UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)

UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access
Network (UTRAN)
• UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)

• UTRAN Architecture and Protocols
• UTRAN Procedures (see separate presentation)
Important References
Books:
• Kaaranen, Ahtiainen, Laitinen, Naghian, Niemi: UMTS Networks –
Architecture, Mobility and Services. 2nd edition, Wiley, 2005
• Holma, Toskala: WCDMA for UMTS. 4th edition, Wiley, 2007
• Walke, Althoff, Seidenberg: UMTS – Ein Kurs. 2. Auflage, J. Schlembach
Fachverlag, 2002
• T. Benkner, C. Stepping: UMTS – Universal Mobile Telecommunications
System. J. Schelmbach Fachverlag, 2002.
Central 3GPP Documents on UTRAN:

• 25.401: UTRAN overview
• 25.301: Radio link protocols (UTRA)
• 25.931: UTRAN procedures
UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 2

UTRAN Architecture
• Components and Interfaces

• Macro Diversity
• UTRAN Functions
• Protocol Architecture
• RRC connection and signaling connection
• Access Stratum and Non Access Stratum

UTRAN Components and Interfaces
Core Network
Iu Iu
RNS RNS
UTRAN
Iur
RNC RNC
Iub Iub Iub Iub
Node B Node B Node B Node B
A Radio Network Subsystem (RNS) consists of a RNC, one or more Node B‘s and
optionally one SAS (standalone A-GPS serving mobile location center)
Source: 3GPP 25.401

Macro Diversity:
Serving and Drift RNS Source: 3GPP 25.401
C o r e N e tw o r k
Iu
D r if t R N S ( D R N S ) S e r v in g R N S ( S R N S )
Iu r
C e l ls
UE
Each RNS is responsible for the resources of its set of cells

For each connection between User Equipment (UE) and the UTRAN, one RNS is the
Serving RNS (SRNS)
Drift RNSs (DRNS) support the Serving RNS by providing radio resources
Macro-diversity and handover is supported by Node B and RNC

Serving, Drift and Controlling RNC
Core Network
Iu Iu
RNS RNS
UTRAN
Iur
DRNC
RNC RNCSRNC
Iub Iub Iub Iub
Soft handover:
Softer handover: radio frame selection (layer 1)
UE
maximum ratio combining in SRNC (and DRNC)
in Node B
Roles of RNSs/RNCs Source: 3GPP 21.905
Serving RNS (SRNS)

• A role an RNS can take with respect to a specific connection between a UE and
UTRAN
• There is one Serving RNS for each UE that has a connection to UTRAN
• The Serving RNS is in charge of the RRC connection between a UE and the
UTRAN
• The Serving RNS terminates the Iu for this UE
Drift RNS (DRNS)
• A role an RNS can take with respect to a specific connection between a UE and
UTRAN
• An RNS that supports the Serving RNS with radio resources when the
connection between the UTRAN and the UE need to use cell(s) controlled by this
RNS
Controlling RNC (CRNC)
• A role an RNC can take with respect to a specific set of UTRAN access points (an
UTRAN access point is specific to a cell)
• Exactly one Controlling RNC serves an UTRAN access point (i.e. each cell)
• The Controlling RNC has the overall control of the logical resources of its UTRAN
access points

Distribution of Functions between
RNCs
Radio resource management:
• CRNC owns the radio resources of a cell
• SRNC handles the connection (RRC/RANAP) to one UE, and may
borrow radio resources of a certain cell from the CRNC
• SRNC performs dynamical control of power for dedicated channels,
within limits admitted by CRNC
Inner loop power control for some radio links of the UE connection may be
done by the Node B
Inner loop control is controlled by an outer loop, for which the SRNC has
overall responsibility
• SRNC handles scheduling of data for dedicated channels
• CRNC handles scheduling of data for common channels (no macro
diversity on DL common channels)
Source: 3GPP 25.401, Ch 6.3

Serving, Drift and Controlling RNC
Core Network
Iu Iu
RNS RNS
UTRAN
Iur
DRNC
RNC RNCSRNC
SRNC
Iub Iub Iub Iub
common/ shared dedicated channel in

channel
macro-diversity mode
UE 2 UE 1

Serving and Controlling RNC
Example: DCH (UL&DL macro diversity)
Combining/
DTCH DCCH splitting of DCCH DTCH
phy. channels
MAC-d MAC-d
PHY-upper PHY PHY

DchFP DchFP DchFP DchFP
AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

PHY PHY
ATM ATM ATM ATM
UE Uu NodeB Iub CRNC Iur SRNC
cells served cells served cells served

by the same by the same by different
node B CRNC RNCs
(optional)
Combining/splitting is supported for DCH only
(no layer 2 processing in Node B and DRNC)
Source: 3GPP 25.401, sc 11.2.4 (see also 25.301, sc 5.6.1)
Serving and Controlling RNC
Example: FACH (DL, no macro diversity)
DTCH DCCH DCCH DTCH
CCCH CCCH
MAC-d
MAC-d
MAC-c/sh MAC-c/sh
FachFP FachFP
FachFP FachFP
AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

PHY PHY
ATM ATM ATM ATM
Physical channel is terminated within node B (no support for combining/splitting)

Common MAC (MAC-c/sh) terminates in the CRNC
Dedicated MAC (MAC-d) terminates in the SRNC
Source: 3GPP 25.401, sc 11.2.3 (see also 25.301, sc 5.6.2)

Example: BCH
RRC
RRC
RRC
RLC RLC
MAC MAC
PHY PHY
UE NodeB CRNC
RRC terminates in
• CRNC: provides broadcast information distributed by node B
• Node B: handles periodic repetition of broadcast information
Splitting of RRC eliminates repetition of broadcast data on Iub interface
Source: 3GPP 25.301, sc 5.6.7
UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 12 o

UTRAN Architecture: Functional Split
Control plane CRNC/DRNC SRNC
Mobile Core
Control Network
Cell Control
Paging
Node-B
Broadcast
Com./ Shared
Channel
Processing
Dedicated
Channel
Processing
Bearer plane

UTRAN Protocol Architecture: Summary
Core Network
paging (idle) Iu paging (connected) Iu

Iub Iur
Node-B CRNC RANAP SABP SRNC RANAP Iu-PS Iu-CS
DRNC FP FP
BM-IWF paging
R (connected, R
N N N PCCH) N
B B S S
RRC-b RRC-c/sh RRC-d
A A A A
P P P P
BMC PDCP
RLC-b RLC-c/sh RLC-d

LOGICAL
CHANNELS BCCH PCCH CCCH CTCH DCCH DTCH
BCCH Iur Iur
CCH CCH MAC-d
FP FP
MAC-b MAC-c/sh
TRANSPORT
CHANNELS BCH PCH RACH DCH
Iub Iub FACH
CCH CCH DSCH
FP FP CPCH
optional
Softer Handover Iub/Iur Iub/Iur Soft Handover Iub/Iur Iub/Iur Soft Handover
Splitting / DCH DCH Splitting / DCH DCH Splitting /
Combining FP FP Combining FP FP Combining
PHY User plane Control plane

UTRAN Architecture Principles –
User Plane
radio access bearer SAPs (user plane)
Non-Access Stratum
Radio Radio Iu Iu
proto- proto- proto proto
cols cols cols cols
(1) (1) (2) (2)
Access Stratum
UE UTRAN CN
Radio Iu
(Uu) Non-Access Stratum:
• Protocols between UE and CN that are not
terminated in the UTRAN
Access Stratum:
• Provides UE-CN transport service to NAS services
Source: 3GPP 25.401 • AS protocols are closely linked to radio technology
UTRAN Architecture Principles –
Control Plane
signaling connection
CM,MM,GMM,SM (3) Non-Access Stratum CM,MM,GMM,SM (3)
Radio Radio Iu Iu
proto- proto- proto proto
cols cols cols cols
(1) (1) (2) (2)
Access Stratum
UE UTRAN CN
Radio Iu
(Uu)
NAS control plane functions:
CM: Connection Management
MM: Mobility Management
GMM: GPRS MM
Source: 3GPP 25.401 SM: Session Management
UTRAN Functions (1)
- Transfer of User Data
- Functions related to overall system access control
- Admission Control
- Congestion Control
- System information broadcasting
- Radio channel ciphering and deciphering
- Integrity protection
- Functions related to mobility
- Handover
- SRNS Relocation
- Paging support
- Positioning
- Synchronisation
Source: 3GPP 25.401, Ch 7.1

UTRAN Functions (2)
- Functions related to radio resource management and control
- Radio resource configuration and operation
- Radio environment survey
- Combining/splitting control
- Connection set-up and release
- Allocation and deallocation of radio bearers
- Radio protocols function
- RF power control
- Radio channel coding and decoding
- Channel coding control
- Initial (random) access detection and handling
- CN distribution function for Non Access Stratum messages
- Functions related to broadcast and multicast services (broadcast/multicast
interworking function BM-IWF)
- Broadcast/Multicast Information Distribution
- Broadcast/Multicast Flow Control
- Cell-based Services (CBS) Status Reporting
- Tracing
- Volume reporting
Wrap-up:
Why is UTRAN so complicated?
Some answers:
• Limitation of radio resources and last-mile transport resources
• CDMA macro-diversity mode

– Single RLC/MAC entity required for synchronous delivery of radio
frames over all SHO legs
– Splitting/combining of radio frames (multicast)
• Tight handover requirements esp. for voice

– Need for proactive handover initiation requires interaction between
radio layers
• Designed for maximum functionality and flexibility

– Overdimensioned from the viewpoint of a single application

Modes and states (PS mode)
UE SGSN GGSN
SM: PDP context (active, inactive)
HLR
PMM state (detached, idle, connected)
RNC
Signaling connection
RRC connection
UE mode

Radio Link, RRC Connection,
Signaling Connection
Core Network
Iu Iu
RNS RNS signaling connection

UTRAN
Iur
RNC SRNCRNC
Iub Iub Iub Iub
RRC connection -> connected mode

radio link
UE
RRC connections and signaling connections are logical links

Radio Link, RRC Connection,
Core Network
Iu Iu
RNS RNS signaling connection

UTRAN
Iur
DRNC
RNC SRNCRNC
Iub Iub Iub Iub
RRC connection radio link

UE

RRC Connection and Signaling Connection
UE SRNC MSC/VLR
or SGSN
Higher layer Higher layer
control control
RANA RANA
RRC RRC P
P
Signaling Radio Bearer Iu Signaling Bearer
RRC Connection RANAP Connection
Radio Access Bearer

RRC Connection
Connected mode
Enter URA
Cell connected state
Connected
URA
Enter cell Connected
connected state
RRC
connection RRC UTRAN Registration
connection
establishment
release Area (URA):
• area covered by a
number of cells
• URA is only internally
Idle mode known in the UTRAN
• RRC state machine exists as two peer entities, one in the MS and one in
UTRAN (SRNC)
• Apart from transient situations and error cases the two peer entities are
synchronized
• No signaling connection exist (idle state)
– UE has no relation to UTRAN, only to CN
– no data transfer
– paging identification by IMSI, TMSI, P-TMSI
• Signaling connection exist (connected state)

UE position can be known on different levels:
- URA level (UTRAN registration area): URA is a specified set of cells,

which can be identified on the BCCH.
- Cell level: Different channel types can be used for data transfer:
- Common transport channels (RACH, FACH, DSCH, USCH)
- Dedicated transport channels (DCH)
Source: 3GPP 25.301, ch 6.2

Important Vocabulary Source: 3GPP 21.905
RRC connection
• point-to-point bi-directional connection between RRC peer entities on the UE and
the UTRAN sides
• UE has either zero or one RRC connection
Signaling connection
• an acknowledged-mode link between the UE and the CN to transfer higher layer
information between the entities in the non-access stratum (via RRC and RANAP)
Radio link
• a logical association between a single UE and a single UTRAN access point (cell)
• its physical realization comprises one or more radio bearer transmissions
Radio bearer (compare signaling radio bearer)
• service provided by the RLC layer for transfer of user data between UE and SRNC
Radio interface
• interface between UE and a UTRAN access point
• radio interface encompasses all the functionality required to maintain the
interface

Radio Interface Protocols
UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)
• Air interface protocol architecture
• Layer 1, 2 and 3 protocols
• Mapping between logical, transport and

physical channels

Radio Protocols – Overview
GMM / GMM /
SM / SMS SM / SMS
Control plane Relay

Layer 3
RRC RRC RANAP RANAP
– IP, PPP (user plane)
RLC RLC SCCP SCCP
– RRC (control plane)
MAC MAC Signalling
Bearer
Signalling
Bearer Layer 2
L1 L1
AAL5 AAL5
– PDCP (user plane)
Uu
ATM
Iu-Ps
ATM
– BMC (user plane)
MS
Application RNS 3G SGSN – RLC
E.g., IP, – MAC E.g., IP,
PPP PPP
Layer 1
User plane
Relay Relay – PHY
PDCP PDCP GTP-U GTP-U GTP-U GTP-U
RLC RLC UDP/IP UDP/IP UDP/IP UDP/IP

MAC MAC AAL5 AAL5 L2 L2
L1 L1 ATM ATM L1See 3GPP 25.301 and

L1
Uu Iu-PS UMTS Networks
Gn book, ch. 9 Gi
MS UTRAN 3G-SGSN 3G-GGSN
Radio Protocol Architecture
C-plane signalling U-plane information Radio Access Bearers
GC Nt DC AS control plane SAPs
RRC control L3
Radio
control
control
control
control
Bearers
PDCP
PDCP L2/PDCP
BMC
L2/BMC
RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC
Logical
Channels
MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
Source: 3GPP 25.301 PHY L1
GC Nt DC Radio Access Bearers
AS control plane SAPs
Physical Layer – Services Duplication avoidance
Physical layer offers information transferGCservices (transport channels) to

Nt DC
UuS boundary
MAC and higher layers C-plane signalling U-plane information
Physical layer transport services define

RRC L3
–how and
control
–with what characteristics data are transferred over the radio interface
control Radio
control
control
control
Bearers
Transport channels do not define what PDCP

PDCP
L2/PDCP
is transported (which is defined by
logical channels)
BMC
L2/BMC
Example: DCH offers the same type of

service for control and user traffic RLC RLC
RLC
RLC L2/RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC
Logical
Channel
MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY L1
Physical Layer – Channel Types Duplication avoidance
• common transport channels (there is a need for inband

GC Nt DC
UuS boundary
identification of the UEs when particular UEs areU-plane
C-plane signalling addressed)
information
• dedicated transport channels (the UEs are identified by the physical

channel, i.e. code and frequency RRC
for FDD (code, time slot and frequency for TDD)
L3
)
control
control Radio
control
control
control
Bearers
PDCP
PDCP L2/PDCP
BMC
L2/BMC
RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC
Logical
Channel
MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY L1
Physical Layer – Common Transport
Channels (1)
Random Access Channel (RACH)
• Contention based uplink channel used for transmission of relatively
small amounts of data, e.g. for initial access or non-real-time
dedicated control or traffic data
Forward Access Channel (FACH)
• Common downlink channel for relatively small amount of data
• no closed-loop power control
Downlink Shared Channel (DSCH) – TDD only
• Downlink channel shared by several UEs carrying dedicated control or
traffic data
Uplink Shared Channel (USCH) – TDD only
• Uplink channel shared by several UEs carrying dedicated control or
traffic data

Physical Layer – Common Transport
Channels (2)
Broadcast Channel (BCH)

• Downlink channel used for broadcast of system information into an
entire cell
Paging Channel (PCH)
• A downlink channel used for broadcast of control information into an
entire cell allowing efficient UE sleep mode procedures
• Currently identified information types are paging and notification
• Another use could be UTRAN notification of change of BCCH
information
High-Speed Downlink Shared Channel (HS-DSCH) – Rel. 5

• High-speed downlink channel shared by several UEs

Physical Layer – Dedicated Transport
Channels & Transport Formats
Dedicated Channel (DCH)
Channel dedicated to one UE used in uplink or downlink
Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH)

• Channel dedicated to one UE used in uplink only.
• Subject to Node-B controlled scheduling and HARQ
Transport Formats and Transport Format Sets

• A Transport Format or a Transport Format Set is associated with each
transport channel
• A Transport Format defines the format offered by L1 to MAC
(encodings, interleaving, bit rate and mapping onto physical channels)
• A Transport Format Set is a set of Transport Formats
• Example: a variable rate DCH has a Transport Format Set (one Transport
Format for each rate), whereas a fixed rate DCH has a single Transport
Format
See 3GPP 25.302, ch. 7 and Walke, ch 5.10, for details on Transport Formats and Transport Format Sets

Physical Layer Processing
Data Transport
Data Data Transport
Block Set Transport
Data Data Data Block Set
Block
DCH DCH DCH
Note: Functional blocks
which implement
concatenation, segmentation, CRC attachment CRC attachment CRC attachment
interleaving, discontinuous
transmission (DTX) and Channel Coding Channel Coding Channel Coding
macrodiversity
distirbution/combining have Rate Matching Rate Matching Rate Matching
been suppressed.
Transport Channel Multiplexing
Note: Physical Channel Coded Composite Transport Channel (CCTrCH)

Mapping is used to implement
multicoding (more than one
DPCH). This will usually Physical Channel Mapping
only be used for high data
rates
DPCH DPCH
See 3GPP 25.302 for details

Physical Layer – Functions
• Macrodiversity distribution/combining and soft handover execution
• Error detection on transport channels and indication to higher layers (CRC)
• FEC encoding/decoding and interleaving/deinterleaving of transport channels
• Multiplexing of transport channels and demultiplexing of coded composite
transport channels
• Rate matching (fit bits into physical channel)
• Mapping of coded composite transport channel on multiple physical channels
• Power weighting and combining of physical channels
• Modulation and spreading/demodulation and despreading of physical channels
• Frequency and time (chip, bit, slot, frame) synchronisation
• Measurements and indication to higher layers (e.g. frame error rate, signal-to-
interference ratio, interference power, transmit power, etc.)
• Closed-loop power control
• RF processing
• Support of timing advance on uplink channels (TDD only)
• Support of Uplink Synchronisation (TDD only)

Medium Access Control (MAC) – Services Duplication avoidance
Data transfer (logical channels SAPs) GC Nt DC

UuS boundary
– Unacknowledged transferC-plane of MAC SDUs between
signalling peer MAC entities
U-plane information
– No data segmentation (performed by higher layers) on R.99

Reallocation of radio resources RRC and MAC parameters
control L3
– Execution of radio resource reallocation and change of MAC Radio

control
control
control
control
parameters by request of RRC, i.e. change of transport formatBearers
(combination) sets, change of transport channel PDCP
PDCP type L2/PDCP
– Autonomously resource allocation in TDD mode
BMC
L2/BMC
Reporting of measurements
– Local measurements such as
traffic volume and quality RLC
RLC
RLC
RLC L2/RLC
indication (reported toRLC

RRC)
RLC
RLC
RLC
Logical
Channel
MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY L1
MAC – Logical Channels
Logical channels define what information is transported

(transport channels (PHY SAP) define how data are transported)
• Control Channels (transfer of control plane information)

– Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) – DL
– Paging Control Channel (PCCH) – DL
– Common Control Channel (CCCH) – DL/UL
– Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) – DL/UL
– Shared Channel Control Channel (SHCCH) – DL/UL (TDD)
• Traffic Channels (transfer of user plane information)

– Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) – DL/UL
– Common Traffic Channel (CTCH) – DL/UL

MAC – Functions (1)
• Mapping between logical channels and transport channels
• Selection of appropriate Transport Format for each Transport Channel
depending on instantaneous source rate
• Priority handling (multiplexing) between data flows of one UE (MAC-d)
• Priority handling (scheduling) between different UEs (MAC-c/sh)
• Identification of UEs on common transport channels
Example: DTCH/DCCH mapped on DSCH (TDD only)
DTCH DCCH DCCH DTCH
MAC-d
MAC-d
MAC-c/sh MAC-c/sh
DschFP DschFP
DschFP DschFP
AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

PHY PHY
ATM ATM ATM ATM

MAC – Functions (2)
• Multiplexing/demultiplexing of upper layer PDUs on common transport
channels
• Multiplexing/demultiplexing of upper layer PDUs on dedicated transport
channels
• Traffic volume measurement
• Transport channel type switching (controlled by RRC)
• Ciphering for transparent RLC mode
Example: DTCH/DCCH mapped on DSCH (TDD only)
DTCH DCCH DCCH DTCH
MAC-d
MAC-d
MAC-c/sh MAC-c/sh
DschFP DschFP
DschFP DschFP
AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

PHY PHY
ATM ATM ATM ATM

Logical/ Transport/ Physical Channels Mapping
(excerpt, FDD)
Logical Channels Transport Channels Physical Channels
P-SCH
Control Ch Common Ch (no FPC)
S-SCH
Traffic Ch Common Ch (FPC) Fixed Channels
Dedicated Ch (FPC) P-CPICH Info Channels
Assoc Channels
S-CPICH
BCCH BCH P-CCPCH
PCCH PCH PICH
CCCH FACH S-CCPCH
CTCH RACH PRACH
DCCH AICH
DTCH DCH DPDCH
DPCH
DPCCH
Key: Uplink
Downlink
Bidirectional
Data Transfer
Association

GC Nt DC
Radio Link Control (RLC) Duplication avoidance
• Transparent data transfer (TM) GC Nt DC
• Unacknowledged data transfer (UM) UuS boundary

U-plane information
• Acknowledged data transfer (AM)
C-plane signalling
RRC control L3
control Radio
control
control
control
Bearers
PDCP
PDCP L2/PDCP
BMC
L2/BMC
RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC
Logical
Channel
MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY L1
RLC – Services (1)
Transparent data transfer (TM)
• Transmission of upper layer PDUs without adding any protocol information (no
RLC header)
• Possibly including segmentation/reassembly functionality
Unacknowledged data transfer (UM)
• Transmission of upper layer PDUs without guaranteeing delivery to the peer
entity
– Error detection: The RLC sublayer shall deliver only those SDUs to the
receiving upper layer that are free of transmission errors by using the
sequence-number check function
– Immediate delivery: The receiving RLC sublayer entity shall deliver a SDU
to the upper layer receiving entity as soon as it arrives at the receiver
Acknowledged data transfer (AM)
• Transmission of upper layer PDUs and guaranteed delivery to the peer entity
• Notification of RLC user at transmitting side in case RLC is unable to deliver the
data correctly
• in-sequence and out-of-sequence delivery
• error-free delivery (by means of retransmission)
• duplication detection
RLC – Services (2)
Maintenance of QoS as defined by upper layers
• retransmission protocol shall be configurable by layer 3 to provide
different levels of QoS
Notification of unrecoverable errors
• RLC notifies the upper layer of errors that cannot be resolved by RLC
itself by normal exception handling procedures
There is a single RLC connection per Radio Bearer

RLC – Functions
• Transfer of user data (AM, UM, TM)
• Segmentation and reassembly (RLC PDU size adapted to transport
format) Convert variable-size higher
• Concatenation layer PDUs into fixed-size
• Padding RLC PDUs (TBs)
• Sequence number check (UM mode) Convert radio link
• Duplicate RLC PDUs detection errors into packet
• In-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs loss and delay
• Error correction (selective-repeat ARQ)
• Flow control between RLC peers Avoid Tx and Rx
• SDU discard buffer overflows or
• Protocol error detection and recovery protocol stalling
• Exchange of status information between peer RLC entities
• Ciphering (non-transparent mode)
• Suspend/resume and stop/continue of data transfer
• Re-establishment of AM/UM RLC entity
Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) Duplication avoidance
Service: PDCP SDU delivery GCNt DC

PDCP is defined for PS domain only!
UuS boundary
C-plane signalling U-plane information
RRC control L3
control Radio
control
control
control
Bearers
PDCP
PDCP L2/PDCP
BMC
L2/BMC
RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC
Logical
Channel
MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY L1
PDCP – Functions
Header compression and decompression

• Header compression and decompression of IP data streams (e.g.
TCP/IP and RTP/UDP/IP headers)
Header compression method is specific to the upper layer protocol
combinations, e.g. TCP/IP or RTP/UDP/IP (RFC 2507 & RFC 3095)
Transfer of user data

• PDCP receives PDCP SDU from the NAS and forwards it to the RLC layer
and vice versa
Support for lossless SRNS relocation

• Maintenance of PDCP sequence numbers for radio bearers that are
configured to support lossless SRNS relocation

GC Nt DC
Broadcast/Multicast Control (BMC) Duplication avoidance
Service: GC Nt DC
UuS boundary
• broadcast/multicast transmission service in the user
C-plane signalling plane
U-plane information
for common user data in unacknowledged mode

RRC control L3
Radio
control
control
control
control
Bearers
PDCP
PDCP L2/PDCP
BMC
L2/BMC
Functions:
• Storage of Cell Broadcast Messages RLC RLC L2/RLC
RLC
• Traffic volume monitoring RLC
and RLC
radio RLC
RLC
RLC
resource request for CBS

Logical
• Scheduling of BMC messages Channel
• Transmission of BMC messages to UE MAC L2/MAC
• Delivery of Cell Broadcast messages to Transport

Channels
upper layer (NAS) in the UE PHY L1
GC Nt DC
Radio Resource Control (RRC) Duplication avoidance
GC Nt DC
UuS boundary
C-plane signalling U-plane information
RRC control L3
control Radio
control
control
control
Bearers
PDCP
PDCP L2/PDCP
BMC
L2/BMC
RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC
Services Provided to Upper Layers Logical

Channel
General Control (GC) – information broadcast service
MAC L2/MAC
Notification (Nt) – paging and notification broadcast services Transport
Channels
Dedicated Control (DC) – connection management PHY and message transfer L1
RRC – Interaction with Lower Layers
Measurement Report
RRC RRC
Radio Resource
Assignment
Control
[Code, Frequency,
Control
TS, TF Set, Mapping,
etc.]
RLC RLC
RLC retransmission
Measurements
Measurements
control
Control
Control
MAC MAC
Measurements
Measurements
Control
Control
L1 L1
UTRAN UE

RRC – Functions
RRC handles the control plane signaling of layer 3 between the UEs and UTRAN:
- Broadcast of information provided by the non-access stratum (Core Network)
- Broadcast of information related to the access stratum
- Establishment, re-establishment, maintenance and release of RRC
connections
- Establishment, reconfiguration and release of Radio Bearers
- Assignment, reconfiguration and release of radio resources for the RRC
connection
- RRC connection mobility functions
- Paging/notification
- Routing of higher layer PDUs
- Control of requested QoS
- UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting
- Outer loop power control
- Control of ciphering
- Slow DCA (TDD)
- Arbitration of radio resources on uplink DCH
- Initial cell selection and re-selection in idle mode
- Integrity protection (message authentication for sensitive data)
- Control of Cell Broadcast Service (CBS)
- Timing advance control (TDD)
RRC State Machine
Connected mode
Enter URA
Connected
URA
connected state
RRC
connection RRC
establishment connection
release
Idle mode
• RRC state machine exists as two peer entities (MS and UTRAN)
• The two peer entities are synchronized (apart from transient situations
and error cases)
UTRAN Registration Area (URA)
• URA is known to the
UTRAN only RA URA RA URA RA URA
• URA is established in URA URA URA URA URA URA
RRC connected mode URA URA
URA URA URA URA
LA
RA URA RA URA RA URA URA
URA
URA is independent of URA URA URA URA URA URA
URA
RNC area URA URA
URA URA URA URA URA URA
URA may cover
URA
•part of an RNC area
•parts of several RNC RA URA RA URA URA RA URA
areas URA
URAs may overlap URA
URA
URA

RRC State Machine
RRC Idle mode:
– no connection established between the MS and UTRAN
– no signalling between UTRAN and the MS except for system
information sent from UTRAN on a broadcast channel to the MS
– MS can only receive paging messages with a CN identity on the PCH
– no information of the MS is
Connected mode
stored in UTRAN
Enter URA
Connected
URA
connected state
RRC
connection RRC
release
Idle mode

Connected mode
RRC State Machine Enter URA
Connected
URA
connected state
RRC
connection RRC
release
RRC Connected mode: Idle mode
– two main states

• Cell Connected: MS position is known at the cell level; RRC connection
mobility is handled by handover and cell update procedures
• URA Connected: MS position is known at the URA level; URA updating
procedures provide the mobility functionality; no dedicated radio resources
are used in the state.
– there is one RNC that is acting as serving RNC, and an RRC connection
is established between the MS and this SRNC
An UE has either zero or one RRC connection
RRC State Machine: Details of
connected mode
UTRA RRC Connected Mode URA_PCH or CELL_PCH
URA_PCH CELL_PCH
UTRA:
Inter-RAT state GSM:
Handover GSM
Handover Connected
Neither DCCH norMode
are DTCH
out of in
service service out of in
available in these states

service service
GPRS
Packet
Transfer
CELL_DCH CELL_FACH Mode
out of in CELL_FACH state
service service Cell reselection Release RR Establish RR
DCCHInitiation
Release of
and, of
if configured,
Connection Connection
Release RRC Establish RRC Release RRC Establish RRC DTCHtemporary

temporary
are available in this
block flow
block flow
Connection Connection Connection Connection
state
GPRS Packet Idle Mode
Camping on a UTRAN cell CELL_DCH state

Camping on a GSM / GPRS cell
Idle Mode DCCH and DTCH are available

in this state

UMTS RRC State Optimization (PS mode)
Goal: Minimization of Radio Resource
Consumption during Idle Times
idle
Tradeoff for idle periods
• retaining in state => continuous state cost or
T3
• move to cheaper state => one time transition cost
URA_PCH Limited resources

• radio resources (transmit power)
• channelization codes
T2 • processing cost (signaling)
• power consumption
cell_PCH • transport resources (Iu, Iub, …)
Find optimal timeout settings depending on

T1 • traffic model (distribution of idle times)
• cost per state
cell_DCH • cost per transition
• user mobility
• …

UMTS RRC State Optimization
Optimization of Timeout Values
sum
state cost
transition cost

UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)

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UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

• UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)

Central 3GPP Documents on UTRAN:

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 2

• Components and Interfaces

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 3

Iub Iub Iub Iub

Node B Node B Node B Node B

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 4

Each RNS is responsible for the resources of its set of cells

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 5

Iub Iub Iub Iub

Node B Node B Node B Node B

Serving RNS (SRNS)

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 7

Source: 3GPP 25.401, Ch 6.3

Node B Node B Node B Node B

common/ shared dedicated channel in

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 9

PHY-upper PHY PHY

AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

ATM ATM ATM ATM

UE Uu NodeB Iub CRNC Iur SRNC

cells served cells served cells served

AAL2 AAL2 AAL2 AAL2

ATM ATM ATM ATM

UE Uu NodeB Iub CRNC Iur SRNC

Physical channel is terminated within node B (no support for combining/splitting)

Source: 3GPP 25.401, sc 11.2.3 (see also 25.301, sc 5.6.2)

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 12 o

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 13

paging (idle) Iu paging (connected) Iu

RLC-b RLC-c/sh RLC-d

PHY User plane Control plane

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 14 o

CM,MM,GMM,SM (3) Non-Access Stratum CM,MM,GMM,SM (3)

Source: 3GPP 25.401, Ch 7.1

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 17

• Limitation of radio resources and last-mile transport resources

• CDMA macro-diversity mode

• Tight handover requirements esp. for voice

• Designed for maximum functionality and flexibility

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 19

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 20

RNS RNS signaling connection

Iub Iub Iub Iub

Node B Node B Node B Node B

RRC connection -> connected mode

RRC connections and signaling connections are logical links

RNS RNS signaling connection

Iub Iub Iub Iub

Node B Node B Node B Node B

RRC connection radio link

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 22

Signaling Radio Bearer Iu Signaling Bearer

RRC Connection RANAP Connection

Radio Access Bearer

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 23

• Signaling connection exist (connected state)

- URA level (UTRAN registration area): URA is a specified set of cells,

Source: 3GPP 25.301, ch 6.2

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 25

UMTS Networks Andreas Mitschele-Thiel, Jens Mueckenheim Nov. 2012 26