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LTE UE Category & Class

Definitions
- LTE utilises UE or User Equipment categories or
classes to define the performance specifications an
enable base stations to be able to communicate
effectively with them knowing their performance
levels. Some like LTE Cat 3, LTE Cat 4 and LTE Cat 0
are widely quoted and used. Other like LTE Cat 7
and LTE Cat 8 are much newer.

LTE TUTORIAL INCLUDES

LTE Introduction (3g-lte-basics.php)

OFDM, OFDMA, SC-FDMA (lte-ofdm-ofdma-scfdma.php)
LTE MIMO (lte-mimo.php)
TDD & FDD (lte-fdd-tdd-duplex.php)
Frame & subframe (lte-frame-subframe-structure.php)
Physical logical & transport channels (physical-logical-
transport-channels.php) Latest news

Bands and spectrum (lte-frequency-spectrum.php) Non-contact respiration sensors benefit

from radar SoC (/news/electronics-
UE categories (ue-category-categories-classes.php)
components/non-contact-respiration-
SAE architecture (sae-system-architecture-evolution- sensors-benefit-from-radar-8530)
network.php)
Robust RJ45 connectivity devices offer
LTE SON (lte-son-self-organising-networks.php) 360 shielding (/news/distribution-
VoLTE (voice-over-lte-volte.php) supply/robust-rj45-connectivity-devices-
SRVCC (srvcc-single-radio-voice-call-continuity.php) offer-360-8529)

LTE-M (lte-m-m2m-machine-to-machine.php) Nepal's first 100G optical network for

super-fast broadband services (/news
LTE-U / LAA (lte-u-unlicensed-laa-license-assisted-access.php) /cellular-telecoms/nepals-first-
Security (lte-security-authentication.php) 100g-optical-network-for-8528)

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See also Fully-integrated power amplifier

4G LTE Advanced (3gpp-4g-imt-lte-advanced-tutorial.php) enables simpler implementation (/news
/distribution-supply/fully-integrated-
power-amplifier-enables-simpler-
In the same way that a variety of other systems adopted different implementation-8526)
categories for the handsets or user equipments, so too there are
Anokiwave and Cain-Forlaw sign
3G LTE UE categories. These LTE categories define the standards
representation agreement (/news
to which a particular handset, dongle or other equipment will /distribution-supply/anokiwave-
operate. and-cain-forlaw-sign-representation-
agreement-8525)
LTE UE category rationale . . . . More News (http://www.radio-
The LTE categories or UE classes are needed to ensure that the electronics.com/news.php)
base station, or eNodeB, eNB can communicate correctly with the
user equipment. By relaying the LTE UE category information to
FOCUS ON WIRELESS (/TECH-
the base station, it is able to determine the performance of the
ZONE/DIGIKEY/)
UE and communicate with it accordingly.

As the LTE category defines the overall performance and the Applying Chip and Patch Antennas to
capabilities of the UE, it is possible for the eNB to communicate Solve Diversity and Multiband RF Issues
(https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk
using capabilities that it knows the UE possesses. Accordingly the
/401273142;201395246;r?https:
eNB will not communicate beyond the performance of the UE.
//www.digikey.com/en/articles
/techzone/2017/may/applying-
chip-patch-antennas-diversity-
multiband-rf-issues)
Compare 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wireless
LAN in Industrial Applications
(https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk
/401248715;201395246;z?https:
//www.digikey.com/en/articles
/techzone/2017/jun/compare-24-ghz-
5-ghz-wireless-lan-industrial-
applications)
Understanding Antenna Specifications
LTE UE category definitions and Operation
(https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk
There are 9 different LTE UE categories that are defined. As can be /322716008;152519154;x?https:
seen in the table below, the different LTE categories have a wide //www.digikey.com/en/articles
range in the supported parameters and performance. LTE /techzone/2017/apr/understanding-
category 1, for example does not support MIMO, but LTE UE antenna-specifications-and-operation)
category five supports 4x4 MIMO. Take the Zero-Touch Approach to
It is also worth noting that UE class 1 does not offer the Securely Lock Down an IoT Device
performance offered by that of the highest performance HSPA (https://ad.doubleclick.net/ddm/clk
category. Additionally all LTE UE categories are capable of /322710714;152519154;v?https:
receiving transmissions from up to four antenna ports. //www.digikey.com/en/articles
/techzone/2017/apr/take-zero-touch-
A summary of the different LTE UE category parameters is given approach-securely-lock-down-
in the tables below. iot-device)

More Focus on Wireless (/tech-

HEADLINE DATA RATES FOR LTE CATEGORIES zone/digikey/)
LTE UE CATEGORY
LINK 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Downlink 10 50 100 150 300 300 300 1200
INDUSTRY CURRENTS BLOG (/INDUSTRY-
CURRENTS/)
Uplink 5 25 50 50 75 50 150 600

It can be seen that the headline data rates for category 8 exceed
the requiremetns for IMT-Advanced by a considerable margin.

While the headline rates for the different LTE UE categories or UE

classes show the maximum data rates achievable, it is worth

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looking in further detail at the underlying performance

characteristics.

UL AND DL PARAMETERS FOR LTE UE CATEGORIES 1 - 5

LTE CATEGORY
PARAMETER LTE CAT LTE CAT LTE CAT LTE CAT LTE CAT
1 2 3 4 5
Max number of 10 296 51 024 102 048 150 752 302 752
DL-SCH transport Mark Patrick | Mouser Electronics
block bits received Autonomous Cars End of the Year or
in a TTI Not Yet Near? (/industry-currents
Max number of bits 10 296 51 024 75 376 75 376 151 376 /posts/autonomous-cars--end-of-
of a DL-SCH block
year-or-not-yet-near)
received in a TTI
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has predicted that
Total number of soft 250 368 1 237 1 237 1 827 3 667
channel bits 248 248 072 200 his companys cars might be able to drive
Maximum number 1 2 2 2 4
across the US autonomously as early as
of supported layers the beginning of 2018. Is this ambitious
for spatial goal possible?
multiplexing in DL
Max number of bits 5 160 25 456 51 024 51 024 75 376
of an UL-SCH TRAINING COURSES (/LEARNING-
transport block
TRAINING-COURSES/)
received in a TTI
Support for 64-QAM No No No No Yes Online - Effective
in UL
Spectrum Analyzer
Measurements
(/learning-training-
courses
/courses_item.php?id=radio-
UL AND DL PARAMETERS FOR LTE UE CATEGORIES 6, 7, 8
engineering/online---
LTE CATEGORY
effective-spectrum-
PARAMETER LTE CAT LTE CAT LTE CAT
analyzer-
6 7 8
measurements-172)
Max number of 299 552 299 552 1 200
Learn how to make
DL-SCH transport 000
spectrum analyzer
block bits received
in a TTI measurements at RF and
microwave frequencies
Max number of bits TBD TBD TBD
of a DL-SCH block More training courses
received in a TTI (/learning-training-
Total number of soft 3 667 TBD TBD courses/)
channel bits 200
Maximum number
of supported layers
RECOMMENDED WHITEPAPER
for spatial
multiplexing in DL (/WHITEPAPERS.PHP)
Max number of bits TBD TBD TBD
of an UL-SCH
R&S Higher Order
transport block MIMO Testing
received in a TTI (http://www.radio-
Support for 64-QAM No Yes, up Yes electronics.com
in UL to RAN /whitepapers/higher-
4
order-
mimo-testing-11)
From this it can be seen that the peak downlink data rate for a
Rohde & Schwarz presents
Category 5 UE using 4x4 MIMO is approximately 300 Mbps, and this authoritative
150 Mbps for a Category 4 UE using 2x2 MIMO. Also in the Uplink, whitepaper on higher order
LTE UE category 5 provides a peak data rate of 75 Mbps using MIMO testing.
64-QAM. More whitepapers
(/whitepapers.php)

Note:
DL-SCH = Downlink shared channel
UL-SCH = Uplink shared channel
Forthcoming Events
TTI = Transmission Time Interval

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LTE Category 0 Engineering Design Show (/event

/engineering-design-show-76)
With the considerable level of development being undertaken
LAPC 2017: Loughborough Antennas
into the Internet of Things, IoT and general machine to machine,
and Propagation Conference (/event
M2M communications, there has been a growing need to develop
/lapc-2017-loughborough-antennas-
an LTE category focussed on these applications. Here, much lower
and-propagation-73)
data rates are needed, often only in short bursts and an
productronica (/event
accompanying requirement is for the remote device or machine
/productronica-11)
to be able to draw only low levels of current.
Mobile World Congress (/event/mobile-
To enable the requirements of these devices to be met using LTE,
world-congress-8)
and new LTE category was developed. Referred to as LTE Category
0, or simply LTE Cat 0, this new category has a reduced Embedded World (/event/embedded-
world-65)
performance requirement that meets the needs of many
machines while significantly reducing complexity and current NIWeek (/event/niweek-60)
consumption. Whilst Category 0 offered a reduced specification, it
. . . . More Events (http://www.radio-
still complied with the LTE system requirements.
electronics.com/events-exhibitions-
trade-shows/)
LTE CATEGORY 0 PERFORMANCE SUMMARY
PARAMETER LTE CAT 0
PERFORMANCE
Popular Articles
Peak downlink rate 1 Mbps
Peak uplink rate 1 Mbps Beam forming for 5G communication
Max number of downlink spatial 1 systems (/articles/antennas-
layers propagation/beam-forming-for-5g-
Number of UE RF chains 1 communication-systems-179)
Duplex mode Half duplex Introducing New Products: 5 key issues
UE receive bandwidth 20 MHz (/articles/design-principles/introducing-
Maximum UE transmit power 23 dBm new-products-5-key-issues-75)
2017 Forecast For Electronic
The new LTE Cat 0 was introduced in Rel 12 of the 3GPP Components Market (/articles
standards. And it is being advanced in further releases. /electronics-components/2017-forecast-
One major advantage of LTE Category 0 is that the modem for-electronic-components-market-199)
complexity is considerably reduced when compared to other LTE Carrier Aggregation How to Test the
Categories. It is expected that the modem complexity for a Cat 0 Key Enabler for LTE Advanced (/articles
modem will be around 50% that of a Category 1 modem. /cellular-telecoms/carrier-aggregation-
how-to-test-79)
LTE UE category summary Resolving EMI common mode & normal
mode noise (/articles/circuit-design
In the same way that category information is used for virtually all
/resolving-emi-common-
cellular systems from GPRS onwards, so the LTE UE category
mode-normal-146)
information is of great importance. While users may not be
particularly aware of the category of their UE, it will match the . . . . More Articles (http://www.radio-
performance an allow the eNB to communicate effectively with all electronics.com/articles.php)
the UEs that are connected to it.

By Ian Poole (https://plus.google.com

/104687638164370436625?rel=author)

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