LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA)

LTE-WLANAggregation( LWA) is a technology with which mobile devices support both Long Term Evolution (LTE) and WiFi. Both technologies can be used simultaneously. The actual configuration is determined by the network. The background to this technology is the low-cost LTE communication via the license-free frequency bands used by WLANs. Similar concepts are pursued by LTE Unlicensed( LTE-U) and Licensed Assisted Access( LAA).

The LWA concept gets by with minimal changes to the WLANs and the LTE infrastructure and enables WLANs to be seamlessly integrated into the network as a radio access network( RAN).

LTE-WLAN Aggregation is a 3GPP Release-13 project that enables mobile devices to use the LTE infrastructure and WiFi simultaneously. By communicating over WLANs and LTE simultaneously, a higher and more efficient data flow is achieved. LWA can split a single carrier signal according to channel utilization, allowing streaming and downloads to be performed with increased performance. The subscriber device automatically uses the deployed WLAN without user intervention.