Essential reference providing best practice of LTE-A, VoLTE, and IoT Design/deployment/Performance and evolution towards 5G

This book is a practical guide to the design, deployment, and performance of LTE-A, VoLTE/IMS and IoT. A comprehensive practical performance analysis for VoLTE is conducted based on field measurement results from live LTE networks. Also, it provides a comprehensive introduction to IoT and 5G evolutions. Practical aspects and best practice of LTE-A/IMS/VoLTE/IoT are presented. Practical aspects of LTE-Advanced features are presented. In addition, LTE/LTE-A network capacity dimensioning and analysis are demonstrated based on live LTE/LTE-A networks KPIs.  A comprehensive foundation for 5G technologies is provided including massive MIMO, eMBB, URLLC, mMTC, NGCN and network slicing, cloudification, virtualization and SDN.

Practical Guide to LTE-A, VoLTE and IoT: Paving the Way Towards 5G can be used as a practical comprehensive guide for best practices in LTE/LTE-A/VoLTE/IoT design, deployment, performance analysis and network architecture and dimensioning. It offers tutorial introduction on LTE-A/IoT/5G networks, enabling the reader to use this advanced book without the need to refer to more introductory texts.

Practical Guide to LTE-A, VoLTE and IoT will appeal to all deployment and service engineers, network designers, and planning and optimization engineers working in mobile communications. Also, it is a practical guide for R&D and standardization experts to evolve the LTE/LTE-A, VoLTE and IoT towards 5G evolution.

AYMAN ELNASHAR,PHD, has 20+ years of experience in the telecoms industry including 2G/3G/LTE/WiFi/IoT/5G/Wireless Networks. He was part of three major start-up telecom operators in the MENA region (Orange/Egypt, Mobily/KSA, and du/UAE). Currently, he is Head of Core and Cloud planning with the Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Co. "du", UAE. He is the founder of the Terminal Innovation Lab and UAE 5G Innovation Gate (U5GIG). Prior to this, he was Sr. Director? Wireless Networks, Terminals and IoT where he managed and directed the evolution, evaluation, and introduction of du wireless networks, terminals and IoT including LTE/LTE-A, HSPA+, WiFi, NB-IoT and is currently working towards deploying 5G networks in UAE.

Prior to this, he was with Mobily, Saudi Arabia, from June 2005 to January 2008, as Head of Projects. He played a key role in contributing to the success of the mobile broadband network of Mobily/KSA. From March 2000 to June 2005, he was with Orange Egypt.

He has published 30+ papers in the wireless communications arena in highly ranked journals and international conferences. He is the author ofDesign, Deployment, and Performance of 4G-LTE Networks: A Practical Approach, Wiley 2014, andSimplified Robust Adaptive Detection and Beamforming for Wireless Communications, Wiley 2018.

His research interests include practical performance analysis, planning and optimization of wireless networks (3G/4G/WiFi/IoT/5G), digital signal processing for wireless communications, multiuser detection, smart antennas, massive MIMO, and robust adaptive detection and beamforming.

MOHAMED EL-SAIDNY, M.SC., is a leading technical expert in wireless communication systems for modem chipsets and network design. He established and managed the Carrier Engineering Services Business Unit at MediaTek, the department responsible for product business development and strategy alignment with network operators and direct customers. He has 15+ years of technical, analytical and business experience, with an international working experience in the United States, Europe, Middle East, Africa, and South-East Asia markets.

Mohamed is the inventor of numerous patents in CDMA and OFDM systems and the co-author ofDesign, Deployment and Performance of 4G-LTE Networks: A Practical Approach, Wiley 2014. He has published several international research papers in IEEE Communications Magazine, IEEE Vehicular Technology Magazine, other IEEE Transactions, in addition to contributions to 3GPP specifications.

About the Authors xvii

Preface xix

Acknowledgments xxi

1 LTE and LTE-A Overview 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Link Spectrum Eciency 3

1.3 LTE-Advanced and Beyond 4

1.4 Evolved Packet System (EPS) Overview 9

1.5 Network Architecture Evolution 11

1.6 LTE UE Description 14

1.7 EPS Bearer Procedures 15

1.8 Access and Non-access Stratum Procedures 20

1.9 LTE Air Interface 26

1.10 OFDM Signal Generation 32

1.11 LTE Channels and Procedures 34

1.12 Uplink Physical Channels 43

1.13 Physical Layer Procedures 45

1.14 RRC Layer and Mobility Procedures 51

1.15 LTE Idle Mode Mobility Procedures 60

1.16 LTE Connected Mode Mobility Procedures 68

1.17 Interworking with Other 3GPP Radio Access 76

References 86

2 Introduction to the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 87

2.1 Introduction 87

2.2 IMS Network Description 91

2.3 IMS Identities and Subscription 131

2.4 IMS Architecture and Interfaces 134

2.5 MMTel (Multimedia Telephony) Services 136

2.6 Service Centralization and Continuity AS (SCC AS) 141

2.7 Operator X IMSVoLTE Architecture 145

3 VoLTE/CSFB Call Setup Delay and Handover Analysis 158

3.1 Overview 158

3.2 Introduction 158

3.3 CSFB Call Flow and Relevant KPIs 160

3.4 VoLTE Call Flow and Relevant KPIs 162

3.5 VoLTE Handover and Data Interruption Time 166

3.6 Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) 169

3.7 Performance Analysis 171

3.8 Latency Reduction During Handover 182

3.9 Practical Use Cases and Recommendations 187

3.10 Conclusions 190

References 195

4 Comprehensive Performance Evaluation of VoLTE 197

4.1 Overview 197

4.2 Introduction 197

4.3 VoLTE Principles 198

4.4 Main VoLTE Features 200

4.5 Testing Environment and Main VoLTE KPIs 203

4.6 VoLTE Performance Evaluation 204

4.7 EVS Coding and Voice Evolution 214

4.8 TTI Bundling Performance Evaluation 219

4.9 BLER Impact on Voice Quality 220

4.10 Scheduler Performance 220

4.11 VoLTE KPI Evaluation 221

4.12 Use Cases and Recommendations 223

4.13 Conclusions 226

References 228

5 Evaluation of LTE-Advanced Features 230

5.1 Introduction to LTE-Advanced Features 230

5.2 Carrier Aggregation in LTE-A and LTE-A Pro 231

5.3 Higher-order Modulation (HOM) for Uplink and Downlink 242

5.4 LTE-A Feature Dependencies 247

5.5 Other Enhancements Towards Advanced LTE Deployments 252

References 263

6 LTE Network Capacity Analysis 264

6.1 Overview 264

6.2 Introduction 264

6.3 Users and Trac Utilization 266

6.4 Downlink Analysis 270

6.5 DL KPI Analysis 274

6.6 UL KPI Analysis 289

6.7 Data Connection Performance 302

6.8 Link Reliability Analysis 305

6.9 Main KPI Comparison for Dierent Operators 307

References 309

7 IoT Evolution Towards a Super-connected World 310

7.1 Overview 310

7.2 Introduction to the IoT 310

7.3 IoT Standards 312

7.4 IoT Platform 314

7.5 IoT Gateways, Devices, and Things Management 318

7.6 Edge and Fog Computing 319

7.7 IoT Sensors 322

7.8 IoT Protocols 323

7.9 IoT Networks 327

7.10 3GPP Standards for IoT 337

7.11 3GPP NB-IoT 341

7.12 NB-IoT DL Specications 343

7.13 NB-IoT UL Specications 352

7.14 Release 13 Machine-type Communications Overview 358

7.15 Link Budget Analysis 359

7.16 NB-IoT Network Topology 364

7.17 Architecture Enhancement for CIoT 367

7.18 Sample IoT Use Cases 374

References 380

8 5G Evolution Towards a Super-connected World 382

8.1 Overview 382

8.2 Introduction 382

8.3 5G New Radio (NR) and Air Interface 385

8.4 What is Next for LTE-A Pro Evolution? 386

8.5 5G Spectrum View 387

8.6 5G Design Considerations 390

8.7 5G Deployment Scenarios for Mobile Applications 400

8.8 Air-to-Ground and Satellite Scenarios 401

8.9 5G Evaluation KPIs 405

8.10 Next-generation Radio Access Requirements 407

8.11 5G NextGen Core Network Architecture 416

8.12 5G Waveform and Multiple Access Design 423

8.13 NFV and SDN 433

8.14 Conclusion 440

References 441

Index 445