ABSTRACT
The growing demand for mobile Internet and wireless multimedia applications such as Internet browsing, interactive gaming, mobile TV, video and audio streaming has motivated development of broadband wireless access technologies in recent years. The 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) initiated the work on the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) as part of 3GPP Release 8 in late 2004 [1]. The Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) substantially improved user throughput, cell capacity, and reduced user-plane and control-plane latencies, bringing significantly improved user experience with full mobility. With the emergence of Internet protocol as the protocol of choice for carrying all types of traffic, the 3GPP LTE provides support for IP-based traffic with end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS). Voice traffic will be supported mainly as voice over IP, enabling better integration with other multimedia services. Initial deployments of 3GPP LTE began in late 2010 and commercial availability on a larger scale is expected in a few years. 3GPP LTE has been further enhanced in 3GPP Release 10 to satisfy the functional and service requirements of ITU-R/IMT-Advanced [2–5].
