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Wireless Test World 2008

Moving into New Era of Wireless

3GPP Long Term


Evolution (LTE)
Protocol Primer

Presented by:
Sandy Fraser

June 25, 2008

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 1 Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agenda

•High level LTE, SAE


•What is protocol
•The LTE protocol stack
• Data flow through the UE LTE stack
• PHY functions
• RRC – focus on Handovers
•Specifications – status
•Summaries and solutions
•Appendices

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE major features which affect protocol

Feature Capability
UE Categories 10 Mbps - 300 Mbps on DL
(Provisionally five) 5 Mbps to 75 Mbps in UL
Baseline UE capability 20 MHz UL/DL, 2 Rx, one Tx antenna
Transmission Time Interval 1 ms
H-ARQ Retransmission 8ms (At LTE peak data rates this is a very
Time hard spec to meet at baseband)
Bearer services Packet only – no circuit switched voice or
data services are supported Î voice must
use VoIP

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
eNB functions:
differences from 2G/3G

S1

S1
S1

S1
X2

X2
• There is no RNC which dealt with RRC, RLC and MAC elements
• RNC also dealt with packet scheduling (HSDPA Rel 6 moved this to the
node B), this is all moved to the eNB for LTE
• RRM functions have also moved to the eNB
• Radio Admission Control
• Connection Mobility Control
• Dynamic Scheduling of UE resources

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
3GPP TR 23.401 / 25.813

• PLMN – Public Land Mobile Network


• EPS – Evolved Packet System
• MME – Mobility Management Entity
• eNB – E-UTRAN Node B
• TAI - Tracking Area ID
• E-UTRAN – Evolved Universal Radio
Access Network
• C-RNTI – Cell Radio Network
Temporary Identifier
• RA-RNTI – Random Access RNTI
• UE – User Equipment
• IMEI – International Mobile Equipment
Identity
• IMSI – International Mobile Subscriber
Identity
• S-TMSI – SAE Temporary Mobile
Subscriber Identity

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agenda

•High level LTE, SAE


•What is protocol
•The LTE protocol stack
• Data flow through the UE LTE stack
• PHY functions
• RRC – focus on Handovers
•Specifications – status
•Summaries and solutions
•Appendices

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
What is Protocol?

• An agreed-upon set of rules governing the exchange of information.


• “An agreed-upon set of rules” : what, how, and when information is
communicated must conform to some mutually acceptable set of
conventions referred to as ‘the protocol’

• “Information” : Two types

• “Control” - used to setup, maintain, and end the communication link


• “Data” - the actual content that is intended to be exchanged
• Packaged into “messages”
• The protocol defines and governs the exchange of messages

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Terminology

Plane - view across stacks

Inventory Appl 2 Appl 3 Peers Database Appl


Appl Format Format
Extract info from message
Format message message message

Coordinate connection state Coordinate connection state Layer


Handle Data QoS Handle Data QoS

Add error coding Check and correct errors


Format for the media Rx and buffer data

Protocol Stack

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agenda

•High level LTE, SAE


•What is protocol
•The LTE protocol stack
• Data flow through the UE LTE stack
• PHY functions
• RRC – focus on Handovers
•Specifications – status
•Summaries and solutions
•Appendices

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview 3GPP 3.60, Fig 4.3.2
Control plane protocol stack

UE eNB MMS

NAS NAS
RRC RRC Handovers, mobility

PDCP PDCP Ciphering RoHC

RLC Segmentation, concatenation, ARQ


RLC

MAC MAC HARQ, mapping to/from PHY

PHY Modulation, coding


PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview

UE eNB

PDCP PDCP

RLC RLC

MAC MAC
3GPP 3.60, Fig 4.3.1
User plane protocol stack
PHY PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview – PDCP

The main services and functions of PDCP for the


user plane include:
• Header compression and decompression: ROHC
• Transfer of user data between RRC and RLC layers.
• Ciphering

The main services and functions of PDCP for the


control plane include:
UE eNB
• Ciphering and Integrity Protection
• Transfer of control plane data between RRC and RLC PDCP PDCP
layers. RLC RLC
MAC MAC
PHY PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview – PDCP

Robust Header Compression


(RoHC)
IP
• For more info see IETF
Data
Header
RFC 4995.
• Reduced overhead, more
efficient RoHC applied Data
Once RoHC has been applied
the whole packet (data AND
Header and
header) are ciphered as per Ciphered
35.201 (data only)
data ciphered

Headers and Message PDCP


Authentication codes are C%^b£$^8Df%^!z(£”*v& MAC-I
Header
added

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Protocol Stack – all together – user data/voice

Ciphered Add IP Header User Voice or Data


W&V%$C£ Apply RoHC 0111010101100010

PDCP
R R R PDCP SN Octet 1
Data Octet 2 RLC
………………….
Data
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐3 DC RF P FI E SN Octet 1
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐2 RLC SN Octet 2
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐1 Data Octet 3
MAC ‐ I Octet N Data Octet……

To MAC

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview - RLC

• Acknowledged Mode (AM)


• Unacknowledged Mode (UM)
• Transparent Mode (TM)
• Error Correction through ARQ (CRC check provided by
the physical layer, that is, no CRC needed at RLC level)
• Concatenation, segmentation, re-segmentation of SDU’s
to match transmission (Transport Block – TB) UE eNB
parameters set by MAC
PDCP PDCP
• Re-ordering of PDU’s received out of order
RLC RLC
• Buffering, timers, state switching.
MAC MAC
PHY PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
RLC Segmentation /Concatenation

• Multiple RLC SDU’s are segmented / concatenated into a single RLC


PDU
• MAC knows what physical resources are available and RLC provides
RLC PDU’s to the size that MAC requests.
• RLC SDU’s can be control information, voice, data etc

RLC Service Data Unit (SDU’s)

RLC Header RLC Header

RLC Packet Data Unit (PDU)

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 16 Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP – RLC, Acknowledged
Mode (AM)
Acknowledged Mode PDU frame structure
DC RF P FI E SN Octet 1
• Shown here is a PDU with no additional E & LI fields SN Octet 2
showns Data Octet 3
• If there are an add number of LI fields, there is Data Octet……
additional 4 bits padding.
36.322 Figure 6.2.1.4-1: AMD PDU (No LI)
• If there is an even number of LI fields then no
additional padding is necessary.

D/C Data / Control Indicated either Data or Control PDU


RF Re-segmentation Flag Indicates either a PDU or a PDU segment
P Polling Bit Status report required / not required
FI Framing Info Segmentation info
SN Sequence Number (5 or 10 bit) Sequence number of the RLC PDU
E Extension bit Data or more E and LI to follow
LI Length indicator Data field length in bytes

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP – RLC, Acknowledged
Mode (AM)
DC RF P FI E SN Octet 1
Acknowledged Mode PDU SEGMENT SN Octet 2
LSF SO Octet 3
SO Octet 4
Data Octet 3
………………….
Data Octet N

36.322 Figure 6.2.1.5-1: AMD PDU segment (No LI)

D/C Data / Control Indicated either Data or Control PDU


RF Re-segmentation Flag Indicates either a PDU or a PDU segment
P Polling Bit Status report required / not required
FI Framing Info Segmentation info
SN Sequence Number (5 or 10 bit) Sequence number of the RLC PDU
SO Segment Offset Start/end of PDU portion
LSF Last Segment Flag This is the last segment of the PDU

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP – RLC, Acknowledged
Mode (AM) DC CPT ACK_SN Octet 1
ACK_SN E1 Octet 2
NACK_SN Octet 3
Acknowledged Mode STATUS PDU E1 E2 NACK_SN Octet 4
NACK_SN E1 E2 Octet 5
Sostart Octet 6
SOstart Soend Octet 7
Soend Octet 8
SOend NACK_SN Octet 9
36.322 Figure 6.2.1.6-1: STATUS PDU ………………….

D/C Data / Control Indicated either Data or Control PDU


CPT Control PDU Type Status PDU or TBD
ACK_SN Acknowledged SN Lowest SN not received or lost
NACK_SN Neg. Acknowledged SN SN of PDU detected as lost
E1 Extension bit 1 Indicates whether NACK_SN & E2 follows
E2 Extension bit 2 Indicates whether SO start/end follow
SOStart Sequence Offset Start 1st byte of portion of lost PDU
SOend Sequence Offset End Last byte of portion of lost PDU

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Protocol Stack – all together – user data/voice

Ciphered Add IP Header User Voice or Data


W&V%$C£ Apply RoHC 0111010101100010

PDCP
R R R PDCP SN Octet 1
Data Octet 2 RLC
………………….
Data
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐3 DC RF P FI E SN Octet 1
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐2 RLC SN Octet 2
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐1 Data Octet 3
MAC ‐ I Octet N Data Octet……

To MAC

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview – MAC

The main services and functions of the MAC sub-


layer include:

• Mapping between upper layers and PHY


• Multiplexing/de-multiplexing of RLC PDUs
belonging to one or different radio bearers
into/from transport blocks (TB) delivered to/from
the physical layer on transport channels
UE eNB
• Error correction through HARQ
• Priority handling between UEs by means of PDCP PDCP
dynamic scheduling RLC RLC

• Transport format selection eNB only MAC MAC


PHY PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP - MAC Scheduling

• MAC’s main function is the distribution and management of


common uplink and downlink resources to multiple UE’s
• eNB MAC must take account of:
• Overall traffic volume
• UE QoS needs for each connection type.
• If a UE requests resources via a Scheduling request, the eNB may
provide a scheduling grant identified by C-RNTI (unique identifier
provided by RRC) Scheduling grant will also include
• Physical Resource Blocks
• Modulation Coding Scheme
• A UE could have several streams of control or user data, identified
by Logical Control ID (LCID)

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP - MAC PDU , DL-SCH, UL-
SCH
• Similar to UMTS – Header, MAC SDU’s, MAC control elements, Padding
• Header and SDU’s can be variable in size
• MAC PDU Header consists of one or more sub-headers, relating to multiple MAC SDU’s,
MAC control elements or padding
• Normally the sub-header contains 6 header fields, R/R/E/LCID/F/L
• The LAST sub-header and FIXED sized MAC control elements only have 4 header fields –
R/R/E/LCID

MAC sub‐header with 7 bit L field
R R E LCID Octet 1
F L Octet 2 LCID Logical Channel ID
L Length
Mac sub‐header with 15 bit L field
R R E LCID Octet 1 R Reserved
F L Octet 2
L Octet 3 E Extension
MAC sub‐header no L field
F Format
R R E LCID Octet 1

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
MAC PDU with several headers/elements

R R E LCID Octet 1
Header 1
F L Octet 2
• If there are multiple
R R E LCID
SDU’s in the MAC
Header 2 F L
PDU, then there will
L
be multiple sub-
………………….
headers
Header N R R E LCID
• Each header could
Data Data Oct 1
Data Data Oct 2
be data or control
Data
information
………………….
Padding Octet N

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 24 Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP - MAC HARQ

• N-Process Stop and Wait HARQ


• Dowlink
• Asynchronous Adaptive HARQ
• PUSCH or PUCCH used for ACK/NACKS for DL (re-)transmissions
• PDCCH signals the HARQ process number and if re-transmission or
transmission
• Uplink
• Synchronous HARQ
• Maximum number of re-transmissions configured per UE
• PHICH used to transmit ACK/NACKs for non-adaptive UL (re-)transmissions.
Adaptive re-transmissions are scheduled through PDCCH
• 8 UL HARQ processes

• MAC HARQ can also interact with RLC to provide information to speed up RLC
ARQ re-segmentation and re-transmission.
• HARQ re-transmissions could be delayed if they collide with GAP measurements
required for certain types of Handovers. The GAP Measurements take priority

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Protocol Stack – all together – user data/voice

Ciphered Add IP Header User Voice or Data


W&V%$C£ Apply RoHC 0111010101100010

PDCP
R R R PDCP SN Octet 1
Data Octet 2 RLC
………………….
Data
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐3 DC RF P FI E SN Octet 1
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐2 RLC SN Octet 2
MAC ‐ I Oct N‐1 Data Octet 3
MAC ‐ I Octet N Data Octet……

To MAC

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Protocol Stack – all together – user data/voice

RLC
DC RF P FI
SN
E SN Octet 1
Octet 2
MAC
Data Octet 3
R R E LCID Octet 1
Data Octet 4 Header 1
F L Octet 2
From ………………….
R R E LCID
previous DC RF P FI E SN Octet 1 Header 2 F L
SN Octet 2 L
page LSF SO Octet 3 ………………….
SO Octet 4 Header N R R E LCID
Data Octet 3 Data Data Oct 1
…………………. Data Data Oct 2
Data Octet N Data
………………….
DC CPT ACK_SN Octet 1 Padding Octet N
ACK_SN E1 Octet 2
NACK_SN Octet 3
E1 E2 NACK_SN Octet 4
NACK_SN E1 E2 Octet 5
Sostart Octet 6
SOstart Soend Octet 7 To PHY for
Soend Octet 8
SOend NACK_SN Octet 9 interleaving and
………………….
modulation
LTE Protocol Primer
Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview – PHY
activities
The physical layer processing of transport channels
consists of the following activities:
• CRC insertion: 24 bit CRC is the baseline for the UL and DL
shared channels
• Channel coding: turbo coding based on QPP inner
interleaving with trellis termination
• Physical-layer Hybrid-ARQ (HARQ) processing;
• Scrambling UL: UE-specific scrambling
• Scrambling DL: transport-channel specific scrambling on DL-
UE eNB
SCH, BCH and PCH.
PDCP PDCP
• Modulation: QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM (64 QAM optional
in UE) RLC RLC
MAC MAC
• Mapping to assigned resources (and antennas for MIMO)
PHY PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview - RRC

The main services and functions of the RRC sub-layer include:


• Broadcast of System Information , Paging
• Establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE
and E-UTRAN including
– Allocation of temporary identifiers between UE and E-UTRAN
– Configuration of signalling radio bearer(s) for RRC connection
• Security functions including key management
• Mobility functions including
– UE measurement reporting for inter-cell and inter-RAT mobility, Inter-cell
handover – RRC talks directly with PHY to obtain measurement results
– UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP RRC
Cell (re)selection and handover procedures

• E-UTRAN Handovers will be possible from:


• E-UTRAN<>E-UTRAN
• E-UTRAN<>UTRAN
• E-UTRAN<>GERAN
• E-UTRAN<>Non 3GPP RAN’s

• Handovers will follow general GERAN/UTRAN


procedures:
• MS measures neighbour cells
• MS reports RxLev, RxQual to BSE/NodeB
• When one of the neighbours looks more favourable,
HO or Cell (re)-selection occurs

• However there are some changes in E-UTRAN

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview
Handover measurement scenarios

• General concern (36-300, 10.2.3.4) over measurement times for a multi-RAT


device
• Full E-UTRAN 20MHz bandwidth
• GSM Multi-band access
• UTRAN Multi-band access
• Non-3GPP (WiMax, CDMA2000 etc) Interworking
• Load Limiting will be controlled by:
• E-UTRAN controlling the RAT’s (even frequencies) to be measured
• Limiting measurement criteria (TS 25.133)
• Awareness of E-UTRAN of UE capabilities
• Blind handover support (without measurement reports), FFS
• Inter-RAT HO’s will only occur with suitable target cell preparation
• Limit the UE to CN signalling – Security, QoS and UE capability contexts
are transferred from source to target

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview
Handover measurement scenarios

• Intra E-UTRAN Handovers will be affected by differences


between the host and targeted neighbour cells:
• Centre Frequency Offset (or lack of)
• Bandwidth of target cell is greater or less than host cell

• Gap or no gap decision for cell measurements to assist HO


is detailed in 36-300 10.1.3

• RRC controls measurement gaps and patterns


• Scheduled gaps
• Individual gaps

NGA NGA FFS GA GA GA

NGA, No Gap Assistance, GA, Gap Assistance, FFS For Future Study

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview 3GPP 3.60, Fig 4.3.2
Control plane protocol stack

UE eNB MMS

NAS NAS
RRC RRC Handovers, mobility

PDCP PDCP Ciphering RoHC

RLC Segmentation, concatenation, ARQ


RLC

MAC MAC HARQ, mapping to/from PHY

PHY Modulation, coding


PHY

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agenda

•High level LTE, SAE


•What is protocol
•The LTE protocol stack
• Data flow through the UE LTE stack
• PHY functions
• RRC – focus on Handovers
•Specifications – status
•Summaries and solutions
•Appendices

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
How stable are the protocol standards
How long will this presentation remain current?
Dec07 pp Dec07 xFFS Mar08 pp Mar08 xFFS

36-321 MAC 23 14 30 20

36-322 RLC 35 16 35 4
36-323 PDCP 26 31 26 19

36-331 RRC 56 151 122 500+

RLC and MAC have firmed up considerably over the last 6 months
RRC, which defines paging, connection control, cell (re-)selection etc still
lags behind with several major gaps but has seen many significant additions
during recent months.
Compare with 36-211, Physical Channels and Modulation, 0xFFS, 54pp
FFS – for future study. 3GPP speak for TBD
This presentation relates to the March 2008 release, next release expected
late June 2008.

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agenda

•High level LTE, SAE


•What is protocol
•The LTE protocol stack
• Data flow through the UE LTE stack
• PHY functions
• RRC – focus on Handovers
•Specifications – status
•Summaries and solutions
•Appendices

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE Summary

Simplified all IP network, with fewer elements and more eNB autonomy
• No RNC, No Soft HO, shorter turnaround times, high data rates, short TTI
Some specifications are almost complete, some are still FFS
• RRC firming up, but still needs much work
UMTS comparison:
• Much more autonomy in MAC to reduce higher level processing
• Higher layers similar to UMTS – different PDU structure
• Some areas more complex because of Diversity, eg CQI, Power control,
re-segmentation, variable block size, more dynamic scheduling
Planned to interwork with existing UMTS and CDMA2000 networks

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE Protocol Test Needs

• Ideally every field will require to be varied, either to valid or invalid values,
and the UE’s responses monitored.
• Force poor radio conditions, re-order, delay and corrupt signalling
messages and data
• Test MIMO operation
• Force re-transmissions – test HARQ, re-segmentation – test RLC
• Test data throughput rates in difficult circumstances
• Analysis tools - Protocol logging of all messages
• Access to top and bottom of all protocol layers - Isolation of each layer will
aid troubleshooting. Isolation of protocol stack from PHY allows debug of
the stack by itself without the need for chipset.
• Removing the chipset also allows non-real time processing
• Some protocol tests will have to be verified through UE RF output eg
Power control, shared channel configuration, timing etc

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agilent 3GPP LTE Portfolio
Introduced Coming
Soon!
at MWC
Software Solutions

E6620A Wireless
• ADS LTE Design Communications
Libraries Platform
• N7624B Signal Studio Agilent/Anite SAT LTE – Drive Test
• 89601A VSA Software
Protocol Development Introduced
Toolset at MWC
NEW!
VSA, PSA, ESG, Scope, Logic

MXA/MXG
R&D Coming Coming
Soon! Soon!

Distributed
Network
Analyzers
Digital VSA
Network Analyzers, Power supplies, and More! Agilent/Anite SAT LTE – UE Protocol Conformance
Development Toolset

R&D Signalling Conformance Network

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Agilent and Anite

Industry Leaders Partnering to Deliver


World Class LTE Development Solutions

Providing scalable test solutions to address the complete R&D life


cycle for LTE mobile development.
• Anite and Agilent are partnering to deliver industry leading UE LTE R&D test
solutions.
• Anite will provide industry leading development, conformance and interoperability
protocol test solutions for LTE
• Agilent will be providing an industry leading RF platform, OBT based solutions and
RF conformance solutions for LTE.
• These solutions will use a common RF hardware platform and a common protocol
stack providing a truly scalable solution to address all phases of UE development –
enabling customers to bring LTE UEs to market faster and more efficiently.

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Resources

• Agilent LTE Page: www.agilent.com/find/lte


• Wall chart (poster)

• E6620A Page: www.agilent.com/find/e6620a


• E6620A Photo Card
• LTE Brochure

• Anite web site: www.anite.com

• http://www.anite.com/images/userdocuments/AniteLTE.PDF

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Appendix CQI and MAC

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 42 Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP CQI reporting Table 7.2-1: Physical channels for
Aperiodic or Periodic CQI reporting

Scheduling Mode Periodic CQI reporting Aperiodic CQI reporting channels


channels
Frequency non-selective PUCCH * or PUSCH PUSCH

Frequency selective PUCCH * or PUSCH PUSCH

• CQI/ reporting details 36.213 V8.2.0 CQI index modulation coding rate x efficiency
1024

0 out of range

• CQI reports can be 1 QPSK 78 0.1523


2 QPSK 120 0.2344
•Wideband or per subcarrier 3 QPSK 193 0.3770

•Semi static, Higher Layer Configured or 4 QPSK 308 0.6016


5 QPSK 449 0.8770
UE selected sub-band 6 QPSK 602 1.1758
7 16QAM 378 1.4766
•* PUCCH for sub-frames with no PUSCH 8 16QAM 490 1.9141

allocation 9 16QAM 616 2.4063


10 64QAM 466 2.7305
•* PUSCH with or without scheduling grant 11 64QAM 567 3.3223

or if no UL-SCH 12
13
64QAM
64QAM
666
772
3.9023
4.5234
•Depends on diversity and antenna count 14 64QAM 873 5.1152
Table 7.2.3-1: 4-bit CQI Table 15 64QAM 948 5.5547

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP CQI reporting

PUCCH PUCCH Reporting Modes


Report Reported Mode 1-1 Mode 2-1 Mode 1-0 Mode 2-0
Type (bits/BP) (bits/BP) (bits/BP) (bits/BP)
Sub-band RI = 1 NA 4+L NA 4+L
1
CQI RI > 1 NA 7+L NA 4+L
2 TX Antennas RI = 1 NA NA
Wideband 4 TX Antennas RI = 1 8 8 NA NA
2
CQI/PMI 2 TX Antennas RI > 1 NA NA
4 TX Antennas RI > 1 11 11 NA NA
2-layer spatial multiplexing 1 1 1 1
3 RI
4-layer spatial multiplexing 2 2 2 2
Wideband
4 RI = 1 NA NA 4 4
CQI

36.213-820 Table 7.2.2-3: PUCCH Report Type Payload size per Reporting Mode

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
CQI and MAC ACK/NACKs

Physcial Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) carries CQI and


ACK/NACK information

Format Bits per Payload Mod’n


sub-frame
1 N/A No Ack/Nack, only SRS N/A
1a 1 SISO Ack/Nack BPSK
1b 2 MIMO Ack/Nack QPSK
2 20 CQI, no Ack/NACK QPSK
2a 21 CQI + SISO Ack/Nack B/QPSK
2b 22 CQI + MIMO Ack/Nack B/QPSK

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 45 Web presentation 25th June 2008
Synchronous H-ARQ (UL)

• UL LTE utilises synchronous H-ARQ


• Each H-ARQ processes is always sent on the same sub-frame
• If data sent in HARQ process 0, on sub-frame 0 is ACK’d, the next
transmission for that process will be on sub-frame 0 of the next frame.
• If data sent in HARQ process 0, on sub-frame 0 is NACK’d, the next
re-transmission for that process will be on sub-frame 0 of the next
frame.

ACK or NACK received


H-ARQ process 0 for HARQ process 0 H-ARQ process 0

#0 #1 #2 #3 ……….#0 #1 #2 #3 ……….

Subframe 0 Subframe 1 Subframe 0 Subframe 1

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP - MAC Random Access Figure 10.1.5.1-1: Contention
based Random Access Procedure

UE eNB

1 Random Access Preamble

Random Access Response 2

• 5 possible RA events
1.Initial Access 3 Scheduled Transmission

2.Following Radio Link failure


Contention Resolution 4
3.Handover
4.DL data arriving during RRC_Connected
5.UL data arriving during RRC_Connected
• 2 types
•Contention based (all 5 events)
•Non-contention based (only applies to 3, 4)

Figure 10.1.5.2-1: Non-contention


based Random Access Procedure

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP - MAC Random Access
Modified 36.300,
Figure 19.2.2.3-1

• Random Access is handled by


MAC
• UL channel is PRACH
• DL Channel is PDCCH
• PBCH informs UE of:
• The available PRACH timing
and resources.
• Contention Management
(number of retries etc)
• When RACH is received, eNB:
1.calculates power and timing
based on the received signal
2.Assigns RNTI to the UE
3.Schedules and uplink grant so
that UE can forward more
capability information

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP - MAC Random Access
PDU structure
RAID Random Access IDentifier MAC Random Access Response (RAR)
T Type (RAID or OI) TA Octet 1
TA UL Grant Octet2
R Reserved
UL Grant Octet 3
E Extension UL Grant Octet 4
OI Overload Indicator Temporary C‐RNTI Octet 5
TA Timing Advance Temporary C‐RNTI Octet 6

E, T, R, R, OI MAC sub header
E T R R OI

E, T, RAID MAC sub header
E T RAID
36.321 Figure 6.1.5-4: MAC PDU consisting
of a MAC header and MAC RARs

LTE Protocol Primer


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Appendix RLC

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 50 Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP – RLC, Transparent Mode
(TM)
Transparent mode PDU’s are
passed on by RLC as received
• No Headers
• No Concatenation
• No segmentation

Associated with the following logical


channels
• BCCH
• UL CCCH 36.322 Figure 4.2.1.1.1-1: Model of two transparent mode peer entities

• DL CCCH
• PCCH

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP – RLC, Unacknowledged
Mode (UM)
RLC conducts:
• Segmentation and /or concatenation of
PDU’s depending on Transport Block
information provided by MAC
• Adds necessary headers
• Re-orders out of sequence PDU’s
• Detects lost PDU’s
• Discard duplicate PDU’s
• Timers and state variable initialization
Associated with the following logical channels
• UL and DL DCCH
• UL and DL DTCH 36.322 Figure 4.2.1.2.1-1: Model of two unacknowledged mode peer entities

• MCCH and MTCH

LTE Protocol Primer


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LTE 3GPP – RLC, Unacknowledged
Mode (UM)

RLC is instructed by RRC to use


either 5 or 10 bit Sequence Number
The construction of the UM RLC PDU
differs for each of these

36.322 Figure 6.2.1.3-1: UMD PDU with 5 bit SN (No LI)


Data Data
FI Framing Info
SN Sequence Number (5 or 10 bit)
E Extension bit
R1 Reserved
LI Length Indicator 36.322 Figure 6.2.1.3-2: UMD PDU with 10 bit SN (No LI)

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP – RLC, Acknowledged
Mode (AM)
AM-SAP
For AM RLC conducts:
• Segmentation and /or concatenation of
PDU’s depending on Transport Block Transmission
RLC control SDU reassembly
buffer
information provided by MAC
• Adds necessary headers
Remove RLC header
Segmentation & Retransmission
• Re-orders out of sequence PDU’s Concatenation buffer

• Detects lost PDU’s Reception


buffer & HARQ
reordering
• Discard duplicate PDU’s
• Timers and state variable initialization Add RLC header
Routing

Associated with the following logical


channels DCCH/DTCH DCCH/DTCH

• UL and DL DCCH
36.322 Figure 4.2.1.3.1-1: Model of an acknowledged mode enttiy
• UL and DL DTCH

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Appendix PDCP

LTE Protocol Primer


Page 55 Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP PDCP frame structure

R R R PDCP Sequence Number Oct 1

Data Oct 2
...

MAC-I Oct N-3

MAC-I (cont.) Oct N-2

MAC-I (cont.) Oct N-1

MAC-I (cont.) Oct N

D/C Data / Control Indicated either Data 36-323 Figure 6.2.2.1: PDCP Data PDU
or Control PDU format for SRBs

R Reserved
MAC-I Message Integrity protection
Authentication and verification
Code
LIS ??????????

36.323 Figure 6.2.6.1: PDCP Data PDU


format for PDCP status report

LTE Protocol Primer


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Appendix RRC

LTE Protocol Primer


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LTE 3GPP Stack overview
Handover measurement scenarios

•E-UTRAN Handovers between neighbouring cells can be either

1.via X2 between eNB’s without EPC intervention


– Packets are routed through source eNB until handover is
complete
– The only signalling to MME is the “path switch request and ack”
to route packet data to target eNB
2.Via MME control if a change of MME/Serving GW is required
– This requires HO to be initiated from the source eNB via the S1
interface to the MME
– The eNB’s may be in different Tracking Area ID’s (TAI)

•eNB’s are much more autonomous than in 2G/3G

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
LTE 3GPP Stack overview
Handover measurement scenarios

• For Handovers, the network can provide some assistance


• E-UTRAN – no cell specific assistance or frequency only
• UTRAN – frequency list and scrambling codes
• GERAN – frequency list. The UE can also “leave” the E-UTRA cell to
read the target GERAN BCH to assess suitability prior to reselection.
• UTRAN to E-UTRAN Measurements - UE performs E-UTRAN
measurements in compressed mode
• GERAN to E-UTRAN Measurements performed during idle frame, 36-
300, 10.2.3.2 raises some concern over time constraints
• General worry 36-300, 10.2.3.4 over measurement times for a multi-
RAT device
• Support for non 3GPP Radio technologies is also being discussed

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Appendix
UE categories and Identifiers

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UE categories

In order to scale the development of equipment, UE categories have


been defined to limit certain parameters
The most significant parameter is the supported data rates:
UE Max downlink Number of DL Max uplink Support for uplink
Category data rate transmit data streams data rate 64QAM
1 10 Mbps 1 5 Mbps No
2 50 Mbps 2 25 Mbps Not yet decided
3 100 Mbps 2 50 Mbps Not yet decided
4 150 Mbps Not yet decided 50 Mbps Not yet decided
5 300 Mbps 4 75 Mbps Yes

All figures provisional from TS 36.306 V8.0.0.


The UE category must be the same for downlink and uplink

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Appendix – System Architecture Evolution

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
HSS - Home subscriber server
High level SAE IMS - IP multimedia subsystem
Inter AS anchor - Inter access system anchor
MME - Mobility management entity
Architecture Op. IP Serv. - Operator IP service
PCRF - Policy and charging rule control function
UPE - User plane entity

3GPP TR 23.882
GERAN Gb
GPRS Core
Iu SGSN PCRF Rx+
UTRAN S7
S3 S4
HSS Op.
S5a S5b S6
IP 
S1 3GPP SGi Serv. 
Evolved RAN MME
UPE Anchor
SAE
Anchor (IMS, 
PSS, 
IASA S2b etc…)
S2a WLAN
Evolved ePDG
3GPP IP 
Packet Core Access
WLAN
Trusted non 3GPP  Access NW
IP Access

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Still plenty to define:
System Architecture Evolution, open Issues - Annex
A 23.882-1f1 Mar08
Open Issues
- How to achieve mobility within the Evolved Access System?
- Is the evolved access system envisioned to work on new and/or existing frequency band?
- Is connecting the Evolved RAN to the pre-SAE/LTE PS core needed?
- How to add support for non-3GPP access systems?
- WLAN 3GPP IP access system might need some new functionality for Inter-system Mobility with the Evolved Access System
- Clarify which interfaces are the roaming interfaces, and how roaming works in general
- Inter-access-system mobility
- Possible difference between PCC functionality, mainly stemming from the difference in how Inter-AS mobility is provided
- How do Ues discover Access Systems and corresponding radio cells ? Autonomous per Access System and the Ues scans/monitors any supported Access System
to discover Systems and cells. Or, do Access Systems advertise other Access Systems to support Ues in discovering alternative Access Systems ? How is such
advertising performed (e.g. system broadcast, requested by UE, …) ? How do these procedures impact battery lifetime ?
- In case Access Systems advertise other Access Systems: will any Access System provide seamless coverage (avoiding loss of network/network search), or is a
hierarchy of Access Systems needed to provide seamless coverage for continuous advertisement ?
- Is user access control/authentication per access system or more centralized for multiple access systems ?
- How are Access Systems, PLMNs and operators discovered and selected ? Can a UE access/attach multiple PLMN/operator in parallel ? If yes, how many ? Or, has
a UE to select the same PLMN/operator for each Access System in case the UE accesses/attaches multiple Access systems in parallel?
- How many identities and temporary identities has a UE/subscriber? For every Access System another identity? In case of multiple identities: is user context transfer
and identity translation required at a change of the Access System to avoid re-authentication?
- In case a UE accesses/attaches multiple Access Systems in parallel: how does reservation of guaranteed resources work? Are multiple reservations in parallel
required (same resource on every Access System) to allow for fast change between Access Systems ? Or, does a mobility/handover mechanism reserve resources
during the mobility/handover process ?
- Shall inter Access System mechanisms and signaling for load sharing and mobility be generic for all Access Systems or peer-to-peer between Access Systems ?
- Will any Access Systems have an idle or paging mode ? And, shall the wake-up work over multiple Access Systems (e.g. paging in multiple Access Systems in
parallel) ?
- Are User or UE access and service rights specific per Access Systems or common for all or multiple Access Systems ?
- How many network nodes are between UE and top level mobility anchor ? And is there only one set traffic plane functions for user data (policing and charging) ? Or,
may the traffic plane functions change during an ongoing service because of an Access System change?
- Are there layers of multiple Access Systems in same physical location required ? And how dynamic do Ues change between different Access Systems in the same
location in idle and in connected mode? What signaling traffic is acceptable during such mobility (e.g. signaling via HPLMN) and how does it influence system
performance and QoS (e.g. packet loss / service interruption during change of Access System)?
- May functions be transferred to application/services level (e.g. mobility supported by IMS services) ? If yes, to which extent is this feasible for application/services ?
- Does every Access System provide its own security mechanisms (encryption, integrity) ? Is a parameter mapping between different security mechanisms possible?
Or, can security associations be established in parallel to ongoing services ?
- How is data compression provided for the different access systems ? And how re-synchronizes compression when the access system changes ?

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
Simplified LTE network elements and
interfaces

MME = Mobile
Management
entity

SAE =
System
Architecture
Evolution

3GPP TS 36.300 Figure 4: Overall Architecture

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
eNB functions:
The eNB hosts the following
functions

S1

S1
S1

S1
X2

X2
• Radio Resource Management:
• Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection
• Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both UL and DL
(scheduling);
• IP header compression and encryption of user data stream;
• Selection of an MME at UE attachment when no routing to an MME can be
determined from the information provided by the UE;
• Routing of User Plane data towards Serving Gateway;
• Scheduling and transmission of paging messages (from the MME);
• Scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (from the MME or O&M);
• Measurement and reporting for mobility and scheduling.

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008
MME functions:
The MME hosts the following
functions

S1

S1
S1

S1
X2

X2
• NAS signalling and NAS signalling security
• Inter core network node signalling for mobility between 3GPP access networks
• Idle mode UE Reachability (including control and execution of paging
retransmission)
• Tracking Area list management (for UE in idle and active mode)
• Packet Data Network (PDN) GW and Serving GW selection
• MME selection for handovers with MME change
• SGSN selection for handovers to 2G or 3G 3GPP access networks
• Roaming
• Authentication
• Bearer management functions including dedicated bearer establishment.

LTE Protocol Primer


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LTE 3GPP – S1 and X2

X2 user plane

S1

S1
Non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDU’s

S1

S1
IP transport
GTP-U on top of UDP/IP

X2

X2
X2 control plane
Guaranteed delivery of control plane PDU’s
SCTP on top of IP for improved reliability of application layer messaging

S1 key functions
Inter-3GPP-RAT Handovers
Intra LTE Handovers
Initial context setup, modification and release initiated by MME
Security and roaming
UE capability and identification
Paging

LTE Protocol Primer


Web presentation 25th June 2008

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