Nbnfioulu 201604061384

DEGREE PROGRAMME IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING
Ville Pukari
LTE EVOLUTION TOWARDS 5G
Masters Thesis
Degree Programme in Computer Science and Engineering
2016
Pukari V. (2016) LTE evolution towards 5G. University of Oulu, Degree
Programme in Computer Science and Engineering. Masters Thesis, 64p.
ABSTRACT
The development of mobile telecommunication systems is a constant process
and there is a high demand to add new features and further enhance the long
term evolution advanced (LTE-A), also known as 4G. The development of
telecommunication systems will continue with new, 5th generation (5G) radio
technology. The latest enhancements and added features of the LTE will be
inherited by the 5G. 5G technology is likely to satisfy different wireless
communication user requirements concerning higher data rates, greater
reliability, mobility, energy efficiency and security. This thesis will present the
5G requirements set by 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), as well as
the most important enhancements and new features for the LTE which aim to
partially fulfill these requirements. The key feature concepts shall be examined
and their impacts on protocol layers 1 and 2 shall be analyzed briefly.
One of the biggest challenges for mobile telecommunication system is to
minimize power consumption. 3GPP has introduced several methods to address
this issue e.g. Discontinuous Reception (DRX). In this thesis, the power saving
mode (PSM) feature implementation is presented based on the technology of
3GPP Release 12. The basic idea of this feature is to allow the user equipment
(UE) to enter a power saving mode when there is no need for network
communications. This expands total battery life and opens new use cases for
similar LTE based devices, e.g. weather stations. The completed feature was
validated with unit tests. The power consumption of the UE was measured with
and without the PSM and the results were evaluated accordingly. UE can
achieve even lower power consumption levels in PSM, than in normal idle mode
and with appropriate PSM timer values standby time can stretch to several
weeks or even years.
Keywords: 3GPP Release 12, power saving mode, unit testing

Pukari V. (2016) LTE:n evoluutio kohti 5G:t. Oulun yliopisto, tietotekniikan
tutkinto. Diplomity, 64s.
TIIVISTELM
Mobiilien telekommunikaatiojrjestelmien kehitys on jatkuva prosessi ja tn
pivn on paljon kysynt list uusia ominaisuuksia ja parannuksia
kehittyneeseen pitkn aikavlin evoluutioon (Long Term Evolution Advanced,
LTE-A), toisinsanoen 4G:hen. Telekommunikaatiojrjestelmien kehitys jatkuu
uuden, viidennen sukupolven (5G) radioteknologialla ja uusimmat parannukset
periytyvt LTE:st osaksi 5G:t. 5G-teknologian nhdn tyttvn monen eri
langattoman viestinnn kyttjryhmn tarpeet esimerkiksi suurempien
datanopeuksien, paremman luotettavuuden, liikkuvuuden, energiatehokkuuden
ja turvallisuuden suhteen. Tm ty esittelee 3rd Generation Partnership
Projektin (3GPP) asettamat vaatimukset 5G:lle sek trkeimmt LTE-
parannukset ja uudet ominaisuudet, joilla pyritn osittain tyttmn nm
vaatimukset. Trkeimpien ominaisuuksien periaatteet selvitetn ja vaikutukset
protokollatasoille 1 ja 2 analysoidaan lyhyesti.
Yksi suurimmista mobiilin tietoliikennejrjestelmkehityksen haasteista
on virrankulutuksen minimoiminen. 3GPP on esitellyt useita menetelmi
ongelman ratkaisemiseksi, kuten esimerkiksi epjatkuvan vastaanoton
(Discontinuous Reception, DRX) mekanismin. Tm ty esittelee
virranssttilan (PSM) toteutuksen 3GPP release 12:sta perustuvalla LTE-
mobiililaitteen prototyypill. Tmn ominaisuuden perusideana on
mahdollistaa mobililaitteen meneminen valmiustilaan silloin kun ei ole
tarpeellista kommunikoida verkon kanssa. Tm lis akunkestoa ja avaa uusia
kytttapauksia, kuten esimerkiksi LTE-sasemat. Valmis ominaisuus
varmennettiin yksikktesteill. Virrankulutus mitattiin virranssttila pll
sek pois plt ja tulokset arvioitiin. Virrankulutuksen huomattiin laskeavan
virranssttilassa alemmalle tasolle kuin tilanteessa, jossa verkkoa ei
kuunnella ja sopivilla PSM-ajastinarvoilla valmiustilan kestoa voidaan pident
viikoilla tai jopa vuosilla.
Avainsanat: 3GPP Release 12, virranssttila, yksikktestaus

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACT
TIIVISTELM
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FOREWORD
ABBREVIATIONS
1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 9
2. STANDARDIZATION ...................................................................................... 10
2.1. 3GPP Organization ................................................................................. 10
2.2. Specification process .............................................................................. 11
2.2.1. Specification numbering ........................................................... 12
2.2.2. Change control .......................................................................... 12
3. EVOLUTIONARY OVERVIEW OF LTE ........................................................ 14
3.1. Releases .................................................................................................. 14
3.1.1. 3GPP Release 8 Freeze Date 2008 ......................................... 15
3.1.2. 3GPP Release 9 Freeze Date 2010 ......................................... 15
3.1.3. 3GPP Release 10 Freeze Date 2011 ....................................... 15
3.1.6. 3GPP Release 13 - Freeze date 2016 ........................................ 17
3.2. Summary and relevance for future work ................................................ 18
4. E-UTRAN ARCHITECTURE ........................................................................... 19
4.1. Layer 3 Radio Resource Control (RRC) ............................................. 20
4.2. Layer 2 Medium Access Control (MAC) ............................................ 21
4.3. Layer 1 Physical Layer ........................................................................ 22
5. 5G REQUIREMENTS AND LTE EVOLUTION ............................................. 23
5.1. Timeline for 5G ...................................................................................... 25
5.2. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) ................................................... 25
5.2.1. Higher cell density (small cells) ................................................ 26
5.2.2. cmWaves and mmWaves .......................................................... 28
5.2.3. Beamforming and massive MIMO ............................................ 29
5.2.4. LTE in unlicensed spectrum ...................................................... 31
5.2.5. Carrier Aggregation enhancements ........................................... 36
5.3. Reliability and latency improvements .................................................... 38
5.3.1. Enhancements for device-to-device (D2D) framework ............ 39
5.3.2. Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT) ................................. 41
5.3.3. Single-cell Point-to-Multipoint (SC-PTM) ............................... 46
5.3.4. V2X ........................................................................................... 47
5.4. Massive Machine Type Communication MMTC .................................. 50
5.4.1. LTE enhancements for low cost MTC ...................................... 50
6. RELEASE 12 POWER SAVING MODE....................................................... 52
6.1. Concept ................................................................................................... 52
6.2. Impact ..................................................................................................... 52
6.2.1. NAS design ............................................................................... 53
6.2.2. RRC design ............................................................................... 54
6.3. Unit testing ............................................................................................. 54
6.4. Test setup ................................................................................................ 55
6.5. Power saving evaluation ......................................................................... 56
6.6. Future work ............................................................................................ 58
7. CONCLUSIONS ................................................................................................ 59
8. REFERENCES ................................................................................................... 60
9. APPENDICES .................................................................................................... 64
FOREWORD
The work for this thesis was carried out for Mediatek Inc. in Oulu, Finland. I would
like to thank everyone at Mediatek who has provided technical guidance and assisted
with the work along the way. I would like to especially thank my technical
instructors Antti Suronen and Antti Kangas for giving me valuable advice and
support whenever needed. I wish to express my gratitude for giving me an
opportunity to share their knowledge and the best available information. My thanks
also go to my supervisor Prof. Juha Rning and the second inspector Prof. Matti
Latva-Aho. And finally, I would like to thank my beautiful girlfriend Tuuli and my
whole family for being understanding and supportive during this thesis and
throughout my studies.
Oulu, Finland March 29, 2016
Ville Pukari
ABBREVIATIONS
3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
5G 5th Generation
ACK Acknowledge
AS Access Stratum
BER Bit-error Ratio
CCA Clear Channel Assessment
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CGI Cell Global Identifier
CIoT Cellular Internet of Things
CN Core Network
CR Change Request
CRS Cell-specific Reference Signal
DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal
DMTC Discovery Measurement Timing Configuration
DRS Discovery Reference Signal
DRX Discontinuous Reception
eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband
eMBMS Evolved Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service
EMM EPS Mobility Management
eNB E-UTRAN Node B
EPS Evolved Packet System
ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
E-UTRAN Enhanced Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
ePDCCH Enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel
FDD Frequency Division Duplex
GCSE Group Communication System Enablers
HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request
HetNet Heterogeneous Network
Hz Hertz
ICIC Inter-Cell Interface Coordination
IP Internet Protocol
ITS Intelligent Transportation System
ITU International Telecommunications Union
LBT Listen-before-talk
LCID Logical Channel ID
LTE Long Term Evolution
LTE-A Long Term Evolution Advanced
MBSFN Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network
MCCH Multicast Control Channel
MCE Multicast Coordination Entity
MeNB Master E-UTRAN Node B
MIMO Multiple-In Multiple-Out
MME Mobility Management Entity
MMTC Massive Machine Type Communications
MTC Machine Type Communications
MCPTT Mission Critical Push To Talk
NACK Negative-Acknowledge
NAS Non-access Stratum
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Domain Multiple Access
PER Packet Error Rate
PHR Power Headroom Report
PHY Physical Layer
ProSe Proximity Services
PS Public Safety
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
PCDICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
PCell Primary Cell
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDN Packet Data Network
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel
PMCH Physical Multicast Channel
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
PSS Primary Synchronization Signal
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QoS Quality of Services
RA Random Access
RAN Radio Access Network
RAT Radio Access Technology
RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier
RSU Roadside Unit
RX Reception
SAE System Architecture Evolution
SCell Secondary Cell
SeNB Secondary E-UTRAN Node B
SIP Session Initiation Protocol
SC Service Centre
SNR Signal to Noise Ratio
SRS Sounding Reference Signal
SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TDD Time Division Duplex
TDMA Time-Division Multiple Access
TSG Technical Specification Groups
TTI Transmission Time Interval
TX Transmission
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
V2I Vehicle-to-infrastructure
V2P Vehicle-to-pedestrian
V2V Vehicle-to-vehicle
V2X Vehicle-to-X
WG Working Group
1. INTRODUCTION
Mobile devices are more capable than ever and the increased performance goes
hand-in-hand with increase in power usage. Currently the battery industry cannot
keep up with the progress and the embedded system developers have to come up
with more power efficient solutions and algorithms. Creating these power saving
mechanisms is crucial for use cases where long battery life is the main marketing
aspect, such as for Cellular Internet of Things (CIoT) devices, but also in everyday
usage of mobile devices such as smart phones. 3GPP aims to push LTE-enabled
CIoT with its new releases and power efficiency play a significant part in it. These
enhancements are part of 3GPPs plan to move towards a new fifth generation radio
access technology which will be standardized in parallel with LTE standardization
work. Requirements for 5G have already been drafted and the new 5G RAT is
expected to enter consumer markets by 2020.
The goal of this thesis is to present the most important LTE-A features in 5G
scope and implement the power saving mode (PSM) feature on a real LTE hand-held
device prototype, based on 3GPP release 12. Public studies with actual power saving
measurements on a live device using this feature are still uncommon and was the
driving force for this thesis. The feature is validated with unit tests and power saving
measurements are executed in a test environment where a network base station is
emulated with a RF tester. Test results are analyzed and related future work is
drafted.
Chapter 2 is a brief look into the history of mobile telecommunication
standardization and how the LTE standardization work is conducted today by 3GPP.
Chapter 3 presents the 3GPP LTE standard release features and discusses their
relevance in 5G scope. Chapter 4 gives an overview on LTE focusing on the radio
interface. Chapter 5 presents 5G requirements and introduces key features for each
requirement category by analyzing their impacts on current protocol implementation.
Chapter 6 introduces the power saving mode feature design and testing activities, as
well as the results of power saving measurements. Chapter 6.6 is reserved for the
discussion of the results and of the future work. Chapter 7 gives the conclusions of
the thesis.
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2. STANDARDIZATION
The first commercial cellular network (first generation) based on the Nordisk Mobile
Telephone (NMT) standard was developed in the north European countries in the
70s. The 2nd generation (2G) cellular network standardization started in 1987 when
Global system for mobile communications (GSM) was founded. GSM made a
transition from analog to digital and improved signal modulation, voice codecs and
security service as compared to first generation analog systems. In order to serve
multiple subscribers, the GSM system adopted time-division multiple access
(TDMA) [1]. The first GSM-functionality phases were specified by the European
Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) which was founded in 1988. These
phases introduced system requirements and items that would evolve GSM towards
3rd generation (3G).
The first four major releases (Releases 96, 97, 98, and 99) were released during
years 1996-2000 and they cover nearly entire GSM Phase 2+ program [1]. Compared
to previous 2G technology, these releases added new services such as General Packet
Radio Service (GPRS) and Enhanced Data Rates for Global Evolution (EDGE).
Today, mobile telecommunications development continues under the 3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP). 3GPP LTE standardization work is done in co-operation
with global telecommunication standardization organizations such as ETSI and
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) who set requirements for future
3GPP releases.
2.1. 3GPP Organization
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was founded in 1998 and it is a
global organization whose goal is to produce technical specifications for the global
cellular telecommunications network technologies. Formed from groups of
telecommunication associations, 3GPP aims to develop the 3rd generation (3G)
cellular network standard based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA)
technology. The standardization produced radio access technology (RAT) called
Wideband CDMA (WCDMA). 3GPP release 99 was released in 2000 and it was the
first version of the standard also known as Universal Mobile Telecommunication
System (UMTS). As demand for wireless data traffic increased and CDMA
capability reached its limit, 3GPP decided to develop a new standard to respond to
the demand. This standard based on a new access technology, called long term
evolution (LTE). Instead of CDMA, LTE adopted orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing (OFDM) as multiple access technology, in order to efficiently support
wideband transmission. In addition, spectral efficiency was hugely improved with
the use of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques. The LTE standard was
finalized in 2010 with release 9 as its final version. The highest theoretical downlink
peak data rate for LTE depends on spatial multiplexing. With spatial multiplexing,
downlink peak data rate can be as high as 300 Mbps and without it 75 Mbps. For the
uplink, peak data rate is 75 Mbps. The International Mobile Telecommunications
(IMT)-Advanced requirements were defined by ITU for the fourth generation (4G)
evolution and 3GPP began to work on LTE enhancements to fulfill these
11
requirements after release 9 [2]. LTE releases from 10 to 12 are called LTE-
Advanced.
2.2. Specification process
The Third-Generation Partnership Project produces standards that specify the

LTE/LTE-Advanced, 3G UTRA and 2G GSM systems. 3GPP member companies
participate in specifications and studies in Working Groups and at the Technical
Specification Group level see Figure 1 [3].
PCG
(Project Coordination Group)
TSG GERAN TSG RAN TSG SA TSG CT

(GSM EDGE Radio Access
(Radio Access Network) (Services & System Aspects) (Core Network & Terminals)
Network)
WG1 WG1 WG1 WG1

Radio Aspects Radio Layer 1 (L1) Services MM/CC/SM (lu)
WG2 WG2 WG2 WG2

Radio Layer 2 & Layer 3 Interworking with
Protocol Aspects Architecture
RR external networks
WG3 WG3 WG3 WG3

Lub, luc, lur & UTRAN
Terminal Testing Security MAP/GTP/BCH/SS
GSM requirements
WG4 WG4 WG4

Radio performance & Smart Card Application
Codec
Protocol aspects Aspects
WG5 WG5
Mobile Terminal
Telecom Management
Conformance Testing
WG6
Mission-critical
application
Figure 1. 3GPP Organization.

There are four Technical Specification Groups (TSG) in 3GPP;
GSM EDGE Radio Access Networks (GERAN)
Radio Access Networks (RAN)
Service & Systems Aspects (SA)
Core Network & Terminals (CT)
12
The main responsibility of TSGs is to approve the documents and coordinate the
overall work. The Working Groups meet regularly and their work is presented for
information, discussion and approval in quarterly TSG Plenary meetings. The TSGs
work on the reports and specifications by following their own Terms of Reference
(TR) for their dedicated responsibility area [3].
The standardization is done by forming releases. Each release can be used to
build a complete system and each release contains added functionality compared to
the previous release. These functionalities are a result of ongoing specification work.
System backwards and forwards compatibility is the main area of concern as well as
ensuring the operation of user equipment. For example backward compatibility
between LTE and LTE-Advanced was a huge concern when starting the work on the
IMT-Advanced requirements. LTE-A terminal had to work in an LTE cell and an
LTE terminal had to work in the LTE-A cell.
2.2.1. Specification numbering
The version number of each 3GPP Technical Specification document and Technical
Report change as the document evolves from the early drafting stages, through
progressively more stable versions, to being brought under change control. Each
version has a numeric value consisting of 3 digits, starting with 1.0.0. The
specifications are stored on 3GPPs file server as zipped MS-Word files and the
filenames of each specification consists of different fields [4]. The filename structure
and different fields are described in Table 1.
Table 1. 3GPP specification filename structure
S = Series number
M= Mantissa
SM[-P[-Q]]-V.zip P = Optional part number
Q = Optional sub-part number
V = Version number in hexadecimal
For example, a specification 36.833.6.42 v.13.0.0 would be stored to a file named

36833-6-42-d00, where the series number is 36 for LTE-A, mantissa is 833 for inter-
band carrier aggregation (CA), part number 6 is for non-contiguous, sub-part number
42 for band 42 and version is d00 for Release 13 (in hex), 0 for baseline and last 0
for editorial number.
2.2.2. Change control
A Change Request (CR) defines proposed changes to the specification in detail. A

CR describes why a change is needed on its coversheet and summarizes how the
change is proposed to be made. Any 3GPP member organization can propose a CR
and which is submitted for discussion to the responsible Working Group (WG).
When a Release is under change control, the major field indicates which
13
specification applies to the Release. The second number of version number,

the technical version field, is incremented each time a technical change is made as a
result of the drafting process or as a result of the incorporation of one or more
approved CR. Each time a non-technical correction is made to the specification, the
editorial version number field is incremented by one. An example of an editorial
change could be a correction of typographical errors. The Release status is changed
to frozen, when the specification is considered complete. After the status has been
changed to frozen, new functionalities are not allowed into the same Release. Only
error corrections to severe errors can be done through CR.
14
3. EVOLUTIONARY OVERVIEW OF LTE
After deployment of 3G, the rapid evolution of technology used in

telecommunication systems and user equipments (UE) increased the pressure to
come up with a new radio access technology. There was also a demand for more
spectrum resources to expand the system capabilities and this demand also led to
more competition between an increasing the number of mobile operators. During the
development of LTE, there was also competition between alternative, more
unpopular technologies such as WiMax and CDMA2000 to provide mobile
broadband services. Some of these alternative technologies are still used to this day,
even though 3G and 4G systems along with several other mobile broadband are
deployed with evolved 3G HSPA and 4G LTE-Advanced systems standardized in
3GPP[5]. The Long Term Evolution (LTE) project started in 2004 and its main goal
was to increase the cellular network capabilities by optimizing the radio access
architecture and enhancing the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
(UTRAN). Standardization work is an iterative and cumulative process as new
releases will build on top of earlier releases and might include bug fixes. Preserving
backwards compatibility with earlier releases is the most important task of the
standardization work. Therefore, interpreting earlier releases is always relevant when
developing new features.
3.1. Releases
Following chapters present the 3GPP Releases from 2008 up to 2015 and their most
important features in 5G scope. Many of these relevant features, such as MIMO were
already presented in the first release (Rel-8) of LTE and were enhanced by later
releases. Figure 2 specifies the timeline of releases of notable 3GPP technologies and
specification releases. The main focus will be on releases 12 and 13, as they are the
most recent ones and release 12 is already frozen and ready for full stack system
development. The most recent technology release from 3GPP is LTE-Advanced Pro,
which was approved and released at their meeting in Vancouver in October 2015.
With the completion of Release 13, LTE-Advanced Pro will add several
functionalities to better address new markets, and improve system efficiently.
2012 - 2016
Release 13 (open)
2011 - 2015
Release 12 LTE-Advanced Pro
2010 - 2013
Release 11
2009 - 2011 LTE-Advanced (4G)
Release 10
2008 - 2010
Release 9
2008
LTE
Release 8
2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
2008 2016
Figure 2. Timeline of 3GPP specification releases.

15
3.1.1. 3GPP Release 8 Freeze Date 2008
LTE was introduced for the first time, improving data rates with a completely new
radio interface and core network based totally on internet protocol (IP). Unlike GSM
base station deployments, the LTE uses flat radio network architecture, where the
functionalities were distributed among the base stations (eNBs). Key features were
the OFDMA downlink, multiple input multiple output (MIMO) and enhanced
package core (EPC)[6]. The bandwidth allocation depends on the amount of
spectrum acquired by the LTE network operators in the target country. With use of
spatial multiplexing the peak data rate increased to 300Mbit/s for downlink and
75Mbit/s for uplink. Also, with this release the latency for setup and handover was
decreased down to 10ms and support for variable bandwidths was added.
Release 9 can be seen as evolution from LTE to LTE-Advanced. Release 9

introduced changes to the network architecture and several new service features [7].
The LTE femtocells were introduced for the first time in the form of the Home
eNodeB (HeNB). Self organizing network (SON) features, e.g. optimization of the
random access channel were added along side with Evolved Multimedia Broadcast
and Multicast Service (eMBMS). The SON features focus on improving the network
configurations dynamically e.g. by configuring S1 and X2 interfaces according to
channel measurements. Release 9 also added location services (LCS) to enable the
use of location based applications.
Release 10 improved the capacity and throughput of the LTE system by increasing
peak data rates for downlink up to 3Gbps and 1.5Gbps for the uplink.l. TR 36.912 [8]
is 3GPP's submission to the ITU for LTE-Advanced and is a useful summary of the
new features of the system [8]. The most notable features were the introduction of
carrier aggregation (CA), 8x8 DL and 4x4 UL MIMO configurations and
Heterogeneous Networks (HetNet). With CA, the total bandwidth was increased up
to 100 MHz by allowing connection up to five different carriers. Release 10 also
improved the system performance on the cell edges by introducing enhanced Inter-
Cell Interface Coordination (eICIC).
Release 11 added enhancements to Carrier Aggregation, MIMO, relay nodes, Wi-Fi

integration and eICIC [9]. It also introduced new frequency bands, Enhanced
Physical Downlink Control Channel (ePDCCH) and a new feature called
Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) to enable beamforming and scheduling of multiple
carriers. EPDCCH added an ability to support increased downlink capacity, inter-cell
interference coordination and beamforming.
16
The rapid increase in mobile data usage set high capacity requirements for release 12
along with demand for high quality user experience and support of new applications.
Key features of release 12 include [10]:
New antenna techniques and advanced receivers to maximize the system capacity
New features to improve the support of HetNets such as dual connectivity and
small cell on/off feature
Intra-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation
Enhancing interworking between LTE and WiFi
256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for DL
Machine-Type Communication (MTC) features to allow devices to benefit from

LTE services; new UE categories, support for low data rates by means of single
receive antenna, narrowband data channel and half duplex operation.
3.1.5.1. Release 12 UE Capabilities
As part of Release 12 finalization, several additional UE categories were introduced,

along with the new category 0 with lower networking capacity for MTC. To address
the need for high performance capable UE categories, categories 13-16 were
described with higher peak data rates and support for more advanced modulation and
MIMO procedures. These new categories are indicated with separate ue-categoryDL
and ue-categoryUL fields [10]. All supported UL/DL-category combinations and
maximum number of DL-SCH/UL-SCH transport block bits received within a
Transmission Time Interval (TTI) are listed in 3GPP TS36.306 see Table 2 [11].
17
Table 2. Supported DL/UL Category combinations.

UE DL Category UE UL Maximum number Maximum number Total layer 2
Category of DL-SCH of UL-SCH buffer size
transport block bits transport block bits [bytes]
received within a transmitted within a
TTI TTI
DL Category 0 UL Category 0 1000 1000 20 000
DL Category 6 UL Category 5 301504 75376 3 500 000
DL Category 15 UL Category 3 749856-798800 1 51024 8 000 000
DL Category 16 UL Category 3 978960 -1051360 1 51024 10 000 000
3.1.6. 3GPP Release 13 - Freeze date 2016
The newest 3GPP Release will be frozen in March 2016 and it will be the first
release for LTE-Advanced Pro. Release 13 will bring various new features and
enhancements to already existing features, introduced in previous releases. Some of
expected Release 13 key features are:
Public safety features such as D2D and Proximity-Services (ProSe)
Further enhancing MTC features and indoor positioning
Completing CA enhancements
Small cell dual-connectivity and interworking with Wi-Fi
Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) at 5GHz
Beamforming and massive MIMO
Single cell-point-to-multipoint (SC-PTM)
Latency reduction
1
The required value shall be determined by UE based on its capabilities (i.e. CA band combination,
MIMO, Modulation scheme).
18
3.2. Summary and relevance for future work
Figure 3 shows a summary of main features in releases from 8 to 12. Standardization

work for release 13 and beyond will build on top of already existing mechanisms or
further enhance them e.g. by developing new aggregation methods. Target is to
achieve higher data transfer rates for the whole network as well as for single UE.
One good example is the beamforming mechanism which was already introduced in
release 8 but only for horizontal axis and one layer. In release 9 this functionality
was expanded to support two layers and release 13 will add support for vertical axis
as well - see chapter 5.2.3.
REL-8 REL-9
2008 REL-10
2010
2011 REL-11
2013 REL-12
- First LTE release - LTE HeNB 2015
- All IP core - LTE-A, 3Gb/s
- Self organizing - Enhancements
network, the System DL/ 1.5 Gb/s UL - Small cell
network (SON) for MIMO, eICIC
Architecture - Carrier enhancements
- Location and relay nodes
Evolution (SAE). aggregation - Intra-band non-
Services (LCS) - CoMP
- Enhanced MIMO contiguous carrier
- eMBMS support - New frequency
- Relay nodes aggragation
- Multi-standard bands
(HetNet) - Multi-antenna
BS - Advanced
- Enhanced eICIC enhancements
receivers
- Device-to-device
-Machine-Type
Communications
(MTC)
Figure 3. Main features of 3GPP releases 8-12 in 5G scope.

19
4. E-UTRAN ARCHITECTURE
The E-UTRAN is the first point of entry for a UE to the LTE network. The E-
UTRAN protocols cover the communication process between the UE and the
network over the wireless link. E-UTRAN is responsible for the
transmission/reception (TX/RX) of radio signals to and from a given UE and the
associated digital signal processing. E-UTRAN also includes the medium access
control mechanisms by which multiple UEs share the common wireless channel.
Other functions of E-UTRAN are to ensure link level reliability, segmentation, and
reassembly of higher-layer Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and IP header compression
[12]. These protocols between the UE and the E-UTRAN are collectively referred to
as Access Stratum (AS) protocols. The enhanced Node B (eNodeB or eNB) is the
single logical node in the E-UTRAN. The job of the eNB is to implement the AS
protocols.
Figure 4. LTE-Advanced E-UTRAN architecture.

20
Figure 4 presents the architecture of E-UTRAN for LTE-A. The air interface towards
the UE is provided by the base station, which is the eNB in the E-UTRAN
architecture. The interface connecting the eNBs is called the X2 interface and each
eNB serve one or multiple E-UTRAN cells [13].
The user plane side consists of the Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol, the
Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP), the Medium Access Control (MAC)
protocol and the Physical Layer (PHY) [13]. The control plane consists of the same
four sub-layers with addition of the Non-Access Stratum layer (NAS) and the radio
resource control (RRC) protocol. The information from the user plane and control
plane is processed by PDCP, RLC and the MAC, before being passed to the physical
layer for transmission.
NAS NAS
RELAY
RRC S1-AP
RRC S1-AP
PDCP PDCP SCTP SCTP
RLC RLC IP IP
MAC MAC L2 L2
PHY PHY PHY PHY
LTE-Uu S1-MME
UE eNode B MME
Figure 5. Evolved Packet System (EPS) control plane for U-EUTRAN access.
Figure 5 gives a graphical overview of control plane between the UE and MME. The
MME and the UE are connected an interface created by the NAS layer, through
which the NAS can handle its main responsibilities, which are authentication, UE
mobility management and bearer management between the UE and MME.
4.1. Layer 3 Radio Resource Control (RRC)
The Radio Resource Control is responsible for the control of information exchange
between the UE and E-UTRAN [13]. RRC is in charge of Quality of Service (QoS)
management, NAS direct messaging, information broadcasting, paging, connection
handling and UE measurement reporting. Information is passed down from E-
21
UTRAN to UE through data blocks known as the Master Information Block (MIB),
and number of System Information Blocks (SIBs). There can be up to 16 different
system information blocks, each containing information about network capabilities,
but MIB and SIB1 are the most important since these blocks contain system frame
number (SFN), system bandwidth, scheduling information and cell access related
information [14].
The RRC connection handling is done with only two states: RRC_IDLE and
RRC_CONNECTED. In RRC_IDLE state, RRC performs cell (re)selection and
neighbor cell measurements and acquires the system information [14]. It also
monitors a paging channel for incoming calls and possible public warning system
(such as ETWS and CMAS) messages. When the UE is in RRC_CONNECTED
state, the UE performs bi-direction transferring of data in uplink and downlink, e.g.,
for ongoing call or internet access. At its lower layers UE may be configured with
UE-specific discontinuous Reception (DRX) [14]. System information changes are
informed through a paging message, which needs to be monitored also while in
RRC_CONNECTED state. In connected state, RRC performs all necessary
procedures requested or triggered by network activities. These procedures include
connection management, configuration management, paging control, security
management, broadcasting to multiple bearers, measurement control/ reporting,
mobility procedures, handovers and inter radio technology operations.
4.2. Layer 2 Medium Access Control (MAC)
The MAC sub-layer is responsible for handling uplink/downlink scheduling, data

transferring, mapping of logical channels to transport channels, hybrid automatic
repeat request (HARQ) retransmissions and random access procedure. In case carrier
aggregation is configured, MAC will take care of multiplexing/demultiplexing data
across the configured component carriers. A MAC PDU, illustrated in Figure 6 [15],
consists of a MAC header, zero or more Service Data Units (SDU), zero or more
MAC Control Elements (CE) and optional padding. The MAC header consists of one
or more subheaders which have six header fields [15]. The different fields contain
important information about the PDU such as the logical channel ID and the length
of corresponding MAC SDU. MAC CEs are always before the SDUs and the
optional PDU padding and they hold control information for different MAC
processes. For example, the power headroom MAC CE has a 6 bit PH field that
indicates the power headroom level.
22
R/R/E/LCID
sub-header
R/R/E/LCID
sub-header
R/R/E/LCID/F/L
sub-header
R/R/E/LCID/F/L
sub-header
... R/R/E/LCID/F/L
sub-header
R/R/E/LCID padding
sub-header
MAC header
MAC Control
element 1
MAC Control
element 2
MAC SDU ... MAC SDU
Padding
(opt)
MAC payload
Figure 6. Example of MAC PDU.
4.3. Layer 1 Physical Layer
The physical layer offers transport channels for higher layers. Different transport
channels are described in Table 3 [16]. The transport channel is defined by how and
for which purpose the information is transferred over the radio interface. As
mentioned in previous chapter, MAC provides different logical channels for the
Radio Link Control (RLC). The main tasks for the physical layer are error detection
on the transport channels, mapping of the coded transport channel onto physical
channels, forward error encoding/decoding of the transport channel, rate matching of
the coded transport channel to physical channels, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request
(HARQ) soft-combining, power weighting of physical channels, modulation and
demodulation of physical channels, frequency and time synchronization, radio
characteristics measurements, MIMO antenna processing, TX diversity,
beamforming and RF processing [16].
Table 3. Physical layer transport channels

Uplink channels
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel UL user data
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel UL control
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel Initial synchronization between
UE and eNB
Downlink channels
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel DL user data
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel DL control
PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel HARQ status reporting
PMCH Physical Multicast Channel Multicast information
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel System information for UE requiring
access to the network
PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel Information for UE to
decode PDSCH
23
5. 5G REQUIREMENTS AND LTE EVOLUTION

The use of LTE-A networks has increased excessively in recent years and demand of
new application services is constantly growing. The evolution of mobile broadband
will continue with new, fifth generation (5G) radio access technology. 5G will inherit
all that has been added to LTE-A and further improve upon new capability
requirements. The major goal for 5G is to create a unified platform which is scalable
for new applications, services and use cases. This will open new deployment and
business opportunities, but also require development of a new scalable and adaptable
air interface for all spectrum types and various services. 5G aims to address the
expanded connectivity and capacity needs of the next decade and beyond. The
demanded new services and use cases, such as vehicle communication can also be
provided on top of LTE-A networks, which will be a high performance and yet more
cost-effective solution. Evolved LTE-A will pave the way towards 5G era and
provide networking framework to fulfill the needs of new markets, such as Cellular
Internet of Things (CIoT).
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) IMT-2020 defines 3 types of use
case scenarios for 5G [17]. These are:
1. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) - e.g. Smart phones
2. Ultra-reliable and low latency communications - e.g. for self-driving car
3. Massive MTC -e.g. for massive sensor nodes
Figure 7. 5G Applications and requirements.

Figure 7 shows how these use case scenarios set different requirements for the
network and the network must adapt to these requirements. The new radio access
network (RAN) has to be very versatile to support all these use cases. The target for
EMBB is to improve peak data rates by 10-fold and increase user-experienced
throughput by 100-fold (1Gbps) everywhere. In addition to providing higher data
24
rates, 5G also has to serve a massive number of devices simultaneously and provide
user-plane latency of less than 1ms over the RAN. However, depending on the use
case, only some- but not all- of these requirements need to be met simultaneously.
Table 4 shows the new requirements in numbers compared to earlier key
performance indicator values [18] and Figure 8 compares them with current LTE-A
capabilities [19]. As can be seen, LTE enhancements alone cannot fulfill all
requirements and a new RAT is needed for 5G. The companies participating in the
standardization progress have suggested that one of the best solution candidates
would be to slice the RAN into multiple serving segments. Each service segment
would have a dedicated carrier(s), which would operate independently of other
services [20]. This ensures service reliability which is highly important especially for
the low latency communications.
Table 4. IMT-2020 requirements in numbers
Key performance LTE performance ITU value for 5G Difference
Indicators
Peak data rate 1 Gbps 20 Gbps ~20x
User experienced 0.01 Gbps 0.1-1Gbps 10-100x
data rate
Traffic density 0.1 Tbps/Km 10 Tbps/Km 100x
Connection density 60 million/Km 100 million/Km 1,6x
Latency 60 ms (over the 1 ms (over the air) 60x
air)
Mobility 300 Km/h 500 Km/h 1,6x
Energy efficiency 1 (network side) 100x (network side) 100x
Spectral efficiency 3-5x 1 3-5x
Figure 8. ITU top level requirements for 5G.

25
5.1. Timeline for 5G
The commercial 5G era is expected to start by 2020. Before that, there will be
numerous 3GPP TSG meetings and workshops to specify requirements of the 5G
network. 3GPP and ITU have made preliminary timelines for these events and they
are shown in Figure 9[21].
2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020
AMJ JAS OND JFM AMJ JAS OND JFM AMJ JAS OND JFM AMJ JAS OND JFM AMJ JAS OND JFM AMJ
#22 WRC-15 #23 #24 #25 #26 #27 #28 #29 #30 #31 WRC-19 #32 #33 #34
Technology trends
New spectrum below 6GHz unlocked Spectrum above 6GHz unlocked
M.2320
IMT Feasibility Technical performance and IMT-2020

Proposals IMT-2020
above 6GHz requirements Specifications
Vision of IMT
Evaluation criteria and method Evaluation
beyond 2020
Workshop
Requirements, evaluation criteria and Outcome and
submission templates decision
#68 #69 #70 #71 #72 #73 #74 #75 #76 #77 #78 #79 #80 #81 #82 #83 #84 #85 #86 #87 #88
Rel-13
Rel-14
RAN workshop
Rel-15
Workshop
Rel-16
Figure 9. ITU and 3GPP timelines for 5G standardization.

ITU timeline for IMT-2020 calls for initial submissions of IMT-2020 technology by
Work Package 5D meeting #32 (June 2019) and final specification submission by
meeting #36 (October 2020) [22]. 3GPP is planning the 5G standardization to have
two phases for the normative work. Phase 1 is to be completed by 2018 and shall
include LTE-A Pro releases 14 and 15 to address the most demanded commercial
needs such as eMBB. Phase 2 consists of finalization of Rel-16 and it is expected to
be complete by the end of 2019 for the IMT 2020 specification.
5.2. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)
The rapid increase of broadband usage and demand for higher data rates forces 3GPP
to seek new techniques to fulfill these needs. eMBB will enable new services and
markets, such as broadcasting ultra-high definition content over air. 5G will most
likely be based on very dense network deployment of small cells, using current radio
access networks. In addition to current cellular access bands below 6GHz, 5G is
expected to exploit the spectrum range between 6Hz and 100GHz. In order to do so,
a new radio access for centimeter and millimeter sized radio waves is needed.
26
5.2.1. Higher cell density (small cells)
Development of multi-operator small cells is important as it will have a significant

role in addressing future high capacity demand for LTE- and upcoming 5G networks.
Densification of the network by using smaller cells can enable a more flexible system
where the network is optimized for cell sizes below 200m. Small cells can cover a
number of different options from relatively high power outdoor cells to indoor pico
cells and very low power femto cells. Higher user rata rates and QoS are achieved
due to improved coverage and higher data throughput. In addition to flexibility,
another major advantage of small cells is easy deployment as the small cell products
have become more compact and therefore it is easier to optimize the cell
performance and get the best end-user experience by selecting optimal placement for
the access point.
5.2.1.1. Concept
Small cells have been supported by the LTE specifications since the beginning of
LTE with Release 8. This functionality was enabled using frequency-domain Inter-
Cell Interference Coordination (ICIC) which was further enhanced by adding time-
domain ICIC in Release 10. This additional time-domain ICIC enabled co-channel
deployment of small cells by using so called almost blank subframes for semi-static
resource partitioning. The 3GPP started the work for the small cell-related
improvements following the workshop held in June 2012 on LTE-Advanced
evolution, which concluded the need for evolution for the small cell operation. The
scenario of importance was especially the use of small cells with a dedicated small
cell frequency, as shown in Figure 10 (first scenario 1A).
Figure 10. Dual connectivity scenarios.

27
For this type of co-channel scenario, Release 11 specified solutions such as

Coordinated Multi-Point operation (CoMP) and further enhanced ICIC. Dual
connectivity or inter-site carrier aggregation was introduced in Release 12 and it was
intended to enable UE to be connected to both macro eNB and small eNB at the
same time. With this method, it is possible to aggregate maximum data rate and
maintain connection by using macro cell as primary cell even if the small cell layer
does not offer enough coverage [23]. In dual connectivity, UE is configured with one
master eNB (MeNB) and at least one secondary eNB (SeNB). Since there can be
multiple possible cells to be connected to, different cells are organized into master
cell group (MCG) and secondary cell group (SCG).
5.2.1.2. Layer 2 impact
Dual connectivity requires changes to control- and user plane architectures. The split
between control plane and user plane architectures can reduce handover failure rate
and avoid frequent handovers. S1-MME connection is closed by the MeNB only
when it is necessary to reduce radio resource management- (RRM) and signaling
complexity. The purpose of the new control plane architecture is to reduce signaling
overhead towards the core network in multiple SeNB handovers and configuration
changes [24]. There is no RRC entity in the SeNB, therefore RRC configurations are
only transmitted to the MeNB as a RRC container. The connection to MeNB is
always maintained by the UE as long as it is under coverage of MeNB.
Figure 11. User plane traffic split options.

28
There are a couple of options for division of the user plane architecture. There can be
traffic split at the MeNB or service gateway (S-GW). S1-U connection between the
UE and S-GW can be established by both eNBs. 3GPP Release 12 describes user
plane architecture of bearer split at the S-GW and PDCP PDUs level split at the
MeNB. If the split takes place at the MeNB, and only one S1-U interface via the
MeNB is needed, both options are possible. For the bearer level split, all user data is
routed to UE via the SeNB and the UE (see Figure 11 1A). In packet level split the
data can be routed to UE via the MeNB or SeNB (Figure 11 1B). It is more difficult
to make this split due to non-ideal backhaul and that MAC PDUs are generated in
real time according to radio conditions within current TTI.
Dual connectivity does not allow sending PUCCH exclusively on the PCell, but
instead it demands sending PUCCH also to primary SCell (PSCell). PSCell has a
similar role as PCell and UE does radio link monitoring also for PSCell to avoid
excess UL interference. If there is a radio link failure on PSCell, UE continues
measuring SeNB, but terminates RX and TX procedures on the SeNB and indicates
radio link failure for the MeNB.
Scheduling decisions in the SeNB and MeNB cannot be immediately
coordinated and might lead to a situation where combined UL grants from SeNB and
MeNB exceed transmission power resources of the UE. To avoid this situation, UE
configures MCG and SCG with Pcmax information in the power headroom report
(PHR). Type 2 PH of PSCell also needs to be configured, because there is additional
PUCCH in the SeNB. Type 2 PH includes information about power consumed by the
PUCCH and PUSCH. Different PHR parameters can be configured for MeNB and
SeNB to better suit radio conditions and path loss variation characteristics for each
cell [25].
In case of random access procedures, both contention-based and non-
contention-based procedures are supported in the SCG. A contention-base Random
Access (RA) procedure might be ongoing when an eNB initiates non-contention-
based RA procedure. Before initiation of non-synchronized physical layer random
access procedure, Layer 1 shall receive PRACH configuration and frequency
position from the higher layers. In Release 12 dual connectivity, parallel RA
procedure is only supported in case preamble transmissions do not collide.
5.2.2. cmWaves and mmWaves
Currently cellular networks allocate frequencies below 6GHz since low frequencies
have better wide area coverage due to lower path loss. 5G is expected to exploit the
large portion of spectrum between 6GHz and 100GHz. The spectrum between 6 and
100GHz can be split into two parts, centimeter and millimeter waves, based on
frequency. Frequencies below 30GHz are seen as centimeter-sized radio waves
(cmWaves) and frequencies greater than 30GHz are seen as millimeter-sized radio
waves (mmWave). Recent developments in radio technology enable the use of
mmWaves in small form-factor devices such as smart phones. Using mmWaves
unlocks a large amount of spectrum from 30GHz up to 100GHz. This is essential for
very high data rates and capacity which both are key requirements for eMBB.
29
Challenges of mmWaves are higher path-loss, increased RF unit cost and need for
robust beam search and tracking. These challenges can be tackled by developing
smart beam search, tracking and beamforming. LTE-A must support adapting
mmWave frequencies for all potential applications such as virtual reality services.
Deployment of variety of innovative antenna arrays is needed as well as duplexing,
modulation, and multiple access schemes.
5.2.2.1. Concept
Key elements of future 5G mmWave systems are antenna array, printed circuit board
(PCB), mmWave front-end (MFE) and the radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC).
The most popular design choice for antenna array implementation would be to patch
antenna arrays on PCB, because they would be easy to manufacture at low cost.
Unfortunately, this type of PCBs are still under designing phase and not yet
available. Another alternative is to use antenna array packages where the antennas
are embedded on the package that encapsulates the MFE chip. RFICs are small and
can be dynamically reconfigured, therefore reducing the power consumption and
system cost. The higher path losses of mmWaves can be overcome with use of
antenna arrays with multiple elements and by amplifying the TX signals[26].
MmWaves enable using more antenna elements with the same form factor. The most
straightforward way to increase the transmission power in order to compensate for
path losses would be to use more powerful analog RF amplifiers. However, this
would increase the unit cost significantly and a more cost-efficient way is to use
more advanced digital signal processing methods.
Impacts will mostly affect the physical layer as the connectivity has to be expanded
up and beyond 6GHz. Extremely compact Radio Frequency Integrated Circuit
(RFIC) solutions with complete transmitter and receiver chains are wanted to meet
the size, cost and power consumption needs of future generations of mmWave radio
products. MmWave bands can already be utilized and the semiconductors are under
development to provide necessary performance. Combining cm- and mmWaves with
MIMO and beamforming means that the physical layer has to change from cell
specific measurements to radio beam-specific measurements and configurations.
5.2.3. Beamforming and massive MIMO
Beamforming and massive MIMO will improve spectral efficiency, which translates
to higher data rates and overall network capacity, which both are key requirements
for the eMBB. The basic idea of beamforming is to direct radio signals straight
towards the UEs connected to the cell and focus radio energy to improve
performance and energy efficiency. As a result, signal strength is increased and
interference is reduced. MIMO provides the ability to transmit and receive multiple
spatial streams, which multiply the throughput (and therefore spectral efficiency)
delivered in the same part of spectrum. MIMO techniques have been part of LTE
30
from the beginning and enhancements have been introduced with every standard
release.
5.2.3.1. Concept
mmWave frequencies rely on antenna arrays and analog beamforming to achieve the
desired cell radius of 100m. The WiGig/11ad standard has proven beamforming
effective in a short-range and low-mobility environment. However, 5G will require a
new design to support beamforming in a mobility environment with much larger
coverage. Adding vertical dimension for beamforming and expanding antenna port
support from 8 to 64 at the eNB will be necessary when considering future
frequencies above 3GHz. With beamforming, the performance is significantly gained
as the transmission energy can be focused towards the user. 3GPP RAN1 is currently
studying how and with which parameter combinations the two-dimensional antenna
arrays can improve the LTE spectral efficiency.
Currently, 3GPP has considered beamforming only by using the horizontal
antenna arrays in the azimuth dimension. However the vertical antenna arrays would
bring considerable performance potential especially in dense urban areas as
presented in Figure 12. With support for vertical beamforming it is possible to direct
a beam to a certain floor of a building. From technology perspective, vertical
sectorization that may exploit the elevation domain is needed.
Figure 12. Beamforming and MIMO.

UE-specific elevation beamforming, on the other hand, may be used to point the
vertical antenna pattern in the direction of the UE, while spraying less interference.
In addition, if a 2D array is used, the UE-specific elevation beamforming can be
combined with UE-specific beamforming. The first phase objective for RAN1 is to
find most ideal antenna configuration by studying and performing multiple
measurements with different antenna element spacing and varying the number of
antennas per transceiver unit. Multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) can be applied in
31
addition to single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) in both azimuth and elevation

dimensions.
5.2.3.2. Impacts
Expanding number of currently supported antenna ports from 8 to 64 will have an

impact on the physical layer as the Channel State Information (CSI) feedback must
correspond to the number of antenna ports. The eNB adapts its antenna array
parameters (signal phase and amplitude) according to received CSI feedback from
the UE. Adding support for vertical beamforming can be implemented by
configuring a subset of antenna ports for each vertical sector.
Another approach, called reciprocity-based approach does not use CSI
feedback but instead uses UL transmission measurement data to control the antenna
array parameters. With this approach, the number of antenna ports is not fixed.
Therefore the antenna configuration can for example consists of only one RX
antenna and multiple TX antennas. The challenge with this approach is estimating
other transmission parameters as the RF chain pair at the eNB end might not
correspond to the UE antenna configuration.
5.2.4. LTE in unlicensed spectrum
To meet rapidly growing traffic demand, the use of unlicensed spectrum is becoming
a more important technological advancement. In licensed spectrum, operators have
exclusive licenses for certain frequency ranges and they can control the interference
situations in the network. This is essential for quality of service (QoS) and for
performance. Unlicensed spectrum is free for all and therefore it is much more
unpredictable, as there can be uncoordinated interference situations. Licensed-
Assisted Access (LAA) aims to handle these interference situations and offers the
full benefits of unlicensed spectrum for the operators. In addition to a more usable
spectrum, these benefits include better operational cost and better user experience.
5.2.4.1. Concept
The basic principle of LAA is presented in Figure 13. LAA will target 5GHz band
and use small cells; e.g. in shopping malls, office buildings, universities and similar
places where there is lots of network traffic. The first phase for the LAA is to support
downlink traffic and later extend support to handle uplink traffic [27]. Concept of
LAA in Release 13 is as follows; the PCell will operate in licensed spectrum in order
to deliver critical information and guarantee QoS, while the SCell will potentially
increase data rate by operating in unlicensed spectrum. Main focus is to ensure
coexistence with Wi-Fi. Luckily there is a simple mechanism to enable this called
Clear Channel Assessment (CCA). CCA means that LAA node tries to find an
unlicensed spectrum with least users by applying Listen-Before-Talk (LBT)
mechanism, included in release 13. In LBT, the transmitter ensures there are no
ongoing transmissions on the carrier frequency by measuring received energy from
the channel. Europe and Japan prohibit continuous transmission and impose limits on
32
the maximum duration of a transmission burst in the unlicensed spectrum [28].

Hence, discontinuous transmission with limited maximum transmission duration is a
required functionality for LAA. Next sub-chapters will present the impact that the
LAA will have on the UE side. The impact of regulatory requirements of unlicensed
spectrum deployment will be ignored in this thesis.
Figure 13. LAA Carrier Aggregation Framework.
There are several requirements for LAA which have an impact on layer 1. This
chapter describes those requirements and recommended solutions.
Listen-before-talk
As mentioned earlier, the coexistence of LAA with other radio technologies requires
LBT mechanism to be applied. LBT procedures require the node to perform a CCA
by using energy detection to determine if the channel is being used. It is
recommended that LAA supports a mechanism to adaptively lower the energy
detection threshold because different regions have different energy threshold
requirements and this ensures co-existence with other RATs including Wi-Fi which
has energy detection threshold of -62dBm [27]. The channel is considered as used if
the received energy is greater than the threshold value. Another thing to take into
considerations is that LAA for nodes belonging to same operator can lead to
asynchronous transmission on the channel.
Discontinuous transmission
As mentioned earlier, one of the required functionalities for LAA is discontinuous
transmission. This will have an impact on LTE functionalities that can be supported
by signaling them at the beginning of an LAA DL transmission. One example would
be channel reservation, where LAA node gains channel access via successful LBT
operation. For time and frequency synchronization of DL transmission burst in LAA,
33
it is recommended to use Discovery Reference Signals (DRS) for RRM

measurements.
Channel State Information (CSI) measurements and reporting

Due to LBT mechanism there can be silent periods when the serving cell is not
transmitting and during those periods, the interference measurements are not valid.
To make sure all interface measurements are valid, UE should not allow interference
measurements for CSI when the serving cell is not transmitting.
RRM measurements and reporting

LAA support will require changes to Discovery Reference Signal (DRS) procedures
introduced in release 12. If UE is configured with discovery measurement timing
configuration (DMTC), UE can expect DRS to occur in periods of 40, 80 or 160 ms.
Since short control transmission without LBT is not allowed in some regions, DRS
design should apply DRS transmission to be transmitted with LBT. LBT limits DRS
transmissions so that UE cannot expect periodically transmitted DRS in a particular
time slot. Therefore, a method to detect DRS presence is needed to only include
successfully detected DRS signals into RRM measurements and guarantee the
quality of measurements.
Current DRS design does not ensure DRS transmission to be contiguous in
time and there can be periods when some OFDM symbols are not transmitted and the
channel seems silent. Other nodes listening to the same channel could potentially
interpret from these periods that channel is free. This can lead to transmission
collisions between coexisting nodes and the ongoing DRS transmissions. This can be
avoided by using contiguous OFDMA symbols to form DRS signals. Another
unwanted scenario is when there are two operators on the same carrier and UE is
receiving signals from two different cells. Therefore DRS signal should also indicate
the operator to differentiate multiple DRS signals from one another.
DL transmissions
Currently downlink transmission schemes for PDSCH base their demodulation on
either Cell-specific Reference Signals (CRS) or Demodulation Reference Signal
(DMRS). If CRS is present in an LAA SCell, UE cannot assume CRS signals to be
present in every subframe, therefore the demodulation and CSI measurements might
be imperfect. It might be best to not support CRS-based demodulation for PDSCH in
LAA and only use DMRS based demodulation. Another PDSCH DL transmission
related design decision to be made is if a DL transmission block should be
transmitted on a subset or all of the OFDM symbols in the subframe.
Scheduling
There are two scheduling approaches, cross-carrier scheduling and self-scheduling.
The difference between these approaches is that in cross-carrier scheduling, the
scheduling command and data is sent on different cells and in self-scheduling they
are sent on the same cell. The LTE design in Release 12 supports DL/UL cross-
carrier scheduling from the same scheduling carrier or self-scheduling on both DL
and UL. In addition, 3GPP study has identified that for the case with uplink self-
scheduling where the UE applies a LBT procedure before transmitting on the UL,
two successful LBT operations are required before the UE transmits on the UL. This
is because the first eNB performs an LBT procedure for an LAA SCell to send the
34
scheduling command, and if this is successfully received by the UE, the UE performs
an LBT procedure before transmitting in UL. Therefore, it is recommended to
support self-scheduling on DL and cross-carrier scheduling on UL.
HARQ
Due to discontinuous transmission from LBT in both DL and UL directions,
synchronous UL HARQ process retransmission may not be guaranteed. Therefore,
3GPP has proposed to base the UL operation of LTE LAA on asynchronous HARQ
which may require additional information on HARQ information to be transmitted as
part of the UL scheduling grant. This additional information indicates the HARQ
process number and redundancy version to the UE, so that the UE can correctly
associate each retransmission with the corresponding initial transmission. With
asynchronous HARQ on LAA UL, the UE would depend on the UL grant for UL
(re)transmissions and therefore the use of PHICH is not necessary.
For LAA DL HARQ, an asynchronous and adaptive protocol can be applied,
similar to DL HARQ for carriers in licensed spectrum. The DL HARQ-ACK timing
rules from Rel-12 CA can be reused at least for DL-only LAA transmissions, i.e., the
timing between the subframe in which a LAA PDSCH transmission ends and the
subframe in which the corresponding HARQ-ACK feedback is transmitted follows
the DL HARQ-ACK timing based on Rel-12 FDD-FDD and TDD-FDD CA
specifications assuming that the LAA SCell is an FDD SCell.
UL transmissions
To achieve the throughput requirements set for LAA, a new UL waveform is needed.
One candidate waveform would be to extend current single and dual cluster
allocation. To find the most efficient waveform every possible combination of
waveform characteristics has to be studied carefully. These characteristics are; the
number of clusters, the size of clusters and the spacing between the clusters.
The release 12 design allows transmitting Sounding Reference Signals (SRS)
with a PUSCH transmission or transmitted separately from a PUSCH transmission. It
is recommended that SRS transmissions are supported for an LAA SCell at least
along with a PUSCH transmission. In addition, it is recommended that LAA should
support UL multiplexing of multiple UEs in one subframe by multiplexing in the
frequency domain using MU-MIMO.
5.2.4.3. Layer 2/3 impact
LAA impacts also multiple layer 2 processes and in this section presents those
impacts and possible solutions.
In-device coexistence (IDC)

Modern UEs often combine multiple RATs and the very close proximity of the RF
components causes IDC interference. 3GPP release 11 introduced several solutions
for handling this interference and these existing solutions can be used to detect
WLAN networks during LAA operation. The basic principle is that UE indicates
IDC interference to eNB and the eNB resolves this by configuring the UE with DRX,
performing a handover of the UE to another cell or completely releasing one or more
SCells.
35
Random Access
Only non-contention random access is supported on LAA cells. If LBT is required
before UL transmission, dropping from LAA carriers due to LBT failure is done
similarity as in release 12 dual connectivity.
Quality of service control

The QoS of some radio bearers might suffer in LAA due to support of LBT and as
there can be various interference sources in the unlicensed spectrum, such as other
RATs and LAA nodes of other operators. To improve QoS, the characteristics of an
LAA cell should be considered when mapping traffic from radio bearers to carrier(s).
For example, it is better not to send critical control information, delay critical data or
guaranteed bit rate (GBR) bearers through LAA cells if the LBT operation is
required.
HARQ operation
Due to LBT mechanism in LAA, the cell might be uncertain of its availability for DL
HARQ retransmissions. For example, the LBT operation may need to acquire the
channel or the maximum transmission duration of an LAA cell has been reached
before HARQ operation has been fully performed. There are at least two design
alternatives to solve this issue. The first option is to keep HARQ retransmissions on
the same cell, start HARQ process when LBT operation acquires the channel and
complete the HARQ process before maximum LAA cell transmission duration is
exceeded. If HARQ doesnt complete successfully, RLC retransmission may be
invoked and the HARQ retransmission is delayed until LAA cell acquires the
channel again. The second alternative is to move HARQ retransmissions to another
cell, for example, another SCell. This is a more complex option as it requires a
change in current HARQ process modeling and for the sake of simplicity the first
design option is recommended.
It is also recommended to use asynchronous UL HARQ for LAA. To enable
this, the eNB needs to indicate in the UL grant which HARQ process the grant is
intended to. Otherwise eNB would not know which HARQ process is ongoing and
which soft-buffer should be combined with the received transmission. The number of
UL HARQ processes is not explicitly specified as it depends on the HARQ timing
but the maximum number may need to be specified during the implementation.
When DRX is used together with asynchronous UL HARQ, the UE can expect to
receive UL grants as the HARQ process is following a fixed pattern.
Discontinuous Reception (DRX)

Due to LBT in LAA, there is no guarantee that a channel is obtained for scheduling
the UE at the exact moment when desired by the eNB. LBT also limits the duration
when the channel can be occupied, therefore the DRX timers should be adjusted to
be long enough or the DRX cycles should be short enough to allow time for
obtaining the channel access.
RRM measurements and reporting

As already mentioned in previous section about layer 1 impacts, release 12 DRS
works by configuring the UE with a DMTC which includes subframes on which the
36
UE may perform RRM measurements. From an RRC protocol point of view, it is

considered feasible to perform the RRM measurement and reporting for LAA.
Similar to configuring and activating SCells on licensed carriers, RRM
measurements on LAA cells can be used to configure and activate LAA cells. For
each configured LAA SCell, there is a single DRS configuration configured by the
eNB. The UEs physical layer will only report valid RRM measurement samples to
RRC (invalid measurements due to LBT are discarded). It is recommended for UE to
report RSSI measurements to the eNB as it enables detecting hidden node in channel
selection.
Physical Cell Identity (PCI) confusion

3GPP has identified an PCI collision scenario in which there can be multiple
operators operating in the same frequency using the same PCI value. The probability
of this occurring depends on the number of LAA cells under same coverage as UEs
primary cell and whether the operators of these cells have not coordinated the PCI
values for their cells. The PCI confusion can be detected by the eNB for example if it
discovers that the UE is not able to receive or transmit data even though it is
reporting good signal quality for the cell. The PCI confusion can be resolved by the
eNB by changing PCI value of the LAA cell(s) in case. In some cases when the
nodes are not hidden, the network can detect PCI collision by listening to carriers and
resolve it by changing the PCI values of their cells. In current EUTRAN architecture,
PCI collisions are avoided by using a unique cell group identifier (CGI) values for
each cell, transmitted via system information broadcast. A similar mechanism has
been considered unnecessary, since PCI confusion is expected to happen only rarely
with LAA.
5.2.5. Carrier Aggregation enhancements
As mentioned in an earlier chapter 3.1.3, the LTE CA framework was first

introduced in Release 10 [29] and enabled UE to receive and transmit data from/to 5
different Component Carriers (CC). With this feature, LTE downlink data rate was
boosted up to maximum of 150Mbps with only 10MHz frequency bands for each
carrier. In phase 2 CA, the downlink data rate was doubled to 300Mbps with the use
of 20MHz bands. Bandwidths up to 100MHz are supported but 5GHz bands
considered for LAA would make room for even larger bandwidths. As demand for
more carriers has increased from the operator side, expanding the CA framework to
aggregate more than 5 CCs has become necessary with addition of TDD-FDD carrier
aggregation support.
5.2.5.1. Concept
Currently LTE-Advanced supports CA transmission and reception on maximum

bandwidth of 20 MHz for each of five possible CCs. There are three CA types,
shown in Figure 14. In inter-band aggregation (type 1), the component carriers are
located in different frequency bands which are usually in case of LTE spaced by 100
kHz. In non-contiguous intra-band aggregation (type 2), the carriers are in the same
band, while in contiguous intra-band aggregation the carriers are in the same band
and are next to each other. In the last CA type, the carriers are separated by a
37
multiple of 300 kHz. The sub-carriers do not interfere as they are orthogonal to each
other.
Figure 14. Carrier Aggregation types.

The SCell cannot be configured for UL usage only and the number of downlink
component carriers is always greater than or equal to the number used on the uplink.
In TDD mode, each component carrier had to have the same TDD configuration in
Release 10, but that restriction was removed as part of Release 11. However, UL/DL
configuration in aggregated carriers can be different only in case of inter-band TDD
carrier aggregation. Up to Release 11, the component carriers had to have the same
mode of operation (FDD or TDD), but that restriction was removed in Release 12.
FDD-TDD aggregation enables operators to use such band combinations which mix
the two duplex modes together such as Band 8 (900 MHz FDD) and Band 40 (2300
MHz) [30]. This inter-band CA band combination was introduced in release 12 as an
example two carrier TDD-FDD pair and release 13 is adding even more
combinations. The component carriers are organized into one PCell and up to
four SCells. Secondary cells are only used by UEs in RRC_CONNECTED and are
added or removed by means of mobile-specific signalling messages. In case of FDD
or TDD carrier aggregation, UE can be configured to support either modes or just
one of them (e.g. FDD only). The goal in Release 13 is to improve achievable data
rates for LTE-A by expanding possible number of supported CCs from 8 to 32. In
addition to improved data rates, enabling aggregation of large numbers of carriers in
different bands also provides more frequency diversity. There is no RLC or PDCP
impact. Carrier aggregation only affects the physical layer, the MAC protocol on the
air interface and RRC protocol. The next two sub-chapters will present the impacts
on layer 1 and 2 as well as recommended solutions.
38
5.2.5.2. Layer 2/3 impacts
In terms of FDD-TDD aggregation, most of current CA procedures are already

supported with both duplex modes, but the handling of Acknowledge (Ack) and
Negative-Acknowledge (Nack) signaling has to be changed as there can be situation
where the UE is camped on TDD PCell and it does not have UL resources available
for sending Ack/Nack. RRC has to read CA band combinations and duplex mode
support for PCell from the physical layer. RCC will signal in UE-EUTRA-Capability
messages information element for PhyLayerParameters-v1250 its support for FDD-
TDD carrier aggregation. This is done by setting field tdd-FDD-CA-PCellDuplex-
r12 to a bit value with length of 2 according to the duplex mode received from the
physical layer. The first bit is set to 1 if UE supports the TDD PCell. The second bit
is set to 1 if UE supports FDD PCell. This field is added only if the UE supports
band combination containing at least one FDD band and at least one TDD band.
In addition to signaling TDD-FDD CA support for E-UTRAN, the RRC has
to set the HARQ Re-Transmission Time (RTT) timer value according to which
duplex mode the serving cell is using. In case of FDD, the timer value is 8 subframes
and in case of TDD, the value has to be the interval between the DL TX and the
transmission of associated HARQ feedback + 4 subframes. Adding new carriers only
affects the MAC layer as the scheduler has to decide which of the possible CCs has
the most favorable physical resource blocks for the transmission.
5.2.5.3. Layer 1 impacts
TDD-FDD CA impact on the physical layer involves signaling PCell duplex mode
(FDD/TDD) to RRC and expanding already existing band combination tables. In
total there are three new intra-band contiguous CA operation bands (5, 8, 66) and 41
new TDD-FDD CA operation band combinations in Release 13 (TS 36.101) - see
Appendix 1 [30] for detailed list of added combinations. The increased number of
CCs will also increase the payload size of the PUCCH as there are more CCs to
aggregate. Reporting CSI for multiple CCs requires multiplexing all reports together
as they are needed for UL/DL signaling control.
5.3. Reliability and latency improvements
Latency reduction is key requirement for ultra-reliable communication e.g. multiple

public service applications that are relying on almost instant communication with the
UE. Current LTE-A network has latency of 60ms and the 5G will require scalable
options for over the air communications with medium latency (2-6ms) and high
latency (10-30ms). In order to support such low latencies, 3GPP has specified several
new features and service frameworks. These improvements will be carried out for
LTE-A Pro and will function as foundations for future enhancements. Lower latency
will enable support for new applications, such as industry processes, virtual reality
services and traffic control.
39
5.3.1. Enhancements for device-to-device (D2D) framework
The D2D/Proximity Services (ProSe) framework was standardized in Release 12.

The D2D feature enables a UE to directly communicate with another UE. D2D
communication reduces cellular traffic congestion and therefore benefits the whole
cellular network infrastructure. Benefits of D2D communication also include higher
data rates, resource-efficiency and low end-to-end delay which is crucial e.g. when
considering public safety applications. As the D2D communication doesnt have to
route its messages through the base station, the D2D can also be seen as more energy
efficient communication procedure compared to normal cellular communication. The
direct UE to UE D2D channels are called sidelink channels in order to distinguish
them from the uplink and downlink. For public safety purposes D2D must be
efficient and reliable for in-coverage and out-of-coverage situations. In release 12 the
D2D out-of-coverage communication is planned only for public safety, but the 3GPP
plans to add support for more advanced proximity services for Public Safety and
consumer use cases in the release 13. This chapter presents release 12 D2D
framework use cases, methods and general impacts.
5.3.1.1. Concept
Communication between two UEs using sidelink channels is not as straightforward

as between E-UTRAN and UE. ProSe Discovery is the key enabler procedure where
a UE identifies itself for the base station (E-UTRA) as ProSe-capable device and that
it is in proximity of another UE. Methods for device-based synchronization signaling
had to be developed, since another UE can be out-of-coverage or the two UEs can be
attached to different base stations that are asynchronous. The different D2D
communication use cases are illustrated and numbered in Figure 15. The first use
case is the most common use case where both UEs are connected to same primary
cell eNB. The second case is when two devices, 3 and 4, are connected to different
eNBs. The third use case is a scenario where one UE is in-coverage and another one
is out-of-coverage. In the last use case there are two or more devices out-of-coverage
of eNBs. In terms of synchronization, the first use case is the least challenging as
both UEs are connected to same eNB and can use the base station as synchronization
source for D2D discovery and D2D communication. In other use cases (2, 3 and 4),
the sidelink synchronization signal has to be used [31].
40
Figure 15. D2D communication use cases.
5.3.1.2. Impact
Connectivity and relaying

In a situation where some of the Public Safety -enabled UEs are within network
coverage and some are not, those Public Safety -enabled UEs within network
coverage may relay the radio resource management control to the Public Safety -
enabled UEs not within network coverage.
Duplexing
D2D operates in downlink spectrum in the case of Frequency Division Duplex
(FDD) operation and in the uplink subframes in the case of Time Division Duplex
(TDD) operation. In addition to regulatory and licensing restrictions in some
countries, this design choice reduces implementation costs since transmission on
downlink would require additional effort. Also, with this design the interference with
other UEs is easier to control on uplink resources.
Control modes
Telecommunications architecture consists of three main components; the control-
plane, the data-plane and the management plane. The data-plane enables data transfer
from client to another. The control-plane carries signaling traffic and is responsible
for routing. The management plane carries administrative traffic and together with
control-plane serves the data-plane. In direct D2D communications, two devices are
in proximity of each other and there is no need for network control for D2D pairs and
therefore control-plane can be split between the two UE and the network.
In public safety use cases, when there is no network coverage available, the
control path can be established directly between the UEs. In this option pre-
configured radio resources are available. Radio resources for public safety ProSe
Communication can be managed using Public Safety Radio Resource Management
Function within a Public Safety - enabled UE.
41
Device-based synchronization
Synchronization is needed when the D2D pair is in-coverage or out-of-coverage. The
eNB uses a Primary D2D Synchronization Signal (PD2DSS) to synchronize UEs
timing, frequency adjustment and channel estimation during cell search. Secondary
SD2D Synchronization Signal (SD2DSS) is used for timing synchronization but also
to transmit cell group identification during cell search [32]. One crucial aspect to
take into account is the out-of-coverage frequency error. The error may be twice
greater than in standard cellular use. To estimate frequency errors it is recommended
that the symbols are repeated and the primary- and secondary synchronization signal
symbols are separated.
Future work
3GPP will continue enhancing D2D in Release-13 and it will include such
enhancements as prioritization of different groups and sidelink discovery
enhancements. The target is to support Type 1 discovery, meaning that radio
resources for Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel are allocated on non-UE specific
basis.
5.3.2. Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT)
In order to provide mission critical Public Safety (PS) services, 3GPP is working on
MCPTT to allow communication between two or more users with and without
connection with the EPS. One major benefit of large scale MCPTT deployment is
emergency communication e.g. in case of a natural disaster when the network is
down. MCPTT is ongoing project to complete LTE support of PS services in Release
13. Rel-13 MCPTT will only support audio transferring. The impact on voice codecs
is not in scope of this thesis.
5.3.2.1. Concept
MCPTT users may request permission to transmit (e.g., traditionally by means of a

press of a button). The MCPTT over LTE service supports an enhanced PTT service,
suitable for mission critical scenarios, based upon 3GPP EPS services. When
multiple requests occur, the determination of which user's request is accepted and
which users' requests are rejected or queued is based upon a number of
characteristics (including the respective priorities of the users in contention). MCPTT
Service provides a means for a user with higher priority (e.g., MCPTT Emergency
condition) to interrupt the current talker. MCPTT Service also supports a mechanism
to limit the time a user talks (holds the floor) in order to permit users of the same or
lower priority a chance to gain the permission to talk [33].
With MCPTT Service it is possible to set up a group call where every client
has equal chance to gain the permission to talk. In addition, Private Calls between
two clients is also supported. The MCPTT Service builds on the existing 3GPP
transport communication mechanisms provided by the EPS architectures to establish,
maintain, and terminate the actual communication path(s) among the users. The
MCPTT Service also builds upon service enablers: MBMS and ProSe. As mentioned
before, ProSe enables off-network communication as MCPTT capable UEs create
42
communication chains to deliver point-to-point messages. As the messages can travel

via several UEs to the recipient, the messages must be encrypted so that only
recipient can decrypt the message. The end user's experience is expected to be
similar regardless if the MCPTT Service is used under coverage of an EPC network
or based on ProSe without network coverage.
On-network architectural model

The architectural model is shown in Figure 16 [34]. The MCPTT Application Service
provides the service for the MCPTT client using only one PLMN node, while the
Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) core takes care of service control. The EPS provides
bearer services for the UE B. UE A represents one or more UEs that use ProSe UE-
to-Network relaying with UE B to support MCPTT applications.
Figure 16. On-network architectural model.

Off-network architectural model
The architectural model for off-network is shown in Figure 17 [34]. The UE B uses
Prose to handle inter-UE communications with other MCPTT capable UEs (UE A).
Even though UE B does not have EPS connection, it can use another IP Connectivity
Access Network to connect to an offline common services server. The servers
responsibility is to support configuration management and MCPTT group
management such as provide a group id.
Figure 17. Off-network architectural model.
5.3.2.2. Impact
MCPTT service will have architectural impact on both network and terminal side.
Multiple new processes will be added to support private- and group calls in both on-
43
network and off-network scenarios. Following subchapters introduce basic scenarios

for each category.
On-network private calls

When an automatic commencement mode is supported, a MCPTT client can initiate
an MCPTT private call for communicating with another MCPTT user, with or
without floor control enabled. Figure 18 [34] illustrates a setup process of a private
on-network MCPTT call. After registration of MCPTT clients, client 1 sends a
private call request to MCPTT server. If floor control is wanted, it can be indicated to
the server in this message. Next, MCPTT server sends a private call request to
recipient client, which accepts the call. Response is sent back to the server and then
to the original client. The final step is to establish media plane and floor control if
one was requested during the private call request.
MCPTT client MCPTT client

MCPTT server
1 2
1. Register as MCPTT service client
2. Register as MCPTT service client
3. initiate private call
4. MCPTT private call request

Floor control request (OPTIONAL)
5. Authorize request
6. MCPTT private call request
7. Accept call
8. MCPTT private call response

9. MCPTT private call response
10. Media plane established and floor control established (OPTIONAL)
Figure 18. On-network private call setup.
On-network Group calls

The most basic on-network group call scenario is called a pre-arranged group call.
Pre-arrangement means that the group has already been assigned a unique group id
and each group call participant belongs to same MCPTT system and is already
registered for the service. An example scenario is illustrated in Figure 19 [34].
MTCPTT client 1 initiates the group call by sending a group call request to the
MCPTT server. The server then resolves a group id and sends request to associated
clients. The other MCPTT clients send group call responses to MCPTT server which
then sends a response back to the first client and establishes data connection and
floor control.
44
MCPTT client 1 MCPTT server MCPTT client 2 MCPTT Client 3
1. Initiate group call
2. Group call request
3. Resolve group id
4a.Group call request
4a. Accept group call
4b. Group call request
4b. Accept group call
6. Group call response 5.Group call response
5.Group call response

7.Group call notify
8. Media plane and floor control establishment
Figure 19. On-network group call setup.
Off-network private calls

In order to communicate with a specific MCPTT user with ProSe mechanism, the
MCPTT client shall first requests the ProSe layer to provide the layer 2 ID and IP
address for the target MCPTT UE. The ProSe layer has a list of all ProSe-enabled
UEs and it can provide User Info Id of the target MCPTT user. Figure 20 [34] shows
how a MCPTT private call setup is done, using ProSe in off-network scenario. The
private call initiator sends a call setup request to the other MCPTT client, who then
accepts the call and send a response back.
45
MCPTT client 1 MCPTT client 2
1. Initiate private call
2. Call setup request
3.Accept call
4. Call setup response
5. Media plane is established with floor control
Figure 20. Off-network private call setup.
Off-network Group calls

Off-network group calls can use pre-defined configuration information provided to
MCPTT clients prior to the off-network group call or configuration information that
is transmitted to MCPTT clients during group call setup or late entry procedures.
Figure 21 [34] shows how a group call is initiated between three MCPTT clients via
ProSe communication. ProSe layer ensures that the messages are only sent to the
corresponding MCPTT group members by using the ProSe layer 2 Group ID
mapping with the MCPTT group ID.
MCPTT client 1 MCPTT client 2 MCPTT client 3
1. Group call announcement
2. Setting parameters 2. Setting parameters

for media plane for media plane
3. Response
3. Response
4. checking participants
Figure 21. Off-network group call setup.

46
5.3.3. Single-cell Point-to-Multipoint (SC-PTM)
To position LTE as technology for critical communications, 3GPP presented Group

Communication System Enablers (GCSE) for LTE in release 12. GCSE is based on
evolved Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (eMBMS) which enables
efficient multicast services on multi-cell areas. Multicasting services over a single
cell could also have multiple applications such as an earthquake warning system.
However, multiplexing unicast together with eMBMS in the same subframe is not
allowed even though not all the radio resources in frequency domain are utilized.
Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) subframe configuration
cannot be dynamically adjusted according to the number of active groups and the
traffic load of active groups. Using the physical channels for group communications
in release 12 is challenging as it would require modifying SIB2 frequently to change
PDSCH and PMCH subframe portions. This is unwanted as SIB2 modification
requires unnecessary signaling, i.e. effort on both UE and eNB side. To address this
issue, 3GPP has started a new specification item for SC-PTM in release 13, which
will enable new type of radio access method dedicated to multicast through a single
cell PDSCH.
5.3.3.1. Concept
Single-cell PTM transmission in E-UTRAN uses the existing eMBMS system

architecture and focuses on radio efficiency improvement. The target is to reuse
existing standardized functionalities when possible and justified. In MBSFN, a cell
could belong to up to 8 MBSFN areas and each MBSFN area carries its own
Multicast Control Channel (MCCH) [35]. For SC-PTM, the area of all PTM
transmissions is the cell, so it is sufficient to only have one Single Cell-MCCH. For
an SC-PTM transmission, the group data is sent via PDSCH to the UEs in a group.
This way the resource usage is more efficient as the group data can be provided in a
single PDSCH subframe by multiplexing group data together with normal unicast
data. Data queuing on the eNB side is reduced as there is no need to duplicate
transmissions for the SC-PTM even if there are numerous UEs per group. In terms of
latency reduction, as the SC-PTM group communications queuing delay will not
occur, the overall end-to-end delay is reduced compared to normal unicast PDSCH
transmissions. Also the queuing delay is reduced due to the fact that MCE scheduling
will not occur as the eNBs perform scheduling per a subframe.
5.3.3.2. Impact
SC-PTM will have impact on high level procedures and architecture. High level
procedure is illustrated in Figure 22. First, CN establishes eMBMS and provides
target area information to the Multicast Coordination Entities (MCE). Within this
establish request, the MCE will receive a cell list containing identification and QoS
information for each eNB. Next, MCE makes a decision whether to use SC-PTM or
not based on the eNB capabilities, operations and maintenance configuration. If the
SC-PTM is used, MCE sends eMBMS Session Start Request message to
corresponding eNBs trough PDSCH and includes target area information and QoS
information. eNB will transmit downlink control information through PMCH and the
47
group data through PDSCH simultaneously using the group RNTI. Using the unique
group RNTI acquired from an SC-PTM configuration message, UEs can decode the
received downlink control information as well as the group data.
CN MCE (Multicast eNB UE

M3 M2 Uu
(Core Network) Coordination Entity) (E-UTRAN Node B) (User Equipment)
1. MBMS Session Start Request

(Cell list, QoS)
2. MBMS Session Start Respose
3. Decide to use SC-PTM

for the MBMS bearer
4. MBMS Session Start Request

(Cell list, Qos)
5. MBMS Session Start Response
6. Trigger SC-PTM
(Configuration)
MBMS user data
Figure 22. SC-PTM High level procedure for bearer setup.
5.3.4. V2X
Ultra reliable and low latency communications will enable a totally new market for
enhanced LTE and future 5G networks. One of the biggest markets to enter is the
smart-driving market and 3GPP has started a new specification item for a service
called V2X in release 14. The term V2X covers three different LTE communication
scenarios; vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) and vehicle-to-
infrastructure (V2I). There are two main reasons why connected vehicle technologies
are needed. One reason is safety, as V2X communication will significantly reduce
the number of accidents. Another reason is travel efficiency, as V2X aims to enable
end-users to reduce travel delays and therefore V2X will also give tools to make
environmentally friendly decisions based on real time information.
5.3.4.1. Concept
Vehicle-to-vehicle
Vehicle manufacturers and cellular operators have strong interests on V2X and they
are pushing the development of LTE-based V2X. There are ongoing research
projects and field tests, such as self driving car and road safety related studies. V2X
requires ultra-reliable communications and low latency from the network. IMT-2020
requirement for latency is 1ms over the air. This means shorter Transmission Time
48
Interval (TTI). Figure 23 shows three V2X application examples where low
communication latency is crucial. In scenario number 2, a vehicle indicates a
collision ahead via Forward Collision Warning (FCW) application service [36]. The
purpose of FCW is to avoid rear-end vehicle collisions by enabling V2V
communication where each vehicle broadcasts periodically its current location,
speed, acceleration and trajectory. Based on received messages from other vehicles, a
vehicle can determine if corrective actions are needed and alert the driver to take
these actions.
Figure 23. V2X scenario examples.
Exchange of V2V-related information between UEs using E-UTRAN is allowed

when permission, authorization and proximity criteria are fulfilled. As in case of the
previous example, the information exchange can be configured to happen
periodically. The configuration of proximity criteria and periodical broadcasting is
done by the mobile network operator. It should be noted that even though the
operator does the configuration, the information can be exchanged even if the UE is
not served by E-UTRAN. The payload has to be flexible in order to enable periodical
transmissions and various information contents.
Vehicle-to-pedestrian
V2P is similar in case of communication configuration and criterias. Also, UEs
supporting V2P Service can exchange such information even when not served by E-
UTRAN. The UE supporting V2P applications transmits application layer
information and the information can be transmitted either by a vehicle or by a
pedestrian with UE supporting V2P Service. In the example scenario 3 (Figure 23)
49
the driver does not see the approaching pedestrian around the corner and the V2P
service alerts the driver. The exchange of V2P-related application information
between distinct UEs can be direct, but if UEs are out of direct communication
range, the application information between distinct UEs can be done via
infrastructure, for example, roadside units (RSU). [36]
Vehicle-to-infrastructure
With V2I support it is possible for UE to send application layer information to any
infrastructure supporting V2I. For example a vehicle can indicate its location for
RSU. RSU broadcasts application layer information to a UE supporting V2I
applications. One possible use case is deployment of Intelligent Transportation
System (ITS) which could guide drivers to make more efficient decisions by
suggesting shortest routes and appropriate driving speed [37]. The ITS would also
increase road safety as it could inform the driver about constructions or other out of
the ordinary situations ahead. In the example scenario 1 Figure 23 the vehicle
communicates with the Road Side Unit (RS) and gets information of upcoming
construction site on the left. The driver can use this information and take appropriate
actions by e.g. using alternative route suggested by the ITS system.
5.3.4.2. Impact
The LTE V2X impact on layer 2 will be similar to D2D communication impact. D2D
communication development could work as a foundation for out of coverage
situations for V2X. In general, high speed over air communication is a field full of
challenges to overcome. Providing robust connection and even decent QoS is
difficult due to dependency on e.g. vehicle speeds, Doppler effect and traffic load. To
overcome these issues that decrease physical layer performance, it is necessary to
specify mechanisms to enable UEs to readjust themselves to adapt to unfavorable
radio conditions. The physical layer performance can be evaluated with parameters
such as Packet Error Rate (PER) vs. SNR and Bit-error Ratio (BER) vs. Signal to
Noise Ratio (SNR). As studies show [38], 256QAM modulation support added in
Rel-12 demands better SNR in order to achieve acceptable BER in high velocity
scenarios. This means the current modulation schemes of LTE-A are suitable for
V2X deployment, but the transmit power must be configured according to selected
signal modulation type.
50
5.4. Massive Machine Type Communication MMTC
LARGE COVERAGE
Power spectral Density (PSD) boosting
Channel repetition
Longer TTI
MASSIVE CONNECTION LOW COST

Scheduling overhead reduction
New multiple access scheme
MTC
Narrower bandwidth
Smaller transport block size
Signaling procedure optimization (TBS)
LONG BATTERY LIFE

Longer DRX/PSM
Functionality simplification
Figure 24. Massive MTC trends.
MMTC is seen as one of main use case scenarios for evolving 4G and future 5G
networks. MMTC has to improve network capacity to support a huge amount of
connections e.g. smart lighting systems with over 1000 nodes. 5G workshop
requirements were set at RAN WS [17]. In Figure 24 [19] these requirements are
divided into four main trends; large coverage, low cost, long battery life and massive
connection. Large coverage can be achieved by using longer transmission time
intervals (TTI), channel repetition and boosting power spectral density (PSD).
Massive amount of connections could be handled by reducing scheduling overhead,
using new multiple access schemes and optimizing signaling procedure. User
equipment (UE) manufacturers are always interested in costs per unit. The cost of
one UE can be reduced by using narrower bandwidths and smaller transport block
size which enables manufactures to use cheaper RF components. Long battery life is
a crucial requirement for MTC, since many of its applications require up to years of
operating time. To improve battery consumption, 3GPP will further improve DRX
and increase standby time for Power Saving Mode (PSM), which was introduced in
release 12 (see chapter 6).
5.4.1. LTE enhancements for low cost MTC
Extended access barring, extended wait time and delay tolerant access were
introduced in Release 11 and they are seen as first MTC features introduced for LTE.
3GPP keeps enhancing MTC by enabling categorization of UEs as low complexity
devices. The low complexity support means sacrificing capacity to improve power
consumption and reduce unit costs. The sacrifice is justified as the MTC devices are
expected to have low data rates and the cheap manufacturing has the highest priority.
51
5.4.1.1. Concept
Release 12 introduced a new UE category 0 to address the need for smaller transport
block size. Category 0 devices support 1Mbit transport block size for DL and UL and
have conditional access to cell; access is only allowed if the network explicitly
permits it. An optional feature, called LTE FDD Half duplex was also specified to
be used together with Category 0 in order to reduce RF cost. FDD Half duplex was
already introduced at the beginning of LTE (Release 8), but until this point, there has
not been a real use for it. In half duplex, TX and RX are alternated. TS 36.306 [11]
specifies that category 0 should use half duplex FDD operation, i.e. there are guard
periods between TX and RX that are created by UE by not receiving DL subframe
immediately before or after UL subframe. The unit cost can be further reduced by
using only one reception antenna, which lowers the complexity of the RF parts.
Release 13 will define new low complexity UE category types that support
reduced downlink transmission modes and bandwidths of 1.4 MHz in downlink and
uplink. Rel-13 will also achieve extended coverage operation and ultra-long battery
life via power consumption reduction techniques such as enhanced DRX which
allows exceeding current DRX limit of 2.56 seconds. Maximum transmission power
is reduced from 23dBm to 20dBm and this will reduce unit cost as less powerful
power amplifiers enable integrated power amplifier implementation. The coverage of
delay-tolerant MTC devices is expected to be increased by 15dB for 1.4 MHz FDD
by combining signal repetition and retransmission of data packets with PSD
boosting. Extended coverage will also require discarding unneeded PDCCH,
PCFICH and PHICH and using only EPDCCH as a control channel for downlink
[39]. Increased coverage will allow more versatile placement options for MTC
devices such as wireless humidity- and temperature sensors in underground parking
lots. LTE MTC enhancement specifications for Release 14 are ongoing and will
reduce supported bandwidth down to 200 kHz in downlink and uplink.
For bandwidth redundancy, the guideline is to enable operation of MTC services on

reduced bandwidth of 1.4 MHz at the terminal within any LTE system bandwidth
multiplexed together with regular LTE UEs. Currently, all LTE UEs support
bandwidth up to 20MHz and typically support multiple bandwidths, which provide
flexibility to exploit the full performance of the bandwidth deployed. Table 5 shows
how many resource blocks and subcarriers are required in each bandwidth. 1.4MHz
bandwidth can be realized by restricting the downlink transmission to six 180-kHz
LTE physical resource blocks (PRB) for DL instead of 100 PRBs.
Table 5. LTE Bandwidths and PRBs
Bandwidth Resource Blocks DL subcarriers UL Subcarriers
1.4 MHz 6 73 72
3 MHz 15 181 180
5 MHz 25 301 300
10 MHz 50 601 600
15 MHz 75 901 900
20 MHz 100 1201 1200
52
6. RELEASE 12 POWER SAVING MODE

In addition to lowering unit cost on RF side, the target is to use cheaper and smaller
batteries or at least maximize the power efficiency. Multiple MTC use cases rely on
wireless sensors that can be installed in hard-to-reach places, outside the power grid
and the batteries of these devices may be expensive to charge. These devices might
transmit data only once a week or even once a month and otherwise be in idle mode.
To enable more effective power saving during idle connection phases, Rel-12
standardized a new UE Power Saving Mode (PSM) [10] for Machine Type
Communications (MTC). Intelligent solutions to better control UE power
consumption will be key enabler for LTE MTC and support for devices that are
expected to have a standby time up to 10 years. Power consumption must be scalable
according to current access needs (e.g. D2D/MTC vs. regular mobile broadband use-
cases). This chapter will introduce one design approach to implement power saving
mode for a real LTE-A device. Testing activities and test results shall be analyzed
and future work shall be discussed.
6.1. Concept
First, the UE needs to decide how often it is required to be active in order to enter
PSM between transmitting and receiving data. PSM is activated by UE by proposing
two timer values, T3324 and T3412, in the Attach request or Tracking Area Update
(TAU). The network will provide the actual values of the T3324 and T3412 to be
utilized in the Attach Accept message if it allows UE to enter PSM between
transmissions. After this the network releases the RRC connection and the timers
T3324 and T3412 are started by the NAS.
Timer value of T3324 determines how long the UE needs to stay in idle mode
following the Attach or TAU procedure. This is called the Active Time and this is
the opportunity to contact the UE. If there is no downlink data pending, the T3324
can be shorter. According to 3GPP specification TS 23.682[40], the minimum
recommended length for the Active Time is the time it takes for Mobility
Management Entity (MME) to trigger the Service Centre (SC) to deliver a Short
Message Service (SMS) to the MME, which is 2 DRX cycles plus 10 seconds.
After T3324 expires, the UE will enter PSM for the duration of T3412 which
can be up to 12.1 days [41]. In PSM mode, the UE should enter its lowest power
mode and prevent all signaling procedures such as paging and cell search. While the
UE is in PSM, the MME should not try to locate the UE with paging. Any data that
arrives for the UE is held by the eNodeB. During PSM the UE and eNodeB shall
maintain all existing AS configurations such as states and temporary identities.
Sending a TAU to the EMM without the PSM timers will cancel the PSM mode.
This can happen anytime during PSM.
6.2. Impact
Implementing the feature on Release 12-based LTE system requires changes on NAS
and AS layer. No changes are needed for the physical layer. NAS will control PSM
states and the biggest impact is the implementation of a new PSM state for NAS
53
and handling transitions between different states and communication between

different modules. In addition, RRC must enter a special PSM state where it behaves
like in RRC_IDLE state but does not perform any neighbor cell measurements, cell
selection or monitoring of paging channel.
6.2.1. NAS design
Timers
In UE initialization, timers T3324 and T3412 are initialized to null value. PSM
timer configuration interface towards EPC is implemented through Attach/TAU
request procedures. T3324 and T3412 values are acquired from the EPC through
Attach/TAU request. T3412 extended value may be requested only if T3324 is
requested. T3324 and T3412 shall be requested only if UE is in PSM_IDLE.
Received T3324 and T3412 extended values are stored and used for PSM activation.
NAS-AS interface
According to 3GPP NAS specification [41], NAS needs an interface message to
deactivate AS. A new message PSM_ACTIVE_IND must be added to NAS-AS
interface to set AS to PSM state. The message does not need any informational
content inside it and receiving this message initiates state change on AS. Activation
of AS layer is already supported by the interface since it can be done any time during
PSM by requesting a new connection for mobile oriented data or user data.
PSM state control

At least three states are needed for PSM; PSM-IDLE, PSM-WAIT and PSM-
ACTIVE. These states are controlled by the EMM connection module and the state
machine is presented in Figure 25. Timer T3324 will be activated when EMM enters
PSM-IDLE state, and timer value is not null. Activation is executed by EMM
connection module when RRC is released and EMM enters PSM-WAIT virtual state.
PSM will be activated checking first if PLMN selection is ongoing, if not, then when
T3324 expires, EMM will enter PSM-ACTIVE state where it will stay until T3412
expires. After that, EMM will deactivate PSM.
PSM-ACTIVE
pi 4
T3 pire
ex 332
41 s
s
ex
re
2
T
PSM-WAIT PSM-IDLE
Attach/TAU
Figure 25. PSM states.

54
PSM activation/deactivation
Before PSM can be activated, EMM must check if higher priority operations are
ongoing. UE must not be attached or have packet data network (PDN) connection for
emergency bearer services and it has to be in EMM-IDLE mode and in a state other
than EMM-REGISTERED. Before PSM activation, the network performs a RRC
connection release. Timers 3324 and T3412 are started when NAS receives an RRC
connection release indication message from RRC. If all conditions mentioned above
are fulfilled, then the PSM activation can be executed when T3324 expires,
otherwise the activation event is suspended and executed later. Excluding T3346,
T3412 and T3396, all other NAS timers are stopped and related procedures are
aborted [40].
PSM deactivation is triggered by requesting mobile originated or user data
transmission. UE can also wake up after T3412 expires or when periodic TAU timer
expires. In PSM deactivation, EMM will execute connection establishment
procedure. This will trigger RRC to exit PSM and handle connection establishment.
EMM will continue with normal operation after connection is established. PSM is
also deactivated when the SIM card is removed or the device is shut down.
6.2.2. RRC design
PSM activation/deactivation
NAS can indicate PSM start to ERRC during an attachment or TAU procedure. Since
eNB will release the RRC connection or NAS will request a connection release
before entering PSM, RRC will be in IDLE mode when PSM activation indication
message arrives. When ERRC receives PSM_ACTIVE_IND message from NAS,
ERRC shall keep all its timers running but it will not perform any idle mode
activities (e.g. PLMN selection or cell selection and reselection) [14]. During PSM,
UE will not monitor paging channel or perform cell measurements for the serving- or
neighboring cells. RRC shall not remove any existing AS configurations, meaning
that the same configurations can be used when PSM ends. NAS can deactivate PSM
at any time (e.g. for the transfer of mobile originated signalling or user data) and
indicate PSM end to RRC using RRC connection establish request. There is no need
for additional PSM_END message. After this, ERRC shall perform all idle mode
activities normally.
6.3. Unit testing
The completed feature can be validated with unit tests. The purpose of unit testing is
to verify that all implemented functions and modules are working as expected. The
focus of the testing should be on the functional part of the code. In addition to basic
functionalities, the unit tests should also cover more rare exception cases and most
common failure- or exception cases. As an unit test example, Figure 26 presents an
interface unit test where the NAS configures the PSM timers with values acquired
from Attach Accept and after T3324 expires, indicates PSM for AS and RRC. Only
relevant messages for PSM activation are shown. Hence, messages such as NAS
authentication requests, UE capability signalling and security mode signalling are
55
ignored. Also, initial connection activation messages between NAS and RRC was not
shown as well as the reception of information blocks (MIB and SIB1-5).
eNode B UE-NAS UE-RRC
ConnectionEstablishRequest
RRCConnectionRequest
RRCConnectionSetup
ConnectionEstablishCNF
Attach Request (Suggest T3324, T3412 values)

RRC CONNECTED
RRCConnectionSetupComplete
Attach Request Accept [T3324,T3412]

Timer set for
T3324, T3412
AttachComplete
RRCConnectionRelease
ReleaseIND
PSM_IDLE RRC IDLE
Timer start:
T3324, T3412
PSM_WAIT
T3324 expires
PSM_ACTIVATION
PSM_ACTIVE RRC PSM
PSM_ACTIVATION_CNF
Figure 26. NAS-RRC interface unit test example; PSM activation.
6.4. Test setup
The PSM feature was also tested with a real system setup by simulating real-life
network conditions using RF tester to mimic the behavior of an eNodeB. Figure 27
shows how the UE, two PCs, a multimeter and this base station simulator can be set
up. One PC was connected to the tester to configure the tester and create test cases.
Another PC was connected to the multimeter and the UE and its purpose was to
control the UE if needed and to store all measurement data locally. The multimeter
probes were placed between the UE and its battery in order to measure the battery
56
drain during the test. Anritsu Signalling Tester MD8430A [42] was selected to
support technology beyond LTE-A release 12 and especially the new UE categories.
The tester was configured with following parameters; 1.4 MHz bandwidth, support
for category 0 LTE UEs (indicated in SIB1). These parameters were chosen to match
real deployment of a low priority UE targeted for CIoT use cases. A cell indicating
support for category 0 UEs must support half duplex FDD and usage of only one RX
antenna as well as reduced MAC PDU size of 1000 bits per TTI. The following test
scenario was created and executed using software tool called Rapid Test Designer.
Data PC Control PC
RF
Multimeter UE RF tester simulating eNB
Figure 27. Test environment.
Test scenario:
1. UE attaches to network. Attach request contains T3324 and T3412
2. Tester sends Attach Accept with T3324 (10 seconds) / T3412 (2 mins)
3. RRC Connection released by NAS
4. UE enters PSM after 10 seconds as instructed by T3324
5. NAS indicates PSM for RRC and RRC enters PSM
6. Poll UE after 1 minute (no answer expected)
7. Send periodic TAU after 2min
8. NAS sends a cell selection request to RRC which enters IDLE state
9. NW deactivates T3324 in TAU Accept
10. Send data after 1 minute
6.5. Power saving evaluation
The measurement results are shown in Figure 28. As the used platform is not
optimized for low-power CIoT devices, real current drain values are not displayed
and instead the results are analyzed using percentages. Measurements show that UE
the power drain is reduced during PSM compared to normal idle mode. Higher
current spikes in idle mode are result of idle mode activities such as neighboring cell
measurements and paging channel monitoring. These idle mode activities appear as
periodic spikes in the graph. With PSM, there are only few current spikes and these
57
are due to operating system (OS) activities. The amplitude of these spikes is
significantly lower and they are less frequent.
Figure 28. PSM power drain measurements.
Figure 29. Power saving with Rel-12 PSM.

The impact on power saving can be illustrated by collecting current data and drafting
a cumulative current chart as seen in Figure 29. The red line represents normal idle
mode current accumulation and the blue is the current accumulation in PSM.
Comparing these lines reveals that even though they both are linear lines, the blue
has smaller ascending angle due to lack of current spikes in PSM. This means energy
is saved for each clock tick. Green line illustrates the saved energy and by calculating
median difference between the red and the green lines medians resulted energy
saving of roughly 40%.
58
6.6. Future work
All the measurements were performed in lab conditions. Hence the next step would
be to recreate the test within live network. As the current base stations are not yet
compatible with the feature, PSM development could continue with other
improvement activities, e.g. adding support for special scenarios such as emergency
calls during PSM. With this feature the UE is capable of dozing its layer 2 and layer
3 to sleep. Battery consumption is reduced significantly as the RF parts can be
turned off between the transmissions. In addition, compared to full registration
signalling, the only necessary signaling during reconnection is TAU for a UE with
mobility.
Future work can also include enabling power saving mode for physical layer.
The current implementation does not optimize power consumption on physical layer.
Simply powering off the whole UE is out of the question as the UE would need to do
full connection setup as it would lose existing cell measurement data and AS
configurations. A promising design option would be to create a mechanism to take a
snapshot of existing cell configurations and store them on non-volatile memory. This
way the data can be retrieved even after full power off and wake up from PSM could
continue with a simple reconnection to the cell instead of full connection setup
procedure. In-depth study is needed to map how the stored configurations can be
routed back to the NAS-AS and applied after start up. As the power on procedure
consumes more energy and takes more time, it is important to study what is the
threshold value for T3412 on which the full power off is actually more efficient.
Durability and reliability of the memory components must also be considered as
corrupted data can paralyze the whole system.
59
7. CONCLUSIONS
At this point one can only theorize what the 5G network will look like in 2020. The
standardization work is already ongoing and some development directions and
candidate solutions have been suggested. LTE-A Pro standardization work will
continue in parallel with the new RAT standardization work and fulfill some of
requirements set for 5G. This thesis listed these requirements and analyzed their
impacts on the UE side by analyzing 3GPP specifications, studies and change
requests considering releases 12 and 13. The specification process of the release 13
items is still ongoing and had an impact on this thesis as the existing information was
not yet complete. Most of the presented features will have various impacts on the
protocol specification. An example feature design and implementation of release 12
power saving mode in chapter 6 shows that with these new features it is possible to
enhance current protocols. The overall test results clearly showed the power
efficiency improvement with the PSM turned on. Minimizing UE activities during
PSM reduced the total power drain almost by half.
The PSM feature was proof of concept implemented on a real LTE device and
the measurements performed in this work will provide reference data for future use.
The feature was tested in collaboration with a test vendor and it will be part of a real
future product based on this prototype product. Collecting power measurement data
was valuable for the target company as good power efficiency results could give a
leading edge and differentiate the companys product from otherwise similar product
competitors. Further development of the feature will require more study on
possibilities to turn physical layer parts off during PSM.
60
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64
9. APPENDICES
Appendix 1. TDD-FDD CA operation band combinations
Table 6. New TDD-FDD inter-band CA band combinations for two bands in Rel-13
E-UTRA E- Uplink (UL) operating band Downlink (DL) operating band Duplex
CA Band UTRA BS receive / UE transmit BS transmit / UE receive Mode
Band FUL_low FUL_high FDL_low FDL_high
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz FDD
CA_1-40
40 2300 MHz 2400 MHz 2300 MHz 2400 MHz TDD
CA_1-46
CA_2-46
CA_3-38
CA_3-40
CA_3-41
CA_3-46
CA_4-46
CA_5-38
CA_5-40
CA_7-40
CA_7-42
CA_7-46
CA_8-41
CA_20-38
CA_20-40
CA_20-42
CA_20- 20 832 MHz 862 MHz 791 MHz 821 MHz FDD
42-42 42 3400 MHz 3600 MHz 3400 MHz 3600 MHz TDD
21 1447.9 1462.9 1495.9 1510.9 MHz
FDD
CA_21-42 MHz MHz MHz
CA_28-40
CA_28-41
CA_28-42
65
Table 7 New TDD-FDD inter-band CA band combinations for three bands in Rel-13
E- E- Uplink (UL) operating band Downlink (DL) operating band Duplex
UTRA UTRA BS receive / UE transmit BS transmit / UE receive Mode
CA Band FUL_low FUL_high FDL_low FDL_high
Band
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
CA_1- FDD
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
3-40
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
CA_1- FDD
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
3-42
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
CA_1- FDD
5 824 MHz 849 MHz 869 MHz 894 MHz
5-40
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
CA_1- FDD
8 880 MHz 915 MHz 925 MHz 960 MHz
8-40
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
CA_1- FDD
19 830 MHz 845 MHz 875 MHz 890 MHz
19-42
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
CA_1- 21 1447.9 1462.9 MHz 1495.9 1510.9 MHz FDD

21-42 MHz MHz
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
CA_3- FDD
5 824 MHz 849 MHz 869 MHz 894 MHz
5-40
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
CA_3- FDD
8 880 MHz 915 MHz 925 MHz 960 MHz
8-40
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
CA_3- FDD
19 830 MHz 845 MHz 875 MHz 890 MHz
19-42
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
CA_3- FDD
7 N/A 2620 MHz 2690 MHz
7-38
38 N/A 2570 MHz 2620 MHz TDD
3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz
CA_3- FDD
28 703 MHz 748 MHz 758 MHz 803 MHz
28-40
CA_3-
41 2496 MHz 2690 MHz 2496 MHz 2690 MHz
41-42 TDD
42 3400 MHz 3600 MHz 3400 MHz 3600 MHz
7 N/A 2620 MHz 2690 MHz FDD
CA_7-
20 832 MHz 862 MHz 791 MHz 821 MHz
20-38
38 N/A 2570 MHz 2620 MHz TDD
CA_19- 21 1447.9 1495.9
1462.9 MHz 1510.9 MHz
21-42 MHz MHz TDD
42 3400 MHz 3600 MHz 3400 MHz 3600 MHz
66
Table 8 New TDD-FDD inter-band CA band combinations for four bands in Rel-13
E- E- Uplink (UL) operating band Downlink (DL) operating band Duplex
UTRA UTR BS receive / UE transmit BS transmit / UE receive Mode
CA A FUL_low FUL_high FDL_low FDL_high
Band Band
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
1-3-5- 3 1710 MHz 1785 MHz 1805 MHz 1880 MHz FDD
40 5 824 MHz 849 MHz 869 MHz 894 MHz
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
40 8 880 MHz 915 MHz 925 MHz 960 MHz
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
42 19 830 MHz 845 MHz 875 MHz 890 MHz
1 1920 MHz 1980 MHz 2110 MHz 2170 MHz
1-19- 19 830 MHz 845 MHz 875 MHz 890 MHz FDD
21-42 21 1447.9 MHz 1462.9 MHz 1495.9 MHz 1510.9 MHz

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DEGREE PROGRAMME IN COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING

LTE EVOLUTION TOWARDS 5G

Keywords: 3GPP Release 12, power saving mode, unit testing

Avainsanat: 3GPP Release 12, virranssttila, yksikktestaus

Oulu, Finland March 29, 2016

2.1. 3GPP Organization

2.2. Specification process

The Third-Generation Partnership Project produces standards that specify the

TSG GERAN TSG RAN TSG SA TSG CT

WG1 WG1 WG1 WG1

WG2 WG2 WG2 WG2

WG3 WG3 WG3 WG3

WG4 WG4 WG4

Figure 1. 3GPP Organization.

2.2.1. Specification numbering

For example, a specification 36.833.6.42 v.13.0.0 would be stored to a file named

2.2.2. Change control

A Change Request (CR) defines proposed changes to the specification in detail. A

specification applies to the Release. The second number of version number,

3. EVOLUTIONARY OVERVIEW OF LTE

After deployment of 3G, the rapid evolution of technology used in

Figure 2. Timeline of 3GPP specification releases.

3.1.1. 3GPP Release 8 Freeze Date 2008

3.1.2. 3GPP Release 9 Freeze Date 2010

Release 9 can be seen as evolution from LTE to LTE-Advanced. Release 9

3.1.3. 3GPP Release 10 Freeze Date 2011

3.1.4. 3GPP Release 11 Freeze Date 2012

Release 11 added enhancements to Carrier Aggregation, MIMO, relay nodes, Wi-Fi

3.1.5. 3GPP Release 12 Freeze Date 2015

Intra-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation

Enhancing interworking between LTE and WiFi

256 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) for DL

Machine-Type Communication (MTC) features to allow devices to benefit from

3.1.5.1. Release 12 UE Capabilities

As part of Release 12 finalization, several additional UE categories were introduced,

Table 2. Supported DL/UL Category combinations.

3.1.6. 3GPP Release 13 - Freeze date 2016

Further enhancing MTC features and indoor positioning

Small cell dual-connectivity and interworking with Wi-Fi

Licensed Assisted Access (LAA) at 5GHz

Beamforming and massive MIMO

Single cell-point-to-multipoint (SC-PTM)

3.2. Summary and relevance for future work

Figure 3 shows a summary of main features in releases from 8 to 12. Standardization

Figure 3. Main features of 3GPP releases 8-12 in 5G scope.

Figure 4. LTE-Advanced E-UTRAN architecture.

PDCP PDCP SCTP SCTP

PHY PHY PHY PHY

4.1. Layer 3 Radio Resource Control (RRC)

4.2. Layer 2 Medium Access Control (MAC)

The MAC sub-layer is responsible for handling uplink/downlink scheduling, data

Figure 6. Example of MAC PDU.

4.3. Layer 1 Physical Layer

Table 3. Physical layer transport channels

5. 5G REQUIREMENTS AND LTE EVOLUTION

Figure 7. 5G Applications and requirements.

Figure 8. ITU top level requirements for 5G.

5.1. Timeline for 5G

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

IMT Feasibility Technical performance and IMT-2020

Figure 9. ITU and 3GPP timelines for 5G standardization.

5.2. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)

5.2.1. Higher cell density (small cells)