Long Term Evolution (LTE): A Technical Overview

LTE Architecture Evolved Radio Access Network (RAN) Serving Gateway (SGW) Mobility Management Entity (MME) Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN GW) LTE Protocol Stacks o Control Plane Stack: o User Plane Stack Mobility Management Evolved Multicast Broadcast Multimedia Services (E-MBMS)
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Technical Overview of 3GPP LTE

3GPP LTE Medium Access Control (MAC)

Logical, Transport and Physical Channels Random Access Procedure DL-SCH and UL-SCH Data Transfer

3GPP LTE Radio Link Control (RLC)

RLC sub layer functions and interactions with other layers RLC transparent (TMD), unacknowledged (UMD) and acknowledged (AMD) modes Unacknowledged mode handling and state variables Acknowledged mode handling and state variables TMD, UMD and AMD PDU formats

3GPP LTE Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

PDCP sub layer functions and interactions with other layers Robust Header Compression (RoHC) o RoHC Modes (U-Mode, O-Mode and R-Mode o RoHC Compressor and Decompressor States in different modes PDCP PDU formats o Control and User Plane PDUs o PDCP Fields

3GPP LTE Radio Resource Control (RRC)

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Intercell Interference Control o Due to OFDMA no inter channel interference is there in LTE but due to frequency reuse factor of 1 there might be large intercell interference. Mobility Management o RRC is also responsible mobility management in RRC_IDLE and RRC_CONNECTED states. RRC Connection Control Recovery from Radio link Failure. Establishment/modification/release of point to point RBs carrying user data.

LTE Attach Procedure

Create Default Bearer Request: MME ----> S-GW

MME selects a S-GW and allocate an EPS bearer Identity for default bearer associated with UE.
Create Default Bearer Request : S-GW -------->PDN-GW

The S-GW creates a new entry in its EPS bearer table and sends a create default bearer request message to PDN GW indicated by the PDN GW address received in the previous step.

Create Default Bearer Response : PDN-GW ------> S-GW

The P-GW creates a new entry in its EPS bearer context table and generates a charging ID. The new entry allows the P-GW to route user plane PDU's between the S-GW and the packet data network and to start charging.
Create Default Bearer Response : S-GW --------> MME

S-GW returns a create default bearer response to MME. Logical channels in LTE

Transport channels in LTE

RRC Radio Bearers Signaling Radio Bearer 0: SRB0: RRC message using CCCH logical channel. (TM-UL,UM-DL)
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Signaling Radio Bearer 1: SRB1: is for transmitting NAS messages over DCCH logical channel. (AM-DL,AM-UL) Signaling Radio Bearer 2: SRB2: is for high priority RRC messages. Transmitted over DCCH logical channel. (AM-DL,AM-UL) RLC-Config by RRC maxRetxThreshold pollByte pollPDU sn-FieldLength t-PollRetransmit t-Reordering t-StatusProhibit LTE Radio Link Control Transparent Mode No segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs No RLC headers are added No delivery guarantees Suitable for carrying voice Unacknowledged Mode Segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs RLC Headers are added No delivery guarantees Suitable for carrying streaming traffic Acknowledged Mode Segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs RLC Headers are added Reliable in sequence delivery service Suitable for carrying TCP traffic Summary of State Variables-UM Transmitting Side VT(US) Send State Variable Receiving Side
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VR(UX) UM t-Reordering state variable VR(UH) UM highest received state variable VR(UR) UM receive state variable

Summary of State Variables-AM Transmitting Side VT(A): Acknowledged State Variable VT(MS): Maximum Send State Variable VT(S): Send State Variable POLL_SN: Poll Send State Variable PDU_WITHOUT_POLL Counter BYTE_WITHOUT_POLL Counter RETX_COUNT Counter Receiving Side VR(R): Receive State Variable VR(MR): Maximum Accepted Receive State Variable VR(X): Reordering State Variable VR(MS): Maximum STATUS Transmit State Variable VR(H): Highest Received State Variable