A Primer on LTE – link on wikipedia

Our post on “A Primer on LTE” is now referenced on wikipedia on the main LTE page :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Term_Evolution

Let us know your feedback. Thanks for the excellent feedback on a similar post on “Primer on WiMAX” and referenced on wikipedia on the main WiMAX page.

A Primer on LTE

LTE or Long Term Evolution is a 4G wireless technology and is considered the next in line in the GSM evolution path after UMTS/HSPDA 3G technologies. LTE is espoused and standardized via the 3GPP or 3rd Generation Partnership Project members. 3GPP is a global telecommunications consortium having members in most GSM dominant countries. 3GPP specifications are based on GSM evolution path of wireless communications. GSM is the most prevalent wireless standard in the world and has maximum number of subscribers globally.

The impact of LTE is so big that even powerful carriers which were on the alternate CDMA path like Verizon Wireless of United States, have decided to go with LTE in their next generation 4G evolution. Firms like Verizon and MetroPCS of USA have all but dumped the CDMA technology path almost dealing a blow to the CDMA owner Qualcomm, although the latter is much more diversified so it is not really short of business models.

LTE vs WiMAX
Whereas WiMAX emerged from the WiFi IP paradigm, LTE is a result of the classic GSM technology path. LTE is behind in the race to 4G with WiMAX getting an early lead with the likes of Sprint ClearWire and several operators in Asia opting to go with WiMAX in the near term. So where WiMAX has a speed to market advantage, LTE has massive adoption and GSM parenthood to back it up.

It is widely believed by market analysts that LTE will win ultimately but WiMAX will find adoption in frontrunner communities and niche business models which tend to take up technology faster. WiMAX vendors will have you believe that speed to market is too important to ignore. History suggests otherwise in case of wireless industry. It is also believed that ultimately, wireless industry will figure out a way to wed the two 4G technologies so the end product in few years might be a nice amalgam.

So ultimately, what standard an operator uses might be a moot point in the long run. The inter-operability would be just too great to get hung up on the wireless standard. The fact that both WiMAX and LTE are all-IP means that a cross-connection will be a piece of cake at some point in future.

In terms of speed, Fixed WiMAX lacks LTE in speed but Mobile WiMAX may catch up with LTE on this front. For an overview on WiMAX, refer to our post “A Primer on WiMAX“.

LTE Technology
LTE builds on 3GPP family which includes GSM, GPRS, EDGE, WCDMA, HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) etc. LTE is an all-IP standard like its peer WiMAX. LTE allows for rich applications and business models which include ultra-high speed voice, video and data. It also enables integration with the classic internet infrastructure which is all-IP based.

HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), the 3G GSM standard popular over near-term, offers uplink speeds of 11.5 MBPS and downlink of 28 MBPS. Whereas LTE offers 75-100 MBPS Uplink speeds and 250-300 MBPS downlink speeds. Compare this with 20 MBPS U-verse speeds of AT&T wired broadband network U-verse and 50 MBPS speeds in Verizon FIOS TV service. In a nutshell, LTE will beat the fastest wired broadband delivery High Def TV today (in USA) by order of 1 to 4 or 1 to 2 depending on which wired broadband we are talking about. That said, many carriers like AT&T believe that HSPA and its faster cousin HSPA+ will compare well with early WiMAX speeds and so there is no rush to LTE yet for these kind of carriers.

Some key characteristics of LTE are described below :

• Increased Data Rates and High Efficiency : LTE is based on OFDM Radio Access technology and MIMO antenna technology (just like its cousin WiMAX) which offer excellent modulation technique for achieving powerful spectral efficiency.  Think of the OFDM wireless spectrum as a series of very fine and narrow wireless  bands and each band gets allocated to various service providers.  LTE offers higher data transmission rates while utilizing the spectrum more efficiently. This translates to an ability to support many more multitude of subscribers than is possible with pre-4G spectral frequencies. LTE is 2 to 5 times more efficient in spectrum utilization than the most advanced 3G networks.
• Radio Planning : LTE signal goes far and wide and covers a larger geographic territory. LTE signal is way faster than the existing wireless transmission resulting in higher user response times.
• IP environment : LTE is all-IP which permits new enhanced applications like real time voice, video, gaming, social networking and location-based services.  The concept of wireless ubiquity comes alive with LTE processor chips in everything from netbooks to mobile phones to consumer devices; all these devices talk to each other seamlessly and effortlessly.
• Inter-operability : LTE IP network co-operates with circuit-switched legacy networks resulting in a seamless network environment and signals are exchanged between traditional networks, the new 4G network and the IP-based internet seamlessly.

LTE Applications
LTE will enable applications previously unheard of. Wireless ubiquity is a given. All consumer devices. communication and computing resources may be enabled on the wireless network courtesy of chipmakers like Intel who are eagerly building in WiMAX and LTE in future chipsets which will be embedded in all sorts of technology devices that one can imagine.  Social Networking and human-technology interaction (HTI) will take on a new meaning. Human-technology interface and resultant communication could be as seamless and as effortless as the Tom Cruise movie Minority Report makes it out to be (ok we are bragging a bit now).

Web 4.0, if you will, may just comprise the Wireless as an integral element of the hyper-connected world via LTE and WiMAX enablement.  Broadband TV might not need wired cables anymore and new MVNO service providers may emerge who enable wirelessly driven TV and broadband internet. Business users might exchange massive amounts of data while on the go at the flick of a button (or touch). Interacting with your Flickr and Picasas photo streams from mobile devices might be a breeze. Games will cross wired / wireless domains and mobile location will figure in the gaming context naturally. Location-based may take a new meaning with location being the true IP beacon determining the application context in a flash, thereby offering a ultra-personalized mobile experience to the user.

LTE Timeline
Operators are just now fully deploying 3G using WCDMA or UMTS/HSPDA. WiMAX is coming in via ClearWire in USA and several operators like BSNL in India and many others in Middle East and Africa. The first LTE deployment in USA is with relatively tiny MetroPCS which may just beat the big 3 LTE carriers (AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile) in the race to 4G. Verizon is claiming 2010 LTE deployment and AT&T is taking a more patient approach and states that LTE is in 2011-12 timeframe. China is unique, as usual. They have taken the TD-SCDMA 3G route which is a “unique to China” standard.  Chinese 4G strategy is not clear still. India is more LTE centric like the West with major carriers like Airtel and Vodafone adopting the LTE route. LTE in India is many years away as India’s regulator TRAI has not even awarded the 3G spectrum licenses yet.

Japan, we won’t even go there..

A Primer on WiMAX – see our post referenced on wikipedia

Our article on “A Primer on WiMAX” was liked so much that a link to it was created on wikipedia under Notes and References section of the main WiMAX page :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WiMAX

Thanks to the team or individual who put our post on wikipedia. So we have decided to create “A Primer on LTE”. LTE is the competing 4G technology and coming a little later than WiMAX. Stay tuned for the LTE primer on this blog.

4G still ways off

In spite of the massive 4G hoopla the world over, our estimate suggests that LTE-based 4G is still a good bit ways off. We expect 2011 when we see some sporadic strength in 4G business models where real money starts coming in with customer adoption. Although carriers like Verizon, Sprint, MetroPCS in USA and others in Europe and Asia are planning LTE based 4G launches beginning this year, customer adoption may remain low and return on 4G investment will take time. 2012 is a good bet where we see LTE 4G beginning to take hold.

Till then, the “other” 4G technology ie WiMAX does have a time to market advantage. We expect substantial uptake in WiMAX until LTE comes around. However, we think that ClearWire and Sprint (and telecom equipment makers) will ultimately find a way to marry WiMAX and LTE and in 5-10 years we may have either a single dominant standard or at least cooperating WiMAX and LTE environment where devices and networks communicate at the IP layer easily.

As to 3G, China has just now come out with 3G licenses and countries like India are way behind on 3G – the license auction for 3G in India got postponed to later this year due to economic turmoil and upcoming General Elections. So WiMAX and LTE on a mass scale still look like distant dreams. Fact is that 3G and HSPDA is very good for many high speed apps which the customers want today. The business models around 4G are not even visualized so far. Of course all our thoughts exclude countries like Japan and Korea – where wireless is generations ahead….

Top Trends in Mobile Space

Next 2-3 will see radical changes happening in mobile space, making smartphones, netbooks and yet-to-be introduced devices even more indispensable parts of our lives. Here I am quoting ( from CIO Zone) some of the developments in US and will also try to give my views from India’s persective that will power this next phase of evolution?

Long Term Evolution (LTE)

The so-called fourth generation of mobile (4G) is expected to be rolled out across North America over the next three years, making it possible for corporate users to run business applications on their devices simultaneously with Voice over IP (VoIP) capabilities. Where as in India 3G is yet to roll out for masses. People are eagerly waiting for the same as slowly people are switching on to smart 3G phones.

WiMax

As LTE and WiMax networks are deployed in the U.S. through 2012, expect to see more netbooks and laptops equipped with built-in radio frequency identification (RFID) and wireless support. We sometimes get queries in India for development of applications in healthcare etc. but simple are not able to serve these clients due to unavailability of wimax infrastructure India wide.

3G & 4G interoperability

Sprint has developed a dual mode card which will enable mobile device users to work on both 3G and 4G networks. Other carriers are expected to follow suit.

Smartphone applications

Third-party software vendors will increasingly make enterprise applications available for smartphones, including inventory management, electronic medical records management, warehousing, distribution and even architectural and building inspection data for the construction industry.

GPS

Global Positioning Systems will increasingly be used to identify end users by their whereabouts and also to analyze route optimization for delivery workers and service technicians.

Security

As new and different types of mobile devices are introduced, corporate IT departments will find it increasingly challenging to identify and authenticate individual end users. As such, expect to see a combination of improvements in both Virtual Private Network (VPN) software and hardware-based VPNs to support multiple device types.

Tody, I was in Nokia Forum and there I came to know that last year, they had selected an pplication in International level competition where in with the use of cell-phone, you can convert your television into a touch screen device. These are the kinds of technologies that will change the world and bring all kinds of functionality of operating virtually anything, right in the hands of the mobile device owner.

Forget Cell Towers…

Yes, you read it right…

Forget Celltowers… This will be the mantra of companies for reducing the company costs of deployment and maintenance of huge celltowers.

World is undergoing a recession…many well established companies are going and many have already gone bankrupt like the most recent Lehman Brothers. Also, many companies around the world are cutting costs by cutting down their man power around the world…

Seeing all this, it is very clear that in times to come, telecom companies too will follow the same route with continually decreasing voice and data rates and thus, decreasing margins.

In my opinion, to reduce costs, telecom companies would some how like to pass on more and more costs to the consumers and what better way will there be, then to pass on the cell tower costs to consumers. WHAAT??? Cell tower costs to consumers…Am I joking here!!! NO…I am not. It’s easily possible…

HOW? Ofcourse by using femtocells technology that will be used when 4G comes into play provided by LTE (Long Term Evolution). Now people may ask…What is that??? For this…you may like to see one of my earlier posts in this blog on femtocells and additionally…you may want to read the white paper on Femtocells written by our company experts.

To tell you briefly…how it will minimise the cost to companies, I would like to mention that femtocells will eradicate the network costs and also eliminate some, if not all, problems of backhaul that stymie 4G networks. It seems theoretical now, but when LTE comes in…people will be able to get whooping speeds of upto 150Mbps. Femtocells are small devices which can be installed by a group of houses or even a single house as a stand alone unit. It costs miniscule in comparison to a celltower and maintenance costs too are almost nill.

It’s already being deployed in US, Europe and since recently, idea is being explored by Russians too and looking for good vendors to supply them the same so that they don’t get left behind. Even I came in contact with some people who are looking to deploy these femtocells asap…mainly because of these reasons i.e. costs less, give better connectivity and last but not the least can be great where houses are in congested spaces and tower signals there, are weak or compeletly missing.

But inspite of having said all of the above…I do feel that it will remain a complimentary technology in 4G and not all countries will be able to shift so fast to femtocells…so we will still see the cell towers for some years to come…

Vishal

WiMAX, LTE and HSPA set to revolutionize the way we communicate and access information

The one-day seminar on Wireless Test World took place here in Bangalore, India on Friday. Experts noted that the world was set to step into an age of ubiquitous wireless networking with the advent of WiMAX, LTE and HSPA.

These high-speed technologies will not only revolutionize the way we communicate and access information, but also provide opportunities for previously impossible product and services, said Sunil Motwani, General Manager, Electronics Measurement Group, Agilent Technologies India Ltd.

The event was organized by Agilent Technologies, the world’s premier test and measurement company and a technology leader in communications and electronics. Various next-generation wireless and broadband technologies were showcased at the event.

Vishal

Mobile Backhaul Network

Attended a webinar today on Mobile backhaul networks conducted by Wireless Week magazine (www.wirelessweek.com). There is plenty of debate on what kind of backhaul works best for emerging 4G wireless techs ie WiMAX or LTE. Folks from Juniper and France Telecom/Orange and some others argue that an IP/MPLS (Multi-protocol Label Switching) backbone is a great solution for a broadband mobile backhaul. Their reasoning :

• MPLS is good mobile back haul for 2G, 3G,  LTE and WIMAX with both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic
  • Supports flexible connectivity and configuration models
• MPLS is future proof due to its flexibility
  • Can support whatever 4G networks come up with
• Mobile backhaul requires flexibility due to other reasons as well
  • Many technologies co-exist
  • Multiple deployment scenarios co-exist

MPLS has delivered in landline networks. It is adaptable and hence a good candidate for mobile backhaul. One does not know how mobile backhaul evolves so it is better to position a flexible tech like MPLS for mobile backhaul to accommodate the various configurations which 4G folks come up with.

Our take – Juniper and similar firms have invested heavily in MPLS equipment, so this standard fits them naturally. If we talked to the WiMAX equipment folks, they would like a wireless WiMAX-based backhaul. Fiber manufacturers would like a predominance of a fiber-based backhaul. Really, all of these are viable backhaul solutions.

MT

4G technology comparison

Here we provide a simple technology comparison for various 4G technologies in mobile space. Hope you find this useful.

3G/4G Technology	Maximum Speed	Availability	Pros	Most Popular in
HSPA+	28 Mbps	2008-09	Available now, GSM evolution path, software upgrade only, 3G	global GSM deployments
WiMAX	70 Mbps	2008-09	Available Now, 4G	Asia, Middle East (regionalized deployments), Sprint (USA)  – tentative
LTE	150 Mbps (OEM trials)	2010-11	GSM evolution path, 4G, 80% of global wireless carriers have GSM	global (most larger carriers)
UMB	280 Mbps (theoretical)	2009-10	CDMA evolution path, 4G	Poor adoption

 

 

A Primer on WiMAX

This is our first content post. We thought we will start with something which is a hot topic nowadays in wireless world everywhere. This has to do with whether the new WiMAX technology is going to make it or not.

Well – we have seen many obituaries written on WiMAX. But it seems to persist in large pockets of the world and there are real projects being done and real money being made in WiMAX. Some of the large installations include Unwired in Australia which started with a Navini Networks (now Cisco) solution way back in 2003. Unwired is a large wireless broadband provider in some metros in Australia and has done fairly well with a WiMAX strategy. Reliance, Airtel and Tata all are deploying regional WiMAX in various metros of India. We see projects in Middle East, Sprint’s Xohm service trials in United States, several projects in Latin America. So next time somebody tells me that WiMAX is a dying technology, I take it with a pinch of salt.

What is WiMAX

WiMAX (worldwide interoperability for microwave access) is a 4G wireless technology having service capabilities in regulated and unregulated spectrum (though our customers and OEM partners are slowly moving away from using WiMAX in unregulated spectrum).  WiMAX comes from IP / microwave side similar to its cousin WiFi (which is from IP world) as opposed to HSPA, GPRS and UMTS which are GSM flavors of 2.5G/3G wireless tech. The 4G version in GSM evolution path is LTE (Long Term Evolution) – something which is two years away but gaining traction with largest mobile operators in the world eg AT&T and Verizon in USA have announced intention to adopt LTE rather than try WiMAX. But WiMAX has a first mover advantage as it is available with large OEM and vendor support. So many folks around the world are trying this rather than wait out for a full-blown LTE rollout in another 2 years or so.

Why WiMAX

WiMAX allows speeds of 2-4 Mbps in early trials on the downlink and 1-2 Mbps on the uplink in wireless communications from mobile phones, laptops, WiMAX CPE (customer modems) etc, in effect matching the DSL or lower end cable modem speeds of today. WiMAX offers personal broadband to folks who want high speed wireless connectivity anywhere, anytime. Of course one needs WiMAX compatible chip sets in laptops or WiMAX enabled phones for the mobility aspect of it. For home or office use, WiMAX can be deployed as a modem (called a CPE or customer premise equipment) inside or outside a home or building. WiMAX equipment can communicate with WiMAX base stations in cell towers several miles away without signal degradation. As a result, we are talking about high speed wireless mobile TV, multimedia gaming, streaming media, P2P apps, VOIP etc.

WiMAX standards are administered by a body called the WiMAX Forum which describes WiMAX as “a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL”.

WiMAX offers non- line-of-sight communication between Base Station and the customer CPE which is a great practical advantage and makes it a viable competitor to DSL or cable.

WiMAX Technology

There are two flavors of WiMAX – Fixed WiMAX and Mobile WiMAX – they are based on IEEE 802.16d and 802.16e specification respectively. In simple terms, Fixed WiMAX allows a cable or DSL line substitute but no mobility or roaming between cells. Mobile WiMAX allows mobility and handoff between Base Stations so can operate like a true wireless network.

Typically, WiMAX is being deployed in the 2.5-2.7 GHz range in USA and 3.3-3.5 GHz range in Europe and Asia but there are exceptions to this rule.

WiMAX involves the following equipment – Base Stations on cell towers and CPE or customer premise equipment or receivers. CPE are similar to our DSL modems or cable modems or can be externally installed equipments. In-building/In-home WiMAX modems promise to revolutionize broadband access for homes and businesses and serve as a compelling replacement for DSL or cable internet subscribers.

Intel has made available WiMAX chips in laptops (though we hear different versions as to level of interest of Intel in this area). As to mobile phones, several mobile phone manufacturers have announced intention to make WiMAX phones in large numbers.

WiMAX is a last mile wireless access solution. It needs a backhaul network or the core transmission over a large area – the backhaul can be T1 lines from local TELCOs, line-of-sight WiMAX towers themselves or even satellite communications for remote areas. WiMAX does require more advanced backhaul than traditional wireless networks hence fiber-based backhaul or microwave point-to-point backhaul is very appropriate for WiMAX.

Other 4G technologies

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is the most prominent threat to WiMAX technology. LTE is the 4G flavor of GSM evolution path and hence more likeable by GSM carriers and some major CDMA vendors around the world. Since GSM is the dominant standard in the world in wireless networks, LTE is seen as a likely winner in 4G space especially among large operators around the world. Mobile WiMAX has had trials in 10Mbps range (over a 10Km distance) but Nokia has done trials of LTE in which it has achieved 100 Mbps data transfer speeds with LTE equipment.

UMB or Ultra Mobile Broadband is the CDMA version of 4G developed by Qualcomm which also promotes the CDMA standard. Verizon Wireless, the giant CDMA operator in United States, shocked the world when it announced an intention to migrate to LTE instead of UMB in the 4G evolution. Verizon may still go the UMB-way; we will see how this plays out. UMB can achieve the same speeds as LTE for wireless broadband access.

Interested in more on WiMAX and LTE..stay tuned for further posts and CellStrat white papers which will discuss this topic more extensively. Meanwhile we would love to get your thoughts or feedback on this interesting new space..

TR