TD-LTE: Three-way spectrum open

“One of the three points in the world” is China Mobile’s goal for TD-SCDMA in the domestic 3G market. Now this goal is further pushed to TD-LTE, and its space for implementation is global. At the “New Generation of Broadband Wireless Mobile Communication Development Forum” co-sponsored by the General Expert Group on Broadband Wireless Mobile Communication Networks and the Institute of Telecommunications of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Huang Yuhong, Vice President of the China Mobile Communications Research Institute, stated: “TD - LTE has the foundation for global development, and it has the time, location, and human resources.” Accelerating development and winning resources are key to the current industrialization and internationalization of TD-LTE.

Test network first phase test ending

In early October, the first-phase test of the scale network of TD-LTE 6 cities has entered the end of its official period. This test demonstrates the strong industrial support capabilities of TD-LTE. According to Wei Guiming, deputy chief engineer of the Institute of Communications Standards of the Telecommunication Research Institute, in terms of system equipment, Huawei, Nosi, ZTE, Datang, Shanghai Bell, Motorola, Ericsson, and Fiberhome have completed 2.6GHz single-system test and 2x2 test. , key technologies and field network performance testing. New Post and Putian have completed single system tests and 2x2 tests. Samsung completed a single system test.

On the chip side, the chips of HiSilicon, Chuangyi Video, Qualcomm, Aite, ZTE Microelectronics, and Saiken have completed functional, indoor and outdoor field performance, and 2x2 interoperability tests. Lianxin and ST-Ericsson completed functional tests. Lianxin is conducting in-house performance and interoperability tests. CYIT is conducting functional tests and Spreadtrum is in functional commissioning.

"In contrast to TD-SCDMA testing, TD-LTE has also developed instrumentation testing links in addition to systems and Terminals for the development and verification of TD-LTE terminal conformance test systems." Wei Guiming told China Electronics News reporter. In the 3GPP international standards, including radio frequency, protocol, and radio resource management are fully synchronized with LTE FDD. In 2010, the core specification was successfully completed, the R8 version was frozen, and the TTCN code development was completed.

In 2011, it was mainly completed on the basis of the R9 version, keeping full synchronization with LTE FDD. In instrument development, more than 10 companies such as Annet and Rohde & Schwarz were involved. The radio frequency and protocol meters achieved basic synchronization with LTE FDD, and radio resource management instruments lag behind LTE FDD.

In terms of test set verification, the TD-LTE working group strengthened its organization and carried out GCF certification in an orderly manner, narrowing the gap with FDD. The RF and protocol test cases are basically synchronized with LTE FDD, and the radio resource management test case is about half compared to LTE FDD.

"Seven system manufacturers completed the construction of the network, three system manufacturers are building networks, and China Mobile purchases more than 2,800 terminals for scale testing." Speaking of the overall state of the six-city network trial phase, Wei Guiming said, " Seven system vendors and three chip vendors basically completed the first phase of the test, focusing on wireless network performance, multi-antenna, indoor coverage, and terminal four major tests, as well as core networks and bearer networks.

The TD-LTE test started in 2009 is divided into three major phases. These three phases are connected in a ring to allow the system equipment to go from the prototype to the test system to the third stage of pre-commercial equipment; the terminal is from the FPGA development version to the ASIC. The chips reach the current pre-commercial terminals and realize high-quality, high-efficiency, and low-cost promotion of industrial maturity.

The next phase of testing will target multi-mode terminals

According to reports, the first phase of the test mainly verified the ability of the same-size network, verified multiple antenna methods, and achieved system and single-mode chip maturity. The second phase of the test, mainly to verify R9 performance and promote multi-mode terminal R & D. "The second phase of the test is expected to start in late October and early November," Wei Guiming said.

There are two conditions for entering the second phase of testing. First, in the single-mode test of the first stage in 6 cities, the two systems and the two chips completed the test and met the requirements; the second is the use of two multi-mode terminals (TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM) with different chip schemes. Mtnet's Huairou and Shunyi outfields were tested, verified, optimized, and tested to meet the requirements.

TD-LTE multimode terminals are closer to commercial products. Wei Guiming said: "In the TD-LTE multimode terminal/chip solution, multimode terminals must support TD-LTE, TD-SCDMA, and GSM tri-modes and support LTE FDD at the same time." TD-LTEA multimode terminals can be single The standby or dual standby mode can use single chip or dual chip. The TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM single chip is used for the multi-mode data card single-standby or dual-standby mode. The dual-standby mode adopts TD-LTE+TD-SCDMA/GSM dual chip; multi-mode dual standby The chips used in mobile phones and multimode dual standby data cards are the same; the chips used in multimode single standby CSFB mobile phones are TD-LTE/TD-SCDMA/GSM single chips and support CS Fallback.

In the development of TD-LTE multimode terminals/chips, dual-chip multimode solutions will be introduced sooner. By adopting the existing TD-LTE single-mode chip and TD-S/GSM commercial chip, a two-chip multi-mode terminal is formed by combination. At present, four companies plan to provide multi-mode data cards or dual-standby mobile phones in the fourth quarter of this year. The single-chip multi-mode solution is the future direction of development, both using 40-nanometer technology, support at least TD-LTE/TD-S/GSM three-mode, there are seven chip companies plan to provide this chip next year, there are other The chip company plans to provide it at the end of 2012 or 2013.

TD-LTE international spectrum is key

Promoting the internationalization of TD-LTE is one of the goals of the six-city network test. “In the LTE phase, the TDD landscape has undergone major changes,” said Cao Shumin, dean of the Institute of Telecommunications. “With the increase in asymmetric frequency bands and single-band frequency bands, 66 operators in 22 countries worldwide have TDD bands. ”

"As of now, 2 operators have officially launched TD-LTE commercial services, 10 operators have clarified TD-LTE commercial plans, and TD-LTE trial network has reached 33. It is expected that the number of TD-LTE base stations will reach 6500 by the end of 2011. Left and right.” Huang Yuhong said, “SoftBank of Japan, Batty of India, Clearwire of the United States, Hi3G of Europe, Mobily of the Middle East, and SkyTV of Brazil have become the first TD-LTE operators. Other potential areas include Southeast Asia, South America, Canada, the Middle East, Africa, and Russia. Etc. Among them, Southeast Asia has a population of more than 600 million, and the potential for wireless broadband is huge."

From the perspective of market strategy, operators represented by Softbank Japan and Clearwire focus on supporting characteristic terminals such as iPhones for TD-LTE. It is hoped that the industry will reach an agreement on the band and terminal strategy as soon as possible. Emerging markets represented by India, South East Asia, South America, the Middle East, and Russia hope to deploy TD-LTE before the development of local LTE FDD to take the initiative. Their main demand for products is data cards and home gateways. They are very much looking forward to China's guidance and help. With regard to the WiMAX camp represented by developed and developing countries, the timing of its shift to TD-LTE depends on when the cost of TD-LTE terminals has dropped to the level of WiMAX.

To strive for more frequency resources and industrial resources, keep pace with the development of LTE FDD, and build an end-to-end internationalized industrial chain. Among international operators, expanding the market is the basic idea of ​​TD-LTE internationalization. "In promoting the international development of TD-LTE, we understand that the most important thing is to find the frequency." Huang Yuhong said, "The United States to push WiMAX technology is to find a frequency of 2.6GHZ after lobbying to various countries."

The timing of China's frequency planning is very important. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, He Hexin, believes that the frequency of mobile communications is obviously insufficient, especially TDD, and 2.6GHZ is currently an important application frequency band for global TD-LTE. "2.3GHZ is a globally planned TDD band. It is recommended that China coordinate the medium and long-term use of this frequency as early as possible." He said, "At present, FDD has about 548 MHz available frequency band, and TDD is about 150 MHz." Low frequency band is very much needed for TDD. Resources, Qi Hejun said: "700MHZ is the golden band of LTE. At present, China is using it for broadcasting and television and hopes that in the process of converting television from analog to digital, it will be possible to release spectrum resources."