Page 13 - Evolution of 4G LTE to 5G

Carrier Aggregation enhancements

• The LTE CA framework was standardized in Release 10, with the protocol

allowing aggregation of up to 5 Component Carriers (CCs) in downlink and
uplink.

• As operators have planned for deployments with the aggregation of more and
more carriers, it has become necessary to expand the LTE CA framework to be

able to aggregate more than 5 CCs.

• The goal in Release 13 is to expand LTE CA up to 32 CCs and hence provide a
major leap in the achievable data rates for LTE as well as in the flexibility to

aggregate large numbers of carriers in different bands.

• But the enhanced framework will also be useful for LAA operation in

unlicensed spectrum where large blocks of spectrum are available.

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