RAN 3G

How it works

 RAN 3G elements

Interfaces

Protocols

Node B
Air Interface management. Controlling Uplink and Downlink radio paths on the Uu Air Interface, transmission and reception, including modulation and demodulation of the radio carrier; micro diversity. Radio Channel functions. Logical to physical channel mappings. Encoding/Decoding Spreading and scrambling codes to data streams and error protection coding and signaling. Closed loop power control, consisting of fast power control to an individual mobile. Cellular Transmission management. Managing ATM switching and multiplexing over the Iub interface. Control of AAL2/AAL5 connections. Control of the physical transmission interfaces E1, PDH, SDH or microwave. O&M Processing. Interfacing with NMS and RNC for alarm and control (Operations and Maintenance) functions.

RNC
Functions Radio resource management of channel configurations, that is, how many traffic channels and signaling channels can be used in the RAN. This is done in connection with the radio network planning. Management of traffic channels and stand-alone dedicated control channels can be further divided into radio resource management that attends to code allocation, admission control, channel release, load control, power control and handover control. Handovers are controlled by the RNC, but can be initiated by the mobile station (MS) or the RNC. A handover in UMTS can be one of the following types: Soft, softer and hard HO with intra- and inter-RNC handovers

RNC
Functions The telecom functionality includes tasks that are much related to the mobility and session management of subscribers and their connections: Location and connection management; Broadcast and multicast functions Radio channel ciphering an deciphering, which protects the radio transmitted data from unauthorized third parties Indication of blockage on the channels between the RNC and the MSC Allocation of the traffic channels between the RNC and the base stations ATM switching and multiplexing ATM transmission on SDH or PDH GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP) towards the packet core network Security functions Protocol Converter

Functional Types of RNC

Controlling RNC (CRNC) The CRNC controls a Node B. Its functions include code allocation, admission control, scheduling of system information, cell configuration, and radio link management. Serving RNC (SRNC) The SRNC terminates the Iu interface (data and signaling) for a specific mobile. The signaling between the UE and the UTRAN is Radio Resource Control (RRC), which is terminated at the SRNC. SRNC functions also include Radio Resource Management (RRM), outer loop power control, and handovers. The UE can only be connected to one SRNC at one time. Drift RNC (DRNC) It is possible that the UE is using a cell belonging to an RNC other that the SRNC, for example in a soft handover situation. This RNC is called a Drift RNC (DRNC). The Drift RNC means an RNC involving radio link addition/deletion/reconfiguring procedure but not having the bearer radio link mapping control

Interfaces

Iub Functions
Carrying information
user voice, user data and cell-broadcast [UE External networks] Radio resources control (RRC) signaling [UERNC] NAS signaling (CC, SM, MM) [UECore]

Node-B management
Logical resources [NBAP] Physical resources [O&M]

Managing AAL2 links between RNC and NodeB [ALCAP (Q.2630)]

Protocols
The protocol architecture is divided horizontally into two key layers. The upper part is referred to as the Radio Network Layer, and the lower is part is referred to as the Transport Network Layer. The Radio Network Layer constitutes the source for data to be transferred across the interfaces; this data will be signaling or traffic. The Transport Network Layer provides the necessary transport mechanisms, based on ATM. The protocol architecture is also divided into two planes, the control plane and the user plane. The control plane handles control information, pertaining to the radio interface. There are three protocols specified for the UTRAN:

Node B application Part (NBAP) on the Iub interface Radio Network Application Part (RANAP) on the Iu interface Radio Network Subsystem Application Part (RNSAP) on the Iur interface

Protocol Stack of the Iub Interface

Iub Protocol Stacks

Set VPI/VCI of NBAP and ALCAP

Iub procedures User traffic

User voice and data information is carried over the Dedicated and possibly the Common Transport Channels. AMR is used on CS calls PDCP and IP are used on PS calls

Iur functions
The Iur interface is the interface between two RNCs. When a UE leaves the area controlled by an RNC to another RNC, the UEs related data is now transferred to the new RNC over the Iur interface. The original RNC is now referred to as Serving RNC and the new RNC is now referred to as Drift RNC. Dedicated channels with the same characteristics are formed between the new DRNC to the relevant NodeB, according to messages received on the Iur. AAL2 decode is the same as Iub (same protocol stack) AAL5 protocol stack is different

Main Iur Messages

Dedicated signaling channel
RNSAP: Radio Link Setup Request RNSAP: Radio Link Setup Response ALCAP: Establish Request

Dedicated traffic channel

RNSAP: Radio Link Reconfiguration Request RNSAP: Radio Link Reconfiguration Response ALCAP: Establish Request

Channel Deletion
RNSAP: Radio Link Setup Deletion

Iur Protocol Stack

NBAP
Node B Application Part is a Layer-3 protocol at the Iub interface. NBAP functions are divided into two groups, namely common and dedicated NBAP procedures. Common NBAP procedures are used to create new user equipment (UE) contexts and control BCCH broadcast information. The Iub always contains one signalling link for the common NBAP procedures, and there may be several signalling links for dedicated NBAP procedures.

RNSAP
The Iur interface procedures are controlled by the RNSAP signalling protocol. The most important procedures are naturally involved in: radio link set-up radio link addition radio link reconfiguration and radio link deletion.