Higher Data Rates in GSM / EDGE with Multicarrier

One of the potential future development areas in the GSM/EDGE standard is the increase of user peak transfer rates. For a wide area coverage system like GSM/EDGE, the design of higher data rate scheme can be based on the transmission on multiple carriers, instead of one single carrier. This work evaluates the feasibility of a multicarrier concept in GSM/EDGE and aims at minimizing modifications to current specifications. At first, through a presentation of GSM/EDGE evolution towards 3G, key definitions and concepts are defined. Then, based on relevant assumptions and constraints, the multicarrier concept is studied from a physical layer perspective. Multiple carrier reception and signal bandwidth are analyzed in order to determine the multicarrier capability of MSs. Furthermore, the study shows that frequency hopping is not easily applicable to multicarrier MSs with limited bandwidth. Although interleaving data over several carriers might provide diversity gain, it is found that link adaptation and power control constraints would reduce performance and introduce important modification in the specification. Moreover, the enhancements of radio protocols for supporting multicarrier are evaluated. Based on the physical layer study, multicarrier classes are defined. A new three-phase access procedure is also designed for allocating multicarrier resources, and generally for signaling future MS capabilities. At last, the study shows that, radio bearer data should preferably be (de)multiplexed in the PDCP layer over (from) the different carriers. of the Radio Communications Laboratory for the opportunity to work and complete my studies here. I wish to express my gratitude to Mr. Eero NIKULA, the supervisor of my work, for his interest, valuable comments and guidance. I am also indebted to Mr. Guillaume SÉBIRE, for the time devoted to my work, his accurate answers and for his help. My thanks go also to all the members of the team in which I was involved, and particularly to Mr. Thierry BELLIER and Mr. Benoist SÉBIRE, who helped me with their advise. I am also thankful to Ms. Jaana KOSKELA and Ms. Kirsti GESTERBERG, the secretaries of the Laboratory, for their help. I wish also to express my gratitude to Ms. Katharina REISSING, Nokia Student Exchange Coordinator, for the activities with other trainees for discovering northern countries. Finally, I wish to thank my parents and my girlfriend for their support.