LTE Advanced: 3GPP Solution for IMT-Advanced

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents the LTE downlink carrier aggregation, part of Release 10 LTE specifications. First, the principle of carrier aggregation is introduced with the focus on downlink carrier aggregation. Following the discussion on the carrier aggregation principles, the detailed impact to the protocols, procedures and physical layer is covered. This chapter then concludes with the downlink carrier aggregation performance investigation as well as with the overview of the downlink band combinations worked on in 3GPP radio standardization.