3G LTE Tutorial - 3GPP Long Term
Evolution
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 is a 3G or as some would call it a 3.99G technology, but with
further additions the technology can be migrated to a full 4G standard and here it is
known 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.
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
(UMTS)
HSDPA /
HSPA+
LTE
HSUPA
Max downlink speed
384 k
14 M
28 M
100M
128 k
5.7 M
11 M
50 M
150 ms
100 ms
50ms
~10 ms
bps
Max uplink speed
bps
Latency
round trip time
(max)
approx
3GPP releases
Rel
Rel 5 / 6
Rel 7
Rel 8
2008 / 9
2009 / 10
CDMA
OFDMA / SC-
99/4
Approx years of initial
2003 /
2005 / 6
roll out
HSDPA
2007 / 8
HSUPA
Access methodology
CDMA
CDMA
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
What is LTE? - 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.
WHAT IS LTE? - BASIC SPECIFICATIONS
PARAMETER
DETAILS
Peak downlink
100 (SISO), 172 (2x2 MIMO), 326 (4x4
speed
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:
Uplink:
3 - 4 times Rel 6 HSDPA
2 -3 x Rel 6 HSUPA
WHAT IS LTE? - BASIC SPECIFICATIONS
PARAMETER
Access schemes
DETAILS
OFDMA (Downlink)
SC-FDMA (Uplink)
Modulation types
QPSK,
16QAM,
supported
downlink)
64QAM (Uplink and
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.
What are the 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
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
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
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.
