Looks like I re-visit CoMP every Q1 of the year. Couple of years back, I had posted a primer on CoMP here and last year I had a slide on schemes and deployments here. With Release-11 out of the door and Release-12 getting in full swing in the standards, its time to re-visit this topic in a bit more detail. There are couple of presentations, one completely devoted to this topic and one that has a section on it. Both of them can be downloaded from slideshare.
Showing posts with label Release 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Release 11. Show all posts
Monday, 11 February 2013
Tuesday, 5 February 2013
Interference avoidance for in-device coexistence (IDC)
I posted on this topic couple of years back, so here is a quick update. There is also an article in IEEE Comsoc magazine if you can get hold of it.
Here is the updated 3GPP document
Here is the updated 3GPP document
Study on signalling and procedure for interference avoidance for in-device coexistence from Zahid Ghadialy
Labels:
IDC,
Interference Avoidance,
Release 11
Thursday, 17 January 2013
Rel-11/12 3GPP Security Update
Here is the latest Security Update from 3GPP, presented in the 8th ETSI Security Workshop Jan 16-17 2013.
All presentations are available from here to download.
Related blog posts:
By the way, I will also be present in the Network Security conference in London in May 2013
All presentations are available from here to download.
Related blog posts:
- Quick update on 3GPP Release-12 progress
- The four C's of Release-12 enhancements
- Quick update on LTE Release 11 Work and Study Items
- 3GPP LTE Security Aspects
- Evolution of 3GPP Security
- 2 Presentations on Mobile technology Security
By the way, I will also be present in the Network Security conference in London in May 2013
Labels:
LTE,
LTE-Advanced,
Release 11,
Release 12,
Security,
Technical Details
Monday, 5 November 2012
3GPP Standards Self Organizing Networks
Labels:
3GPP,
Conferences and Events,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Release 12,
Release 8,
Release 9,
SON
Tuesday, 16 October 2012
Extended Access Barring (EAB) in Release 11 to avoid MTC overload
M2M is going to be big. With the promise of 50 Billion devices by 2020, the networks are already worried about the overloading due to signalling by millions of devices occurring at any given time. To counter this, they have been working on avoiding overloading of the network for quite some time as blogged about here.
The feature to avoid this overload is known as Extended Access Barring (EAB). For E-UTRAN, in Rel-10, a partial solution was implemented and a much better solution has been implemented in Rel-11. For GERAN a solution was implemented in Rel-10. The following presentation gives a high level overview of EAB for E-UTRAN and GERAN.
In Rel-11, a new System Information Block (SIB 14) has been added that is used specifically for EAB. Whereas in Rel-10, the UE would still send the RRCConnectionRequest, in Rel-11, the UE does not even need to do that, thereby congesting the Random Access messages.
The following is from RRC 36.331 (2012-09)
***
***
Here is my attempt to explain the difference in overload control mechanism in Rel-8, Rel-10 and Rel-11. Please note that not actual message names are used.
As usual, happy to receive feedback, comments, suggestions, etc.
The feature to avoid this overload is known as Extended Access Barring (EAB). For E-UTRAN, in Rel-10, a partial solution was implemented and a much better solution has been implemented in Rel-11. For GERAN a solution was implemented in Rel-10. The following presentation gives a high level overview of EAB for E-UTRAN and GERAN.
In Rel-11, a new System Information Block (SIB 14) has been added that is used specifically for EAB. Whereas in Rel-10, the UE would still send the RRCConnectionRequest, in Rel-11, the UE does not even need to do that, thereby congesting the Random Access messages.
The following is from RRC 36.331 (2012-09)
***
– SystemInformationBlockType14
The IE SystemInformationBlockType14 contains the EAB parameters.
SystemInformationBlockType14 information element
-- ASN1START
SystemInformationBlockType14-r11
::= SEQUENCE {
eab-Param-r11 CHOICE {
eab-Common-r11 EAB-Config-r11,
eab-PerPLMN-List-r11 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..6)) OF
EAB-ConfigPLMN-r11
} OPTIONAL, -- Need OR
lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET
STRING OPTIONAL, -- Need OP
...
}
EAB-ConfigPLMN-r11 ::= SEQUENCE {
eab-Config-r11 EAB-Config-r11 OPTIONAL -- Need OR
}
EAB-Config-r11 ::= SEQUENCE {
eab-Category-r11 ENUMERATED
{a, b, c, spare},
eab-BarringBitmap-r11 BIT
STRING (SIZE (10))
}
-- ASN1STOP
SystemInformationBlockType14 field descriptions
|
eab-BarringBitmap
Extended access class barring for AC
0-9. The first/ leftmost bit is for AC 0, the second bit is for AC
1, and so on.
|
eab-Category
Indicates the category of UEs for which EAB applies. Value a
corresponds to all UEs, value b corresponds to the UEs that are neither in their HPLMN nor in a
PLMN that is equivalent to it, and value c
corresponds to the UEs that are neither in the PLMN listed as
most preferred PLMN of the country where the UEs are roaming in the
operator-defined PLMN selector list on the USIM, nor in their HPLMN nor in a
PLMN that is equivalent to their HPLMN, see TS 22.011 [10].
|
eab-Common
The EAB parameters applicable for
all PLMN(s).
|
eab-PerPLMN-List
The EAB parameters per PLMN, listed in the same
order as the PLMN(s) occur in plmn-IdentityList
in SystemInformationBlockType1.
|
Here is my attempt to explain the difference in overload control mechanism in Rel-8, Rel-10 and Rel-11. Please note that not actual message names are used.
As usual, happy to receive feedback, comments, suggestions, etc.
Labels:
GSM,
LTE,
LTE-Advanced,
M2M,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Signalling,
Technical Details
Tuesday, 11 September 2012
New Carrier-Aggregation Proposed Bands
Carrier Aggregation (CA) the promised feature of LTE-A that will make it compatible to IMT-A is not fully exploited in Rel-10. There are only 2 bands supported for CA in Rel-10 and the same for Rel-11. The following are the bands for Rel-10
And the following for Rel-11
Unfortunately these are not enough for all the operators launching LTE/LTE-A. As a result there is currently a study on lots of other bands ongoing within 3GPP. Here is my understanding of the bands that would be needed and the region where they would be needed. Interested in knowing if there are other operators/regions where other bands need to be included.

Labels:
Carrier Aggregation,
LTE-Advanced,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Spectrum
Thursday, 16 August 2012
3GPP SA1 Release 11 Standardisation Trends
An Interesting article from the NTT Docomo technical journal:
Related posts:
Related posts:
- Non-Voice Emergency Services (NOVES)
- Network Improvements for Machine Type Communications (NIMTC)
- Evolution of Machine Type Communications (MTC)
- 3GPP Release-12 and beyond
Labels:
Emergency,
M2M,
NTT DoCoMo,
Release 11,
Release 12,
White Papers and Reports
Saturday, 30 June 2012
HSPA+ Evolution: Standards and Data Rates
Labels:
HSPA+,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Release 7,
Release 8,
Release 9,
White Papers and Reports
Wednesday, 25 April 2012
RAN Release 11 Priorities
Labels:
HSPA+,
LTE,
LTE-Advanced,
Release 11
Monday, 23 April 2012
3GPP System Building on Releases
Labels:
3GPP,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Release 6,
Release 7,
Release 8,
Release 9
Saturday, 14 April 2012
Evolution of 3GPP Security
Labels:
3GPP,
Apps Security,
IMS,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Release 6,
Release 7,
Release 8,
Release 9,
Security
Sunday, 26 February 2012
RAN priorities during beyond Release 11 - Video from 3GPP
RAN priorities during beyond Release 11 from 3GPPlive on Vimeo.
An interview with Takehiro Nakamura, 3GPP RAN Chairman, filmed December 2011.
-RAN priorities during early Release 11 work
-Workshop on Rel-12 and beyond, to Identify key requirements
-How does LTE-Advanced change things ?
Related links:
- Quick preview of 3GPP Release-11 Features and Study items
- Quick update on LTE Release 11 Work and Study Items - Nomor research
- Further Enhancements for LTE-Advanced - NTT Docomo
Friday, 16 December 2011
Release 12 study item on Continuity of Data Sessions to Local Networks (CSN)
LIPA was defined as part of Release-10 that I have already blogged about. Imagine the situation where a user started accessing local network while camped on the Home eNode B (aka Femtocell) but then moved to the macro network but still wants to continue using the local network. Release 12 defines this feature and is called Continuity of Data Sessions to Local Networks (CSN). This study item was originally part of Release 11 but has now been moved to Rel-12.
From SP-100885:
From SP-100885:
Justification
Basic functionality for Local IP Access (LIPA) has been specified in Rel-10.
LIPA signifies the capability of a UE to obtain access to a local residential/enterprise IP network (subsequently called a local network) that is connected to one or more H(e)NBs.
The current study item investigates extending LIPA functionality to allow access to the local network when a UE is under coverage of the macro network and provide related mobility support.
LIPA allows a UE to work with devices in the local network – e.g. printers, video cameras, or a local web-server. If the local network offers services that enable exchange of digital content (e.g. UPnP) LIPA allows the UE to discover supporting devices and to be discovered.
Examples for services that become available by LIPA are:
· The pictures stored in a UE’s digital camera may be uploaded to a local networked storage device or printed out at a local printer.
· A portable audio player in the UE may fetch new content from a media centre available on the local network.
· A UE may receive video streams from local surveillance cameras in the home.
· A local web-server in a company’s intranet may be accessed by the UE.
· Support of VPN.
LIPA does not require the local network to be connected to the Internet but achieves IP connectivity with the UE through one or more H(e)NBs of the mobile operator.
In Release 10 3GPP has only specified the support of LIPA when the UE accesses the local network via H(e)NB.
On the other hand an operator may, e.g. as a chargeable user service, wish to provide access to the local network also to a UE that is under coverage of the macro network. Access to the local network when a UE is under coverage of the macro network should be enabled in Rel-11.
In Rel-10 it had been required for a UE to be able to maintain IP connectivity to the local network when moving between H(e)NBs within the same local network.
However, access to the local network may be lost as a UE moves out of H(e)NB coverage into the macro network, even if other services (e.g. telephony, data services, SIPTO) survive a handover to the macro network and are continued. This may result in an unsatisfactory user experience.
The current study item will allow continuation of data sessions to the local network when the UE moves between H(e)NB and the macro network.
Therefore, in Rel-11, the 3GPP system requires additional functionality to allow
· A UE to access the local network from the macro network
· A UE to maintain continuity of data sessions to the local network when moving between a H(e)NB and the macro network
Objective: to propose requirements and study feasibility for the following scenarios:
Provide a capability to the mobile operator to allow or restrict
Access to an enterprise/residential IP network when a UE is under coverage of the macro network, assuming that the IP address of the local IP network (e.g. residential/enterprise gateway) is available to the UE.
Continuity of data session(s) to an enterprise/residential IP network when a UE moves between a H(e)NB in an enterprise/residential environment and the macro network.
The support of Continuity of Data Sessions to Local Networks should be an operator option that may or may not be provided by individual PLMNs.
Service Aspects
The user should be able to decline access to the local network from the macro network. The user should also be able to decline continuity of data sessions to local networks when moving between H(e)NB and the macro network (e.g. in the case when data sessions to local networks is charged differently if accessed from macro coverage or via the H(e)NB).
A difference in QoS may be noticeable by the user when the local network is accessed from the macro network or via the H(e)NB.
Labels:
CSN,
Data Traffic Management,
Femtocells,
LIPA,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Release 12
Monday, 28 November 2011
Quick update on LTE Release 11 Work and Study Items
Nice work by Nomor. Available to download from here.
Labels:
LTE,
Release 11,
Technical Details,
White Papers and Reports
Monday, 21 November 2011
HSDPA multiflow data transmission
From RP-111375:
HSPA based mobile internet offerings are becoming very popular and data usage is increasing rapidly. As a result, HSPA has begun to be deployed on more than one transmit antenna and/or on more than one carrier. As an example, the single cell downlink MIMO (MIMO-Physical layer) feature was introduced in Release 7. This feature allowed a NodeB to transmit two transport blocks to a single UE from the same cell on a pair of transmit antennas thus improving data rates at high geometries and providing a beamforming advantage to the UE in low geometry conditions. Subsequently, in Release-8 and Release-9, the dual cell HSDPA (DC-HSDPA) and dual band DC-HSDPA features were introduced. Both these features allow the NodeB to serve one or more users by simultaneous operation of HSDPA on two different carrier frequencies in two geographically overlapping cells, thus improving the user experience across the entire cell coverage area.
When a UE falls into the softer or soft handover coverage region of two cells on the same carrier frequency, the link from the serving HS-DSCH cell is capacity or coverage limited and the non-serving cell in its active set has available resources, it would be beneficial to schedule packets to this UE also from the non-serving cell and thereby improve this particular user’s experience.
From 4G Americas whitepaper:
One family of such schemes parses the incoming data for the user into multiple (restricted to two cells in the study) data streams or flows, each of which is transmitted from a different cell [8] Concurrent transmission of data from the two cells may either be permitted or the UE may be restricted to receiving data from only one cell during a given TTI. The former type of scheme is designated an aggregation scheme while the latter is termed a switching scheme. The aggregation scheme can be seen as subsuming the switching scheme at the network when scheduling to the user is restricted to the cell with better channel quality.
Figure 14 illustrates the basic multi-flow concept with both cells operating on the same carrier frequency F1.
3GPP studied different multipoint transmission options for HSDPA and documented the findings and performance gains in TR25.872 providing feasibility and performance justification for the specification work.
For more details also see:
http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/FeatureOrStudyItemFile-530034.htm
See also old blog post on Multipoint HSDPA/HSPA here.
Labels:
5G Americas,
HSDPA,
HSPA,
HSPA+,
Release 11
Wednesday, 26 October 2011
New 4G Americas whitepaper on HSPA evolution in 3GPP standards

The white paper explains that as 3GPP specifications evolve, their advanced features help to further the capabilities of today’s modern mobile broadband networks. With each release there have been improvements such as better cell edge performance, increased system efficiencies, higher peak data rates and an overall improved end-user experience. 3GPP feature evolution from Rel-7 to Rel-10 has pushed possible HSPA peak data rates from 14 Mbps to 168 Mbps. Continued enhancements in 3GPP Rel-11 will again double this capability to a possible peak data rate of 336 Mbps:
- Rel-7: 64QAM or 2X2 MIMO => 21 or 28 Mbps
- Rel-8: DC + 64QAM or 2X2 MIMO + 64QAM => 42 Mbps
- Rel-9: DC + 2X2 MIMO + 64QAM => 84 Mbps
- Rel-10: 4C + 2X2 MIMO + 64QAM => 168 Mbps
- Rel-11: (8C or 4X4 MIMO) + 64QAM => 336 Mbps
“If operators are able to gain new additional harmonized spectrum from governments, they will no doubt deploy LTE, However, it is clear that HSPA+ technology is still exceptionally strong and will continue to provide operators with the capability to meet the exploding data usage demands of their customers in existing spectrum holdings,” Pearson said.
The paper is embedded as follows:
The Evolution of HSPA
View more documents from All About 4G
This paper and other similar papers are available to download from the 3G4G website here.
Labels:
5G Americas,
HSPA+,
Release 10,
Release 11,
Release 7,
Release 8,
Release 9,
Rollouts,
Stats,
Technical Details,
White Papers and Reports
Wednesday, 14 September 2011
Inter-technology Carrier Aggregation
Another one from the 4G Americas whitepaper of Mobile Broadband explosion:

Carrier aggregation will play an important role in providing operators maximum flexibility for using all of their available spectrum. By combining spectrum blocks, LTE-Advanced will be able to deliver much higher throughputs than otherwise possible. Asymmetric aggregation (i.e., different amounts of spectrum used on the downlink versus the uplink) provides further flexibility and addresses the fact that currently there is greater demand on downlink traffic than uplink traffic. Specific types of aggregation include:
- Intra-band on adjacent channels.
- Intra-band on non-adjacent channels.
- Inter-band (e.g., 700 MHz, 1.9 GHz).
- Inter-technology (e.g., LTE on one channel, HSPA+ on another). This is currently a study item for Release 11. While theoretically promising, a considerable number of technical issues will have to be addressed.
Labels:
Carrier Aggregation,
HSPA,
LTE,
Release 11
Tuesday, 13 September 2011
CELL_FACH to LTE Mobility

It is our understanding that some of the Cell_FACH enhancement proposals for Release 11 are targeted to make it more attractive to keep UEs longer in the Cell_FACH state than is expected with pre-Rel-11 devices. This expectation that the UEs may stay longer in the Cell_FACH state is in turn motivating the mobility from Cell_FACH state to LTE proposal.
For instance, as the network can already today release the Cell_FACH UE’s RRC Connection with redirection, network may want to redirect UE to the correct RAT and frequency based on the UE measurement. Specifically if the network strategy is to keep the UEs long time in Cell_FACH state, it would make sense to provide the network the tools to manage the UEs’ mobility in that state. In addition, the needs for mobility to LTE are somewhat different from mobility to e.g. GERAN, as the former would be typically priority based while the latter would happen for coverage reasons. Thus, if introduced, the network controlled mobility from UMTS Cell_FACH would be specifically interesting for the UMTS to LTE case.
Will update once I have more info.
Labels:
LTE,
Release 11,
Signalling,
UMTS
Sunday, 4 September 2011
HSPA+ Advanced - Enhancements beyond R10
Looks like Qualcomm is becoming my favourite company as the last few blog posts have been based on their documents and presentations. This one is a continuation of the last post on Multipoint HSPA.
Related post: HSPA evolution – beyond 3GPP Release 10 - Ericsson
HSPA+ Advanced - Enhancements beyond R10
View more presentations from All About 4G
Related post: HSPA evolution – beyond 3GPP Release 10 - Ericsson
Labels:
HSPA+,
Qualcomm,
Release 10,
Release 11
Friday, 2 September 2011
Multipoint HSDPA / HSPA
The following is from 3GPP TR 25.872 - Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; HSDPA Multipoint Transmission:
HSPA based mobile internet offerings are becoming very popular and data usage is increasing rapidly. Consequently, HSPA has begun to be deployed on more than one transmit antenna or more than one carrier. As an example, the single cell downlink MIMO (MIMO-Physical layer) feature was introduced in Release 7. This feature allowed a NodeB to transmit two transport blocks to a single UE from the same cell on a pair of transmit antennas thus improving data rates at high geometries and providing a beamforming advantage to the UE in low geometry conditions. Subsequently, in Release-8 and Release-9, the dual cell HSDPA (DC-HSDPA) and dual band DC-HSDPA features were introduced. Both these features allow the NodeB to serve one or more users by simultaneous operation of HSDPA on two different carrier frequencies in two geographically overlapping cells, thus improving the user experience across the entire cell coverage area. In Release 10 these concepts were extended so that simultaneous transmissions to a single UE could occur from four cells (4C-HSDPA).
When a UE falls into the softer or soft handover coverage region of two cells on the same carrier frequency, it would be beneficial for the non-serving cell to be able to schedule packets to this UE and thereby improving this particular user’s experience, especially when the non-serving cell is partially loaded. MultiPoint HSDPA allows two cells to transmit packets to the same UE, providing improved user experience and system load balancing. MultiPoint HSDPA can operate on one or two frequencies.

Click to enlarge
There is also an interesting Qualcomm Whitepaper on related topic that is available to view and download here. The following is from that whitepaper:
The simplest form of Multipoint HSPA, Single Frequency Dual Cell HSPA (SFDC-HSPA), can be seen as an extension to the existing DC-HSPA feature. While DC-HSPA allows scheduling of two independent transport blocks to the mobile device (UE) from one sector on two frequency carriers, SFDC-HSPA allows scheduling of two independent transport blocks to the UE from two different sectors on the same carrier. In other words, it allows for a primary and a secondary serving cell to simultaneously send different data to the UE. Therefore, the major difference between SFDC-HSPA and DC-HSPA operation is that the secondary transport block is scheduled to the UE from a different sector on the same frequency as the primary transport block. The UE also needs to have receive diversity (type 3i) to suppress interference from the other cell as it will receive data on the same frequecny from multiple serving cells.Figure 1 llustrates the high-level concept of SFDC-HSPA.
In the case where the two sectors involved in Multipoint HSPA transmission belong to the same NodeB (Intra-NodeB mode), as illustrated in Figure 2, there is only one transmission queue maintained at the NodeB and the RNC. The queue management and RLC layer operation is essentially the same as for DC-HSPA.
In the case where the two sectors belong to different NodeBs (Inter-NodeB mode), as illustrated in Figure 2, there is a separate transmission queue at each NodeB. RLC layer enhancements are needed at the RNC along with enhanced flow control on the Iub interface between RNC and NodeB in order to support Multipoint HSPA operation across NodeBs. These enhancements are discussed in more detail in Section 4. In both modes, combined feedback information (CQI and HARQ-ACK/ NAK) needs to be sent on the uplink for both data streams received from the serving cells. On the uplink, the UE sends CQIs seen on all sectors using the legacy channel structure, with timing aligned to the primary serving cell.
When two carriers are available in the network, there is an additional degree of freedom in the frequency domain. Dual Frequency Dual Cell HSPA (DFDC-HSPA) allows exploiting both frequency and spatial domains by scheduling two independent transport blocks to the UE from two different sectors on two different frequency carriers. For a DC-HSPA capable UE, this is equivalent to having independent serving cells on the two frequency carriers. In Figure 3, UE1 is in DC-HSPA mode, whereas UE2 is in DFDC-HSPA mode.
Dual Frequency Four-Cell HSPA (DF4C-HSPA) can be seen as a natural extension of DFDC-HSPA, suitable for networks with UEs having four receiver chains. DF4C-HSPA allows use of the four receiver chains by scheduling four independent transport blocks to the UE from two different sectors on two different frequency carriers. DF4C-HSPA is illustrated in Figure 4.
Like SFDC-HSPA; DFDC-HSPA and DF4C-HSPA can also be intra-NodeB or inter-NodeB, resulting in an impact on transmission queue management, Iub flow control and the RLC layer.
Advantages of Multipoint transmission:
* Cell Edge Performance Improvement
* Load balancing across sectors and frequency carriers
* Leveraging RRU and distributed NodeB technology
Multipoint HSPA improves the performance of cell edge users and helps balance the load disparity across neighboring cells. It leverages advanced receiver technology already available in mobile devices compatible with Release 8 and beyond to achieve this. The system impact of Multipoint HSPA on the network side is primarily limited to software upgrades affecting the upper layers (RLC and RRC).
Labels:
HSDPA,
HSPA,
HSPA+,
Qualcomm,
Release 11,
Technical Details,
White Papers and Reports
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