Pair collaborate to demonstrate LTE-U combining licensed and unlicensed 5GHz spectrum over the air to deliver a peak throughput of up to 300Mbps
Ericsson has announced it has collaborated with Qualcomm Technologies in a demonstration of LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U), an LTE-Advanced technology that can improve mobile data speeds and reduce congestion through a unified network.
LTE-U enables carrier aggregation of licensed with unlicensed bands to effectively address growth in indoor data traffic. Today, unlicensed spectrum is generally utilised by Wi-Fi and Bluetooth technologies. LTE-U provides an efficient option for spectrum use by extending the benefits of LTE to unlicensed spectrum, providing a more reliable and predictable performance.
The licensed band provides an anchor designed to ensure a seamless user experience with full mobility while the unlicensed band provides incremental capacity and a better user experience. The technology is designed to improve indoor app coverage for smartphone users in particular.
In the demonstration at PT/Expo Comm China 2015, the companies combined one 20MHz licensed component carrier (CC) with one 20MHz CC running on 5GHz unlicensed spectrum over the air to deliver a peak throughput of up to 300Mbps, using a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 processor with X12 LTE.
Ericsson introduced its LTE-U small cells for the first time at the 2015 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Ericsson LTE-U also incorporates spectrum fair sharing within the 5GHz band to accommodate traditional Wi-Fi users. Fair sharing through LTE-U’s dynamic secondary cell feature dynamically uses the unlicensed carrier based on sensed interference (for example, Wi-Fi traffic,) in the neighbouring environment, to provide Wi-Fi and LTE-U users with fair access to the unlicensed spectrum.
The demonstration at PT/Expo Comm China 2015 used Ericsson’s multi-standard indoor pico base station, the RBS 6402, with multi-band capabilities and Wi-Fi support, addressing buildings up to 5000 square metre in size. It installs quickly and easily to boost coverage and capacity in smaller venues such as offices, restaurants, and stores, said Ericsson. Network can go live in minutes with tablet-sized footprints and plug-and-play installation capabilities, the company added.
