Communication Networks

University of Bremen
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. C. Grg

Master Thesis
LTE-Advanced: Radio Access Network
Resource Management
of

Yangyang Dong
Matriculation Number: 2462710

Bremen, June 1, 2013

Supervised by:
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Carmelita Grg
Dr. -Ing. Xi Li
Dr. -Ing. Yasir Zaki
Safdar Nawaz Khan Marwat, M. Sc.
This publication is meant for internal use only. All rights reserved. No liabilities with
respect to its content are accepted. No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

I assure, that this work has been done solely by me without any further help from others
except for the ocal support by the Chair of Communication Networks. The literature
used is listed completely in the bibliography.

Bremen, June 1, 2013

(Yangyang Dong)

Acknowledgements
This thesis has been carried out in the department of Communication Networks (ComNets)
at University of Bremen, Germany, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil.
Carmelita Grg. This work is the last assignment during my pursuit of a Master of Science
(M.Sc.) degree in Communication and Information Technology.
Upon the completion of my master thesis, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Carmelita Grg
for her opportune advice on the research direction and support during every stage of my
work. I am sincerely grateful to my supervisor Safdar Nawaz Khan Marwat, who motivated
and helped me throughout my thesis. I would also give my thanks to Dr. Yasir Zaki and
Dr. Xi Li, who gave me valuable advice on the thesis direction and helped me whenever
I asked. I also appreciate the help from the other researchers of the Communication
Networks department. In addition, I would also express my gratitude to my friends for
giving me a happy and wonderful life in Bremen. Finally, special thanks to my parents
and my brother, who give me unconditional love, patience and support.

Yangyang Dong
Bremen, 05. 2013

MASTER THESIS

Yangyang Dong

Abstract
The ongoing development of mobile devices and their applications increases the requirements for high data rates and large capacity of the wireless communication networks
rapidly. The LTE (Long Term Evolution) system provides the mobile users with a good
throughput and a low latency. In order to meet the requirements of the future mobile data
trac, the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) has introduced advanced features
to the LTE system, such as the Carrier Aggregation (CA), extension of the uplink multiple
access, enhanced MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output), and the Relay Nodes (RN).
The enhanced system is known as the LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system.
This thesis intends to investigate the uplink Radio Access Network (RAN) resource management in LTE-Advanced. It covers three main areas: the Component Carrier Selection
(CCS), the Power Control (PC) for the uplink, and the radio resource scheduling. The
CCS aims at selecting a proper number of carriers for the mobile terminals; the PC adjusts
the uplink transmit Power Spectral Density (PSD); and the scheduling algorithm allocates
radio resources to the mobile terminals according to their channel conditions and Quality
of Service (QoS) requirements.
Literature survey reveals that the CCS is a relatively newer topic with little work done on
it. However, the PC for macrocell scenarios has been covered in several research articles
and papers. Similarly, several scheduling algorithms have been proposed for LTE and LTEA downlink, whereas the scheduling methods for LTE-A uplink along with the advanced
recent features are very rare.
In this thesis, a CCS algorithm depending on the path loss and the slow fading during
propagation of the radio signals has been developed; based on the channel conditions and
the QoS requirements of the users, a Channel and QoS Aware (CQA) uplink scheduler has
been designed, which works in a decoupled time and frequency domain. The implementation and simulation of the proposed schemes are performed using the OPNET Modeler1 .
In order to allocate radio resources in compliance with the uplink PC, the scheduling algorithms consider the PSD of the terminals determined by the PC schemes. Two PC
algorithms have been implemented and compared in terms of throughput performance in
this work.
The results illustrate that the proposed CCS algorithm provides a good QoS performance
and overall throughput. One of the implemented PC algorithms provides better application
experiences. The designed CQA scheduler supports a relatively high overall throughput
while guaranteeing the QoS requirements of dierent applications. In addition, it grants
some level of fairness among the users.

http://www.opnet.com/

Kurzfassung
Die stndige Entwicklung von mobilen Endgerten und deren Anwendungen steigert auch
die Nachfrage nach hohen Datenraten und groer Kapazitt mobiler Netzwerke. Das LTE
(Long Term Evolution) System bietet Nutzern einen hohen Datendurchsatz und geringen
Latenzzeiten. Um jedoch auch in Zukunft den steigenden Anforderungen des Datenverkehrs gerecht zu werden, hat das 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) dem LTE
System fortschrittliche Funktionen hinzugefgt. Dies umfasst unter anderem die Carrier
Aggregation (CA), die Erweiterung des Uplink Multiple Access, die verbesserte Nutzung
von MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) und die Untersttzung von Relay Nodes
(RN). Das verbesserte System ist als LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) bekannt.
Diese Arbeit hat das Ziel, das Uplink Ressourcen Management des Radio Access Network
(RAN) in LTE-Advanced zu untersuchen. Sie beinhaltet drei Abschnitte: die Component
Carrier Selection (CCS), die Uplink Power Control (PC) und die Allokierung von Kanalkapazitten. Die CCS sucht eine angemessene Anzahl von Komponententrger fr mobile
Endgerte aus; die PC passt die spektrale Leistungsdichte der Uplink bertragung (Power
Spectrum Density - PSD) an; und der Scheduling-Algorithmus weist den Endgerten entsprechend ihren Kanalbedingungen und den Anforderungen der Dienstgte (Quality of
Service - QoS) - Kanalkapazitten zu.
Ein Studium der Fachliteratur zeigt, dass CCS ein junges und noch relativ unerforschtes
Thema ist. PC fr Makrozellen Szenarios wurde dagegen bereits in einigen Verentlichungen behandelt. Weiterhin wurden schon mehrere Scheduling-Algorithmen fr LTE
und LTE-A Downlink entworfen. Scheduling-Algorithmen fr LTE-A Uplink, die die fortschrittlichen neuen Funktionen bercksichtigen, sind dagegen ausgesprochen selten.
In dieser Arbeit wird ein CCS Algorithmus entwickelt, der von Pfadverlusten und dem
Slow-Fading zwischen dem Endgert und der Basisstation abhngt. Basierend auf den
Kanalbedingungen und den QoS Anforderungen der Nutzer wurde ein Kanal- und QoSbewusster (CQA) Uplink Scheduler entwickelt welcher in einem entkoppelten Zeit- und
Frequenzbereich arbeitet. Die Umsetzung und Simulation der vorgeschlagenen Schemata
wurde mit dem OPNET Modeler2 durchgefhrt. Um die Kanalkapazitten in bereinstimmung mit dem Uplink PC zuzuweisen, bercksichtigen die Scheduling-Algorithmen
die PSD der Endgerte, die von den PC Schemata bestimmt werden. In dieser Arbeit wurden zwei PC Algorithmen eingesetzt und hinsichtlich ihres Datensatzverhaltens verglichen.
Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass der vorgeschlagene CCS Algorithmus insgesamt gesehen eine
gute Leistung zeigt, was QoS und Datensatz betrit. Einer der beiden eingesetzten Algorithmen weist bessere Eigenschaften beim Einsatz auf. Der entworfene CQA Scheduler
untersttzt einen relativ hohen Datendurchlauf bei gleichzeitiger Erfllung der QoS Anforderungen verschiedener Anwendungen. Zustzlich sichert er ein gewisses Ma an Fairness
zwischen den Nutzern.

http://www.opnet.com/

Contents
Acknowledgements

Abstract

Kurzfassung

1 Introduction

1.1

LTE to LTE-Advanced: Problem Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

1.2

State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.3

Thesis Contribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

1.4

Thesis Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

2 New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

2.1

2.2

13

Network Architecture: Evolved Packet System (EPS) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.1.1

Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) . . 13

2.1.2

Protocol Stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.1.3

Evolved Packet Core (EPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Carrier Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.2.1

Component Carrier Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

2.2.2

Serving Cell and Component Carrier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.3

Extension of Uplink Multiple Access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

2.4

Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission/Reception (CoMP) . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.4.1

Downlink Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.4.2

Uplink Coordinated Multi-Point Reception . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2.5

Enhanced Use of MIMO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

2.6

Relay Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

3 Radio Channel

25

MASTER THESIS

3.1

Channel Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.1.1

Path Loss . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.1.1.1

Free Space Path Loss Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.1.1.2

Okumura Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

3.1.1.3

Hata Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.1.1.4

ETSI Model for LTE Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

3.1.2

Slow Fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

3.1.3

Fast Fading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.1.3.1

3.1.4
3.2

Contents

Jakes-like Method of Complex Gain Generation . . . . . . . 31

Link Budget . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Link-to-System Level Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

4 RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

4.1

Admission Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
4.1.1

Common Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

4.2

Component Carrier Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

4.3

Uplink Signalling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.4

4.3.1

Channel State Information (CSI) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.3.2

Buer Status Report (BSR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

4.3.3

Power Headroom Report (PHR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Resource Allocation and Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.4.1

Bearer Classication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.4.2

Time Domain Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.4.3
6

35

4.4.2.1

Blind Equal Throughput Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

4.4.2.2

Maximum Throughput Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.4.2.3

Proportionally Fair Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

4.4.2.4

Bandwidth and QoS Aware Scheduler . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

Frequency Domain Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

4.5

Contents

4.4.3.1

Maximum Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

4.4.3.2

Proportionally Fair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Uplink Power Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

5 Simulation Results and Analysis

51

5.1

The OPNET Modeler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

5.2

Scenario Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.3

Sensitivity Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.4

Component Carrier Selection Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.5

Power Control Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

5.6

Channel and QoS Aware MAC Scheduler Analysis

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.6.1

Channel Awareness Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.6.2

QoS Awareness Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

5.6.3

5.6.2.1

CQA vs. BET vs. MaxT vs. PF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

5.6.2.2

QoS Weight vs. no-QoS Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

5.6.2.3

Mixed Trac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Fairness Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

6 Conclusions and Outlook

69

6.1

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

6.2

Outlook . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70

Appendix A E-UTRAN Operating Bands

73

Appendix B E-UTRAN Channel Bandwidths

75

Appendix C Intra-band Contiguous CA Operating Bands

77

Appendix D Inter Band CA Operating Bands

79

Appendix E Transport Block Size (TBS) Table

81

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

Contents

List of Figures

83

List of Tables

85

List of Abbreviations

87

Bibliography

89

Index

93

Yangyang Dong

Introduction

With the development of the highly advanced mobile devices, the demands for higher data
rates and better QoS increased rapidly. Therefore, the 3GPP has specied new standards
for the mobile communications based on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications)/EDGE (Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution) and UMTS (Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System)/HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) network technologies in
2004: LTE and the System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which dene the radio access
network and the core network (CN) of the system, respectively. The SAE is called the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and LTE, together with the SAE, are known as the Evolved
Packet System (EPS). The EPS is discussed in detail in the subsequent chapters. LTE supports high data rates of up to 300 Mbit/s in the downlink (DL) and 75 Mbit/s in the uplink
(UL). However, this does not meet the IMT-Advanced (International Mobile Telecommunications - Advanced) or the 4G requirements such as a data rate up to 1 Gbit/s, which was
set by the ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union Radiocommunication Sector)
organization. As a result, the 3GPP Release 10 documents feature new technologies aiming
at improving the performance in LTE-Advanced. A brief illustration of the evolution of
the mobile networks can be found in the following gure.

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Figure 1.1: Evolution of Mobile Networks

1.1

LTE to LTE-Advanced: Problem Statement

The standards for LTE are specied in the 3GPP Release 8 document series, with some
enhancements in Release 9. The world's rst LTE network was deployed in the two Scandinavian cities Stockholm and Oslo in 2009. As an enhancement to LTE, LTE-Advanced was
presented as a candidate 4G system to the ITU-T (International Telecommunication Union
Telecommunication Standardization Sector) in 2009, and was nalized by the 3GPP in Release 10 in March, 2011. It is expected to keep backward compatibility with LTE, which
means that a LTE-A network can be deployed in the frequency bands occupied by the LTE
system and would thus be able to utilize most of the LTE technologies. Meanwhile, the
LTE terminals can also work in the LTE-A system.
In order to achieve a better performance such as a higher data rate and a better throughput,
LTE-A has some new features in comparison to LTE. The main features include the Carrier
Aggregation, the extension of the uplink multiple access, the enhanced MIMO, and the

MASTER THESIS

1. Introduction

Relay Nodes. This thesis focuses on the Carrier Aggregation and the extension of the uplink
multiple access. The former one aggregates several bands to get a wider bandwidth for data
transmission; the latter one enables non-contiguous radio resource allocation. However, a
wider bandwidth does not always ensure better performance - terminals lacking sucient
power, for example, would not benet from it. Therefore, it is essential to determine
whether the frequency bands should be aggregated or not, which is why a component
carrier selection algorithm is needed. Besides, how to schedule one or multiple bands
to various mobile terminals is also a problem to be solved, thus an ecient scheduler is
required to allocate bandwidth to dierent users to fulll their requirements for dierent
applications. Furthermore, since this thesis focuses on the uplink, power constraint is a big
issue for the mobile terminals. A power control scheme can be used to adjust the users'
transmit power.
1.2

State of the Art

Despite the relative novelty of the topic, a substantial amount of literature is already in
existence. The 3GPP specications [1], [2], and [3] are used as the foundation of this
thesis. A considerable amount of scientic material has to be reviewed to understand the
new features in LTE-A. For example, [4], [5], [6], [7], and [8] give details about the evolution
from LTE to LTE-A. [9] and [10] introduce various features of carrier aggregation, and [11]
gives an overview of the Coordinated Multi-Point transmission/reception (CoMP) used in
LTE-A.
Since LTE-A is a new standard, the Radio Resource Management (RRM) for the uplink
has not been studied widely. Regarding the component carrier selection, [12] proposes
two ways of deploying the carriers: the Round Robin Balancing and the Mobile Hashing
Balancing. The former tries to distribute loads equally to all the carriers while the latter
maps the uniformly distributed output hash values directly on the Component Carrier
(CC) indices [13] to provide a balanced load across all the CCs in the long term. However,
this method does not give a solution for the LTE-A system where the users are able to use
more than one carrier. [14] proposes a CC selection method based on the path loss of the
users, assigning multiple carriers on the users with a lower path loss. This method fullls
the need to select carriers for the LTE-A users. However, it assumes that all the users are
stationary, and the slow fading has not been taken into account.
Admission Control (AC) has also been studied in several research articles and papers. [15]
proposes a reference AC algorithm, which admits a user if its required capacity can be
fullled while the capacity of the already existing calls is not inuenced. [16] suggests an
admission algorithm based on the Fractional Power Control (FPC), which can be used for
the uplink.
The power control for the uplink has been investigated during this thesis. [1] denes the
power control for the uplink, and suggests that FPC can be utilized for compensating
the path loss during propagation. The FPC is based on the path loss to the serving cell.
[17] investigates the performance of the uplink FPC in LTE. [18] and [19] propose a new
algorithm based on the interference to the neighboring cells as well as the path loss to
the serving cell. [20] compares two dierent approaches for the PC: the Open Loop Power
Control (OLPC) and the Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC). [21] also investigates the
CLPC in the LTE system. [22] aims at improving the cell edge throughput in the LTE
10

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

1.3. Thesis Contribution

system using a combined power control scheme.

Recent research on the scheduling of the radio resources mainly focuses on LTE. For LTE
downlink, [23] proposes an optimized service aware scheduler, which dierentiates users
with various QoS classes. [24] also brings forward a scheduling method that fullls dierent
QoS requirements. For LTE uplink, [25] suggests a bandwidth and QoS aware scheduler,
which takes both the frequency bandwidth and the QoS into consideration during scheduling. In addition, it utilizes resource chunks since there is a contiguous resource allocation
constraint. For LTE-A uplink, [16] uses two ways of scheduling: one is the Proportional
Fair (PF) method, and the other is the GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate) aware method. [26]
presents a cross-carrier scheduling method in addition to the per-carrier scheduling method,
enabling scheduling on several carriers. [27] proposes a subcarrier allocation method which
assumes equal power allocation among all the subcarriers. [28] proposes a more complete
resource management method for the LTE-A system, which includes carrier selection and
radio resource scheduling.

1.3

Thesis Contribution

For this thesis, a LTE-A uplink radio resource scheduler has been designed, implemented,
and analyzed in regard to its performance. The scheduler is based on the advanced features
such as the CCS and the PC. The implementation and the performance analysis has been
achieved using the OPNET Modeler [29].
Firstly, a CCS algorithm based on [14] is implemented, which takes both the path loss
and the slow fading into consideration to decide the number of carriers to be assigned
to a user. Furthermore, a mobility model has been adopted, which facilitates the CCS
decisions for the users moving with various velocities. A Channel and QoS Aware (CQA)
scheduling method has been designed, which aims at guaranteeing the QoS requirements
and providing a reasonably good throughput, as well as providing a certain level of fairness.
The scheduler uses a decoupled time and frequency domain structure. All the radio bearers1
are classied into bearer lists in the Bearer Classication phase, and their Time Domain
Packet Scheduling (TDPS) metrics are calculated. Afterwards, bearers are sorted within
the lists according to their TDPS metrics by the TDPS scheduler. Finally, the bearers at
the top of the TDPS bearer sorted list get into the Frequency Domain Packet Scheduling
(FDPS) phase, where radio resources are allocated to the bearers. PC is also implemented
to estimate the maximum of user transmit power that is allowed, thus determining the
maximum radio resources a user can get in this phase. Both the FPC and the IBPC have
been implemented, in order to compare which algorithm performs better.

1.4

Thesis Overview

The rest of the thesis is organized as follows: Chapter 2 gives an overview of the EPS in the
LTE-A system. Furthermore, new functionalities of LTE-A such as Carrier Aggregation,
CoMP, and Relay Nodes are also introduced. Chapter 3 gives a description of the radio
channel model utilized in this thesis, including the path loss, the slow fading and the
1

radio bearers belong to EPS bearers, which are a data structure that uniquely identies a trac ow
between the user and the transport network

Yangyang Dong

11

MASTER THESIS

1. Introduction

fast fading models. Afterwards, the link-to-system mapping is presented. In the next
chapter, the radio access network resource management in the LTE-A system with multiple
carriers is discussed in detail, including fundamental concepts and realization methods.
This part includes the AC, the CCS, the scheduling, and the PC schemes. Chapter 5
shows some simulation results, and a detailed analysis of these results. The nal chapter
draws conclusions and provides an outlook for possible further research.

12

Yangyang Dong

New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

The rst part of this chapter provides an overview of the network architecture that supports
both the LTE and the LTE-A systems. Then the main dierences between LTE and LTE-A
are highlighted, which include Carrier Aggregation, Extension of Uplink Multiple Access,
CoMP, enhanced use of MIMO, and support for Relay Nodes. This thesis focuses mainly
on the rst two aspects.
2.1

Network Architecture: Evolved Packet System (EPS)

The EPS architecture is the basis for both the LTE and the LTE-A networks. It has
two parts: the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) and the
Evolved Packet Core (EPC), which correspond to the radio access network and the core
network, respectively. For LTE-A, both the air interface and the E-UTRAN are enhanced,
while the EPC remains unchanged from the LTE version. Figure 2.1 shows the EPS for the
LTE-Advanced system. Further details about the nodes and functionalities are provided
in the following subsections.

h
y

E

h

DD^'tW't
h

h

E

W

hdZE
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Figure 2.1: Evolved Packet System (EPS) of LTE-A

2.1.1 Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)

The eNodeB (E-UTRAN Node B) is the most important node in the E-UTRAN, fullling
tasks similar to those performed by the NodeB and RNC (Radio Network Controller)

MASTER THESIS

2. New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

together in the UMTS radio access network. According to [30], the eNodeB manages
all the radio interface related functions - such as admission control and radio resource
scheduling - and provides the air interface with user plane and control plane protocols
towards the UE (User Equipment). One eNodeB serves one or several cells, and two
eNodeBs are connected via the X2 interface. The eNodeB and the UEs are connected via
the Uu interface. In LTE-Advanced, according to [2], Relay Nodes are utilized for network
performance enhancement, for example, to obtain wider coverage, higher data rates, and
better QoS performance and fairness among users. The RN is connected to the Donor
eNodeB via the radio air interface Un, which is modied from the air interface Uu. Donor
eNodeB not only serves its own UEs in its serving cell, but also shares the radio resources
with the RNs.

2.1.2 Protocol Stack

This section describes the user and control plane protocols towards the UEs provided by
the eNodeB. Figure 2.2 gives the protocol stack of EPS. The Access Stratum (AS) shows
the protocol stack of the radio access network, i.e., the E-UTRAN. In the user plane,
the protocols include the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, the Radio
Link Control (RLC) layer, the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, and the Physical
layer (PHY) protocols. The control plane also consists of these protocols, as well as the
Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol, which handles control plane signalling between
the E-UTRAN and the UEs.

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E

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WW
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D
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W

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Figure 2.2: Protocol Stack of LTE-Advanced

According to [7], the functionalities of dierent layers are given as follows:
14

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

2.1. Network Architecture: Evolved Packet System (EPS)

RRC (Radio Resource Control): The RRC only exists in the control plane, which
manages the control plane signalling between the eNodeB and UEs. It establishes,
maintains and releases the RRC connections and signalling/data radio bearers. It
also manages security and mobility functions.
PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol): The PDCP layer deals with insequence delivery and retransmission, ciphering and duplicate detection. It also manages header compression in the user plane, and integrity protection in the control
plane.
RLC (Radio Link Control): The RLC layer supports transmission of the upper
layer data with three dierent modes: AM (Acknowledged Mode), UM (Unacknowledged Mode), and TM (Transparent Mode). It also segments data according to the
size of the transport block and re-segments it in case of retransmission. Furthermore,
it can correct errors through Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ).
MAC (Medium Access Control): The MAC layer mainly handles scheduling,
and error correction through HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest), etc.
PHY (Physical Layer): The PHY layer is mainly for coding/decoding, transmission/reception, modulation and so on.

2.1.3 Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

LTE-Advanced uses the core network architecture of LTE - the System Architecture Evolution (SAE). The SAE is a at, all-IP network which can be accessed by both, the 3GPP
legacy systems (e.g. GSM, UMTS, HSPA) and non-3GPP systems (e.g. WiMAX, WLAN).
As is shown in Figure 2.3, the SAE allows handovers within and among dierent system
types, which is a feature highly attractive for network operators.
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mgmt: media gateway mobile terminal
IMS: IP Multimedia Subsystem

Figure 2.3: System Architecture Evolution (SAE)

In Figure 2.2, the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) represents the protocol stack of the core
network. The functionalities of dierent layers dened by 3GPP can be described as
follows:
Yangyang Dong

15

MASTER THESIS

2. New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

MME (Mobility Management Entity): The MME is the main control node,
which is responsible for mobility and session management, bearer activation/deactivation,
etc.
S-GW (Serving Gateway): The S-GW is used to route and forward data packets.
In addition, it is also responsible for the user plane handovers and mobility between
LTE/LTE-A and the other 3GPP technologies.

2.2

Carrier Aggregation

In order to get higher data rate, a wider bandwidth is required for data transmission.
According to the 3GPP specications [1], the LTE-Advanced system is able to aggregate
two or more CCs to obtain a wider transmission bandwidth. This is dened as Carrier
Aggregation (CA). The current 3GPP standards allow for up to ve carriers.

2.2.1 Component Carrier Aggregation

LTE terminals can only receive/transmit on a single component carrier. While LTE-A
terminals, according to the specications, are able to receive or transmit data on one or
multiple component carriers simultaneously, due to the reason that the LTE-A terminals
have the capabilities to receive and/or transmit with carrier aggregation. Each component
carrier has a limit number of 110 Physical Resource Blocks (PRBs) in the frequency domain,
which is supposed to be compatible with the LTE Rel. 8 technologies. The allowed channel
bandwidths for each component carrier are 1.4 MHz, 3.0 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and
20 MHz, which are the bandwidths utilized in LTE. The number of PRBs in E-UTRAN for
dierent bandwidths can be found in Table 2.1 [31]. The same specication states that it is
possible to congure a UE to aggregate a dierent number of CCs or dierent bandwidths
in the uplink and the downlink.
LTE Spectrum(MHz)
Number of PRBs

1.4
6

3
15

5
25

10
50

15
75

20
100

Table 2.1: Number of PRBs in E-UTRA Channel Bandwidth

Figure 2.4 shows an illustration of the uplink carrier aggregation. The R8/R9 users, i.e.,
the LTE users, can only be allocated with one carrier; while the R10 users, i.e., LTE-A
users, can use multiple component carriers.
The 3GPP has specied the operating bands for E-UTRAN, which can be found in Appendix A. For each band, the allowed transmission bandwidths are also dened by the
3GPP, which are given in Appendix B. In addition to the spectrum bands already specied for the LTE users, the LTE-A users are able to utilize more bands [3]:

450 - 470 MHz band (identied in WRC-07 to be used globally for IMT systems);
698 - 862 MHz band (identied in WRC-07 to be used in Region 2 and nine countries
of Region 31 );
1

 Region 1: Europe, Africa, the Middle East west of the Persian Gulf including Iraq, the former Soviet

16

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

2.2. Carrier Aggregation

ZZ

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ZZ



tD,

h>

Figure 2.4: Carrier Aggregation

790 - 862 MHz band (identied in WRC-07 to be used in Regions 1 and 3);
2.3 - 2.4 GHz band (identied in WRC-07 to be used globally for IMT systems);
3.4 - 4.2 GHz band (3.4- 3.6 GHz identied in WRC-07 to be used in a large number
of countries);
4.4 - 4.99 GHz band.
Both contiguous and non-contiguous component carrier aggregation are supported for the
uplink and the downlink. According to the 3GPP specications, the carrier aggregation in
the LTE-A system can be classied into three types: the intra-band contiguous aggregation,
the intra-band non-contiguous aggregation and the inter-band non-contiguous aggregation.
The operating bands of intra-band contiguous CA and inter-band CA are dened by the
3GPP, which can be found in Appendix C and D, respectively. Intra-band contiguous
carrier aggregation is the simplest form, where multiple contiguous component carriers
within the same operating frequency band are aggregated. Once aggregated, the channel
can be considered to be an enlarged channel by the mobile terminals. However, this might
not always be possible, since not all bands are available to the LTE-Advanced users; even
if contiguous frequency bands are available, they might do not have enough bandwidth to
support the LTE-A users. This leads to the non-contiguous carrier aggregation. Within
the same frequency band, the aggregation can also be non-contiguous, when the bands that
are to be aggregated are separated by a frequency gap. Another non-contiguous carrier
allocation method is the inter-band aggregation, meaning that the component carriers
belong to dierent operating frequency bands. Figure 2.5 shows the three dierent CA
types.
Union and Mongolia;
 Region 2: Americas, Greenland, and some of the eastern Pacic Islands;
 Region 3: most of non-former-Soviet-Union Asia, east of and including Iran, and most of Oceania.

Yangyang Dong

17

MASTER THESIS

2. New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced





/




Z

/
E





/

Figure 2.5: Carrier Aggregation Types

2.2.2 Serving Cell and Component Carrier

In the LTE system, the UE has only one RRC connection with the eNodeB, which handles
the control signalling between the eNodeB and the UEs. While for the LTE-Advanced,
according to [9], there are several serving cells due to carrier aggregation, with one corresponding to each component carrier. Initially, a RRC connection is established with a
single CC, using the same RRC establishment procedure that was specied for LTE. The
component carrier is called the Primary Component Carrier (DL and UL PCCs). The
UE receives PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel) and PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel) and transmits PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel), PUSCH
(Physical Uplink Shared Channel), and Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) on
the Primary CC. Further CCs can then be congured from the eNodeB, which are called
Secondary Component Carriers (SCC), on which no PUCCH or PRACH transmissions are
made. The SCCs are added and removed as required, while the PCC is only changed at
handover. For UEs using the same set of CCs, dierent PCCs are possible. As depicted in
Figure 2.6, the PCC serves the Primary Serving Cell (PSC), while the SCC serves the Secondary Serving Cell (SSC). The coverage of the serving cells are not necessarily the same,
resulting from dierent component carrier frequencies and power planning. Furthermore,
in case of inter-band carrier aggregation, the component carriers will probably experience
dierent path loss, which increases with increasing frequency.
It is also pointed out in [9] that the introduction of carrier aggregation mainly has an
impact on the MAC and the physical layer. For example, the MAC layer should be able to
handle scheduling on multiple CCs and HARQ ACK/NACK (Acknowledgement/Negative
Acknowledgement) per CC. In addition, some new RRC controlling signals are introduced,
for example new RRC messages to handle the SCCs. In order to uphold backward compatibility with the LTE system, there should be as few changes in the protocols as possible.
18

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

2.3. Extension of Uplink Multiple Access





/

Z
E

W^WWZZ
^^^^
^^^^

Figure 2.6: Serving Cell: Primary Serving Cell and Secondary Serving Cell

2.3

Extension of Uplink Multiple Access

In line with [32], Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access (OFDMA) is used
in the LTE downlink, providing wide transmission bandwidth while still staying robust to
frequency selectivity of radio channels. The uplink is based on Single Carrier - Frequency
Division Multiplexing Access (SC-FDMA) as the transmission scheme. According to [33],
OFDMA is also utilized in LTE-Advanced downlink for the multi-carrier transmission.
However, the OFDMA modulation has a drawback: variation in the instantaneous power
of the transmitted signal is very large. In other words, the Peak-to-Average-Power-Ratio
(PAPR) of OFDMA is very high. This is a critical issue for the uplink, since the mobile
terminals should ideally have low consumption. On the other hand, the SC-FDMA used in
LTE has a constraint that only allows adjacent radio resource allocation in frequency domain. For LTE-A, contiguous or non-contiguous bands are aggregated to provide a wider
bandwidth. Therefore, the LTE-Advanced uplink utilizes a single-carrier transmission
scheme using DFT-Spread OFDM (DFTS-OFDM)2 , which allows non-contiguous resource
allocation as well as adjacent allocation. DFTS-OFDM overcomes the disadvantages of
the OFDMA and the SC-FDMA: it has a relatively small variation in the instantaneous
transmit power, leading to a lower PAPR compared to OFDMA; it also breaks the constraint of contiguous resource allocation, resulting in a higher scheduling exibility than
the SC-FDMA. The basic principle of DFTS-OFDM transmission is illustrated in Figure
2.7.
In DFTS-OFDM, at the transmitter side, M modulation symbols are generated from a
Series-to-Parallel transformation. Afterwards, these M symbols are applied to a size-M
2

Discrete Fourier Transform Spread OFDM: a method for achieving single carrier transmission in OFDM
by incorporating DFT in the pre-stage of the Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT)

Yangyang Dong

19

MASTER THESIS

^W

D
&d

2. New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

^

E
/&d

W^



W



W^

D
/&d

DE
^W^W
W^W^

^

E
&d

^W

&d^K&D

Z

W



K&D

Figure 2.7: DFTS-OFDM in LTE-Advanced Uplink

DFT. The output of DFT is put to a size-N (N > M ) Inverse DFT (IDFT), where the
other (N M ) inputs of the IDFT are set to zero. This method is also called the distributed
DFTS-OFDM [34]. Afterwards, a Parallel-to-Series transformation is conducted; and the
outputs are inserted with a cyclic prex. After converting digital signals to analog, the
signals are transmitted via the radio channel. At the receiver side, the inverse procedures
are performed to get the transmitted data.
In the light of [33], within one component carrier DFTS-OFDM is able to support both
contiguous and non-contiguous data transmission, as is depicted in Figure 2.8 (a). Every component carrier has PUCCH, carrying the controlling signals such as the HARQ
ACK/NACK signals, Scheduling Request signals and Channel Quality Indicator (CQI)
signals, which ensures backwards compatibility with LTE. PUSCH is used to transmit
data of mobile terminals. Among several dierent component carriers, N-times clustered
DFTS-OFDM is used (Figure 2.8 (b)). LTE-Advanced users can use multiple (N as showed
in the gure) component carriers for data transmission. Within these component carriers,
contiguous or non-contiguous bands are supported alike. In addition, every component
carrier can be used by a LTE user, conducting parallel LTE transmission.

2.4

Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission/Reception (CoMP)

This section gives an introduction to the Coordinated Multi-point (CoMP) transmission/reception, which is specied in the 3GPP release 9 [1]. Future mobile networks should
be able to serve a large amount of mobile terminals simultaneously. Traditionally, each
mobile terminal is assigned to one base station, i.e., the eNodeB, according to the criteria
such as signal strength and terminal distance to the base stations. Ideally, there should be
no interference within the same cell, thanks to the OFDM scheme which makes sure the
signals are orthogonal to one another. However, signals from the other base stations can
interfere with the mobile terminals in the serving eNodeB. In addition, the user in the serving eNodeB also causes interference with the users in the other eNodeBs. One approach to
20

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

2.4. Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission/Reception (CoMP)

&d^K&D

Wh^,

E
Z

Wh,

(a) Clustered DFTS-OFDM

E&d^K&D



Wh^,

Wh^,

W>d
Wh,

(b) N-times Clusteres DFTS-OFDM

Figure 2.8: Clustered DFTS-OFDM in LTE-Advanced Uplink

achieve better performance is to reduce interference using CoMP transmission/reception.
In mobile systems with CoMP, multiple geographically distributed antennas cooperate
with each other to improve the user performance. In LTE-Advanced, CoMP is expected
to improve the coverage of high data rates and the cell-edge throughput.
The specications dene CoMP techniques for both the downlink and the uplink. In
downlink, two CoMP categories are considered: Joint Processing (JP) and Coordinated
Scheduling/Beamforming (CS/CB). Their main dierence is that in the former scheme,
data is available at each point in CoMP cooperating set and many eNodeBs simultaneously
transmit data to the same UE, while in the latter scheme data is only available at the
serving eNodeB, and it is the only eNodeB that transmits data to the UE. In uplink, only
one coordinated approach is considered: Joint Reception (JR).

2.4.1 Downlink Coordinated Multi-Point Transmission

As has been pointed out, two downlink CoMP transmission techniques are considered:
Joint Processing and Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming. As stated in the 3GPP standards, in Joint Processing data for a particular UE is available at multiple eNodeBs. Two
Yangyang Dong

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MASTER THESIS

2. New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

dierent methods are being studied for the JP scheme: Joint Transmission (JT) and Dynamic Cell Selection (DCS). In joint transmission, multiple points who have the UE data
simultaneously transmit to the UE. In Dynamic Cell Selection, a fast cell selection approach
is performed and only one of the coordinated points transmits data at a time. Figures 2.9
(a) and 2.9 (b) show JT and DCS, respectively.

:W


:W


&
^




^

:d

(a) Joint Transmission

(b) Dynamic Cell Selection

Figure 2.9: Downlink CoMP: Joint Processing

In Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming, data is only available at the serving cell, which
transmits data to the UE. However, the UE scheduling/beamforming decisions are made
with coordination among cells. The terminals are provided with knowledge about the exact
coordinated transmission, for instance, from which point the data will be transmitted.
Figure 2.10 illustrates the CS/CB.

^


^^
Figure 2.10: Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming (CS/CB)

2.4.2 Uplink Coordinated Multi-Point Reception


^


Figure 2.11: Joint Reception and Coordinated Scheduling

22

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

2.5. Enhanced Use of MIMO

In uplink coordinated multi-point reception, signals are received at multiple, geographically

separated points. Coordination is performed among those points. The 3GPP Release 9
species Joint Reception (JR) and/or Coordinated Scheduling (CS), which is shown in
Figure 2.11. 3GPP also emphasizes that the need for extended CP operation in certain
uplink subframes should be further investigated.

2.5

Enhanced Use of MIMO

MIMO is one of the key techniques in current mobile systems, which uses multiple antennas
at both, the transmitter and the receiver sides. It aims at improving the performance, for
example increasing the overall throughput. As dened in 3GPP Release 11 [2], LTEAdvanced extends the Rel. 8 LTE spatial multiplexing to up to 8 layers in DL and 4 layers
in UL, respectively. Figure 2.12 shows the evolution of MIMO from LTE to LTE-Advanced.

h

h

h

>d

>d

Figure 2.12: Extension of MIMO from LTE to LTE-Advanced

The 3GPP Release 11 species that instead of using up to four layers MIMO in LTE,
LTE-A supports up to eight layers of spatial multiplexing in the downlink. Similarly in
the uplink, LTE-A also extends to four layers of spatial multiplexing, other than only one
layer in LTE. In case of single user spatial multiplexing, up to two transport blocks can be
transmitted from a scheduled UE per uplink component carrier. Each transport block has
its own MCS (Modulation and Coding Scheme).

2.6

Relay Nodes

Relay Nodes are also introduced in 3GPP release 11 [2] to improve the system performance
in LTE-A, for example to improve the coverage and cell-edge throughput. The relay node is
connected to a Donor eNodeB via the Un air interface in the E-UTRAN, which is a modied
version of E-UTRAN Uu interface. The Donor eNodeB not only serves its own UEs, but
also shares radio resources with the relay nodes. Figure 2.13 depicts the functionality of
the relay nodes.
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MASTER THESIS

2. New Functionalities of LTE-Advanced

h

E

h

h
ZE

Figure 2.13: Relay Node and Donor Cell

With respect to the usage of spectrum, two categories of RN operations are specied in
[2]:

Inband: the eNodeB-RN link shares the carrier frequency with the RN-UE links.
Outband: the eNodeB-RN link uses dierent carrier frequency than the relay-UE
links.
For both cases, the LTE users should be able to connect to the Donor Cell. In addition, the
eNodeB-RN link should also be able to operate on the same carrier frequency as DoeNB-UE
links.

24

Yangyang Dong

Radio Channel

A radio channel is the medium that carries information from a transmitter to a receiver
in the form of electromagnetic waves. This chapter gives an overview of wireless radio
channels and the channel models which are used in this thesis. In addition, the link budget
of the radio channel and the link to system mapping are introduced.
3.1

Channel Modeling

A channel model is a mathematical representation of the radio channel. A channel can be

modeled by calculating the physical processes which modify the transmitted signals. In
wireless communications the channel has a huge randomness. Therefore, statistical channel
models are required to model the eects of the channel on the transmitted signals. The
following gure illustrates the channel modeling:

Z^

d^

Figure 3.1: Channel Model Block Diagram

The wireless transmitted signals are mainly aected by the radio channel in three aspects:
path loss, slow fading and fast fading. Path loss depends on the distance between the
transmitter and the receiver. Slow fading is mainly caused by shadowing eect, when a
large object such as a hill or a large construction is in the propagation path; while fast
fading occurs mainly due to multi-path propagation. Details about the models for these
three aspects are described in the following sections.

3.1.1 Path Loss

Path loss is the power attenuation of the transmitted signal when it propagates from
the transmitter to the receiver. Path loss may be caused by free-space loss, reection,
refraction, diraction, absorption and so on. Assume PT x is the power of the transmitted
signal and PRx is the received power. The path loss can be illustrated as:

PL =

PT x
PRx

(3.1)

Furthermore, it can be expressed in dB as shown in the following formula:

L = 10 log

PT x
PRx

(3.2)

Since each individual wireless path may come across dierent aecting factors, it may not
be able to describe the actual path loss in a single mathematical equation. As a result,

MASTER THESIS

3. Radio Channel

models for dierent types of radio links under various conditions have been developed.
A combination of these models are expected to give accurate path loss estimations. The
Free Space Model, the Okumura Model and the Hata Model are among the most popular
statistical models for path loss calculations.

3.1.1.1 Free Space Path Loss Model

Free space path loss refers to the signal power loss when it propagates through free space.
It is proportional to the square of the distance between the transmitter and receiver, and
the square of the carrier frequency of the radio channel [35].

PL =

1
4f d 2
PT x
=
(
)
PRx
GT x GRx
c

(3.3)

where GT x and GRx are the gain factors of the transmit and receive antennas, respectively;
f is the carrier frequency and c is the speed of light in vacuum.
The free space path loss in logarithmic scale is given in the following formula:

L = 10 log

PT x
4f d
= 20 log
10 log GT x GRx
PRx
c

(3.4)

3.1.1.2 Okumura Model

The Okumura Model is also described in [35]. It is an empirical radio propagation model,
which was built using the data collected in Tokyo, Japan in 1960. The data refers to the
path loss measurement at dierent distances from the eNodeB. Therefore, the model is
suitable for cities with densely urban structures but not many tall buildings. Okumura
model is used as the base for many other path loss models. The model is applicable for a
distance between 1 km and 100 km, and a frequency range from 150 MHz to 1920 MHz.
The mobile station antenna height should be between 1 m and 10 m, and base station
antenna height is in the range of 30 m to 1000 m. The empirical Okumura Model in
logarithmic scale can be expressed in the following formula:

L = LF + AM U HM G HBG Gcorrection

(3.5)

where LF is the free space path loss and AM U is the median of the path loss additional to
LF in urban area. HM G and HBG are the mobile station and base station antenna height
gain factors, respectively. Gcorrection is a correction gain factor due to the environment. In
addition, Okumura also proposed formulas to calculate the HM G and HBG :

10 log(hM /3),
20 log(hM /3),

for hM 3 m
for 3 m < hM < 10 m

(3.6)

HBG = 20 log(hB /200),

for 30 m < hB < 1000 m

(3.7)


HM G =

26

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MASTER THESIS

3.1. Channel Modeling

where the hM and hB correspond to the mobile station and base station heights, respectively.

3.1.1.3 Hata Model

The Hata Model is also given in [35], which is also known as the Okumura-Hata Model
for being a developed version of the Okumura Model. Besides making use of the empirical
information from the Okumura Model, it models the eects of diraction, reection and
scattering eects caused by city structures. Although it is extended from the Okumura
Model, the Hata Model only supports a frequency range of 150 MHz to 1500 MHz. The
mobile station antenna height should be between 1 m and 10 m, and the base station
antenna height is between 30 m and 200 m. The mobile and base station distance should
be in the range of 1 km to 20 km. The Hata Model covers three varieties for transmission
in urban areas, suburban areas and open areas, which can be formulated as follows:

Hata Model for Urban Areas:

Lurban = 69.55 + 26.16 log fc 13.82 log hB CH + (44.9 6.55 log hB ) log d (3.8)
where fc is the carrier frequency in MHz, d is the distance between the base and
mobile stations, CH is a correction factor due to mobile station antenna height, which
depends on the coverage:
 For small or medium sized cities:

CH = 0.8 + (1.1 log fc 0.7)hM 1.56 log fc

(3.9)

 For large cities:


CH =

8.29 log(1.54hM )2 1.1,

3.2 log(11.75hM )2 4.97,

if 150 fc 200
if 200 < fc 1500

(3.10)

fc 2
) 5.4
28

(3.11)

Hata Model for Suburban Areas:

Lsuburban = Lurban 2(log
Hata Model for Open Areas:

Lsuburban = Lurban 4.78(log fc )2 + 18.33 log fc 40.94

(3.12)

3.1.1.4 ETSI Model for LTE Systems

Nowadays, the mobile systems operate on a high frequency with the coverage for both small
and large cell sizes. Therefore, neither the Okumura nor the Hata Model is suitable for
the modern mobile networks. Based on the fundamental models such as the Okumura and
the Hata Model, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) proposed
several simplied path loss models for various environments of the UMTS system [36],
which can also be utilized in the LTE and LTE-A systems. The mean of the log-normally
distributed path loss is given as a function of the distance from the mobile station to the
base station:
Yangyang Dong

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MASTER THESIS

3. Radio Channel

Path Loss Model for Indoor Oce Test Environment:

(3.13)

L = 37 + 30 log R + 18.3n(n+2)/(n+1)0.46

where R is the distance from the UE to the eNodeB in meters, and n is the number
of oors in the path.

Path Loss Model for Outdoor to Indoor and Pedestrian Test Environment:
(3.14)

L = 40 log R + 30 log f + 49

where R is the distance from the UE to the eNodeB in kilometers, and f is the
carrier frequency in M Hz .

Path Loss Model for Vehicular Test Environment:

L = 40(1 4 103 hB ) log R 18 log hB + 21 log f + 80

(3.15)

where R is the distance from the UE to the eNodeB in kilometers, f is the carrier
frequency in M Hz , and hB is the base station antenna height in meters.
Suppose a carrier frequency of 2000 M HZ is used and the base station antenna is
xed at a height of 15 meters, the formula becomes:
(3.16)

L = 128.1 + 37.6 log R

This simplied path loss model is utilized in this thesis.

3.1.2 Slow Fading

In wireless transmissions, attenuation of the transmit power is often caused by large objects
such as trees and buildings along the propagation path of the radio signals. This attenuation is called slow fading. It is also known as shadow fading, since it is mainly caused
by shadowing. Usually, these objects along the path have dierent sizes, locations and
dielectric properties. Therefore, statistical models are required to represent the shadowing
eects. The most widely used model is the log-normal model, which models the variation
of received power in both outdoor and indoor propagation environments.
Assume that the ratio of the power transmitted and the power received is Ps in linear scale
and S in logarithmic scale, which means:
(3.17)

S = 10 log Ps

According to [37], the probability distribution function (PDF) of the log-normally distributed Ps in linear scale can be expressed as:

10/ ln 10 (10 log2Ps 2 dB )

dB
p(Ps ) =
e
2dB Ps

(3.18)

where dB and dB are the mean and the standard deviation of S , respectively. They are
both expressed in dB scale.
28

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

3.1. Channel Modeling

The PDF of the normally distributed S (Gaussian distributed) is given in the following
formula:
2

(SdB )
1

p(S) =
e 2dB 2
2dB

(3.19)

The slow fading model used in this thesis is log-normally distributed with zero mean and
variance, which was proposed in [24]. It considers the time correlation between the slow
fading values. Assume that a user starts moving from a point P, where the slow fading is
randomly generated by a log-normal distribution and equals to S(0). According to [25],
with the user moving, the slow fading at distance , 2 , 3 , ..., n from the start point P
can be illustrated as:

S(n) = e/dc S((n 1)) + Vi

(3.20)

2 e/dc ) between the

dc is the decorrelation distance, where the covariance (Cov() = dB
1
2
two point is dB e . Vi is an independent identically distributed (i.i.d) normal random
variable. The mean and variance (in dB ) of Vi are given below:

2,dB = 0

(3.21)

2
2
(1 e2/dc )
= dB
2,dB

(3.22)

With the mobile user moving, a short decorrelation distance corresponds to a quick shadow
fading change, whereas a long decorrelation distance implies a slow shadow fading variation.

3.1.3 Fast Fading

Unlike the signals propagating along a xed path in the wired communication, the radio
signals in wireless transmission usually experience multi-path channels, thus leading to an
amplitude change and a phase shift at the receiver side. These eects are termed as fast
fading. The scale of fast fading eect is smaller compared to the eects of the path loss
and the slow fading. Fast fading causes both frequency and time selectivity.
Suppose a single, ideal Dirac impulse of power (t) is transmitted at time 0, i.e.:

x(t) = (t)

(3.23)

Due to the multi-path propagation, more than one pulse might be received at the receiver,
with each one of them arriving at dierent time and with dierent amplitudes and phases
(Figure 3.2). The received signal h(t) is a superposition of the impulse response functions,
which can be expressed by:
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29

MASTER THESIS

3. Radio Channel

/
Z



Figure 3.2: Channel Impulse Response

y(t) = h(t) =

N
1
X

n ejn (t n )

(3.24)

n=0

where N is the number of received impulse responses, which also stands for the number of
paths. n represents the time delay of the nth impulse. n ejn is the complex amplitude of
the received impulses, which includes both the magnitude and the phase. n can be given
by n = 2fc n with a central frequency of fc . Since several responses reach the receiver
at the same time, certain frequencies are attenuated more than the others. This is known
as the frequency-selective fading.
In practice, channels are time-variant, leading to the time dependent n and n , thus
the impulse responses would also be time-dependent. Therefore, the channel is not only
frequency selective, but also time selective. The time-variant impulse response can be
illustrated as:

y(t,t0 ) = h(t,t0 ) =

N
1
X

n (t0 )ejn (t ) (t n (t0 ))

(3.25)

n=0

Figure 3.3 shows a time-variant channel where the impulse response of the channel varies
with time. The time-axis is denoted by t0 and delay-axis is denoted by t.
The time selectivity of the channel is caused not only due to the time varying channels,
but also due to the movements of the transmitter or receiver, which is widely known as the
Doppler Shift. Assume that the signal has a frequency of f , and it arrives at the receiver
moving at a speed of v with an angle of to the direction of movement. c is the speed of
light in free space. The Doppler Shift can be expressed by:

n = 2f vcos()/c
30

(3.26)
Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

/
Z

3.1. Channel Modeling

d







Figure 3.3: Time Variant Channel Impulse Response

The frequency selectivity of the channel is caused by multi-path propagation, thus it is

not avoidable. Whereas the time selectivity can be negligible if the transmitter and the
receiver are stationary.
Several models have been proposed to depict fast fading for system level simulation purposes. The one used in this thesis is the Jakes-like Method of Complex Gain Generation.

3.1.3.1 Jakes-like Method of Complex Gain Generation

This model takes both the delay spread for frequency selectivity and the Doppler Shift
for time selectivity into consideration. The time selectivity is modeled according to the
Clarke's model [25] and the frequency selectivity is modeled in [38]. The time and frequency
dependent channel can be illustrated in Figure 3.4.
Assume that the receiver is moving at a speed of v , and N rays with the same amplitude
are received with an arrival angle of n . L PBRs are used in the network. For each ray
n, suppose fl is the center frequency at PRB l, n is the delay of ray n, then the phase
change n at PRB l can be expressed as:

n = fl n

(3.27)

The Doppler Shift can also be illustrated as:

n = m tcosn
Yangyang Dong

(3.28)
31

MASTER THESIS

3. Radio Channel

Figure 3.4: Time and Frequency Selective Channel [23]

where m t is the maximum Doppler Shift, which is determined by m = 2fl v/c. The
time-variant complex gain at PRB l can be acquired by accumulating the amplitudes of
the phases of all the N rays:

N 1
1 X j(n +n )
gl (t) =
e
N n=0

(3.29)

3.1.4 Link Budget

The link budget is a power budget, which considers all the power gains and losses of a signal
during the propagation from the transmitter to the receiver. It is used for determining the
Signal to Interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) of each PRB.

SIN R = PT x Ptotallosses N F N0

(3.30)

where PT x stands for the transmit power. Ptotallosses represents the total losses during the
propagation, which include the path loss, the slow fading and the fast fading. N F is the
Noise Figure caused by the electronic equipment, and N0 is the thermal noise.
32

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MASTER THESIS

3.2

3.2. Link-to-System Level Mapping

Link-to-System Level Mapping

Wireless network simulations are often divided into link-level and system-level ones. The
former ones consider air interface and physical layer related issues of one single link such
as modulation schemes, channel coding, and equalization; while the latter ones do not
simulate every individual link but consider many transmitters and receivers. This thesis
works on the system-level simulations. Therefore, a link-to-system level mapping method
is required to get the link level statistics for the system level simulations.
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Figure 3.5: Actual Value Interface

As is shown in Figure 3.5, the SINR values of all the PRBs are mapped to a single value
SIN Ravg , which stands for the overall channel conditions of the UE. In uplink, the Actual
Value Interface (AVI) [8] mapping method is used, which averages the link level SINR
values of all the PRBs:

SIN Ravg =

1
(SIN R1 + SIN R2 + ... + SIN RN )
N

(3.31)

The obtained SIN Ravg is compared to the target SINR of the highest MCS, which is the
SINR value of the 10% Block Error Probability (BLEP) of the corresponding Additive
White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) curve (Figure 3.6). If SIN Ravg is greater than the target
SINR, the highest MCS is chosen. Otherwise, compare the SIN Ravg with the target SINR
of the next highest MCS, until a MCS with a target SINR lower than the SIN Ravg is
found. If the target SINR of the lowest MCS is still larger than the SIN Ravg , the user is
considered not able to be served with its current channel conditions.
Once the MCS is determined, the Transport Block Size (TBS) can be decided according
to the TBS table (see Appendix E).

Yangyang Dong

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MASTER THESIS

3. Radio Channel

Figure 3.6: AWGN Channel BLER vs. SINR Curve [23]

34

Yangyang Dong

RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

The Radio Resource Management in the LTE-Advanced system is dierent from the one
in the LTE system, since the LTE-A system is able to aggregate multiple carriers for data
transmission. Figure 4.1 illustrates the RRM framework of a general uplink LTE-A system
with multiple carriers. The highlighted parts are covered in this thesis.


>^

d^
&^

&^

&^

>

>

>

,ZY

,ZY

,ZY

W

W

W

W,z

W,z

W,z

Figure 4.1: RRM Framework of LTE-Advanced Uplink

The Admission Control is in the Radio Resource Control layer of the control plane in the
eNodeB, which decides whether to accept or deny a new incoming connection. Once the
new connection is admitted, the CC Selection module allocates one or multiple CCs to
it based on the UE QoS requirements, terminal capability and so on. Afterwards, the
Time/Frequency Domain MAC Packet Scheduler (TDPS/FDPS) allocates radio resources
to the UEs according to their buer sizes and channel conditions, etc. Since a UE may use
multiple CCs for data transmission, the scheduler is capable of supporting joint scheduling
across multiple assigned CCs. In the uplink, the UEs are limited by the transmission
power, therefore, Power Control is also an important issue. In order to keep backward
compatibility with the Release 8 LTE system, the 3GPP working group agrees that several
separate RRM blocks operate independently on each CC, meaning that independent Link
Adaptation (LA) and HARQ are performed per CC basis. This ensures that the LTE
terminals are also able to work in the LTE-Advanced system. The 3GPP does not specify
algorithms for these functions, so vendors are free to design their own methods.

MASTER THESIS

4.1

4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

Admission Control

The AC is typically used for real-time trac, such as VoIP (Voice over IP), audio/video
streaming and gaming, and other time critical applications. It grants or denies the access
to a new radio bearer, depending on whether the required QoS of the new radio bearer will
be fullled while the required QoS of the already existing sessions is guaranteed. The 3GPP
denes four service level QoS parameters in [39]: QoS Class Identier (QCI), Allocation
and Retention Priority (ARP), Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR), and Aggregate Maximum Bit
Rate (AMBR):

QCI: Corresponds to a service type based on its bearer priority, packet delay budget
and packet loss rate.
ARP: Provides the basis for admission control in bearer setup, and it is also important in a congestion situation when bearers need to be discarded. Once the connection
has been established, the ARP does not inuence the bearer level treatment such as
the packet scheduling. The range of the ARP values is from 1 to 15, with 1 being the
highest level of priority.
GBR: Indicates the bit rate that can be expected to be provided by a GBR bearer.
AMBR: Shared by all the non-GBR bearers of one UE. It denotes the total maximum
bit rate that a UE may have for all the non-GBR bearers. With AMBR, network
operators are able to dierentiate subscribers with dierent priorities.

4.1.1 Common Algorithms

3GPP does not specify an algorithm for Admission Control. Therefore, several algorithms
have been proposed to admit or deny new connections in the system. Here are some
common algorithms for the AC in the LTE-A system.
The reference admission control algorithm is proposed in [15]:

c(t) + creq margin C

(4.1)

This algorithm can be used for both downlink and uplink, in which c(t) represents the
required capacity of all the already existing connections, creq is the required capacity of
the new connection, and C is the cell capacity. margin is a ratio, standing for the capacity
that can be occupied by real-time trac over the total capacity.
The reference AC algorithm is relatively simple and does not require lots of calculations.
However, this algorithm treats all the users equally and does not dierentiate them based
on their channel conditions. Besides, margin does not represent the actual ratio of realtime trac throughout over the overall cell throughput, which is time-variant in practice.
Another algorithm for AC which considers the channel quality is the FPC (See Chapter
4.5) based AC Algorithm [16]. Since the power control is only necessary for the uplink,
this method can only be used for the admission control in the uplink. It calculates the
required number of PRBs per TTI (Transmission Time Interval) of the new incoming user,
provided that its GBR requirement and transmit power constraint are fullled.
36

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MASTER THESIS

4.2. Component Carrier Selection

k
X

Ni + Nnew Ntotal

(4.2)

i=1

where Ni is the required number of PRBs per TTI of the already existing users, Nnew
is the number of PRBs required by the new incoming connection, and Ntotal is the total
number of PRBs provided by the frequency bands in the system. The Ni of the existing
users can be calculated at the eNodeB by dividing the total throughput by the average
scheduled throughput per PRB information; while the Nnew needs to be estimated using
the path loss and required GBR information. The FPC based AC algorithm tries to block
the users with high path loss to satisfy the requirements of the previously admitted users.

4.2

Component Carrier Selection

For the LTE users, only one component carrier can be used for data transmission. It is
proved in [26] that the Round Robin (RR) balancing is an ecient way to allocate CCs to
the LTE users in a system with more than one CC. When a new user arrives, it is assigned
on the carrier that has the least number of users at present.
Unlike the LTE system, the LTE-A system allows a user to transmit data on up to ve
component carriers. The CC Selection module allocates one or multiple CCs to the incoming users based on their QoS requirements and channel conditions, etc. For the downlink,
being allocated on multiple CCs generally results in a higher throughput, thanks to the
the larger transmission bandwidth and higher transmission power. However, this might
not always work for the uplink, especially for the users who are power limited at the cell
edge. According to [14], even if the users are assigned on multiple CCs, they do not have
sucient power to exploit the increased transmission bandwidth. It is shown in [28] that
with a proper CC allocation, the average and cell center user throughput can be highly
improved. Therefore, a sucient way to select the component carriers for the users is
needed.
In this work, the intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation is assumed, i.e., two contiguous
carriers from the same band are utilized in the network. A simple algorithm is implemented
in this work such that the users whose distance to the eNodeB is farther than a distance
limit are assigned on one, otherwise both CCs. This algorithm is easy to implement
and requires relatively simple calculations; however, dierent distance limits give dierent
performances. If the best performance is to be achieved, the determination of the distance
limit requires a great amount of testing. Moreover, the network environment changes over
the time, while the distance limit would not adapt accordingly once it is set.
An eective path loss threshold based CC selection algorithm was proposed in [14] to
distinguish between power-limited and non-power-limited LTE-A users:

Pthreshold = L95%

10 log K + Pbackof f

(4.3)

where L95% is the estimated 95 percentile user path loss, K is the total number of CCs
and is the path loss compensation factor used in the power control scheme. Pbackof f
Yangyang Dong

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MASTER THESIS

4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

is the estimated power back-o to model the eects of increased PAPR and CM (Cubic
Metric) when a user transmits over multiple CCs simultaneously. If a user is scheduled for
transmission only on one CC, there is no power back-o; otherwise, it is set with a xed
value, for example, 4 dB or 6 dB. With a higher power back-o, less LTE-A users will
be assigned on multiple CCs due to the limitation of user transmission power. When the
path loss of the LTE-A users is higher than the threshold Pthreshold , they are considered to
be power-limited and assigned on one single CC; otherwise they are considered to be nonpower-limited and can use multiple CCs for data transmission. By doing this, the cell-edge
users will not experience performance loss from being scheduled over multiple CCs, while
the non-power-limited users can benet from the advantages of a wider bandwidth.
This algorithm is implemented in this work, however, improvement has also been made
to get better performance. Instead of assuming that the users are stationary, a timevariant radio channel model is used to get the real-time channel conditions of the users.
Furthermore, not only the path loss is considered when determining the threshold and the
number of CCs, another important component of the radio channel - the slow fading, is
also taken into consideration. The proposed algorithm can be illustrated as follows:

Pthreshold = (L + SF )95%

10 log K + Pbackof f

(4.4)

where SF stands for the slow fading of the user. When the sum of the user's path loss and
slow fading is higher than the threshold, one CC is assigned; otherwise, the user can use
both CCs for data transmission.

4.3

Uplink Signalling

The uplink signalling provides the eNodeB with the required scheduling information of
the users. The channel aware scheduling methods in the uplink strongly demand the
information of the respective channels. Since the uplink transmission buers are located
in the users, the information on the buer status needs to be transmitted to the eNodeB
as well. In addition, the user needs to report the power headroom measurements to the
eNodeB in order to not exceed its maximum power during the uplink packet forwarding.

4.3.1 Channel State Information (CSI)

The CSI informs the eNodeB of the channel conditions of the users. The Sounding Reference Signals (SRS) are transmitted from the users. The SINR of the SRS is measured to
estimate the CSI. SRS can be transmitted over the whole bandwidth, or just a portion of
the bandwidth.

4.3.2 Buer Status Report (BSR)

In the downlink, the data buers are located in the eNodeB, so the scheduler in the eNodeB
has the knowledge of the user data. In the uplink, the buers are located in the users while
38

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MASTER THESIS

4.3. Uplink Signalling

the scheduling decisions are made at the eNodeB. Therefore, the BSR provides the serving
eNodeB with the information on the amount of data in the users' buers.
According to the 3GPP specication [40], a BSR shall be triggered if any of the following
events occurs:

New data arrives in the user buer, and its priority is higher than that of the already
existing user data;
Uplink resources are allocated and number of padding bits is larger than the size of
the Short/Long BSR;
The serving cell changes.

LCG ID

Buffer Size

Oct 1

(a) Short BSR

Buffer
Size #2

Buffer Size #1
Buffer Size #2
Buffer
Size #3

Buffer Size #3
Buffer Size #4

Oct 1
Oct 2
Oct 3

(b) Long BSR

Figure 4.2: Buer Status Report

In line with the 3GPP specications, the buer status is reported on a Logical Channel
Group (LCG) basis. A LCG is a group of radio bearers with similar QoS requirements.
The maximum number of LCGs is xed to be four. Two formats of BSRs are dened: the
Short BSR and the Long BSR. The former one (see Figure 4.2 (a)) contains one LCG ID
eld and one corresponding Buer Size eld, and only one LCG is reported in the Short
BSR; the latter one (see Figure 4.2 (b)) consists of four Buer Size elds, corresponding
to LCG IDs No. 1 to No. 4, and all four LCGs are reported. The LCG ID identies the
group of the logical channels of which the buer status is being reported, and the length
of the LCG ID is 2 bits; Buer Size indicates the total amount of data available in all the
logical channels of a LCG in Bytes, and the length of this eld is 6 bits. If there is data
from only one LCG in the user buer, a short BSR is transmitted; otherwise, a long BSR
is delivered.

4.3.3 Power Headroom Report (PHR)

The PHR is dened in [41] for the uplink, which indicates the dierence between the UE
maximum transmit power and the estimated uplink scheduling transmit power. In a power
headroom report, the user sends the information on the Power Spectral Density (PSD) to
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MASTER THESIS

4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

the eNodeB. Then the eNodeB uses this information to perform RRM decisions such as
determining the transmission bandwidth and MCS.

4.4

Resource Allocation and Scheduling

Resource allocation and scheduling is conducted by the MAC packet scheduler. It dynamically distributes the radio resources among the active users with an appropriate MCS. It
aims to maximally utilize the scarce radio resources, while meeting the QoS requirements
of the EPS bearers. The scheduling is performed in every TTI. 1 TTI equals 1 ms.
As explained in Chapter 2.3, N-times clustered DFTS-OFDM is agreed as the uplink
access scheme of the uplink LTE-A system, due to its lower signal PAPR compared to the
OFDMA scheme and backward compatibility with the LTE system. Furthermore, it has a
higher scheduling exibility compared to the SC-FDMA scheme, permitting non-contiguous
PRB assignments to achieve a higher spectral eciency. The scheduling information is
broadcasted to all the users through the PDCCH. Users have to monitor the PDCCH to
know when to transmit and receive. The scheduling decisions are made per bearer basis.
By using the DiServ (Dierentiated Services) architecture, the scheduler is able to dierentiate between various trac types and assign the radio resources according to their QoS
requirements. The main characteristic of the proposed scheduler is that it guarantees the
QoS of dierent trac types and considers their channel conditions, while keeping a reasonable fairness and user throughput. The scheduler has a decoupled time and frequency
domain structure, including Bearer Classication, TDPS and FDPS. Figure 4.3 illustrates
the scheduler structure implemented in this thesis.

WZ
'Z

'Z


E'Z

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h



d

^'Z

d^

&

&
^

Figure 4.3: Decoupled Time and Frequency Domain Scheduling

The radio bearers can be classied into GBR bearers and non-GBR bearers:

GBR: The QoS of the GBR bearers is guaranteed by dedicating a xed number of
resources to the UE when a connection is established. VoIP trac could be dened
as GBR.
Non-GBR: For the bearers with no xed resources reserved, no certain bit rate can
be guaranteed. Best Eort (BE) trac such as HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
40

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MASTER THESIS

4.4. Resource Allocation and Scheduling

and FTP (File Transfer Protocol) can be categorized to be non-GBR bearers.

In the following subsections, each part of the scheduler will be given in details.

4.4.1 Bearer Classication

In the Bearer Classication phase, the bearers are classied according to their TDPS
metric, which depends on their QoS requirements, channel conditions and buer status.
The TDPS metric is calculated in this phase for the time domain scheduler.
The QoS parameter used for the bearer classication is the QCI, which is an index associated with predened values for the priority, delay budget and packet loss rate. Nine QCI
classes are predened by the 3GPP - four for the GBR bearers and ve for the non-GBR
bearers. In addition, network operators are allowed to dene additional new classes based
on their specic needs. Since each trac type has dierent QoS requirements, each bearer
is assigned with a single QCI class. In the MAC scheduler, the bearers are distributed into
ve MAC QoS classes according to [24]: two classes - MAC QoS Class 1 and Class 2 for
the GBR bearers and three classes - MAC QoS Class 3, 4 and 5 for the non-GBR bearers.
Table 4.1 shows how MAC QoS classes are mapped onto QCI classes.

Bearer Type
GBR
Non-GBR
Non-GBR
Non-GBR

QCI class
QCI-1
QCI-7
QCI-8
QCI-9

MAC QoS Class

MAC-QoS-1
MAC-QoS-3
MAC-QoS-4
MAC-QoS-5

Trac Type

VoIP
Video Conferencing
HTTP
FTP

Table 4.1: QCI and MAC QoS Mapping

For each MAC QoS class, the TDPS weight Wi,k (t) of a bearer k of the user i is calculated based on the following formula, which takes the QoS of dierent trac types into
consideration:

Wi,k (t) =

Rmin,k i,k (t)

%k (t)
Ri,k (t) max,k

(4.5)

where Rmin,k stands for the bit rate budget, i.e., the minimum throughput of the bearer
k at a certain QoS class; and max,k is the end-to-end delay budget, i.e., the maximum
tolerant delay of the bearer k . Ri,k (t) is the average throughput, and i,k (t) is the average
delay of bearer k of user i. %k (t) is a variable: if i,k (t) is higher than the delay threshold
of bearer k at time t , it is set to 10; otherwise it is set to 1. This variable is to avoid large
delays of some delay-sensitive trac, for example the video applications. In case that the
bearer delay is larger than the delay threshold, its QoS weight is increased by 10 times to
increase the possibility to be scheduled.
The bit rate budget, the packet delay budget and the delay threshold values for various QoS
classes are given in Table 4.2. For example, a VoIP bearer has an average throughput of 110
kbps and an average delay of 0.01 s (below the delay threshold), the weight is calculated
as 55kbps/110kbps 0.01s/0.1s 1 = 0.05. If the average delay increases to 0.05 s (exceeds
Yangyang Dong

41

MASTER THESIS

Bearer Type
VoIP
Video Conferencing
Buered Video
HTTP
FTP

4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

Bit Rate Budget

(kbps)
55
132
132
120
10

Delay Budget
(ms)
100
150
300
300
300

Delay Threshold
(ms)
20
50
100



Table 4.2: Bit Rate Budget, Delay Budget and Delay Threshold [39]
the delay threshold), the weight will be set to 55kbps/110kbps 0.05s/0.1s 10 = 2.5. In
this way, the priority of the VoIP bearer will increase to get more resources, thus resulting
in a decreased delay.
After acquiring the TDPS weight of each bearer, the TDPS metric of each bearer can be
calculated according to dierent TDPS algorithms, which are given in the next subsection.
The bearers are put into a bearer list for scheduling by the time domain scheduler.

4.4.2 Time Domain Scheduling

During the Time Domain Scheduling session, the bearers are sorted in each TTI according
to the TDPS priority metric calculated in the Bearer Classication phase. The bearers
with higher TDPS metric values are chosen for the FDPS. The scheduling is performed
per bearer basis in the uplink LTE-A system, because there is no contiguous-resourceallocation constraint as in LTE, thanks to the exploitation of the DFTS-OFDM access
scheme. Moreover, uplink signalling, such as the CSI, the BSR and the PHR, provides the
eNodeB with the information required for the uplink scheduling.
Some of the basic and widely used scheduling algorithms include: Blind Equal Throughput
(BET), Maximum Throughput (MaxT) and Proportional Fair (PF). A brief introduction
to these algorithms is given below.

4.4.2.1 Blind Equal Throughput Scheduler

The BET scheduling algorithm is a simple algorithm which does not require a-priori knowledge of the channel conditions. It gives equal amount of radio resources to all the bearers to
keep an equal throughput among them, regardless of whether they are close to the eNodeB
or at the cell edge [42]. One of the advantages of the BET scheduler is that it provides
fairness among all the bearers, however, it leads to low cell throughput.
The BET priority metric could be calculated by:

Pk (t) = argmax

1
Tk (t)

(4.6)

where Tk (t) stands for the average throughput of the bearer k over a time window:
42

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS


Tk (t) =

4.4. Resource Allocation and Scheduling

(1 1 )Tk (t 1) + 1 Rk(t)
(1 1 )Tk (t 1)

if bearer k is served in time slot t;

otherwise.

where Rk(t) is the actual achieved throughput of bearer k over a time window. is the
time window which is measured by TTIs, and usually it is a number between 500 TTIs to
1000 TTIs.

4.4.2.2 Maximum Throughput Scheduler

The MaxT scheduler is also discussed in [42], which aims at maximizing the cell throughput
by giving priority to the bearers closer to the eNodeB, who have better instantaneous
channel conditions. The priority metric calculation can be expressed as follows:

Pk (t) = argmax rk(t)

(4.7)

where rk(t) is the instantaneously supported throughput of the bearer k over a time window. This algorithm maximizes the cell throughput and the spectral eciency, however,
it does not serve all the bearers equally. As a result, the bearers at the cell edge might
starve due to their bad channel conditions.

4.4.2.3 Proportionally Fair Scheduler

The BET scheduler ensures fairness among all the bearers but gives a low cell throughput;
while the MaxT scheduler provides high cell throughput, however, it does not consider fairness among all the bearers. Therefore, [42] also proposed the Proportionally Fair scheduler,
which is a compromise between the BET and the MaxT algorithms: it tries to provide a
relatively high cell throughput of the network, while keeping some level of fairness.

Pk (t) = argmax

rk(t)
Tk (t)

(4.8)

where rk(t) is the instantaneously supported throughput of the bearer k over a time window. Tk (t) is the average throughput of the bearer k over a time window, which is calculated
with the same formula for the BET scheduler.

4.4.2.4 Bandwidth and QoS Aware Scheduler

The BQA Scheduler was proposed in [25] for LTE uplink to provide ecient and fair allocation of the radio resources to the users according to their various QoS requirements
and instantaneous channel conditions. Since there is a contiguous-resource-allocation constraint for LTE uplink, the TDPS metric is calculated per user basis. The TDPS weight
calculated in the Bearer Classication phase is taken into consideration when deciding the
priority metric.
Yangyang Dong

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MASTER THESIS

4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

ri(t) X
Pi (t) = argmax

Wi,k (t)
Ti (t)

(4.9)

k=1

where ri(t) is the instantaneously supported throughput of the user i over a time window.
Ti (t) is the average throughput of the user i over a time window. M is the total number
of the bearers of the user i.
For LTE-A uplink, since DFTS-OFDM is used, the contiguous-resource-allocation constraint does not exist anymore. A per bearer basis Channel and QoS Aware (CQA)
scheduling algorithm can be utilized:

Pk (t) = argmax

rk(t)
Wi,k (t)
Tk (t)

(4.10)

In this thesis, the BET, the MaxT, the PF and the CQA scheduling algorithms are implemented. The bearers are sorted in the TDPS according to their TDPS metrics, afterwards
they are put in a candidate list, which will be further handled by the frequency domain
scheduler.

4.4.3 Frequency Domain Scheduling

In the frequency domain scheduler, the bearers that have been allowed by the TDPS to
enter the FDPS are allocated with a portion of frequency spectrum. The FDPS metric
of the bearers on each PRB of one CC or multiple CCs decides the order of allocation.
Similarly to the TDPS, the FDPS metric can be calculated according to several dierent
scheduling algorithms, for example, the MaxT and the PF scheduling methods are also
designed for the frequency domain scheduling.

4.4.3.1 Maximum Throughput

The MaxT scheduler in the FDPS also aims at maximizing the cell throughput. The
scheduler allocates a PRB to the bearer k who has the maximum SINR value at the PRB
j on the mth component carrier. The scheduling algorithm for the LTE-A system can
be derived from [43], which designs a MaxT scehduler for the LTE system. The priority
metric can be calculated as follows:

Pk,m,j (t) = SIN Rk,m,j (t)

(4.11)

where SIN Rk,m,j (t) is the SINR value of the bearer k at the PRB j on the mth CC. This
algorithm provides the best cell throughput, however, it does not consider fairness among
the bearers.
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MASTER THESIS

4.4. Resource Allocation and Scheduling

4.4.3.2 Proportionally Fair

PF scheduler tries to provide a relatively high cell throughput, while serving the users
fairly. A PF scheduling method was proposed in [26] for both the independent per-CC
packet scheduling and the cross-CC packet scheduling. They dier from each other in the
way of calculating the scheduling metrics.
The independent per-CC packet scheduling algorithm is similar to the one in a traditional
single carrier system, which does not consider the transmission characteristics on the other
CCs.

Pk,m,j =

Rk,m,j
k,m
R

(4.12)

where Rk,m,j is the estimated throughput of the bearer k on the mth CC at the j th PRB;
k,m is the average delivered throughput of the bearer k on the same CC in the past.
R
This method provides fairness when there are only LTE or LTE-A bearers in the system,
however, it has a drawback of poor fairness among the LTE and the LTE-A bearers,
assuming that both are in the system, with the same average channel quality. Over a long
time, the scheduler gives an equal share of resources to the LTE bearer and the LTE-A
bearer assigned to the same CC. However, the LTE-A bearer is able to use other CCs.
Therefore, in total it gets overall N times the resources of the LTE bearer (suppose N
is the number of CCs used by the LTE-A bearer). In order to solve this problem, the
cross-CC packet scheduling metric calculating method was also presented in [26], which
takes the throughput on all the CCs into consideration.

Rk,m,j
Pk,m,j = PN

m=1 Rk,m

(4.13)

By taking the past throughput over all the aggregated CCs into account, the LTE-A bearers
have a reduced scheduling metric than that of the independent scheduling method, since
the overall throughput on all the CCs is higher than the throughput per CC. Meanwhile,
the LTE bearers maintain their scheduling metric, because they only use one CC for data
transmission and reception. Thus, this method improves fairness among the LTE and the
LTE-A bearers.
Based on the cross-CC packet scheduling algorithm, a Channel and QoS Aware (CQA)
scheduling algorithm can be adapted to the LTE-A system, which takes the QoS of dierent
trac types and the channel conditions into consideration:

Rk,m,j
Pk,m,j = PN
Wm,k (t)

m=1 Rk,m

(4.14)

where Wm,k (t) is the weight calculated in the Bearer Classication phase, which is also
used for the TDPS.
In this thesis, a frequency domain scheduler based on [23] has been implemented. The
bearers are classied into GBR bearers and non-GBR bearers, and the GBR bearers require
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4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

guaranteed bit rates, therefore, they are served at rst priority. Afterwards, the non-GBR
bearers are served. The frequency domain scheduling procedures are summarized as follows:
1. At the beginning of each TTI, a certain number of bearers are chosen from the top of
the Candidate List, then they are put in a Subset Candidate List. The chosen bearers
are with higher scheduling metrics. The number N of the bearers in the Subset
Candidate List can be altered to suit various situations and alter the performance
accordingly. The investigation results are given in chapter 5.3.
2. After putting the bearers in the subset list, the scheduler searches for the best PRB
of the rst bearer. This PRB is allocated to the best bearer, therefore, the bearer's
average SINR is set to the SINR of this PRB. This gives the MCS.
3. Once the MCS is obtained, the achievable TBS is determined by checking the number
of PRBs that the bearer has acquired. Afterwards, the achievable TBS is compared
against the buer size of the bearer:

If TBS is greater than the buer size, i.e., the bearer can be completely served
in this TTI, the power constraint of the user in the current TTI is checked:

 If it exceeds the power limit, the PRB will not be used by the bearer and this

bearer is served with the highest power it can provide and then be discarded
from the candidate list for this TTI;
 Otherwise the reserved PRB is marked as used and the bearer gets scheduled.

If the TBS is smaller compared to the buer size, the bearer waits until the
remaining bearers from the Subset Candidate List nish the same procedure as
described above. The best PRB for one bearer is not necessarily the best for
another one, since users are moving randomly with channel conditions changing
over time.
4. When the remaining bearers in the Subset Candidate List nish the SINR calculation,
MCS and TBS determination, power check and getting served or discarded, the rst
bearer that has a larger buer size than the achievable TBS gets his second best
PRB out of the remaining PRBs, and the average SINR is calculated according to
Equation 3.31. Then the MCS and TBS are determined in step 3, and power check
is also performed here. This procedure continues until all the bearers in the Subset
Candidate List get served or there are no available PRBs left.
5. If the former occurs and there are still available PRBs in the system, the (N + 1)th
bearer from the Candidate List is moved to the Subset Candidate List and gets
scheduled. This continues until there are no more bearers in the Candidate List or
there are no more available radio resources.

4.5

Uplink Power Control

The downlink transmission power is usually not a major issue since it comes from the
eNodeB, and the PSD for each UE is kept constant at the eNodeB to reduce inter-cell
interference. For the uplink, the users are usually limited by the transmission power,
therefore, the power control scheme is necessary to adjust the transmission power. It aims
at maximizing the power of the desired signals while limiting the inter-cell interference.
As dened in 3GPP Release 9 [1], functionalities of the uplink power control in the LTE-A
system are similar to Release 8:
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MASTER THESIS

4.5. Uplink Power Control

The uplink power control scheme mainly compensates for slow-varying channel conditions, and it tries to reduce the interference towards the neighboring cells.
Fractional path loss compensation or full path loss compensation is used on the
PUSCH, and full path loss compensation on the PUCCH.



^/EZ

D

^/EZ

Figure 4.4: Power Control

The power control scheme modies the transmit power per PRB at the user's physical
layer. As is shown in Figure 4.4, the power control has the following functions:

Provides the cell-edge users with the required SINR.

Minimizes the interference towards the neighboring cells.
Keeps a low level of battery power consumption.
Minimizes the dynamic range at the eNodeB receiver.

The transmission power decreases during the transmission mainly due to the path losses1
along the propagation path. One of the power control scheme compensates all the path
losses so as to obtain the same power for all the users at the eNodeB. This is called the
Full Path Loss Compensation. However, if the full path losses are compensated, a user
at the cell edge with higher path losses requires higher transmission power, which would
cause strong interference towards the neighboring cells. To reduce the interference, the
3GPP introduced the Fractional Power Control (FPC), which aims at compensating a
fraction of the path losses. In this way, the cell-edge users with higher path losses are
allowed to transmit with sucient power but relatively lower than that in the Full Path
Loss Compensation, thus, the interference towards the other cells can be reduced.
There are two algorithms for the FPC, the Open Loop Power Control (OLPC) and the
Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC) algorithms. As shown in Figure 4.5, in the OLPC,
the eNodeB broadcasts reference signals to all the users. Based on the measurements, the
power control algorithm calculates how much power the user needs for a data transmission.
Suppose Pmax is the maximum allowed transmission power of the user, P0 is a user specic
1

Here, path losses mainly contain path loss and shadowing fading.

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MASTER THESIS

4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

E
>Z^

hd

h
Figure 4.5: Open Loop Power Control (OLPC)

(or optionally cell specic) parameter, is the cell specic path loss compensation factor
which belongs to [0, 1]. Dierent P0 values for dierent are given in Table 4.3 when
2 equals 0. L is the downlink path loss and shadowing measured at the user using the
downlink reference signal from the eNodeB, M CS is a user or cell specic parameter
depending on the MCS, and M is the number of PRBs allocated to the user. The OLPC
algorithm can be illustrated using the following formula:
(4.15)

P = min(Pmax , P0 + L + M CS + 10logM )
/
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1.0

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

16
-4
-7
-21
-33
-45
-56
-69
-80
-91
-102

2
-11
-20
-33
-45
-56
-68
-80
-93
-102
-113

-8
-21
-32
-45
-57
-68
-80
-93
-104
-113
-123

-21
-32
-44
-57
-69
-79
-93
-104
-113
-124
-134

-32
-44
-56
-69
-81
-93
-104
-113
-124
-133
-145

-44
-55
-68
-81
-92
-103
-113
-124
-133
-145
-156

-56
-68
-80
-92
-104
-114
-124
-135
-146
-155
-165

-68
-79
-92
-104
-115
-123
-135
-144
-155
-165
-174

-80
-92
-103
-114
-123
-135
-146
-155
-164
-172
-184

-92
-103
-114
-123
-132
-142
-155
-164
-171
-181
-190

-103
-114
-123
-132
-141
-153
-162
-171
-181
-192
-201

Table 4.3: I0 (or equivalently P0 ) values in dBm/PRB that maximizes the 5%

outage user throughput for each combination of and [19]
As we can see in the formula, when equals 0, no path loss is compensated; when
equals 1, the formula leads to the Full Path Loss Compensation. In the OLPC algorithm,
the eNodeB broadcasts reference signals, and then the user measures and decides how
much transmission power it needs for the uplink transmission. However, the users do
not send feedback to the serving eNodeB, which is why the method is called open loop.
The estimated power is not exactly the uplink transmission power since it measures the
downlink path losses. Therefore, an estimation of the uplink path losses is required if
precise transmission power is demanded, which can be achieved by the CLPC.
2

is also a cell specic interference compensation factor which belongs to [0, 1]. See Equation 4.17.

48

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MASTER THESIS

4.5. Uplink Power Control

E
h>Z^

hd

h
(a) CLPC (Form 1)

E
>Z^
hd
>&

h
(b) CLPC (Form 2)

Figure 4.6: Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC)

The CLPC algorithm has two ways of calculating the uplink transmission power. In the
rst form (Figure 4.6 (a)), the users send reference signals to the eNodeB, and then the
eNodeB sends feedback to the users. The formula is similar to the OLPC, only the L here
stands for the uplink path losses which are measured using the feedback sent from the
eNodeB after the uplink reference signals, instead of the downlink ones that are measured
at the user side in the OLPC. This ensures that the estimated transmission power is for
the uplink.
In the second form of CLPC (Figure 4.6 (b)), the eNodeB broadcasts reference signals to all
the users like in the OLPC case, and the users transmit data to the eNodeB. The eNodeB
also sends correction function to the users to be used to perform power adjustments.
According to [21], the second form of CLPC is expressed as follows:

P = min(Pmax , P0 + L + M CS + f (i ) + 10logM )

(4.16)

where i is a user specic close loop correction value. f (x) is a correction function sent by
the eNodeB for power adjustment, which allows both accumulate and absolute correction
values.
Besides the FPC, other power control algorithms for better performance include the Interference Based Power Control (IBPC) [18] scheme, in which the transmission power is
adjusted by considering not only the path loss to the serving cell but also the interference
generated towards the neighboring cells in the network. The algorithm can be illustrated
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4. RRM in a Multi-CC LTE-A System

as follows:

P = min(Pmax , I0 + Lown + Lother + M CS + 10logM )

(4.17)

Like the , is also a cell specic interference compensation factor which belongs to [0, 1].
When equals 0, the algorithm is simply the FPC. I0 is the wanted upper limit for the
generated interference spectral density. The corresponding I0 values in dBm/PRB that
maximizes the 5% outage user throughput for each combination of and are given in
Table 4.3. Lown is the path losses to the serving cell, Lother is the path losses to the
neighboring cells, which is an accumulation of the interferences to the other cells.
In this thesis, IBPC has been implemented; and by tuning the to 0, FPC can also be
obtained. The results comparison is given in Chapter 5.5.
In summary, this chapter provides a detailed explanation of the uplink radio resource
management in the LTE-Advanced system. In summary, when a new connection has to be
established in the network, it is rst accepted or denied by the Admission Control. This
is done in the RRC layer of the Control Plane in the eNodeB, which is out of the scope of
this thesis. Once the connection is admitted, the CC Selection session decides how many
CCs have to be assigned to that user, either single CC or multiple CCs. At each scheduling
instance, the scheduler generates the scheduling metric for each bearer on each PRB of
each CC. The bearers are sorted according to their scheduling metrics in TDPS. In the
frequency domain, the scheduler rst selects a bearer with the highest scheduling metric,
and then checks the power constraint of the corresponding user. If it exceeds the power
limit with new resource allocation, the scheduler removes that bearer from the candidate
list, and checks the next bearer. Otherwise, the scheduler allocates the current PRB to
that bearer, until either another bearer has a higher scheduling metric or the maximum
transmission power of the corresponding user is exceeded. The algorithm continues the
loop with all the bearers until either all the bearers have been scheduled or all the radio
resources haven been utilized.

50

Yangyang Dong

Simulation Results and Analysis

This chapter gives the simulation results and analysis of the implemented algorithms.
First, the utilized network simulation tool OPNET Modeler is introduced. Afterwards, an
overview of the simulation scenarios is given. Finally, the simulation results of dierent
scenarios and detailed analyses are presented.

5.1

The OPNET Modeler

The OPNET modeler is a tool used for network simulation. The OPNET Modeler has
been used for the modeling, simulation and analyses of the algorithms developed during
this thesis. The key features according to [29] are listed as follows:

Fastest discrete event simulation engine among leading industry solutions

Hundreds of protocol and vendor device models with source code (complete OPNET
Model Library)
Object-oriented modeling
Hierarchical modeling environment
Discrete Event, Hybrid, and optional Analytical simulation
32-bit and 64-bit fully parallel simulation kernel
Grid computing support for distributed simulation
Optional System-in-the-Loop to interface simulations with live systems
Realistic Application Modeling and Analysis
Open interface for integrating external object les, libraries, and other simulators
Integrated, GUI-based debugging and analysis
Figure 5.1 shows the OPNET project editor of a typical LTE simulation scenario, and the
brief functions of each part are given as follows:

Application: Denes and congures applications in the network, such as VoIP,

video, HTTP and FTP.
Prole: Denes the trac models for dierent applications, for example, the simulation operation modes, the start time, the simulation duration and the repeatability,
etc.
Mobility: Denes users' mobility models as well as updates their channel conditions.
Channel conditions are modeled with path loss, slow fading and fast fading.
Global UE List: Contains users' information, can be used to congure the transport
network and the scheduling method, etc.
Remote server: The remote application server.
aGW: Routes and forwards user data packets. It connects the peer-to-peer transport
network and the remote server.
R1, R2: IP-based routers in the transport network.
eNB: Models the eNodeB functionalities in the E-UTRAN.
UE: Users in the network, can be congured with dierent applications.

MASTER THESIS

5. Simulation Results and Analysis

Figure 5.1: OPNET Project Editor

Figure 5.2: eNodeB Node Model

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MASTER THESIS

5.2. Scenario Overview

Each node consists of its corresponding protocol stack implementation. For example,
Figure 5.2 depicts the node model of the eNodeB with its protocol stack. A node handles
some internal features such as packet header removal and packet scheduling, etc.
In each node, there is one or several process models. The process model denes Finite
State Machines (FSMs) to represent the functionality of the modules. In the process
model editor, the states and the transitions of the FSM are depicted by icons and lines,
respectively. The operations within a state and the triggers for the transitions are written
with C or C++ programming codes. Figure 5.3 shows the process model of the eNodeB
MAC layer.

Figure 5.3: eNodeB MAC Process Model

5.2

Scenario Overview

The validation of the implementation of the algorithms and the evaluation of the performance are discussed in this chapter. First, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to nd
the optimum parameter value for the simulations. Then the Component Carrier Selection
scheme proposed and implemented in this thesis is analyzed. In addition, the results are
compared with the one proposed in [14]. Afterwards, the IBPC is analyzed and compared
with the FPC. Finally, the Channel and QoS Aware MAC Scheduler proposed in this work
is investigated.
Table 5.1 shows the congurations for the simulation scenarios.
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5. Simulation Results and Analysis

Parameter

Setting

Simulation Length
Cell Layout
Cell Radius
User Speed
Max UE power
Carrier Frequency
Noise Figure
Noise per PRB
Path loss model
Slow Fading
Fast Fading
Mobility Model
Buer Size
Transmission Bandwidth
No. of PRBs/Bandwidth
Fractional Power Control
Fractional Power Control
Interference Based Power
Interference Based Power
Interference Based Power
Trac environment

1500 s
1 eNodeB, 3 Cells
350 m (min. 35 m)
120 km/h
23 dBm
2 GHz
9 dB
-120.447 dBm
128.1 + 37.6 log R, R in km
log-normal shadowing
Jakes-like method
Random Way Point
Innite
10 MHz * 2
50
0.6
-56 dBm
0.6
0.4
-104 dBm
Loaded

()
(P0 )
Control ()
Control ( )
Control (P0 )

Table 5.1: Main System Conguration

5.3

Sensitivity Analysis

Sensitivity analysis is performed to search for the optimum parameter values for the simulations. The parameter investigated here is the number of non-GBR bearers in the subset
candidate list in the FDPS (See Chapter 4.4.3). Table 5.2 provides the trac models used
in the simulation:

Parameter
Video Trac Model

Setting

Frame Size
Frame Inter-arrival Time
No. of Users

1200 Bytes
75 ms
40

File size
File Inter-request Time
No. of Users

20 MBytes
10 s
10

FTP Trac Model

Table 5.2: Trac Models

The number of the non-GBR bearers in the subset candidate list in the FDPS represents
the number of bearers selected for the allocation of 1 PRB each (having best SINR) in one
loop. For example, if this value is set to 1, the bearer with the highest priority metric will
constantly get his best PRBs until he obtains all the radio resources he needs. Then the
54

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MASTER THESIS

5.3. Sensitivity Analysis

next bearer with the second highest priority gets his chance and is put in the subset list,
and the same procedure is executed. However, this would be unfair, and it is possible that
a large number of bearers may not get any resources, although they might have a relatively
higher scheduling metric. On the other hands, if this number is set to the number of all the
non-GBR bearers in the system, it will provide fairness among all the bearers; however,
the overall throughput might be low, since the bearers with rather bad channel conditions
might consume a large amount of radio resources. Therefore, this value is investigated for
the specic scenario used in the simulations.

Figure 5.4: FTP Upload Response Time

10 FTP users with a le size of 20 MBytes and a le inter-request time of 10 s lead to
a loaded system. In addition, 40 video users are also in the scenario. The number of
non-GBR bearers in the subset candidate list is set to 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 and 40 in dierent
simulations. Figure 5.4 shows the comparison of the FTP upload time for each user when
the number is set to 5, 15 or 20 .
As can be observed from the gure, a small value such as 5 leads to more randomness,
i.e., dierent users in the system might experience dierent upload time: some may need
rather short time (e.g., user 3) while the others extremely long time (e.g., user 2 and 5);
in addition, the upload time variation of one user might get very large (e.g., user 2, 4, 6
and 10). On the contrary, in the system with a relatively larger number to be scheduled
in the subset list, the users share similar length of upload time, and the upload time for
one user does not vary too much.
Figure 5.5 shows the average video packet end-to-end delay. The average delay of all the
users decreases as the number of the non-GBR bearers in the subset list increases, and the
variance gets smaller, as a result of more users being able to get radio resources; when this
number is further increased, the video performance remains the same. When the number
of non-GBR bearers in the subset list is 5, the number of the available PRBs for the users
in the list is large; in addition, the users choose the best PRBs, so the average SINR is
high, leading to a high MCS. As a result of a high MCS and a large number of available
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5. Simulation Results and Analysis

Figure 5.5: Video Packet End-to-End Delay

PRBs, the TBS is also very high (See Figure 5.6). However, since only a small part of the
users are served like this, the average delay of the users is very high. On the other hand,
in the system with a larger number of non-GBR bearers to be served in the subset list, the
TBS is reduced due to the small number of available PRBs per user and lower SINR for
each user; however, since more users are served in this case, the average delay is relatively
low. With the number increasing, the TBS for each user stays the same using the current
MCS with the available PRBs in the network, which is why the video performance remains
stable.

Figure 5.6: Average UE Received TBS (UE ID: 28)

The CDF of the average video delay is shown in Figure 5.7, which also illustrates that a
small value gives more randomness while the larger one provides more stable results.
Figure 5.8 shows the average FTP upload time and the total cell throughput. A larger
number results in a better FTP performance, and also improves the cell throughput. As a
result, the number of the non-GBR bearers in the subset candidate list is set to 20 in this
thesis, which gives a lower average video delay and FTP upload time while providing higher
throughput, furthermore, it gives relatively small variance in the user experience. This also
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MASTER THESIS

5.3. Sensitivity Analysis

Figure 5.7: CDF of Video Packet End-to-End Delay

(a) FTP Average Upload Time

(b) Total Cell Throughput

Figure 5.8: FTP Average Upload Time and Total Cell Throughput

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MASTER THESIS

5. Simulation Results and Analysis

applies to the scenario with the VoIP bearers, since they are GBR bearers and served with
the highest priority, therefore, their existence do not inuence the determination of the
number of the non-GBR bearers in the subset list [44].
5.4

Component Carrier Selection Analysis

In the LTE-A system, multiple carriers are aggregated to obtain a wider bandwidth. As
explained in Chapter 4.2, a CC selection algorithm is needed to determine the number of
carriers that a user can use. The proposed Path Loss and Slow Fading Based Component
Carrier Selection algorithm is implemented in this work, as well as the Path Loss Based
algorithm proposed in [14]. In addition, a simple algorithm which classies the users
according to their distances to the eNodeB is also implemented for comparison. 40 VoIP
users are added in the scenario. Table 5.3 gives the trac models used in this section:

Parameter
VoIP Trac Model

Setting

Silence Length
Talk Spurt Length
Encoder Scheme
Call Duration
No. of Users

exponential(3) s
exponential(3) s
GSM EFR
Until End of Simulation
40

Frame Size
Frame Inter-arrival Time
No. of Users

1200 Bytes
75 ms
40

File size
File Inter-request Time
No. of Users

20 MBytes
10 s
10

Video Trac Model

FTP Trac Model

Table 5.3: Trac Models

Figure 5.9: Cell Throughput

Figure 5.9 shows the throughput comparison among the three algorithms, and the one
based on the distance to the eNodeB uses 100 m and 200 m as the thresholds. The gure
shows that the cell throughput is higher in the system with the path loss and the slow
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5.4. Component Carrier Selection Analysis

fading, or the distance to the eNodeB of 200 m as the threshold. Compared with the
system using the path loss as the threshold, the one with the slow fading gives a better
performance. This is because that in practice, the path loss and the slow fading both
inuence the transmission power of the users, thus the latter one provides a more accurate
estimation to the channel conditions. Therefore, the decision on the number of component
carriers that the users should be assigned on is more accurate than the one with only
the path loss as the threshold. In this way, the users with better channel conditions,
i.e., with less path loss and slow fading, are assigned on multiple component carriers,
leading to a better utilization of the bandwidth; while the users with more losses during
propagation are assigned on only one component carrier, avoiding bandwidth waste due
to the limited power. For the system with the distance to the eNodeB as the threshold,
dierent distance thresholds give dierent performances. For example, 200 m provides a
very good performance, while 100 m gives a poor one. This method is not adaptive, and
the proper threshold has to be determined with signicant manual work of tuning the
distance threshold values.

Figure 5.10: VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay

Figure 5.10 shows the average VoIP delay for these four thresholds. Since the VoIP users
are dened as the GBR users, they are served with the highest priority, i.e., the VoIP
users get resources as long as they are available in the system. Therefore, the VoIP packet
end-to-end delay does not vary too much for dierent scenarios.

(a) Average Video Packet End-to-End Delay

(b) Average FTP Upload Time

Figure 5.11: Video Packet End-to-End Delay and FTP Upload Time
On the other hand, the video and the FTP users are competing for radio resources, so
their performance is inuenced if the resources are limited in the system. Figure 5.11
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5. Simulation Results and Analysis

displays the average video packet end-to-end delay and the average FTP upload time. As
we can see from the gures, the scenario with the path loss and the slow fading as the
threshold has a lower video delay and FTP upload time, compared to the one with the
path loss as the threshold; meanwhile, dierent distance thresholds to the eNodeB result
in dierent performance: some may be quite good, and some may be rather poor. In
summary, the results illustrate that the algorithm that is proposed in this thesis provides
a better performance while requiring less additional parameter tuning work.

5.5

Power Control Analysis

The same trac congurations as those of the Chapter 5.4 are used in this section. The
3GPP suggests FPC and the [18] proposes IBPC for the uplink control scheme. Both are
implemented in this thesis, and their performances are compared. Dierent , and P0
values are chosen for these algorithms during investigations (See Table 5.4). The path loss
to the serving cell is modeled using Equation 3.16 with the user distance to the eNodeB;
while the interference is emulated with the same equation, and the distance is measured
from the users to the eNodeB in the neighboring cells instead of the serving cell.

Parameter Settings

P0 (dBm)
FPC
0.6
-56
IBPC
0.6 0.4
-104
Table 5.4: Power Control Parameter Settings

(a) Average VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay

(b) Average Video Packet End-to-End Delay

Figure 5.12: VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay and Video Packet End-to-End Delay
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MASTER THESIS

5.5. Power Control Analysis

The average VoIP end-to-end delay (see Figure 5.12 (a)) shows no big dierence between
both cases as they are congured to be GBR bearers and served with the highest priority.
While the video performance shows some improvements using the IBPC algorithm (see
Figure 5.12 (b)). The average video packet end-to-end delay is smaller in the latter case.
The CDF of the video delay in Figure 5.13 also shows that the IBPC provides a better
video performance than the FPC.

Figure 5.13: CDF of Video Packet End-to-End Delay

Instead of only modeling the path loss to the serving cell, the IBPC also models the
interference to the neighboring cells when calculating the transmit power for each user,
obtaining a more accurate power estimation than in the FPC case. Thus, a better SINR
is supposed to be achieved for each user. The SINR values for a few randomly selected
users in both cases are illustrated in Figure 5.14. As we can see from the gure, the SINR
values in the IBPC case are generally higher compared to the FPC case. With higher SINR
values, the video users can expect a lower packet end-to-end delay.

Figure 5.14: User Average SINR

Yangyang Dong

61

MASTER THESIS

5.6

5. Simulation Results and Analysis

Channel and QoS Aware MAC Scheduler Analysis

The Channel and QoS Aware (CQA) MAC scheduler has been proposed, implemented and
analyzed in this thesis. The scheduler is investigated in this section from several dierent
aspects.

5.6.1 Channel Awareness Analysis

The proposed scheduler considers the channel conditions of the users, so as to achieve a
high overall cell throughput. When determining the scheduling metrics of dierent users,
their instantaneously achievable throughput in the current TTI is considered, in order to
give a higher priority to the users with better channel conditions. The settings of the
previous scenario and the trac models are adopted here, namely 10 FTP users, 40 video
users and 40 VoIP users in the system.

Figure 5.15: Total Cell Throughput

Figure 5.15 displays the cell throughput comparison among the proposed CQA scheduler
and the other three classical schedulers: the BET, the MaxT and the PF scheduler. From
the gure we can see that the MaxT provides the highest throughput, which is expected
since it aims at maximizing the cell throughput. Compared to the BET scheduler which
focuses on equal throughput among all the users and the PF scheduler stressing on the
fairness, the proposed CQA scheduler provides a higher throughput. This is because that
the scheduler takes the instantaneous channel conditions into consideration, giving priority
to the users with a higher SINR, thus leading to a higher overall throughput. Therefore,
we could conclude that the proposed CQA scheduler has the feature of channel awareness,
which provides a relatively high cell throughput.

5.6.2 QoS Awareness Analysis

Meanwhile, the scheduler has the knowledge of the QoS of the radio bearers, taking their
requirements into account when deciding the bearer priority for scheduling. It tries to
fulll the QoS requirements of dierent bearer classes.
62

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

5.6. Channel and QoS Aware MAC Scheduler Analysis

5.6.2.1 CQA vs. BET vs. MaxT vs. PF

Figure 5.16: VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay

The performance of dierent applications in the systems with dierent schedulers is investigated in this section. The trac models that are dened in Table 5.3 are adopted.
Figure 5.16 shows the average VoIP packet end-to-end delay. As explained before, the performance of the VoIP users under dierent schedulers does not vary signicantly, since they
are congured as GBR bearers at the highest MAC QoS class and served at the highest
priority.

(a) Average Video Packet End-to-End Delay

(b) Average FTP Upload Time

Figure 5.17: Video Packet End-to-End Delay and FTP Upload Time
However, the video and the FTP performance is inuenced, since they are both non-GBR
bearers while having dierent QoS requirements. Figure 5.17 shows the average video
Yangyang Dong

63

MASTER THESIS

5. Simulation Results and Analysis

packet end-to-end delay and the FTP upload response time. The video delay with the PF
and the BET scheduler is the smallest among these four cases, and the one with the MaxT
scheduler shows a notably larger delay. The video delay in the system with the proposed
CQA scheduler is in between, but closer to the smaller delay; in addition, the variance
is relatively small. This suggests that the scheduler has considered the requirements of
the video application, and tries to provide a lower delay. The FTP upload response time
with the CQA scheduler is the shortest except for the scenario with the MaxT. The MaxT
scheduler tries to achieve the maximal throughput, thus the FTP users get a higher priority,
resulting in the lowest average upload response time. This also explains why the video delay
is quite large in this case. In summary, the CQA scheduler rst serves the highest QoS
class bearers - the VoIP bearers, and provides a low packet end-to-end delay; afterwards,
it serves the bearers in the lower classes - the video bearers and FTP bearers, supporting
a relatively small video packet end-to-end delay as well as a short FTP upload response
time.

5.6.2.2 QoS Weight vs. no-QoS Weight

This section investigates the inuence of the QoS weight to the system performance. 10
FTP users and 10 video users are chosen in the scenario, with their trac congurations
given in Table 5.5. The video and the FTP bearers are congured as the non-GBR bearers,
and the video bearers are in a higher MAC QoS class than the FTP bearers. Dierent
MAC QoS classes correspond to dierent delay budgets and rate budgets of the bearers
(See Table 4.2), which are used for the TDPS weight calculations. Therefore, their TDPS
weights might be inuenced by dierent QoS classes, thus their TDPS metrics might be
inuenced as well.

Parameter
Video Trac Model

Setting

Frame Size
Frame Inter-arrival Time
Type of Service
No. of Users

1200 Bytes
75 ms
AF31 (DSCP = 104, MAC QoS Class 3)
10

File size
File Inter-request Time
Type of Service
No. of Users

20 MBytes
10 s
Best Eort (DSCP = 24, MAC QoS Class 5)
10

FTP Trac Model

Table 5.5: Trac Models

Figure 5.18 shows a comparison of the video users' throughput when using the QoS weight
and not using it. As we can see from the gure, the video users' throughout is increased
with the QoS weight. This is because that the video users are in a higher QoS class, and
they are more critical to the application delay. When the QoS requirements are taken
into account, the priority metrics of the video users get increased as compared to the FTP
users. The QoS weight is adopted in the CQA scheduler, which proves that it is capable
of QoS awareness.
64

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

5.6. Channel and QoS Aware MAC Scheduler Analysis

Figure 5.18: Video User Throughput (QoS Weight vs. no-QoS Weight)

5.6.2.3 Mixed Trac

In this section, three scenarios are set up to investigate the QoS awareness feature of the
CQA scheduler. 10 FTP users are put in all the scenarios. Additionally, 10 video users
are employed in the rst scenario; whereas, 10 VoIP users are put in the second scenario.
The trac setup is given in Table 5.3, and Table 5.6 lists the three scenarios:

Scenario

Setting

Scenario 1
Scenario 2
Scenario 3

10 FTP + 10 video
10 FTP + 10 VoIP
10 FTP

Table 5.6: Mixed Trac Scenario Settings

Figure 5.19: FTP Bearer Upload Time Comparison in Dierent Trac Scenarios

Yangyang Dong

65

MASTER THESIS

5. Simulation Results and Analysis

These scenarios are set up to check the FTP users' performance with mixed trac and in
the FTP-only scenario. Figure 5.19 gives a comparison of the upload response time of all
the 10 FTP users in these three scenarios. In the rst scenario, the video users compete
for radio resources with the FTP users, and they are in a higher QoS class; therefore, the
video users have a higher probability to be served, leading to a relatively long FTP upload
time. In scenario 2, the VoIP (GBR) users get scheduled strictly before the FTP (nonGBR) users, so the FTP upload response time is also very large. It is dicult to determine
whether the FTP upload response time of each user is longer in the scenario mixed with
video users or in the one with VoIP users: the VoIP users might already have enough radio
resources so the rest can be allocated to the FTP users, thus leading to a shorter FTP
upload time; or the video users might have low priority metrics due to their bad channel
conditions, therefore, some of the FTP users will enjoy a relatively short upload response
time. The FTP users are in the lowest MAC QoS class among these three trac types,
however, in the third scenario, FTP is the only trac type. Therefore, the FTP users do
not have to wait for the other trac until it is served like in the scenario 1, or compete
for radio resources with a higher class trac like in the scenario 2. As a result, the FTP
users have the lowest upload response time among these three scenarios. This also proves
that the CQA scheduler has the ability to be QoS aware.

5.6.3 Fairness Analysis

The CQA scheduler tries to maintain certain level of fairness as well as provides a high
total throughput and fullls the QoS requirements. The time average throughput over a
time window is used for calculating the priority metrics of the radio bearers. If the bearer
was not able to obtain enough resources in the last TTIs, its low average throughput leads
to an increased priority metric, therefore, it will have a higher possibility to be served in
the next TTI. This ensures that even the bearers that are with bad channel conditions can
get some radio resources, which provides fairness among all the bearers.

Figure 5.20: FTP User Throughput

In this section, the scenarios dened in Chapter 5.6.2.3 are adopted. Figure 5.20 depicts
66

Yangyang Dong

MASTER THESIS

5.6. Channel and QoS Aware MAC Scheduler Analysis

the FTP user throughput of all the users in dierent scenarios. As we can see from the
gure, the throughput of each FTP user does not vary too much in each scenario. The
FTP-only scenario can be easily explained: FTP is the only application type in the system,
so all the users have similar QoS requirements thus leading to a similar user throughput.
For the second scenario, the VoIP users are GBR users, therefore they get served strictly
before the FTP users. Afterwards, the FTP users utilize the rest resources, so all the FTP
users achieve a similar throughput like in the FTP-only case. For the rst scenario with
the video users (non-GBR), although the video users compete for the radio resources with
the FTP users, all the FTP users still have the similar throughput. This can be explained
as follows: the priority metric of each FTP user is calculated with the help of the average
user throughput, therefore, the users with a lower average throughput in the last TTIs
have a higher probability to get a higher priority in the current TTI, which improves the
chance of an increased throughput. Therefore, we could draw the conclusion that the CQA
scheduler tries to maintain fairness among all the users.

Figure 5.21: FTP User Upload Time

Similarly, the upload response time of each FTP user is similar in each scenario, which is
illustrated in Figure 5.21. This also proves fairness.
In summary, this chapter rst describes the network simulation tool - the OPNET Modeler, and gives a brief introduction to the scenarios that are investigated in this thesis.
Afterwards, the sensitivity analysis is conducted to determine the optimum parameter values for the simulations. In the end, the algorithms that are proposed and implemented
in this thesis are investigated. The results illustrate that the proposed CCS algorithm
provides a good QoS performance and cell throughput. The IBPC algorithm proposed in
[18] provides better application experiences than the FPC. The designed CQA scheduler
supports a relatively high cell throughput while guaranteeing the QoS requirements of
dierent applications. In addition, it also grants some level of fairness among the users.

Yangyang Dong

67

MASTER THESIS

68

5. Simulation Results and Analysis

Yangyang Dong

Conclusions and Outlook

This thesis investigated the Radio Access Network resource management for the uplink in
the LTE-Advanced system. Conclusions are drawn based on this thesis in the following
section; in addition, an outlook is also given for future research.

6.1

Conclusions

An extensive literature survey was performed to be prepared for proposing, implementing

and analyzing the new LTE-A uplink features. Since the author had a primary knowledge
of the downlink MAC scheduler in the LTE network, rst the literature survey was focused
on the dierences between the uplink and the downlink schedulers. During this time
the current schedulers in the OPNET simulator from ComNets Bremen1 for both the
downlink and the uplink were studied, and block diagrams were derived for understanding.
Afterwards, the features suiting both the LTE and the LTE-A systems were investigated,
such as the HARQ, the Admission Control and the Power Control schemes. The main
part was to research the new features of the LTE-A system from the 3GPP standards, in
order to nd the improvements from LTE to LTE-A. The primary focus was on the carrier
aggregation, the uplink MAC scheduling and the power control.
This thesis proposed a new selection algorithm for the component carriers during carrier
aggregation, which is based on the path loss and the slow fading of the users. Three
algorithms have been compared to nd the better algorithm: the proposed one, the one
based on the path loss [14] and the one based on the distance to the eNodeB. Simulation
results illustrated that the proposed one provided a higher overall cell throughput and a
lower video packet end-to-end delay and FTP upload response time as compared to the
one based on the path loss. In addition, the one based on the distance to the eNodeB
gave good results as well as poor results, depending on the selected distance thresholds.
The proposed one with the path loss and the slow fading as the threshold provides a good
performance without further parameter tuning and conguration work.
FPC and IBPC [18] were implemented in this thesis. By tuning the and the parameters,
the FPC and the IBPC could be employed. Comparisons were made to choose the better
scheme. Results showed that the IBPC provided a better performance, since it gave a
better SINR estimation for the users.
A Channel and QoS Aware (CQA) MAC scheduling algorithm was proposed for the uplink.
It considered the channel conditions of the users to get a relatively high cell throughput,
as well as the QoS to ensure that the requirements of the real-time trac could be fullled
with a higher priority. Results illustrated that the CQA scheduler could provide an overall
cell throughput almost as high as the MaxT scheduler, which was much higher than the
BET or the PF schedulers could provide. Meanwhile, it guaranteed the QoS requirements
of dierent trac types. Three dierent scenarios were set up to investigate the QoS
aware characteristics. One scenario had a mixed trac of the VoIP users, the video users
and the FTP users. It showed that the CQA scheduler served the VoIP users with the
1

http://www.comnets.uni-bremen.de/

MASTER THESIS

6. Conclusions and Outlook

highest priority. At the same time it provided a relatively low video delay and FTP upload
response time. The second scenario had a mixed trac of the video and the FTP users. The
simulation results indicated a performance gain when using the QoS weight to calculate
the scheduling metrics. Another scenario mixed the FTP users with the VoIP or the video
users, or only had FTP users in the system. Results illustrated that the GBR VoIP users
had the highest QoS priority, while the non-GBR video and FTP users competed for radio
resources. Certain level of fairness was also proved for the CQA scheduler.

6.2

Outlook

There is always room for improvement. This work can also be further enhanced. Firstly,
although the HARQ and the AC schemes have been investigated during the literature
survey, they have not been implemented in this thesis. The HARQ can be modeled and
implemented to simulate the packet retransmissions, and the AC can be utilized to dynamically admit or deny connection requests to the network. Besides, the number of component
carriers is assumed to be 2 during carrier aggregation, further extension can be made for
up to 5 carriers according to the 3GPP standards. Furthermore, the LTE-A system has
some new features, such as the CoMP, enhanced use of MIMO, and the relay nodes, which
can also be implemented to improve the performance.

70

Yangyang Dong

Appendices

71

MASTER THESIS

72

Yangyang Dong

E-UTRAN Operating Bands

The operating bands for the E-UTRAN are specied by the 3GPP in Table 5.5-1 of [31].
E-UTRA
Operating
Band

Uplink (UL) operating band

BS receive
UE transmit
FUL_low FUL_high
1920 MHz 1980 MHz
1850 MHz 1910 MHz
1710 MHz 1785 MHz
1710 MHz 1755 MHz
824 MHz 849 MHz
830 MHz 840 MHz
2500 MHz 2570 MHz
880 MHz 915 MHz
1749.9 MHz 1784.9 MHz
1710 MHz 1770 MHz
1427.9 MHz 1447.9 MHz
699 MHz 716 MHz
777 MHz 787 MHz
788 MHz 798 MHz
Reserved
Reserved
704 MHz 716 MHz
815 MHz 830 MHz
830 MHz 845 MHz
832 MHz 862 MHz
1447.9 MHz 1462.9 MHz
3410 MHz 3490 MHz
2000 MHz 2020 MHz
1626.5 MHz 1660.5 MHz
1850 MHz 1915 MHz
814 MHz 849 MHz
807 MHz 824 MHz
703 MHz 748 MHz
N/A

Downlink (DL) operating band

BS transmit
UE receive
FDL_low FDL_high
2110 MHz 2170 MHz
1930 MHz 1990 MHz
1805 MHz 1880 MHz
2110 MHz 2155 MHz
869 MHz 894MHz
875 MHz 885 MHz
2620 MHz 2690 MHz
925 MHz 960 MHz
1844.9 MHz 1879.9 MHz
2110 MHz 2170 MHz
1475.9 MHz 1495.9 MHz
729 MHz 746 MHz
746 MHz 756 MHz
758 MHz 768 MHz
Reserved
Reserved
734 MHz 746 MHz
860 MHz 875 MHz
875 MHz 890 MHz
791 MHz 821 MHz
1495.9 MHz 1510.9 MHz
3510 MHz 3590 MHz
2180 MHz 2200 MHz
1525 MHz 1559 MHz
1930 MHz 1995 MHz
859 MHz 894 MHz
852 MHz 869 MHz
758 MHz 803 MHz
717 MHz 728 MHz

Duplex
Mode

1
FDD
2
FDD
3
FDD
4
FDD
5
FDD
1
6
FDD
7
FDD
FDD
8
9
FDD
10
FDD
11
FDD
12
FDD
13
FDD
14
FDD
15
FDD
16
FDD
17
FDD
18
FDD
19
FDD
20
FDD
21
FDD
22
FDD
23
FDD
24
FDD
25
FDD
26
FDD
27
FDD
28
FDD
2
29
FDD
...
33
1900 MHz 1920 MHz
1900 MHz 1920 MHz
TDD
34
2010 MHz 2025 MHz
2010 MHz 2025 MHz
TDD
35
1850 MHz 1910 MHz
1850 MHz 1910 MHz
TDD
36
1930 MHz 1990 MHz
1930 MHz 1990 MHz
TDD
37
1910 MHz 1930 MHz
1910 MHz 1930 MHz
TDD
38
2570 MHz 2620 MHz
2570 MHz 2620 MHz
TDD
39
1880 MHz 1920 MHz
1880 MHz 1920 MHz
TDD
40
2300 MHz 2400 MHz
2300 MHz 2400 MHz
TDD
41
2496 MHz
2690 MHz
2496 MHz
2690 MHz
TDD
42
3400 MHz 3600 MHz
3400 MHz 3600 MHz
TDD
43
3600 MHz 3800 MHz
3600 MHz 3800 MHz
TDD
44
703 MHz 803 MHz
703 MHz 803 MHz
TDD
NOTE 1: Band 6 is not applicable
NOTE 2: Restricted to E-UTRA operation when carrier aggregation is configured. The downlink operating
band is paired with the uplink operating band (external) of the carrier aggregation configuration
that is supporting the configured Pcell.

MASTER THESIS

74

A. E-UTRAN Operating Bands

Yangyang Dong

E-UTRAN Channel Bandwidths

The channel bandwidths for each E-UTRAN operating band are specied in Table 5.6.1-1
of [31].
E-UTRA band / Channel bandwidth
E-UTRA Band

1.4 MHz

3 MHz

5 MHz

10 MHz

15 MHz

20 MHz

1
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
2
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
3
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
4
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
5
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
6
Yes
Yes
3
1, 3
7
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
8
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
9
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
10
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
11
Yes
Yes
1
1
12
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
13
Yes
Yes
1
1
14
Yes
Yes
...
1
1
17
Yes
Yes
1
1
18
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
19
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
1
20
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
21
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
22
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
23
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
24
Yes
Yes
1
1
25
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
26
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
27
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
1
1, 2
28
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
...
33
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
34
Yes
Yes
Yes
35
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
36
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
37
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
3
3
38
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
39
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
40
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
41
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
42
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
43
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
44
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
1
NOTE 1:
refers to the bandwidth for which a relaxation of the specified UE receiver sensitivity
requirement (subclause 7.3) is allowed.
2
NOTE 2: For the 20 MHz bandwidth, the minimum requirements are specified for E-UTRA UL carrier
frequencies confined to either 713-723 MHz or 728-738 MHz
3
NOTE 3: refers to the bandwidth for which the uplink transmission bandwidth can be restricted by the
network for some channel assignments in FDD/TDD co-existence scenarios in order to meet
unwanted emissions requirements (Clause 6.6.3.2).

MASTER THESIS

76

B. E-UTRAN Channel Bandwidths

Yangyang Dong

C Intra-band Contiguous CA Operating

Bands
The operating bands for the intra-band contiguous carrier aggregation are dened by the
3GPP in Table 5.5A-1 of [31].
E-UTRA CA
Band

E-UTRA
Band

CA_1
CA_7
CA_38
CA_40
CA_41

1
7
38
40
41

Uplink (UL) operating band

BS receive / UE transmit
FUL_low FUL_high
1920 MHz 1980 MHz
2500 MHz 2570 MHz
2570 MHz 2620 MHz
2300 MHz 2400 MHz
2496 MHz
2690 MHz

Downlink (DL) operating band

BS transmit / UE receive
FDL_low FDL_high
2110 MHz 2170 MHz
2620 MHz 2690 MHz
2570MHz 2620 MHz
2300 MHz 2400 MHz
2496 MHz
2690 MHz

Duplex
Mode
FDD
FDD
TDD
TDD
TDD

MASTER THESIS

78

C. Intra-band Contiguous CA Operating Bands

Yangyang Dong

Inter Band CA Operating Bands

The operating bands for the inter-band CA are specied by the 3GPP in Table 5.5A-2 of
[31].
E-UTRA
CA Band
CA_1-5
CA_1-18
CA_1-19
CA_1-21
CA_2-17
CA_2-29
CA_3-5
CA_3-7
CA_3-8
CA_3-20
CA_4-5
CA_4A-7A
CA_4-12
CA_4-13
CA_4-17

CA_4-29
CA_5-12
CA_5-17
CA_7-20
CA_8-20
CA_11-18

E-UTRA
Band
1
5
1
18
1
19
1
21
2
17
2
29
3
5
3
7
3
8
3
20
4
5
4
7
4
12
4
13
4
17

4
29
5
12
5
17
7
20
8
20
11

Uplink (UL) operating band

BS receive / UE transmit
FUL_low FUL_high
1920 MHz 1980 MHz
824 MHz 849 MHz
1920 1980 MHz
815 830 MHz
1920 MHz 1980 MHz
830 MHz 845 MHz
1920 MHz 1980 MHz
1462.9
1447.9 MHz
MHz
1850 MHz 1910 MHz
704 MHz 716 MHz
1850 MHz 1910 MHz
N/A
1710 MHz 1785 MHz
824 MHz 849 MHz
1710 MHz 1785 MHz
2500 MHz 2570 MHz
1710 MHz
1785 MHz
880 MHz
915 MHz
1710 MHz 1785 MHz
832 MHz 862 MHz
1710 MHz 1755 MHz
824 MHz 849 MHz
1710 MHz
1755 MHz
2500 MHz
2570 MHz
1710 MHz 1755 MHz
699 MHz 716 MHz
1710 MHz 1755 MHz
777 MHz 787 MHz
1710 MHz 1755 MHz
704 MHz 716 MHz
1710 MHz 1755 MHz
N/A
824 MHz 849 MHz
699 MHz 716 MHz
824 MHz 849 MHz
704 MHz 716 MHz
2500 MHz 2570 MHz
832 MHz 862 MHz
880 MHz 915 MHz
832 MHz 862 MHz
1447.9
1427.9 MHz
MHz

Downlink (DL) operating band

BS transmit / UE receive
FDL_low FDL_high
2110 MHz 2170 MHz
869 MHz 894 MHz
2110 2170 MHz
860 875 MHz
2110 MHz 2170 MHz
875 MHz 890 MHz
2110 MHz 2170 MHz

Duplex
Mode

1495.9 MHz

1510.9 MHz

FDD

1930 MHz
734 MHz
1930 MHz
717 MHz
1805 MHz
869 MHz
1805 MHz
2620 MHz
1805 MHz
925 MHz
1805 MHz
791 MHz
2110 MHz
869 MHz
2110 MHz
2620 MHz
2110 MHz
629 MHz
2110 MHz
746 MHz
2110 MHz
734 MHz
2110 MHz
717 MHz
869 MHz
729 MHz
869 MHz
734 MHz
2620 MHz
791 MHz
925 MHz
791 MHz

1990 MHz
746 MHz
1990 MHz
728 MHz
1880 MHz
894 MHz
1880 MHz
2690 MHz
1880 MHz
960 MHz
1880 MHz
821 MHz
2155 MHz
894 MHz
2155 MHz
2690 MHz
2155 MHz
746 MHz
2155 MHz
756 MHz
2155 MHz
746 MHz
2155 MHz
728 MHz
894 MHz
746 MHz
894 MHz
746 MHz
2690 MHz
821 MHz
960 MHz
821 MHz

1475.9 MHz

1495.9 MHz

FDD
FDD
FDD

FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD

FDD

MASTER THESIS

80

D. Inter Band CA Operating Bands

Yangyang Dong

Transport Block Size (TBS) Table

The TBS table are given by the 3GPP for a PRB number that ranges from 1 to 110. A
complete table can be found in Table 7.1.7.2.1-1 of [45].

I TBS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

I TBS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

N PRB
1
16
24
32
40
56
72
328
104
120
136
144
176
208
224
256
280
328
336
376
408
440
488
520
552
584
616
712

2
32
56
72
104
120
144
176
224
256
296
328
376
440
488
552
600
632
696
776
840
904
1000
1064
1128
1192
1256
1480

3
56
88
144
176
208
224
256
328
392
456
504
584
680
744
840
904
968
1064
1160
1288
1384
1480
1608
1736
1800
1864
2216

4
88
144
176
208
256
328
392
472
536
616
680
776
904
1000
1128
1224
1288
1416
1544
1736
1864
1992
2152
2280
2408
2536
2984

5
120
176
208
256
328
424
504
584
680
776
872
1000
1128
1256
1416
1544
1608
1800
1992
2152
2344
2472
2664
2856
2984
3112
3752

11
288
376
472
616
776
968
1128
1320
1544
1736
1928

12
328
424
520
680
840
1032
1224
1480
1672
1864
2088

13
344
456
568
744
904
1128
1352
1608
1800
2024
2280

14
376
488
616
808
1000
1224
1480
1672
1928
2216
2472

15
392
520
648
872
1064
1320
1544
1800
2088
2344
2664

6
152
208
256
328
408
504
600
712
808
936
1032
1192
1352
1544
1736
1800
1928
2152
2344
2600
2792
2984
3240
3496
3624
3752
4392

7
176
224
296
392
488
600
712
840
968
1096
1224
1384
1608
1800
1992
2152
2280
2536
2792
2984
3240
3496
3752
4008
4264
4392
5160

8
208
256
328
440
552
680
808
968
1096
1256
1384
1608
1800
2024
2280
2472
2600
2856
3112
3496
3752
4008
4264
4584
4968
5160
5992

9
224
328
376
504
632
776
936
1096
1256
1416
1544
1800
2024
2280
2600
2728
2984
3240
3624
3880
4136
4584
4776
5160
5544
5736
6712

10
256
344
424
568
696
872
1032
1224
1384
1544
1736
2024
2280
2536
2856
3112
3240
3624
4008
4264
4584
4968
5352
5736
5992
6200
7480

16
424
568
696
904
1128
1384
1672
1928
2216
2536
2792

17
456
600
744
968
1192
1480
1736
2088
2344
2664
2984

18
488
632
776
1032
1288
1544
1864
2216
2536
2856
3112

19
504
680
840
1096
1352
1672
1992
2344
2664
2984
3368

20
536
712
872
1160
1416
1736
2088
2472
2792
3112
3496

N PRB

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

I TBS
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26

2216
2472
2856
3112
3368
3624
4008
4392
4776
5160
5544
5992
6200
6712
6968
8248

2408
2728
3112
3496
3624
3880
4392
4776
5160
5544
5992
6456
6968
7224
7480
8760

2600
2984
3368
3752
4008
4264
4776
5160
5544
5992
6456
6968
7480
7992
8248
9528

2792
3240
3624
4008
4264
4584
5160
5544
5992
6456
6968
7480
7992
8504
8760
10296

2984
3368
3880
4264
4584
4968
5352
5992
6456
6968
7480
7992
8504
9144
9528
11064

3240
3624
4136
4584
4968
5160
5736
6200
6968
7480
7992
8504
9144
9912
10296
11832

3496
3880
4392
4968
5160
5544
6200
6712
7224
7992
8504
9144
9912
10296
10680
12576

3624
4136
4584
5160
5544
5992
6456
7224
7736
8248
9144
9528
10296
11064
11448
13536

3880
4392
4968
5544
5736
6200
6712
7480
8248
8760
9528
10296
11064
11448
12216
14112

4008
4584
5160
5736
6200
6456
7224
7992
8504
9144
9912
10680
11448
12216
12576
14688

27
744
968
1192
1544
1928
2344
2792
3368
3752
4264
4776
5544
6200
6968
7736
8248
8760
9912
10680
11448
12576
13536
14688
15264
16416
16992
19848

28
776
1000
1256
1608
1992
2472
2984
3368
3880
4392
4968
5736
6456
7224
7992
8504
9144
10296
11064
12216
12960
14112
15264
15840
16992
17568
20616

29
776
1032
1288
1672
2088
2536
2984
3496
4008
4584
5160
5992
6712
7480
8248
8760
9528
10296
11448
12576
13536
14688
15840
16416
17568
18336
21384

30
808
1064
1320
1736
2152
2664
3112
3624
4264
4776
5352
5992
6712
7736
8504
9144
9912
10680
11832
12960
14112
15264
16416
16992
18336
19080
22152

N PRB
21
568
744
936
1224
1480
1864
2216
2536
2984
3368
3752
4264
4776
5352
5992
6456
6712
7480
8248
9144
9912
10680
11448
12216
12960
13536
15264

22
600
776
968
1256
1544
1928
2280
2664
3112
3496
3880
4392
4968
5736
6200
6712
7224
7992
8760
9528
10296
11064
11832
12576
13536
14112
16416

23
616
808
1000
1320
1608
2024
2408
2792
3240
3624
4008
4584
5352
5992
6456
6968
7480
8248
9144
9912
10680
11448
12576
12960
14112
14688
16992

24
648
872
1064
1384
1736
2088
2472
2984
3368
3752
4264
4776
5544
6200
6968
7224
7736
8760
9528
10296
11064
12216
12960
13536
14688
15264
17568

25
680
904
1096
1416
1800
2216
2600
3112
3496
4008
4392
4968
5736
6456
7224
7736
7992
9144
9912
10680
11448
12576
13536
14112
15264
15840
18336

26
712
936
1160
1480
1864
2280
2728
3240
3624
4136
4584
5352
5992
6712
7480
7992
8504
9528
10296
11064
12216
12960
14112
14688
15840
16416
19080

List of Figures

1.1

Evolution of Mobile Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.1

Evolved Packet System (EPS) of LTE-A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

2.2

Protocol Stack of LTE-Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

2.3

System Architecture Evolution (SAE) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

2.4

Carrier Aggregation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

2.5

Carrier Aggregation Types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

2.6

Serving Cell: Primary Serving Cell and Secondary Serving Cell . . . . . . . 19

2.7

DFTS-OFDM in LTE-Advanced Uplink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

2.8

Clustered DFTS-OFDM in LTE-Advanced Uplink . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

2.9

Downlink CoMP: Joint Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2.10 Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming (CS/CB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

2.11 Joint Reception and Coordinated Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
2.12 Extension of MIMO from LTE to LTE-Advanced . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2.13 Relay Node and Donor Cell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.1

Channel Model Block Diagram . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

3.2

Channel Impulse Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

3.3

Time Variant Channel Impulse Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

3.4

Time and Frequency Selective Channel [23] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

3.5

Actual Value Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

3.6

AWGN Channel BLER vs. SINR Curve [23] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

4.1

RRM Framework of LTE-Advanced Uplink

4.2

Buer Status Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

4.3

Decoupled Time and Frequency Domain Scheduling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

4.4

Power Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

MASTER THESIS

List of Figures

4.5

Open Loop Power Control (OLPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

4.6

Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

5.1

OPNET Project Editor

5.2

eNodeB Node Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

5.3

eNodeB MAC Process Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

5.4

FTP Upload Response Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

5.5

Video Packet End-to-End Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5.6

Average UE Received TBS (UE ID: 28)

5.7

CDF of Video Packet End-to-End Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.8

FTP Average Upload Time and Total Cell Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

5.9

Cell Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

5.10 VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

5.11 Video Packet End-to-End Delay and FTP Upload Time . . . . . . . . . . . 59
5.12 VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay and Video Packet End-to-End Delay . . . . 60
5.13 CDF of Video Packet End-to-End Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.14 User Average SINR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
5.15 Total Cell Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
5.16 VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.17 Video Packet End-to-End Delay and FTP Upload Time . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.18 Video User Throughput (QoS Weight vs. no-QoS Weight) . . . . . . . . . . 65
5.19 FTP Bearer Upload Time Comparison in Dierent Trac Scenarios . . . . . 65
5.20 FTP User Throughput . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
5.21 FTP User Upload Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

84

Yangyang Dong

List of Tables
2.1

Number of PRBs in E-UTRA Channel Bandwidth . . . . . . . . . . 16

4.1

QCI and MAC QoS Mapping . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

4.2

Bit Rate Budget, Delay Budget and Delay Threshold [39] . . . . . 42

4.3

I0 (or equivalently P0 ) values in dBm/PRB that maximizes the 5%

outage user throughput for each combination of and [19] . . . . 48

5.1

Main System Conguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.2

Trac Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

5.3

Trac Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

5.4

Power Control Parameter Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

5.5

Trac Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

5.6

Mixed Trac Scenario Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

MASTER THESIS

86

List of Tables

Yangyang Dong

List of Abbreviations
3GPP

3rd Generation Partnership Project

LTE

Long Term Evolution

LTE-A

LTE-Advanced

RRM

Radio Resource Management

GSM

Global System for Mobile

Communications

EDGE

Enhanced Data rates for GSM

Evolution

UMTS

Universal Mobile
Telecommunications System

HSPA

High Speed Packet Access

WiMAX

Worldwide Interoperability for

Microwave Access

WLAN

Wireless Local Area Network

SAE

System Architecture Evolution

eNodeB

E-UTRAN Node B

PC

Power Control

RAN

Radio Access Network

CN

Core Network

EPC

Evolved Packet Core

EPS

Evolved Packet System

DL

downlink

UL

uplink

IMT

International Mobile
Telecommunications

ITU-R

International Telecommunication
Union Radiocommunication Sector

ITU-T

International Telecommunication
Union Telecommunication
Standardization Sector

CA

Carrier Aggregation

MIMO

Multiple Input Multiple Output

RN

Relay Node

CoMP

Coordinated Multi-Point
Transmission/Reception

E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio

Access Network
RNC

Radio Network Controller

UTRAN

Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

Network
UE
User Equipment
QoS
Quality of Service
PDCP
Packet Data Convergence Protocol
RLC
Radio Link Control
MAC
Medium Access Control
PHY
Physical Layer
RRC
Radio Resource Control
NAS
Non-Access Stratum
AS
Access Stratum
MME
Mobility Management Entity
S-GW
Serving Gateway
ARQ
Automatic Repeat reQuest
HARQ
Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest
CC
Component Carrier
CCS
Component Carrier Selection
PRB
Physical Resource Block
PCC
Primary Component Carrier
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
SCC
Secondary Component Carrier
PSC
Primary Serving Cell
SSC
Secondary Serving Cell
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing Access
PAPR
Peak-to-Average-Power-Ratio
SC-FDMA Single Carrier - Frequency Division
Multiplexing Access
DFT
Discrete Fourier Transform
IDFT
Inverse DFT
DFTS-OFDM DFT-Spread OFDM
IFFT
Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
ACK
Acknowledgement
NACK
Negative Acknowledgement

MASTER THESIS

List of Abbreviations

CQI

Channel Quality Indicator

FPC

Fractional Power Control

JP

Joint Processing

RR

Round Robin

CS/CB

Coordinated
Scheduling/Beamforming

CM

Cubic Metric

JT

Joint Transmission

TTI

Transmission Time Interval

DCS

Dynamic Cell Selection

CSI

Channel State Information

JR

Joint Reception

SRS

Sounding Reference Signal

JR/CS
DoeNB

BSR
Joint Reception and/or Coordinated
LCG
Scheduling
PHR
Donor eNodeB

Buer Status Report

Logical Channel Group
Power Headroom Repor

ETSI

European Telecommunications
Standards Institute

PSD

Power Spectral Density

PDF

probability distribution function

DiServ

Dierentiated Services

i.i.d

independent identically distributed

BE

Best Eort

SINR

Signal to Interference and Noise

Ratio

MaxT

Maximum Throughput

PF

Proportional Fair

NF

Noise Figure

BQA

Bandwidth and QoS Aware

AVI

Actual Value Interface

CQA

Channel and QoS Aware

MCS

Modulation and Coding Scheme

OLPC

Open Loop Power Control

BLEP

Block Error Probability

CLPC

Closed Loop Power Control

AWGN

Additive White Gaussian Noise

IBPC

Interference Based Power Control

TBS

Transport Block Size

VoIP

Voice Over IP

AC

Admission Control

HTTP

Hypertext Transfer Protocol

TDPS

Time Domain Packet Scheduler

FTP

File Transfer Protocol

FDPS
LA

Frequency Domain Packet Scheduler DSCP

FSM
Link Adaptation

QCI

QoS Class Identier

AM

Acknowledged Mode

ARP

Allocation and Retention Priority

UM

Unacknowledged Mode

GBR

Guaranteed Bit Rate

TM

Transparent Mode

AMBR

Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate

RN

Relay Node

88

Dierentiated Services Code Point

Finite State Machine

Yangyang Dong

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Index
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
Figure:
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Figure:
Figure:
Figure:

Average UE Received TBS (UE ID: 28), 56

Buer Status Report, 39
Carrier Aggregation, 16
Carrier Aggregation Types, 17
CDF of Video Packet End-to-End Delay, 56
CDF of Video Packet End-to-End Delay (PC), 61
Cell Throughput (CCS), 58
Channel Model, 25
Closed Loop Power Control (CLPC), 48
Clustered DFTS-OFDM in LTE-Advanced Uplink, 20
Coordinated Scheduling/Beamforming (CS/CB), 22
Decoupled Time and Frequency Domain Scheduling, 40
DFTS-OFDM in LTE-Advanced Uplink, 19
Downlink CoMP: Joint Processing, 22
eNodeB MAC Process Model, 53
eNodeB Node Model, 53
Evolution of Mobile Networks, 9
Evolved Packet System (EPS) of LTE-A, 13
Extension of MIMO from LTE to LTE-Advanced, 23
FTP Average Upload Time and Total Cell Throughput, 56
FTP Bearer Upload Time Comparison in Dierent Trac Scenarios (QoS), 65
FTP Upload Response Time (5 vs 15 vs 20), 55
FTP User Throughput (Fairness: Three scenarios), 66
FTP User Upload Time (Fairness: Three scenarios), 67
Joint Reception and Coordinated Scheduling, 22
Open Loop Power Control, 47
OPNET Project Editor, 51
Power Control, 47
Protocol Stack of LTE-Advanced, 14
Radio Channel: Actual Value Interface, 33
Radio Channel: AWGN Channel BLER vs. SINR Curve, 33
Radio Channel: Channel Impulse Response, 29
Radio Channel: Time and Frequency Selective Channel, 31
Radio Channel: Time Variant Channel Impulse Response, 30
Relay Node and Donor Cell, 23
RRM Framework of LTE-Advanced Uplink, 35
Serving Cell: Primary Serving Cell and Secondary Serving Cell, 18
System Architecture Evolution (SAE), 15
Total Cell Throughput (SCH), 62
User Average SINR (PC), 61
Video Packet End-to-End Delay, 55
Video Packet End-to-End Delay and FTP Upload Time (CCS), 59
Video Packet End-to-End Delay and FTP Upload Time (SCH), 63
Video User Throughput (SCH (QoS Weight vs. no-QoS Weight)), 64
VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay (CCS), 59
VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay (SCH), 63

MASTER THESIS

Index

Figure: VoIP Packet End-to-End Delay and Video Packet End-to-End Delay (PC), 60
Table:
Table:
Table:
Table:
Table:
Table:
Table:
Table:
Table:

94

I0 (or equivalently P0 ) values in dBm/PRB, 48

Bit Rate Budget, Delay Budget and Delay Threshold, 41
Main System Conguration, 53
Mixed Trac Scenario Settings for QoS Analysis, 65
Number of PRBs in E-UTRA Channel Bandwidth, 16
Power Control Parameter Settings (PC Analysis), 60
QCI and MAC QoS Mapping, 41
Trac Models (QoS Aware Analysis: Scenario 2), 64
Trac Models (Sensitivity Analysis), 54, 58

Yangyang Dong