LTE FDD and TDD Mode: Radio Channel Types

LTE Air Interface Course

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LTE FDD and TDD Mode: Radio Channel Types

Logical Channel Types

Transport Channel Types
Physical Channel Types
Multiplexing of channels

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Logical Channel Types (1/2)

Logical channels are in a one-to-one fashion associated with radio bearers. Logical channel types are used to
distinguish the type of information transmitted within the attached radio bearer. The two major groups of logical
channel types are therefore control channels for signaling and traffic channels for IP user data.

Currently the following logical channel types are defined for EUTRAN signaling:
BCCH (Broadcast Control Channel): The BCCH is used to transmit system information regarding access and non-
access stratum. It allows the UE to retrieve cell and network configuration parameters (e.g. PLMN code, cell identity,
cell re-selection parameters, etc.) required for normal operation within EUTRAN.
PCCH (Paging Control Channel): The PCCH is used to transmit the paging messages from RRC. Hence it is a
downlink point-to-multipoint channel a UE is using when it is in LTE_IDLE mode.
CCCH (Common Control Channel): The CCCH is an uplink and downlink channel. RRC signaling channel used by
UEs to do the initial access signaling when it is in RRC_IDLE state and wants to enter RRC_CONNECTED state.
The UE will send only one message (RRC CONNECTION REQUEST) and the rest of the communication takes
place on DCCH.

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Logical Channel Types (2/2)

DCCH (Dedicated Control Channel): The DCCH is a bidirectional RRC signaling channel used for point-to-point
(dedicated) RRC and NAS signaling procedures. It is the main signaling channel to be used by RRC_CONNECTED
UEs.
MCCH (Multicast Control Channel): The MCCH is associated with MBMS. It allows the eNB to inform UEs that want to
listen to broadcast or multicast service traffic about availability of such services and about the associated MBMS
radio bearer (point-to-multipoint) radio bearers.

On the traffic channel side we have currently only two types defined:
DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel): The DTCH is used for user radio bearers carrying IP traffic. The eNB connects
DTCHs with their associated S1-U tunnel to the SAE GW. DTCH can be bidirectional, uplink only or downlink only.
DTCH are of course point-to-point.
MTCH (Multicast Traffic Channel): The MTCH is a point-to-multipoint traffic channel for MBMS. It carries IP traffic for
broadcast or multicast services driven by the MBMS feature.

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 Logical Channel
type of information;
MAC priority;
UE identification;

Control Channel Traffic Channel

signaling info (RRC); user plane data (IP)

BCCH DCCH DTCH MTCH

broadcast control ch.;
dedicated control ch.; dedicated traffic multicast traffic ch.;
system information;
dedicated RRC channel; MBMS traffic for
downlink only; broadcast or multicast
signaling with one UE; IP user plane data;
MBMS services;
PCCH bi-directional; bi- or uni-directional;
downlink only;
paging control ch.;
paging message for
LTE_IDLE UE;
downlink only;

CCCH
common control ch.;
initial access
signaling for
RRC_IDLE UE;

MCCH
multicast control ch.;
MBMS control
information for MTCH;
downlink only;
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LTE FDD Mode: Radio Channel Types

Logical Channel Types

Transport Channel Types
Physical Channel Types
Multiplexing of channels

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Transport Channel Types (1/2)

Transport channels are used as the basic transmission service offered by layer 1 to MAC. MAC will use transport
channels to multiplex and demultiplex logical channels onto and from them. In contrast to logical channel types,
referring to the type of information transmitted, transport channel types are used to indicate the transport
characteristics. This means that certain transport channel type is associated with certain bit rates (transport block
sizes, number of blocks), a transmission time interval (the time it takes to send one transport block set), delay,
support for HARQ, support for beam-forming, support for DRX/DTX, and so on.
Transport channels are always unidirectional, in the downlink we have the following:
BCH (Broadcast Channel): The BCH is a transport channel with fixed transport format. It is used to transmit the BCCH
in the entire cell. It will only support QPSK modulation and no HARQ or beam-forming is allowed.
PCH (Paging Channel): The PCH is used to carry the PCCH. In contrast to BCH there might be beam-forming applied
to PCH, but still no HARQ is available. Also the channel supports at least QPSK and 16QAM as modulation scheme
and DRX.
DL-SCH (DL Shared Channel): This is the major transport channel in the downlink direction. It is used to carry mainly
DCCH and DTCH. But also BCCH, MCCH and if required MTCH can be sent on it. The channel supports HARQ,
beam-forming and all modulation schemes QPSK, 16QAM and 64QAM. The DL-SCH will support DRX and DTX on
UE side to reduce power consumption of end terminals.

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Transport Channel Types (2/2)

MCH (Multicast Channel): The MCH is used for broadcast and multicast MBMS services. It thus carries MTCH and
MCCH. It will allow at least QPSK and 16QAM as modulation scheme, 64QAM is under investigation. Obviously
HARQ cannot be supported as MTCH/MCCH are point-to-multipoint channels. This channel has a unique special
property, as UEs are able to combine MCH signals from different cells using the same frequency (MBSFN=
Multicast Broadcast Single Frequency Networks). In this case all MBSFN cells must use the same MCH
configuration and must be synchronized with each other.
In the uplink there are only two transport channel defined:
RACH (Random Access Channel): The RACH is used as initial access request by the UE to the network. Currently it
does not contain logical information, rather the RACH is formed by a special layer 1 preamble that acts as a channel
request message. It is under investigation whether the RACH should be able to carry logical channel information.
UL-SCH (UL Shared Channel): The UL-SCH is the only uplink transport channel able to carry logical channel data.
Thus CCCH, DTCH and DCCH run over this channel. It supports HARQ and at least QPKS and 16QAM.

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 Transport Channel (TrCH)
transfer characteristics:
delay, collision risk;
supported block sizes and number of blocks;
support for HARQ;
support for beam-forming;
support for DRX/DTX;
coding (reliability);
Downlink TrCH Uplink TrCH
static | dynamic resource allocation;
support for QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM;

BCH RACH
random access channel;
broadcast channel;
carries no logical
carries BCCH;
channel;
only for initial L1 access
PCH request;
paging channel;
UL-SCH
carries PCCH; uplink shared channel;
carries CCCH, DCCH,
MCH DTCH;
multicast channel; supports HARQ;
carries MTCH, MCCH;

DL-SCH
downlink shared
channel;
carries DCCH, DTCH,
BCCH, MTCH, MCCH;
supports HARQ;

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LTE FDD Mode: Radio Channel Types

Logical Channel Types

Transport Channel Types
Physical Channel Types
Multiplexing of channels

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Physical Channel Types (1/3)

The physical layer uses resource blocks (e.g. 12 subcarriers with 6 or 7 OFDM symbols) to transmit binary coded
information in QPKS, 16QAM or 64QAM or OOK modulation form. Physical channels determine how data is
processed and then mapped via dynamical scheduling onto resource blocks. Thus physical channels also in
EUTRAN represent the available physical resources. Like transport channels, also physical channels are
unidirectional. There is usually a fixed linkage between transport channel types and physical channel type used to
transmit the transport blocks. Next to the physical channels that are used to carry transport channels, there are also
physical channels that carry physical layer control data and physical signals that are mainly used for synchronization
and measurement purposes.
On the downlink side we have the following:
PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel): The PBCH is the physical channel used to carry BCH (BCCH), in other words
on this channel the system information can be found. It will use a fixed mapping onto resource blocks. There will be
one PBCH per cell.
PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel): The PDSCH can carry DL-SCH or PCH. Thus this channel type will
allocate most of the capacity in a cell. It is still under investigation how many PDSCHs a cell can have and how
many PCH and DL-SCH a single PDSCH can carry.
PMCH (Physical Multicast Channel): This channel type is used to carry MCH. It implements the option of MBSFN
where a UE receives the PMCH from several cells operating in the same area on the same frequency band. All the
PMCH will be jointly decoded by the UE. This would allow a UE to do cell re-selection without interrupting MBMS
services.
PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel): This is a pure physical layer control channel. It contains the scheduler
signaling to inform the UEs about the coming downlink (and maybe also uplink) resource block assignments to
PDSCH. The PDCCH will be sent in each subframe shortly before PDSCH starts.

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Physical Channel Types (2/3)

PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel): The PCFICH is like the PDCCH a pure physical layer control
channel. It indicates how many OFDM symbols are used to encode the PDCCH. So the order of decoding for a UE
is to read first the PCFICH to get the PDCCH format. Then the PDCCH is decoded to find out which resource blocks
to the PDSCH of interest for the UE.
DL Synchronization Signal: There are two DL synchronization signals - a primary and a secondary one. Both consist
of predefined code sequence to be used for cell detection and initial time and frequency synchronization. Both
synchronization sequences are transmitted within slot 0 and slot 10 of each radio frame (frame type 1). The
synchronization signals always use 2 subcarrier centered around the DC subcarrier. For the primary synchronization
signal there will be three distinct code sequences defined, which one is applicable for a cell is determined by the cell
identity. This can be used as some form of cell color code to distinguish direct neighbors.
DL Reference Signal: Reference signals allow coherent decoding and permanently repeated channel estimation.
Therefore in each slot (and each resource block) some OFDM symbols are reserved for reference signals and
cannot be used for data transmission. The reference signals itself are created from an orthogonal and a pseudo-
noise sequence. This allows efficient channel and phase detection at the receiver side.

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Physical Channel Types (3/3)

In the uplink there some less physical channels defined:

PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel): The PUSCH is the major uplink channel, because on it we will find the
transport blocks of UL-SCH on which all radio bearers uplink occur. Like PDSCH also the PUSCH is dynamically
assigned to uplink resource blocks. This happens via so called UL Assignments which are not completely specified
yet. The PUSCH supports DTX, HARQ and at least QPSK and 16QAM. 64QAM is under investigation for this
channel.
PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel): This is a pure physical layer control channel. One idea is to use this
channel for UL capacity requests and HARQ ACK/NACK indications by the UE as well as CQI (Carrier Quality
Indication) feedback information to optimize CDS and MIMO.
PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel): The PRACH carries the RACH. Currently this means, that the PRACH
simply transmits preamble sequences that act as initial access request for UL and DL resources when the UE is
RRC_IDLE.
Demodulation Reference Signal: Some OFDM symbols of the resource block assigned to PUCCH/PUSCH are
reserved for the demodulation reference signal. Like in downlink also here the reference signal is a predefined code
sequence that allows the eNB coherent decoding of the transmitted SC-FDMA signal. The eNB derives from it
phase and frequency correction, channel estimation and time synchronization.
Sounding Reference Signal: The sounding reference signal is a very long reference sequence that is transmitted by
the UE only on explicit request by the network. It is used for a very detailed channel estimation especially when
MIMO is in use. This information is required for efficient decoding, but also for efficient channel dependent
scheduling (CDS).

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 Physical
Physical Channels
Channels // Signals
Signals
set
set of
of OFDM/SC-FDMA
OFDM/SC-FDMA resource
resource elements;
elements;
carry
carry higher
higher layer
layer data
data (physical
(physical channel
channel PhyCH)
PhyCH) or
or
used
used internally
internally by
by L1
L1 (physical
(physical channel/signal);
channel/signal);

Downlink
Downlink PhyCH
PhyCH Downlink
Downlink Signal
Signal Uplink
Uplink Signals
Signals Uplink
Uplink PhyCH
PhyCH

PBCH
PBCH DL
DL reference
reference signal
signal Demodulation
Demodulation ref.
ref. signal
signal PUSCH
PUSCH
physical
physical broadcast
broadcast ch.;
ch.; pre-defined
pre-defined 2-dimensional
2-dimensional pre-defined
pre-defined sequence
sequence phys.
phys. UL
UL shared
shared channel;
channel;
carries orthogonal/pseudo-noise
orthogonal/pseudo-noise sent
sent along
along with
with carries UL-SCH;
carries UL-SCH;
carries BCH (BCCH);
BCH (BCCH);
sequence;
sequence; PUSCH/PUCCH
PUSCH/PUCCH
used
used for
for DL
DL channel
channel used
used for
for uplink
uplink channel
channel PUCCH
PDSCH PUCCH
PDSCH estimation,
estimation, demodulation;
demodulation; estimation,
estimation, demodulation;
demodulation;
phys.
phys. DL
DL shared
shared channel;
channel; phys.
phys. UL
UL control
control channel;
channel;
carries
DL
DL synch.
synch. signal
signal Sounding
Sounding ref.
ref. signal
signal L1
carries PCH
PCH and
and DL-SCH;
DL-SCH; L1 information
information
11 of
of 33 pre-defined
pre-defined pre-defined
pre-defined (long)
(long)
PMCH
PMCH sequences
sequences (Zadoff-Chu);
(Zadoff-Chu); sequence
sequence sent
sent alone;
alone;
associated used
PRACH
PRACH
associated withwith cell-id;
cell-id; used by
by NW
NW toto optimize
optimize
phys.
phys. multicast
multicast channel;
channel; used
used forfor cell
cell detection
detection and
and channel
channel dependent
dependent phys.
phys. random
random access
access
carries
carries MCH;
MCH; initial
initial time/phase
time/phase synch.;
synch.; scheduling;
scheduling; (channel);
(channel);
carries
carries RACH
RACH (access
(access
request
request preamble);
preamble);
PDCCH
PDCCH [in
[in TS
TS 36.211
36.211 referenced
referenced
as
as signal,
signal, not
not as
as channel]
channel]
phys.
phys. DL
DL control
control channel;
channel;
L1
L1 control information
control information
(scheduling
(scheduling assignments);
assignments);

PCFICH
PCFICH
phys.
phys. control
control format
format
indicator
indicator channel
channel
L1
L1 control
control information
information (no.
(no.
of
of ODFM
ODFM symbols
symbols used
used for
for
PDCCH);
PDCCH);
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LTE FDD Mode: Radio Channel Types

Logical Channel Types

Transport Channel Types
Physical Channel Types
Multiplexing of channels

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 Multiplexing of Channels
LogCH TrCH Physical

DL synch.

DL reference
DL TrCH

BCCH BCH PBCH

PCCH PCH PDSCH

DL-SCH PDCCH
DCCH
PCFICH
CCCH
MCH PMCH
DTCH

UL TrCH
MTCH
UL-SCH PUSCH
MCCH
PUCCH

Demod. Ref.

RACH PRACH

Sounding Ref.
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