LTE Carrier Aggregation and Applicability Inter-

eNodeB Carrier Aggregation

ABSTRACT
The rapid growth in the levels of data traffic
carried by mobile broadband networks in recent years has
resulted in mobile operators deploying various technologies
to improve the throughput provided for mobile data
transmission. For example, operators are migrating mobile
broadband users from 3G to 4G networks in countries where
LTE and LTE-Advanced networks have been launched.
However, customer demand and the need for a compelling
service proposition are driving a need to provide continual
improvement in data throughput and, in particular, achieve
higher peak downlink speeds.
Carrier aggregation (CA), a key feature of LTE-
Advanced (LTE-A), enables carriers at multiple frequencies
to be used together to provide improved data rates for users Figure 2. Data Rate Evolution in Downlink with CA
of 4G networks. However, these increased data rates may
come at the cost of exacerbating coverage and capacity
problems, depending on which carriers are being aggregated. 2. RF ASPECTS OF CA
There are a number of ways in which LTE carriers
can be aggregated:
Keywords Intra-band: This form of carrier aggregation uses
Carrier aggregation (CA), of LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), data a single band. There are two main formats for this type of
throughput , Intra-band, Inter-band. carrier aggregation – contiguous and not- contiguous.
Intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation is the
1. INTRODUCTION carriers adjacent to each other. The aggregated channel can
Carrier aggregation is used in LTE-Advanced in be considered by the terminal as a single enlarged channel
order to increase the bandwidth and data rate by increasing from the RF point of view. In this case, only one transceiver
end user throughput. It can used for FDD and TDD as well is required within the terminal. Non-contiguous intra-band
Figure1. Carrier Aggregation is the most important carrier aggregation is more complicated than the contiguous
component in LTE-Advanced. CA is released in 3GPP one as multi-carrier signal can’t be treated as a single signal
Release 10. with one transceiver. This adds complexity for UE where
space, power and cost are changes.
Inter-band non-contiguous: This form of carrier
aggregation uses different bands. It will be of particular use
because of the fragmentation of bands - some of which are
only 10 MHz wide. For the UE it requires the use of multiple
transceivers within the single item, with the usual impact on
cost, performance and power. There are also additional
complexities resulting from the requirements to reduce
intermodulation and cross modulation from the two
Figure 1. Carrier Aggregation
transceivers
The current standards allow for up to five 20 MHz
Carrier aggregation tests and deployment in Live carriers to be aggregated, although in practice two or three is
network started from 2011. Data rate evolution in downlink likely to be the practical limit. These aggregated carriers can
with carrier aggregation is shown in Figure 2. Commercial be transmitted in parallel to or from the same terminal,
LTE networks started with devices of Categories 3 and 4 thereby enabling a much higher throughput to be obtained.
supporting from 100 to 150 Mbps with continuous 20 MHz
spectrum. The first version of carrier aggregation, during
2013, enabled 150 Mbps with 10 + 10 MHz allocation. The 3. INTER-eNodeB
next phase with Category 6 devices has been commercially CARRIER AGGREGATION
available since 2014, supporting 300 Mbps with 20 + 20 Standard and most popular carrier aggregation
MHz. Category 9 will bring 450 Mbps with 60 MHz during introduced 3GPP Release 10 enables to aggregate cells under
2015, and the evolution continues, with expected rates of 1 same NodeB (using the same system module). More
Gbps in the near future. complex CA configurations (such like 2 carriers of 3 x 20
MHz cells with UL CoMP 4Rx) could not
be used due to the HW limitations (system module). So
deployment on separate eNBs is required.
Inter-eNB Carrier Aggregation between two co-
located Macro eNBs enables to make advanced
configurations that have to be deployed on separate eNBs,
allowing for more flexibility in CA configuration. To have

mbps
CA in 2 different EnodeB’s physical connectivity is needed
between the system modules ENodeB1 and ENodeB2. There
should be 2 kinds of connectivity:
1. For signaling messages and bearer data
transfers between the eNBs. In order to complete scheduling
for all carriers within a subframe, the latency between the
eNBs must be lower than 50 µs.
2. Synchronization information required to keep Figure 4. Downlink Throughput
two eNBs in phase sync as required for CA. In order to meet
the CA synchronization requirements, the maximum phase
error must not be greater than +/- 50 ns.
The maximum phase error as defined above is
a target value which ensures that the following maximum
Timing Advance Error (TAE) between the radio interfaces
can be met in the system configurations specified for carrier
aggregation:
➢ TAE ≤ 260ns for inter band CA and non
contiguous intra band CA
 ➢ TAE ≤ 130ns for intra band contiguous CA

mbps
Based on the mentioned requirements recommended to have
max distance between ENodeb’s 15 meter.

eNB1 eNB1

eNB2 eNB2 Figure 5. Average Throughput per Session

5. CONCLUSION
Figure 3. DL CA for two Macro eNBs Inter-Band with 2 component carriers
aggregated in the downlink is one of the most demanded
combinations today.
4. CARRIER AGGREGATION IN REAL Test results confirm that using CA
NETWORK › Data transmitted on two bands simultaneously to a
single UE
Tests are performed in TEST BTS in order to have › Increased DL throughput across the coverage area
just one UE to be connected to the cell. Tems Investigation › Improved scattered spectrum efficiency
is used for throughput measurements. DL test is performed › Brings Higher capacity
using UDP packets in order to reach max peack throughput.
The Primary Cell (PCell) is always active, whereas
the Seconday Cell (SCell) is dynamically activated or
deactivated. When a UE has an activated SCell and the DL REFERENCES
channel quality on the SCell is above a specified threshold,
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LTE-Advanced”, 2 Ed., John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., 2011
[5] Nokia Networks white paper LTE-Advanced
Carrier Aggregation Optimization.
https://tools.ext.nokia.com/asset/200040