WCDMA Fundamental

January 25th, 2011

From 2G to 3G
2G

9.6, 14.4 kbps

Circuit-Switched Voice
Circuit-Switched Data
Short Message Service (SMS)

3G

Circuit-Switched Voice
Low-Speed Circuit-Switched Data
High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data
Packet Data

Part 1: 2 of 67

up to 2 Mbps ?

3G Wireless Multiple Access

Voice Conversation

2 data channels
(voice, control)
2 data channels
(voice, control)

Videoconference

3 data channels
(voice, video,
control)
3 data channels
(voice, video,
control)

Part 1: 3 of 67

Uplink Packet Data

1 data channels
(control)
2 data channels
(14 kbps data, control)

Videoconference with 384 kbps Data

4 data channels
(384 kbps data,
voice, video, control)
4 data channels
(384 kbps data,
voice, video, control)

Multiple Access Approaches

Frequency

Spread
Spectrum
Multiple
Access

User N

User 3

User 2

User 1

Time
Division
Multiple
Access

User 3

User 2

User 1

Frequency
Division
Multiple
Access

Time

Code
Division
Multiple
Access

Multiple
Transmitters
and
Multiple Data
Channels

Frequency

Each User has a unique

frequency

Each User has a unique

time slot

Each Transmitter has a unique

spreading code

(1 voice channel per user)

Each Data Channel has a unique

position within the time slot

Each Data Channel has a unique

orthogonal code

All users transmit at the

same time

Several users share the

same frequency

Many users share the same

frequency and time

IS-136, GSM, PDC

IS-95, cdma2000, WCDMA

AMPS, NMT, TACS

Part 1: 4 of 67

The CDMA Cocktail Party

What do YOU hear...
If you only speak Japanese?
If you only speak English?
If you only speak Italian?
If you only speak Japanese, but the Japanese-speaking
person is all the way across the room?
If you only speak Japanese, but the Spanish-speaking
person is talking very loudly?

Japan
e

Part 1: 5 of 67

n
a
i
s
s
Spanish
se Ru

n
a
i
l
a
It

WCDMA Power Control

Open-Loop Power Control
Measure
received power
from BS

Open-Loop Power Control

Compute
Initial
Transmit
Power

Read BS transmit
power from Broadcast
Channel

Outer-Loop (slow) Power Control

No
UE Begins
Uplink TCH
Transmission

Raise Rx
Power Target

BLER
Acceptable
?
Yes

Measure
received power
from BS

Compute
Initial
Transmit
Power

Read BS transmit
power from Broadcast
Channel

Inner-Loop (fast) Power Control

No

Increase UE
Transmit Power
by e.g. 1 dB

Received
power
> target?
Lower Rx
Power Target

Yes

Decrease UE
Transmit Power
by e.g. 1 dB

CDMA Power Control

BS
Receive Power
Open-loop Power Control
Access Preambles

Preambles

Inner-loop power control

(Initial receive power target)
800 updates/sec (IS-95,
cdma2000)
1500 updates/sec (WCDMA)

RACH

Outer-loop power control

(Updated receive power target of inner-loop)

DPCH

BS Receive Power Target

The PRACH is power controlled by means of preamble ramping i.e. UL open
loop PC

time

Multipath Fading
Fast (Rayleigh) Fading

Time between fades is related to

RF frequency
Geometry of multipath vectors
Vehicle speed:
Up to 4 fades/sec per kilometer/hour

Composite
Received
Signal
Strength

msec

Deep fade caused by destructive summation

of two or more multipath reflections

time (mSec)

Handover

Inter-Radio Access Technology (IRAT) Handover

Handover from a CDMA system to an Analog, TDMA or another CDMA
system
Traffic and Control Channels are Disconnected and must be Reconnected

Inter-frequency Handover
When the MS must change CDMA carrier frequency during the Handover
Traffic and Control Channels are Disconnected and must be Reconnected

Soft Handover
Unique to CDMA
During Handover, the MS has concurrent traffic connections with two
BSs
Handover should be less noticeable

Softer Handover
Similar to Soft Handover, but between two sectors of the same cell
Handover is simplified since timing sectors have identical timing

CDMA Without Soft Handover

UE responding to BS1
power control bits

UE responding to BS2
power control bits

BS1 Receive Power Target

time

BS2 Receive Power Target

time
Trouble zone: Prior to Hard Handover,
the MS causes excessive interference to BS2

CDMA Soft Handover

CDMA Soft Handover

Monitor Neighbor BS Pilots

Add Destination BS

Drop Originating BS

One finger of the RAKE receiver is constantly scanning

neighboring Pilot Channels.
When a neighboring Pilot Channel reaches the t_add threshold,
the new BS is added to the active set
When the original Base Station reaches the t_drop threshold,
originating Base Station is dropped from the active set

Soft Handover Add/Drop/Replace

Thresholds

Soft Handover Measurement and Decision

t

EC / N0

Cell 1
T_REPLACE
T_DROP
T_ADD

Cell 2

Cell 3

time
Cell 1
Connected

Add Cell 2

Replace Cell 1
with Cell 3

Drop Cell 3

CDMA With Soft Handover

UE responds to
power control commands
from both BS1 and BS2
UE responding to BS1
power control commands

BS1 Receive Power Target

BS1 BS2 Action

0
0 Reduce power
0
1 Reduce power
1
0 Reduce power
1
1 Increase power

UE responding to BS2
power control commands

11111111111111111111111111112
11112
22222
22 2 2
2 2 222 22
2
222
2
time

BS2 Receive Power Target

2 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 22 22 2 2 2
1
11112 2 2 2 1
111 1111
111
1
1
111111
1
1111 1 1 1
time

CDMA Soft Handover

Key points to remember about Soft Handover
SSMA used to distinguish all transmitters in a Cellular CDMA
system
Fast power control is required to sustain SSMA performance
When fast power control is used, soft handover is essential
Allows MS to operate in most conservative power control mode

Soft handover provides performance benefits

Seamless coverage at cell fringes
Handover may be less noticeable to the user
Increases apparent system capacity when system is lightly loaded

Soft handover also degrades system capacity

Uses redundant physical layer resources from adjacent or
overlapping cells

CDMA Capacity

Main Factors influencing Downlink Capacity

Fundamental Capacity Limitation is available RF transmit power
One RF power budget must be split between all Mobile Stations!
Fixed portion of RF power Budget allocated to Pilot, Broadcast, Paging
channels
SSMA interference from other Base Stations
Growing problem in Microcellular and Hierarchy topologies
Traffic channel power is allocated based on Mobile Station needs
More power allocated to distant MSs; less to nearby MSs
IS-95B provides 20msec downlink power update for 14.4 kbps data rate
WCDMA, cdma2000 use fast power control on the downlink traffic channels

CDMA Capacity
Factors influencing CDMA capacity
Eb/N0 (Energy per bit - to - Noise ratio)
Limited by transmit power;
All base station transmissions share a single transmit power budget

Eb/I0 (Energy per bit - to Interference Ratio)

Uplink: SSMA interference from mobiles in same cell, mobiles in other cells
Downlink: SSMA interference from surrounding base stations, distant base
stations
Excessive interference associated with imperfect power control
Spread Spectrum Processing Gain is reduced at higher data rates

Multipath reflections, doppler shift, near-far ratio, obstructions, etc.

Part 3: 16 of 22

CDMA Capacity
Main Factors influencing Uplink Capacity
Intracell interference
SSMA interference from other mobiles in the same cell, many to one
scenario.
Intercell interference
SSMA interference from other mobiles in other cells
Interference from adjacent frequencies
Intersystem interference
Interference from other systems like GSM

CDMA Capacity

Uplink and downlink capacity limitations

Cell 2
Cell 1

MS3

Cell 1 cannot accommodate MS3 because:

Cell 2 cannot accommodate MS2 because:

MS1

MS2

Uplink Capacity
Itotal = Iintra + Iother + Nth

Uplink Interference

GSM

= RTWP = Received Total Wideband Power

tra = total received power from mobiles in own cell
her = Iintercell + Iintersystem = total received power from mobiles in other cells + interference
from other sources (such as adjacent frequencies and GSM)
h = thermal noise level

tal

CDMA Capacity

Uplink Capacity Limit due to intracell SSMA Interference

C
Desired Signal
Interfering
Signals

I int ra

M 1

Carrier-to-Interference Ratio
The carrier-to-interference ratio for
any single user. (Assumes perfect
power control; all users received at
the same power)

CDMA Capacity

Uplink Capacity Limit, Mpole due to SSMA Interference (single cell):

Itotal = Iintra + Nth

C
C
C

I tot
I int racell N th C M 1 N th
N th
C
1 M 1
1
M 1 M pole

GSM/GPRS Network Architecture

To other
BTSs

Um

To other
BSCs

To other
MSCs

AC
Base Station
Subsystem
(BSS)

Abis

EIR

E
H

Um
Base
Transceiver
Station
(BTS)

Abis

Base
Station
Controller
(BSC)

External Networks

Mobile
Switching
Center
(MSC)

Gateway

MSC

PSTN
ISDN
Internet
...

Um

Abis

VLR

HLR

VLR

D
G
To other
BTSs

GPRS Network
Components

To other
BSCs

Packet
Control
Unit
(PCU)

Serving GPRS
Service Node
(SGSN)

Gateway GPRS
Service Node
(GGSN)

External Data
Network
IP / X.25

WCDMA/UMTS Network Architecture

UMTS
Terrestrial Radio Access Network
(UTRAN)

Uu

Core Network
(CN)

To
other
MSCs

To other
RNCs

Radio Network
Subsystem
(RNS)

AC

Iu

EIR
E

Uu

External Networks
Node B
(BTS)

RNC

Iub

Iu

Mobile
Switching
Center
(MSC)

Gateway

MSC

PSTN
ISDN
Internet
...

Iu

Uu

VLR

Iur

HLR

VLR

D
G

Iu
Uu
Node B
(BTS)

RNC

Iub

Uu
Iu

To other
RNCs

Iu

Serving GPRS
Service Node
(SGSN)

Gateway GPRS
Service Node
(GGSN)

GPRS Network
Components

External Data
Network
IP / X.25

UMTS and the UTRAN

GPRS
Service Node

MSC

Iu

Iu

UTRAN
(UMTS
Terrestrial
Radio Access
Network)

3GPP TS 25.401 6.0

3GPP TS 25.401 6.0

GSM/GPRS Core Network (CN)

PSTN
ISDN
Internet

RNS

Iur

RNC

Iub
Node B

Iu

Iu

RNS
RNC

Iub

Iub

Node B

Node B

Iub
Node B

Uu

User Equipment
(UE)

UMTS and the UTRAN

UTRAN Definitions

3GPP TS 25.401 3.0

3GPP TS 25.401 3.0

RNS (Radio Network Subsystem)

A full or partial network offering access between UE and Core
Network
Contains one RNC
RNC (Radio Network Controller)
Element of the RNS that controls physical radio resources
Node B
Logical Node controlling transmission and reception from one or
more cells
Uu Interface
Interface between UE and Node B
Iu Interface
Interface between CN and RNS
Iur Interface
Interface between one RNS and another RNS
Iub Interface
Interface between RNC and Node B

UMTS and the UTRAN

3GPP TS 25.401 7.1

3GPP TS 25.401 7.1

UTRAN Operational Functions (partial)

Functions related to overall system access control

Admission Control, Congestion Control
System information broadcasting
Radio channel ciphering and deciphering
Functions related to mobility
Handover
SRNS Relocation
Functions related to radio resource management and control
Initial (random) access detection and handling
Radio resource configuration and operation
combining/splitting control
Radio bearer connection set-up and release (Radio Bearer Control)
Allocation and deallocation of Radio Bearers
Radio protocols function
RF power control
Radio channel coding
Radio channel decoding

UTRAN Model

UTRAN OSI Model

CTRL

USER
DATA
RRC

USER
DATA

CTRL
RRC

Signaling
Radio Bearer

L3

Radio Bearer

RLC

RLC

MAC

Logical Channel

Transport Channel

PHY

RLC

RLC

MAC

L2

PHY

L1

Physical Channel

UE

L2

UTRAN

WCDMA Physical Channels

Channels broadcast to all UE in the cell
P-CCPCH- Primary Common Control Physical Channel
SCH - Synchronization Channel
P-CPICH - Primary Common Pilot Channel
S-CPICH - Secondary Common Pilot Channel(s)
Paging Channels
S-CCPCH - Secondary Common Control Physical Channel
PICH - Page Indicator Channel
Random Access and Packet Access Channels

Base
Station

PRACH - Physical Random Access Channel

AICH - Acquisition Indicator Channel

(BS)

User
Equipment
(UE)

Dedicated Connection Channels

DPDCH - Dedicated Physical Data Channel
DPCCH - Dedicated Physical Control Channel

WCDMA Downlink Physical Channels

3GPP TS 25.211
3GPP TS 25.211

Common Downlink Physical Channels

P-CCPCH Common Control Physical Channel (Primary)
- Broadcasts cell site information
- Broadcasts cell SFN; Timing reference for all DL channels
SCH Synchronization Channel
- Fast Synch. codes 1 and 2; time-multiplexed with P-CCPCH
S-CCPCH Common Control Physical Channel (Secondary)
- Transmits idle-mode signaling and control information to UEs
P-CPICH Common Pilot Channel
S-CPICH Secondary Common Pilot Channel (for sectored cells)
PDSCH
Physical Downlink Shared Channel
- Transmits high-speed data to multiple users

Dedicated Downlink Physical Channels

DPDCH
Dedicated Downlink Physical Data Channel
DPCCH
Dedicated Downlink Physical Control Channel
- Transmits connection-mode signaling and control to UEs

WCDMA Downlink Physical Channels

3GPP TS 25.211
3GPP TS 25.211

Downlink Indication Channels

AICH (Acquisition Indication Channel)
Acknowledges that BS has acquired a UE Random Access attempt
(Echoes the UEs Random Access signature)
PICH (Page Indication Channel)
Informs a UE to monitor the next paging frame
AP-AICH (Access Preamble Indication Channel
Acknowledges that BS has acquired a UE Packet Access attempt
(Echoes the UEs Packet Access signature)
CD/CA-ICH
Confirms that there is no ambiguity between UE in a Packet Access
attempt
(Echoes the UEs Packet Access Collision Detection signature)
Optionally provides available Packet channel assignments
CSICH
Broadcasts status information regarding packet channel availability

WCDMA Uplink Physical Channels

Uplink Physical Channels

3GPP TS 25.211
3GPP TS 25.211

Common Uplink Physical Channels

PRACH

Physical Random Access Channel

- Used by UE to initiate access to BS

PCPCH

Physical Common Packet Channel

- Used by UE to send connectionless packet data

Dedicated Uplink Physical Channels

DPDCH Dedicated Uplink Physical Data Channel
DPCCH Dedicated Uplink Physical Control
Channel
- Transmits connection-mode signaling and control to BS

WCDMA Downlink (FDD)

Transport Channels
(Layer 2)

Physical Channels
(Layer 1)

Null Data
BCCH
Broadcast Control Ch.
PCCH
Paging Control Ch.
CCCH
Common Control Ch.
CTCH
Common Traffic Ch.

BCH
Broadcast Ch.

Data
Encoding

PCH
Paging Ch.

CPICH
Common Pilot Channel

S/P

P-CCPCH(*)
Primary Common Control Physical Ch.

Cch 256,0

Sdl,n

Gain

Cch 256,1

Sdl,n

Gain

PSC

S/P

FACH
Forward Access Ch.

Data
Encoding

DTCH
Dedicated Traffic Ch. 1

DCH
Dedicated Ch.

Data
Encoding

SCH (Sync Channel)

S/P

Physical Ch.

Cch

Sdl,n

GS

Gain

Downlink
RF Out
M
U
X

Data
Encoding

DPDCH (one or more per UE)

Dedicated Physical Data Ch.

S/P
Cch

Data
Encoding
Pilot, TPC, TFCI bits

DSCH
Downlink Shared Ch.

DPCH (Dedicated Physical Channel)

CCTrCH One per UE

DCH
Dedicated Ch.

DCH
Dedicated Ch.

GP
SSCi

S-CCPCH
Secondary Common Control

DCCH
Dedicated Control Ch.

DTCH
Dedicated Traffic Ch. N

Sync Codes(*)

Data
Encoding

M
U
X

Logical Channels
(Layers 3+)

Data
Encoding

Access Indication data

Paging Indication bits
Access Preamble Indication bits

Sdl,n

Gain

I+jQ

Filter
Filter

I/Q
Modulator

DPCCH (one per UE)

Dedicated Physical Control Ch.
PDSCH
Physical Downlink Shared Channel
AICH
(Acquisition Indicator Channel)

S/P

PICH
(Paging Indicator Channel )

S/P

AP-AICH
(Access Preamble Indicator Channel )

S/P

CPCH Status Indication bits

CSICH
(CPCH Status Indicator Channel )

S/P

CPCH Status Indication bits

CD/CA-ICH
(Collision Detection/Channel

S/P

Assignment )

* Note regarding P-CCPCH and SCH

S/P
Cch

Sdl,n

Gain

Cch

Sdl,n

Gain

Cch

Sdl,n

Cch

Sdl,n

Gain

Cch

Sdl,n

Gain

Cch

Sdl,n

Gain

Gain

Sync Codes are transmitted only in bits 0-255

of each timeslot;
P-CCPCH transmits only during the remaining
bits of each timeslot

Downlink Logical Channels

Common Downlink Logical Channels

3GPP TS 25.301 5.3.1.1

3GPP TS 25.301 5.3.1.1

BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel)

Broadcasts cell site and system identification to all UE
PCCH (Paging Control Channel)
Transmits paging information to a UE when the UEs location is unknown
CCCH (Common Control Channel)
Transmits control information to a UE when there is no RRC Connection
SHCCH (Shared Channel Control Channel)
Control channel associated with shared traffic channels (TDD mode only)
CTCH (Common Traffic Channel)
Traffic channel for sending traffic to a group of UEs.

Dedicated Downlink Logical Channels

DCCH (Dedicated Control Channel)

Transmits control information to a UE when there is a RRC Connection
DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel)
Traffic channel dedicated to one UE

Downlink Logical Channels

Common Downlink Logical Channels

3GPP TS 25.301 5.3.1.1

3GPP TS 25.301 5.3.1.1

BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel)

Broadcasts cell site and system identification to all UE
PCCH (Paging Control Channel)
Transmits paging information to a UE when the UEs location is unknown
CCCH (Common Control Channel)
Transmits control information to a UE when there is no RRC Connection
SHCCH (Shared Channel Control Channel)
Control channel associated with shared traffic channels (TDD mode only)
CTCH (Common Traffic Channel)
Traffic channel for sending traffic to a group of UEs.

Dedicated Downlink Logical Channels

DCCH (Dedicated Control Channel)

Transmits control information to a UE when there is a RRC Connection
DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel)
Traffic channel dedicated to one UE

OVSF Codes

3GPP TS 25.201 4.3

3GPP TS 25.201 4.3

Downlink OVSF Channelization Codes

C4,0

C2,0
1 1
C1,0

1 1 1 1
C4,1
1 1 -1 -1

C4,2
C2,1
1 -1

1 -1 1 -1
C4,3
1 -1 -1 1

SF = 1

SF = 2

SF = 4

Designation: cch, SF , code number

WCDMA Uplink Physical Layer

WCDMA Uplink (FDD)

Logical Channels
(Layers 3+)

CCCH
Common Control Ch.

Transport Channels
(Layer 2)

RACH
Random Access Ch.

Data
Coding

Physical Channels
(Layer 1)

Chd

Gd

PRACH
Physical Random Access Ch.

RACH Control Part

DTCH (packet mode)

Dedicated Traffic Ch.

CPCH
Common Packet Ch.

Data
Coding

Chc

Gc

Chd

Gd

PCPCH
Physical Common Packet Ch.

UE
Scrambling
Code

Uplink
RF Out

PCPCH Control Part

Chc

CCTrCH
DCCH
Dedicated Control Ch.

DCH
Dedicated Ch.

Data
Encoding

DPDCH #3 (optional)
Dedicated Physical Data Ch.

Data
Encoding
M
U
X

DTCH
Dedicated Traffic Ch. 1

DCH
Dedicated Ch.

DPDCH #1
Dedicated Physical Data Ch.

DPDCH #5 (optional)
Dedicated Physical Data Ch.
DPDCH #2 (optional)
Dedicated Physical Data Ch.

DTCH
Dedicated Traffic Ch. N

DCH
Dedicated Ch.

Data
Encoding

DPDCH #4 (optional)
Dedicated Physical Data Ch.

Chd,1

Gd

Chd,3

Gd

Chd,5

Gd

Chd,2

Gd

Chd,4

Gd

Chd,6

Gd

Chc

Gd

DPDCH #6 (optional)
Dedicated Physical Data Ch.

Pilot, TPC, TFCI bits

DPCCH
Dedicated Physical Control Ch.

Gc

I+jQ

Q
j

Filter
Filter

I/Q
Mod.

Uplink Transport Channels

Uplink Transport Channels

Common Uplink Transport Channels
RACH Random Access Channel
- Carries access requests, control information, short data
- Uses only open-loop power control
- Subject to random access collisions
CPCH Uplink Common Packet Channel
- Carries connectionless packet data to PCPH

Dedicated Uplink Transport Channels

DCH Dedicated Channel
- Carries dedicated traffic and control data from one UE

Uplink DPDCH/DPCCH

3GPP TS 25.211 5.2.1

3GPP TS 25.211 5.2.1

Uplink DPDCH/DPCCH

Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH) Slot (0.666 mSec)

Coded Data, 10 x 2^k bits, k=06
(10 to 640 bits)
Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH) Slot (0.666 mSec)
Pilot
TFCI
FBI

10

11

12

13

14

15

1 Frame = 15 slots = 10 mSec

DPCCH: 15 kb/sec data rate, 10 total bits per DPCCH slot
PILOT: Fixed patterns (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 bits per DPCCH slot)
TFCI: Transmit Format Combination Indicator (0, 2, 3, or 4 bits)
FBI:

Feedback Information (0, 1, or 2 bits)

TPC:

Transmit Power Control bits (1 or 2 bits); power adjustment in steps of 1, 2, or 3 dB

I
TPC