IEEE Spectrum January, 2014 - 62

continued from page 42

their use of different timefrequency resources.
For networks using only
one frequency channel,
eICIC offers a different
solution. It permits the
macrocell to mute data traffic
and reduce the power of
control signals at particular
1-millisecond time intervals,
called subframes. A small
cell can then schedule
both control and data
transmissions during these
times, allowing it to expand
its coverage range. This
technique lets more users
link to the small cell, which
provides more data capacity.
The last major item on
LTE-Advanced's broad
menu helps further improve
signals and increase data
rates at a cell's edge, where

it can be tough to get a good
connection. The technique
is called coordinated
multipoint, or CoMP.
Essentially, it enables a
mobile device to exchange
data between multiple
base stations at the same
time. For example, two
neighboring base stations
could send the same data to
the device simultaneously,
increasing its chance of
getting a decent signal.
Likewise, the device could
upload data to both base
stations at once, and the
stations, acting as a virtual
antenna array, would
jointly process the signals
to eliminate errors. Or the
device might instead choose
to upload to a nearby small
cell, saving transmission
power while still receiving a

strong download signal from
a larger tower.
it Will take years for
operators to make use
of everything that LTEAdvanced has to offer.
Many carriers have yet to
deploy some of the more
sophisticated features of
LTE, such as voice services
and "self-organizing"
software, which would let
base stations adapt to new
network conditions on their
own or heal themselves after
a disruption.
Meanwhile, the evolution
of LTE won't end with
LTE-Advanced. The 3rd
Generation Partnership
Project, the international
body behind the standard,
plans to release the next
iteration later this year. Some

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companies are calling it
LTE-B, although the 3GPP
disapproves, asserting that
all future breeds of LTE will
still be officially titled LTEAdvanced. Whatever its name,
the new variant will offer
operators even more radical
options, including protocols
for three-dimensional
antennas, more energyefficient transmissions, and
direct communication
between mobile devices and
other smart sensors and
machines. Together, such
breakthroughs could give
networks some 30 times
as much capacity as LTEAdvanced. Now that's
something worth waiting for.
-a r iel bleicher
post your commEnts at http://
spectrum.ieee.org/lte0114
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Spectrum January, 2014
