Tag Archives: Carrier Aggregation

LAA, CBRS, LTE-U are 5G Building Blocks!

February 5, 2018 Wade Leave a comment

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Carrier Aggregation and Private LTE

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Hey, guess what? Remember when I talked about LAA, LTE-U, and CBRS, well, we’re almost there! That’s right, all those add-ons that we talked about over a year ago may finally be released. The new CBRS spectrum in the US creates new opportunities. It will be a game changer once the FCC decides what will happen with the spectrum. I just want to deploy, something they are delaying even longer, over a year, come on, release something! Sorry, it’s just that government holds back the economy by trying to improve it, this is a classic example. It happens in every administration.

Let’s look at 2 things, 1) a way to supplement what the carriers have, and, 2) a private LTE network. While you think this is just another system, it’s on the road to 5G. That’s right, we need spectrum, and there is plenty of it. Where? I’ll tell you if you have the nerve to read on.

LAA – Licensed Assisted Access

First, it’s the ISM spectrum, you know it better as the Wi-Fi spectrum. It could be 900MHz, 2.4GHz, 5.8GHz or even 60GHz. All that spectrum that Wi-Fi could operate in, but they primarily use 2.4GHz and 5.8GHz. Now we can run LTE in that spectrum; it’s called LTE-U and Qualcomm created MuLTEfire to allow LTE to run without a core. You heard me, an independent LTE-U hotspot that the carriers and your device will like a lot.

LTE-U is in the spectrum of Wi-Fi but is true LTE. It’s in the unlicensed band. MuLTEfire is a stand-alone LTE unit. While that doesn’t mean much now it will when all the devices have it, like your smartphone. Learn more here, https://www.multefire.org/about/ if you’re interested in learning more. Maybe you want to read a book, available on Amazon with my affiliate link, found here, where you can learn more about LTE in unlicensed bands. It’s going to be great when we can use LTE for everything. I see this as a great thing. RCR wrote about it last year, https://www.rcrwireless.com/20170530/network-infrastructure/what-is-multefire-tag6-tag99. It’s really a great thing.

Why? I am glad you asked. You see the carriers can use LTE-U to gain bandwidth with their current LTE spectrum. They use something called LAA, which I wrote about in the past, but now it’s right around the corner. What’s that? You don’t remember anything about LAA, let’s have a flashback! LAA, which is soon to be used by the primary carriers to build up throughput, is Licensed Assist Access. That uses carrier aggregation to aggregate, (make all the RF carriers look like one big pipe), create separate streams that all combine in the end users’ device to make the throughput go through the roof. We are talking about throughput closer to 1Gbps to the device. Hell, I would settle for 100Mbps to happen.

There is also LWA, Licensed Wi-Fi Aggregation, same as the above but it uses Wi-Fi to aggregate. Now, you’re wondering why LWA isn’t the preferred choice, right? I would say because it’s so much work to get Wi-Fi to work with LTE. Seriously, those 2 formats are not playing well together. They have delay differences and to be honest the carriers are sick and tired of trying to make it work. I will give T-Mobile a lot of credit because they seemed to have a solid way to make it work. I am not sure why, but they don’t seem to push it anymore, not sure why.

So, what is the better choice? LAA using the licensed LTE with the unlicensed LTE-U. LTE is a great format baby! I love it, in fact, 5G will love it too, it will be the foundation for 5G, even with the NR coming out. That’s right! The carriers will be rolling out LAA very soon. They have faith in it. Carrier aggregation rocks! It will allow all of them to unify LTE is all bands, including CBRS.

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CBRS – Citizen’s Broadband Radio System

That’s right, CBRS rocks! It will allow you, the end-user, to build a lightly licensed spectrum, like 3.5GHz here in the USA, and build your own LTE network along with the LTE-U. CBRS is in the 3.5GHz spectrum, and it is lightly licensed thanks to an advances licensing system that uses ASA to assign spectrum. It works a lot like your DHCP server only for spectrum. How cool is that?

When I interviewed both Art King (of SpiderCloud) and Steve Martin (of Ruckus) they helped me understand how awesome the CBRS spectrum is going to be for the enterprise user as well as the wireless internet service provider, (WISP). It will open new doors and allow WISPs everywhere to align with the carriers if they want to aggregate the carrier.

But wait, there’s more! The carriers will be using this spectrum as well. In fact, T-Mobile is a major reason the delay is happening. They want to buy more of the spectrum and hold onto it much longer. I’m okay with that, but why don’t they ask the FCC to get off their ass and release something already? They don’t seem to be in a hurry. I guess because they are rolling out 600MHz now. That is a major effort on their part. I appreciate it because it brings a lot of work to the deployment industry, and GOD knows we need it. You heard me! It’s feast or famine in this industry. Now I am straying off topic, sorry.

CBRS is also LTE, and it’s something that the carrier separately wants to roll out as part of their small cell model. It’s perfect spectrum for small cells. Lower power, smaller coverage area, and new spectrum that can be rolled out anywhere. I love it and so will you when you get your own small cell in the CBRS spectrum.

Hey, guess who else will love it? Public safety, utilities, small business, enterprise, and anyone who wants to extend their coverage. I know, Wi-Fi is nice, but the LTE format will open new doors, and lightly licensed spectrum will help security. I can’t wait until every smart device has this spectrum in it.

Carrier Aggregation made this possible!

I would say thank you to the OEMs for coming out with carrier aggregation. It is the sole feature that made this possible. It is a remarkable technology that the carriers are currently using only in the licensed spectrum. They are currently using this technology only on their own licensed channels. Some of them on multiple bands across spectrum or maybe in the same spectrum. Here’s the deal, they can expand beyond their own spectrum, how cool is that. They may want players, so keep your ear open, and maybe they will want partners. It could happen.

What about the devices?

Nokia has already released their small cells. Ruckus has a CBRS unit. SpiderCloud has their unit. There you go, real units in the real world just waiting for you to deploy! Deploy, deploy, deploy! Do it ASAP. We’re still waiting on more UE devices to get the spectrum, but it’s coming, have faith, my friends.

How can this help you?

OK, it’s all about you! I can explain it to the industry you’re in. Let’s look below at the list to understand where you fit in.

Enterprise users – you will be able to build something much more secure than Wi-Fi. A network in the CBRS will be lightly licensed and something that most users will not have access to. You could dedicate it to your network and have specific devices with that spectrum to allow low latency and dedicated spectrum for whatever you want to use it for. Security and dedicated spectrum would allow you to do secure functions without running cables everywhere.
ISPs – If you’re an internet service provider you have an option to supplement your income by striking a deal with any carrier to use LAA on LTE-U or CBRS to aggregate the carriers licensed LTE with your spectrum. If you have already built it, then they may see value in what you have. Why not?
Installers – if you have the opportunity then you can install these devices indoors and out. On poles usually, they are low power and will reach the end-user much like Wi-Fi on these will be small cells. The CBRS will be rolling out everywhere. While the carriers want a higher power unit the reality is this will be an extension of the network and should work well within the realm of 5G.
Backhaul – Fiber providers, backhaul providers, and the router companies can make a play to gain market share in the smaller business groups.
Carriers – the carriers will look at this as the icing on the cake. They can extend coverage by partnering with smaller users for a flat fee or by reciprocating services. The chances are good that they will want to build their own smaller networks where they can, but that whole idea here is that they don’t want to increase CapEx. That’s why the partnership to extend coverage looks natural and attractive. FYI – this is cheaper than putting in licensed radio heads.
Building and venue owners – if you looked at DAS as the saving grace, look at this as an easier way to do upgrades. This is an easy way to expand coverage by running CAT 5 or CAT 6 to the new small cell areas. By putting in LTE-U or CBRS, you can quickly and easily extend coverage. It’s a natural alternative to putting in more licensed radio heads.
OEMs and distributors – you can move product. Nokia, SpiderCloud, and Ruckus have already jumped on the bandwagon with products for LTE-U and CBRS that are carrier grade. They all are targeting the user mentioned in this report. Do they know something you don’t? Not if you read the blogs at Wade4Wireless.com!
Public Safety – here is a market that could really benefit from I know they are all waiting for the AT&T deployment, sorry, I meant to say FirstNet roll out. The thing is, they will have a choice between AT&T, sorry, I mean FirstNet and Verizon’s system. It all depends where they are at because the coverage varies that much and while the budget matters, they really need to have coverage first. If the coverage is there, then they can look at cost. They may rely on their own networks like they do today. If that is the case, they may want to try to deploy their own broadband network and put it where they need it.
Utilities – I see the utility market needing this for their smart meters and remote connections. They can use something like this to reach all the area that the carriers can’t or at least as an alternative to paying carriers for their IOT systems. Then they may be able to expand the network to serve more than the meters by allowing end users to put their IOT devices on these networks. It is a viable alternative.
Cable companies – I see the cable companies rolling out LTE-U and CBRS because it’s so cost-effective and it fits into their current model. Granted, they love Wi-Fi, but they will see great value in rolling out LTE-U and CBRS if they can partner with the carriers. They could use it as a bargaining chip when they want to become an MVNO, like Comcast, with the large What leverage they will have when they can use their network to reach millions of their customers with an LTE network of their own. Awesome!
Autonomous vehicles – I don’t know who will use this, but it is a viable way to communicate with vehicles in the urban areas. It would have to be a dense network, but it could supplement the carrier’s network.
Google – yes, Google has a lot to gain with their Loon network and to replace the FTTH network which we all thought would be our savior from the choices we have now. One thing that Google learned is that it costs a lot of money to deploy fiber. It’s a lot more than what you see in the data center. If they use this technology like they say they will, then we will have our new ISP competitor that could make a difference overnight, well, in a few years maybe.
The workforce – I see the workforce benefiting from this because we are going to have to engineer and deploy the systems for all the potential service providers. Let’s build the best networks we can. Let’s build the ecosystem beyond the carriers to the smaller business owners. We can make a difference by helping cities become smart, utilities being connected, public safety has a broader reach and more partners, and the carriers are relying on individuals beyond their strong list of partners. We have the opportunity to go beyond the “norm” and into an open distribution system. We can do it, so let’s make the difference today!

Summary:

Do you believe that this could be a game changer? I do! I think that this is going to be the thing that pushed the outer users to 5G and includes them as part of the ecosystem. It’s more than being a customer. It’s becoming a player in your niche. Finally, in wireless, we can all be players in the infrastructure network. We have become an active user and builder of the wireless networks beyond Wi-Fi. It’s exhilarating to me, and I look forward to having all of you as partners in this venture!

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What is Carrier Aggregation?

December 4, 2017 Wade Leave a comment

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Did you ever hear of carrier aggregation and wonder, “What is Carrier Aggregation?”, at least in the wireless world. How does it work and how will it help improve bandwidth and what does it have to do with 5G?

Well, I am so glad you asked! Let’s do this!

Carrier Aggregation, a LTE feature that bonds together multiple carriers to make it look like on big channel or pipe. An excellent explanation can be found at http://www.3gpp.org/technologies/keywords-acronyms/101-carrier-aggregation-explained where they explain in detail how it’s done.

Let me give you the high level of what it is, how it works, and why we love it.

It can be used on TDD or FDD, in fact, the beauty of aggregation is that it crosses formats and puts together into one. This was the foundation for LAA and LWA, (Licensed Assist Access and LTE Wi-Fi aggregation. The key here is that the LTE carrier can use multiple carriers look like one big carrier, regardless of where the bandwidth comes from. This is exciting because we used to be limited to one carrier. Now we can have many carriers all working together to reach higher than 100 Mbps throughput speeds!

How can they do that? Well, in this data-centric world we could use multiple RF sources if both sides can receive and transmit, then the data can be aggregated together. The RF becomes the pipe. The devices must be able to receive all the spectrum to get the benefits.

The best examples are AT&T who was able to use multiple bands to jump from 10.69 Mbps to 15.18 Mbps using carrier aggregation. Sprint can aggregate 3 carriers in the 2.5GHz band to get more throughput than almost anyone on a standard LTE carrier.

We still rely on the coverage to be good. We also need to know that the carrier has aggregation functions enabled. Here in the USA, anyone using LTE has this enabled. If not, get on with it.

The goal is to get past 1Gbps in throughput, and the way to do that is by using the spectrum we have and putting it all together to look like one big pipe. It may need help like massive MIMO and 64 and/or 256 quadrature amplitude modulation, (QAM) to make it happen along with carrier aggregation.

How is this done? Well, according to Carrier Aggregation for dummies, link below, we can use 2 10MHz channels along with 2×2 MIMO to get 150Mbps, then we jump to 4CA, 4 carriers of 10MHz each along with 2×2 MIMO to get 600Mbps of throughput. Awesome! The 600Mbps is happening today and should be out in the real world soon! I can’t wait!

So how is it done? The carrier aggregation is done when the data is controlled by the core and a header is attached to the packets going out to the device so that the device can piece them all back together. The caveat is that the transmitting device must send all the data at the same time and the UE device has to receive, (hear), all the data at the same time. The device will put the blocks all back together, so they look like a huge pipe of data being push into your device! BAM! Big data throughput shoved into those tiny devices over the air!

Let’s simplify, we can take channels of 20MHz, 15MHz, and 5MHz over the air and add carrier aggregation to talk to the device. The device should have two receive antennas, and the transmitter should have two transmit antennas. The data all goes out to the device at the same time, and when the packet is sent, it thinks it is going through a 40 MHz pipe, and this equates to a downlink rate of 300Mbps using 64 QAM using 2×2 MIMO. The 2×2 MIMO is the antennas all working together. The 64 QAM is the modulation rate. Do you feel it? Do you feel the power of aggregation making wireless connections feel more and more like fiber? What was once a spattering of spectrum is slowly becoming a beautiful orchestra all playing together as one solid melody. Again, I wish I could hear the beauty, but all I can do is impress you with a speed test on my smartphone.

Modulation is increasing as 256 QAM is being rolled out, three carrier aggregation is here today, and we are using LTE in conjunction with more spectrum. In theory, using TDD on 2.5GHz should put Sprint in prime position to make the leap to 5G massive broadband in no time, that is, if they can get out of their own way to make that happen. Instead, I see T-Mobile making great things happen with the spectrum they have. There is a company that I wish had more spectrum to pump massive data out to the masses, but let’s put our personal opinions aside.

Do you get what is happening? The shift of new breakthroughs is increasing wireless throughput to improve. I mentioned massive MIMO in an earlier post, I explained TDD and FDD, now you have more on aggregation to show you that the wireless 1Gbps is just around the corner, possibly in 2019.

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Remember when carriers relied on the FCC to release more and more spectrum, that should be less of an issue with aggregation and massive MIMO. We should see new throughputs as well as efficiencies and loading improvements throughout the next several years.

Now, you are wondering why we need this, fair question. This is going to be one more stepping stone to 5G and the throughput requirements that are expected. You see, it is not done with just one leap in technology, it is done in steps. To get to 5G we may need new hardware, but the goal is to put out the box and antennas that will last for over five years, nearly an eternity in technology. If you do not believe me, ask yourself when the last time you got a new smartphone, is it over five years old? Seriously, think about it. Is it over five years old? Why did you get a new one? Nuff said!

So there you have it, yet another leap made towards the 5G massive broadband dream! Aggregation is incredible! It’s being done today! Combine that with massive MIMO, and we have liftoff to the beginning of 1Gbps to every new smart device out there in 2020. Do you feel the power of broadband in your hand! Who needs a cable connection when your smartphone can be the access point in your house. Triple play already exists on your smartphone. With it you can watch Netflix on any device, after all, you don’t want to miss a single episode of Game of Thrones! Binge watch baby, don’t stop! You have unlimited data.

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Will Sprint Shine or Fade?

January 18, 2016 Wade Leave a comment

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I believe most of you see that Sprint has been an interesting story, but the real question is will they shine or fade. Sprint has made a lot of moves only to see their subscriber base shrink. They have done a so-so job marketing and their network has some ups but mostly remains the same. They have made it clear that they only want to grow if someone else pays for it and that they don’t want to spend any money if possible.

So what is Sprint’s next move? Well, there are several, let’s cover the ones that concern the company’s network.

What about the network? That’s what I am interested in. Sprint’s optimization effort really seems to be paying off. They have been making inroads by improving their Rootmetrics scores. For instance, in Austin they were #1 in download speed and tied for #1 in performance, reliability, and calls, per this article. That’s not all. They also got #1 in DC for call performance and network reliability. So Sprint is improving their network as they wind down their optimization effort this year. Now they should start growing their network. It seems like they have trouble doing both.

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So Sprint has handed over the densification project to Mobilitie, who has started growing the network. It appears that they already started with applications being filed in Salem City, Ma, found here. Mobilitie is taking on the task of building and financing the network for Sprint. What a deal for Sprint. I hope Mobilitie has good financing, which I am sure they do. So it appears that Sprint will finally move ahead growing their network. They are finding ways to do it without supporting any of the traditional players in the ecosystem.

How will they do this? Two things come to mind. Sprint announced that they plan to cut over $1B from the budget by running away from tower companies. They really want to get out of their leases with American Tower and Crown Castle, according to this article in ReCode, they intend to get out of those leases and find a cheaper way to do this. Well, let’s look at this, chances are good that they signed long-term leases with this guys so they will have to wait until the lease is up to make a cost-effective move. I know that American Tower leases are tough and binding so Sprint would pay now or pay later, so why be in a hurry. Also, to move will cost money, so will they really move? Does that make sense? It would in the long haul of they can save enough money on the monthly recurring, the OpEx would really go down. However, I think that Sprint is too savvy for that, I think they will let the densification happen on Mobilitie’s dime then start to decommission the macro sites where they can. For one thing, if you talk to anyone at Sprint you realize they have no money to spend except on hiring presidents. The infrastructure needs to limp along for a while longer. So I don’t see any reason for ATC or CC to worry about this immediately.

What else does ReCode bring up? The expensive and horrible contracts that Sprint is in for backhaul. They mention how Sprint is relying on AT&T and Verizon for fiber connections, most of which are probably antiquated anyway. According to the article they spend over $1Billion a year on this. Now, they plan to use microwave again, back to the future? Microwave was quite common but let’s look at this. They still need fiber at the sites to get it back to the core, right? Sprint also should look at expansion, will they pick a microwave vendor that can grow with them? It’s not necessarily the vendor’s limitations. They need to pay more to rent extra space on the tower to add the dishes, they need to make sure that the licensed spectrum is enough for 100Mbps or more of backhaul. Then, the site they are sending it to has to expand to support multiple sites instead of just one. All of this and there needs to be line of site for the link to work properly. Sure, you could go NLOS, near line of site or no line of site technology, but it may not give you the bandwidth you really want from a site. Their maintenance costs might be higher because if they have weather related issues it will mean more dispatches. It will still be cheaper than paying the monthly OpEx for fiber. They have to really think it through, but they have really smart engineers, I am sure that they are very confident that all the pieces will fall into place, right?

So, you may have asked about using in-band for backhaul. I know that this is a major thing with the small cells and mini macro sites because Sprint put it in their RFPs. This is something that Sprint has expressed an interest in using their licensed 2.5GHz spectrum for backhaul. They have plenty of it but will they do this today and stunt the growth for tomorrow? I find it interesting that a company whose CFO said that the chunks of 600MHz spectrum are not enough, article found here, would use the 2.5GHz spectrum for backhaul. It doesn’t make sense to me because he won’t participate in the 600MHz auction because it’s not enough spectrum. They decide not to get some spectrum, in these days of aggregation, and opt for no spectrum. No wonder John LeGere makes fun of these guys. Sprint has plenty of 2.5GHz spectrum to grow but they are slowly rolling it out. They also appear to keep the 3G network up and running for voice for some time while all the other carriers are moving to VoLTE to sunset 3G. On the bright side Sprint should be able to buy used 3G equipment to maintain their system for voice.

They need to be aligned. Marcello Claure has been hiring regional presidents. Very regional and specific, like Johan Chung for Northern California and Nevada, Jim Mills for Illinois and Wisconsin, Conrad Hunter for New England region, and Karen Paletta for New York and Philly Tri-State regions. For more go to their Newsroom site here. Will this pay off? How will they structure this? They have technical VPs that run each region so will these presidents run everything or just sales and marketing? Will they put all of the technical personnel under the same umbrella? I doubt it but I find it interesting to have a president of the South, Jaime Jones, and then a specific president of Georgia, Alabama, and Tennessee, Brian S Miller. That’s a lot of presidents. So if a customer wants to speak to the president, the Sprint rep can say, which one?

So, will Sprint survive or should they merge with T-Mobile? Maybe a cable company (Comcast) should take them over. It would make sense and they definitely need to grow but the heavy debt load that Sprint has really makes them an ugly target, what a shame. One thing I have learned over the past several months is that Sprint appears to be in trouble, financially. They appear to be bleeding subscribers but I think that’s because T-Mobile is growing their network and aggressively rolling out and their marketing campaign is changing the industry. Good for T-Mobile.

How did Sprint get here, I really don’t know, but if you call PNC Bank maybe they will connect you to Dan Hesse who sits on the board there now, maybe he has some answers.

It takes money and a good plan to run a network like this. It is not an easy thing. There are 3 carriers who appear to be doing it right and one who consistently struggles, why is that? I hope that Marcelo Claure and Softbank can turn Sprint around. It may be painful and maybe they can be disrupting enough to be a game changer. We’ll see.

I really want Sprint to succeed and become healthy again, sooner than later, but they really need to start moving in a positive direction soon. Maybe they already are and I just don’t see it.

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LWA, LAA, LTE-U and Wi-Fi

September 8, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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Smartphones love bandwidth! Any argument? Smartphones want more bandwidth, actually, the users love the bandwidth, the phone just want to keep up and avoid having the user throw it on the floor. Am I right? Did you ever sit there a scream at your phone because it did not perform well? Hey, don’t get mad, try to be understanding that the networks will get better. Maybe they can tap off the free spectrum until they get better.

Fist off the carrier wants to keep the customer on their system. licensed carrier, as long as they can to eat up the data the customer pays for every month. But the customer complaints and the loading is getting crazy so now they see they need to get a solution that includes Wi-Fi.

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So the OEMs had to figure out a way to get LTE and Wi-Fi to play nice together. Really it was Qualcomm and Ericsson who came up with the plan, and they have several different ways to do it. Qualcomm figured out that if you could put LTE in a license free environment then it would play nice with LTE. The OEMs like the thought of carrier aggregation where they can can make multiple carriers look like one, more or less, in the UE device. This makes the sharing much more efficient in this day of bandwidth constraints. Whether you think it’s good or bad, let’s look over the different options.

By the way, most of these will likely be used in a small cell environment, usually inside a building or a stadium where the heaviest data usage happens. I would expect this to be used out on the street unless it’s like a city street with outside seating. Solving the bandwidth crisis can be done in more ways than just adding spectrum. It’s just that some carrier don’t think densifying, (densification), the network is worth the money but it may be a great way to solve the spectrum crisis. It seems like the larger carriers get it and they already added Macro, oDAS, and small cells to make this happen. So when you read that a carrier is going to run out of spectrum, look at the system end to end, open up your eyes!

For the sake of this article, I am going to talk about LTE on the carrier. I think that 3G will go away within the next 3 years in the USA if certain carriers can get off their bums and start building LTE in time for 5G to be released!

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Wi-Fi boost – this is there the Wi-Fi provides the bulk of the downlink and the LTE carrier provides the bulk of the upload while providing little download to clean up the spectrum. Pros are if the Wi-Fi is clean you can use all the bandwidth to carry data, for instance if you are in your home with no interference and the kids aren’t streaming music. The con is if you are competing for bandwidth or the backhaul stinks or if there is interference on the Wi-Fi, then there are issues. This works with your existing Wi-Fi, it’s just an upgrade the carrier has to do on their system and a software upgrade in your Smartphone. Actually, this is very similar to what they do today with the Wi-Fi handoff. There have been many issues with handing off from Wi-Fi to the carrier and back again, but it is getting better than ever with everything except voice. I am sure someday that will be solved as well.

LWA – LTE Wi-Fi Aggregation – so here is where it is the same as above but the LTE adds a carrier for download, hence the aggregation. This will need the carrier to upgrade the small cell but the bandwidth is increased even more to the device. This may require an upgrade to the Wi-Fi AP. LWA likes to have the Wi-Fi and LTE together, at this time, for synchronization purposes. This will change as evolution happens. I believe this would need to be a new device for the end-user but maybe a firmware upgrade will do it, I am not clear on this right now. An overview here.

LTE-U – this is literally running the LTE format in the Wi-Fi spectrum. Why is this great when we already have Wi-Fi? It makes the handoff to the LTE carrier much more efficient for the RAN. This is what the carriers like because it ties into the carrier aggregation plans that they already have and the UE will see it, in theory, as another LTE carrier, not as a different technology. It is much simpler to do in the UE device.

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LAA – Licenses Assisted Access works with LTE-U, LTE Unlicensed. This is not your father’s Wi-Fi, it is something new altogether that must learn to coexist with Wi-Fi, and so it is not Wi-Fi at all. It is literally LTE transmitted in a license free band, could be in sub 6GHz in the USA. In theory, it could have 2 to 5 times the throughput of Wi-Fi along with better coverage. This is all new equipment. Truly a Greenfield deployment. This would be a new user device, (new chipset). A good explanation here.

MuLTEfire – which is Qualcomm’s new offering where LTE could be completely unlicensed, let’s say something like 3.5GHz, but could also work with the licensed band. Qualcomm is always thinking about how to make better wireless chips. They know they need to build in the WOW factor. I have to admit, I said wow! I see great possibilities with new bands that are lightly licensed because they could open up new markets for backhaul and other last mile services. Remember that 5G is moving ahead and will be here in 5 years or less, Probably arriving around 2020.

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Wi-Fi, LTE, LTE-U, and Aggregation

August 10, 2015 Wade Leave a comment

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That’s right, everyone was thinking that LTE and Wi-Fi would compete against each other for center stage in deployments. I know that the carriers favor licensed bands but the customer want bandwidth, they don’t care how they get it. They don’t want to pay too much for the connection either. So here is there the love story begins. They have a common bond, bandwidth for the user. This is something that anyone with a Smartphone loves, bandwidth!

I am hoping to get this out at a time when T-Mobile is making the push for VoWiFi along with the VoLTE. They really seem to moving ahead at full steam with this and I am impressed. Kudos to the OEMs working with them which I think is Ericsson, Nokia, and Cisco. I am sure there are more involved but the way this is rolling out in the urban areas is really impressive! Verizon Wireless has the capability to do VoLTE and it works well. I think the end game is to sunset the 3G network. Not many people are willing to pay more for VoLTE. Sure, it may sound better, but would you pay to sound better? I don’t think that most people would. I think that the real goal is to shut down the 3G system and save all that money. That is my opinion.

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I congratulate T-Mobile for pushing the envelope with Voice over Wi-Fi, (VoWiFi). They are realizing how hard it is but they did it and it works! Who knew LTE would push the unification of Wi-Fi bands and the licensed bands even closer. That VoWiFi would be the rage after VoLTE. Actually, in Wade’s World, I see the cable companies pushing VoWiFi because they have it deployed everywhere. What a concept! I can’t wait until we see Wi-Fi only smart phones. We actually have Wi-Fi only tablets that can use apps, like Skype, to make calls over Wi-Fi. This was going to be a solution early on for the carriers with LTE, to have an app make the call, but there were too many issues, especially if there is an emergency, but I don’t know much more about why it didn’t succeed.

This was very hard to research, at least for me, it just gets so confusing and I have yet to find one document that can really explain all of this without crossing lines and adding confusion. Even the Mobile Broadband Evolutions document found here didn’t add much clarity for me. I read this and I think to myself that I used to be an engineer, now I can’t even spell E-N-G-I-N-E-E-R without getting a headache.

If you’re wondering why this is going to happen, then you might not realize that the data demands of the public are crazy! Everyone is using more and more data on their devices. Why shouldn’t they? I mean there was a day when we had to “plug-in” to do anything. There was a day when the only reason to get on a computer was to work. Now, look at all the online communities and all the apps and Facebook. It’s a crazy world full of data demands that will only get worse as people want to watch more and more streaming video on their devices. It’s already happening! Remember when we thought gaming would sink the network, well, let’s look at video. It’s very demanding but only the tip of the iceberg!

So the OEMs had to figure out a way to get LTE and Wi-Fi to play nice together. Really it was Qualcomm who came up with the plan, (with some help from Ericsson), and they have several different ways to do it. Whether you think it’s good or bad, let’s look over the different options.

By the way, most of these will likely be used in a small cell environment, usually inside a building or a stadium where the heaviest data usage happens. I would expect this to be used out on the street unless it’s like a city street with outside seating. This really covers the licensed band sharing the load with the unlicensed band. They will be working together. Now remember that the backhaul is still an issue, so if the Wi-Fi and the carrier share the backhaul then there is a new bottleneck that could constrain data. Just keep that in the back of your mind when reading this.

Wi-Fi offloading – this is how it is currently being done, basically you offload the data to the Wi-Fi if you have coverage. If you make a call or if there is no readily available Wi-Fi, then you use the carrier’s bands.

Wireless Unified Networks or Wi-Fi Integration – Think of Wi-Fi as it is now just working with LTE as a partner. Alcatel-Lucent calls this Wi-Fi boost and Cellular boost. Wi-Fi could provide the bulk of the downlink and the LTE carrier provides the bulk of the upload while providing little download to clean up the spectrum. This would require no change to Wi-Fi as we know it today. Pros are if the Wi-Fi is clean you can use all the bandwidth to carry data, for instance if you are in your home with no interference and the kids aren’t streaming video. The con is if you are competing for bandwidth or the backhaul stinks or if there is interference on the Wi-Fi, then there are issues. This works with your existing Wi-Fi, it’s just an upgrade the carrier has to do on their system and a software upgrade in your Smartphone. This would be up to the carrier to make the changes on their network, the way I understand it.

LWA – LTE & Wi-Fi Aggregation – so here is where it is the similar to the above but the LTE adds a carrier for download, hence the aggregation. This will need the carrier to upgrade the small cell but the bandwidth is increased even more to the device. This may require an upgrade to the Wi-Fi AP. LWA likes to have the Wi-Fi and LTE together, at this time, for synchronization purposes. This will change as evolution happens. I believe this would need to be a new or upgraded device for the end-user, (maybe a firmware upgrade will do it), I am not clear on this right now. Pros are that the speeds should be great and that the Wi-Fi can remain the same. Cons are that the UE needs to be upgraded or changed out. This is being trialed as we speak by carriers and OEMs.

LTE-U – LTE Unlicensed – This is going to work on its own or with LAA, so I thought I would give a brief overview. This works in the 5.8GHz unlicensed band. You know, where Wi-Fi resides. To be clear, it ain’t Wi-Fi but the LTE protocol that must learn to coexist with Wi-Fi. It is literally LTE transmitted in a license free band, probably in the 5.8GHz band in the USA. In theory, it could have 2 to 5 times the throughput of Wi-Fi along with better coverage. The Wi-Fi advocates are worried about interference, which I think is funny because Wi-Fi coverage and interference causing quality issues, so seriously, this is the argument? I know it has listen before talk, but anyone who worked on Wi-Fi and sees about 8 other hotspots in the same area has to realize that interference is there whether you admit it or not. Did you ever try to connect in a train station or airport? Look at all the hotspots on your smart phone and just think that they are all trying to coexist in that one area. To me the one company that I know of that made a great inroad in the problem is Ruckus with their smart antenna technology, pretty cool that they control the signal based on interference. Ruckus has more information here.

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LAA – Licensed Assisted Access works with LTE-U, LTE Unlicensed. This is all new equipment, so the investment is in hardware as well as software. Truly a Greenfield deployment, the way I see it anyway. The Wi-Fi access point would be replaced with the LTE-U access point, therefore no Wi-Fi, just LTE in unlicensed bands. This would require a new user device, (new chipset). There are also many issues with how it would co-exist with Wi-Fi. Ericsson has an entire presentation here. The theory is that with carrier aggregation the uplinks and downlinks would all work together in sharing the load. This way you appear to have an awesome pipe, so much data passing through multiple bands that all appear to be one pipe. WOW!

MuLTEfire – which is Qualcomm’s new offering where LTE could be completely unlicensed, but could also work with the licensed band, I really don’t know. It’s very new. Qualcomm is always thinking about how to make better wireless chips. They know they need to build in the WOW factor. I have to admit, I said wow! I see great possibilities with new bands that are lightly licensed because they could open up new markets for backhaul and other last mile services. Remember that 5G is moving ahead and will be here in 5 years or less, Probably arriving around 2020 in time for 5G.

At some point Qualcomm is going to have to pick one or two, but it appears they have all their bases covered, I mean how many more options will they create? Will they promote all of these? I have no idea but Dr Paul Jacobs at Qualcomm probably has a pretty good plan.

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I am no expert and this is something that takes some more research. I am learning so much about bringing it all together. The one thing that is really going to help is carrier aggregation. The carriers are trying to make the spectrum they have become more efficient. That is also the theory around densification, it has to add so much value and when spectrum costs billions, yes billions, then you need to figure out how to get the biggest bang for each Mega hertz.

So as you can imagine there are Wi-Fi groups who are not happy about this, I mean after all, Wi-Fi has been around forever and they are constantly updating the Wi-Fi protocol to make it faster and more efficient. I am impressed with how they constantly improve what they have. They have done all they could to make it better for the carriers. They probably worry that LTE-U may replace it. I would think that there is so much Wi-Fi out there that this probably won’t happen. The way I see it, if Verizon Wireless has their way they will be using LTE-U all over so they can improve the customer experience without buying any more bandwidth than they need to.

I hope that helps you figure out what is going on out there. This is moving ahead very quickly but the carriers will test it before releasing it. That doesn’t mean there won’t be bugs but they will make sure it doesn’t affect their systems. To gain more information go to http://blog.3g4g.co.uk/2014/07/la-lte-and-laa.html for great input on this subject. Nokia has more information. You can download Nokia’s presentation here. Another good link, http://www.fiercewireless.com/tech/story/4-standards-cooking-lte-unlicensed-fcc-tech-chief-asks-more-details-verizon/2015-08-05?utm_medium=nl&utm_source=internal.

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I am putting a small cell handbook together, it should be out soon. It will be geared towards deployment but a good reference overall. It will have most of what I post but also some extra notes is it. If your interested, feel free to sign up for my newsletter below.

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I am putting a small cell handbook together, it should be out soon. It will be geared towards deployment but a good reference overall. It will have most of what I post but also some extra notes is it. If your interested, feel free to sign up for my newsletter below.

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