This one-day deep-dive into 4G LTE provides an accessible in-depth exploration of 4G standards and development, the LTE radio interface, and 4G architecture and services.

About this course

The course begins with an overview of LTE and LTE Advanced standards development, 4G spectrum allocations and License Assisted Access (LAA) capacity increase mechanisms, plus LTE Advanced Pro enhancements.

The LTE radio interface is examined, followed by an overview of the 4G enhancements provided by LTE Advanced Pro. LTE architecture, key components and interfaces are then considered, along with the mechanisms underpinning small cell deployments.

Cloud based Radio Access Network (C-RAN) architectures are then examined, along with the 4G radio interface structure. The course concludes with an overview of Voice of LTE (VoLTE) services and Mission Critical Push to Talk (MC-PTT).

Course structure

4G Development

LTE Evolution– LTE standards development. Initial LTE performance targets. 3GPP Release 8 – Initial LTE standard.
LTE Advanced– LTE Advanced targets. Release 10. Carrier Aggregation.
4G Spectrum - Initial 4G frequency bands. Digital Dividend. Recent allocations. Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD).
License Assisted Access (LAA) - License Assisted Access (LAA) overview. Co-existence mechanisms. WiFi Offload.

4G Radio Interface

4G Radio Fundamentals - Modulation, coding, error correction.
4G Radio Operation - Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) overview. SC-FDMA.
LTE interface enhancements - Capacity increases from MIMO, Beamforming.
LTE Advanced Pro - Release 13 Overview. Active Antenna Systems (AAS), Elevation Beamforming. Carrier Aggregation Enhancements. MU-MIMO

4G Architecture

4G architecture review - System Architecture Evolution (SAE), Evolved Packet Core (EPC). Why LTE networks are “flat”.
Small Cells - Capacity, deployment benefits. HetNet Architectures. Pico eNodeBs, Home eNodeBs. Interference issues. Collaborative Multipoint
4G Cloud RAN - Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN). 5G interworking
4G Radio interface Structure - Frame structure, Logical Channels, Transport Channels. Resource Allocation

4G Services

Voice over LTE (VoLTE) Overview - Over the Top services (Skype, WhatsApp). VoLTE business drivers. IMS overview
VoLTE Operations - Role of GSMA and 3GPP. GSMA IR.92 – how it defines VoLTE. Supplementary services.
Call Setup and QOS - SIP Overview. LTE Quality of Service (QOS).
Mission Critical Push to Talk - Key components. MC-PTT capabilities.