LTE

LTE/LTE-A

LTE/LTE-A (long term evolution/long term evolution-advanced) is a fourth-generation (4G) mobile communication technology recognised by the ITU/ITU-R. (The ITU recognises two 4G technologies: LTE-A and Wimax-A (wirelessMAN-advanced); see Recommendation ITU-R M.2012). LTE/LTE-A is based on OFDM (orthogonal frequency division multiplexing) to be able to offer more flexibility and very high efficiency. LTE/LTE-A enables minimum data rates of 100 MBit/s (downlink) and 50 MBit/s (uplink) with end-to-end latency times of less than 10 ms. LTE/LTE-A also provides an all-IP network architecture.

Ongoing standardisation activities cover a range of additional improvements aimed at increasing data capacity even further:

• multiple input multiple output (MIMO): the use of multiple antennas at both the transmitter and the receiver for wireless communications;
• carrier aggregation (CA): aggregating several channels in order to achieve higher data rates;
• femtocells: short-range mobile stations similar to WLAN access points.

The specifications for LTE/LTE-A are drawn up by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project). 3GPP's specifications are converted by ETSI into harmonised European standards, which in turn are transposed into national standards by the national standardisation bodies (in Germany DIN/DKE).