www.rohde-schwarz.com/technology/LTE

Intraband contiguous

Intraband noncontiguous

Interband

Frequency band A

ComponentCarrier (CC)

Frequency band B

Frequency band A Frequency band B

Frequency band A Frequency band B

Carrier aggregation of licensed and unlicensed spectra

….. …..

20 MHz 20 MHz

UE

787 756777 746

Licensed bande.g. Band 13 DL

Licensed bande.g. Band 13 UL

57655725

Unlicensed bande.g. 5 GHz initially as a supplemental DL

5.725 GHz 5.85 GHz 5.925 GHz5.47 GHz5.35 GHz5.25 GHz5.15 GHz

UNII-1 UNII-2 UNII-2e UNII-3 UNII-4 (DSRC)

f in MHz

f in GHz

20 MHz 20 MHz

120 MHzcould becomeavailable inUS, Europe

Requires dynamicfrequency selection(DFS), UNII-2

20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz 20 MHz20 MHz20 MHz20 MHz20 MHz20 MHz20 MHz

10 MHz 10 MHz

Carrier aggregation (CA) is by far the most demanded

feature of the feature set standardized in 3GPP Release

10 and known as LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). The high in-

terest from the mobile industry and network operators

in particular has led to a continuous evolution of the

original CA definition in subsequent releases of the rel-

evant technical specification. The number of frequency

band combinations to aggregate spectrum assets are

constantly evolving, as are the achievable data rates.

New device categories are required to support these

higher data rates. The constantly increasing mobile

data consumption forces service providers worldwide

to look for alternatives to increase their spectrum hold-

ings. A promising solution is to use carrier aggregation

to expand into unlicensed spectrum. Future evolution

might require a fundamental change leading to an in-

creased number of carriers to be aggregated. This post-

er provides an overview of the CA evolution throughout

3GPP Releases 10 to 13.

Test solutions from Rohde & Schwarz evolve in

line with the carrier aggregation feature. From

infrastructure to chipset and device testing, and

from component testing to network optimization

and benchmarking, Rohde & Schwarz is the right

partner for your CA testing needs.

Evolution of Carrier Aggregation (3GPP Releases 10 to 13)

Carrier aggregation modes (Rel. 10) and Rel. 11 enhancements LTE FDD/TDD joint operation (Rel. 12)

Frequency bands (example for 4 DL/1 UL, Rel. 13)

Licensed assisted access (LAA) and extension up to 32 component carriers (Rel. 13)

Rohde & Schwarz test solutions for carrier aggregation

Evolution of UE categories due to carrier aggregation (Rel. 10 to 12)

When spectrum is auctioned off by local regulators, FDD and TDD spectrum licens-

es are typically bundled. Hence, most service providers worldwide hold licenses for

paired spectrum (FDD) and unpaired spectrum (TDD). With the ability to aggregate

spectrum using carrier aggregation and due to constantly increasing mobile data con-

sumption by their subscribers, network operators requested the ability to also aggre-

gate FDD and TDD spectrum, which 3GPP added in Release 12.

There are two types of CA: interband, and intraband with

its two submodes intraband contiguous and intraband non-

contiguous. Intraband means that the aggregated compo-

nent carriers reside in the same frequency band; the carriers

are not co-located in the case of noncontiguous. Interband

means the aggregated carriers are in different frequency

bands. The initial definition was a maximum of five carriers

and a total bandwidth of 100 MHz, with a maximum band-

width of 20 MHz for each component carrier to ensure back-

ward compatibility. Each component carrier can have any of

the six bandwidths defined for LTE. Therefore the total ag-

gregated bandwidth highly depends on the network opera-

tor’s spectrum holdings. The first rollout phase applies CA

only in the downlink, with typically two aggregated frequency

bands. One component carrier resides in a low frequency

band (below 2 GHz) and one in a high band. The next step is

triband CA in the downlink and CA in the uplink. In the third

phase, four carriers are aggregated, where the two CA types

can also be combined: component carriers reside in two or

more frequency bands, with some carriers in the same fre-

quency band and deployed in a contiguous or noncontiguous

fashion. Release 11 defines some CA enhancements, such

as multiple timing advance groups. These enable component

carriers (CC) on cells served by antennas that are geographi-

cally separated from the primary CC. CA with TDD also gains

more flexibility by allowing TDD CC combinations with differ-

ent UL/DL configurations as long as they operate in different

frequency bands.

Glossary:3GPP = 3rd Generation Partnership Project, CA = Carrier Aggregation, CC =  Component Carrier, DFS = Dynamic Frequency Selection, DL = Downlink, DSRC = Dedicated Short Range Communications, E2E = End-to-End, eNB = Enhanced NodeB, E-UTRA = Evolved Uni-versal Terrestrial Radio Access, FDD =  Frequency Division Duplex, IMT = International Mobile Telecommunications, IP = Internet Protocol, ISM = Industrial, Scientifi c and Medical, ITU = International Telecom-munication Union, LAA = Licensed Assisted Access, LBT = Listen Before Talk, LTE = Long Term Evolution, MIMO = Multiple Input Mul-tiple Output, MTC = Machine Type Communications, QAM = Quadra-ture Amplitude Modulation, TDD = Time Division Duplex, UE = User Equipment, UNII = Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure, UL = Uplink

R&S®CMW500 wideband radio communication tester for chipset and device testing, all layers including end-to-end (E2E) applications and IP analysis

R&S®SMW200A vector signal generator and R&S®FSW signal and spectrum analyzer for infrastructure, component and handset testing

R&S®TSMA autonomous mobile network scanner and SwissQual QualiPoc Android drive test software for mobile network testing

At the beginning of 2015, 32 FDD and 11 TDD bands were

specified for LTE deployment. The geographical region and

the network operators’ spectrum holdings determine which

band combinations for interband, intraband contiguous

and intraband noncontiguous CA will be added to the stan-

dard. A complete overview is available in the relevant 3GPP

specification, TS 36.101. As an example, the table lists the

proposed band combinations for aggregating four compo-

nent carriers in the downlink, while maintaining only one

uplink carrier, which is supposed to be added with 3GPP

Release 13. All these frequency bands are used in North

America.

Up to Release 12, all LTE networks use licensed spectrum bands. The ever-increasing demands for more capacity

forces network operators worldwide to exploit all possible spectrum accessible to them. Unlicensed spectra such

as the industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) bands, primarily at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, are considered. The 2.4 GHz

band is fairly crowded with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi access points, but the 5 GHz ISM band is still underutilized. Offer-

ing more than 500 MHz of additional bandwidth, the upper portion of that frequency band in particular has very

low or even no regulatory requirements in several regions worldwide. Local regulators have made some adjust-

ments to exploit the full potential of the 5 GHz band. In addition, the relevant listen before talk (LBT) functional-

ity needs to be standardized to ensure coexistence with other systems, such as 5 GHz Wi-Fi. 3GPP Release 13

will add the LBT functionality as part of LAA and enhance the carrier aggregation functionality to make use of the

5 GHz spectrum based on a fair share principle.

The initially defined five component carriers to meet the ITU requirements for IMT-Advanced are no longer

sufficient for the CA enhancement to also use unlicensed spectrum. The LTE-A standard could easily be extended

to support up to eight carriers, requiring only minor changes to the relevant specification. But the need to be

future-viable and the significant amount of unlicensed spectrum require 3GPP to discuss up to 32 component

carriers for the CA enhancement.

E-UTRA CA band

E-UTRA band

Uplink (UL) operating band in MHz

Downlink (DL) operating bandin MHz

Duplex

CA_2-2-12-30

2 1850 to 1910 1930 to 1990

FDD

12 699 to 716 729 to 746

30 2305 to 2315 2350 to 2360

CA_2-2-5-30

2 1850 to 1910 1930 to 1990

5 824 to 849 869 to 894

30 2305 to 2315 2350 to 2360

CA_2-2-29-30

2 1850 to 1910 1930 to 1990

29 N/A 717 to 728

30 2305 to 2315 2350 to 2360

CA_2-4-12-30

2 1850 to 1910 1930 to 1990

4 1710 to 1785 1805 to 1880

12 699 to 716 729 to 746

30 2305 to 2315 2350 to 2360

CA_2-5-12-30

2 1850 to 1910 1930 to 1990

5 824 to 849 869 to 894

12 699 to 716 729 to 746

30 2305 to 2315 2350 to 2360

CA_2-4-29-30

2 1850 to 1910 1930 to 1990

4 1710 to 1785 1805 to 1880

29 N/A 717 to 728

30 2305 to 2315 2350 to 2360

CA_25-41-41-4125 1850 to 1915 1930 to 1995

41 2496 to 2690 2496 to 2690 TDD

CA_41-41-41-41 41 2496 to 2690 2496 to 2690 TDD

UE category

Max. data rate in Mbps

Min. number of DL CCs

DL MIMO layer(s)

Highest modu-lation scheme

DL UL DL UL

Rel. 8

1 ~10 ~5

1

1

64QAM

16QAM2 ~50 ~25

23 ~100~50

4 ~150

5 ~300 ~75 4 64QAM

Rel. 10

6 ~300 ~501 or 2 2 or 4 16QAM

7 ~300 ~100

8 ~3000 ~1500 5 8 64QAM

Rel. 11

9~450

~502 or 3

2 or 4 16QAM10 ~100

11~600

~502, 3 or 4

12 ~100

LTE Releases 8 to 11 specify

a single UE category to de-

scribe an overall capability in

terms of maximum supported

data rate and MIMO support.

They only partly refer to single

device capabilities. Additional

parameter signaling is used

to inform about detailed sup-

port for individual device

capabilities.

Example of paired (FDD) and unpaired (TDD) spectrum aggregation

UL DL

UE

f in MHz f in MHz

FDD[e.g. Band 19]

TDD[e.g. Band 42]

eNB

3GPP Releases 12 and higher decouple DL and UL capabilities. Various combinations

of DL and UL categories are specified. DL and UL categories 0 are specifically added to

support machine type communications (MTC). To ensure backward compatibility, a de-

vice that supports any of the Release 12 DL and UL category combinations also signals

the corresponding legacy UE categories (Releases 8 to 11) to the network. This enables

Release 8 to Release 11 compliant networks to support Release 12 compliant devices.

Downlink Uplink

DL cat.Rel.12

Max. data rate in Mbps

DL MIMO layer(s)

UL cat.Rel.12

Max. data rate in Mbps

64QAM support

0 ~1 1 0 ~1no

6~300

2 or 4

3 ~50

7 5 ~75 yes

9~450

7 ~100 no

10 8 ~1500yes

11~600

13 ~150

12

13 ~390

14 ~3900 8

UE DL cat.

UE UL cat.

Legacy UE categories

0 0 N/A

6 5 category 6, 4

7 13 category 7, 4

9 5 category 9, 6, 4

10 13 category 10, 7, 4

11 5 category 11, 9, 6, 4

12 13 category 12, 10, 7, 4

13 3 category 6, 4

13 5 category 6, 4

13 7 category 7, 4

13 13 category 7, 4

14 8 category 8, 5

Evolution_Carrier_aggregation_po_en.indd 1 14.04.2015 11:22:01

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at add

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ustomized

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-term dependability

3607.1713.82. 01.00 PDP 1 en

Test & Measurement

Poster | 01.00

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w.ro

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schw

arz.c

om/t

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olog

y/LT

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PD 3607.1713.82 V 01.00 (as)

3606171382

Intr

aban

d c

onti

guous

Intr

aban

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onco

nti

guous

Inte

rban

d

Freq

uenc

y ba

nd A

Com

pone

ntCa

rrie

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)

Freq

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y ba

nd B

Freq

uenc

y ba

nd A

Freq

uenc

y ba

nd B

Freq

uenc

y ba

nd A

Freq

uenc

y ba

nd B

Car

rier

ag

gre

gat

ion

of

licen

sed

an

d u

nlic

ense

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pec

tra

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20 M

Hz

20 M

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ban

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e.g.

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initi

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as

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5.15

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UN

II-1

UN

II-2

UN

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UN

II-3

UN

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(DSR

C)

f in

MH

z

f in

GHz

20 M

Hz

20 M

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120

MH

zco

uld

beco

me

avai

labl

e in

US,

Eur

ope

Requ

ires

dyna

mic

freq

uenc

y se

lect

ion

(DFS

), U

NII-

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20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

20 M

Hz

10 M

Hz

10 M

Hz

Car

rier

agg

reg

atio

n (C

A) i

s by

far

the

mos

t de

man

ded

feat

ure

of t

he f

eatu

re s

et s

tand

ardi

zed

in 3

GP

P R

elea

se

10 a

nd k

now

n as

LTE

-Adv

ance

d (L

TE-A

). Th

e hi

gh

in-

tere

st f

rom

the

mob

ile in

dust

ry a

nd n

etw

ork

oper

ator

s

in p

artic

ular

has

led

to a

con

tinuo

us e

volu

tion

of t

he

orig

inal

CA

def

initi

on in

sub

sequ

ent

rele

ases

of

the

rel-

evan

t te

chni

cal s

peci

ficat

ion.

The

num

ber

of f

requ

ency

band

com

bina

tions

to

agg

reg

ate

spec

trum

ass

ets

are

cons

tant

ly e

volv

ing

, as

are

the

achi

evab

le d

ata

rate

s.

New

dev

ice

cate

gor

ies

are

requ

ired

to s

uppo

rt t

hese

hig

her

data

rat

es. T

he c

onst

antly

incr

easi

ng m

obile

data

con

sum

ptio

n fo

rces

ser

vice

pro

vide

rs w

orld

wid

e

to lo

ok f

or a

ltern

ativ

es t

o in

crea

se t

heir

spec

trum

hol

d-

ing

s. A

pro

mis

ing

sol

utio

n is

to

use

carr

ier

agg

reg

atio

n

to e

xpan

d in

to u

nlic

ense

d sp

ectr

um. F

utur

e ev

olut

ion

mig

ht r

equi

re a

fun

dam

enta

l cha

nge

lead

ing

to

an in

-

crea

sed

num

ber

of c

arrie

rs t

o be

ag

gre

gat

ed. T

his

post

-

er p

rovi

des

an o

verv

iew

of

the

CA

evo

lutio

n th

roug

hout

3GP

P R

elea

ses

10 t

o 13

.

Test

solu

tion

s fr

om

Roh

de

& S

chw

arz

evolv

e in

lin

e w

ith

th

e ca

rrie

r ag

gre

gat

ion

fea

ture

. Fr

om

in

fras

tru

ctu

re t

o c

hip

set

and

dev

ice

test

ing

, an

d

from

com

pon

ent

test

ing

to n

etw

ork

op

tim

izat

ion

an

d b

ench

mar

kin

g, R

oh

de

& S

chw

arz

is t

he

rig

ht

par

tner

for

you

r C

A t

esti

ng

nee

ds.

Evol

utio

n of

Car

rier A

ggre

gatio

n (3

GPP

Rele

ases

10

to 1

3)Ca

rrie

r agg

rega

tion

mod

es (R

el. 1

0) a

nd R

el. 1

1 en

hanc

emen

tsLT

E FD

D/TD

D jo

int o

pera

tion

(Rel

. 12)

Freq

uenc

y ba

nds

(exa

mpl

e fo

r 4 D

L/1

UL, R

el. 1

3)Li

cens

ed a

ssis

ted

acce

ss (L

AA) a

nd e

xten

sion

up

to 3

2 co

mpo

nent

car

riers

(R

el. 1

3)

Rohd

e & S

chw

arz t

est s

olut

ions

for c

arrie

r agg

rega

tion

Evol

utio

n of

UE

cate

gorie

s du

e to

car

rier a

ggre

gatio

n (R

el. 1

0 to

12)

Whe

n sp

ectr

um is

auc

tione

d of

f by

loca

l reg

ulat

ors,

FD

D a

nd T

DD

spe

ctru

m li

cens

-

es a

re t

ypic

ally

bun

dled

. Hen

ce, m

ost

serv

ice

prov

ider

s w

orld

wid

e ho

ld li

cens

es f

or

paire

d sp

ectr

um (F

DD

) and

unp

aire

d sp

ectr

um (T

DD

). W

ith t

he a

bilit

y to

ag

gre

gat

e

spec

trum

usi

ng c

arrie

r ag

gre

gat

ion

and

due

to c

onst

antly

incr

easi

ng m

obile

dat

a co

n-

sum

ptio

n by

the

ir su

bscr

iber

s, n

etw

ork

oper

ator

s re

ques

ted

the

abili

ty t

o al

so a

gg

re-

gat

e FD

D a

nd T

DD

spe

ctru

m, w

hich

3G

PP

add

ed in

Rel

ease

12.

Ther

e ar

e tw

o ty

pes

of C

A: i

nter

band

, and

intr

aban

d

with

its

two

subm

odes

intr

aban

d co

ntig

uous

and

intr

aban

d no

ncon

tiguo

us. I

ntra

band

mea

ns t

hat

the

agg

reg

ated

com

pone

nt c

arrie

rs r

esid

e in

the

sam

e fr

e-

quen

cy b

and;

the

car

riers

are

not

co-

loca

ted

in t

he c

ase

of n

onco

ntig

uous

. Int

erba

nd m

eans

the

ag

gre

gat

ed

carr

iers

are

in d

iffer

ent

freq

uenc

y ba

nds.

The

initi

al

defin

ition

was

a m

axim

um o

f fiv

e ca

rrie

rs a

nd a

tot

al

band

wid

th o

f 10

0 M

Hz,

with

a m

axim

um b

andw

idth

of

20 M

Hz

for

each

com

pone

nt c

arrie

r to

ens

ure

back

war

d

com

patib

ility

. Eac

h co

mpo

nent

car

rier

can

have

any

of

the

six

band

wid

ths

defin

ed f

or L

TE. T

here

fore

the

tot

al

agg

reg

ated

ban

dwid

th h

ighl

y de

pend

s on

the

net

wor

k

oper

ator

’s s

pect

rum

hol

ding

s. T

he f

irst

rollo

ut p

hase

appl

ies

CA

onl

y in

the

dow

nlin

k, w

ith t

ypic

ally

tw

o ag

-

gre

gat

ed f

requ

ency

ban

ds. O

ne c

ompo

nent

car

rier

re-

side

s in

a lo

w f

requ

ency

ban

d (b

elow

2 G

Hz)

and

one

in

a hi

gh

band

. The

nex

t st

ep is

trib

and

CA

in t

he d

ownl

ink

and

CA

in t

he u

plin

k. In

the

thi

rd p

hase

, fou

r ca

rrie

rs a

re

agg

reg

ated

, whe

re t

he t

wo

CA

typ

es c

an a

lso

be c

om-

bine

d: c

ompo

nent

car

riers

res

ide

in t

wo

or m

ore

fre-

quen

cy b

ands

, with

som

e ca

rrie

rs in

the

sam

e fr

eque

n-

cy b

and

and

depl

oyed

in a

con

tiguo

us o

r no

ncon

tiguo

us

fash

ion.

Rel

ease

11

defin

es s

ome

CA

enh

ance

men

ts,

such

as

mul

tiple

tim

ing

adv

ance

gro

ups.

The

se e

nabl

e

com

pone

nt c

arrie

rs (C

C) o

n ce

lls s

erve

d by

ant

enna

s

that

are

geo

gra

phic

ally

sep

arat

ed f

rom

the

prim

ary

CC

.

CA

with

TD

D a

lso

gai

ns m

ore

flexi

bilit

y by

allo

win

g T

DD

CC

com

bina

tions

with

diff

eren

t U

L/D

L co

nfig

urat

ions

as

long

as

they

ope

rate

in d

iffer

ent

freq

uenc

y ba

nds.

Glo

ssar

y:3GPP = 3

rd G

ener

atio

n Pa

rtne

rshi

p P

roje

ct, CA = C

arrie

r A

gg

reg

atio

n,

CC =  C

ompo

nent

Car

rier, DFS = D

ynam

ic F

requ

ency

Sel

ectio

n,

DL = D

ownl

ink,

DSRC = D

edic

ated

Sho

rt R

ang

e C

omm

unic

atio

ns,

E2

E =

 End

-to-

End

, eNB = E

nhan

ced

Nod

eB, E-UTRA = E

volv

ed U

ni-

vers

al T

erre

stria

l Rad

io A

cces

s, FDD =  F

requ

ency

Div

isio

n D

uple

x,

IMT = In

tern

atio

nal M

obile

Tel

ecom

mun

icat

ions

, IP = In

tern

et P

roto

col,

ISM = In

dust

rial,

Sci

entifi

c a

nd M

edic

al, ITU = In

tern

atio

nal T

elec

om-

mun

icat

ion

Uni

on, LAA = L

icen

sed

Ass

iste

d A

cces

s, LBT = L

iste

n B

efor

e Ta

lk, LTE = L

ong

Ter

m E

volu

tion,

MIM

O = M

ultip

le In

put

Mul

-tip

le O

utpu

t, MTC = M

achi

ne T

ype

Com

mun

icat

ions

, QAM = Q

uadr

a-tu

re A

mpl

itude

Mod

ulat

ion,

TDD = T

ime

Div

isio

n D

uple

x, UE = U

ser

Equ

ipm

ent,

UNII = U

nlic

ense

d N

atio

nal I

nfor

mat

ion

Infr

astr

uctu

re,

UL = U

plin

k

R&

S®C

MW

500

wid

eban

d ra

dio

com

mun

icat

ion

test

er f

or c

hips

et a

nd d

evic

e te

stin

g, a

ll la

yers

in

clud

ing

end

-to-

end

(E2E

) app

licat

ions

and

IP

anal

ysis

R&

S®S

MW

200A

vec

tor

sig

nal g

ener

ator

an

d R

&S

®FS

W s

igna

l and

spe

ctru

m a

naly

zer

for

infr

astr

uctu

re, c

ompo

nent

and

han

dset

te

stin

g

R&

S®T

SM

A a

uton

omou

s m

obile

net

wor

k sc

anne

r an

d S

wis

sQua

l Qua

liPoc

And

roid

driv

e te

st s

oftw

are

for

mob

ile

netw

ork

test

ing

At

the

beg

inni

ng o

f 20

15, 3

2 FD

D a

nd 1

1 TD

D b

ands

wer

e

spec

ified

for

LTE

dep

loym

ent.

The

geo

gra

phic

al r

egio

n an

d

the

netw

ork

oper

ator

s’ s

pect

rum

hol

ding

s de

term

ine

whi

ch

band

com

bina

tions

for

inte

rban

d, in

trab

and

cont

iguo

us

and

intr

aban

d no

ncon

tiguo

us C

A w

ill b

e ad

ded

to t

he s

tan-

dard

. A c

ompl

ete

over

view

is a

vaila

ble

in t

he r

elev

ant

3GP

P

spec

ifica

tion,

TS

36.

101.

As

an e

xam

ple,

the

tab

le li

sts

the

prop

osed

ban

d co

mbi

natio

ns f

or a

gg

reg

atin

g f

our

com

po-

nent

car

riers

in t

he d

ownl

ink,

whi

le m

aint

aini

ng o

nly

one

uplin

k ca

rrie

r, w

hich

is s

uppo

sed

to b

e ad

ded

with

3G

PP

Rel

ease

13.

All

thes

e fr

eque

ncy

band

s ar

e us

ed in

Nor

th

Am

eric

a.

Up

to R

elea

se 1

2, a

ll LT

E n

etw

orks

use

lice

nsed

spe

ctru

m b

ands

. The

eve

r-in

crea

sing

dem

ands

for

mor

e ca

paci

ty

forc

es n

etw

ork

oper

ator

s w

orld

wid

e to

exp

loit

all p

ossi

ble

spec

trum

acc

essi

ble

to t

hem

. Unl

icen

sed

spec

tra

such

as t

he in

dust

rial,

scie

ntifi

c an

d m

edic

al (I

SM

) ban

ds, p

rimar

ily a

t 2.

4 G

Hz

and

5 G

Hz,

are

con

side

red.

The

2.4

 GH

z

band

is f

airly

cro

wde

d w

ith B

luet

ooth

and

Wi-F

i acc

ess

poin

ts, b

ut t

he 5

 GH

z IS

M b

and

is s

till u

nder

utili

zed.

Off

er-

ing

mor

e th

an 5

00 M

Hz

of a

dditi

onal

ban

dwid

th, t

he u

pper

por

tion

of t

hat

freq

uenc

y ba

nd in

par

ticul

ar h

as v

ery

low

or

even

no

reg

ulat

ory

requ

irem

ents

in s

ever

al r

egio

ns w

orld

wid

e. L

ocal

reg

ulat

ors

have

mad

e so

me

adju

st-

men

ts t

o ex

ploi

t th

e fu

ll po

tent

ial o

f th

e 5 

GH

z ba

nd. I

n ad

ditio

n, t

he r

elev

ant

liste

n be

fore

tal

k (L

BT)

fun

ctio

nal-

ity n

eeds

to

be s

tand

ardi

zed

to e

nsur

e co

exis

tenc

e w

ith o

ther

sys

tem

s, s

uch

as 5

 GH

z W

i-Fi.

3GP

P R

elea

se 1

3

will

add

the

LB

T fu

nctio

nalit

y as

par

t of

LA

A a

nd e

nhan

ce t

he c

arrie

r ag

gre

gat

ion

func

tiona

lity

to m

ake

use

of t

he

5 G

Hz

spec

trum

bas

ed o

n a

fair

shar

e pr

inci

ple.

The

initi

ally

def

ined

fiv

e co

mpo

nent

car

riers

to

mee

t th

e IT

U r

equi

rem

ents

for

IMT-

Adv

ance

d ar

e no

long

er

suff

icie

nt f

or t

he C

A e

nhan

cem

ent

to a

lso

use

unlic

ense

d sp

ectr

um. T

he L

TE-A

sta

ndar

d co

uld

easi

ly b

e ex

tend

ed

to s

uppo

rt u

p to

eig

ht c

arrie

rs, r

equi

ring

onl

y m

inor

cha

nges

to

the

rele

vant

spe

cific

atio

n. B

ut t

he n

eed

to b

e

futu

re-v

iabl

e an

d th

e si

gni

fican

t am

ount

of

unlic

ense

d sp

ectr

um r

equi

re 3

GP

P t

o di

scus

s up

to

32 c

ompo

nent

carr

iers

for

the

CA

enh

ance

men

t.

E-U

TR

A

CA band

E-U

TR

A

ban

d

Up

link (

UL)

op

erat

ing

b

and

in

MH

z

Dow

nlin

k (

DL)

op

erat

ing

ban

din

MH

zD

uple

x

CA

_2-2

-12-

30

218

50 t

o 19

1019

30 t

o 19

90

FDD

1269

9 to

716

729

to 7

46

3023

05

to 2

315

2350

to

2360

CA

_2-2

-5-3

0

218

50 t

o 19

1019

30 t

o 19

90

582

4 to

849

869

to 8

94

3023

05

to 2

315

2350

to

2360

CA

_2-2

-29-

30

218

50 t

o 19

1019

30 t

o 19

90

29N

/A71

7 to

728

3023

05

to 2

315

2350

to

2360

CA

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30

218

50 t

o 19

1019

30 t

o 19

90

417

10 t

o 17

8518

05

to 1

880

1269

9 to

716

729

to 7

46

3023

05

to 2

315

2350

to

2360

CA

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-12-

30

218

50 t

o 19

1019

30 t

o 19

90

582

4 to

849

869

to 8

94

1269

9 to

716

729

to 7

46

3023

05

to 2

315

2350

to

2360

CA

_2-4

-29-

30

218

50 t

o 19

1019

30 t

o 19

90

417

10 t

o 17

8518

05

to 1

880

29N

/A71

7 to

728

3023

05

to 2

315

2350

to

2360

CA

_25-

41-4

1-41

2518

50 t

o 19

1519

30 t

o 19

95

4124

96 t

o 26

9024

96 t

o 26

90TD

D

CA

_41-

41-4

1-41

4124

96 t

o 26

9024

96 t

o 26

90TD

D

UE

cate

gory

Max

. d

ata

rate

in

Mb

ps

Min

. n

um

ber

of

DL

CC

s

DL

MIM

O

laye

r(s)

Hig

hes

t m

od

u-

lati

on

sch

eme

DL

UL

DL

UL

Rel

. 8

1~

10~

5

1

1

64Q

AM

16Q

AM

2~

50~

25

23

~10

0~

504

~15

0

5~

300

~75

464

QA

M

Rel

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6~

300

~50

1 or

22

or 4

16Q

AM

7~

300

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0

8~

3000

~15

005

864

QA

M

Rel

. 11

9~

450

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2 or

3

2 or

416

QA

M10

~10

0

11~

600

~50

2, 3

or

412

~10

0

LTE

Rel

ease

s 8

to 1

1 sp

ecify

a si

ngle

UE

cat

egor

y to

de-

scrib

e an

ove

rall

capa

bilit

y in

term

s of

max

imum

sup

port

ed

data

rat

e an

d M

IMO

sup

port

.

They

onl

y pa

rtly

ref

er t

o si

ngle

devi

ce c

apab

ilitie

s. A

dditi

onal

para

met

er s

igna

ling

is u

sed

to in

form

abo

ut d

etai

led

sup-

port

for

indi

vidu

al d

evic

e

capa

bilit

ies.

Exa

mp

le o

f p

aire

d (FD

D) an

d u

np

aire

d (TD

D) sp

ectr

um

aggre

gat

ion

ULDL

UE

f in

MHz

f in

MHz

FDD

[e.g

. Ban

d 19

]TD

D[e

.g. B

and

42]

eNB

3GP

P R

elea

ses

12 a

nd h

ighe

r de

coup

le D

L an

d U

L ca

pabi

litie

s. V

ario

us c

ombi

natio

ns

of D

L an

d U

L ca

teg

orie

s ar

e sp

ecifi

ed. D

L an

d U

L ca

teg

orie

s 0

are

spec

ifica

lly a

dded

to

supp

ort

mac

hine

typ

e co

mm

unic

atio

ns (M

TC).

To e

nsur

e ba

ckw

ard

com

patib

ility

, a d

e-

vice

tha

t su

ppor

ts a

ny o

f th

e R

elea

se 1

2 D

L an

d U

L ca

teg

ory

com

bina

tions

als

o si

gna

ls

the

corr

espo

ndin

g le

gac

y U

E c

ateg

orie

s (R

elea

ses

8 to

11)

to

the

netw

ork.

Thi

s en

able

s

Rel

ease

8 t

o R

elea

se 1

1 co

mpl

iant

net

wor

ks t

o su

ppor

t R

elea

se 1

2 co

mpl

iant

dev

ices

.

Dow

nlin

kU

plin

k

DL c

at.

Rel

.12

Max

. d

ata

rate

in

M

bp

s

DL

MIM

O

laye

r(s)

UL c

at.

Rel

.12

Max

. d

ata

rate

in

M

bp

s

64

QA

M

sup

port

0~

11

0~

1no

6~

300

2 or

4

3~

50

75

~75

yes

9~

450

7~

100

no

108

~15

00ye

s11

~60

013

~15

0

12 13~

390

14~

3900

8

UE D

L

cat.

UE U

L

cat.

Leg

acy

UE

cate

gori

es

00

N/A

65

cate

gor

y 6,

4

713

cate

gor

y 7,

4

95

cate

gor

y 9,

6, 4

1013

cate

gor

y 10

, 7, 4

115

cate

gor

y 11

, 9, 6

, 4

1213

cate

gor

y 12

, 10,

7, 4

133

cate

gor

y 6,

4

135

cate

gor

y 6,

4

137

cate

gor

y 7,

4

1313

cate

gor

y 7,

4

148

cate

gor

y 8,

5

Evol

utio

n_C

arrie

r_ag

greg

atio

n_po

_en.

indd

1

13.0

4.20

15

17:1

1:34

Evol

utio

n of

Car

rier A

ggre

gatio

n(3

GPP

Rele

ase

10 to

13)A

bou

t Roh

de &

Sch

warz

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Evolution of C

arrier Ag

greg

ation

Data w

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| Subject to chang

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