HSPA+ Advanced

Taking HSPA+ to the next level

Bypassing the remarkable 1 billion connections milestone in 2012, HSPA has emerged as the undisputed leader in mobile broadband technology. HSPA+ evolution will play a crucial role in addressing the 1000x increase in mobile data. With dual-carrier HSPA+(Rel. 8) becoming the new baseline, Qualcomm is again leading the industry with HSPA+ Advanced that takes the performance of HSPA+ to the next level. It incorporates a variety of innovative techniques, many of which have already been prototyped and demonstrated by Qualcomm.

MultiFlow – Balancing load across cells

Introducing innovative techniques such as "MultiFlow" to exploit inherently uneven network load that changes with time and location. MultiFlow dynamically balances network load and offers higher overall capacity as well as better data rates for user at the edge of the cell. In essence, it is an evolution of dual-carrier, except that in MultiFlow data aggregation is across the two difference cells than carriers.

Learn more about Multiflow

Multicarrier evolution—leveraging all spectrum assets

Multicarrier means more speed and capacity for all users. HSPA+ evolution expands multicarrier in many directions. It defines more spectrum band combinations, this allows operators to combine refarmed low-band GSM spectrum (e.g. 900 MHz) with higher bands (e.g. 1900/2100 MHz), and benefit from lower spectrum’s better coverage characteristics. Additionally, there is support for aggregation of up to 8 carriers, and "Supplemental Downlink,” which combines the unpaired spectrum with paired spectrum to increase downlink capacity.

Learn more about HSPA+ Advanced Supplemental Downlink

Optimizing small cells/ HetNets

Today’s networks are getting more heterogeneous, with the increasing addition of small cells, which also are the key component to address the 1000x increase in mobile data. HSPA+ evolution incorporates optimizations such as “Range Expansion” that increase the utilization of small cells, improve the overall network capacity, and enhance data rates for users at the cell-edge. Range Expansion is possible today. HSPA+ Advanced further enhances it through features such as MultiFlow.

Learn more about HSPA+ HetNets

More advanced antenna techniques

Bringing MIMO to the uplink, and further evolving downlink MIMO. But, most importantly, introducing uplink closed loop beamforming to provide better coverage and capacity to modern uplink-heavy applications.

Learn more about HSPA+ Advanced Uplink (uplink beamforming)

Enabling billions of connected devices

Bracing for the next explosion—think billions—of interconnected, low-traffic machine-to-machine devices and the continued growth of smartphones, HSPA+ Advanced has optimizations to provide more than ten-fold capacity for carrying small data bursts for such devices.