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Appendix: UMTS Fundamental Concepts
Appendix: UMTS Fundamental Concepts
method and which is used for instance in Bluetooth technology). Spread Spectrum means that because of the special signal processing method of CDMA, the original information signal is spread in the frequency domain within the wider frequency range of the W-CDMA channel. In W-CDMA Systems, users belonging to a cell are separated by codes (i.e. special sequences of bits) and not by timeslots as in TDMA (timeslots in W-CDMA systems timeslots are not used for user separation, but to support periodic functions, e.g. UE reception of power control commands each timeslot). Another characteristic of W-CDMA is that the users share the complete frequency spectrum of near 5 MHz per UMTS channel all the time during their communication. In general, in CDMA systems, the way the uplink (i.e. mobile station to base station transmission) and downlink (i.e. base station to mobile station transmission) connections are separated is referred either by FDD (Frequency Division Duplex) or TDD (Time Division Duplex) modes respectively. For the UMTS public mode (W-CDMA), the choice has been the FDD mode, which uses different frequencies for both uplink and downlink (i.e. the mobile transmits in one frequency and receives in another). FDD is used for large outdoor cells because it can support more users than TDD mode. TDD uses the same frequency but different timeslots for each type of connection (UL-DL) and W-CDMA in TDD mode is intended to provide private indoor low-range communications. In practice, an operator needs 2 to 3 channels (2x5x2 or 2x5x3 MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, high-capacity network, probably using a layering approach, such as the so-called Hierarchical Cell Structure (HCS) scenarios, using different carriers for micro-cells and macro-cells. In the next graph, we can see the allocated spectrum in the concrete case of The Netherlands [Umtsworld].
Figure 1-1: Allocated UMTS spectrum in The Netherlands About the code usage, it is important to mention that CDMA requires two kinds of codes for its operation: channelization (spreading) code and
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scrambling code. The usage of these codes depends on the direction of the communication (in Uplink, the transmitter is the mobile whereas in Downlink the transmitter is the Base station). The purpose of the channelization (spreading) codes in both UL and DL directions is to separate channels from a single transmitter, whereas the purpose of the scrambling codes is to separate transmitters (also applies to both UL and DL directions). The main difference in the frequency domain between both kinds of codes is that the Scrambling codes dont modify the bandwidth of the Information Signal, whereas the channelization codes do. As this is something very important in order to understand how UMTS works, in the next section the code usage is explained both in UL and DL.
Bandwidth of baseband
Power
Bandwidth after spreading
1 Voltage -1
f t
Figure 1-2: Effects of the channelization code in Time and Frequency domain The codes used for the channelization operations must have a special property called orthogonality. Orthogonal code means that the inner product of the code with the codes from the other users (called crosscorrelation property) or the product of the code with a shifted version of the code itself (called auto-correlation) has to be as small as possible. These codes are also known as OVSF (Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor) codes. For orthogonality to work, the signals must be properly synchronized in time. Thats why in DL for instance, due to multi-path propagation, some of the orthogonality property is lost. This is had into account in CDMA capacity equations with the so-called orthogonality factor, which is a factor that varies between 0 (full orthogonality, no interference) and 1 (no orthogonality, full interference)*. The number of chips used for each data bit is known as the spreading factor (SF). Also, in the frequency domain, SF = W / R, where W = Bandwidth of the spread signal [Hz] and R = Bandwidth of baseband data [Hz]. Summarizing, in Time Domain: SF = Chip Rate / Data Rate coded channel And also, in Frequency Domain: SF = W / R (A1.2) (A1.1)
*: This definition is in line with the definition in Wines simulator documentation. However in some other references, for instance [Holma], 0 means no orthogonality and 1 means full orthogonality.
Where Data Rate coded channel means that this data rate has into account the overhead introduced by coding techniques and it doesnt corresponds
directly to the information rate (unless the coding factor is 1 of course). This is important to know because it is a common source of mistakes in calculations. If we have a low spreading factor it means that it is consuming more code resources from the code tree and the bit rate is higher, for instance with SF = 8, the data rate of the spread signal would be 480 Kbps, whereas with SF=256, the data rate of the spread signal would be 15 Kbps. Therefore, in Downlink, the number of codes (given by the maximum SF) is a scarce resource that can be in shortage and therefore must be carefully considered in any capacity analysis.
Recovered bits
Transmission medium
Spreading code
Spreading code
Scrambling code
Scrambling code
As the radio access part has changed with respect to previous 2-2.5G systems as GSM-GPRS, new methods have to be developed to estimate capacity and coverage of the W-CDMA system.
1.5 The processing Gain, SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio) and Eb/No concepts in UMTS [Vourekas]
Consider a single-cell CDMA system with N users where ideal power control is applied and consequently the signal from all the users reaches the node B demodulator with the same intensity S (figure 1-4).
N users
The demodulator of the Node B processes one desired signal S, and N-1 interfering signals with total power equal to S*(N-1). The desired signal is shown in the graph as a continuous line and the rest in dotted lines. The interference sums up to (N-1)* S. The signal-to-interference power ratio, denoted SIR, is then:
SIR =
S 1 = (N 1)S (N 1)
(A1.3)
The bit energy to noise ratio, denoted as Eb/No, is obtained by dividing the signal power by the information (baseband) bit rate, and the interference power by the total RF frequency.
(A1.4)
In the last part of equation (A1.4), the first term is equal to the signal to interference ratio (as defined in equation A1.3) and the second term is defined as the processing gain:
Gp =
(A1.5)
Comparing (A1.5) with (A1.2), we see that the definition of Gp is equivalent to the definition of SF. The processing gain is a Gain achieved at the receiver during the de-spreading process and it is due to the fact that the W-CDMA receiver can sum-up coherently the multiple copies of the original data generated by the multi-path propagation, by means of a special receiver technique known as Rake Receiver. Therefore, making the equivalence between SF and Gp, we can say that the high data rate transmissions have low processing gain (low spreading factor). From the equations (A1.3), (A1.4) and (A1.5), we derive a relationship between the SIR and Eb/No that also involves the processing gain. So after de-spreading process:
Eb = SIR GP No
In another form:
(A1.6)
SIR =
1 Eb GP N o
(A1.6.1)
SIR =
Eb Gp No
(A1.7)
W Tx antenna
RF output
f 0 Data, Rb Rc f0 W= 5MHz f0
Spreading Code
RF input
Rx antenna
Data, Rb
Figure 1-5: Physical meaning of SIR and Eb/No [Vourekas] To put a practical example: consider a speech signal with a bit-rate of 12.2kbps. So Rb=12.2 kbps and Rc= 3.84 Mchips/sec. Then the processing gain of the signal is:
After despreading, the baseband (own) signal needs to be typically a few dB above the interference and noise power. This required signal power density above the noise power density after despreading is designated as Eb/No. This quantity is of capital importance because the quality targets are always expressed as a function of Eb/No as can be seen in the analysis presented in [Castro] where the Bit Error Rate probability is derived in terms of this figure. As the quality targets are expressed as function of Eb/No , the CDMA equations regarding capacity also use this important figure as it is going to be shown in a later section. The required signal power density below the interference power density before despreading is designated as SIR (Signal to Interference Ratio), and it is also known as Ec/Io (In fact, Ec/Io and Ec/No are the same thing. 3GPP just had to use different nomenclature than the IS-95 community).
For speech service Eb/No is typically in the order of 5dB. That means that after despreading the resulting baseband signal must be 5dB above noise in order to be successfully reconstructed at the decoder. Therefore, the required wideband SIR must 5 dB minus the processing gain. This follows also from equation A1.7. SIRtarget = 5dB-25dB = -20dB. In other words:
Thus the required wideband SIR is so tolerant that the signal can be buried in interference of a power density that is 100 times larger! Still is that SIR good enough for the signal to be recovered. Compare this with the 9 to 18 dBs of SIR required for good voice quality in GSM systems [Holma]. As we have seen so far, within any given channel bandwidth (chip rate) we will have a higher processing gain for lower user data bit rates than for high. With high data rates some robustness of the WCDMA against interference is clearly compromised. Summarizing, we have to remember the equation (all quantities in dBs): SIRtarget + Gp = Eb/No (A1.8)
Expressed in dB the received SIR is negative. It is then multiplied with the processing gain, an addition in dB scale. If now the processing gain is not large enough the resulting Eb/No will be too small and will not rise above the interference. In case the Eb/No < 0 there is no detection at all.
This fact gives us the first impression of why the Interference levels in the network are so important in the radio planning process of UMTS systems, because if the interference level is high in some cells (because the interference contribution of many users sharing the air interface and probably using different data rates), then the Eb/No level of some links is not going to be enough to make their signal to rise above the interference level and therefore the call would be dropped (i.e. the capacity in terms of number of supported users per cell is modified) and the cell-size (coverage) would be reduced (phenomena known as cell breathing effect). This is the main reason why in UMTS capacity and coverage planning cannot be separated processes, as it can be done for instance in other mobile systems such as GSM where first predictions of the path loss are evaluated in order to ensure the coverage of the desired area, and then capacity is dimensioned as a second step (capacity in a GSM cell it is given by the number of available channels, which is a function of the reuse factor and the number of carriers per cell [Umtsforum6] and therefore the sensitivity level at the base stations (i.e. the minimum power level of the incoming signal at the receiver in order to be detected) can be assumed as a constant. On the contrary, in UMTS the sensitivity of the base stations is a random variable that depends on the number of users and the bit rates / services being used at any given time, then it is clear that capacity influences coverage and a separate planning of capacity and coverage cannot be performed, as the interference should be taken into account already in the coverage prediction.
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CS Networks (PSTN,
UE
UTRAN
Iub Node B RNC Iu-CS MSC/V
CN
CS-Domain
GMSC
.... Node B
Iub
Uu (air interface)
.... Node B
Iub
PS-Domain
Simulation Scope
Figure 1-6: UMTS Architecture (Rel-99) UE (User Equipment)
PS Networks (Internet..)
The UE, as defined in [21.905] is the mobile equipment with one or several UMTS Subscriber Identity Modules (USIMs). Therefore, the UE consists of two parts, the ME which is the radio terminal itself, and the USIM which is the smartcard, analog to the SIM cards of the GSM phones but with some advanced extra-features (secure downloading of applications, possible inclusion of payment methods, etc). UTRAN (UMTS Radio Access Network) UTRAN is a logical grouping that includes one or more Radio Network Subsystem (RNS). Two of them (RNS1, RNS2) are depicted in the figure 4. A RNS is a sub-network within UTRAN and consists of one Radio Network Controller (RNC) and one or more Node Bs. For simulation purposes, only one RNS is simulated. In the following section, the main components of the RNS are explained. Node B The Node-B is analog in functionality to the BTS in GSM networks. Its main function is to provide the radio link between the UE and the UMTS network. It performs radio functions related to the air interface, which is the logical interface (known as Uu interface in 3GPP specifications) between the UE and the Node B. Higher layer functions (e.g. Medium Access Control) and control of the Node Bs is performed by the RNC. Some of its main tasks are the implementation of Radio Resource
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