LTE-WLAN Aggregation

LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) is a technology defined by the 3GPP. In LWA, a mobile handset supporting both LTE and Wi-Fi may be configured by the network to utilize both links simultaneously. It provides an alternative method of using LTE in unlicensed spectrum, which unlike LAA/LTE-U can be deployed without hardware changes to the network infrastructure equipment and mobile devices, while providing similar performance to that of LAA. Unlike other methods of using LTE and WLAN simultaneously (e.g. Multipath TCP), LWA allows using both links for a single traffic flow and is generally more efficient, due to coordination at lower protocol stack layers.

LTE-WLAN Aggregation

LTE-WLAN aggregation (LWA) is a technology defined by the 3GPP. In LWA, a mobile handset supporting both LTE and Wi-Fi may be configured by the network to utilize both links simultaneously. It provides an alternative method of using LTE in unlicensed spectrum, which unlike LAA/LTE-U can be deployed without hardware changes to the network infrastructure equipment and mobile devices, while providing similar performance to that of LAA. Unlike other methods of using LTE and WLAN simultaneously (e.g. Multipath TCP), LWA allows using both links for a single traffic flow and is generally more efficient, due to coordination at lower protocol stack layers.