Coverage Analysis of LTE-M Category-M1

Release 13 LTE-M was recently specified during the 3GPP eMTC work which was completed in March 2016 and defined one new user equipment (UE) category – “Category-M1”. Although coverage analyses were conducted during this work, 3GPP has not assessed to what extent the maximum achievable coverage exceeds the target that the normative specification provides.

This white paper includes the results from such a coverage analysis. The analysis was supported through link level simulations (LLS) conducted by several of the supporting companies. The coverage performance is reported both in terms of Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) and Maximum Coupling Loss (MCL). Even though this analysis only considers the CAT-M1 UE, given that Coverage Enhancement Mode A and B are defined as features within the standards, any category UE can support the extended coverage feature.