Fi [1] explores the benefits
and opportunities associated with integrating small cell technologies with license-
exempt solutions based on Next Generation Hotspot Wi-Fi that leverage 3GPP defined
trusted WLAN access gateway (TWAG) functionality that enables Wi-Fi users to be
serviced by conventional 3GPP defined evolved packet core (EPC) functionality.

As with other license-exempt solutions, the low permitted power levels mandated by
the particular frequency bands creates a natural coupling with conventional small cells
operating in licensed-bands. These small cells have been designed to operate at power
levels similar to those in use by the license-exempt systems, thus avoiding any
mismatch in coverage between the two systems.

Whereas the Small Cell Forum’s work with the WBA and WFA has to date focused on
trusted WLAN integration, parallel industry developments have seen the launch of
solutions based on un-trusted WLAN propositions. Significantly, Apple iOS 8 delivers
‘Wi-Fi Calling’, a standardized 3GPP capability to support IMS services over untrusted
and unmanaged Wi-Fi networks, enabling traffic to be tunnelled over the Internet to a
mobile service provider’s evolved packet data gateway (ePDG). 3GPP has defined
session continuity between Wi-Fi based ePDG access and conventional cellular access,
enabling VoLTE services to be handed over as the device moves in and out of Wi-Fi
coverage.

Continuity for services between trusted Wi-Fi networks and 3GPP access networks is
being addressed in 3GPP Release 13 work item on network based IP flow mobility
(NBIFOM). NBIFOM is focused on devices that have simultaneous connectivity to 3GPP
access and WLAN/TWAG. New capabilities include the support of policies to route
specific flows over 3GPP access or Wi-Fi access as well as functionality to enable flows
to be moved between 3GPP access and Wi-Fi access when coverage from a particular
network is no longer available.

Compared with the TWAG and ePDG based approaches that integrate licensed and
license-exempt flows in the core network, two new 3GPP Release 13 approaches are
targeted at enabling license-exempt integration within the radio access network. The
first of these, license assisted access (LAA), has been the topic of intense industry
interest since it was first proposed back in 2013. Leveraging existing carrier
aggregation capabilities, LAA is expected to specify a demand driven listen before talk
(LBT) approach for integrating a standard component carrier suitable for operation in
license-exempt spectrum, which can be aggregated with those using licenced
spectrum. By using license-exempt frequencies to supplement the capacity of a
licensed-band LTE network, LTE-LAA offers the promise of expanding the range of

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
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spectrum options a mobile operator can harness in order to meet the rising data
demands of its users.

As with TWAG based license-exempt Wi-Fi, there are a core set of synergies between
small cells and LTE-LAA described in [2]. In terms of timing, LTE-LAA is expected to
be approved as a 3GPP Release 13 work item in June 2015, with capable devices likely
coming onto the market in 2017.

Most recently, a fourth approach enabling license-exempt integration into the radio
access network has been approved by 3GPP as a Release 13 work item. Contrasting
with LTE-LAA that uses an evolved LTE MAC/PHY operating in the license-exempt
spectrum, LTE-WLAN (radio level) aggregation (LWA) leverages unmodified 802.11
but promises to enable unified control and management of both 3GPP and WLAN
networks. The work item description [3] specifically calls out the use case for co-
located small cell deployment, whereby the LTE small cell and WLAN AP/controller are
physically integrated and connected via an internal interface. As with LTE-LAA, LWA
enables the LTE licensed network to be used as a control and mobility anchor. The
work item also addresses the case on non-collocated eNB/WLAN integration leveraging
earlier LTE dual connectivity capabilities.

Finally, complementing the two different 3GPP approaches for core network
integration (ePDG and TWAG), together with the two different 3GPP approaches for
access network integration (LAA and LWA), we have integration options that are
supported ‘above the core network’. One example of such a technique is multipath-
TCP (MP-TCP). MP-TCP is an effort being driven by the IETF to develop mechanisms
that enable the simultaneous use of multiple paths for supporting a TCP session. In
the licensed/license-exempt scenario, one of these paths will correspond to the
licensed radio system and the other to the license-exempt system.

Figure 1-1 Five alternative approaches for license-exempt integration

This paper looks to compare and contrast these different approaches to licensed and
license-exempt system integration, to examine how small cells can enhance the core
capabilities and to focus in on key system requirements that may lead operators to
prefer one approach versus alternatives.

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
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2. Comparison criteria

There are various approaches to comparing the different techniques for the integration
of license-exempt spectrum into carrier propositions. In particular, because we have
both LTE-based and Wi-Fi- based approaches, these include radio related aspects,
including performance and spectrum issues that include co-existence as well as QoS
support. However, those following the development of these systems will appreciate
that 3GPP, and the license-exempt stakeholders as a whole, are investing significant
effort towards investigating these aspects. It is not the intention of this paper to
replicate those studies, instead we focus on a complementary analysis and to help
operators understand the factors which differentiate the various options.

Here we list several different technical criteria used for such an architectural
comparison. Intentionally no priority has been assigned to the different criteria.
Specifically, some operators may already be executing plans to address highlighted
areas which then influence their perception of the architectural issue, e.g., investing in
Wi-Fi connection management capability and/or committing to network sharing
agreements. Further, this paper does not address the business case criteria for
operators that may advocate investment in one or more of the approaches described.

1. Support for integration over third party license-exempt networks:

Recognizing that (Wi-Fi) license-exempt networks are being extensively deployed in
residential, business and venues, one of the criteria that can be used to compare
alternative approaches is whether the technique requires the carrier to deploy the
access network themselves, or whether the techniques enables integration of license-
exempt spectrum over third party access networks.

2. Support for APN based service and session handover: One of the limitations
of pre-Release 12 TWAG deployments is the lack of support for end-to-end APN
signaling. In particular, APNs are used extensively on the licensed networks to provide
multiple logical layer 3 networks over a common infrastructure. Importantly, APNs are
typically used to segment IMS traffic from Internet traffic. Hence, in order to support
seamless handover of conversational services between licensed and licensed-exempt
networks, considerations such as APN support need to be appreciated.

3. Client SSID/connection management requirements: Connection management

clients provide a means of managing device connectivity, preferences and networks
within a Wi-Fi environment. Implementations typically vary per operating system and
manufacturer. The connection manager client manages different Wi-Fi networks
connections based on the device status, connection conditions, operator policies and
user profiles [GSMA PRD TS.22]. Hence, one of the barriers to accelerated adoption of
Wi-Fi by the service provider community has been around the heterogeneous
connection manager environment and how to enable the consistent enforcement of
operator policies.

4. Accelerated sharing support: There is increasing evidence that venue owners

are requesting that indoor radio systems can be shared between multiple operators
serving venue visitors. Whilst 3GPP has defined sharing techniques, these have not
been widely supported across all geographies and require significant investment to
adopt. This can be contrasted with Wi-Fi based license-exempt systems that offer
simple approaches to network partitioning and sharing.

5. EPC re-use: Operators have invested significantly in the policy enforcement,

charging and regulatory service capability delivered using standard 3GPP core network
elements as well as the integration of such into established OSS and BSS systems.

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
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Being able to leverage such investments for supporting license-exempt systems is a
key capability.

6. Capacity propositions: License-exempt systems can be deployed to augment

capacity by ‘offloading’ or load share with the licensed radio cellular network.

7. Coverage propositions: License-exempt systems can be defined for supporting

enhanced coverage capabilities that complement the coverage of the established
licensed radio cellular network.

8. SON/load balancing: The capability to effectively manage load between parallel

networks is a core SON use case for conventional macro cellular networks. As license-
exempt access gets integrated into converged offers, requirements have evolved to
include the ability to move/manage load and/or steer different traffic types between
licensed and license-exempt systems, e.g., ensuring that best effort traffic can be
efficiently supported over the license exempt access network.

9. Charging/billing aspects: Today, users are increasingly accustomed to

differentiated charging to be applied for license-exempt access versus conventional
licensed radio cellular network, with the licensed-exempt access frequently being zero
rated from an end-user perspective. Hence, being able to continue to be able to
differentiate the charging between licensed and license-exempt access may be a
requirement for certain operators.

10. Device availability: Although not strictly an architecture issue, there is

increasing recognition that there is an increasing imperative to integrate license-
exempt solution into existing cellular solutions and hence we include this criterion as a
comparison metric.

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
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3. Comparing alternative approaches

Using the ten criteria introduced in Section 2, the different approaches for enabling
license-exempt integration are compared in the table below. Specifically, solutions
based on Release 11-TWAG capability that have no impact on devices but do not
deliver APN or handover capabilities are contrasted with evolved TWAG propositions
defined from Release 12.

1
‘Load balancing’ based on RAN Assistance coupled to NBIFOM defined in R13 TR 23.861
2
Only available in iOS for a limited subset of applications
3
Could use MOCN based sharing – but likely to be difficult to accelerate adoption based on license
exempt/small cells drivers alone
4
LWA non-collocated deployment can be shared between LTE operators

Table 3-1 Comparison of alternative approaches to license-exempt integration

Whereas table 3-1 describes the characteristics of the license-exempt scheme in

general, our LAA paper, [2] together with the 3GPP LWA work item description already
call out the benefits of combining small cells with LAA and/or LWA base license-
exempt access. The following sections examine the benefits of combining different
systems.

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
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4. Combined LAA/LWA with small cells

One of the clear deficiencies of LAA and LWA propositions is that they require
coverage by the licensed spectrum in order to be able to access the additional capacity
of the license-exempt system. With much of the capacity hotspots being associated
with indoor consumption, this then requires coherent coverage between the license-
exempt system and the licensed cellular system. While this may be difficult to achieve
from a licensed macro capability, if the licensed system is delivered using a small cell
that is co-located with the license-exempt capability, then coverage coherency means
that both coverage and capacity propositions can be addressed, as illustrated in Table
4-1.

5
Could be based on cell ID/TAI and applied to charging of all SC traffic
Table 4-1 Combined LAA/LWA and small cell solution

Table 4-1 illustrates the key benefits of integrating small cells into LAA and LWA
propositions, being able to support both coverage and capacity propositions while
potentially addressing charging requirements.

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5. Combined R-11 TWAG with ePDG

The Small Cell Forum’s previous work with the WBA has examined Release 11 TWAG
system architecture issues [1]. One of the significant shortcomings of Release 11
TWAG systems is that, because they are required to operate with unaltered Wi-Fi
devices, they are unable to support end-to-end APN concepts and hence handover
capability. This has meant that the current focus for such systems has been around
offloading ‘Internet’ traffic from the cellular network, rather than voice support.

This can be contrasted with ePDG based capability which leverages IKEv2 signalling to
enable end-to-end APN concepts and handover support. Specifically, this capability is
being leveraged to support continuity of access to the IMS-APN based services. These
conversational services are unique in that typically unable to recover from IP address
and/or network changes. This is in contrast to those services delivered using ‘Internet’
traffic, corresponding to streaming, interactive or background services, that today are
able to mask IP address and/or network changes from the end consumer.

Hence, coupling ePDG based license-exempt functionality together with Release 11

TWAG capability enables those handover scenarios to be supported, as shown in Table
5-1, especially since such can be delivered using currently available devices.

Table 5-1 Combined R11-TWAG and ePDG solution

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6. Combined R-11 TWAG with MP-TCP

Enhancements to TWAG capabilities in Release 12 and beyond are focused on end-to-

end APN support together with associated handover, together with load balancing. An
alternative approach to support such functions is to combine current Release 11 TWAG
functionality with MP-TCP approaches. MP-TCP is then used to provide simultaneous
connectivity and a subset of network based IP flow mobility (NBIFOM) capabilities.
Specifically, ‘session continuity’ between licensed and license-exempt systems can be
supported using the ADD-ADDR/REMOVE-ADDR procedures with PM-TCP congestion
load balancing capability being used to distribute traffic over the sub-flows operating
over the licensed and license-exempt access networks.

6
Doesn’t provide handover for real-time media
Table 6-1 Combined R11-TWAG and MP-TCP solution

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
Issue date: 09 June 2015
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7. Connection manager requirements

When comparing the different approaches to license-exempt integration, it is clear

that, in contrast to LAA based license-exempt systems, those that leverage Wi-Fi, i.e.,
LWA, TWAG based approaches, as well as ePDG, all require some form of connection
management capability, as illustrated in Table 7-1.

Table 7-1 Connection management requirements

Importantly, as it relates to connection management capability, the Wi-Fi Alliances

Hotspot 2.0 release 2 specifications define standardized connection management
capability, including the on-line sign up protocol, operator policy provisioning, ANQP
discovery of NAI realm and/or 3GPP cellular network information. Hence, it can be
anticipated that the requirement for a native connection-manager capability will
increasing be addressed by WFA’s Hotspot 2.0 client certification program.

Report title: Small cells and License Exempt Spectrum: Carrier Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Calling, LAA and LWA
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8. Conclusions

Contrasting with other activities that have focused on the radio performance
comparisons of alternative license-exempt systems, the Small Cell Forum has
compared and contrasted the architectural aspects associated with five different
approaches to licensed and license-exempt system integration.

Key takeaways from this exercise include:

• It makes perfect sense to couple the LAA license-exempt system with small
cells and equally couple the LWA license-exempt system with small cells. The
native capacity enhancing capability of LAA and LWA can be coupled with
small cells to enable the combined approach to address both coverage and
capacity value propositions.
• For operators currently investing in TWAG based systems, integrating ePDG
into those offers enables IMS-APN based services to be supported as well as
handover of conversational services between licensed and license-exempt
systems.
• One of the key differentiators of LAA and LWA based systems is the
integrated SON/Load balancing capability. Integration of RAN Assistance into
NBIFOM will be critical for enhanced TWAG propositions to compete with
LAA/LWA capabilities. Alternative approaches based on MP-TCP may emerge
to address load-balancing requirements.
• When contrasting LAA and LWA approaches to license exempt integration into
the access network, the key trade-offs in terms of requirements look to be
around the enhanced neutral host capability of LWA, versus the lack of
connection management functionality necessary for deploying LAA.
Accordingly, a well-executed LAA neutral host/sharing strategy may diminish
the unique benefits of the LWA approach to license-exempt integration.
Conversely, wide scale native connection management capability in devices,
e.g., as is being promoted by Release 2 of Hotspot 2.0, may diminish the
unique benefits of the LAA approach to license-exempt integration.

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Issue date: 09 June 2015
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References
1 [SCF089] ‘Next generation hotspot-based integrated small cell Wi-Fi’, Small Cell
Forum
2 [SCF094] ‘LTE-LAA: At its best with small cells’, Small Cell Forum
3 3GPP RP-150510 ‘LTE-WLAN radio level integration and interworking
enhancement’

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Issue date: 09 June 2015
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