LTE-Unlicensed

JOSH FORGIE
CTS
 Flavors
LTE-U / LAA
New deployments
LWA
Link Aggregation - Expands operator deployments into existing WiFi
WiFi
New deployments - 802: .11ac/.11ad/.11ax/.11ay
MultiFireTM
Stand-Alone without anchor carrier neutral host suitable
Association to develop global technical standards and certifications
Expansion of LTE into new deployments
LTE-U Forum
Created by Verizon, Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, LG, Qualcomm and Samsung
 LTE-U

Continually Changing
Industry defined coexistence with 3GPP Release 12 primarily USA
Already incorporates 3GPP 10 and 11
Built on carrier aggregation of LTE-Advanced
No license required to use spectrum
Radios must comply with existing FCC Part 15 regulations
Non-exclusive spectrum use
Spectrum subject to interference
Consistency, Accessibility and Reliability
Disrupts existing WiFi
Quality of Service
Discontinuous Transmission
Capacity over Coverage
No new deployments in locations without existing licensed coverage
Significant performance gains over WiFi
LTE-U Frequencies

Power
Frequency and use specific
Typical:
200 mW indoor
1 W outdoor
 LTE-U Deployments

AT&T
Trials in 2016
5 GHz in 20MHz channels
Verizon
Trials beginning in 2015-2016
5 GHz and 3.5 GHz
T-Mobile
5 GHz in 2016
Uses LTE-U enabled small cells from Alcatel-Lucent NOKIA
 LAA

License-Assisted Access
Intended to allow WiFi and LTE-U to coexist
Clear Channel Assessment / Listen before Talk eNodeB Fairness
Instantaneous access not guaranteed
Opportunistic use of spectrum
Increases capacity
Part of 3GPP Release 13
Deployed in Europe and Japan/Asia
Supports Gigabit Class LTE - 5 Gbps near future
Combines LTE in unlicensed 5GHz downlink with licensed LTE
Carrier Aggregation
Targeted for new small cell deployments
Issue: Hotspot 2.0 / Passpoint
 LAA

AT&T reported as saying LAA is a better option

than LTE-U
Cost of spectrum
Listen before Talk is seen as a good technique to reduce interference
Certified by 3GPP
LAA restricts usage to LAA

Intended rollouts
AT&T LTE-U in test; Upgradable to LAA
Verizon some this year
T-Mobile - some this year

Handsets
Available in 2016
 Coexistence and Fairness

Control and scheduling controlled by carrier

Coexistence can be divided into two regimes:
1. No regulations specifying what is fair
2. Listen Before Talk is required by regulation
 Architectures

Enabling unlicensed
secondary carriers and
be seamlessly
controlled by the
network
 Markets without LBT
Requirements
Mainly US, China and South Korea (2014)
Proprietary coexistence mechanisms
Comply with 3GPP LTE Releases 10-13
Generally software based
Fast prototyping
Support for new frequencies and changing
features
 Three No LBT
Coexistence Mechanisms
1. Channel Section
Simplicity
Small cell chooses cleanest channel based on WiFi and LTE measurements
Falls through to CSAT (#2)
Channel interference is determined by energy detection
Independent of interference type
Independent of interference source
Sensitivity improvement by:
Technology specific measurements
WiFi preambles estimate and detect neighbor Access Points
Detect neighboring LTE-Us PSS, SSS, and PBCH channel
Device assistance
802.11k and UE measurements hidden node effect
 Three No LBT Coexistence
Mechanisms

Channel Section and Flow Chart

 Three No LBT Coexistence
Mechanisms
2. Carrier-Sensing Adaptive Transmission CSAT
CSAT amounts to channel sharing using Time Division Multiplexing
 Three No LBT Coexistence
Mechanisms
Carrier-Sensing Adaptive Transmission
Useful is dense environments where a clean channel is difficult to
find
Containing many WiFi and Small Cells
CSAT
LTE MAC control elements control the activation of LTE-U and determine
timing as per 3GPP Release 10-12
When the channel is off, the channel is available to other WiFi users
The eNodeB measures WiFi utilization during the off period to determine
LTE-U duty cycle requirements
100s of millisecond time scale
 Three No LBT Coexistence
Mechanisms
3. Opportunistic SDL - Supplemental Downlink
Anchor carrier in licensed band is always available
SDL is available as needed
SDL is used when traffic crosses a threshold and users in an area are present
SDL provides above threshold offload
SDL can also reduce or eliminate interference caused by continuous Reference Signal
transmissions from LTE-U in and around a given channel
 Three No LBT Coexistence
Mechanisms
Aggregate Qualcomm Simulation Results

LTE-U Median User Downlink

Data Rate Gain: 3.1 over WiFi
alone
Carrier WiFi improves too:
10%.

Simulation results and

simulation conditions are
specific.
Read the whitepaper for
details.

Take Away:
Performance Improvement

http://assets.fiercemarkets.net/public/newsletter/fiercewireless/qualcommlteuwhitepaper.pdf
 Markets with LBT
Requirements

Mainly Europe, Japan and India (2014)

Regulations require periodically checking for the presence of signals
before initiating a transmission
Frame based
Checks occur on a millisecond time scale
Check window duration is called Clear Channel Assessment CCA
(yellow)
Channel Occupancy is defined as being between 1 and 10 ms (green)
If the channel is empty during CCA, one Channel Occupancy period may
be used
Longer transmissions require additional CCA checks
 LBT Required Coexistence
Mechanism
Listen Before Talk Framing
 LBT Required Coexistence
Mechanism
Requires design modifications to LTE PHY and MAC layers to
implement LBT
Actively being discussed by 3GPP (Release 13+)
 Regulated LTE-U Qualcomm Simulation
Results

LTE-U Median User Downlink

Data Rate Gain: 2.8 over WiFi
alone
Simulation results and
simulation conditions are
specific.
Read the whitepaper for
details.

Take Away:
Performance Improvement

http://assets.fiercemarkets.net/public/newsletter/fiercewireless/qualcommlteuwhitepaper.pdf
 LTE-U Verification

Prototype and Test LTE-U

Physical Layer
Performance Assessment
Throughput
Fairness
Assess Interference
Discontinuous Transmission
Standards Compliance
http://www.ni.com/white-paper/53044/en/

Workshops
Wi-Fi Alliance Wi-Fi and LTE-U Coexistence Test
Workshop April 2016
http://www.wi-fi.org/wi-fi-alliance-wi-fi-and-lte-u-coexistence-test-workshop-0
 References

Qualcomm
https://www.qualcomm.com/documents/progress-laa-and-its-relationship-lte-u-and-multefire
https://www.qualcomm.com/invention/technologies/lte/laa
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2015/06/11/introducing-multefire-lte-performance-wi-fi-simplicity
https://www.qualcomm.com/media/documents/files/lte-unlicensed-coexistence-whitepaper.pdf

RCR Wireless News

http://www.rcrwireless.com/20160301/carriers/making-sense-of-lte-u-laa-multifire-and-more-tag17

Android Headlines
http://www.androidheadlines.com/2016/02/ah-tech-talk-topics-avoided-by-the-wireless-industry-at-mwc.html
http://www.androidheadlines.com/2016/03/att-is-considering-laa-as-an-alternative-to-lte-u.html

Radio Electronics
http://www.radio-electronics.com/info/cellulartelecomms/lte-long-term-evolution/lte-u-unlicensed-laa-license-assisted-
access.php

National Instruments
http://www.ni.com/white-paper/53044/en/
http://www.ni.com/product-documentation/52533/en/
 References

Huawei
http://www.huawei.com/ilink/en/download/HW_327803

Wi-Fi Alliance
http://www.wi-fi.org/wi-fi-alliance-wi-fi-and-lte-u-coexistence-test-workshop-0

Fierce Wireless
http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/att-verizon-t-mobile-throw-support-behind-new-lte-u-laa-coalition/2015-09-28
http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/att-trial-lte-u-early-2016/2015-09-09