Chapter 16
LTE-Advanced
16.1 Introduction
The development of LTE radio access did not stop with the first LTE Release, Release 8. As Chapter 2 indicated, Release 9 introduced important enhancements, such as position location technologies, in different areas to cover for the requirements for emergency call. With the Release 10 specifications, available from the end of 2010, 3GPP is meeting the requirements for the ITU-R IMT-Advanced process. In most cases Release 8 LTE was already fulfilling the requirements set for, in particular, the high-mobility operation of LTE-Advanced. The Release 10 version of the specification contains additions, like support for bandwidths wider than 20 MHz, in order to meet the requirements for the low-mobility operation of IMT-Advanced. This chapter presents the ITU-R IMT-Advanced process and related requirements and looks at the results obtained from the 3GPP study phase. It then presents the different specified technology components and takes a more detailed look at the key aspects of carrier aggregation, uplink and downlink spatial multiplexing enhancements, and relay operation. It concludes by briefly examining the solutions being investigated with regard to LTE Release 11.
16.2 LTE-Advanced and IMT-Advanced
3GPP is working towards LTE-Advanced within the Release 10 timeframe mentioned earlier. ...
