[April 24, 2012]

Research and Markets: Signals Ahead: LTE-Advanced and Coordinated Multi-Point: What Goes Around, Comes Around

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d5pw4m/signals_ahead_lte) has announced the addition of the "Signals Ahead: LTE-Advanced and Coordinated Multi-Point: What Goes Around, Comes Around" report to their offering.

Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) is a Release 11 and beyond feature (formally part of Release 10) that leverages the simultaneous support of multiple transmission points to serve mobile devices in the high interference areas that occur between cells (inter-cell) and between sectors within a given cell (intra-cell). In theory it can provide stellar gains on the order of high double-digit percentages for edge of cell user throughput while also providing at least some increase in overall network efficiency. In practical terms, the benefits of CoMP are less clear and there is at least some justified reservations regarding its potential impact on an operator's network.

- CoMP 101. The report explains the technical details of the various CoMP implementations, including CS/CB, DCS, JT, and uplink, as well the different implementation options, namely intra-cell versus inter- cell, and the use of distributed baseband pooling versus distributed approach.

- The Benefits. In theory, CoMP can provide a meaningful edge of cell performance gain as well as a more modest benefit to overall spectral efficiency. We quantify the potential gains and how they vary based on the implementation of CoMP being used, as well as other important assumptions.

- The Challenges. To varying degrees, the potential benefits of CoMP may not translate from network simulations to real world network deployments. Multiple technical factors and logistical considerations need to be considered. We discuss

- The Alternatives. CoMP isn't the only solution that is capable of increasing spectral efficiency and edge of cell performance. We discuss what is being done both within the standard (pre-Release 11) and on a vendor-specific basis.

- The Likely Rollout Strategies. Although recent 3GPP activity has seemingly delayed various aspects of CoMP, it is still a question of when and not if CoMP reaches commercial status. We explain how we see CoMP being deployed and we examine what some of the vendors are doing to drive higher network performance, either with or without CoMP.

Key Topics Covered:

1. CoMP a quick primer

- Coordinated Scheduling/Coordinated Beamforming

- Joint Transmission

- Dynamic Cell Selection

- Intra-cell versus Inter-cell CoMP

- Uplink CoMP

2. The Challenges of Implementing CoMP

- Backhaul Limitations

- Latency Limitations

- Throughput Limitations

- Device Limitations

- Control Channel Limitations

- Alternative Solutions

- Range Extension

- 4x2 Antenna Schemes and Multi-User MIMO

- Release 8 Vendor-Specific Enhancements

- Interference Cancellation

- Remote Radio Heads

- Multi-vendor Implementations

- Edge of Cluster Impacts

- Legacy Antenna Design Scheme Implementations

3. The Potential Benefits of CoMP

- The Potential Benefits of Intra-site CoMP in a Homogeneous Network

- The Potential Benefits of CoMP in a Homogeneous Network with High-power RRHs

- The Potential Benefits of CoMP in a Heterogeneous Network with Individual Cell IDs or with a Shared Cell ID

4. CoMP Go-to-Market Strategies

5. Final thoughts

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/d5pw4m/signals_ahead_lte

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