It seems that wireless technology and networks are constantly evolving and improving upon themselves. When 3G networks first emerged, they were touted as the most advanced connection available. This quickly changed with the development of 4G and LTE systems. Currently, the telecom sector is seeing another shift of this nature with LTE-Advanced.
However, as users and providers alike seek to keep up with the latest trends and most innovative technologies, a couple of key questions emerge: What is LTE-Advanced and how it is being implemented today?
LTE-Advanced development
Just as 4G was introduced as an improvement of 3G networks, LTE-A is the next step beyond LTE, noted ExtremeTech contributor Neal Gompa. In essence, LTE-A provides additional features and capabilities to address certain industry standards.
“In particular, LTE-Advanced is LTE that fulfills the criteria to be considered 4G by the ITU,” Gompa wrote. “To be called 4G, it has to be able to fulfill the requirements set forth in the IMT-Advanced specification. To accomplish this, LTE-Advanced includes many advanced techniques, technologies and capabilities that older wireless standards do not include.”
4G America’s Chris Pearson told RCR Wireless that North America is the current leader in LTE deployment, as almost half of all available LTE services are based in the region. However, LTE has seen growing capabilities in the Latin America market as well. As operators seek to quell customer demands for boosted capacity and mobile abilities, LTE-A development will see further deployment.
LTE-Advanced characteristics
LTE-A builds upon the abilities of LTE networks with several more advanced characteristics, including offering as much as 1 Gbps wireless speeds for downloads and 100 Mbps over mobile broadband, GigaOM’s Stacey Higginbotham wrote.
In order to boost the capacity over LTE, LTE-A networks leverage MIMO, or multiple-input, multiple-output antenna technology. This arrangement utilizes additional antennas that provide a wider breadth of resources to allow an increasing number of users to leverage a shared network. Through MIMO, operators also have more granular control over spectrum allocation between the base station and individual user devices, Higginbotham stated. Additionally, this approach enables telcos to use several spectrum bands to provide services within the network and boost capacity.
However, industry influencer Anurag Jain noted that because LTE-A requires additional chunks of bandwidth spectrum, it may take a while for this technology to be widely available.
“This has nothing to do with technology but logistics,” Jain stated. “LTE-A require[s] network operators to capture more spectrum which is a resources auctioned by governments almost exclusively around the globe. This process alone is bound to delay the process.”
Current LTE-Advanced deployments: AT&T
While it may be some time before all users transition over to LTE-A networks, organizations are working on launching LTE-A networks. For example, AT&T recently boosted services in the Chicago area with an LTE-A deployment, GigaOM’s Kevin Fitchard reported. However, he pointed out that AT&T isn’t overly publicizing the transition as not all customers can take advantage of it yet because not many devices support carrier aggregation.
Qualcomm’s LTE-Advanced technology
Qualcomm is also working toward LTE-A development with its new technology that allows for LTE-A to be ran over 5 GHz band, EE Times’ Jessica Lipsky reported. This innovation comes as a result of the projected significant boost in mobile data traffic, which could be multiplied as much as 1000 times over current traffic levels.
“The foundation [for more data] is more small cells everywhere, new deployment models and more low-cost ways of deploying,” said Rasmus Hellberg, Qualcomm’s technical marketing senior director.
Although Qualcomm’s new technology is still in the prototype and development phase, it is a step in the right direction for LTE-A deployment.
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