A typical LTE frame is 10 ms (milliseconds) long.

Each LTE frame has 10 sub-frames (1 ms

each) while each sub-frame is further divided into 2 slots (0.5 ms each). The slots are divided
into symbols – each slot has either 6 or 7 symbols. The number of symbols per slot depends on
the size of the cyclic prefix. The LTE uses 2 CP sizes – Normal CP (4.67 µs) and Extended CP
(16.67 µs). In general configuration and LTE deployments for urban areas, the Normal CP is
used so the number of symbols per slot would be 7. The symbol time (Ts) for each LTE symbol
is 66.67 us (much shorter than the symbol time for 10 MHz WiMAX symbol). Adding Cyclic
Prefix to Ts makes it around 71.34 us. The spacing between two carriers is constant and is equal
to 15 kHz (in most of the cases).

Resource Elements and Resource Blocks

Each symbol on a carrier is called a Resource Element, thus, we can say that LTE frame is made
up of Resource Elements. A group of 7 resource elements in time axis and 12 resource elements
in frequency axis make up a Resource Block (RB) and each RB spans over 180 kHz. Resources
or bandwidth is allocated on the basis of RBs. The Scheduler tells each UE (user or mobile)
about the number of RBs allocated to it.

Resource Element Group (REG)

For control channels, another couple of groupings are made as the control channels cannot span
over a full RB. REG is made up of a group of 4 REs and is used for control channels – PCFICH,
PHICH, and PDCCH.

Control Channel Element (CCE)

1 CCE is equivalent to 9 REGs or 36 REs. PDCCH aggregation layers use CCEs to define each
layer. Details of REGs and CCEs will be explained in the next topic.

LTE Physical Channels

LTE PHY Channels – Downlink

PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel)

This is the Physical Control Format Indicator Channel and describes the format of the PDCCH.
PCFICH exists in the first OFDM symbol and spans over 16 REs which is equivalent to 4 REGs
(Resource Element Group – 1 REG = 4 REs). If CFI (Control Format Indicator) is 1 then only
the first OFDM symbol is used for PDCCH, if CFI is 2, then first 2 OFDM symbols are used and
if the CFI is 3 then the first 3 OFDM symbols are used for PDCCH. A common misconception is
that the PCFICH is placed in the first OFDM symbol clustered together while actually, the each
REG of the PCFICH is evenly distributed across the whole BW. This permutation is defined by
the PCI (Physical Cell ID).
 PHICH (Physical HARQ Indicator Channel)

This is the Physical HARQ Indicator Channel which carries the HARQ ACKs and NACKs for
the UE’s Uplink data traffic – ACKs/NACKs for uplink data has to be sent in DL by this
channel. PHICH is placed in the first OFDM symbol of the sub-frame. Each PHICH consists of 3
REGs (12 REs) and multiple PHICHs can use the same set of REGs known as PHICH groups.
This is made possible by using orthogonal sequences (much like CDMA) and PHICH uses a total
of 8 orthogonal sequences. The number of PHICHs supported per sub-frame depends on the total
number of orthogonal sequences and the PHICH group multiplier (parameter Ng). Consider that
the PHICH group multiplier (Ng) is set to 1 which is equivalent to 7 PHICH groups (10 MHz –
50 RBs) then the number of PHICHs supported would be 7 (PHICH Groups) x 8 (Number of
Orthogonal Sequences) = 56 PHICHs. The total number of REs would be 7 PHICH groups x 3
REGs per PHICH group x 4 REs per REG = 84 REs.

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

This is the Physical Downlink Control Channel and typically contains the following information

 UE C-RNTI: It is the Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity and it is required to

identify the UE. This ID is unique within a cell and PDCCH is scrambled using the PCI and
the C-RNTI.
 DL Resource Allocation: It also contains the starting point of RBs and the number of RBs
allocated to the UE. The UE goes to the starting RB and reads the number of RBs specified in
PDCCH.
 MCS: It also indicates the MCS used for downlink direction. UEs in good RF conditions
are granted better MCS (e.g 64QAM) than the ones in poor RF conditions.
 UL Grants: It also contains information of UL grants and resource allocations.
 Transmit Power Command: TPC is used to adjust UL power of the UE. The UEs near the
eNB need to transmit at lower powers so that they do not over-shadow the UEs at the cell
edge. Similarly, the UEs at cell edge may need to increase their power in order to be decoded
at the eNB but the power needs to be adjusted in order to reduce the interference on the other
 eNBs. TPC is sent in PDCCH for all the PUCCH (UL Control Channel) and PUSCH (UL
Shared Channel).

PDCCH Aggregation Layers

PDCCH exists on either the 1st symbol or the 1st two symbols or the 1st three symbols depending
on the information in PCFICH. There are 4 aggregation layers for the PDCCH and the difference
is in the number of CCEs.

 PDCCH aggregation level 1, it consists of 1 CCE (9 REGs or 36 REs)

 PDCCH aggregation level 2, it consists of 2 CCEs (18 REGs)
 PDCCH aggregation level 3, it consists of 4 CCEs (36 REGs)
 PDCCH aggregation level 4, it consists of 8 CCEs (72 REGs)

The aggregation levels might be explained with help of an example. Consider a UE-A at cell
edge with poor RF conditions and a UE-B at good RF conditions near the eNB. The UE-B does
not need the PDCCH to be coded with extensive FEC (may use 2/3 or 3/4) and repetitions as it is
in good RF conditions but the UE-A would need extensive FEC (1/6 or 1/12) and repetitions (rep
4 or rep 6). So, the UE-B PDCCH (FEC of 2/3 or 3/4 and lower repetitions) would use a lower
aggregation level while the UE-A PDCCH (FEC of 1/6 or 1/12 and higher repetitions) would use
a higher aggregation level.

Similarly, the PDCCH for control message allocation may use higher aggregation level while the
PDCCH for some data message resource allocation may use a lower aggregation level

Note: PDCCH may consist of 1st four OFDM symbols for 1.4 MHz BW due to smaller number of
carriers, an addition might be required in the number of symbols to transmit the whole control
information successfully.

PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel)

This is the Physical Broadcast Channel and contains the MIB for the LTE network. The PBCH
takes 72 subcarriers into 4 symbols around the DC sub-carrier in the second slot of the first sub-
frame. It re-occurs once every frame and the whole MIB is delivered in 4 consecutive
transmissions in 4 consecutive frames. Since, each LTE frame is 10 ms long so the PBCH takes
40 ms to complete it. It contains the DL BW, PHICH configuration and the system frame
number.

A common query is why the PBCH contains the PHICH configuration. PBCH is to be decoded
in the beginning so the UE would not be expecting any HARQ ACKs/NACKs so why should
PBCH transmit PHICH configuration. The UE needs to know the PDCCH location in the
1st OFDM symbol and to de-interleave the 1st OFDM symbol, it needs to know the locations of
PHICH, PCFICH and RS (Reference Signals). Now, the locations of the RS and the PCFICH are
calculated by using the PCI (Physical Cell ID – calculated from the S-SS and P-SS which are
decoded before the PBCH) and since the UE already knows the PCI before it starts decoding the
PBCH so it knows the locations of the RS and the PCFICH. However, it still needs to know the
locations of the PHICH groups so that has to be transmitted in the PBCH. Once, the UE has the
knowledge about the PHICH, PCFICH and RS locations then it knows that the remaining REs
belong to PDCCH.

Note:  It is a common misconception that the MIB has a parameter for the number of transmit
antennas which is not correct. The MIB has a CRC however, which is scrambled with one of
three sequences which maps to the number of antennas used in the cell. So, when the UE
calculates the CRC from the decoded MIB it compares against each of the three descrambled
CRCs looking for a match and hence discovers the number of antennas.

S-SS (Secondary Synchronization Signal) and P-SS (Primary

Synchronization Signal):
These signals are used by the UE for synchronization reasons. The synchronization signals are
transmitted once every 5 ms. The PSS is sent on the last symbol (7th OFDM symbol) of slot 0
and slot 10 while SSS is sent on the second last symbol (6th OFDM symbol) of slot 0 and slot
10. They use 72 sub-carriers in total, centered on the DC sub-carrier.

Introduction to Physical Cell ID

The PSS is supposed to provide synchronization with symbol timing and knowledge about
carrier frequency while the SSS is supposed to provide frame timing synchronization and
knowledge about CP configuration. The PSS and SSS combine together to form the PCI. SSS
contains the Physical Channel ID Groups which ranges from 0 to 167 while the PSS contains the
Physical Layer ID which ranges from 0 to 2. Together, they form 504 possible sequences known
as the Physical Cell ID (PCI) which is used to scramble the channels in the cell.

Note: There is a mismatch in different documents on the number of carriers assigned to PSS and
SSS. Some authors write that 72 sub-carriers are used while others say that 62 sub-carriers are
used. Actually, 62 sub-carriers are assigned to the PSS and SSS while there is a guard-band of 5
sub-carriers on both sides and thus the total number of sub-carriers consumed is equal to 72. So,
both the answers can be assumed correct.

PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel)

This is the Physical Downlink Shared Channel which contains the Downlink traffic or data for
the UEs. Each downlink allocation on the PDCCH points to a resource on PDSCH. It also carries
SIB and Paging messages.

Downlink Reference Signals

Reference signals or symbols are used for channel estimation. They serve the same purpose that
the Pilot signals do in other technologies. The location of the reference symbols is fixed along
the time axis as they exist on the 1st and 5th symbol of every slot. Each Reference symbol takes
one RE and the total number of REs in either the 1st or the 5th symbol depends on the bandwidth
as there are 4 Reference Symbols per RB so it means that within each RB, there would be 2 RS
in the 1st OFDM symbol and 2 RS in the 5th OFDM symbol. The position of the RS in the
frequency domain varies on the basis of the PCI. The distribution of the RS in time and
frequency domains helps the UEs to estimate the channel conditions in both time and frequency.
In case of 2 antenna system, an important thing to remember is that the RS position along the
frequency axis varies for each antenna. The UE needs to perform channel estimation for both the
antennas as the channel conditions might vary depending upon the antenna spacing, so the RS
locations on the frequency axis is changed for each antenna. The RS sent by one antenna would
be DTX for the other antenna (Discontinuous Transmission) which means there would be no
transmission on that symbol for the other antenna. It is important to note that the RS location
with respect to the time axis always remains fixed.

Reference Signal Power Boosting in LTE (MOD PDSCHCFG)

Each cell in an LTE radio network sends a cell-specific reference signal (RS) from its
transmit antennas. The transmit power of a resource element (RE) carrying such
reference signal can be set to be the same as, greater than, or less than the transmit
power of an RE carrying Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH). Let’s take a
quick look at the reference signal power boosting, where the RS RE uses more power
than the PDSCH RE. The RS power boosting may or may not be desirable from the
perspective of the RF performance.

The relative transmit power levels of the RS and the PDSCH have implications on the
downlink channel estimation, the amount of downlink interference, and the interpretation
and the use of the Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) by the eNodeB. For example, if the
RS power is increased, the UE could potentially make the RS measurements (e.g.,
RSRP and RSRQ) more easily and potentially quantify the downlink channel conditions
more reliably. However, the overall interference on the RS RE for a given cell would
increase due to multiple neighboring cells transmitting more power on their own RS
REs. If the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) estimated for the PDSCH
degrades by a significant amount, the CQI being reported by the UE would be lower. If
the reported CQIs are relatively lower, the eNodeB would aim for a lower target
throughput by taking actions such as the increased amount of Turbo coding in the
PDSCH transmissions. The user-experienced throughput could thus be somewhat lower
when RS power is boosted. However, if the enhanced channel estimation and increased
reliability of the PDSCH reception lead to fewer HARQ retransmissions, throughput
could actually increase in case of the RS power boosting. In summary, the theoretical
impact of the RS power boosting on the RF performance is not definitive. Field testing
with varying levels of RS power boosting and varying levels of traffic loading is
recommended to determine the suitability of the RS power boosting.

The eNodeB broadcasts the transmit power levels of the RS and the PDSCH in SIB 2
using the parameters referenceSignalPower, P A, and PB. The transmit power of an RE
carrying the RS (in dBm) is specified as referenceSignalPower. P A influences a
parameter called ρA, which is the ratio of the transmit power of the PDSCH RE and the
transmit power of the RS RE. ρA is applicable to the OFDM symbols that do not carry
RS. PB establishes the relationship between ρA and ρB, where ρB is the ratio of the
transmit power of the PDSCH RE and the transmit power of the RS RE in the OFDM
symbols that carry RS. PA ranges from 0 to 7 and corresponds to the range from -6 dB
to +3 dB for ρA. PB ranges from 0 to 3 and corresponds to the range from 5/4 to 1/2 for
(ρB /ρA)[1].

Let’s take two numerical examples. Assume that a 30 W power amplifier is used for a
transmit antenna of an eNodeB and that 10 MHz downlink bandwidth is deployed in a
cell. The nominal transmit power per subcarrier is (30 W/600)= 50 mW. During an
OFDM symbol where no RS is present, each subcarrier of the PDSCH is allocated 50
mW.

Example 1: PA =2 and PB =1 (with 3 dB power boosting for RS)

PA =2 implies ρA = 0.5 or -3 dB. Hence, (Power on PDSCH RE/power on RS RE)= 0.5.
Since the transmit power allocated to PDSCH RE is the nominal power level of 50 mW,
the transmit power allocated to RS RE is (Power on PDSCH RE/0.5)= (50 mW/0.5)=
100 mW. During an OFDM symbol carrying the RS, the number of REs carrying the RS
from one transmit antenna is (50 Physical Resource Blocks * 2 REs/Physical Resource
Block)= 100 REs. Furthermore, a given antenna does not transmit any power on a set of
100 REs, because such set is used by a different transmit antenna. Hence, out of 600
REs in an OFDM symbol carrying the RS, 100 REs are subject to RS power boosting,
100 REs have no transmit power, and remaining 400 REs have nominal power levels.
The total transmit power during the RS-carrying OFDM symbol would be (100
subcarriers * 100 mW per subcarrier for power-boosted RS REs) + (100 subcarriers* 0
mW for null REs) + (400 subcarriers * 50 mW per subcarrier for non-RS REs)= 30 W.
Hence, when PA =2 and PB =1, each RS RE is allocated 100 mW, while a non-RS RE
(in any OFDM symbol) is allocated 0 mW or 50 mW. referenceSignalPower is set to
10*log10(100 mW)= 20 dBm.

Example 2: PA =4 and PB =1 (with NO power boosting for RS)

PA =4 implies ρA = 1 or 0 dB. Hence, (Power on PDSCH RE/power on RS RE)= 1. Since
the transmit power allocated to PDSCH RE is the nominal power level of 50 mW, the
transmit power allocated to RS RE is (Power on PDSCH RE/1)= (50 mW/1)= 50 mW.
Hence, out of 600 REs in an OFDM symbol carrying the RS, 100 REs are subject to RS
power level, 100 REs have no transmit power, and remaining 400 REs have nominal
power levels. The total transmit power during the RS-carrying OFDM symbol would be
(100 subcarriers * 50 mW per subcarrier for non-power-boosted RS REs) + (100
subcarriers* 0 mW for null REs) + (400 subcarriers * 50 mW per subcarrier for non-RS
REs)= 25 W. Hence, when PA =4 and PB =1, each RS RE is allocated 50 mW, while a
non-RS RE (in any OFDM symbol) is allocated 0 mW or 50 mW. referenceSignalPower
will be set to 10*log10(50 mW)= 17 dBm.