What is LTE Sidelink?

LTE Sidelink is an adaptation of the core LTE standard that allows direct communication between two LTE devices without going through a Base station. LTE Sidelink was defined by 3GPP in Release 12 as a standard which can be used for Public Safety communications. At the moment, public safety communications are done using different standards in different geographical regions and may even vary within a country. This makes interworking of different public safety groups very difficult.

To achieve this, the 3GPP decided to develop a variation of LTE specifically called LTE Sidelink.

LTE Sidelink is an adaptation of the core LTE standard that allows for communication between two or more nearby devices, using E-UTRAN technology (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) without the need of a base station. This technology can be used for the out-of-network coverage scenario.

The functionality can also be used in conjunction with conventional LTE connections to mobile networks to open-up a wide variety of innovative connected car services. It can be provided on any LTE band with the 5.9 GHz band allocated for intelligent transport system (ITS) services.

Click here to learn more about device to device communication using LTE.