Wireless Communications Lecture 8: 3G systems

By Sheharyar Zahid
1

Introduction
2.5/3G systems have been developed to meet the demand for higher bandwidth

2G systems uses circuit switching in which each user is assigned a channel and they have the use of the channel for the duration of the call
3G systems use packet switching where data from multiple users can be bundled into a packet before being transmitted

Particularly useful when the data is bursty e.g. internet browsing when there are periods of inactivity
This makes efficient use of the available bandwidth As well as packet switching the other main difference is the wider bandwidth, higher data rates

3G systems
It was hoped that a single 3G standard could be found but unfortunately this was not the case. 3 main standards evolved;

1) W-CDMA Wideband CDMA is the air interface standard most commonly used in UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Services) systems, 3G replacement to GSM
2) CDMA2000 is the 3G version of IS-95 3) EGPRS/EDGE provides a packet switching capability for GSM and enhanced data rates. It uses much of the existing 2G hardware and so is often referred to as a 2.5G system

We will not cover CDMA2000 in any detail as the basic principles are very similar to W-CDMA

Improving performance of CDMA

3 main methods; 1) 2) 3) Multi-carrier CDMA Variable spreading gain CDMA Multi-code CDMA

Multi-carrier CDMA
This simply involves adding more frequency bands.
Adopted in CDMA2000 3x where 3 1.25MHz bands are used across a 5MHz bandwidth. It is a relatively simple improvement to IS-95, maintains compatibility with IS-95

Variable spreading gain CDMA

Increasing the chip rate, increases the spreading gain of the system and improves performance, recall that

Eb PR R W R I 0 ( K 1) PR W ( K 1)

(5.4)

Alternatively one could also increase the data rate R to maintain the same spreading gain

In W-CDMA the chip rate is 3.84Mcps compared to the 1.2288Mcps used in IS-95

Multi-code CDMA
Involves transmitting multiple codes in parallel Each of a group of successive signal bits is chip-encoded in parallel A different code is used for spreading each bit The transmission of the codes in parallel using the same carrier provides the higher data rates CDMA2000 uses this technique, W-CDMA uses it at the highest data rates Research has shown that the performance of variable spreading gain and multi-code CDMA is comparable

W-CDMA
The 3G successor to GSM, used in the 2nd generation i-phone Uses a chip rate of 3.84Mcps Allows a high data rate to be transmitted while maintaining a relatively high spreading gain Higher chip rate means that higher transmission bandwidths (up to 5MHz) are required In Europe and Asia 1920MHz-1980MHz is used for uplink, 2110-2170MHz is used for downlink

W-CDMA data rates and modulation

W-CDMA can achieve up to 384Kbps in a wide area environment and 2Mbps in a local area environment (due to better SIR with closely packed base stations) Achieved by combination of variable spreading technique and multi-code technique

Variable spreading gain used to transmit at multiples of 15Kbps from 15kbps to 960kbps uplink and up to 1.92Mbps downlink
Depends on the quality of the link The higher rate downlink is due to QPSK, PSK is used on the uplink A higher rate downloading from the internet is desirable

W-CDMA
Data transmission in both directions uses rate convolutional encoding User data rate is less than half of the overall data rate, once tail bits and error detection codes have been added Spreading gains range from 256 (3.84Mcps/15kbps) to a low value of 4 (3.84Mcps/960kbps) at the highest data rate.

Up to six orthogonal codes can be used in parallel (multi-code technique) giving an overall maximum data rate over the uplink of 6x960kbps = 5.76Mbps
The low spreading gains means that this high data rate is only available in local areas

Quality of service
W-CDMA has 4 quality of service traffic classes, two real time and two nonreal time Real time a) Conversational class (2 way voice and video) has objectives of low end to end delay (a delay of 100ms is acceptable). Some errors in voice transmission are acceptable (5%) b) Streaming multi-media has objectives to preserve the timing between successive frames

Quality of service
Non- Real time a) Interactive traffic such as web browsing has objectives that the data arrives with a low error probability b) Background traffic such as email where data integrity is more important than speed of transmission

User data transmission

Repetitive 10ms long frame structure used

Voice is transmitted through circuit switching as in 2G so concentrate on other user data Packet switched user data is transmitted along the dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) The channel is defined by a particular code at a particular frequency

The bit rate of the data may change using the variable spreading or multi-code technique Changing the data rate allows the 4 different classes of data (conversational, streaming, interactive, background) to be supported at an appropriate data rate

Control channels
The dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) is always operated at a fixed data rate with a spreading gain of 256 The DPCCH provides the necessary signalling and control to allow the user data to be transmitted. Examples of channels within the DPCCH are;

PILOT provides an estimate of the channel TFCI (transport format combination indicator) indicates the data rate in the data channel (DPDCH) TPC (transmission power control) provides information about power levels FBI (feedback information) where used controls the antenna phase to improve diversity detection

User data and control channels (uplink)

Channels are transmitted in parallel in the uplink

User data and control channels (downlink)

In the downlink direction the two channels are time multiplexed into the same channel In the DPCCH there is no FBI as this provides information about diversity detection which is not used in mobile receivers

Other control channels

Described in more detail in Schwartz p318-320

BCH Broadcast channel, operates in downlink to carry random access codes and access slots available in a cell. FACH Forward access channel, operates in downlink and carries signalling and control information to a mobile terminal PCH Paging channel, operates in downlink to locate a user to receive data RACH Random access control channel, operates in uplink to initiate a call or register a user in a new location (as in 2G systems)

2.5G/3G TDMA
Introducing a 3G system (particularly in GSM as it is TDMA based) involves a step change in the hardware 2.5G systems aim to provide packet switching capability for internet/movies etc with relatively minor modifications to the hardware. Two main changes introduced to GSM to improve performance
1. Packet switching via the general packet radio service (GPRS) 2. Higher data rates through EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution)

GPRS

Standard covers a core network portion and an air-interface standard

Core network portion uses a layered architecture based on the TCP/IP internet standards

Essentially each layer is set up to communicate with the layer above and below
The protocol allows packet switching to be obtained which is useful when the data is bursty

GPRS quality of service

Each user subscribes to a particular level of service with a profile defined by;

Priority of service; high, medium and low precedence, where low precedence corresponds to background traffic. Reliability; There are three classes of reliability relating to Probability of loss of a data unit Probability of duplication Probability of mis-sequencing Probability data will be corrupted, or delivered with an undetected error Delay; Four classes relate to delays in transferring the data across the GPRS network. (see Table 10.5, p336, Schwartz). Voice requires smaller delays (<100ms) than e-mail. Throughput; defined by the maximum and mean bit rates

GPRS network configuration

Main modifications to a GSM system is the addition of the serving GPRS support node and the gateway GPRS support node SGSN provides an interface between the basestation and the public (landline) network, allowing packet switched data to be sent and received

GPRS network configuration

SGSN performs a similar role to the MSC in 2G GSM systems SGSN is connected to other SGSNs either by public network or via a connection to an external packet network (such as the internet) via the GGSN

Layered architectures
GPRS used a layered architecture similar to that used in the internet A layer below is designed to provide a service for the layer above Protocols are usually implemented in software but between the lower layers are sometimes implemented in hardware As an example consider two computers communicating with one another via routers

Layered architectures - example

Dotted lines show logical connections Solid lines show physical connection Host has 5 layers Router uses 3 of these layers

Layered architectures - example

Application layer - users enter the data to be sent at the application layer, the layers below are used to ensure that the data units arrive at the appropriate location. Transport layer (TCP) transmission control protocol, provides a service to the layer above by performing data sequencing and error correction. Network Layer (IP) internet protocol, allows data to be transmitted across the network

Layered architectures - example

The previous were software implementations, to enable physical connection two layers are required; Data link layer - the data link protocol is used to ensure the data unit (block of bits) arrives faithfully at the end of a link. The layer recognizes the start and end of a data block, and also performs error correction (or at least informing the layer above that an error has been detected.)

Layered architectures - example

Physical layer As the name suggests, this is the actual physical connection (e.g. telephone cable of radio-wave connection across an air interface). PSK, QAM and CDMA form examples of procedures implemented at the physical layer.

Layered architectures - example

PDUs protocol data units In passing the data between different layers, sometimes a block of bits is too long, and is split into different blocks. Sometimes it is too short, and the block is combined with other blocks. The new blocks are called protocol data units (PDUs) and include headers that describe the format of the data that is to follow. As the data moves up through the layers the headers are stripped off and the data is restored to its original format.

GPRS layered architecture

(see Schwartz p342-347 for more details)

More complicated but follows the same structure as the previous example

GPRS layered architecture

(see Schwartz p342-347 for more details)

MS. BS, SGSN, GGSN all have layered architecture Logical connections can be made between 2 mobiles but this needs to be done via layered communication down to the physical layer and back Data from the application layer moves down through the layers with error detection, formatting and headers added

GPRS air interface

So how does the packet switching map onto the GSM frame structure that we have described previously? GSM frames are 4.615ms long, each frame divided into 8 time slots, each time slot 114 bits long

GPRS layered architecture

(see Schwartz p342-347 for more details)

The RLC/MAC layers ensure that the data is in the correct format to be transmitted within the GSM frame structure An RLC/MAC protocol data unit is 456 bits long and maps onto 4 GSM time slots (often 1 slot in consecutive 4 frames)

RLC/MAC protocol data unit

The 4 time slots that the RLC/MAC PDU maps onto is often known as a radio block The radio block is the basic unit of a GPRS packet data channel Depending on the demand and quality of service required the packet can occupy more than 1 slot of the frame structure However this must be shared with 2G voice data

EDGE

As well as introducing packet switching, enhanced data rates for global evolution (EDGE) has also been introduced

EDGE involves two main modifications to increase data rates 1) The use of 8-PSK modulation in place of GMSK modulation used in GSM

2) Modifications in the radio link control to improve link transmission quality

EDGE 8-PSK
(Schwartz p353)

Uses 8 equally spaced phase positions in the modulation Only drawback is that there is a greater probability of mistaking phases as they are more closely spaced

EDGE - Radio link control

(more details in Schwartz p355) W-CDMA, CDMA2000 and EDGE all have adaptive bit rates so that when link quality is poor, data is transmitted at lower rates to reduce the error probability with better error correction GPRS has 4 coding schemes (CS-1 to CS-4)

EDGE adds six more (PCS-1 to PCS-6) which are based on 8-PSK and rate 1/3 convolutional encoding
Bit rates range from 11.4kbps (CS-1) to 69.6kbps (PCS-6) Higher rates can be used when you are closer to a base-station or are stationary as they have less error correction

EDGE - Radio link control

(more details in Schwartz p355) Two methods can be used to select the appropriate coding scheme

Link adaption where the quality of the link is estimated and the appropriate scheme selected Incremental redundancy highest possible rate is selected, if this is unsuccessful then switch to a lower rate

Summary
3G mobile communications systems have been summarized Rely on packet switching which is useful when the data is bursty Improvements in CDMA e.g. Multi-carrier, variable spreading gain, multicode W-CDMA GPRS/EDGE