Mobile Network Capacity and Performance

With all the focus on LTE, LTE-Advanced and now 5G, it is easy to forget that High Speed Packet Access (HSPA/HSPA+), based on 3G WCDMA, is still the dominant mobile broadband technology worldwide. In February 2014, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) reported that all WCDMA operators had launched HSPA, with 547 networks providing access to… Read more

One of the major features of LTE-Advanced is Carrier Aggregation, which allows mobile network operators to combine a number of separate LTE carriers. This enables them to increase the peak user data rates and overall capacity of their networks and to exploit fragmented spectrum allocations. I introduced the fundamentals of Carrier Aggregation in a previous… Read more

One of the tools in the LTE toolbox of radio features is Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antennas. MIMO enables radio systems to achieve significant performance gains by using multiple antennas at their transmitters and receivers. In my Facts and figures on HSPA+, LTE and LTE-Advanced I comment that LTE-Advanced uses base stations and mobile… Read more

In the quest for new spectrum to support the growth in mobile data traffic, some of the more commonly discussed possibilities include the release of spectrum from other services, exploitation of unlicensed bands, and moving to higher frequencies. Another interesting option is dynamic access to TV white space spectrum. The nature of terrestrial TV broadcast… Read more

Here in the UK, where LTE services are still in their infancy, it feels premature to be looking forward to the fifth generation of mobile networks. However, in recent months there has been a significant increase in activity related to 5G. There has also been a flurry of misleading hype referring to LTE-Advanced (which strictly… Read more

In the first few months of 2013 there have been signs that LTE Carrier Aggregation (CA) is coming to fruition, with a series of announcements of demonstrations, trials and launch plans by network operators and equipment manufacturers. Here are some examples: Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Sierra Wireless provided the first public demonstration of LTE Carrier Aggregation at Mobile… Read more

One of the major themes of 3GPP Release 12 (due for completion in 2014) is enhanced support for small cells in LTE. With mobile network traffic expected to increase dramatically over the coming years, the ability to reuse spectrum many times in dense usage areas will make small cells crucial. In a previous post on… Read more

As we have regularly discussed in this blog, WiFi offloading is an important mechanism to curtail the traffic demands on mobile networks. With relatively limited deployment of LTE in many markets, WiFi offers significant benefits for smartphone users, in terms of speed, usage allowances and costs. Devicescape has just reported the results of a smartphone… Read more

In his wireless blog, Mark Heath reports on early measurements of one of the first real LTE networks. With the first LTE networks now being deployed, we will, over the coming months, begin to get a better view of realistic performance levels, based on live measurements. However, since all LTE networks will be under-utilised to… Read more