LTE System Interfaces

Objectives

• On completion of this course, you should be able

to:
– Know the overall architecture of E-UTRAN,
function split between CN and RAN
– Know the radio interface protocol stack and
the function of each layer
– Know the physical layer functions and basic
procedures
– Know S1/X2 interface protocol stack and the
functions of the interfaces.
 References

• 3GPP TS 《36.211》
• 3GPP TS 《36.300》
• 3GPP TS 《36.410》
36.410
• 3GPP TS 《36.420》
Contents

1. Overview

2. Radio interface

3. S1 interface

4. X2 interface
 LTE/SAE Architecture

MME: Mobility management entity

PCRF: Policy and Charging Rules Function

SGSN
Gb EPS (Evolved Packet System)
Control plane
GPRS
Iu User plane
BTS BSC/PCU S3
S6d HSS PCRF

S10 S6a
S9
UMTS
MME Operator Service
NodeB RNC S4
S11 Gx
Network
S12
S1-MME
E-UTRAN S5/8
S1-U SGi
Internet
eNodeB Serving GW PDN GW

A10/A11
S2b Corporate
cdma2000 Internet
BTS
BSC PDSN
 Functional Split between E-UTRAN and EPC

eNB

Inter Cell RRM

RB Control

S1

S1
Connection Mobility Cont.

S1

S1
MME
Radio Admission Control
NAS Security

X2

X2
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
 General protocol model for E-UTRAN interfaces
• General principle for S1/X2 is that the layers and planes are logically
independent of each other. Therefore, as and when required, the
standardization body can easily alter protocol stacks and planes to fit future
requirements.

Radio Control Plane User Plane

Network
Layer Application
Protocol

Transport Transport Network Transport Network

Network User Plane User Plane
Layer

Signalling Data
Bearer(s) Bearer(s)

Physical Layer
 Control plane protocol stacks

NAS NAS
Relay
RRC S1-AP
RRC S1-AP
PDCP PDCP SCTP SCTP

RLC RLC IP IP
MAC MAC L2 L2

L1 L1 L1 L1

LTE-Uu S1-MME
UE eNodeB MME
 User plane protocol stacks

Application

IP IP

Relay Relay
PDCP GTP-U
PDCP GTP-U GTP-U
GTP-U

RLC RLC UDP/IP UDP/IP UDP/IP UDP/IP

MAC MAC L2 L2 L2 L2

L1 L1 L1 L1 L1 L1

LTE-Uu S1-U S5/S8 SGi

a
UE eNodeB Serving GW PDN GW
Contents

1. Overview

2. Radio interface

3. S1 interface

4. X2 interface
 Radio interface protocol stack
NAS
• LTE does not have BMC entity
relay
• All types of RB need PDCP processing
S1 S1 Uu Uu
RRC services and functions
 RRC services and functions
• Broadcast of System Information related to NAS and AS
• Mobility functions including:
– UE measurement reporting and control of the reporting for mobility;
– UE cell selection and reselection and control of cell selection and reselection;
– Context transfer at handover.
• Establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the
UE and E-UTRAN including:
– Allocation of temporary identifiers between UE and E-UTRAN;
– Configuration of signaling radio bearer(s) for RRC connection:
• Security functions including key management;
• Establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point
Radio Bearers;
 RRC protocol states & state transitions
• LTE supports 2 RRC states: RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED
• RRC_IDLE:
– PLMN selection;
RRC_CONNECTED
– Broadcast of system information;  UE has an E-UTRAN-RRC connection;
– Paging;
 E-UTRAN knows the cell which the UE
– Cell re-selection mobility;
– No RRC context stored in the eNB belongs to;

 Network can transmit and/or receive

data to/from UE;

 Neighbor cell measurements;

 Relation between RRC state and NAS states
• EPS Mobility Management (EMM) state includes:
– EMM-DEREGISTERED
– EMMREGISTERED

• EPS Connection Management (ECM) state includes:

– ECM-IDLE
– ECM-CONNECTED
 E-UTRAN identities

• E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier (ECGI): used to identify cells globally.

– The ECGI is constructed from the MCC (Mobile Country Code), MNC (Mobile
Network Code) and the ECI (E-UTRAN Cell Identifier).
• ECI: used to identify cells within a PLMN.
– ECI has a length of 28 bits and contains the eNB Identifier.
• Global eNB Identifier: used to identify eNBs globally.
– The Global eNB Identifier is constructed from the MCC (Mobile Country Code), MNC
(Mobile Network Code) and the eNB-Id (eNB Identifier).
• eNB Identifier: used to identify eNBs within a PLMN.
– The eNB Id is contained within the E-UTRAN Cell Identifier
 Layer 2 in overall
• Layer 2 is split into the following sublayers:
– Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC) and
Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)
 PDCP Sublayer
• The main services and functions of the PDCP sublayer
– Header compression and decompression for user plane data.
– Security functions:
• ciphering and deciphering;
• integrity protection and verification
 RLC Sublayer
• The main services and functions of the RLC sublayer include:
– Transfer of upper layer PDUs supporting AM, UM and TM
– Error Correction through ARQ (CRC check provided by the physical layer)
– Concatenation of SDUs for the same radio bearer;
– Duplicate Detection;
– Segmentation;
– SDU discard;;
 MAC Sublayer
• The main services and functions of the MAC sublayer include:
– Mapping between logical channels and transport channels;
– Multiplexing/demultiplexing of RLC PDUs belonging to one or different radio
bearers into/from transport blocks (TB) delivered to/from the physical layer;
– Priority handling between logical channels of one UE;
– Priority handling between UEs;
– Error correction through HARQ;
– Padding;
– Transport format selection;
Physical Layer
LTE channel mapping-downlink
LTE channel mapping-uplink
 Transport channels
• Downlink:
– Broadcast Channel (BCH)
• fixed, pre-defined transport format;
– Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)
• support for HARQ
• support for dynamic link adaptation by varying the modulation, coding and
transmit power;
• possibility to use beam forming;
• support for both dynamic and semi-static resource allocation;
• support for UE DRX to enable UE power saving;
• support for MBMS transmission
 Transport channels

• Downlink:
– Paging Channel (PCH)
• support for UE DRX to enable UE power saving
• mapped to physical resources which can be used dynamically also for
traffic/other control channels
– Multicast Channel (MCH)
• support for MBSFN combining of MBMS transmission on multiple cells
 Transport channels
• Uplink:
– Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH)
• possibility to use beam forming
• support for dynamic link adaptation by varying the transmit power and
potentially modulation and coding;
• support for HARQ;
• support for both dynamic and semi-static resource allocation.
– Random Access Channel(s) (RACH)
• limited control information;
• collision risk;
 Physical layer frame structure -FDD
• Type 1, applicable to FDD
– The downlink OFDM sub-carrier spacing is ∆f = 15 kHz, a reduced sub-carrier
spacing ∆f = 7.5 kHz is only for MBMS-dedicated cell
 Physical layer frame structure -TDD
• Type 2, applicable to TDD

Page 28
Type 2 Radio Frame Switching Points
Configuration Switching Subframe Number
Point
Periodicity 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

0 5ms D S U U U D S U U U
1 5ms D S U U D D S U U D
2 5ms D S U D D D S U D D
3 10ms D S U U U D D D D D
4 10ms D S U U D D D D D D
5 10ms D S U D D D D D D D
6 5ms D S U U U D S U U D

Page 29
 Physical layer frame structure-FDD(1/2)

– In the case of 15 kHz sub-carrier spacing there are two cyclic-prefix lengths,
corresponding to seven and six OFDM symbols per slot respectively
• Normal cyclic prefix:
TCP = 160×Ts (OFDM symbol #0) , TCP = 144×Ts (OFDM symbol #1 to #6)
• Extended cyclic prefix: TCP-e = 512×Ts (OFDM symbol #0 to OFDM symbol #5)
– In case of 7.5 kHz sub-carrier spacing, there is only a single cyclic prefix length
TCP-low = 1024×Ts, corresponding to 3 OFDM symbols per slot.
Physical layer frame structure-FDD(2/2)
 LTE physical resource definition
• Basic definitions
 Resource element
 Resource block

Configuration N scRB UL
Nsymb

Normal cyclic prefix 12 7

Extended cyclic prefix 12 6
 Physical layer processing
a0 , a1 ,..., a A −1

b0 , b1 ,..., b B −1
• Bit level processing:
– Transport block from MAC layer
– 24 bit CRC is the baseline
– Channel coding: Turbo coding cr 0 , cr1 ,..., cr ( K r −1)

d r( i0) , d r(1i ) ,..., d r(i()D

r −1)

er 0 , er1 ,..., er ( Er −1)

f 0 , f1 ,..., f G −1
 Physical layer processing
• Symbol level processing:
– The scrambling stage is applied to all downlink physical channels, and serves the
purpose of interference rejection
– Modulation: QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM (64 QAM optional in UE)

Antenna
Codewords Layers Ports

Layer
Precoding
Mapper
 Synchronization signals
• The primary and secondary synchronization signals are used in the cell search
procedure. The particular sequences which are transmitted for the PSS and SSS
in a given cell are used to indicate the physical layer cell identity to the UE
• The synchronization signals are always transmitted on the 62 centre sub
carriers and specified symbols.
 PSS and SSS Location for FDD

PSS (Primary
Synchronization
Sequence)

72
62 Subcarriers
Subcarriers

SSS (Secondary
Synchronization
Sequence)

Slots 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

Radio Frame
Repeated in
slots 0 and 10

Page36
 Synchronization signals
• There are 504 unique physical layer cell identities in LTE, grouped into 168
groups of three identities.
• The three identities in a group would usually be assigned to cells under the
control of the same eNodeB. Three PSS sequences are used to indicate the
cell identity within the group.
• 168 SSS sequences are used to indicate the identity of the group.
 Physical Cell Identities

Page38
 PSS Correlation

Subframe

PSS0

PSS1

PSS2

Correlation

Page39
 SSS Correlation

Page40
 Example of SSS Indices

(1) m0 m1 (1) m0 m1 (1) m0 m1 (1) m0 m1 (1) m0 m1

N ID N ID N ID N ID N ID

0 0 1 34 4 6 68 9 12 102 15 19 136 22 27
1 1 2 35 5 7 69 10 13 103 16 20 137 23 28

2 2 3 36 6 8 70 11 14 104 17 21 138 24 29

3 3 4 37 7 9 71 12 15 105 18 22 139 25 30
. . . . .
. . . . 167 2 9
33 3 5 67 8 11 101 14 18 135 21 26

Page41
 Cell search procedure
• The first step of cell search is to do matched filtering between the received
signal and the sequences specified for the primary synchronization signal,
When the output of the matched filter reaches its maximum, the terminal is
likely to have found timing on a 5 ms basis, and the identity within the cell-
identity group.
• The second step is to detects the cell-identity group, by observing pairs of
slots where the secondary synchronization signal is transmitted, since each
combination (s1, s2) in subframe zero and five represents one of the cell
identity groups uniquely
• In the case of the initial synchronization, in addition to the detection of
synchronization signals, the UE proceeds to decode the Physical Broadcast
CHannel (PBCH), from which critical system information is obtained.
 Cell Search

Page43
 Downlink Reference signals
• Cell-specific downlink reference signals
– The reference signal is used to make channel estimation and carry out downlink coherent
detection and demodulation
– The RS sequence also carries unambiguously one of the 504 different cell identities
– Cell-specific reference symbol arrangement in the case of normal CP length for one
antenna port:
 Downlink Reference signals
• Cell-specific downlink reference signals in case of 2 and 4 antenna port
 Downlink Physical channels
• Physical broadcast channel (PBCH)

– P-BCH transmitted only in the centred frequency,

BW is 72 subcarriers
– P-BCH use QPSK
– P-BCH occupy symbol 7,8,9,10 of the centred 6RB
– P-BCH is used to carry BCH for system information
broadcast
• Only MIB (Master Information Block) which consists of a limited number of the most
frequently transmitted parameters essential for initial access to the cell is carried on
PBCH
• Other System Information Blocks (SIBs) which, at the physical layer, are multiplexed
together with uncast data are transmitted on the Downlink Shared Channel
PBCH-physical broadcast channel
 Downlink Physical channels

• Physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)

– PDSCH is used to carry DL-SCH, PCH and BCH

– User data, broadcast system information which is not carried on the PBCH,
and paging messages may be transmitted on PDSCH

• Physical multicast channel (PMCH)

– PMCH is used to carry MCH for MBMS service
 Downlink Physical channels
• Physical control format indicator channel (PCFICH)
– Carries information about the number of OFDM symbols used for
transmission of PDCCHs in a subframe.
– Three different CFI values are used in the first version of LTE.
– In order to make the CFI sufficiently robust each codeword is 32 bits in
length. These 32 bits are mapped to 16 resource elements using QPSK
modulation
– In order to achieve frequency diversity, the 16 resource elements carrying
the PCFICH are distributed across the frequency domain. This is done
according to a predefined pattern in the first OFDM symbol in each
downlink subframe.
 Downlink Physical channels

• Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)

– Informs the UE about the resource allocation of PCH and DL-SCH, and Hybrid
ARQ information related to DL-SCH
– Carries the uplink scheduling grant
– Multiple PDCCHs can be transmitted in a subframe
– The set of OFDM symbols possible to use for PDCCH in a subframe is the first
n OFDM symbols where n ≤ 3

• Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel

(PHICH)
– Carries Hybrid ARQ ACK/NAKs in response to uplink transmissions.
 Downlink resource allocation sample

72 center RE

Control channel Sync channel PBCH

CFI/PHI/PDCCH

User 1 PDSCH User 2 PDSCH

 Uplink Reference signals
• Uplink Reference signal
– Two types of uplink reference signals are supported:
• Demodulation reference signal (DM RS), associated with transmission of PUSCH or PUCCH,
are primarily used for channel estimation for coherent demodulation
• Sounding reference signal (SRS), not associated with transmission of PUSCH or PUCCH,
primarily used for channel quality determination to enable frequency-selective scheduling
on the uplink
– The uplink reference signals in LTE are based on Zadoff–Chu (ZC) sequences, which
satisfy these properties:
• Good autocorrelation properties for accurate channel estimation.
• Good cross-correlation properties between different RSs to reduce interference from RSs
transmitted on the same resources in other (or, in some cases, the same) cells.
 Uplink Reference signals
• Demodulation reference signal (DM RS)
– The DM RSs associated with uplink PUSCH data or PUCCH control transmissions
are primarily provided for channel estimation for coherent demodulation, and are
present in every transmitted uplink slot.
– The DM RSs of a given UE occupy the same bandwidth as its PUSCH/PUCCH data
transmission (same RBs)
– The position of uplink reference signals in a slot:
 Uplink Reference signals
• Sounding reference signal (SRS)
– The subframes in which SRS are transmitted by any UE within the cell are indicated
by cell-specific broadcast signalling (‘srsSubframeConfiguration’)
– The SRS transmissions are always in the last SC-FDMA symbol in the configured
subframes

– The eNodeB in LTE may either request an individual SRS transmission from a UE or
configure a UE to transmit SRS periodically until terminated
– The specific SRS bandwidth to be used by a given UE is configured through RRC
signalling
 Uplink Physical channels

• Physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)

– carries data from the Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) transport channel
• Physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)
– Carries Hybrid ARQ ACK/NAKs in response to downlink transmission;
– Carries Scheduling Request (SR);
– Carries CQI reports.
 Uplink Physical channels
• Physical random access channel (PRACH)
– Carries the random access preamble
– One or several subframes is reserved for preamble transmission in a frame, and In
the frequency domain, the random-access preamble has a bandwidth
corresponding to six resource blocks
– The physical layer random access burst consists of a cyclic prefix, a preamble, and
a guard time to avoid interference
– A fixed number (64) of preamble signatures is available
Initial Procedures
 Uplink Physical channels
• Contention-based random access procedure

On request of higher layers which should provides:

Random access channel parameters, a single preamble is
transmitted using an random selected preamble sequence

network transmitting a timing advance

command and assigns uplink resources to
the terminal to be used in the third step

transmission of the mobile-terminal identity to the network, C-

RNTI(LTE-CONNECTED) or a CN terminal identifier(IDLE)

contention-resolution message is transmitted on the DL-SCH, If the

terminal has not yet been assigned a C-RNTI, the temporary identity
from the second step is promoted to the C-RNTI, Terminals which do
not find a match between the identity are considered failed
LTE channel mapping
Contents

1. Overview

2. Radio interface

3. S1 interface

4. X2 interface
 S1 Interface architecture
• S1 functions:
– S1 UE context management function:
• Establishment/release SAE bearer context, security context, UE S1 signaling connection
ID(s), etc.
– SAE bearer management functions
– GTP-U tunnels management function
– S1 Signalling link management function
– Intra-LTE handover
EUTRAN EPC
– Inter-3GPP RAT handover “S1-MME” MME

– Paging function MME

eNode
– Network sharing function B

– NAS node selection function

S-GTW
– Security function
eNode
S-GTW
B

“S1-U”
S1 Interface

S1-U

User Plane
GTP-U
UDP
IP
Layer 2
Layer 1
Contents

1. Overview

2. Radio interface

3. S1 interface

4. X2 interface
 X2 Interface architecture
• X2 functions:
– Intra LTE-Access-System Mobility Support for UE in LTE_ACTIVE:
• Context transfer from source eNB to target eNB;
• Control of user plane tunnels between source eNB and target eNB;
• Handover cancellation.
– Load Management
– Inter-cell Interference Coordination
• Uplink Interference Load Management;
– General X2 management and error handling functions:
• Error indication.
– Trace functions
X2 Interface
THANK YOU