Effects of enabling carrier aggregation in a mobile operator network

One of the critical challenges for mobile operators is how to approach the problem of the anticipated increase in traffic. A solution to this growth involves providing more throughput on the transmission path. One of the ways this can be done is to use LTE-Advanced with the carrier aggregation technique. With this feature we can allocate radio spectrum more efficiently to independent carriers, increase user download speed and produce a rapid transition between carriers. We did measurements to study the effects that the use of carrier aggregation has on the growth of user throughput. We also made measurements to highlight the concept of mobility for a system that uses carrier aggregation. Measurements were made in the Orange Romania Laboratory (Network Operational Skill Center) in the beginning of 2015.