LTE latest news and status

In the past year or so there has been lot of talks about the next generation wireless technology and the significance toward adopting these technologies. One of such technology which is very much a popular discussion these days is LTE. Over the last one year LTE air interface and its architecture has become clearer. Significant developments have been made in finalising the LTE architecture and OFDMA and SC-FDMA as radio access technology. LTE as a technology has a come long way in terms of finalising the air interface and other standards. 3GPP1 and 3GPP2 is working hard to get the latest specification out so that telecomms companies start drafting their plans in order to implement the technology.

Giants like Nokia, NTT DoCOMO, Ericsson, Vodafone and others have already started their research and development on LTE thus giving enough indication that LTE is going to be the technology adopted by most as a next generation wireless technology.

Long-term evolution (LTE) promises to make everything from mobile-video sharing to music downloads speedier, but it may not show a visible boost in sales for the network equipment industry any time soon, as the first networks are not expected for two years and many operators will wait longer until the technology matures.

Verizon Wireless, the number-two US mobile service, has decided to build out an LTE network, while China Mobile, the world's biggest mobile provider, said earlier this year it would test LTE.
Alcatel-Lucent and Japan's NEC signed a joint-venture deal to pool their development and marketing of the technology. Even Qualcomm has promised chips for LTE, a competitor to its own Ultra Mobile Broadband technology.

Ericsson recently unveiled a glimpse of what the future of mobile Internet will bring, announcing its new M700 mobile platform, capable of LTE (Long Term Evolution) data transfer speeds. Ericsson says this is "the world's first commercially available LTE-capable platform", and we have no choice than to believe it, especially since the Swedish company sustains the platform will bring data transfer speeds of up to 50Mbps (when uploading) and up to 100Mbps (when downloading). Sure, these speeds are not comparable with the ones achieved by NTT DoCoMo's Super 3G network (250Mbps), but they are obviously better than what the current 3G networks can offer. Moreover, these new speeds can surpass, in some cases, the data rates achieved by fixed lines, allowing the development of real-time mobile services, including video streaming and on-line gaming.

Nokia Siemens has already achieved speeds up to 173 Mbps with LTE in a trial of the LTE wireless data network. The field trial was conducted in an urban environment and was meant to test the performance of LTE in "real" environments. This is in contrast to a demonstration of the technology a year ago that achieved speeds up to 160 Mbps.

LTE technology is competing with WiMAX to deliver high speed mobile networks, and both have high profile supporters worldwide. The LTE project was designed to evolve the current 3G technology used today, and Erissson’s prototype together with the Nokia Siemens test shows clearly which camp the companies are in.

There are others who like Ericsson putting a lot of efforts in LTE and thus making it clearer that they prefer LTE as compared to WiMax.

During its first quarter conference call with investors, Alltel announced that it was committed to evolving its network to LTE over the next five years. The move makes Alltel the second biggest CDMA carrier in the U.S., after Verizon Wireless, to commit to the LTE standard, even though LTE was originally on the GSM evolution path. "We do currently plan to move towards LTE in the three-to-five year timeframe vs. WiMAX, but we're still early in that," President and CEO Scott Ford said during the call.

Huawei Technologies ("Huawei"), a leader in providing next generation telecommunications network solutions for operators around the world, has already announced that it has joined the Long Term Evolution / System Architecture Evolution (LTE / SAE) Trial Initiative ( LSTI ) and will hold the infrastructure vendor seat of the 2008 LTE/SAE Trial Initiative Steering Board.
The LTE/SAE Trial Initiative brings together major telecom vendors and operators, committed to driving the development of next-generation, high-performance, mobile broadband networks and 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) LTE and SAE technologies. Huawei's active in LSTI reflects commitment to contributing significantly to the development of HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE technologies, as a leading global telecommunication solutions supplier.

Looking at the trends and developments in LTE, vendors has already started lashing out on
LTE licensing.

Rohde and Schwarz is also not lagging behind in it’s efforts to make sure that its system simulators are available for the vendors when they are ready to test their first LTE device. By including the latest revisions of the 3GPP LTE standard in the firmware for its signal generators, Rohde and Schwarz is already offering highly flexible testing for LTE equipment. Rohde and Schwarz has added channel coding and MIMO precoding for up to four transmit antennas to its industry-leading signal generators for LTE (uplink and downlink) Whether mobile equipment manufacturers are looking for an all-in-one solution for 2x2 MIMO signals and real-time fading or simply need standard-compliant RF or baseband signals, Rohde and Schwarz offers the answer.

MBMS - R.I.P.

Even though slow progress on MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) has been going on for some time, just found out through sources that the two biggest promoters of this technology have put it on backburner. The reason they cite is the lack of interest from operators. They do not have a burning need for Mobile TV technologies as they are still able to cope with the demand by streaming point to point connections.

Somebody told me on condition of anonymity that the big operators in UK are at a breaking point but the things are still surviving because in the peak hours (9am to 5pm) there is not much demand for Mobile TV and the voice occupies the complete bandwidth. Whereas after 7pm and before 7am there is an even distribution of data and voice services. In the buffer zone (7am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm) data is being given low priority and many data calls dont work. This would cause decent revenue loss except that most of the people on data plans have a flat rate package so it does not bother the operators.

This is despite the announcement last month about Huawei and Qualcomm successfully completing their IOT with Telecom Italia. Orange and T-Mobile has been trialling MBMS based on TDtv technology but lets accept the fact that it is TDD-MBMS rather than the FDD-MBMS which other manufacturers like Qualcomm, Nokia and Ericsson are (were) actively working on.

I read this blog some days back and it emphasised what I have been saying for years now that there will always be multiple technologies floating around. MBMS could be a starting point for Mobile TV but as the demand grows it will have to be supplimented by other specialised technologies like DVB-H, DMB-T, MediaFLO, etc, etc.

For the time being, rest in peace MBMS.

Femto femto everywhere

Femtocell is in spotlight again for various reasons. In an earlier blog, I had expressed my doubts regarding femto cells but my opinion is changing after talking to some experts in this area.

ABI Research has predicted that this year only 100,000 cells will be sold and but by 2010 the shipment will be tens of millions of units. There are around 20 femtocell development underway.



I saw this interesting blog on Femtozone services. I am sure providing these additional services in femtozone areas like sending SMS when kids are home or they leave home can be releif for parents.

Some of the questions that remain unanswered at the moment (and I have to admit i did not search hard enough for the answers) are as follows:

• Many people have complained of the harmful effects of WiFi in their home or office will these complains increase? How much research has been done on the safety of these devices?
• Most of these will use IP backbones, I assume we need to have broadband for these, what speed of the connection is required?
• Will this have impact on the ISPs? Would they be able to cope with the increased traffic? What about so many ISPs offering cap on the data, how will it cope in that case?
• How can I get hold of femtocell? How much does it cost? Is it available online?

Finally if you want to read some papers on Femtocells, check this picochip paper on "The case for home base stations". You can also find out who is working on femtocells here and here. Picochips library of articles here. This article from computer world is good for beginners.

Mobile TV Technologies comparison

Saw this new book on Mobile TV "Handbook of Mobile Broadcasting".

Mobile TV has been discussed for long time now but its surprising to see that none of the actual broadcast technologies is being actively used. There are small pockets here and there but no proper deployment. Here is UK, Mobile TV is actually TV on demand which is streamed onto our mobiles. Is it much different in other places? I did write a blog earlier titled '2008 may finally be the year of Mobile TV'.

The book mentioned above gave an interesting comparison of the 4 main technologies which is shown above. I would have liked it to expand it slightly by including DVB-SH and S-DMB.

Finally, heard that ALU trying to do some work on DVB-SH. See this.

GPS Phones to become norm

GPS phones are sent to become common with Nokia announcing that it plans to sell 35 million GPS phones in 2008.

"We expect to ship about 35 million GPS-enabled Nokia devices in 2008, which is equal to the entire GPS device market in 2007," CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told the annual shareholders' meeting.

Nokia's $8.1 billion acquisition of U.S.-based navigation firm Navteq, which is still pending regulatory approval in the European Union, is a good deal, Kallasvuo said.

"When we look at it with the eyes we have now, when regarding pedestrian navigation, map services, digital maps, we are even more excited about the opportunities than when making the decision," Kallasvuo said.

Most phones sold this year go to customers who already have a phone, and Nokia CEO said: "Globally, we expect replacement sales to represent more than 70 percent of the industry's volume in 2008."

The Finnish cellphone maker said recently it is set to introduce many new phone models through U.S. carriers in coming months to grab a bigger share of the market there.

Kallasvuo said he sees better times ahead for Nokia in the United States, where according to the research firm Strategy Analytics its market share has collapsed from 20 percent to 7 percent over the past two years.

This compares with Nokia's own estimate of a 39 percent global market share in the first quarter.

Another report from ABI research says that 550 million GPS handsets will ship by 2012:

In the wake of personal navigation devices’ success, cellular carriers have started to offer on-board and off-board navigation solutions, as well as a range of LBS (Location Based Services) such as friend finder and local search on GPS handsets. Community and social-networking-related functionality, such as the sharing of POIs (Points of Interest) and geo-tagged pictures, is also becoming popular and is expected to boost GPS-enabled handset uptake as carriers, handsets manufacturers, and service providers look to capitalize on the LBS trend.

“While most CDMA handsets are already GPS-enabled and GPS is set to become a standard feature in GSM smartphones, GSM feature phones are next on the agenda to be equipped with GPS technology,“ says ABI Research principal analyst Dominique Bonte. “GPS chipset vendors increasingly target handsets, looking for new markets and spurred on by the recent dramatic growth of personal navigation devices.”

However, as GPS begins to penetrate lower-end phones, the cost, power consumption, and footprint of GPS chipsets will have to be further reduced. This will be made possible by single chipset technology and the emergence in 2009 of combination chips integrating GPS, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi all on one die. Major silicon vendors such as Broadcom, NXP, and Atheros are well positioned to develop such solutions following the acquisition of GPS chipset vendors Global Locate, GloNav, and u-Nav, respectively.

At the same time, the thorny issue of indoor GPS coverage has to be addressed, since handset-based LBS services are frequently used in challenging environments with reduced GPS signal strength. Network-assisted A-GPS and high-sensitivity GPS-receivers are becoming key requirements to reduce the time necessary to acquire fixes and to improve location accuracy.

ABI Research’s report, GPS-Enabled Mobile Devices, examines the market landscape and future potential for GPS-enabled mobile phones. It discusses critical business and marketing issues, as well as market opportunities and challenges for handset vendors, mobile operators, semiconductor vendors, and other industry players who address the GPS-enabled handset market.

This report forms part of two ABI Research Services: Mobile Devices and Location Aware Services, which include a variety of Research Reports, Research Briefs, Market Data, Online Databases, ABI Insights, and Analyst Inquiry Support.

Lets hope we dont see too many people with similar problems everywhere.

For more info on GPS see:

• What are GPS Mobiles - The Century times
• A-GPS FAQ - 3g4g.co.uk

Conserving power on 4G Phones

While we can see that the technology in mobile phones have advanced significantly, its still lagging on the battery front and there is no 'Duracell' solution for phones yet.

There is a cambridge (UK) based company called Nujira that is working on doubling the battery life for 4G phones. Here is an extract from Electronics weeely:

Nujira originally designed its RF power modulation technology to increase the efficiency of 650W power amplifiers in 3G mobile basestations. It is now working on a lower power version which should reduce cost and improve power efficiency in next generation 3G LTE (long term evolution) mobile phones.

According to Haynes, the company’s technology, known as HAT (high accuracy tracking), could more than double the time between charges for next generation mobile phones.

After a period when handset battery life has steadily increased with more power efficient designs, the situation could be reversed with the next generation of 3G LTE multimedia handsets.

According to Haynes, there are as many as 14 frequency bands - ten FDD frequency bands and four different TDD frequency bands - defined in 3GPP that can be used for LTE, and it is likely that more bands will be added to this list such as 700MHz in the US.

As current power amplifiers (PAs) can only efficiently cover one or two bands a large number of amplifiers will be needed in a multi-band 4G handset. “Already 3G handsets can have as many as five power amplifiers,” said Haynes.

“So a cost effective wide-band RF power amplifier is a key enabling technology for the creation of 4G handsets and our technology will make it possible to replace five or six narrow-band PAs with just one or two wide-band power amplifiers,” said Haynes.

The technology has already been proven in the basestation market where Haynes said the company has contracts with 10 basestation OEMs. For basestations Nujira has designed a high efficiency, high power DC-DC converter module.

For the handset market, which is potentially much higher volume, Haynes said the company will look at an IP (intellectual property) approach which will see its technology designed into more integrated silicon designs.
Haynes also said the company was developing a version of the power modulator for use in DVB digital broadcast transmitters.

Haynes expects to have its IP-based power modulator for handsets on the market by Mobile World Congress next February.

Top 100 Telecom Blogs

Found this link for Top 100 Telecom Industry blogs. Surprisingly this blog was at No. 60 (atleast when I saw ;)). There are other interesting blogs which may interest you. Have a look here.

All about F-DPCH

Fractional DPCH was added in Rel-6 to optimise the consumption of downlink channelization codes. When using HS-DSCH (High Speed Downlink Shared Channel), the main use for DL DPCH (also known as A-DPCH where A stands for Associated) is to carry power control commands (TPC bits) to the UE in order to adjust the uplink transmission. If all RBs (Radio Bearers) including SRBs (Signalling Radio Bearers) are mapped on to HS-DSCH then the DL codes are being wasted. SF 256 is used for A-DPCH and so every code being used by a user is seriously depleting the codes available for other UE's. To overcome this F-DPCH is used so that multiple UE's can share a single DL channelisation code. The limitation is 10 UEs in Rel-6.

For several users, the network configures each user having the same code but different frame timing and, thus, users can be transmitted on the single code source. The original timing is thus retained which avoids the need to adjust timings based on Release 99 power control loop implementation.

During slots where the DPCCH is not transmitted, the NodeB cannot estimate the uplink signal-to-interference ratio for power-control purposes and there is no reason for transmitting a power control bit in the downlink. Consequently, the UE shall not receive any power control commands on the F-DPCH in downlink slots corresponding to inactive uplink DPCCH slots.

There are some restrictions for FDPCH. It is not usable with services requiring data to be mapped to the DCH, such as AMR speech calls and CS video. Also, the lack of pilot information means that a method like feedback-based transmit diversity (closed loop mode) is not usable. The use of closed loop diversity is based on user-specific phase modification, wherein pilot symbols would be needed for verification of the phase rotation applied. On the other hand, when utilizing the F-DPCH, SRBs can benefit from high data rates of HSDPA and reduce service setup times remarkably

Finally, as you may have already figured out, by using F-DPCH the cell capacity has been improved and at the same time for same number of users, the interference has gone down significantly.

In Release 7, Rel-6 limitation has been removed. In R6, for a given UE in soft handover the TPC from all F-DPCH had to have the same offset timing. In R7, F-DPCH (TPC bits) can have different timing from different cells. This is possible due to introduction of 9 new F-DPCH slot formats (slot format 0 is the legacy F-DPCH slot format). The RRC signalling is done seperately for slot formats from the RNC to each of the cells.

You may also be interested in this Ericsson paper titled "The effect of F-DPCH on VoIP over HSDPA Capacity". Available here.

3GPP Release-9 Features

1. SAES Enhancements (non RAN aspects)
2. Study on Intra Domain Connection of RAN Nodes to Multiple CN Nodes
3. End-User Identity
4. Public Warning System
5. Support of WiMAX - LTE Mobility
6. Support of WiMAX - UMTS Mobility
7. Study on Remote management of USIM application on M2M Equipment
8. Services Alignment
9. Evaluation of LCS Control Plane Solution for EPS
10. Support for IMS Emergency Calls over GPRS and EPS
11. FS on enhanced voice service requirements for the EPS
12. SI on advanced requirements for IP interconnect
13. FS on UTRAN key management enhancements
14. FS on Home (e)NobeB Security
15. Customized Ringing Signal
16. FS on CAT solution for voice and video call in CS domain

HSPA+ in Release-7 and Release-8

Thought of adding this while I am in mode of making lists. So whats in HSPA evolution in Rel-7 and Rel-8. Lot of people are unaware that HSPA+ was big enough to finish off in Rel-7 and was definite to spill over in Rel-8

HSPA+ Features in Release 7

• Higher Order Modulation Schemes
  


• Advantages and weaknesses of higher order modulation
  - Interference Sensitivity
  - QPSK
  - 16-QAM, 64-QAM)
  - Consequences
  - Behavior in Time Variant Mobile Radio Channels
  - Behavior of a time variant mobile radio channel
  - Effect of amplitude variations
  - Effect of phase variations


• 16-QAM for the S-CCPCH (DL)
  - MBSFN only
  - Interleaving
  - Modulation
  - Scaling factors


• 64-QAM for the HS-PDSCH (DL)
  - Interleaving
  - Constellation Rearrangement
  - Modulation
  - Related UE Categories


• 16-QAM for UL (4-PAM for the E-DPDCH)
  - HARQ Rate Matching Stage
  - Interleaver
  - Modulator
  - UE category


• Overview Advantages and Disadvantages
  - Higher peak data rate
  - Better resource utilization
  - Blind choice of modulation scheme
  - High SNIR requirement
  - More TX power requirement
  - Low range
  - Small cell environment
  - Restrictions of use for high UE moving speeds


• Channel Estimation Algorithms
  - Normal Algorithm
  - Gathering pilot information
  - Channel estimation
  - Data detection
  - Advantage
  - Disadvantage
  - Advanced Algorithms
  - Shorter channel estimation window
  - Moving channel estimation window
  - Adaptive detection
  - Turbo detection
  - Advantages
  - Disadvantages


• Performance16-QAM in the UL
  - Performance on Link Level 16-QAM in the UL
  - Performance of BPSK compared to 4-PAM
  - Influence of non-linearity of the power amplifier
  - Performance on System Level
  - Behavior with increasing load
  - Maximum versus average throughput


• Higher Order Modulation Testing
  - Test Setup for 16-QAM in the UL
  - RF components
  - Discussion of the setup
  - Selected Performance Requirements for 16-QAM in the UL
  - BPSK vs. 4-PAM
  - Effect of RX diversity
  - Effect of high degree of multipath
  - Effect of high UE moving speed


• MIMO
  


• Introduction to MIMO Technology
  - The Basics: Signal Fading Physics between TX and RX
  - Scattering
  - Refraction
  - Reflection
  - Diffraction
  - Multiplexing Dimensions
  - The Multipath Dimension
  - MIMO General Operation


• MIMO Feedback Procedure (PCI)
  - Motivation of Spatial Precoding
  - Plain MIMO
  - Multiple rank beamforming
  - Spatial Precoding
  - Codebook, PCI and CQI Loop
  - Codebook
  - PCI and CQI loop


• MIMO Algorithms
  - Linear MIMO Algorithms (Preparation work, Equalizer at the end of the processing chain,
  - Equalizer at the beginning of the processing chain), Non-Linear MIMO Algorithms


• MIMO Performance
  - MIMO Performance on Link Level (SISO vs. SIMO, SIMO vs. MIMO, 2x2 MIMO vs. 4x2
  - MIMO, 16-QAM vs. 64-QAM), Performance on System Level (MIMO vs. SIMO, 50% vs.
  - 75% power allocation, 0% vs. 4% feedback errors)


• MIMO Tests
  - Official Test Setups (Test NodeB, Fading simulator, Noise generator, UE under test, Single stream test setup, Double stream test setup), Quick and Easy Test Setups (The
  easiest test setup, A more reliable test setup: The MIMO circle), Selected Performance
  - Requirement Figures (Conditions, 64-QAM performance, Dual stream MIMO
  performance, Single stream MIMO performance)


• Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC)
  


• Basic features
  - Uplink Discontinuous Transmission (DTX), Downlink Discontinuous Reception (DRX)


• RRC message ID’s
  - DTX and DRX Information


• CPC Timing
  - Uplink CQI transmission


• Example for Uplink DPCCH Burst Pattern for 10 ms E-DCH TTI
  - Uplink DRX, Downlink DRX


• Uplink DPCCH preamble and postamble
  - Uplink DPCCH preamble and postamble for the DPCCH only transmission, Uplink DPCCH preamble and postamble for the E-DCH transmission, Uplink DPCCH preamble and postamble for the HS-DPCCH transmission


• Example of simultaneous Uplink DTX and Downlink DRX


• CPC and Enhanced F-DPCH
  - Timing Implications for CPC + Enhanced F-DPCCH


• Upgraded L1 Signaling
  


• HS-SCCH Review of Rel. 5 and 6
  - HS-SCCH Frame Structure, HS-SCCH Part 1 and 2 Forward Error Coding Chain, UE
  specific masking of Part 1 and Part 2, HS-PDSCH Code Allocation through Part1 of HSSCCH,
  - Transport Block Size Determination – TFRI Mapping


• HS-SCCH of Rel. 7
  - HS-SCCH Overview of Rel. 7 (HS-SCCH type 1, No HS-SCCH, HS-SCCH type 2, HSSCCH
  type 3), HS-SCCH Type 1 (HS-SCCH Type 1, HS-SCCH Type 1 for Configured 64-QAM Operation, HS-SCCH Orders, 64-QAM Constellation Versions), HS-SCCH Type 2 (for HS-SCCH less operation) (Use of the HS-SCCH-less operation, Procedure HSSCCH-less operation), HS-SCCH Type 3 (HS-SCCH Type 3 Overview, Modulation and
  Transport Block Number , HARQ Process Number, Redundancy Version and
  Constellation Version)


• HS-DPCCH of Rel. 7
  - HS-DPCCH ACK/NACK (ACK-NACK of primary TB in R5, Preamble and postamble in
  R6, ACK-NACK of 2 TB’s in R7), HS-DPCCH PCI and CQI type A and B (CQI in case of
  no MIMO operation, PCI and CQI in case of MIMO with 1 TB (CQI type A), PCI and CQI
  in case of MIMO with 2 TB’s (CQI type B))


• E-AGCH and E-DPCCH
  - Changes in the E-TFCI tables, Changes in the AG tables, Changes in the SG tables


• MAC-ehs Entity versus MAC-hs
  


• UTRAN side MAC-hs Details – CELL_DCH only
  - Flow Control, Scheduling/Priority Handling, HARQ, TFRC selection


• UE side MAC-hs Details – CELL_DCH only
  - HARQ, Reordering Queue distribution, Reordering, Disassembly


• UTRAN side MAC-ehs Details
  - Some advantages of MAC-ehs compared to MAC-hs , Flow Control, HARQ, TFRC
  selection (~ TFRI), LCH-ID mux, Segmentation


• UE side MAC-ehs Details
  - HARQ , Disassembly, Reordering queue distribution, Reordering, Reassembly, LCH-ID demultiplexing


• Differences in the MAC-ehs and MAC-hs Header
  - MAC-hs Header Parameter Description
  - MAC-hs SDU , , MAC-hs Header of MAC-hs PDU), MAC-ehs Header Parameter Description
  - MAC-ehs Header Parameter Details
  - HARQ Process Work Flow in UE – MAC-hs / MAC-ehs
  - Split HS-DSCH Block Functionality
  - Practical Exercise: MAC-hs contra MAC-ehs
  - MAC-hs / MAC-ehs Stall Avoidance
  - Timer-Based Scheme
  - Window Bases Scheme
  - MAC-(e)hs Reordering Functionality – Timer / Window based


• Flexible RLC PDU Sizes
  


• The RLC AMD PDU – Rel. 7 Enhancements
  - The Poll (POLL) super-field
  - RLC AMD Header Fields
  - Release 7 Enhancement of the HE-Field and LI


• Comparison of RLC-AM between Rel. 6 and Rel. 7
  - RLC-AM Overhead using fixed or flexible PDU size
  · RRC State Operation Enhancements


• Transport Channel Type Switching with HSPA in R6
  - Transport Channel Combinations between UL and DL, Radio Bearer Multiplexing Options in Rel. 6


• Operation of UTRA RRC States in Release 7
  - UE Idle mode, CELL_DCH state


• HS-DSCH Reception in CELL_FACH and XXX_PCH
  - Overview (UE dedicated paging in CELL_DCH, CELL_FACH and CELL_PCH, BCCH
  reception in CELL_FACH, FACH measurement occasion calculation, Measurement
  reporting procedure), (1) Operation in the CELL_FACH state (DCCH / DTCH reception in
  CELL_FACH state , User data on HS-DSCH in Enhanced CELL_FACH state), (2) Operation in the CELL_FACH state – Cell Update, (3) RRC Idle to transient CELL_FACH
  (Common H-RNTI selection in CELL_FACH (FDD only), H-RNTI selection when entering
  Connected mode (FDD only) ), Operation in the URA_PCH or CELL_PCH state (Data
  Transfer in CELL_PCH with dH-RNTI, State Transision from CELL_PCH to CELL_FACH
  to CELL_DCH, CELL_PCH and URA_PCH enhanced Paging Procedure)
  

HSPA+ Features in Release 8

• Overview of HSPA+ Related Work Items in R8
  


• Requirements for two branch IC


• CS voice over HSPA


• Performance req. for 15 HSDPA codes


• MIMO + 64-QAM


• Enhanced DRX


• Improved L2 for UL


• Enhanced UL for CELL_FACH


• R3 Enhancements for HSPA


• Enhanced SRNS relocation


• MIMO combined with 64-QAM
  


• New UE Categories
  - Data Rate, Soft IR memory


• L1 Signaling of MIMO and 64-QAM
  - Modulation Schemes and TB Sizes (Signaling on the HS-SCCH type 3, Dilemma to signal
  on the modulation schema and TB number field, Solution), CQI Signaling, CQI Tables
  used

Interested readers can refer to Alcatel-Lucent presentation in HSPA+ Summit here.

There is also an interesting Qualcomm paper titled, "Release 7 HSPA+ For Mobile Broadband Evolution" available here.