Security Level:

LTE Introduction

www.huawei.com

Author/ Email: Amit Chaudhary

Version: V1.0(20180108)
HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.
 Charter 1 LTE Background Introduction
Charter 2 LTE Network Architecture and
Protocol Introduction
Charter 3 LTE Physical Layer Structure
Introduction
Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure
Introduction
Charter 5 LTE Air Interface Key
Technology Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 2Page 2

 Charter 1 LTE Background Introduction

1.1 LTE Concept and Design Target

1.2 LTE Standardization Process

1.3 SAE Brief Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 3Page 3

 LTE Background Introduction
 What is LTE？
 LTE (Long Term Evolution) is known as the
evolution of radio access technology conducted by
3GPP.
 The radio access network will evolve to E-UTRAN
(Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network),
and the correlated core network will evolved to SAE
(System Architecture Evolution).
 What can LTE do？
 Flexible bandwidth configuration: supporting 1.4MHz, 3MHz,
5MHz, 10Mhz, 15Mhz and 20MHz
 Peak date rate (within 20MHz bandwidth): 100Mbps for
downlink and 50Mbps for uplink 3GPP aim to establish a new generation
 Time delay: <100ms (control plane), <5ms (user plane)
wireless communication system, which
beyond the access capability of current
 Provide 100kbps data rate for mobile user (up to 350kmph)
technologies, supporting data services
 Circuit services is implemented in PS domain: VoIP
with high performance, to ensure the
 Lower cost due to simple system structure
leadership in the future 10 years.

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 Specification in 3GPP
11Q1, Rel. 10
specification ( LTE-A)
will be frozen

10Q1, Rel. 9
specification frozen

05Q1, LTE project 09Q1, LTE specification

(Rel. 8) start (Rel. 8) frozen

3GPP

R10
R99 R4* R5 R6 R7 R8 (LTE/SAE) R9
LTE-A

1999 2005 2009 2010 2011

Oct. 2010, LTE-A accepted as

4G (IMT-Advanced)
technology by ITU-R

* TD-SCDMA merging

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 LTE Background Introduction
 SAE Brief Introduction
 SAE（System Architecture Evolution）considers evolution for the whole system architecture, including：

 Flat Functionality. Take out the RNC entity and part of the functions are arranged on e-NodeB in order to reduce the
latency and enhance the schedule ability, such as interference coordination, internal load balance, etc.

 Part of the functions are arranged on core network. To enhance the mobility management, all IP technology is applied,
user-plane and control-plane are separated. The compatibility of other RAT is considered.

GERAN

SGSN HSS
UTRAN

S3 S6a
S1-MME
MME
PCRF
S4 Rx+
S11 S7
S10
“LTE-Uu”
Serving S5 PDN SGi
UE EUTRAN Operator ’s IP Services
SAE SAE (e.g. IMS, PSS etc.)
S1-U Gateway Gateway

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 6Page 6

 Charter 1 LTE Background Introduction
Charter 2 LTE Network Architecture and
Protocol Introduction
Charter 3 LTE Physical Layer Structure
Introduction
Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure
Introduction
Charter 5 LTE Air Interface Key
Technology Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 7Page 7

 Charter 2 LTE Network Architecture and
Protocol Introduction
2.1 LTE Network Architecture

2.2 LTE Network Element Function

2.3 LTE Protocol Stack Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 8Page 8

 LTE Network Architecture
 Main Network Element of LTE
 The E-UTRAN consists of e-NodeBs, providing the
user plane and control plane.
 The EPC consists of MME, S-GW and P-GW.
 Network Interface of LTE
 The e-NodeBs are interconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface, which enabling direct
transmission of data and signaling.
 S1 is the interface between e-NodeBs and the EPC, more specifically to the MME via the S1-MME and to
the S-GW via the S1-U
MME / S-GW MME / S-GW
S1
Compare with traditional 3G network, LTE
architecture becomes much more simple and
flat, which can lead to lower networking cost,
higher networking flexibility and shorter time
delay of user data and control signaling.
eNB
RRC: Radio Resource Control
Inter Cell RRM PDCP: Packet Data Convergence Protocol
RB Control RLC: Radio Link Control
Connection Mobility Cont.
MAC: Medium Access Control
MME PHY: Physical layer
Radio Admission Control
NAS Security EPC: Evolved Packet Core
eNB Measurement
Configuration & Provision
MME: Mobility Management Entity
Idle State Mobility
Handling
S-GW: Serving Gateway
Dynamic Resource
P-GW: PDN Gateway

S1

Allocation (Scheduler)
EPS Bearer Control
RRC
S1

S1

PDCP
X2 E-UTRAN S-GW P-GW

eNB eNB RLC

Mobility UE IP address
MAC Anchoring allocation
X2

X2

S1
PHY Packet Filtering
internet

eNB E-UTRAN EPC

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 LTE Network Architecture

Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

HSS
eNB
Mobility
Management Entity
Policy & Charging Rule
S6a Function
MME S10
X2 Gx Rx
PCRF

S11

S1-U S5/S8 SGi

PDN
LTE-Uu Serving PDN
Evolved Node B
Gateway Gateway
(eNB)
LTE-UE
S-GW /P-GW

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 10

 LTE Network Element Function
 e-Node hosts the following functions: eNB

 Functions for Radio Resource Management: Radio Inter Cell RRM

Bearer Control, Radio Admission Control, Connection RB Control

Mobility Control, Dynamic allocation of resources to UEs Connection Mobility Cont.

MME
in both uplink and downlink (scheduling); Radio Admission Control
 IP header compression and encryption of user data NAS Security
eNB Measurement
stream; Configuration & Provision
Idle State Mobility
Handling
 Selection of an MME at UE attachment; Dynamic Resource
Allocation (Scheduler)
 Routing of User Plane data towards Serving Gateway; EPS Bearer Control
RRC
 Scheduling and transmission of paging and broadcast
messages (originated from the MME); PDCP
S-GW P-GW
 Measurement and measurement reporting configuration RLC
Mobility UE IP address
for mobility and scheduling; MAC Anchoring allocation
 MME (Mobility Management Entity) hosts the S1
PHY Packet Filtering
following functions: internet

 NAS signaling and security; E-UTRAN EPC

 AS Security control;
 Idle state mobility handling;
 EPS (Evolved Packet System) bearer control;  S-GW (Serving Gateway) hosts the following functions:
 Support paging, handover, roaming and authentication.  Packet routing and forwarding; Local mobility anchor point for
 P-GW (PDN Gateway) hosts the following functions: handover; Lawful interception; UL and DL charging per UE,
 Per-user based packet filtering; UE IP address allocation; UL PDN, and QCI; Accounting on user and QCI granularity for
and DL service level charging, gating and rate enforcement; inter-operator charging.

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 Introduction of LTE Radio Protocol Stack
 Two Planes in LTE Radio Protocol:
 User-plane: For user data transfer
 Control-plane: For system signaling
transfer
 Main Functions of User-plane:
 Header Compression
 Ciphering
 Scheduling
 ARQ/HARQ
 Main Functions of Control-plane:
 RLC and MAC layers perform the same functions as
for the user plane
 PDCP layer performs ciphering and integrity
protection
 RRC layer performs broadcast, paging, connection
management, RB control, mobility functions, UE
measurement reporting and control
 NAS layer performs EPS bearer management,
authentication, security control
Control-plane protocol stack
UE eNB MME

NAS NAS
User-plane protocol stack
UE eNB RRC RRC

PDCP PDCP PDCP PDCP

RLC RLC RLC RLC

MAC MAC MAC MAC

PHY PHY PHY PHY

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 Charter 1 LTE Background Introduction
Charter 2 LTE Network Architecture and
Protocol Introduction
Charter 3 LTE Physical Layer Structure
Introduction
Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure
Introduction
Charter 5 LTE Air Interface Key
Technology Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 13

Page 13
 Charter 3 LTE Physical Layer Structure
Introduction
3.1 LTE Supports Frequency Bands

3.2 Radio Frame Structure

3.3 Physical Channels

3.4 Physical Signals

3.5 Physical Layer Procedures

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 14

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 Frequency Band of LTE
 From LTE Protocol:
 Duplex mode: FDD and TDD FDD Frequency Band

 Support frequency band form 700MHz to 2.6GHz E-UTRA Uplink (UL) Downlink (DL) Duplex
Band FUL_low – FUL_high FDL_low – FDL_high Mode
 Support various bandwidth: 1.4MHz, 3MHz,
1 1920 MHz – 1980 MHz 2110 MHz – 2170 MHz FDD
5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, 20MHz 2 1850 MHz – 1910 MHz 1930 MHz – 1990 MHz FDD

 Protocol is being updated, frequency information 3 1710 MHz – 1785 MHz 1805 MHz – 1880 MHz FDD
4 1710 MHz – 1755 MHz 2110 MHz – 2155 MHz FDD
could be changed.
5 824 MHz – 849 MHz 869 MHz – 894MHz FDD
6 830 MHz – 840 MHz 875 MHz – 885 MHz FDD
TDD Frequency Band
7 2500 MHz – 2570 MHz 2620 MHz – 2690 MHz FDD

E-UTRA Uplink (UL) Downlink (DL) Duplex 8 880 MHz – 915 MHz 925 MHz – 960 MHz FDD
Band FUL_low – FUL_high FDL_low – FDL_high Mode 1749.9 – 1844.9 – 1879.9 FDD
9 1784.9 MHz
MHz MHz MHz
33 1900 MHz – 1920 MHz 1900 MHz – 1920 MHz TDD
10 1710 MHz – 1770 MHz 2110 MHz – 2170 MHz FDD
34 2010 MHz – 2025 MHz 2010 MHz – 2025 MHz TDD
1427.9 – 1452.9 MHz 1475.9 – 1500.9 FDD
35 1850 MHz – 1910 MHz 1850 MHz – 1910 MHz TDD 11
MHz MHz MHz
36 1930 MHz – 1990 MHz 1930 MHz – 1990 MHz TDD
12 698 MHz – 716 MHz 728 MHz – 746 MHz FDD
37 1910 MHz – 1930 MHz 1910 MHz – 1930 MHz TDD
13 777 MHz – 787 MHz 746 MHz – 756 MHz FDD
38 2570 MHz – 2620 MHz 2570 MHz – 2620 MHz TDD
14 788 MHz – 798 MHz 758 MHz – 768 MHz FDD
39 1880 MHz – 1920 MHz 1880 MHz – 1920 MHz TDD
… … … …
40 2300 MHz – 2400 MHz 2300 MHz – 2400 MHz TDD
17 704 MHz – 716 MHz 734 MHz – 746 MHz FDD
... … … …

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Transmission Modes: Frequency Division Duplex

Channel Channel
Bandwidth Bandwidth

Frequency
Uplink Downlink

Duplex Spacing

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Transmission Modes: Time Division Duplex

Downlink
and Uplink

Asymmetric Frequency
TDD
Allocation

Downlink Uplink Downlink Uplink

Time
TDD Frame TDD Frame

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FDMA TDMA CDMA and OFDMA

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 OFDMA & SC-FDMA
 OFDM & OFDMA
 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is
a modulation multiplexing technology, divides the
system bandwidth into orthogonal subcarriers. CP is
inserted between the OFDM symbols to avoid the ISI.
 OFDMA is the multi-access technology related with
OFDM, is used in the LTE downlink. OFDMA is the
combination of TDMA and FDMA essentially.
 Advantage: High spectrum utilization efficiency due to
orthogonal subcarriers need no protect bandwidth.
Support frequency link auto adaptation and scheduling.
Easy to combine with MIMO.
 Disadvantage: Strict requirement of time-frequency
domain synchronization. High PAPR.
System Bandwidth
Sub-carriers
 DFT-S-OFDM & SC-FDMA
 DFT-S-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform
Spread OFDM) is the modulation multiplexing
technology used in the LTE uplink, which is
similar with OFDM but can release the UE PA
limitation caused by high PAPR. Each user is
assigned part of the system bandwidth.
 SC-FDMA（Single Carrier Frequency Division
Multiple Accessing）is the multi-access
technology related with DFT-S-OFDM.
 Advantage: High spectrum utilization efficiency
due to orthogonal user bandwidth need no
protect bandwidth. Low PAPR.
 The subcarrier assignment scheme includes
Localized mode and Distributed mode.

System Bandwidth Sub-carriers

TTI: 1ms
TTI: 1ms
Frequency
Frequency

User 1
User 1 User 2
User 2 User 3
Time
Time User 3 Sub-band：12Sub-carriers
Sub-band：12Sub-carriers

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 Carrier Frequency EARFCN Calculation
FDL = FDL_low + 0.1(NDL - NOffs-DL)

eNB

UE FUL = FUL_low + 0.1(NUL - NOffs-UL)

The values of FDL_low，NDL，NOffs-DL can be found from 3GPP 36.101,

as below：

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 Radio Frame Structure (1)
 Radio Frame Structures Supported by LTE:
 Type 1, applicable to FDD
 Type 2, applicable to TDD

 FDD Radio Frame Structure:

 LTE applies OFDM technology, with subcarrier spacing f=15kHz and 2048-
order IFFT. The time unit in frame structure is Ts=1/(2048* 15000) second
 FDD radio frame is 10ms shown as below, divided into 20 slots which are 0.5ms.
One slot consists of 7 consecutive OFDM Symbols under Normal CP
configuration One radio frame, T = 307200T = 10 ms
f s

One slot, Tslot = 15360Ts = 0.5 ms

#0 #1 #2 #3 #18 #19

One subframe FDD Radio Frame Structure

 Concept of Resource Block:

 LTE consists of time domain and frequency domain resources. The minimum unit for
schedule is RB (Resource Block), which compose of RE (Resource Element)
 RE has 2-dimension structure: symbol of time domain and subcarrier of frequency domain
 One RB consists of 1 slot and 12 consecutive subcarriers under Normal CP configuration

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 Radio Frame Structure (2)
 TDD Radio Frame Structure:
Uplink-downlink Configurations
 Applies OFDM, same subcarriers spacing and
Uplink- Downlink-to-Uplink Subframe number
time unit with FDD. downlink Switch-point
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
configuration periodicity
 Similar frame structure with FDD. radio frame is
10ms shown as below, divided into 20 slots 0 5 ms D S U U U D S U U U

which are 0.5ms. 1 5 ms D S U U D D S U U D

2 5 ms D S U D D D S U D D
 The uplink-downlink configuration of 10ms
frame are shown in the right table. 3 10 ms D S U U U D D D D D
4 10 ms D S U U D D D D D D
5 10 ms D S U D D D D D D D
One radio frame, Tf = 307200Ts = 10 ms 6 5 ms D S U U U D S U U D

One half-frame, 153600Ts = 5 ms

D: Downlink subframe
U: Uplink subframe
S: Special subframe
One slot,
Tslot=15360Ts 30720Ts

Subframe #0 Subframe #2 Subframe #3 Subframe #4 Subframe #5 Subframe #7 Subframe #8 Subframe #9

One subframe,
30720Ts DwPTS: Downlink Pilot Time Slot
TDD Radio Frame Structure GP: Guard Period
DwPTS GP UpPTS DwPTS GP UpPTS UpPTS: Uplink Pilot Time Slot

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 Special Subframe Structure
 Special Subrame Structure: Configuration of special subframe

 Special Subframe consists of DwPTS, GP and Special subframe Normal cyclic prefix
configuration
UpPTS . DwPTS GP UpPTS

 9 types of Special subframe configuration. 0 3 10

 Guard Period size determines the maximal cell 1 9 4

radius. (100km)
2 10 3 1
 DwPTS consists of at least 3 OFDM symbols,
3 11 2
carrying RS, control message and data.
 UpPTS consists of at least 1 OFDM symbol, carrying 4 12 1

sounding RS or short RACH. 5 3 9

6 9 3
2
7 10 2

8 11 1

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 Radio Frame Structure (3)
 CP Length Configuration: CP Configuration
 Cyclic Prefix is applied to eliminate ISI of
DL OFDM CP UL SC-FDMA CP Sub-carrier Symbol of
OFDM. Configuration
Length Length of each RB each slot
 CP length is related with coverage
Normal 160 for slot #0 160 for slot #0
radius. Normal CP can fulfill the f=15kHz 7
CP 144 for slot #1~#6 144 for slot #1~#6 12
requirement of common scenarios.
Extended CP is for wide coverage f=15kHz 512 for slot #0~#5 512 for slot #0~#5 6
Extended
scenario. CP
f=7.5kHz 1024 for slot #0~#2 NULL 24 (DL only) 3 (DL only)
 Longer CP, higher overheading.

Slot structure under Normal

CP configuration
(△f=15kHz)

Slot structure under

Extended CP configuration
(△f=15kHz)

Slot structure under

Extended CP configuration
(△f=7.5kHz)

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 Brief Introduction of Physical Channels
 Downlink Channels：
 Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH): Carries system information for
BCH MCH PCH DL-SCH
cell search, such as cell ID. Downlink
Transport channels
 Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) : Carries the resource
allocation of PCH and DL-SCH, and Hybrid ARQ information. MAC Layer

 Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) : Carries the downlink Physical Layer

user data. Downlink

Physical channels
 Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) : Carriers PBCH PMCH PDSCH PDCCH

information of the OFDM symbols number used for the PDCCH. Mapping between downlink transport
 Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) : Carries Hybrid channels and downlink physical channels
ARQ ACK/NACK in response to uplink transmissions.
 Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH) : Carries the multicast
information.
UL-SCH RACH
Uplink
 Uplink Channels： Transport channels

 Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) : Carries the random MAC Layer
access preamble. Physical Layer
 Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) : Carries the uplink user
Uplink
data. PUSCH PRACH PUCCH
Physical channels

 Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) : Carries the HARQ

Mapping between uplink transport
ACK/NACK, Scheduling Request (SR) and Channel Quality Indicator
(CQI), etc. channels and downlink physical channels

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 Physical Layer Procedure — Cell Search
 Basic Principle of Cell Search:
 Cell search is the procedure of UE synchronizes with E-
UTRAN in time-freq domain, and acquires the serving cell ID.
 Two steps in cell search:
 Step 1: Symbol synchronization and acquirement of
ID within Cell Group by demodulating the Primary
Synchronization Signal;
 Step 2: Frame synchronization, acquirement of CP
length and Cell Group ID by demodulating the
Secondary Synchronization Signal.
 About Cell ID：
 In LTE protocol, the physical layer Cell ID comprises two
parts: Cell Group ID and ID within Cell Group. The latest
version defines that there are 168 Cell Group IDs, 3 IDs
within each group. So totally 168*3=504 Cell IDs exist.
cell
N ID  3N ID
(1)
 N ID
(2)
 Initial Cell Search:
 The initial cell search is carried on after the UE power on. Usually,
UE doesn’t know the network bandwidth and carrier frequency at the
first time switch on.
 UE repeats the basic cell search, tries all the carrier frequency in the
spectrum to demodulate the synchronization signals. This procedure
takes time, but the time requirement are typically relatively relaxed.
Some methods can reduce time, such as recording the former
available network information as the prior search target.
 Once finish the cell search, which achieve synchronization of time-
freq domain and acquirement of Cell ID, UE demodulates the PBCH
and acquires for system information, such as bandwidth and Tx
antenna number.
 After the procedure above, UE demodulates the PDCCH for its
paging period that allocated by system. UE wakes up from the IDLE
state in the specified paging period, demodulates PDCCH for
monitoring paging. If paging is detected, PDSCH resources will be
demodulated to receive paging message.

 (1)
N ID represents Cell Group ID, value from 0 to 167;
(2)
N ID represents ID within Cell Group, value from 0 to
2.

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 Downlink Physical Signals (1)
 Downlink RS (Reference Signal):
One Antenna Port

 Similar with Pilot signal of CDMA. Used for downlink physical channel
R0 R0 demodulation and channel quality measurement (CQI)
One antenna port

R0 R0
Cell-Specific RS  Three types of RS in protocol. Cell-Specific Reference Signal is essential
Mapping in Time- and the other two types RS (MBSFN Specific RS & UE-Specific RS) are
R0 R0
Frequency Domain optional.
R0 R0  Characteristics:
l0 l6 l0 l6
 Cell-Specific Reference Signals are generated from cell-
Two Antenna Ports

RE
Resource element (k,l) specific RS sequence and frequency shift mapping. RS is the
R0 R0 R1 R1 pseudo-random sequence transmits in the time-frequency
Not used for RS
Two antenna ports

transmission on this
domain.
R0 R0 R1 R1
Not used for transmission on this antenna port
antenna port  The frequency interval of RS is 6 subcarriers.
R0 R0 R1 R1
RS symbols on this
Reference symbols on this antenna port  RS distributes discretely in the time-frequency domain,
antenna port
R0 R0 R1 R1 sampling the channel situation which is the reference of DL
l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6
demodulation.
 Serried RS distribution leads to accurate channel estimation,
Four Antenna Ports

R0 R0 R1 R1 R2
also
R
high overhead that impacting the system capacity.
3
R1: RS transmitted in 1st ant port
Four antenna ports

R0 R0 R1 R1 R2 R3 R2: RS transmitted in 2nd ant port

R0 R0 R1 R1 R2 R3
R3: RS transmitted in 3rd ant port
R4: RS transmitted in 4th ant port
R0 R0 R1 R1 R2 R3
l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6 l0 l6
MBSFN: Multicast/Broadcast over
even-numbered slots odd-numbered slots even-numbered slots odd-numbered slots even-numbered slots odd-numbered slots even-numbered slots odd-numbered slots
a Single Frequency Network
Antenna port 0 Antenna port 1 Antenna port 2 Antenna port 3

Antenna Port 0 Antenna Port 1 Antenna Port 2 Antenna Port 3

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 Downlink Physical Signals (2)
 Synchronization Signal:
 synchronization signals are used for time-frequency synchronization between UE and E-UTRAN during cell
search.
 synchronization signal comprise two parts:
 Primary Synchronization Signal, used for symbol timing, frequency synchronization and part of the cell ID
detection.
 Secondary Synchronization Signal, used for detection of radio frame timing, CP length and cell group ID.
 Characteristics:
 The bandwidth of the synchronization
signal is 62 subcarrier, locating in the
central part of system bandwidth,
regardless of system bandwidth size.
 Synchronization signals are transmitted
only in the 1st and 11rd slots of every
10ms frame.
 The primary synchronization signal is
located in the last symbol of the transmit
slot. The secondary synchronization
signal is located in the 2nd last symbol of
Synchronization Signals Structure
the transmit slot.

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 Charter 1 LTE Background Introduction
Charter 2 LTE Network Architecture and
Protocol Introduction
Charter 3 LTE Physical Layer Structure
Introduction
Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure
Introduction
Charter 5 LTE Air Interface Key
Technology Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 29

Page 29
 Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure Introduction
4.1 LTE Layer 2 Brief Introduction

4.2 MAC Layer Introduction

4.3 Summary of Layer 1 & 2 Data Flow

4.4 RLC Layer Introduction

4.5 PDCP Layer Introduction

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 Overview of LTE Layer 2
 Layer 2 is split into the following layers:  Main Functions of Layer 2:
 MAC (Medium Access Control) Layer  Header compression, Ciphering
 RLC (Radio Link Control ) Layer  Segmentation and concatenation, ARQ
 PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol )  Scheduling, priority handling, multiplexing
Layer and demultiplexing, HARQ
Layer 2 Structure for DL Layer 2 Structure for UL

Radio Bearers Radio Bearers

ROHC ROHC ROHC ROHC ROHC ROHC

PDCP PDCP
Security Security Security Security Security Security

Segm. Segm. Segm. Segm. Segm. Segm.

RLC ... ... RLC ...
ARQ etc ARQ etc ARQ etc ARQ etc BCCH PCCH ARQ etc ARQ etc

Logical Channels Logical Channels

Scheduling / Priority Handling Scheduling / Priority Handling

MAC Multiplexing UE1 Multiplexing UEn MAC Multiplexing

HARQ HARQ HARQ

Transport Channels Transport Channels

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 Introduction of MAC Layer
 Main functions of MAC Layer:  Logical Channels of MAC Layer:
 Mapping between logical channels and transport  Control Channel: For the transfer of control
channels plane information
 Multiplexing/demultiplexing of RLC PDUs (Protocol
 Traffic Channel: for the transfer of user plane
Data Unit) belonging to one or different radio bearers
into/from TB (transport blocks ) delivered to/from the information
physical layer on transport channels
CCCH DCCH DTCH
Uplink
 Traffic volume measurement reporting Logical channels
Radio Bearers
 Error correction through HARQ
Control Channel UL Channel
ROHC ROHC
PDCP Priority handling between logical channels of one UE Mapping of
Security Security Traffic Channel MAC Layer
 Priority handling between UEs (dynamic scheduling)
Uplink
 Transport format selection Transport channels
RACH UL-SCH
Segm. Segm.
RLC ...
ARQ etc ARQ etc
 Padding
Logical Channels PCCH BCCH CCCH DCCH DTCH MCCH MTCH
Downlink
Logical channels
Scheduling / Priority Handling

DL Channel
MAC Multiplexing
Mapping of
MAC Layer
MAC Layer
Structure
HARQ Downlink
Transport channels
PCH BCH DL-SCH MCH
Transport Channels

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 Introduction of RLC Layer
 Main functions of RLC Layer:  RLC PDU Structure:
 Transfer of upper layer PDUs supports AM, UM  The PDU sequence number carried by the RLC
or TM data transfer header is independent of the SDU sequence
 Error Correction through ARQ (no need RLC number
CRC check, CRC provided by the physical)  The size of RLC PDU is variable according to the
 Segmentation according to the size of the TB: scheduling scheme. SDUs are segmented
only if an RLC SDU does not fit entirely into the /concatenated based on PDU size. The data of one
TB then the RLC SDU is segmented into PDU may source from multi SDUs
Segmentation Concatenation
variable sized RLC PDUs, no need padding
 Re-segmentation of PDUs that need to be RLC SDU n n+1 n+2 n+3

retransmitted: if a retransmitted PDU does not fit ... ...

entirely into the new TB used for retransmission
then the RLC PDU is re-segmented
 Concatenation of SDUs for the same radio
bearer Radio Bearers RLC header RLC header
 In-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs
ROHC ROHC
except at HO RLC PDU
PDCP
Security Security RLC PDU Structure
 Protocol error detection and recovery
 Duplicate Detection AM: Acknowledge Mode
UM: Un-acknowledge Mode
 SDU discard RLC
Segm.
ARQ etc
...
Segm.
ARQ etc RLC Layer TM: Transparent Mode
 Reset Structure TB: Transport Block
Logical Channels SDU: Service Data Unit
PDU: Protocol Data Unit
Scheduling / Priority Handling

MAC Multiplexing Page 33

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HARQ
 Introduction of PDCP Layer
 Main functions of PDCP Layer:  PDCP PDU Structure:
 Functions for User Plane:  PDCP PDU and PDCP header are octet-
 Header compression and decompression: aligned
ROHC
 PDCP header can be either 1 or 2 bytes long
 Transfer of user data: PDCP receives PDCP
SDU from the NAS and forwards it to the RLC
layer and vice versa
 In-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at PDCP header PDCP SDU

handover for RLC AM

PDCP PDU
 Duplicate detection of lower layer SDUs at
handover for RLC AM
PDCP PDU Structure
 Retransmission of PDCP SDUs at handover for
RLC AM
 Ciphering Radio Bearers

 Timer-based SDU discard in uplink ROHC ROHC

PDCP
PDCP Layer
 Functions for Control Plane: Security Security
Structure
 Ciphering and Integrity Protection
 Transfer of control plane data: PDCP receives Segm. Segm.
RLC ...
PDCP SDUs from RRC and forwards it to the ARQ etc ARQ etc
ROHC: Robust Header Compression
RLC layer and vice versa Logical Channels

Scheduling / Priority Handling

MAC PageMultiplexing
34
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HARQ
 Summary of Data Flow in Layer 1 & 2
 Data Transfer in Layer 1 and Layer 2
 Data from the upper layer are headed and packaged, sent to the lower layer, vice versa.
 Scheduler effect in the RLC, MAC and Physical Layers. User data packages are
multiplexed in the MAC Layer.
 CRC in Physical Layer.

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 Charter 1 LTE Background Introduction
Charter 2 LTE Network Architecture and
Protocol Introduction
Charter 3 LTE Physical Layer Structure
Introduction
Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure
Introduction
Charter 5 LTE Air Interface Key
Technology Introduction

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 36

Page 36
 Charter 4 LTE Layer 2 Structure Introduction
5.1 OFDM Introduction

5.2 MIMO Introduction

5.3 Cell Interference Control Introduction

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Page 37
 OFDMA & SC-FDMA
 OFDM & OFDMA
 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) is
a modulation multiplexing technology, divides the
system bandwidth into orthogonal subcarriers. CP is
inserted between the OFDM symbols to avoid the ISI.
 OFDMA is the multi-access technology related with
OFDM, is used in the LTE downlink. OFDMA is the
combination of TDMA and FDMA essentially.
 Advantage: High spectrum utilization efficiency due to
orthogonal subcarriers need no protect bandwidth.
Support frequency link auto adaptation and scheduling.
Easy to combine with MIMO.
 Disadvantage: Strict requirement of time-frequency
domain synchronization. High PAPR.
System Bandwidth
Sub-carriers
 DFT-S-OFDM & SC-FDMA
 DFT-S-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform
Spread OFDM) is the modulation multiplexing
technology used in the LTE uplink, which is
similar with OFDM but can release the UE PA
limitation caused by high PAPR. Each user is
assigned part of the system bandwidth.
 SC-FDMA（Single Carrier Frequency Division
Multiple Accessing）is the multi-access
technology related with DFT-S-OFDM.
 Advantage: High spectrum utilization efficiency
due to orthogonal user bandwidth need no
protect bandwidth. Low PAPR.
 The subcarrier assignment scheme includes
Localized mode and Distributed mode.

System Bandwidth Sub-carriers

TTI: 1ms
TTI: 1ms
Frequency
Frequency

User 1
User 1 User 2
User 2 User 3
Time
Time User 3 Sub-band：12Sub-carriers
Sub-band：12Sub-carriers

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HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 38
 MIMO
 Downlink MIMO  Uplink MIMO
 MIMO is supported in LTE downlink to achieve spatial  Due to UE cost and power consumption, it is difficult to
multiplexing, including single user mode SU-MIMO and implement the UL multi transmission and relative power
multi user mode MU-MIMO. supply. Virtual-MIMO, in which multi single antenna UEs
 In order to improve MIMO performance, pre-coding is are associated to transmit in the MIMO mode. Virtual-
used in both SU-MIMO and MU-MIMO to control/reduce MIMO is still under study.
the interference among spatial multiplexing data flows.  Scheduler assigns the same resource to multi users.
 The spatial multiplexing data flows are scheduled to Each user transmits data by single antenna. System
one single user In SU-MIMO, to enhance the separates the data by the specific MIMO demodulation
transmission rate and spectrum efficiency. In MU-MIMO, scheme.
the data flows are scheduled to multi users and the  MIMO gain and power gain (higher Tx power in the same
resources are shared within users. Multi user gain can time-freq resource) can be achieved by Virtual-MIMO.
be achieved by user scheduling in the spatial domain. Interference of the multi user data can be controlled by
the scheduler, which also bring multi user gain.
Pre-coding vectors User1
User1
User 1 data
User 1 data
S1
User 1 data MIMO
User 2 data
User k data Decoder User2
Scheduler Pre-coder User2
User k data S2

User k
User k Scheduler
Channel Information Channel Information

DL-MIMO Virtual-MIMO

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 DL MIMO
SFBC (Transmit Diversity) MCW (Spatial Multiplexing)

S Layer 1, CW1, AMC1

User1 UE2
F MIMO
codeword Mod B encoder
and layer
C
mapping UE1

Layer 2, CW2, AMC2

UE1

 Same stream transmitted simultaneously in  Multiple data streams transmitted at the same
certain form of MIMO coding at the same time-frequency resource from different antenna
time-frequency resource from both antenna ports
ports (Rank = 1)
 The terminal must have at least 2 Rx antennas
 Depending on the environment & number of for spatial multiplexing (SM)
antennas, SFBC can reduce fading margin
by 2~8 dB, to extend coverage, and enhance
system capacity

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Page 40
 Cell Interference Control

 ICIC（Inter-Cell Interference Coordination）

 ICIC is one solution for the cell interference control, is essentially a schedule strategy. In LTE, some coordination
schemes, like SFR (Soft Frequency Reuse) and FFR (Fractional Frequency Reuse) can control the interference in
cell edges to enhance the frequency reuse factor and performance in the cell edges.

The primary band is assigned to the

Secondary Secondary
users in cell edge. The eNB transmit Band Band
power of the primary band can be high.
Secondary Band Power Cell 2,4,6

Power Cell 1 Frequency

Cell 2,4,6 Primary Band
2
Frequency
Cell 1 Primary Band 7 3 Secondary
Band
The secondary band is assigned to the users 1
in cell center. The eNB transmit power of the
secondary band should be reduced in order 6 4 Power Cell 3,5,7
to avoid the interference to the primary band
of neighbor cells. 5 Frequency
Cell 3,5,7P Primary Band

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Page 41
Adaptive Modulation and Coding

2 bits per symbol

in each carrier.

4 bits per symbol

in each carrier.

6 bits per symbol

in each carrier.

 The most appropriate modulation and coding scheme can be adaptively selected according to the channel
propagation conduction, then the maximum throughput can be obtained for different channel situation.

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Page 42
 LTE RSRP/RSRQ Definition (according to 36.214)
 Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP)
Reference signal received power (RSRP), is defined as the linear average over the power contributions (in [W]) of the resource elements that
carry cell-specific reference signals within the considered measurement frequency bandwidth.
For RSRP determination the cell-specific reference signals R0 according TS 36.211 [3] shall be used. If the UE can reliably detect that R1 is
Definition available it may use R1 in addition to R0 to determine RSRP.
The reference point for the RSRP shall be the antenna connector of the UE.
If receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the reported value shall not be lower than the corresponding RSRP of any of the individual diversity
branches.

RRC_IDLE intra-frequency,
Applicable for RRC_IDLE inter-frequency,
RRC_CONNECTED intra-frequency,
RRC_CONNECTED inter-frequency

 Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ)

Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ) is defined as the ratio N×RSRP/(E-UTRA carrier RSSI), where N is the number of RB’s of the E-UTRA carrier
RSSI measurement bandwidth. The measurements in the numerator and denominator shall be made over the same set of resource blocks.
E-UTRA Carrier Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI), comprises the linear average of the total received power (in [W]) observed only in OFDM symbols
containing reference symbols for antenna port 0, in the measurement bandwidth, over N number of resource blocks by the UE from all sources, including co-
Definition channel serving and non-serving cells, adjacent channel interference, thermal noise etc.
The reference point for the RSRQ shall be the antenna connector of the UE.
If receiver diversity is in use by the UE, the reported value shall not be lower than the corresponding RSRQ of any of the individual diversity branches.

RRC_IDLE intra-frequency,
RRC_IDLE inter-frequency,
Applicable RRC_CONNECTED intra-frequency,
RRC_CONNECTED inter-frequency
for

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 LTE Coverage Criterion Proposal: RSRP and SINR

 To evaluate LTE radio network coverage quality: 2 indicators are suggested.

• RSRP: to evaluate the signal strength level.

• RS SINR: to evaluate the signal quality(considering the
interference and load)
• Global cases: Russia Yota, Hong Kong Hi3G, Norway Teleia
Sonera, Canada Bell, Singapore Telecom, China CMCC, India
 Coverage Evaluation Method by 2 indicators has been applied in other technologies.
Bahati, …
RTT GSM UMTS CDMA WiMAX LTE

Preamble
Signal Strength Level Rx Level RSCP Ec RSRP
Rx Level

Signal Quality Level Rx Quality Ec/Io Ec/Io CINR SINR

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 LTE Coverage Criterion Value: RSRP and SINR

 Target value proposal

 RSRP≥-110dBm at 95% DT sample
 SINR ≥ -3dB at 95% DT sample
UL Thouphput(Mbps)(10MHz)


25.0
20.0
15.0
10.0
5.0
0.0
72
76
80
84
88
92
96

108
100
104

112
116
120
124

PLdB)

 RSPR mainly changes from -50dBm~-

 SINR mainly changes from -
110dBm
6dB~30dB
 (RSRP=RS power-PL)

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD. Huawei Confidential 45

Reference
 TS 36，3GPP specification
 3G Evolution HSPA and LTE for Mobile Broadband.pdf
 3GPP Long Term Evolution.pdf, Agilent
 3GPP LTE Overview.ppt
 Physical layer aspects of E-UTRA 0807010.ppt

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