FDD + TDD Carrier Aggregation

Now You Can Have Your Coverage And Your Capacity Too!

03/09/2016 | 38 pages
Price: $995.00

We recently completed a drive test of the Optus LTE network in Melbourne, Australia, which supports LTE FDD and LTE TDD (x2) carrier aggregation. The objective of this study was to determine the technical maturity of the LTE feature given its tremendous importance in the industry.

Highlights of the Study include the following:

Our Thanks.  This study was done in collaboration with Accuver Americas who provided us with its suite of drive test products, including XCAL-M to collect the data and XCAP for the post processing and analysis of the data.

The Facts.  Optus has deployed 4 carriers of LTE in 3 different frequency bands: Band 28 (10 MHz – FDD), Band 3 (15 MHz – FDD) and Band 40 (20 MHz x 2 – TDD). Huawei is the infrastructure supplier in Melbourne while we used a Qualcomm MTP as the test device.

The KPIs.  We looked at the standard KPIs that we always use when evaluating network performance, with a particular focus on handover latency – or the total time it takes to complete a cell handover involving the primary carrier (Band 3) and the two secondary cells (Band 40). Without question, this metric is one of the most important when it comes to the maturity of the feature. The results are noteworthy.

It’s Nuanced. The dependencies between LTE FDD and LTE TDD are far more nuanced than we had envisioned. FDD may be best for”coverage” and TDD may be best for “capacity” but there is much more to the story.