Radio relay technologies in LTE-Advanced

The following is from NTT Docomo Technical journal: 

Three types of radio relay technologies and their respective advantages and disadvantages are shown in Figure 1. 

A layer 1 relay consists of relay technology called a booster or repeater. This is an Amplifier and Forward (AF) type of relay  technology by which Radio Frequency (RF) signals received on the downlink from the base station are amplified and transmitted to the mobile station. In a similar manner, RF signals received on the uplink from the mobile station are amplified and transmitted to the base station. The equipment functions of a layer 1 relay are relatively simple, which makes for low-cost implementation and short processing delays associated with relaying. With these  features, the layer 1 relay has already found widespread use in 2G and 3G mobile communication systems. It is being deployed with the aim of improving coverage in mountainous regions, sparsely populated areas and urban areas as well as in indoor environments.


The RF performance specifications for repeaters have already been specified in LTE, and deployment of these repeaters for the same purpose is expected. The layer 1 relay, however, amplifies intercell interference and noise together with desired signal components thereby deteriorating the received Signal to Interference plus Noise power Ratio (SINR) and reducing the throughput enhancement gain.


The layer 2 relay, meanwhile, is a Decode and Forward (DF) type of relay technology by which RF signals received on the downlink from the base station are demodulated and decoded and then encoded and modulated again before being sent on to the mobile station. This demodulation and decoding processing performed at the radio relay station overcomes the drawback in layer 1 relays of deteriorated received SINR caused by amplification of intercell interference and noise. A better throughput-enhancement effect can therefore be expected compared with the layer 1 relay. At the same time, the layer 2 relay causes a delay associated with modulation/demodulation and encoding/decoding processing. In this type of relay, moreover, radio functions other than modulation/demodulation and encoding/decoding (such as mobility control, retransmission control by Automatic Repeat request (ARQ), and user-data concatenation/segmentation/reassembly) are performed between the base station and mobile station transparently with respect to the radio relay, which means that new radio-control functions for supporting this relay technology are needed. 

The layer 3 relay also performs demodulation and decoding of RF signals received on the downlink from the base station, but then goes on to perform processing (such as ciphering and user-data concatenation/segmentation/reassembly) for retransmitting user data on a radio interface and finally performs encoding/modulation and transmission to the mobile station. Similar to the layer 2 relay, the layer 3 relay can improve throughput by eliminating inter-cell interference and noise, and additionally, by incorporating the same functions as a base station, it can have small impact on the standard specifications for radio relay technology and on implementation. Its drawback, however, is the delay caused by user-data processing in addition to the delay caused by modulation/demodulation and encoding/decoding processing.


In 3GPP, it has been agreed to standardize specifications for layer 3 relay technology in LTE Rel. 10 because of the above features of improved received SINR due to noise elimination, ease of coordinating standard specifications, and ease of implementing the technology. Standardization of this technology is now moving forward.


Layer 3 radio relay technology is shown in Figure 2. In addition to performing user-data regeneration processing and modulation/demodulation and encoding/ decoding processing as described above, the layer 3 relay station also features a unique Physical Cell ID (PCI) on the physical layer different than that of the base station. In this way, a mobile station can recognize that a cell provided by a relay station differs from a cell provided by a base station.


In addition, as physical layer control signals such as Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) and Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) can terminate at a relay station, a relay station is recognized as a base station from the viewpoint of a mobile station. It is therefore possible for a mobile station having only LTE functions (for example, a mobile station conforming to LTE Rel. 8 specifications) to connect to a relay station. Here, the wireless backhaul link (Un) between the base station and relay station and the radio access link (Uu) between the relay station and mobile station may operate on different frequencies or on the same frequency. In the latter case, if transmit and receive processing are performed simultaneously at the relay station, transmit signals will cause interference with the relay station’s receiver by coupling as long as sufficient isolation is not provided between the transmit and receive circuits. Thus, when operating on the same frequency, the wireless backhaul-link and radio-access-link radio resources should be subjected to Time Division Multiplexing (TDM) so that transmission and reception in the relay station are not performed simultaneously.

Scenarios in which the introduction of relay technology is potentially useful have been discussed in 3GPP. Deployment scenarios are shown in Table 1. Extending the coverage area to mountainous and sparsely populated regions (rural area and wireless backhaul scenarios) is an important scenario to operators. It is expected that relay technology can be used to economically extend coverage to such areas as opposed to deploying fixed-line backhaul links. Relay technology should also be effective for providing temporary coverage when earthquakes or other disasters strike or when major events are being held (emergency or temporary coverage scenario), i.e., for situations in which the deployment of dedicated fixed-line backhaul links is difficult. In addition, while pico base stations and femtocells can be used for urban hot spot, dead spot, and indoor hot spot scenarios, the installation of utility poles, laying of cables inside buildings, etc. can be difficult in some countries and regions, which means that the application of relay technology can also be effective for urban scenarios. Finally, the group mobility scenario in which relay stations are installed on vehicles like trains and buses to reduce the volume of control signals from moving mobile stations is also being proposed.


In 3GPP, it has been agreed to standardize the relay technology deployed for coverage extension in LTE Rel. 10. These specifications will, in particular, support one-hop relay technology in which the position of the relay station is fixed and the radio access link between the base station and mobile station is relayed by one relay station.



References
[1] 3GPP TS36.912 V9.1.0: “Feasibility study for Further Advancement for E-UTRA (LTE-Advanced),” 2010.
[2] 3GPP TS36.323 V9.0.0: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) specification,” 2009
[3] 3GPP TS36.322 V9.1.0: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol specification,” 2010.
[4] 3GPP TS36.321 V9.2.0: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification,” 2010.
[5] 3GPP TS36.331 V9.2.0: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol specification,” 2010.
[6] 3GPP TS36.413 V9.2.1: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); S1 Application Protocol (S1AP),” 2010.
[7] 3GPP TR36.806 V9.0.0: “Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Relay architectures for E-UTRA (LTEAdvanced),” 2010.
[8] IETF RFC4960: “Stream Control Transmission Protocol,” 2007.
[9] 3GPP TS29.281 V9.2.0: “General Packet Radio System (GPRS) Tunnelling Protocol User Plane (GTPv1-U),” 2010.

Security issues in new technologies

I have attended a lot of events/talks in the last month where people talked about Augmented Reality, Proximity Marketing, QR codes, etc. but nobody seems to talk about security. Its being taken for granted. For example MAC's have been said to be Virus proof and they probably are but other Apps may be infectable and in this case its the Java that has allowed a MAC botnet about 0.6 Million strong.

Some years back proximity marketing via Bluetooth was a big thing and we were lucky to be involved with couple of projects making it possible but then the Bluetooth virus came to light and people stopped leaving their Bluetooth on in public places. Doesnt look like Bluetooth based proximity marketing has gone very far since those days.

QR codes is a simple way to for advertisers redirect the end users to their websites but then recently I read that a rogue QR code can be used to redirect the end users to a site that can be used to hack their phones. The main thing pointed out is that 99% of the time QR codes are read by mobile phones and 99% of these phones are either iPhones or Android's, which can help narrow down the exploits.

There is a good chance that when there is mass adoption of these new technologies, Security is going to be a big issue. Not sure if enough is being done. If there are any pointers on security issues please feel free to comment.

Project Glass: One day... By Google

I seem to like the Corning ones more that I blogged here.

** New Edits 05/04/12 09:40 **
From CNET:

Google's augmented reality glasses are real! Dubbed Project Glass, the long-rumoured lenses that show you heads-up information about the world around you have been confirmed by the company.

At the moment, Google's announcement is limited to a Google+ page

Here is a parody on above video from Tom Scott:

What is nano-SIM card

BBC reported that there is some dispute between Apple and Nokia/Rim for the next generation of SIM cards, 'nano-SIM'. You can read more about that here.

While looking for how the nano-SIM is different from other SIM cards I came across an interesting presentation from G&D. The above picture summarises the different types of SIM cards in use. The following is an extract from their whitepaper:


When the GSM network first appeared, mobile devices resembled bricks or even briefcases, and SIM cards were the size of credit cards. The subsequent miniaturization of the phones led to the standardization of smaller SIMs, the Plug-in SIM, and later the Mini-UICC also known as 3rd form factor (3FF). With the introduction of Apple’s iPad, the 3FF, or the Micro-SIM as it was then called, established itself widely in the market.

Nevertheless, the trend towards miniaturization of the SIM card is still not over. The latest form factor which is currently in discussion at ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) is the 4th form factor (4FF) or Nano-SIM. Measuring 12.3 x 8.8 mm, the Nano-SIM is about 30 percent smaller than the Micro-SIM. Even the thickness (0.7 mm) of the card has been reduced by about 15 percent – a tremendous technical challenge.

The Nano-SIM offers device manufacturers the crucial advantage of freeing up extra space for other mobile phone Nano-SIM The smallest SIM form factor on the market components such as additional memory or larger batteries. Popular smart phones in particular have to strike a balance between the need for components that are more powerful but bulkier and a slim design. The reduced volume of the 4FF gives manufacturers the opportunity to produce devices that are thinner and more appealing.


In case you were wandering the differences that are causing the disagreements, here are the differences between the formats:

Joyn = SMS v2.0?

'Joyn' is the brand name for the RCS services that have been around in the name for a long while. Yesterday someone sent this link for the Fierce Wireless article that had the link to the above Vodafone video.

In theory this sounds great but in practice it may be a bit difficult for operators to sell. One of the selling point for this service is that it is going to be part of the standards so independent of the platform. Android and iOS are the two most popular platforms and more and more users are adopting them. The OTT apps are now available on both these platforms, meaning that it will have mass market adoption. If some other platforms have to succeed then they have to make these most popular apps available on their platform or they will not survive. Microsoft has been rumoured to have paid Rovio to develop the first Angry Birds for the WP platform and they may have to do the same again since the new Angry Birds space is not available on the Windows mobile platform.

In any case, Joyn may be good and it can provide enhanced services but I have a feeling that it may be a bit too little and too late to succeed.

IMS Release 10 Tutorial

IMS Release 10 Tutorial

View more documents from Zahid Ghadialy

Available to download from here.

Network sharing and other means to leapfrog operator efficiencies

Ultra-efficient network factory: Network sharing and other means to leapfrog operator efficiencies.

View more presentations from Kim Kyllesbech Larsen

DOCOMO Euro-Labs: LTE/LTE-A Interference Coordination for Femtocells

LTE/LTE‐A Interference Coordination for Femtocells

View more presentations from Zahid Ghadialy

A video of this above presentation is embedded below:

Available to download from here.

Platinum Band: Sub 1GHz Frequency Band

Was listening to the Softbank webcast earlier about why they are so happy on receiving the 900MHz spectrum. The extract from slidepack summarises the advantages on this 'Platinum Band'

LTE/LTE-A SON (for Femtocells)

LTE/LTE-A SON (for Femtocells)

View more presentations from Zahid Ghadialy

A Video presentation of the above is embedded below:



PDF of the above presentation is available here.

3GPP LTE Evolved Packet System & Application to Femtos

3GPP LTE Evolved Packet System & Application to Femtos

View more presentations from Zahid Ghadialy

A video of the actual presentation is embedded below. Its quite long (94 minutes)



The presentation is available to download in PDF format from here.

An Industrial Introduction to Femtocells

The presentation is available to download from here.

A Day Made of Glass... - 2 Videos on the vision of future by Corning

Qualcomm eMBMS Demo from MWC 2012

Augmented Future

Couple of very interesting videos on how the future may look like:

UICC and ISIM (IMS SIM)

I have mentioned before that UICC is the physical card and 2G SIM/USIM/ISIM are applications on the UICC card. The IMS SIM holds data provided by the IMS Operator, generally the same operator that would provide USIM services that would allow to camp on the 3G or LTE network.

Private User Identity: This identifies the user uniquely with the IMS operator and is used when the user registers with the IMS network. This is used by the operator to check the subscription and which services the user can avail of.

Public User Identity: A user can have multiple public identities that can be used for different services. To avail a particular service, user has to register with the particular public identity that has been allowed for that service.

Security Keys: Security keys are used for authentication to the IMS Network.

Home Network Domain Name: This is the name of the entry point that the user uses to register. This makes sure that a users request is sent to the Home Network.

Access Rule Reference: This is used to store information about which personal identification number needs verification for accessing a particular application

Address of P-CSCF: If it is not possible do dynamically find the Proxy-Call Session Control Function then this address is helpful

Administrative Data: Some of this could be operator specific proprietary information

Vuforia™: Qualcomm's Augmented Reality (AR) Platform

As I mentioned yesterday, while some people think that Augmented Reality is losing its charm, Qualcomm certainly thinks that things are looking up for AR and it can only get better. They have branded their AR platform as Vuforia. A recent presentation from Cambridge Wireless event is embedded below:

Using AR Apps to Change How We Shop, Learn, Play & Interact

View more presentations from Zahid Ghadialy

There are some interesting video's on Augmented Reality using the Vuforia platform on Youtube. Some of them as follows:












All presentations from the CW event are available here.

Augmented Reality on the 'Peak of Inflated Expectations'

In a recent event in Cambridge Wireless, one of the topics of discussion was where does 'Augmented Reality' sit on the Peak of Inflated Expectations. While one of the speaker thought that it was on the Peak going towards Trough, most of the others thought that it had already passed the trough and is now going up.

Some six months back I put a picture up from the Gartner Hype Cycle that showed that the Augmented Reality is at the peak going towards the trough.

What do you think? Any opinions?

Interesting interview by Small Cell Forum's Andy Germano from MWC 2012

Via Ubiquisys blog.

6 ways NFC will change your world

Orange Business Services - 6 ways NFC will change your world

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Will it? What do you think?

Operator Services Roadmap

Problems with 800MHz in UK and Spectrum to be auctioned

Even though 800MHz provides far better coverage than 2.1GHz (as shown above), it is going to be difficult to rollout LTE on 800MHz in the short term. The main reason being that there are quite a few other devices that use the frequencies or the frequencies neighbouring the 800MHz band and the interference may stop them working. A chart of the users is shown below.

It would be interesting to see when the rollouts in 800MHz would happen.

According to Ofcom, the following spectrum will be available in the UK:


• 250MHz of spectrum:
    • 2x30MHz paired at 800MHz
    • 2x70MHz paired at 2.6GHz
    • 50MHz unpaired at 2.6GHz
• (Also 2x15MHz of 1800MHz spectrum to be divested by EE)
• Starts to become available from Jan 2013
    • 800MHz expected to be available across whole of the UK by end of 2013
    • 2.6GHz across majority of UK by end of 2013 with remaining areas asap thereafter

All these topics were recently covered in a Cambridge Wireless event on Mobile Broadband SIG: Mobile Broadband in Rural Areas. The presentations are available here to view and download.

Dilbert Humour: Too many technologies to cope with!

Source: Dilbert.

'Blue Tick' for better RF performance

Last year I blogged about 'Antennagate'. From what I hear, iPhone 4S has left this problem far behind and have a much better RF performance than other rivals.

The Australian operator Telstra operates a scheme where it gives a 'blue tick' to all mobiles that have superior RF performance than other average mobiles.

The following is an interesting comment from their Crowdsupport site:


Telstra offers three classes of coverage, A B and C.


C Class coverage is Blue Tick coverage. These phones are designed in such a way that they will outperform other phones in coverage. That is ,they will hold onto a signal further than B or A class phones


Most smartphones due to the way they are manufactures are B class, because of their thinness and materials (such as glass and plastic)


The Atrix and Defy are Blue Tick because the plastic chassis that houses the antenna stops your hand from attenuating the signal.


The iPhone 4S is Blue Tick because the dual antenna design intelligently switches antennas if one gets attenuated.


Blue Tick phones do not assist with high traffic areas. They only assist users in low coverage areas. So a phone in the Melbourne CBD would behave much like any other Telstra phone. Whereas a Blue Tick phone out in rural areas would have better signal coverage than a B or A class phone.


Telstra empirically tests all it's phones because we reach more of the population and many rural people rely on mobile phones with each passing year.


It may be a good idea that operators in other countries start supporting a similar scheme so users who get very little reception in their houses or places of work can get a phone with better RF capabilities.

Any similar schemes operating in other countries?

Heterogeneous network deployments in LTE: The soft-cell approach

Heterogeneous network deployments in LTE

View more documents from Zahid Ghadialy

Available to download from here.

LTE Evolution - Soft Cell

Mobile Broadband: The Future Vision Document 2

Vision Paper incorporating comments and opinion from the online discusions on #MBBFuture

Mobile Broadband: The Future Vision Document 2

View more documents from Nokia Siemens Networks

Available to download from slideshare here.

Small Cells Market Forecast - Feb 2012

• Informa Telecoms & Media expects the small market to experience significant growth over the next few years, reaching just under 60 million femtocell access points in the market by 2015. The following chart illustrates Informa’s forecasts (February 2012) for femtocell access point shipments.

• Mobile Experts published a new forecast claiming that 70 million small cells will be shipped by 2017, including femtocells deployed by mobile operators and picocells used for high-capacity urban networks. LTE small cells are a major part of the forecasted growth over the next five years, with more than 2/3 of small cells deployed in 2017 devoted to LTE-FDD or TD-LTE (Mobile Experts, February 2012).
• In-Stat predicts that due to skyrocketing demand for mobile data services the sale of small cell devices will hit $14 billion in retail value by 2015. These devices will include femtocells, picocells and microcells in areas where “macrocells would be overkill”. (In-Stat, January 2012)
• Mobile Experts published a report on small cell backhaul, claiming that more than 1.8 million small cell wireless backhaul unit shipments during 2016. (Mobile Experts – October 2011)
• IDate estimates that worldwide femtocell access point market will reach a cumulative total of 39.4 million deployed units by 2015, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 71% between 2011 and 2015. (IDate – September 2011)
• Infonetics anticipates that femtocells will gain mass-scale traction in 2012, at which point the year-over-year unit growth rate will jump to over 100%, and will stay at tripledigit levels in 2013. (Infonetics – September 2011)
• ABI Research estimates that Enterprise femtocells are to make up 36% of shipments by 2016 which relates to 50% of security gateway revenues (ABI Research – August 2011)
• Infonetics estimates that total global revenue from femtocells used in consumer, enterprise, rural and public spaces grew 45% during the past 4 quarters. (Infonetics – June 2011).
• Visiongain expects femtocell revenues will reach US $27 Billion in 2016 and that femtocells have entered into the growth stage of their lifecycle during 2011 (Visiongain – May 2011).
• Juniper Research predicts that Wi-Fi and femtocell networks will play a significant role in easing data traffic by carrying 63 percent of data traffic, or almost 9,000 petabytes by 2015 (Juniper Research – April 2011).
• Infonetics Research predicts that rapid acceleration in the market will happen during 2012, when femtocell shipments should exceed 5 million worldwide, driven by a diversification from the consumer and enterprise segments to rural and public spaces. (Infonetics Research – March 2011).
• Cisco expects that by 2015, over 800 million terabytes of mobile data traffic will be offloaded to the fixed network by means of dual-mode devices and femtocells. Without dual-mode and femtocell offload of smartphone and tablet traffic, total mobile data traffic would reach 7.1 exabytes per month in 2015, growing at a CAGR of 95 percent. (Cisco – February 2011)


Source: Small Cells Market Status from Small Cell Forum.

LTE Evolution - CoMP

LTE connections by frequency band by 2016

From Huawei whitepaper here.

Voice over HSPA (VoHSPA) and CS over HSPA (CSoHS)

4G Americas has recently released a whitepaper entitled, "Delivering voice over HSPA". This paper describes the technological features that are being developed to make Voice over HSPA (VoHSPA) a reality. It describes the two potential options for VoHSPA. The first option leverages IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology developed in conjunction with Long Term Evolution (LTE), and is referred to as IMS Voice over HSPA or simply IMS Voice. The other option delivers voice by modifying existing circuit-switch based techniques so that those communications can be transmitted over an HSPA infrastructure, and is referred to as CS Voice over HSPA (CSoHS). Both the options are shown in the picture above. Note that there is no discussion about Over the top (OTT) type voice services like Skype, etc. 

The chief among benefits anticipated from VoHSPA are increases in the spectral efficiency of mobile networks. With these new techniques, voice calls can be delivered more efficiently from a spectral standpoint over Packet Switched (PS) rather than Circuit Switched (CS) networks freeing up radio resources for additional data traffic.

The 4G Americas report defines work completed by the GSMA for a minimum mandatory set of features defined in existing 3GPP Release 8 specifications (IR 58: IMS Profile for VoHSPA) that should be implemented in order to insure an interoperable, high quality, IMS-based telephony service over an HSPA radio access layer. In the white paper, 4G Americas recommends additional features, above the minimum mandatory features in IR 58, for VoHSPA either under an IMS or a CS approach, in order to minimize packet losses and variations in packet arrival times that can impair the quality of voice communications.

The whitepaper is available to download from here.

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

Video: TD-LTE: A separation from LTE FDD

'Mapped Security' Concept in LTE

When a UE registers on a network in 2G/3G or LTE, it has to perform Authentication. The Authentication Vectors are located in the USIM for the device and in Authentication Center (AuC) in the network. Once the Authentication is performed successfully, then the Keys for Ciphering and Integrity are derived and used during the call.

As I showed in my earlier post here, It is possible that the same AuC is used for 2G/3G and LTE networks. In this case if the UE has recently performed Authentication in one network then unless the keys are old, there is no need to perform the Authentication again in the other radio access technology (RAT). The Security keys (Ciphering and Integrity key) would be derived based on the keys in the previous RAT. 3GPP TS 33.102 and 3GPP TS 33.401 gives the details on how to derive the key from the previous RAT while in the new RAT using this mapped security concept.

High level view on how SMS works in LTE

The following is from E\\\ whitepaper available here:


In 2010, 6.9 trillion text messages were sent globally and this figure is expected to break the eight trillion mark in 2011. This represents USD 127 billion in revenue for operators. LTE provides the same basic SMS features, such as concatenated SMS, delivery notification and configuration. However, the SMS delivery mechanism is somewhat different. A VoLTE device can send and receive text messages encapsulated within a SIP message. To receive a text message, the encapsulation process is invoked by an IP short-message-gateway in the IMS domain, and the gateway converts traditional Signaling System Number 7 (SS7) Mobile Application Part (MAP) signaling to IP/SIP.


To ensure that text messages are routed via the gateway, the home location register (HLR) of the recipient needs an additional function to return a routable gateway address back to the SMS-C on receipt of an SMS-routing request.


When a VoLTE device sends a text message, it should perform the encapsulation. The gateway extracts the text message inside a SIP MESSAGE signal before passing it on to the SMS-C.


However, if the VoLTE device is configured to not invoke SMS over IP networks, text messages can be sent and received over LTE without the need for any SIP encapsulation. A received text message will reach the mobile switching center server (MSC-S) of the mobile softswitch system in the same way as it does today. The MSC-S will page the device via the SGs interface with the Mobile Management Entity (MME) of the EPC system. Once a paging response is received, the MSC-S will pass the SMS on to the MME, which in turn tunnels it onto the device. Due to the support for SMS delivery and IP connectivity provided by LTE/EPC, MMS works seamlessly.


For more technically minded people, there is a whitepaper that covers SMS in detail available here.

R&S Whitepaper: LTE Transmission Modes and Beamforming

Interesting technical whitepaper from R&S:

LTE Transmission Modes and Beamforming

View more documents from Zahid Ghadialy

Available to download from here or here.

Softbank Japan's Ultra Wifi 4G (a.k.a AXGP)

In Japan, they love to re-brand the standard technologies into something more interesting to attract people's attention. In a way they are right as they want to offer a service rather than a technology. Couple of years back NTT Docomo launched its Crossy service, that was offering LTE with upto 75Mbps dl speeds. Yesterday, I read about Softbank launching their 4G service that is based on AXGP format.

I did blog about XGP many years back but AGXP, which stands for Advanced XGP may not be very well related to XGP. According to ZTE Technologies magazine:

In November 2011, Japan’s third largest mobile operator, Softbank, made AXGP commercially available. AXGP is similar to TD-LTE, and has been deployed in Japan in conjunction with ZTE and Huawei. Two thousand base stations were built in the fi rst phase, and there will be up to 10,000 base stations built in the second phase. Ninety-nine percent of the Japanese population will be covered by 2012. So far, the Softbank network is the largest commercial TD-LTE network in the world. Wang Jianzhou, chairman of China Mobile, said, “If in the past the TD-LTE network was just a stratagem on paper, now it has turned into a reality.”

The following are some more details edited from a Japanese website (translation via Chrome):


High-speed data communication service Wireless City Planning of the SOFTBANK Group (Wireless City Planning, WCP) will be scheduled after February 2012, adopted a new communication method AXGP is, in excess of up to 100Mbps downlink high-speed communication is a feature . It was an opportunity to use the test machine prior to the start of service for general users, to report a sense of its use. 


 "AXGP" was developed inherit the "PHS" next generation of Willcom

 "AXGP" high-speed data transmission technology WCP employs a technology that was originally planned to use the 2.5GHz band has been assigned from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications Willcom to deploy as "PHS" next generation. Had to expand the limited service area and some intended for users under the name of "WILLCOM CORE XGP" PHS is then the next generation, business is XGP is "Wireless City Planning" of Softbank subsidiary company under the reorganization proceedings of Willcom inheritance. Provide the service as "AXGP" form of communication is an evolved version of XGP in WCP.


 AXGP, in addition to the XGP also hand while inheriting the "micro cell" was characteristic of PHS, PHS has been developed as the next generation, that have become compatible with the method of TD-LTE. Including China and India, that are compatible with the TD-LTE system is expected to expand in many parts of the world, the benefits can be expected that international expansion is expected. 

 Service is initially started up to 76Mbps. The first bullet is the mobile router products

 AXGP is at present, but services have been provided for users in a small part had been using the service test XGP Willcom old, since the February 2012 service "SoftBank 4G for general users as MVNO Softbank Mobile plans to start ". The communication speed up to 110Mbps downstream and 15Mbps and maximum upstream and downstream speeds in excess of 100Mbps for speed has become a feature.


 At the start of service, the mobile router will "101SI" made of (SII) will be released at the same time Seiko Instruments. However, 101SI has become a maximum 76Mbps to 110Mbps falling down is the theoretical value of the service, at the start of the service is not provided in the full spec. Terminal is planned to also provide support AXGP Then, in the year 2012 is also powered smartphone will be compatible with AXGP. In addition, "101SI" to support (42Mbps maximum downlink, 5.7Mbps uplink maximum) "ULTRASPEED" Softbank mobile. 




Ultra-high speed in the area. Hope to plan area at the time of service and rates

 Although a measurement with the outdoor area was limited, with respect to communication speed was very good results with the results fit. Most favorable conditions and even the user does not exist before the start of the service say that already provide services as high-speed data communication, "Xi" of NTT DoCoMo, Inc., or UQ Communications 37.5Mbps, which is the maximum theoretical value of outdoor (Kurosshi~i) It was also a number greater than the maximum 40Mbps "UQ WiMAX" of is very encouraging.


 However, the decisive factor in mobile data communications is not only communication speed, three elements of the communication charge is important and easy-to-use, deployment area, including "ease of connection." In the area at the moment of some are very fast and are limited in the Yamanote Line, but is a matter of course in order before the service, ease of connection of the fact there are many parts of the still unknown. Also, I'd be anxious and services are provided in the fee structure what.


 SoftBank is to introduce a flat-rate voice among their users ahead of any other mobile phone operators so far, campaigns expand the iPhone however any inexpensive flat-rate packet. Further has a track record of just made me started to increase subscribers by the "straight-line with anyone" WILLCOM has also continued to decline in subscribers. Softbank Mobile also be deployed as a MVNO, at the time of release of the service that you want to use the AXGP expect a bold expansion of unique services and Softbank WCP, which is the same group Softbank.


Softbank's website is billing this as 'Ultra Wifi 4G' and will be launched to public this Friday, just in time for MWC12.

Insights into Mobile Telecoms in Africa

Insights into Mobile Telecoms in Africa

View more presentations from Jon Hoehler