Professional Documents
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Rev. A 08/12
SPIRENT
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Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA
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INTRODUCTION
One promise of Long Term Evolution (LTE)
is the availability of a relatively flat, all-IP
access technology that provides a bandwidthefficient method of delivering multiple types
of user traffic simultaneously. Indeed, the
ability to deploy Voice over IP (VoIP) services
corresponding literature
WHITE PAPER
IMS Architecture:
The LTE User
Equipment Perspective
Reference Guide
IMS Procedures and Protocols:
The LTE User
Equipment Perspective
Posters
The UEs ability to establish and maintain connectivity with an IMS network,
including all of the registration, authentication, security and mobility associated
with this connectivity
The UEs conformance to SIP signaling protocol and SIP procedures/call flows,
including any number of extensions that may be used in different deployment
scenarios
However, to focus development and testing only on these two areas would overlook
the most significant goal of VoLTE: to delivery carrier-grade (or telco-grade) voice
services that are perceived by subscribers to be as good as, if not better than, legacy
circuit-switched voice services. This concept fundamentally differentiates VoLTE from
other VoIP services. Deploying IMS and SIP will provide VoIP service in an LTE network,
but VoLTE raises the bar to provide the carrier-grade voice service that is the vital
objective of LTE networks and operators.
Ensuring carrier-grade voice requires the marriage of IMS and SIP with a number of
LTE Radio Access Network (RAN) features. It is this combination of IMS, SIP and RAN
features that ultimately provides the carrier-grade VoLTE experience. The remainder
of this white paper will identify this set of RAN features and how each of these features
improves the quality of VoLTE service.
Dedicated Bearers
One might ask why any of the many existing VoIP clients could not be installed on an
LTE UE and used to provide carrier-grade voice services. The answer is competition for
resources. As we all know, over-the-air bandwidth is a finite and precious commodity,
even with the increased spectral efficiency offered by LTE. We also know that the
number of applications using IP data and the total amount of data bandwidth these
applications consume continues to grow at an exponential rate. Each of these
applications and their associated data must compete for that finite bandwidth.
From a networks perspective, the encoded voice packets generated by an off-the-shelf
VoIP client are notionally indistinguishable from the data traffic associated with an
email download, viewing a YouTube video, web browsing, or any number of a host of
other applications. The network will attempt to multiplex all of this generic packet
data traffic, not only from a single user but from all users, onto a single shared channel.
In LTE, these channels are the Physical Downlink and Physical Uplink Shared Channels
(PDSCH/PUSCH). Residing in these physical channels will be at least one Evolved
Packet System (EPS) bearer. The EPS bearer provides a logical connection between the
UE and a Public Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PDN-GW). Typically, a Default EPS Bearer
will be established to provide a logical connection between the UE and an Internet
PDN-GW for the purpose of delivering this generic data traffic between the UE and one
or more application servers (e.g. web server).
One downside of the Default EPS Bearer is that there is no control over quality of
service. A best effort strategy is used to deliver all of the generic traffic between the
UE and the Internet PDN. When the finite resources of the network are overwhelmed,
data traffic queuing takes place, leading to unforeseeable latency or dropped packets.
This is obviously undesirable, or even unacceptable, for real-time applications such as a
voice call.
Dedicated Bearers
Benefit:
To overcome the best effort delivery of all indistinguishable traffic over a single EPS
Default Bearer, LTE introduces the concept of an EPS Dedicated Bearer. A Dedicated
Bearer allows certain types of data traffic to be isolated from all other traffic (for
example, VoIP traffic from FTP file download). Each Dedicated Bearer (there can be
multiple Dedicated Bearers establishing virtual connections to one or more PDN-GWs)
is associated with a Traffic Flow Template (TFT). A TFT defines which traffic, based
on source/destination IP addresses and TCP/UDP ports, should be delivered on a
particular Dedicated Bearer. Typically for VoLTE, after SIP signaling is used to establish
a voice session and negotiate the session parameters (e.g. which audio codec, bit rate,
transport protocols and ports will be used for audio), an EPS Dedicated Bearer between
the UE and an IMS PDN-GW is established for the express purpose of transporting
encoded voice packets. Refer to Figure 1 for an example of the traffic usage of a Default
Bearer vs. a Dedicated Bearer.
Further, each Dedicated Bearer can have different service quality attributes specified.
In LTE, a combination of Resource Type (Guaranteed Bit Rate vs. Non-Guaranteed Bit
Rate), Packet Delay Budget (the maximum acceptable end-to-end delay between the
UE and the PDN-GW), Priority (which can be dropped when network resources become
scarce) and Packet Error Loss Rate (the maximum acceptable rate of IP packets that are
not successfully received by the PDCP layer) are used to define a set of QoS (Quality of
Service) Class Identifier (QCI) levels, refer to Table 1.
Description
Resource Type
QCI
Resource
Type
GBR
100
10 -2
Conversational Voice
GBR
150
10 -3
GBR
300
10 -6
GBR
50
10 -3
Real-time gaming
Non-GBR
100
10 -6
IMS Signalling
Non-GBR
100
10 -3
Non-GBR
300
10 -6
Non-GBR
300
10 -6
Non-GBR
300
10 -6
Semi-Persistent Scheduling
As mentioned above, shared channels (PDSCH/PUSCH) are used at the physical
layer to transport the data carried by the logical bearers. Since these channels are
shared amongst all of the users on an eNodeB, there must be a way to allocate these
channels to avoid multiple users trying to simultaneously use the same resource. In
the frequency domain an LTE carrier is divided into a number of subcarriers (currently
anywhere from six to one hundred depending on the bandwidth of the LTE carrier). In
the time domain each subcarrier is grouped into 0.5ms time slots during which either
six or seven of OFDM symbols can be delivered, depending on whether the system is
using normal or extended cyclic prefixes (inter-symbol guard periods). See the 3GPPs
TS 36.211 document for details. This results in a time-frequency grid of subcarriers and
time slots (refer to Figure 2). A grouping of twelve subcarriers in one time slot duration
is known as a Resource Block (RB). An RB is
the minimum allocation of the LTE physical
layer resource that can be granted to a UE.
A pair of physical control channels is used to
grant RBs to UEs operating on the network.
The UE uses the Physical Uplink Control
Channel (PUCCH) to request allocation of the
PUSCH, and the UE is granted both uplink and
downlink allocations via the Physical Downlink
Control Channel (PDCCH). The PDCCH
identifies which subframes (a subframe is
two slots) a UE should decode on the PDSCH,
and which UEs are allowed to transmit in each
uplink subframe on the PUSCH.
Since every RB on the downlink and uplink
must be granted, VoLTE introduces a
challenge: granting control channel overhead
becomes too great for the necessary persistent
and near continuous allocation of RBs to
deliver the relatively small packets typical of a
VoIP-based conversation.
One potential downside of SPS could occur in situations where there is silence during a
VoLTE conversation. If the SPS grant is maintained during silent periods, physical layer
resources are wasted. That is why SPS is semi-persistent; when it makes sense, an
SPS grant can be cancelled. If the UE does not transmit audio packets over a number of
network-defined transmission opportunities, the uplink grant will implicitly expire. On
the downlink, the network has the option of using an RRC message to cancel the grant.
Thus the right balance can be struck between reducing control channel overhead and
maximizing efficiency in the use of shared data channels.
Semi-Persistent Scheduling
Benefit:
It should be noted that there are actually multiple usage profiles defined for RoHC:
The above example of VoLTE transmission compression ratios assumed the use of RoHC
Profile 1.
Discontinuous Reception
Packet-based voice services such as VoLTE encode periods of audio conversation
(VoLTE is typically 20ms periods) and then rapidly burst-transmit the encoded period of
audio to the receiver for decoding and playback over the 20ms period. When viewing
over-the-air transmissions, it is apparent that each encoded audio packet transmission
is followed by a period of no transmission.
Discontinuous Reception (DRX) takes advantage of these silent periods to turn off the
RF receiver of the UE, as well as other entities such as A/D converters and digital signal
processors associated with downlink demodulation. This reduces the drain on the
devices battery and increases talk and standby usage time. RRC messaging is used to
enable DRX and establish the UE receivers on/off pattern.
Given that the network established the DRX pattern, it will know when the UE is
monitoring the PDCCH and know when to schedule downlink data to the UE. Selection
of the DRX pattern must carefully be determined based on the latency requirements of
the application and the need to receive any possible retransmissions. Having too long
of a sleep period may lead to latency greater than the desired performance based on
the QCI value in use. Refer to Figure 5 for an illustration of a DRX pattern.
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DRX can also operate in one of two different modes: Long DRX and Short DRX. Long
DRX has the UE receiver disabled for a longer period of time, and could be applicable
during periods of silence in the conversation when audio packets are sent less
frequently. However, when audio is consistently present, Short DRX can be used and a
cycle can be mapped to the periodic arrival of audio packets. Switching between Long
DRX and Short DRX is controlled by the eNodeBs MAC Layer and/or an activity timer at
the UE. Refer to Figure 6 for an illustration of Long and Short DRX.
Discontinuous Reception
Benefit:
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This is not without complications, however. Implementation of SRVCC must take into
account that the network and the UE are trying to accomplish at least three non-trivial
tasks in near simultaneous fashion while minimizing any disruption to the real-time
voice call that is in progress:
The UE must retune to a new frequency (and most likely retune to a new band)
as it switches from LTE to the legacy network
Both the network and the UE must transition from delivering audio packets via a
packet-switched solution to a circuit-switched delivery
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Dedicated Bearers:
At the end of the SIP negotiation to start a VoLTE call, the Evolved Packet Core (EPC)
of the network will initiate the Dedicated EPS Bearer Context Activation Procedure
to establish the bearer for the audio traffic. The UE must be able to complete this
procedure and use the Dedicated Bearer.
SPS:
The UE must be able to support RRC messaging specifying periodicity of recurring RB
grant; SPS-Config Information Element is described in detail in the 3GPPs TS 36.331
document. The UE will also need to manage switching on/off SPS based on Data
Quality (QCI) and traffic. SPS behavior is defined in 36.321.
RoHC:
The UE must be able to support compression and decompression of header information
for different traffic types: UDP, RTP, IP as defined in the IETFs RFC 4995 (for RTP & UDP)
and RFC 4996 (for TCP/IP).
DRx:
The UE must have ability to switch between long and short DRx in response to all the
relevant timers (as defined in TS 36.321).
TTI Bundling:
The UE must be able to transmit over multi TTI and receive, per TS 36.321. Note that
while many discussions of TTI bundling treat the bundle size as an arbitrary even
number, TS 36.321 defines TTI_BUNDLE_SIZE as 4.
SRVCC:
The UE must be able to complete the LTE to legacy network handover as well as change
its audio traffic from packet-switched to circuit-switched.
IMS Network Emulation:
Support of all necessary functionality for successful VoLTE deployment requires a
network emulation test solution that provides complete integration of IMS infrastructure
emulation, a fully implemented and configurable EPC and a programmable eNodeB
implementation. Further, the network emulation solution requires incorporation
of multiple radio access technologies (LTE plus WCDMA/GSM) along with the tight
coupling of the EPC to generate and coordinate the mobility scenarios necessary to
verify the UEs SRVCC implementation.
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Summary
IMS and SIP are necessary technologies for deployment of VoIP in an LTE environment,
but it is ultimately the introduction of LTE RAN features that creates the differentiation
between VoLTE and VoIP. Specifically;
Dedicated Bearers allow for the prioritization of VoLTE audio packets over all
other best-effort traffic
While much focus has been placed in testing a UEs IMS connectivity and SIP signaling
conformance, ultimate success of carrier-grade VoLTE deployments will depend on fully
integrated testing of a UEs signaling along with the negotiation, establishment and
usage of the associated RAN features mentioned above.
As discussed in this paper, carrier-grade VoLTE presents unique technical challenges
and considerations for the UE engineer. Spirent is a global leader in LTE device testing
and is well positioned to assist in addressing the challenges and test requirements
early on in the development cycle. Spirents CS8 Device Tester provides all of the
components necessary to support development and testing of a UEs VoLTE capability
during the research and development phases of the UE lifecycle.
This white paper is the third in a series of tools aimed to educate and support UE
developers as they contribute to the deployment of IMS/VoLTE. Please see Spirent
website (www.spirent.com) for other free white papers, recorded seminars, posters and
other resources that may be helpful to the UE developer.
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