LTE release 13, currently under standardization in 3GPP, will significantly increase user data
rates and overall capacity, as well as support new use cases and further strengthen LTE as a vital
part of future radio access, according to a new white paper published by Ericsson.
Some of the big improvements in LTE release 13 will include:
- Licensed assisted access (LAA) — which used unlicense spectrum to boost overall LTE network capacity. LAA targets operator-deployed small cells in the 5GHz band. Initially, it will support downlink traffic although a later extension is planned for uplink traffic.
- Carrier-aggregation enhancements -up to 32 carriers in both the uplink and downlink, compared to five with LTE Release 10.
- Multi-antenna enhancements – two-dimensional base station antenna arrays with up to 64 antenna ports are being studied for exploitation of both the azimuth and elevation domain.
- Latency reduction
The Ericsson white paper also touches on machine-to-machine use case for LTE.
http://www.ericsson.com/res/docs/whitepapers/150417-wp-lte-release-13.pdf
