UMTS MAC entities There are so many UMTS MAC entities in 3GPP MAC architecture that I always used

to find it confusing. I thought of posting a rief note on this.

As you !now U" side and networ! side MACs are not same. #$erall there are many MAC entities as per 3GPP specifications and in order of their e$olution % MAC%c& MAC% & MAC%d& MAC%hs& MAC%e'es& MAC%ehs& MAC%i'is... too confusing for me why these many were re(uired. )el%** ased MAC entities are simpler and can e co%related to $arious logical and transport channels easily. MAC% + mapped to logical channel ,CC-. MAC%c + mapped to common logical channels& MAC%d + mapped to dedicated logical channel. They are located at U" and ).C + .ode, didn/t ha$e much role to play for MAC processing till )el%**. Issue with this MAC architecture was that it was not meant for fast processing of IP pac!ets + 01 or U1 and the world was mo$ing towards de$ices and applications with faster processing of data or IP pac!ets. So& in )el%2 MAC%hs was introduced at .ode, with introduction of 3ms TTI and -A)4 for the first time. This was an effort to increase processing speed at 01. 5ith 3ms TTI& now resources could e re%allocated dynamically y .ode,. It also had ad$antage of doing faster re%transmissions of 01 MAC P0Us etween .ode, and U" without ).C getting in$ol$ed. This in turn sa$es signaling o$erhead at Iu,. MAC%hs comes with a new transport channel -S%0SC-. There are new physical channels here + 01 -S%P0SC-& 01 -S%SCC- and -S% 0PCC-. Similarly& in )el%6 MAC U1 was enhanced with introduction of "%0C- transport channel. .ew MAC entities % MAC%e at .ode, and MAC%es at ).C were also introduced. MAC% es at ).C re%orders U1 MAC P0Us at ).C whereas MAC%e does a few new things in U1 at .ode, including implementing -A)4. In addition& U" MAC re(uests rates in Scheduling )e(uests and .ode, allocates resources using a solute and relati$e grants. A solute grants are actually grant $alues whereas relati$e grants are up& down or hold commands. There are new physical channels here + "%0P0C-& "%0PCC-& "% AGC-& "%)GC-& "%-IC-. #ne important o ser$ation here is that -A)4 is not e$ent dri$en as A)4 which is dri$en y )1C timers'report ased e$ents. Till now with )el%2 and )el%6 enhancements pea! data rate supported were around 2M ps in U1 and around 72M ps in 01. Considering popularity of IP ased applications and usage they were not sufficient and going forward need was felt for further enhancements. So& MAC%c' 'd'hs'e'es were not enough. In )el%8 and )el%9 higher order modulations are supported % 764AM in U1 and 6: 4AM in 01.This ena les faster processing at physical layer ut 13 was still old. -ence& 13 impro$ements were suggested in )el%8 and )el%9 in 01 and U1. The time had come again for addition of new MAC entities. MAC%ehs was added at .ode, for 01 enhancements. Similarly& for U1 enhancements MAC%i was added at .ode, and MAC% is at ).C. So& what does MAC%ehs do e;tra o$er MAC%hs< It distri utes 01 data to multiple priority (ueues.It also multiple;es data from multiple priority (ueues in 01. .ode, ))C commands U" to use either MAC%hs or MAC%ehs. Similarly in U1& .ode, ))C commands U" to use either MAC%e'es or newly introduced MAC%i'is. U" MAC%i'is can handle igger U1 data compared to MAC%e'es as it can

segment 01 data now. There are new P0U formats introduced with MAC%ehs& MAC%i'is and that will e my ne;t post =%>.