Analysis of the Impact of TD-LTE on Mobile Broadband
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Analysis of the Impact of TD-LTE on Mobile Broadband XI CHEN Degree project in Communication Systems Second cycle Stockholm, Sweden 2013 ANALYSIS OF THE IMPACT OF TD-LTE ON MOBILE BROADBAND CHEN Xi [email protected] Supervisor and Examiner: Jan Markendahl Master of Science Thesis KTH Information and Communication Technology Communication Systems SE-164 40 KISTA KTH School of Information and Communication Technology TRITA-ICT-EX-2014:7 The Master of Science degree project on the subject of communication systems is open to pubic scrutiny on September 18, 2013, 9:00-10:00 (Wednesday) at CoS conference room Motala, 4th floor, Elevator C, Electrum (Isafjordsgatan 22), Kista. © CHEN Xi, October 2013 Tryck: Universitetsservice US AB Abstract The mobile broadband services have developed rapidly over the years, becoming critical revenue components of operator business. To accommodate users’ growing interests on mobile broadband services and applications, global operators have tried to reorganize their former voice-centered networks by focusing more on the reinforcement of mobile data network performances and capacities. TD-LTE, as one of the emerging powers for the mobile broadband solutions, has gained global attentions and momentums. Different from previous work about the technical evaluations or market predictions, the thesis aims to provide a techno-economic analysis to TD-LTE system, linking its technological characters to the market opportunities and implementation strategies. In order to help TD-LTE operators identify the profit potentials of the system, the services and applications that TD-LTE could enable are discussed together with the analysis of the terminal developments, which are critical to end users’ acceptance of TD-LTE. The network deployment strategies are examined and the methods of implementing a decent TD-LTE mobile data network are analyzed with cost efficiency considerations. The analysis find out that the availability of spectrum resource are of most importance for the adoption of TD-LTE technology and the sustainable growth of TD-LTE business relies on the differentiation strategy of services and applications. The feasibility study shows that TD-LTE could enable varied network deployment scenarios, including integrated network solution with legacy networks, and convergent network solution with LTE FDD. The cost analysis find out site infrastructure sharing is beneficial for cost reduction during a national level rollout, especially when the traffic volume increases. Reusing the coverage and capacity of legacy network is mostly effective in the initial phase, and TD-LTE deployment pace should accord with the data prediction on the live network. For compact and indoor scenarios, TD-LTE femto could be a cost effective alternative for mobile broadband access, however the bottleneck of the solution is the limitation on the number of concurrent connections for each femtocell. I Acknowledgment The thesis project has been a challenging yet rewarding journey, which has introduced me to a new field, that I am always interested in but lack the opportunity to engage in before. Upon its completion, I would like to express my gratitude to those who have accompanied me along the way, providing guidance and support. First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Jan Markendahl for his guidance, advices, encouragement and patience over the whole course of the project. His constant and timely suggestions and feedbacks always guide me to the right direction for both the research and the writing of the report. I would also like to express my appreciation to all the researchers and fellow students, who help me in all sorts of manners and show their interests in my work, especially Óscar García and Juan Pablo who take times to review my work and act as my opponents. I am also very grateful for the excellent research, learning and communication platform that the Department of Communication Systems and Wireless@KTH have provided me for my work. Finally, I would like to thank all my families and friends home and abroad, especially my parents and my cousins for all their support and trust. CHEN Xi Stockholm, October 2013 II Abbreviations 3GPP The 3rd Generation Partnership Project CAPEX Capital Expenditure CMCC China Mobile Communications Corporation CPE Customer-Premises Equipment CSFB Circuit Switched Fallback DwPTS Downlink Pilot Time Slot E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access EPS Evolved Packet System FDD Frequency-Division Duplexing GP Guard Period GPS Global Positioning System GSM Global System for Mobile Communications HSPA High Speed Packet Access IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity LAU Location Area Update LSB Location Based Services LSTI LTE/SAE Trial Initiative LTE Long Term Evolution M2M Machine to Machine MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service MiFi My Wi-Fi MIIT Ministry of Industry and Information Technology MIMO Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output MNO Mobile Network Operator MWC Mobile World Congress NDRC National Development and Reform Commission NPV Net Present Value OPEX Operating Expenditure R&D Research and Development TAU Tracking Area Update TDD Time-Division Duplexing UE User Equipment UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System UpPTS Uplink Pilot Time Slot III UTC Coordinated Universal Time VoIP Voice over IP WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access IV Table of Contents Abstract I! Acknowledgment II! Abbreviations III! Table of Contents V! List of Figures VII! List of Tables VIII! 1 Introduction 1! 1.1 Background 1! 1.2 Problem formulation 2! 1.3 Related work 4! 1.4 Contributions and scopes 6! 1.5 Thesis outline 7! 2 Methodology 9! 2.1 Methodology description 9! 2.2 Approach 10! 2.3 Data collections 11! 2.4 Cost modeling and assumption 11! 2.5 Case study 12! 3 TD-LTE System 13! 3.1 Introduction to TD-LTE system 13! 3.1.1 LTE system overview 13! 3.1.2 FDD and TDD 15! 3.1.3 Key concepts in TD-LTE system 16! 3.2 Evaluate TD-LTE system 18! 3.2.1 TD-LTE spectrum 18! 3.2.2 Coverage 19! 3.2.3 Asymmetric character 20! 3.2.4 Synchronization 20! 3.2.5 Channel reciprocity 20! 3.2.6 Leverage from other systems 21! 3.2.7 Summary 21! 4 TD-LTE Market Opportunities and Ecosystem 23! 4.1 Performance evaluation of MBB services powered by TD-LTE system 23! 4.1.1 TD-LTE network performance 23! 4.1.2 TD-LTE enabled MBB service performance 26! 4.2 TD-LTE enabled new services and applications 27! 4.2.1 Downlink biased services 27! 4.2.2 Uplink biased services 28! 4.2.3 Specific scenario and service packages 28! 4.2.4 TD-LTE market and operation strategies 29! 4.3 The development of chipset and terminal equipment 31! 4.3.1 Introduction to TD-LTE terminal products 32! V 4.3.2 Chipset and terminal development 32! 4.3.3 Trends and challenges of TD-LTE terminal products 34! 5 Network Deployment Strategies and Cost Analysis 35! 5.1 Coexistence and interoperability between TD-LTE and legacy networks 35! 5.2 Convergence of TD-LTE and LTE FDD 36! 5.3 Cost analysis 37! 5.3.1 Cost analysis for reusing legacy network infrastructure and capacity 38! 5.3.2 Cost analysis for HetNet deployment using TD-LTE and LTE FDD system 44! 6 Case Study 50! 6.1 China Mobile 50! 6.1.1 CMCC’s choice of TD-LTE 50! 6.1.2 CMCC’s strategies on TD-LTE services and applications 51! 6.1.3 CMCC TD-LTE terminal products 52! 6.1.4 CMCC Network deployment progress and strategies 53! 6.2 Denmark Hi3G 54! 7 Conclusion and Future Work 57! 7.1 Research question discussion 57! 7.2 Conclusions 59! 7.3 Discussion and future work 60! References 61! Appendix 63! VI List of Figures Figure 2.1 Interrelation among topics and workflow 9! Figure 3.1 System architecture diagram of LTE (EPC and E-UTRAN) 14! Figure 3.2 TDD and FDD working principal 15! Figure 3.3 TD-LTE frame structure (Frame structure Type 2)[20] 16! Figure 5.1 Annual network production cost 42! Figure 5.2 Production cost per GB 42! Figure 5.3 Network implementation cost by areas 43! Figure 5.4 Macro and Femto solution production cost from year 1-5 47! ! VII List of Tables Table 3.1 TD-LTE uplink-downlink configuration[20] 17! Table 3.2 Configuration of special subframes in OFDM symbols[21] 17! Table 4.1 TD-LTE asymmetric peak throughput estimation 26! Table 4.2 TD-LTE enabled services and applications 30! Table 5.1 Cell range and coverage of HSPA and TD-LTE 39! Table 5.2 Cost structure of HSPA/TD-LTE sites 40! Table 5.3 Reuse scale of Case B-E 41! Table 5.4 Macro site number requirement 46! Table 5.5 Femtocell number requirement 46! Table 5.6 Cost structure of Macro LTE sites 46! Table 5.7 Network cost comparison 47! Table 5.8 Production cost for different sectors 48! Table A.1 Cost analysis of CASE A 63! Table A.2 Cost analysis of CASE B 63! Table A.3 Cost analysis of CASE C 64! Table A.4 Cost analysis of CASE D 64! Table A.5 Cost analysis of CASE E 65! VIII 1 Introduction The mobile operator business has experienced dramatic changes over the years with the flourishing mobile Internet development. Starting from 3G eras, the market have shown growing interests on mobile broadband for the changes and benefits it brings to people’s way of communication. As one of the promising candidates for future mobile broadband solution, TD-LTE has high potentials to help mobile operators keep competitive as mobile broadband dominates new ways of communication.