Combined Cell

Feature Description

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Copyright

© Ericsson AB 2016-2020. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be

reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Disclaimer

The contents of this document are subject to revision without notice due to
continued progress in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall
have no liability for any error or damage of any kind resulting from the use of this
document.

Trademark List

All trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
These are shown in the document Trademark Information.

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 Contents

Contents

1 Overview 1

2 Dependencies 2

3 Feature Operation 7
3.1 Combination of Indoor and Outdoor Coverage 7
3.2 Indoor Coverage 8
3.3 NB-IoT Cell Coexistence with LTE Combined Cell 9

4 Network Impact 12

5 Parameters 13

6 Performance 16

7 Activate Feature 17

8 Deactivate Feature 18

9 Engineering Guidelines 19
9.1 Hardware Configurations 19
9.2 Feature Optimization 28

10 Feature Change History 29

10.1 20.Q2: Combined Cell with 24 Antennas 29
10.2 19.Q2: Coexistence of NB-IoT and Combined Cell 30
10.3 19.Q1: Combined Cell with Extended Configuration 31

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Combined Cell

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1 Combined Cell Overview

The Combined Cell feature allows two or more sector carriers to be operated
as a single cell.

Access Type: LTE WCDMA

Feature Identity: FAJ 121 3025 FAJ 121 3249
Value Package Name: Combined Cell Combined Cell
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0407 FAJ 801 0354
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node Baseband Radio
Node
DU Radio Node
Licensing: Licensed feature. One Licensed feature. One
license per radio. license per radio.

Summary
The Combined Cell feature extends the indoor and outdoor coverage of a single
cell.

The benefits of the feature include the following:

— Reducing coverage holes by allowing multiple coverage areas within the

same cell.

— Enhancing coverage quality by selecting sector carriers with the best

coverage quality.

— Eliminating the need for inter-cell handover within a combined cell.

— Supporting uplink macrodiversity by using multiple antennas within the

same cell.

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 Combined Cell

2 Dependencies of Combined Cell

The feature has dependencies with other features that have an impact on
carrier aggregation, downlink and uplink capabilities.

Table 1 Feature Dependencies

Feature Relationship Description

Uplink Coordinated Multi-Point Related The sector carrier already in uplink
Reception (FAJ 121 3043) Coordinated Multi-Point Reception
group is not allowed to be added in
Combined Cell.
Carrier Aggregation (FAJ 121 3046) Related The downlink sector carrier selection
algorithm of combined cell is not
applied to the secondary serving cell
in a carrier aggregation
configuration.
Data-Aware Carrier Aggregation Related A combined cell with more than two
Configuration (FAJ 121 5116) sector carriers cannot be configured
as an uplink SCell.
OTDOA Control Plane Location Related The OTDOA Control Plane Location
Support (FAJ 121 1793) Support feature requires
SectorCarrier.prsEnabled to be
configured as described in
Parameters for Combined Cell on
page 13.
OTDOA User Plane Location Support Related The OTDOA User Plane Location
(FAJ 121 0862) Support feature requires
SectorCarrier.prsEnabled to be
configured as described in
Parameters for Combined Cell on
page 13
Transmit Data Cloning (FAJ 121 Related FDD only: The functionality of the
1897) Combined Cell feature expands on
the functionality of the Transmit Data
Cloning feature by making sector
carrier selection, providing better
flexibility in cell deployment and
improved fault handling.
4x4 Full Interference Rejection Related If this feature is used along with
Combining (FAJ 121 4901) Combined Cell, then the Combined
Cell feature uses full IRC in groups of

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 Feature Relationship Description
4 RX for scenarios with four receive
antennas.
Note:
FDD only: Combined cells cannot be
configured as downlink only cells.
NB-IoT Access (FAJ 121 4657) Related NB-IoT can be configured in one
sector of a two-sectors combined cell.
(1)

Category M Access (FAJ 121 4658) Related Combined Cell can coexist with the
Category M Access feature but there
is potential performance impact on
non-static Category M1 UEs, because
PUCCH QCI is not used for Category
M. There is no sector carrier switch
after the initial sector carrier is
determined at the random access
procedure. This can cause connection
interruptions for Category M1 UEs
that are in connected mode for long
periods and move to a new sector
carrier.
Uplink Carrier Aggregation (FAJ 121 Related A combined cell with more than two
4425) sectors cannot function as an Uplink
Carrier Aggregation SCell for a UE.
Quad Antenna Uplink Performance Related The Quad Antenna Uplink
Package (FAJ 121 1744) Performance Package feature is
needed when the Combined Cell
feature is used with four TX and four
RX antennas.
4x2 Quad Antenna Downlink Related The 4x2 Quad Antenna Downlink
Performance Package (FAJ 121 Performance Package feature is
3041) needed when the Combined Cell
feature is used with four TX and four
RX antennas, to support up to two
layers spatial multiplexing (TM3 and
TM4).
4x4 Quad Antenna Downlink Related The 4x4 Quad Antenna Downlink
Performance Package(FAJ 121 3076) Performance Package feature is
needed when the Combined Cell
feature is used with four Tx and four
Rx antennas, to support up to four
layers spatial multiplexing (TM3 and
TM4).
High Speed UE (FAJ 121 2054) Related When the High Speed UE feature is
used in conjunction with the
Combined Cell feature, uplink sector

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 Combined Cell

Feature Relationship Description

combining should be disabled by
setting
ENodeBFunction.combCellSectorS
electThreshRx to zero.
Octal Antenna Uplink Performance Conflicting The two features Octal Antenna
Package (FAJ 121 2052) Uplink Performance Package and
Combined Cell cannot be active
simultaneously in the same eNodeB.
Cross-Sector Antenna Sharing Conflicting The Cross-Sector Antenna Sharing
Redundancy (FAJ 121 1040) Redundancy feature cannot be used
in conjunction with the Combined Cell
feature.
Intelligent Power Emission Control Conflicting The Intelligent Power Emission
(FAJ 121 5224) Control feature must not be activated
together with features that enable
other RAN types and modes of
operation with multiple RANs.
Dual Layer Beamforming Conflicting TDD only: The Combined Cell feature
Performance Package (FAJ 121 cannot be configured if the Dual
3000) Layer Beamforming Performance
Package feature is enabled in the
same eNodeB.
Single Layer Beamforming Conflicting TDD only: The Combined Cell feature
Performance Package (FAJ 121 cannot be configured if the Single
3002) Layer Beamforming Performance
Package feature is enabled in the
same eNodeB.
Supplemental Downlink for Carrier Conflicting Combined cells cannot be configured
Aggregation (FAJ 121 3068) as downlink only SCells.
(1) Only valid for a Combined Cell with a maximum of 2Tx/ 2 Rx.

Hardware
No special hardware requirement for this feature.

Limitations
The radio configurations compatible with a combined cell are described in Radio
Node Configurations.

Combined Cell can support 5, 10, 15, and 20 MHz bandwidth. 5 MHz bandwidth
can be configured for 4.6 MHz or 4.8 MHz. Selected radios can be found in Radio
Node Configurations.

Note: 9 MHz bandwidth cannot be used in combination with Combined Cell.

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 All sector carriers within a combined cell must have the same number of
antennas both in the downlink and uplink directions. The number of downlink
and uplink antennas can differ within the same sector carrier. A sector carrier
with some or all of its antennas disabled is degraded or disabled, respectively,
and it is not included in the combined cell.

A given sector carrier can only be connected to one combined cell, it is not a
feasible configuration to connect it to multiple combined cells.

The delay difference between sector carriers within a combined cell must be less
than 50 us, otherwise the cell is not enabled, which corresponds to a maximum
distance of 10 km (pure fiber length). This means that the values of the
RfBranch.dlTrafficDelay and the RfBranch.ulTrafficDelay MOs cannot
differ more than 50000 between the different sector carriers within the same cell.

To benefit from the macrodiversity on the PUSCH and PDSCH data channel, the
sector carriers must not be placed more than 1500 m apart.

Heterogeneous network deployment can be configured in conjunction with the

Combined Cell feature. However, possible unequal sector powers at different
radio types are not taken into account in the downlink sector selection.

Downlink interference mitigation is not performed for the secondary cell when
using the Carrier Aggregation feature together with the Combined Cell feature,
since all sectors of the secondary cell are used for the downlink data transmission
in the combined cell.

The following configurations are supported for Baseband radio node only:

— Combined cell with 9-12 sectors with 2TX/2RX antennas in each sector

— Combined cell with up to six sectors with 4TX/4RX antennas in each sector

The Combined Cell feature with in-band or guard band deployment modes NB-
IoT coexistence has the following limitations:
— NB-IoT coexistence with an LTE combined cell is only supported for NB-IoT
in-band and guard band deployment modes.

— The host LTE cell must be configured with two sector carriers with 2TX/ 2RX.
No other antenna combinations are supported.

— By default, without manual configuration, the first sector carrier of the host
LTE combined cell is used for the hosted NB-IoT cell. Manual configuration is
available in one of the sector carriers of the host LTE combined cell.

Network Requirements
This is a licensed feature. This means that for the feature to be operational, a
valid license key must be installed and the feature must be explicitly activated by
setting a MOM attribute.

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 Combined Cell

Regarding the supported LTE combined cell configurations, see details in Radio
Node Configurations.

RELATED INFORMATION

3.3 NB-IoT Cell Coexistence with LTE Combined Cell on page 9

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3 Feature Operation of Combined Cell

The Combined Cell feature allows multiple sector carriers to belong to the
same cell.

The sector carriers can either be located indoors or outdoors. However, all sector
carriers that are present in the same cell are considered as one logical cell with
the same PCI. Figure 1 provides an overview of the feature concept.

Individual Cells Combined Cell

Cell B Cell C
Cell A Cell A

L0000680C

Figure 1 Overview Concept of the Combined Cell Feature

In a combined cell, multiple sector carriers can serve the same cell. The individual
radios within a combined cell can have different output power setting
configurations. In a combined cell, all radios are connected to the same DU or
Baseband Unit, however the different output power is not considered for the
sector evaluation.

The Combined Cell feature supports uplink and downlink sector carrier selection
within the same cell. In downlink, the feature supports selective muting of non-
contributing sector carriers for the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH),
to reduce interference in neighboring cells. In uplink, if the UE is in an overlapping
coverage area, the feature supports macrodiversity on the Physical Uplink Shared
Channel (PUSCH) to improve the uplink transmissions.

The initial sector carrier selection for a UE is computed from the relative powers
of the random access preambles received at the different sector carriers. After
that, the received Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) Format 2 power
measurements are used by the eNodeB to determine the transmission and
reception sector carriers required for each UE.

3.1 Combination of Indoor and Outdoor Coverage

Figure 2 provides an example of the use of the Combined Cell feature to improve
radio performance in a combination of indoor and outdoor environments.

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 Combined Cell

Multiple sector carriers of the same combined cell are used to provide coverage
inside the building and macro coverage outside the building.

Sector Carrier 1

RRU

eNodeB RRU

No handover
Sector Carrier 2

L0000683A

Figure 2 Example of Using Combined Cells in a Combination of Indoor and

Outdoor Coverage Environments

The benefits of using the Combined Cell feature in this scenario are:

— Seamless mobility on entering and leaving the building.

— In coverage overlaps between sector carriers belonging to the same cell, an

improved bit rate for a single UE can be expected compared to a single cell
with a UE at cell border. The overlapping sector carriers provide a
macrodiversity in this region.

3.2 Indoor Coverage

Figure 3 shows an example of the use of the Combined Cell feature to improve
radio performance in an indoor environment. Multiple sector carriers of the same
combined cell are used to provide indoor coverage to multiple floors of the same
building.

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 RRU Sector Carrier 3

RRU Sector Carrier 2 Combined Cell 1

RRU Sector Carrier 1

RRU Sector Carrier 3

eNodeB
RRU Sector Carrier 2 Combined Cell 2

RRU Sector Carrier 1

L0000682A

Figure 3 Example of Using Combined Cells in an Indoor Coverage Environment

The benefits of using the Combined Cell feature in this scenario are:

— Seamless mobility between the floors of the building covered by the same
combined cell.

— In coverage overlaps between sector carriers belonging to the same cell, an

improved bit rate for a single UE can be expected compared to a single cell
with a UE at cell border. The overlapping sector carriers provide a
macrodiversity in this region.

3.3 NB-IoT Cell Coexistence with LTE Combined Cell

An in-band or guard band NB-IoT cell can exist in one sector of an LTE
combined cell.

Only a combined cell with 2TX/2RX antenna configuration supports NB-IoT cell
coexistence.

An LTE combined cell with two sector carriers can have an in-band or guard band
NB-IoT cell configured. The NB-IoT cell only uses one of the sector carriers of the
host LTE combined cell. The default value of NbIotCell.sectorCarrierRef is
set to the first sector carrier of the host LTE combined cell. It is possible to
manually set the NbIotCell.sectorCarrierRef to another cell. The attribute
can only be set to one of the sector carriers of the host LTE combined cell.

3.3.1 Configure Sector Carrier of In-Band NB-IoT Cell

For the initial manual configuration, or the change of configuration of the sector
carrier of the in-band NB-IoT cell:

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 Combined Cell

Steps

1. Lock the in-band cell.

2. Set the NbIotCell.sectorCarrierRef attribute to one of the elements of

the EUtranCellFDD.sectorCarrierRef list of the host cell.

3. Unlock the in-band cell.

3.3.2 Configure Sector Carrier of Guard Band NB-IoT Cell

For the initial manual configuration, or the change of configuration of the sector
carrier of the guard band NB-IoT cell:

Steps

1. Lock the guard band cell.

2. Lock the host cell.

3. Set the NbIotCell.sectorCarrierRef attribute to one of the elements of

the EUtranCellFDD.sectorCarrierRef list of the host cell.

4. Unlock the host cell.

5. Unlock the guard band cell.

3.3.3 Validate Sector Carrier Configuration of Host LTE Cell

When the configuration of the EUtranCellFDD.sectorCarrierRef attribute
changes, it must be validated that the sector carriers for the LTE cell contain the
sector carrier for the NB-IoT in-band or guard band cell.

Steps

1. Set the EUtranCellFDD.sectorCarrierRef attribute.

If the validation is successful, the EUtranCellFDD.sectorCarrierRef

attribute is set successfully.
If validation fails, the following message is displayed: At least one sector
attached to NB-IoT cell <NbIotCell.cellId> is not attached to the
host cell <EUtranCellFDD.cellId>!

<NbIotCell.cellId> refers to the cell ID of the NB-IoT cell.

<EUtranCellFDD.cellId> refers to the cell ID of the host LTE cell.

Continue with the following steps:

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 2. Remove the NbIotCell.sectorCarrierRef attribute.

3. Set the EUtranCellFDD.sectorCarrierRef attribute again and repeat the

procedure until validation is successful.

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 Combined Cell

4 Network Impact of Combined Cell

The feature improves coverage and mobility.

Capacity and Performance

The Combined Cell feature extends the indoor and outdoor coverage areas within
the same cell. The cell capacity of the combined cell is not impacted. A combined
cell has the same capacity as a cell that is not combined.

No neighbor relations need to be established between sector carriers of the same

combined cell. This enables a reduction in the number of handovers.

Interfaces
No impact.

Other Network Elements

No impact.

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5 Parameters for Combined Cell

The feature introduces new and uses already existing MOM attributes.

Table 2 Feature Description

Parameter Type Description
ENodeBFunction.combC Introduced See MOM description.
ellSectorSelectThres
Sectors that are close to
hRx
the UE contribute to the
ENodeBFunction.combC quality of the call if they
ellSectorSelectThres are selected. Sectors that
hTx are selected but cannot
hear the UE, do not
affect the quality of the
call, but contribute to
unnecessary interference
in downlink.
At the sector selection
evaluation, sectors that
cannot hear the UE,
have a power related to
the noise floor. The best
sector normally has a
power similar to the
PUCCH nominal power.
The thresholds are used
to select only the sectors
that are contributing to
the quality of the call.
EUtranCellFDD.altitu Affected If all sector carriers in a
de combined cell have the
same output power, for
EUtranCellFDD.latitu
example in indoor
de
scenario or 3-sector site
EUtranCellFDD.longit scenario, it is assumed
ude that the antennas of
different sector carriers
EUtranCellTDD.altitu are located close to each
de other. Therefore, the
EUtranCellTDD.latitu position parameter is set
de using any of the
antennas position. If
EUtranCellTDD.longit there is one macro sector
ude that has the highest

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 Combined Cell

Parameter Type Description

power, the position
parameter is set using
the antenna position of
the macro sector.
EUtranCellFDD.sector Affected Combined cell is
CarrierRef configured by setting the
sectorCarrierRef to
EUtranCellTDD.sector
more than one
CarrierRef
SectorCarrier.
SectorCarrier.noOfRx Affected For the Combined Cell
Antennas feature this parameter
can be set to 0, 1, 2, or 4.
SectorCarrier.noOfTx
Antennas
SectorCarrier.prsEna Affecting For combined cells
bled consisting of macro
sector carriers and small
sector carriers, set
SectorCarrier.prsEna
bled to true for the
macro sector carrier only.
The other sector carrier
or sector carriers have
SectorCarrier.prsEna
bled = false.
Transmission of PDSCH
is still not scheduled on
the same subframe in
any of the sector carriers
to prevent undesirable
interferences.
EUtranCellFDD.common Affecting Unlocking combined
SrPeriodicity cells can be rejected
because of PUCCH
EUtranCellFDD.noOfPu
resource shortage. This
cchCqiUsers
results in a Resource
EUtranCellFDD.noOfPu Configuration
cchSrUsers Failure alarm.
EUtranCellTDD.common Required and available
SrPeriodicity PUCCH resources for a
combined cell depends
EUtranCellTDD.noOfPu
on the following:
cchCqiUsers
EUtranCellTDD.noOfPu — Number of combined
cchSrUsers cells per node, and
the number of
SectorCarrier
configured per
combined cell.

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 Parameter Type Description
— Cell bandwidth.

— Setting of the
following
parameters:
— EUtranCellFDD.
commonSrPeriod
icity

— EUtranCellTDD.
commonSrPeriod
icity

— EUtranCellFDD.
noOfPucchCqiUs
ers

— EUtranCellTDD.
noOfPucchCqiUs
ers

— EUtranCellFDD.
noOfPucchSrUse
rs

— EUtranCellTDD.
noOfPucchSrUse
rs

It is recommended that
the
EUtranCellFDD.noOfPu
cchCqiUsers and the
EUtranCellTDD.noOfPu
cchCqiUsers value are
not lower than the
EUtranCellFDD.noOfPu
cchSrUsers and the
EUtranCellTDD.noOfPu
cchSrUsers value.
For more information
about dependencies
between the parameters,
see Control Channel
Dimensioning.

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 Combined Cell

6 Performance of Combined Cell

The feature is associated with performance management entities

measuring handover.

KPIs
This feature has no associated Key Performance Indicators.

Counters
— pmActiveUeDlSectorCarrierDistr

— pmActiveUeDlSumSectorCarrier

— pmActiveUeUlSectorCarrierDistr

— pmActiveUeUlSumSectorCarrier

Events
This feature has no associated events.

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7 Activate Combined Cell

To use the feature, it must be activated following the usual feature

activation procedure.

Prerequisites

— The license key is installed in the node.

— Continuous Cell Trace Recording (CCTR) is activated since at least one week.
This ensures there is troubleshooting data available if something goes
wrong.

Steps

1. Set the attribute featureState to ACTIVATED in the applicable MO instance,

depending on node type:

Node Type License Control MO

Baseband Radio Node FeatureState=CXC4011368
DU Radio Node OptionalFeatureLicense=CombinedCell

After This Task

Let the CCTR be active for one week, for continued collection of troubleshooting
data.

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 Combined Cell

8 Deactivate Combined Cell

If the feature is no longer needed, it can be deactivated following the usual

feature deactivation procedure. It must also be deactivated before the
activation of any conflicting feature.

Prerequisites
Continuous Cell Trace Recording (CCTR) is activated since at least one week. This
ensures there is troubleshooting data available if something goes wrong.

Steps

1. Set the attribute featureState to DEACTIVATED in the applicable MO

instance, depending on node type:

Node Type License Control MO

Baseband Radio Node FeatureState=CXC4011368
DU Radio Node OptionalFeatureLicense=CombinedCell

After This Task

Let the CCTR be active for one week, for continued collection of troubleshooting
data.

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9 Engineering Guidelines for Combined Cell

Engineering guidelines for Combined Cell contain hardware configuration

examples and feature optimization.

9.1 Hardware Configurations

A given sector carrier can only be connected to one combined cell, it is not a
possible configuration to connect it to multiple Combined Cells.

Examples of hardware configurations using the Combined Cell feature are

provided in the following illustrations:

— Figure 4

— Figure 5

— Figure 6

— Figure 7

— Figure 8

— Figure 9

— Figure 10

— Figure 11

— Figure 12

— Figure 13

— Figure 14

Figure 4 provides an example configuration of three combined cells, each with

two sector carriers, 2TX/2RX.

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 Combined Cell

Combined Cell 1 Combined Cell 2 Combined Cell 3

Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2

Antenna

RF port A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
RI port

RI port Electrical
A B C D E F CPRI cable
DU
L0000684E

Figure 4 Three Combined Cells, Each with Two Sector Carriers, 2TX/2RX

Figure 5 provides an example configuration of three combined cells, each with

two sector carriers, 1TX/1RX, cascaded radios.

Combined Cell 1 Combined Cell 2 Combined Cell 3

Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2

Antenna

RF port
A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
RI port 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

Optical CPRI cable

RI port
A B C D E F
DU
L0000685D

Figure 5 Three Combined Cells, Two Sector Carriers, 1TX/1RX, Cascaded

Radios

Figure 6 provides an example configuration of one combined cell with three

sector carriers and three single cells, 2TX/2RX.

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 Combined Cell 1
Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3

Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 1

Antenna
Cell 1 Cell 2 Cell 3

RF port
A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
RI port 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

RI port Electrical
A B C D E F CPRI cable
DU
L0000686E

Figure 6 One Combined Cell with Three Sector Carriers and Three Single Cells,
2TX/2RX

Figure 7 provides an example configuration of three combined cells, each with

two sector carriers, 2TX/2RX, cascaded radios.

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 Combined Cell

Combined Cell 1 Combined Cell 2

External External External External External External External External

Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio

RI Port

RI Port

Optical CPRI cable

Combined Cell 3

External External External External

Radio Radio Radio Radio

L0000771D

Figure 7 Three Combined Cells, Each with Two Sector Carriers, 2TX/2RX,
Cascaded Radios

Figure 8 provides an example configuration of two combined cell, each with three
sector carriers, 2TX/2RX, cascaded radios.

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 Combined Cell 1

External External External External External External

Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio

RI Port
Optical CPRI cable

RI Port

Combined Cell 2

External External External External External External

Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio

L0000772D

Figure 8 Two Combined Cells, Each with Three Sector Carriers, 2TX/2RX,
Cascaded Radios

Figure 9 provides an example configuration of one combined cell with eight

sector carriers, 2TX/2RX, cascaded radios.

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 Combined Cell

Combined Cell

Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3 Sector Carrier 4 Sector Carrier 5 Sector Carrier 6 Sector Carrier 7 Sector Carrier 8

Antenna

RF port
A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
RI port 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

RI port
CPRI cable
A B C D E F
BB

L0001931B

Figure 9 One Combined Cell with Eight Sector Carriers, 2TX/2RX, Cascaded
Radios

Figure 10 provides an example configuration of one combined cell with eight

sector carriers, 2TX/2RX, mixed configuration cascaded radios.

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 Combined Cell

Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3 Sector Carrier 4 Sector Carrier 5 Sector Carrier 6 Sector Carrier 7 Sector Carrier 8

Antenna

RF port
A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
RI port 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

RI port
CPRI cable
A B C D E F
BB

L0001932B

Figure 10 One Combined Cell with Eight Sector Carriers, 2TX/2RX, Mixed
Configuration Cascaded Radios

Figure 11 shows an example Carrier Aggregation configuration between two

combined cells, each with three sector carriers (2TX/RX) cascaded radios.

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 Combined Cell

Combined Cell 2
Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3

Combined Cell 1
Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3

Antenna

RF port
A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
RI port 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

Optical CPRI cable

RI port
A B C D E F
DU

Frequency 1 - Combined Cell 1

Frequency 2 - Combined Cell 2

L0000687C

Figure 11 Carrier Aggregation Between Two Combined Cells on Different

Frequencies

Figure 12 shows an example configuration between two combined cells, one with
three sector carriers 2TX/RX, and one with four sectors 4TX/4RX, with cascaded
radios.

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 Combined Cell 1 Combined Cell 2
Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3 Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3 Sector Carrier 4

Antenna

RF port A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
RI port 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

CPRI cable

RI port

A B C D E F
BB

L0002301A

Figure 12 Two Combined Cells with Different Configurations

Figure 13 shows an example configuration of one combined cell with 12 sector

carriers, 2TX/2RX, cascaded radios.

Combined Cell
Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 4 Sector Carrier 6 Sector Carrier 8 Sector Carrier 10 Sector Carrier 12

Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 3 Sector Carrier 5 Sector Carrier 7 Sector Carrier 9 Sector Carrier 11

Antenna A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External
RF port Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
A B A B A B A B A B A B
External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

RI port

CPRI cable RI port

A B C D E F
Baseband

L0002597A

Figure 13 One Combined Cell with 12 Sector Carriers, 2TX/2RX, Cascaded

Radios

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 Combined Cell

Figure 14 shows an example configuration of one combined cell with six sector
carriers, 4TX/4RX.

Combined Cell
Sector Carrier 1 Sector Carrier 2 Sector Carrier 3 Sector Carrier 4 Sector Carrier 5 Sector Carrier 6

Antenna

RF port
A B C D A B C D A B C D
A B C D A B C D A B C D
External External External External External External
Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio Radio
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2
RI port

CPRI cable

RI port

A B C D E F
Baseband

L0002598A

Figure 14 One Combined Cell with Six Sector Carriers, 4TX/4RX

For more information about supported hardware configurations using the

Combined Cell feature, see Features for Radio Configurations.

9.2 Feature Optimization

Power measurements on PUCCH Format 2 containing CQI reports are needed to
perform sector selection. Therefore, it is recommended that the value of
EUtranCellFDD.noOfPucchCqiUsers and EUtranCellTDD.noOfPucchCqiUsers
are set to no less than EUtranCellFDD.noOfPucchSrUsers and
EUtranCellTDD.noOfPucchSrUsers to fully benefit from the Combined Cell
feature.

For those UEs that cannot be configured with PUCCH Format 2 resources, that is
PUCCH CQI, the sector selection is only performed at Physical Random Access
Channel (PRACH). These UEs are not updated until the next random access
procedure, due to the lack of PUCCH Format 2 power measurements.

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 Feature Change History

10 Feature Change History

This section lists changes that affected this feature and the impact it had on
the network.

10.1 20.Q2: Combined Cell with 24 Antennas

The enhancement enables combined cell support for up to 12 sectors and
24 antennas on Baseband Radio Nodes.

Feature Name: Combined Cell

Feature Identity: FAJ 121 3025
Value Package Name: Combined Cell
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0407
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node
Access Type: LTE

Benefits
This feature enhancement provides support for 24 antenna branches and for the
following sector configurations:

— Up to 12 sectors with two RX and two TX antennas

— Up to six sectors with four RX and four TX antennas

The main benefits of this enhancement are the extended flexibility of combined
cell configuration, and the reduced cell planning.

Capacity and Performance

Cell coverage is extended because of the greater number of sectors.

The number of inter-cell handovers decreases because of the extended coverage.

Cell capacity is unaffected, but because more sectors share the same capacity,
the mean sector capacity decreases.

Operation
No impact.

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 Combined Cell

Interfaces
No impact.

Hardware
No special hardware requirements.

Other Network Elements

No impact.

10.2 19.Q2: Coexistence of NB-IoT and Combined Cell

This enhancement supports the use of NB-IoT in one dedicated cell that is
involved in LTE Combined Cell deployment.

Feature Name: Combined Cell

NB-IoT Access
Feature Identity: FAJ 121 3025
FAJ 121 4657
Value Package Name: Combined Cell
M-IoT RAN on LTE Base Package
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0407
FAJ 801 1000
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node
DU Radio node
Access Type: LTE
MI

Benefits
An NB-IoT cell can be configured in in-band or guard band deployment mode for
an LTE combined cell and carry the same benefits as an LTE combined cell. Only
a combined cell with 2TX/2RX antenna configuration supports NB-IoT cell
coexistence. The NB-IoT cell only uses one of the sector carriers of the host LTE
combined cell.

Capacity and Performance

No impact.

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 Feature Change History

Operation
The sector carrier used in the NB-IoT cell is configured statically by MOM.

The NbIotCell.sectorCarrierRef attribute is updated. It is applicable to all

deployments.

Interfaces
No impact.

Hardware
No special hardware requirements.

Other Network Elements

No impact.

10.3 19.Q1: Combined Cell with Extended Configuration

The enhancement enables Combined Cell at Baseband sites with four Tx
and four Rx antennas, with a maximum of four sectors.

Feature Name: Combined Cell

Feature Identity: FAJ 121 3025
Value Package Name: Combined Cell
Value Package Identity: FAJ 801 0407
Node Type: Baseband Radio Node
Access Type: LTE

Up to four Rx and four Tx antennas can be set up for each sector in a combined
cell. The extended configuration is supported in both FDD and TDD modes.

The improvement enables Combined Cell to be deployed in a wider range of site

configurations.

Capacity and Performance

No impact.

Operation
No impact.

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 Combined Cell

Interfaces
No impact.

Hardware
No special hardware requirements.

Other Network Elements

No impact.

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