What is E-UTRA?

E-UTRA or Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access is a wireless communication technology that provides a high data rate, low latency (5 ms) communication link between mobile phones and base stations. E-UTRA was developed as a replacement to UMTS (Universal mobile telecommunication system), and HSDPA (High-speed packet access) standards developed by 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) as part of LTE technology. Trials for the technology started in 2008.

E-UTRA uses OFDM, MIMO and beamforming technologies to provide high data rates and requires low processing power on the mobile handset. While on the network side it uses eNodeB technology for radio resource management such as radio bearer control, radio admission, connection mobility control, and dynamic scheduling. 

In the uplink, it uses a combination of both OFDM and SC-FDMA to provide a data rate of 75.4 Mbit/s for a 20 MHz channel (LTE) and 1,497.8 Mbit/s for a 100 MHz channel (LTE). This combination of OFDM and SC-FDMA is used because the normal OFDM process has a very high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). A high PAPR requires more expensive and inefficient power amplifiers with high requirements on linearity and drains the battery faster. Hence this combination of OFDM and SC-FDMA will eradicate this drawback. 

In the downlink, it uses the OFDMA modulation technique to provide a data rate of 299.6 Mbit/s for 4×4 MIMO antennas, and 150.8 Mbit/s for 2×2 MIMO antennas with 20 MHz (LTE) of the spectrum. It also has a data rate of 2,998.6 Mbit/s for an 8×8 MIMO antenna with 100 MHz (LTE) of the spectrum.

In the 3GPP release 8 standard, E-UTRA provided a single interface for GSM/EDGE, UMTS/HSPA, CDMA2000/EV-DO, and TD-SCDMA technologies offered services such as voice, data transfer, and IPTV (Internet protocol television ) with full mobility.