UMTS Architecture

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Basic UMTS Architecture

UE UTRAN CN

Uu Iu

UE User Equipment RAN Radio Access Network

UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial RAN CN Core Network
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User Equipment (UE)

USIM
The 3G Network terminal is called UE
and it contains two separate parts,
Mobile Equipment (ME) and UMTS
Cu
Service Identity Module (USIM).
The Interface between USIM and UE
is called Cu interface.
ME

UE
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UMTS Radio Access Network (UTRAN)

The subsystem controlling the

Node B wideband radio access has
RNC
different names, depending on
Node B Iub the type of radio technology
RNS
used. The general term is Radio
Iur Access Network (RAN).
If especially talking about UMTS
Node B
RNC
with WCDMA radio access, the
name UTRAN or UTRA is used
Node B Iub
RNS
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UMTS Radio Access Network (UTRAN)

The UTRAN is divided into Radio

Node B Network Subsystem (RNS). One
RNC RNS consist of set of radio
Node B Iub elements and their corresponding
RNS controlling element. In UTRAN
Iur the radio element is Node B or
Base Station (BS), and the
controlling element is Radio
Node B
RNC
Network Controller (RNC).
The RNSs are connected to each other
Node B Iub
RNS over access network-internal interface
Iur
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Radio Network Controller (RNC)
It is the switching and controlling element of the UTRAN.
It is located between the Iub and Iu interface.
It also has the third interface called Iur for inter-RNS connection.
It interfaces the core network.
It terminates the Radio Resource Control (RRC).
It logically corresponds to the GSM BSC.
It controls the mobility and handover within the RAN.
It supports Radio Access Bearer (RAB) services with CS and
PS data.
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Radio Network Controller (RNC)

Logical Roles of the RNC.

1. Controlling RNC (CRNC)

2. Serving RNC (SRNC)
3. Drift RNC (DRNC)

One Physical RNC normally contains all the CRNC , SRNC and
DRNC functionality.
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Radio Network Controller (RNC)

Controlling RNC (CRNC)

The RNC controlling one Node B (i.e terminating the Iub

interface towards the Node B) is indicated as the controlling
RNC of the Node B. The CRNC is responsible for the load and
congestion control of its own cells and also executes the
admission control and code allocation for new radio link to be
established in those cell.
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Radio Network Controller (RNC)

In case one mobile UTRAN connection uses resources

from more than one RNS , the RNCs involved have two
separate roles with respect to this mobile UTRAN
connection
Serving RNC (SRNC)

Drift RNC (DRNC)

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Radio Network Controller (RNC)

Serving RNC (SRNC)

The serving RNC for one mobile is the RNC that terminates
both the Iu link for the transport of user data and the
corresponding RAN application part signalling to / from the
CN (this connection is referred to as the RANAP connection)
The SRNC also terminates the signaling protocol between
the UE and UTRAN.
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Radio Network Controller (RNC)
Serving RNC (SRNC)
It performs the L2 processing of the data to / from the radio
interface.
Basic RRM operations such as the mapping of radio access
bearer (RAB) parameters into air interface transport channel
parameter, the handover decision and the outer loop power
control are executed in the SRNC.
The SRNC may also (but not always) be the CRNC of some
Node B used by the mobile connection with UTRAN.
One UE connected to UTRAN has one and only one SRNC
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Radio Network Controller (RNC)
Drift RNC (DRNC)

The DRNC is any RNC , other than the SRNC , that

controls cells used by the mobile.
The DRNC does not perform L2 processing of the
user plane data but routes the data transparently
between Iub and Iur interfaces.
One UE may have zero , one or more DRNCs
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What is Power Control ?

The power control regulates the transmit power of the terminal

and base station, which results in less interference and allows

more users on the same carrier.

Transmit power regulation thus provides more capacity in the

network
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What is Power Control ?

With a frequency re-use of 1, it is very important to have

efficient power control in order to keep the interference
at a minimum.

For each subscriber service the aim is that the base station
shall receive the same power level from all handsets in the
cell regardless of distance from the base station.
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What is Power Control ?

If the power level from one handset is higher than needed,

the quality will be excessive, taking a disproportionate
share of the resources and generating unnecessary
interference with the other subscribers in the network.

On the other hand, if power levels are too low this will
result in poor quality.
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What is Power Control ?

In order to keep the received power at a suitable level, WCDMA

uses power control mechanism. By doing this the rapid change
in the radio channel is handled.

To ensure good performance, power control is implemented in

both the up-link and the down-link, which means that both the
output powers of the handset and the base station are frequently

updated.
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Power Control

Tight and fast power control is the most imporatant aspect in

WCDMA, in particular on the uplink. Without it , a single
overpowered mobile could block a whole cell.
The main reasons for implementing power control are :-
* near-far problem
* interference dependent capacity
* limited power source of the UE
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Power Control
Near Far Effect
Uplink: Because of different attenuation signals to/from users
nearer to BS are stronger than signals to/from further located users.

Downlink: Because of the nature of attenuation at the cell border

the users experience higher interference that near to the BS. They
have high level of interfering signals from own BS and from other
BS.
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Power Control

D1 > D2
P1 > P2 P1

Node B
D1
UE1
Signal of UE1 will D2 P2
dominates signal
of UE2

UE2

Near Far Effect

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Power Control
Tx Power
Tx Power

Rx Power Rx Power

Without Power Control Wit Power Control

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Power Control

System Capacity is maximized if the transmitted power of

each terminal is controlled so that its signal arrives at
the Base station with the minimum required SIR.

In WCDMA power control is employed in both the uplink and

the down link
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Power Control

Downlink
Downlink power control is basically for minimizing the
interference to other cells and compensating for other cells
interference as well as achieving acceptable SIR
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Power Control

Up link
The main target of the Uplink power control is to:-
* Minimize near-far effect by making the transmission power
level received from all terminals as equal as possible at the home
cell for the same Qos.
* Minimizing intra-cell interference.
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Power Control

Two type of power control mechanisms

Open Loop Power Control (OLPC)

Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC)

Inner loop

Outer loop
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Power Control

Open Loop Power Control

- Basically used for uplink.

- UE adjust transmission power based on an estimate of
the received signal level from the base station common
pilot channel (CPICH) when the UE is in idle mode and
prior to physical random access channel (PRACH)
transmission.
- In addition UE receive information about the allowed
power parameters from the cell BCCH when in idle
mode.
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Power Control

Open Loop Power Control

- UE adjust its uplink transmission power level in a way

that is inversely proportional to the pilot signal power
level. Consequently the stronger the received pilot signal,
the lower the UE transmitted power.
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Power Control

Open Loop Power Control

Pilot
S tren
gth E
st i m
a te

Ptrx =
1/ P i l
ot str UE
e ngth
Node B Es timat
e

* If this attempt is unsuccessful, it will increase the power in steps and retry.
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Power Control
Closed Loop Power Control (Inner loop)
Utilized when radio connection has already been established.
Main target is to compensate the effect of rapid changes in
the radio signal strength.
TPC commands 1500 times per sec.
Step size 1,2 or 3 db.
Power control decision on the basis of pre defined SIR value.
Should be fast enough to compensate for a Rayleigh fading ,

which depends on radio frequency and speed of the UE.

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Power Control
Closed Loop Power Control (Inner loop) - Uplink

When Node B receives the UE signal it compares the signal

strength with the pre defined threshold value at Node B .

If Ptrx > threshold value ,

TPC from Node B ----- UE ( decrease signal power)

If Ptrx < threshold value ,

TPC from Node B ----- UE ( increase signal power)
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Power Control
Closed Loop Power Control (Inner loop) - Downlink

Role of Node B and UE are interchanged.

If Ptrx > threshold value ,

TPC from UE ----- Node B ( decrease signal power)

If Ptrx < threshold value ,

TPC from UE ----- Node B ( increase signal power)
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Power Control
Closed Loop Power Control (Outer loop)
RNC comes into the picture.
RNC adjust threshold SIR values as per changing radio
condition , bit error rate (BER) , Block error rate (BLER).
Not to high, not too low SIR threshold value.
If received quality of uplink is better than the required quality ,
the SIR target is decreased , if not SIR target is increased.
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Cell Breathing
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What is Cell Breathing ?

Cell breathing is the constant change of the range of the

geographical area covered by a cellular telephone transmitter
based on the amount of traffic currently using that transmitter.
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What is Cell Breathing ?

When a cell becomes heavily loaded, it shrinks. Subscriber

traffic is then redirected to a neighboring cell that is more
lightly loaded, which is called load balancing. Cell breathing is
a common phenomenon of 2G and 3G wireless systems
including code-division multiple access (CDMA). WCDMA
Systems are designed to manage cell breathing.
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What is Cell Breathing ?

The WCDMA technology enables multiple transmitters to use

the same frequency at the same time.

Each transmission appears like background noise to other receivers

However this reduces the signal to noise ratio (SIR)

This means that there will be interference between users in the

same cell and in neighboring cells.

The WCDMA spreading and despreading processes allow this

interference to be suppressed to some degree.
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What is Cell Breathing ?
The Level of suppression is termed the system processing gain.

The processing gain will vary according to the service.

When the number of subscriber in the cell is low (low load), good
quality can be achieved even at the long distance.

As the number of subscriber increases loading within the cell is

increased, the Base Station noise floor appears to rise.

The mobiles must transmit additional power to overcome the

increased interference or have to get closer to the base station to
achieve good quality.
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What is Cell Breathing ?

When the cell load is low coverage area is more. (Expansion)

When the cell load is high coverage area low. (Shrinking)

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Cell Breathing
Coverage / Capacity

BS 1 BS 2

Fully loaded system

Unloaded system
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Load Balancing

Cell breathing provides a degree of load balancing.

As the cell becomes more heavily loaded it becomes smaller.

This has the effect of shedding users around the cell boundary to
more lightly loaded neighboring cells.