Ericsson demos LTE Advanced for TDD using Carrier Aggregation

Ericsson demonstrates LTE Advanced for TDD to China Mobile, using carrier aggregation and reaching a peak downlink speed of over 220Mbps
Commitment to continue providing excellent user experience in markets where mobile broadband traffic, cloud and video services are growing fast
Demonstration uses commercially available equipment for carrier aggregation on TDD of 2x20MHz, according to 3GPP standard Release 10 (LTE Advanced)
Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) today announced another successful demonstration in China of LTE TDD (TD-LTE) carrier aggregation using standard equipment. During the demonstration a peak download speed of 223Mbps was achieved using two carriers of 20MHz each over the same radio unit. This is the highest bit rate that has so far been reached over-the-air using commercial hardware.

TDD operators often have access to relatively large swathes of spectrum. The carrier aggregation can efficiently make use of this spectrum by combining two or more carriers into one channel (for example, 20+20MHz), effectively putting them on the same terms as FDD operators that have access to 20MHz for uplink and downlink separately.

Per Narvinger, Head of Product Line LTE, Business Unit Networks at Ericsson, says: "This demonstrates what is technically possible today, showing how operators with LTE TDD networks can benefit from their frequency holdings with Ericsson’s help. It proves that TDD operators can provide competitive peak-rate performance for their users."

In China, mobile broadband traffic, cloud and video services are growing fast, and in the ongoing large-scale field trial China Mobile is demonstrating its commitment to continuing to provide excellent user experience.

Narvinger says: "We have the technology ready now, but devices that support the standard aren’t expected to hit the market in volume until 2014. During this time, we will continue to refine our technology and drive the ecosystem, so that operators and their customers will get maximum benefit once all the pieces are in place."

The demonstration was performed in Beijing on standard Ericsson Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Ericsson RBS 6000 radio hardware already running in China Mobile’s network, along with standard radio units and data link boards supporting carrier aggregation. Aeroflex provided the TM500 test user equipment.