3GPP Long-Term Evolution (LTE)

Qualcomm Incorporated
January 2008
 3GPP Long-Term Evolution

Table of Contents

[1] Executive Summary ......................................................................... 1

[2] LTE Leverages New and Wider Spectrum ...................................... 2

[3] LTE Complements HSPA+ .............................................................. 3

[4] LTE Performance Overview............................................................. 4

4.1 High-Capacity Mobile Broadband............................................ 5

4.2 High Voice Capacity through VoIP .......................................... 6

4.3 High User Data Rates for Better User Experience.................. 7

[5] LTE Key Design Features................................................................ 8

5.1 OFDMA on the DL and SC-FDMA on the UL.......................... 9

5.2 Advanced Antenna Techniques .............................................. 9

5.3 Enhanced Interference Control for Cell-Edge

Performance.......................................................................... 11

5.4 Single-Frequency Network Multicast Services ...................... 12

5.5 All-IP Packet-Optimized Network Architecture ...................... 13

[6] Backward Interoperability and Leverage from a Large 3G

Ecosystem ..................................................................................... 14

[7] Conclusion ..................................................................................... 16

[8] Glossary ......................................................................................... 17

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[1] Executive Summary

Wireless operators are experiencing tremendous growth in demand for
mobile data services. This increased demand stems from the success
of HSPA mobile broadband technology, which provides high data rates
and improved user experience for all data services. HSPA+ (3GPP™
Releases 7 and 8) will further improve the performance of existing
networks, and help meet the mobile-data demand in the future.

3GPP is defining Long-Term Evolution (LTE), which allows UMTS™

operators to use new and wider spectrum (up to 20 MHz), and builds
on HSPA’s success—complementing HSPA networks with higher
data rates, lower latency and higher capacity, to provide an enhanced
broadband experience in high-data-demand and densely populated
urban areas.

Wireless industry is rapidly moving toward the convergence of

communications, computing and consumer platforms, as well as
converged services across fixed and wireless networks. Users desire
services like voice, music, picture/video sharing, and social interactions
anytime and anywhere, with a similar experience regardless of location.
Mobile broadband is in the center of this convergence, enabling
consumer and corporate users to enjoy higher data rates and the
broadband experience in all environments, using converged devices.
LTE will support a variety of devices—desktop modems, mobile phones,
laptops, ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs)—and new generation of consumer
electronics with embedded modems. LTE allows operators to
economically and effectively address all these market segments.

LTE is a leading OFDMA-based, wireless mobile broadband technology

supported by a new Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. Designed from
the ground up to provide interoperability and service continuity with
existing UMTS networks, LTE will allow UMTS operators to capitalize
on their investments in UMTS/HSPA(+) and roll out LTE networks in
phases. It offers high spectral efficiency, low latency and high peak
data rates (277 Mbps in the DL, 75 Mbps in the UL), and leverages
HSPA/LTE multimode devices. LTE incorporates advanced antenna
techniques like MIMO, SDMA and beamforming, among many others.

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[2] LTE Leverages New and Wider Spectrum

LTE leverages new and wider spectrum, up to 20 MHz, to provide a
capacity boost in high-demand areas, and complements the existing
HSPA and HSPA+ deployments. OFDMA technology provides
increasingly higher capacity for wider bandwidths—making LTE best
suited for bandwidths of 10 to 20 MHz. At the same time, LTE is flexible
enough to be deployed in any bandwidth combination, which makes it
suitable for spectrum resources of various sizes. LTE deployments in
smaller bandwidths have lower spectral efficiency due to the relatively
higher overheads for control and signaling. In a typical 5 MHz system
deployment, HSPA+ and LTE provide similar data capacity and end-user
experience.

HSPA+ & LTE in 5 MHz

Provide similar performance LTE for wider bandwidths — complements HSPA+

Figure 1. Flexible Bandwidth Allocation

LTE supports a range of bandwidths up to 20 MHz, as depicted in Figure

1. LTE also supports devices that can work on various system-bandwidth
combinations, therefore reducing the need to make specific device
profiles tailored to each combination. This allows an operator
to deploy LTE in 10 or 20 MHz combinations, without worrying about
device-compatibility issues. LTE devices are mandated to support
20 MHz bandwidth in the DL and the UL. The available peak rates
and average user rates for an individual user, however, scale with
the deployment bandwidth.

LTE supports both FDD and TDD modes, allowing operators to address
all available spectrum resources.

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[3] LTE Complements HSPA+

UMTS operators around the world are experiencing tremendous success
with HSPA, and are rapidly launching HSPA services that capitalize on
HSPA’s mobile-broadband capabilities and increased data capacity.
HSPA+ further enhances the performance capabilities through
incremental investments and backward-compatible devices. HSPA+
ensures a consistent user experience across the entire network, and
allows the operator to roll out LTE in phases. LTE is most beneficial in
wider bandwidths, and thus is suitable for deployments in dense urban
areas where data demand is higher. LTE coverage can be incrementally
increased as data demand increases throughout the network area. The
common IMS network enables users to experience the same services
across the entire operator network, irrespective of the air-interface
technology in use.

HSPA+ offers similar capacity and peak rates as LTE in 5 MHz, and
provides similar user experience and service continuity when outside
the LTE coverage. Furthermore, HSPA+ supports high-capacity VoIP,
allowing voice-service continuity for LTE systems that rely on VoIP for
voice services.

LTE utilizes a new core network, the EPC, which allows for a more
flat IP-based architecture. Throughout the design of LTE and EPC,
emphasis has been placed on interoperability with existing 3GPP
technologies like UMTS and GSM. This will ensure that HSPA+ and
LTE co-exist seamlessly.

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HSPA/HSPA+

LTE LTE LTE

Figure 2. LTE Complements HSPA/HSPA+

As shown in Figure 2, an operator can initially focus on high-demand

areas, falling back to HSPA/HSPA+ outside the LTE coverage. Coverage
can be expanded over time as—and when—the data demand increases.

Multimode devices supporting both LTE and the existing 3GPP

technologies will ensure interoperability and a consistent user experience
across the two networks. The LTE network supports handoffs to
UMTS/HSPA and GSM/GPRS networks, providing service continuity
throughout the operator’s network.

[4] LTE Performance Overview

LTE is designed from the ground up as a high-capacity mobile wireless
technology for efficient delivery of real-time applications such as VoIP
and video services.

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4.1 High-Capacity Mobile Broadband

LTE leverages advanced antenna techniques such as MIMO, SDMA
and beamforming, which provide benefits to users in both high- and low-
signal-strength conditions. These advanced technologies (discussed in
detail in the next section), along with an optimized air interface, enable
high capacity and data rates with LTE.

Figure 3. DL Cell Capacity in 10 MHz FDD (Mbps)

Figure 3 shows the system capacity achievable with 10 MHz system

deployments. The figure also highlights the similarity of HSPA+ and LTE
performance in the same bandwidth and antenna configuration. LTE
provides increased capacity with higher-order MIMO (4x4) and SDMA.
Compared with the baseline configuration of HSPA Release 6, both LTE
and HSPA+ provide more than two times the data capacity in the DL.

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On the UL, LTE introduces SDMA techniques that help increase UL

system capacity. The UL capacity is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. UL Capacity in 10 MHz (Mbps)

4.2 High Voice Capacity through VoIP

LTE and the EPC network are optimized to provide end-to-end QoS
control for all types of data traffic. High-capacity voice service on LTE will
be supported by using VoIP over the LTE data channels. The end-to-end
QoS control ensures that the LTE provides Telco-quality VoIP. The voice
call continuity (VCC) service in the IMS core will ensure that the VoIP
service is interoperable with the circuit-switched voice and VoIP services
on the existing UMTS networks. Carrying voice traffic on the data
channels not only enables a high-capacity voice service, it also enables
operators to meet all possible service needs by efficient mixing of voice
and data traffic. It enables a suite of new, rich voice services that can be
targeted to specific market segments for increased operator revenue.

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200
182

93

68

40

Rel 99 Rel 6 Rel 7 HSPA+ LTE 5MHz LTE 1.25MHz

Figure 5. Voice Capacity in 5 MHz (users/sector)

Figure 5 shows the voice capacity of a 5 MHz LTE system. Compared

with the 3GPP Release 99 circuit-switched voice capacity of 68 users
per sector, LTE can support three times the number of voice users in the
same bandwidth. HSPA+ can support 182 users per sector with VoIP,
and maintains VoIP service continuity between LTE and HSPA networks.
High voice capacity makes LTE suitable for dense urban areas
when deployed in bandwidths of 10 MHz or higher. As is evident in
Figure 5, the voice capacity in a smaller bandwidth of 1.25 MHz is
disproportionately less—this is due to the higher signaling and control
overheads in a smaller bandwidth.

4.3 High User Data Rates for Better User Experience

The advanced techniques of higher-order MIMO and higher-order
modulation, coupled with a wider bandwidth deployment, provide
higher peak user data rates.

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Table 1 shows the peak data rates for four possible bandwidth
deployments. The data rates achievable are a direct result of the
spectrum bandwidth of the LTE deployment and the number of users
per sector. In a 20 MHz deployment, LTE enables a DL peak data
rate of 277 Mbps and an UL peak data rate of 75 Mbps.

These significantly higher data rates provide superior performance

for existing data applications, and provide an improved broadband
experience to end users.

BW 1.25 MHz FDD 5 MHz FDD 10 MHz FDD 20 MHz FDD

Downlink (DL)
16 68 138 277
(4x4 MIMO)

Uplink (UL) 4 18 37 75

Table 1: LTE DL and UL Peak Data Rates (Mbps)

[5] LTE Key Design Features

LTE incorporates many key features that enable operators to provide an
enhanced broadband experience:

• OFDMA on the DL and SC-FDMA on the UL

• Advanced antenna techniques

• MIMO

• SDMA

• Beamforming

• Enhanced Interference Control

• Single Frequency Network multicast services

• All-IP packet-optimized network architecture

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5.1 OFDMA on the DL and SC-FDMA on the UL

LTE utilizes OFDMA on the DL. OFDMA techniques employ a
fast Fourier transform (FFT) to segment the allocated bandwidth
into smaller units, which can then be shared among the users.

OFDMA and CDMA with equalization provide similar spectral

efficiencies; however, OFDMA is better suited for wider bandwidths.
The ability to use different FFT sizes for OFDM modulation easily allows
flexible bandwidth allocations, and the use of frequency domain adds
an additional degree of freedom to the channel-dependent scheduler.

On the UL, LTE uses single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA, also called DFT-
spread OFDM). SC-FDMA has potential peak-to-average benefits over
OFDMA, but an optimized OFDMA implementation mitigates any issues
and provides similar performance and benefits as SC-FDMA.

5.2 Advanced Antenna Techniques

LTE uses advanced antenna techniques and wider spectrum allocations
to provide higher data rates throughout the cell area. LTE supports
MIMO, SDMA and beamforming (Figure 6). These techniques are
complementary and can be used to trade off between higher sector
capacity, higher user data rates, or higher cell-edge rates, and thus
enable operators to have finer control over the end-user experience.

Figure 6. Advanced Antenna Techniques

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DL MIMO—LTE supports up to 4x4 MIMO in the DL, which uses

four transmit antennas at the Node B to transmit orthogonal (parallel)
data streams to the four receive antennas at the user equipment
(UE). Using additional antennas and signal processing at the
receiver and transmitter, MIMO increases the system capacity and
user data rates without using additional transmit power or bandwidth.
To be most effective, MIMO needs a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
at the UE and a rich scattering environment. High SNR ensures that
the UE is able to decode the incoming signal, and a rich scattering
environment ensures the orthogonality of the multiple data streams.
The MIMO benefit is therefore maximized in a dense urban
environment, where there is enough scattering and the small cell
sizes provide an environment of high SNRs at the UE.

SDMA—SDMA enables multiple users to send and receive data

using the same time-frequency OFDM resource. In the DL, the
eNode B can transmit data simultaneously, and over the same
time-frequency resource, to two users that have enough spatial
separation to ensure that the two data streams remain orthogonal.
Similarly, on the UL, SDMA enables two users in the cell to
simultaneously send data to the eNode B, using the same time-
frequency resource. Even though the transmissions are
simultaneous, the spatial separation ensures that the two data
streams do not interfere with each other. Allowing these concurrent
transmissions increases the cell capacity in both the DL and the UL.
LTE does not support simultaneous MIMO and SDMA operation to
a user; hence, there is a tradeoff between higher user data rates
and higher system capacity in the DL.

Beamforming—Beamforming increases the user data rates by

focusing the transmit power in the direction of the user, effectively
increasing the received signal strength at the UE. Beamforming
provides the most benefits to users in weaker-signal-strength
areas, like the edge of the cell coverage. Beamforming ensures
that cell-edge rates are high, and enables the operator to deploy
high-bandwidth services without concern for service degradation
at the cell edge.

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5.3 Enhanced Interference Control for Cell-Edge

Performance
Interference control via frequency-reuse schemes can be used to
improve the cell-edge data rates and capacity, to provide a consistent
user experience across the cell coverage area. Frequency-reuse
schemes trade system capacity for improved cell-edge experience,
by using a fraction of the available bandwidth in each cell. Figure 7
shows three frequency-reuse schemes.

Figure 7. Frequency-Reuse Schemes

Figure 7(a) is the base high-capacity system, in which all available

frequencies are used in each cell to provide the maximum system
capacity. As shown in Figure 7(b), by using 1/3 of the available
frequency in each sector we reduce interference in each cell and
improve the cell-edge performance. Figure 7(c) depicts the optimal case
of fractional frequency reuse (FFR), which enables a more flexible
tradeoff between the overall capacity and cell-edge rates. FFR operation
is driven by the eNode B scheduler, and the reduction of intercell
interference is a direct function of the scheduler implementation.

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5.4 Single-Frequency Network Multicast Services

LTE specifies a high-capacity multicast and broadcast service, using
a single-frequency network (also called multicast-broadcast single-
frequency network or MBSFN). As depicted in Figure 8, all cells in
the network (or a geographical area) transmit time-synchronized,
identical DL signals. At the user terminal, these multiple time-
synchronized transmissions appear as a single transmission with
high signal strength, and thus can be easily decoded. In addition
to the benefits of time-synchronized transmissions, the robustness
of OFDM to multipath propagation ensures that the inter-cell interference
is reduced.

Figure 8. Multicast-Broadcast Single-Frequency Network (MBSFN)

MBSFN has the flexibility to provide both macro-area broadcasts and

cell-specific broadcasts. The capacity benefits of the single-frequency
network are highest when the same content is transmitted in all cells of
the macro network.

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5.5 All-IP Packet-Optimized Network Architecture

Figure 9. LTE Network Architecture

LTE leverages a new radio and core network architecture to reduce

network latency, improve system performance and provide
interoperability with existing 3GPP and non-3GPP technologies.
The hierarchical architecture of existing 3GPP networks is simplified
and flattened, with fewer system nodes (Figure 9).

The radio access network (RAN) functionality is collapsed into eNode B

to reduce network latency and simplify the operation and maintenance
of the system. The eNode B is designed to perform most of the functions
that were traditionally performed by the Node B and the radio network
controller (RNC) in UMTS networks.

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The EPC network, with the Evolved Packet System (EPS) access
gateways, provides a simpler deployment with fewer nodes, while
providing more functionality than the traditional GPRS core network.
The EPS maintains interaction with the existing 3GPP systems through
the GPRS core network, and provides connectivity to the IMS and
IP-services domains. EPS also provides connectivity to non-3GPP
technologies, such as 3GPP2 and Wi-Fi® networks. EPS protocols
are being designed to support various interoperability scenarios.

LTE supports end-to-end QoS control, optimized for an entire range of

packet services like VoIP, real-time gaming, real-time video, and data
services. As discussed earlier, LTE will support voice services with
VoIP—enabling deployment of a suite of rich voice services.

[6] Backward Interoperability and Leverage from a

Large 3G Ecosystem
There are more than 174 commercial UMTS networks, with over 128
networks enabled with HSPA as of mid-2007 (Figure 10). Wireless
operators have made considerable investments in these networks,
and HSPA+ will enable those operators to leverage their investments.

Benefiting from the HSPA coverage, LTE is being designed to

provide seamless interoperability with existing networks. In addition
to complementing existing networks in high-demand areas, this
interoperability will ensure service continuity for end users throughout
the operator’s wireless network. Multimode devices with support for
GSM, GPRS and UMTS (HSPA, HSPA+), along with the interconnect
features of the EPC, ensure this interoperability. This allows the network
operators to deploy LTE incrementally, with initial focus on high-demand
urban areas.

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WCDMA
WCDMA + HSDPA

There Were More Than 137 Million UMTS Subscribers July ’07
WCDMA: 174 Commercial Operators HSDPA: 128 Commercial Operators
53 Commercial Operators @ 3.6Mbps

Figure 10: WCDMA and HSPA Deployments (Source: GSMA [Operators: July 2007], [Subscribers: June 2007])

The large, established 3GPP device and vendor ecosystem provides

economies-of-scale benefits for the deployment of LTE. Operators will
have greater flexibility in selecting vendors, and will have a larger choice
of devices that they can offer to their customers at an affordable price.

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[7] Conclusion
LTE is an optimized mobile-OFDMA solution built from the ground up
for mobility, which allows operators to offer advanced wireless services
in new and wider bandwidths of up to 20 MHz. LTE builds on HSPA’s
success and will complement existing HSPA and HSPA+ networks
with a capacity boost in high-demand areas. LTE’s high performance,
integrated QoS support and low latency allow operators to efficiently
target the entire range of IP services, from delay-sensitive services such
as telco-quality VoIP to HD-quality video streaming.

LTE will support a full range of devices, including desktop modems,

mobile phones, laptops and UMPCs, and will effectively meet the
demand for connectivity from a new generation of consumer electronics.
LTE allows operators to economically address all market segments and
many types of innovative services, including the stringent needs of
corporate clients with high-bandwidth demands.

LTE is based on a simplified, flattened IP-based network architecture

that improves network latency and is designed to interoperate and
ensure service continuity with existing 3GPP networks. LTE leverages
the benefits of existing 3G technologies and enhances it further with
additional antenna techniques, such as higher-order MIMO and SDMA.
The 3G ecosystem of device manufacturers will leverage 3G knowledge
and experience to ensure the availability of multimode devices that suit
a variety of applications and end-user preferences in the years ahead.

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[8] Glossary

3GPP Third-Generation Partnership Project

DFT Discrete Fourier transform
DL Downlink
eNode B Evolved Node B
EPC Evolved packet core
EPS Evolved packet system
FDD Frequency-division duplex
FDMA Frequency-division multiple access
FFR Fractional frequency reuse
FFT Fast Fourier transform
HSPA High-speed packet access
HSPA+ High-speed packet access evolved
IMS IP multimedia subsystem
IP Internet protocol
LTE Long-Term Evolution
MIMO Multiple-input multiple-output
OFDM Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing
OFDMA Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access
QoS Quality of service
RNC Radio network controller
SC-FDMA Single-carrier frequency-division multiple access
SDMA Spatial-division multiple access
TDD Time-division duplex
UE User equipment
UL Uplink
UMPC Ultra-mobile PC
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service®
VCC Voice-call continuity
VoIP Voice over Internet protocol

© 2008 Qualcomm, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Qualcomm is a registered trademark of Qualcomm, Incorporated. UMTS and 3GPP are
trademarks of ETSI. Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. Qualcomm asserts
that all information is correct through January 2008.

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