07-02-2013, 03:39 PM
LTE-ADVANCED AND 4G WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS
[attachment=50049]
INTRODUCTION
The nine articles in the February 2012 issue provided a
detailed overview of key features of Release-10 LTE-A, such as
carrier aggregation, relay, reference signal design, coordinated
multipoint (CoMP) transmission, and advanced heterogeneous
networks (HetNets). This sequel includes five articles, all relating
to practical network operations in LTE-A, such as minimum
drive test, machine-type operation, and traffic offloading.
The first article by Hapsari et al. discusses the use of customer
equipments to collect network data, such as radio channel conditions
and location information, which allows the operators to
reduce operating expenses (OPEX) for testing their networks
in the field. The second article by Cheng et al. on overload control
in machine-type communication (MTC) describes a holistic
approach taken by 3GPP to come up with solutions that satisfy
both the radio access network (RAN) and the core network
(CN) requirements. The third article by Sankaran gives an
overview of several different mechanisms for offloading data
traffic to local access points, such as femto-cells or WiFi nodes.
The fourth article by Ghosh et al. describes theoretical modeling
of HetNets that provides useful insights for planning and
operating such a network. The last article by Tao et al. provides
an overview of LTE-Advanced features that are based on cooperative
communications, such as relay, distributed antenna systems
and CoMP. The CoMP field test results in this article are
interesting as it helps bridge the gap between theory and reality
and provides intuitions on the potential benefits of CoMP.
[attachment=50049]
INTRODUCTION
The nine articles in the February 2012 issue provided a
detailed overview of key features of Release-10 LTE-A, such as
carrier aggregation, relay, reference signal design, coordinated
multipoint (CoMP) transmission, and advanced heterogeneous
networks (HetNets). This sequel includes five articles, all relating
to practical network operations in LTE-A, such as minimum
drive test, machine-type operation, and traffic offloading.
The first article by Hapsari et al. discusses the use of customer
equipments to collect network data, such as radio channel conditions
and location information, which allows the operators to
reduce operating expenses (OPEX) for testing their networks
in the field. The second article by Cheng et al. on overload control
in machine-type communication (MTC) describes a holistic
approach taken by 3GPP to come up with solutions that satisfy
both the radio access network (RAN) and the core network
(CN) requirements. The third article by Sankaran gives an
overview of several different mechanisms for offloading data
traffic to local access points, such as femto-cells or WiFi nodes.
The fourth article by Ghosh et al. describes theoretical modeling
of HetNets that provides useful insights for planning and
operating such a network. The last article by Tao et al. provides
an overview of LTE-Advanced features that are based on cooperative
communications, such as relay, distributed antenna systems
and CoMP. The CoMP field test results in this article are
interesting as it helps bridge the gap between theory and reality
and provides intuitions on the potential benefits of CoMP.