Lte Interview Updated-1

fWhat is LTE?
LTE (Long Term Evolution) is known as the evolution of radio access technology conducted by 3GPP.
The radio access network will evolve to E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network), and the correlated core network
will evolved to SAE (System Architecture Evolution
2. What's the difference between 3G & LTE?

a3. What's the benefit of LTE?
Flexible bandwidth configuration: supporting 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10Mhz, 15Mhz and 20MHz
Peak date rate (within 20MHz bandwidth): 100Mbps for downlink and 50Mbps for uplink .
Time delay: <100ms (control plane), <5ms (user plane) .
Provide 100kbps data rate for mobile user (up to 350kmph)
Support eMBMS
Circuit services is implemented in PS domain: VoIP
Lower cost due to simple system structure
4. What's technology applied in LTE? (both in UL and DL)
OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is a modulation multiplexing technology, divides the system bandwidth into
orthogonal subcarriers. CP is inserted between the OFDM symbols to avoid the ISI.
OFDMA is the multi-access technology related with OFDM, is used in the LTE downlink. OFDMA is the combination of TDMA and
FDMA essentially
Advantage: High spectrum utilization efficiency due to orthogonal subcarriers need no protect bandwidth. Support frequency link
auto adaptation and scheduling. Easy to combine with MIMO.
Disadvantage: Strict requirement of time-frequency domain synchronization. High PAPR.
DFT-S-OFDM & SC-FDMA -UpLink

 DFT-S-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform Spread OFDM) is the modulation multiplexing technology used in the LTE uplink, which is
similar with OFDM but can release the UE PA limitation caused by high PAPR. Each user is assigned part of the system bandwidth.
 SC-FDMA（Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Accessing）is the multi-access technology related with DFT-S-OFDM.
 Advantage: High spectrum utilization efficiency due to orthogonal user bandwidth need no protect bandwidth. Low PAPR.
 The subcarrier assignment scheme includes Localized mode and Distributed mode
5. What's the max. throughput we can achieve from LTE?
For 20 Mhz 100 Mbps on Downlink and 50 Mbps in Uplink
6. In the market, which type/categ. of UE are available now?
7. Do you have any experience in LTE dimensioning/planning and drivetesting?
If so, please kindly answer the following questions?
1. what is main frequency band for LTE?

Duplex mode: FDD and TDD
Support frequency band form 700MHz to 2.6GHz
Support various bandwidth: 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz

10 Mhz: 1710-1770 Uplink
2110-2170 Downlink
2. In coverage planning, what are the most influence factors?
Coverage or cell range isdetermined for coverage-limited scenario or forinterference-limited scenario. This depends on
fading margin, cell edge target throughput, averagenetwork load, etc.
 Capacity Analysis: The capacity analysis involvesassessment of demanded and available trafficconsidering activity factor,
Overbooking Factor(OBF), UL/DL frame ratio, etc.
3. In 3G, RSCP and Ec/Io are used to determined in coverage planning. How's about in LTE? And why?
RSRP is the linear average of reference singal power (in Watts) accorss the specified bandwidth (in number of REs). This is the most
important item UE has to measure for cell selection, reselection and handover. You can think of this as the one similar to CPICH
RSCP in WCDMA.
Since this measures only the reference power, we can say this is the strength of the wanted signal. But it does not gives any
information about signal quality. RSRP gives us the signal strenth of the desired signal, not the quality of the signal. For quality of the
signal information another parameter called 'RSSQ' is used in some case.
UE usually measures RSRP or RSRQ based on the direction (RRC message) from the network and report the value. When it report this
value, it does use the real RSRP value. It sends a non-negative value ranging from 0 to 97 and each of these values are mapped to a
specific range of real RSRP value as shown in the following table from 36.133.
4. What are the range of SINR, RSRP, RSRQ, MCS and CQI values?
RSRP, RSRQ ,RSSI are the measurements that the UE takes for cell reselection or handover puroposes. It is not used for the purposes
of the transmission settings, but to take the decision (by the UE – in case of cell reselection; or eNB – in case of handover) to
move the UE to other cell. In the case of handover, the UE sends the measurement results according to the eNB commands
(e.g. periodically or triggered by event). The power of the eNB is constant and does not depend on the RSRP / RSRQ / RSSI
measurements.
The measurements and feedback that relate to the transmission settings are known as CQI (channel quality indicator). Depending on
that value (CQI index), the eNB takes the decision to assign a particular MCS (modulation and coding scheme) for a particular
UE. The higher the CQI (ranging from 0 up to 15) the higher the modulation and coding scheme and the higher the throughput.
However it is up to the implemented receiver algorithms in the UE, at which SNIR(>=20) the good throughput can be achieved
(the algorithms are vendor dependent so the “good SNIR” may vary for various UEs
RSRP# It represents to the Cell power lavel. Its value is 0 to 97, where RSRP_0 represents to <-140dbm (Bad cell power) and RSRP_97
represents to >= -44 dbm (Very Good Cell power).
RSRQ# It represents to Cell quality. Its value is 0 to 34, where RSRQ_0 represents to <-19.5 db (Bad cell condition) and
RSRQ_34 represents to >= -3db (Good Cell condition).
MCS: it represents modulation and coding level. 0~9 is range for QPSK, 10~16 is range for 16QAM and 17~28 is 64QAM. the higher
MCS, the higher code rate which means more frequency efficiency and of course, requires higher SNR.
CQI: UE report to eNB for channel quality, eNB can base on it to schedule MCS for UE
5. What is the typical cell range of LTE?

LTE cell sizes may range from the femto-cell range for indoor/home coverage, to over 100km ( 62 miles). However, a typical LTE cell
size will be 1 to 5km (0.6 - 3 miles), and generally congruent with 2G/3G cell deployments.
6. How do you understand RB and how does RB impact on Throughput?
LTE consists of time domain and frequency domain resources. The minimum unit for schedule is RB (Resource Block), which compose
of RE (Resource Element);
RE has 2-dimension structure: symbol of time domain and subcarrier of frequency domain;
 One RB consists of 1 slot and 12 consecutive subcarriers under Normal CP configuration.
Different BWs havedifferent number of RBs.Here is the calculation how to find out the numbers of subcarriersand Resource
Blocks.10% of total bandwidth is assumed to be used for guard band.Though 10 % guard band assumption is not valid for 1.4
MHzbandwidth.Let’s take an example of 20MHz.10% of 20 MHz is 2 MHz, used as guard band, thus effectivebandwidth will be
18MHz.Number of subcarriers = 18 MHz/15KHz = 1200Number of Resource Blocks =18 MHz/180KHz = 100Same calculations can be
done with other bandwidths to calculatethe number of subcarriers and Resource Blocks. Same is shownbelow:3.2 Multiplexing and
Bandwidth:LTE supports both types of multiplexing FDD as well as TDD.FDD spectrum is also called paired spectrum, it means when
we sayFDD 20 MHz, it has a pair of 20 MHz Bandwidth i.e. 20 MHz forDownlink and 20 MHz for Uplink.TDD spectrum is called Un-
paired it means when we say TDD 20MHz, it has only 20 MHz which is used for both Downlink andUplink.
This Multiplexing technique directly affects throughput as in FDD which has symmetric bandwidth so both Uplink and Downlink have
same throughput, but in TDD the bandwidth is asymmetric and same bandwidth is shared by Uplink and Downlink on time sharing
basis so the total throughput is also shared accordingly. Below figure shows the same. In coming example, we will show how FDD and
TDD impact throughput. Choice of multiplexing depends on the band defined. The 700 MHz band used in US is FDD and 2300MHz
band in India is TDD. 3.3 Modulation and Coding Rate: As per Release 8 (R8) LTE supports modulations like QPSK, 16 QAM and 64QAM
in Downlink and QPSK, 16 QAM in Uplink. Each of Modulation has its bits carrying capacity per symbol. One QPSK symbol can carry
2bits, one 16QAM symbol can carry 4bits and 64 QAM symbol can carry 6 bits. This is shown below with constellation diagram:4
7. What is the typical value of latency?
100 M/s for control planee and 5M/s for user plane
6. What are the type of HO? If so, pls. explain me a bit of best cell HO and coverage HO?
Intra Lte, Inter LTE IRAT LTE
Best Cell handover: Handover is normally done to continue the call and the best cell to select depends on the measurements
done by the UE and decided by eNB. Cell Change Order may be normally initiated by MME when the UE is instructed to forcibly
change the cell. You may instruct to UE to Cell Change because eNB or MME may be load balancing or switching off or such
reasons
7. For HO, pls. explain me the difference between HO via X2 and S1?
X2 handover-Intra E-UTRAN Handover is used to hand over a UE from a source eNodeB to a target eNodeB using X2 when the
MME is unchanged. In the scenario described here Serving GW is also unchanged. The presence of IP connectivity between the
Serving GW and the source eNodeB, as well as between the Serving GW and the target eNodeB is assumed..
 The source eNB configures the UE measurement procedures according to the area restriction information. UE sends MEASUREMENT REP
 Source eNB makes decision based on MEASUREMENT REPORT and RRM information to hand off UE and issues a HANDOVER REQUEST me
 Admission Control may be performed by the target eNB dependent on the received E-RAB QoS information to increase the likelihood of a
 Target eNB prepares HO with L1/L2 and sends the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE to the source eNB. The HANDOVER REQUEST AC
 The UE receives the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message with necessary parameters (i.e. new C-RNTI, target eNB security algorithm i
HO.
The source eNB sends the SN STATUS TRANSFER message to the target eNB to convey the uplink PDCP
SN receiver status and the downlink PDCP SN transmitter status of E-RABs for which PDCP status
preservation applies (i.e. for RLC AM).
 After receiving the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the mobilityControlInformation , UE performs synchronisation to ta
 The target eNB responds with UL allocation and timing advance.
 UE sends the RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message (C-RNTI) to confirm the handover to the target eNB to indicate that the h
RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message. The target eNB can now begin sending data to the UE.
 The target eNB sends a PATH SWITCH message to MME to inform that the UE has changed cell.
 The MME sends an UPDATE USER PLANE REQUEST message to the Serving Gateway.
 The Serving Gateway switches the downlink data path to the target side. The Serving gateway sends one or more "end marker" packets o
 Serving Gateway sends an UPDATE USER PLANE RESPONSE message to MME.
 The MME confirms the PATH SWITCH message with the PATH SWITCH ACKNOWLEDGE message.
 By sending UE CONTEXT RELEASE, the target eNB informs success of HO to source eNB and triggers the release of resources by the source
 Upon reception of the UE CONTEXT RELEASE message, the source eNB can release radio and C-plane related resources associated to the U
S1 handover:
The S1-based handover procedure is used when the X2-based handover cannot be used. The source eNodeB initiates a handover by
sending Handover Required message over the S1-MME reference point. This procedure may relocate the MME and/or the
Serving GW. The source MME selects the target MME. The MME should not be relocated during inter-eNodeB handover unless
the UE leaves the MME Pool Area where the UE is served. The MME (target MME for MME relocation) determines if the
Serving GW needs to be relocated. If the Serving GW needs to be relocated the MME selects the target Serving GW.
The source eNodeB decides which of the EPS bearers are subject for forwarding of downlink and optionally also uplink data
packets from the source eNodeB to the target eNodeB. The EPC does not change the decisions taken by the RAN node. Packet
forwarding can take place either directly from the source eNodeB to the target eNodeB, or indirectly from the source eNodeB
to the target eNodeB via the source and target Serving GWs (or if the Serving GW is not relocated, only the single Serving GW).
The availability of a direct forwarding path is determined in the source eNodeB and indicated to the source MME. If X2
connectivity is available between the source and target eNodeBs, a direct forwarding path is available.
If a direct forwarding path is not available, indirect forwarding may be used. The source MME uses the indication from the
source eNodeB to determine whether to apply indirect forwarding. The source MME indicates to the target MME whether
indirect forwarding should apply. Based on this indication, the target MME determines whether it applies indirect forwarding.
If the MME receives a rejection to an S1 interface procedure (e.g. dedicated bearer establishment/modification/release;
location reporting control; NAS message transfer; etc.) from the eNodeB with an indication that an S1 handover is in progress,
the MME shall reattempt the same S1 interface procedure when either the handover is complete or is deemed to have failed if
the MME is still the serving MME, except in case of Serving GW relocation.
In order to minimise the number of procedures rejected by the eNodeB, the MME should pause non-handover related S1
interface procedures (e.g. downlink NAS message transfer, E-RAB Setup/Modify/Release, etc.) while a handover is ongoing (i.e.
from the time that a Handover Required has been received until either the Handover procedure has succeeded (Handover
Notify) or failed (Handover Failure)) and continue them once the Handover procedure has completed if the MME is still the
serving MME, except in case of Serving GW relocation.
If during the handover procedure the MME detects that the Serving GW or/and the MME needs be relocated, the MME shall
reject any PDN GW initiated EPS bearer(s) request received since handover started and shall include an indication that the
request has been temporarily rejected due to handover procedure in progress. The rejection is forwarded by the Serving GW
to the PDN GW, with the same indication.
Upon receipt of a rejection for an EPS bearer(s) PDN GW initiated procedure with an indication that the request has been
temporarily rejected due to handover procedure in progress, the PDN GW shall start a locally configured guard timer. The PDN
GW shall re-attempt the procedure, up to a pre-configured number of times, when either it detects that the handover is
completed or has failed using message reception or at expiry of the guard timer.
If emergency bearer services are ongoing for the UE, handover to the target eNodeB is performed independent of the
Handover Restriction List. The MME checks, as part of the Tracking Area Update in the execution phase, if the handover is to a
restricted area and if so MME releases the non-emergency bearers.
If the MME receives a rejection to a UE Context modification Request message with a CS Fallback indication from the eNodeB
with an indication that an S1 handover is in progress, the MME shall resend a UE Context Modification Request message with
CS Fallback indicator to the target eNodeB when either the handover is complete or to the source eNodeB when the handover
is deemed to have failed if the MME is still the serving MME.
8. Do we still need Scraming code planning in LTE? If not, why?
In lte we have 502 PCI, . The PCI is a set of 504 IDs (derived from 3 primary synch sequences and 168 secondary sequences)
used to scramble certain downlink transmissions so the UE can distinguish signals from different cells
1. Since OFDM subcarriers are orthogonal, LTE doesn't need Walsh sequences like in WCDMA, to provide orthogonality between the user
signals. PN sequence serves as sequence to spread signal in spectrum and to be unique identifier. PCI keeps the same role of unique
identifying...
9. Please explain me about eNodeB, MME and core network layout.

eNB interfaces with the UE and hosts the PHYsical (PHY), Medium AccessControl (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet
Data Control Protocol (PDCP) layers. It also hosts Radio Resource Control (RRC)functionality corresponding to the control
plane. It performs many functions including radio resource management, admission control,scheduling, enforcement of
negotiated UL QoS, cell information broadcast, ciphering/deciphering of user and control plane data, and
compression/decompression of DL/UL user plane packet headers.
Mobility Management Entity
manages and stores UE context (for idle state: UE/user identities, UE mobility state, user security parameters). It generates
temporary identities and allocates them to UEs. It checks the authorization whether the UE may camp on the TA or on the
PLMN. It also authenticates the user.
Serving Gateway
The SGW routes and forwards user data packets, while also acting as the mobility anchor for the user plane during inter-eNB
handovers and as the anchor for mobility between LTE and other 3GPP technologies (terminating S4 interface and relaying the
traffic between 2G/3G systems and PDN GW).
10. For capacity planning, do we still need Channel element (CE) dimensioning? If not, why?
Clear Definition is
"A band Channel Element is the resource base required in the Node-B to Provide for one voice channel capacity,
including the control plane to Provide for one voice channel capacity, including the control plane signaling, compressed mode, the
transmit diversity and softer handover. "signaling, compressed mode, the transmit diversity and softer handover."
Factors affecting capacity in WCDMA UL and DL, sorted by descending level of importance as follows: Factors affecting Capacity in WCDMA
UL and DL, sorted by descending level of Importance as Follows:
- UL: No. CE support on each Node B, interference, Node B sensivity, .. - UL: No. CE support on the each Node B, interference, Node B sensivity,
..
- DL: No. CE support on each Node B Iub interface capacity, power DL, OVSF, ... - DL: No. CE support on the each Node B Iub interface capacity,
power DL, OVSF, ...
Thus, CE can be viewed as a license for each NodeB capacity (not more). Thus, CE can be viewed as a license for each vertex NodeB capacity
(not more).
Each service will need some different CE UL and DL, such as: the each service will need some Different CE UL and DL, such as:
AMR 12.2 k: Uplink 1; downlink AMR 12.2 k 1: Uplink 1; downlink 1
CS / PS 64 K: 3 Uplink, downlink 2 CS / PS 64 K: 3 Uplink, downlink 2
PS 128/144k: Uplink 5; downlink 128/144k PS 4: Uplink 5; DL 4
384 k PS: Uplink 10, downlink 8384 k PS: Uplink 10; downlink 8
No We do not Channel element for capacity planning as in LTE each user is allocated a specific frequency with a 1 slot and 12
subcarriers in
Normal CP Length but in 3G we have one frequency divided into time slots shared by users.
11. Have you experience in Atoll and Momentun?
12. Have you expereince in XCAL and Agilent NiXT?
13. Please explain me about QoS and Scheduling in LTE?

The MAC scheduler is an important and crucial entity of the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and is responsible for efficiently
allocating the radio resources among mobile users who have different QoS demands. The scheduler takes different
considerations into account such as throughput and fairness when deciding the allocation of the scarce radio resources. LTE is
an all IP packet system in which guaranteeing QoS is a real challenge. Therefore the LTE MAC scheduler should consider not
only the throughput optimization but also the QoS differentiations in an effective manner. In this paper, we propose a novel
LTE downlink MAC scheduling algorithm. The proposed scheduler differentiates between the different QoS classes and their
requirements. Two different QoS classifications are considered: Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) and non Guaranteed Bit Rate (non-
GBR). The proposed scheduler also considers the different users channel conditions and tries to create a balance between the
QoS guarantees and the multi-user diversity in a proportional fair manner. The simulation analysis confirms that guaranteeing
the different QoS requirements is possible.
14. Pls. explain me about MIMO, SIMO and TxDiV configuration?
MIMO is supported in LTE downlink to achieve spatial multiplexing, including single user mode SU-MIMO and multi user mode
MU-MIMO.
In order to improve MIMO performance, pre-coding is used in both SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO to control/reduce the interference
among spatial multiplexing data flows.
The spatial multiplexing data flows are scheduled to one single user In SU-MIMO, to enhance the transmission rate and spectrum
efficiency. In MU-MIMO, the data flows are scheduled to multi users and the resources are shared within users. Multi user gain can be
achieved by user scheduling in the spatial domain.
Transmit Diversity:
LTE, us+++++++++++++ually they use multiple Antenna for downlink (at least from Category 3 UE and higher), meaning that eNode
(Network) has use multiple Tx Antenna and UE use multiple Rx antenna.
Now you almost automatically think about 'MIMO', but in reality 'multiple antenna' does not automatically mean 'MIMO'. For
example, you have two downlink antenna. You can use these two antenna in various ways. Of course, one ways is to use it as 2 x 2
MIMO, but this is not the only way. You can use the two antenna in diversity configuration rather than MIMO configuration. Or you
can just use only one of the antenna and sometimes you would like to use various different multiplexing, precoding methods etc.

In LTE, they give a special name for each of the way of transmission and it is called 'Transmission Mode'. For example, what we
normally call 'SISO' (Single Transmission Antenna and Single Reciever Antenna) is called 'TM1(Transmission Mode 1)'. What we
normally call 'Diversity' is called 'TM2'. What we call 'MIMO' but no feedback from UE is called 'TM3'. MIMO and UE feedback from
UE (CQI, PMI, RI) is called 'TM4'.

A good summary of each Transmission Mode can be as following table from 36.213.

Considering these various possibilities, 3GPP provides several predefined transmission methods and this transmission method is called
'Transmission Mode'. For now, there are seven predefined predefined transmission mode as shown in the following table (TS 36.213)
The SIMO or Single Input Multiple Output version of MIMO occurs where the transmitter has a single antenna and the receiver has
multiple antennas. This is also known as receive diversity. It is often used to enable a receiver system that receives signals from a
number of independent sources to combat the effects of fading. It has been used for many years with short wave listening / receiving
stations to combat the effects of ionospheric fading and interference.
SIMO - Single Input Multiple Output

SIMO has the advantage that it is relatively easy to implement although it does have some disadvantages in that the processing is
required in the receiver. The use of SIMO may be quite acceptable in many applications, but where the receiver is located in a mobile
device such as a cellphone handset, the levels of processing may be limited by size, cost and battery drain.
There are two forms of SIMO that can be used:
 Switched diversity SIMO: This form of SIMO looks for the strongest signal and switches to that antenna.
 Maximum ratio combining SIMO: This form of SIMO takes both signals and sums them to give the a combination. In this way,
the signals from both antennas contribute to the overall signal.
15. How's about those configuration and expected throughput?

Throughput calculation;
There are different UE Further it is converted into bits per second depending on the how categories depending on many bits a symbol
can carry. capabilities like TB size support, Number of In LTE for 20 MHz, there are 100 Resource Blocks and each antenna support and
Resource block have 12x7x2=168 Symbols per ms in case Category 3 is available So there are 16800of Normal Modulation support
CP. Symbols per ms or 16800000 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 16800000 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting Symbols
per second commercially. or16.8 Msps. If modulation used is 64 QAM (6 bits per Maximum throughput throughput will be
16.8x6=100.8Mbps for asymbol) then single chain. for LTE is 300 Mbps in Downlink and 75 Mbps For a LTE system with Throughput
is four times of4x4 MIMO (4T4R) the throughput will be in Uplink. single chain throughput. i.e. 403.2 Mbps. Many calculated as
symbols simulations and studies show that there is 25% of overhead used for per second and further Controlling and signalling. So the
effective throughput will be 300 converted in to bits per Mbps. second depending upon the Modulation used. The 300 Mbps number
is for downlink and not valid for uplink. In uplink we have only one transmit chain at UE end. So with 20 MHz we can get Maximum of
100.8Mbps as calculation shown above. After considering 25% of overhead we get 75Mbps in uplink. This is the way how we get the
number of throughput 300Mbps for 6 Downlink and 75Mbps for Uplink shown everywhere.
What is LTE?
LTEi (Long Term Evolution) is initiated by 3GPPi to improve the mobile phone standard to cope with future technology evolutions and
needs.
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What is goal of LTE?

The goals for LTE include improving spectral efficiency, lowering costs, improving services, making use of new spectrum and reformed
spectrum opportunities, and better integration with other open standards.
What speed LTE offers?

LTE provides downlink peak rates of at least 100Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s in the uplink and RAN (Radio Access Network) round-trip times of
less than 10 ms.
What is LTE Advanced?

LTE standards are in matured state now with release 8 frozen. While LTE Advanced is still under works. Often the LTE standard is seen
as 4G standard which is not true. 3.9G is more acceptable for LTE. So why it is not 4G? Answer is quite simple - LTE does not
fulfill all requirements of ITU 4G definition.
Brief History of LTE Advanced: The ITU has introduced the term IMT Advanced to identify mobile systems whose capabilities go
beyond those of IMT 2000. The IMT Advanced systems shall provide best-in-class performance attributes such as peak and
sustained data rates and corresponding spectral efficiencies, capacity, latency, overall network complexity and quality-of-
service management. The new capabilities of these IMT-Advanced systems are envisaged to handle a wide range of supported
data rates with target peak data rates of up to approximately 100 Mbit/s for high mobility and up to approximately 1 Gbit/s for
low mobility.
See LTE Advanced: Evolution of LTE for more details.
What is LTE architecture?

The evolved architecture comprises E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) on the access side and EPC (Evolved Packet Core) on the core side.
The figure below shows the evolved system architecture

What is EUTRAN?
The E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) consists of eNBs, providing the E-UTRA user plane (PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC)
protocol terminations towards the UE. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface. The eNBs
are also connected by means of the S1 interface to the EPC (Evolved Packet Core), more specifically to the MME (Mobility
Management Entity) by means of the S1-MME and to the Serving Gateway (S-GW) by means of the S1-U.
What are LTE Interfaces?

The following are LTE Interfaces : (Ref: TS 23.401 v 841)
S1-MME :- Reference point for the control plane protocol between E-UTRAN and MME.
S1-U:- Reference point between E-UTRAN and Serving GW for the per bearer user plane tunnelling and inter eNodeB path switching
during handover.
S3:- It enables user and bearer information exchange for inter 3GPP access network mobility in idle and/or active state.
S4:- It provides related control and mobility support between GPRS Core and the 3GPP Anchor function of Serving GW. In addition, if
Direct Tunnel is not established, it provides the user plane tunnelling.
S5:- It provides user plane tunnelling and tunnel management between Serving GW and PDN GW. It is used for Serving GW relocation
due to UE mobility and if the Serving GW needs to connect to a non-collocated PDN GW for the required PDN connectivity.
S6a:- It enables transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the evolved system (AAA
interface) between MME and HSS.
Gx:- It provides transfer of (QoS) policy and charging rules from PCRF to Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) in the PDN
GW.
S8:- Inter-PLMN reference point providing user and control plane between the Serving GW in the VPLMN and the PDN GW in the
HPLMN. S8 is the inter PLMN variant of S5.
S9:- It provides transfer of (QoS) policy and charging control information between the Home PCRF and the Visited PCRF in order to
support local breakout function.
S10:- Reference point between MMEs for MME relocation and MME to MME information transfer.
S11:- Reference point between MME and Serving GW.
S12:- Reference point between UTRAN and Serving GW for user plane tunnelling when Direct Tunnel is established. It is based on the
Iu-u/Gn-u reference point using the GTP-U protocol as defined between SGSN and UTRAN or respectively between SGSN and
GGSN. Usage of S12 is an operator configuration option.
S13:- It enables UE identity check procedure between MME and EIR.
SGi:- It is the reference point between the PDN GW and the packet data network. Packet data network may be an operator external
public or private packet data network or an intra operator packet data network, e.g. for provision of IMS services. This
reference point corresponds to Gi for 3GPP accesses.
Rx:- The Rx reference point resides between the AF and the PCRF in the TS 23.203.
SBc:- Reference point between CBC and MME for warning message delivery and control functions.
What are LTE Network elements?

eNB
eNB interfaces with the UE and hosts the PHYsical (PHY), Medium Access
Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Control
Protocol (PDCP) layers. It also hosts Radio Resource Control (RRC)
functionality corresponding to the control plane. It performs many
functions including radio resource management, admission control,
scheduling, enforcement of negotiated UL QoS, cell information
broadcast, ciphering/deciphering of user and control plane data, and
compression/decompression of DL/UL user plane packet headers.
manages and stores UE context (for idle state: UE/user identities, UE mobility state, user security parameters). It generates
temporary identities and allocates them to UEs. It checks the authorization whether the UE may camp on the TA or on the
PLMN. It also authenticates the user.
Serving Gateway
The SGW routes and forwards user data packets, while also acting as the mobility anchor for the user plane during inter-eNB
handovers and as the anchor for mobility between LTE and other 3GPP technologies (terminating S4 interface and relaying the
traffic between 2G/3G systems and PDN GW).
Packet Data Network Gateway
The PDN GW provides connectivity to the UE to external packet data networks by being the point of exit and entry of traffic for
the UE. A UE may have simultaneous connectivity with more than one PDN GW for accessing multiple PDNs. The PDN GW
performs policy enforcement, packet filtering for each user, charging support, lawful Interception
and packet screening.
What are LTE protocols & specifications?

In LTE architecture, core network includes Mobility Management Entity (MME), Serving Gateway (SGW), Packet Data Network
Gateway (PDN GW) where as E-UTRAN has E-UTRAN NodeB (eNB).
See LTE protocols & specifications for specification mappings.
Protocol links are as below
Air Interface Physical Layer
GPRS Tunnelling Protocol User Plane (GTP-U)
GTP-U Transport
Medium Access Control (MAC)
Non-Access-Stratum (NAS) Protocol
Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)
Radio Link Control (RLC)
Radio Resource Control (RRC)
S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)
S1 layer 1
S1 Signalling Transport
X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)
X2 layer 1
X2 Signalling Transport
What is VoLGA?
VoLGA stands for "Voice over LTE via Generic Access". The VoLGA service resembles the 3GPP Generic Access Network (GAN). GAN
provides a controller node - the GAN controller (GANC) - inserted between the IP access network (i.e., the EPS) and the 3GPP
core network.
The GAN provides an overlay access between the terminal and the CS core without requiring specific enhancements or support
in the network it traverses. This provides a terminal with a 'virtual' connection to the core network already deployed by an
operator. The terminal and network thus reuse most of the existing mechanisms, deployment and operational aspects.
see VoLGA - Voice over LTE via Generic Access for more details.
What is CS Fallback in LTE?

LTE technology supports packet based services only, however 3GPP does specifies fallback for circuit switched services as well. To
achieve this LTE architecture and network nodes require additional functionality, this blog is an attempt to provide overview
for same.
In LTE architecture, the circuit switched (CS) fallback in EPS enables the provisioning of voice and traditional CS-domain services (e.g.
CS UDI video/ SMS/ LCS/ USSD). To provide these services LTE reuses CS infrastructure when the UE is served by E UTRAN.
See Understanding CS Fallback in LTE for more details.
How does LTE Security works?

The following are some of the principles of 3GPP E-UTRAN security based on 3GPP Release 8 specifications:
The keys used for NAS and AS protection shall be dependent on the algorithm with which they are used.
The eNB keys are cryptographically separated from the EPC keys used for NAS protection (making it impossible to use the eNB key to
figure out an EPC key).
The AS (RRC and UP) and NAS keys are derived in the EPC/UE from key material that was generated by a NAS (EPC/UE) level AKA
procedure (KASME) and identified with a key identifier (KSIASME).
The eNB key (KeNB) is sent from the EPC to the eNB when the UE is entering ECM-CONNECTED state (i.e. during RRC connection or S1
context setup).
See LTE Security Principles for more details.
What is IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)?

The 3GPP IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) technology provides an architectural framework for delivering IP based multimedia services.
IMS enables telecom service providers to offer a new generation of rich multimedia services across both circuit switched and
packet switched networks. IMS offers access to IP based services independent of the access network e.g. wireless access
(GPRS, 3GPP’s UMTS, LTE, 3GPP2’s CDMA2000) and fixed networks (TISPAN’s NGN)
IMS defines a architecture of logical elements using SIP for call signaling between network elements and Provides a layered approach
with defined service, control, and transport planes. Some of IMS high level requirements are noted below:
The application plane provides an infrastructure for the provision and management of services, subscriber configuration and identity
management and defines standard interfaces to common functionality.
The IMS control plane handles the call related signaling and controls transport plane. Major element of control plane is the Call
Session Control Function (CSCF) , which comprises Proxy-CSCF (P-CSCF), Interrogating-CSCF (I-CSCF) and Serving-CSCF (S-CSCF).
The CSCF (Call/Session Control Function) is essentially a SIP server.
The IMS transport plane provides a core IP network with access from subscriber device over wireless or wireline networks.
How does measurements work in LTE?

In LTE E-UTRAN measurements to be performed by a UE for mobility are classified as below
Intra-frequency E-UTRAN measurements
Inter-frequency E-UTRAN measurements
Inter-RAT measurements for UTRAN and GERAN
Inter-RAT measurements of CDMA2000 HRPD or 1xRTT frequencies
See Measurements in LTE E-UTRAN for details.
What is Automatic Neighbour Relation?

According to 3GPP specifications, the purpose of the Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) functionality is to relieve the operator from
the burden of manually managing Neighbor Relations (NRs). This feature would operators effort to provision.
Read Automatic Neighbour Relation in LTE for more details.
How does Intra E-UTRAN Handover is performed?

Intra E-UTRAN Handover is used to hand over a UE from a source eNodeB to a target eNodeB using X2 when the MME is unchanged.
In the scenario described here Serving GW is also unchanged. The presence of IP connectivity between the Serving GW and the
source eNodeB, as well as between the Serving GW and the target eNodeB is assumed.
The intra E-UTRAN HO in RRC_CONNECTED state is UE assisted NW controlled HO, with HO preparation signalling in E-UTRAN.
Read LTE Handovers - Intra E-UTRAN Handover for more details.
How does policy control and charging works in LTE?
A important component in LTE network is the policy and charging control (PCC) function that brings together and enhances
capabilities from earlier 3GPP releases to deliver dynamic control of policy and charging on a per subscriber and per IP flow
basis.
LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC) EPC includes a PCC architecture that provides support for fine-grained QoS and enables application
servers to dynamically control the QoS and charging requirements of the services they deliver. It also provides improved
support for roaming. Dynamic control over QoS and
charging will help operators monetize their LTE investment by providing customers with a variety of QoS and charging options
when choosing a service.
The LTE PCC functions include:
PCRF (policy and charging rules function) provides policy control and flow based charging control decisions.
PCEF (policy and charging enforcement function) implemented in the serving gateway, this enforces gating and QoS for individual IP
flows on the behalf of
the PCRF. It also provides usage measurement to support charging
OCS (online charging system) provides credit management and grants credit to the PCEF based on time, traffic volume or chargeable
events.
OFCS (off-line charging system) receives events from the PCEF and generates charging data records (CDRs) for the billing system.
Refer following whitepapers for more details.
Introduction to Evolved Packet Core
Policy control and charging for LTE networks
Quality of Service (QoS) and Policy Management in Mobile Data Networks
What is SON & how does it work in LTE?

Self-configuring, self-optimizing wireless networks is not a new concept but as the mobile networks are evolving towards 4G LTE
networks, introduction of self configuring and self optimizing mechanisms is needed to minimize operational efforts. A self
optimizing function would increase network performance and quality reacting to dynamic processes in the network.
This would minimize the life cycle cost of running a network by eliminating manual configuration of equipment at the time of
deployment, right through to dynamically optimizing radio network performance during operation. Ultimately it will reduce
the unit cost and retail price of wireless data services.
See Self-configuring and self-optimizing Networks in LTE for details.
How does Network Sharing works in LTE?

3GPP network sharing architecture allows different core network operators to connect to a shared radio access network. The
operators do not only share the radio network elements, but may also share the radio resources themselves.
Read Network Sharing in LTE for more.
How does Timing Advance (TA) works in LTE?

In LTE, when UE wish to establish RRC connection with eNB, it transmits a Random Access Preamble, eNB estimates the transmission
timing of the terminal based on this. Now eNB transmits a Random Access Response which consists of timing advance
command, based on that UE adjusts the terminal transmit timing.
The timing advance is initiated from E-UTRAN with MAC message that implies and adjustment of the timing advance.
See Timing Advance (TA) in LTE for further details.
How does LTE UE positioning works in E-UTRAN?

UE Positioning function is required to provide the mechanisms to support or assist the calculation of the geographical position of a UE.
UE position knowledge can be used, for example, in support of Radio Resource Management functions, as well as location-
based services for operators, subscribers, and third-party service providers.
See LTE UE positioning in E-UTRAN for more details.

How many operators have committed for LTE?

List of operators committed for LTE has been compiled by 3GAmericas from Informa Telecoms & Media and public announcements. It
includes a variety of commitment levels including intentions to trial, deploy, migrate, etc.
For latest info visit http://ltemaps.org/
What is Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC)?

Along with LTE introduction, 3GPP also standardized Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) in Release 8 specifications to provide
seamless continuity when an UE handovers from LTE coverage (E-UTRAN) to UMTS/GSM coverage (UTRAN/GERAN). With
SRVCC, calls are anchored in IMS network while UE is capable of transmitting/receiving on only one of those access networks at
a given time.
See Evolution of Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC) for more details.
How does Location Service (LCS) work in LTE network?

In the LCS architecture, an Evolved SMLC is directly attached to the MME. The objectives of this evolution is to support location of an
IMS emergency call, avoid impacts to a location session due to an inter-eNodeB handover, make use of an Evolved and
support Mobile originated location request (MO-LR) and mobile terminated location request MT-LR services.
Release 9 LCS solution introduces new interfaces in the EPC:
SLg between the GMLC and the MME
SLs between the E-SMLC and the MME
Diameter-based SLh between the HSS and the HGMLC
For details read LCS Architecture for LTE EPS and LTE UE positioning in E-UTRAN
How does Lawful Interception works in LTE Evolved Packet System?

3GPP Evolved Packet System (EPS) provides IP based services. Hence, EPS is responsible only for IP layer interception of Content of
Communication (CC) data. In addition to CC data, the Lawful Interception (LI) solution for EPS offers generation of Intercept
Related Information (IRI) records from respective control plane (signalling) messages as well.
See Lawful Interception Architecture for LTE Evolved Packet System for more details.
What is carrier aggregation in LTE-Advanced?

To meet LTE-Advanced requirements, support of wider transmission bandwidths is required than the 20 MHz bandwidth specified in
3GPP Release 8/9. The preferred solution to this is carrier aggregation.
It is of the most distinct features of 4G LTE-Advanced. Carrier aggregation allows expansion of effective bandwidth delivered to a user
terminal through concurrent utilization of radio resources across multiple carriers. Multiple component carriers are aggregated
to form a larger overall transmission bandwidth.
See Carrier Aggregation for LTE-Advanced for more details.
What is Relay Node and how does Relaying works in LTE-Advanced?

For efficient heterogeneous network planning, 3GPP LTE-Advanced has introduced concept of Relay Nodes (RNs). The Relay Nodes are
low power eNodeBs that provide enhanced coverage and capacity at cell edges. One of the main benefits of relaying is to
provide extended LTE coverage in targeted areas at low cost.
The Relay Node is connected to the Donor eNB (DeNB) via radio interface, Un, a modified version of E-UTRAN air interface Uu. Donor
eNB also srves its own UE as usual, in addition to sharing its radio resources for Relay Nodes.
LTE Call Flow Attach Procedure
The UE initiates the attach procedure by transmitting an attach request to the eNodeB.
Step 2. The eNodeB derives the MME from the RRC parameters carrying the old GUMMEI and the indicated Selected Network.
Step 3. If the UE identifies itself with GUTI and the MME has changed since detach, the new MME uses the GUTI received from the UE
to derive the old MME/SGSN address, and send an Identification Request to the old MME/SGSN to request the IMSI.
Step 4. If the UE is unknown in both the old MME/SGSN and new MME, the new MME sends an Identity Request to the UE to request
the IMSI. The UE responds with Identity Response (IMSI).
Step 5a. If no UE context for the UE exists anywhere in the network, if the Attach Request (sent in step 1) was not integrity protected,
or if the check of the integrity failed, then authentication and NAS security setup to activate integrity protection and NAS ciphering are
mandatory.
Step 5b. The ME Identity shall be retrieved from the UE.
Step 6. If the UE has set the Ciphered Options Transfer Flag in the Attach Request message, the Ciphered Options i.e. PCO or APN or
both, shall now be retrieved from the UE.
Step 7. If there are active bearer contexts in the new MME for this particular UE (i.e. the UE re-attaches to the same MME without
having properly detached before), the new MME deletes these bearer contexts by sending Delete Session Request (LBI) messages to
the GWs involved.
Step 8. If the MME has changed since the last detach, or if there is no valid subscription context for the UE in the MME, the MME
sends an Update Location Request message to the HSS.
Step 9. The HSS sends Cancel Location (IMSI, Cancellation Type) to the old MME. \
Step 10. If there are active bearer contexts in the old MME/SGSN for this particular UE, the old MME/SGSN deletes these bearer
contexts by sending Delete Session Request (LBI) messages to the GWs involved.
Step 11. The HSS acknowledges the Update Location message by sending an Update Location Ack message to the new MME.
Step 12. For an Emergency Attach situation, the MME applies the parameters from MME Emergency Configuration Data for the
emergency bearer establishment performed in this step and any potentially stored IMSI related subscription data are ignored by the
MME.
Step 13. The Serving GW creates a new entry in its EPS Bearer table and sends a Create Session Request message to the PDN GW
indicated by the PDN GW address received in the previous step.
Step 14. If dynamic PCC is deployed and the Handover Indication is not present, the PDN GW performs an IP-CAN Session
Establishment procedure.
Step 15. The PGW creates a new entry in its EPS bearer context table and generates a Charging Id.
Step 16. If the MS Info Change Reporting Action (Start) or the CSG Information Reporting Action (Start) are received for this bearer
context, then the SGW stores this for the bearer context and the SGW reports to that PGW whenever a UE’s location and/or User CSG
information change occurs that meets the PGW request.
Step 17. If an APN Restriction is received, then the MME shall store this value for the Bearer Context and the MME shall check this
received value with the stored value for the Maximum APN Restriction to ensure there are no conflicts between values.
Step 18. The eNodeB sends the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message including the EPS Radio Bearer Identity to the UE, and the
Attach Accept message will be sent along to the UE.
Step 19. The UE sends the RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete message to the eNodeB.
Step 20. The eNodeB sends the Initial Context Response message to the new MME.
Step 21. The UE sends a Direct Transfer message to the eNodeB, which includes the Attach Complete message.
Step 22. The eNodeB forwards the Attach Complete message to the new MME in an Uplink NAS Transport message.
Step 23. Upon reception of both, the Initial Context Response message in step 20 and the Attach Complete message in step 22, the
new MME sends a Modify Bearer Request message to the Serving GW.
Step 23a. If the Handover Indication is included in step 23, the Serving GW sends a Modify Bearer Request (Handover Indication)
message to the PDN GW to prompt the PDN GW to tunnel packets from non 3GPP IP access to 3GPP access system and immediately
start routing packets to the Serving GW for the default and any dedicated EPS bearers established.
Step 23b. The PDN GW acknowledges by sending Modify Bearer Response to the Serving GW.
Step 24. The Serving GW acknowledges by sending Update Bearer Response (EPS Bearer Identity) message to the new MME.
Step 25. After the MME receives Modify Bearer Response (EPS Bearer Identity) message, if Request Type does not indicate handover
and an EPS bearer was established and the subscription data indicates that the user is allowed to perform handover to non-3GPP
accesses, and if the MME selected a PDN GW that is different from the PDN GW identity which was indicated by the HSS in the PDN
subscription context, the MME shall send a Notify Request including the APN and PDN GW identity to the HSS for mobility with non-
3GPP accesses. The message shall include information that identifies the PLMN in which the PDN GW is located.
Step 26. The HSS stores the APN and PDN GW identity pair and sends a Notify Response to the MME.[1]
[1] 3GPP A Global Initiative, www.3gpp.org
LTE Call FlowUnderstanding Call Flow In-Depth
With Long Term Evolution (LTE) comes a myriad of new and exciting attributes. One of these is the LTE call flow itself. In fact, call flow
and signaling is unique for LTE, and is driven by 3GPP standards. Call flow is how signaling and sessions are created across an LTE
network.
So how does LTE call flow work exactly?

According to Wired n Wireless, the LTE call flow travels through many steps during its end-to-end signaling between from user
equipment (UE) to the evolved node B (eNB), mobility management entity (MME), home subscribe server (HSS), serving gateway
(SGW) and PDN gateway (PGW).
LTE Call Flow Diagram – Wired n Wireless
It begins with S1 Setup, where the eNB is initially attached to the network. The eNB supports the LTE air interface and includes the
following functions:
 Functions for Radio Resource Management: Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection
 Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in both uplink and downlink (scheduling)
 Selection of an MME at UE attachment when no routing to an MME can be determined from the information provided by the
UE
 Routing of User Plane data towards Serving Gateway
 Scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME)
 Scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or O&M)
 Measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling
As long the eNB is functioning properly, the S1 setup will stay intact. Once UE comes up a radio resource control (RRC) connection is
established for communication with the network. After RRC is established, network attached storage (NAS) signaling begins.
UE then sends an attach request along with a PDN connectivity request to the network. Attach is for attaching to the network. Once
MME receives the attach request, it queries the HSS for authentication details. HSS then sends the authentication vectors to MME in
an authentication info answer. The next step in call flow for LTE has to do with authentication and security. The network requests UE
for authentication vectors. When the UE provides the same one, MME compares it with what HSS has sent. If they match, the UE is
authenticated. MME manages mobility, UE identities and security parameters. It includes the following functions:
 Non Access Stratum (NAS) signaling and security

 Idle mode UE reachability (including control and execution of paging retransmission)
 Tracking Area list management (for UE in idle and active mode)
 PDN GW and Serving GW selection;MME selection for handovers with MME change
 Roaming (terminating S6a towards home HSS)
 Authentication Bearer management functions including dedicated bearer establishment
Next security takes over and all NAS messages are encrypted using the security algorithms that were exchanged. After the LTE call
flow moves through the security step, the network creates the EPS bearers. Then the radio bearers are created and RRC connections
are modified accordingly. Once these radio bearers are created the eNB down link addresses are sent to SGW in GTP messages. The
Serving Gateway is the node that terminates the interface towards EUTRAN. For each UE associated with the EPS, at a given point of
time, there is one single Serving Gateway. Functions include:
 Packet routing and forwarding

 The local mobility anchor point for inter eNB handover
 E-UTRAN idle mode downlink packet buffering and initiation of network triggered service request procedure
 E-UTRAN idle mode downlink packet buffering and initiation of network triggered service request procedure
 Accounting on user and QoS Class Identifier (QCI) granularity for inter-operator charging
 UL and DL charging per UE, PDN, and QCI
 End marker handling
 Packet Filtering with TFT
LTE Handovers - Intra E-UTRAN Handover
Posted on 10. Apr, 2010 by LteWorld in Blog, Handover, Intra, Intra E-UTRAN Handover, SGW, E-UTRAN, eNB, LTE, MME
Intra E-UTRAN Handover is used to hand over a UE from a source eNodeB to a target eNodeB using X2 when the MME is unchanged.
In the scenario described here Serving GW is also unchanged. The presence of IP connectivity between the Serving GW and the source
eNodeB, as well as between the Serving GW and the target eNodeB is assumed.
The intra E-UTRAN HO in RRC_CONNECTED state is UE assisted NW controlled HO, with HO preparation signalling in E-UTRAN.
To prepare the HO, the source eNB passes all necessary information to the target eNB (e.g. E-RAB attributes and RRC context) and UE
accesses the target cell via RACH following a contention-free procedure using a dedicated RACH preamble.
The HO procedure is performed without EPC involvement, i.e. preparation messages are directly exchanged between the eNBs. The
figure below shows the basic handover scenario where neither MME nor Serving Gateway changes:
Detailed explanation of above scenario is below.
 The source eNB configures the UE measurement procedures according to the area restriction information. UE sends MEASUREMENT REP
 Source eNB makes decision based on MEASUREMENT REPORT and RRM information to hand off UE and issues a HANDOVER REQUEST me
 Admission Control may be performed by the target eNB dependent on the received E-RAB QoS information to increase the likelihood of a
 Target eNB prepares HO with L1/L2 and sends the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE to the source eNB. The HANDOVER REQUEST AC
 The UE receives the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message with necessary parameters (i.e. new C-RNTI, target eNB security algorithm i
HO.
 The source eNB sends the SN STATUS TRANSFER message to the target eNB to convey the uplink PDCP SN receiver status and the downlin
 After receiving the RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the mobilityControlInformation , UE performs synchronisation to ta
 The target eNB responds with UL allocation and timing advance.
 UE sends the RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message (C-RNTI) to confirm the handover to the target eNB to indicate that the h
RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message. The target eNB can now begin sending data to the UE.
 The target eNB sends a PATH SWITCH message to MME to inform that the UE has changed cell.
 The MME sends an UPDATE USER PLANE REQUEST message to the Serving Gateway.
 The Serving Gateway switches the downlink data path to the target side. The Serving gateway sends one or more "end marker" packets o
 Serving Gateway sends an UPDATE USER PLANE RESPONSE message to MME.
 The MME confirms the PATH SWITCH message with the PATH SWITCH ACKNOWLEDGE message.
 By sending UE CONTEXT RELEASE, the target eNB informs success of HO to source eNB and triggers the release of resources by the source
 Upon reception of the UE CONTEXT RELEASE message, the source eNB can release radio and C-plane related resources associated to the U
Understanding CS Fallback in LTE

Posted on 27. Sep, 2009 by LteWorld in Blog, 3G, GSM, LTE, LteWorld
LTE technology supports packet based services only, however 3GPP does specifies fallback for circuit switched services as well. To
achieve this LTE architecture and network nodes require additional functionality, this blog is an attempt to provide overview for same.
In LTE architecture, the circuit switched (CS) fallback in EPS enables the provisioning of voice and traditional CS-domain services (e.g.
CS UDI video/ SMS/ LCS/ USSD). To provide these services LTE reuses CS infrastructure when the UE is served by E UTRAN.
A CS fallback enabled terminal, connected to E UTRAN may use GERAN or UTRAN to connect to the CS domain. This function is only
available in case E UTRAN coverage is overlapped by either GERAN coverage or UTRAN coverage.
The figure above provides architecture for CS fallback in EPS.
CS Fallback and IMS based services can co-exist in the same operatorâ€™s network. Although its not very straight forward to support
CS fallback, all participating elements i.e UE, MME, MSC & E-UTRAN needs to support additional functionalities.
The support CS fallback in EPS a new interface SGs is added in LTE architecture. SGs interface is the reference point between the MME
and MSC server. SGs interface is used for the mobility management and paging procedures between EPS and CS domain, and is based
on the Gs interface procedures.
The SGs reference point is also used for the delivery of both mobile originating and mobile terminating SMS.
The CS fallback enabled network elements need to support the following additional functions:
UE
 supports access to E-UTRAN/EPC as well as access to the CS domain over GERAN and/or UTRAN.
 Combined procedures for EPS/IMSI attach, update and detach.
 CS fallback and SMS procedures for using CS domain services.
MME
 Deriving a VLR number and LAI from the GUTI received from the UE or from a default LAI.
 Maintaining of SGs association towards MSC/VLR for EPS/IMSI attached UE.
 Initiating IMSI detach at EPS detach.
 Initiating paging procedure towards eNodeB when MSC pages the UE for CS services.
 Support of SMS procedures
 Rejecting CS Fallback call request (e.g. due to O&M reasons)
 Use of the LAI and a hash value from the IMSI to determine the VLR number when multiple MSC/VLRs serve the same LAI.
MSC
 Maintaining SGs association towards MME for EPS/IMSI attached UE.

 Support of SMS procedures as provided in 3GPP specification
E-UTRAN
 Forwarding paging request and SMS to the UE.

 Directing the UE to the target CS capable cell.
At MME - MSC Server interface a new protcol SGsAP is being added to support CS fallback. SGsAP protocol is based on the BSSAP+.
Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) is used to transport SGsAP signaling messages.
A CS Fallback and IMS capable UE would follow the procedures for domain selection for UE originating session/calls according to 3GPP
specification 23.221.
If a UE is configured to use SMS over IP services and it is registered to IMS then it would send SMS over IMS, even if it is EPS/IMSI
attached.
The home operator has option to activate/deactivate the UE configuration to use SMS over IP by means of device management in
order to allow alignment with HPLMN support of SMS over IP.
When UE is performing CS fallback procedure for Mobile Originating Call for the purpose of emergency call, it needs to indicate to the
MME that this CS fallback request is for emergency purpose. MME also indicates to the E-UTRAN via the appropriate S1-AP message
that this CS fallback procedure is for emergency purpose.
Contents of this blog are mostly derived from 3GPP specification 23.272, for better and detailed understanding, same should be
referred.
Although there had been talks about another approach for CS Fallback by VoLGA which does not require any enhancement in existing
CS elements like MSC but for VoLGA another set of additional nodes are needed. to know more about VoLGA refer one of our earlier
blog LTE needs VoLGA.
Why LTE Requires Low Latency
There are two obvious reasons why LTE networks will require both lower latency and higher bandwidth backhaul: LTE simply is the
lowest latency air interface and features bandwidth that cannot be supported by legacy backhaul protocols.
Edge and EVDO networks can handle average peak data rates using two or three T1 links, but need more than that to handle peak
rates. But HSPA networks cannot do so, either efficiently or conveniently. To support peak rates on an HSPA network, about 45 Mbps
is required.
An LTE network using a 10-MHz channel requires nearly a DS-3 (45 Mbps) just to handle average load, and needs an Ethernet
connection to handle peak loads.
Also, where older GPRS or EDGE data networks featured round-trip latencies in the 600 millisecond to 700 msec. range, LTE networks
feature round-trip latencies in the 50 msec. range.
That means Ethernet speed backhaul and lower-latency performance is required.
While much attention has been focused on LTE data rates, another important parameter, latency, has
gone largely unnoticed. Yet, latency is critical to enable a number of applications particularly voice
services (VoLTE). I review in this post some of the publicly reported results I found on LTE latency.
But first, I like to clarify that latency will depend on a number of parameter. It is a statistical measure
and through the reported results, we sort of get a feel for what LTE can provide. Some of the
parameters impacting latency include traffic and subscriber load, the type of traffic and the channel
radio frequency condition.
LTE includes quality of service management with up to 9 classes of service. Conversational voice is
very susceptible to delay and packet error loss, particularly for low bit-rate vocoders. Real-time
gaming is another highly demanding application both in terms of delay budget and packet error rate.
Packet Packet
Resource
QCI Priority Delay Error Loss Example Services
Type
Budget Rate
1 2 100 ms 10-2 Conversational Voice
2 4 150 ms 10-3 Conversational Video (Live Streaming)
3 GBR 3 50 ms 10-3 Real Time Gaming
Non-Conversational Video (Buffered
4 5 300 ms 10-6 Streaming)
5 Non- 1 100 ms 10-6 IMS Signalling
GBR Video (Buffered Streaming)
TCP-based (e.g., www, e-mail, chat,
6 6 300 ms 10-6 ftp, p2p file sharing, progressive
video, etc.)
7 7 100 ms 10-3 Voice,
Video (Live Streaming)
Interactive Gaming
8 8 Video (Buffered Streaming)
TCP-based (e.g., www, e-mail, chat,
300 ms 10-6
9 9 ftp, p2p file sharing, progressive
video, etc.)
I summarized below some of my findings. Unfortunately, most of these reported values were not
qualified for the general conditions under which the measurements were taken.
Reported Latency Network / Reference Comments

Average: 49 AT&T Houston
Latency measured to servers in the operators local
msecMin: 40 (Signals
market.
msec Research)
These are reported as “Network Latency” and defined as
Average: 23 “the time it takes for a network to respond.” I
TeliaSonera
msecMax: 38 believe this measurement was done under very
Finland (Epitiro)
msec controlled conditions since they reported relatively
stable average.
Average: 143
msecMin: 79 Verizon (BTIG) Tests were conducted in-building and near a window.
msec
According to LTE system specification and requirements, user plane latency is defined to be sub 10
msec for two way radio delay. Although this value excludes the latency to the core, the bulk of
latency typically occurs on the air interface. Hence, there is much more room for improvements and
optimization when it comes to LTE latency. In fact, I see this as a key issue and even failure of the
LTE standard if latency is not improved. After all, LTE was designed with a 1 msec sub-frame to
meet the low latency requirement. So far, this goal has not been achieved.
AT&T Houston LTE Network Latency Test Results (Source: Signals Research Group, LLC)
TeliaSonera Finland LTE Network Latency Test Results (Source: Epitiro)
Latency can be improved

_ By improving transmission latency at the access layer
_ By providing service locally closer to the client(s)
Drop Analysis due to Async:
depends on the particular vendor implementation. That is, the drop may be caused by a UE
message or by measurements carried out by the eNodeB.
Both the UE and the eNodeB may check if the radio link is in-synch. In this blog, we will
describe the activities that the UE carries out to determine if the radio link is in-synch and
their consequences. Part 2 of this blog, will present the activities that the eNodeB may carry
out to determine if the radio link is in-synch or not.
So…. When is the Radio Link in-synch?
The UE is expected to monitor the RS in the downlink. Based on the signal strength of the
Reference Signals (i.e., the RSRP), the UE will determine if it can decode the PDCCH based
on a certain set of parameters that are provided in the specs. Each UE will have a different
RSRP threshold in which it will assume it cannot read the PDCCH. If the Reference signals
have enough strength such that the UE can decode consistently the PDCCH, then the link is
In-Synch.
How do we determine if the Radio Link is out of Synch?
The full procedure for determining if the link has failed due to being out of sync is shown in
the figure below. In the picture, there are three parameters shown:
n310: This parameter indicates the number of 200 ms intervals when the UE is unable to
successfully decode the PDCCH due to low RSRP detected. That is, this parameter
indicates the number of times in which the UE cannot successfully decode 20 consecutive
frames in the downlink.
t310: It is a timer, in seconds, used to allow the UE to get back in synchronization with the
eNodeB.
n311: This parameter indicates the number of 100 ms intervals that the UE must
successfully decode the PDCCH to be back in-synch with the eNodeB. That is, this
parameter indicates the number of times in which the UE must successfully decode 10
consecutive frames in the downlink in order for the UE to assume the radio link is in-synch.
If the UE detects n310 consecutive out-of-sync indications, it starts the t310 timer. If the
timer expires, the link has failed. If the UE detects n311 consecutive in-sync indications prior
to the t310 timer expiring, then the timer is stopped and the link has not failed.

So what happens after the UE detects that the link failed?
If the UE determines that the Radio Link fails, the UE will try to reconnect with an RRC
Connection Reestablishment Request message. There are a number of cases that could
occur based on vendor implementation.
What if the eNodeB does not support RRC Connection Reestablishment?
The case shown in the figure below is the simplest case where the eNB does not support
RRC Connection reestablishment. In this case, the eNB responds with an RRC Connection
Reestablishment Reject message. Simultaneously, the eNB will realize that the radio link
has failed and request the connection to be release to the MME. It first requests to drop the
UE Context or the connection to the UE. The cause value is set to “Radio Connection with
UE Lost.” The MME will respond with a UE Context Release Command. At this point, the
eNodeB will respond with the UE Context Release Complete message to the MME and will
release the RRC connection with the UE by sending an RRC Connection Release to the UE.
Depending on the RF conditions, the UE may or may not receive this message.

What if the eNodeB does support RRC Connection Reestablishment?
If the eNodeB supports RRC connection Reestablishment, and assuming that the eNodeB
finds both the UL and DL in synch when it receives the RRC connection reestablishment
request message, two scenarios may occur: RRC connection reestablishment success and
failure.
In the case of an RRC connection reestablishment success, the following signaling is

carried exchanged.

If the RRC connection gets successfully reestablished, then the session does not get
dropped.
If the RRC connection reestablishment procedure fails in one of its steps, then the eNodeB
will send the UE context release request message to the MME. Note that the RRC
connection reestablishment process may fail in several steps. Below, in the figure, only one
case is shown.

If the RRC connection reestablishment fails, then the session is dropped.
Yes, you are right!! But think in the consequences first!
If you increase the power of the RS, If you increase n310, if you increase t310 or if you
decrease n311 to its minimum value, the then the number of drop calls will decrease.
The file is saved at /mbsc/bam/version_a/ftp/export_cfgmml/CFGMML-RNC2001-10.79.67.68-20140620153258.zip
LTE air interface characteristics & LTE Channel Function
The air interface is the radio-based communication link between the mobile station and the active
base station. LTE air interface supports high data rates. LTE uses Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiple Access (OFDMA) for downlink transmission to achieve high peak data rates in high
spectrum bandwidth. LTE uses Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) for
uplink transmission, a technology that provides advantages in power efficiency.
LTE air interface characteristics
LTE air interface characteristics are:
Downlink (DL) based on OFDMA. OFDMA offers improved spectral efficiency capacity using OFDMA technology.
Uplink (UL) based on SC-FDMA. SC-FDMA is similar to OFDMA for uplink from hand-held devices such as mobile phones which
require better battery power conservation.
Supports both FDD and TDD modes:
 Provides deployment flexibility in spectrum allocation.
 With FDD, DL and UL transmissions are performed simultaneously in two different frequency bands.
 With TDD, DL and UL transmissions are performed at different time intervals within the same frequency band.
Significant reductions in delay over air interface and idle to active mode transition.
Suitable for real-time applications, for example, VoIP, PoC, gaming, and so on.
Large improvement in uplink spectral efficiency.
Advanced adaptive MIMO support. Balance average/peak throughput, coverage/cell-edge bit rate.
LTE channel
Channels are used to transport and segregate different types of data across the LTE radio access network interface.
The various data channels are grouped into three categories:
 Physical channels – The physical channels are transmission channels that carry user data and control messages.
 Transport channels – The physical layer transport channels offer information transfer to Medium Access Control (MAC) and
higher layers.
 Logical channels – The logical channels provide services for the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer within the LTE protocol
stack.
The X2 interface is the interface between the eNodeBs. X2 interface protocol stack is described in Figure.
X2 Interface performs the following functions:
 X2-UP (User Plane)
 X2-CP (Control Plane)
LTE X2-UP (User Plane)
The LTE X2-UP protocol tunnels end-user packets between the LTE eNodeBs. The tunneling function supports the identification of
packets with the tunnels and packet loss management. X2-UP uses GTP-U over UDP or IP as the transport layer protocol similar to
LTE S1-UP protocol. LTE S1-UP and LTE X2-UP use the same U-plane protocol to minimize protocol processing for the eNodeB at
the time of data forwarding.
The LTE X2 user plane external interface (X2-U) is defined between LTE eNodeBs. The LTE X2-U interface provides non
guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs. The transport network layer is built on IP transport of LTE and GTP-U is used on top of
the UDP or IP to carry the user plane PDUs. The X2-UP interface protocol stack is identical to the S1-UP protocol stack.
LTE X2-CP (Control Plane)
LTE X2-CP has SCTP as the transport layer protocol which is similar to the LTE S1-CP protocol. The load management function
allows exchange of overload and traffic load information between LTE eNodeBs to handle traffic load effectively. The handover
function enables one eNodeB to handover the UE to another eNodeB.
A handover operation requires transfer of information necessary to maintain the LTE RAN services at the new eNodeB. It also
requires the establishment and release of the tunnels between source and target eNodeB to allow data forwarding and informs the
already prepared target eNodeB for handover cancellations.
LTE X2-CP protocol functions include:
 intra LTE-Access-System mobility support for the UE
 context transfer from source eNodeB to target eNodeB
 control of user plane tunnels between source eNodeB and target eNodeB
 handover cancellation
 uplink load management
 general X2 management
 error handling
The LTE X2 control plane external interface (X2-CP) is defined between two-neighbor eNodeBs. The transport network layer is
built on SCTP on top of IP. The application layer signaling protocol is referred to as X2-AP (X2 Application Protocol).
Function of Control plane protocol stacks in LTE

The control plane includes the application protocol. It also includes the signaling bearers for transporting the application protocol
messages. The application protocol is used for setting up bearers in the radio network layer. For example, radio access bearers or
radio links.
Figure shows “Control plane protocol stack” comprises Radio Resource Control (RRC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP),
Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), Physical (PHY) and Non Access Stratum (NAS) sub layers. Apart from
the non access stratum (NAS) protocols, all radio interface protocols terminate in the eNodeB on the network side.
The LTE control plane protocol functions are:
LTE Physical (PHY) Sublayer:
The physical layer is between the UE and the eNodeB. The physical layer in LTE supports the Hybrid ARQ with soft combining,
uplink power control, and multi-stream transmission and reception (MIMO).
LTE Media Access Control (MAC) Sublayer:
The MAC sublayer is between the UE and the eNodeB. Along with scheduling, it performs error correction through HARQ, priority
handling across UEs as well as across different logical channels of a UE, traffic volume measurement reporting, and multiplexing or
demultiplexing of different RLC radio bearers from the physical layer on transport channels.
LTE Radio Link Control (RLC) Sublayer:
The RLC sublayer is between the UE and the eNodeB. Along with transferring upper layer PDUs, the RLC does error correction
through ARQ, in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs, duplicate detection, flow control and concatenation or re-assembly of
packets.
LTE Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Sublayer:
The PDCP sublayer is included in the control plane and is used for ciphering and integrity protection. In addition, PDCP sublayer is
used for control plane data transmission. The PDCP receives PDCP SDUs from the RRC and forwards them to the RLC layer.
LTE Radio Resource Control (RRC) Sublayer:
The RRC sublayer is between the UE and the eNodeB. The RRC sublayer in essence performs broadcasting, paging, connection
management, radio bearer control, mobility functions, UE measurement reporting and control.
LTE Non Access Stratum (NAS) Sublayer:
The NAS sublayer is between the UE and the MME. It performs authentication, security control, idle mode mobility handling, and
idle mode paging origination.
Function of User plane protocol stacks in LTE

The user plane includes the data streams and the data bearers for the data streams. The data streams are characterized by one or
more frame protocols specified for that interface.
Figure shows “User-plane protocol stack” comprise Medium Access Control (MAC), Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP),
Radio Link Control (RLC) and Physical (PHY) sub layers. Apart from the serving gateway protocols, all radio interface protocols
terminate in the eNodeB on the network side.
The LTE user plane protocol performs the following functions:
Physical (PHY) Sublayer :
The physical layer is between the UE and the eNodeB. The physical layer in LTE supports the Hybrid ARQ with soft combining,
uplink power control and multi-stream transmission and reception (MIMO).
Media Access Control (MAC) Sublayer :
The MAC sublayer is between the UE and the eNodeB. MAC sublayer performs error correction through HARQ, priority handling
across UEs as well as across different logical channels of a UE, traffic volume measurement reporting, and
multiplexing/demultiplexing of different RLC sublayer.
Radio Link Control (RLC) Sublayer :
The RLC sublayer is between the UE and the eNodeB. Along with transferring upper layer PDUs, the RLC does error correction
through ARQ, in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs, duplicate detection, flow control and concatenation or re-assembly of
packets.
Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Sublayer:
For the user plane, the PDCP sublayer performs header compression and ciphering
S1 interface – A Single Interface between LTE RAN and evolved packet core
The S1 interface is the interface between the LTE RAN and evolved packet core. S1 interface protocol stack is described in Figure.
S1 performs the following functions:
 S1-UP (user plane)
 S1-CP (control plane)
LTE S1-UP (user plane)
The S1 user plane external interface (S1-U) is defined between the LTE eNodeB and the LTE S-GW. The S1-U interface provides
non guaranteed data delivery of LTE user plane Protocol Data Units (PDUs) between the eNodeB and the S-GW. Transport
network layer is built on IP transport and GTP-U. UDP/IP carries the user plane PDUs between the eNodeB and the S-GW. A GTP
tunnel per radio bearer carries user traffic.
The S1-UP interface is responsible for delivering user data between the eNodeB and the S-GW. The IP Differentiated Service Code
Point (DSCP) marking is supported for QoS per radio bearer.
LTE S1-MME (control plane)
The LTE S1-MME interface is responsible for delivering signaling protocols between the eNodeB and the MME. S1-MME interface
consists of a Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) over IP and supports multiple UEs through a single SCTP association.
It also provides guaranteed data delivery. The application signaling protocol is an S1-AP (Application Protocol). The LTE S1-MME
is responsible for Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer setup/release procedures, the handover signaling procedure, the paging
procedure and the NAS transport procedure. LTE Transport network layer is built on IP transport, similar to the user plane but for
the reliable transport of signaling messages SCTP is added on top of the Internet Protocol.
Evolved Packet Core and Quality of Service QOS in LTE

The LTE related core network evolution is referred to as Evolved Packet Core (EPC). LTE architecture is based on the system
architecture evolution (SAE) model defined by the 3G Partnership Project (3GPP). EPC consists of the following network elements:
The Mobility Management Entity (MME) is the LTE mobility management and session management entity of the evolved packet
core. MME is responsible for selection of the P-GW, triggering and enabling authentication, and saving the subscriber profile
downloaded from the HSS.
The MME handles signaling traffic from the UE/eNodeB through any of the following:
 S1-MME interface
 MME talks to other MMEs through the S10 interface
In the evolved packet core, the MME terminates the control plane with the mobile device. MME is responsible for terminating Non
Access Stratum (NAS) signaling such as Mobility Management (MM) and Session Management (SM) information as well as
coordinating Idle Mode procedures. The MME also includes the gateway selection inter MME Mobility and authentication of the
mobile device.
Serving Gateway
The Serving Gateway (S-GW) is responsible for anchoring the user plane for inter-eNodeB handover and inter-3GPP mobility. S-
GW in LTE terminates the LTE RAN and a UE that has only one S-GW at any instance. S-GW handles the user data functionality
and is involved in routing and forwarding the data packets to P-GW through S5 interface.
Packet Data Network Gateway
The Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW) is responsible for IP address allocation to the UE. The PDN-GW is also the policy
enforcement point to enforce Quality of Service (QOS) specific rules on traffic packets. The PDN-GW terminates the signaling
gateway (SG) interface in evolved packet core network.
PDN-GW is responsible for functions such as policy enforcement based on the traffic monitoring characteristics on a subscriber by
subscriber basis and ensures the appropriate traffic policy. The PDN-GW connects the UE to external PDNs (Packet Data
Networks) and acts as the UE’s default router.
Policy Control and Charging Rules Function
The Policy Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is a functional entity of the 3GPP PCC (Policy and Charging Control) architecture. The
PCRF plays a vital role and makes Quality of Service (QOS) and charging policy decisions. The Home PCRF (HPCRF) interfaces
with the CSCF, it retrieves IMS layer QOS and makes policy decisions. These Policies are passed down to the P-GW, S-GW, and H-
SGW for policy enforcement through the visited PCRF in the regional center.
LTE RAN – A link between UE and EPC in LTE Network
LTE RAN provides the physical radio link between the User Equipment (UE) and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE
RAN comprises eNodeBs. The eNodeB contains Transmit Receive Duplex Units (TRDUs) or Remote Radio Heads (RRHs) and
communicates with the UEs. The eNodeB supports Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO).
The LTE RAN – eNodeB provides:
 Radio resource management: Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control,
 Connection Mobility Control, and Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink
 and downlink (scheduling)
 S1-MME interface to Mobility Management Entity (MME)
 S1-U interface to Serving Gateway (S-GW)
 IP header compression and encryption of user data stream
 Routing of user plane data towards S-GW
 Scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from MME)
 Scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from MME or
 Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM))
 Bearer level rate enforcement and bearer level admission control
 Handover support
This is Short work of eNodeB of LTE RAN its work widely which I already written in my Previous Article.
LTE – eNodeB, MME and SAE Function in Short

Here I write in short about eNodeB functions, Mobile Management Entity (MME) functions and System Architecture Evolution
(SAE) functions.
LTE – eNodeB functions
The eNodeB performs the following functions in LTE:
 Radio Resource Management, Radio Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control,
 Connection Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to LTE UEs in both Uplink and Downlink (scheduling)
 IP header compression and encryption of user data stream
 Selection of MME at LTE UE attachment
 Routing User Plane data to LTE SAE Gateway
 Scheduling and transmission of paging messages (originated from the MME)

 Scheduling and transmission of broadcast information (originated from the MME or Operations, Administration and
Maintenance (OAM)
 Measurement and measurement reporting configuration for mobility and scheduling in LTE
LTE – Mobile Management Entity (MME) functions
The MME performs the following functions in LTE:
 Distribution of paging messages to the LTE eNodeBs
 Security control in LTE call
 Idle state mobility control
 SAE bearer control
 Ciphering and integrity protection of NAS signaling
LTE – System Architecture Evolution (SAE) functions
The System Architecture EvolutionSAE Gateway performs the following functions for LTE:
 Termination of LTE U-plane packets for paging reasons
 Switching of U-plane for supporting UE mobility
 QoS handling and tunnel management
This is only short work of eNodeB, Mobile Management Entity (MME) and System Architecture Evolution (SAE) which I already
write in details in previous Topics.
Current LTE Features and Benefits of LTE

Here i write current LTE Features and benefits of LTE in small point note which will short description of LTE technology.
Current LTE version features
The following are the features of LTE Technology:
 Spectral efficiency (5 bps/Hz DL, 2.5 bps/Hz UL), user throughput (up to 100 Mbps) in LTE,
 latency (10 ms UE-eNodeB), cell edge bit rate
 Simplification of the radio network with flexible spectrum allocation (1.4 – 20 MHz) in LTE
 Support of efficient packet-based services such as Multimedia Broadcast Multicast
 Service (MBMS) and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
 Converged baseband and Software-Defined Radio (SDR) modules in LTE
 Self-Organizing Network (SON) capabilities
 Inter-working with GSM,W-CDMA, and CDMA networks
 Radio resource management and fair scheduler easily in LTE
 IP transport at its based level in LTE

 Interoperability with networks such as UTRAN, GERAN, and EV-DO means old technology compatibilities.
Benefits of Current used LTE version
LTE provides global mobility with a wide range of services which includes voice, data, and video in a mobile environment with
lower deployment costs.
The following are the Key benefits of LTE:
 Support for higher user data rates
 Reduced packet latency and rich multimedia user experience best in current technology.
 Increased spectral efficiency. Offer new services and adapt to available spectrum
 Improved system capacity and coverage as well as variable bandwidth operation
 Lower deployment costs
 Excellent performance for outstanding quality of experience as compare to old technology.
 Wide spectrum and bandwidth range
 Cost effective with a flat IP architecture
 Smooth integration and mobility with the networks
 Optimized usage of radio resource management and fair scheduler
Now you understand why all operators want LTE spectrums because of LTE Super futures and wide range of benefits which boost
Operator business.
How Discard of Data Packets during LTE Call Conversation

Typically, the data rate available at the radio interface is lower than the data rate available on the network interfaces. Thus, when a
certain rate data service is higher than the data rate of the LTE radio interface, this leads to buffering in the UE and the
eNodeB. This buffer allows the programmer to the MAC layer some freedom to vary the instantaneous data rate of the
physical layer in order to adapt to the current conditions of the radio channel. Thanks to buffer the variations in
instantaneous data rate are observed by applying only an unstable transfer delay.
However, when the data rate exceeds the rate achieved by using data provided by the radio interface during a long period, a large
number of data buffers may result. This can lead to significant loss of data transmission, without any losses if the transmission is
not applied to the carrier or to excessive delay for real time applications.
In the fixed Internet, one of the roles typically performed by routers is to drop packets when the index of a data request exceeds the
data rate available on a part of the Internet. An application can then detect packet loss and adapt its data rate to the available rate.
A typical example is the handling of TCP transmission window in the TCP transmission window is reduced when a missing packet
is detected, thereby adapting the available rate. Other applications such as video or voice calls via IP can also detect lost packets, for
example via RTCP (Realtime Transport Control Protocol) feedback, and can adapt the data rate accordingly.
In order for these mechanisms to work, and to prevent excessive delay function discarding included PDCP layer for LTE. This
feature is based on the drop timer, wherein for each PDCP SDU, received from higher layers in the transmitter starts a timer, and
when the transmission of PDCP SDU has not yet started in the UE upon expiration of the timer is discarded PDCP SDU. If the
timer is set to an appropriate value for the required QoS radio, this mechanism can prevent discarding excessive delays and queues
at the transmitter.
How LTE Security Implementation through encryption
Implement security through encryption (both control plane (RRC) data and user plane data) and integrity protection (for control
plane (RRC) data only), it is the responsibility PDCP layer. A PDCP Data PDU counter (known as the “COUNT” into the
specifications of LTE) is used as an input to algorithms security. value COUNT is incremented for each PDCP PDU data during a
RRC connection, has a length of 32 bits, for to allow an acceptable time for the RRC connection.
When an RRC connection, the count is maintained by both the UE and the eNodeB counting each transmitted / received PDCP
data PDU. To ensure robustness against packet loss, each protected PDCP PDU data includes a PDCP sequence number (SN) which
corresponds to the least significant bits of the count. Thus, if one or more packets are lost, the correct count value of a new packet
may be determined using the PDCP SN. This means that the count value is associated with the next highest count to which the least
significant bits correspond to the value of the PDCP SN.
Loss of synchronization of the count value between the user equipment and the eNodeB can then occur if a number of packets
corresponding to the maximum SN is lost consecutively. In principle, the probability of this type of synchronization loss occurring
can be minimized by increasing the length of the SN, even in the measurement of the transmission of the count value in each set of
PDCP data PDU. However, this will cause a strong overload, and therefore only the least significant bits are used as the SN, SN of
the actual length is dependent on the configuration and the type of PDU.
This use of a meter is designed to protect against a type of attack known as a replay attack where the attacker tries to intercept a
package that was previously calculated using the COUNT provides protection against attacks targeting model derivation and
encryption key used by comparing successive models. Due to the use COUNT value, even if the same packet is transmitted twice
cipher model will be completely uncorrelated between the two transmissions, thus preventing possible security breaches.
The integrity protection is performed by adding a field known as the “Message Authentication Code for Integrity” (MAC-I) for each
RRC message. This code is based on access layer (AS) derived keys, the message ID, radio bearer in the direction (uplink or
downlink ie) and COUNT value.
If the integrity check fails, the message is discarded and integrity verification failure is indicated for the RRC layer, so re RRC
connection procedure can be performed. Encryption is accomplished by performing a XOR operation with the message and
encryption stream, which is generated by the encryption algorithm on the basis of the derived keys AS, the radio bearer identity
direction (i.e., uplink or downlink), and the value COUNT.
Encryption can be applied to PDCP Data PDU. PDCP Control PDU (such as ROHC feedback or reports on the state of PPPC) are
neither encrypted nor integrity protected. Except for identical retransmissions same COUNT value is not allowed to be used several
times for key security. ENodeB is responsible to prevent re-count the same combination of radio bearer identity based key and
algorithm AS . To avoid such reuse, eNodeB can, for example, use different radio radio bearer identity successively bearing units,
trigger a cell or trigger a state transition of the UE connected to idle and back again connected.
How Header Compression in LTE

One of the main functions of the PDCP header compression is using Header Compression (ROHC) robust protocol defined by IETF
(Internet Engineering Task Force) . In LTE, header compression is very important because there is no support for transport of
voice circuit-switched (CS) domain. Thus in order to provide voice services (PS ) domain Packet – Switched to a way approaching
deficient normally associated with CS services need to be outside IP/UDP/RTP3 compliment which is usually used for Voice over
IP ( VoIP) services.
Specified in the IETF “RFC 4995,” a framework that supports a number of “profiles ” different header compression (eg. sets of rules
and parameters for performing compression) . Supported header compression profiles for the LTE are listed in the table. This
means that the EU can implement one or more of the ROHC Profile. It is important to note that the profiles have been defined in
the IETF earlier, “RFC 3095 ” has been redefined in RFC 4995 , in order to increase the strength in some cases. The efficiency of
RFC 3095 and RFC 4995 is similar, and UMTS only supports RFC 3095.
Support of ROHC is mandatory UE, except UES supporting VoIP. UES supporting VoIP must support at least one RTP
compression profile, UDP and IP.The eNodeB RRC signaling controls the ROHC profiles supported by the UE are allowed to be
used. UE ROHC compressor and eNodeB then dynamically detect IP flows using a certain configuration IP header compression
and choose a suitable profile of profiles allowed and supported.
ROHC header compression works by allowing both the sender and receiver to store the state of the header (e.g. IP addresses of the
sender / receiver), and update them only when they change. In addition, the dynamic components (for example, RTP time stamp
outside) are compressed from the transmission num different a reference clock maintained.
As part non – thus changing the headers are sent once decompression success depends on proper receipt. Therefore, the feedback
is used in order to confirm correct receipt of the initialization information for header decompression. In addition, proper
decompression APRIM PDCP PDU is confirmed periodically by packet losses.
As mentioned above, the most important use case for ROHC is VoIP. Typically, for the transport of a VoIP packet, which contains a
32- byte payload, the header will be added to 60 bytes to 40 bytes for IPv6 and IPv4 case – that is, a top head 188 % and 125 %,
respectively. By the ROHC, the header compression entities, this overhead can be compressed to four to six bytes, and thus a
relative direction of 12.5-18.8 %. This calculation is valid to active periods, but in times of peace size is less useful, such as the
relative overhead is large.
Paging in Detail for LTE UE

To receive E-UTRAN pagination, UEs in idle mode for monitoring PDCCH for the channel value used to indicate the pagination
RNTI: RNTI-P. The EU needs only to monitor the PDCCH channel at certain specific times (i.e. the subframes are specified for
individual radio frames introduction to the framework structure of the LTE radio.). At other times the EU you can apply DRX,
which means that you can stop the receiver in order to save battery power.
E-UTRAN configures that Angel and Subframes are used for paging. Each cell produces a series of default paging. In addition, the
upper layers can use dedicated signaling to set up a series of EU-specific pages. If both are configured, the EU applies the lowest
value. The EU calculated Angel (paging (PF)) and secondarily in PF (mode paging (PO)), that E-UTRAN refers to EU in the
following ways:
SFN mod T = (T/N) × (UE_ID mod N)
i_s = _UE_ID/N_ mod Ns
T = UE DRX cycle (i.e. paging cycle) = min(Tc, Tue)
N = min(T, nB)
Ns = max(1, nB/T)
where:
 TC is the default paging-specific cell cycle {32, 64, 128, 256} radio frames,
 Tuesday is the EU specific cycle pagination {32, 64, 128, 256} radio frames,
 N is the number of frames in the paging paging EU cycle,
 UE_ID IMSI20 mode is 1024, the IMSI is decimal rather than binary number,
 i_s is an index that points to a pre-defined table definition corresponding subframe
 nB is the number of “paging Subframes ‘ paging per cycle (over all UEs in the cell),
 NS is the number of “paging Subframes in a framework, which is used for paging.
The table includes a number of examples to illustrate the calculation of radio paging (PF) frames and subframes (PO).
In cases (A) and (B) in the table, one for every four-frame is used for radio paging by using the secondary of each of these frames.
In the case of (B), there are 32 paging framework in the EU cycle paging, over which the UEs are distributed on the basis of the EU.
In the case of (C), two subframes per frame are used for paging, or Ns = 2. In this case, 128 pages frames within the EU and UEs
also paging are distributed on two subframes paging interval. LTE specifications include a table showing for each combination of
Ns and i_s, which is the interface index for resulting out of the equation. The figure shows the cases (B) and (C) all shaded
subframes may be used for radio paging system; the darkest are applied for the EU.
Frequency or RAT Evaluation for LTE UE

E-UTRAN configures a priority for all applicable frequencies for each RAT. In addition to the priorities of specific cells that are
optionally provided by SI, E-UTRAN can assign specific EU priorities through dedicated signaling. Since frequencies are indicated
in the information system, the EU is expected to take into account only the cell reselection which has priority. Equal priorities are
not applicable for inter-RAT cell reselection.
EU reselects to a cell in a frequency higher priority if the target cell S-criterion question exceeds a high threshold (ThreshX-high)
for more than some Treselection. UE reselects from one cell to a lower frequency If the priority in which the criterion of serving cell
is below a low threshold (threshold of service-Low), as the S-criteria of target cells at frequencies lower than the priority (possibly
on another RAT) exceeds the a low threshold (ThreshX-low) the time interval Treselection, and at the same time, the cells in a
higher priority frequency .UE be assessed based on the first threshold level or to the level of quality, depending on the parameters
E-UTRAN configures. Figure illustrates the state (s) to be met again to select a cell on a higher priority frequency (gray bar) and in
a cell at a frequency lower priority (dark gray bars).
Frequency RAT evaluation
If reselection frequency, possibly on different rat which has a different priority UE cell reselects the highest points on a given
frequency. Please note that the thresholds and priorities set by the frequency and Treselection RAT installed.
Since Release 8, UMTS, and GERAN support a cell reselection priority basis, as shown in LTE, the frequency with priority. Issue 8
Release will continue to handle the traffic compensate EEC old. In addition, version 8 should UES applied based radio quality
rating (offset), unless indicated support UMTS or GERAN priorities based reselection.
UE information transfer and RRC connection Aspects in LTE

Means for transmitting UE
In order to avoid signaling of the radio access capability of the UE via an air interface at each transition from RRC_IDLE to
RRC_CONNECTED, the core network stores AS capabilities (such as E-UTRA and the possibility GERAN), while the UE is in the
RRC_IDLE / EMM-registered. After the connection S1, the core network provides opportunities E-UTRAN. If the E-UTRAN does
not receive (optional) capabilities of the core network (e.g., in connection with the UE being in the EMM-deregistered), it requests
the UE to provide its features using a transmission opportunity procedure.
UE-UTRAN may indicate for each rat (LTE, UMTS, GERAN), if UE wants to obtain the corresponding requested capabilities. UE
provides the possibility of using a separate container for each rat. Dynamic change of UE capability is not supported, except for the
changes in the GERAN capabilities RRC_IDLE supported tracking area update procedure.
Uplink / downlink transmission
Uplink / downlink communication procedures used to transmit information only the top layer (ie no RRC control information
included). Procedure supports 3GPP NAS dedicated information and the selection information CDMA2000.
To reduce latency, NAS information may also be included in the RRC-connection Setup Complete and the RRC Connection
Reconfiguration message. In the latest report, NAS information is included only if the AS and NAS procedures vary (i.e. they share
the success or failure). This refers to the EPS bearer establishment, modification and release. As noted earlier, some additional
procedures transmission NAS were also determined for CDMA2000 for pre-registration.
UE Information Transfer
UE information transfer process was introduced in Release 9 to support SON. The mobility support network optimization
robustness presentation of data at a later time point of measurement information available when a radio link failure. E-UTRAN
may be used also to transfer the information to the UE to retrieve information about the last successful random access memory
that can be used to optimize the RACH.
How Measurement Report Triggering in LTE UE

Depending on the type of measurement, the UE can measure and report any of the following:
 serving cell;
 list of cells (e.g., cells shown as part of the object of measurement);
 cells are found at the frequency set (ie cells are the cells that are not listed, but found UE).
For some rats, the UE measures and reports submitted by the cells (eg, white list list), while the other RAT UE report also found
the cell. In addition, E-UTRAN can configure the PCI ranges in which the UE can send a measurement report (especially for
teaching support UTRAN cell broadcast CSG identity).
For LTE, the following criteria specified reporting and events:
 The event A1. Serving cell becomes better than an absolute threshold.- good coverage
 Event A2. The serving cell becomes less than the absolute.- bad coverage
 A3 event. The neighboring cell is greater than the difference in comparison to the serving cell.- intra frequency
 Event A4. Neighbor cell becomes better than an absolute threshold.-Interfrequency
 Event A5. Serving cell becomes worse than an absolute threshold and the neighboring cells is better than another absolute
threshold.- Interfrequency
For inter-RAT mobility are the following criteria for reporting and events:
 The event B1. Neighbor cell becomes better than an absolute threshold.
 B2 event. Serving cell becomes worse than an absolute threshold and the neighboring cells is better than another absolute
threshold.
UE raises an event when one or more cells to meet the “conditions of entry” is specified. E-UTRAN may affect the input condition
setting configurable parameters used in these circumstances – for example, one or more thresholds, the displacement and / or
hysteresis. Input condition must be met for at least the period corresponding “response time” setting is configured E-UTRAN for
the event to be enabled.
The UE scales the time To Trigger parameter depending on its speed .Figure illustrates the A3 triggering event for the start time
and the offset configured.
UE can be configured to provide a series of periodic reports after a trigger event. This is the “regular reporting event” is configured
using parameters compared Amount “and” Report Interval “, which define respectively the number of periodic reports and the time
between them. If an event is set for periodic reporting, Earl UE number of messages sent is reset every time a new cell corresponds
to the initial state. same cell can not serve as a pretext for a new set of periodic reports, if it does not respond at first, “leaving
specified state” .
In addition to event-triggered reporting, the UE can be configured for periodic measurement reports. In this case, the same
parameters can be set as an event triggered reporting, except that the reporting UE starts immediately and not only when an event
occurs.
How Measurement Configuration in EUTRAN

The E-UTRAN can configure the UE to report measurement information to support the control of UE mobility. The following
measurement configuration elements can be signaled via the RRC Connection Reconfiguration message.
E-UTRAN may configure the UE to report measurement information to support the control elements mobility. Following
measurement configuration message can be supplied via the RRC-connection reconfiguration.
1. Measurement objectives. An object that defines UE measure must measure – such as a carrier frequency. The object of
measurement can include a list of cells to be considered (white-list or black-list), and parameters associated with, for example,
frequency-or cell-specific offsets.
2. Reporting configurations. A configuration reporting criteria include (periodic or triggered by an event) that cause the UE to send
a measurement report and details on what information to expect the UE to report (ie quantities such as incoming SIGNAL Code
power (RSCP) for UMTS or reference signal received power (RSRP) for LTE, and the number of cells.
3. Identities of measurement. They identify and define a measure subject to applicable measurement reporting configuration.
4. The quantity configuration defines time. Configuration filters to be used for each measurement.
5. Measurement gaps. Gaps measurement set time periods when no uplink or downlink transmissions will be scheduled so that the
UE can make measurements.
Measurement gaps are common for all gap-assisted measurements.
The details of the above parameters depend on the frequency measurement refers to a LTE, UMTS, GERAN or UTRAN configures
CDMA2000. only a single measurement object for a given frequency, but more than one identity can use the same type of
measurement. Object identifiers used for measuring and reporting configuration is unique for all types of measurement. An
example of a set of objects of measurement and the corresponding reference configuration is shown in FIG.
In LTE it is possible to configure the amount that triggers the report (or RSCP RSRP) for each reportage. UE configuration can be
configured to report either or both quantities trigger amount.
RRC measurement reporting procedures specifically include some extensions to support self-optimizing network (SON) functions,
such as setting automatic neighbor relation (ANR). RRC measurement procedures also support UE positioning 19 enhanced cell ID
method.
How Inter-RAT Mobility performs in LTE

Here I write on How Inter-RAT Mobility performs in LTE, means Handover to LTE and Mobility from LTE.
Handover to LTE
Procedure for handover of LTE is largely the same as the handover procedure in LTE. The main difference is that the handover to
LTE AS a whole-configuration must be signaled, and the LTE it is possible to use ‘ signaling delta “, according to which only the
changes in the configuration are displayed.
If you like to offer subscribers a better handover had not yet been activated in previous INSTALLMENTS, E-UTRAN activates
Ciphering, possibly using the NULL algorithm, as part of the procedure. E-UTRAN also establishes SRB1, SRB2 and one or more of
the DRBs (i.e. at least DRB is associated with the default “bearer of EPS).
Mobility from LTE
Generally, the procedure for LTE mobility from another RAT supports both handover and Cell Change Order (CCO), possibly with
Assistance Network (NACC – Network Assisted Cell Change). The procedure CCO / NACC is applicable only to GERAN mobility.
Mobility from LTE is performed only after security has been activated. When used for enhanced CSFB18 for CDMA2000, the
handover procedure includes support for parallel (ie both 1XRTT and HRPD), surrendered to 1XRTT along with redirection to
HRPD, and redirection to HRPD only.
The procedure is shown in Figure.
1. The UE may send a Measurement Report message.
2. In the case of handover (unlike CCO), the source eNodeB requests the target radio access (RAN) node to prepare for handover.
As part of the source of “the handover of preparing the query” eNodeB provides information on applicable between RAT UE
capabilities, as well as information about the current set-carriers. In response to the target RAN generates a ‘handover command,
and returns the source eNodeB.
3. Source eNodeB sends a message from the mobile team to EUTRA UE, which includes inter-RAT or message received from the
target (in the case of transmission), or the target cell / frequency and inter-RAT several parameters (in the case of COC).
4. After receiving the message from the mobility team EUTRA, UE starts timer T304 and connect to the target node, or by using the
radio to get the configuration (transfer) or by initiating a connection (CBS) in accordance with the specifications of the target RAT.
The upper layers of the UE reports to the AS the target RAT, that the carriers are installed. Consequently, UE may occur if some of
the established carriers, were not admitted to the target RAN node.
For CDMA2000
For CDMA2000, additional procedures have been defined to support the transfer of information dedicated to the CDMA2000
upper layers, which are used to record the presence of the UE in the core network before performing the handover target (the
preregistration). These procedures use SRB1.
Small notes on Connection Re-Establishment Procedure in LTE

In a number of cases of failure (eg failure of radio link failure of teaching RLC unrecoverable error, failure of compliance
reconfiguration), the procedure for restoring EU RRC connection, provided that security is active. If security is not enabled, when
one of the failures listed appears RRC_IDLE EU moves instead.
Trying to restore the RRC connection, known as the EU starts a timer T311 and performs cell selection. EU should prioritize
looking LTE frequencies.
However, not specified in terms of the EU while abstaining from research to other RATs. On finding a suitable cell on a frequency
LTE EU stops timer T311, start timer T301 and initiate dispute proceedings based random access to enable message RRC
connection re required to be sent. The RRC connection re request message, the EU includes the identity used in the cell where the
failure occurred, the identity of that cell, a message authentication code and a cause.
The E-UTRAN uses the re-establishment procedure to continue SRB1 security and to reactivate without Changing algorithms. A
Subsequent RRC Connection Reconfiguration procedure is used to resume operation on Radio Bearers other than SRB1 and to re-
enable measurements. If the cell in Which the EU initiates the re-establishment is not Prepared (ie does not have a context for That
EU), the E-UTRAN Will reject the procedure, Causing the EU to move to RRC_IDLE.
MAY
2013
Work of Splitters, Combiners and Filters in LTE, different frequencies that are present on combiner, output ports, different
frequencies and cavity filters.
Work of Splitters, Combiners and Filters in LTE

Passive device bi-directional couplers and combiners. Splitters route signals different frequencies that are present on the same
supply line into separate lines for each frequency. Adders perform the same function in reverse order. They accumulate signals of
different frequencies that are present on separate feed lines on one channel line.
They support the nominal impedance of the transmission line to the operating frequency. They maintain a high level of isolation
between the output ports. They have a Pass band insertion loss, usually around 0.2 -0.5 DB, depending on the manufacturer.
Filters (often cavity filters) are resonant devices with bandwidth, designed for specified frequency and steep roll off stop band
skirts. They can be placed in power line to soften the unwanted signals that are adjacent to the desired pass Group. Cavity filters are
sometimes included in the design of Adders when The frequency of the input signal differs from a small.
Diplexers are joined together are groups of filters for the two working groups. They have one input port and two conclusions. Each
filter passes a signal from input port output port (separation of the two signals in two ways) while attenuating the signal from The
other group. The term “Diplexer is used for devices that are used to separate signals for two various operational groups. The term
“Duplexer for devices used to separate the transmit and receive frequencies in the range of work.
This process can be extended to include the three output ports (triplexers) or four ports (quadraplexers).
What is Smart Antennas in LTE

the beginning of wireless networks (e.g. GSM, AMPS) were mainly base station antennas Omni or directional. Using these Fixed
antenna scheme, power radiated from antenna covers a larger area than just the user.
For example, omni antenna power was 360 degrees of radiation. This power was not only in the direction of radiation, but in ways
that would be considered as an increase in interference to other users. If the site has been redesigned with omni directional
antenna to the threesectors sector is limited, the district covers, thus reducing noise. If further increased the number of sectors,
directional antenna became more targeted leads in the ability to have a smaller template reuse.
With LTE all sectors operate on the same channel and reuse the template is always one site. Objective for LTE smart antenna base
station must send a bundle of energy to the Subscriber with increased power during less interference to other users.
Smart antennas for LTE is adaptive antenna, which is an array of multiple antenna elements, where weighted and combined to
maximise the received signals signal to noise plus interference power ratio.
It basically Steers the main beam in the direction of the desired signal and reduces his pacemaker in all other directions. Ray is a
method used to create directional antenna array by adding constructively the phases of the signals in the direction of the desired
subscriber, and Subscriber template zeroing units are undesirable (i.e. interference).
Smart antenna adapts to the environment. That is, for adaptive array beam template changes the user and interference move.
Using smart antennas has benefits outreach, capacity building, Improving efficiency of spectrum, but they also have drawbacks
(e.g., cost, size, and complexity).
Why to evaluate operator existing Network condition for InterRAT in LTE

planning
Radio planning engineers need to understand the existing operator’s network configuration as well as its footprint. This is
particularly important before designing any network that requires commitment on KPIs later. In any Greenfield LTE deployment,
there will be a need for InterRAT handover either due to coverage hole within the LTE network or on the fringe of the LTE network
to area beyond its coverage.
Hence, understanding the current status of the underlying network from both a coverage and performance perspective is critical in
finalizing the LTE network design and capacity planning.
For example,
 It is unwise to place an InterRAT border in a heavily congested area.
 Similarly, it is not appropriate to locate an InterRAT border in location where the existing 3G or 2G network is of poor coverage.
 It is also not recommended to place any InterRAT border along interRNC/BSC or inter PLMN border area.
 Try to locate LTE InterRAT border in area where operator network is offering good throughput to reduce the level of future
operator complaint.
In order to make these InterRAT boundary decision intelligently, it is reasonable to request traffic loading and performance
information from the operator regarding the existing network both within and on the edge of the proposed LTE network
Highway and Tunnel Coverage Requirement
Most Operators will require good coverage along major highway and major tunnels due to the strategic visibility of services. In both
situations, traffic likely to be high speed but low volume so smaller capacity provisioning is acceptable.
In LTE, this means either smaller bandwidth, small transmit power or even less MIMO complexity as long as coverage is fine. One
major problem for this type of coverage is the feasibility of installation due to for example space and air conditioning restrictions
inside tunnel or location restrictions along major highway so Radio planner also need to ensure the appropriate type of eNodeB is
chosen. In general, it is NOT a good practice to rely on the external eNodeBs to provide coverage inside the tunnel.
Terrain and Clutter Database Availability and Accuracy
It may not appear to be important but the resolution and accuracy of terrain and clutter information will have a BIG influence on
the reliability of the final network design. Clutter resolution comes as 10m, 25m, 50m, 100m and beyond depending on the price
paid as well as the location of the clutter. For instance, downtown area will require higher resolution while rural town can accept
data of a lower resolution nature.
Besides data resolution, it is also important to ensure the clutter data is not shifted from the real structural location.
Another important factor is when the database was made available and when was the latest update made. It is very worthwhile to
valid the clutter information against other sources of information e.g. Google earth (which is normally 3 to 6 months late) to ensure
critical structures have been included.
Why needs to know Frequency Band Reframing Requirement for LTE Planning
When you are planning for LTE network then two points also needs to take care frequency band reframing requirement and
location of operator coverage requirement for LTE network. Let’s check both in detail.
Frequency Band Reframing Requirement for LTE
Some of the most popular questions from operator these days are
 How they can perform reframing?
 When is the best time?
 How much spectrum do they need?
For radio planners, answers to these questions are highly variable and every network will be different due to their current capacity
status, growth forecast, marketing strategies and even management preferences to showcase their technological leadership or not.
As a result, it is recommended until a clear vision is obtained from operator for all 3 questions listed above, no detail network
design activities should begin.
In case where LTE is to be introduced after spectrum reframing, the following items will need to be considered carefully prior to
detail network design:
 Any co-location with Existing Technology (2G/3G)?
 Guard Band in place already? If not, Guard band spectrum availability?
 Additional passive equipment/path loss introduced due to possible equipment swap out (e.g. antennae change, jumper cable,
coupler or splitter addition) to enable co-sitting with existing technology (CDMA/GSM/UMTS)
 Changes in Hardware which will lead to path loss changes.
 Extra workload requirement due to reframing which may have human resources impact (e.g. require GSM planning).
Location of Operator Coverage Requirement
It is critical to have the proposed LTE site locations correspond to where it can best serve the designated traffic area and traffic
type. In developed markets, high subscriber density and high usage is expected for dense urban and city area, hence it is normal to
have more site count being allocated to dense urban/urban environment.
Currently, there is also a big push in Europe for white spot (rural) wireless DSL coverage in Europe DD spectrum based on LTE.
Therefore, different operators will have different focus on traffic requirement.
In general, high subscriber density area are most likely made up of users with low mobility so the emphasis on site placement for
dense urban is more critical and it is important to be closer to users in high traffic area. On the other hand, in rural and highway
condition, users are likely to be of lower usage and of higher speed so maximizing coverage through site antenna height or higher
terrain is more important.
In summary, radio planning engineers need to have a good understanding of where operator traffic will be in order to allocate an
appropriate distribution of base stations. This allocation can be affected by such factors as indoor penetration margin and slow
fading margin in the link budget. If operator focus is just in covering dense urban area, it will be inappropriate to design a radio
network with solid coverage everywhere (suburban/rural alike) where operator do not appreciate the value or return on their
investment.
How and Which KPI to Check before and after LTE Launch
Operator always needs to check LTE performance before commercial launch and after commercial launch and here I write how and
which KPI to check.As This is general guide so it is change for different operator but it cover all KPI.
There are two types of methods for KPIs’ measurement: Field Test and Statistic Collection. Different measurement methods and
KPI categories shall be taken into consideration so as to match the following two acceptance phases.
Preliminary Acceptance
For Preliminary Acceptance (before the commercial launch), low traffic (even empty) is not able to produce sufficient traffic data to
evaluate the correlative Statistics KPIs. The main purpose of Preliminary Acceptance is to verify whether the optimized cluster
achieves the coverage and performance requirements or not, so the Field Test (Drive Test and Stationary Test) KPIs are
recommended for this phase.
Final Acceptance (Stability Acceptance, Optional)
For Final Acceptance (after the commercial launch), statistics collection method could be introduced under the condition that a
minimum amount of traffic per site at the Busy Hour is reached (the sufficient data are available). Based on worldwide experiences
of LTE commercial networks, the following KPIs are suggested for Preliminary Acceptance and Final Acceptance separately.
Proposed KPIs for Preliminary Acceptance
The following table lists the proposed KPIs for Preliminary Acceptance.
Proposed KPIs for Final Acceptance (Stability Acceptance, Optional)
The following table lists the proposed KPIs for Final Acceptance.
Cluster and Test Route
The following contents present recommendation for Cluster Optimization and the selection of Drive Test Route for LTE project.
Cluster Optimization
Performing optimization/acceptance per Cluster is recommended. Cluster means a group of sites (Normally 20-40 sites) which are
geographically neighbor and all the eNodeBs of this test cluster should be integrated and on air, along with surrounding neighbor
cells, but the actual sites number of per cluster should be flexible to allow a faster rollout and acceptance.
Drive Test Route Selection
For cluster optimization, the planning of the test route shall consider the handover performance, neighboring relations, coverage,
etc. In general the test routes shall be planned according to the following criteria:
 All sectors of each site in the cluster should be covered by the drive route, if possible.
 Routes shall pass through Key business centers, major roads, shopping centers, tourist attractions and railway stations.
LTE KPI Measurement Methodology and Acceptance Procedure

Here I write in simple word on LTE KPI Measurement Methodology and its Acceptance Procedure. As it’s for only at network start
up stage and now a day worldwide so many operator starts to launch LTE and so this is the way for them to check of KPI in LTE
LTE KPI Measurement Methodology
The KPIs are formulated to measure the network performance in terms of Accessibility, Integrity, Mobility, Retainability, and
Subscriber perceived quality.
LTE KPIs are mainly classified into 5 classes, which are, Accessibility, Retainability, Mobility, Latency, and Integrity. The KPI
architecture is shown in the following figure.
The above KPI classification fully considers the customer experience and focuses on the Quality of Experience, providing a wide
range of network KPIs to reflect network factors that are relative to the service quality, using industry standards as reference to
define network counters and KPIs.
LTE KPI Acceptance Procedure
LTE network KPI acceptance procedure for the two phases, preliminary acceptance and final acceptance, are recommended as
shown above.
During the phase of preliminary acceptance before commercial launch, KPIs will be derived from the drive test analysis and
stationary measurements, and this analysis and measurement are on the basis of cluster which constitutes a group of sites (20-40
sites).
Statistics KPIs are not proposed and measured at this stage as the traffic is insufficient, statistics will not eligible statistical result
without enough samples.
After on-going optimization while the traffic keeps increasing after commercial launch, the final acceptance of the whole network
performance on the basis of statistics will be implemented. However, the KPI values of statistics probably might not be same with
those in drive test due to different calculations and considerations.
LTE Service KPIs and LTE Network KPIs

The Field Test KPIs into two categories: LTE Service KPIs and LTE Network KPIs.
Service KPIs are the KPIs that are not subject to be effected by cluster tuning and optimization activities, mainly determined by
product performance, configuration and parameter setting, e.g. ping delay, throughput, etc. I recommend that only one cluster
(named pilot cluster) is selected for the evaluation and acceptance for the Service KPIs, no necessary for repeating the
measurement in all clusters Based on the above reasons, the Service KPIs’ test is suggested to be performed by Stationary Test (ST)
in the area with good RF conditions and close to the cell in order to eliminate the affect of poor RF or non-equipment factor and the
test is proposed to be implemented under the condition of one serving cell.
LTE Network KPIs, such as Call setup success rate, Call Drop Rate, Handover Success Rate, which is determined by the radio
network environment, planning and optimization capabilities, should be performed on the Drive Test (DT) routes in rollout
clusters.
S1 and X2 Bandwidth Dimensioning Procedure

The figure below denotes the location of the X2 and S1 link with respect to the other network components within the LTE network.
In general, the traffic on S1 interface is divided into two different plane, the control plane, which uses SCTP (Stream Control
Transmission Protocol) developed by IETF for the purpose of transporting various signaling protocols over IP network, and the
user plane, where GPRS tunneling protocol for user plane (GTPU) is adopted as the tunneling method.
X2 Bandwidth Dimensioning Procedure
X2 is the interface between eNodeBs and the bandwidth requirement is very complex. However in realistic network
implementation, it is most likely that there will not be any direct connection between eNodeBs. Instead, the X2 data will be
combined with the S1 data and transport back to aggregators residing in the switching centre before being rerouted to their target
eNodeB.
Main X2 dimensioning factors that need to be considered (in eRan2.0 and 2.1) include:
 The frequency of handover between eNodeBs
 The duration time of handover
 The overlapping nature between eNodeBs
 Hysteresis setting at cell level
 Average service rate and packet size per handover
 Signaling overhead in control plane of X2 interface
The throughput on X2 is negligible compared to that on S1. Similar to the S1 control plane throughput calculation, the throughput
of X2 is estimated to be 3% of the throughput on S1 in order to simplify the dimensioning process.
Impact of Latency of X2 on Cell Throughput
If infinite HARQ process is allowed (as a theoretical study), excessive delay in S1 or X2 routing will definitely affect the service
quality and user performance of higher layer applications. Even in normal networks, routing delay may be inherent in Operator’s
non cellular core data network and this will create impact on throughput although it is not as severe as in infinite HAQR.
3GPP Services Classification and EUTRAN Capacity Limiting Factors

Here I write on 3GPP Services Classification and EUTRAN Capacity Limiting Factors for LTE.
3GPP Services Classification
Being a data centric technology, LTE has well defined classifications for Quality of Service. In general, there are two main classes of
service type, with Guaranteed Bit rate vs with Non Guaranteed Bit rate.
RT (Real Time) services are characterized by the short time response between the communicating parts and they generally required
an acceptable GBR. These services have strict requirements regarding packet delay and jitter.
As an example of this kind of service we can mention Voice over IP (VoIP). On the other hand, NRT (Non-Real Time) services do
not have tight requirements concerning packet delay although high packet delays are unacceptable.
Hence, NRT normally is Non-GBR services. However, when transmitting NRT services the major constraint is the information
integrity, i.e., information loss is not tolerable. Therefore, applications of this type must have error-correction or recovery
mechanisms. Web browsing is an example of an NRT service.
The table below shows the relative priority, expected error rate and delay for each QoS class.
From a EUTRAN design perspective, how customer chooses the proportion and combination of these different services will be
translated into bits per second requirement for the customer network.
Although the dynamic nature of E-UTRAN capacity limiting factors as listed below will affect the final user throughput and
capacity, it is essential that the network is dimensioned properly in the design stage to reduce the impact of services offer booking
and short term surges in services due to unexpected events.
EUTRAN Capacity Limiting Factors
In general, the following are the major factors that will contribute towards the limitation of EUTRAN capacities:
 Operating Frequency band
 RF Coverage – RSRP
 Impact of Interference on Capacity
 Signal Interference Noise Ratio and Adaptive Coding
 Radio (Transmitter) Power Availability
 Spectrum Bandwidth Availability
 Channel Card (LPPB) Processing Capacity
 S1/X2 Capacity
 Application of Special Antenna Technologies (MIMO/BF/Virtual MIMO)
 Scheduling Mode
 Actual Cell Site Placement in Relation to Traffic
 UE Capability
 User Traffic Mix and Call Modeling
 Time Slot Allocation for Uplink and Downlink – TDD specific

Capacity Definition in LTE as Operator level
A commonly accepted definition of capacity is the one provided by Shannon which states that capacity is the maximum achievable
set of rates in multiple access channels with an arbitrarily small probability of error. As this metric represents a bound in
performance, in practice, the sum of the transmitted data rates (downlink) or aggregated data rate is used.
However, with the increased availability of new services in wireless networks, user perceived quality or QoS is now also included in
many capacity measures. For instance, voice services have long been designed with a probability of error (non connection) ranging
from 1% to 3% In the data centric world, the system capacity could be defined as the maximum aggregated data rate subject to the
constraint that the average experienced quality of all flows in the system should be fulfilled according to a given target.
As “average” experienced quality we can mention the “average” delay of all transmitted packets or the “average” packet throughput.
Since the required “average” experience varies across different services, the traffic mix chosen by the Operators will have a strong
influence on the final maximum aggregate data rate that will be required and smart phone will further complicated the situation
with their new user behavior pattern.
The aim of LTE capacity dimensioning is to obtain the PS throughput supported in the network based on the bandwidth available
and channel condition of each user. A high level summary for capacity planning process and input requirement is listed in the
diagram.
Examples of “Scenario Parameters” and “Equipment Parameters” are also seen in figure.
Most of these parameters are similar to those used for 2G/3G network dimensioning and by carefully considering the contribution
of all these parameters, network planning engineers can determine which customer service level can be met.
Nevertheless, the arrival of smart phone, which has completely different behavior compared to feature phones, is going to add a
new level of challenges to planning engineers. They frequently changes state between “idle” and “connected”, its fast dormancy
feature forces the terminal to switch to an “idle” state every six to eight seconds in order to save battery power, and the service
heartbeat mechanism periodically communicates with the application server. According to signaling statistics of operator, one
smart phone creates 14 times the signaling load of a feature phone.
In addition, the increasing popular level of applications like twitter will hasten the evolution of customer behavior and traffic model
in the next few years. Average subscriber usage at busy hour has rapidly increased from the low 10kbps (since R99/1xRTT) to be in
the mid to high 30kbps right now.
Why Operators require Spectrum Reframing in LTE
Here I write down one basic idea of Spectrum reframing in LTE and why operators require spectrum reframing for LTE.
Operators worldwide are looking forward to new LTE technologies deployment but not every one of them possess brand new
spectrum required for LTE deployment. As a result, many networks are expected to perform some level of reframing so new LTE
technologies can be deployed there. Current and the expected migration timeframe for different frequency band are shown figure
below.
GSM Spectrum Reframing
As shown in the figure above, for Operators not in possession of new LTE spectrum, there is an aggressive drive from Operators in
the 1800MHz community to implement LTE due to the relative abundance of spectrum in that band. With this approach, recovery
of GSM spectrum is an essential step as most 1800MHz networks are still entrenched with GSM technologies.
Tight Frequency Reuse (TFR) technology helps Operators reframe existing GSM spectrum for the deployment of LTE or UMTS
networks. An overview of capacity improvement and KPI achieved with one Operator is listed figure.
LTE1800 eNodeB supports the compact bandwidths by strict filer and RB punching. Compact bandwidths for 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15
MHz and 20 MHz are supported.
 Compact bandwidth configuration helps operators make full use of anomalous frequency bands and reduce the waste of
frequency fragment.
 Compact bandwidth need not to accord with standard bandwidth; Compact bandwidth produces higher
 Throughput and better user experience.
 Compact bandwidth is completely transparent to UE and has no impact to R8/R9 UE.
148Mbps downlink speed rate in trial test with 20MHz LTE bandwidth for LTE1800 as shown in figure.
Buffer Zone
Due to financial and/or traffic requirement, Operators may opt to deploy LTE only in the core urban area but maintain their GSM
system in the same spectrum at the fringe of the network. As a result, LTE may have to co-exist with other technologies (e.g. GSM)
but at different locations. In order to ensure minimal interference is between the EUTRAN and GSM BTS (or Node B of UMTS),
radio engineer can introduce a buffer zone concept as shown figure to the customer.
The final implementation will certainly be more complex due to coverage variations, traffic requirement, interRAT as well as
possible frequency planning arrangement but buffer zone concept will remain a feasible option for LTE and GSM co-existence
LTE Link Budget and Coverage Planning

Here I write on LTE RF link budget basic but important topics and criteria to remember for coverage planning for LTE. Let’s start
topics.
Why Link Budget
Operators are rightfully focused on the service quality of a system and coverage is an important part of the service quality of a
system. The aim of radio network planning is to balance coverage, capacity, quality, and cost so none of these can be considered in
isolation.
Various factors must be considered during LTE system coverage planning and setting of these parameters will affect coverage
radius and the quantity of base stations. LTE Link Budget,Coverage and design requirement must be analyzed in choosing
parameters within the following parameter groups:
 Propagation-related
 Equipment-related
 LTE-specific
 System Reliability
 Specific Considerations
Achievable cell radius can be derived from the Excel based link budget tools. Network planning tool will provide site deployment
specific simulation analysis to obtain the number of required base stations in the target area.
The coverage area offered by a 3 sectors and Omni site along with coverage planning flow is shown below
Conventional LTE Link Budget
The purpose of link budget in LTE network planning is:
 To use such factors as building penetration loss, feeder loss, antenna gain, and the interference
 Margin of radio links to calculate all gains and losses that will affect the final cell coverage
 To estimate the maximum link loss allowed based on the maximum transmit power of the terminal and eNodeB transmit power
allocation.
 Coverage radius of a base station can be obtained according to the maximum link loss allowance under a certain propagation
model. The radius can be used in subsequent design.
Link budget parameters are grouped as follows:
 Propagation (Transmission) related parameters, such as the penetration loss, body loss, feeder loss, and background noise
 Equipment dependent parameters, such as the transmit power, receiver sensitivity, and antenna gain
 LTE-specific parameters, such as the pilot power boosting gain, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) gain, edge coverage
rate, repeated coding gain, interference margin, and fast fading margin
 System reliability parameters, such as slow fading margin
 Specific features that will affect the final path gain
Analysis of Background Noise in LTE RF

Assume that the eNodeB receiver’s IF bandwidth is Bw (unit: MHz), and the eNodeB receive noise figure is Nf (unit: dB), The
equivalent noise level of the eNodeB receiver is as follows:
No = –174 + 10 log (Bw) + Nf (Unit: dBm)
If the demodulation carrier-to-interference ratio C/I (unit: dB) of the eNodeB receive system for a particular modulation scheme
(MCS), then the theoretical receive sensitivity of the eNodeB is as follows:
So = No + (C/I) m, where, (C/I) m is the minimum demodulation C/I.
The noise level directly affects the eNodeB receive sensitivity, that is, when the noise level rises by 1 dB, the eNodeB receive
sensitivity decreases by 1 dB. In the system, 1 dB decrease in the receiver sensitivity of the system is regarded as the threshold of
interference.
For LTE, sensitivity is calculated on per subcarrier rather than the entire channel allocation as in GSM, WCDMA or WiMAX
because it is the basic bandwidth that needs to be demodulated by each UE. In actual component implementation level, receiver’s
IF bandwidth and noise coefficient are affected by the specific circuits and can never reach the theoretical value or optimum value
from a pure analog circuitry perspective.
Assume that the external receive intra-frequency spurious interference has the feature of the quasi-white noise, the influence of the
interference to the system is that the interference adds to the original equivalent noise of the system and then raises the receive
noise level of the system. BelowTable lists the receive background noise rise level due to the presence of the external interference at
level specified.
In general, the new total interference increase from original due to extra interferer can be represented by:
10.log(1+10^( △P/10))
△P = new interferer level compared to the original level in dB.
Assume that the original noise level of the system is 1 w:
1. The interference level is 0 dB lower than the original noise level of the system, that is, the interference level is also 1 w. The total
noise level of the system is (1 + 1 = 2 w). Therefore, after the system is interfered, the total noise level increase is as follows: 10
log (2 w/1 w = 2) = 3 dB.
2. The interference level is 3 dB lower than the original noise level of the system, that is, the interference level is 0.5 times of the
original noise level (1/103/10 = 0.5), that is, 0.5 w. The total noise level of the system is 1 + 0.5 = 1.5 w. Therefore, after the
system is interfered, the total noise level increase is as follows: 10 log (1.5 w/1 w = 1.5) = 1.76 dB.
3. The other values are calculated in the similar way: As shown in the preceding table, when the original receive sensitivity of the
system decreases by 0.4 dB, the allowed interference level must be 10 dB lower than the original receive noise level of the
system. When the original receive sensitivity of the system decreases by 0.1 dB, the allowed interference level must be 16 dB
lower than the original receive noise level of the system. When the interference level is equal to the original receive noise level of
the system, the receive sensitivity of the system decreases by 3 dB.
In the broadband system, the allowed interference level is generally 6 dB lower than the original receive noise coefficient of the
system. Therefore, the original receiver sensitivity of the system decreases by 1 dB.
Reference Signal Power Boosting Gain for LTE

Power boosting in LTE is mainly perform on the Reference signal. However, since the radio power is shared equally by all
Resources element, the power allocation for each RE is fixed.
By increasing the number of Resources element being used as Reference Signal, the RS can be “boosted’ by 2x (3dB), 3x (4.7dB) or
4x (6dB) accordingly.
Power Boosting value = 0 if there is no extra resources used.
Default Power boosting = 1 (2x) for network planning
Alternatively, reliability of information transmission can also be “boosted” not by radio transmission power but by adjusted to a
lower modulation level (MCS adjustment).
Remote Radio Unit and eNodeB Portfolio
The introduction of Remote Radio Unit allow the reduction of cable loss by up to 3dB for both uplink and downlink, depending on
the actual length of the cable run from top of base station rack to the antenna location. Possible Radio configurations on offer range
from 20W per carrier, single transmit branch to two transmit at 40W each.
Slow Fading Margin in LTE with example of standard deviations in slow fading
Shadow fading indicates the fading brought by obstruction due to a building or a natural feature. Shadow fading changes slowly,
and is thus called “slow fading”.
Statistics repeatedly show that the median levels of received signals follow log-normal distribution with the time and location at a
certain distance. Fading caused by location (mainly from obstruction) far exceeds fading caused by time. Therefore, the major
concern for shadow fading is those caused by location changes.
To minimize the effect of shadow fading and ensure a certain edge coverage probability, certain allowances must be made. This is
called the “slow fading margin”, or the “shadow fading margin”. Figure below shows the relationship between the slow fading
margin and cell edge probability.
The difference found in the slow fading is reflected by the standard deviation of slow fading. The standard deviation of slow fading
shows the distribution of the radio signal strength at different test points at similar distances from the transmitter.
This spread of values approximate to the standard deviation of the signal strength at different test points from similar distances.
The standard deviation of slow fading varies with the geological form.
The value ranges from 5 dB to 12 dB. In plain areas, such as rural areas and open areas, the standard deviation of slow fading is
lower than that in suburban and urban areas. Standard deviations requirement in Dense Urban area with highly integrated
building layout and deeper indoor coverage requirement is even higher than typical urban environment. Table below lists the
typical standard deviations of slow fading in different geological locations.
Typical example of standard deviations in slow fading
The slow fading margin can be obtained based on the cell edge coverage probability and standard deviation of slow fading.
The formula for calculating the edge coverage probability is as follows:
Edge coverage probability = 1 – Q (Slow fading margin /Standard deviation of slow fading)
Visualization of Beam Forming in LTE
Currently, beam forming is only applicable for TDD version of LTE. The time synchronous version of LTE TDD on uplink and
downlink also makes the implementation of beam forming more attractive than in LTE FDD.
Beam forming scheme is a signal processing technology that is used to direct radio transmission in a chosen angular direction. It is
mainly based on an adaptive beam patterns that acts to make the strongest point of main-lobe of the system output always be
toward the direction of the expected UE and hence reducing the overall interference level for the whole cell.
Its algorithm is highly complex and utilizes channel state information to achieve array processing SINR gain.
Channel state information that is required includes:
 Fast fading channel coefficient
 Direction of arrival (DoA) of signal
 CQI information
Channel state information can be obtained by different way, including:
 Feedback from receiver
 Estimation from reverse link assuming channel reciprocity (particularly true for TDD)
As it is based on a multiple transmit configuration, this feature can significantly improve downlink system throughput and
coverage performance and also provide good user experience by offering higher data rates. The main drawback here is there is also
the requirement of either 4 (4×4) or 8 (8×2) transmit path from the eNodeB side which could make this more expensive to
implement.
There are two type of beam forming mode defined by 3GPP, Mode 7 (Rel 8) and Mode 8 (Rel 9). Mode 7 supports only single data
flow so it can mainly improve coverage but Mode 8 can support multiplexing dual data stream as well which means it can improve
both throughput and coverage.
List of LTE Equipment Related Parameters
Equipment related parameters include the base station, antenna, and terminal. The link budget parameters vary with the base
stations, antennas, and terminals of different vendors. These parameters affect the link budget result. As a result, the downlink is
unaffected in most scenarios.
Transmit Power
Transmit power includes that of the base station and terminal sides. The transmit power at the base station side affects the
downlink budget. The transmit power at the terminal side affects the uplink budget. With the adoption of MIMO technology, two or
more antennas are used at the same time at the base station for transmission. Therefore, the power combining gain must be
considered.
The formula for calculating the power combining gain is as follows:
Power Combining Gain=10*Log(N)
Where, N indicates the number of transmit channels of the base station.For example, when a base station contains two
transmitters and two receivers, the power combining gain is 3 dB.
Therefore, the transmit power in each sector (2T2R) is as follows:
46 dBm (40 Watt) in total for a 2×2 system with 20W from each transmit path
54
Receiver Sensitivity
The receiver sensitivity indicates the minimum signal strength required to enable decoding by the eNodeB or UE receiver if there is
no interference. In link budget tool, each of the subcarrier receiver sensitivity can be calculated by the following formula:
Sensitivity = SINR + N floor + 10.log[15000] + NF
SINR indicates the demodulation threshold of the receiver. The demodulation threshold is related to the specific code modulation
mode involved, the BLER chosen and whether other quality affecting features are implemented e.g. MIMO and Coding repetition.
The SINR used in the link budget is obtained from the system simulation result. Nfloor indicates the multiplication result of K and
T and is the density of the thermal white noise power. The value is -174 dBm/Hz.
Noise Figure
Noise figure is the ratio of the SINR at the input end to the SINR at the output end of the receiver. The unit is dB. NF is an
important index used to measure the performance of a receiver. Noise figure is highly dependent on both operating bandwidth and
eNodeB type. The NF of a common LTE terminal is generally 6 dB to 8 dB and the typical value used is 7 dB.
Antenna Gain
The antenna gain indicates the power density ratio of the signals generated from the same point by the actual antenna and ideal
radiation unit when the input power is identical. The antenna gain quantifies the degree to which an antenna transmits input
power in concentration. To increase the gain, reduce the lobe width of the radiation at the vertical plane and maintain the omni-
directional radiation performance at the horizontal plane.
Two units are used to indicate antenna gain: dBi and dBd.
The dBi indicates the gain of the antenna compared with the isotropic radiator to all directions. The dBd indicates the gain of the
antenna compared with the symmetric oscillator.
The formula for the conversion between these two units is as follows:
dBi = dBd + 2.15.
The relationship between antenna gain, horizontal beamwidth, and vertical beamwidth is as follows:
G(dBi)=10*log[32000/(A*B)].
In this formula, A and B indicate the horizontal beamwidth and vertical beamwidth. G Indicates antenna gain.
In LTE system, we often use 65° 18-dBi directional antennas and 11-dBi omni-directional antennas as the antennas in base
stations. Figure show the antenna lobes of the 65° 18-dBi directional antenna and 11-dBi omni-directional antenna.
We recommend the 65° dual-polarized 18-dBi directional antennas for the base stations that are distributed in densely populated
urban areas and common urban areas. The 90° or 65° directional antennas can be used for base stations in suburban areas.
Which Antenna for LTE to USE ?
We recommend the 11-dBi omnidirectional antennas for coverage in rural areas, especially in isolated towns. The 33° horizontal
beamwidth antennas can be used for highway coverage. The gain of such antennas can reach 21 dBi, which helps increase coverage
radius.
The antenna gains of the terminals in the LTE system vary. This results in a large difference in the coverage scopes of different
terminals. However, the LTE terminal market is dominated by USB dongle at this stage and CPE antenna gain values will be based
on final product availability. However, since CPE antenna is external, gain similar to those currently available in 3G/WiMAX
product is expected.
Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR)
in ANR, wiki, LTE
Manually provisioning and managing neighbor cells in traditional mobile network is challenging task and it becomes more difficult as new mobile
technologies are being rolled out while 2G/3G cells already exist. For LTE, task becomes challenging for operators, as in addition of defining intra
LTE neighbour relations for eNBs operator has to provision neighboring 2G, 3G, CDMA2000 cells as well.
According to 3GPP specifications, the purpose of the Automatic Neighbour Relation (ANR) functionality is to relieve the operator from the burden of
manually managing Neighbor Relations (NRs). This feature would operators effort to provision
Figure below shows ANR and its environment as per 3GPP. It shows interaction between eNB and O&M due to ANR.
The ANR function resides in the eNB and manages the conceptual Neighbour Relation Table (NRT). Located within ANR, the Neighbour Detection
Function finds new neighbours and adds them to the NRT. ANR also contains the Neighbour Removal Function which removes outdated NRs. The
Neighbour Detection Function and the Neighbour Removal Function are implementation specific.
An existing Neighbour cell Relation (NR) from a source cell to a target cell means that eNB controlling the source cell knows the ECGI/CGI
and Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) of the target cell and has an entry in the NRT for the source cell identifying the target cell.
For each cell that the eNB has, the eNB keeps a NRT. For each NR, the NRT contains the Target Cell Identifier (TCI), which identifies the target
cell. For E-UTRAN, the TCI corresponds to the E-UTAN Cell Global Identifier (ECGI) and Physical Cell Identifier (PCI) of the target cell.
The ANR function relies on cells broadcasting their identity on global level, E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier (ECGI) and allows O&M to manage the
NRT. O&M can add and delete NRs. It can also change the attributes of the NRT. The O&M system is informed about changes in the NRT.
Intra-LTE/frequency ANR:
The eNB serving cell with ANR function, instructs each UE to perform measurements on neighbor cells, as a part of the normal call procedure. The
eNB may use different policies for instructing the UE to do measurements, and when to report them to the eNB.
When UE discovers new cellâ€™s ECGI, the UE reports the detected ECGI to the serving cell eNB. In addition the UE reports the tracking area
code and all PLMN IDs that have been detected. The eNB adds this neighbour relation to NRT.
Inter-RAT/Inter-frequency ANR:
The eNB serving cell with ANR function can instruct a UE to perform measurements and detect cells on other RATs/frequencies .during connected
mode. The eNB may use different policies for instructing the UE to do measurements, and when to report them to the eNB.
The UE reports the PCI of the detected cells in the target RATs/frequencies. When the eNB receives UE reports containing PCIs of cell(s), eNB may
instruct the UE to read the CGI and the RAC of the detected neighbour cell in case of GERAN detected cells and CGI, LAC and, RAC in case of
UTRAN detected cells. For the Interfrequency case, the eNB may instruct the UE to read the ECGI, TAC and all available PLMN ID(s) of the inter-
frequency detected cell.
The eNB updates its inter-RAT/inter-frequency Neighbour Relation Table after receiving relevant info from UE.
PSHO and Reditection:
In PSHO the UE will handover to the neighbouring cell without the cell measurements but in redirection the UE will scanned all the other frequencies
and do the the handover on the measurements, In PSHO if the neighbouring cell coverage is weak the handover will take place which could result to
Call drop , but in redirection the UE will scanned the all the neighbouring cell and do the handover.

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fWhat is LTE?

2. What's the difference between 3G & LTE?

Provide 100kbps data rate for mobile user (up to 350kmph)

Circuit services is implemented in PS domain: VoIP

Lower cost due to simple system structure

4. What's technology applied in LTE? (both in UL and DL)

Disadvantage: Strict requirement of time-frequency domain synchronization. High PAPR.

DFT-S-OFDM & SC-FDMA -UpLink

5. What's the max. throughput we can achieve from LTE?

For 20 Mhz 100 Mbps on Downlink and 50 Mbps in Uplink

6. In the market, which type/categ. of UE are available now?

7. Do you have any experience in LTE dimensioning/planning and drivetesting?

If so, please kindly answer the following questions?

1. what is main frequency band for LTE?

Support frequency band form 700MHz to 2.6GHz

Support various bandwidth: 1.4MHz, 3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz

2. In coverage planning, what are the most influence factors?

5. What is the typical cell range of LTE?

6. How do you understand RB and how does RB impact on Throughput?

7. What is the typical value of latency?

Intra Lte, Inter LTE IRAT LTE

9. Please explain me about eNodeB, MME and core network layout.

11. Have you experience in Atoll and Momentun?

12. Have you expereince in XCAL and Agilent NiXT?

13. Please explain me about QoS and Scheduling in LTE?

14. Pls. explain me about MIMO, SIMO and TxDiV configuration?

SIMO - Single Input Multiple Output

15. How's about those configuration and expected throughput?

What is goal of LTE?

What speed LTE offers?

What is LTE Advanced?

What is LTE architecture?

The figure below shows the evolved system architecture

What are LTE Interfaces?

What are LTE Network elements?

What are LTE protocols & specifications?

What is CS Fallback in LTE?

How does LTE Security works?

What is IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)?

How does measurements work in LTE?

What is Automatic Neighbour Relation?

How does Intra E-UTRAN Handover is performed?

What is SON & how does it work in LTE?

How does Network Sharing works in LTE?

How does Timing Advance (TA) works in LTE?

How does LTE UE positioning works in E-UTRAN?

How many operators have committed for LTE?

What is Single Radio Voice Call Continuity (SRVCC)?

How does Location Service (LCS) work in LTE network?

How does Lawful Interception works in LTE Evolved Packet System?

What is carrier aggregation in LTE-Advanced?

What is Relay Node and how does Relaying works in LTE-Advanced?

LTE Call Flow Attach Procedure

LTE Call FlowUnderstanding Call Flow In-Depth

So how does LTE call flow work exactly?

LTE Call Flow Diagram – Wired n Wireless

 Non Access Stratum (NAS) signaling and security

 Packet routing and forwarding

Detailed explanation of above scenario is below.

Understanding CS Fallback in LTE

The figure above provides architecture for CS fallback in EPS.

 Maintaining SGs association towards MME for EPS/IMSI attached UE.

 Forwarding paging request and SMS to the UE.