The wireless market has experienced a phenomenal growth since the first second-
generation (2G) digital cellular networks, based on global system for mobile
communications (GSM) technology, were introduced in the early 1990s. Since then,
GSM has become the dominant global 2G radio access standard. Almost 80% of today’s
new subscriptions take place in one of the more than 460 cellular networks that use
GSM technology. This growth has taken place simultaneously with the large experienced
expansion of access to the Internet and its related multimedia services.
The aim of this book is to give an integrated presentation of the
specifications for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and LTE Advanced radio
interfaces, so that the reader can gain an overview of their main
characteristics.
This books attempts to provide an extensive overview on Long-Term Evolution
(LTE) networks. Understanding LTE and its Performance is purposely written to
appeal to a broad audience and to be of value to anyone who is interested in 3GPP
LTE or wireless broadband networks more generally. The aim of this book is to
offer comprehensive coverage of current state-of-the-art theoretical and techno-
logical aspects of broadband mobile and wireless networks focusing on LTE. The
presentation starts from basic principles and proceeds smoothly to most advanced
topics. Provided schemes are developed and oriented in the context of very actual
closed standards, the 3 GPPP LTE.
Use of multiple antennas at both ends of wireless links is the result of the
natural progression of more than four decades of Evolution of adaptive
antenna technology. Recent advances have demonstrated that multiple-
input-multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems can achieve impressive
increases in overall system performance.
Mobile wireless communications are in constant Evolution due to the continu-
ously increasing requirements and expectations of both users and operators.
Mass multimedia* services have been for a long time expected to generate a large
amount of data traffic in future wireless networks [1]. Mass multimedia services
are, by definition, purposed for many people. In general, it can be distinguished
between the distribution of any popular content over a wide area and the distribu-
tion of location-dependent information in highly populated areas. Representative
examples include the delivery of live video streaming content (like sports compe-
titions, concerts, or news) and file download (multimedia clips, digital newspa-
pers, or software updates).
In the past few decades, a technological rEvolution has occurred that has changed
the way we live in dramatic ways. This technological rEvolution is the result of
the emergence and Evolution of a wide variety of new wireless networking tech-
nologies. Now people using these technologies are able to access the network and
control many applications at will with their handheld devices anywhere, anytime.
Although these technologies have made a long lasting impact in the rEvolution, it
has also opened up various challenging issues which are yet to be resolved to make
them more efficient and cost-effective.
Recent decades have shown a tremendous expansion of the Internet. The number of
connected terminals has increased by orders of magnitude, traffic has grown exponen-
tially, coverage has become ubiquitous and worldwide, and today’s sophisticated Web
2.0 applications are increasingly providing services which hitherto have been the realm
of telecommunications, such as Skype and video conferencing. This has even led to the
thought that access to the Internet might one day be a universal right of every citizen.
This Evolution will accelerate in the coming decades.
Transmit power in wireless cellular networks is a key degree of freedom
in the management of interference, energy, and connectivity. Power
control in both uplink and downlink of a cellular network has been
extensively studied, especially over the last 15 years, and some of the
results have enabled the continuous Evolution and significant impact of
the digital cellular technology.
Digital mobile wireless communication and the Internet have undergone a
fantastic growth in the last few years and, despite originating from two different
worlds, they are converging. This convergence corresponds to the Evolution of
mobile systems towards the highest broadband data transmissions (GSM,
EDGE/GPRS, UMTS then HSDPA), while the computing world gets equipped with
wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi or Wi-Max.
The outcome of the 3GPP SAE (system architecture Evolution) technical study
and specification work is a set of standards that specifies the Evolution of the
packet core network for GSM/GPRS and WCDMA/HSPA to an all-IP architec-
ture and enables a feature-rich ‘common packet core’ for radio accesses devel-
oped within 3GPP and also by other standardization fora.
