1.

3G Systems
3G Systems are intended to provide a global mobility with wide range of services
including telephony, paging, messaging, Internet and broadband data. International
Telecommunication Union (ITU) started the process of defining the standard for third
generation systems, referred to as International Mobile Telecommunications 2000
(IMT-2000). In Europe European Telecommunications Standards Institute(ETSI) was
responsible of UMTS standardisation process. In 1998 Third Generation Partnership
Project (3GPP) was formed to continue the technical specification work. 3GPP has
five main UMTS standardisation areas: Radio Access Network, Core Network,
Terminals, Services and System Aspects and GERAN.
3GPP Radio Access group is responsible of:

Radio Layer 1, 2 and 3 RR specification

Iub, Iur and Iu Interfaces
UTRAN Operation and Maintenance requirements
BTS radio performance specification
Conformance test specification for testing of radio aspects of base stations
Specifications for radio performance aspects from the system point of view

3GPP Core Network group is responsible of:

Mobility management, call connection control signalling between the user
equipment and the core network.
Core network signalling between the core network nodes.
Definition of interworking functions between the core network and external
networks.
Packet related issues.
Core network aspects of the lu interface and Operation and Maintenance
requirements
3GPP Terminal group is responsible of:

Service capability protocols

Messaging
Services end-to-end interworking
USIM to Mobile Terminal interface
Model/framework for terminal interfaces and services (application) execution
Conformance test specifications of terminals, including radio aspects

3GPP Services and System Aspects group is responsible of:

 Definition of services and feature requirements.

Development of service capabilities and service architecture for cellular, fixed and
cordless applications.
Charging and Accounting
Network Management and Security Aspects
Definition, evolution, and maintenance of overall architecture.
Third Generation Partnership Project 2 (3GPP) was formed for technical development
of cdma2000 technology which is a member of IMT-2000 family.
In February 1992 World Radio Conference allocated frequencies for UMTS use.
Frequencies 1885 - 2025 and 2110 - 2200 MHz were identified for IMT-2000 use. See
the UMTS Frequency page for more details. All 3G standards are still under constant
development. In 1999 ETSI Standardisation finished for UMTS Phase 1 (Release '99,
version 3) and next release is due December 2001. UMTS History page has a list of
all major 3G and UMTS milestones. Most of the European countries and some
countries round the world have already issued UMTS licenses either by beauty contest
or auctions.
2. UMTS Services
UMTS offers teleservices (like speech or SMS) and bearer services, which provide the
capability for information transfer between access points. It is possible to negotiate
and renegotiate the characteristics of a bearer service at session or connection
establishment and during ongoing session or connection. Both connection oriented
and connectionless services are offered for Point-to-Point and Point-to-Multipoint
communication.
Bearer services have different QoS parameters for maximum transfer delay, delay
variation and bit error rate. Offered data rate targets are:
144 kbits/s satellite and rural outdoor
384 kbits/s urban outdoor
2048 kbits/s indoor and low range outdoor
UMTS network services have different QoS classes for four types of traffic:
Conversational class (voice, video telephony, video gaming)
Streaming class (multimedia, video on demand, webcast)
Interactive class (web browsing, network gaming, database access)

 Background class (email, SMS, downloading)

UMTS will also have a Virtual Home Environment (VHE). It is a concept for personal
service environment portability across network boundaries and between terminals.
Personal service environment means that users are consistently presented with the
same personalised features, User Interface customisation and services in whatever
network or terminal, wherever the user may be located. UMTS also has improved
network security and location based services.
3. UMTS Architecture
A UMTS network consist of three interacting domains; Core Network (CN), UMTS
Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and User Equipment (UE). The main
function of the core network is to provide switching, routing and transit for user
traffic. Core network also contains the databases and network management functions.
The basic Core Network architecture for UMTS is based on GSM network with
GPRS. All equipment has to be modified for UMTS operation and services. The
UTRAN provides the air interface access method for User Equipment. Base Station is
referred as Node-B and control equipment for Node-B's is called Radio Network
Controller (RNC). UMTS system page has an example, how UMTS network could be
build.
It is necessary for a network to know the approximate location in order to be able to
page user equipment. Here is the list of system areas from largest to smallest.

UMTS systems (including satellite)

Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN)
MSC/VLR or SGSN
Location Area
Routing Area (PS domain)
UTRAN Registration Area (PS domain)
Cell
Sub cell

4. Core Network
The Core Network is divided in circuit switched and packet switched domains. Some
of the circuit switched elements are Mobile services Switching Centre (MSC), Visitor

location register (VLR) and Gateway MSC. Packet switched elements are Serving
GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN). Some
network elements, like EIR, HLR, VLR and AUC are shared by both domains.
The Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is defined for UMTS core transmission.
ATM Adaptation Layer type 2 (AAL2) handles circuit switched connection and packet
connection protocol AAL5 is designed for data delivery.
The architecture of the Core Network may change when new services and features are
introduced. Number Portability DataBase (NPDB) will be used to enable user to
change the network while keeping their old phone number. Gateway Location
Register (GLR) may be used to optimise the subscriber handling between network
boundaries. MSC, VLR and SGSN can merge to become a UMTS MSC.
5. Radio Access
Wide band CDMA technology was selected to for UTRAN air interface.
UMTS WCDMA is a Direct Sequence CDMA system where user data is multiplied
with quasi-random bits derived fromWCDMA Spreading codes. In UMTS, in addition
to channelisation, Codes are used for synchronisation and scrambling. WCDMA has
two basic modes of operation: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time Division
Duplex (TDD). UTRAN interfaces are shown on UMTS Network page.
The functions of Node-B are:

Air interface Transmission / Reception

Modulation / Demodulation
CDMA Physical Channel coding
Micro Diversity
Error Handing
Closed loop power control

The functions of RNC are:

Radio Resource Control

Admission Control
Channel Allocation
Power Control Settings
Handover Control
Macro Diversity
Ciphering

 Segmentation / Reassembly
Broadcast Signalling
Open Loop Power Control
6. User Equipment
The UMTS standard does not restrict the functionality of the User Equipment in any
way. Terminals work as an air interface counter part for Node-B and have many
different types of identities. Most of these UMTS identity types are taken directly
from GSM specifications.

International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI)

Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (TMSI)
Packet Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity (P-TMSI)
Temporary Logical Link Identity (TLLI)
Mobile station ISDN (MSISDN)
International Mobile Station Equipment Identity (IMEI)
International Mobile Station Equipment Identity and Software Number (IMEISV)

UMTS mobile station can operate in one of three modes of operation:

PS/CS mode of operation: The MS is attached to both the PS domain and CS
domain, and the MS is capable of simultaneously operating PS services and CS
services.
PS mode of operation: The MS is attached to the PS domain only and may only
operate services of the PS domain. However, this does not prevent CS-like services to
be offered over the PS domain (like VoIP).
CS mode of operation: The MS is attached to the CS domain only and may only
operate services of the CS domain.
UMTS IC card has same physical characteristics as GSM SIM card. It has several
functions:
Support of one User Service Identity Module (USIM) application (optionally more
that one)
Support of one or more user profile on the USIM
Update USIM specific information over the air
Security functions
User authentication
Optional inclusion of payment methods

 Optional secure downloading of new applications

UMTS network layout example

UMTS Security
The security functions of UMTS are based on what was implemented in GSM. Some
of the security functions have been added and some existing have been improved.

Encryption algorithm is stronger and included in base station (NODE-B) to radio

network controller (RNC) interface , the application of authentication algorithms is
stricter and subscriber confidentially is tighter.
The main security elements that are from GSM:
Authentication of subscribers
Subscriber identity confidentially
Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) to be removable from terminal hardware
Radio interface encryption
Additional UMTS security features:
Security against using false base stations with mutual authentication
Encryption extended from air interface only to include Node-B to RNC
connection
Security data in the network will be protected in data storages and while
transmitting ciphering keys and authentication data in the system.
Mechanism for upgrading security features.
Core network traffic between RNCs, MSCs and other networks is not ciphered and
operators can to implement protections for their core network transmission links, but
that is unlike to happen. MSCs will have by design a lawful interception capabilities
and access to Call Data Records (SDR), so all switches will have to have security
measures against unlawful access.
UMTS specification has five security feature groups:
Network access security: the set of security features that provide users with
secure access to 3G services, and which in particular protect against attacks on the
(radio) access link;
Network domain security: the set of security features that enable nodes in the
provider domain to securely exchange signalling data, and protect against attacks on
the wireline network;
User domain security: the set of security features that secure access to mobile
stations
Application domain security: the set of security features that enable applications
in the user and in the provider domain to securely exchange messages.
Visibility and configurability of security: the set of features that enables the user
to inform himself whether a security feature is in operation or not and whether the use
and provision of services should depend on the security feature.
UMTS specification has the following user identity confidentiality security features:

 User identity confidentiality: the property that the permanent user identity
(IMSI) of a user to whom a services is delivered cannot be eavesdropped on the radio
access link;
User location confidentiality: the property that the presence or the arrival of a
user in a certain area cannot be determined by eavesdropping on the radio access link;
User untraceability: the property that an intruder cannot deduce whether
different services are delivered to the same user by eavesdropping on the radio access
link.
Air interface ciphering/deciphering in performed in RNC in the network side and in
mobile terminals. Ciphering in function of air interface protocol Radio Link Control
(RLC) layer or Medium Access control (MAC) layer.

3G and LAN Date Speeds

Here are the theoretical maximum data speeds of 2G, 2.5G, 3G and beyond, and
compared to LAN data speeds.

Data Speed of Mobile Systems (top) and LANs (bottom)

HSDPA in W-CDMA
High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is a packet-based data service in WCDMA downlink with data transmission up to 8-10 Mbps (and 20 Mbps for MIMO
systems) over a 5MHz bandwidth in WCDMA downlink. HSDPA implementations
includes Adaptive Modulation and Coding (AMC), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output
(MIMO), Hybrid Automatic Request (HARQ), fast cell search, and advanced receiver
design.
In 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) standards, Release 4 specifications
provide efficient IP support enabling provision of services through an all-IP core
network and Release 5 specifications focus on HSDPA to provide data rates up to
approximately 10 Mbps to support packet-based multimedia services. MIMO systems
are the work item in Release 6 specifications, which will support even higher data
transmission rates up to 20 Mbps. HSDPA is evolved from and backward compatible
with Release 99 WCDMA systems.
Currently (2002) 3GPP is undertaking a feasibility study on high-speed downlink
packet access.

HSPDA and CDMA2000 1xEV-DV Comparison

Cell search procedure

During the cell search, the UE searches for a cell and determines the downlink
scrambling code and frame synchronisation of that cell. The cell search is typically
carried out in three steps:
Step 1: Slot synchronisation
During the first step of the cell search procedure the UE uses the SCH's primary
synchronisation code to acquire slot synchronisation to a cell. This is typically done
with a single matched filter (or any similar device) matched to the primary
synchronisation code which is common to all cells. The slot timing of the cell can be
obtained by detecting peaks in the matched filter output.
Step 2: Frame synchronisation and code-group identification
During the second step of the cell search procedure, the UE uses the SCH's secondary
synchronisation code to find frame synchronisation and identify the code group of the
cell found in the first step. This is done by correlating the received signal with all
possible secondary synchronisation code sequences, and identifying the maximum
correlation value. Since the cyclic shifts of the sequences are unique the code group as
well as the frame synchronisation is determined.
Step 3: Scrambling-code identification
During the third and last step of the cell search procedure, the UE determines the
exact primary scrambling code used by the found cell. The primary scrambling code is
typically identified through symbol-by-symbol correlation over the CPICH with all
codes within the code group identified in the second step. After the primary
scrambling code has been identified, the Primary CCPCH can be detected and the
system- and cell specific BCH information can be read.
If the UE has received information about which scrambling codes to search for, steps
2 and 3 above can be simplified

Structure of synchronization channel

The Synchronisation Channel (SCH) is a downlink signal used for cell search. The
SCH consists of two sub channels, the Primary and Secondary SCH. The 10 ms radio
frames of the Primary and Secondary SCH are divided into 15 slots, each of length
2560 chips. Picture above illustrates the structure of the SCH radio frame.
The Primary SCH consists of a modulated code of length 256 chips, the primary
synchronization code (PSC) is transmitted once every slot. The PSC is the same for
every cell in the system.
The Secondary SCH consists of repeatedly transmitting a length 15 sequence of
modulated codes of length 256 chips, the Secondary Synchronisation Codes (SSC),
transmitted in parallel with the Primary SCH. The SSC is denoted c si,k in figure 20,
where i = 0, 1, , 63 is the number of the scrambling code group, and k = 0, 1, , 14
is the slot number. Each SSC is chosen from a set of 16 different codes of length 256.
This sequence on the Secondary SCH indicates which of the code groups the cell's
downlink scrambling code belongs to.
Summary of the process:
Channel

Synchronisation
acquired

Note

Primary
SCH

Chip, Slot, Symbol

Synchronisation

256 chips
The same in all cells

Secondary
SCH

Frame Synchronisation, 15-code sequence of secondary synchronisation codes.

Code Group (one of 64) There are 16 secondary synchronisation codes.
There are 64 S-SCH sequences corresponding to the
64 scrambling code groups

256 chips, different for different cells and slot

intervals
Common Pilot Scrambling code
CH
(one of 8)
PCCPCH *)
SCCPCH **)

Super Frame
Synchronisation,
BCCH info

To find the primary scrambling code from common

pilot CH
Fixed 30 kbps channel
27 kbps rate
spreading factor 256
Carries FACH and PCH channels
Variable bit rate

*) Primary Common Control Physical Channel

**) Secondary Common Control Physical Channel

Call Setup

Basic Mobile Originating Call Diagram

3G Frequencies
According to "WARC-92 frequencies for IMT-2000" resolution: "The bands 18852025 MHz and 2110-2200 MHz are intended for use, on a worldwide basis, by
administrations wishing to implement International Mobile Telecommunications-2000
(IMT-2000). Such use does not preclude the use of these bands by other services to
which they are allocated."
Here is the summary of UMTS frequencies:
1920-1980 and 2110-2170 MHz Frequency Division Duplex (FDD, W-CDMA) Paired
uplink and downlink, channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. An Operator
needs 3 - 4 channels (2x15 MHz or 2x20 MHz) to be able to build a high-speed, highcapacity network.
1900-1920 and 2010-2025 MHz Time Division Duplex (TDD, TD/CDMA) Unpaired,
channel spacing is 5 MHz and raster is 200 kHz. Tx and Rx are not separated in
frequency.
1980-2010 and 2170-2200 MHz Satellite uplink and downlink.
Carrier frequencies are designated by a UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel
Number (UARFCN). The general formula relating frequency to UARFN is:
UARFCN = 5 * (frequency in MHz)

WARC-92 IMT-2000 Frequencies

WRC-2000 in Istanbul
Identified the bands 1710 - 1885 and 2500 - 2690 MHz for IMT-2000
Identified those parts of the band 806 - 960 MHz which are allocated to the mobile
service on a primary basis
Admitted that High Altitude Platform Stations (HAPS) may use the WARC-92
frequency bands for terrestrial IMT-2000 on restrictive conditions
Decided that the frequency bands 1525 - 1544, 1545 - 1559, 1610 - 1626.5, 1626.5
- 1645.5, 1646.5 - 1660.5 and 2483.5 - 2500 MHz may be used for the satellite
component of IMT-2000, as well as the bands 2500 - 2520 MHz and 2670- 2690
MHz, depending on market developments
Decided that "the bands, or portions of the bands, 1710 - 1885 MHz and 2500 2690 MHz, are identified for use by administrations wishing to implement
International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 (IMT-2000). This identification does
not preclude the use of these bands by any application of the services to which they
are allocated and does not establish priority in the Radio Regulations".

WRC-2000 IMT-2000 Frequencies

From the TS 25.101 Specification:

UTRA FDD frequency bands

TX-RX frequency separation

UARFCN definition

UARFCN definition (Band II additional channels)

UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number

USA spectrum allocation by Unstrung (10/09/04)
India spectrum allocation by 3G Newsroom (28/09/04)

Main UMTS Codes

Here us a summary of the main UMTS FDD codes:
Synchronisation
Codes

Type

Channelisation
Codes

Scrambling
Codes, UL

Scrambling
Codes, DL

Complex-Valued
Orthogonal
Variable
Gold Code
ComplexGold Codes
Spreading Factor Segments (long) or Valued Gold
(OVSF) codes
Complex-Valued Code Segments
Primary Synchronization
Codes (PSC) and Secondary
S(2) Codes (short)
Synchronization Codes
(SSC)

sometimes called
Walsh Codes

Length

256 chips

4-512 chips

38400 chips /
256 chips

38400 chips

Duration

66.67 s

1.04 s 133.34 s

10 ms / 66.67 s

10 ms

Number of
codes

1 primary code / 16
secondary codes

= spreading factor
4 ... 256 UL,
4 ... 512 DL

16,777,216

512 primary / 15
secondary for
each primary
code

Spreading

No, does not change

bandwidth

Yes, increases
bandwidth

No, does not change

bandwidth

No, does not

change
bandwidth

Separation of
terminal

Separation of
sectors

Usage

UL: to separate
physical data and
To enable terminals to
control data from
locate and synchronise
same terminal
to the cells' main
DL: to separate
control channels
connection to
different terminals in
a same cell

Pseudo Noise (PN)

codes

Pseudo Noise (PN)

codes

UMTS Time Slots

UMTS has several different time slot configuration depending on the used channel.
Here is an example of DPCH (Dedicated Physical Channel) downlink and uplink time
slot allocation.
TCP stands for Transmit Power Control, Feedback Information (FBI) is used for
closed loop transmission diversity. Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI)
contains the information relating to data rates. Pilot bits are always the same and are
used for channel synchronisation.

1 Super Frame =72 frames=720 ms

1 frame=15 Time slots=10ms
1timeslot=2560 chips=0.667ms
DPCH Time Slot Structure
Channel Coding
Channel coding and multiplexing example for DTCH and DCCH:

Channel coding example for the UL 64 kbps channel

UMTS Handover
There are following categories of handover (also referred to as handoff):
Hard Handover
Hard handover means that all the old radio links in the UE are removed before the
new radio links are established. Hard handover can be seamless or non-seamless.
Seamless hard handover means that the handover is not perceptible to the user. In
practice a handover that requires a change of the carrier frequency (inter-frequency
handover) is always performed as hard handover.
Soft Handover
Soft handover means that the radio links are added and removed in a way that the UE
always keeps at least one radio link to the UTRAN. Soft handover is performed by
means of macro diversity, which refers to the condition that several radio links are
active at the same time. Normally soft handover can be used when cells operated on
the same frequency are changed.
Softer handover
Softer handover is a special case of soft handover where the radio links that are added
and removed belong to the same Node B (i.e. the site of co-located base stations from
which several sector-cells are served. In softer handover, macro diversity with
maximum ratio combining can be performed in the Node B, whereas generally in soft
handover on the downlink, macro diversity with selection combining is applied.
Generally we can distinguish between intra-cell handover and inter-cell handover. For
UMTS the following types of handover are specified:

Handover 3G -3G (i.e. between UMTS and other 3G systems)

FDD soft/softer handover
FDD inter-frequency hard handover
FDD/TDD handover (change of cell)
TDD/FDD handover (change of cell)
TDD/TDD handover
Handover 3G - 2G (e.g. handover to GSM)
Handover 2G - 3G (e.g. handover from GSM)

The most obvious cause for performing a handover is that due to its movement a user
can be served in another cell more efficiently (like less power emission, less
interference). It may however also be performed for other reasons such as system load
control.

 Active Set is defined as the set of Node-Bs the UE is simultaneously connected to

(i.e., the UTRA cells currently assigning a downlink DPCH to the UE constitute the
active set).
Cells, which are not included in the active set, but are included in the
CELL_INFO_LIST belong to the Monitored Set.
Cells detected by the UE, which are neither in the CELL_INFO_LIST nor in the
active set belong to the Detected Set. Reporting of measurements of the detected set
is only applicable to intra-frequency measurements made by UEs in CELL_DCH
state.
The different types of air interface measurements are:
Intra-frequency measurements: measurements on downlink physical channels at
the same frequency as the active set. A measurement object corresponds to one cell.
Inter-frequency measurements: measurements on downlink physical channels at
frequencies that differ from the frequency of the active set. A measurement object
corresponds to one cell.
Inter-RAT measurements: measurements on downlink physical channels
belonging to another radio access technology than UTRAN, e.g. GSM. A
measurement object corresponds to one cell.
Traffic volume measurements: measurements on uplink traffic volume. A
measurement object corresponds to one cell.
Quality measurements: Measurements of downlink quality parameters, e.g.
downlink transport block error rate. A measurement object corresponds to one
transport channel in case of BLER. A measurement object corresponds to one timeslot
in case of SIR (TDD only).
UE-internal measurements: Measurements of UE transmission power and UE
received signal level.
UE positioning measurements: Measurements of UE position.
The UE supports a number of measurements running in parallel. The UE also supports
that each measurement is controlled and reported independently of every other
measurement.
Random Access

The Random Access Channel (RACH) is an uplink transport channel. The RACH is
always received from the entire cell. The RACH is characterized by a collision risk
and by being transmitted using open loop power control.

RACH access slot numbers and their spacing

RACH preamble is of length 4096 chips and consists of 256 repetitions of a
signature of length 16 chips. There are a maximum of 16 available signatures. All 16
preamble signature codes available in every cells.
The 10 ms RACH message part radio frame is split into 15 slots, each of length Tslot
= 2560 chips. Each slot consists of two parts, a data part to which the RACH transport
channel is mapped and a control part that carries Layer 1 control information. The
data and control parts are transmitted in parallel. A 10 ms message part consists of one
message part radio frame, while a 20 ms message part consists of two consecutive 10
ms message part radio frames. The data part consists of 10*2 k bits, where k=0,1,2,3.
This corresponds to a spreading factor of 256, 128, 64, and 32 respectively for the
message data part.

Structure of the random-access message part radio frame

The Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH) is a fixed rate (SF=256) physical
channel used to carry Acquisition Indicators (AI). Acquisition Indicator AIs
corresponds to signature s on the PRACH.

Structure of Acquisition Indicator Channel

The Access Preamble Acquisition Indicator channel (AP-AICH) is a fixed rate

(SF=256) physical channel used to carry AP acquisition indicators (API) of CPCH. AP
acquisition indicator APIs corresponds to AP signature s transmitted by UE.
The Collision Detection Channel Assignment Indicator channel (CD/CA-ICH) is a
fixed rate (SF=256) physical channel used to carry CD Indicator (CDI) only if the CA
is not active, or CD Indicator/CA Indicator (CDI/CAI) at the same time if the CA is
active. The structure of CD/CA-ICH is shown in figure 25. CD/CA-ICH and APAICH may use the same or different channelisation codes. The CD/CA-ICH has a part
of duration of 4096chips where the CDI/CAI is transmitted, followed by a part of

duration 1024chips with no transmission that is not formally part of the CD/CA-ICH.
The part of the slot with no transmission is reserved for possible use by CSICH or
possible future use by other physical channels.
Uplink Common Packet channel (CPCH) is an extension to the RACH channel for
packet-based user data.
PCPCH Access Example:

PCPCH (similar to RACH) and AICH transmission as seen by the UE

DPCCH
PCPCH
AP-AICH
CD/CA-ICH
AP
CD/CA

Dedicated Physical Control Channel

Physical Common Packet Channel
Access Preamble Acquisition Indicator Channel
Collision Detection/Channel Assignment Indicator Channel
Access Preamble
Collision Detection/Channel Assignment

Indicators are means of fast low-level signalling entities which are transmitted
without using information blocks sent over transport channels. The meaning of
indicators is specific to the type of indicator. The indicators defined in the current
version of the specifications are:
Acquisition Indicator (AI)
Access Preamble Indicator (API)
Channel Assignment Indicator (CAI)
Collision Detection Indicator (CDI)

 Page Indicator (PI)

Status Indicator (SI)
Indicators may be either boolean (two-valued) or three-valued. Their mapping to
indicator channels is channel specific. Indicators are transmitted on those physical
channels that are indicator channels (ICH).

UTRA Channels
UTRA FDD radio interface has logical channels, which are mapped to transport channels, which
are again mapped to physical channels. Logical to Transport channel conversion happens in
Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, which is a lower sublayer in Data Link Layer (Layer 2).
Logical Channels:
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH), Downlink (DL)
Paging Control Channel (PCCH), DL
Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH), UL/DL
Common Control Channel (CCCH), UL/DL
Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH), UL/DL
Common Traffic Channel (CTCH), Unidirectional (one to many)
Transport Channels:
Dedicated Transport Channel (DCH), UL/DL, mapped to DCCH and DTCH
Broadcast Channel (BCH), DL, mapped to BCCH
Forward Access Channel (FACH), DL, mapped to BCCH, CCCH, CTCH, DCCH and DTCH
Paging Channel (PCH), DL, mapped to PCCH
Random Access Channel (RACH), UL, mapped to CCCH, DCCH and DTCH
Uplink Common Packet Channel (CPCH), UL, mapped to DCCH and DTCH
Downlink Shared Channel (DSCH), DL, mapped to DCCH and DTCH
Physical Channels:
Primary Common Control Physical Channel (PCCPCH), mapped to BCH
Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (SCCPCH), mapped to FACH, PCH
Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH), mapped to RACH
Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH), mapped to DCH
Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH), mapped to DCH
Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH), mapped to DSCH
Physical Common Packet Channel (PCPCH), mapped to CPCH
Synchronisation Channel (SCH)
Common Pilot Channel (CPICH)

Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH)

Paging Indication Channel (PICH)
CPCH Status Indication Channel (CSICH)
Collision Detection/Channel Assignment Indication Channel (CD/CA-ICH)

UTRA Channels