LTE TDD and Transmission Mode 8

How beamforming can increase throughput and spectral

efficiency in a commercial LTE network

June 23, 2015

Test Background

Test conducted independently by SRG in the greater

Chicago area in late March / early April

Sprint network (Band 41 and Band 25) with

Samsung infrastructure

Rockford drive routes total 72 miles

Sprint provided necessary engineering support and

some technical guidance but otherwise had no direct
involvement in the study or the published findings

Leveraged Samsung Galaxy Note Edge smartphones

Used Accuver XCAL / XCAP to collect and analyze the

performance data

Test Objectives

Determine incremental performance gains of TM8 versus traditional transmission modes (TM3, etc.)
in Band 41 with 8-branch transmit and receive antenna configuration at the cell sites

Side-by-side drive testing with TM8 disabled in one smartphone

Testing both with carrier aggregation enabled and disabled in both smartphones
Wide range of network / RF conditions

Analyze throughput, MCS allocations by carrier / codeword versus underlying RF conditions

Compare 8T8R versus 2T2R performance in Band 41 as well as 2T2R in Band 25

Required Sprint engineering support at the cell sites

General observations
Increased Throughput / Efficiency

~50% increase in throughput /

spectral efficiency
For identical RF conditions between two
smartphones
Benefits more obvious / important in RF
challenging conditions
Results could vary based on vendor and
operator implementation strategies

TM8 Utilization Rate Impacts Results

TM8 wasnt always used

~63% utilization rate
Probably due to unfavorable conditions
Network optimization could change
utilization rates
When used, TM8 gains were higher
~60% gains in throughput / efficiency
TM3 seemed to be over used

Positive Outlook for Higher Frequencies and TDD

8T8R and TM8 helps overcome coverage deficiencies

TM8 may not work as well without eight-branch antennas or with
FDD (optional)
TM8 doesnt benefit uplink or contribute to secondary carriers with
CA

But nothing beats having

Lower frequency bands (generally with FDD)
FDD TDD carrier aggregation

Transmission Mode 8 increased throughput

OBSERVATIONS:
44% performance gain across all logged data (filtered as necessary)
61% performance gain when TM8 was utilized (versus for all logged data)
No performance differences between devices when TM8 wasnt used

Smartphones experienced nearly identical RF conditions

OBSERVATIONS:
SINR =
12.0 versus 12.1 dB
RSRP =
-102.5 versus -103.2 dBm
Also comparable
downlink path loss (not
shown)

TM8 was used when network conditions were poorer

OBSERVATIONS:
Figure shows 3 SINR distribution curves from the same smartphone filtered on three
different criteria.
All data (same as previous slide); TM8 used, TM8 not used

On average SINR was higher when TM8 wasnt used and lower when TM8 was used

Nearly ~3 dB difference in the median between TM8 used and not used

TM8 increased spectral efficiency

OBSERVATIONS:
Analysis made between two devices over a range of downlink path loss values shows a
~50% increase in spectral efficiency.

Leveraged information in TS 36.213, Release 10

Mapped MCS to TBS
Used 25 RBs
Similar results when doing the analysis as a function of SINR

TM8 provided more benefit at edge of cell

OBSERVATIONS:
~49% increase in throughput with downlink path loss > 100 dB
Less gain, if any, with lower path loss values
Grey box criteria for downlink path loss occurred for ~90% of the time
Edge of cell conditions can exist throughout the network

TM8 also provides gains with carrier aggregation

OBSERVATIONS:
Performance gains due largely to primary cell / carrier
Areas with no coverage for Device #2 are evident
Secondary carrier doesnt support TM8 functionality

TM8 only benefits the primary cell when CA is used

OBSERVATIONS:
Bluish lines reflect the primary cell; reddish lines show the secondary cell
Benefits of TM8 are evident by comparing the differences in the distribution between
the blue and the red lines
Overall throughput for Device #1 appears in purple

CA with 8-branch antennas and TM8 can deliver a

compelling performance

Challenge is primarily one of execution and getting the functionality deployed to all
sites (where it is needed)