An Introduction to LTE: LTE, LTE-Advanced, SAE, VoLTE and 4G Mobile Communications, 2nd Edition

Chapter 20Releases 11 and 12

In this chapter, we address the two most recent releases of the 3GPP specifications, namely Releases 11 and 12. Release 11 was frozen in June 2013, and we begin this chapter by discussing its main features. These include coordinated multipoint transmission and reception, the enhanced physical downlink control channel, avoidance of interference between different radio access technologies, and enhancements to machine-type communications and mobile data applications.

The scheduled freeze date for Release 12 was September 2014, so the specifications were not yet finalized at the time of writing. We first cover the main features of that release, which include device-to-device communications, dynamic adaptation of the TDD configuration, further enhancements to machine-type communications and mobile data applications, and improved inter-operation with wireless local area networks. We also discuss two other issues that 3GPP studied during that release, namely improvements to small cells and heterogeneous networks and elevation beamforming. Some details of Release 12 will have changed by the time the specifications are finalized, but we note the remaining uncertainties where appropriate.

Details of Releases 11 and 12 can be found in the corresponding 3GPP release summaries [1]. There is also information about the latest 3GPP releases in a regularly updated white paper by 4G Americas [2], which will ultimately contain information about Releases 13, 14 and ...