LTE-Advanced Evolution in Releases 12 - 14 New services to pave the way to 5G

Nokia Networks

Nokia Networks white paperLTE-Advanced Evolution in Releases 12 - 14

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Contents

Introduction 3

Internet of Things (IoT) 4

Public safety 5

Broadcast services 6

Vehicular communication 8

Enhanced radio capabilities 9

Summary 11

IntroductionThe use of 3G and 4G networks has increased tremendously in recent years and the rapid evolution of mobile broadband will continue with 5G technology. The commercial 5G era is expected to start by 2020. 5G will bring enhanced radio capabilities and enable new uses and applications beyond traditional smartphones, tablets and laptops. Many of these uses can also be provided on top of LTE-Advanced networks in order to pave the way to the 5G era.

LTE will be a cost-effective and high performance solution to meet the needs of new vertical segments. Separate radio networks were previously required to provide public safety services, terrestrial TV or machine-to-machine while a single radio solution, LTE, will be able to deliver all those use cases. LTE will also enable new uses like vehicle communication. LTE, and later 5G, will be the mainstream connectivity solution. Therefore, network performance, coverage and reliability need to match the requirements of all these future uses.

The new uses and corresponding LTE technologies are summarized in Figure 1. The enhanced radio capabilities are summarized in Figure 2. This paper gives an overview of the new features with LTE-Advanced evolution in 3GPP Releases 12 to 14.

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Figure 1. New uses on top of LTE-Advanced networks

Figure 2. Enhanced radio capabilities with LTE-Advanced

LTE-B = Broadcast = eMBMS

LTE for Public Safety

LTE-M = Machine-to-Machine

LTE-D = Device-to-Device

Terrestrial TV

Public safety

Internet of things

Proximity services

LTE for V2X (Vehicle-to-X) communication Vehicle communication

LTE for Backhauling Wi-Fi access points Connectivity for public transport

Small cell optimization and dual connectivity

Beyond 1 Gbps data rate and low latency

LTE on Unlicensed Band (LTE-U) License Assisted Access (LAA)

Denser networks

Enhanced radio capabilities

More spectrum

Release 8 Release 8 Release 12 Release 13

Cat-4 Cat-1 Cat-0 Under work

Downlink peak rate 150 Mbps 10 Mbps 1 Mbps 1 Mbps

Uplink peak rate 50 Mbps 5 Mbps 1 Mbps 1 Mbps

Downlink spatial layers 2 1 1 1

UE RF receiver chains 2 2 1 1

Duplex mode Full duplex Full duplex Half duplex Half duplex

UE receive bandwidth 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 1.4 MHz

Maximum UE transmit power 23 dBm 23 dBm 23 dBm ~20 dBm

Internet of Things (IoT)The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to interconnection and the autonomous exchange of data between devices which are machines or parts of machines, also called sensors. The number of IoT objects is expected to grow to 50 Bn. IoT uses Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications. M2M is defined as data communication between devices without the human interaction. This may be data communication between devices and a server, or device-to-device either directly or over a network. Examples of M2M services include security, tracking, payment, smart grid and remote maintenance and monitoring. M2M requirements have been considered in the design of LTE and the following optimizations are included for LTE:• Low cost modem• Long battery life• Enhanced coverage• Congestion control

The current LTE modems target high performance with peak data rates of 150 to 300 Mbps. Many M2M applications work well with much lower data rates. 3GPP has defined a lower device category in Release 12 (Category 0) and a further reduced category is under work in Release 13. Modem implementation in Release 12 costs less with lower data rate requirements, with single antenna reception, no Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) and half duplex. Two reception antennas were mandatory for all LTE devices before Category 0. Half duplex transmission allows some RF filters to be avoided since there is no simultaneous transmission and reception. Release 13 will further reduce the bit rate requirement. The device transmission bandwidth will be reduced to 1.4 MHz, the maximum output power will be lowered and the highest modulation schemes are excluded. The new device category will still be able to access legacy LTE networks with minor updates. Backwards compatibility is important to enable new M2M modems take advantage of existing LTE networks for wide area coverage.

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Table 1. Low cost device categories in Releases 12 and 13

Long battery life is useful for smartphone users, but even more important for M2M applications that should be able to run for as much as 10 years without the battery needing to be charged. A device power saving mode was introduced in Release 12. The device is not reachable in the power saving mode as it does not check paging. The device remains in power saving mode until the next mobile-originated transaction takes place. Extending the DRX cycle from 2.56 s to 2 min would also reduce the power consumption. It is expected that 10 year battery life can be obtained with these solutions when using two AA batteries.

Many M2M applications are located indoors or in basements, like smart metering or industrial use cases. However, losses caused by indoor penetration can create unreliable network connections. Therefore, the link budget optimization is preferred for M2M. The target in LTE is to enhance M2M coverage to allow more than 155 dB path loss. The coverage is typically uplink limited due to limited device transmission power. Therefore, the optimization is aimed at the uplink control channel PUCCH and data channels PUSCH. The main solutions are Power Spectral Density (PSD) boosting, repetition, retransmission and more retransmissions. Figure 3 shows the path loss for data, voice and M2M

Public safetyCurrent public safety networks such as TETRA or Project 25 (P25) support mission critical voice communication, but are limited to narrowband data. Mobile broadband can significantly help emergency services, for example live mobile video, situation-aware dispatching and remote diagnostics. LTE will provide public safety data transfer first, followed at a later stage by voice. Public safety service with LTE can be obtained in two different ways• on top of commercial LTE networks, or • on a dedicated frequency and dedicated LTE network

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135

140

145

150

155

160

165

LTE data LTE VoLTE LTE-M target

dB

Max path loss [dB]

Figure 3. Maximum path loss with LTE M2M

The activity started in USA 2012 when FirstNet won the responsibility to coordinate the use of Band 14 (at 700 MHz) and many other governments are proceeding to use LTE networks for public safety. In the UK, the intention is to select an existing mobile operator to offer LTE network services for public safety users. The same LTE network can also be used for railway traffic management between trains and railway control centers.

The LTE standard, Releases 12 and 13, includes new solutions for public safety. Nokia took key rapporteurships in 3GPP to drive the vision into the standards. The basic technology components, like prioritization and emergency calls, are already available in Releases 8-11. Proximity services (Device-to-device, or D2D) are included in Release 12 and enhanced D2D in Release 13. Also, group communications is included in Release 12 and mission critical push-to-talk in Release 13.The 3GPP features are summarized in Figure 4.

Broadcast servicesStreaming video makes up a large part of LTE network traffic, revealing that customers enjoy video content on their smartphones and tablet computers. Unicast video transmission allows subscribers to receive any content any time independent of other users. Broadcast and multicast transmission has also been defined for LTE. The solution is called enhanced Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (eMBMS). Multiple devices can receive the same content with eMBMS as shown in Figure 5.

eMBMS also enhances the cell edge performance when multiple cells transmit the same content using Single Frequency Network (SFN) technology. The principle is illustrated in Figure 6. The broadcast transmission is more efficient than unicast when multiple customers want to receive the same content simultaneously, such as during sports events or popular TV shows. Multi-cell transmission further improves the efficiency when the inter-cell interference is turned into a constructive signal. LTE broadcast is built to be flexible: it is possible to switch between broadcast and unicast transmission and it is possible to share the LTE frequency between broadcast and unicast.

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Release 11 Releases 8-10 Release 12 Release 13 • VoLTE • QoS • Ciphering • eMBMS • E911

• High power UEs for Band 14 • Proximity services • Group communication

• Enhanced proximity services • Mission critical Push-to-Talk • Isolated E-UTRAN operation

Figure 4. 3GPP features for public safety

eMBMS could be used for local transmission but can also provide wide area TV transmission, potentially replacing high tower, high power Digital Terrestrial TV (DTT) in the long term. The benefits of eMBMS compared to terrestrial TV include:• Provide broadcast content to smartphones and tablet computers

instead of only TV sets• Provide better indoor coverage when using existing LTE sites• Higher spectral efficiency when using low tower LTE sites • Flexibility to switch between broadcast and unicast, improving

spectrum usage

If the TV broadcast is carried by mobile networks, more devices could receive TV content, which is important because more people are using smartphones and tablets to watch video. LTE networks can also provide good indoor coverage which enables more customers to receive the

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Unicast transmission Broadcast transmission

Separate transmissions to each device Single transmission received by all devices

Figure 5. Broadcast benefit for multiple receivers

Figure 6. Multi-cell broadcast with single frequency network for enhanced cell edge performance

Multi -cell broadcast

Other cell transmission is useful signal

= Signal = Interference

Single cell transmission

Other cell transmission is interference

content while terrestrial TV reception is typically designed for rooftop antennas. LTE eMBMS can improve the spectral efficiency compared to high tower terrestrial TV transmission because interference is minimized with lower transmission towers. LTE also allows capacity to be switched dynamically between broadcast and unicast based on instantaneous requirements. Nokia has tested eMBMS technology for TV broadcast on the 700 MHz frequency band in Germany. The studies show that eMBMS can deliver TV content with similar costs as terrestrial TV, yet provide more flexibility and higher spectral efficiency.

A number of eMBMS enhancements can be included into future 3GPP releases to further boost large area broadcast, including dedicated eMBMS carrier and longer cyclic prefix.

Vehicular communication Vehicular communication (V2X) has many uses, including navigation and driver assistance, travel information, congestion avoidance, fleet management, payment transactions and for traffic control and safety. V2X communication may occur in multiple contexts: vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communication, vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) communication, vehicle to pedestrian (V2P) communication and vehicle to home communication. These uses are referred to as Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS). V2X applications range from personal communication, green transportation, societal mobility and safety to bring more travel convenience, comfort and safety.

LTE radio can be efficiently used for vehicular communication because of its inherent radio capabilities. • LTE networks have extensive coverage for urban and rural roads• LTE provides low latency• LTE has high capacity• LTE allows direct D2D communication which can be used between

vehicles• LTE modems are already integrated into many vehicles for other

reasons, like entertainment systems.

LTE enhancements improve LTE usage for vehicular communications including D2D communication, Nokia Liquid Applications and broadcast. The idea of Liquid Applications is to cache local information in the base station to reduce latency in the transmission between vehicles and network. The downlink broadcast can be used to deliver messages to multiple vehicles at the same time. Figure 7 illustrates Liquid Applications and broadcast solutions.

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Broadcast

Liquid Apps

Figure 7. Liquid Applications and downlink broadcast for optimized vehicle communication

Enhanced radio capabilitiesNew vertical uses will benefit from improved radio capabilities. LTE technology will be enhanced in three domains: higher radio performance, more cells and more spectrum. LTE-Advanced improves radio performance to pave the road to future 5G networks. Radio performance will be improved with• More bandwidth• Interference cancellation• 3D beamforming• Lower latency

Release 10 defined carrier aggregation with up to five component carriers while Release 13 extended this to make it possible to take advantage of more spectrum in terms of data rates and capacity. Interference cancellation is an effective way to improve spectral efficiency by removing co-channel interference. This becomes more feasible with more powerful radio modems. Spectral efficiency can also be improved with antenna solutions like 3-dimensional beamforming.

LTE-Advanced makes is easier to add new small cells. Small cell optimization improves the co-existence between macro and small cells including dual connectivity and inter-site carrier aggregation where the device can receive data simultaneously from macro cells and small cells. The concept is shown in Figure 8. Small cells and macro cells are not operating as different layers but as a joint solution to provide the maximal benefit for the device.

LTE can access more spectrum between the 700 MHz and 5.4 GHz bands. The new spectrum in many markets includes the 700 MHz band and deployment has already started in Asia Pacific, supplemental downlink at 1500 MHz, TDD 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz. An overview of the spectrum options is shown in Figure 9.

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X2 interface Macro cell Small cell

Inter-site carrier aggregation and dual connectivity

Figure 8. Inter-site carrier aggregation and dual connectivity

Release 13 also defines LTE deployment on the 5 GHz unlicensed band. The solution combines lower frequency LTE from licensed bands with the 5 GHz unlicensed band. The solution is called LTE Unlicensed (LTE-U) or License Assisted Access (LAA). LTE technology provides high performance on the unlicensed band because of advanced radio solutions. The typical cell range at 5 GHz band is illustrated in Figure 10.

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Spectrum aggregated into single pool

Convergence of mobile broadband and broadcast

5 GHz unlicensed band in small cells

1800 2100

3500

700 470 – 700

2600

900

5400

2300

800

1500

3.5 GHz in small cells or macro cells with aggregation

Figure 9. LTE spectrum usage in typical European market

Figure 10. License Assisted Access (LAA) cell range in small cells

0 50 100 150 200

LTE (5 GHz)

Wi-Fi (5 GHz)

Meters

Outdoor micro cell range

Min

Max

SummaryA number of new uses can be supported by mobile networks including connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT), public safety, broadcast services and vehicular connectivity. These uses will benefit from LTE-Advanced features in 3GPP Releases 12-14. The power of LTE lies in the massive ecosystem and wide area coverage which will provide a highly cost-effective solution. The same radio network can be used for smartphones, tablets computers and laptops, and for many other uses. The new capabilities will be simple to upgrade to existing LTE networks. LTE-Advanced paves the way into the 5G era in the next decade.

Further readingLTE-Advanced white paper

LTE Release 12 white paper

LTE-M white paper

LTE Public safety white paper

LTE Broadcast press release

Nokia Liquid Apps

LTE Unlicensed spectrum

5G Requirements White Paper

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