TY - JOUR
T1 - Standalone LTE in Unlicensed Spectrum
T2 - Radio Challenges, Solutions, and Performance of MulteFire
AU - Rosa, Claudio
AU - Kuusela, Markku
AU - Frederiksen, Frank
AU - Pedersen, Klaus I.
PY - 2018/10/1
Y1 - 2018/10/1
N2 - The deployment of standalone LTE radio technology in unlicensed spectrum can enable new business cases, by leveraging the assets of LTE, to industry players not having access to licensed spectrum. With this objective in mind, the Multe- Fire Alliance has recently finalized the first release of the MulteFire standard specifications. MulteFire makes the deployment of standalone LTE radio technology possible in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. It combines the simplicity of deployment of WiFi with the spectral efficiency and carrier- grade quality of LTE. MulteFire is targeted at enhanced mobile broadband services, but is also suited for IoT applications, as it inherently supports many connected devices. It also offers more reliable communication, as compared to competing technologies working in the unlicensed spectrum. This article provides an overview of the research challenges and solutions of deploying the LTE radio technology in unlicensed spectrum. We summarize the main regulatory requirements in the 5 GHz unlicensed band, and describe the needed modifications to the LTE specifications. We also demonstrate, by means of detailed system- level simulations, how MulteFire can improve the system capacity and coverage, as compared to WiFi, in specific propagation environments and small cell deployments.
AB - The deployment of standalone LTE radio technology in unlicensed spectrum can enable new business cases, by leveraging the assets of LTE, to industry players not having access to licensed spectrum. With this objective in mind, the Multe- Fire Alliance has recently finalized the first release of the MulteFire standard specifications. MulteFire makes the deployment of standalone LTE radio technology possible in the 5 GHz unlicensed spectrum. It combines the simplicity of deployment of WiFi with the spectral efficiency and carrier- grade quality of LTE. MulteFire is targeted at enhanced mobile broadband services, but is also suited for IoT applications, as it inherently supports many connected devices. It also offers more reliable communication, as compared to competing technologies working in the unlicensed spectrum. This article provides an overview of the research challenges and solutions of deploying the LTE radio technology in unlicensed spectrum. We summarize the main regulatory requirements in the 5 GHz unlicensed band, and describe the needed modifications to the LTE specifications. We also demonstrate, by means of detailed system- level simulations, how MulteFire can improve the system capacity and coverage, as compared to WiFi, in specific propagation environments and small cell deployments.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85055338905&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/MCOM.2018.1701029
DO - 10.1109/MCOM.2018.1701029
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85055338905
SN - 0163-6804
VL - 56
SP - 170
EP - 177
JO - IEEE Communications Magazine
JF - IEEE Communications Magazine
IS - 10
M1 - 8493138
ER -