The pros and cons of LTE vs. WiMax vs. HSPA+

1. October 2010
Presented by: Jesus Valencia
Email: jvalencia@ieee.org
The Pros and Cons of LTE vs. WiMAX vs. HSPA+

2. Introduction and Background
LTE, WiMAX and HSPA+ Technical Overview
Technology recommendation
Summary and Conclusions
References

3. Introduction and Background
Motives behind 4G
a. Rapid growth of mobile subscribers
b. Exponential growth of mobile broadband, web/data and video
c. More cost-efficient provisioning of new and old services
d. Delivery services with proper charging
e. Ubiquitous applications and utilities
f. Key design services
Source: IEEE Spectrum October 2010
Source: 3G Evolution HSPA and
LTE for Mobile broadband

4. LTE and HSPA+
Technical Overview
ITU-R includes LTE, WiMAX and HSPA+ on an equal basis
a. HSPA+ is the natural evolution of WCDMA and HSDPA - 3GPP
b. LTE does not need to be backward compatible with HSPA - 3GPP
c. Mobile WiMax came from the data networking world - IEEE

5. Technical Overview
Key feature LTE WiMAX HSPA+
EndtoEnd
Performance
DL Spectral efficiency bps/Hz/cell 1.75 [1] Rel-8 1.23 [19] 1.42 [1] Rel-8
UL Spectral efficiency bps/Hz/cell 0.72 [1] Rel-8 0.63 [19] 0.5 [1] Rel-8
Downlink peak data rata (Mbps) 161.9 [1] 84 [4] 63.36 [1]
Uplink peak data rate (Mbps) 43.2 [1] 23 [4] 28.22 [1]
HO bearer interrupt time (ms) intra RAT 27.5 (Intra frequency) [6] 50 [14] 200 [13]
Latency Round Trip Time (ms) User plane 20.1 [1] 50 [14] 28 [17]
RadioAccessNetwork
Radio Access scheme DL OFDM FDD/TDD OFDM TDD OFDM FDD
Radio Access scheme UL SC-FDMA OFDM TDD SC-FDMA
Spectrum flexibility 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz [2] 5, 7, 8.75 and 10 MHz [4] 5 MHz [6]
Multi antenna technique MIMO 2x2, MIMO 4x4 MIMO 2x2 MIMO 2x2
DL Highest order modulation 64QAM 64QAM 64QAM
UL Highest order modulation 64QAM 64QAM 16QAM
Loss-less Mobility Packet forwarding Packet forward in X2 interface Not available Not available
Intercell Interference coordination Yes No No
Beam forming Yes Yes Yes
Core
Security Ciphering in eNB, CN Security [1], [2] CN Security [4] CN Security [1], [2]
Charging policy Policy and Charging Resource Function AAAVolume and time based [12] Diameter interface with PCRF
Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services MBMS MBMS MBMS
Packet switch/circuit switch Packet switch Packet switch PC with CS support
HARQ with soft combining HARQ HARQ HARQ
Interoperability WCDMA and GSM Proposed [21] WCDMA and GSM
Generalaspects
Backward compatibility No No Yes
Handheld equipment battery life Not Available yet Poor (EVO 4G 6 Hr)[11]
Good (Motorola droid 24 Hr, Samsung
Fascinate 10 Hr) [20]
Standard Developing organization 3GPP IEEE 3GPP
Co-location with other BS Yes Yes Yes
4G Evolution LTE Advanced WiMax Release-2 Not supported by ITU-R

6. OFDMA and SC-FDMA for LTE physical layer
LTE Radio Access Network
Technical Overview
X2 interface for
seamless HO

7. WiMax network IP-Based architecture
HSPA+ Radio Access Network
Technical Overview

8. Technology recommendation
LTE FDD is the recommended technology
a. Higher Data rates with lower latency time
b. Interoperability with existing HSPA, WCDMA and GSM
c. Better efficient terminal battery life due to SC-FDMA

9. LTE business and technical impact
a. Select frequency band and bandwidth to operate
b. Plan and perform LTE trial selecting 3-5 RAT vendors
c. Perform LTE trial selecting 2-3 Evolved Packet Core vendors
d. Address the backhaul operation and maintenance focusing on high
capacity transport rings and dependability
e. Strongly recommended multi-vendor interfaces
f. Select low power consuming handhelds and high performance non-
handheld User equipments
g. Technical trial timeline
a. 3-4 weeks trial per vendor
b. 4 weeks post-processing, evaluation and selection of vendors
c. 24 weeks installation and rollout
Technology recommendation

10. a. Opportunities
• LTE is an emerging technology with a new market to exploit
• Equipment manufactures are open to perform free technical
trial without buying the equipment
• 3GPP momentum developing LTE advanced will open more
business opportunities in the future
b. Risks
• LTE might become outdated in a couple of years
• LTE is not considered 4G by ITU-R, LTE advanced will be 4G
• No interoperability with WiMax
• Vendors with no experience manufacturing the equipment
might create delays on the new technology rollout
Summary and conclusions

11. 1. LTE for UMTS OFDMA and SC-FDMA Based Radio Access. Harri Holma and Antti Toskala. Willey 2009
2. 3G Evolution HSPA and LTE for Mobile broadband. Erik Dahlman, Stefan Parkvall et al. AP Second edition.
3. The Great Spectrum Famine. Mitchell Lazarus. IEEE Spectrum October 2010.
4. Mobile WiMAX – Part I: A Technical Overview and Performance Evaluation. WiMax Forum, August 2006.
5. The Mobile Broadband Future: HSPA+ and LTE. 3G Americas
6. The Mobile Broadband Evolution: 3GPP Release 8 and beyond HSPA+, SAE?LTE and LTE Advanced. 3G Americas, February 2009.
7. http://www.cio.com.au/tag/alcatel-lucent Alcatel-Lucent lays groundwork for next-gen mobile services.
8. http://www.4gamericas.org/
9. http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/facebook-launches-places-geo-location-service-thats-both-cool-and-creepy/38203 Sam Diaz.
10. https://www.wireless.att.com/businesscenter/solutions/industry-solutions/vertical-industry/xora.jsp
11. http://pocketnow.com/hardware-1/sprint-evo-4g-review
12. http://tools.ietf.org/id/draft-lior-wimax-diameter-codes-00.html
13. http://www.qualcomm.de/common/documents/presentations/HSPA_ESCC_Field_Trials.pdf . Qualcomm. 03/09
14. Analysis of Handoff Performance in Mobile WiMax Networks. Helsinki University of technology . 3.12.2007
15. 3GPP TS36.300 V9.4.0 (2010-06) EUTRA Description.
16. 3GPP TS23.401 V9.5.0 (2010-06) EUTRA N Access.
17. HSPA+ is Here! What's Next?. Qualcomm . May 2010
18. IEEE 802.16 2009 Air Interface for Broadband Wireless Access Systems. IEEE Computer Society
19. Technical overview and performance of HSPA and Mobile WiMAX. Ericsson. June 2009
20. http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/30/motorola-droid-review/
21. Mobile IP Based Interoperability between GSM and WiMAX. IEEExplore. Shaukat, R. Cheema, NUST, London