Europe : Alcatel-Lucent announced that it is conducting field tests in Dresden and Berlin, Germany, on a variety of innovative technologies to support next-generation mobile broadband services.  The testing, part of an initiative by the Enablers for Ambient Services and Systems Consortium (EASY-C), involves wireless communications technologies expected to play key roles in future mobile networking standards including “4G” systems.  Alcatel-Lucent’s Research and Innovation team in Stuttgart, which is leading participation in this effort on the company’s behalf, is a driving force behind research in the EASY-C initiative.

The EASY-C, which is sponsored by the German Ministry for Education and Research, is working to foster mobile Internet access and applications such as video streaming, online multimedia games and local information services.  Alcatel-Lucent’s participation in the testing effort is focused on the introduction of multi-antenna transmission technology -- known as MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) -- that promises significant enhancements in data rates and network capacity, as well as inventive interference management techniques.

For the project,Alcatel-Lucent is using a wireless communication infrastructure based on the new Long Term Evolution*1 (LTE) standard – an evolutionary enhancement to UMTS/HSPA technology -- to demonstrate the performance of innovative multi-antenna methods and new control algorithms.  The goal of the effort is to enhance bandwidth and reduce latency for key services – beyond the levels envisioned in the LTE standard -- and maximize spectral efficiency. 

“The goal of virtually every improvement in wireless communication technology is to provide greater transmission capacity within a given frequency spectrum in order to deliver services to as many users as possible,” said Erich Zielinski, head of Alcatel-Lucent’s Research and Innovation in Germany.  “To this end, developers are working to increase the spectral efficiency of mobile technologies, and multi-antenna systems are one very compelling way of transmitting data at faster rates and enhancing the range of wireless systems.”

Field test environments in Dresden and Berlin

The EASY-C field test environments will go live in mid-2008 at ten T-Mobile and Vodafone locations in central Dresden and a small sub-network in Berlin.  Both test networks will be used to study the viability of the various methods.  The best solutions will then be integrated in the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standardization efforts as well as possible future 4G standardization programs.  In addition to Alcatel-Lucent, participants in the EASY-C project include: the Heinrich Hertz Institute in Berlin; the Vodafone Chair at Dresden Technical University; Deutsche Telekom, T-Systems, T-Mobile and Vodafone, as well as a variety of industrial partners including noted manufacturers of antennas, terminal devices and test equipment.

Multi-Antenna Technology

The MIMO method -- invented by Alcatel-Lucent’s Bell Labs – enables the delivery of much greater volumes of data in individual frequencies.  For example, two transmitting and two receiving antennas can be used to transmit two independent data streams over the same frequency using space as an additional dimension – thus doubling the data rate.  Raising the number of transmitter and receiver antennas increases the possible data rate proportionately. Thanks to MIMO, peak data rates of more than 100 Mbps can be achieved in a 20 MHz frequency band with the LTE systems currently being standardized.  MIMO technology in WiMAX was first demonstrated by Alcatel-Lucent earlier this year at the 3GSM Congress, and further enhancements to achieve similar performances are being developed in 802.16m standardization.  The EASY-C testing program also is exploring “collaborative MIMO” technology, whereby multiple base stations are networked and coordinated to transmit a data stream to a single terminal device, permitting greater capacity without adding antennas to the base stations.

Alcatel-Lucent also is exploring the benefits of inventive interference management techniques that involve coordination between neighboring cells to minimize signal interference, another key area of focus of the EASY-C project.

EASY-C project

The EASY-C project for cellular wireless communications is based on previous research and development projects for 3GPP LTE, but goes further. The project, which was officially launched in April 2007 and is being sponsored by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF), will be exploring and documenting the practical feasibility of innovative mobile communications technology until the end of 2010.  Successfully demonstrated processes will be submitted as proposals for a future standard.  The resulting wireless communications specification (subsequent releases of 3GPP or 4G) could be ready for deployment in 2012.  The project will have a major effect on central technology decisions in 3GPP LTE and elsewhere by evaluating the technical and economic usability of a variety of innovative processes in simulations and a field test. With EASY-C, Germany is home to a reference project of great relevance to many standardization committees (3GPP, 3GPP2, IEEE and ETSI).