A Tutorial on LTE

Prof. Jun ZHANG

ELEC 536
Dept. of ECE, HKUST
1
Outline
Introduction
Downlink Processing
Uplink Processing
Advanced Techniques
Main reference:
A. Ghosh, J. Zhang, J. G. Andrews, and R. Muhamed, Fundamentals of
LTE, Prentice-Hall, 2010.
2
Evolution of Cellular Systems
(From 3G American, Transition to 4G)
Standards bodies
3GPP (The 3rd
Generation
Partnership
Project)
3GPP2
IEEE 802.16
3
What is LTE?
Separable network structure in 3GPP
Radio Access Network (RAN) + Core Network (CN)
LTE (Long-Term Evolution): The project focusing on enhancing the 3G
RAN, and optimizing 3GPPs overall radio access architecture
EPC (Evolved Packet Core): The project focusing on the CN evolution
with a packet-based architecture
EPS (Evolved Packet System): The complete packet system consisting
of LTE and EPC
4
3G Network LTE Network
The Road to LTE
-- Performance Evolution of 3GPP Standards
5
Motivations for LTE
Need to ensure the continuity of competitiveness of the 3G
system for the future
User demand for higher data rates and quality of service
Packet Switch optimized system
Continued demand for cost reduction (CAPEX and OPEX)
Low complexity
Avoid unnecessary fragmentation of technologies for paired
and unpaired band operation
6
Key Features of LTE
High spectral efficiency
OFDM in Downlink, frequency domain channel-dependent scheduling
& MIMO
DFTS-OFDM(Single-Carrier FDMA) in Uplink, Low PAPR, User
orthogonality in frequency domain
Multi-antenna (MIMO) transmission
Very low latency
Short setup time & Short transfer delay
Short handover latency and interruption time
Support of variable bandwidth
1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz
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Key Features of LTE
Simple protocol architecture
Shared channel based
PS (packet switch) mode only with VoIP capability
Simple Architecture
eNodeB as the only E-UTRAN node
Smaller number of RAN interfaces
Compatibility and inter-working with earlier 3GPP Releases
Inter-working with other systems, e.g. cdma2000
FDD and TDD within a single radio access technology
Efficient Multicast/Broadcast
Single frequency network by OFDM
8
Network Architecture of LTE
9
UE: mobile terminal
eNode-B: base station
MME: Mobility management entity
Serving GW: Serving gateway
PDN GW: Packet data network gateway
Radio Interface Protocol
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An IP packet flow with a
defined QoS between the
PDN-GW and the UE
What to transmit: defined
based on the type of
information it carries
How to transmit: characterized
by how and with what
characteristics data is
transferred
Hierarchical Channel Structure
Logical Channels: What to Transmit
Provide services to the RLC
Logical control channels
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
Multicast Control Channel (MCCH)
Paging Control Channel (PCCH)
Common Control Channel (CCCH)
Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
Logical traffic channels
Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)
Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH)
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Hierarchical Channel Structure
Transport Channels: How to Transmit
Provide services to the MAC
Downlink transport channels
Downlink shared channel (DL-SCH)
Broadcast channel (BCH)
Multicast channel (MCH)
Paging channel (PCH)
Uplink transport channels
Uplink shared channel (UL-SCH)
Random access channel (RACH)
Control information
Downlink control information (DCI)
Control format indicator (CFI)
H-ARQ Indicator (HI)
Uplink Control Information (UCI)
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Hierarchical Channel Structure
Physical Channels: Actual Transmission
Correspond to a set of resource elements
Downlink physical channels
Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)
Physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)
Physical broadcast channel (PBCH)
Physical multicast channel (PMCH)
Physical hybrid-ARQ indicator channel (PHICH)
Physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH)
Uplink physical channels
Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)
Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)
Physical random access channel (PRACH)
Physical signals
Reference signal
Synchronization signal
13
Hierarchical Channel Structure
14
Downlink Processing
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Downlink OFDMA Radio Resource
Why OFDM?
OFDM is efficient in combating the frequency-selective fading channel,
which makes it a suitable technique for wireless broadband systems
such as LTE
It is possible to exploit frequency-selective scheduling with OFDM-
based multiple access OFDMA
The transceiver structure of OFDM with FFT/IFFT enables scalable
bandwidth operation with a low complexity
OFDM makes it much easier to support multi-antenna transmission
OFDM enables multicast/broadcast services on a synchronized single
frequency network
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Time Domain Frame Structure
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Frame Structure Type 1 (For FDD)
CP (Cyclic Prefix)
Normal CP: for urban environment and high data rate applications
Extended CP: for multicell multicast/broadcast and very large cells
Time Domain Frame Structure
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Frame Structure Type 2 (For TDD)
Special fields
DwPTS (Downlink Pilot TimeSlot), GP (Guard Period), UpPTS (Uplink Pilot TimeSlot)
Provide large guard period to switch between transmission and reception
Physical Resource Blocks for OFDMA
Each resource block is 180 kHz in the
frequency domain, and 0.5 ms in the
time domain (one slot)
The resource block is the basic
element for radio resource allocation
The minimum size of radio resource
that can be allocated is one
subframe of 1ms, corresponding to
two resource blocks
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Typical Parameters for DL Transmission
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DL Transport Channel Processing
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Channel Coding
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Provide error
detection
Prevent excessive
complexity and memory
requirement for decoding
Channel Coding
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Rate 1/3 tail-biting
convolution encoder
Rate 1/3 turbo encoder
Rate Matching
Rate matching performs interleaving, repetition or puncturing
to generate a transport block that fits the payload size
24
Interlacing: guarantee
equal number of parity
1 and parity 2 bits
The virtual
circular buffer
Modulation
Scrambing before modulation
To randomize inter-cell interference
Modulation schemes for different physical channels
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Coded
sequence
Scrambing
sequence
MIMO Modes in DL
7 different transmission modes
Single-antenna port (port 0): single antenna transmission
Transmit diversity
Open-loop (OL) spatial multiplexing
Closed-loop (CL) spatial multiplexing
Multiuser MIMO
Closed-loop rank-1 precoding
Single-antenna port (port 5): beamforming
Antenna configuration
Baseline: 2@Base, 2@UE
Higher order: up to 4@Base, 4@UE
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MIMO Modes
CL MIMO
Modes
Layer Mapping and Precoding
Layer mapping and precoding are for MIMO modes
The layer mapper maps N
c
codewords to v spatial layers
The precoder maps the v layers to P antenna ports
This two-step approach allows the inclusion of processing of
all the MIMO modes in a single framework
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Layer Mapping and Precoding
Codeword
The output of each channel coding/rate matching stage associated
with a single transport block coming from the MAC layer
In LTE, limited to two codewords
Layer
Correspond to a data stream of the spatial multiplexing channel
Each codeword is mapped into one or multiple layers, so v>=N
c
Antenna port
A logical entity, may not correspond to an actual physical antenna
Antenna ports 0-3 are cell specific, used for DL MIMO
Antenna port 4 is for multicast/broadcast services
Antenna port 5 is used for beamforming to a single UE
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Codeword-to-layer mapping for spatial multiplexing
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Supported MIMO Modes for Different Physical Channels
OL Transmit Diversity
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For two antenna ports
Space Frequency Block Code (SFBC)
Similar to the Alamouti code, indexed in the frequency domain
For four antenna ports
SFBC combined with Frequency Switched Transmit Diversity (FSTD)
Diversity order is 2
OL Spatial Multiplexing
W(i): codebook-based precoding matrix
D(i): to support large-delay cyclic delay diversity
U: a fixed unitary DFT-based precoding matrix
D(i)U effectively makes sure that all layers undergo the same
channel quality
This reduces signaling overhead as only a single CQI needs to be fed
back
Also provides increased robustness against imperfect link adaptation
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OL Spatial Multiplexing
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CL MIMO Techniques
CL MIMO requires explicit feedback
Rank indication (RI), precoder matrix index (PMI)
CL Spatial Multiplexing
Each UE feeds back the index of the precoder (PMI)
CL Rank-1 Precoding (RI=1)
A special case of CL spatial multiplexing
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Codebook for CL MIMO
For 2 antenna ports
For 4 antenna ports
The codebook uses a Householder generating function
the input vectors are given in the standard
34
MU-MIMO in DL
In 3GPP Release 8, there is a limited support for MU-MIMO in
the downlink
The precoder for MU-MIMO is the same as that for the rank-1
precoding
The eNodeB transmits to two UEs simultaneously with a rank-
1 precoder for each UE
Mutual interference can be suppressed during the scheduling
process by selecting UEs with near-orthogonal channel
directions, or with advanced interference cancelation at the
UE
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OFDMA Signal Generation
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Downlink Shared Channels
Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) carriers both traffic and control data
from logical channels
Modulation: QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM
Encoder: rate 1/3 convolutional turbo code
MIMO modes: all 7 transmission modes
Shared-channel transmission
The PHY layer resources are treated as a common resource that can be
dynamically shared among different UEs
Enable dynamic scheduling 37
Downlink Control Channels
Downlink Control Information (DCI)
10 different DCI formats (scheduling information, modulation and coding
scheme, etc.)
DCI format 0, for uplink transmission
DCI format 1/1A/1B/1C/1D, for downlink transmission with one codeword
without spatial multiplexing
DCI format 2 and 2A, for downlink transmission with spatial multiplxing
DCI format 3 and 3A carry transmit power control commands for the uplink
Coding: rate 1/3 convolution code
Modulation: QPSK
Carried on PDCCH, located in the first n OFDM symbols of each subframe
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Downlink Control Channels
Control Format Indicator (CFI)
Indicates how many OFDM symbols the DCI spans
The CFI takes values of 1, 2, or 3
CFI is mapped to PCFICH in the first OFDM symbol of the subframe
Encoder: rate 1/16 linear block code
Modulation: QPSK
H-ARQ Indicator (HI)
For H-ARQ acknowledgement in response to uplink transmission
HI=1 for positive ack, HI=0 for negative ack
Encoder: rate 1/3 repetition code
Modulation: BPSK
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Broadcast Channels
Carry system information such as downlink system bandwidth,
antenna configuration, reference signal power
Divided into two portions
Master Information Block (MIB) transmitted on PBCH
System Information Block (SIB) transmitted on PDSCH
Encoder: rate 1/3 convolutional code
Modulation: QPSK
Resource mapping:
Modulated symbols are mapped onto the 72 subcarriers centered
around the DC subcarrier in slot 1 in subframe 0 during 4 consecutive
radio frames
Independent of bandwidth and duplex mode, allows UEs to decode
without any prior knowledge
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Multicast Channels
Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS)
supports multicast/broadcast services
LTE provides enhanced support for the MBMS transmission
Enhanced MBMS (E-MBMS)
Achieved through Single-Frequency Network (SFN) operation
Multicell multicast/broadcast transmissions appear as a single
transmission over a multipath channel OFDM is efficient in
combating multipath channels
Only single antenna port transmission is supported (antenna port 4)
The reduced subcarrier space of 7.5kHz is defined
Extended CP
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Downlink Physical Signals
Downlink reference signals:
for channel estimation that enables coherent demodulation and for
channel quality measurement to assist user scheduling
Cell-specific reference signals, associated with non MBSFN
transmission
MBSFN reference signals, associated with MBSFN transmission
UE-specific reference signals, support single-antenna port
transmission
Synchronization Signals
Primary synchronization signal
Secondary synchronization signal
Enable acquisition of symbol timing and the precise frequency
42
Cell-Specific Reference Signal
Cell-specific reference
signals are defined
separately for antenna
ports 0, 1, 2, and 3
Reference signals on
different antennas are
orthogonal to each
other
Antenna ports 0 and 1
have twice as many
reference symbols as
ports 2 and 3
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Synchronization Signals
Primary synchronization signal: carry the physical-layer ID within the cell-
ID group
Secondary synchronization signal: carry the physical-layer cell-ID group
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Uplink Processing
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Uplink SC-FDMA Radio Resource
Why SC-FDMA in the uplink?
SC-FDMA possesses most of the merits of OFDM
SC-FDMA has a lower PAPR (peak-average-power-ratio),
which is highly desirable in the uplink as less expensive
power amplifiers are needed at UEs
An SC-FDMA transceiver has a similar structure as OFDM,
so the parametrization of radio resource in UL enjoys
similarities to DL
SC-FDMA symbols, SC-FDMA carriers
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Physical Resource Blocks for SC-FDMA
SC-FDMA can be regarded as
conventional OFDM with a
DFT-based precoder
The resource grid is similar to
DL
SC-FDMA symbols
SC-FDMA carriers
Only one subcarrier spacing:
15kHz
No antenna port is defined, as
only single antenna
transmission is supported
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PHY Layer Processing
Spatial multiplexing is not supported in the UL
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Coding and Modulation
Channel Coding
Similar to DL
Uplink shared channel (UL-SCH): rate 1/3 turbo code
Control information: block code or convolutional code
Modulation
UL-SCH supports QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM
QPSK and 16QAM are mandatory, 64QAM is optional
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MIMO Modes
Limited MIMO support in UL due to complexity/cost
Transmit Antenna Selection
No antenna selection: UE shall transmit from antenna port 0
CL antenna selection: based on commands from eNode-B (in DCI)
OL antenna selection: may select antenna based on H-ARQ feedbacks
MU-MIMO in UL
Also referred to as virtual MIMO
Two UEs transmit simultaneously on the same radio resource
Provides spatial multiplexing gain, even with single-antenna UEs
Orthogonal reference signals are assigned to each of 2 UEs
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SC-FDMA Signal Generation
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Uplink Shared Channels
Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) is the only transport channel
carrying traffic data in the UL
Encoder: 1/3 turbo encoder
Modulation: QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM (optional)
MIMO Modes: antenna selection, MU-MIMO
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Frequency Hopping
Provide frequency diversity gain in UL
Intra-subframe and inter-subframe frequency hopping
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Uplink Control Information
Uplink Control Information (UCI) provides following information
Downlink CQI (channel quality indicator): for adaptive modulation and
coding, channel-dependent scheduling
H-ARQ acknowledgement (H-ARQ ACK): for downlink H-ARQ process
Scheduling Request (SR): to request radio sources for UL transmission
PMI and RI: for DL MIMO transmission
Without uplink resource allocation, UCI is transmitted on
PUCCH
With uplink resource allocation, UCI is frequency-multiplexed
with the UL-SCH data on PUSCH
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Uplink Control Information
-- Channel Coding and Modulation
Different types of control information are encoded differently
e.g., for UCI on PUCCH
CQI/PMI are encoded with linear block code
H-ARQ-ACK, encoded as 1 or 0
CQI/PMI+H-ARQ-ACK, linear block code
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Uplink Control Information
-- Resource Mapping
PUCCH is time-division multiplexed with the PUSCH from the
same UE
PUCCH can be frequency-division multiplexed with the PUSCH
from other UEs
PUCCH is transmitted at the bandwidth
edge, to provide contiguous bandwidth
for data transmission
The intra-subframe frequency hopping
provides frequency diversity
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Uplink Reference Signals
LTE defines two types of reference signals in UL
Demodulation reference signals: for coherent demodulation, defined
for both PUSCH and PUCCH
Sounding reference signals: wideband reference signals for measuring
UL channel quality for uplink resource allocation
Why two types?
Demodulation reference signals in UL only transmitted on the
subcarriers assigned to UEs, cannot provide sufficient wideband
channel quality information
Reference signals in UL cannot be transmitted at the same
time with user data (Considering PAPR)
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Uplink Reference Signals
-- Resource Mapping
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Demodulation reference signals for PUSCH
Sounding reference signals
Random Access Channels
Random access is for initial access or re-establish UL
synchronization
Random access preamble:
No intra-cell interference from multiple random access
attempts using different preambles (Zadoff-Chu sequences)
In frequency domain, random access occupies six consecutive
resource blocks (72 subcarriers)
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Advanced Techniques
60
H-ARQ
H-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest): improve reliability
Combines forward error correction (FEC) and retransmission (ARQ)
Type I H-ARQ (chase combining): retransmission is identical to the first
transmission
Type II H-ARQ (incremental redundancy): retransmission provides
different redundancy
In LTE, rate 1/3 turbo coding is used as the FEC code while a CRC is
applied for error detection
At the transmitter: each (re)transmission, the same turbo-coded data
is transmitted with different puncturing, i.e., different redundancy
version
At the receiver: decode the received code block combined with
previously received versions
No error detected, then feed back ACK
Error detected, feed back NACK
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H-ARQ
Time interval between two successive H-ARQ transmission
Typically 8 msec in LTE
To avoid waiting time, an N-channel Stop-and-Wait protocol is
used, consisting of N parallel H-ARQ processes
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H-ARQ
DL: Asynchronous Adaptive H-ARQ
H-ARQ processes can be transmitted in any order without fixed timing
Provides higher throughput with re-scheduling or changing
modulation/coding
Avoid potential collision of H-ARQ retransmissions with high priority
scheduling transmissions, e.g., persistent scheduling
Requires more overhead, e.g., redundancy version, etc
UL: Synchronous H-ARQ
Retransmissions are scheduled on a periodic interval
Requires no explicit signaling for H-ARQ process number
Depends on the duplexing mode and H-ARQ operation types
63
Adaptive Coding and Modulation
(AMC)
AMC is to take advantage of fluctuations in the channel over
time and frequency, i.e., exploiting fading
Transmit as high a data rate as possible when and where the channel
is good
Transmit at a lower rate when and where the channel is poor
Requires knowledge of instantaneous channel information
64
Adaptive Coding and Modulation
(AMC)
A possible realization of AMC
65
With AMC, we
approach the
Shannon capacity
within 2-4 dB
Scheduling and Resource Allocation
Objective: to efficiently allocate the available radio resource
to UEs
Channel-independent scheduling
The allocation is random and not based on channel condition, e.g.,
round-robin scheduling
Channel-dependent scheduling
The allocation is based on channel condition, e.g., proportional
fairness scheduler, max CI (carrier-to-interference) scheduler
Frequency diverse scheduling: random in frequency domain, exploit
time selectivity and frequency diversity
Frequency selective scheduling: exploit both time and frequency
selectivity of the channel
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Scheduling and Resource Allocation
Resource assignment consists of resource blocks (RB) and
modulation and coding schemes (MCS)
Depends heavily on channel information
For DL: provided by uplink CQI feedback
For UL: by channel sounding at the eNode-B
DL supports both localized and distributed resource allocations
Distributed allocations provide better performance with high overhead
Localized allocation provides low overhead alternative
UL only supports localized allocation
Preserve single-carrier property
Exploit multiuser diversity in the frequency domain
67
Scheduling and Resource Allocation
--Multiuser Diversity Gain
For iid Rayleigh fading channels, with opportunistic scheduling
Sum capacity ~ loglog(K)
68
CQI Feedback
CQI (Channel Quality Indicator) from UE
Indicates a suitable downlink transmission data rate, i.e., a Modulation
and Coding Scheme (MCS)
Based on the observed SINR at the UE
Wideband vs. Subband CQI
Wideband CQI: over the entire channel bandwidth, do not support
frequency-selective scheduling
Subband CQI: consists of a vector of CQI values each representing
SINR over a subband, enables frequency-selective scheduling
Tradeoff between DL performance and UL bandwidth
consumption
69
CQI Estimation
The UE computes SINR samples over multiple OFDM symbols
and subcarriers to calculate an effective SINR
I(.) maps the SINR to a performance metric
70
CQI Index
Based on effective SINR, the UE picks the CQI index that
indicates the highest MCS level that can be supported with a
10% block error rate
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CQI Feedback Modes
Two reporting modes in the time domain
Periodic reporting: the UE reports CQI, PMI, and RI with reporting
periods configured by the higher layer
Aperiodic reporting: can be used to provide large and more detail
reporting in a single reporting instance via PUSCH
For subband CQI feedback
In periodic reporting
The UE cycles through different subbands from one reporting instance to the
next, to reduce overhead
In aperiodic reporting
Higher layer configured subband reporting: UE reports the subband CQI for
each band in a single feedback report
UE selected subband report: UE reports the subband CQI for the M bands
with the highest CQI values
72
CQI Feedback Modes
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10 MHz FDD
Cell Search or Synchronization
When a UE powers on
It needs to acquire time and frequency synchronization with a cell and
detect the physical-layer cell ID of that cell through the cell search
procedure
LTE uses a hierarchical cell search scheme
74
Random Access Procedure
Cell search provides downlink synchronization
Random access enables uplink synchronization, notifies the
eNode-B that the UE has data to transmit, or transmit a small
amount of control information and data packets
75
Power Control in Uplink
In LTE, orthogonal transmission in UL removes intra-cell
interference
No near-far problem
Inter-cell interference is the major issue
Power control in UL
Objective of Power Control
To control interference caused to neighboring cells, while maintaining
the required SINR at the serving cell
Fractional Power Control (FPC)
Allows full or partial compensation of path loss and shadowing
Allows edge UEs to operate at lower SINR, with less interference to
other cells
76
Power Control in Uplink
Power control for PUSCH
Open-loop component + closed-loop component
Open-loop component: FPC
M: # resource blocks, P
0
: mean received SINR
: path loss compensation factor (=1, channel inversion, a=0, no PC)
Open-loop + closed loop
f(.) performs closed loop power control
Accumulated:
Absolute:
77
Inter-cell Interference (ICI)
Coordination
ICI randomization
Scramble the codeword after channel encoding with a pseudo-random
sequence
Interference suppression is achieved through channel coding gain
ICI cancellation
Decode the interfering signals first, and then subtract them
Achieved with multiuser detection, or multiple antennas
ICI coordination/avoidance
Apply restrictions to the resource management in a coordinated way
between neighboring cells
Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) Transmission/Reception
Also called base station coordination, multicell processing
Have great potential, but not supported in LTE
78
Inter-cell Interference (ICI)
Coordination
Example:
Possible downlink power levels of three neighboring cells. Edge users in
each cell would be allocated to the higher power levels.
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Related 3GPP Specifications
3GPP TS 36.201, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
LTE Physical Layer - General Description.
3GPP TS 36.211, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
Physical channels and modulation.
3GPP TS 36.212, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
Multiplexing and channel coding.
3GPP TS 36.213, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
Physical Layer Procedures.
3GPP TS 36.321, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA);
Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification.
Available on http://www.3gpp.org/specification-numbering
80