UMTS Tutorial-Page1

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

Introduction
This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS overview,UMTS Releases, UMTS
frequency bands,UARFCN,UMTS multiple access,UMTS frame structure, UMTS
network architecture, UMTS channel types(logical,transport,physical channels),
mapping between channels,spreading,scrambling and modulation.
This tutorial covers following in addition to overview and UMTS releases outlined
here:

UMTS Overview
UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. It came into
existence from GSM technology developed by 3GPP. UMTS network composed
of three main parts UE (User Equipment), Radio Access Network (RAN) and
Core Network. UMTS is released in several phases by 3GPP standard body as
shown below. UMTS is also referred by 3G. The main features of 3G
standardization by ITU includes support for circuit and packet switching, support
for both voice and data applications, support for seamless mobility for both voice
and data, improvement in spectral efficiency, legacy support for GSM/GPRS
systems, increase in voice quality, low round trip packet delay and more.

UMTS Releases
Following table mentions UMTS releases with features.
 Releas
e Feature introduced

R99 WCDMA air interface introduced in UMTS

R4 IPMS (IP Multimedia Service) introduced on network side

R5 HSDPA

R6 HSUPA + Fractional DPCH

HSPA, MIMO, higher modulation scheme 64QAM, continuous packet

R7 connectivity and Flexible RLC

R8 LTE, Dual cell HSDPA

R9 DC HSUPA

R10 LTE Advanced, Multi cell HSDPA

R11 8 carrier HSDPA

UMTS Tutorial-Page2
This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS frequency bands vs UARFCN.

UMTS Frequency bands and UARFCN

RF carrier frequency in UMTS is calculated based on UARFCN. UARFCN stands
UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number. In GSM, ARFCN is used to
calculate the carrier frequency. UARFCN calculation formulas are mentioned
below.

Uplink: NUL = 5 * (FUL - FUL_Off)

Downlink: NDL = 5 * (FDL - FDL_Off)

FUL_Off and FDL_Off is defined in TS 21.101 standard released by 3GPP, with

this we can obtain following UARFCNs.
UMTS Multiple Access Network
This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers multiple access types used in UMTS system.

UMTS Multiple access types

UMTS uses Direct Sequence CDMA and information is spread across bandwidth
in multiple ways as shown below, which derives different physical channels or air
interfaces.

1. Information is spread across 1.6 MHz BW (1.28Mcps), referred as narrowband

CDMA
2. Information is spread across 5 MHz BW (3.84 Mcps), referred as WCDMA
3. Information is spread across 10MHz BW (7.68 Mcps)

UMTS supports both FDD and TDD duplex modes. FDD is supported in
3.84Mcps option. TDD is supported in all the three options i.e. 1.28, 3.84 and
7.68 Mcps.

UMTS Tutorial-Page4
This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS frame structure.

UMTS Frame Structure

Figure depicts UMTS frame structure for 3.84Mcps radio system. It is made of
super frame, radio frame and chips. Each radio frame is of duration 10ms and
composed of 15 slots. Each slot is composed of 2560 chips. Chip duration is
about 0.26micro-sec (derived from 1/3.84Mcps). Slot duration is about 0.667ms.
Refer frame structure of other standards as mentioned below.

RELATED LINKS
UMTS Network Architecture
UMTS Protocol Stack
UMTS Logical, Transport and physical channels
UMTS Spreading,scrambling and modulation
Frame structure of wireless standards,
technologies
Frame structure of various wireless standards/technologies are mentioned below.
It include WiMAX, WLAN, Zigbee, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, TD-SCDMA, GPS,
SDH, 11ac WLAN, AMPS, Ethernet, VLAN etc.
UMTS Network Architecture
This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers network architecture in UMTS system.

UMTS Network Architecture

As shown in the figure there are three main components in UMTS network
architecture, User Equipments is composed of Mobile Equipment (ME) and
USIM. Radio Access Network is composed of NodeB and RNC. Core Network is
composed of circuit switched and packet switched functional modules. For Circuit
switched (CS) operations MSC and GMSC along with database modules such as
VLR, HLR will be available. For packet switched (PS) operations SGSN and
GGSN will serve the purpose. GMSC will be connected with PSTN/ISDN in CS
case. GGSN is connected with Packet data Network (PDN) for PS case.
Interfaces between these entities are summarized below.
Uu interface between UE and NodeB
Iub interface between NodeB and RNC
Iur interface between RNC and RNC
Iu-CS interface between RNC and MSC
Iu-PS interface between RNC and SGSN

UMTS Protocol stack

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers protocol stack of UMTS system.

UMTS Protocol Stack

UMTS protocol stack consists of Access Stratum(AS) and Non Access

Stratum(NAS). Access Stratum supports OSI-layer 1 to 3. It consists of
PHY(layer 1), MAC(layer 2),RLC(layer 2) and RRC(layer 3). NAS or core network
part is divided based on circuit switched(CS) or packet switched(PS)
functionalities.
For CS functions it consists of CM(connection management) and MM(Mobility
Management) layers. CM layer takes care of CC(Call Control),
SM(supplementary Services) and SMS(Short Message Service). This is for
UMTS CS control plane stack. For UMTS CS user plane stack NAS part do not
include CM and MM layers but it includes application data layer protocol end to
end (between UE-NodeB-RNC-MSC-Remote user).

For PS functions if consists of SM(session Management) and GMM(GPRS

Mobility Management) layers. This is for UMTS PS control plane stack. For PS
user plane stack, AS part incorporates PDCP(Packet Data Convergence) and
NAS part incorporates packet protocol data(IP/PPP/..) and packet data
applications(FTP/HTTP/..). PDCP does compression of IP headers, it may or
may not exist in the UMTS protocol stack.

UMTS Channels
This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS logical channels, transport channels and
physical channels.

Logical,transport,physical channels
As shown in the figure, there are three types of UMTS channels viz. logical
channels(RLC layer), transport channels(MAC layer)
and physical channels(PHY layer). As they tranverse between layers they map
to other layer frames. For example logical channels are mapped to transport
channels and transport channels are mapped tp physical channels.
UMTS logical channels

As shown in the figure, UMTS/WCDMA logical channels are divided into control

channels and traffic channels(DTCH,CTCH). As the name suggests traffic
channels carry information(voice) annd control channels carry signalling
information useful to establish and maintain connection between UE and
network(NodeB).Following are the functions of each of these logical channels.
Pls. note that DL stands for Downlink from network to UE and UL stands for
Uplink from UE to Network.
DTCH(DL and UL, point to point)- Dedicated Traffic channel,carry user
information.
CTCH(unidirectional point to multi-point)-Common traffic channel.
BCCH(DL broadcast)- Broadcast Control Channel, carry SYSTEM
INFORMATION
CCCH(Bidirectional)- Common Control Channel
DCCH(Dedicated Control Channel, point to point bidirectional)
PCCH(Paging Control Channel,DL)-carry paging information
SHCCH(Shared Channel Control Channel,Bidirectional)

UMTS/WCDMA Duplex
Logical Channel Function Direction Mode

Dedicated traffic carry user plane data

channel(DTCH) (speech/packet data) Uplink(UL)/Downlink(DL) FDD/TDD

carry signalling
Dedicated control messages used for
channel(DCCH) control operations Uplink/Downlink FDD/TDD

Shared control carry control

channel(SHCCH) messages Uplink/Downlink TDD

Common control It is used to carry

channel(CCCH) control messages Uplink/Downlink FDD/TDD

It is used to carry user

Common traffic traffic(e.g.cell
channel(CTCH) broadcast SMS) Downlink FDD/TDD

Paging control It is used to carry Downlink FDD/TDD

 paging messages
channel(PCCH) directed towards UE

It is used to carry
Broadcast control broadcast messages
channel(BCCH) towards UE Downlink FDD/TDD

UMTS Transport channels

Following are the transport type of UMTS channels.

BCH(DL broadcast) - SYSTEM/Cell related INFORMATION
FACH(DL/Forward Access Channel)- carry control information from network to
UE
PCH (DL)- Paging Channel
DCH (UL or DL) - Dedicated Channel
DSCH(DL) - Downlink Shared Channel
USCH(UL)- Uplink Shared Channel
RACH(UL)- Random Access Channel

UMTS/WCDMA Duplex
Transport Channel Function Direction Mode

Random access It is used for initial access of the

channel(RACH) network by UE Uplink FDD/TDD
Common packet It is used as contention channel
channel(CPCH) for bursty data Uplink FDD/

Forward access It is used to transfer user

channel(FACH) data/control signalling messages Downlink FDD/TDD

It is used as shared channel

carrying dedicated user
Downlink shared data/control messages in the
channel(DSCH) downlink Downlink FDD/TDD

It is used as shared channel

carrying dedicated user
Uplink shared data/control messages in the
channel(USCH) uplink Uplink TDD

Broadcast Broadcast channel to all UEs in a

channel(BCH) cell Downlink FDD/TDD

Broadcast of paging &

notification messages,also allows
Paging channel(PCH) UE to make use of sleep Mode Downlink FDD/TDD

It is used as dedicated channel to

Dedicated transfer traffic/control messages in Uplink/Downlin
Channel(DCH) both the direction k FDD/TDD

UMTS Physical channels

Following are physical type of UMTS channels for 3.84Mcps case.
P-CCPCH- Primary Common Control Physical Channel
SCH- Synchronization Channel
S-CCPCH- Secondary Common Control Physical Channel
PICH- Paging Indicator Channel
DPCH(DL)- Dedicated Physical Channel in the downlink
PDSCH-Physical Downlink Shared Channel
DPCH(UL)-Dedicated Physical Channel in the uplink
PUSCH- Physical Uplink Shared Channel
PRACH- Physical Random Access Channel
PNBSCH- Physical Node B Synchronization Channel

Mapping between channels

UMTS Channels
Following are links to various UMTS channels which cover SCH, SCCPCH,
PRACH, PICH, PDSCH, PCPCH, PCCPCH, DPDCH, DPCH, DPCCH, CSICH,
CPICH, CD CAICH, AICH channels.
WCDMA SCH channel
WCDMA SCCPCH channel
WCDMA PRACH channel
WCDMA PICH channel
WCDMA PDSCH channel
WCDMA PCPCH channel
WCDMA PCCPCH channel
WCDMA DPDCH channel
WCDMA DPCH channel
WCDMA DPCCH channel
WCDMA CSICH channel
WCDMA CPICH channel
WCDMA CD CAICH channel
WCDMA AICH channel

UMTS Spreading Scrambling modulation

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:
Main Page  Architecture  Stack  channel types  Bands  UARFCN  Frame  Timers 

This tutorial on UMTS covers spreading, scrambing and modulation concepts.

Scrambling using scrambling code
Scrambling does not change the bit rate. It only helps in separating signals from
different sources. Gold codes are used for this purpose as they have good
correlation properties. Long and short type of scrambling codes are available. In
the uplink it separates different UEs and in the downlink it s used for separation
of cells/sectors.
Modulation:
DPCCH and DPDCH are BPSK modulated.
Synchronization using synchronization code:
These codes will have good auto correlation functionality hence are used for
initial cell search and synchronization in the downlink. Primary sync. codes are
derived using Golay sequence and secondary words from Hadamard sequence.