What is LTE?
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the project name of a new high performance air interface for cellular mobile communication systems. It is the last step toward the 4th generation (4G) of radio technologies designed to increase the capacity and speed of mobile telephone networks. Where the current generation of mobile telecommunication networks are collectively known as 3G, LTE is marketed as 4G.
- Reduced cost per bit
- Increased service provisioning – more services at lower cost with better user experience
- Flexibility of use of existing and new frequency bands
- Simplified architecture, Open interfaces
- Allow for reasonable terminal power consumption
Although there are major step changes between LTE and its 3G predecessors, it is nevertheless looked upon as an evolution of the UMTS / 3GPP 3G standards. Although it uses a different form of radio interface, using OFDMA / SC-FDMA instead of CDMA, there are many similarities with the earlier forms of 3G architecture and there is scope for much re-use. LTE can be seen for providing a further evolution of functionality, increased speeds and general improved performance.
| 3G WCDMA (R99) | 3.5G HSPA | LTE | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frequency | Common frequency assigned for 3G | ||
| Bandwidth | 5MHz | 5/10/20MHz | |
| Radio Access | DS-CDMA | DL: OFDMA | |
| UL: SC-FDMA | |||
| Uplink Peak Rate | 384kbps | 5.7Mbps | >50Mbps |
| Downlink Peak Rate | 384kbps | 14Mbps | >100Mbps |
LTE has introduced a number of new technologies when compared to the previous cellular systems. They enable LTE to be able to operate more efficiently with respect to the use of spectrum, and also to provide the much higher data rates that are being required.
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OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex)OFDM technology has been incorporated into LTE because it enables high data bandwidths to be transmitted efficiently while still providing a high degree of resilience to reflections and interference.
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MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output)One of the main problems that previous telecommunications systems have encountered is that of multiple signals arising from the many reflections that are encountered. By using MIMO, these additional signal paths can be used to advantage and are able to be used to increase the throughput.
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SAE (System Architecture Evolution)With the very high data rate and low latency requirements for 3G LTE, it is necessary to evolve the system architecture to enable the improved performance to be achieved. One change is that a number of the functions previously handled by the core network have been transferred out to the periphery. Essentially this provides a much "flatter" form of network architecture. In this way latency times can be reduced and data can be routed more directly to its destination.
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