LTEQUICKGUIDE

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LTEOVERVIEW
LTEstandsforLongTermEvolutionanditwasstartedasaprojectin2004bytelecommunicationbody
knownastheThirdGenerationPartnershipProject3GP P .SAES ystemArchitectureEvolution isthe
correspondingevolutionoftheGPRS/3Gpacketcorenetworkevolution.ThetermLTEistypicallyusedto
representbothLTEandSAE.
LTEevolvedfromanearlier3GPPsystemknownastheUniversalMobileTelecommunicationSystem
U M T S ,whichinturnevolvedfromtheGlobalSystemforMobileCommunicationsGS M .Evenrelated
specificationswereformallyknownastheevolvedUMTSterrestrialradioaccessE U T RA andevolved
UMTSterrestrialradioaccessnetworkE U T RAN .FirstversionofLTEwasdocumentedinRelease8of
the3GPPspecifications.
ArapidincreaseofmobiledatausageandemergenceofnewapplicationssuchasMMOG
M ultimediaOnlineGaming ,mobileTV,Web2.0,streamingcontentshavemotivatedthe3rdGeneration
PartnershipProject3GP P toworkontheLongTermEvolutionLT E onthewaytowardsfourth
generationmobile.
ThemaingoalofLTEistoprovideahighdatarate,lowlatencyandpacketoptimizedradioaccess
technologysupportingflexiblebandwidthdeployments.Sametimeitsnetworkarchitecturehasbeen
designedwiththegoaltosupportpacketswitchedtrafficwithseamlessmobilityandgreatqualityof
service.

LTEEvolution
Year

Event

Mar2000

Release99UMTS/WCDMA

Mar2002

Rel5HSDPA

Mar2005

Rel6HSUPA

Year2007

Rel7DLMIMO,IMSI P M ultimediaS ubsystem

November2004

WorkstartedonLTEspecification

January2008

SpecfinalizedandapprovedwithRelease8

2010

Targetedfirstdeployment

FactsaboutLTE
LTEisthesuccessortechnologynotonlyofUMTSbutalsoofCDMA2000.
LTEisimportantbecauseitwillbringupto50timesperformanceimprovementandmuchbetter
spectralefficiencytocellularnetworks.
LTEintroducedtogethigherdatarates,300Mbpspeakdownlinkand75Mbpspeakuplink.Ina
20MHzcarrier,dataratesbeyond300Mbpscanbeachievedunderverygoodsignalconditions.
LTEisanidealtechnologytosupporthighdateratesfortheservicessuchasvoiceoverIPV OI P ,
streamingmultimedia,videoconferencingorevenahighspeedcellularmodem.
LTEusesbothTimeDivisionDuplexT DDandFrequencyDivisionDuplexF DDmode.InFDD
uplinkanddownlinktransmissionuseddifferentfrequency,whileinTDDbothuplinkanddownlink
usethesamecarrierandareseparatedinTime.
LTEsupportsflexiblecarrierbandwidths,from1.4MHzupto20MHzaswellasbothFDDandTDD.
LTEdesignedwithascalablecarrierbandwidthfrom1.4MHzupto20MHzwhichbandwidthisused
dependsonthefrequencybandandtheamountofspectrumavailablewithanetworkoperator.
AllLTEdeviceshavetosupportM I M OMultipleInputMultipleOutputtransmissions,whichallow
thebasestationtotransmitseveraldatastreamsoverthesamecarriersimultaneously.
AllinterfacesbetweennetworknodesinLTEarenowIPbased,includingthebackhaulconnectionto
theradiobasestations.Thisisgreatsimplificationcomparedtoearliertechnologiesthatwere
initiallybasedonE1/T1,ATMandframerelaylinks,withmostofthembeingnarrowbandand
expensive.
QualityofServiceQoS mechanismhavebeenstandardizedonallinterfacestoensurethatthe
requirementofvoicecallsforaconstantdelayandbandwidth,canstillbemetwhencapacitylimits
arereached.
WorkswithGSM/EDGE/UMTSsystemsutilizingexisting2Gand3Gspectrumandnewspectrum.
Supportshandoverandroamingtoexistingmobilenetworks.

AdvantagesofLTE
Highthroughput:Highdataratescanbeachievedinbothdownlinkaswellasuplink.Thiscauses
highthroughput.
Lowlatency:Timerequiredtoconnecttothenetworkisinrangeofafewhundredmilliseconds
andpowersavingstatescannowbeenteredandexitedveryquickly.
FDDandTDDinthesameplatform:FrequencyDivisionDuplexF DDandTimeDivision
DuplexF DD,bothschemescanbeusedonsameplatform.
Superiorenduserexperience:Optimizedsignalingforconnectionestablishmentandotherair
interfaceandmobilitymanagementprocedureshavefurtherimprovedtheuserexperience.Reduced
latencyto10ms forbetteruserexperience.
SeamlessConnection:LTEwillalsosupportseamlessconnectiontoexistingnetworkssuchas

GSM,CDMAandWCDMA.
Plugandplay:Theuserdoesnothavetomanuallyinstalldriversforthedevice.Insteadsystem
automaticallyrecognizesthedevice,loadsnewdriversforthehardwareifneeded,andbeginsto
workwiththenewlyconnecteddevice.
Simplearchitecture:BecauseofSimplearchitecturelowoperatingexpenditureOP EX .

LTEQoS
LTEarchitecturesupportshardQoS,withendtoendqualityofserviceandguaranteedbitrateGBRfor
radiobearers.JustasEthernetandtheinternethavedifferenttypesofQoS,forexample,variouslevelsof
QoScanbeappliedtoLTEtrafficfordifferentapplications.BecausetheLTEMACisfullyscheduled,QoSis
anaturalfit.
EvolvedPacketSystemEP S bearersprovideonetoonecorrespondencewithRLCradiobearersand
providesupportforTrafficFlowTemplatesT F T .TherearefourtypesofEPSbearers:
GBRBearerresourcespermanentlyallocatedbyadmissioncontrol
NonGBRBearernoadmissioncontrol
DedicatedBearerassociatedwithspecificTFTGBRornon GBR
DefaultBearerNonGBR,catchallforunassignedtraffic

LTEBASICPARAMETERS
ThissectionwillsummarizetheBasicparametersoftheLTE:

Parameters

Description

Frequencyrange

UMTSFDDbandsandTDDbandsdefinedin36.101v860Table
5.5.1,givenbelow

Duplexing

FDD,TDD,halfduplexFDD

Channelcoding

Turbocode

Mobility

350km/h

ChannelBandwidthM H z

1.4
3
5

10
15
20
TransmissionBandwidth
ConfigurationNRB:
1resourceblock

6
15

= 180kH zin1msT T I

25
50
75
100
ModulationSchemes

UL:QPSK,16QAM,64QAMoptional
DL:QPSK,16QAM,64QAM

MultipleAccessSchemes

UL:SCFDMAS ingleC arrierF requencyDivisionM ultipleAccess

supports50Mbps+20M H zspectrum
DL:OFDMOrthogonalF requencyDivisionM ultipleAccess
supports100Mbps+20M H zspectrum

MultiAntennaTechnology

UL:MultiusercollaborativeMIMO
DL:TxAA,spatialmultiplexing,CDD,max4x4array

PeakdatarateinLTE

UL:75Mbps20M H zbandwidth
DL:150MbpsU EC ategory4, 2x2M I M O, 20M H zbandwidth
DL:300MbpsU Ecategory5, 4x4M I M O, 20M H zbandwidth

MIMO

UL:1x2,1x4

M ultipleI nputM ultipleOutput

DL:2x2,4x2,4x4

Coverage

5100kmwithslightdegradationafter30km

QoS

E2EQOSallowingprioritizationofdifferentclassofservice

Latency

Enduserlatency<10mS

EUTRAOperatingBands
FollowingisthetableforEUTRAoperatingbandstakenfromLTESepecification36.101v860Table5.5.1:

LTENETWORKARCHITECTURE

ThehighlevelnetworkarchitectureofLTEiscomprisedoffollowingthreemaincomponents:
TheUserEquipmentU E .
TheEvolvedUMTSTerrestrialRadioAccessNetworkE U T RAN .
TheEvolvedPacketCoreEP C .
Theevolvedpacketcorecommunicateswithpacketdatanetworksintheoutsideworldsuchastheinternet,
privatecorporatenetworksortheIPmultimediasubsystem.Theinterfacesbetweenthedifferentpartsof
thesystemaredenotedUu,S1andSGiasshownbelow:

TheUserEquipmentU E
TheinternalarchitectureoftheuserequipmentforLTEisidenticaltotheoneusedbyUMTSandGSM
whichisactuallyaMobileEquipmentM E .Themobileequipmentcomprisedofthefollowingimportant
modules:
MobileTermination M T :Thishandlesallthecommunicationfunctions.
TerminalEquipment T E :Thisterminatesthedatastreams.
UniversalIntegratedCircuitCard U I C C :ThisisalsoknownastheSIMcardforLTE
equipments.ItrunsanapplicationknownastheUniversalSubscriberIdentityModuleU S I M .
AUSIMstoresuserspecificdataverysimilarto3GSIMcard.Thiskeepsinformationabouttheuser's
phonenumber,homenetworkidentityandsecuritykeysetc.

TheEUTRANT heaccessnetwork
ThearchitectureofevolvedUMTSTerrestrialRadioAccessNetworkE U T RAN hasbeenillustrated
below.

TheEUTRANhandlestheradiocommunicationsbetweenthemobileandtheevolvedpacketcoreandjust
hasonecomponent,theevolvedbasestations,calledeNodeBoreNB.EacheNBisabasestationthat
controlsthemobilesinoneormorecells.Thebasestationthatiscommunicatingwithamobileisknownas
itsservingeNB.
LTEMobilecommunicateswithjustonebasestationandonecellatatimeandtherearefollowingtwo
mainfunctionssupportedbyeNB:
TheeBNsendsandreceivesradiotransmissionstoallthemobilesusingtheanalogueanddigital
signalprocessingfunctionsoftheLTEairinterface.
TheeNBcontrolsthelowleveloperationofallitsmobiles,bysendingthemsignallingmessages
suchashandovercommands.
EacheBNconnectswiththeEPCbymeansoftheS1interfaceanditcanalsobeconnectedtonearbybase
stationsbytheX2interface,whichismainlyusedforsignallingandpacketforwardingduringhandover.
AhomeeNBH eN B isabasestationthathasbeenpurchasedbyausertoprovidefemtocellcoverage
withinthehome.AhomeeNBbelongstoaclosedsubscribergroupC S Gandcanonlybeaccessedby
mobileswithaUSIMthatalsobelongstotheclosedsubscribergroup.

TheEvolvedPacketCoreE P C T hecorenetwork
ThearchitectureofEvolvedPacketCoreEP C hasbeenillustratedbelow.Therearefewmorecomponents
whichhavenotbeenshowninthediagramtokeepitsimple.ThesecomponentsareliketheEarthquakeand
TsunamiWarningSystemET W S ,theEquipmentIdentityRegisterEI R andPolicyControlandCharging
RulesFunctionP C RF .

Belowisabriefdescriptionofeachofthecomponentsshownintheabovearchitecture:
TheHomeSubscriberServerH S S componenthasbeencarriedforwardfromUMTSandGSMand
isacentraldatabasethatcontainsinformationaboutallthenetworkoperator'ssubscribers.
ThePacketDataNetworkP DN GatewayP GW communicateswiththeoutsideworldie.packet
datanetworksPDN,usingSGiinterface.Eachpacketdatanetworkisidentifiedbyanaccesspoint
nameAP N .ThePDNgatewayhasthesameroleastheGPRSsupportnodeGGS N andtheserving
GPRSsupportnodeS GS N withUMTSandGSM.
TheservinggatewayS GW actsasarouter,andforwardsdatabetweenthebasestationandthe
PDNgateway.
ThemobilitymanagemententityM M E controlsthehighleveloperationofthemobilebymeansof
signallingmessagesandHomeSubscriberServerH S S .
ThePolicyControlandChargingRulesFunctionP C RF isacomponentwhichisnotshowninthe
abovediagrambutitisresponsibleforpolicycontroldecisionmaking,aswellasforcontrollingthe
flowbasedchargingfunctionalitiesinthePolicyControlEnforcementFunctionP C EF ,which
residesinthePGW.
TheinterfacebetweentheservingandPDNgatewaysisknownasS5/S8.Thishastwoslightlydifferent
implementations,namelyS5ifthetwodevicesareinthesamenetwork,andS8iftheyareindifferent
networks.

FunctionalsplitbetweentheEUTRANandtheEPC
FollowingdiagramshowsthefunctionalsplitbetweentheEUTRANandtheEPCforanLTEnetwork:

2G/3GVersusLTE
FollowingtablecomparesvariousimportantNetworkElements&Signalingprotocolsusedin2G/3Gabd
LTE.

2G/3G

LTE

GERANandUTRAN

EUTRAN

SGSN/PDSNFA

SGW

GGSN/PDSNHA

PDNGW

HLR/AAA

HSS

VLR

MME

SS7MAP/ANSI41/RADIUS

Diameter

DiameterGTPcv0andv1

GTPcv2

MIP

PMIP

LTEROAMINGARCHITECTURE
AnetworkrunbyoneoperatorinonecountryisknownasaPublicLandMobileNetworkP LM N and
whenasubscribeduseruseshisoperator'sPLMNthenitissaidHomePLMNbutroamingallowsusersto
moveoutsidetheirhomenetworkandusingtheresourcesfromotheroperator'snetwork.Thisother
networkiscalledVisitedPLMN.
AroaminguserisconnectedtotheEUTRAN,MMEandSGWofthevisitedLTEnetwork.However,
LTE/SAEallowsthePGWofeitherthevisitedorthehomenetworktobeused,asshowninbelow:

Thehomenetwork'sPGWallowstheusertoaccessthehomeoperator'sservicesevenwhileinavisited
network.APGWinthevisitednetworkallowsa"localbreakout"totheInternetinthevisitednetwork.
TheinterfacebetweentheservingandPDNgatewaysisknownasS5/S8.Thishastwoslightlydifferent
implementations,namelyS5ifthetwodevicesareinthesamenetwork,andS8iftheyareindifferent
networks.Formobilesthatarenotroaming,theservingandPDNgatewayscanbeintegratedintoasingle
device,sothattheS5/S8interfacevanishesaltogether.

LTERoamingCharging
Thecomplexitiesofthenewchargingmechanismsrequiredtosupport4Groamingaremuchmore
abundantthanina3Genvironment.FewwordsaboutbothprepaidandpostpaidchargingforLTE
roamingisgivenbelow:

PrepaidChargingTheCAMELstandard,whichenablesprepaidservicesin3G,isnotsupported
inLTEtherefore,prepaidcustomerinformationmustberoutedbacktothehomenetworkas
opposedtobeinghandledbythelocalvisitednetwork.Asaresult,operatorsmustrelyonnew
accountingflowstoaccessprepaidcustomerdata,suchasthroughtheirPGatewaysinbothIMSand
nonIMSenvironmentsorviatheirCSCFinanIMSenvironment.
PostpaidChargingPostpaiddatausagechargingworksthesameinLTEasitdoesin3G,using
versionsTAP3.11or3.12.WithlocalbreakoutofIMSservices,TAP3.12isrequired.
Operatorsdonothavethesameamountofvisibilityintosubscriberactivitiesastheydoinhomerouting
scenariosincaseoflocalbreakoutscenariosbecausesubscriberdatasessionsarekeptwithinthevisited
networktherefore,inorderforthehomeoperatortocapturerealtimeinformationonbothpreand
postpaidcustomers,itmustestablishaDiameterinterfacebetweenchargingsystemsandthevisited
network'sPGateway.
Incaseoflocalbreakoutofimsservicesscenario,thevisitednetworkcreatescalldetailrecordsC DRs
fromtheSGateways,however,theseCDRsdonotcontainalloftheinformationrequiredtocreateaTAP
3.12mobilesessionormessagingeventrecordfortheserviceusage.Asaresult,operatorsmustcorrelate
thecoredatanetworkCDRswiththeIMSCDRstocreateTAPrecords.

LTENUMBERING&ADDRESSING
AnLTEnetworkareaisdividedintothreedifferenttypesofgeographicalareasexplainedbelow:

S.N.
1

AreaandDescription
TheMMEpoolareas
ThisisanareathroughwhichthemobilecanmovewithoutachangeofservingMME.Every
MMEpoolareaiscontrolledbyoneormoreMMEsonthenetwork.

TheSGWserviceareas
ThisisanareaservedbyoneormoreservinggatewaysSGW,throughwhichthemobilecan
movewithoutachangeofservinggateway.

TheTrackingareas
TheMMEpoolareasandtheSGWserviceareasarebothmadefromsmaller,nonoverlapping
unitsknownastrackingareasT As.Theyaresimilartothelocationandroutingareasfrom
UMTSandGSMandwillbeusedtotrackthelocationsofmobilesthatareonstandbymode.

ThusanLTEnetworkwillcompriseofmanyMMEpoolareas,manySGWserviceareasandlotsoftracking
areas.

TheNetworkIDs
ThenetworkitselfwillbeidentifiedusingPublicLandMobileNetworkIdentityP LM N I D whichwill
haveathreedigitmobilecountrycodeM C C andatwoorthreedigitmobilenetworkcodeM N C .For
example,theMobileCountryCodefortheUKis234,whileVodafone'sUKnetworkusesaMobileNetwork
Codeof15.

TheMMEIDs
EachMMEhasthreemainidentities.AnMMEcodeM M EC uniquelyidentifiestheMMEwithinallthe
poolareas.AgroupofMMEsisassignedanMMEGroupIdentityM M EGI whichworksalongwithMMEC
tomakeMMEidentifierM M EI .AMMEIuniquelyidentifiestheMMEwithinaparticularnetwork.

IfwecombilePLMNIDwiththeMMEIthenwearriveataGloballyUniqueMMEIdentifierGU M M EI ,
whichidentifiesanMMEanywhereintheworld:

TheTrackingAreaIDs
Eachtrackingareahastwomainidentities.ThetrackingareacodeT AC identifiesatrackingareawithina
particularnetworkandifwecombiningthiswiththePLMNIDthenwearriveataGloballyUnique
TrackingAreaIdentityT AI .

TheCellIDs
Eachcellinthenetworkhasthreetypesofidentity.TheEUTRANcellidentityEC I identifiesacellwithin
aparticularnetwork,whiletheEUTRANcellglobalidentifierEC GI identifiesacellanywhereinthe
world.
Thephysicalcellidentity,whichisanumberfrom0to503anditdistinguishesacellfromitsimmediate
neighbours.

TheMobileEquipmentID
TheinternationalmobileequipmentidentityI M EI isauniqueidentityforthemobileequipmentandthe
InternationalMobileSubscriberIdentityI M S I isauniqueidentityfortheUICCandtheUSIM.
TheMtemporarymobilesubscriberidentityM T M S I identifiesamobiletoitsservingMME.Adding
theMMEcodeinMTMSIresultsinaStemporarymobilesubscriberidentityS T M S I ,whichidentifies
themobilewithinanMMEpoolarea.

FinallyaddingtheMMEgroupidentityandthePLMNidentitywithSTMSIresultsintheGloballyUnique
TemporaryIdentityGU T I .

LTERADIOPROTOCOLARCHITECTURE
TheradioprotocolarchitectureforLTEcanbeseparatedintocontrolplanearchitectureanduser
planearchitectureasshownbelow:

Atuserplaneside,theapplicationcreatesdatapacketsthatareprocessedbyprotocolssuchasTCP,UDP
andIP,whileinthecontrolplane,theradioresourcecontrolRRC protocolwritesthesignallingmessages
thatareexchangedbetweenthebasestationandthemobile.Inbothcases,theinformationisprocessedby
thepacketdataconvergenceprotocolP DC P ,theradiolinkcontrolRLC protocolandthemediumaccess
controlM AC protocol,beforebeingpassedtothephysicallayerfortransmission.

UserPlane
TheuserplaneprotocolstackbetweentheeNodeBandUEconsistsofthefollowingsublayers:
PDCPP acketDataC onvergenceP rotocol
RLCradioLinkC ontrol
MediumAccessControlM AC
Ontheuserplane,packetsinthecorenetworkEP C areencapsulatedinaspecificEPCprotocoland
tunneledbetweenthePGWandtheeNodeB.Differenttunnelingprotocolsareuseddependingonthe
interface.GPRSTunnelingProtocolGT P isusedontheS1interfacebetweentheeNodeBandSGWand
ontheS5/S8interfacebetweentheSGWandPGW.

PacketsreceivedbyalayerarecalledServiceDataUnitS DU whilethepacketoutputofalayerisreferred
tobyProtocolDataUnitP DU andIPpacketsatuserplaneflowfromtoptobottomlayers.

ControlPlane
ThecontrolplaneincludesadditionallytheRadioResourceControllayerRRC whichisresponsiblefor
configuringthelowerlayers.
TheControlPlanehandlesradiospecificfunctionalitywhichdependsonthestateoftheuserequipment
whichincludestwostates:idleorconnected.

Mode

Description

Idle

Theuserequipmentcampsonacellafteracellselectionorreselectionprocesswhere
factorslikeradiolinkquality,cellstatusandradioaccesstechnologyareconsidered.The
UEalsomonitorsapagingchanneltodetectincomingcallsandacquiresystem
information.Inthismode,controlplaneprotocolsincludecellselectionandreselection
procedures.

Connected

TheUEsuppliestheEUTRANwithdownlinkchannelqualityandneighbourcell
informationtoenabletheEUTRANtoselectthemostsuitablecellfortheUE.Inthis
case,controlplaneprotocolincludestheRadioLinkControlRRC protocol.

TheprotocolstackforthecontrolplanebetweentheUEandMMEisshownbelow.Thegreyregionofthe
stackindicatestheaccessstratumAS protocols.Thelowerlayersperformthesamefunctionsasforthe
userplanewiththeexceptionthatthereisnoheadercompressionfunctionforthecontrolplane.

LTEPROTOCOLSTACKLAYERS
Let'shaveacloselookatallthelayersavailableinEUTRANProtocolStackwhichwehaveseeninprevious
chapter.BelowisamoreellaborateddiagramofEUTRANProtocolStack:

PhysicalLayerLayer1
PhysicalLayercarriesallinformationfromtheMACtransportchannelsovertheairinterface.Takescare
ofthelinkadaptationAM C ,powercontrol,cellsearchf orinitialsynchronizationandhandoverpurposes
andothermeasurementsinsidetheLT Esystemandbetweensystems fortheRRClayer.

MediumAccessLayerM AC
MAClayerisresponsibleforMappingbetweenlogicalchannelsandtransportchannels,Multiplexingof
MACSDUsfromoneordifferentlogicalchannelsontotransportblocksT B tobedeliveredtothephysical
layerontransportchannels,demultiplexingofMACSDUsfromoneordifferentlogicalchannelsfrom
transportblocksT B deliveredfromthephysicallayerontransportchannels,Schedulinginformation
reporting,ErrorcorrectionthroughHARQ,PriorityhandlingbetweenUEsbymeansofdynamic
scheduling,PriorityhandlingbetweenlogicalchannelsofoneUE,LogicalChannelprioritization.

RadioLinkControlRLC
RLCoperatesin3modesofoperation:TransparentModeT M ,UnacknowledgedModeU M ,and
AcknowledgedModeAM .
RLCLayerisresponsiblefortransferofupperlayerPDUs,errorcorrectionthroughARQ
Onlyf orAM datatransf er ,Concatenation,segmentationandreassemblyofRLCSDUs
Onlyf orU M andAM datatransf er .
RLCisalsoresponsibleforresegmentationofRLCdataPDUsOnlyf orAM datatransf er ,reorderingof
RLCdataPDUsOnlyf orU M andAM datatransf er ,duplicatedetectionOnlyf orU M andAM datatransf er ,
RLCSDUdiscardOnlyf orU M andAM datatransf er ,RLCreestablishment,andprotocolerrordetection
Onlyf orAM datatransf er .

RadioResourceControlRRC
ThemainservicesandfunctionsoftheRRCsublayerincludebroadcastofSystemInformationrelatedto
thenonaccessstratumN AS ,broadcastofSystemInformationrelatedtotheaccessstratumAS ,Paging,
establishment,maintenanceandreleaseofanRRCconnectionbetweentheUEandEUTRAN,Security
functionsincludingkeymanagement,establishment,configuration,maintenanceandreleaseofpointto
pointRadioBearers.

PacketDataConvergenceControlP DC P
PDCPLayerisresponsibleforHeadercompressionanddecompressionofIPdata,Transferofdata
userplaneorcontrolplane ,MaintenanceofPDCPSequenceNumbersS N s ,Insequencedeliveryofupper
layerPDUsatreestablishmentoflowerlayers,DuplicateeliminationoflowerlayerSDUsatre
establishmentoflowerlayersforradiobearersmappedonRLCAM,Cipheringanddecipheringofuser
planedataandcontrolplanedata,Integrityprotectionandintegrityverificationofcontrolplanedata,
Timerbaseddiscard,duplicatediscarding,PDCPisusedforSRBsandDRBsmappedonDCCHandDTCH
typeoflogicalchannels.

NonAccessStratumN AS Protocols
ThenonaccessstratumN AS protocolsformthehigheststratumofthecontrolplanebetweentheuser
equipmentU E andMME.

NASprotocolssupportthemobilityoftheUEandthesessionmanagementprocedurestoestablishand
maintainIPconnectivitybetweentheUEandaPDNGW.

LTELAYERSDATAFLOW
BelowisalogicaldigramofEUTRANProtocollayerswithadepictionofdataflowthroughvariouslayers:

PacketsreceivedbyalayerarecalledServiceDataUnitS DU whilethepacketoutputofalayerisreferred
tobyProtocolDataUnitP DU .Let'sseetheflowofdatafromtoptobottom:
IPLayersubmitsPDCPSDUsI P P ackets tothePDCPlayer.PDCPlayerdoesheadercompression
andaddsPDCPheadertothesePDCPSDUs.PDCPLayersubmitsPDCPPDUsRLC S DU s toRLC
layer.
PDCPHeaderCompression:PDCPremovesIPheaderM inimum20bytesfromPDU,andadds
Tokenof14bytes.Whichprovidesatremendoussavingsintheamountofheaderthatwould
otherwisehavetogoovertheair.

RLClayerdoessegmentationoftheseSDUStomaketheRLCPDUs.RLCaddsheaderbasedonRLC
modeofoperation.RLCsubmitstheseRLCPDUsM AC S DU s totheMAClayer.
RLCSegmentation:IfanRLCSDUislarge,ortheavailableradiodatarateislow
resultinginsmalltransportblocks,theRLCSDUmaybesplitamongseveralRLCPDUs.IftheRLC
SDUissmall,ortheavailableradiodatarateishigh,severalRLCSDUsmaybepackedintoasingle
PDU.
MAClayeraddsheaderanddoespaddingtofitthisMACSDUinTTI.MAClayersubmitsMACPDU
tophysicallayerfortransmittingitontophysicalchannels.
Physicalchanneltransmitsthisdataintoslotsofsubframe.

LTECOMMUNICATIONCHANNELS
Theinformationflowsbetweenthedifferentprotocolsareknownaschannelsandsignals.LTEusesseveral
differenttypesoflogical,transportandphysicalchannel,whicharedistinguishedbythekindof
informationtheycarryandbythewayinwhichtheinformationisprocessed.
LogicalChannels:Definewhattypeofinformationistransmittedovertheair,e.g.traffic
channels,controlchannels,systembroadcast,etc.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonlogical
channelsbetweentheRLCandMACprotocols.
TransportChannels:Definehowissomethingtransmittedovertheair,e.g.whatareencoding,
interleavingoptionsusedtotransmitdata.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedontransport
channelsbetweentheMACandthephysicallayer.
PhysicalChannels:Definewhereissomethingtransmittedovertheair,e.g.firstNsymbolsin
theDLframe.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonphysicalchannelsbetweenthedifferent
levelsofthephysicallayer.

LogicalChannels
Logicalchannelsdefinewhattypeofdataistransferred.Thesechannelsdefinethedatatransferservices
offeredbytheMAClayer.DataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonlogicalchannelsbetweentheRLC
andMACprotocols.

Logicalchannelscanbedividedintocontrolchannelsandtrafficchannels.ControlChannelcanbeeither
commonchannelordedicatedchannel.Acommonchannelmeanscommontoallusersinacell
P ointtomultipoint whilededicatedchannelsmeanschannelscanbeusedonlybyoneuserP ointtoP oint .
Logicalchannelsaredistinguishedbytheinformationtheycarryandcanbeclassifiedintwoways.Firstly,
logicaltrafficchannelscarrydataintheuserplane,whilelogicalcontrolchannelscarrysignallingmessages
inthecontrolplane.FollowingtableliststhelogicalchannelsthatareusedbyLTE:

ChannelName

Acronym

Control
channel

Trafficchannel

BroadcastControlChannel

BCCH

PagingControlChannel

PCCH

CommonControlChannel

CCCH

DedicatedControlChannel

DCCH

MulticastControlChannel

MCCH

DedicatedTrafficChannel

DTCH

MulticastTrafficChannel

MTCH

TransportChannels
Transportchannelsdefinehowandwithwhattypeofcharacteristicsthedataistransferredbythephysical
layer.DataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedontransportchannelsbetweentheMACandthephysical
layer.
TransportChannelsaredistinguishedbythewaysinwhichthetransportchannelprocessormanipulates
them.FollowingtableliststhetransportchannelsthatareusedbyLTE:

ChannelName

Acronym

Downlink

Uplink

BroadcastChannel

BCH

DownlinkSharedChannel

DLSCH

PagingChannel

PCH

MulticastChannel

MCH

UplinkSharedChannel

ULSCH

RandomAccessChannel

RACH

PhysicalChannels
Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonphysicalchannelsbetweenthedifferentlevelsofthephysical
layerandaccordinglytheyaredividedintotwoparts:
PhysicalDataChannels
PhysicalControlChannels

Physicaldatachannels
Physicaldatachannelsaredistinguishedbythewaysinwhichthephysicalchannelprocessormanipulates
them,andbythewaysinwhichtheyaremappedontothesymbolsandsubcarriersusedbyOrthogonal
frequencydivisionmultiplexingOF DM A .Followingtableliststhephysicaldatachannelsthatare
usedbyLTE:

ChannelName

Acronym

Downlink

Uplink

Physicaldownlinksharedchannel

PDSCH

Physicalbroadcastchannel

PBCH

Physicalmulticastchannel

PMCH

Physicaluplinksharedchannel

PUSCH

Physicalrandomaccesschannel

PRACH

Thetransportchannelprocessorcomposesseveraltypesofcontrolinformation,tosupportthelow
leveloperationofthephysicallayer.Thesearelistedinthebelowtable:

FieldName

Acronym

Downlink

Uplink

Downlinkcontrolinformation

DCI

Controlformatindicator

CFI

HybridARQindicator

HI

Uplinkcontrolinformation

UCI

PhysicalControlChannels
Thetransportchannelprocessoralsocreatescontrolinformationthatsupportsthelowleveloperationof
thephysicallayerandsendsthisinformationtothephysicalchannelprocessorintheformofphysical
controlchannels.
Theinformationtravelsasfarasthetransportchannelprocessorinthereceiver,butiscompletelyinvisible
tohigherlayers.Similarly,thephysicalchannelprocessorcreatesphysicalsignals,whichsupportthe
lowestlevelaspectsofthesystem.
PhysicalControlChannelsarelistedinthebelowtable:

ChannelName

Acronym

Downlink

Uplink

Physicalcontrolformatindicator
channel

PCFICH

PhysicalhybridARQindicatorchannel

PHICH

Physicaldownlinkcontrolchannel

PDCCH

Relayphysicaldownlinkcontrol
channel

RPDCCH

Physicaluplinkcontrolchannel

PUCCH

Thebasestationalsotransmitstwootherphysicalsignals,whichhelpthemobileacquirethebasestation
afteritfirstswitcheson.TheseareknownastheprimarysynchronizationsignalP S S andthesecondary
synchronizationsignalS S S .

LTEOFDMTECHNOLOGY
ToovercometheeffectofmultipathfadingproblemavailableinUMTS,LTEusesOrthogonalFrequency
DivisionMultiplexingOF DM forthedownlinkthatis,fromthebasestationtotheterminaltotransmit
thedataovermanynarrowbandcareersof180KHzeachinsteadofspreadingonesignaloverthecomplete
5MHzcareerbandwidthie.OFDMusesalargenumberofnarrowsubcarriersformulticarrier
transmissiontocarrydata.
OrthogonalfrequencydivisionmultiplexingOF DM ,isafrequencydivisionmultiplexingF DM scheme
usedasadigitalmulticarriermodulationmethod.
OFDMmeetstheLTErequirementforspectrumflexibilityandenablescostefficientsolutionsforvery

widecarrierswithhighpeakrates.ThebasicLTEdownlinkphysicalresourcecanbeseenasatime
frequencygrid,asillustratedinFigurebelow:
TheOFDMsymbolsaregroupedintoresourceblocks.Theresourceblockshaveatotalsizeof180kHzin
thefrequencydomainand0.5msinthetimedomain.Each1msTransmissionTimeIntervalT T I consistsof
twoslotsT slot .

Eachuserisallocatedanumberofsocalledresourceblocksinthetime.frequencygrid.Themoreresource
blocksausergets,andthehigherthemodulationusedintheresourceelements,thehigherthebitrate.
Whichresourceblocksandhowmanytheusergetsatagivenpointintimedependonadvancedscheduling
mechanismsinthefrequencyandtimedimensions.
TheschedulingmechanismsinLTEaresimilartothoseusedinHSPA,andenableoptimalperformancefor
differentservicesindifferentradioenvironments.

AdvantagesofOFDM
TheprimaryadvantageofOFDMoversinglecarrierschemesisitsabilitytocopewithsevere
channelconditionsf orexample, attenuationof highf requenciesinalongcopperwire,
narrowbandinterf erenceandf requency selectivef adingduetomultipath

withoutcomplexequalizationfilters.
ChannelequalizationissimplifiedbecauseOFDMmaybeviewedasusingmanyslowlymodulated
narrowbandsignalsratherthanonerapidlymodulatedwidebandsignal.
Thelowsymbolratemakestheuseofaguardintervalbetweensymbolsaffordable,makingit
possibletoeliminateintersymbolinterferenceI S I .
ThismechanismalsofacilitatesthedesignofsinglefrequencynetworksS F N s ,whereseveral
adjacenttransmitterssendthesamesignalsimultaneouslyatthesamefrequency,asthesignalsfrom
multipledistanttransmittersmaybecombinedconstructively,ratherthaninterferingaswould
typicallyoccurinatraditionalsinglecarriersystem.

DrawbacksofOFDM

Highpeaktoaverageratio
Sensitivetofrequencyoffset,hencetoDopplershiftaswell

SCFDMATechnology
LTEusesaprecodedversionofOFDMcalledSingleCarrierFrequencyDivisionMultipleAccess
S C F DM A intheuplink.ThisistocompensateforadrawbackwithnormalOFDM,whichhasavery
highPeaktoAveragePowerRatioP AP R .
HighPAPRrequiresexpensiveandinefficientpoweramplifierswithhighrequirementsonlinearity,which
increasesthecostoftheterminalanddrainsthebatteryfaster.
SCFDMAsolvesthisproblembygroupingtogethertheresourceblocksinsuchawaythatreducestheneed
forlinearity,andsopowerconsumption,inthepoweramplifier.AlowPAPRalsoimprovescoverageand
thecelledgeperformance.

LTEGLOSSARY
Term

Description

3GPP

3rdGenerationPartnershipProject

3GPP2

3rdGenerationPartnershipProject2

ARIB

AssociationofRadioIndustriesandBusinesses

ATIS

AllianceforTelecommunicationIndustrySolutions

AWS

AdvancedWirelessServices

CAPEX

CapitalExpenditure

CCSA

ChinaCommunicationsStandardsAssociation

CDMA

CodeDivisionMultipleAccess

CDMA2000

CodeDivisionMultipleAccess2000

DAB

DigitalAudioBroadcast

DSL

DigitalSubscriberLine

DVB

DigitalVideoBroadcast

eHSPA

evolvedHighSpeedPacketAccess

ETSI

EuropeanTelecommunicationsStandardsInstitute

FDD

FrequencyDivisionDuplex

FWT

FixedWirelessTerminal

GSM

GlobalSystemforMobilecommunication

HSPA

HighSpeedPacketAccess

HSS

HomeSubscriberServer

IEEE

InstituteofElectricalandElectronicsEngineers

IPTV

InternetProtocolTelevision

LTE

LongTermEvolution

MBMS

MultimediaBroadcastMulticastService

MIMO

MultipleInputMultipleOutput

MME

MobilityManagementEntity

NGMN

NextGenerationMobileNetworks

OFDM

OrthogonalFrequencyDivisionMultiplexing

OPEX

OperationalExpenditure

PAPR

PeaktoAveragePowerRatio

PCI

PeripheralComponentInterconnect

PCRF

PolicingandChargingRulesFunction

PDSN

PacketDataServingNode

PS

PacketSwitched

QoS

QualityofService

RAN

RadioAccessNetwork

SAE

SystemArchitectureEvolution

SCFDMA

SingleCarrierFrequencyDivisionMultipleAccess

SGSN

ServingGPRSSupportNode

TDD

TimeDivisionDuplex

TTA

TelecommunicationsTechnologyAssociation

TTC

TelecommunicationTechnologyCommittee

TTI

TransmissionTimeInterval

UTRA

UniversalTerrestrialRadioAccess

UTRAN

UniversalTerrestrialRadioAccessNetwork

WCDMA

WidebandCodeDivisionMultipleAccess

WLAN

WirelessLocalAreaNetwork