Carrier Aggregation - by Agilent

Carrier Aggregation:
Fundamentals and
Deployments
Presented by:
Manuel Blanco
Agilent Technologies
2014 Agilent Technologies
Agenda
LTE-Advanced
Carrier Aggregation
Design and test challenges
Industry background
263 LTE networks in more than 95 countries (+500 operators investing)
o Approximately 10% are TDD
o Less than 10% are using 20 MHz
157.7 million LTE subscribers (112 million added in the past 12 months)
o More than half in North America (79 million)
Over 1,200 LTE capable devices available

o 40% can operate in Band 3 and Band 7
LTE is the fastest developing mobile technology ever
www.gsacom.com
3
Why LTE-Advanced?
IMT-Advanced Requirements
Based on an all-IP packet switch network
Scalable channel bandwidths between 5 and 20 MHz
Interoperability with existing wireless standards

Item
Subcategory
Spectral
efficiency
(b/s/Hz)
Downlink
Data rate
(Mbps)
IMT-Adv
LTE
15
16.3
(4x4 MIMO)
(4x4 MIMO)
6.75
4.32
(2x4 MIMO)
(64QAM)
Downlink
1000
300
Uplink
100
75
Uplink
LTE-Advanced
New features
Carrier Aggregation
Enhanced MIMO
Higher data rates

(bps)
Het-Nets
Higher spectral effiency

(bps/Hz)
Higher spectral effiency

per coverage area
(bps/Hz/Km2)
LTE-Advanced
New UE Categories
UE
Category
LTE
LTE-A
Data Rate
DL/UL
Downlink
Uplink
(Mbps)
Max number
of layers
Max number
of layers
Support for
64QAM
10 / 5
No
50 / 25
No
100 / 50
No
150 / 50
No
300 / 75
Yes
300 / 50
2 or 4
1 or 2
No
300 / 100
2 or 4
1 or 2
No
3000 / 1500
Yes
Agenda
LTE-Advanced
Carrier Aggregation
Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

Carrier Aggregation is the first step of LTE Advanced
Bandwidth extension by aggregating LTE component carriers (CC)
o Up to 5 CC can be allocated in both DL and UL 100 MHz aggregated
o Components carriers are backwards compatible with Release 8 terminals
o Symmetric or asymmetric DL/UL CA configurations

Motivation
o Higher peak data rates
o Facilitate efficient use of fragmented spectrum
o Enable 150 Mbps (Category 4) in typical

deployments where 20MHz contiguous spectrum
is not an option
10MHz
DL Carrier 1
10MHz
DL Carrier 2
Aggregated
Data Pipe

PCC (Primary Component Carrier)
o Handle the RRC/NAS procedures
o Measurement reports and mobility
o UEs using the same set of CCs, can have
different PCC
o Role only changed with handover
o PUSCH is mandatory
Downlink
PCC
SCC
SCC
Uplink
SCC (Secondary Component Carrier)
PCC
SCC
o UE handles up to 4 SCC
o Configured using RRC signaling procedures
o Can be dynamically activated/de-activated
using a MAC control element
o Activated only when in CONNECTED mode
o PUSCH is optional - asymmetric CA
9

Band 17 -10 MHz
MME
SCC
Band 4 - 10 MHz
PCC
UE
RRC Connection
Attach Request
Release 8
PS Attach
Authentication and NAS Security

AS Security
UE capabilities
Attach Accept + Default EPS
Data Link (single carrier)
10
73 Mbps

Band 17 -10 MHz
MME
SCC
Band 4 - 10 MHz
PCC
UE
RRC Connection
Attach Request
Release 8
PS Attach

AS Security
UE capabilities

Release 10
SCC Addition
& Activation
RRC Reconfiguration
+ Add SCC
Data Link (single carrier)
11
73 Mbps

SCC Configuration at RRC level
Screen capture of the Agilent Trace log and debug application (Trace Spy II)
Physical cell ID and

DL frequency
channel
Common configuration:
DL and UL channel BW,
uplink EARFCN,
antenna config,
physical channels config, power
control config
Dedicated configuration:
Transmission mode,
physical channels config,
cross-carrier scheduling,
CSI-RS config
12
Source: 3GPP TS 36.331

Band 17 -10 MHz
MME
SCC
Band 4 - 10 MHz
PCC
UE
RRC Connection
Attach Request
Release 8
PS Attach

AS Security
UE capabilities

Release 10
SCC Addition
& Activation
RRC Reconfiguration
+ Add SCC
MAC control element
Link (single carrier)

Data Link Data
(2 CC aggregated)
13
73 Mbps
147
Mbps
Modes and Deployments

Resource block
Intra -band
contiguous
Intra-band
non-contiguous
Inter-band
non-contiguous
Band A
Resource block
Band A
Resource block
Band A
14
Band B
CA Band Combinations
Rel.10
Release 10:
o
o
o
o
o
Inter-band
Intra-band cont
Signaling to support up to 5 CC
Scenarios limited to 2 CCs
Maximum aggregated bandwidth is 40MHz
Prioritized support intra band contiguous and inter band
Rest of scenarios were postponed to later Releases
Intra - band Contiguous CA

E-UTRA
CA
Band
E-UTRA
operating
Band
CA_40
40
CA_1
Uplink (UL) band

UE transmit / BS receive
Channel
FUL_low (MHz) FUL_high
BW MHz
(MHz)
1)
2300
2400
[40 ]
1920
1980
40
Downlink (DL) band

UE receive / BS transmit
Channel
FDL_low (MHz) FDL_high
BW MHz
(MHz)
1)
2300
2400
[40 ]
2110
2170
40
Duplex
mode
TDD
FDD
[1) For the first phase of LTE TDD CA for UE side, with eventual goal for 50MHz]
Inter - band Non -Contiguous CA

Uplink (UL) band
Downlink (DL) band
UE transmit / BS receive
Channel UE receive / BS transmit
Channel
BW MHz
FUL_low (MHz) FUL_high
FDL_low (MHz) FDL_high
BW MHz
(MHz)
(MHz)
1)
1
1920
1980
10
2110
2170
10
CA_1-5
1)
5
824
849
10
869
894
10
1) Only one uplink component carrier is used in any of the two frequency bands at any time.
E-UTRA
CA Band
15
E-UTRA
operating
Band
Duplex
mode
FDD
24
Rel.11
Rel.10
Release 11:
Inter-band
Intra-band cont
o
o
o
o

Support multiple timing advances (required for UL CA)
Core requirements for intra-band non-cont
Performance requirements for new inter-band and
intra-band combinations
Rel-11 inter-band Carrier Aggregation
Rapporteur
Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 and Band 7
TeliaSonera
AT&T
Ericsson (Verizon)
Leap Wireless
US Cellular
Huawei
AT&T
AT&T
AT&T
Vodafone
Vodafone
SK Telecom
Rogers Wireless
KDDI
KDDI
NTT DoCoMo
NTT DoCoMo
KT

19
Inter-band
Intra-band cont Intra non-cont

16
24
Rel.11
Rel.10
Release 12:
Inter-band
Intra-band cont
19
Inter-band
95
Rel.12
48
o
o
o
o
Core requirements uplink CA in inter-band

Performance requirements for intra-band non-contiguous
Core analysis for 3 component carriers in inter-band
Intra-band cont Intra non-cont
12
10
Inter-band Intra-band cont Intra non-cont
17
25
Inter 3 CC
Agenda
LTE-Advanced
Carrier Aggregation
18
Impact on UE design
MME
PCC
SCC
UE
Carrier Aggregation impact
NAS
- None
RRC
RRC
- Addition and removal SCC
PDCP
PDCP
RLC
RLC
NAS
MAC
MAC
PHY
PHY
- None
- Larger buffer
Impact on higher layers:

o Enhanced user plane to support higher data rates
o Modifications and new additions on existing RRC procedures:
19
Reconfiguration message to support Addition/Release of SCC
Report of new UE categories and capabilities
Impact on UE design
PHY, MAC and RF are the most challenging
o Multiple PHY and aggregated MAC:
One PHY layer per CC
Data aggregation happens at MAC layer
MAC must handle scheduling on multiple CC
Support of cross-carrier scheduling
o Complex transceivers design:
20
Highly challenging radio environment in terms of spur and self-blocking
Front-end needs to be designed to support multiple frequency band

combinations
MIMO + multi chain makes antenna design even more challenging
Design and Test Challenges

Challenge #1 : When Inter-Band aggregation and MIMO spatial multiplexing is
combined, test set-ups may become quite complex.
T2010A
LTE Wireless Communications Test Set
RF RX Performance Test Scenario

2CC aggregation
MIMO 4x2
Closed loop spatial multiplexing
RF impairments
T2010A
PCC
Channel
Emulator
UE
+
SCC
21
Channel
Emulator

Challenge #2 : Simultaneous transceiver chains lead to intermodulation
and cross-modulation within the UE.
TR 36.850 and 36.851 Inter-band carrier aggregation

Scope: To gather relevant background and studies to address Inter-band carrier
aggregation requirements (Release 11)
Class
Description
A1
Low-high band combination without harmonic relation

between bands or intermodulation problem
A2
Low-high band combination with harmonic relation between

bands
A3
Low-low or high-high band combination without

intermodulation problem (low order IM)
A4
Low-low, low-high or high-high band combination with

intermodulation problem (low order IM)
A5
Combination except for A1 A4
22
Harmonics may cause

degradation in the performance of
the high band receiver
The use of diplexers to split and

combine RF chains are very
challenging

Class A2 example: Band 4-17
710 MHz
Uplink
23
740 MHz
Downlink
2130 MHz
Downlink
Band 17
Band 4
PCC
SCC

Class A2 example: Band 4-17
3rd harmonic
710 MHz
Uplink
24
740 MHz
Downlink
2130 MHz
Downlink
Band 17
Band 4
PCC
SCC

A/D
Band A
Switch
H3 Trap
A/D
D/A
Ref. Sensitivity (dBm)

Release 8

Carrier Aggregation
Band 4
-96.3
-89.5
Band 17
-93.3
-92.8
Band 1
-96.3
-96.3
Band 5
-94.3
-94.3
D/A
Antenna
tuner
Switch
Band 17
Band B
A/D
A/D
D/A
D/A
Band 4
A/D
Band A
Band B
A/D
A/D
A/D
Source: 36.851 and 36.521-1
25

6.8dB due to noise floor increase
caused by harmonic
A/D
Band A
Switch
H3 Trap
A/D
D/A

Release 8

Carrier Aggregation
Band 4
-96.3
-89.5
Band 17
-93.3
-92.8
Band 1
-96.3
-96.3
D/A
Antenna
tuner
Switch
Band 17
Band B
A/D
A/D
D/A
D/A
Band
5
uplink
Band 4
A/D
Band A
Band B
Note: This is an exception allowed when the

-94.3 in the lower frequency
-94.3
active
operating
band.
A/D
A/D
A/D
Source: 36.851 and 36.521-1
26

A/D
Band A
Switch
H3 Trap
A/D
D/A

Release 8

Carrier Aggregation
Band 4
-96.3
-89.5
Band 17
-93.3
-92.8
Band 1
-96.3
Band 5
-94.3
D/A
Antenna
tuner
Switch
Band 17
Band B
A/D
A/D
D/A
D/A
Band 4
0.5 dB due to H3 trap filter

-96.3
insertion loss
-94.3
A/D
Band A
Band B
A/D
A/D
A/D
Source: 36.851 and 36.521-1
27


Release 8

Carrier Aggregation
Band 4
-96.3
-89.5
Band 17
-92.8
-92.8
Band 1
-96.3
Band 5
-94.3
0.5 dB due to H3 trap filter

-96.3
insertion loss
-94.3
Source: 36.851 and 36.521-1
28
LTE T4000S Test Systems
ALL BASED ON THE SAME

HARDWARE PLATFORM
T4110S
LTE Protocol Tester
T4010S
LTE RF Tester
29
T2010A
LTE Wireless Communications Test Set
T4020S
LTE RRM Tester
3GPP Conformance Status

New test cases for inter-band without UL CA and intra-band contiguous with and
without UL CA
63 New RF test cases
16 New RRM test cases

36 New Protocol test cases
Ongoing! CA test cases in a new WI which covers intra-band non-contiguous
13 New RF test cases

18 New Protocol test cases
Outlook! New CA test cases expected in Rel-12 (inter-band with 2 uplinks)
30
SUMMARY
Carrier aggregation is the first step of LTE Advanced enabling:
o Higher IP data rates
o Facilitate efficient use of fragmented spectrum

Inter-Band with 2 component carriers aggregated in the downlink is one of
the most demanded combinations today
Carrier aggregation is a huge topic in Conformance with a lot of new test
cases defined and more in the pipeline
31
E7515A UXM Wireless Test Set

Make a clear call
Ensure realistic category 4 / 6 performance

Sustained bidirectional
300 Mbps / 50 Mbps E2E IP data
Most highly integrated solution:
multiple cells, carrier aggregation,
4x2 DL MIMO, integrated fading and
built-in application server
Achieve design confidence
LTE-Advanced
Carrier Aggregation
DL: 300Mbps
UL: 50 Mbps
CAT 6
Device
Unique receiver test

Flexible channel allocation
and closed-loop testing
Trusted transmitter test
X-Series measurement
science
Join Overcome LTE-A UE Design Test Challenges with Agilents New UXM webcast here
32
For more information

Agilent Resources
LTE-Advanced application and product info: www.agilent.com/find/lteadvanced
T4000S LTE/LTE-A Conformance and DV Systems: www.agilent.com/find/t4000s
E7515A UXM Wireless Test Set: www.agilent.com/find/E7515A
89600 VSA product information: www.agilent.com/find/vsa
X-Series signal analyzer product information: www.agilent.com/find/xseries
Signal Studio product information: www.agilent.com/find/signalstudio
LTE-Advanced Documents
Application Note: http://cp.literature.agilent.com/litweb/pdf/5990-6706EN.pdf
Requirements TR 36.913: http://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/36913.htm
Study Technical Report TR 36.912: http://www.3gpp.org/DynaReport/36912.htm
33
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Carrier Aggregation:

2014 Agilent Technologies

Design and test challenges

2014 Agilent Technologies

Over 1,200 LTE capable devices available

LTE is the fastest developing mobile technology ever

2014 Agilent Technologies

Scalable channel bandwidths between 5 and 20 MHz

Interoperability with existing wireless standards

2014 Agilent Technologies

Higher data rates

Higher spectral effiency

Higher spectral effiency

2014 Agilent Technologies

2014 Agilent Technologies

Design and test challenges

2014 Agilent Technologies

Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

o Symmetric or asymmetric DL/UL CA configurations

o Enable 150 Mbps (Category 4) in typical

2014 Agilent Technologies

Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

SCC (Secondary Component Carrier)

2014 Agilent Technologies

Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

Authentication and NAS Security

Attach Accept + Default EPS

Data Link (single carrier)

2014 Agilent Technologies

Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

Authentication and NAS Security

Attach Accept + Default EPS

Data Link (single carrier)

2014 Agilent Technologies

Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

Physical cell ID and

Source: 3GPP TS 36.331

2014 Agilent Technologies

Carrier Aggregation Fundamentals

Authentication and NAS Security

Attach Accept + Default EPS

Link (single carrier)

2014 Agilent Technologies

Modes and Deployments

2014 Agilent Technologies

Modes and Deployments

Intra - band Contiguous CA

Uplink (UL) band

Downlink (DL) band

Inter - band Non -Contiguous CA

2014 Agilent Technologies

Modes and Deployments

Maximum aggregated bandwidth is 40MHz

Carrier Aggregation of Band 3 and Band 7

Carrier Aggregation of Band 4 and Band 17

Intra-band cont Intra non-cont

Carrier Aggregation of Band 2 and Band 17

2014 Agilent Technologies

Modes and Deployments

Core requirements uplink CA in inter-band

Intra-band cont Intra non-cont

Inter-band Intra-band cont Intra non-cont