LONG TERM EVOLUTION

Air Interface Protocols

Nico Deffrey S. dela Pena
RADIO PROTOCOLS ARCHITECTURE

▪ Protocols can be simply described as set of rules that allow

communication between peer entities or they can also be described
as set of rules that facilitate horizontal communication
▪ LTE protocol stack is similar to the WCDMA protocol stack of UMTS.
▪ The LTE protocol stack defines three layers: the physical layer (layer
1), data link and access layer (layer 2) ,layer 3 (hosting the AS, the
NAS control protocols as well and the application level)
AIR INTERFACE PROTOCOL STACK

▪ The protocols used in

the air interface,
from the viewpoint of
the mobile
USER PLANE PROTOCOL STACK (TRANSMITTER)

▪ The application creates data packets that are processed by

protocols such as TCP, UDP and IP
PDCP (PACKET DATA CONVERGENCE PROTOCOL)

 The functions of PDCP are as follows:

 Ciphering
 Integrity protection**
 In-sequence delivery and retransmission of PDCP SDUs for AM
Radio Bearers at handover
 Duplicate detection
 Header compression using the RoHC protocol*

* for User plane ; ** for Control plane

RADIO LINK CONTROL

 The functions of RLC are as follows:

 Error Correction through ARQ
 (re)-Segmentation according to the size of the TB
 Concatenation of SDUs for the same radio bearer
 In-sequence delivery
MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL (MAC)

 MAC is the lowest layer 2 protocol.

 Its main function is to drive the transport channels.

 From higher layers MAC is fed with logical channels which are in one‐
to one correspondence with radio bearers.

 Each logical channel is given a priority and MAC has to multiplex

logical channel data onto transport channels (demultiplexing in
reception)
MEDIUM ACCESS CONTROL (MAC)

 The functions of MAC are as follows:

 Multiplexing/demultiplexing of RLC PDUs
 Scheduling Information reporting
 Error correction through HARQ
 Logical Channel Prioritization
USER PLANE DATA FLOW (TRANSMITTER)
CONTROL PLANE PROTOCOL STACK (TRANSMITTER)

RLC and MAC sublayers perform the same TS 36.331 functions as for the user
plane. PDCP sublayer performs ciphering and integrity protection.
CONTROL PLANE PROTOCOL STACK (TRANSMITTER)
▪ Non-Access Stratum (NAS) Protocol
▪ Highest stratum of the control plane between UE and MME at the
radio interface
▪ Supports mobility of the user equipment (UE)
▪ Supports the session management procedures to establish and
maintain IP connectivity between the UE and a packet data
network gateway (PDN GW)
▪ Performs the following functions:
▪ EPS bearer management
▪ Authentication
▪ ECM-IDLE mobility handling
▪ Paging origination in ECM-IDLE
▪ Security control
ECM_IDLE AND ECM_CONNECTED
CONTROL PLANE PROTOCOL STACK (TRANSMITTER)

▪RRC (Radio Resource Control) protocol performs:

Broadcast of System Information related to NAS and AS;
Establishment, maintenance and release of RRC
connection;
Establishment, configuration, maintenance and release
of Signaling and Data Radio Bearers (SRBs and DRBs);
NAS direct message transfer between UE and MME.
Security functions
AIR INTERFACE PROTOCOL STACK
Physical layer has three parts
Transport channel processor
▪Applies error management procedures
▪Physical channel processor
▪Applies the techniques of OFDMA, SC-
FDMA and multiple antenna
transmission
▪Analogue processor
▪Converts the information to analogue
form
▪Filters it
▪Mixes it up to radio frequency for
transmission
AIR INTERFACE PROTOCOL STACK

▪In the transmitter

▪ Transport channel processor
▪Creates control information that supports the low-
level operation of physical layer
▪Sends this information to the physical channel
processor in the form of physical control channels
▪The information travels as far as the transport
channel processor in the receiver, but is completely
invisible to higher layers
▪Physical channel processor
▪Creates physical signals, which support the lowest-
level aspects of the system
▪These travel as far as the physical channel
processor in the receiver, but once again are
invisible to higher layers
LOGICAL CHANNELS

▪Logical channels are distinguished by the

information they carry and can be
classified in two ways
▪1st
▪Logical traffic channels carry data in the
user plane
▪Logical control channels carry signaling
messages in the control plane
▪2nd
▪Dedicated logical channels are allocated
to a specific mobile
▪Common logical channels can be used
by more than one
LOGICAL CHANNELS
LOGICAL CHANNELS

 Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)

 The most important logical channels
 Carries data to or from a single mobile
 Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
 Carries the large majority of signaling messages
 Carries all the mobile-specific signaling messages on Signaling
Radio Bearers 1 and 2, for mobiles that are in RRC_CONNECTED
state
LOGICAL CHANNELS
LOGICAL CHANNELS
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
 Carries RRC system information messages
 BS broadcasts BCCH message across the whole cell to tell the mobiles
about how the cell is configured
These messages are divided into two unequal groups, which are handled
differently by lower layers
 Master Information Block (MIB)
 Carries a few important parameters such as  DL Bandwidth,
Number of Transmit Antenna, Reference Signal Transmit
Power, System Frame Number (SFN), PHICH Configuration
System Information Blocks (SIBs)
SYSTEM INFORMATION BLOCKS
SIB 1
 Cell Access Related Information - PLMN Identity List, PLMN Identity, TA
Code, Cell identity & Cell Status
 iCell Selection Information - Minimum Receiver Level
 Scheduling Information - SI message type & Periodicity, SIB mapping Info, SI
Window length
SIB 2
 Access Barring Information - Access Probability factor, Access Class Baring
List, Access Class Baring Time
 Semi static Common Channel Configuration - Random Access Parameter,
PRACH Configuration
 UL frequency Information - UL EARFCN, UL Bandwidth, additional emission
SYSTEM INFORMATION BLOCKS
SIB 3 - Information/Parameters for intra-frequency cell reselections 
SIB 4 - Information on intra-frequency neighboring cells
SIB 5 - Information on inter-frequency neighboring cells
SIB 6 - Information for reselection to UMTS (UTRAN) cells  
SIB 7 - Information for reselection to GSM (GERAN) cells  
SIB 8 - Information for reselection to CDMA2000 systems
SIB 9 - Home eNodeB name for future LTE femtocell applications
SIB 10 + 11 - ETWS (Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System) information
SIB 12 - Commercial Mobile Alerting System (CMAS) information.
LOGICAL CHANNELS

 Paging Control Cannel (PCCH)

 Carries paging messages
 BS transmits PCCH message if it wishes to contact mobiles that
are in RRC_IDLE
 Common Control Channel (CCCH)
 Carries messages on Signaling Radio Bearer 0, for mobiles that
are moving from RRC_IDLE to RRC_CONNECTED in the
procedure of RRC connection establishment
LOGICAL CHANNELS
LOGICAL CHANNELS

 Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) and Multicast Control Channel

(MCCH)
 Handle Multimedia Broadcast/Multicastservice (MBMS)
service
GAME 4: LTE AIR INTERFACE DOMINO STACK

 Group yourselves into groups of four/five

 There are two sets of double six dominoes
 The leader of the groups will pick a domino piece from the instructor
 The two groups who got the higher sum of the domino piece will have the
privilege to play the game first.
 The 28 pieces of dominoes will be shuffled upside down and will be evenly
distributed to the group members.
 The distributed dominoes should remain upside down. The members will
pick one domino each. The member with the highest sum of domino piece
will start the game.
 They will start building the domino blocks forming the stack as seen in the
figure in the next slide
 After all of the pieces have been stacked up, members will start to create a
stack combination that will start with 1 in the lowest stack up to 6 in the
highest stack.
GAME 4: LTE AIR INTERFACE DOMINO STACK

 This represents the air interface protocol stack:

1 - analogue processing, 2 – physical channel
processing, 3 – transport channel processing, 4
– MAC, 5 – RLC, 6 - PDCP
 They will create the combination by removing
1 piece form the existing tower without
making it fall
 The member who can create the combination
in the fastest possible time will be given +15
points in the exam.
 If the tower is destroyed before a member can
create the combination, the leaders of the
remaining groups will pick a piece of the
domino and the group who obtained the
highest value will restart the game again.
TRANSPORT CHANNELS

Transport channels are

distinguished by the ways in
which the transport channel
processor manipulates them
TRANSPORT CHANNELS
TRANSPORT CHANNELS

▪ Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) & Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)

▪ The most important transport channels
▪ Carry the large majority of data and signaling messages across air
interface
▪ Paging Channel (PCH)
▪ Carries paging messages that originated from Paging Control Channel
(PCCH)
▪ Broadcast Channel (BCH)
▪ Carries the broadcast control channel’s Master Information Block (MIB)
▪ The remaining system information messages are handled by DL-SCH, as if
they were normal downlink data
TRANSPORT CHANNELS
▪Multicast Channel (MCH)
▪ Carry data from multimedia broadcast/multicast service
▪ The BS usually schedules the transmissions that a mobile makes, by
granting it resources for downlink transmission at specific times and on
specific sub-carriers
▪Random Access Channel (RACH)
▪ A special channel through which the mobile can contact the network
without any prior scheduling
▪ Random access transmissions are composed by mobile’s MAC protocol
and travel as far as the MAC protocol in the BS, but are completely
invisible to higher layers.
▪ The situations that require RACH are as follows:
TRANSPORT CHANNELS

▪ The situations that require RACH are as follows:

▪ UE in RRC_CONNECTED state but not uplink-synchronized but needs
to send new uplink data or control information (e.g. an event-
triggered measurement report)
▪ UE in RRC_CONNECTED state but not uplink- synchronized but
needs to receive new downlink data, and, therefore, to transmit
corresponding ACK/NACK in the uplink
▪ UE in RRC_CONNECTED state handing over from its current serving
cell to a target cell
▪ transmission from RRC_IDLE state to RRC_CONNECTED. For
example for initial access or tracking area updates
▪ Recovering from radio link failure
TRANSPORT CHANNELS
▪Main differences between transport channels lie in their approaches to
error management
▪ UL-SCH & DL-SCH
▪ The only transport channels that use ARQ and hybrid ARQ
▪ The only channels that can adapt their coding rate to
changes in the received SINR
▪ The other transport channels use FEC alone and have a fixed
coding rate
PHYSICAL LAYER

It provides the basic bit transmission functionality over

air.
The physical layer is driven by OFDMA in the downlink and
SC‐FDMA in the uplink.
Physical channels are dynamically mapped to the available
resources (physical resource blocks and antenna ports).
To higher layers the physical layer offers its data
transmission functionality via transport channels.
PHYSICAL LAYER

 Like in UMTS a transport channel is a block oriented transmission

service with certain characteristics regarding bit rates, delay, collision
risk and reliability.

 In contrast to 3G WCDMA or even 2G GSM there are no dedicated

transport or physical channels anymore, as all resource mapping is
dynamically driven by the scheduler
PHYSICAL DATA CHANNELS

▪Physical data channels are

distinguished by
▪ The ways in which the
physical channel
processor manipulates
them, and
▪ The ways in which they
are mapped onto the
symbols and sub-carriers
used by OFDMA
PHYSICAL DATA CHANNELS
PHYSICAL DATA CHANNELS
▪ Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) & Physical
Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)
▪ The most important physical channels
▪ PDSCH
▪ Carries data and signaling messages from DL-SCH
▪ Carries paging messages from PCH
▪ PUSCH
▪ Carries data and signaling messages from UL-SCH
▪ Sometimes carries uplink control information
PHYSICAL DATA CHANNELS

▪Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH)

▪ Carries the MIB (Master Information Block) from broadcast
Channel
▪Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
▪ Carries random access transmissions from random access
channel
▪Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH)
▪ Carries data from multicast channel
PHYSICAL DATA CHANNELS

▪PDSCH and PUSCH

▪ The only physical channels that can adapt their modulation
schemes in response to changes in the received SINR
▪The other physical channels all use a fixed modulation scheme, usually
QPSK
CONTROL INFORMATION

▪Transport channel processor composes several types of control

information to support the low level operation of physical layer
CONTROL INFORMATION

▪Uplink Control Information (UCI) contains several fields

▪ Hybrid ARQ acknowledgements
▪ The mobile’s acknowledgements of the BS’s transmissions
on the DL-SCH (Downlink Shared Channel)
▪ Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)
▪ Describes the received SINR as a function of frequency in
support of frequency dependent scheduling
CONTROL INFORMATION

▪ Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) and Rank Indication (RI)

▪ Support the use of spatial multiplexing
▪ Collectively, CQI, PMI and RI are sometimes known as Channel
State Information (CSI)
▪ Scheduling Request (SR)
▪ Sent by the mobile, if it wishes to transmit uplink data on
the PUSCH, but does not have the resources to do so
CONTROL INFORMATION

▪Downlink Control Information (DCI) contains most of the downlink

control fields
▪ Using scheduling commands and scheduling grants, the BS can
▪ Alert the mobile to forthcoming transmissions on the
downlink shared channel and
▪ Grant it resources for transmissions on the uplink shared
channel
▪ It can also adjust the power with which the mobiles are
transmitting using power control commands
CONTROL INFORMATION

▪Control Format Indicators (CFIs)

▪ Tell the mobiles about the organization of data and control
information on the downlink
▪Hybrid ARQ Indicators (HIs)
▪ The BS’s acknowledgements of the mobiles’ uplink
transmissions on the UL-SCH
PHYSICAL CONTROL CHANNELS
PHYSICAL CONTROL CHANNELS
PHYSICAL CONTROL CHANNELS
▪In the downlink, there is a one-to-one mapping between physical control channels
and control information listed above
▪Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH)
▪ Carry control format indicators (CFI)
▪ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH)
▪ Carry hybrid ARQ indicators (HI)
▪Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)
▪ Carry downlink control information (DCI)
▪Relay Physical Downlink Control CHannel (R-PDCCH)
▪ Supports the use of relaying
PHYSICAL CONTROL CHANNELS

▪The uplink control information is sent

▪ On the Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)
▪ if the mobile is transmitting uplink data at the same time
▪ On the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)
▪ otherwise
PHYSICAL SIGNALS

▪Physical signals support the lowest-level operation of the physical

layer
PHYSICAL SIGNALS
PHYSICAL SIGNALS
PHYSICAL SIGNALS

▪In the uplink, the mobile

▪ Transmits the Demodulation Reference Signal (DRS) at the
same time as the PUSCH and PUCCH, as a phase reference for
use in channel estimation
▪ Transmit the Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) at times
configured by the BS, as a power reference in support of
frequency-dependent scheduling
PHYSICAL SIGNALS
▪The downlink
▪ Usually combines DRS and SRS in the form of cell specific
Reference Signal (RS)
▪ UE specific reference signals are less important and are sent to
mobiles that are using beamforming in support of channel
estimation
▪BS also transmits two other physical signals, which help the mobile
acquire the BS after it first switches on
▪ Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS)
▪ Secondary Synchronization Signal (SSS)
INFORMATION FLOWS

▪shows the information

flows that are used in
the uplink, with the
arrows drawn from the
viewpoint of the BS, so
that uplink channels
have arrows pointing
upwards, and vice
versa
INFORMATION FLOWS

▪shows the
corresponding
situation in the
downlink