HSPA+ Multicarrier – Double the rates, more the fun
When does a split-second separate life from death? Can you think of any real-life practical situations? How about when you’re playing the World of Warcraft® multi-user game? How much would it be worth to get that split-second edge over your opponent? Within the game, it could be worth everything. But...how much would you actually pay for it?
Well, with HSPA+ Multicarrier, you can get such a valuable edge without having to pay too much, because it is a simple network upgrade. This upgrade doubles data rates for all users, even for those hard-to-reach users located on the cell edge. Multicarrier is an elegant solution with clear benefits. In a nutshell, it simply aggregates multiple 5 MHz HSPA/HSPA+ carriers to get a fatter data pipe to each user. Specifically, HSPA+ Rel. 8 supports aggregation of two carriers (10 MHz), as shown in the figure, to yield an impressive 42 Mbps.
All right, you get it: two carriers double the rates...and you ask, so what? Well, it means faster file downloads, even better audio and video streaming, lower latency, and almost doubled capacity for “bursty” applications such as web browsing; a holistic upgrade to enhance your broadband experience; and of course, an opportunity to knock off your WoW opponent before they even know what’s hit ’em.
Unless you were on another planet the last couple of years, the 3G mobile broadband revolution has no doubt touched your life in one way or another. The data traffic on wireless networks around world seems to be going through the roof: ABI Research (Sept. 2009) reports that the monthly data traffic in 2014 will equal the annual data traffic for the whole of 2008. To support this burgeoning demand operators are increasingly deploying second and third HSPA/HSPA+ carriers. In such situation, upgrading to Rel. 8 Multicarrier is a no-brainer. For many vendors, it might only be a software upgrade.
I know, your next question will be – when can I get it? Well, it’s already here. The Australian carrier Telstra announced its Multicarrier launch during Mobile World Congress in Feb, 2010. So whether or not you’re into World of Warcraft, in the high-stakes game of high-speed communications, every second counts. And the good news is that with Multicarrier, everybody can be a winner!
Comments
Gabriel Brown
Hi Prakash - a question or two...
1/ Would you generally expect Multi Carrier to be deployed where an operator has just two carriers activated? Or would it be Single Carrier supplemented by 2 x Dual Carrier? (3 carriers activated in total)
2/ What's the outlook for three or even four carrier aggregation? Do you get a substantial improvement in relative efficiency as you add a third or fourth carrier? (assuming a common, bursty traffic model)
3/ Finally, what's the outlook for aggregating carriers in different frequency bands in HSPA. E.g. 2.1 GHz and 900 MHz carriers? Is that at all realistic or even feasible?
Qualcomm Blog Author
Gabriel,
Thanks for the questions, please see my response below:
1/ HSPA+ Rel. 8 Multicarrier needs only two carriers. Operators that have already deployed/activated two carriers can offer Multicarrier with a simple upgrade, without adding a third carrier, or use the third carrier as a single carrier if three carriers are activated. Also, Operators that are in the process of adding the second carrier, might upgrade to Multicarrier at the same time.
2/ and 3/ HSPA+ continues to evolve supporting the features you outline here. Rel.9, the specs for which are expected to be frozen this month supports aggregation across bands. As you point out, pairing of 2.1 GHz and 900 MHz bands is an excellent example, but additional combinations have been defined in 3GPP. Rel. 10 for which the standardization has already started will support 4 carriers (20 MHz) in the downlink achieving an impressive 168 Mbps peak rate. With 4x multicarrier in R10, carriers within the same band still need to be adjacent and inter-band aggregation can span two different bands. 3GPP is defining additional combinations of bands based on realistic and feasible combinations.
Adding 3rd and 4th carrier not only improves performance for bursty applications (as compared non-aggregated 3 or 4 carriers), but also increases spectral efficiency by about 4% for fully loaded carriers.
Gabriel Brown
Thanks Prakash, my first question was poorly worded. Your response clears that up: i.e. that it's feasible for an operator to go to dual carrier at the same time as deploying the second carrier.
Another question if I may... What's the impact on cell edge performance of multi-carrier?
I had understood that this improves since there's a greater bandwidth over which resource can be allocated, and therefore the chances of a better cell-edge connection are higher. At least, that's one reason I hear from operators about why they're enthusiastic about multi-carrier HSPA. I may be a little out of date, however.
Qualcomm Blog Author
No problem Gabriel, this is another interesting question, feel free to ask more!
You are right, because Multicarrier increases the bandwidth, it improves the data rates for all users in the cell, including the cell-edge users. As illustrated in slide #8 of this presentation http://www.qualcomm.com/common/documents/presentations/HSPA_R8_Benefits_..., Rel. 8 doubles data rates for all users.
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