The information flows between the different protocols are known as channels and signals.

LTE
uses several different types of logical, transport and physical channel, which are distinguished by
the kind of information they carry and by the way in which the information is processed.

Logical Channels : Define what type of information is transmitted over the air, e.g.
traffic channels, control channels, system broadcast, etc. Data and signalling messages
are carried on logical channels between the RLC and MAC protocols.

Transport Channels : Define how is something transmitted over the air, e.g. what are
encoding, interleaving options used to transmit data. Data and signalling messages are
carried on transport channels between the MAC and the physical layer.

Physical Channels : Define where is something transmitted over the air, e.g. first N
symbols in the DL frame. Data and signalling messages are carried on physical channels
between the different levels of the physical layer.

Logical Channels

Logical channels define what type of data is transferred. These channels define the data-transfer
services offered by the MAC layer. Data and signalling messages are carried on logical channels
between the RLC and MAC protocols.
Logical channels can be divided into control channels and traffic channels. Control Channel can
be either common channel or dedicated channel. A common channel means common to all users
in a cell (Point to multipoint) while dedicated channels means channels can be used only by one
user (Point to Point).
Logical channels are distinguished by the information they carry and can be classified in two
ways. Firstly, logical traffic channels carry data in the user plane, while logical control channels
carry signalling messages in the control plane. Following table lists the logical channels that are
used by LTE:
Channel Name

Control
channel

Acronym

Traffic channel

Broadcast Control Channel

BCCH

Paging Control Channel

PCCH

Common Control Channel

CCCH

Dedicated Control Channel

DCCH

Multicast Control Channel

MCCH

Dedicated Traffic Channel

DTCH

Multicast Traffic Channel

MTCH

Transport Channels

Transport channels define how and with what type of characteristics the data is transferred by the
physical layer. Data and signalling messages are carried on transport channels between the MAC
and the physical layer.
Transport Channels are distinguished by the ways in which the transport channel processor
manipulates them. Following table lists the transport channels that are used by LTE:
Channel Name

Acronym

Downlink

Uplink

Broadcast Channel

BCH

Downlink Shared Channel

DL-SCH

Paging Channel

PCH

Multicast Channel

MCH

Uplink Shared Channel

UL-SCH

Random Access Channel

RACH

Physical Channels

Data and signalling messages are carried on physical channels between the different levels of the
physical layer and accordingly they are divided into two parts:

Physical Data Channels

Physical Control Channels

Physical data channels

Physical data channels are distinguished by the ways in which the physical channel processor
manipulates them, and by the ways in which they are mapped onto the symbols and sub-carriers
used by Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDMA). Following table lists the
physical data channels that are used by LTE:
Channel Name

Acronym

Downlink

Physical downlink shared

channel

PDSCH

Physical broadcast channel

PBCH

Physical multicast channel

PMCH

Physical uplink shared channel

PUSCH

Uplink

Physical random access channel PRACH

The transport channel processor composes several types of control information, to support the
low-level operation of the physical layer. These are listed in the below table:
Field Name

Acronym

Downlink

Downlink control information

DCI

Control format indicator

CFI

Hybrid ARQ indicator

HI

Uplink control information

UCI

Uplink

Physical Control Channels

The transport channel processor also creates control information that supports the low-level
operation of the physical layer and 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. Similarly, the physical channel processor creates physical signals,
which support the lowest-level aspects of the system.
Physical Control Channels are listed in the below table:
Channel Name

Acronym

Downlink

Physical control format indicator

PCFICH
channel

Physical hybrid ARQ indicator

channel

PHICH

Physical downlink control

channel

PDCCH

Relay physical downlink control

channel

R-PDCCH

Physical uplink control channel

PUCCH

Uplink

The base station also transmits two other physical signals, which help the mobile acquire the
base station after it first switches on. These are known as the primary synchronization signal
(PSS) and the secondary synchronization signal (SSS).
In order that data can be transported across the LTE radio interface, various "channels" are used.
These are used to segregate the different types of data and allow them to be transported across
the radio access network in an orderly fashion.

Effectively the different channels provide interfaces to the higher layers within the LTE protocol
structure and enable an orderly and defined segregation of the data.

3G LTE channel types

There are three categories into which the various data channels may be grouped.

Physical channels: These are transmission channels that carry user data and control
messages.

Transport channels: The physical layer transport channels offer information transfer to
Medium Access Control (MAC) and higher layers.

Logical channels: Provide services for the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer within
the LTE protocol structure.

3G LTE physical channels

The LTE physical channels vary between the uplink and the downlink as each has different
requirements and operates in a different manner.

Downlink:
o Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH): This physical channel carries system
information for UEs requiring to access the network. It only carries what is
termed Master Information Block, MIB, messages. The modulation scheme is
always QPSK and the information bits are coded and rate matched - the bits are
then scrambled using a scrambling sequence specific to the cell to prevent
confusion with data from other cells.
The MIB message on the PBCH is mapped onto the central 72 subcarriers or six
central resource blocks regardless of the overall system bandwidth. A PBCH
message is repeated every 40 ms, i.e. one TTI of PBCH includes four radio
frames.
The PBCH transmissions has 14 information bits, 10 spare bits, and 16 CRC bits.
o Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) : As the name implies
the PCFICH informs the UE about the format of the signal being received. It
indicates the number of OFDM symbols used for the PDCCHs, whether 1, 2, or 3.
The information within the PCFICH is essential because the UE does not have

prior information about the size of the control region.

A PCFICH is transmitted on the first symbol of every sub-frame and carries a
Control Format Indicator, CFI, field. The CFI contains a 32 bit code word that
represents 1, 2, or 3. CFI 4 is reserved for possible future use.
The PCFICH uses 32,2 block coding which results in a 1/16 coding rate, and it
always uses QPSK modulation to ensure robust reception.
o Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) : The main purpose of this
physical channel is to carry mainly scheduling information of different types:

Downlink resource scheduling

Uplink power control instructions

Uplink resource grant

Indication for paging or system information

The PDCCH contains a message known as the Downlink Control Information,

DCI which carries the control information for a particular UE or group of UEs.
The DCI format has several different types which are defined with different sizes.
The different format types include: Type 0, 1, 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 2, 2A, 2B, 2C, 3,
3A, and 4.
o Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) : As the name implies, this
channel is used to report the Hybrid ARQ status. It carries the HARQ
ACK/NACK signal indicating whether a transport block has been correctly
received. The HARQ indicator is 1 bit long - "0" indicates ACK, and "1" indicates
NACK.
The PHICH is transmitted within the control region of the subframe and is
typically only transmitted within the first symbol. If the radio link is poor, then
the PHICH is extended to a number symbols for robustness.

Uplink:
o Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) : The Physical Uplink Control
Channel, PUCCH provides the various control signalling requirements. There are
a number of different PUCCH formats defined to enable the channel to carry the
required information in the most efficient format for the particular scenario
encountered. It includes the ability to carry SRs, Scheduling Requests.
The basic formats are summarised below:

PUCCH
Uplink Control
Format
Information
Format 1
SR
1 bit HARQ ACK/NACK
Format 1a
with or without SR
2 bit HARQ ACK/NACK
Format 1b
with or without SR
Format 2
CQI/PMI or RI
CQI/PMI or RI and 1 bit
Format 2a
HARQ ACK/NACK
CQI/PMI or RI and 2 bit
Format 2b
HARQ ACK/NACK

Modulation
Scheme
N/A

Bits per
Sub-frame
N/A

BPSK

QPSK

QPSK

20

QPSK + BPSK

21

QPSK + BPSK

22

Format 3

Notes

Provides support for

carrier aggregation.

o Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) : This physical channel found on

the LTE uplink is the Uplink counterpart of PDSCH
o Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) : This uplink physical channel is
used for random access functions. This is the only non-synchronised transmission
that the UE can make within LTE. The downlink and uplink propagation delays
are unknown when PRACH is used and therefore it cannot be synchronised.
The PRACH instance is made up from two sequences: a cyclic prefix and a guard
period. The preamble sequence may be repeated to enable the eNodeB to decode
the preamble when link conditions are poor.

LTE transport channels

The LTE transport channels vary between the uplink and the downlink as each has different
requirements and operates in a different manner. Physical layer transport channels offer
information transfer to medium access control (MAC) and higher layers.

Downlink:
o Broadcast Channel (BCH) : The LTE transport channel maps to Broadcast
Control Channel (BCCH)
o Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) : This transport channel is the main
channel for downlink data transfer. It is used by many logical channels.
o Paging Channel (PCH) : To convey the PCCH

o Multicast Channel (MCH) : This transport channel is used to transmit MCCH

information to set up multicast transmissions.

Uplink:
o Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) : This transport channel is the main channel
for uplink data transfer. It is used by many logical channels.
o Random Access Channel (RACH) : This is used for random access
requirements.

LTE logical channels

The logical channels cover the data carried over the radio interface. The Service Access Point,
SAP between MAC sublayer and the RLC sublayer provides the logical channel.

Control channels: these LTE control channels carry the control plane information:
o Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) : This control channel provides system
information to all mobile terminals connected to the eNodeB.
o Paging Control Channel (PCCH) : This control channel is used for paging
information when searching a unit on a network.
o Common Control Channel (CCCH) : This channel is used for random access
information, e.g. for actions including setting up a connection.
o Multicast Control Channel (MCCH) : This control channel is used for
Information needed for multicast reception.
o Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) : This control channel is used for carrying
user-specific control information, e.g. for controlling actions including power
control, handover, etc..

Traffic channels:These LTE traffic channels carry the user-plane data:

o Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) : This traffic channel is used for the
transmission of user data.

o Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) : This channel is used for the transmission
of multicast data.