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2 Orthogonal FDM
3 Multi-antenna Systems
8 LTE/SAE Signalling
Procedures
9
10
11
12
13
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The term ‘LTE’ has recently become more or less synonymous to the
(proper) terms ‘Evolved UTRA’ (the new radio access) and ‘Evolved
UTRAN’ (the new radio access network). With this in mind, the author has
taken the freedom to use the terms ‘LTE’ and ‘E-UTRA’ interchangeably
for the new OFDM-based radio interface. The term ‘E-UTRAN’ explicitly
means the whole radio access network (i.e. it includes the eNBs, the X2-
interface and the S1-interface).
The work on LTE started with a workshop, 2-3 Nov 2004 in Toronto,
Canada. The workshop was open to members and non-members of 3GPP.
Operators, vendors and research institutes presented contributions with
views and proposals on the future evolution of 3G. A set of high level
requirements were initially identified:
• Reduced cost per transmitted bit
• More services at lower cost with better user experience
• Flexibility of use of existing and new frequency bands
• Simplified architecture, open interfaces
• Reasonable terminal power consumption.
In parallel to, and coordinated with, the LTE project there is also a 3GPP
standardisation project relating to the core network. This project is called
System Architecture Evolution (SAE) and aims at standardising the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The SAE project was started in December
2004, with the objective to “develop a framework for an evolution or
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migration of the 3GPP system to a higher data rate, lower latency, packet
optimized system that supports multiple RATs”. The EPC will be a fully
IP-based core network (‘all-IP’) supporting access not only via GERAN,
UTRAN and E-UTRAN but also WiFi, WiMAX and wired technologies
such as xDSL. The SAE project also belongs to 3GPP Release 8.
eNB
X2
S1
X2 MME
eNB
SGW
X2
eNB
The Evolved UTRAN consists of the evolved NodeB (eNB), providing the
E-UTRA User Plane (UP) and Control Plane (CP) protocol terminations
towards the UE. The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of
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LTE - LTE/SAE Introduction
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the X2-interface, e.g. for support of handovers without data loss. The eNBs
are connected by means of the S1-interface to the EPC. The S1-interface
supports a many-to-many relation between eNBs and MME/SGWs (see
section 1.3.1). The X2- and S1-interfaces are described in in chapter 6.
The eNB can be seen as a combination of the UMTS NodeB and Radio
Network Controller, hosting functions like dynamic resource allocation
(through packet scheduling) and radio resource management.
There are, of course, drawbacks with OFDM as well. One such drawback
is that an OFDM signal exhibits a very high peak-to-average power ratio
(PAPR). This is not really a problem on the network side, but leads to very
inefficient use of power amplifiers, and hence high power consumption, in
a mobile terminal. The E-UTRA system therefore uses a variant of OFDM
for uplink transmission that reduces PAPR. This variant of OFDM is
called Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA).
Despite the name, there is very little that differentiates SC-FDMA from
‘classic’ OFDM. Chapter 2 contains more information on OFDM.
The E-UTRA physical layer channel processing chain (channel coding and
modulation) is very similar to what is used today for HSPA. It was agreed
at an early stage in the standardisation process that Turbo coding should be
used for error correction purposes and that the supported data modulation
schemes should be QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM for downlink and uplink.
Figure 1-2: Constellation diagrams for QPSK (left), 16QAM (middle) and 64QAM (right)
The channel and protocol architecture for E-UTRAN layer 2 and layer 3 is
quite similar to the one used in UTRAN today. For example, the UE
protocol stack is close to identical and the channel hierarchy is still divided
S3 S4
S1-MME S11
MME
S1-U S5 SGi
E-UTRAN SGW PGW IMS / Internet /…
S2
Non-3GPP
access
Figure 1-3 shows the network architecture of the Evolved Packet Core
(EPC). The EPC consists of three main nodes: the Mobility Management
Entity (MME), the Serving Gateway (SGW) and the Packet Data Network
Gateway (PGW). The MME may be co-located with the SGW, and the
SGW may be co-located with the PGW. Hence, the standard allows a
completely collapsed ‘one-node’ core network or a distributed (easily
scalable) core network, or any possible ‘combination’ in-between.
The MME connects to the E-UTRAN via the S1-MME interface and is
present solely in the CP. It is responsible for handling mobility and
security procedures, such as network Attach, Tracking Area updates
(similar to Location/Routing Area updates) and authentication. The MME
also connects to the SGSN via the S3-interface.
The SGW connects to the E-UTRAN via the S1-U interface and is present
solely in the UP. Its prime responsibility is routing and forwarding of user
IP-packets. It acts as a UP anchor when the UE moves between 3GPP
radio access technologies (S4-interface).
Iur Gn
Iu/Gn Gi
NB xGGSN IMS / Internet /…
A parallel 3GPP R8 project to LTE and SAE is the Evolved High Speed
Packet Access, eHSPA, project (also referred to as HSPA+). The proposed
eHSPA features represent a logical evolution from today’s HSDPA and
HSUPA systems. Roughly speaking, the eHSPA project focuses on three
areas:
2.1.1 Introduction
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) is a digital multi-
carrier modulation scheme that uses a large number of closely-spaced
orthogonal sub-carriers. Each sub-carrier is modulated with a
conventional modulation scheme (such as 16QAM) at a low symbol rate,
maintaining data rates similar to conventional single-carrier modulation
schemes in the same bandwidth. The primary advantage of OFDM over
single-carrier schemes is its ability to cope with severe channel conditions
without complex equalization filters. Low symbol rate makes the use of a
guard interval between symbols affordable, making it possible to handle
time-spreading and inter-symbol interference (ISI).
OFDM has only become widely used during the last decade or so, but the
technology as such is about 50 years old (it was first used around 1957 in
an experimental communications system developed for the US Navy).
During the 70’s and 80’s several important theoretical contributions from
various sources made it possible to implement more efficient and robust
OFDM-based systems. Today, OFDM has proved itself as the preferred
radio access technology in a wide variety of communication systems.
Some examples of OFDM use: IEEE 802.11a/g (WLAN/WiFi), IEEE
802.16 (WiMAX), Digital Audio Broadcasting (DAB), Digital Video
Broadcasting (DVB-T and DVB-H) and Asynchronous Digital Subscriber
Line (ADSL).
f
FDM: Sub-carrier multiplexing
Sub-carrier n
Sub-carrier 1
t
Radio frame 1 Radio frame m
2.1.3 Orthogonality
In traditional FDM different users are allocated different frequencies, or
channels, for their transmission (e.g. analog 1G systems such as NMT). To
avoid interference between these channels the FDM frequencies must be
spaced apart- there must be a guard band between them. This leads to
waste of the available frequency spectrum.
FDM: guard band between carriers OFDM: carriers can be packed tighter
Saving bandwidth
Guard Useful
period part
ISI only
during CP
This means that the receiver will experience neither inter-symbol nor inter-
carrier interference provided that any echoes present in the signal have a
delay that does not exceed the guard interval. Naturally, the addition of the
guard interval reduces the data capacity by an amount dependent on its
length. Different systems use different (relative) lengths of the guard
interval, common values being 5-25% of the OFDM symbol length.
There are several ways to ‘fill’ the guard interval with information (to
avoid turning the transmitter on and off abruptly). A common mechanism
is the use of a so-called cyclic prefix. A cyclic prefix (CP) is created
simply by selecting the last part of an OFDM symbol, make a copy of it
and place the copy in front of the symbol (hence the term ‘prefix’). The
concept of a guard interval is illustrated in figure 2-6 above.
S
I
Coding F Add
RF
Modulation F CP
…
T
P
fo
Cyclic Prefix: the last portion of the OFDM symbol is copied and
appended at the ‘front’ of the symbol. This creates a guard interval with
well-defined content.
The receiving side uses the process in reverse. The IFFT process must be
inverted in order to retrieve the information content of the individual sub-
carriers. This is done with the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). Hence, the
inverse of the Inverse-FFT is, of course, the FFT.
2.3 SC-FDMA
In chapter 1 it was mentioned that one drawback with OFDM was its high
peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR). This is a direct consequence of using
DFT (FFT) to create the OFDM symbols. The DFT effectively stacks
sinewaves ‘on top’ of each other. It can then of course happen that a large
portion of the used sub-carriers happen to have their maximum value at the
same time, resulting in a dramatic peak in the total amplitude (or power) of
the signal. This puts very high demands on the power amplifier in the
signal processing chain and is not desirable in a small portable device,
such as a mobile phone, with limited battery capacity.
0
S M 0
F a 0
Coding 0 I
F p
Modulation F Add
…
T p RF
F CP
P i
…
T
n
g 0 fo
0
A comparison to figure 2-7 reveals that two additional steps have been
added to the processing chain: an FFT transform and a sub-carrier
mapping stage (the dotted box in figure 2-8). As for ‘classic’ OFDM, a
block of modulation symbols are fed in parallel into the transform stage,
which is now FFT instead of IFFT. The FFT process will now spread each
modulation symbol over all sub-carriers instead of using 1-to-1 mapping.
In other words, the input signal (modulation symbols) will be spread over
the available bandwidth (the available sub-carriers) very much like in a
single-carrier system. (It could be worth knowing that SC-FDMA is also
referred to as ‘DFT-spread OFDM’)
Thus, the result of the additional FFT stage is that the created signal
exhibits single-carrier properties (the ‘SC’ in SC-FDMA). Furthermore,
different users will be ordered to transmit on different, orthogonal,
‘chunks’ of subcarriers (the ‘FDM’ in SC-FDMA).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OFDM
This Wikipedia article gives a good introduction to OFDM and contains
numerous references to other websites, white papers and textbooks about
OFDM and related topics.
Any wireless communications system with one transmit (Tx) antenna and
one receive (Rx) antenna is referred to as operating in Single Input Single
Output (SISO) mode. More antennas (Tx and/or Rx) can be added in order
to increase either throughput or reliability. Systems with multiple Tx/Rx
antennas are divided into Single Input Multiple Output (SIMO), Multiple
Input Single Output (MISO) or Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO).
TX RX
In a SIMO system the transmitter has one antenna and the receiver has
two, or more, physically separated antennas (the physical separation
distance has a direct relationship with the wavelength of the carrier). This
allows for receive diversity (Rx diversity). With Rx diversity the receiver
picks up two (or more) ‘versions’ of the same transmitted signal. The
receiver may then either:
TX RX
TX RX
Figure 3-3: a MIMO system with two transmit and two receive antennas (2x2)
The ‘magic’ of MIMO lies in its ability to take multipath reception, which
used to be an unavoidable and undesired by-product of radio propagation,
and convert it into an advantage that actually multiplies transmission speed
and improves throughput. A MIMO system uses the additional signal paths
to transmit more information and recombine the signals on the receiving
end. It follows naturally that the diversity modes, mentioned in section
3.1.1, as well as ‘true’ MIMO mode can be used in a system with multiple
Tx and Rx antennas.
For MIMO, mathematical algorithms are used in order to spread the user
data across multiple transmitting antennas. The signals transmitted are
defined in 3 dimensions: time, frequency and space. At the receiver, the
different signals from each antenna must be identified and separately
decoded during the recombination process. Hence, the (mathematical)
technique of separating out different paths on the radio link is what allows
a MIMO system to transmit multiple signals at the same time on the same
frequency, in effect multiplying the capacity of the channel with the
number of antennas.
One should not confuse spatial multiplexing with spatial diversity (which is
not ‘true’ MIMO). The purpose of spatial diversity is to increase the
diversity order of a link to mitigate fading by coding a signal across space
and time so that a receiver could receive the replicas of the signal and
combine those received signals constructively. Spatial multiplexing
transmits not replicas of the same signal but different signals.
Depending on the specific STC method used, the receiver may or may not
have to be aware of the characteristics of the channel in order to detect the
multiple data streams properly. The use of SM or STC in MIMO is not
mutually exclusive, some systems allows dynamic switching between the
two modes.
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3.2.3 MU-MIMO and SU-MIMO
MIMO transmission can be divided into multi-user and single-user MIMO
(MU-MIMO and SU-MIMO). The difference between the two is that in
SU-MIMO all the streams carry data to/from the same user while in the
case of MU-MIMO the data for different users is multiplexed onto a single
time-frequency resource. Hence, SU-MIMO is used either to increase the
reliability of the channel (i.e. diversity) or to increase the throughput to a
single user in a multiplicative manner while MU-MIMO can be seen as yet
another way of multiplexing data to/from different users.
In the case of, say, a 2x2 antenna MU-MIMO configuration, two mobile
terminals can transmit/receive their data streams simultaneously using the
same physical radio resource. Clearly, MIMO is a very powerful way of
serving more users without increasing the system bandwidth.
For MU-MIMO, the transmitter (mobile station) must be able to ‘tag’ its
stream(s), allowing the reciever (base station) to figure out who was
transmitting. This is done using a mobile specific reference signal that is
transmitted together with the actual data.
The use of transmitter specific codes and reference signals does not only
allow the receiver to figure out who was transmitting. It also enables
accurate channel estimation, which is crucial in MIMO systems.
*) The Spatial Multiplexing of data streams for different UEs using the same time-
frequency resource is, in the standard, denoted as Spatial Division Multiple Access
(SDMA) or Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO)
The MIMO mode that can be used is, of course, restricted by the UE
capability, e.g. the number of UE receive antennas, and is determined
taking into account the slow channel variation. The selected MIMO mode
is adapted slowly (e.g. set at the beginning of a data session or adapted
with a period of several 100ms) in order to reduce the feedback control
signalling required to support MIMO mode adaptation.
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It should be noted that for lower data rates it is more efficient to transmit
using a single stream rather than with spatial multiplexing. It can be shown
that for a given low rate and a given total transmit power single stream
transmission achieves a lower frame error rate. Therefore, MIMO for LTE
will most probably use single stream transmission (perhaps using Tx
diversity) for lower data rates and spatial multiplexing for the higher data
rates. The “crossover point” at which it becomes more efficient to transmit
with spatial multiplexing rather than spatial diversity depends on many
factors, the number of receive antennas at the UE being one and the
distance between transmitter and receiver being another. In general it can
be said that SM is most useful when the distance between the transmitter
and the receiver is relatively small.
On the other hand, the LTE standardisation project aims at reusing legacy
solutions wherever possible. A reader who is familiar with the UTRAN
channel and protocol architecture will therefore feel quite ‘at home’ with
the E-UTRAN channel and protocol architecture. The LTE standardisation
project also aims at reducing the overall system complexity, resulting in a
simplified layered architecture as compared to UTRAN.
The generic radio frame structure (‘frame Type 1’) and the TDD specific
radio frame structure (‘frame Type 2’) is described in section 4.2. The E-
UTRA channel architecture, focusing on the physical channels and
physical signals, is described in section 4.3. The associated layer 2 and
layer 3 protocol architecture is dealt with separately in chapter 5. The layer
1 processing chain for the uplink and downlink data channels is described
in section 4.4. Section 4.5 deals with the mapping of uplink and downlink
data and control channels onto 2-dimensional time-frequency radio
resources.
#0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #18 #19
slot 0 slot 19
All bandwidth options have the same basic Transmission Time Interval
(TTI) of 1ms. As shown in figure 4-1, the E-UTRA radio frames are 10 ms
in duration, divided into 10 sub-frames of 1ms duration. Thus, the
subframe length coincides with the TTI. Each subframe is further divided
into two slots, each of 0.5ms duration.
• Normal cyclic prefix: TCP = 160×Ts (symbol #0) and TCP = 144×Ts
(symbol #1 to #6). The slightly longer CP in the first symbol is in
order to preserve the 0.5ms slot timing.
The parameter Ts above is called the ‘basic time unit’ and is defined as
being Ts = 1/ (2048 × Δf) seconds, where Δf is the sub-carrier spacing. The
length of Ts corresponds to the 30.72 MHz sample clock for the 2048-point
FFT used with the 20 MHz system bandwidth.
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.
The generic frame Type 1 can also be used for TDD operation in unpaired
spectrum. DL/UL switching points within the frame are then generated by
not transmitting in certain symbols (creating a guard period between
uplink and downlink transmissions in different sub-frames).
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4.2.2 Frame Type 2
1 Half-frame = 5 ms
1 Radio Frame
#0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #0 #5 #6
DL UL
Frame structure Type 2 is only applicable to TDD, with the sole purpose of
being backwards compatible with the 1.28Mcps TDD option in UMTS.
1.28Mcps TDD is the Chinese 3G standard, also known as Low Chip-rate
TDD (LCR-TDD) or Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple
Access (TD-SCDMA).
Each 10ms radio frame consists of two half-frames of length 5ms each.
The structure of each half-frame in a radio frame is identical. Each half-
frame consists of seven slots and three special fields: the downlink pilot
timeslot (DwPTS), the guard period (GP) and the uplink pilot timeslot
(UpPTS). A subframe is defined as one slot. This frame structure is
identical to the one used for TD-SCDMA.
For frame structure Type 2 the CP length in the downlink is TCP = 224×Ts
(normal CP) and TCP-e = 512×Ts (extended CP) corresponding to 9 and 8
OFDM symbols per slot respectively.
For the uplink the situation is slightly less straightforward when it comes
to CP lengths. There are several CP lengths used within each slot,
depending on the size of the allocated uplink resource and the index of the
SC-FDMA symbol within a slot. The normal CP length is 192, 204, 224,
320, 1024 and 2048×Ts, corresponding to 9 SC-FDMA symbols. The
extended CP length is 423, 456, 472, 560, 1024 and 2048×Ts,
corresponding to 8 SC-FDMA symbols.
RRC PDCP
RLC
Logical
Channels BCCH PCCH CCCH DCCH MCCH MTCH DTCH
MAC
SCHEDULING/ PRIORITY
MUX/DEMUX
HARQ HARQ
Transport
Channels
BCH RACH PCH DL-SCH MCH UL-SCH
PHY
Physical
Channels PBCH PRACH PHICH PCFICH PDCCH PDSCH PMCH PUSCH PUCCH
Please note also the ‘location’ of Signalling Radio Bearers (SRB) and
Radio Bearers (RB) above the Radio Link Control protocol in figure 4-3.
The SRBs are used for RRC control signalling and the RBs are used for
any form of data traffic.
Traffic Channels
Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH). Point-to-point channel dedicated to
one UE (uplink or downlink or both) for transmission of user data. Always
mapped onto the UL/DL-SCH transport channels.
The MIB also carries the scheduling information for Scheduling Unit 1
(SU-1). SU-1 contains the most often repeated non-BCH SI and is mapped
onto the DL-SCH. SU-1 contains the PLMN id, Tracking Area Code
(TAC) and the cell id. It may also contain scheduling information for
additional SI (i.e. scheduling for SU-2 etc).
Paging Channel (PCH). The PCH carries paging messages from eNodeB
to the UE (or group of UEs). The PCH is mapped onto the same physical
resource as the DL-SCH.
There are two types of Synchronization Signals: the Primary SS and the
Secondary SS. The SSs convey network timing information and are used
by the UE during the cell search procedure (e.g. after power-on or cell re-
selection). The Primary SS provides the UE with slot synchronisation and
the Secondary SS provides frame synchronisation. The combination of
Primary and Secondary SS also act as a cell-specific identifier called the
Physical Cell identity. Overall there are 510 unique sequences possible,
meaning that the sequences are reused if the system consists of more than
510 cells. Synchronization Signals use the same type of pseudo-random
orthogonal sequences as the Reference Signals.
The Random Access Preamble is used for the random access procedure,
when the UE wishes to initiate uplink transmission and does not have a
valid uplink grant. The UE transmits a random access burst consisting of a
long cyclic prefix, the preamble itself and a guard period during which
there is no signal transmitted. The burst is sent on blocks of 72 contiguous
sub-carriers allocated for random access by the eNodeB. There are 64
possible preamble sequences per cell.
CRC
Scrambling
Attachment
Code Block
Modulation
Segmentation
…
L1 HARQ
Precoding
Rate Matching
Code Block RE … RE
Concatenation Mapper Mapper
OFDM OFDM
Signal … Signal
Generation Generation
Figure 4-4 above shows the processing chain for the DL-SCH transport
channel. Data arrives to layer 1 over the DL-SCH transport channel in the
form of one or more transport block (MAC PDU) per 1ms TTI.
Channel Coding
The error correcting coder selected for DL-SCH is a Parallel Concatenated
Convolutional Code (PCCC) with two 8-state constituent encoders and one
turbo code internal interleaver (simply called ‘the Turbo coder’ in the
following). The coding rate of the Turbo encoder is 1/3. This is the same
Turbo code used as in R6 UMTS, with the exception that the internal
interleavers works differently.
Turbo codes are error correcting codes with performance coming very
close to the Shannon limit, the theoretical limit of maximum information
transfer rate over a noisy channel. Thus, Turbo codes make it possible to
increase available bandwidth without increasing the power of a
transmission, or to decrease the power used to transmit at a certain data
rate. The main drawback is the relatively high decoding complexity.
The Turbo coder consists of two recursive convolutional coders that each
operate (differently) on the input bit sequence. The output from the coder
is three sub-blocks of bits: the Systematic bits, which are identical to the
input sequence, and the Parity1 bits and Parity2 bits, which are the output
sequences from the two internal convolutional coders. The number of
input bits divided by the total number of output bits is referred to as the
coding rate (R). In general, if the number of Systematic bits is m and the
number of Parity1 and Parity2 bits is n/2 respectively, the coding rate
becomes m/(m+n). The Turbo coder used in E-UTRA produces an equal
number of Systematic, Parity1 and Parity2 bits. Hence, the coding rate
becomes R=1/3.
Thus, two redundant but different sub-blocks of Parity bits are sent
together with the uncoded payload (the Systematic bits). The two sets of
Parity bits are used by the Turbo decoder in the receiver to calculate the
probability that the payload bits have been decoded correctly. Each of the
two convolutional decoders generate a ‘hypothesis’ for the payload. The
hypothesis bit-patterns are compared and if they differ the decoders
exchange the derived likelihoods they have for each bit in the hypotheses.
The DL-SCH always applies an R=1/3 Turbo code for error correction.
However, all bits from the three output sequences (Systematic, Parity1,
Parity2) are not always sent. The number of bits from each set that are
actually transmitted depends on the applied L1 HARQ rate matching.
A subset of all the bits in the buffer are then read out and transmitted. The
subset is selected simply by letting an offset define where to start reading
consecutive bits in the buffer (e.g. ‘start reading from bit-position 50’).
The offset is decided based on the Redundancy Version (RV) selected for
the transmission. Thus, the exact set of bits at the output of the HARQ-RM
depends on the number of input bits from the Turbo coder, the number of
bits to be transmitted and the selected RV.
This process makes it easy to select different sets of coded bits from the
same Transport Block to be transmitted each time a re-transmission is
requested, thus allowing Incremental Redundancy operation - also known
as HARQ type-II. A type-II HARQ scheme makes use of the transport
blocks that cause retransmission requests (i.e. erroneous transport blocks
are not discarded). An erroneous transport block will be stored and later
combined with retransmitted version(s) of itself; thereby creating a single
combined transport block that is more reliable than any of its constituent
parts. The versions of one and the same transport block are produced by
selecting different RVs.
Modulation
Standard QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM modulation mapping, resulting in
complex modulation symbols carrying 2, 4 or 6 coded bits respectively.
Layer Mapping
The modulation symbols from one or two (scrambled) code words are
mapped onto 1, 2, 3 or 4 antenna ports. Thus, this step is related to MIMO
or Tx diversity operation. Basically, a layer corresponds to a spatial
multiplexed channel. For E-UTRA the defined configurations are 1x1,
2x2, 3x2 and 4x2 MIMO/diversity. Note that while there are as many as
four transmitting antennas (four layers) there are only a maximum of two
receivers and thus a maximum of two spatial multiplexed data streams
(two code words). For a 1x1 or a 2x2 system there is a simple 1:1
relationship between layers and transmitting antenna ports. However, for a
3x2 and 4x2 system there are still only two spatial multiplexed channels.
Therefore, there is redundancy on one or both data streams. The Layer
Mapping stage specifies exactly how the extra transmitter antennas are to
be employed.
Precoding
This step is also related to MIMO or Tx diversity. Precoding is applied to
allow the UE to separate the different antenna streams. There are different
standardised code books defined for the cases of spatial multiplexing (SU-
MIMO and MU-MIMO) and Tx diversity. This corresponds to the Space-
Time Coding discussed in chapter 3.
Code Block
Scrambling
Segmentation
L1 HARQ RE
Channel Coding
Rate Matching Mapper
SC-FDMA
Data/Control
Signal
Multiplexing
Generation
The processing chain for the UL-SCH transport channel is very similar to
the one for the DL-SCH. Only differences are described in the following.
Data/Control Multiplexing
Since the PUSCH and the PUCCH physical channels are never transmitted
simultaneously, there is instead a possibility to multiplex the ‘PUCCH’
control information with the uplink data transmitted on the PUSCH. The
control information is channel coded separately prior to this stage.
Scrambling
Scrambling with a UE specific scrambling sequence.
Transform Precoding
This is the ‘FFT-spreading’ step as described for the uplink in chapter 2.
That is, the modulation symbols are spread over the entire allocated
bandwidth, creating a single-carrier signal.
Control
Channel
Element
Physical
Sub-carriers
Resource
Block
Resource
Element
OFDM symbols
The downlink and uplink resources assigned to UEs for the DL-SCH and
UL-SCH transmission are referred to as Physical Resource Blocks (PRB).
A PRB consists of 12 consecutive sub-carriers in the frequency domain. In
the time domain a PRB consists of Nsymb OFDM (or SC-FDMA)
symbols, where Nsymb is the number of symbols during a slot (7 in this
case). The number of resource blocks, NRB, that may be assigned to the UE
can range from NRB-min = 6 to NRB-max = 100.
Different code rates (i.e. different levels of robustness) for the PDCCH are
realized by aggregating different numbers of CCEs or mini-CCEs. Because
multiple CCEs can be combined to reduce the effective coding rate the
UE’s PDCCH assignment can be based on the channel quality information
reported (CQI), increasing the chance that the PDCCH can be correctly
decoded even for UEs experiencing bad channel conditions. 1, 2, 4 and 8
control channel elements can be aggregated to yield approximate code
rates of 2/3, 1/3, 1/6 and 1/12 for the PDCCH.
Slot #4 Slot #5
RE for PDSCH
RE for antenna RS
Figure 4-7: subframe with PDSCH, PDCCH, PDCCH, PCFICH and PHICH
The PCFICH channel signals the number of OFDM symbols (1-3) used for
PDCCH signaling in each subframe. The PCFICH is transmitted in the
first OFDM symbol of the subframe and occupies 4 mini-CCEs (16 REs).
The PDCCH is mapped onto the remaining REs in the 1-3 first OFDM
symbols in the first slot of each subframe. This enables support for micro-
sleep, i.e. the UE can wake up within one symbol and, seeing no
assignment, go back to sleep within one symbol for battery life savings
and reduced buffering. It also allows reception of downlink data, if the UE
finds an assignment, in the very same subframe, thus reducing latencies.
R1 R1 R2 R2
12 Sub-carriers
R1 R1 R2 R2
R1 R1 R2 R2
R1 R1 R2 R2
Antenna RSs are transmitted on equally spaced sub carriers within the first
and third from-last OFDM symbol of each slot. In order to successfully
receive a MIMO transmission the UE must determine the channel impulse
response for each transmitting antenna, as already mentioned.
DC
36
During cell search the UE needs to find the Primary and Secondary
Synchronisation Signals as well as the Physical Broadcast Channel
(PBCH). These are all mapped around the center sub-carrier in the system.
This center sub-carrier is called the Direct Current (DC) sub-carrier and
never carries any information.
#0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #18 #19
12 Sub-carriers
Slot #4 Slot #5
#0 #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #18 #19
12 Sub-carriers
RE for PUCCH
Demodulation RS
12 Sub-carriers
Slot #4 Slot #5
RRC PDCP
RLC
Logical
Channels BCCH PCCH CCCH DCCH MCCH MTCH DTCH
MAC
SCHEDULING/ PRIORITY
MUX/DEMUX
HARQ HARQ
Transport
Channels
BCH RACH PCH DL-SCH MCH UL-SCH
PHY
Physical
Channels PBCH PRACH PHICH PCFICH PDCCH PDSCH PMCH PUSCH PUCCH
• Firstly, the E-UTRA protocols are, on the network side, all located
in the eNodeB while they are distributed over Serving-RNC, Drift-
RNC and NodeB in the UTRAN case.
• Secondly, the E-UTRA ‘versions’ of these protocols will, when
they are completely standardised, all be simplified in terms of
complexity and functionality when compared to the UTRAN
counterparts.
Section 5.2 deals with the proposed functionality of the E-UTRA layer 2/3
protocols. Section 5.3 describes the UE state machine related to the RRC
and NAS protocols. Section 5.4 shows the PDU formats defined for the E-
UTRA layer 2 and layer 3 protocols.
The NAS layer sits ‘on top’ of the RRC layer in the UE (not shown in
figure 5-1). All NAS messages are either carried inside, or sent
concatenated with, RRC messages when transmitted over the radio
interface.
There will probably be only two LTE/SAE NAS protocols defined: The
EPC Mobility Management protocol (EMM) and the Session Management
protocol (SM).
Measurement Control/Reporting
The eNodeB may start, modify or stop a number of measurements in the
UE (independently of each other). The measurement reporting can be done
periodically or be event triggered. These procedures are used in the RRC
Connected state to prepare for handovers.
Handover Control
This procedure includes the necessary control signalling to execute hard
handovers between eNodeBs or between eNodeB and some other Radio
Access Technology (RAT). E-UTRAN will support handover to/from at
least GERAN, UTRAN, mobile WiMAX and CDMA2000 systems.
Up until recently, there was much debate within the LTE project whether
PDCP should be responsible for both User Plane (UP) and Control Plane
(CP) security, or only for UP security. It was also debated whether PDCP
should reside in the eNodeB or in the SGW. The decision was finally taken
to let PDCP reside in the eNodeB and, as a consequence, to be responsible
for both UP and CP security.
The ASME key is, in turn, used for derivation of the ciphering and
integrity keys needed to protect NAS signalling messages (i.e. signalling
between UE and MME).
USIM / AuC K
CK, IK
UE / HSS
KASME
UE / ASME
UE / MME
UE / eNB
The ASME key is also used for derivation of an eNodeB key. The eNodeB
key, in turn, is used for derivation of keys for ciphering and integrity
protection of RRC signalling messages and a key for the ciphering of user
data over the radio interface (i.e. between UE and eNodeB).
This hierarchy allows the keys in the Home domain, the (visited) EPC
domain and the Access domain to be cryptographically separate, while still
being produced by the same set of Home domain controlled base keys.
In AM mode the RLC layer guarantees that all PDUs delivered to the
higher layer are received without errors. This guarantee is ensured by
means of RLC-level acknowledgements (ACK) and retransmission
requests (NACK) as well as through interaction with the MAC level
HARQ functionality. ACK/NACK is indicated with Status Reports (RLC
Control PDUs) sent from receiver to transmitter.
The service the RLC layer provides to the User Plane (PDCP protocol) is
called a Radio Bearer (RB). The RLC mode to use is configured with the
Radio Bearer Establishment procedure.
The service the RLC layer provides to the Control Plane (RRC protocol) is
called a Signalling Radio Bearer (SRB). The SRBs are configured during
the RRC Connection Establishment procedure. It is expected that only two
types of SRBs will be used in E-UTRA: one low priority SRB and one
high priority SRB.
One HARQ Entity within MAC handles the HARQ functionality for one
user. The HARQ protocol selected for E-UTRA is of the ‘Stop-and-Wait’
type (SAW). This means that it is not allowed to transmit a PDU with
sequence number ‘N’ until the PDU with sequence number ‘N-1’ is
positively acknowledged.
Remember that the TTI used in E-UTRA is only 1ms. Each time the UE
receives data in a 1ms TTI it must, according to the SAW protocol, send
back either an ACK (‘everything OK, please send next PDU’) or a NACK
(‘please retransmit the PDU’). The creation and sending of an
ACK/NACK takes a certain amount of time. So does the processing of the
ACK/NACK in the NodeB. And so does the scheduling of a new
re/transmission to this UE.
All this is simply impossible to execute before the start of the next 1ms
TTI. The consequence is then that it becomes impossible to schedule
transmissions in consecutive 1ms TTIs to the same UE, resulting in waste
of resources- or at least waste of time. (The same logic holds, of course,
for uplink transmissions).
The solution is to allow each HARQ Entity to work with several processes
simultaneously. When one HARQ process is awaiting ACK/NACK for a
transmitted MAC PDU, the scheduler can order transmission of the next
MAC PDU from the next HARQ process, that then stops and awaits
ACK/NACK, and so on. It is expected that 8 HARQ processes will be
sufficient to allow continuous transmission to/from a given UE. Thus, the
shortest HARQ round-trip time is expected to be 8ms.
LTE DETACHED
From a radio resource point of view there are two operational states for the
UE: RRC Idle State and RRC Connected State. In the RRC Idle state the
UE is unknown in E-UTRAN and will remain so until it requests the
establishment of an RRC Connection. Such a request can be triggered by
higher protocol layers in the UE (i.e. mobile originating service request) or
by the paging procedure (initiated from the EPC).
In RRC Idle state the UE moves around in the network and change from
one cell to another through the process of cell reselection. It continuously
monitors the broadcasted system information and the paging channel. No
data/signalling transmission or reception, except paging and system
information, is possible in the RRC Idle state.
The NAS states (EPC related states) are aligned with the RRC states. A
UE in RRC Idle state is, from the MMEs point of view, in the NAS state
LTE Idle. In this state the UE is registered in the MME and has an IP-
address allocated. Whenever the UE detects a change of Tracking Area it
performs a Tracking Area update towards the MME.
Figure 5-4 shows the PDU formats for (from top to bottom) the PDCP,
RLC and MAC protocols. The payload of a given protocol is referred to as
a Service Data Unit (SDU). PDCP PDUs only carry one SDU while RLC
and MAC PDUs may carry multiple SDUs.
The MAC protocol takes as input RLC PDUs. Several RLC PDUs may be
concatenated into one and the same MAC PDU. One MAC PDU is the
same as one Transport Block. Thus, one and the same Transport Block
may carry information from more than one logical channel (figure 5-1).
The identity number of the logical channel where a given MAC SDU
originated is indicated with the Logical Channel Identity field (LCID). The
length (in bits) of each MAC SDU is indicated with the Length field (L).
There is one LCID/L pair for each MAC SDU in the payload field. The
presence of yet another LCID/L pair is indicated with the extension bit (E)
following the previous pair. Thus, the E-bit following the last LCID/L pair
will indicate ‘no more LCID/L fields’. Padding may be added if the total
length of the LCID/L/E fields and the associated MAC SDUs do not
exactly match the number of bits to be transmitted on the assigned physical
resource.
One or two Transport Blocks per 1ms TTI are delivered to the physical
layer for further processing, as described in chapter 4.
S1-MME
eNB MME
X2-C X2-U
S11
eNB SGW
S1-U
The X2-interface connects the eNBs within E-UTRAN together. The X2-
interface is an IP-based interface and can therefore be seen as a point to
multi-point interface (the eNB may communicate with every other eNB).
The Control Plane (CP) instance of the X2-interface (X2-C) uses the X2
Application Protocol (X2AP) for control signalling purposes between
eNBs. The User Plane (UP) instance of the X2-interface (X2-U) uses the
GPRS Tunnelling Protocol- User plane (GTP-U) for user data tunnelling
between eNBs. The X2-interface is described in section 6.2.
The S1-interface connects the Evolved UTRAN with the Evolved Packet
Core (EPC). The termination point for the S1-interface on the E-UTRAN
side is the eNB, and on the EPC side the Mobility Management Entity
(MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW). The S1-interface is, like the X2-
interface, an IP-based point to multi-point interface.
At the time of writing (Oct-07) all specifications pertaining to the X2- and
S1-interfaces are all immature drafts. The reader is therefore strongly
advised to regularly check for updated versions of the standardisation
documents listed at the end of this chapter.
Apis Technical Training AB
LTE - X2 and S1-interface
Copyright © Apis Technical Training AB 2007. All rights reserved. 6-2
6.2 The X2-interface
6.2.1 X2-interface Protocols
eNB eNB
X2AP X2AP
SCTP SCTP
IP IP
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer
Physical Layer Physical Layer
X2-C
GTP-U GTP-U
UDP UDP
IP IP
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer
Physical Layer Physical Layer
X2-U
A UE specific Context Identity is assigned by the Source eNB (i.e. the one
sending a message) and the Target eNB (the one receiving a message) for
signalling related to dedicated X2-C procedures. The purpose of the UE
Context Identity is to distinguish UE specific X2-C signalling transport
bearers from each other. The UE Context Identity is conveyed in all X2AP
messages pertaining to the specific UE.
eNB MME
S1AP S1AP
SCTP SCTP
IP IP
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer
Physical Layer Physical Layer
S1-MME
eNB SGW
GTP-U GTP-U
UDP UDP
IP IP
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer
Physical Layer Physical Layer
S1-U
As seen by comparing figures 6-2 and 6-3 the protocols for the X2- and
S1-interfaces are close to identical, with the Application Protocol in the
Control Plane being the only difference. Hence only the S1AP protocol is
described here.
6.4.1 Self-configuration
Self-configuration is defined as the process where newly deployed network
nodes (i.e. eNBs) are configured by automatic installation procedures in
order to get the necessary basic configuration for system operation. This
process works in the pre-operational state. Pre-operational state is
understood as the state from when the eNB is powered up and has
backbone connectivity until the RF transmitter is switched on.
After power-up the eNB needs to make its presence know to the MME, or
MMEs, in the network. This requires that the eNB knows the transport IP-
address of the MME(s). An initial remote IP endpoint to be used for SCTP
initialisation is provided to the eNB for each MME in the pre-operational
state (the exact mechanism for this is not yet standardised). For each MME
the eNB tries to initialize a so-called SCTP association (RFC 2960), using
the known initial remote IP endpoint, until SCTP connectivity is
established.
Once SCTP connectivity has been established the eNB and MME are in a
position to exchange application level configuration data needed for the
two nodes to interwork correctly. During this process the eNB provides
relevant information to the MME (e.g. eNB ID, list of supported Tracking
Area(s) etc).
The MME similarly provides relevant information to the eNB (e.g. MME
ID, PLMN ID etc). When the application layer initialization is successfully
concluded, and has been mutually acknowledged by the two peer nodes,
the dynamic configuration procedure is completed and the S1-MME
interface is operational. It is expected that some form of mutual node
authentication procedure is needed prior to initiating this process (i.e. to
detect fake or ‘impersonated’ nodes).
The current draft specification clearly states that the UE shall (‘shall’ is the
same as ‘must’ in 3GPP language) support measurements and procedures
that can be used for self-configuration and self-optimisation of the E-
UTRAN system. It should also be possible to associate the measurements
for self-optimisation purposes with location information (e.g. the UE may
provide GPS coordinates to the eNB).
The radio measurements of eNB and UEs together with call events like
call drops, failed or ‘ping-pong’ handovers etc may also influence the
handover algorithm used. For example, if certain (average) measurement
values fall below a certain threshold a (pre-configured) modified handover
algorithm may be used until the problem disappears.
There are many fundamental issues that must be solved before home eNBs
can be fully and securely included in the LTE/SAE ‘macro’ architecture,
some of which are touched upon in the following.
The home eNB shall therefore be able to download the latest firmware and
software to be used, as part of an initial or periodic activation procedure. A
possible solution is that the eNB downloads the initial configuration from
a known configuration server prior to powering up the radio interface.
It should be possible for both the owner and the network operator to cause
the home eNB to download and install the latest software updates or
configuration files. There may also be a function present that allows the
operator to switch off the home eNB remotely.
This access restriction is needed because some backhaul links for this type
of deployment are not considered to provide adequate QoS to support a
large numbers of UEs. There may also be regulatory issues with sharing
the backhaul link/eNB access in that location. Finally, the backhaul link
may be owned by or paid for by the subscriber and he/she may not be too
happy to share the link with others!
The user group associated with a specific home eNB needs to be updated,
under the supervision of the network operator, by the subscriber which is
registered as the owner of the home eNB. When a subscriber is added to
the user group by the registered owner the UE of the subscriber should be
able to (almost) immediately camp on the cell of the home eNB and then
acquire service through the home eNB. This is especially important in the
A UE should not camp on or access a CSG cell if it is not part of the user
group that is allowed to access that CSG cell. The exact mechanisms for
this is currently still under investigation.
6.5.3 Mobility
The home eNB/CSG cells are part of the network of the operator, and
therefore the design needs to support mobility of UEs between the macro-
layer network and the home eNB/CSG cells. This is true for both Idle state
behaviour (cell re-selection) and Connected state behaviour (handover).
It is also important that UEs camped on the home eNB do not cause
excessive signalling load or processing load if/when the UEs moves
frequently between the macro-layer network and the home eNB (e.g.
excessive Tracking Area update signalling should be avoided). A possible
solution to this is to, during automated initialization, make sure the home
eNB belongs to the same Tracking Area as the surrounding macro eNBs.
As discussed above the home eNBs will have an associated user group
defining which UEs can access the home eNB. The handover procedure
needs to take the user group of the Target home eNB into account when
deciding whether to handover a UE to a specific home eNB.
As the number of home eNBs in the network will become large the
proportion of measurements made by a UE which could be wasted may
become large, to the point where it affects the mobility performance of the
UE/system as well as draining the battery of the UE. It is therefore
necessary for the UE to, somehow, be able to avoid unnecessary
measurements of home eNBs where it does not belong to the user group.
It should be noted that, due to the expected high number of home eNBs
and the nature of their deployment, it would not be practical to change the
configuration for the mobility procedures (measurements, handover etc) in
the macro layer nodes whenever a home eNB is deployed/dismissed.
To protect both the operator and the eNB owner it is desirable that mutual
authentication, between home eNB and network, and establishment of a
secure connection with a Security Gateway (SeGW) is part of the home
eNB initialization process. The exact security mechanism to be used and
the location of the SeGW function is not yet decided.
Furthermore, since the home eNB will be a small, easily portable, device it
is desirable for the operator that the home eNB recognises when it is
operated in a different country to the HPLMN and, as a result, deactivates
itself. Such a function can be important for charging reasons.
Related to both QoS and interference issues it will be possible for the
network operator to query the home eNB to send a report of the node
status. The report should contain: information gathered from eNB self-
testing activities, average data throughput, radio configuration (frequency
and power), dropped calls and mobility flows (e.g. handovers between the
home and macro layer).
Gr
HSS S3 S4 S12
S6a
S1-MME S11
MME PCRF
Rx+
S10 S7
3GPP
IP-access
S2c S2b
Non-3GPP
Trusted
IP-access S2a
Non-3GPP
Non-trusted ePDG AAA To HSS
IP-access Wn* Wm* Wx*
Figure 7-1 shows the EPC network architecture for the non-roaming case.
That is, the access network and the core network both belong to the same
operator. The roaming case primarily affects the S5 and S7-interfaces. The
legacy interfaces (Gr, Iu and Gb in fig 7-1) are not described here.
For several of the EPC interfaces it has not yet been decided what
application signalling protocol to use. In the following, the mentioning of a
specific signalling protocol is simply omitted in such cases.
The MME connects to the E-UTRAN (eNB) with the S1-MME interface.
This interface uses the S1 Application Protocol (S1AP), as described in
chapter 6.
When needed, the MME updates the HSS with UE location information
and retrieves subscription and authentication data. This is done over the
S6a-interface using either the Mobile Application Part (MAP) protocol or
the DIAMETER protocol. For inter-MME user mobility, the S10-interface
is used for UE context transfer between MMEs.
The S11-interface connects the MME to the SGW. This interface is used
for paging initiation (SGW to MME), handover/re-routing indications and
establishment of EPC bearers (MME to SGW).
Home Subscriber Server (HSS). The HSS holds subscription profiles and
security related information for each registered subscriber. It is an evolved
version of the 2G/3G Home Location Register (HLR) that also includes
the functionality of the Authentication Centre (AuC).
Serving Gateway (SGW). The SGW terminates the downlink data path for
UEs in LTE Idle state and initiates paging (to MME) when downlink data
arrive for the UE. It manages and stores UE contexts (user IP-address,
EPC bearer QoS, eNB/PGW IP-addresses and TEIDs). The SGW connects
to E-UTRAN (eNB) via the S1-U interface using the GTP-U protocol.
In the non-roaming case the S5-interface connects the SGW with the PGW
for uplink and downlink user IP-packet transfer. In the roaming case the
SGW is located in the visited network and the PGW in the home network,
connected via the S8a/b-interface. The S5 and S8a-interfaces use GTP-U
while S8b uses Proxy Mobile Ipv6, PMIP (RFC 3775).
These ‘other IP-access networks’ are divided into three groups: 3GPP IP-
access, trusted non-3GPP IP-access and non-trusted non-3GPP IP-access.
Examples of non-GERAN/UTRAN access networks are: WLAN, xDSL,
CDMA2000 and WiMAX.
The ePDG connects to the non-trusted access network with the Wn*-
interface. The ePDG may require interaction with an AAA-server, using
the Wm*-interface.
• The broadcast service (or mode) where the transmitted content can
be received by all terminals in a given area without restriction
(provided the terminal supports MBMS of course). This service
does not require any subscription support and no charging will be
incurred.
The MBMS service requires its own infrastructure (i.e. network nodes) and
its own set of logical, transport and physical channels. A brief overview of
the network architecture for MBMS within the EPC and the required
functionality in E-UTRAN/E-UTRA is given in the following sections.
MBMS Architecture
MBMS Gateway
M3
MCE MBMS1
M2 Sm
M1 SGmb
Content
eNB MBMS2 eBM-SC
Provider
Quality of Service (QoS) is defined per EPC Bearer, meaning that all
SDFs mapped to the same EPC Bearer will have the same QoS. Each EPC
Bearer is associated with an uplink Traffic Flow Template (TFT) in the
UE and a downlink TFT in the PGW. A TFT is a set of rules on how to
perform IP packet filtering.
The initial QoS parameter values for the default bearer are assigned by the
network based on subscription data (the MME sets those initial values
based on subscription data retrieved from HSS). The PGW may change
those values based on interaction with the PCRF or based on local policy
configurations.