lte ue categories _ category & class _ definitions

5/29/2014 LTE UE Categories | Category & Class | Definitions

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LTE UE Category and Class Definitions- LTE utilises UE or User Equipment categories or classes to define the performancespecifications an enable base stations to be able to communicate effectively with themknowing their performance levels.

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In the same way that a variety of other systems adopted different categories for the handsets or user equipments, sotoo there are 3G LTE UE categories. These LTE categories define the standards to which a particular handset, dongle orother equipment will operate.

LTE UE category rationaleThe LTE UE categories or UE classes are needed to ensure that the base station, or eNodeB, eNB can communicatecorrectly with the user equipment. By relaying the LTE UE category information to the base station, it is able todetermine the performance of the UE and communicate with it accordingly.

As the LTE category defines the overall performance and the capabilities of the UE, it is possible for the eNB tocommunicate using capabilities that it knows the UE possesses. Accordingly the eNB will not communicate beyond theperformance of the UE.



LTE UE category definitionsthere are five different LTE UE categories that are defined. As can be seen in the table below, the different LTE UEcategories have a wide range in the supported parameters and performance. LTE category 1, for example does notsupport MIMO, but LTE UE category five supports 4x4 MIMO.

It is also worth noting that UE class 1 does not offer the performance offered by that of the highest performanceHSPA category. Additionally all LTE UE categories are capable of receiving transmissions from up to four antennaports.

A summary of the different LTE UE category parameters is given in the tables below.

HEADLINE DATA RATES FOR LTE UE CATEGORIES CATEGORY

LINK 1 2 3 4 5Downlink 10 50 100 150 300Uplink 5 25 50 50 75

While the headline rates for the different LTE UE categories or UE classes show the maximum data rates achievable, itis worth looking in further detail at the underlying performance characteristics.

UL AND DL PARAMETERS FOR LTE UE CATEGORIES CATEGORY

PARAMETER 1 2 3 4 5Max number of DL-SCHtransport block bits received ina TTI

10 296 51 024 102 048 150 752 302 752

Max number of bits of a DL-SCHblock received in a TTI

10 296 51 024 75 376 75 376 151 376

Total number of soft channelbits

250 368 1 237 248 1 237 248 1 827 072 3 667 200

Maximum number of supportedlayers for spatial multiplexing inDL

1 2 2 2 4

Max number of bits of an UL-SCH transport block received ina TTI

5 160 25 456 51 024 51 024 75 376

Support for 64-QAM in UL No No No No Yes



3G LTE (/info/cellulartelecomms/lte-long-term-evolution/3g-lte-basics.php)LTE Advanced (/info/cellulartelecomms/lte-long-term-evolution/3gpp-4g-imt-lte-advanced-tutorial.php)UMTS / W-CDMA (/info/cellulartelecomms/umts/umts_wcdma_tutorial.php)GSM (/info/cellulartelecomms/gsm_technical/gsm_introduction.php)3G HSPA (/info/cellulartelecomms/3g-hspa/umts-high-speed-packet-access-tutorial.php)CDMA2000 (/info/cellulartelecomms/3gpp2/cdma2000-1xrtt-basics-tutorial.php)GPRS (/info/cellulartelecomms/gprs/gprs_tutorial.php)EDGE (/info/cellulartelecomms/gsm-edge/basics-tutorial-technology.php)Femtocells (/info/cellulartelecomms/femtocells/femto-cells-tutorial-basics.php)5G ideas (/info/cellulartelecomms/5g-mobile-cellular/technology-basics.php)HetNets (/info/cellulartelecomms/heterogeneous-networks-hetnet/basics-tutorial.php)SON (/info/cellulartelecomms/self-organising-networks-son/basics-tutorial.php)Backhaul (/info/cellulartelecomms/cellular-mobile-backhaul/basics-tutorial.php)VoLTE (/info/cellulartelecomms/lte-long-term-evolution/voice-over-lte-volte.php)Basic concepts (/info/cellulartelecomms/cellular_concepts/mobile-basics-concepts.php)

From this it can be seen that the peak downlink data rate for a Category 5 UE using 4x4 MIMO is approximately 300Mbps, and 150 Mbps for a Category 4 UE using 2x2 MIMO. Also in the Uplink, LTE UE category 5 provides a peak datarate of 75 Mbps using 64-QAM.

Note: DL-SCH = Downlink shared channel UL-SCH = Uplink shared channel TTI = Transmission Time Interval

LTE UE category summaryIn the same way that category information is used for virtually all cellular systems from GPRS onwards, so the LTE UEcategory information is of great importance. While users may not be particularly aware of the category of their UE, itwill match the performance an allow the eNB to communicate effectively with all the UEs that are connected to it.

By Ian Poole (https://plus.google.com/104687638164370436625?rel=author)

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