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Alcatel-Lucent promises technology to boost LTE performance
Published: 16 October, 2009
Tags >> Alcatel-Lucent | Standards | LTE
Alcatel-Lucent today is testing a new technology, created by researchers in its Bell Labs R&D unit, that should improve the performance of LTE and support faster and more reliable data rates.
It is critical that mobile operators can avoid the problems that AT&T has suffered with the iPhone, once they move to true mobile broadband and web-focused devices start to proliferate. ALU's advance relies on a new approach to implementing MIMO smart antenna arrays, one of the key elements of 4G platforms like HSPA+, WiMAX and LTE.
Changing the antenna configuration can help improve the signal strength, says the company, and its approach is called CoMP (Coordinated Multipoint Transmission). This will be used to link MIMO-enabled base stations together in what LTE people call 'partial meshes', using low latency backhaul options such as fiber or microwave. This will create a network design that will support smaller cells, bringing users closer to the base station for better performance and battery life, and will reduce burden on the core network.
The technology is still at the research stage, but ALU expects it to turn up in standards for LTE Advanced, the next iteration of the platform, which has been submitted to the ITU, along with WiMAX 2.0, for acceptance as an official standard for IMT-Advanced (true 4G). CoMP is likely to be implemented, in a few years' time, as a software upgrade.
In nearer term good news for ALU's LTE efforts, the company has announced that NTT DoCoMo, which plans to be one of the earliest adopters of the technology, is using the ALU 7450 Ethernet Service Switch (ESS) to help transform its network to all-IP to support high speed fixed and mobile services. This is a sign that ALU's routers, which go up to 100Gbps, can hold their own against Cisco and Juniper.
