Ericsson Demos LTE Advanced with 8x8 MIMO

Ericsson demonstrated LTE Advanced connectivity between its RBS 6000 base station and a moving vehicle in Kista, Sweden. The enhancements introduced with LTE Advanced include carrier aggregation and extended multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) functionality. The tests achieved speeds more than 10 times faster than those currently experienced by LTE consumers in Sweden. The meter showed between 900 Mbps and 1 Gbps of over-the-air downlink performance to the moving van.


The test system, based on the multi-mode, multi-standard RBS 6000 radio base station, was operating on a test frequency provided by the Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS). The tests enabled LTE Advanced functionality such as carrier aggregation of 3 x 20MHz (60MHz aggregated) over the air in a mobile environment for the first time.


Live traffic was streamed between the RBS and a moving van from which network performance could be monitored. In the demonstration, 60MHz of aggregated bandwidth was used, compared to the 20MHz maximum that is currently possible using LTE. In the downlink, 8x8 MIMO was used.


"Ericsson encourages all regulators to allocate harmonized spectrum as early as possible," says Ulf Ewaldsson, Vice President and Head of Product Area Radio, Ericsson. "The next step of LTE enhances the current service offering, performance and data speed even further. It provides operators with the opportunity to capitalize further on their existing infrastructure. Once again, Ericsson is committed to supporting operators' needs as expectations and requirements for mobile broadband services increase."http://www.ericsson.com