Carrier Aggregation in LTE-A Systems
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Solution Overview
Problem
The challenge in LTE-A systems is to efficiently utilize available spectrum resources to achieve a large bandwidth, as existing technologies face difficulties in designing hardware for large bandwidths and effectively utilizing dispersed spectrum resources across multiple frequency bands.
Innovation Solution
The method involves carrier aggregation, where multiple Composition Carriers are aggregated to provide a larger bandwidth, with the network selecting secondary cells based on the user equipment's capabilities, quality of service, and channel conditions, allowing for intra-band and inter-band non-contiguous carrier aggregation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a large bandwidth of 100MHz is supported to satisfy IMT-Advanced requirements, then the peak rate requirement is met, but the hardware design difficulty of base station and terminal increases greatly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the large 100MHz bandwidth into multiple smaller component carriers (each up to 20MHz). Instead of requiring hardware to process one large bandwidth continuously, the system divides the spectrum into multiple manageable pieces that can be aggregated. This segmentation allows existing hardware designed for smaller bandwidths to be reused and combined, reducing individual device complexity while achieving the required peak rate through aggregation of multiple carriers.
2Quantity of substance
If spectrum resources are dispersed over multiple frequency bands, then more spectrum resources are available, but it becomes difficult to make full use of these dispersed resources
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple dispersed spectrum resources across different frequency bands by aggregating multiple component carriers from various bands into a unified logical bandwidth. The system combines carriers from intra-band and inter-band configurations, allowing dispersed spectrum resources to work together as a cohesive resource pool. This merging enables full utilization of available dispersed spectrum by treating multiple frequency bands as a unified resource that can be dynamically allocated and managed.
3Productivity
If multiple component carriers are aggregated to achieve larger bandwidth, then system throughput is improved, but the complexity of carrier selection and management increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic carrier aggregation where the number, configuration, and activation of component carriers are not fixed but adapt in real-time based on system conditions. The eNodeB dynamically selects which carriers to aggregate from available options, activates or deactivates carriers based on traffic demand and channel conditions, and reconfigures the aggregation set as needed. This dynamic approach allows the system to optimize throughput by using more carriers when needed while reducing complexity by using fewer carriers when demand is low, rather than maintaining a fixed complex configuration.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method and apparatus for achieving carrier aggregation in a Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) system are disclosed. The method includes: after a User Equipment (UE) with carrier aggregation capability initially accesses a primary cell, a network side constructing a secondary cell candidate cell list for the UE and selecting a secondary cell for the UE from the secondary cell candidate cell list; the network side deciding to perform the following operations on the current secondary cells of the UE according to quality of service of the secondary cell: deleting a corresponding secondary cell from the current secondary cells of the UE; or adding a corresponding secondary cell into the current secondary cells of the UE. With the above solution, carrier aggregation can be reasonably selected and used in the LTE-A system, the system can obtain a larger bandwidth, and the throughput of the system is improved significantly.