LTE improves the functionality and performance of older networks. This briefing,serial port ethernet converter LTE Description by Keven Sookecheff, provides an excellent LTE overview to help understand how LTE works.
LTE is a redesign of the 3G standard to meet the need for low-latency data transmission. This redesign includes:
● A core network based on IP addresses
● A simplified network structure
● A new radio interface
● A new modulation method
Multiple-input, multiple-output radio (MIMO) for all devices.
Here are a few important facts to know about how LTE works at a high level.
● LTE provides lower latency and higher throughput throughout the network, greatly improving the performance of 3G networks.
● LTE operates on a spectrum separate from 3G networks and requires new hardware.
● LTE provides fast data download speeds of hundreds of megabits per second (Mbps), serial to ethernet adaptor while 3G is tens of megabits per second, which means LTE is 5-10 times faster than 3G.
● LTE can support data, voice (VoLTE), instant messaging and video for smartphones and tablets in one interface. In the 3G era, this was done on separate systems, and on some networks voice and data were mutually exclusive.
In 4G LTE, user equipment (UE), such as smartphones or cellular devices, connects to the evolved packet core (EPC) through the LTE radio access network (E-UTRAN), and then further connects to external networks, such as the Internet. An evolved Node B (eNodeB) separates user data traffic (user plane) from management data traffic (control plane) of the network, and feeds both into the EPC separately.