New physical layer features of 3GPP LTE release-13 [Industry Perspectives]

The worldwide proliferation of versatile mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablet computers) over the last few years have clearly changed people´s lifestyles. In parallel, the ever increasing demands of mobile broadband Internet have catalyzed a huge market growth of fourth-generation (4G) cellular services, which is mainly facilitated by radio access technologies including Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long-Term Evolution (LTE), as well as its enhanced version, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A). Generally speaking, LTE-A is referred to as Release-10 of 3GPP standards, and its achievable performance makes it a true 4G technology according to the definitions given by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).