Carrier Aggregation

Technical Poster

This technical poster provides only a general overview and does not constitute any offers or commitments. For detailed
information, see the product or feature documentation delivered with the software.

Background
Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) is one of the key 5G application scenarios. Typical eMBB
applications include 2K/4K videos and VR/AR, which require extraordinarily high data rates.
However, the downlink peak data rates required by eMBB are much higher than, for example,
1.4–1.7 Gbit/s, which can be delivered by the largest cell bandwidth (100 MHz) in FR1.
Increasing cell bandwidths significantly raises peak data rates. Just like more vehicles can pass on
wider roads within a certain unit of time, with larger bandwidths, more data can be transmitted
within a certain unit of time, leading to higher peak data rates. Nevertheless, it is hard to obtain
contiguous large bandwidths. One method of overcoming this issue is by utilizing discrete spectrum
owned by an operator to deliver fast data services.

Larger bandwidths required No contiguous spectrum

eMBB requires higher uplink and downlink In FDD refarming scenarios, the majority
peak data rates, which cannot be delivered of spectrum owned by operators is discrete,
by a 100 MHz cell: limiting peak data rates.
• Required uplink peak data rate: 10 Gbit/s
• Required downlink peak data rate: 20 Gbit/s

Definition
CA allows for aggregation of multiple contiguous or non-contiguous carriers to increase bandwidths
as well as uplink and downlink peak data rates. This also resolves the discrete spectrum issue by
increasing the utilization of discrete spectrum.
PCC
CC 1
SCC
F1 Cell 1 (PCell) UE
F1 Cell 1
UE
F2 Cell 2 (SCell)

PCell: The primary cell is the cell that a CA UE camps on.

SCell: A secondary cell is a cell that a base station configures for a CA UE through an RRC message.
This cell provides the CA UE with additional radio resources.
CC: Component carriers are the carriers that are aggregated for a CA UE.
PCC: The primary component carrier is the carrier of the PCell.
SCC: A secondary component carrier is the carrier of an SCell.
F1 and F2 denote two carrier frequencies.
CA enables a UE to transmit and receive data in both the PCell and SCells. Therefore, the coverage of
the PCell and SCells must overlap.
CA works between intra- or inter-base-station cells.
Intra-Base-Station CA

F2

F1 F1

F2 F1
F2 F2
Intra-base-station carriers Intra-base-station Intra-base-station
with one providing edge different-coverage co-coverage carriers
coverage for another carriers

Inter-Base-Station CA

F1

F2 F1 F2

CA Types
According to the relationship between the frequency bands to which CCs belong, CA includes the
following types:
• Intra-band contiguous CA: CCs that belong to the same frequency band and are contiguous in the
frequency domain are aggregated.
• Intra-band non-contiguous CA: CCs that belong to the same frequency band and are
non-contiguous in the frequency domain are aggregated.
• Inter-band CA: CCs that belong to different frequency bands are aggregated.
Intra-band contiguous CA and intra-band non-contiguous CA work with FDD+FDD and TDD+TDD
band combinations. Inter-band CA works with FDD+FDD, TDD+TDD, and FDD+TDD band
combinations. Each band in the combinations is compatible with either a PCC or an SCC.
CC 1 CC 2
Intra-band
contiguous CA
Frequency band A
Band combinations:
Intra-band CC 1 CC 2 FDD+FDD and TDD+TDD
non-contiguous CA

Frequency band A

CC 1 CC 2
Inter-band CA Band combinations:
FDD+FDD, TDD+TDD, and
FDD+TDD
Frequency band A Frequency band B

Key Technologies
CA involves the following key technologies:
• SCell configuration: New SCells are configured for UEs.
• SCell change: SCells are changed for UEs to cells with better signal quality.
• SCell activation/deactivation: Only activated SCells can transmit and receive data. After being
configured, SCells are not activated until certain conditions are met. Deactivated SCells cannot
transmit or receive data.
• SCell removal: SCells with signal quality dropping below the threshold for CA event A2 are removed.
• SCell CSI-RS beam scheme: In asymmetric CA, the CSI-RS beam sweeping function is used to obtain
the CSI-RS beam directions for UEs in their SCells.
• CA SRS carrier switching: This function enables downlink-only SCells to obtain SRS resources for
better downlink beamforming performance in these SCells.
• Fast CA: This function enables data transmission to start simultaneously in the PCell and SCells,
improving CA user experience.
• Flexible carrier management: This function reduces the hardware resource consumption of CA UEs
and increases the number of RRC_CONNECTED UEs that can access the network.

1 SCell Configuration
SCell configuration is triggered for a CA UE during initial access, an incoming handover, or an
incoming RRC connection reestablishment.
A frequency set for CA must be manually configured. Cells on all frequencies in the set can be
configured as SCells. The gNodeB selects these frequencies in sequence for SCell configuration until
the number of SCells reaches the maximum.
Blind SCell configuration requires that the switch for such a configuration be turned on and that a
blind-configurable cell operate on a selected candidate SCC frequency. The gNodeB performs blind
SCell configuration first. If blind SCell configuration fails, the gNodeB configures SCells based on
measurements.
Blind SCell configuration

F1
Cell 1 (PCell)
F2
Cell 2 (SCell)
Cell 2 is configured as an SCell in a blind manner.

Measurement-based SCell configuration

3
3 1
1
F1 Cell 1 (PCell) 2
F2 2 Cell 3 F2 F1 F2
Cell 2 (SCell) Cell 1 (PCell) Cell 2 (SCell)

1 The base station serving the PCell delivers event A5 measurement configurations.
2 The UE sends measurement reports, in which cell 2 has the best signal quality.
3 Cell 2 is configured as an SCell.

Intra-base-station CA: Blind configuration is recommended in scenarios of co-coverage carriers. Measurement-

based configuration is recommended in scenarios of carriers with one providing edge coverage for another and
different-coverage carriers.
Inter-base-station CA: Only measurement-based configuration is allowed.

2 SCell Change
If a UE receives better signal quality from an intra-frequency neighboring cell of an SCell than from
that SCell, the gNodeB can change the SCell to ensure signal quality for the UE.
After receiving measurement reports, the gNodeB attempts to configure a cell in the reports as an
SCell. (The cells in the reports are attempted in descending order of signal quality.) If the attempt
succeeds, the gNodeB changes the SCell. If the attempt fails, the gNodeB does not change the SCell.
 Before SCell change After SCell change

F1 Cell 1 (PCell) 2 F1 Cell 1 (PCell)

1
F2 Cell 3 F2 F2 Cell 3 (SCell) F2
Cell 2 (SCell) Cell 2

Cell 3 has better signal quality than cell 2.

1 The gNodeB delivers event A6 2 The UE sends measurement reports, 3 The SCell is changed to cell 3.
measurement configurations. in which cell 3 has the best signal quality.

3 SCell Activation/Deactivation
UEs consume control resources in activated SCells. To conserve resources for both UEs and SCells,
SCells are activated only when the traffic volume is large and are deactivated when the traffic
volume is small.
The traffic volume is large for a UE if the PCell cannot transmit all downlink data buffered for the
UE within a certain period of time. If the PCell can, the traffic volume is small.
In addition to traffic volume–triggered SCell deactivation, SCells are also deactivated when their
CQIs are lower than a threshold.
Downlink data buffered for the UE

Cell 2 (SCell) activated Cell 2 (SCell) deactivated

All can be sent by

the PCell in a certain
period of time.

F1 Cell 1 (PCell) SCell deactivation F1 Cell 1 (PCell)

F2 Cell 3 F2 SCell activation F2 Cell 3 F2

Cell 2 (SCell) Cell 2 (SCell)

All cannot be sent by

the PCell in a certain
period of time.

Downlink data buffered for the UE

4 SCell Removal
SCells can be removed dynamically or as triggered by event A2 or SCell unavailability.
Triggered by event A2: In low-frequency scenarios, when the signal quality of an SCell is lower than
the threshold for CA event A2, the UE sends measurement reports, and then the gNodeB removes
the SCell.
Before SCell removal After SCell removal

3
1
F1 Cell 1 (PCell) F1 Cell 1 (PCell)
2
F2 Cell 2 (SCell) Cell 3 F2 F2 Cell 3 F2
Cell 2

The signal quality of cell 2 deteriorates.

1 The gNodeB delivers event A2 measurement configurations.
2 The UE sends measurement reports which contain information about cell 2.
3 The gNodeB removes the SCell.
Triggered by SCell unavailability: If an SCell becomes unavailable due to faults, worsened
inter-base-station transmission, or other reasons, the gNodeB sends an RRCReconfiguration
message to remove the SCell.
Dynamically: In high-frequency scenarios, the gNodeB dynamically removes SCells when the
amount of hardware resources consumed by RRC_CONNECTED UEs on a baseband processing unit
or in a sector exceeds a specified threshold.

5 SCell CSI-RS Beam Scheme

For downlink CA to take effect, the gNodeB must obtain the directions of CSI-RS beams for a UE in
the PCell and SCells. In asymmetric CA, some SCells are configured only for the downlink and the
gNodeB cannot obtain the directions of the beams for the UE in the SCells based on the uplink. As a
result, the SCells cannot be used.
If the same RF module serves an SCell and the PCell, the CSI-RS beam directions for the UE in these
cells will be the same. The gNodeB considers the CSI-RS beam direction in the PCell to be the
direction in the SCell. This is the case with intra-band CA. In inter-band CA, however, the beam
direction in the PCell cannot be used by SCells because SCells and the PCell generally do not share
the same RF module.
To address this issue, the CSI-RS beam sweeping function is used to obtain the CSI-RS beam
directions for UEs in their SCells when asymmetric CA is used and the PCell and SCells are not served
by the same RF module.

Co-RF module deployment: same CSI-RS beam Different-RF module deployment: different CSI-RS
direction in the PCell and SCell beam directions in the PCell and SCell

RF module RF modules

Beam 31
Beam 3
...

Beam 30
2 2 Beam 2
PCell
PCell
...

Beam 16
Beam
Beam31
Beam 8 Beam 0
...

Beam 0
... Optimal beam Beam 2
in the PCell 1 Beam 1
1
Beam 0
Beam 8
SCell
SCell Optimal beam in the SCell

1 The SCell uses the same beam information as 1 The gNodeB performs CSI-RS
that in the PCell and sends CSI-RSs on the beam beam sweeping in the SCell of a
that is shared with the PCell. 0 1 2 3 UE to obtain optimal beams for
2 The UE performs measurements for CQI, PMI, the UE in the SCell, and it sends
and RI based on the CSI-RSs sent by the SCell. CSI-RSs on these beams.
Then, the UE reports the measurement results of 2 The UE performs measurements for CQI, PMI, and RI
the SCell on the PUCCH or PUSCH in the PCell. based on the CSI-RSs sent by the SCell. Then, the UE
reports the measurement results of the SCell on the
PUCCH or PUSCH in the PCell.

6 CA SRS Carrier Switching

There are two types of SCCs in CA: uplink+downlink SCCs and downlink-only SCCs. SCells on
downlink-only SCCs lack SRS-based weights, compromising their downlink beamforming
performance if they are TDD cells.
SRS carrier switching enables downlink-only SCells to obtain SRS resources for better downlink
beamforming performance in these SCells.
PCC 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
D D D S U D D D S U D D D S U D D D S U Available uplink
resources
SRS SRS
Unavailable uplink
SCC 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
resources
D D D S U D D D S U D D D S U D D D S U

SRS SRS

7 Fast CA
After the gNodeB serving the PCell distributes part of the data buffered at the RLC layer to an
activated SCell of a CA UE, the SCell must request PUCCH resources from the PCell. As a result, the
first downlink scheduling of the UE in the SCell begins two to three slots later than in the PCell.
Because of this, the experience of the CA UE is not optimal in bursts of traffic.
Fast CA enables data transmission to be simultaneously started in the PCell and SCell, improving CA
user experience. To ensure simultaneous start of the transmission, this function allows the resources
for SCell-related PUCCH information to be allocated at the same time as a CA data split, which is
triggered as long as the buffered RLC data volume for the SCell-activated UE is greater than or
equal to the downlink threshold for a CA data split.

Non-fast CA
Inbound data

PCell Slot 0 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 5

First scheduling PUCCH resource

in the PCell PUCCH resource allocation for
Data split request for slot 3 slot 3
SCell Slot 0 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 5

2-slot waiting First scheduling

in the SCell
Fast CA
Inbound data

PCell Slot 0 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 5

Data split and First scheduling

PUCCH resource in the PCell
allocation for slot 1
SCell Slot 0 Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot 3 Slot 4 Slot 5

First scheduling
in the SCell

8 Flexible Carrier Management

A CA UE with SCells configured consumes the same license quantity in terms of the number of
RRC_CONNECTED UEs as it does before the SCells are configured. However, the CA UE consumes a
hardware resource unit in each of its serving cells. With 2CC aggregation for all UEs on the network,
the maximum allowed number of RRC_CONNECTED UEs is halved. In high-frequency multi-carrier
CA scenarios, this number is proportionally lower.
To address this issue, flexible carrier management has been introduced. When the amount of
hardware resources consumed by RRC_CONNECTED UEs on a baseband processing unit or in a
sector exceeds a specified threshold, the base station dynamically performs SCell management to
reduce the hardware resource consumption by CA UEs and increase the number of
RRC_CONNECTED UEs that can access the network.
Engineering Deployment
Base station models:
3900 and 5900 series base stations, and DBS3900 and DBS5900 LampSite base stations
Boards:
• Intra-band CA: All NR-capable main control boards and BBPs support this function.
• Intra-FR inter-band CA: All NR-capable main control boards and BBPs support this
function.
Hardware • Inter-base-station CA: The UMPTg series, UMPTga series, and UMPTe series main
control boards and UBBPg series BBPs support this function.
RF modules:
• Intra-band CA: All NR-capable RF modules support this function.
• Intra-FR inter-band CA: All NR-capable RF modules support this function.
• Inter-base-station CA: All NR-capable RF modules working in low frequency bands
support this function.

Feature licenses: Intra-band CA, Intra-FR Inter-Band CA, and Inter-gNodeB CA

License

In network planning, requirements for frequencies, coverage, cells, and other aspects
must be met, including:
Frequency requirements:
There are at least two frequencies available on the live network. The
NRCellFreqRelation MO has been configured.
Coverage requirements:
The coverage areas provided by the cells involved in CA must overlap. The smaller
Networking the overlapping range, the smaller the area in which CA takes effect.
Cell requirements:
The inter-frequency NR cell relationships have been configured (using the
NRCellRelation MO). PCI conflicts between intra-frequency cells must be prevented
in network planning.

Mutually exclusive relationships with other functions must be considered, such as

High-speed Railway Superior Experience and Hyper Cell.
Software

1. Turn on the CA switch.

2. Set CA-related parameters:
• Thresholds for events A2, A5, and A6
• Blind SCell configuration switch
Activation • Blind-configurability of a cell
• Downlink and uplink thresholds for SCell activation and deactivation
• CQI threshold for SCell deactivation

Glossary AR augmented reality CA carrier aggregation CC component carrier

CQI channel quality indicator CSI-RS channel state information-reference signal
eMBB enhanced Mobile Broadband FR1 Frequency Range 1 FR2 Frequency Range 2
PCC primary component carrier PCell primary cell PMI precoding matrix indication
PUCCH physical uplink control channel PUSCH physical uplink shared channel RI rank indication
SCC secondary component carrier SCell secondary cell VR virtual reality

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