WHITEPAPER - 'Fixed-LTE Broadband Market Opportunities' From Telit

LTE, and more recently LTE-A (Advanced), are driving the wireless technologies for the near future becoming, with no doubt, the basis to build up the 5G ecosystem that will enable data transfer at speed above 1Gbps. LTE commercial networks have moved in only few years from initial Category (Cat.) 3 running at download speed of 100 Mbps, to Cat. 4 up to 150Mbps in a 20MHz spectrum. 3GPP Release 10 has then introduced the Carrier Aggregation (CA) technology bringing benefits not only for higher data rate but also for reducing traffic load. CA was first defined for Cat. 4 with limited 10+10 MHz bandwidth allocation, but it has been only with Cat. 6, with 20+20 MHz bandwidth allocation, that it has shown the compelling benefits of the technology raising the bar of the maximum downloading speed up to 300 Mbps. Since then, LTE-A has evolved towards higher data rate not just as results of aggregating more carriers but also by using enhanced modulation schemes, 256QAM, as well as adding more MIMO streams, from 2x2 to 4x4 and above.

Cat. 9 for instance aggregates 3 carriers (3 CA) to download data up 450Mbps while Cat. 12 reaches the 600 Mbps by enabling 256QAM modulation scheme. Cat. 16 will already hit the floor of the 5G minimum requirement of 1Gbps combining CA techniques, as well as enabling 256QAM modulation scheme and advanced MIMO 4x4 simultaneous downloading streams. Picture 1 below indicates the evolution of LTE Carrier Aggregation highlighting the maximum speed for each LTE Category used.

Telit is the global leader in Internet of Things (IoT) enablement. We offer the industry’s broadest portfolio of integrated products, platforms and services to support and enable IoT deployments from things to apps. Our portfolio of modules addresses all cellular communication technologies, GNSS and short-to-long range wireless applications. Our IoT connectivity plans and IoT platform services help reduce the risks, time to market, complexity and costs associated with deploying and providing IoT services across industries and vertical markets worldwide. 

For additional Telit product information or technical support, contact Symmetry Electronics, an authorized distributor of industry leading wireless, audio/video and embedded chips, modules and dev/eval tools. www.symmetryelectronics.com/contact-us or call (877) 466-9722.