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LTE Advanced, also named or recognized as LTE+, LTE-A or 4G+, is a 4G mobile Cellular network communication standard developed by 3GPP as a major enhancement of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard.
Three technologies from the LTE-Advanced tool-kit carrier aggregation, 4x4 MIMO and 256QAM modulation in the downlink if used together and with sufficient aggregated bandwidth, can deliver maximum peak downlink speeds approaching, or even exceeding, 1 Gbit/s. This is significantly more than the peak 300 Mbit/s rate offered by the preceding LTE standard. Later developments have resulted in LTE Advanced Pro (or 4.9G) which increases bandwidth even further.
The first ever LTE Advanced network was deployed in 2013 by SK Telecom in South Korea. In August 2019, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reported that there were 304 commercially launched LTE-Advanced networks in 134 countries. Overall, 335 operators are investing in LTE-Advanced (in the form of tests, trials, deployments or commercial service provision) in 141 countries.GSA: LTE-Advanced Status Worldwide – August 2019
The work by 3GPP to define a 4G candidate radio interface technology started in Release 9 with the study phase for LTE-Advanced. Being described as a 3.9G (beyond 3G but pre-4G), the first release of LTE did not meet the requirements for 4G (also called IMT Advanced as defined by the International Telecommunication Union) such as peak data rates up to 1 Gb/s. The ITU has invited the submission of candidate Radio Interface Technologies (RITs) following their requirements in a circular letter, 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 36.913, "Requirements for Further Advancements for E-UTRA (LTE-Advanced)." "Requirements for further advancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) (LTE-Advanced)" These are based on ITU's requirements for 4G and on operators’ own requirements for advanced LTE. Major technical considerations include the following:
One of the important LTE Advanced benefits is the ability to take advantage of advanced topology networks; optimized heterogeneous networks with a mix of macrocells with low power nodes such as , and new relay nodes. The next significant performance leap in wireless networks will come from making the most of topology, and brings the network closer to the user by adding many of these low power nodes LTE Advanced further improves the capacity and coverage, and ensures user fairness. LTE Advanced also introduces multicarrier to be able to use ultra wide bandwidth, up to 100 MHz of spectrum supporting very high data rates.
In the research phase many proposals have been studied as candidates for LTE Advanced (LTE-A) technologies. The proposals could roughly be categorized into: Nomor Research: White Paper on LTE Advanced
Within the range of system development, LTE-Advanced and WiMAX 2 can use up to 8x8 MIMO and 128-QAM in downlink direction. Example performance: 100 MHz aggregated bandwidth, LTE-Advanced provides almost 3.3 Gbit peak download rates per sector of the base station under ideal conditions. Advanced network architectures combined with distributed and collaborative smart antenna technologies provide several years road map of commercial enhancements.
The 3GPP standards Release 12 added support for 256-QAM.
A summary of a study carried out in 3GPP can be found in TR36.912. 3GPP Technical Report: Feasibility study for Further Advancements for E-UTRA (LTE Advanced)
In order to improve the quality of service for users in hotspots and on cell edges, heterogeneous networks (HetNets) are formed of a mixture of macro-, pico- and femto base stations serving corresponding-size areas. Frozen in December 2012, 3GPP Release 11 concentrates on better support of HetNet. Coordinated Multi-Point operation (CoMP) is a key feature of Release 11 in order to support such network structures. Whereas users located at a cell edge in homogenous networks suffer from decreasing signal strength compounded by neighbor cell interference, CoMP is designed to enable use of a neighboring cell to also transmit the same signal as the serving cell, enhancing quality of service on the perimeter of a serving cell. In-device Co-existence (IDC) is another topic addressed in Release 11. IDC features are designed to ameliorate disturbances within the user equipment caused between LTE/LTE-A and the various other radio subsystems such as WiFi, Bluetooth, and the GPS receiver. Further enhancements for MIMO such as 4x4 configuration for the uplink were standardized.
The higher number of cells in HetNet results in user equipment changing the serving cell more frequently when in motion. The ongoing work on LTE-Advanced in Release 12, amongst other areas, concentrates on addressing issues that come about when users move through HetNet, such as frequent hand-overs between cells. It also included use of 256-QAM.
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| NTT DoCoMo | The operator announced the completion of a 4G trial where it achieved a maximum packet transmission rate of approximately 5 Gbit/s in the downlink using 12 transmit and 12 receive antennas and 100 MHz frequency bandwidth to a mobile station moving at 10 km/h. | ||
| Agilent Technologies | The vendor demonstrated at Mobile World Congress the industry's first test solutions for LTE-Advanced with both Signal generator and signal analysis solutions. | ||
| Ericsson | The vendor demonstrated LTE-Advanced in Kista. | ||
| mtc touch | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Chinese vendor Huawei and combined 800 MHz spectrum and 1.8 GHz spectrum. touch achieved 250 Mbit/s. | ||
| Vodafone | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Nokia Siemens and combined 1.8 GHz spectrum and 700 MHz spectrum. Vodafone achieved just below 300 Mbit/s. | ||
| mobilkom Austria | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Ericsson and NSN using 4x4 MIMO. A1 achieved 580 Mbit/s. | ||
| Turkcell | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Istanbul with Chinese vendor Huawei. Turkcell achieved 900 Mbit/s. | ||
| Telstra | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Swedish vendor Ericsson and combined 900 MHz spectrum and 1.8 GHz spectrum. | ||
| SMART | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Chinese vendor Huawei and combined 2.1 GHz spectrum and 1.80 GHz spectrum bands and achieved 200 Mbit/s. | ||
| SoftBank Mobile | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Tokyo with Chinese vendor Huawei. Softbank used the 3.5 GHz spectrum band and achieved 770 Mbit/s. | ||
| beCloud/ MTS | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Chinese vendor Huawei. | ||
| SFR | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Marseille and combined 800 MHz spectrum and 2.6 GHz spectrum. SFR achieved 174 Mbit/s. | ||
| EE | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in London with Chinese vendor Huawei and combined 20 MHz of 1.8 GHz spectrum and 20 MHz of 2.6 GHz spectrum. EE achieved 300 Mbit/s which is equal to category 6 LTE. | ||
| O2 | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Munich with Chinese vendor Huawei and combined 10 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum and 20 MHz of 2.6 GHz spectrum. O2 achieved 225 Mbit/s. | ||
| SK Telecom | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced and combined 10 MHz of 850 MHz spectrum and 20 MHz of 1.8 GHz spectrum. SK Telecom achieved 225 Mbit/s. | ||
| Vodafone Germany | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Dresden with Swedish vendor Ericsson and combined 10 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum and 20 MHz of 2.6 GHz spectrum. Vodafone achieved 225 Mbit/s. | ||
| Telstra | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Swedish vendor Ericsson and combined 20 MHz of 1.8 GHz spectrum and 20 MHz of 2.6 GHz spectrum. Telstra achieved 300 Mbit/s which is equal to category 6 LTE. | ||
| Optus | The operator trialed TD-LTE-Advanced with Chinese vendor Huawei and combined two 20 MHz channels of 2.3 GHz spectrum. Optus achieved over 160 Mbit/s. | ||
| Entel Chile | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Rancagua using 15 MHz of 700 MHz and 20 MHz of 2600 MHz spectrum, achieving over 200 Mbit/s. | ||
| Claro Brasil | The Claro Brasil presented in Rio Verde the first tests with 4.5G technology, LTE Advanced, which offers an internet speed of up to 300 Mbit/s. | ||
| AIS | March 2016 | The operator launched the first 4.5G on LTE-U network in Bangkok with the combination of 1800 MHz spectrum and 2100 MHz spectrum using Carrier Aggregation (CA), 4x4 MIMO, DL256QAM/UL64QAM and the use of LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) to facilitate high-speed network. AIS achieved download speed up to 784.5 Mbit/s and upload speed 495 Mbit/s. This was made possible by Joint Development Center (JIC) the special R&D program between AIS and Huawei. | |
| MagtiCom | May 2016 | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced in Tbilisi and combined the 800 MHz with its existing 1800 MHz spectrum. MagtiCom achieved download speed 185 Mbit/s and upload speed 75 Mbit/s. | |
| Ucom | September 2016 | The operator trialed LTE-Advanced with Swedish vendor Ericsson. Ucom achieved 250 Mbit/s download speed which is equal to category 6 LTE. | |
| Altel | April 2017 | The operator launched LTE-Advanced in 12 cities across Kazakhstan. Altel achieved 225 Mbit/s download speed. LTE-Advanced (4G+) Technology is up to be launched in 5 more cities in Kazakhstan in May 2017. | |
| Bite Latvija | September 2016 | The operator launched 8 4.5G cell stations in Riga after testing in partnership with Huawei and the Riga Technical University on June 15, 2017. | |
| Wi-Tribe | May 2017 | The operator first tested their LTE-A network in May 2017 over the 3.5 GHz band, and it was then made officially available in Lahore, Pakistan, with more cities to follow. Wi-Tribe achieved speeds of up to 200 Mbit/s over their new LTE-A network. This was done using equipment from Huawei. | |
| Telcel | March 2018 | The operator offered the service in Mexico City and other 10 cities nationwide on March 14, 2018. | |
| Airtel | April 2012 | On 10 April 2012, Airtel launched 4G services through dongles and modems using TD-LTE technology in Kolkata, becoming the first company in India to offer 4G services. The Kolkata launch was followed by launches in Bangalore (7 May 2012), Pune (18 October 2012), and Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula (25 March 2013). |
Additionally, it incorporates several new technologies associated with 5G, such as 256-QAM, Massive MIMO, LTE-Unlicensed and LTE IoT, that facilitated early migration of existing networks to enhancements promised with the full 5G standard.
Telstra in Australia deployed the very first LTE Advanced Pro network in January 2017.
Following AT&T's rollout of LTE Advanced and Advanced Pro networks in 2017, it inaccurately referred to them as "5G Evolution" (5G E) in advertising and on-device network indicators.
Resources (white papers, technical papers, application notes)
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