LTE-Advanced Release-12 Shapes New Enode Transmitter Architecture: Part 2 - Analog Integration Challenge

Analog integration plays an important role in addressing new challenges faced by LTE-Advanced radio engineers. The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is working on Release 12 (Rel-12) of the LTE-Advanced standard. 3GPP Rel-12 includes many enhancements to 4G radio access technology including wideband carrier aggregation, multi-layer spatial multiplexing and advanced antenna configurations. The Rel-12 enhancements will challenge radio designers to integrate more RF transmitter channels that will enable smaller, lower power and higher performance eNodeB base stations. Advancements in RF analog integration and disruptive radio architectures can help engineers successfully overcome the integration challenge.