TCP

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is the

most commonly used protocol on the
Internet. The reason for this is because TCP
offers error correction. When the TCP
protocol is used there is a "guaranteed
delivery." This is due largely in part to a
method called "flow control." Flow control
determines when data needs to be re-sent,
and stops the flow of data until previous
packets are successfully transferred. This
works because if a packet of data is sent, a
collision may occur. When this happens, the
client re-requests the packet from the server
until the whole packet is complete and is
identical to its original.

LTE Radio
Protocol Stack
Prepared by
Ziya Akhundov

PUCCH

Physical Uplink Control Channel: This LTE

channel is used to carry UCI. UCI can also
be transported using PUSCH channel. An
LTE UE can never transmits both PUCCH
and PUSCH during the same sub-frame. If
UE has application data then UCI is carried
over PUSCH. If UE does not have data UCI
is carried over PUCCH.
UDP

UCI

Uplink Control Information: It is for

measurement indication on the downlink
transmission, scheduling request of uplink,
and the H-ARQ acknowledgment of
downlink transmissions. The UCI can be
transmitted either on the Physical Uplink
Control Channel (PUCCH) or the Physical
Uplink Shared Channel.

Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) : This

control channel provides system information
to all mobile terminals connected to the
eNodeB.It allows the UE to retrieve cell and
network configuration parameters (e.g.
PLMN code, cell identity, cell reselection
parameters, etc.) required for normal
operation within EUTRAN.

BCCH

Common Control 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.

CCCH

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is anther

commonly used protocol on the Internet.
However, UDP is never used to send
important data such as webpages, database
information, etc; UDP is commonly used for
streaming audio and video. Streaming media
such as Windows Media audio files (.WMA)
, Real Player (.RM), and others use UDP
because it offers speed! The reason UDP is
faster than TCP is because there is no form
of flow control or error correction. The data
sent over the Internet is affected by
collisions, and errors will be present.
Remember that UDP is only concerned with
speed. This is the main reason why streaming
media is not high quality.

DCCH

Dedicated Control Channel: This control

channel is used for carrying user-specific
control information, e.g. for controlling
actions including power control, handover,
etc..

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-topoint.

PCCH

Paging Control Channel : A downlink

channel that transfers paging information and
system information change notifications.
This channel is used for paging when the
network does not know the location cell of
the UE.

HI

Mobility Management, Session

Management, Bearer Management,
Paging Control, Security Management
Mobility Management, Configuration
Management, Connection
Management, Paging Control, Security
Management, Broadcast,
Measurement Configuration,
Measurement Reporting, Cell
Selection/Reselection

Applications

NAS

SM

L3

GMM

TCP

TCP

UDP

SRB0

SRB1

PDCP

RLC Mode

TM

TM

TM

DRB

SRB2

GMM

L3

RRC

DRB

DRB

SRB0

SRB1

SRB2

ROHC

ROHC

Integrity

Ciphering

Ciphering
optional

Ciphering
optional

Ciphering

AM

UM

AM

UM

AM

AM

Most complicated RLC type. 'AM' stands for

'Acknowledge Mode'. As it's name implies it
requires ACK/NACK from the other party. It
is more like TCP packet in IP world, whereas
RLC UM is more like UDP in IP world.

UM

UM stands for 'Unacknowledged Mode'. 'UM'

means 'it does not require any reception
response from the other party'. 'Reception
response' simply mean 'ACK' or 'NACK' from
the other party. (UM mode is similar to TM
mode in that it does not require any ACK/
NACK from the other party).

SRB

Both signaling radio bearers are used to

transmit/receive LTE signaling messages.
SRB2 is used specifically for NAS signaling
messages but if SRB2 is not at all present or
established, SRB1 is used to trans/receive
NAS messages.

DRB

TM

UM

AM

RRC

Radio Bearers

ROHC

Robust Header Compression is a standardized

method to compress the IP, UDP, UDP-Lite,
RTP, and TCP headers of Internet packets.

Integri
ty

Integrity Protection applies only to C-Plane

data (C-Plane data means RRC/NAS
message, i.e DCCH data, not DTCH data).

Cipher
ing

Ciphering Protection applies both C-Plane

and U-Plane Data.

Mobility Management, Configuration

Management, Connection
Management, Paging Control, Security
Management, Broadcast,
Measurement Configuration,
Measurement Reporting, Cell
Selection/Reselection

UE

DCCH

DTCH

MCCH

MTCH

DTCH

CCCH

DCCH

Sequence Number Addition, Hand

Over Data Handling, Integrity
Protection, Ciphering, HeaderCompression

PDCP

RLC Mode

L2

L1

PCH

BCH

DL-SCH

CFI

DCI

HI

MCH

UL-SCH

UCI

RACH

PBCH

PDSCH

PCFICH

PDCCH

PHICH

PMCH

PUSCH

PMCH

Physical Multicast Channel : For transmission of

multicast and broadcast information, Format is
similar to the PDSCH but it is for reception by
several mobiles, Sub-channel spacing is 7.5 kHz
and symbol length is doubled, Modulation
QPSK, 16 QAM or 64 QAM

PUSCH

Physical Uplink Shared Channel: This channel is used

to carry RRC signaling messages. Uplink RRC
messages are carried using PUSCH. LTE PUSCH
channel contain user information data. The PUSCH
carries both user data as well as control signal data.

PUCCH

PRACH

S-GW

Relay

Buffer Status Report, Segment &

Concatenation, ARQ (for AM
mode)

Channel Mapping, Multiplexing,

Handling Control Elements, HARQ,
Random Access Procedure, Logical
Channel Priority, Sending BSR

Transport Channels

PHY

PHY
Physical Channels

PHICH

The Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel is a

downlink physical channel that carries the
Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) ACK/NACK information
indicating whether the eNB has correctly
received a transmission on the PUSCH. Multiple
PHICHs (for different UEs) are mapped to the
same set of downlink resource elements.

P-GW

Relay
GTP-U
UDP/IP

PDCP

PDCP

RLC

RLC

MAC

MAC

PHY

PHY

GTP-U
UDP/IP

GTP-U
UDP/IP

GTP-U
UDP/IP

IP Sec

IP Sec

IP Sec

L2

L2

L2

L2

L2

L1

L1

L1

L1

L1

S1-U

Physical Channels

L1

HARQ,CRC, Coding, Scrambling,

Modulation, Measurement,
Resource Element Mapping, MIMO

UE

S5/S8

eNodeB

MME

NAS

NAS
RRC

RRC

Relay

S1-AP

S1-AP

PDCP

PDCP

SCTP

SCTP

RLC

RLC

IP

IP

MAC

MAC

L2

L2

PHY

L1

PHY
Uu

IP
Services

IP Sec

Logical Channels

MAC

MAC
Transport Channels

HARQ,CRC, Coding, De-Scrambling,

De-Modulation, Measurement,
Resource Element De-Mapping, MIMO

CCCH

PDCCH

Physical Downlink Control Channel in LTE

carries UE-specific scheduling assignments for
DL resource allocation, UL grants, PRACH
responses, UL power control commands, and
common scheduling assignments for signaling
messages (such as system information, paging,
etc.).

Application

Control plane

Channel Mapping, De-Multiplexing,

Handling Control Elements, HARQ,
DRX

BCCH

PCFIC
H

The Physical Control Format Indicator Channel

is a downlink physical channel that carries a
Control Format Indicator (CFI) which indicates
the number of OFDM symbols (i.e. normally 1,
2 or 3) used for transmission of downlink control
channel information in each sub-frame.

eNodeB

Uu
PCCH

PDSCH

The Physical Downlink Shared Channel is the

main downlink data-bearing channel in LTE,
used for all user data, as well as for broadcast
system information which is not carried on the
Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). It is also
used for paging messages.

Data Radio Bearer: to carry user data. Data

radio bearer transports the packets of an EPS
bearer between a UE and an eNedeB.

IP

RLC

RLC

Logical Channels

PBCH

The Physical Broadcast Channel carries the

Master Information Block (MIB). It consists of a
limited number of the most frequently
transmitted parameters essential for initial access
to the cell. The PBCH is designed for early
detection by the UE, and cell-wide coverage

Mobility Management, Session

Management, Bearer Management,
Paging Control, Security Management

MM

IP

DRB

Control Format Indicator: It indicates how

many symbols the DCI spans in that subframe. It takes values CFI = 1, 2, or 3, and is
sent over the Physical Control Format
Indicator Channel (PCFICH).

NAS
SM

Integrity

UM

DCI

Downlink Control Information: It carries

information related to downlink/uplink
scheduling assignment, modulation and coding
scheme, and Transmit Power Control (TPC)
command, and is sent over the Physical
Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH). The
DCI supports 10 different formats.

TM

TM is the simplest RLC mode. TM stands for

'Transparent Mode'. The term 'Transparent'
may have many different meaning. In this
case, it would mean 'the contents goes
through this layer without any modification'.

CONTROL PLANE

IP

IP

Multicast Channel: Associated with MCCH

and MTCH logical channels for the multicast/
broadcast service. It supports Multicast/
Broadcast Single Frequency Network
(MBSFN) transmission, which transmits the
same information on the same radio resource
from multiple synchronized base stations to
multiple UEs.

ULSCH

Applications

IP

Radio Bearers

L2

IP
UDP

MM

USER PLANE

RRC

RRC

In Sequence Delivery, Duplicate Packet

Detection, Integrity Validation, Deciphering, Header-Decompression

Re-Ordering, Reassembly, ARQ (for

AM mode)

USER PLANE

Random Access Channel: A specific transport

channel that is not mapped to any logical
channel. It transmits relatively small amounts
of data for initial access or, in the case of RRC,
state changes.

Uplink Shared Channel: The uplink

counterpart of the DL-SCH. It can be
associated to CCCH, DCCH, and DTCH
logical channels. It supports H-ARQ, dynamic
link adaption, and dynamic and semi-persistent
resource allocation.

CFI

Physical Random Access Channel: This

channel is used to carry random access
preambles used for initiation of random
access procedure.

PRACH

CONTROL PLANE

MCH

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.

MTCH
H-ARQ Indicator: It carries H-ARQ
acknowledgment in response to uplink
transmissions, and is sent over the Physical
Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH). HI
= 1 for a positive acknowledgment (ACK)
and HI = 0 for a negative acknowledgment
(NAK).

DLSCH

Downlink Shared Channel: Used for

transmitting the downlink data, including both
control and traffic data, and thus it is
associated with both logical control and logical
traffic channels.

RACH

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.

MCCH

BCH

Broadcast Channel: A downlink channel

associated with the BCCH logical channel and
is used to broadcast system information over
the entire coverage area of the cell. It has a
fixed transport format defined by the
specifications.

User Plane

PCH

Paging Channel: Associated with the PCCH

logical channel. It is mapped to dynamically
allocated physical resources, and is required
for broadcast over the entire cell coverage
area. It is transmitted on the Physical
Downlink Shared Channel

L1
S1-MME

SGi