In the Long-Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced downlink, a user-specific demodulation reference signal (DM-RS) is used to support channel estimation and data demodulation for user-transparent multi-antenna and/or multi-point (MA/P) transmission techniques. A hybrid code division multiplexing (CDM) and frequency division multiplexing (FDM) scheme is adopted as a DM-RS multiplexing scheme for up to eight data streams per user. A time-domain orthogonal cover code (OCC) is used for CDM since time domain orthogonality among OCCs offers good robustness against channel variation. However, in a medium-to-high mobility environment, orthogonality distortion occurs among OCCs, which results in performance degradation. In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional (2D)-OCC mapping that achieves two-dimensional orthogonality in the time and frequency domains to improve the performance of CDM-based DM-RSs while reducing the peak transmission power of the OFDM symbol which includes the DM-RSs. Simulation results show that the proposed 2D-OCC mapping is effective in improving the block error rate performance especially in medium-to-high mobility environments. Furthermore, it is shown that the 2D-OCC mapping effectively reduces the peak power compared to the time-domain OCC mapping.

This paper investigates the uplink throughput performance and the interference power to other cells using an Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) laboratory and field experimental system. In E-UTRA uplink, the near-far problem is not an issue since the orthgonality among the users within the target cell is maintained. Therefore, the fractional transmission power control (TPC), in which the target level of TPC is adjusted according to the path loss level, can be adopted. Thus, it is expected the high cell throughput and the large coverage area by combining fractional TPC, adaptive modulation and channel coding (AMC), and variable resource block (RB) allocation. The indoor and field experimental results show that the peak throughput of approximately 45 Mbps is achieved by allocating a wider bandwidth and setting higher target level for the UE located near the cell site while keeping the adjacent cell interference level almost the constant. We also showed that the system capacity can be improved by 50% in simple cell model by applying the AMC and the fractional TPC.

In Long-Term Evolution (LTE)-Advanced, an important goal in addition to achieving high-speed, high-capacity communications is throughput enhancement for cell-edge users. One solution is to relay radio transmissions between an eNode B and user equipment (UE). Relays are expected to extend the coverage to the cell boundary and coverage hole areas, and are expected to reduce network costs. It was agreed that in Release 10 LTE, a Layer-3 (L3) relay, which achieves self-backhauling of radio signals between an eNode B and a UE in Layer 3 should be standardized. Meanwhile, a Layer-1 (L1) relay, which amplifies and forwards received radio frequency signals, has already found widespread use in second-generation and third-generation mobile communication systems. This paper investigates the downlink system level performance for L3 and L1 relays with orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) in LTE-Advanced. Various practical factors are taken into account in the evaluations such as the processing delay and upper bound of the amplifier gain of the L1 relay, capacity limitation of the backhaul channels, and empty buffer status at the L3 relay. We also propose and investigate a downlink backhaul link (radio link between the eNode B and L3 relay node) scheduling method for the in-band half-duplex L3 relay. In the proposed scheduling method, radio resources from an eNode B to an L3 relay node and macro UE are multiplexed in the same backhaul subframe considering the number of relay UEs and macro UEs, and the channel quality of the backhaul link to the L3 relay and the access link to the macro UE. Based on system-level simulations, we clarify the system impact of several conditions for the relay such as the number of relay nodes and the number of backhaul (radio link between eNode B and L3 relay) subframes, the distance between the eNode B and relay, and show the throughput performance gain of the L3 relay compared to the L1 relay. We also clarify that the cell-edge UE throughput performance is increased by approximately 10% by applying the proposed scheduling method due to more efficient and fair resource allocation to the L3 relay and macro UEs.

This paper investigates a downlink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) combined with single user MIMO (SU-MIMO) for future LTE (Long-Term Evolution) enhancements. In particular, we propose practical schemes to efficiently combine NOMA with open-loop SU-MIMO (Transmission Mode 3: TM3) and closed-loop SU-MIMO (Transmission Mode 4: TM4) specified in LTE. The goal is also to clarify the performance gains of NOMA combined with SU-MIMO transmission, taking into account the LTE radio interface such as frequency-domain scheduling, adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), and NOMA specific functionalities such as, multi-user pairing/ordering, transmit power allocation and successive interference cancellation (SIC) at the receiver side. Based on computer simulations, we evaluate NOMA link-level performance and show that the impact of error propagation associated with SIC is marginal when the power ratio of cell-edge and cell-center users is sufficiently large. In addition, we evaluate NOMA system-level performance gains for different granularities of scheduling and MCS (modulation and coding scheme) selection, for both genie-aided channel quality information (CQI) estimation and approximated CQI estimation, and using different number of power sets. Evaluation results show that NOMA combined with SU-MIMO can still provide a hefty portion of its expected gains even with approximated CQI estimation and limited number of power sets, and also when LTE compliant subband scheduling and wideband MCS is applied.

This paper presents indoor and outdoor experiments that confirm 4-Gbps throughput based on 400-MHz bandwidth transmission when applying carrier aggregation (CA) with 4 component carriers (CCs) and 4-by-4 single-user multiple-in multiple-out multiplexing (MIMO) in the 15-GHz frequency band in the downlink of 5G cellular radio access. A new radio interface with time division duplexing (TDD) and radio access based on orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) is implemented in a 5G testbed to confirm ultra-high speed transmission with low latency. The indoor experiment in an entrance hall shows that the peak throughput is 4.3Gbps in front of the base station (BS) antenna where the reference signal received power (RSRP) is -40dBm although the channel correlation at user equipment (UE) antenna is 0.8. The outdoor experiment in an open-space parking area shows that the peak throughput is 2.8Gbps in front of a BS antenna with a high RSRP although rank 2 is selected due to the high channel correlation. The results also show that the average throughput of 2Gbps is achieved 120m from the BS antenna. In a courtyard enclosed by building walls, 3.6Gbps is achieved in an outdoor-to-outdoor environment with a high RSRP and in an outdoor-to-indoor environment where the RSRP is lower due to the penetration loss of glass windows, but the multipath rich environment contributes to realizing the low channel correlation.

Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is a promising multiple access scheme for further improving the spectrum efficiency compared to orthogonal multiple access (OMA) in the 5th Generation (5G) mobile communication systems. As inter-user interference cancellers for NOMA, two kinds of receiver structures are considered. One is the reduced complexity-maximum likelihood receiver (R-ML) and the other is the codeword level interference canceller (CWIC). In this paper, we show that the R-ML is superior to the CWIC in terms of scheduling flexibility. In addition, we propose a link to system (L2S) mapping scheme for the R-ML to conduct a system level evaluation, and show that the proposed scheme accurately predicts the block error rate (BLER) performance of the R-ML. The proposed L2S mapping scheme also demonstrates that the system level throughput performance of the R-ML is higher than that for the CWIC thanks to the scheduling flexibility.

In this paper, we present laboratory and field experimental results using High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) test-beds in order to reveal the actual HSDPA performance based on key technologies such as base station (BS) scheduling, adaptive modulation and coding, hybrid automatic repeat request, and advanced receiver design. First, this paper evaluates the effects of advanced user equipment capabilities such as the maximum number of multi-codes, transmit diversity, receive diversity, and a chip equalizer. Increases in throughput of 60% and 85% due to using 10 and 15 codes were observed compared to 5 codes, respectively. The gain of 22% was obtained by applying closed-loop transmit diversity to the HSDPA network. Receive diversity improves the throughput in the region from low to high signal-to-interference ratio, and the gain of 45% was obtained by applying receive diversity to the conventional RAKE receiver. A throughput gain of approximately 17% due to the use of the chip equalizer was obtained and it was observed mainly in the high Ior/Ioc region and under multi-path conditions. Second, field experiments are conducted to elucidate the effects of multi-user diversity using a BS scheduling algorithm, and reveal that proportional fairness scheduling provides both the increase in sector throughput of 18% and a sufficient degree of fairness among users. The transmit control protocol (TCP)-level throughput performance is also investigated in order to reveal the actual end-user throughput. The results show that the throughput rate of approximately 90% of the throughput of the MAC-hs layer is achieved in the TCP layer in the laboratory experiments and in the field experiments.

Currently, many operators worldwide are deploying Long Term Evolution (LTE) to provide much faster access with lower latency and higher efficiency than its predecessors 3G and 3.5G. Meanwhile, the service rollout of LTE-Advanced, which is an evolution of LTE and a “true 4G” mobile broadband, is being underway to further enhance LTE performance. However, the anticipated challenges of the next decade (2020s) are so tremendous and diverse that there is a vastly increased need for a new generation mobile communications system with even further enhanced capabilities and new functionalities, namely a fifth generation (5G) system. Envisioning the development of a 5G system by 2020, at DOCOMO we started studies on future radio access as early as 2010, just after the launch of LTE service. The aim at that time was to anticipate the future user needs and the requirements of 10 years later (2020s) in order to identify the right concept and radio access technologies for the next generation system. The identified 5G concept consists of an efficient integration of existing spectrum bands for current cellular mobile and future new spectrum bands including higher frequency bands, e.g., millimeter wave, with a set of spectrum specific and spectrum agnostic technologies. Since a few years ago, we have been conducting several proof-of-concept activities and investigations on our 5G concept and its key technologies, including the development of a 5G real-time simulator, experimental trials of a wide range of frequency bands and technologies and channel measurements for higher frequency bands. In this paper, we introduce an overview of our views on the requirements, concept and promising technologies for 5G radio access, in addition to our ongoing activities for paving the way toward the realization of 5G by 2020.

The fifth generation (5G) system using millimeter waves is considered for application to high traffic areas with a dense population of pedestrians. In such an environment, the effects of shadowing and scattering of radio waves by human bodies (HBs) on propagation channels cannot be ignored. In this paper, we clarify based on measurement the characteristics of waves scattered by the HB for typical non-line-of-sight scenarios in street canyon environments. In these scenarios, there are street intersections with pedestrians, and the angles that are formed by the transmission point, HB, and reception point are nearly equal to 90 degrees. We use a wide-band channel sounder for the 67-GHz band with a 1-GHz bandwidth and horn antennas in the measurements. The distance parameter between antennas and the HB is changed in the measurements. Moreover, the direction of the HB is changed from 0 to 360 degrees. The evaluation results show that the radar cross section (RCS) of the HB fluctuates randomly over the range of approximately 20dB. Moreover, the distribution of the RCS of the HB is a Gaussian distribution with a mean value of -9.4dBsm and the standard deviation of 4.2dBsm.

This paper presents outdoor field experimental results to clarify the 4-by-4 multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) throughput performance when applying joint transmission (JT) and distributed MIMO to the 15-GHz frequency band in the downlink of a 5G cellular radio access system. Experimental results for JT in a 100m × 70m large-cell scenario show that throughput improvement of up to 10% is achieved in most of the area and the peak data rate is improved from 2.8Gbps to 3.7Gbps. Based on analysis of the reference signal received power (RSRP) and channel correlation, we find that the RSRP is improved in lower RSRP areas, and that the channel correlation is improved in higher RSRP areas. These improvements contribute to higher throughput performance. The advantage of distributed MIMO and JT are compared in a 20m × 20m small-cell scenario. The throughput improvement of 70% and throughput exceeding 5 Gbps were achieved when applying distributed MIMO due to the improvement in the channel correlation. When applying JT, the RSRP is improved; however the channel correlation is not. As a result, there is no improvement in the throughput performance in the area. Finally, the relationship between the transmission point (TP) allocation and the direction of user equipment (UE) antenna arrangement is investigated. Two TP positions at 90 and 180deg. from each other are shown to be advantageous in terms of the throughput performance with different direction of UE antenna arrangement. Thus, we conclude that JT and distributed MIMO are promising technologies for the 5G radio access system that can compensate for the propagation loss and channel correlation in high frequency bands.