Effective October 1, 2012, QUALCOMM Incorporated completed a corporate reorganization in which the assets of certain of its businesses and groups, as well as the stock of certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries, were contributed to Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (QTI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of QUALCOMM Incorporated. Learn more about these changes

You are here

Home › Research › Projects › HSPA+ Advanced › Multiflow

HSPA+ Advanced

HSPA+ Multiflow

The increasing popularity of smartphones, mobile data devices and mobile data applications is leading to higher utilization of HSPA networks. Since there is a higher concentration of such users, this causes networks to be unevenly loaded. There is a new need for providing a uniform user experience across the cell coverage drawing focus on improving the cell edge user experience.

Qualcomm worked with Nokia Siemens Networks for a live joint demo at Mobile World Congress 2012.

The demonstration presented Qualcomm prototype test terminals on Nokia Siemens Networks’ commercial multicontroller base stations. It showed how HSPA+ Multiflow helps improve the cell edge user experience while increasing network capacity. HSPA+ Multiflow is able to exploit the uneven loading in HSPA networks by scheduling two independent data streams to the mobile device from two different NodeBs at the same time. The demonstration viability of new concepts in HSPA+ Advanced will expedite the deployment of the next-generation technology.

Details

HSPA+ Multiflow helps improve the cell edge user experience and provides a more consistent data performance by exploiting the uneven loading in HSPA networks. The simplest form of HSPA+ Multiflow, Single Frequency Dual Cell HSPA (SFDC-HSPA), can be seen as an extension to the existing DC-HSPA feature. While DC-HSPA allows scheduling of two independent data streams to the mobile device (UE or user equipment) from one sector on two frequency carriers, SFDC-HSPA allows scheduling of two independent data streams to the UE from two different sectors on the same carrier.

HSPA+ Multiflow is a new smart networks feature that was approved as a Study Item in December 2010 for 3GPP R11 with expected standardization in 2012. It offers advantages such as:

  • Improved user experience at the cell edge
  • Efficient and dynamic load balancing across sectors in single-carrier and multicarrier (MC) deployments
  • Leveraging DC-HSPA / MC-HSPA design

Qualcomm was the first company to demonstrate SFDC-HSPA (at MWC 2011). A detail of this research is available in the Performance and Implementation of SF-DC Aggregation whitepaper.