Medium Access Control Protocol

- MAC
>Introduction
Scope and Objectives

Scope
› Mapping of channels
› MAC PDU
› Random access procedure
› HARQ mechanism
› DL / UL Scheduling mechanism
› UL Time Alignment
› Connection Setup procedure

Objectives
› Explain how logical channels are mapped to transport channels
and physical channels
› Describe the MAC PDU format, the Random access procedure,
the HARQ mechanism, the DL and UL scheduling mechanism and UL time alignment
› Explain the connection setup procedure.
>Overview
MAC Protocol Entity
› MAC Services
– Data Transfer
– Reallocation of resources
› MAC Functions
– Mapping between logical- and
Upper layers
transport channels PCCH BCCH CCCH DCCH DTCH MAC-control

– Multiplexing of MAC SDUs

– Demultiplexing of MAC SDUs
– Scheduling information
Logical Channel Prioritization
(

reporting (De-) Multiplexing Control

– Error Correction Random

HARQ
– Priority handling between UEs Access Control

– Priority handling between

logical channels PCH BCH DL-SCH UL-SCH RACH

– Logical channel prioritization Lower layers

– Transport Format selection

>Channels
Logical Channels
Control:
› Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
– DL broadcast of system control information.
› Paging Control Channel (PCCH)
– DL paging information. UE position not known on cell level
› Common Control Channel (CCCH)
– UL/DL. When no RRC connection exists.
› Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
– UL/DL dedicated control information. Used by UEs that have an RRC
connection.

Traffic:
› Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH)
– UL/DL Dedicated Traffic to one UE, user information.
Transport Channels
Downlink:
› Broadcast Channel (BCH)
– System Information broadcasted in the entire coverage area of the cell.
Beamforming is not applied.
› Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)
– User data, control signaling and System Info. HARQ and link adaptation.
Broadcast in the entire cell or beamforming. DRX and MBMS supported.
› Paging Channel (PCH)
– Paging Info broadcasted in the entire cell.

Uplink:
› Uplink Shared channel (UL-SCH)
– User data and control signaling. HARQ and link adaptation. Beamforming
may be applied.
› Random Access Channel (RACH)
– Random Access transmissions (asynchronous and synchronous). The
transmission is typically contention based. For UEs having an RRC
connection there is some limited support for contention free access.
Physical Channels and Signals
Physical channels
› Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)
– transmission of the DL-SCH transport channel
› Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH)
– transmission of the UL-SCH transport channel
› Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH)
– indicates the PDCCH format in DL
› Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH)
– DL L1/L2 control signaling
› Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)
– UL L1/L2 control signaling
› Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH)
– DL HARQ info
› Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH)
– DL transmission of the BCH transport channel.
› Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
– UL transmission of the random access preamble as given by the RACH transport channel

Physical signals
› Reference Signals (RS)
– support measurements and coherent demodulation in uplink and downlink.
› Primary and Secondary Synchronization signals (P-SCH and S-SCH)
– DL only and used in the cell search procedure.
› Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)
– supports UL scheduling measurements
 Channel Mapping
Downlink Uplink

PCCH BCCH DTCH DCCH CCCH DTCH DCCH CCCH

Logical Channels
“type of information”
MIB SIB (traffic/control)

PCH BCH DL-SCH UL-SCH RACH

Transport Channels
“how and with what
characteristics”
(common/shared/mc/bc)
-Sched TF DL
-Sched grant UL -CQI
PDCCH -Pwr Ctrl cmd -ACK/NACK
info -HARQ info ACK/NACK -Sched req. Physical Channels
“bits, symbols,
PBCH PDSCH PCFICH PDCCH PHICH PUCCH PUSCH PRACH modulation, radio
frames etc”
-meas for DL sched
-meas for mobility -half frame sync -frame sync -measurements for
-coherent demod -cell id -cell id group -coherent demod UL scheduling
Physical Signals
“only L1 info”
RS P-SCH S-SCH RS SRS
>MAC PDU
MAC PDU
MAC Sub-header
>MAC Procedures
MAC Procedures
› Random Access
› Maintenance of Uplink Time Alignment
› DL-SCH data transfer
› UL-SCH data transfer
› PCH reception
› BCH reception
› Discontinuous Reception (DRX)
› MAC reconfiguration
› MAC Reset
› Semi-Persistent Scheduling
Random Access Procedure
› Purpose
– Initial access
– Establish UL synchronization
– Indicate presence of UL data

› Two types
– CBRA - Contention-based
– CFRA - Contention-free

› Consists of four phases

1.Random Access Preamble
2.Random Access Response
3.RRC Connection Request
4.RRC Connection Setup
Data Transfer using HARQ

Demultiplexed into logical channels and

forwarded to RLC for reordering

Number of HARQ processes tuned to

match the RTT
• FDD 8 HARQ processes
• TDD depending on asymmetry
DL Scheduling Mechanism
› UE provides a Channel
Quality Report (CQI) based
on DL reference symbols

› Scheduler assigns
resources per RB based on DL scheduler
QoS, CQI etc.

› Resource allocation is
transmitted in connection
with data

UE
eNodeB
UL Scheduling Mechanism
› UE requests UL
transmission via ”scheduling
request” Measurements

› Scheduler assigns initial

resources without detailed UL scheduler
knowledge of buffer content

› More detailed buffer status

report may follow in
connection with data

UE
eNodeB
Maintenance of Uplink Time Alignment

› When the UE gets Timing

- Random Access Response
- Piggy Backed together with data

UE 2

UE 1
>Connection Setup
 Connection Setup
eNodeB MME
BCCH: System Information
RRC RRC

Random Cell Selection •Admission Ctrl

Access MAC
PRACH: RACH preamble
MAC •Allocation of SRB
RRC_CONNECTED MAC
DL-SCH: RACH response
MAC resources in BB

UL-SCH: RRC Connection Request

(Initial UE identity, Cause)
RRC RRC
DL-SCH: RRC Connection Setup
RRC Connection (SRB1 parameters) MME selection
Establishment RRC RRC (based on S-TMSI)
UL-SCH: RRC Connection Setup Complete
(Selected PLMN id, NAS: Attach Request *)
RRC RRC Initial UE Message (eNB UE S1AP
id **,NAS:Attach Request,TAI)
S1-AP S1-AP
Initial Context Setup Request
(MME UE S1AP id ***, NAS: Attach Accept, Security,
Bearer params, e.g. TEID)
DL-SCH: Security Mode Command S1-AP S1-AP
(Security Configuration)
RRC RRC
Initial Context UL-SCH: Security Mode Complete Allocation of payload
RRC RRC
Setup DL-SCH: RRC Connection Reconfiguration bearer resources
(Intra-frequency measurement configuration,
Bearer Setup, NAS: Attach Accept)
RRC RRC
UL-SCH: RRC Conn Reconf Complete
RRC RRC Initial Context Setup Response
(Bearer params, e.g. TEID)
UL Inform Transfer (NAS: Attach S1-AP S1-AP
* The IMSI is provided in the Attach Request Complete)
RRC RRC Uplink NAS Transport
** eNB UE S1AP id is included in all UE-related DL (NAS: Attach Complete)
S1AP messages S1-AP S1-AP

*** MME UE S1AP id is included in all UE-related LTE active RRC connected LTE active
UL S1AP messages except for Initial UE message
>Summary
 Summary
Random Access Procedure

Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ)

More Information
› 3GPP Technical Specifications 36-series
– 3GPP TS 36.331 E-UTRA; RRC Protocol specification
– 3GPP TS 36.323 E-UTRA; Packet Data Convergence Protocol
(PDCP) specification
– 3GPP TS 36.322 E-UTRA; Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol
specification
– 3GPP TS 36.321 E-UTRA; Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol
specification
– 3GPP TS 36.300 E-UTRA; Overall description