LTE Overview

Course Objectives:

·Understand the development of mobile communications, and Long

Term Evolution (LTE) position and network architecture.

·Understand the protocol architecture and basic technologies of E-

UTRAN.

·Understand key LTE technologies.

Contents

1 Overview........................................................................................................................................................1

1.1 Background..........................................................................................................................................1

1.1.1 Mobile Communications Evolution.........................................................................................1

1.1.2 Comparison Among WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and CDMA2000............................................2

1.1.3 WCDMA Evolution.................................................................................................................2

1.1.4 TD-SCDMA Evolution............................................................................................................3

1.1.5 CDMA200 Evolution...............................................................................................................4

1.2 LTE Overview and Standards Development......................................................................................5

2 LTE Indexes and Requirements.................................................................................................................5

2.1 Frequency Band Division....................................................................................................................6

2.2 Peak Data Rate....................................................................................................................................7

2.3 Control Plane Delay............................................................................................................................7

2.4 User Plane Delay.................................................................................................................................7

2.5 User Throughput..................................................................................................................................8

2.6 Spectrum Efficiency............................................................................................................................8

2.7 Mobility...............................................................................................................................................8

2.8 Coverage..............................................................................................................................................9

2.9 Spectrum Flexibility............................................................................................................................9

2.10 Coexistence and Interoperability with Existing 3GPP Systems.....................................................10

2.11 Reducing CAPEX and OPEX.........................................................................................................10

3 LTE Architecture.......................................................................................................................................11

3.1 System Architecture..........................................................................................................................11

3.2 Radio Protocol Architecture..............................................................................................................15

 3.2.1 Control Plane Protocol Architecture......................................................................................15

3.2.2 User Plane Protocol Architecture..........................................................................................16

3.3 S1 Interface and X2 Interface...........................................................................................................17

3.3.1 S1 Interface............................................................................................................................17

3.3.2 X2 Interface............................................................................................................................22

4 Physical Layer.............................................................................................................................................21

4.1 Frame Structure.................................................................................................................................21

4.2 Physical Resources............................................................................................................................21

4.3 Physical Channels..............................................................................................................................23

4.4 Transport Channels............................................................................................................................25

4.5 Mapping Between Transport Channels and Physical Channels.......................................................26

4.6 Physical Signals.................................................................................................................................27

4.7 Physical Layer Model........................................................................................................................28

4.8 Physical Layer Procedures................................................................................................................31

4.8.1 Synchronization Procedures...................................................................................................31

4.8.2 Power Control.........................................................................................................................31

4.8.3 Random Access Procedures...................................................................................................32

5 Layer 2.........................................................................................................................................................33

5.1 MAC Sublayer...................................................................................................................................34

5.1.1 MAC Functions......................................................................................................................34

5.1.2 Logical Channels....................................................................................................................35

5.1.3 Mapping Between Logical Channels and Transport Channels.............................................36

5.2 RLC Sublayer....................................................................................................................................37

5.2.1 RLC Functions........................................................................................................................37

5.2.2 PDU Structure........................................................................................................................38

5.3 PDCP Sublayer..................................................................................................................................38

5.3.1 PDCP Functions.....................................................................................................................38

 5.3.2 PDU Structure........................................................................................................................39

6 RRC..............................................................................................................................................................39

6.1 RRC Functions...................................................................................................................................39

6.2 RRC State..........................................................................................................................................40

6.3 NAS State and the Relationship With the RRC state.......................................................................41

6.4 RRC Procedure..................................................................................................................................42

6.4.1 System Information................................................................................................................42

6.4.2 Connection Control................................................................................................................43

7 Core LTE Technologies.............................................................................................................................43

7.1 Duplex Mode.....................................................................................................................................43

7.2 Multi-access Mode............................................................................................................................43

7.3 Multi-antenna Technologies.............................................................................................................44

7.4 Link Adaptation.................................................................................................................................45

7.5 HARQ and ARQ...............................................................................................................................45

7.5.1 HARQ.....................................................................................................................................45

7.5.2 ARQ........................................................................................................................................46

7.5.3 HARQ/ARQ Interactions.......................................................................................................47

8 Abbreviations..............................................................................................................................................49

9 References....................................................................................................................................................51
1 Overview

 Knowledge points

Mobile communications development

WCDMA evolution

TD-SCDMA evolution

CDMA2000 evolution

1.1 Background

1.1.1 Mobile Communications Evolution

The development history from 2G and 3G to 3.9 G is the development history from
low-speed voice services to high-speed multimedia services of mobile
communications.

3GPP has been progressively perfecting LTE R8 standard:

1. LTE R8 RAN1 was frozen in December 2008.

2. LTE R8 RAN2, RAN3, and RAN4 were frozen in December 2008..

3. LTE R8 standard was complete by March 2009, implementing basic LTE

functions at the first commercial use of LTE systems.

Figure 1 shows the development and evolution of wireless communication

technologies.

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LTE Overview

Development and evolution of wireless communication technologies

1.1.2 Comparison Among WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and CDMA2000

Comparison among WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and CDMA2000

Standard WCDMA CDMA2000 TD-SCDMA

Inheritance basis GSM Narrowband CDMA GSM
Synchronous mode Asynchronous Synchronous Synchronous
Chip rate 3.84 Mcps 1.2288 Mcps 1.28 Mcps
System bandwidth 5 MHz 1.25 MHz 1.6 MHz
Core network GSM MAP ANSI-41 GSM MAP
QCELP, EVRC, and
Voice coding mode AMR AMR
VMR-WB

1.1.3 WCDMA Evolution

Figure 2 shows the WCDMA technology roadmap.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

WCDMA technology roadmap

1.1.4 TD-SCDMA Evolution

ZTE wireless network equipment supports smooth evolution of recent TD evolution

software.

TD evolution can be divided into two stages: standard stage of CDMA technologies
and that of OFDMA technologies.

The standard stage of CDMA technologies can smoothly evolve to HSPA+ with
spectrum efficiency close to that of LTE.

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LTE Overview

Long-term evolution version (4G)

Mid-term evolution version IMT-Adv

Short-term evolution version

3GPP LTE
OFDMA
Basic version 3GPP (R5/6/7) MIMO
HSPA/HSPA+
3GPP (R4) MBMS/Multi-Carrier
Voice/Data
N frequency point

Phase I Phase II Phase III

CDMA standard OFDMA standard

TD-SCDMA evolution

1.1.5 CDMA200 Evolution

CDMA One is a collection of all IS-95-based CDMA products. More specifically, IS-
95 is used as a standard for key technologies of all CDMA One-based products.

When CDMA2000 1x employs 1.25 MHz bandwidth, the highest rate of single-
carriers reaches 307.2 kbit/s, the peak rate of 1xEV-DO Rev.0 reaches 2.4 Mbit/s in
the downlink, and the peak rate of Rev.A reaches 3.1 Mbit/s in the downlink.

Down Link
100 Mbps
CDMA2000
1xEV-DO Rev. B
Eliminating
3 Mbps CDMA2000
1xEV-DO Rev. A Deploying

Developing
2 Mbps CDMA2000
1xEV-DO Rev. 0

1 Mbps

CDMA2000 1x

CDMA One
100 kbps 1 Mbps 10 Mbps 100 Mbps Uplink

CDMA200 evolution

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

1.2 LTE Overview and Standards Development

3GPP working groups started LTE standardization in December 2004. LTE focuses on
the enhancement of UTRAN and UTRA.

The establishment of 3GPP standards can be divided into four stages including
requirements proposal, architecture establishment, detailed specifications, and testing
and verification.

3GPP works in workgroup mode and RAN1/2/3/4/5 workgroups are directly related to
LTE.

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LTE Overview

Organization and establishment stages of 3GPP standards

6
2 LTE Indexes and Requirements

 Knowledge points

Spectrum division

LTE system requirements

Others

Physical channels and mapping relationship

Figure 6 shows the LTE indexes and requirements prescribed by 3GPP.

Peak data rate

DL: 100 Mbit/s
UL: 50 Mbit/s

Enhanced Delay reduced

cell CP：100ms
coverage UP：5ms

LTE
features

Enhanced Lower
spectrum OPEX and
efficiency CAPEX

Different
bandwidth
supported

LTE indexes and requirements

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2.1 Frequency Band Division

Table 2 lists the E-UTRA frequency bands.

E-UTRA frequency bands

E-UTRA Uplink (UL) operating band BS receive Downlink (DL) operating band BS Duplex
Operating UE transmit transmit UE receive Mode
Band
FUL_low – FUL_high FDL_low – FDL_high
1 1920 MHz – 1980 MHz 2110 MHz – 2170 MHz FDD
2 1850 MHz – 1910 MHz 1930 MHz – 1990 MHz FDD
3 1710 MHz – 1785 MHz 1805 MHz – 1880 MHz FDD
4 1710 MHz – 1755 MHz 2110 MHz – 2155 MHz FDD
5 824 MHz – 849 MHz 869 MHz – 894MHz FDD
6 830 MHz – 840 MHz 875 MHz – 885 MHz FDD
7 2500 MHz – 2570 MHz 2620 MHz – 2690 MHz FDD
8 880 MHz – 915 MHz 925 MHz – 960 MHz FDD
9 1749.9 MHz – 1784.9 MHz 1844.9 MHz – 1879.9 MHz FDD
10 1710 MHz – 1770 MHz 2110 MHz – 2170 MHz FDD
11 1427.9 MHz – 1452.9 MHz 1475.9 MHz – 1500.9 MHz FDD
12 698 MHz – 716 MHz 728 MHz – 746 MHz FDD
13 777 MHz – 787 MHz 746 MHz – 756 MHz FDD
14 788 MHz – 798 MHz 758 MHz – 768 MHz FDD
…
17 704 MHz – 716 MHz 734 MHz – 746 MHz FDD
...
33 1900 MHz – 1920 MHz 1900 MHz – 1920 MHz TDD
34 2010 MHz – 2025 MHz 2010 MHz – 2025 MHz TDD
35 1850 MHz – 1910 MHz 1850 MHz – 1910 MHz TDD
36 1930 MHz – 1990 MHz 1930 MHz – 1990 MHz TDD
37 1910 MHz – 1930 MHz 1910 MHz – 1930 MHz TDD
38 2570 MHz – 2620 MHz 2570 MHz – 2620 MHz TDD
39 1880 MHz – 1920 MHz 1880 MHz – 1920 MHz TDD
40 2300 MHz – 2400 MHz 2300 MHz – 2400 MHz TDD

2.2 Peak Data Rate

The instantaneous downlink peak rate reaches 100 Mbit/s (5 bit/s/Hz) at 20 MHz

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

downlink spectrum band (two transmit antennas on the network side and two receive
antennas on the UE side).

The instantaneous uplink peak rate reaches 50 Mbit/s (2.5 bit/s/Hz) at 20 MHz uplink
spectrum band (one receive antenna on the UE side).

Widebands, MIMOs, and advanced modulation technologies are the key to increasing
peak data rates.

2.3 Control Plane Delay

From residence to activation, similarly, from the idle mode to CELL_DCH state of
Release 6, the transmission delay time of the control plane is shorter than 100 ms and
does not include paging delay time or NAS delay time.

From sleep to activation, similarly, from the CELL_PCH state to CELL_DCH state of
Release 6, the transmission delay time of the control plane is shorter than 50 ms and
does not include the DRX interval.

Additionally, if the control plane operates at 5 MHz spectrum band, each cell is
expected to support 200 activated users. In the case of higher spectrum bands, each
cell is expected to support 400 activated users.

2.4 User Plane Delay

User plane delay is the unidirectional transmission time that a packet is transmitted
from the IP layer of a UE/RAN edge node to the IP layer of a RAN edge node/UE.
The RAN edge node indicates the interface nodes of the RAN and core network.

In the case of "zero loads" (a single user and a single data flow) and "small IP
packets" (only one IP header and no effective load), the user plane delay is expected
to be no longer than 5 ms.

2.5 User Throughput

Downlink:

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LTE Overview

1. The user throughput per MHz at the 5% Cumulative Distribution Function

(CDF) must reach two to three times the throughput of R6 HSDPA.

2. The average user throughput per MHz must reach three to four times the
throughput of R6 HSDPA.

R6 HSDPA uses one transmitter one receiver (1T1R) while LTE uses two
transmitter/two receiver (2T2R).

Uplink:

1. The user throughput per MHz at the 5% CDF must reach two to three times the
throughput of R6 HSUPA.

2. The user throughput per MHz must reach two to three times the throughput of
R6 HSUPA.

R6 HSUPA uses 1T2R, and so does LTE.

2.6 Spectrum Efficiency

Downlink: On a network with effective load, the target LTE spectrum efficiency
(measured by the bit quantity per site, per Hz, and per second) is three to four times
more efficient than R6 HSUPA. R6 HSDPA uses 1T1R while LTE uses 2T2R.

Uplink: On a network with effective load, the target LTE spectrum efficiency
(measured by the bit quantity per site, per Hz, and per second) is two to three times
more efficient than R6 HSUPA. R6 HSUPA uses 1T2R, and so does LTE.

2.7 Mobility

E-UTRAN can provide optimum network performance for mobile users at the speed
of 0–15 km/h, high performance services at the speed of 15–120 km/h, and cell
network services at the speed of 120–350 km/h (the speed even reaches 500 km/h at
specified bands).

Voice services and other realtime services provided in the R6 CS domain are
supported by PS domain on the E-UTRAN and all these services can reach or exceed
the quality of UTRAN services. The interrupt time caused by handovers within the E-

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

UTRA system must be shorter than or equal to the handover time of the GERAN CS
domain.

In a special case where the moving speed exceeds 250 km/h (in a high-speed train),
the physical layer parameters of E-UTRAN must be set to be capable of protecting the
connections between users and networks at the highest speed of 350 km/h (the speed
even reaches 500 km/h at specified bands).

2.8 Coverage

The E-UTRA system must flexibly support all coverage scenarios on the basis of
reusing the current UTRAN sites and frequencies to meet the preceding performance
indexes such as the user throughput, spectrum efficiency, and mobility.

The performance requirements of the E-UTRA system within different coverage

scope are listed as follows:

1. Coverage radius within 5 km: The preceding performance indexes such as the
user throughput, spectrum efficiency, and mobility must be fully satisfied.

2. Coverage radius within 30 km: The throughput and spectrum efficiency are
allowed to slightly drop but within an acceptable range, and the mobility index
must be fully satisfied.

3. Maximum coverage radius: 100 km.

2.9 Spectrum Flexibility

On the one hand, the spectrum flexibility allows deployment of E-UTRA at varied
bands including 1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, and 20 MHz . The E-
UTRA supports paired and unpaired spectrums.

On the other hand, the spectrum flexibility allows consolidation of spectrum bands.

2.10 Coexistence and Interoperability with Existing 3GPP Systems

Interoperability requirements of the E-UTRA and 3GPP systems include but not

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LTE Overview

limited to:

1. E-UTRAN and UTRAN/GERAN multi-mode terminals support

UTRAN/GERAN measurement and handover between E-UTRAN systems and
UTRAN/GERAN systems.

2. The E-UTRAN system supports inter-system measurement.

3. The handover interrupt time between R-UTRAN and UTRAN must be shorter
than 300 ms for realtime services.

4. The handover interrupt time between E-UTRAN and UTRAN must be shorter
than 500 ms for non-realtime services.

5. The handover interrupt time between E-UTRAN and GERAN must be shorter
than 300 ms for realtime services.

6. The handover interrupt time between E-UTRAN and GERAN must be shorter
than 500 ms for non-realtime services.

7. Paging information of only one of the GERAN, UTRA, or E-UTRA systems

needs to be monitored for multi-mode terminals in non-active state (similar to
R6 Idle mode or Cell_PCH state).

2.11 Reducing CAPEX and OPEX

The flattening of the system architecture and the decrease in intermediate nodes
dramatically reduces the equipment costs and maintenance costs.

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3 LTE Architecture

 Knowledge points

Radio protocol structure

S1 interface

X2 interface

3.1 System Architecture

LTE adopts an OFDM-based air interface technology which is different from those of
2G and 3G. LTE adopts a flat network architecture within which E-UTRAN contains
only eNodeBs instead of RNC, so as to optimize the traditional 3G network
architecture. LTE supports functions of PDCP/RLC/MAC/physical layer protocols on
the E-UTRA user plane and functions of the RRC protocol on the control plane.
Figure 8 shows the E-UTRAN system architecture.

MME / S-GW MME / S-GW

S1

S1
S1

S1

X2 E-UTRAN
eNB eNB
X2

X2

eNB

E-UTRAN architecture

11
 eNodeBs are connected over an x2 interface and every eNodeB is connected to the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network over an S1 interface. The user plane of S1
interfaces terminates on the Serving-Gateway (S-GW) and the control plane of S1
interfaces terminates on the Mobile Management Entity (MME). The other end of the
control plane and user plane terminates on the eNodeB. Functions of all NEs in the
preceding figure are listed as follows:

 eNodeB

Besides the original eNodeB functions, eNodeB of LTE undertakes most of original
RNC functions such as physical layer, MAC (including HARQ), RLC layer (including
ARQ functions), PDCP, RRC, scheduling, radio access control, access mobility
management, and radio resource management among different cells.

LTE eNodeBs have the following functions:

 Manage radio resources: Radio bearer control, radio access control, connection
mobility control, and dynamic resource assignment of uplink and downlink
(scheduling).

 Compress IP headers and encrypt user data streams.

 Choose the UE-attached MME when the MME routing information cannot be
known from the information provided for the UE.

 Transmit routing data of user planes to the S-GW.

 Schedule and transmit the paging information initiated by the MME.

 Schedule and transmit the broadcast information initiated by the MME or O&M.

 Measure the mobility and scheduling information and perform measurement

reporting configuration.

 Schedule and transmit the Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System (ETWS)
information initiated by the MME.

 MME

As the control core of the SAE, MME implements such functions as user access

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

control, service bearer control, paging, and handover control.

The function of the MME is separated from that of the gateway. The control plane/user
plane separated structure facilitates network deployment, single technology evolution,
and flexible capacity expansion.

 NAS signaling

 NAS signaling security

 AS security control

 Mobile signaling among 3GPP radio networks

 The reachability of an UE in the idle state (including the control and

implementation of paging signal re-transmission)

 Tracking area list management

 P-GW or S-GW selection

 MME selection at the time of handover

 SGSN selection at handover to 2G or 3GPP network

 Roaming

 Authentication

 Bearer management, including dedicated bearer establishment

 ETWS signal transmission

 S-GW

As the anchor point at local eNodeB handover, S-GW implements the following
functions: data transfer between the eNodeB and the public data gateway, downlink
packet buffer, and user-based billing.

 Local mobile anchor points at eNodeB handover

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LTE Overview

 Mobile anchor points among 3GPP systems.

 Downlink packet buffering and initialization of network-triggered service

request procedure in the E-UTRAN idle mode

 Lawful interception

 Packet routing and forwarding

 Transport-layer packet marking (uplink/downlink)

 Accounting on user and QCI granularity for inter-operator charging.

 Uplink/downlink charging per UE, PDN, or QCI

 PDN gateway (P-GW)

As the designated anchor point of the data bearer, the Public Data Network Gateway
(P-GW) has the following functions: Packet forwarding, packet resolving, lawful
interception, service-based billing, QoS control, and interconnection with non-3GPP
networks.

 Per-user packet filtering (for example, utilize deep packet inspection)

 Lawful interception

 IP address assignment of the UE

 Transport-layer packet marking (downlink)

 Uplink/downlink service level charging, gating, and rate enforcement

 Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR)-based downlink rate control

As shown in the preceding figure, the original lu interface, lub interface, and lur
interface are replaced with the S1 interface and X2 interface in the new LTE
architecture.

Figure 8 shows the functional split between E-UTRAN and EPC. Yellow boxes depict
the logical nodes, white boxes the functional entities of the control plane, and blue

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

boxes the radio protocol layers.

eNB

Inter Cell RRM

RB Control

Connection Mobility Cont.

MME
Radio Admission Control
NAS Security
eNB Measurement
Configuration & Provision
Idle State Mobility
Handling
Dynamic Resource
Allocation (Scheduler)
EPS Bearer Control
RRC

PDCP
S-GW P-GW
RLC
Mobility UE IP address
MAC Anchoring allocation
S1
PHY Packet Filtering
internet

E-UTRAN EPC

Functional split between E-UTRAN and EPC

3.2 Radio Protocol Architecture

3.2.1 Control Plane Protocol Architecture

Figure 10 shows the control plane protocol architecture.

UE eNB MME

NAS NAS

RRC RRC

PDCP PDCP

RLC RLC

MAC MAC

PHY PHY

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LTE Overview

Control plane protocol stack

The PDCP terminates at eNodeB and implements functions such as control plane
encryption and integrity protection.

The RLC and MAC terminate at eNodeB on the network side and implement identical
functions of the user plane and control plane.

The RRC terminates at eNodeB and implements such functions as broadcast, paging,
RRC connection management, RB control, mobility, and UE measurement reporting
and control.

The NAS terminates at MME and implements such functions as EPS bearer
management, authentication, idle-mode EPS Connection Management (ECM), idle-
mode ECM paging, and security control.

3.2.2 User Plane Protocol Architecture

Figure 11 shows the user plane protocol architecture.

UE eNB

PDCP PDCP

RLC RLC

MAC MAC

PHY PHY

User plane protocol stack

The user plane PDCP, RLC, and MAC terminate at eNodeB and implements such
functions as header compression, encryption, scheduling, ARQ, and HARQ.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

3.3 S1 Interface and X2 Interface

Different from those in 2G and 3G systems, S1 interface and X2 interface are newly
added in the LTE system.

3.3.1 S1 Interface

The S1 interface is defined as the interface between the E-UTRAN and EPC. The S1
interface contains two parts: the control plane S1-MME interface and user plane S1-U
interface. The S1-MME interface is defined as the interface between the eNodeB and
MME; the S1-UE interface is defined as the interface between the eNodeB and S-GW.
Figure 12 and Figure 13 respectively show the protocol stack architecture of the S1-
MME interface and S1-U interface.

S1-AP

SCTP

IP

Data link layer

Physical layer

S1 interface control plane (eNodeB-MME)

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LTE Overview

User plane PDUs

GTP-U

UDP

IP

Data link layer

Physical layer

S1 interface user plane (eNodeB–S-GW)

The S1 interface has the following acknowledged functions:

 E-RAB service management

 Establishment, modification, and release

 UE mobility in the ECM-CONNECTED state

 Handover within the LTE system

 Handover between the LTE system and the 3GPP system

 S1 paging

 NAS signaling transmission

 S1 interface management

 Error indication

 Reset

 Network sharing

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

 Roaming and area restriction

 NAS node selection

 Initial context establishment

 UE context modification

 MME load balance

 Location report

 ETWS message transmission

 Overload

 RAN information management

The S1 interface has the following acknowledged signaling procedures:

 E-RAB signaling procedure

 E-RAB establishment

 E-RAB modification

 MME-initiated E-RAB release

 eNodeB-initiated E-RAB release

 Handover signaling procedure

 Handover preparation

 Resource assignment

 Handover termination

 Handover cancellation

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LTE Overview

 Paging

 NAS transmission procedure

 Direct uplink transmission (initial UE message)

 Direct uplink transmission (uplink NAS transmission)

 Direct downlink transmission (downlink NAS transmission)

 Error indication procedure

 eNodeB-initiated error indication

 MME-initiated error indication

 Reset

 eNodeB-initiated reset

 MME-initiated reset

 Initial context establishment

 UE context modification

 S1 establishment

 eNodeB configuration update

 MME configuration update

 Location report

 Location report control

 Location report

 Location report failure indication

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

 Overload startup

 Overload stop

 Write replacement alarm

 Directly transmitted information transfer

Figure 14 shows the S1 interface signaling procedure.

UE eNB MME
Paging
Paging

Random Access Procedure

NAS: Service Request

S1-AP: INITIAL UE MESSAGE (FFS)
+ NAS: Service Request
+ eNB UE signalling connection ID

RRC: Radio Bearer Setup S1-AP: INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST

(NAS Message) + (NAS message)
+ MME UE signalling connection ID
+ Security Context
+ UE Capability Information (FFS)
+ Bearer Setup (Serving SAE-GW TEID, QoS
profile)
RRC: Radio Bearer Setup Complete
S1-AP: INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP COMPLETE
+ eNB UE signalling connection ID
+ Bearer Setup Confirm (eNB TEID)

Initial context establishment (blue parts) in Idle-to-Active procedure

The similarities between S1 interface and X2 interface lie in the fact that S1-U and
X2-U adopt the same user plane protocol to reduce protocol processing at eNodeB
data forward.

3.3.2 X2 Interface

The X2 interface is defined as the interface between eNodeBs. The X2 interface

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LTE Overview

contains two parts: the X2-CP and X2-U, where the X2-CP is the control plane
interface between eNodeBs and the X2-U is the user plane interface between
eNodeBs. Figure 15 and Figure 16 respectively show the protocol stack architecture of
the X2-CP interface and X2-U interface.

X2-AP

SCTP

IP

Data link layer

Physical layer

X2 interface control plane

User plane PDUs

GTP-U

UDP

IP

Data link layer

Physical layer

X2 interface user plane

The X2-CP has the following functions:

 UE mobility in the ECM-CONNECTED state within the LTE system

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

 Context transfer from the source eNodeB to the target eNodeB

 User plane channel control between the source eNodeB and the target eNodeB

 Handover cancellation

 Uplink load management

 General X2 interface management and error processing

 Error indication

The X2-CP interface has the following acknowledged signaling procedures:

 Handover preparation

 Handover cancellation

 UE context release

 Error indication

 Load management

The management of load among cells is implemented over the X2 interface.

Figure 17 shows that the LOAD INDICATOR message is used for load state
communication among eNodeBs.

eNB eNB

[X2 AP] LOAD INDICATOR

X2 interface LOAD INDICATION message

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4 Physical Layer

4.1 Frame Structure

The LTE system supports the following two radio frame structures:

 Structure 1: Applicable to the FDD mode.

 Structure 2: Applicable to the TDD mode.

Figure 18 shows the frame structure 1. Every 10 ms radio frame is divided into ten
sub-frames of fixed length. Each sub-frame contains two time slots each of which is
0.5 ms long.

#0 #1 #2 #18 #19

slot
Sub-frame
One radio frame = 10ms

Frame structure 1

For FDD, at every 10 ms, ten sub-frames can be used for downlink transmission and
another ten sub-frames can be used for uplink transmission. The uplink transmission
and downlink transmission are separated on the frequency domain.

4.2 Physical Resources

The minimum resource unit for uplink/downlink transmission in the LTE system is
called the Resource Element (RE).

At the time of data transmission, the LTE system consolidates uplink and downlink
time-frequency domain physical resources into Resource Blocks (RBs) for scheduling

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and allocation.

Several REs constitute an RB. There are 12 consecutive sub-carriers on the frequency
domain and seven consecutive OFDM symbols (six marks with the Extended CP).
That is, the frequency domain width is 180 kHz and the time length is 0.5 ms.

Figure 19 and Figure 20 respectively show the physical resource structures of

downlink and uplink slots.

One downlink slot Tslot

DL
N symb OFDM symbols

DL RB
k  N RB N sc  1

Resource block
DL
N symb  N scRB resource elements
subcarriers

subcarriers

Resource element (k , l )

k 0
DL
l0 l N symb 1

Physical resource structure of downlink slot

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

One uplink slot Tslot

UL
N symb SC-FDMA symbols

UL RB
k  N RB N sc  1

Resource block
UL
N symb  N scRB resource elements
subcarriers

subcarriers

Resource element (k , l )

k 0
UL
l 0 l N symb 1

Physical resource structure of uplink slot

4.3 Physical Channels

The downlink physical channels contain the following channels:

1 Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH)

 The coded BCH transmission block maps to four sub-frames within an 40 ms

interval.

 The 40 ms timing is obtained by blind tests, namely, no specified signaling

23
LTE Overview

indicates the 40 ms timing.

 With excellent-enough channels, every sub-frame that the PBCH located can
separately decode signals.

2 Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH)

 Notify the number of PDCCH-occupied OFDM mark to the UE.

 Transmit the information in every sub-frame.

3 Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)

 Notify the resource assignment information of the PCH and DL-SCH and DL-
SCH-related HARQ information to the UE.

 Carry the uplink scheduling information.

4 Physical HARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH)

 Carry the HARQ ACK/NACKs for uplink data transfer.

5 Physical Downlink Sharing Channel (PDSCH)

 Carry the DL-SCH and PCH information.

6 Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH)

 Carry the MCH information.

The uplink physical channels contain the following channels:

7 Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)

 Carry HARQ ACK/NACKs for downlink data transfer.

 Carry the scheduling request information.

 Carry the CQI report information.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

8 Physical Uplink Sharing Channel (PUSCH)

 Carry the UL-SCH information.

9 Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)

 Carry the random access preamble.

4.4 Transport Channels

The downlink transport channels contain the following channels:

10 Broadcast Channel (BCH)

 Fixed predefined transport format

 Broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell

11 Downlink Sharing Channel (DL-SCH)

 Support HARQ.

 Implement dynamic link adaptation by varying the demodulation, coding mode,

and transmit power.

 Support broadcast in the entire cell.

 Support beamforming.

 Support dynamic or semi-static resource allocation.

 Support the UE Discontinuous Reception (DRX) to enable UE power saving.

 Support the MBMS transmission.

12 Paging Channel (PCH)

 Support the UE DRX to save power. (The network notifies the DRX period to

25
LTE Overview

the UE.)

 Broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell

 Map to physical resources which can be used dynamically also for traffic or
other control channels.

13 Multicast Channel (MCH)

 Broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell

 Support Multicast/Broadcast over Single Frequency Network (MBSFN) combing

of MBMS transmission on multiple cells.

 Support semi-static resource allocation.

The uplink transport channels contain the following channels:

14 Uplink Sharing Channel (UL-SCH)

 Support beamforming.

 Implement dynamic link adaptation by varying the transmit power, potential

demodulation, and coding mode.

 Support HARQ.

 Support dynamic or semi-static resource allocation.

15 Random Access Channel (RACH)

 Carry limited control information.

 Have collision risks.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

4.5 Mapping Between Transport Channels and Physical Channels

Figure 21 and Figure 22 respectively show the mapping relationships between

downlink/uplink transport channels and downlink/uplink physical channels.

BCH MCH PCH DL-SCH

Downlink
Transport channels

Downlink
Physical channels
PBCH PMCH PDSCH PDCCH

Mapping between downlink transport channels and downlink physical channels

UL-SCH RACH
Uplink
Transport channels

Uplink
Physical channels
PUSCH PRACH PUCCH

Mapping between uplink transport channels and uplink physical channels

4.6 Physical Signals

Physical signals correspond to several physical layer REs, but do not carry any
information that comes from higher layers.

The downlink physical signals include the reference signal and the synchronization
signal.

 Reference signal

The downlink reference signals include the following three types of reference signals:

27
LTE Overview

 Cell-specific reference signals, associated with non-MBSFN transmission

 MBSFN reference signals, associated with MBSFN transmission

 UE-specific reference signals

 Synchronization signals

The synchronization signals include the following two types of signals:

 Primary synchronization signal

 Secondary synchronization signal

For FDD, the primary synchronization signal maps to the last OFDM symbol of the
time slot 0 and time slot 10. The secondary synchronization signal maps to the second
last OFDM symbol of the time slot 0 and time slot 10.

The uplink physical signals include the reference signals.

 Reference signals

The uplink reference signals include the following two types of signals:

 Demodulation reference signals, associated with PUSCH or PUCCH

transmission

 Sounding reference signals, not associated with PUSCH or PUCCH transmission

The demodulation reference signals and the sounding reference signals use the same
base sequence set.

4.7 Physical Layer Model

The following figures show the physical layer models of various types of channels.
Node Bs in all of the following figures are called eNodeBs or eNodeB in LTE.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

Node B UE
Error
Channel-state N Transport blocks indications
information, etc. (dynamic size S1..., SN)
ACK/NACK ACK/NACK
HARQ HARQ info HARQ info HARQ

CRC
CRC
Redundancy for
CRC
error detection CRC

Coding + RM Redundancy for

Coding + RM
Coding + RM Decoding + RM
MAC scheduler

Redundancy data detection

version
Interl.
Interleaving Interl.
Deinterleaving
Modulation
QPSK, 16QAM,
scheme Data modulation Data modulation
Data modulation 64QAM Data demodulation
Resource/power
assignment RB mapping
Resource mapping RB mapping
Resource demapping
Antenna
mapping Multi-antenna
Antenna mapping processing Antenna demapping

physical layer model for DL-SCH transmission

Node B UE
Error
Single Transport blocks indication
(fixed size S)

CRC CRC

Coding + RM Decoding + RM

Interleaving Deinterleaving

Data modulation QPSK only

Data demodulation

Resource mapping Resource demapping

Antenna mapping Antenna demapping

Physical layer model for BCH transmission

29
LTE Overview

Node B UE
Error
Single Transport blocks indication
(dynamic size S)

CRC CRC

Coding + RM Decoding + RM
MAC scheduler

Interleaving Deinterleaving
Modulation
scheme
Data modulation Data demodulation
Resource/power
assignment
Resource mapping Resource demapping
Antenna
mapping
Antenna mapping Antenna demapping

Physical layer model for PCH transmission

Node B UE
Error
N Transport blocks indications
(dynamic size S1..., SN)

CRC
CRC CRC
CRC

Coding + RM Coding + RM
Coding + RM Decoding + RM
MAC scheduler

Interl.
Interleaving Interl.
Deinterleaving
Modulation
scheme Data modulation Data modulation
Data modulation Data demodulation
Resource/power
assignment RB mapping
Resource mapping RB mapping
Resource demapping
Antenna
mapping
Antenna mapping Antenna demapping
Semi-static
configuration

Physical layer model for MCH transmission

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

Node BError UE
indications
Channel-state
information, etc.
ACK/NACK
HARQ HARQ info HARQ
ACK/NACK

CRC
CRC CRC Uplink transmission control
CRC

MAC scheduler Coding + RM

Decoding + RM Coding + RM
Coding + RM

Interl.
Deinterleaving Interl.
Interleaving
Modulation Modulation
scheme Data modulation Data scheme
Data demodulation Datamodulation
modulation
Resource Resource/power
assignment RB mapping assignment
Resource demapping RB mapping
Resource mapping
Antenna
mapping
Antenna demapping

Physical layer model for UL-SCH transmission

4.8 Physical Layer Procedures

4.8.1 Synchronization Procedures

 Cell search

Cell search is the procedure by which a UE acquires time and frequency

synchronization with a cell and detects that cell’s physical layer cell ID. E-UTRA cell
search is based on various signals transmitted in the downlink such as primary and
secondary synchronization signals, and downlink reference signals.

 Timing synchronization

Timing synchronization procedures include radio link monitoring, inter-cell

synchronization, and transmission timing adjustments.

4.8.2 Power Control

Power control determines the energy per resource element (EPRE). EPRE denotes the
energy prior to CP insertion. EPRE also denotes the average energy taken over all
constellation points for the modulation scheme applied. Uplink power control
determines the average power of one DFT-SOFDM symbol on a physical channel.

31
LTE Overview

 Uplink power control

Uplink power control procedure controls the transmit power of different uplink
physical channels.

 Downlink power allocation

eNodeB determines the downlink transmit energy per resource element.

4.8.3 Random Access Procedures

Prior to initiation of the non-synchronized physical random access procedure, physical

layer shall receive the following information from the higher layers:

1. Random access channel parameters (PRACH configuration, frequency position,

and preamble format).

2. Parameters for determining the root sequences and their cyclic shifts in the
preamble sequence set for the cell (index to root sequence table, cyclic shift
(Ncs), and set type (normal or high-speed set)).

From the physical layer perspective, the physical random access procedure
encompasses the transmission of random access preamble and random access
response. The remaining messages are scheduled for transmission by the higher layer
on the shared data channel and are not considered part of the L1 random access
procedure.

The following steps are required for the physical random access procedure:

1. Physical layer procedure is triggered upon request of a preamble transmission

by higher layers.

2. A preamble index, preamble transmission power

(PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_POWER), associated RA-RNTI, and
PRACH resource are indicated by higher layers as part of the request.

3. Determine preamble transmit power: PPRACH = min{Pmax,

PREAMBLE_RECEIVED_TARGET_POWER + PL}; where, Pmax indicates
the maximum allowed power configured at higher layers, and PL indicates UE-
calculated downlink path loss.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

4. A preamble sequence is then selected from the preamble sequence set using the
preamble index.

5. A single preamble transmission then occurs using the selected preamble

sequence with transmission power PREAMBLE_TRANSMISSION_POWER
on the indicated PRACH resource.

6. The associated PDCCH with RA-RNTI is detected in the random access

response window controlled by higher layers. If an associated PDCCH with
RA-RNTI is detected then the corresponding PDSCH transport block is passed
to the higher layers. Higher layers resolve the transport block and indicate the
20-bit UL-SCH grant to the physical layer.

33
5 Layer 2

Layer 2 consists of three sublayers PDCP, RLC, and MAC. Figure 28 and Figure
29 respectively show Layer 2 downlink and uplink structures.

Radio Bearers

ROHC ROHC ROHC ROHC

PDCP
Security Security Security Security

Segm. Segm. Segm. Segm.

RLC ... ...
ARQ etc ARQ etc ARQ etc ARQ etc CCCH BCCH PCCH

Logical Channels

Scheduling / Priority Handling

MAC Multiplexing UE1 Multiplexing UEn

HARQ HARQ

Transport Channels

Layer 2 downlink structure

32
 Radio Bearers

ROHC ROHC
PDCP
Security Security

Segm. Segm.
RLC ...
ARQ etc ARQ etc
CCCH

Logical Channels

Scheduling / Priority Handling

MAC Multiplexing

HARQ

Transport Channels

Layer 2 uplink structure

The connection points among sublayers are known as the Service Access Points
(SAP). The service provided by PDCP is referred to as the radio bearer. The PDCP
provides the Robust Header Compression (ROHC) and security protection. The SAP
between physical layer and MAC layer provides transport channels and that between
MAC layer and RLC layer provides logical channels.

The MAC layer provides multiplexing and mapping of logical channels (radio bearer)
to transport channels (transport block).

Only one transport block is generated at each TTI (1 ms) in the uplink or downlink in
the case of non-MIMO.

5.1 MAC Sublayer

5.1.1 MAC Functions

The MAC sublayer provides the following functions:

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

· Mapping between logical channels and transport channels.

· MAC Service Data Unit (SDU) multiplexing/demultiplexing.

· Scheduling information report.

· Error correction through HARQ

· Logical channel prioritization of the same UE.

· UE prioritization through dynamic scheduling.

· Selection of transmission formats.

· Padding.

5.1.2 Logical Channels

MAC provides different types of data transmission services. The type of each logical
channel is defined based on the type of transmitted data.

Logical channels are categorized into:

· Control channels: used to transfer data on the control plane.

· Traffic channels: used to transfer data on the user plane.

Control channels include:

· Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH).

The BCCH is a downlink channel used to broadcast system control messages.

· Paging Control Channel (PCCH).

The PCCH is a downlink channel used to transfer paging messages and system
information change notifications. The PCCH is used to page a UE when the UE
cell location is unknown to the network.

· Common Control Channel (CCCH).

34
LTE Overview

The CCCH is used to transfer control messages between UEs and network
when there is no RRC connection between them.

· Multicast Control Channel (MCCH).

A point-to-multipoint downlink channel used for transmitting MBMS control

information from the network to the UE, for one or several MTCHs. This
channel is only used to UEs that receive MBMS.

· Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH).

A point-to-point bi-directional channel that transmits dedicated control

information between a UE and the network. This channel is used by UEs
having an RRC connection.

·Traffic channels include:

· Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH).

The DTCH is a point-to-point channel, dedicated to one UE, for the transfer of
user information.

· Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH).

A point-to-multipoint downlink channel for transmitting traffic data from the

network to the UE. This channel is only used to UEs that receive MBMS.

5.1.3 Mapping Between Logical Channels and Transport Channels

Figure 30 and Figure 31 respectively show the mapping between downlink and uplink
logical channels and transport channels.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

PCCH BCCH CCCH DCCH DTCH MCCH MTCH

Downlink
Logical channels

Downlink
Transport channels
PCH BCH DL-SCH MCH

Mapping between downlink logical channels and transport channels

CCCH DCCH DTCH

Uplink
Logical channels

Uplink
Transport channels
RACH UL-SCH

Mapping between uplink logical channels and transport channels

5.2 RLC Sublayer

5.2.1 RLC Functions

The RLC sublayer provides the following functions:

· Transfer of upper layer PDUs.

· Error Correction through ARQ (only for AM data transfer).

· Concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs (only for UM and

AM data transfer).

· Re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs (only for AM data transfer).

36
LTE Overview

· In sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs (only for UM and AM data transfer).

· Duplicate detection (only for UM and AM data transfer).

· Protocol error detection and recovery.

· RLC SDU discard (only for UM and AM data transfer).

· RLC re-establishment.

5.2.2 PDU Structure

Figure 32 shows the RLC PDU structure.

· The PDU sequence number carried by the RLC header is independent of the
SDU sequence number (that is, the PDCP sequence number).

· The red dotted lines in Figure 32 indicate segmentation positions.

RLC SDU n n+1 n+2 n+3

... ...

RLC header RLC header

RLC PDU

RLC PDU structure

5.3 PDCP Sublayer

5.3.1 PDCP Functions

The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the user plane include:

· Header compression and decompression: ROHC only.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

· Transfer of user data.

· In-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at PDCP re-establishment procedure

for RLC AM.

· Duplicate detection of lower layer SDUs at PDCP re-establishment procedure

for RLC AM.

· Retransmission of PDCP SDUs at handover for RLC AM.

· Ciphering and deciphering.

· Timer-based SDU discard in uplink.

· The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer for the control plane
include:

· Ciphering and Integrity Protection.

· Transfer of control plane data.

5.3.2 PDU Structure

Figure 33 shows the PDCP PDU structure.

· PDCP PDU and PDCP header are octet-aligned.

· PDCP header can be either 1 or 2 bytes long.

PDCP header PDCP SDU

PDCP PDU

PDCP PDU structure

38
6 RRC

6.1 RRC Functions

Main Functions of RRC include:

· Broadcast of system information related to the NASs

· Broadcast of system information related to the ASs

· Paging

· Establishment, retention, and release of RRC connection between UEs and E-

UTRANs, including:

 Allocation of temporary identifiers between UEs and E-UTRANs

 Configuration of the Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) for RRC connection

 Low priority and high priority SRBs

· Security management including key management

· Establishment, configuration, retention, and release point-to-point RBs

· Mobility management, including:

 Measurement report and reporting control of the mobile UEs between cells
and between RATs.

 Handover

 UE cell selection and reselection; cell selection and reselection control

 Context forwarding during handover

38
 · MBMS notification

· Establishment, configuration, retention, and release of RBs for the MBMS

· QoS management

· UE measurement report and reporting control

· NAS direct transfer

6.2 RRC State

RRC state includes RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED

· RRC idle state (RRC_IDLE)

 PLMN selection

 DRX configured by NAS

 System information broadcast

 Paging

 Cell reselection mobility

 A unique identifier allocated to a UE within a Tracking Area (TA)

 No RRC contexts stored in eNodeBs

· Connection state (RRC_CONNECTED)

 The UE has an E-UTRAN-RRC connection.

 The UE has a context in E-UTRAN.

 The E-UTRAN knows the cell which the UE belongs to.

 The network can transmit and receive data to/from the UEs.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

 Network controlled mobility (handover).

 Neighbor cell measurements.

 The PDCP/RLC/MAC features of the RRC_CONNECTED

 The UE can transmit and receive data to/from the networks.

 The UE intercepts controlled signaling channels related to the shared

data channels to view that whether the UE is allocated any data on the
shared data channel.

 The UE also reports channel quality information and feeds back

information to eNodeB.

 The DRX cycle can be conformed according to the UE mobility level

to save UE power and enhance resource efficiency. This function is
controlled by eNodeB.

6.3 NAS State and the Relationship With the RRC state

The NAS state model can be described by the two-dimensional state model of the EPS
Mobility Management state (EMM) and the EPS Connection Management state.

· EMM state:

 EMM-DEREGISTERED state

 EMM-REGISTERED state

· ECM state:

 ECM-IDLE state

 ECM-CONNECTED state

Note: The EMM state and the ECM state are mutually independent.

The relationship between the NAS state and the RRC state is as follows:

40
LTE Overview

· EMM-DEREGISTERED state + ECM-IDLE state  RRC_IDLE state

 Mobility feature: PLMN selection

 UE location: Unknown to the network.

· EMM-REGISTERED state + ECM-IDLE state  RRC_IDLE state

 Mobility feature: Cell selection

 UE location: Known to the network at TA level.

· EMM-REGISTERED state + ECM-CONNECTED state + RB Established 

RRC_CONNECTED state

 Mobility feature: Handover

 UE location: Known to the network at cell level.

6.4 RRC Procedure

RRC procedure includes the System Information, Connection Control, mobility

procedure, measurements, and direct transfer.

6.4.1 System Information

System information includes the Master Information Block (MIB) and a series of
System Information Blocks (SIBs).

· Master Information Block: defines the most important physical information of

the cells and is used to receive a further system information.

· System Information Block Type 1: assesses the related information of whether

the UE is allowed to access to a cell and defines the dispatch of other system
information blocks.

· System Information Block Type 2: includes common and shared channel

information.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

· System Information Block Type 3: includes cell reselection information; mainly

related to the service cells.

· System Information Block Type 4: includes cell reselection related service

frequency points and intra-frequency neighboring cell information.

· System Information Block Type 5: includes cell reselection related other E-

UTRA frequency points and inter-frequency neighboring cell information.

· System Information Block Type 6: includes cell reselection related UTRA

frequency points and UTRA neighboring cell information.

· System Information Block Type 7: includes cell reselection related GERAN

frequency points information.

· System Information Block Type 8: includes cell reselection related CDMA2000

frequency points and CDMA2000 neighboring cell information.

· System Information Block Type 9: includes home eNodeB identifiers

(HNBID).

· System Information Block Type 10: includes ETWS primary notification.

· System Information Block Type 11: includes ETWS secondary notification.

· The MIB maps to the BCCH and BCH. The SI maps to the BCCH and DL-
SCH, and is identifies through the System Information RNTI (SI-RNTI). The
MIB uses a fixed dispatch cycle of 40 ms. The System Information Block Type
1 uses a fixed dispatch cycle of 80 ms. The other SI dispatch cycle is not fixed
and indicated by the System Information Block Type 1.

6.4.2 Connection Control

RRC connection control includes:

· Paging

· RRC connection establishment

· Initial security activation

42
LTE Overview

· RRC connection reconfiguration

· Counter check

· RRC connection re-establishment

· RRC connection release

· Radio resource configuration

 SRB addition/ modification

 DRB release

 SRB addition/ modification

 MAC main reconfiguration

 Semi-persistent scheduling reconfiguration

 Physical channel reconfiguration

· Radio link failure related actions

43
7 Core LTE Technologies

7.1 Duplex Mode

In addition to FDD and TDD duplex modes, the LTE system is expected to further
support the half-duplex FDD.

7.2 Multi-access Mode

OFDMA is employed as the multiplexing scheme in the LTE downlink systems.

Frequency
...
domain Time
Channel coding/ Subcarrier .. Add a domain
QAM modulation Serial –> . IFFT
interleaving/ ... mapping CP
（QPSK/16QAM/64QAM） Parallel
scrambling

OFDM modulation

Multiplexing scheme in LTE downlink systems

DFT-S-OFDM (also called SC-FDMA) is employed as the multiplexing scheme in the

LTE uplink systems.

43
 Frequency
domain
Time domain
Time
Channel coding/ ...
QAM modulation Subcarrie Add a domain
interleaving/ DFT ... IFFT
（QPSK/16QAM/64QAM） r mapping CP
scrambling
...

DFT-SOFDM modulation

Multiplexing scheme in LTE uplink systems

7.3 Multi-antenna Technologies

Downlink multi-antenna transmission:

Multi-antenna transmission supports two or four antennas. The maximum number of

code words is 2 and irrelevant of the number of antennas, but there is a fixed mapping
relationship between core words and layers. Figure 35 shows the general relationship
among code words, layers, and antenna ports.

code words layers antenna ports

Modulation Resource element OFDM signal

Scrambling
mapper mapper generation
Layer
Precoding
mapper
Modulation Resource element OFDM signal
Scrambling
mapper mapper generation

Physical channel processing

Multi-antenna technologies include the SDM and transmit diversity. The SDM
supports SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO. When a MIMO channel is solely assigned to a
single UE, this is called SU-MIMO. When MIMO data streams are spatially assigned
to different UEs, this is called MU-MIMO.

Uplink multi-antenna transmission:

The baseline antenna configuration for uplink MIMO is either SIMO 1X2 antenna
configuration or MU-MIMO. To allow for MU-MIMO reception at the Node B,
allocation of the same time and frequency resource to several UEs, each of which

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

transmitting on a single antenna, is supported.

Closed loop type adaptive antenna selection transmit diversity shall be supported for
FDD (optional in UE).

7.4 Link Adaptation

Downlink adaptation:

Refer to the adaptive modulation and coding (AMC) that is applied with three
modulation schemes (QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM) and variable code rates.

Uplink adaptation:

Include three link adaptation techniques: 1) adaptive transmit bandwidth, 2) transmit

power control, and 3) adaptive modulation and channel code rate.

7.5 HARQ and ARQ

E-UTRAN provides ARQ and HARQ functionalities.

7.5.1 HARQ

The HARQ within the MAC sublayer has the following characteristics:

· N-process Stop-And-Wait HARQ is used.

· The HARQ transmits and retransmits TBs.

In the downlink:

· Asynchronous adaptive HARQ

· PUSCH or PUCCH used for ACK/NACKS for DL (re-)transmissions

· PDCCH used to signal the HARQ process number and if re-transmission or

transmission

· Adaptive re-transmissions scheduled through PDCCH

45
LTE Overview

· In the uplink:

· Synchronous HARQ

· Maximum number of re-transmissions configured per UE (instead of per radio

bearer)

· PHICH used to transmit ACK/NACKs for non-adaptive UL (re-)transmissions

· HARQ operation in uplink is governed by the following principles:

 Regardless of the content of the HARQ feedback (ACK or NACK), when a

PDCCH for the UE is correctly received, the UE follows what the PDCCH
asks the UE to do i.e. perform a transmission or a retransmission (referred
to as adaptive retransmission).

 When no PDCCH addressed to the C-RNTI of the UE is detected, the

HARQ feedback dictates how the UE performs retransmissions.

 NACK: The UE performs a non-adaptive retransmission.

 ACK: The UE does not perform any UL (re)transmission and keeps

the data in the HARQ buffer.

· Measurement gaps are of a higher priority than HARQ retransmissions:

Whenever an H-ARQ retransmission collides with a measurement gap, the H-
ARQ retransmission does not take place.

7.5.2 ARQ

The ARQ within the RLC sublayer has the following characteristics:

· The ARQ retransmits RLC SDUs or RLC PDUs (segments).

 ARQ retransmissions are based on either RLC status reports or

HARQ/ARQ interactions.

· The RLC must poll RLC status reports.

· Status reports can be triggered by upper layers.

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 Chapter 7 Core LTE Technologies

7.5.3 HARQ/ARQ Interactions

If the HARQ transmitter detects a failed delivery of a TB — for example, maximum

retransmission limit is reached — the relevant transmitting ARQ entities are notified
and potential retransmissions and re-segmentation can be initiated.

47
8 Abbreviations

Abbreviation Full Name

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying
CAPEX Capital Expenditure
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
DRX Discontinuous Reception
E-MBMS Evolved Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service
eNodeB Evolution Node B
E3G evolved 3G
EPC Evolved Packet Core
E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
HCR High Chip Rate
HeNB Home eNodeB
IASA Inter Access System Anchor
IFFT Inverse Discrete Fourier transform
LCR Low Chip Rate
LDPC low-density parity-check
LTE Long Term Evolution
MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
MME Mobile Management Entity
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex
OPEX Operating Expenditure
PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio
QAM QUADRATURE AMPLITUDE MODULATION
QoS Quality of Service
QPSK QUADRATURE PHASE SHIFT KEYING
RRC Radio Resource Control
SAE System Architecture Evolution
SC-FDMA Single Carrier – Frequency Division Multiple Access
SDM Spatial Division Multiple
S-GW Serving Gateway
TTI Transmission Time Interval

48
9 References

SN Name
25.912 Feasibility study for evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) and
1
Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)
2 25.913 Requirements for Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) and Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN)
36.300 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and Evolved Universal
3
Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), Overall description
4 25.814 Physical layer aspects for evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)
5 36.211 Physical Channels and Modulation
6 36.212 Multiplexing and channel coding
7 36.213 Physical layer procedures
8 36.214 Physical layer – Measurements
9 36.302 Services provided by the physical layer
10 36.331 Radio Resource Control (RRC)
11 36.104 Base Station (BS) radio transmission and reception
12 36.321 Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification
23.401 General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhancements for Evolved Universal
13
Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) access
14 23.203 Policy and charging control architecture

50