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LTE/SAE Introduction
Orthogonal FDM
Multi-antenna Systems
LTE/SAE Signalling
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LTE/SAE Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND ............................................................... 1-2
1.2 EVOLVED UTRA & UTRAN........................................... 1-3
1.2.1
Network Architecture................................................................1-3
1.2.2
Requirements on E-UTRA/UTRAN..........................................1-4
1.2.3
Network Architecture................................................................1-7
1.3.2
1-1
1.1
Background
3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) is the name given to a project within
the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) to improve the UMTS 3G
mobile system standard to cope with future requirements. Goals include
improving efficiency, lowering costs, reducing complexity, improving
services, making use of new spectrum opportunities and better integration
with other open standards (such as WLAN and WiMAX). Thus, the term
LTE really means a standardisation project. The final outcome from this
project will be a new set of standards defining the functionality and
requirements of an evolved, packet based, radio access network and a new
radio access. The new radio access network is referred to as the Evolved
UTRAN (E-UTRAN) and the new radio access is referred to as the
Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). The LTE project belongs to 3GPP Release 8.
The term LTE has recently become more or less synonymous to the
(proper) terms Evolved UTRA (the new radio access) and Evolved
UTRAN (the new radio access network). With this in mind, the author has
taken the freedom to use the terms LTE and E-UTRA interchangeably
for the new OFDM-based radio interface. The term E-UTRAN explicitly
means the whole radio access network (i.e. it includes the eNBs, the X2interface and the S1-interface).
The work on LTE started with a workshop, 2-3 Nov 2004 in Toronto,
Canada. The workshop was open to members and non-members of 3GPP.
Operators, vendors and research institutes presented contributions with
views and proposals on the future evolution of 3G. A set of high level
requirements were initially identified:
Reduced cost per transmitted bit
More services at lower cost with better user experience
Flexibility of use of existing and new frequency bands
Simplified architecture, open interfaces
Reasonable terminal power consumption.
It was also recommended that the E-UTRAN should bring significant
improvements to justify the standardization effort and that it should avoid
unnecessary options. A feasibility study on the UTRA & UTRAN Long
Term Evolution was then started in December 2004. The objective was "to
develop a framework for the evolution of the 3GPP radio access
technology towards a high data rate, low latency and packet optimized
radio access technology". The study focused on supporting services
exclusively from the Packet Switched (PS) domain.
In parallel to, and coordinated with, the LTE project there is also a 3GPP
standardisation project relating to the core network. This project is called
System Architecture Evolution (SAE) and aims at standardising the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The SAE project was started in December
2004, with the objective to develop a framework for an evolution or
1-2
migration of the 3GPP system to a higher data rate, lower latency, packet
optimized system that supports multiple RATs. The EPC will be a fully
IP-based core network (all-IP) supporting access not only via GERAN,
UTRAN and E-UTRAN but also WiFi, WiMAX and wired technologies
such as xDSL. The SAE project also belongs to 3GPP Release 8.
A short introduction to the Evolved UTRA/N can be found in section 1.2
in this chapter, and an introduction to the EPC in section 1.3. The Stage 2
set (general architecture, protocol structure and key concepts) of LTE
standardisation documents is, according to 3GPP, to be completed at the
time of writing this document (Oct 2007). The completion date for the
Stage 3 work (i.e. detailed protocol specifications) is still a bit uncertain,
but a reasonable estimate is early 2008. The Stage 2 set of SAE
standardisation documents are (again according to 3GPP) to be completed
by March 2008, with Stage 3 following shortly afterwards. One should be
aware that major updates/changes/additions to the E-UTRAN/EPC specs
are expected throughout 2008-09. Real-life deployment of LTE/SAE
networks should therefore not be expected until 2009-10.
The reader is strongly encouraged to regularly check the 3GPP website
(www.3gpp.org) for new versions of the standardisation documents referenced at the
end of each chapter in the current document.
1.2
1.2.1
Network Architecture
Evolved UTRAN
eNB
X2
S1
X2
eNB
MME
SGW
X2
eNB
The Evolved UTRAN consists of the evolved NodeB (eNB), providing the
E-UTRA User Plane (UP) and Control Plane (CP) protocol terminations
towards the UE. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of
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1-3
the X2-interface, e.g. for support of handovers without data loss. The eNBs
are connected by means of the S1-interface to the EPC. The S1-interface
supports a many-to-many relation between eNBs and MME/SGWs (see
section 1.3.1). The X2- and S1-interfaces are described in in chapter 6.
The eNB can be seen as a combination of the UMTS NodeB and Radio
Network Controller, hosting functions like dynamic resource allocation
(through packet scheduling) and radio resource management.
1.2.2
Requirements on E-UTRA/UTRAN
At the onset of the LTE project a series of requirement targets relating to
performance, complexity and interworking were defined. Some of these
are listed below:
Peak data rate: at least 100 Mb/s DL and 50 Mb/s UL (assuming
20 MHz system bandwidth).
Control Plane (CP) latency: transition time less than 100 ms from
an idle state to an active state, and less than 50 ms between a
dormant state (such as R6 CELL_PCH) and an active state.
User Plane (UP) latency: less than 5 ms in unloaded condition
(single user with single data stream) for small IP packet.
CP capacity: at least 200 users per cell should be supported in the
active state (5 MHz system bandwidth).
Mobility: E-UTRAN should be optimized for low mobile speed (015 km/h) and higher speeds (15-120 km/h) should be supported
with high performance. Mobility shall be maintained between 120350 km/h (up to 500 km/h depending on the frequency band).
Coverage: the throughput and mobility targets above should be met
for 5 km cells with a slight degradation for 30 km cells. Cells range
up to 100 km should be possible.
Spectrum flexibility: E-UTRA shall operate in different spectrum
allocations of different sizes, including 1.25, 1.6, 2.5, 5, 10, 15 and
20 MHz in both UL and DL. Operation in paired (FDD) and
unpaired (TDD) spectrum shall be supported.
Interworking: co-existence in the same geographical area and colocation with GERAN/UTRAN on adjacent channels. E-UTRAN
terminals supporting also UTRAN/GERAN operation should be
able to support measurement of, and handover from/to, both
UTRAN and GERAN. The interruption time during a handover of
real-time services between E-UTRAN and UTRAN/GERAN
should be less than 300ms.
Architecture: the E-UTRAN architecture shall be packet based,
supporting real-time and conversational class traffic. The
architecture shall minimize the presence of "single points of
failure".
Complexity: minimised number of options and avoidance of
redundant mandatory features.
1-4
1.2.3
There are, of course, drawbacks with OFDM as well. One such drawback
is that an OFDM signal exhibits a very high peak-to-average power ratio
(PAPR). This is not really a problem on the network side, but leads to very
inefficient use of power amplifiers, and hence high power consumption, in
a mobile terminal. The E-UTRA system therefore uses a variant of OFDM
for uplink transmission that reduces PAPR. This variant of OFDM is
called Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA).
Despite the name, there is very little that differentiates SC-FDMA from
classic OFDM. Chapter 2 contains more information on OFDM.
The use of Multiple Input Multiple Output antenna arrays (MIMO) is an
integral part of the E-UTRA standard. The standard supports up to four
transmit/receive antennas while the expected baseline configuration is two
transmit antennas at the eNB and two receive antennas at the UE. In short,
MIMO can be used in two different ways:
1-5
Figure 1-2: Constellation diagrams for QPSK (left), 16QAM (middle) and 64QAM (right)
1-6
1.3
1.3.1
Network Architecture
GERAN/
UTRAN
Gb/Iu
SGSN
S3
S1-MME
MME
S4
S11
S5
S1-U
E-UTRAN
SGW
SGi
PGW
IMS / Internet /
S2
Non-3GPP
access
Figure 1-3 shows the network architecture of the Evolved Packet Core
(EPC). The EPC consists of three main nodes: the Mobility Management
Entity (MME), the Serving Gateway (SGW) and the Packet Data Network
Gateway (PGW). The MME may be co-located with the SGW, and the
SGW may be co-located with the PGW. Hence, the standard allows a
completely collapsed one-node core network or a distributed (easily
scalable) core network, or any possible combination in-between.
The MME connects to the E-UTRAN via the S1-MME interface and is
present solely in the CP. It is responsible for handling mobility and
security procedures, such as network Attach, Tracking Area updates
(similar to Location/Routing Area updates) and authentication. The MME
also connects to the SGSN via the S3-interface.
The SGW connects to the E-UTRAN via the S1-U interface and is present
solely in the UP. Its prime responsibility is routing and forwarding of user
IP-packets. It acts as a UP anchor when the UE moves between 3GPP
radio access technologies (S4-interface).
1-7
The PGW connects to the SGW via the S5-interface and to external packet
data networks (or IMS) via the SGi-interface. It is responsible for the
enforcing of QoS and charging policies. It also acts as a UP anchor when
the UE moves between 3GPP and non-3GPP radio access (S2-interface).
It should be noted that additional network nodes/functions, not shown in
figure 1-3, might be present as well. For example, a Packet Data Gateway
(PDG) is needed for non-trusted IP access and a Policy and Charging
Rules Function (PCRF) is required for IMS controlled QoS and charging
mechanisms. The EPC is described further in chapter 7.
1.3.2
1-8
1.4
cSGSN
RNC
Iur
Gn
Iu/Gn
NB
Gi
xGGSN
IMS / Internet /
A parallel 3GPP R8 project to LTE and SAE is the Evolved High Speed
Packet Access, eHSPA, project (also referred to as HSPA+). The proposed
eHSPA features represent a logical evolution from todays HSDPA and
HSUPA systems. Roughly speaking, the eHSPA project focuses on three
areas:
1-9
1.5
References
23.401
23.402
23.882
25.912
25.913
25.999
36.300
1-10
OFDM
2.1 OFDM BASICS ............................................................. 2-2
2.1.1
Introduction ..............................................................................2-2
2.1.2
2.1.3
Orthogonality............................................................................2-4
2.1.4
Cyclic Prefixes..........................................................................2-6
2-1
2.1
OFDM Basics
(The theory behind OFDM is very mathematical in its nature. The following is just a brief
overview in laymans terms to convey the basic characteristics of OFDM. For a deeper
understanding of OFDM it is recommended to consult a textbook on the subject)
2.1.1
Introduction
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a digital multicarrier modulation scheme that uses a large number of closely-spaced
orthogonal sub-carriers. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a
conventional modulation scheme (such as 16QAM) at a low symbol rate,
maintaining data rates similar to conventional single-carrier modulation
schemes in the same bandwidth. The primary advantage of OFDM over
single-carrier schemes is its ability to cope with severe channel conditions
without complex equalization filters. Low symbol rate makes the use of a
guard interval between symbols affordable, making it possible to handle
time-spreading and inter-symbol interference (ISI).
OFDM has only become widely used during the last decade or so, but the
technology as such is about 50 years old (it was first used around 1957 in
an experimental communications system developed for the US Navy).
During the 70s and 80s several important theoretical contributions from
various sources made it possible to implement more efficient and robust
OFDM-based systems. Today, OFDM has proved itself as the preferred
radio access technology in a wide variety of communication systems.
Some examples of OFDM use: IEEE 802.11a/g (WLAN/WiFi), IEEE
802.16 (WiMAX), Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), Digital Video
Broadcasting (DVB-T and DVB-H) and Asynchronous Digital Subscriber
Line (ADSL).
Some advantages of OFDM:
Allows adaptation to severe channel conditions without very
complex equalization methods
Robust against narrow-band co-channel interference
Robust against Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI) and fading caused
by multipath propagation
High spectral efficiency
Efficient implementation using FFT
Low sensitivity to time synchronization errors
Facilitates Single Frequency Networks (i.e. synchronised broadcast
from several transmitters).
Some disadvantages of OFDM:
Sensitive to Doppler shift
Sensitive to frequency synchronization problems
High peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), requiring more
expensive transmitter circuitry and lowering power efficiency.
2-2
2.1.2
Main Path:
n-1
Delayed Path:
Symbol n
Symbol n-3
SHORT delay
(or long symbols)
n+1
n-1
Symbol n-2
Symbol n
Symbol n-1
Causes ISI
n+1
Symbol n
Adds constructively
or destructively
Sub-carrier n
Sub-carrier 1
Radio frame 1
Radio frame m
2-3
2.1.3
Orthogonality
In traditional FDM different users are allocated different frequencies, or
channels, for their transmission (e.g. analog 1G systems such as NMT). To
avoid interference between these channels the FDM frequencies must be
spaced apart- there must be a guard band between them. This leads to
waste of the available frequency spectrum.
FDM: guard band between carriers
Saving bandwidth
2-4
2-5
2.1.4
Cyclic Prefixes
As mentioned earlier, OFDM is robust against multipath fading due to the
long OFDM symbol duration. However, there will always be some intersymbol interference due to multipath echoes, even for OFDM. A further
refinement therefore adds the concept of a guard interval. Each OFDM
symbol is transmitted for a total symbol period that is longer than the
active symbol period by a period called the guard interval or guard period.
Guard
period
Main Path:
Delayed Path:
CP
n-1
Useful
part
Symbol n
n+1
n-1
ISI only
during CP
This means that the receiver will experience neither inter-symbol nor intercarrier interference provided that any echoes present in the signal have a
delay that does not exceed the guard interval. Naturally, the addition of the
guard interval reduces the data capacity by an amount dependent on its
length. Different systems use different (relative) lengths of the guard
interval, common values being 5-25% of the OFDM symbol length.
There are several ways to fill the guard interval with information (to
avoid turning the transmitter on and off abruptly). A common mechanism
is the use of a so-called cyclic prefix. A cyclic prefix (CP) is created
simply by selecting the last part of an OFDM symbol, make a copy of it
and place the copy in front of the symbol (hence the term prefix). The
concept of a guard interval is illustrated in figure 2-6 above.
2-6
2.2
Coding
Modulation
P
I
F
F
T
Add
CP
RF
fo
2-7
RF processing: the OFDM symbols are used for modulation of the actual
carrier frequency. In addition, various pulse shaping or filtering techniques
may be applied at this stage.
The receiving side uses the process in reverse. The IFFT process must be
inverted in order to retrieve the information content of the individual subcarriers. This is done with the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Hence, the
inverse of the Inverse-FFT is, of course, the FFT.
2.3
SC-FDMA
In chapter 1 it was mentioned that one drawback with OFDM was its high
peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). This is a direct consequence of using
DFT (FFT) to create the OFDM symbols. The DFT effectively stacks
sinewaves on top of each other. It can then of course happen that a large
portion of the used sub-carriers happen to have their maximum value at the
same time, resulting in a dramatic peak in the total amplitude (or power) of
the signal. This puts very high demands on the power amplifier in the
signal processing chain and is not desirable in a small portable device,
such as a mobile phone, with limited battery capacity.
F
F
T
M
a
p
p
i
n
g
0
0
0
0
Coding
Modulation
I
F
F
T
0
0
Add
CP
RF
fo
2-8
The sub-carrier mapping stage (mapping in figure 2-8) then feeds the
FFT-output to a subset of the IFFT-inputs, with all other inputs set to zero.
Thus FFT has size=N and the IFFT has size=M, with M>N. The output
from the IFFT stage is now called an SC-FDMA symbol, to which we add
a cyclic prefix in the normal manner.
Thus, the result of the additional FFT stage is that the created signal
exhibits single-carrier properties (the SC in SC-FDMA). Furthermore,
different users will be ordered to transmit on different, orthogonal,
chunks of subcarriers (the FDM in SC-FDMA).
There are different ways of selecting which specific sub-carriers that
should be part of the chunk for a given user. For localized SC-FDMA, a
set of consecutive sub-carriers are selected (e.g. use sub-carrier number
20-40). For distributed SC-FDMA, the sub-carriers are evenly distributed
(e.g. use sub-carrier 5, 10, 15 etc). A third option is to select sub-carriers
that are neither consecutive nor evenly distributed, but selected according
to some other pattern. This gives us randomized SC-FDMA. Currently, the
only option allowed for E-UTRA uplink is localized SC-FDMA.
2-9
2.4
References
25.912
36.211
36.300
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFDM
This Wikipedia article gives a good introduction to OFDM and contains
numerous references to other websites, white papers and textbooks about
OFDM and related topics.
2-10
Multi-antenna
Systems
3.1 MULTIPLE ANTENNA SYSTEMS ........................................ 3-2
3.1.1
3.1.2
3.2.2
3.2.3
3.2.4
3-1
3.1
Any wireless communications system with one transmit (Tx) antenna and
one receive (Rx) antenna is referred to as operating in Single Input Single
Output (SISO) mode. More antennas (Tx and/or Rx) can be added in order
to increase either throughput or reliability. Systems with multiple Tx/Rx
antennas are divided into Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO), Multiple
Input Single Output (MISO) or Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO).
Simple multi-antenna systems have been around, in one form or another,
for over 50 years (Guglielmo Marconi used multiple antenna transmission
to transmit a Morse signal across the Atlantic Ocean, from England to
Newfoundland, in 1901). But until quite recently, the amount of signal
processing needed has been too expensive to be practical for large-scale
deployment and implementation in small mobile devices. Important factors
driving MIMO acceptance today is the advent of in-expensive high-speed
Digital Signal Processors (DSPs) and significant research breakthroughs in
information theory over the last decade.
MIMO is currently used in various WLAN systems (IEEE 802.11 family)
and in WiMAX (IEEE 802.16 family) to name a few. MIMO is also an
integral part of the 3GPP R8 standards pertaining to eHSPA and LTE.
3.1.1
TX
RX
In a SIMO system the transmitter has one antenna and the receiver has
two, or more, physically separated antennas (the physical separation
distance has a direct relationship with the wavelength of the carrier). This
allows for receive diversity (Rx diversity). With Rx diversity the receiver
picks up two (or more) versions of the same transmitted signal. The
receiver may then either:
3-2
select the best input (from one of the antennas), for example based
on signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). This is called switched diversity.
combine the input from all antennas, for example through a process
called Maximum Ratio Combining (MRC).
TX
RX
3-3
3.1.2
TX
RX
Figure 3-3: a MIMO system with two transmit and two receive antennas (2x2)
The magic of MIMO lies in its ability to take multipath reception, which
used to be an unavoidable and undesired by-product of radio propagation,
and convert it into an advantage that actually multiplies transmission speed
and improves throughput. A MIMO system uses the additional signal paths
to transmit more information and recombine the signals on the receiving
end. It follows naturally that the diversity modes, mentioned in section
3.1.1, as well as true MIMO mode can be used in a system with multiple
Tx and Rx antennas.
For MIMO, mathematical algorithms are used in order to spread the user
data across multiple transmitting antennas. The signals transmitted are
defined in 3 dimensions: time, frequency and space. At the receiver, the
different signals from each antenna must be identified and separately
decoded during the recombination process. Hence, the (mathematical)
technique of separating out different paths on the radio link is what allows
a MIMO system to transmit multiple signals at the same time on the same
frequency, in effect multiplying the capacity of the channel with the
number of antennas.
3-4
3.2
MIMO Techniques
3.2.1
3.2.2
3-5
3.2.3
3.2.4
3-6
3.3
3-7
It should be noted that for lower data rates it is more efficient to transmit
using a single stream rather than with spatial multiplexing. It can be shown
that for a given low rate and a given total transmit power single stream
transmission achieves a lower frame error rate. Therefore, MIMO for LTE
will most probably use single stream transmission (perhaps using Tx
diversity) for lower data rates and spatial multiplexing for the higher data
rates. The crossover point at which it becomes more efficient to transmit
with spatial multiplexing rather than spatial diversity depends on many
factors, the number of receive antennas at the UE being one and the
distance between transmitter and receiver being another. In general it can
be said that SM is most useful when the distance between the transmitter
and the receiver is relatively small.
3-8
3.4
References
25.912
36.211
36.300
3-9
E-UTRA Physical
Layer
4.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 4-2
4.2 RADIO FRAME STRUCTURE ............................................ 4-3
4.2.1
4.2.2
Logical Channels......................................................................4-5
4.3.2
Transport Channels..................................................................4-6
4.3.3
Physical Channels....................................................................4-8
4.3.4
4.4.2
4.5.2
4.5.3
4.5.4
4.5.5
4-1
4.1
Introduction
The E-UTRA physical layer (PHY) offers a highly efficient means of
conveying data and control information between the eNodeB and the UE.
The E-UTRA PHY employs some advanced technologies that are quite
new to cellular applications. These include Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing (OFDM) and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) data
transmission, as described in chapters 2 and 3.
On the other hand, the LTE standardisation project aims at reusing legacy
solutions wherever possible. A reader who is familiar with the UTRAN
channel and protocol architecture will therefore feel quite at home with
the E-UTRAN channel and protocol architecture. The LTE standardisation
project also aims at reducing the overall system complexity, resulting in a
simplified layered architecture as compared to UTRAN.
The E-UTRA specifications describe both Frequency Division Duplex
(FDD) and Time Division Duplex (TDD) to separate UL and DL traffic.
The overall channel architecture, layer 1 processing chain and resource
mapping is the same for both. Thus, the content in this chapter pertains to
both FDD and TDD, unless otherwise stated. (The expected market
preferences dictate that the majority of deployed systems will be FDD.)
The generic radio frame structure (frame Type 1) and the TDD specific
radio frame structure (frame Type 2) is described in section 4.2. The EUTRA channel architecture, focusing on the physical channels and
physical signals, is described in section 4.3. The associated layer 2 and
layer 3 protocol architecture is dealt with separately in chapter 5. The layer
1 processing chain for the uplink and downlink data channels is described
in section 4.4. Section 4.5 deals with the mapping of uplink and downlink
data and control channels onto 2-dimensional time-frequency radio
resources.
4-2
4.2
4.2.1
Frame Type 1
1 Radio Frame = 10ms
#0
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
slot 0
1 slot =
0.5ms
#7
#18
#19
slot 19
1 subframe = 1ms
All bandwidth options have the same basic Transmission Time Interval
(TTI) of 1ms. As shown in figure 4-1, the E-UTRA radio frames are 10 ms
in duration, divided into 10 sub-frames of 1ms duration. Thus, the
subframe length coincides with the TTI. Each subframe is further divided
into two slots, each of 0.5ms duration.
As mentioned earlier, the downlink transmission scheme is based on
conventional OFDM with cyclic prefix and the uplink transmission
scheme is based on SC-FDMA with cyclic prefix. Both downlink and
uplink use the same cyclic prefix lengths and the same sub-carrier spacing
of 15 kHz. In addition there is also a reduced sub-carrier spacing, 7.5 kHz,
for MBMS-dedicated cells. In the case of 15 kHz sub-carrier spacing there
are two cyclic prefix lengths, corresponding to 7 and 6 OFDM/SC-FDMA
symbols per slot respectively:
Normal cyclic prefix: TCP = 160Ts (symbol #0) and TCP = 144Ts
(symbol #1 to #6). The slightly longer CP in the first symbol is in
order to preserve the 0.5ms slot timing.
The parameter Ts above is called the basic time unit and is defined as
being Ts = 1/ (2048 f) seconds, where f is the sub-carrier spacing. The
length of Ts corresponds to the 30.72 MHz sample clock for the 2048-point
FFT used with the 20 MHz system bandwidth.
In case of 7.5 kHz sub-carrier spacing there is only a single cyclic prefix
length, TCP-low = 1024Ts, corresponding to 3 OFDM symbols per slot.
The generic frame Type 1 can also be used for TDD operation in unpaired
spectrum. DL/UL switching points within the frame are then generated by
not transmitting in certain symbols (creating a guard period between
uplink and downlink transmissions in different sub-frames).
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4-3
4.2.2
Frame Type 2
1 Half-frame = 5 ms
1 Radio Frame
#0
#1
DL
UL
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
Guard Intervals
#0
#5
#6
1 Slot =
1 Subframe
Frame structure Type 2 is only applicable to TDD, with the sole purpose of
being backwards compatible with the 1.28Mcps TDD option in UMTS.
1.28Mcps TDD is the Chinese 3G standard, also known as Low Chip-rate
TDD (LCR-TDD) or Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple
Access (TD-SCDMA).
Each 10ms radio frame consists of two half-frames of length 5ms each.
The structure of each half-frame in a radio frame is identical. Each halfframe consists of seven slots and three special fields: the downlink pilot
timeslot (DwPTS), the guard period (GP) and the uplink pilot timeslot
(UpPTS). A subframe is defined as one slot. This frame structure is
identical to the one used for TD-SCDMA.
Subframe 0 and DwPTS are always reserved for downlink transmission
and UpPTS and subframe 1 are always reserved for uplink transmission.
For frame structure Type 2 the CP length in the downlink is TCP = 224Ts
(normal CP) and TCP-e = 512Ts (extended CP) corresponding to 9 and 8
OFDM symbols per slot respectively.
For the uplink the situation is slightly less straightforward when it comes
to CP lengths. There are several CP lengths used within each slot,
depending on the size of the allocated uplink resource and the index of the
SC-FDMA symbol within a slot. The normal CP length is 192, 204, 224,
320, 1024 and 2048Ts, corresponding to 9 SC-FDMA symbols. The
extended CP length is 423, 456, 472, 560, 1024 and 2048Ts,
corresponding to 8 SC-FDMA symbols.
4-4
4.3
Channel Architecture
CONTROL PLANE
USER PLANE
RRC
PDCP
SRB
SRB
SRB
SRB
SRB
RB
RB
BCCH
PCCH
CCCH
DCCH
MCCH
MTCH
DTCH
RLC
Logical
Channels
MAC
SCHEDULING/ PRIORITY
MUX/DEMUX
HARQ
Transport
Channels
BCH
RACH
PBCH
PRACH
PCH
DL-SCH
HARQ
MCH
UL-SCH
PMCH
PUSCH PUCCH
PHY
Physical
Channels
4.3.1
Logical Channels
A logical channel is an information stream dedicated to the transfer of a
specific type of information over the radio interface. Logical channels are
provided between the Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access
Control (MAC) protocol layers in UE and eNodeB. There is a general
classification of logical channels into two groups: Control Channels and
Traffic Channels.
4-5
Control Channels
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH). Downlink channel for broadcasting
system information. BCCH is mapped onto the BCH and DL-SCH
transport channels.
Paging Control Channel (PCCH). Downlink channel that carries paging
information. Always mapped onto the PCH transport channel.
Common Control Channel (CCCH). This is a bi-directional channel for
transmitting initial RRC control signalling between the UE and eNodeB.
The CCCH logical channel is always mapped onto the UL/DL-SCH
transport channels.
Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH). Point-to-point bi-directional channel
for sending dedicated RRC control signalling between the UE and the
eNodeB. This channel is always mapped onto the UL/DL-SCH transport
channels.
Multicast Control Channel (MCCH, optional). A point-to-multipoint
downlink only channel used for transmitting Multimedia Broadcast
Multicast Service (MBMS) control information from the network to the
UE. This channel is only used by UEs that receive MBMS transmissions.
The MCCH is mapped to the MCH transport channel in case of an
MBMS-dedicated cell or a cell taking part in Single Frequency Network
(SFN) transmission. For mixed traffic cells the MCCH is mapped onto the
DL-SCH transport channel.
Traffic Channels
Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH). Point-to-point channel dedicated to
one UE (uplink or downlink or both) for transmission of user data. Always
mapped onto the UL/DL-SCH transport channels.
Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH, optional). A point-to-multipoint
downlink only channel for transmission of multimedia traffic (e.g. mobile
TV) from the network to the UE. This channel is only used by UEs that
receive MBMS transmissions. The MTCH is mapped to the MCH
transport channel in case of an MBMS-dedicated cell or a cell taking part
in Single Frequency Network (SFN) transmission. For mixed traffic cells
the MTCH is mapped onto the DL-SCH transport channel.
4.3.2
Transport Channels
Transport channels are offered from PHY to MAC for signalling or data
transport. Different transport channels are defined by how and with what
characteristics the information is transmitted on the physical layer.
Information on transport channels is delivered to/from the physical layer in
the form of Transport Blocks (TB).
4-6
One or two Transport Blocks are delivered per Transmission Time Interval
(TTI). The TTI length selected for E-UTRA is 1ms for most transport
channels. A Transport Format (TF) is a combination of TB size (in bits),
TTI length and layer 1 channel coding and modulation selected for a given
transmission.
4-7
4.3.3
Physical Channels
The E-UTRA specifications define a physical channel as a set of resource
elements carrying information originating from higher layers (please refer
to section 4.5 for an explanation of the resource element concept).
4-8
4.3.4
Physical Signals
The E-UTRA specifications define a physical channel as a set of resource
elements carrying information originating from higher layers. Similarly, a
physical signal is defined as a set of resource elements not carrying
information originating from higher layers. Hence they constitute pure
layer 1 information, in the sense that they originate from layer 1 on the
transmitting side and are never visible from higher protocol layers on the
receiving side.
4-9
estimates for sub-carriers that do not carry reference signals are computed
via interpolation. The exact mapping of the RSs can be seen in figure 4-8
in section 4.5.2 below.
Reference Signals are generated as the product of an orthogonal sequence
and a pseudo-random sequence. These sequences are standardised and
hence known to the UE. From system information (the parameter RSTP
mentioned earlier) the UE also knows the output power used by the
eNodeB for RS transmission. Specified Reference Signals are assigned to
each cell within a network.
There are two types of Synchronization Signals: the Primary SS and the
Secondary SS. The SSs convey network timing information and are used
by the UE during the cell search procedure (e.g. after power-on or cell reselection). The Primary SS provides the UE with slot synchronisation and
the Secondary SS provides frame synchronisation. The combination of
Primary and Secondary SS also act as a cell-specific identifier called the
Physical Cell identity. Overall there are 510 unique sequences possible,
meaning that the sequences are reused if the system consists of more than
510 cells. Synchronization Signals use the same type of pseudo-random
orthogonal sequences as the Reference Signals.
4-10
4.4
4.4.1
CRC
Attachment
Scrambling
Code Block
Segmentation
Modulation
Layer
Mapping
Turbo Coding
R = 1/3
L1 HARQ
Rate Matching
Code Block
Concatenation
Precoding
RE
Mapper
RE
Mapper
OFDM
Signal
Generation
OFDM
Signal
Generation
Figure 4-4 above shows the processing chain for the DL-SCH transport
channel. Data arrives to layer 1 over the DL-SCH transport channel in the
form of one or more transport block (MAC PDU) per 1ms TTI.
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4-11
CRC Attachment
A 24-bit Cyclic Redundancy Check field (CRC) is added for error
detection. This information is used in the receiver, after decoding the
transport block, to check if the transport block has been correctly decoded
or if there are residual bit errors. The receiver transmits a HARQ ACK if
the block is successfully decoded or a HARQ NACK if errors are detected.
Channel Coding
The error correcting coder selected for DL-SCH is a Parallel Concatenated
Convolutional Code (PCCC) with two 8-state constituent encoders and one
turbo code internal interleaver (simply called the Turbo coder in the
following). The coding rate of the Turbo encoder is 1/3. This is the same
Turbo code used as in R6 UMTS, with the exception that the internal
interleavers works differently.
Turbo codes are error correcting codes with performance coming very
close to the Shannon limit, the theoretical limit of maximum information
transfer rate over a noisy channel. Thus, Turbo codes make it possible to
increase available bandwidth without increasing the power of a
transmission, or to decrease the power used to transmit at a certain data
rate. The main drawback is the relatively high decoding complexity.
The Turbo coder consists of two recursive convolutional coders that each
operate (differently) on the input bit sequence. The output from the coder
is three sub-blocks of bits: the Systematic bits, which are identical to the
input sequence, and the Parity1 bits and Parity2 bits, which are the output
sequences from the two internal convolutional coders. The number of
input bits divided by the total number of output bits is referred to as the
coding rate (R). In general, if the number of Systematic bits is m and the
number of Parity1 and Parity2 bits is n/2 respectively, the coding rate
becomes m/(m+n). The Turbo coder used in E-UTRA produces an equal
number of Systematic, Parity1 and Parity2 bits. Hence, the coding rate
becomes R=1/3.
Thus, two redundant but different sub-blocks of Parity bits are sent
together with the uncoded payload (the Systematic bits). The two sets of
Parity bits are used by the Turbo decoder in the receiver to calculate the
probability that the payload bits have been decoded correctly. Each of the
two convolutional decoders generate a hypothesis for the payload. The
hypothesis bit-patterns are compared and if they differ the decoders
exchange the derived likelihoods they have for each bit in the hypotheses.
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4-12
Each decoder incorporates the derived likelihood estimates from the other
decoder to generate a new hypothesis for the bits in the payload. Then they
compare these new hypotheses. This iterative process continues until the
two decoders come up with the same hypothesis for the Systematic bits.
The DL-SCH always applies an R=1/3 Turbo code for error correction.
However, all bits from the three output sequences (Systematic, Parity1,
Parity2) are not always sent. The number of bits from each set that are
actually transmitted depends on the applied L1 HARQ rate matching.
4-13
Scrambling
The bits in the code word are scrambled with a cell specific scrambling
sequence prior to modulation.
Modulation
Standard QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM modulation mapping, resulting in
complex modulation symbols carrying 2, 4 or 6 coded bits respectively.
Layer Mapping
The modulation symbols from one or two (scrambled) code words are
mapped onto 1, 2, 3 or 4 antenna ports. Thus, this step is related to MIMO
or Tx diversity operation. Basically, a layer corresponds to a spatial
multiplexed channel. For E-UTRA the defined configurations are 1x1,
2x2, 3x2 and 4x2 MIMO/diversity. Note that while there are as many as
four transmitting antennas (four layers) there are only a maximum of two
receivers and thus a maximum of two spatial multiplexed data streams
(two code words). For a 1x1 or a 2x2 system there is a simple 1:1
relationship between layers and transmitting antenna ports. However, for a
3x2 and 4x2 system there are still only two spatial multiplexed channels.
Therefore, there is redundancy on one or both data streams. The Layer
Mapping stage specifies exactly how the extra transmitter antennas are to
be employed.
Precoding
This step is also related to MIMO or Tx diversity. Precoding is applied to
allow the UE to separate the different antenna streams. There are different
standardised code books defined for the cases of spatial multiplexing (SUMIMO and MU-MIMO) and Tx diversity. This corresponds to the SpaceTime Coding discussed in chapter 3.
4-14
4.4.2
CRC
Attachment
Code Block
Concatenation
Code Block
Segmentation
Scrambling
Turbo Coding
R = 1/3
Uplink control
bits
Transform
Precoding
L1 HARQ
Rate Matching
Channel Coding
RE
Mapper
Data/Control
Multiplexing
SC-FDMA
Signal
Generation
The processing chain for the UL-SCH transport channel is very similar to
the one for the DL-SCH. Only differences are described in the following.
Data/Control Multiplexing
Since the PUSCH and the PUCCH physical channels are never transmitted
simultaneously, there is instead a possibility to multiplex the PUCCH
control information with the uplink data transmitted on the PUSCH. The
control information is channel coded separately prior to this stage.
Scrambling
Scrambling with a UE specific scrambling sequence.
Transform Precoding
This is the FFT-spreading step as described for the uplink in chapter 2.
That is, the modulation symbols are spread over the entire allocated
bandwidth, creating a single-carrier signal.
4-15
4.5
Resource Mapping
Note: the mapping of physical channels to resource elements described in
this section assumes the use of frame Type 1 and normal cyclic prefix.
4.5.1
Resource Definitions
#0
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#18
#19
Control
Channel
Element
Sub-carriers
Physical
Resource
Block
Resource
Element
OFDM symbols
The downlink and uplink resources assigned to UEs for the DL-SCH and
UL-SCH transmission are referred to as Physical Resource Blocks (PRB).
A PRB consists of 12 consecutive sub-carriers in the frequency domain. In
the time domain a PRB consists of Nsymb OFDM (or SC-FDMA)
symbols, where Nsymb is the number of symbols during a slot (7 in this
case). The number of resource blocks, NRB, that may be assigned to the UE
can range from NRB-min = 6 to NRB-max = 100.
The 2-dimensional time-frequency resource can be represented as a
resource grid as depicted in Figure 4-6. Each little box within the grid
represents a single sub-carrier for one symbol period and is referred to as a
Resource Element (RE). Figure 4-6 shows the resource grid for frame
Type 1 using the normal cyclic prefix length, resulting in each PRB
containing 84 REs. Note that in MIMO operation there is a resource grid
for each transmitting antenna.
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The downlink control channels use a slightly different concept. They are
formed by aggregation of Control Channel Elements (CCE). Each CCE is,
in turn, an aggregation of 1, 2, 4 or 8 mini-CCEs, where each mini-CCE
consists of 4 REs. Thus, a CCE varies in size between 4 and 32 REs.
Different code rates (i.e. different levels of robustness) for the PDCCH are
realized by aggregating different numbers of CCEs or mini-CCEs. Because
multiple CCEs can be combined to reduce the effective coding rate the
UEs PDCCH assignment can be based on the channel quality information
reported (CQI), increasing the chance that the PDCCH can be correctly
decoded even for UEs experiencing bad channel conditions. 1, 2, 4 and 8
control channel elements can be aggregated to yield approximate code
rates of 2/3, 1/3, 1/6 and 1/12 for the PDCCH.
4.5.2
Downlink Subframe
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#18
#19
12 Sub-carriers
#0
Slot #4
Slot #5
Figure 4-7: subframe with PDSCH, PDCCH, PDCCH, PCFICH and PHICH
4-17
Slot # i+1
12 Sub-carriers
R1
R1
R1
Slot # i
R2
R1
R1
R1
R1 RS for antenna port 1
Slot # i+1
R2
R2
R1
R2
R1
R2
R2
R2
R2
Antenna RSs are transmitted on equally spaced sub carriers within the first
and third from-last OFDM symbol of each slot. In order to successfully
receive a MIMO transmission the UE must determine the channel impulse
response for each transmitting antenna, as already mentioned.
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4.5.3
#1
#2
#3
Slot #1
#4
#5
#6
#0
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
36
DC
36
Antenna RS (1 port)
Secondary SS
Primary SS
During cell search the UE needs to find the Primary and Secondary
Synchronisation Signals as well as the Physical Broadcast Channel
(PBCH). These are all mapped around the center sub-carrier in the system.
This center sub-carrier is called the Direct Current (DC) sub-carrier and
never carries any information.
The Primary and Secondary SS are transmitted in slot 0 and 10 on 64 subcarriers centered around the DC sub-carrier. The Secondary SS occupies
the 6th OFDM symbol and the Primary SS occupies the 7th. The PBCH is
transmitted on 72 sub-carriers centered around the DC sub-carrier in the 4th
and 5th OFDM symbol in slot 0 and the 1st and 2nd OFDM symbol in slot 1,
over 4 consecutive radio frames. Slots 0 and 1 are shown in fig 4-9,
including Reference Signals for one antenna port.
4.5.4
4-19
Note that figure 4-10 below only shows two PRBs, while the minimum UE
allocation is 6 PRBs (i.e. 36 sub-carriers).
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#18
#19
12 Sub-carriers
#0
Slot #4
Slot #5
RE for PUSCH
RE for Demodulation RS
4.5.5
#2
#3
#4
#5
#18
#19
12 Sub-carriers
#0
RE for PUCCH
Demodulation RS
12 Sub-carriers
Slot #4
Slot #5
4-20
4.6
References
36.211
36.212
36.213
4-21
5.2.2
5.2.3
5.2.4
5.2.5
5-1
5.1
Introduction
CONTROL PLANE
USER PLANE
RRC
PDCP
SRB
SRB
SRB
SRB
SRB
RB
RB
BCCH
PCCH
CCCH
DCCH
MCCH
MTCH
DTCH
RLC
Logical
Channels
MAC
SCHEDULING/ PRIORITY
MUX/DEMUX
HARQ
Transport
Channels
BCH
RACH
PBCH
PRACH
PCH
DL-SCH
HARQ
MCH
UL-SCH
PMCH
PUSCH PUCCH
PHY
Physical
Channels
Firstly, the E-UTRA protocols are, on the network side, all located
in the eNodeB while they are distributed over Serving-RNC, DriftRNC and NodeB in the UTRAN case.
Secondly, the E-UTRA versions of these protocols will, when
they are completely standardised, all be simplified in terms of
complexity and functionality when compared to the UTRAN
counterparts.
Section 5.2 deals with the proposed functionality of the E-UTRA layer 2/3
protocols. Section 5.3 describes the UE state machine related to the RRC
and NAS protocols. Section 5.4 shows the PDU formats defined for the EUTRA layer 2 and layer 3 protocols.
At the time of writing (Oct-07) the specifications pertaining to these
protocols are all immature drafts. The reader is therefore strongly advised
to regularly check for updated versions of the standardisation documents
listed at the end of this chapter.
5-2
5.2
5.2.1
5.2.2
5-3
Measurement Control/Reporting
The eNodeB may start, modify or stop a number of measurements in the
UE (independently of each other). The measurement reporting can be done
periodically or be event triggered. These procedures are used in the RRC
Connected state to prepare for handovers.
Handover Control
This procedure includes the necessary control signalling to execute hard
handovers between eNodeBs or between eNodeB and some other Radio
Access Technology (RAT). E-UTRAN will support handover to/from at
least GERAN, UTRAN, mobile WiMAX and CDMA2000 systems.
5.2.3
5-4
The LTE/SAE system uses a security key hierarchy (figure 5-2) with
multiple levels. The base keys on the top level (Ciphering Key, CK, and
Integrity Key, IK) are only visible to the UE and the home network
domain databases (HSS/AuC).
On the next level there is a so-called Access Security Management Entity
(ASME) key, which is only visible to the UE and the visited MME (the
ASME node in figure 5-2 is the MME in case of the Evolved Packet
Core). The ASME key is derived from the base CK/IK pair and passed
from HSS to the MME.
The ASME key is, in turn, used for derivation of the ciphering and
integrity keys needed to protect NAS signalling messages (i.e. signalling
between UE and MME).
USIM / AuC
CK, IK
UE / HSS
KASME
UE / ASME
KNAS enc
KNAS int
KeNB
UE / MME
KeNB-UP-enc
KeNB-RRC- int
KeNB-RRC-enc
UE / eNB
The ASME key is also used for derivation of an eNodeB key. The eNodeB
key, in turn, is used for derivation of keys for ciphering and integrity
protection of RRC signalling messages and a key for the ciphering of user
data over the radio interface (i.e. between UE and eNodeB).
This hierarchy allows the keys in the Home domain, the (visited) EPC
domain and the Access domain to be cryptographically separate, while still
being produced by the same set of Home domain controlled base keys.
5-5
5.2.4
5.2.5
5-6
The scheduler selects a proper Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) and
Redundancy Version (RV) for each scheduled MAC PDU based on each
scheduled UEs current channel condition, the retransmission status and,
possibly, on the UE capabilities. The RV is used as input to the HARQ
layer 1 rate matching function discussed in chapter 4.
One HARQ Entity within MAC handles the HARQ functionality for one
user. The HARQ protocol selected for E-UTRA is of the Stop-and-Wait
type (SAW). This means that it is not allowed to transmit a PDU with
sequence number N until the PDU with sequence number N-1 is
positively acknowledged.
Remember that the TTI used in E-UTRA is only 1ms. Each time the UE
receives data in a 1ms TTI it must, according to the SAW protocol, send
back either an ACK (everything OK, please send next PDU) or a NACK
(please retransmit the PDU). The creation and sending of an
ACK/NACK takes a certain amount of time. So does the processing of the
ACK/NACK in the NodeB. And so does the scheduling of a new
re/transmission to this UE.
All this is simply impossible to execute before the start of the next 1ms
TTI. The consequence is then that it becomes impossible to schedule
transmissions in consecutive 1ms TTIs to the same UE, resulting in waste
of resources- or at least waste of time. (The same logic holds, of course,
for uplink transmissions).
The solution is to allow each HARQ Entity to work with several processes
simultaneously. When one HARQ process is awaiting ACK/NACK for a
transmitted MAC PDU, the scheduler can order transmission of the next
MAC PDU from the next HARQ process, that then stops and awaits
ACK/NACK, and so on. It is expected that 8 HARQ processes will be
sufficient to allow continuous transmission to/from a given UE. Thus, the
shortest HARQ round-trip time is expected to be 8ms.
5-7
5.3
RRC IDLE
LTE ACTIVE
RRC CONNECTED
LTE DETACHED
From a radio resource point of view there are two operational states for the
UE: RRC Idle State and RRC Connected State. In the RRC Idle state the
UE is unknown in E-UTRAN and will remain so until it requests the
establishment of an RRC Connection. Such a request can be triggered by
higher protocol layers in the UE (i.e. mobile originating service request) or
by the paging procedure (initiated from the EPC).
In RRC Idle state the UE moves around in the network and change from
one cell to another through the process of cell reselection. It continuously
monitors the broadcasted system information and the paging channel. No
data/signalling transmission or reception, except paging and system
information, is possible in the RRC Idle state.
The RRC Connected state allows data or signalling to be sent or received.
The UE enters the Connected state through the establishment of an RRC
connection. The UE is always allocated a cell specific identifier, the Cell
Radio Network Temporary Identity (C-RNTI) when in Connected state.
The C-RNTI is, among other things, used for addressing the UE on the
downlink resource assignment channel, the PDCCH. UE mobility is
network controlled through handovers. The UE may have a DRX cycle
configured in order to allow sleep periods in-between monitoring the
PDCCH. RRC Connection Release brings the UE back to RRC Idle state.
The NAS states (EPC related states) are aligned with the RRC states. A
UE in RRC Idle state is, from the MMEs point of view, in the NAS state
LTE Idle. In this state the UE is registered in the MME and has an IPaddress allocated. Whenever the UE detects a change of Tracking Area it
performs a Tracking Area update towards the MME.
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5.4
PDU Formats
RRC Message or IP Packet
PDCP PDU
RLC PDU
Seq. No
MAC PDU
LCID1
Seq. No
PDCP SDU
E Length Ind. E
L1
E1
MAC-I
.....
RLC SDU 1
MAC SDU 1
.....
Pad
Figure 5-4 shows the PDU formats for (from top to bottom) the PDCP,
RLC and MAC protocols. The payload of a given protocol is referred to as
a Service Data Unit (SDU). PDCP PDUs only carry one SDU while RLC
and MAC PDUs may carry multiple SDUs.
The PDCP protocol takes as input either an RRC message (CP) or an IP
packet (UP). RRC messages are encrypted and integrity protected. The
integrity protection results in a Message Authentication Code for Integrity
(MAC-I) field being added at the end of the PDCP PDU. User plane
packets are encrypted and compressed but never integrity protected. The
PDCP protocol also adds a one or two byte long sequence number, unless
configured for transparent operation where no sequence number is present.
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The RLC protocol takes as input PDCP PDUs. Several PDCP PDUs may
be concatenated into one and the same RLC PDU. The RLC protocol may
also perform segmentation, meaning that only part of a given PDCP PDU
is fitted within one RLC PDU. An RLC sequence number is added for
ARQ operation, sequence control and SDU reassembly purposes. One or
more length indicator is added to indicate the presence of multiple SDUs,
or SDU segments. The presence of the length indicators themselves is
indicated with an extension bit (E) following the sequence number and
each present length indicator. Thus, the E-bit following the last length
indicator will indicate no more length indicator fields present.
The MAC protocol takes as input RLC PDUs. Several RLC PDUs may be
concatenated into one and the same MAC PDU. One MAC PDU is the
same as one Transport Block. Thus, one and the same Transport Block
may carry information from more than one logical channel (figure 5-1).
The identity number of the logical channel where a given MAC SDU
originated is indicated with the Logical Channel Identity field (LCID). The
length (in bits) of each MAC SDU is indicated with the Length field (L).
There is one LCID/L pair for each MAC SDU in the payload field. The
presence of yet another LCID/L pair is indicated with the extension bit (E)
following the previous pair. Thus, the E-bit following the last LCID/L pair
will indicate no more LCID/L fields. Padding may be added if the total
length of the LCID/L/E fields and the associated MAC SDUs do not
exactly match the number of bits to be transmitted on the assigned physical
resource.
One or two Transport Blocks per 1ms TTI are delivered to the physical
layer for further processing, as described in chapter 4.
5-10
5.5
References
24.801
33.821
36.321
36.322
36.323
36.331
5-11
X2 and S1-interface
6.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................. 6-2
6.2 THE X2-INTERFACE ....................................................... 6-3
6.2.1
X2-interface Protocols..............................................................6-3
S1-interface Protocols..............................................................6-5
Self-configuration .....................................................................6-7
6.4.2
Self-optimization.......................................................................6-8
6.5.2
Access Restriction....................................................................6-9
6.5.3
Mobility ...................................................................................6-10
6.5.4
Security ..................................................................................6-11
6.5.5
6-1
6.1
Introduction
Evolved UTRAN
S1-MME
eNB
X2-C
MME
X2-U
S11
eNB
SGW
S1-U
The X2-interface connects the eNBs within E-UTRAN together. The X2interface is an IP-based interface and can therefore be seen as a point to
multi-point interface (the eNB may communicate with every other eNB).
The Control Plane (CP) instance of the X2-interface (X2-C) uses the X2
Application Protocol (X2AP) for control signalling purposes between
eNBs. The User Plane (UP) instance of the X2-interface (X2-U) uses the
GPRS Tunnelling Protocol- User plane (GTP-U) for user data tunnelling
between eNBs. The X2-interface is described in section 6.2.
The S1-interface connects the Evolved UTRAN with the Evolved Packet
Core (EPC). The termination point for the S1-interface on the E-UTRAN
side is the eNB, and on the EPC side the Mobility Management Entity
(MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW). The S1-interface is, like the X2interface, an IP-based point to multi-point interface.
The CP instance of the S1-interface (S1-MME) uses the S1 Application
Protocol (S1AP) for control signalling purposes between eNB and MME.
The UP instance of the S1-interface (S1-U) uses GTP-U for user data
tunnelling between eNB and SGW. The S1-interface is described in
section 6.3. Section 6.4 deals with network self-organization issues and
section 6.5 contains an overview on the so-called home eNB.
At the time of writing (Oct-07) all specifications pertaining to the X2- and
S1-interfaces are all immature drafts. The reader is therefore strongly
advised to regularly check for updated versions of the standardisation
documents listed at the end of this chapter.
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6-2
6.2
The X2-interface
6.2.1
X2-interface Protocols
eNB
eNB
X2AP
X2AP
SCTP
SCTP
IP
IP
Physical Layer
Physical Layer
X2-C
User Data
User Data
GTP-U
GTP-U
UDP
UDP
IP
IP
Physical Layer
Physical Layer
X2-U
6-3
6-4
6.3
The S1-interface
6.3.1
S1-interface Protocols
eNB
MME
S1AP
S1AP
SCTP
SCTP
IP
IP
Physical Layer
Physical Layer
S1-MME
eNB
SGW
User Data
User Data
GTP-U
GTP-U
UDP
UDP
IP
IP
Physical Layer
Physical Layer
S1-U
As seen by comparing figures 6-2 and 6-3 the protocols for the X2- and
S1-interfaces are close to identical, with the Application Protocol in the
Control Plane being the only difference. Hence only the S1AP protocol is
described here.
6-5
6-6
6.4
Self-organizing Networks
With the term Self-organizing Networks (SON) is meant the functionality
in network elements for self-configuration and self-optimization without
(or with minimal) manual intervention.
6.4.1
Self-configuration
Self-configuration is defined as the process where newly deployed network
nodes (i.e. eNBs) are configured by automatic installation procedures in
order to get the necessary basic configuration for system operation. This
process works in the pre-operational state. Pre-operational state is
understood as the state from when the eNB is powered up and has
backbone connectivity until the RF transmitter is switched on.
After power-up the eNB needs to make its presence know to the MME, or
MMEs, in the network. This requires that the eNB knows the transport IPaddress of the MME(s). An initial remote IP endpoint to be used for SCTP
initialisation is provided to the eNB for each MME in the pre-operational
state (the exact mechanism for this is not yet standardised). For each MME
the eNB tries to initialize a so-called SCTP association (RFC 2960), using
the known initial remote IP endpoint, until SCTP connectivity is
established.
Once SCTP connectivity has been established the eNB and MME are in a
position to exchange application level configuration data needed for the
two nodes to interwork correctly. During this process the eNB provides
relevant information to the MME (e.g. eNB ID, list of supported Tracking
Area(s) etc).
The MME similarly provides relevant information to the eNB (e.g. MME
ID, PLMN ID etc). When the application layer initialization is successfully
concluded, and has been mutually acknowledged by the two peer nodes,
the dynamic configuration procedure is completed and the S1-MME
interface is operational. It is expected that some form of mutual node
authentication procedure is needed prior to initiating this process (i.e. to
detect fake or impersonated nodes).
The eNB can then download additional configuration software, either
from/via the MME or from some network management system. This may
include configuration parameters such as: cell-id, neighbour cells (cell-ids,
IP addresses), sub-carrier allocation, reference signal mapping, reference
signal power, antenna tilt etc.
6-7
6.4.2
Self-optimization
Self-optimization is defined as the process through which UE and eNB
measurements are used to auto-tune the network. This process works in the
operational state. Operational state is understood as the state where the RF
interface is switched on (i.e. the eNB is being used for real traffic).
The current draft specification clearly states that the UE shall (shall is the
same as must in 3GPP language) support measurements and procedures
that can be used for self-configuration and self-optimisation of the EUTRAN system. It should also be possible to associate the measurements
for self-optimisation purposes with location information (e.g. the UE may
provide GPS coordinates to the eNB).
Such UE-assisted measurements can be used to, for example, optimize
neighbour cell lists. The active RRC connections and their accompanying
measurements can be used to gather needed information about neighbours.
Known neighbours can be checked if they are really appropriate
concerning radio conditions and new ones can be included based on
information about detected cells received from the UEs.
The radio measurements of eNB and UEs together with call events like
call drops, failed or ping-pong handovers etc may also influence the
handover algorithm used. For example, if certain (average) measurement
values fall below a certain threshold a (pre-configured) modified handover
algorithm may be used until the problem disappears.
Furthermore, through the use of OFDM the opportunity exists to distribute
radio interface resources in a dynamic way to optimise the traffic situation
or interference situation based on statistical measurements of power and
interference level for single sub-carriers or groups of sub-carriers. This
may be performed as an intra eNB process, but may also be linked to the
X2-interface Load Indication (ICIC) procedure.
6.5
Home eNB
The home base station is not really a new concept since many people
today have wireless LAN access points in their homes in conjunction with
their broadband access. The standardisation work in 3GPP regarding home
base stations belongs to Release 8 and incorporates both UTRAN NodeBs
and E-UTRAN eNBs. The following description focuses on the E-UTRAN
case but many of the questions and considerations raised apply equally
well to the UTRAN case. It is expected that the home eNB will connect to
the MME/SGW using the standard S1-interface and to other eNBs using
the standard X2-interface.
There are many fundamental issues that must be solved before home eNBs
can be fully and securely included in the LTE/SAE macro architecture,
some of which are touched upon in the following.
6-8
6.5.1
Node Configuration
Installation of the home eNB should require a minimum amount of manual
intervention, both from the user and the operator. The existence of
functions for Self-organizing Networks (SON) is expected because the:
6.5.2
Access Restriction
Naturally, the eNB should only allow access for a single subscriber (or
group of subscribers) while all other subscribers must be barred from using
it. The cell served by the home eNB is referred to as a Closed Subscriber
Group (CSG) cell. As the term suggests, only a UE from a specific user
group should be allowed access to that cell.
This access restriction is needed because some backhaul links for this type
of deployment are not considered to provide adequate QoS to support a
large numbers of UEs. There may also be regulatory issues with sharing
the backhaul link/eNB access in that location. Finally, the backhaul link
may be owned by or paid for by the subscriber and he/she may not be too
happy to share the link with others!
The user group associated with a specific home eNB needs to be updated,
under the supervision of the network operator, by the subscriber which is
registered as the owner of the home eNB. When a subscriber is added to
the user group by the registered owner the UE of the subscriber should be
able to (almost) immediately camp on the cell of the home eNB and then
acquire service through the home eNB. This is especially important in the
6-9
6.5.3
Mobility
The home eNB/CSG cells are part of the network of the operator, and
therefore the design needs to support mobility of UEs between the macrolayer network and the home eNB/CSG cells. This is true for both Idle state
behaviour (cell re-selection) and Connected state behaviour (handover).
The home eNBs will be deployed in order to improve network coverage, to
improve network capacity and to offer differentiated billing models. As the
user billing could be dependent on whether the UE is using the home eNB
or not it is important that the UE, when it is in range, automatically camps
on the home eNB. This can be done by setting broadcasted re-selection
parameters in such a way that the UE will always prioritize the CSG cell.
It is also important that UEs camped on the home eNB do not cause
excessive signalling load or processing load if/when the UEs moves
frequently between the macro-layer network and the home eNB (e.g.
excessive Tracking Area update signalling should be avoided). A possible
solution to this is to, during automated initialization, make sure the home
eNB belongs to the same Tracking Area as the surrounding macro eNBs.
As discussed above the home eNBs will have an associated user group
defining which UEs can access the home eNB. The handover procedure
needs to take the user group of the Target home eNB into account when
deciding whether to handover a UE to a specific home eNB.
As the number of home eNBs in the network will become large the
proportion of measurements made by a UE which could be wasted may
become large, to the point where it affects the mobility performance of the
UE/system as well as draining the battery of the UE. It is therefore
necessary for the UE to, somehow, be able to avoid unnecessary
measurements of home eNBs where it does not belong to the user group.
It should be noted that, due to the expected high number of home eNBs
and the nature of their deployment, it would not be practical to change the
configuration for the mobility procedures (measurements, handover etc) in
the macro layer nodes whenever a home eNB is deployed/dismissed.
6-10
6.5.4
Security
The operators network must be protected from cases where the user (or
someone else) is tampering with the home eNB in an un-desired manner.
Thus, the implementation of the home eNB must offer appropriate security
protecting home eNB users and the connected network from security
threats arising from accessing the backhaul link or internal interfaces (or
configuration data) within the home eNB.
To protect both the operator and the eNB owner it is desirable that mutual
authentication, between home eNB and network, and establishment of a
secure connection with a Security Gateway (SeGW) is part of the home
eNB initialization process. The exact security mechanism to be used and
the location of the SeGW function is not yet decided.
Furthermore, since the home eNB will be a small, easily portable, device it
is desirable for the operator that the home eNB recognises when it is
operated in a different country to the HPLMN and, as a result, deactivates
itself. Such a function can be important for charging reasons.
6.5.5
6-11
6.6
References
25.820
32.816
32.821
36.410
36.413
36.420
36.423
6-12
7.1.2
7.2.2
7-1
7.1
7.1.1
GERAN
SGSN
Gb
Gr
HSS
S3
S4
S12
S6a
S1-MME
S11
MME
PCRF
Rx+
S7
S10
E-UTRAN
SGW
S1-U
IMS / Internet /
PGW
SGi
S5
(S8a/b)
3GPP
IP-access
Trusted
Non-3GPP
IP-access
Non-trusted
Non-3GPP
IP-access
S2c
S2b
S2a
Wn*
ePDG
Wm*
AAA
To HSS
Wx*
Figure 7-1 shows the EPC network architecture for the non-roaming case.
That is, the access network and the core network both belong to the same
operator. The roaming case primarily affects the S5 and S7-interfaces. The
legacy interfaces (Gr, Iu and Gb in fig 7-1) are not described here.
For several of the EPC interfaces it has not yet been decided what
application signalling protocol to use. In the following, the mentioning of a
specific signalling protocol is simply omitted in such cases.
Mobility Management Entity (MME). The MME manages and stores
contexts (i.e. information lists) relating to UEs in both LTE Idle and LTE
Active state. The UE context contains parameters such as: IMSI, S-TMSI,
current Tracking Area, security keys, UE capabilities and currently
assigned EPC bearer QoS.
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7-2
7-3
Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW). The PGW (also called PDN GW)
is the connection between the EPC and external packet data networks, over
the SGi-interface. It is responsible for allocation of user IP-addresses. The
PGW also acts as the User Plane anchor for mobility to/from IP-access
networks other than UTRAN/GERAN.
These other IP-access networks are divided into three groups: 3GPP IPaccess, trusted non-3GPP IP-access and non-trusted non-3GPP IP-access.
Examples of non-GERAN/UTRAN access networks are: WLAN, xDSL,
CDMA2000 and WiMAX.
The 3GPP IP-access is the Interworking WLAN access (I-WLAN), first
defined in Release 6, connected to PGW with the S2c-interface using the
Dual Stack Mobile Ipv6 protocol (DS-MIPv6).
Trusted non-3GPP IP-access connects to the PGW with the S2a-interface
using PMIP or Mobile Ipv4, MIPv4 (RFC 3344). Non-trusted non-3GPP
IP-access needs an ePDG in the connection path. The S2b-interface
(PMIP) connects the PGW with the ePDG.
Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG). The ePDG performs access
authentication when the UE tries to connect to the home domain. If
needed, it performs QoS authorization and generates charging information
for the packet data session. It may also perform packet filtering/policing
functions.
The ePDG connects to the non-trusted access network with the Wn*interface. The ePDG may require interaction with an AAA-server, using
the Wm*-interface.
Authentication, Authorization and Accounting server (AAA). This
function either executes the AAA-functions or, alternatively, provides
necessary data for the ePDG to do so. The AAA-server may need to
download subscription information from the HSS via the Wx*-interface.
Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). The PCRF provides
operator specific (or UE specific) QoS policies and charging rules to the
PGW when an EPC bearer is to be established. The S7-interface uses the
DIAMETER protocol.
In a roaming scenario there may be interaction between a local (visited)
PCRF and the home domain PCRF. This inter-PCRF interface is called the
S9-interface (DIAMETER). The PCRF retrieves the necessary policy and
charging parameters from the proper IMS Application Function (AF) over
the Rx+-interface.
7-4
7.1.2
The broadcast service (or mode) where the transmitted content can
be received by all terminals in a given area without restriction
(provided the terminal supports MBMS of course). This service
does not require any subscription support and no charging will be
incurred.
The MBMS service requires its own infrastructure (i.e. network nodes) and
its own set of logical, transport and physical channels. A brief overview of
the network architecture for MBMS within the EPC and the required
functionality in E-UTRAN/E-UTRA is given in the following sections.
MBMS Architecture
MBMS Gateway
M3
MCE
MBMS1
Sm
M2
SGmb
M1
eNB
MBMS2
eBM-SC
Content
Provider
7-5
7-6
In an MBMS/unicast mixed cell the MTCH and MCCH are mapped on the
Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) or, in case of MBSFN transmission,
the MCH. The MBMS packets and the regular unicast packets are timemultiplexed on the DL-SCH through MAC-layer packet scheduling.
Uplink resources exist as normal, but the use of HARQ operation (and
hence uplink ACK/NACKs) for MBMS transmission is optional.
Both MBMS-dedicated and MBMS/unicast mixed cells can partake in
MBSFN transmissions.
7.2
7.2.1
7-7
7.2.2
QoS Parameters
Each EPC Bearer (GBR or non-GBR) is associated with an Allocation and
Retention Priority (ARP) value, a Maximum Bit Rate (MBR) and a
Label.
The main purpose of the ARP is to decide whether a bearer
establishment/modification request can be accepted or needs to be rejected
in case of resource limitations. In addition, the ARP can be used by the
eNB to decide which bearer(s) to drop during exceptional resource
limitations (e.g. at handover). It should be noted that the ARP is not
intended to be used as input to the eNB packet-scheduling algorithm.
A Label is an operator-defined value (1, 2, 3, ) that is used as an internal
reference to eNB specific parameters that control Radio Bearer packet
treatment (e.g. HARQ operation, scheduling weights, packet queue
management, admission thresholds etc).
There are also 3GPP standardised Label characteristics, relating to specific
combinations of Bearer Type (GBR or non-GBR), Layer 2 Packet Delay
Budget (L2PDB) and Layer 2 Packet Loss Rate (L2PLR). The purpose of
these parameters is to support the configuration of MAC packet scheduling
and layer 2 ARQ and HARQ functions (e.g. the setting of scheduling
priority weights and the number of HARQ retransmissions).
7-8
7.3
References
23.234
23.246
23.401
23.402
23.882
36.300
36.938
7-9