Evolved multimedia broadcast/multicast service (eMBMS) in LTE-advanced: overview and Rel-11 enhancements

The Third Generation Partnership Project defined multimedia broadcast/multicast service in 2005 to optimize the distribution of video traffic. This standard covers the terminal, radio, core network, and user service aspects. This MBMS standard has evolved into enhanced MBMS (eMBMS) that builds on top of the 3GPP Long Term Evolution standard. eMBMS evolution brings improved performance thanks to higher and more flexible LTE bit rates, single frequency network operations, and carrier configuration flexibility. 3GPP Rel-11 also brings improvements in the areas of service layer with, for example, video codec for higher resolutions and frame rate, and forward error correction. eMBMS allows offloading of the LTE network and backhaul. It enables the possibility to deliver premium content to many users with secured quality of service in defined areas. Other important use cases are pushed content via user equipment caching and machine-to-machine services. This article describes the relevant use cases for eMBMS in terms of service. It then gives a tutorial on eMBMS, in particular highlighting the evolution over MBMS. The scope comprises the radio access, core network, and service layer.