3G Evolution

Chapte r:

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LTE Radio Interface Architecture

Department of Electrical and Information Technology Johan Lfgren

2009-03-19

3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Outline
Architecture Basics Protocol Architecture Overview Short Description of Layers Longer Descriptions
Radio Link Control (RLC) Medium Access Control (MAC) Physical Layer (PHY)

Channels and Channel Mapping

Logical Channels Transport Channels Physical Channels Channel Mapping

Data Flow Example Chapter Summary

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Architecture Basics
LTE is strucutred into different protocol layers
Lower protocol layers provide services for upper layers
The data from/to higher layers is known as a Service Data Unit (SDU) The data from/to lower layers is known as a Protocol Data Unit (PDU)

Each layer is responsible for different tasks

The upper layers should not have to care about the details

This structure is common to most modern systems

Some layers are almost universal Others are LTE specific

In LTE, IP packets enters through on of the SAE bearers

SAE = System Architecture Evolution The IP packets are then processed by the protocols

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Protocol Architecture Overview

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Short Description of Layers (1/2)

Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)
Performs IP header compression
Reduces the number of bits to transmit over the radio interfaced Based on Robust Header Compression (ROHC)

Radio Link Control (RLC)

Responsible for
Segmentation/concatenation Retransmission handling In-sequence delivery to higher layers

Located in the eNodeB since no higher layers exists in LTE

In WCDMA this was handled higher in hierarchy

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Short Description of Layers (2/2)

Medium Access Control (MAC)
Responsible for
Uplink/downlink scheduling Hybrid-ARQ retransmissions Choice of modulation Resoucre assignment

Physical Layer (PHY)

Responsible for
Coding/decoding Modulation/demodulation Resource mapping

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Radio Link Control (RLC)

The RLC splits and concatenate the incoming data to fit the system
The RLC PDU sizes are dynamically varied to fit the amount of data
Much data = long RLC PDUs to reduce RLC header overhead Little data = short RLC PDUs to avoid too much padding

Responsible for error-free delivery to higher layers

Accomplished with retransmission protocol Re-sequencing of data may be requiered Complementary to Hybrid-ARQ in lower layers

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Medium Access Control (MAC) (1/2)

Scheduling
The basic operation is so-called dynamic scheduling
Downlink/Uplink are independently schedueled Time-frequency resources dynamically shared between users Each 1 ms TTI a new decision is taken Each mobile unit scheduled by the eNodeB
However each mobile still decides what radio bearer(s) to transmit

Scheduling strategy is not specified by 3GPP

Implementation specific Normally aiming at taking advantage of channel variations Channel status report from mobile unit to eNodeB

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Medium Access Control (MAC) (2/2)

Hybrid ARQ with soft combining controlled by MAC

Different simultaneous processes running When error in one part, only that process needs to retransmit Soft combining with adaptive coding leads to better chance of reception

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3G Evolution - HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband

Physical Layer (PHY)

Responsible for
Coding PHY Hybrid ARQ processing Modulation

Controlled by MAC
Transport Format (TF)
Tells PHY modulation et c.

Simplified PHY processing

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Logical Channels
The MAC offers services to the RLC as logical channels
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
System information to all mobile terminals

Paging Control Channel (PCCH)

Paging information when searching a unit

Common Control Channel (CCCH)

Random access information (setting up a connection)

Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)

User-specific control information (power/handover et c)

Multicast Control Channel (MCCH)

Information needed for multicast reception

Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)

Transmission of user data

Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH)

Transmission of multicast data
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Transport Channels
The PHY offers services to the MAC as transport channels
Broadcast Channel (BCH)
Maps to BCCH

Paging Channel (PCH)

To convey the PCCH

Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)

Main channel for downlink data transfer, used by many logical channels

Multicast Channel (MCH)

Used to transmit MCCh information to set up multicast transmission

Upink Shared Channel (UL-SCH)

Main channel for uplink data transfer, used by many logical channels
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Physical Channels
The PHY transmit the data over the physical channels
Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH) Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH)
Used for unicast transmission and paging

Carries system information for accessing the network Carries system information for multicast Carries mainly scheduling information Reports Hybrid ARQ status

Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)
Uplink counterpart of PDSCH Sends Hybrid ARQ acknowledgement Used for random access Information to enable the terminalse to decode the PDSCH

Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)

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Channel Mapping

Downlink Channel Mapping

Uplink Channel Mapping

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Data Flow Example

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Chapter Summary
LTE is structured into different protocol layers
RLC is responsible for splitting and concatenation of data MAC controls data and Hybrid ARQ PHY is responsible for actual transmission

Different Channels are interfaces to higher layers

Logical Channels Transport Channels Physical Channels

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