Carrier Aggregation: UE Capability

To configure Carrier Aggregation, Network send Secondary Cell (SCell) configuration to only those UEs which are release 10 and support Carrier Aggregation. Otherwise, UE wouldn't be able to process the SCell configuration from the network and abnormal things will happen. Also, network should be aware of for which all band combinations CA can be configured i.e. which band's cell should be used for SCell.

Now question here is, how would network know if UE is supporting Carrier Aggregation or not and if supporting, which all band combinations can be used for CA?? The answer is UECapabilityInformation Message. During Lte Registration procedure, UE reports detailed Carrier Aggregation (CA) capability in UECapabilityInfomration Message. Please refer the following MSC:

3GPP References

As per spec 36,331, UECapabilityInformation has following release 10 IEs:

RRM functions

Radio Bearer Control (RBC)

The establishment, maintenance and release of Radio Bearers involve the configuration of radio resources associated with them. When setting up a radio bearer for a service, radio bearer control (RBC) takes into account the overall resource situation in E-UTRAN, the QoS requirements of in-progress sessions and the QoS requirement for the new service. RBC is also concerned with the maintenance of radio bearers of in-progress sessions at the change of the radio resource situation due to mobility or other reasons. RBC is involved in the release of radio resources associated with radio bearers at session termination, handover or at other occasions. RBC is located in the eNB.

Radio Admission Control (RAC)

The task of radio admission control (RAC) is to admit or reject the establishment requests for new radio bearers. In order to do this, RAC takes into account the overall resource situation in E-UTRAN, the QoS requirements, the priority levels and the provided QoS of in-progress sessions and the QoS requirement of the new radio bearer request. The goal of RAC is to ensure high radio resource utilization (by accepting radio bearer requests as long as radio resources available) and at the same time to ensure proper QoS for in-progress sessions (by rejecting radio bearer requests when they cannot be accommodated). RAC is located in the eNB.

Connection Mobility Control (CMC)

Connection mobility control (CMC) is concerned with the management of radio resources in connection with idle or connected mode mobility. In idle mode, the cell reselection algorithms are controlled by setting of parameters (thresholds and hysteresis values) that define the best cell and/or determine when the UE should select a new cell.

Also, E-UTRAN broadcasts parameters that configure the UE measurement and reporting procedures. In connected mode, the mobility of radio connections has to be supported. Handover decisions may be based on UE and eNB measurements. In addition, handover decisions may take other inputs, such as neighbour cell load, traffic distribution, transport and hardware resources and Operator defined policies into account. CMC is located in the eNB.

Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA) - Packet Scheduling (PS)

The task of dynamic resource allocation (DRA) or packet scheduling (PS) is to allocate and de-allocate resources (including buffer and processing resources and resource blocks (i.e. chunks)) to user and control plane packets. DRA involves several sub-tasks, including the selection of radio bearers whose packets are to be scheduled and managing the necessary resources (e.g. the power levels or the specific resource blocks used). PS typically takes into account the QoS requirements associated with the radio bearers, the channel quality information for UEs, buffer status, interference situation, etc. DRA may also take into account restrictions or preferences on some of the available resource blocks or resource block sets due to inter-cell interference coordination considerations. DRA is located in the eNB.

Inter-cell Interference Coordination (ICIC)

Inter-cell interference coordination has the task to manage radio resources such that inter-cell interference is kept under control. ICIC mechanism includes a frequency domain component and time domain component. ICIC is inherently a multi-cell RRM function that needs to take into account information (e.g. the resource usage status and traffic load situation) from multiple cells. The preferred ICIC method may be different in the uplink and downlink. The frequency domain ICIC manages radio resource, notably the radio resource blocks.

For the time domain ICIC, Almost Blank Subframes (ABSs) are used to protect resources receiving strong inter-cell interference. MBSFN subframes can be used for time domain ICIC when they are also included in ABS patterns. The eNB cannot configure MBSFN subframes [4] as ABSs when these MBSFN subframes are used for other usages (e.g., MBMS, LCS). ICIC is located in the eNB.

The MME Function

The MME Function

• NAS signalling
• NAS signalling security
• AS Security control
• Inter CN node signalling for mobility between 3GPP access networks
• Idle mode UE Reachability (including control and execution of paging retransmission)
• Tracking Area list management (for UE in idle and active mode)
• PDN GW and Serving GW selection
• MME selection for handovers with MME change
• SGSN selection for handovers to 2G or 3G 3GPP access networks
• Roaming
• Authentication
• Bearer management functions including dedicated bearer establishment
• Support for PWS (which includes ETWS and CMAS) message transmission.

eNB Functionalities

• Functions for Radio Resource Management: Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink (scheduling)
• IP header compression and encryption of user data stream
• Selection of an MME at UE attachment when no routing to an MME can be determined from the information provided by the UE
• Routing of User Plane data towards Serving Gateway
• Scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME)
• Scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O&M)
• Measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling
• Scheduling and transmission of PWS (which includes ETWS and CMAS) messages (originated from the MME).

What are Femtocells?

In telecommunications, a femtocell is a small, low-power cellular base station, typically designed for use in a home or small business. It connects to the service provider’s network via broadband (such as DSL or cable); current designs typically support two to four active mobile phones in a residential setting, and eight to 16 active mobile phones in enterprise settings. A femtocell allows service providers to extend service coverage indoors or at the 

cell edge, especially where access would otherwise be limited or unavailable. Although much attention is focused on WCDMA, the concept is applicable to all standards, including GSM, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WiMAX and LTE solutions.

Femtocells have an output power less than 0.1 Watt, similar to other wireless home network equipment, and will typically allow up to about 4 simultaneous calls/data sessions at any time. Mobile phones connected to a femtocell will typically operate at levels similar to other wireless phones used in the home.

Femto cells or femtocells are small cellular telecommunications base stations that can be installed in residential or business environments either as single stand-alone items or in clusters to provide improved cellular coverage within a building. It is widely known that cellular coverage, especially for data transmission where good signal strengths are needed is not as good within buildings. By using a small internal base station - femtocell (femto

cell), the cellular performance can be improved along with the possible provision of additional services.

In 3GPP terminology, a Home NodeB (HNB) is a 3G femtocell. A Home eNodeB (HeNB) is an LTE femtocell.

Typically the range of a microcell is less than two kilometers wide, a picocell is 200 meters or less, and a femtocell is on the order of 10 meters, although AT&T calls its product, with a range of 40 feet (12 m), a "microcell".

What is EVM?

EVM stands for Error Vector Magnitude. According to 3GPP TS 36.101 (eNB Rx) and 36.104 (UE Rx) section 6.5.2, the EVM measures the difference between the reference waveform and the measured waveform. The EVM is calculated after the FFT (UE Rx) or IDFT (eNB Rx) as the square root of the ratio of the mean vector power to the mean reference power given in %. The EVM formula is given in TS 36.101, annex F2 (eNB Rx) and TS 36.104, annex E2 (UE Rx).

How a UE knows which PDCCH part to listen in LTE?

UE knows which PDCCH part to listen from the RRC configuration (for dedicated resources). For the initial connection and broadcasted info the UE uses predefined PDCCH configuration and the one obtained from System Information.

Who is the Best in 4G LTE Verizon or AT&T

Who is the Best?
See Detail LTE Comparision AT&T vs Verizon
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LTE Map-338 Investments from Across the world

LTE Deployment Map-338 Investments from Across the world

LTE Deployment Map

GSA Confirms LTE Investments by Telecoms Operators in More Than 100 Countries

The GSA (Global mobile Suppliers Association) has published an update to its Evolution to LTE report which confirms 338 telecoms operators in 101 countries have committed to commercial LTE network deployments or are engaged in trials, technology testing or studies.

The report covers LTE FDD and LTE TDD technologies.

LTE commercial network launches per year:

• 2009 = 2 networks launched
• 2010 = 15 networks launched (year-end cumulative total = 17)
• 2011 = 30 networks launched (year-end cumulative total = 47)
• 2012 to July 11th = 42 networks launched (total to date = 89)

GSA end 2012 outlook raised again, to 150 networks in 64 countries

4G Explained: What Is LTE?

We’ve all seen the ads from the major carriers touting “the largest 4G network in the country,” but what does that even mean? And what’s the difference between AT&T’s two 4G networks, one that’s LTE and one that’s not? And what is LTE?

The most notable change you’ll experience when moving from a 3G to a LTE device is a dramatic speed upgrade. LTE networks are on average 10 times faster than their 3G counterparts. Sites load faster, Netflix doesn’t pause every five seconds, and apps download at greater speed.

Also Check the Road Map for LTE and HSPA+

Services Provided by Physical (L1) Layer

The physical layer offers data transport services to higher layers. The access to these services is through the use of transport channels via the MAC sub-layer. A transport block is defined as the data delivered by MAC layer to the physical layer and vice versa. Transport blocks are delivered once every TTI (Transmission Time Interval).

The physical layer is expected to perform the following functions in order to provide the data transport service:

- Error detection on the transport channel and indication to higher layers

- FEC encoding/decoding of the transport channel

- Hybrid ARQ soft-combining

- Rate matching of the coded transport channel to physical channels

- Mapping of the coded transport channel onto physical channels

- Power weighting of physical channels

- Modulation and demodulation of physical channels

- Frequency and time synchronisation

- Radio characteristics measurements and indication to higher layers

- Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing

- Transmit Diversity (TX diversity)

- Beamforming

- RF processing. (Note: RF processing aspects are specified in the TS 36.100)

Is LTE Performance Good? See the Facts

Firstly, substantial increases in peak LTE speeds do not equate to similar increases in network capacity. LTE maximises the data rate available to end users that experience excellent radio conditions (for example close to a base station). However, mobile users that experience poor signal conditions will continue to achieve relatively poor data rates. Hence, it is only a lucky few within a base station coverage area that will experience data rates approaching the peak rates possible. It is true that these users will increase the average throughput delivered by the base station, but by nowhere near the magnitude suggested by the peak data rates.

LTE Performance

Secondly, the highest LTE speeds are only achieved through the use of  large spectrum allocations – ideally 2x20MHz – which is four times the 2x5MHz spectrum used by W-CDMA and HSPA.

Taken from UnwiredInsight

Is LTE require in Telecom?

If you have question in your mind on LTE requirement in Telecom than this is the right read for you.

Higher data rates: Obviously this is a general requirement requested from any new system.

Quality of service, Lower delay: To enable true convergence between real-time and non-real-time services quality of service awareness is of absolute importance. This must already be paid attention to during the design of the physical layer. So LTE/EPC will be QoS aware from the very beginning on and not have QoS as an add-on, which is usually not very efficient.

Expected New Spectrum allocation: It is expected to get some new frequency bands assigned to 3G. LTE should be ready to use these bands.

Flexible Bandwidth usage: LTE should be able to deal with frequency bands of different size. So a fixed bandwidth ultra-wideband system is not of big use. Rather LTE should be able to scale the frequency requirements dependent on the operator’s choice.

Reduced Terminal Complexity: 3G terminals are very complex and thus suffer often from poor performance due to hardware limitations and very often also software limitations (or bugs). LTE terminals should have essentially lower complexity. This would also offer the possibility to implement other performance enhancement techniques later on.

These points result in a long list of requirements for LTE/EPC. So 3GPP/ETSI
demand to have downlink bit rates of greater than 100 Mbps and uplink bit rates of 50 Mbps. Of high importance is also to increase the cell edge bit rates compared to HSPA.

Evolved Packet Core

A white Paper from Alcatel Lucent on Introduction to Evolved Packet Core.

This white paper provides a brief introduction to Evolved Packet Core — a new mobile core for LTE. Herein, key concepts and functional elements-EPC gateways (Serving Gateway and Public Data Network Gateway), Mobility Management Entity (MME) and Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)-are outlined, as well as key changes in LTE requirements imposed on the Evolved Packet Core, and the deployment challenges.

Table of contents

1 1. Executive summary

2 2. Evolved Packet Core overview

2 2.1 EPC: Radical changes in the network

2 2.2 EPC: Radical changes in the network

3 3. EPC components description

4 3.1 Serving Gateway

4 3.2 Packet Data Network Gateway

5 3.3 Mobility Management Entity

6 3.4 Policy and Charging Rules Function

6 4. EPC challenges

8 5. Abbreviations

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LTE Drive Test Demo Video

LTE Drive Test Demo from Alcatel Lucent.


LTE Drive Test from resedential area covered by some LTE sites.


Click Here to Watch Full Video

The magic of 4G LTE. Capturing moments reinvented

A very Good Video from Alcatel Lucent.
Gives info on LTE Application for normal human being.
Transform the way you send and receive live HD video and images with LTE devices


Click Here


Watch Full Video on The magic of 4G LTE. Capturing moments reinvented.

LTE Infographics

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution. Its full name is 3GPP Long Term Evolution for the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, or 3GPP UMTS LTE for short.

LTE is the next generation of wireless technology. LTE is not just the next generation of wireless technology. LTE is an ongoing, living standard. LTE is a standard that will continuously improve over time.

LTE is a very good, easily deployable network technology, offering high speeds and low latencies over long distances.

LTE InfoGraphics

Air Interface Characteristics

Air Interface Characteristics

Air Interface Characteristics

• OFDMA (DL) and SC-FDMA ( UL)
• TDD/FDD/H-FDD
• Several Frequency Bands (Ex: 700 to 2500 MHz)
• Two Radio Frame Structures (Type 1 for FDD,Type 2 TDD)
• Numerous Multiple Antenna Techniques
• Scalable Bandwidth (1 4 3 5 10 15 & 20MHz)

Value of RSRP, RSRQ, RSSI and SINR to get Good Data Rate

RSRP, RSRQ ,RSSI are the measurements that the UE takes for cell reselection or handover puroposes. It is not used for the purposes of the transmission settings, but to take the decision (by the UE – in case of cell reselection; or eNB – in case of handover) to move the UE to other cell. In the case of handover, the UE sends the measurement results according to the eNB commands (e.g. periodically or triggered by event). The power of the eNB is constant and does not depend on the RSRP / RSRQ / RSSI measurements.

The measurements and feedback that relate to the transmission settings are known as CQI (channel quality indicator). Depending on that value (CQI index), the eNB takes the decision to assign a particular MCS (modulation and coding scheme) for a particular UE. The higher the CQI (ranging from 0 up to 15) the higher the modulation and coding scheme and the higher the throughput. However it is up to the implemented receiver algorithms in the UE, at which SNIR the good throughput can be achieved (the algorithms are vendor dependent so the “good SNIR” may vary for various UEs).