The 1000x Challenge
More spectrum - licensed, unlicensed and ASA.
In the quest to solve the 1000x mobile data challenge, spectrum is an important building block. Given that spectrum is a finite resource, the industry is hard at work to utilize the available spectrum in the best possible manner and to identify opportunities to access more spectrum. There are primarily three approaches to make new spectrum available:
Traditional licensing for exclusive use of 3G and 4G, through auctions of cleared spectrum. This is a tough, long and arduous process, but remains the main option.
Unlicensed approach for shared use by Wi-Fi et al. Currently, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHZ bands are allocated to Wi-Fi.
A new and innovative regime called ASA (Authorized Shared Access) that Qualcomm and its partners are proposing. ASA is beneficial for the cases when spectrum can’t be cleared in a timely manner or at all locations.
As the industry is hard at work to identify new globally harmonized bands for mobile services, it is evident that exploring higher bands is one of the options, and the 3.4 – 3.8 GHz band is a prudent initial candidate. Because of its smaller smaller coverage, this band is also fast emerging as a global choice for small cell deployments. Parts of this band may be available to be licensed through traditional means, and other parts that have incumbent users can be licensed through ASA.
Maximizing the Utilization of Existing Spectrum – Higher Efficiency and Small Cells
Maximizing the Utilization of Existing Spectrum – Higher Efficiency and Small Cells
Thanks to the industry’s relentless efforts, wireless technologies have been continuously evolving, offering ever higher efficiencies for the existing spectrum. Continuing on this path is the most obvious first step toward the 1000x goal. This means evolving HSPA/+ to HSPA+ Advanced, LTE to LTE Advanced, Rev. A/B to DO Advanced, 1X to 1x Advanced, WCDMA to WCDMA+, Wi-Fi to 802.11ac etc. These upgrades significantly improve capacity, data rates and user experience.
Small cells are essential to increase the utilization of existing spectrum since they enable much greater reuse of the same spectrum also used by the macro network. Thanks to the advanced interference management and SON (Self Optimizing Network) techniques, the overall capacity increase enabled by small cells grows as the densification of the small cell deployment increases.
ASA: An Innovative Approach to Access Underutilized Spectrum
ASA: An Innovative Approach to Access Underutilized Spectrum
Although traditional licensing is the main solution, it may not be feasible in some cases. Some spectrum holders such as government users, because of the nature of their operations, may not be using the entire allocated spectrum in every part of their geographic boundaries on a 24x7 basis. For example spectrum for military radar may have been allocated on countrywide basis, but the radar operations may only be utilizing it at certain places such as coastline. In such cases, Authorized Shared Access(ASA) is an ideal approach for 3G/4G operators to access the underutilized spectrum in a mutually beneficial way. It proposes a new regulatory framework to share the spectrum in terms of time or location on an exclusive basis, without interfering with the incumbent’s operations.
Everybody wins with ASA—Incumbent spectrum holders can monetize their underutilized spectrum, 3G/4G operators can cost-effectively get new spectrum for exclusive use, ensuring reliability, and predictability for long time investments; regulators can pragmatically address the ever increasing request for new spectrum for mobile broadband in a timely manner. No wonder, ASA enjoys a strong global industry-wide support.
ASA Targets Harmonized Spectrum—Suitable For Small Cells
ASA Targets Harmonized Spectrum—Suitable For Small Cells
ASA can potentially unlock 100s of MHz of high-quality spectrum for 3G/4G, especially in higher spetrum bands. Qualcomm, along with its partners, is already working on identifying globally harmonized bands for ASA. The initial focus is to target bands for which commercial devices are either already available in the market or will soon be available. The advantage of using harmonized bands with commercial device support is that operators can quickly start using the ASA spectrum, and leverage large economies of scale. Moreover, ASA doesn’t need any standards change, making it simple to deploy, and hence even more attractive
ASA is also well suited for small cells because of their lower transmit power, which allows them to be deployed geographically much closer to an incumbent's operations. Of course, deployments of macro cells are also enabled by ASA.
More Unlicensed Spectrum for Wi-Fi
More Unlicensed Spectrum for Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi has emerged as the most popular choice to opportunistically offload traffic from bustling 3G/4G networks. As the industry moves toward widespread deployment of the next generation of Wi-Fi—802.11ac, allocating more unlicensed spectrum to it is of paramount importance.
802.11 ac leverages the relatively interference free 5GHz to improve Wi-Fi performance and can use up to 160MHz of contiguous bandwidth. There is an effort in the USA to allocate additional 195 MHz of spectrum in the 5GHz band. Also, 60 GHz band is already earmarked for specific Wi-Fi applications such as wireless displays, which operate within a close range (e.g. within a room). This band can support bandwidths up to 2GHz wide.
Spectrum Aggregation – Across Bands, Technologies and Types
Spectrum Aggregation – Across Bands, Technologies and Types
Mobile wireless has spanned across many technologies (3G/4G/Wi-Fi), across several bands, and across different licensing models (licensed, unlicensed, very soon ASA). Aggregating all the available spectrum resources enables operators to increase overall network capacity and to provide best possible mobile broadband experience to users. With all the different spectrum variables, numerous aggregation scenarios are possible, wireless industry has developed and standardized many of those and continues to work on many more.
Carrier aggregations defined in EV-DO, HSPA+, LTE allows combining different bands of the same technology. Supplemental Downlink (SDL) is a special case of carrier aggregation enabled by HSPA+ and LTE Advanced. It aggregates unpaired spectrum with the downlink of paired spectrum substantially increasing downlink capacity. SDL is on track to be commercially deployed globally (e.g. L-band in Europe & 700MHz band in the US). The work is on going to combine 3G/4G and Wi-Fi accesses to leverage both licensed and unlicensed spectrum.
Media and Resources
Documents
OnQ Blog
Videos
The 1000x challenge; Small Cells everywhere!
The 1000x challenge; Small Cells everywhere!
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Oct 26, 2012
59:51
The 1000x Sequel - The Solutions
Qualcomm's compelling technologies and innovations for the formidable "1000x" mobile data challenge.
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Sep 26, 2012
2:08
The 1000x challenge; More Spectrum - How, how much and from where?
Qualcomm's compelling technologies and innovations for the formidable "1000x" mobile data challenge.
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Sep 24, 2012
1:00:36
The 1000x Mobile Data Challenge
Qualcomm's compelling technologies & innovations for the formidable "1000x" mobile data challenge
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Aug 29, 2012
1:00:18
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