Question-1: What is the difference between LTE FDD and LTE TDD?

Answer-1:The difference lies in the LTE frame structure in both the FDD and TDD versions of the
LTE. In FDD there will be pair of frequencies assigned in the downlink and uplink directions and
hence transmissions from multiple subscribes can happen at the same time but on different
frequencies as mentioned. In TDD, one single frequency will be used at different time instants by
multiple subscriber terminals (UEs). Both frame versions of LTE will have 1 ms sub-frame duration
and 0.5 ms slot duration. Read more.
Question-2: What is resource block in LTE?
Answer-2:LTE frame is divided based on time slots on time axis and frequency subcarrier on
frequency axis. Resource block is the smallest unit of resource allocation in LTE system. It is of
about 0.5ms duration and composed of 12 subcarriers in 1 OFDM symbol. One time slot is equal to
7 OFDM symbols in normal cyclic prefix and 6 OFDM symbols in extended cyclic prefix. One full
resource block is equal to 12 subcarriers by 7 symbols in normal CP. Hence it consists of total 84
time/frequency elements referred as resource elements in LTE network. Refer LTE Terminology
.
Question-3: What are the LTE logical, transport and physical channels?
Answer-3:All these channels help LTE UE establish the connection with the eNodeB, maintain the
connection and terminate the same. Logical channels are characterized by the information that is
transferred. Transport channels are characterized by how the data are transferred over the radio
interface. Physical channel corresponds to a set of resource elements used by the physical layer.
Channels are further divided into control channel and traffic channel at logical channel stage.

Question-4: Explain the difference between Reference signal (RS) and synchronization signal
(SS) in the LTE? Also mention types of RS and SS.
Answer-4:Reference signal (RS) is used as pilot subcarrier in LTE similar to other broadband
wireless technologies such as WLAN, WIMAX etc. Synchronization signal is used as preamble
sequence in LTE for synchronization purpose. RS is used for channel estimation and tracking. SS
are of two types viz. P-SS and S-SS. P-SS is used for initial synchronization. S-SS is used for frame
boundary determination. RS are of two types viz. Demodulation RS (DRS) and Sounding RS (SRS).
DRS is used for sync and channel estimation purpose. SRS is used for channel quality estimation
purpose. DRS is used in both the uplink and downlink, while SRS is used only in the uplink.
Refer LTE PSS SSS
and LTE RS DMRS SRS
pages to know insight concepts of synchronization signal and reference signal.
Question-5: Explain LTE cell search procedure followed by UE.
Answer-5:LTE cell search procedure is used by UE to camp onto the LTE cell i.e. eNodeB. Refer
LTE UE cell search procedure and network entry procedure.
Question-6: What is the function of LTE physical broadcast channel i.e. PBCH?
Answer-6:After initial cell synchronization is completed, UE reads MIB (Master information block) on
PBCH (Physical channel). Broadcast channel is referred as BCH at transport level and BCCH at
logical level. MIB composed of downlink channel bandwidth in units of RBs, PHICH duration, PHICH
resource and system frame number. Read more.
Question-7: What is the advantage of using SC-FDMA in the LTE uplink?
Answer-7:The main advantage of SC-FDMA is low PAPR compare to OFDMA used in LTE downlink.
This increases the efficiency of power amplifier and hence increases the battery life. Read more.
Question-8: What is RSSI?
Answer-8:RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indication. It is used almost in all the RATs to

identify power received from the cell in idle as well as connected/dedicated modes. This helps UE
always camped on to the best cell all the time. In case of drop in power measured using RSSI, either
UE or network initiates the handover or cell re-selection is carried out. Read more.
Question-9: Explain Circuit Switch Fall Back i.e. CSFB with respect to LTE and GSM.
Answer-9:Framework allowing the provisioning of voice services by reuse of legacy GSM served CS
infrastructure when the UE is served by E-UTRAN (LTE).To provide voice call support, Circuit Switch
Fall Back is carried out to GSM RAT from LTE RAT to facilitate the voice over LTE (VoLTE)
feature. Read more.

Question-10: Explain LTE network architecture and various interfaces.

Answer-10:There are various entities forming the LTE network architecture, the main interfaces are
Uu between UE and eNB, X2 interface between eNBs and S1 interface between eNB and
EPC(Evolved Packet Core).Read more.
Question-11: What is SRVCC?
Answer-11:SRVCC is the short form of Single-Radio Voice Call Continuity. SRVCC handover is
supported from E-UTRAN (i.e. LTE) to UTRAN/GERAN (WCDMA/GSM). SRVCC procedure is used
for transferring an on-going PS voice call (IMS) in LTE to a CS voice call via Handover from LTE to
GERAN/UTRAN. Read more.

Question-12:What is the difference between LTE and LTE Advanced?

Answer-12:LTE is specified in 3GPP release 8 and release 9. LTE advanced is specified in 3GPP
release 10. The main difference between them is carrier aggregation is introduced in LTE advanced.
Number of antennas supported by MIMO has been increased to 8 in LTE advanced

What speed does LTE offer?

LTE provides downlink peak rates of at least 100Mbit/s, 50 Mbit/s in the uplink and RAN (Radio
Access Network) round-trip times of less than 10 ms.

What is LTE architecture?

The evolved architecture comprises E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) on the access side and EPC
(Evolved Packet Core) on the core side.

What is EUTRAN?

The E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) consists of eNBs, which provide the E-UTRA user plane
(PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE. The eNBs
are interconnected to one another by the X2 interface. The eNBs are also connected by the S1
interface to the EPC (Evolved Packet Core), more specifically to the MME (Mobility Management
Entity) by means of the S1-MME and to the Serving Gateway (S-GW) by means of the S1-U.

What are LTE Interfaces?

The following are LTE Interfaces : (Ref: TS 23.401 v 841)

S1-MME :- Reference point for the control plane protocol between E-UTRAN and MME.
S1-U:- Reference point between E-UTRAN and Serving GW for the per bearer user plane

tunnelling and inter eNodeB path switching during handover.

S3:- It enables user and bearer information exchange for inter 3GPP access network

mobility in idle and/or active state.

S4:- It provides related control and mobility support between GPRS Core and the 3GPP
Anchor function of Serving GW. In addition, if Direct Tunnel is not established, it provides

the user plane tunnelling.

S5:- It provides user plane tunnelling and tunnel management between Serving GW and

PDN GW. It is used for Serving GW relocation due to UE mobility and if the Serving GW
needs to connect to a non-collocated PDN GW for the required PDN connectivity.
S6a:- It enables transfer of subscription and authentication data for
authenticating/authorizing user access to the evolved system (AAA interface) between

MME and HSS.

Gx:- It provides transfer of (QoS) policy and charging rules from PCRF to Policy and

Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) in the PDN GW.

S8:- Inter-PLMN reference point providing user and control plane between the Serving

GW in the VPLMN and the PDN GW in the HPLMN. S8 is the inter PLMN variant of S5.
S9:- It provides transfer of (QoS) policy and charging control information between the
Home PCRF and the Visited PCRF in order to support local breakout function.

S10:- Reference point between MMEs for MME relocation and MME to MME information

transfer.
S11:- Reference point between MME and Serving GW.
S12:- Reference point between UTRAN and Serving GW for user plane tunnelling when
Direct Tunnel is established. It is based on the Iu-u/Gn-u reference point using the GTP-U

protocol as defined between SGSN and UTRAN or respectively between SGSN and
GGSN. Usage of S12 is an operator configuration option.
S13:- It enables UE identity check procedure between MME and EIR.

SGi:- It is the reference point between the PDN GW and the packet data network. Packet
data network may be an operator external public or private packet data network or an intra
operator packet data network, e.g. for provision of IMS services. This reference point

corresponds to Gi for 3GPP accesses.

Rx:- The Rx reference point resides between the AF and the PCRF in the TS 23.203.
SBc:- Reference point between CBC and MME for warning message delivery and control
functions.

What are LTE Network elements?

1) eNB
eNB interfaces with the UE and hosts the PHYsical (PHY), Medium Access
Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Control
Protocol (PDCP) layers. It also hosts Radio Resource Control (RRC)
functionality corresponding to the control plane. It performs many
functions including radio resource management, admission control,
scheduling, enforcement of negotiated UL QoS, cell information
broadcast, ciphering/deciphering of user and control plane data, and
compression/decompression of DL/UL user plane packet headers.
2) Mobility Management Entity
manages and stores UE context (for idle state: UE/user identities, UE mobility state, user
security parameters). It generates temporary identities and allocates them to UEs. It checks
the authorization whether the UE may camp on the TA or on the PLMN. It also authenticates
the user.

3)

Serving Gateway
The SGW routes and forwards user data packets, while also acting as the mobility anchor for
the user plane during inter-eNB handovers and as the anchor for mobility between LTE and
other 3GPP technologies (terminating S4 interface and relaying the traffic between 2G/3G
systems and PDN GW).

4) Packet Data Network Gateway

The PDN GW provides connectivity to the UE to external packet data networks by being the
point of exit and entry of traffic for the UE. A UE may have simultaneous connectivity with
more than one PDN GW for accessing multiple PDNs. The PDN GW performs policy
enforcement, packet filtering for each user, charging support, lawful Interception
and packet screening.