Thursday 21 February 2013

Understanding What Is LTE Technology

By Harry Noris


A great many people are wondering what is LTE. This growing technology is officially known as 3GPP Long Term Evolution for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (3GPP UMT LTE). The wifi broadband technology is designed to allow roaming internet access for handheld devices, such as mobile phones, tablets and laptops. It has been devised with a number of advantages over the former mobile communication standards. The forum accountable for its evolvement and uniformity is the Third Generation (3G) Partnership Project.

The 3GPP was implemented during December of 1998. Its contributors belong to internationally based telecommunications companies which are known as the Organisational Partners. The initial remit of the 3GPP was to develop 3G mobile phone systems which were universally applicable. Since its inception, the scope of its obligations have increased.

Presently, the 3GPP is accountable for maintaining and developing three main technological sectors. Between them are the GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communications), which contains the development of radio access technologies. It is also accountable for the evolved 3G and beyond mobile networks which are based upon the 3GPP core systems. The group also supports evolved IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystems) which are access-independent.

The LTE technology can be deployed with ease and can provide high data rates with low latencies across great distances. Known as 4G (fourth generation), it is better over 3G systems. For instance, preliminary results show the 4G network can easily reach data download speeds of up to 16 Mbps, as opposed to just over 1 Mbps for 3G connections. The mean upload speed for the 4G system is about 1.5 Mbps, compared with 0.7 Mbps for the 3G.

LTE networks are much easier to deploy than its predecessors. Its network architecture is much simpler because it is merely a network that is packet switched. The system does not possess the capability to handle SMS and voice calls natively. Those types of services are usually controlled by networks which are circuit-switched, such as GSM and CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access).

The Simplified Architecture Evolution (SAE) of the LTE is essentially an easier version of the architecture which is currently utilised by the Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems (UMTS). The UMTS defines a comprehensive network system which includes the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), as well as the core Mobile Application Part (MAP) network. It also certifies users through their Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards.

The recent 4G system is reliant upon two forms of radio links. The downlink travels from the tower to the device, and the uplink travels from the device to the tower. Since two separate kinds of interfaces are utilised, wireless communications in both directions are optimised.

The downlink technology is considerably more advanced than both the CDMA and the TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access), which have been in use since 1990. The newly developed radio interface is known as the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA). It orders that multiple in-multiple out (MIMO) technology is used. This means a device has several connections to each cell, which enhances the stability of each connection and lessens its latency enormously.

For the uplinks, a project known as DFTS-OFDMA (Discrete Fourier Transform Spread, Orthogonal Frequency Division, Multiple Access) is used. It generates a superior Single Carrier Frequency (SC-FDMA) signal. Among other elements, it has a greater power ratio for uplinking.

There are two subcategories within the LTE technology: the TDD (Time Division), and the FDD (Frequency Division. The more common kind is the FDD. It depends on different frequencies for uplinks and downlinks in the form of band pairs. As a consequence, each band supported by a phone consists of two separate frequency ranges. The TDD variation depends upon a single frequency range inside a band. This band is divided into pieces in order to assist both the transmission and reception of signals within its single frequency range.

Wimax is an existing technology which relies upon underlying wireless (wi-fi) networks. By contrast, in the UK, LTE is based upon the same type of technology that is currently utilised by the country's 3G network. For that explanation, the UK plans to use the 4G LTE technology as opposed to Wimax.

To comprehend what is LTE can assist people make educated buying choices. Choosing new devices which support 4G networks are wise choices. This technology is envisaged to command global telecommunications for years to come.




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