LTE with listen-before-talk in unlicensed spectrum

We consider the adoption of listen-before-talk (LBT) for Long Term Evolution (LTE) in unlicensed spectrum, which is currently under discussion in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The first and foremost task to be done to allow LTE to use unlicensed spectrum is to study the coexistence with incumbent system, such as the Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In our study, we observe that a proper coexistence mechanism is imperative especially when both LTE Evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and WLANs are located outdoor. The outdoor deployment scenario is considered by the next generation WLAN, the IEEE 802.11ax, with high importance. The implementation of LBT in LTE plays an effective role in this scenario in balancing the performance between LTE and WLAN. In the conventional scenario where WLANs are located indoor and LTE eNBs are located outdoor, a plain coexistence without additional mechanism could be acceptable due to high penetration loss of outdoor walls.