LTE UE Classification
LTE utilises the LTE UE Category or User Equipment categories or classes to define the performance specifications of LTE devices and enables LTE base stations to be able to communicate effectively with them knowing their performance levels. Some LTE UE Categories such as LTE Cat 3, LTE Cat 4 and LTE Cat 0 are widely quoted and used. Others like LTE Cat 7 and LTE Cat 8 are much newer. There are 20 different LTE UE categories that are defined. As can be seen in the table below, the different LTE categories have a wide range in the supported parameters and performance. LTE category 1, for example does not support MIMO, but LTE UE category five supports 4x4 MIMO.
| User equipment Category | Max. L1 datarate Downlink (Mbit/s) | Max. number of DL MIMO layers | Max. L1 datarate Uplink (Mbit/s) | 3GPP Release |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NB1 | 0.68 | 1 | 1.0 | Rel 13 |
| M1 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | Rel 13 |
| 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 1.0 | Rel 12 |
| 1 | 10.3 | 1 | 5.2 | Rel 8 |
| 2 | 51.0 | 2 | 25.5 | Rel 8 |
| 3 | 102.0 | 2 | 51.0 | Rel 8 |
| 4 | 150.8 | 2 | 51.0 | Rel 8 |
| 5 | 299.6 | 3 | 75.4 | Rel 8 |
| 6 | 301.5 | 2 or 4 | 51.0 | Rel 10 |
| 7 | 301.5 | 2 or 4 | 102.0 | Rel 10 |
| 8 | 2998.6 | 8 | 1497.8 | Rel 10 |
| 9 | 452.2 | 2 or 4 | 51.0 | Rel 10 |
| 10 | 452.2 | 2 or 4 | 102.0 | Rel 11 |
| 11 | 603.0 | 2 or 4 | 51.0 | Rel 11 |
| 12 | 603.0 | 2 or 4 | 102.0 | Rel 11 |
| 13 | 391.7 | 2 or 4 | 150.8 | Rel 12 |
| 14 | 3917 | 8 | 9585 | Rel 12 |
| 15 | 750 | 2 or 4 | 226 | Rel 12 |
| 16 | 79 | 2 or 4 | n/a | Rel 12 |
| 17 | 25065 | 8 | n/a | Rel 13 |
| 18 | 1174 | 2 or 4 or 8 | n/a | Rel 13 |
| 19 | 1566 | 2 or 4 or 8 | n/a | Rel 13 |
