Radio Bearer Service

USER DESCRIPTION

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Copyright

© Ericsson AB 2009 – 2010. All rights reserved. No part of this document may
be reproduced in any form without the written permission of the copyright owner.

Disclaimer

The contents of this document are subject to revision without notice due to
continued progress in methodology, design and manufacturing. Ericsson shall
have no liability for any error or damage of any kind resulting from the use
of this document.

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 Contents

Contents

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Basic Characteristics 1
1.2 Dependencies and Associated Features 1

2 Feature Overview 3
2.1 Benefits 3
2.2 Impacts 3
2.3 Further Information 3

3 Feature Operation Details 5

3.1 Bearer Types 5
3.2 Radio Bearer Procedures 6
3.3 Network Configuration Requirements 7
3.4 High Level Feature Flow Chart 7

4 Parameters 11
4.1 Introduced Parameters 11

5 Network Impact 13

6 Associated Features 15
6.1 Prerequisite Features 15
6.2 Related Features 15

7 Performance 17
7.1 Key Performance Indicators 17

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Radio Bearer Service

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 Introduction

1 Introduction

This document describes the Radio Bearer Service that is part of the LTE Basic
functions in the LTE Radio Access Network (RAN). The document focuses on
setting up the feature and the services it enables.

1.1 Basic Characteristics

Feature identity:
This feature is a part of FAJ 121 0484, LTE Basic

This feature has replaced:

N/A

Connected to: N/A

Release: Introduced in L10B

1.2 Dependencies and Associated Features

This section lists related features.

This feature requires the following RAN features to be active:

• No prerequisite features are required

This feature may affect the following RAN features:

• There are no specific effects on other features

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 Feature Overview

2 Feature Overview

The Radio Bearer Service feature provides the service of establishment and
release of signalling and data radio bearers.

LTE Basic functions offer a single data radio bearer per user. The bearer
provides the basic path for carrying user data packets. The signalling radio
bearers come with the single data radio bearer, providing the possibility to send
Access Stratum (AS) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) messages between the
User Equipment (UE) and the network.

The radio bearer contains underlying parameters that influence bit rate and
delay, as well as radio bearer coverage and capacity. These parameters
are not connected directly to this feature. They are configured through other
features, such as Quality of Service (QoS). The single data radio bearer per
user service supports a single non-guaranteed bit rate service data flow used
for carrying best effort type of traffic.

2.1 Benefits
The Radio Bearer Service provides the means to set up a communication path
between UE and network, both for user data transfer and for control signaling.

2.2 Impacts
The Radio Bearer Service affects the overall behavior of LTE RAN, since
communication between UE and network is impossible without it.

2.3 Further Information

The following documents provide further reference and background information:

• 3GPP TS 36.413

• 3GPP TS 36.331

• 3GPP TS 36.300

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 Feature Operation Details

3 Feature Operation Details

This chapter briefly explains the Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer concept
and the procedures that enables the setup and release of bearers in the RBS.

The main purpose of Radio Bearer Service is to set up and release

communication paths between the UE and the network. This includes bearers
for transfer of user data as well as separate bearers for control signalling.

3.1 Bearer Types

In the EPS, a number of different bearers are defined on the different interfaces.
The following illustration shows the types of EPS bearers and their use in the
network:

MME PCRF
E S1 Rx
- MM 1 Gx
S1
Uu S1-U SGW S5 PDN SGi PDN
GW
RBS

E-UTRAN RADIO ACCESS BEARER (E-RAB)

Data Radio Bearer (DRB)
Signalling Radio Bearer (SRB)
S1 Bearer S5 Bearer

EPS Bearer
L0000254A

Figure 1 EPS Bearer Types

A brief description of the supported bearers and bearer relationships is provided

in the following table:

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Radio Bearer Service

Table 1 Bearers in Evolved Packet System

Bearer Function
Radio Bearer Carries data over the Uu air interface. Types of
radio bearers include:
• Data radio bearer for the user plane
• Signalling radio bearer for the control plane
LTE RAN can support up to eight data radio
bearers and two signalling radio bearers for each
(1)
UE. In order to support more than one DRB
the feature Multiple Radio Bearers per User must
be activated.
(2)
Two SRBs are defined by 3GPP. SRB1 is used
(3)
for normal RRC signalling between the RBS
and the UE. SRB2 is used only to carry NAS
signalling and has lower priority than SRB1.
EPS Bearer Carries user plane data between the UE and the
PDN-GW. Each EPS bearer is mapped to a data
radio bearer, an S1 bearer, and an S5/S8 bearer.
(4)
E-RAB The data radio bearer and the S1 bearer
together are some times addressed as E-RAB.
It carries user plane data between the UE and
(5)
the SGW . E-RAB is the name used in 3GPP
S1AP specifications.
A one-to-one mapping always exists between
an E-RAB and a DRB.
S1 Bearer Carries user plane data between the RBS and
the SGW.
S5/S8 Bearer Carries user plane data between the SGW and
(6)
the PDN gateway.
(1) Data Radio Bearer
(2) Signalling Radio Bearer
(3) Radio Resource Control
(4) E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer
(5) Serving Gateway
(6) Packet Data Network

3.2 Radio Bearer Procedures

The Radio Bearer Service supports the following procedures defined in 3GPP:
• RRC Connection Establishment
• Initial Context Setup
• RRC Connection Release

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 Feature Operation Details

• Transparent Message Transfer

The following table summarizes the functions of the procedures:

Table 2 Radio Bearer Service Procedures

3GPP Procedure Function
RRC Connection Sets up a dedicated signalling connection
Establishment between the UE and the RBS. During this
procedure, SRB1 is established. At the end
of the RRC Connection Establishment, the
(1)
RBS selects the MME to which the UE
connects. After successful RRC Connection
establishment, the UE moves from state
RRC_IDLE to RRC_CONNECTED.
Initial Context Setup Triggered by the MME, the procedure sets
up the first bearer for user data transfer
(2)
between the UE and the EPC network.
During Initial Context Setup, security
between the UE and RBS is enabled,
including encryption and integrity protection.
Once the communication path is secure the
SRB2 and the first DRB are established.
RRC Connection Release Removes all radio bearers for the UE,
triggered either by the RBS or the MME.
After a successful RRC Connection
Release, the UE moves from state
RRC_CONNECTED to RRC_IDLE.
Transparent Message Transfer Enables sending of NAS messages between
the UE and core network. Transparent
Message Transfer is possible only when the
UE is in state RRC_CONNECTED.
(1) Mobile Management Entity
(2) Evolved Packet Core

3.3 Network Configuration Requirements

Radio Bearer Service is part of the LTE Basic system functions. No specific
feature licenses are required to activate Radio Bearer Service.

3.4 High Level Feature Flow Chart

As described in Section 3.2 on page 6, the radio bearer service consist of a
number of procedures described in detail in the following sections.

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3.4.1 RRC Connection Establishment

RRC Connection Establishment is triggered by the UE during the Random

Access procedure. Following a successful Random Access the UE sends
message RRC CONNECTION REQUEST on the Common Control Channel
(CCCH).

The RBS allocates the resources necessary for SRB1 and responds to the UE
with message RRC CONNECTION SETUP on the CCCH. RRC CONNECTION
SETUP includes information on the configuration to use.

The UE applies the received configuration and responds with RRC

CONNECTION SETUP COMPLETE, sent on the Dedicated Control Channel
(DCCH). Included in the message is the first NAS message. At this stage the
RBS selects which MME to connect the UE to.

The RBS forwards the NAS message to the MME in S1AP Message INITIAL
UE MESSAGE.

The following figure shows the communication occurring during RRC

connection establishment:

UE RBS MME

Random access

RRC connection request (CCCH)

-Admission Control (Licence check)

-Allocation of SRB resources in RBS

RRC connection setup (CCCH)

RRC connection setup complete (DCCH)

RRC_IDLE -> RRC_CONNECTED

MME selection
(Based on parameters ”S-TMSI”,
”Registered MME” or ”Selected
PLMN_ID”)
Initial UE message

L0000255A

Figure 2 RRC Connection Establishment

3.4.2 Initial Context Setup

The Initial Context Setup procedure is triggered by the MME by sending S1AP
message INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST. This message includes
information regarding the first E-RAB to set up. Included is information
regarding the security algorithms and security keys to use.

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 Feature Operation Details

The RBS applies the security information and informs the UE, using the
SECURITY MODE COMMAND message. The UE responds with SECURITY
MODE COMPLETE. After this point all data between the UE and RBS is
encrypted and control signalling is integrity-protected.

Following successful activation of security, the RBS allocates resources

for the first Data Radio Bearer. Resources for SRB2 are allocated as well.
The RBS configures the UE by sending message RRC CONNECTION
RECONFIGURATION.

The UE responds with RRC CONNECTION RECONFIGURATION COMPLETE

and the procedure is completed after the RBS has sent INITIAL CONTEXT
SETUP RESPONSE to the MME.

The following illustration shows the communication occurring during the Initial
Context Setup request:

UE RBS MME
Initial context setup request

Derivation of security keys

Security mode command

Security mode complete

-Allocation of data radio bearer resources

-Allocation of SRB2 resources

RRC connection reconfiguration

RRC connection reconfiguration complete

Initial context setup response

L0000256A

Figure 3 Initial Context Setup

3.4.3 RRC Connection Release

The RRC Connection Release procedure is triggered either by the RBS or the
MME, as described in the following:

• When the procedure is triggered by the MME, the S1AP message UE

CONTEXT RELEASE COMMAND is sent to the RBS. The RBS sends
RRC message RRC CONNECTION RELEASE to the UE and then clears
all resources related to the UE. The RBS ends the procedure by sending
UE CONTEXT RELEASE COMPLETE back to the MME

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Radio Bearer Service

• When the procedure in triggered by the RBS, the S1AP message UE

CONTEXT RELEASE REQUEST is sent to the MME. The rest of the
procedure is identical to an MME triggered release.

Reasons for the RBS to trigger this procedure is expiry of timer

tInactivityTimer or different error cases within Radio Connection
Supervision, such as Radio Link Failure.

The following illustration shows the communication occurring during the RRC
Connection Release procedure:

UE RBS MME
UE context release request

UE context release command

RRC connection release

RRC_CONNECTED->RRC_IDLE

-Release of data radio bearer resources

-Release of signaling radio bearer resources
-Release UE context
UE context release complete

L0000257A

Figure 4 RRC Connection Release

3.4.4 Transparent Message Transfer

The Transparent Message Transfer procedure enables the transfer of NAS
messages between the UE and the MME. The contents of NAS messages
are transparent to the RBS. The NAS messages are sent on SRB2 over the
air interface.

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 Parameters

4 Parameters

The Radio Bearer Service feature does not have a direct impact on the
configuration of any other parameters or system constants in the network.

4.1 Introduced Parameters

The parameter tInactivityTimer in Managed Object (MO) Rcs is the only
configurable parameter introduced by Radio Bearer Service.

Table 3 Parameter related to Radio Bearer Service

Parameter Description
tInactivityTimer The time there must be inactivity on all Data Radio
Bearers before the UE is released

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 Network Impact

5 Network Impact

There are no specific impacts from Radio Bearer Service on network capacity,
coverage, or handover.

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 Associated Features

6 Associated Features

This section describes how the feature affects other features and functions.

6.1 Prerequisite Features

The Radio Bearer Service is part of the LTE Basic system functions.

6.2 Related Features

The following features are related to Radio Bearer Service:

• Random Access

• Paging

• Quality of Service

• Multiple Radio Bearers per User

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 Performance

7 Performance

This section describes performance indicators associated with Radio Bearer

Service

7.1 Key Performance Indicators

The following main Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are associated with
this feature.

Initial E-RAB Establishment Success Rate

Defined as the accessibility success rate for end-user
services that are carried by E-RABs included in the
Initial UE Context setup procedure.

Added E-RAB Establishment Success Rate

Defined as the accessibility success rate for end-user
services which is carried by E-RABs included in the
E-RAB setup procedure.

E-RAB Retainability
Indicates the retainability of user equipment in
connected mode.

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