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Mastering LTE
Air Interface
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Introduction to LTE .......................................................................................................................................... 1
Goals and Requirements................................................................................................................................. 3
Network Architectures and Interfaces ............................................................................................................ 7
Air Interface .................................................................................................................................................... 11
LTE Protocols and Interfaces ........................................................................................................................ 14
LTE Devices .................................................................................................................................................... 17
Chapter 2
LTE Air Interface Essentials.......................................................................................................................... 23
OFDMA and SC-FDMA .................................................................................................................................... 25
LTE Frame Structure ...................................................................................................................................... 30
LTE Channels and Signals ............................................................................................................................. 37
Multiple-Antenna Techniques ....................................................................................................................... 45
Chapter 3
System Acquisition ........................................................................................................................................ 55
Overview of System Acquisition .................................................................................................................... 57
Processing of Synchronization Signals and PBCH ....................................................................................... 61
Acquiring SIBs ................................................................................................................................................ 69
Additional Material......................................................................................................................................... 80
LTE_301 Version 1.9 i

Table of Contents
Chapter 4
System Access............................................................................................................................................... 85
Random Access Procedure Overview ........................................................................................................... 87
Random Access Parameters ......................................................................................................................... 91
RRC Connection Establishment .................................................................................................................. 102
Chapter 5
Data Session Setup .....................................................................................................................................107
Overview of Initial Attach ............................................................................................................................. 109
Default EPS Bearer Setup ........................................................................................................................... 116
Chapter 6
Downlink Operations ...................................................................................................................................125
Channel Quality ............................................................................................................................................ 128
Hybrid ARQ ................................................................................................................................................... 146
Additional Material....................................................................................................................................... 151
Chapter 7
Uplink Operations ........................................................................................................................................163
Overview of UL Transmission ...................................................................................................................... 165
Request for UL Resources........................................................................................................................... 169
UL Grant Allocation ...................................................................................................................................... 173
BSR Reporting .............................................................................................................................................. 175
UL Grant for Data Transmission ................................................................................................................. 178
Transmission on the PUSCH ....................................................................................................................... 180
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Table of Contents
UL HARQ ....................................................................................................................................................... 187
Additional Material....................................................................................................................................... 193
Chapter 8
Mobility and Power Control ........................................................................................................................201
Mobility ......................................................................................................................................................... 203
Cell Selection and Reselection ................................................................................................................... 208
Tracking Area Update .................................................................................................................................. 213
Handover ...................................................................................................................................................... 216
Power Control ............................................................................................................................................... 228
Appendix A
OFDM Essentials .........................................................................................................................................237
Acronyms .....................................................................................................................................................251
References...................................................................................................................................................257
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1 | Introduction to LTE
Chapter 1:
Introduction to LTE
Award Solutions Proprietary
1
Objectives
After completing this module, you will be able to:
• Discuss the goals and requirements of LTE
• Sketch the LTE access and core network
architectures and interfaces
• Describe the key functions of the LTE air
interface
• Explain the steps of a typical LTE call
References:
[1] 3GPP TS 36.300 – E-UTRA and E-UTRAN Overall
Description (Stage 2)
[2] 3GPP TS 36.211 through 36.214: Physical Layer
related documents
2
Goals and
Requirements
3
LTE: Long Term Evolution

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)
E-UTRA • Simplified architecture
• Downlink: 300 Mbps • IP-based services
• Uplink: 75 Mbps
• OFDM and MIMO
E-UTRAN
• Simplified architecture
• Evolved Node B
eNB
UE
E-UTRAN EPC
MME/S-GW P-GW
eNB
E-UTRAN + EPC= EPS (Evolved Packet System)

The 3G Partnership Project (3GPP) is responsible for Gateway GPRS Support Node, GGSN) core network
defining the Long Term Evolution program for 3GPP components. In LTE, the network is moving to
networks, called LTE. 3GPP focuses on three key areas: simplified IP-based networks, replacing the current
network components with Mobility Management
• Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA):
Entities (MMEs) and Serving Gateways (S-GWs) and
This air interface is based on an OFDM physical layer
Packet Data Network Gateways (P-GWs).
and utilizes MIMO techniques to increase the data
rates. It supports more than 300 Mbps in the
downlink to the User Equipment (UE) and more than
50 Mbps in the uplink, using a scalable channel
bandwidth of up to 20 MHz.
• Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network
(E-UTRAN): Unlike the Node B and Radio Network
Controller (RNC) of the UTRAN, the E-UTRAN has only
one node: the evolved Node B, or eNB. The eNB is
responsible for the physical layer operations of OFDM
and MIMO, and is also responsible for scheduling of
downlink and uplink resources, handovers, and Radio
Resource Management (RRM).
• Evolved Packet Core (EPC): 3GPP R99 through R6
used circuit (Mobile Switching Center, MSC) and
packet (Serving GPRS Support Node, SGSN, and
4
3GPP Evolution
Release 10
LTE-Advanced
Release 99 (1 Gbps and 500 Mbps)
Voice, 2 Mbps (384 Release 6 R 10
kbps) data rate HSUPA (5.76 Mbps UL)
Release 4 Release 8
Bearer-independent LTE (300 and R8
CS architecture 75 Mbps)
R6 R9
R 99
R7
R4
R5 Release 9
Emergency calls
using IMS
Release 5
HSDPA (14 Mbps DL) Release 7
HSPA+ (21/28 Mbps)
For LTE, the evolution process has been a while in the broadcast/multicast services (MBMS).
making, and is not likely to end anytime soon. Each 3GPP
• R7 provided further enhancements to HSDPA and
standards release since the original UMTS specification
HSUPA, called HSPA+. Support for higher-order
has continued to add to and expand the capabilities of the
modulation and Multiple Input Multiple Output
network:
(MIMO)-antenna systems offered a significant
• Release 99 (R99) defined the original UMTS system, increase in data rates, potentially up to 42 Mbps.
supporting circuit voice services as well as theoretical
• R8 defined the Long Term Evolution (LTE) system,
peak data rates of up to 2 Mbps. (Commercial
starting the transition to 4G technology, while R9
systems delivered packet data services of up to 384
adds further enhancements and capabilities,
kbps.)
including support for MBMS, the definition of Home
• R4 defined a bearer-independent circuit-switched eNBs for improved residential and in-building
architecture, separating switches into gateways and coverage, and support for IMS-based emergency
controllers, and laying the groundwork for the IP calls.
Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).
Even as operators are rolling out the LTE systems, 3GPP is
• R5 defined High Speed Downlink Packet Access working on additional improvements to LTE. In particular,
(HSDPA), which boosted packet data rates to 14 R10 introduces LTE-Advanced, offering support for (8x8)
Mbps on the downlink. R5 also completed the design MIMO in the downlink, channel aggregation up to 100
of IMS. MHz, and relays. LTE-Advanced would continue to evolve
in Release 11 and beyond.
• R6 increased data rates to more than 5 Mbps on the
uplink with High Speed Uplink Packet Access
(HSUPA), and introduced support for multimedia
5
E-UTRAN Performance Goals

Scalable Bandwidth Latency
• 1.4/3/5/10/15/20 MHz • < 100 ms (C-Plane)
• < 10 ms (U-Plane)
Data Rates
• 300 Mbps (DL) and 75
Mbps (UL) peak Inter-RAT Handover Delays
• Three to four times • < 300 ms (real-time)
HSDPA and two to three • < 500 ms (non-real-time)
times HSUPA on average
Coverage Mobility
• Meet performance targets up • Optimized for low speeds (< 15 km/h)
to 5 km • Connections maintained at high speeds
• Slight degradation up to 30 km (up to 500 km/h)
The Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) is designed to meet a • Cell Coverage: Performance targets must be met out
number of very challenging performance goals, in order to to a cell radius of 5 km. Beyond that, no more than a
meet the evolving expectations of the subscribers and the slight degradation is allowed out to 30 km.
operators.
• Mobility: The system must be optimized for relatively
• Scalability: The system must be deployable in low speeds (< 15 km/h), but should be able to
markets with different available bandwidths, ranging maintain active connections up to 500 km/h.
from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz. Basically, advanced antenna techniques and link
adaptation techniques work well at lower speeds.
• Latency: Latency in the Control Plane (C-Plane) for
idle-mode to active-mode transitions must be less
than 100 ms, while the User Plane (U-Plane) delay
must be less than 10 ms (Ex: one-way eNB-to-UE
delay). A simple 3GPP analysis shows that a U-plane
delay of even 5 ms is achievable.
• Data Rates: Peak data rates must be at least 300
Mbps on the downlink and 50 Mbps on the uplink. On
average, user data rates should be three to four times
what HSDPA offers, and two to three times what
HSUPA can provide.
• Inter-RAT Handover Delays: Handover of real-time
services must take less than 300 ms, while non-real-
time applications must take less than 500 ms.
6
Network Architectures
and Interfaces
7
eNB and E-UTRAN

eNB
• Radio resource
management
• Header compression S1-MME
• Encryption
• BCCH information MME
eNB
• Paging
• Mobility in active state
E-UTRAN
• MME selection
X2
E-UTRAN
• No centralized controller Uu
(RNC)
• eNBs linked via X2 S1-U
interface
UE S-GW
eNB
The primary difference between the UTRAN and E-UTRAN enable load sharing and redundancy. eNBs are
architectures is the absence of a Radio Network Controller interconnected by the X2 interface, to coordinate
(RNC). The functionality of the RNC has now been moved handovers and data transfers.
into the eNBs.
An eNB is responsible for the following functions:
• Radio Resource Management (RRM) functionalities
like radio bearer control and radio admission control,
• IP header compression and encryption of the user
data stream,
• Uplink/downlink radio resource allocation,
• Transfer of paging messages over the air,
• Transfer of Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH)
information over the air,
• Selection of the Mobility Management Entity (MME)
during a call,
• Mobility control in the active state,
The eNBs are connected to the MME and Serving
Gateways (MME/S-GW) via the S1 interface. An eNB is
able to communicate with multiple gateways, in order to
8
Evolved Packet Core (EPC)
GERAN/
UTRAN
SGSN HSS
MME AAA
Core
Auxiliary
E-UTRAN Networks
(IMS and PCC)
S-GW P-GW
Internet
Main PCC Elements: PCRF and PCEF
(PCEF typically implemented by P-GW)
New entities in the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) include the Similar in nature to a Home Agent in Mobile IP or
Mobility Management Entity (MME), the Serving Gateway GGSN in a pre-LTE UMTS network, the P-GW allocates
(S-GW), and the Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P- the user’s IP address, and forwards packets intended
GW). for the user to the appropriate S-GW. It also provides
support for charging, lawful interception and policy
• MME: The MME is responsible for managing and
enforcement.
storing UE contexts, generating temporary identifiers
to the UEs, idle-state mobility control, distributing The EPC connects to auxiliary networks such as the IP
paging messages to eNBs, security control, and Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and Policy and Charging
Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer control. Control (PCC). IMS facilitates offering operator-controlled
IP services such as Voice over IP (VoIP), while PCC
• Gateways: There are two gateways in LTE, one facing
facilitates charging and control of QoS. Main PCC nodes
toward the E-UTRAN (the S-GW) and one facing
include the Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) and
toward the external packet data network (the P-GW).
Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF). P-GW
A UE has only one S-GW but it may have multiple P-
usually acts as PCEF from the standard’s perspective.
GWs.
• Serving Gateway: The S-GW is responsible for
anchoring the user plane for inter-eNB handover and
inter-3GPP mobility, similar to a SGSN in a pre-LTE
UMTS network.
• PDN Gateway: This gateway is responsible for
anchoring the user plane for mobility between 3GPP
access systems and non-3GPP access systems.
9
Functional Split
eNB
Inter-cell RRM
RB Control Evolved Packet Core
Connection
Mobility MME
Admission NAS Security
Control
Measurement Idle State
Configuration Mobility
Resource EPS Bearer
S1 Control
Allocation
RRC
Serving Gateway PDN Gateway
PDCP
UE IP Address
RLC Allocation
MAC Mobility
Anchoring Packet Filtering
PHY
In the E-UTRAN architecture, each eNB is now responsible The P-GW is similar to a Mobile IP Home Agent (HA)
for all of the functions that used to be divided between the allocating IP addresses for the UEs and performing any
Node Bs and the RNC. These include: necessary packet filtering for any necessary firewall and
packet routing functions.
• Implementation of all of the Layer 1 (Physical Layer)
and Layer 2 sub-layers (Medium Access Control,
Radio Link Control and Packet Data Convergence
Protocol) as well as Radio Resource Control,
• Admission control,
• Allocation and management of all radio resources,
• Control and processing of RF measurements, and
• Control of mobility while in the connected state.
In the EPC, the MME is responsible for high-level security
functions (such as authentication) and manages mobility
while in the idle state. It also determines the
characteristics of the EPS bearer based on the requested
service and QoS requirements.
The S-GW acts as an anchor point for the EPS bearer
allowing traffic to flow seamlessly between the UE and the
network during inter-cell handovers.
10
Air Interface
11
LTE-Uu User Plane

UE LTE-Uu eNB
PDCP PDCP
RLC RLC
MAC MAC
PHY PHY
Sublayer Key Functions

PDCP Header compression, ciphering
RLC Duplicate and out-of-order detection, segmentation and
concatenation, missing packet retransmission
MAC Packet format selection, scheduling, multiplexing,
padding
PHY OFDMA/SC-FDMA, Coding, modulation, interleaving,
scrambling, HARQ
The LTE-Uu air interface is divided into a user plane (for received. Duplicate packets are discarded, out-of-
user traffic) and a control plane (for signaling). The user sequence packets are reordered, and missing
plane supports the exchange of packets over the radio packets are retransmitted.
bearer between the UE and the serving eNB and is divided
• Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)
into the following layers and sublayers.
implements Robust Header Compression (ROHC) and
Layer 1 (the PHY or Physical Layer) is responsible for the any required ciphering (encryption) functions.
actual radio transmission and includes coding for forward
The LTE-Uu user plane terminates at the eNB.
error correction, modulation, bit interleaving, scrambling
and other functions needed to minimize errors over the
radio link. The PHY Layer also manages the operation of
Hybrid ARQ (HARQ), which provides a fast error-correction
mechanism through incremental redundancy.
Layer 2 is divided into the following sublayers:
• The Medium Access Control (MAC) sublayer handles
the scheduling of uplink and downlink resources and
determines the transport format to be used. It also
takes care of multiplexing packets into a single
transmission and inserts padding bits as required.
• Radio Link Control (RLC) performs segmentation and
concatenation to optimize the use of the available
resources, and tracks which packets were sent and
12
LTE-Uu Control Plane

UE LTE-Uu eNB MME
NAS NAS
RRC RRC
PDCP PDCP
RLC RLC
MAC MAC
PHY PHY
Sublayer Key Functions

NAS Non-Access Stratum signaling
RRC System information broadcast, paging, RRC connection
and radio bearer management, handover, UE
measurement control
The LTE-Uu control plane carries the signaling necessary

to set up and manage the radio bearer. In addition to the
sublayers described for the user plane, the control plane
also includes Radio Resource Control (RRC), which
handles:
• Broadcasting of system information blocks (SIBs) and
other overhead information,
• Paging of idle UEs,
• Setting up and managing signaling radio bearers,
• Setting up and managing traffic radio bearers,
• UE measurement control and report processing, and
• Handover control and coordination.
In addition, the control plane also carries Non-Access
Stratum (NAS) signaling destined for the core network.
The RRC terminates at the eNB, while NAS signaling is
carried transparently across the eNB to the MME.
13
LTE Protocols and

Interfaces
14
S1 Interface
• One logical S1AP S1AP
connection per UE SCTP
• Multiple UEs supported
IP
via a single SCTP
association Data Link Layer
Physical Layer
IP
S1-
MME
MME
eNB S1-U
GTP-U
UDP S-GW
• One or more GTP
IP tunnels per user
Data Link Layer • DSCP marking is
supported for QoS
Physical Layer
The S1 interface connects the E-UTRAN to the EPC. The assigned to each IP packet identifies a pre-determined
S1 is split into a control plane (C-plane), called the S1- level of service and a corresponding packet priority, which
MME, and a user plane (U-plane), called the S1-U. The S1- is used to implement the appropriate QoS behavior for the
MME carries signaling messages between the eNB and user’s service.
the MME, while the S1-U carries user traffic between the
eNB and the S-GW.
The S1-MME carries S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)
messages, using Stream Control Transmission Protocol
(SCTP) over IP to provide guaranteed data delivery; each
SCTP association between an eNB and a MME can
support multiple UEs. S1AP messages are used for EPS
bearer setup and release procedures, handover signaling,
paging, and NAS signaling transport.
The S1-U consists of a GPRS Tunneling Protocol – User
Plane (GTP-U) tunnel running on the User Datagram
Protocol (UDP), which provides non-guaranteed data
delivery. One GTP tunnel is established for each radio
bearer in order to carry user traffic between the eNB and
the selected S-GW.
The S1-U also implements Differentiated Services Code
Point (DSCP) marking of packets. The 6-bit DSCP value
15
X2 Interface
C-plane
• Multi-cell radio resource
X2AP
management
• Handover SCTP
• Load management IP
• User packet tunneling eNB
Data Link Layer
Physical Layer
X2 X2
IP
eNB X2
GTP-U
UDP eNB
IP
Data Link Layer
Physical Layer
U-plane Award Solutions Proprietary
The X2 interface allows eNBs to communicate directly with

each other and coordinate their activities. Like S1, the X2
is split into separate C-plane and U-plane functionality.
The X2 C-plane carries X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)
messages between eNBs, and also uses SCTP for reliable
delivery. X2AP is used to manage intra-LTE (inter-eNB)
mobility and handovers, UE context transfers, inter-cell
interference management, and various error-handling
functions. The X2 U-plane is very similar to S1-U, and uses
GTP-U to tunnel user traffic between eNBs
16
LTE Devices
17
Release 8 LTE UE Categories
UE Bandwidth DL Approximate Data

Duplexing Modulation
Category (MHz) MIMO Rates (Mbps)
UL DL UL DL
1 N/A 5 10
FDD,
2 Up to H-FDD, QPSK, 25 51
3 2x2* TDD 16QAM QPSK, 51 102
1.4, 3, 5,
(Based on 16QAM,
4 10, 15, 20 51 150
supported 64QAM
Up to frequency QPSK,
5 bands) 16QAM, 75 300
4x4*
64QAM
*Note: Multiple transmit antennas are

supported on the downlink only.
Five different categories of LTE devices have been defined UE category 1 has 1 receive antenna. UE categories 2, 3,
for Release 8. The categories define some of the basic and 4 have 2 receive antennas. Finally, UE category 5 has
physical capabilities of the UE. 4 receive antennas. Hence, UE category 1 does not
support traditional MIMO, whereas UE categories 2, 3,
The categories differ primarily in the peak data rate that
and 4 can support (2x2) MIMO, and UE category 5 can
each supports, ranging from 5 Mbps on the uplink and 10
support (4x4) MIMO.
Mbps on the downlink for a Category 1 device, to 75 Mbps
on the uplink and 300 Mbps on the downlink for a
Category 5 device. All LTE UE categories can support the
same values for system bandwidth and duplexing
schemes. Support for multiple transmit antennas only
applies to the downlink, and that only a Category 5 LTE UE
supports 64QAM modulation on the uplink. The support
for FDD and TDD is independent of the UE category and is
a function of the specific frequency bands supported by a
UE. The differences among the categories 2, 3, and 4 are
the peak data rates due to processing capabilities and
buffer sizes of UEs. The data rates shown in the table are
calculated at the boundary between the physical layer and
the Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer in the air
interface protocol stack. Note that the actual peak data
rates in a given deployment may be lower than shown
here, due to the network configuration.
18
Life of an LTE Mobile

5. Default bearer setup and IP 6. Setting up of additional default
address allocation for always-on and/or dedicated EPS bearers
experience (if needed)
4. Authentication and 7. DL and UL resource

security allocation by eNB
scheduler
3. Attach Request from 8. UE-assisted network

UE to MME controlled hard
handover
2. RRC signaling
connection setup 9. Idle mode for UE in
absence of data activity
1. DL network 10. Power-off

acquisition upon detach
UE power-up
UE
A typical UE must go through a number of steps before it EPS bearers if the QoS of services cannot be satisfied
can even request a service, and setting up and managing by the default EPS bearer.
the service itself requires several additional steps.
7. Exchange packets with the network after obtaining DL
When a UE arrives or powers up in an E-UTRAN, it must: and UL resources from the eNodeB.
1. Acquire the network by scanning for an eNB, 8. Follow the handover instructions from the eNodeB
synchronizing with the network, and listening for when the RF environment changes to maintain the
system information over the broadcast channels. best possible radio link.
2. Establish a signaling connection in order to 9. Enter the idle mode when the radio resources are no
communicate with the eNB. longer required due to lack of data activity.
3. Request an attach to the core network in order to 10. Carry out detach operation in case of power-off.
register and receive service.
In case of Detach, the UE loses all EPS bearers and the IP
4. Pass authentication with the core network and address. The EPS no longer knows the location of the UE.
exchange information about security algorithms and
keys.
5. Establish a default EPS bearer with the default
Packet Data Network (Example: Internet PDN or IMS
PDN) and obtain an IP address to provide always-on
experience to the user.
6. Set up default EPS bearers with each of the other
PDNs if needed and set up one or more dedicated
19
Summary
• Key goals of 3GPP evolution are:
– Increased data rates and reduced latency,
– Higher capacity and better cell coverage, and
– Reduced cost to users and operators.
• New interfaces and network architectures of LTE include the:
– Evolved air interface based on OFDM and MIMO,
– Evolved radio networks (the E-UTRAN with only eNBs),
– IP-based Evolved Packet Core (EPC), and
– S1 and X2 interfaces for the LTE RAN.
• Key features of the air interface are:
– OFDMA for improved spectral efficiency,
– Support for multiple-antenna techniques,
– Scalable bandwidth (1.4 to 20 MHz), and
– Data rates up to 300 Mbps in the DL and up to 75 Mbps in the UL.
20
Review Questions
1. Which functions does the eNB perform?
2. What path does user traffic take through the E-
UTRAN and EPC?
3. What does the eNB do with NAS messages?
4. Highlight the top three key differences among the
UE categories.
5. Give examples of functions that occur before the
UE can do data transfer.
21
22
2 | LTE Air Interface Essentials
Chapter 2:
LTE Air Interface
Essentials
23
Objectives
• Explain the key characteristics of the LTE
downlink and uplink
• Describe the structure of LTE frames and
resource blocks
• Identify the physical, transport and logical
channels in LTE and how they relate to one
another
• Specify how multiple antennas are used in LTE
References:
[1] 36.300 – E-UTRA and E-UTRAN Overall Description
(Stage 2)
[2] 36.211-36.214: Physical Layer related documents
24
OFDMA and SC-FDMA
25
LTE Downlink
UE
OFDMA
UE
eNB
UE
High spectral
efficiency Support for
MIMO
Robust against Time and frequency

multipath resource allocation
interference
The E-UTRA uses Orthogonal Frequency Multiple Access the effective use of the available resources.
(OFDMA) as its fundamental transmission technology on
• Reduced Receiver Complexity: The use of Fast Fourier
the downlink in order to take advantage of the benefits
Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
OFDMA offers:
(IFFT) processing greatly simplifies the design of the
• High Spectral Efficiency: OFDMA makes better use of transmitter and receiver.
the available spectrum than CDMA technologies
providing significantly higher data rates for a given
bandwidth.
• Robust Against Multipath Interference: The relatively
large OFDM symbol time means that the short delay
spreads typically found in wireless networks have
minimal impact on the quality of the signal. Use of a
Cyclic Prefix (CP) further reduces the effect of
multipath interference.
• Support for MIMO: OFDMA inherently lends itself to
implementing Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO)
and other multiple-antenna techniques.
• Resource Allocation: Users can be allocated
resources in both the time domain (symbols) and
frequency domain (subcarriers). This provides a
tremendous level of flexibility for the eNB to maximize
26
LTE Uplink
UE
SC-FDMA
UE
eNB
UE
Reduced Peak-to-
Average Power
Ratio (PAPR) Increased
Complexity of
Transmitter &
Better Cell-edge Receiver
Performance or
Larger Cell Sizes
The effective management of transmit power, complexity,

and cost are key determining factors for handset design.
To that end, LTE has chosen a somewhat different
solution for the uplink, Single-Carrier Frequency Division
Multiple Access (SC-FDMA). Although very similar in nature
to OFDMA, SC-FDMA has a number of unique
characteristics which are particularly attractive on the UE
side.
• Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) Reduction: Large
numbers of independent symbols are not summed to
create the transmitted signal, which greatly reduces
the PAPR experience by the UE.
• Lower Maximum Power Requirement: Because of the
lower PAPR, less power backoff is needed, and a
power amplifier with a lower rating (and lower cost)
can be used.
• Better Cell-Edge Performance or Large Cells:
Reduction in PAPR can be exploited to improve the
link budget, or to improve cell-edge performance.
• Complexity: SC-FDMA needs more processing blocks
at the transmitter and receiver.
27
SC-FDMA and PAPR

Peak
High PAPR
OFDMA
Average
Peak
Low PAPR
SC-FDMA Average
A major challenge associated with OFDM is the high Peak-

to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the transmitted signal.
The very high peaks are a direct consequence of the IFFT
summing multiple independent symbols, which are all
integer number of cycles over the symbol time; whenever
the symbols add constructively, the result is a peak of
power. Signals with a high PAPR either require highly
linear power amplifiers (which are expensive) or must be
clipped (which introduces distortion).
The transmitters in an SC-FDMA system also use multiple
subcarriers to transmit information symbols; however,
they transmit the symbols sequentially rather than in
parallel. Relative to OFDMA, this approach reduces the
fluctuations in the transmitted waveform.
28
OFDMA vs. SC-FDMA

Modulation
symbols
OFDMA
f1
Modulation
f2
Channel
Mapping
Digital
f3
IFFT
10010111
.
.
fn
SC-FDMA
f1
Modulation
Spreading
f2
Digital
f3
IFFT
DFT
10010111
.
.
fn
DFT symbols
In OFDMA systems the transmitter uses multiple

subcarriers to modulate the information in parallel, and
then sends them through an Inverse Fast Fourier
Transform (IFFT), which is a weighted summation of these
independent symbols.
An SC-FDMA system uses a single carrier to modulate the
information symbols sequentially. On the transmitter side,
the additional block of the SC-FDMA is a Discrete Fourier
Transform (DFT). This block transforms a time-domain
modulated symbol stream into the frequency domain.
Then, the frequency domain information is mapped to a
wider range (spreading) and goes through an IFFT, which
transforms the frequency domain information back into
the time domain. SC-FDMA is also referred to as DFT-
spread OFDMA. Since the individual symbols are
serialized and distributed across multiple subcarriers, the
PAPR issues associated with traditional OFDMA
transmissions are reduced.
29
LTE Frame Structure
30
LTE Design Parameters

Bandwidth Subcarrier Spacing Antennas
1.4
5 MHz
10 MHz
15 MHz
20 MHz 15 kHz Up to 4x4 MIMO
Frame Timing Cyclic Prefix Duplexing

5.2 or 4.69 μs
FDD
n-1 n n+1 Normal CP Symbol

H-FDD
Extended CP Symbol
10 ms TDD
16.67 μs 66.67 μs
Coding Modulation Multiple Access

0101 0101
OFDMA
Convolutional Turbo
SC-FDMA
000111000111 100110001011 QPSK 16-QAM 64-QAM
Although all 4G systems are based on OFDM technology, Division Duplexing (FDD), where separate paired
they are not identical. LTE has laid out a set of system uplink and downlink channels can be used
parameters and capabilities that define its unique simultaneously. Half-Duplex FDD (H-FDD) is also
characteristics. defined, using paired channels but alternating
transmissions, while Time Division Duplex (TDD) uses
• Bandwidth: LTE is a scalable OFDMA system,
a single channel for both downlink and uplink
supporting channel bandwidths of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15,
transmissions.
and 20 MHz.
• Coding: Depending on the content being sent, either
• Subcarrier Spacing: LTE subcarriers are spaced
convolutional coding or turbo coding may be used to
exactly 15 kHz apart.
protect the data. Convolutional coding adds less
• Antennas: LTE supports multiple-antenna systems delay, while turbo coding is more robust.
with as many as four transmit and four receive
antennas (4x4 MIMO).
• Frame Timing: A single frame is 10 ms long.
• Cyclic Prefix: Two values for the CP have been
defined. The Normal prefix is 5.2 μs for the first
symbol in a slot and 4.69 μs for the remaining
symbols, while the Extended prefix is 16.67 μs for all
symbols. The useful symbol time is 66.67 μs,
regardless of the CP value.
• Duplexing: Most LTE systems will use Frequency
31
LTE Design Parameters (Continued)

Bandwidth Subcarrier Spacing Antennas
1.4
5 MHz
10 MHz
15 MHz
20 MHz 15 kHz Up to 4x4 MIMO
Frame Timing Cyclic Prefix Duplexing

5.2 or 4.69 μs
FDD
n-1 n n+1 Normal CP Symbol

H-FDD
Extended CP Symbol
10 ms TDD
16.67 μs 66.67 μs
Coding Modulation Multiple Access

0101 0101
OFDMA
Convolutional Turbo
SC-FDMA
000111000111 100110001011 QPSK 16-QAM 64-QAM
• Modulation: Three modulation schemes are

supported for data transmission. Quadrature Phase
Shift Keying (QPSK) carries two bits per symbol, while
16 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (16QAM) and
64QAM carry four bits per symbol and six bits per
symbol, respectively. LTE uses Adaptive Modulation
and Coding (AMC), adjusting the coding rates and
modulation scheme dynamically.
• Multiple Access: LTE uses traditional OFDMA on the
downlink, but uses a variation called Single Carrier
FDMA (SC-FDMA) on the uplink to reduce the Peak-to-
Average Power Ratio (PAPR).
32
LTE Transmission Parameters

Parameters Values
Bandwidth (MHz) 1.4 3 5 10 15 20
Sub-frame Duration 1 ms
Subcarrier Spacing 15 kHz
FFT Size 128 256 512 1024 1536 2048
Used Subcarriers 72 180 300 600 900 1200
Resource Blocks 6 15 25 50 75 100
OFDM Symbols per Slot 7 or 6

BPSK, QPSK (Physical Layer Signaling)
Modulation Schemes
QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM (Data and RRC Signaling)
Rate 1/3 Convolutional (Physical Layer Signaling)
Error Coding
Rate 1/3 Turbo (Data and RRC Signaling)
Some key OFDMA/SC-FDMA transmission parameters are

provided in this table. LTE is a scalable system so the
subcarrier spacing (15 kHz) is the same regardless of the
amount of spectrum. A 10 MHz system has a the FFT size
of 1024 and includes 50 resource blocks (RBs) (50*12 =
600 subcarriers) for assignment to users. One RB consists
of 12 subcarriers. The used spectrum is thus
approximately (600 * 15 kHz= 9 MHz), with the remaining
(10 MHz – 9 MHz = 1 MHz) being the total guard band.
Out of the 1 MHz total guard band, 0.5 MHz guard band is
on the left and 0.5 MHz guard band is on the right of the
transmission bandwidth of 9 MHz. The guard band
minimizes interference between the LTE system and the
adjacent system. Since a 10-ms radio frame has 10
subframes, each subframe is 1 ms long. Furthermore, two
slots exist per subframe, yielding a 0.5-ms slot. When a
normal cyclic prefix (CP) is used, seven symbols exist in a
slot, and, when an extended CP is used, six symbols exist.
The data channels support the modulation schemes of
QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM for flexibility and higher
throughput. Control signaling uses BPSK and QPSK for
reliability.
33
LTE Frame Structure
Frame n-1 Frame n Frame n+1 Frame n+2

UE
eNB
10 ms
Subframe 0 Subframe 1 Subframe 2 Subframe 9
1 ms
Slot 0 Slot 1
0.5 ms
The duration of one LTE radio frame is 10 ms. One frame

is divided into 10 subframes of 1 ms each, and each
subframe is divided into two slots of 0.5 ms each. Each
slot contains either six or seven OFDM symbols,
depending on the Cyclic Prefix (CP) length. The useful
symbol time is 1/15 kHz= 66.6 mircosec. Since normal
CP is about 4.69 microsec long, seven OFDM symbols can
be placed in the 0.5-ms slot as each symbol occupies
(66.6 + 4.69) = 71.29 microseconds. When extended CP
(=16.67 microsec) is used the total OFDM symbol time is
(66.6 + 16.67) = 83.27 microseconds. Six OFDM symbols
can then be placed in the 0.5-ms slot. Frames are useful
to send system information. Subframes facilitate resource
allocation and slots are useful for synchronization.
Frequency hopping is possible at the subframe and slot
levels.
34
Physical Resource Blocks

Slot 0 Slot 1
Normal CP Extended CP
PRB PRB
12 Subcarriers
12 Subcarriers
7 Symbols 6 Symbols
In LTE, radio resources are allocated in units of Physical

Resource Blocks (PRBs). PRB spans 12 subcarriers and
one slot. If the normal CP is used, a PRB will contain 12
subcarriers over seven symbols. If the extended CP is
used, the PRB contains only six symbols. The UE is
specified allocation for the first slot of a subframe. There
is implicit allocation for the second slot of the subframe.
For example, if the eNB specifies one RB as the resource
allocation for the UE, the UE actually uses two RBs, one
RB in each of the two slots of a subframe. When
frequency hopping is turned on, the actual PRBs that carry
the UE data can be different in the two slots. In a 10 MHz
spectrum bandwidth, there are 600 usable subcarriers
and 50 PRBs.
35
Exercise
True or False?
1. OFDMA is used in the DL and SC-FDMA is used
in the UL.
2. SC-FDMA helps reduce PAPR.
3. SC-FDMA needs more processing blocks at the
transmitter and receiver compared to OFDMA.
4. One PRB has a total of 600 sub-carriers.
5. One PRB has a total of 72 or 84 modulation
symbols.
36
LTE Channels and

Signals
37
Channels: Mapping and Their Use

Physical Channel Transport Channel Logical Channel
PBCH BCH BCCH
D PDCCH (DCI) CCCH

O
W PDSCH DL-SCH DCCH
N
L PCH DTCH
I
PCFICH (CFI) PCCH
N
K PHICH (HI)
U
P CCCH RACH PRACH
L
DCCH UL-SCH PUSCH (UCI)
I
N DTCH PUCCH (UCI)
K
Logical Channel Transport Channel Physical Channel
The relationships between the various physical, transport Transport channels carry following information in the
and logical channels are illustrated here. Note that some downlink and uplink are the:
physical channels carry only control information and are
• Broadcast Channel (BCH): Transmits broadcast and
not linked to transport channels.
system overhead messages.
Logical channels carry signaling and data between the UE
• Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH): Carries user
and the eNB are the:
traffic, signaling messages, page messages, and
• Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH): Contains system information in the downlink.
broadcast messages.
• Paging Channel (PCH): Carries a page message.
• Paging Control Channel (PCCH): Carries page
• Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH): Carries user traffic
messages.
and signaling messages in the uplink.
• Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH): Contains control
• Random Access Channel (RACH): Controls the use of
messages to and from specific UEs.
the PRACH by choosing parameters such as random
• Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH): Contains data and backoff.
some call-related signaling messages to and from
specific UEs.
• Common Control Channel (CCCH): Carries control
information and service requests to and from idle
UEs.
38
Channels: Mapping and Their Use

(Continued)
Physical Channel Transport Channel Logical Channel
PBCH BCH BCCH
D PDCCH (DCI) CCCH

O
W PDSCH DL-SCH DCCH
N
L PCH DTCH
I
PCFICH (CFI) PCCH
N
K PHICH (HI)
U
P CCCH RACH PRACH
L
DCCH UL-SCH PUSCH (UCI)
I
N DTCH PUCCH (UCI)
K
Logical Channel Transport Channel Physical Channel
Physical channels serve the following purposes:

• The PDCCH carries the Downlink Control Information
(DCI), which includes resource allocations and the
corresponding modulation and coding schemes,
power control commands, channel quality requests,
and other commands for the UE.
• The PCFICH carries the Control Format Indicator (CFI),
which indicates how many symbols the PDCCH
occupies in each subframe.
• The PHICH carries the Hybrid ARQ Indicator (HI),
which is used to ACK and NACK ongoing uplink data
transmissions.
• The PUCCH carries the Uplink Control Information
(UCI), which includes scheduling requests, channel
quality reports, and Hybrid ARQ ACKs and NACKs for
downlink transmissions.
39
Physical Signals
Reference Signals
(Channel Estimation and
Coherent Demodulation)
Synchronization Signals
(Power-up Synchronization)
UE Reference Signals eNB

• Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS)
• Sounding Reference Signal (SRS)
We clear the confusion that sometimes obscures the The UE also provides reference or pilot signals to allow the
difference between Physical channels and Physical signals network estimate uplink channel conditions and to
by noting that physical Channels carry upper-layer coherently demodulate its transmissions.
information and physical signals do not.
Physical Channels carry, for example, traffic channels,
which can carry email or enable an FTP transfer. Physical
signals, on the other hand, have nothing in them from
outside the Physical Layer itself. A pilot reference or a
sounding reference are examples of a physical signal.
• Reference Signals: Reference signals (also known as
pilots) provide a known or predictable pattern that
allows the UE to decode the physical channels and
estimate downlink channel conditions. Reference
signals may be cell-specific (common to all UEs) or
UE-specific.
• Synchronization Signals: Synchronization signals
allow UEs to detect and identify cells during initial
system acquisition and provide an initial timing
reference.
40
Downlink Resource Mapping

PCFICH Slot n Slot n+1
PDSCH (User A)
PHICH
Resource Blocks
PDSCH (User B)
PDCCHs
PDSCH (Paging)
PDSCH (System Broadcast - SIBs)

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
In every subframe, the first one, two, or three OFDM

symbols contain one or more PDCCHs, which carry
scheduling assignments and other control information.
The exact number of OFDM symbols used is specified in
the PCFICH, which appears in symbol 0 of the even-
numbered slots (in other words, the first slot of each
subframe). The PHICH may also appear in the first symbol,
as required. The remaining symbols in the two slots
contain the PDSCHs, which carry user data and signaling
information to specific users.
41
DL Reference Signals
Slot n Slot n+1
1 3 0 1 2 0
Subcarriers
0 2 1 0 3 1
1 3 0 1 2 0
0 2 1 0 3 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
In LTE, one reference signal is transmitted per antenna

port to estimate the channel response for each antenna
on the downlink. The location of each reference signal
within a resource block depends on the number of
antennas and the slot within the subframe; the reference
signals for a four-antenna system (antenna ports 0, 1, 2
and 3) are illustrated here.
Cell-specific reference signals play an important role in
channel estimation and system acquisition. During
channel estimation, the receiver compares the received
symbols with known reference symbols and estimates the
channel response for channel equalization purposes.
42
Uplink Resource Mapping

Slot n Slot n+1
PUCCH PUCCH
Resource Blocks
PUSCH
PRACH
PUCCH PUCCH
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
In the uplink, the Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)

occupies one or more resource blocks at each end of the
system bandwidth and performs frequency hopping
between the first and second slots within a subframe. The
resource blocks between the PUCCHs are used for
Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH), and may do
frequency hopping between slots. The PUSCH carries
user-specific traffic and/or RRC signaling messages. The
Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) occupies six
resource blocks over one or more consecutive subframes,
adjacent to the PUCCH. The frequency at which the
PRACH appears in the UL frame is configured as
broadcast information in the System Information Block
(SIB).
43
Exercise
True or False?
1. The PCFICH informs the UEs in a cell about the
number of OFDM symbols used by the PDCCHs.
2. The PDCCH can allocate DL resources to a UE;
however, it cannot allocate UL resources to the
UE.
3. The PDSCH can carry traffic and UE-specific
signaling messages.
4. The PHICH enables the UE to improve UL
throughput by carrying ACK/NACK.
44
Multiple-Antenna
Techniques
45
Multiple-Antenna Techniques in LTE
Multiple-Antenna Techniques
Diversity MIMO/Spatial Multiplexing Beamforming
Receive Transmit SU-MIMO MU-MIMO SDMA Special Case

Diversity (Single User (Multi-User (Spatial Division of SU-MIMO
Diversity =
MIMO) MIMO) Multiple Access)
This slide shows the multiple-antenna techniques used in viewed as MIMO plus Beamforming (BF). For simple
LTE. The underlying assumption is that the signals out of beamforming, it can be implemented as a special
different antennas experience different fading. case of SU-MIMO, where a single stream is sent out.
• Diversity: Diversity techniques increase link
robustness and thus coverage, including receive
diversity and transmit diversity. With transmit
diversity, the same data stream is sent to the same
user and experiences independent fading. So, the
signal quality is enhanced by combining them.
• Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO): Also known as
spatial multiplexing, different data streams are sent
from different antennas. If the streams are sent to
the same user, it is called Single-User MIMO (SU-
MIMO) and can increase the data rate for that user. If
the streams are sent to different users, it is called
Multi-User MIMO (MU-MIMO) and can increase
capacity for the cell.
• Beamforming: Spatial Division Multiple Access
(SDMA) is the most complicated beamforming and
the theoretical foundation of MU-MIMO. So, in
practice, MU-MIMO is equivalent to SDMA and can be
46
Generic Diversity Techniques

Transmit diversity Receive diversity
BS
Multiple antennas at the Multiple antennas at
transmitter; intelligent use of the receiver to leverage
space, frequency and time the signal variation in
(Space Frequency Block Coding space by suitably
– SFBC) to obtain multiple combining the multiple
copies of the signal at the copies of the signal
receiver
• Improved link robustness (same stream to same user)

• Better coverage Award Solutions Proprietary
Two basic forms of diversity are receive diversity and essentially the same signal are received at the
transmit diversity. terminal, providing diversity benefits, as is the case
with receive diversity. However, transmit diversity has
• Receive Diversity: This form of diversity is
an added benefit, it can be implemented at the BS
implemented at the receiver. Multiple antennas are
without requiring multiple antennas at the MS.
used at the receiver. The BS transmits just one signal,
but multiple copies of the same signal are received
because of the multiple antennas. These signals
experience different fading characteristics, and the
probability that all signals experience a fade at the
same time is low. Hence, the quality of the combined
overall signal is likely to be good. The advantage of
receive diversity is better performance compared to a
single receive antenna. On the other hand, the
disadvantage is increased cost at the terminal when
receive diversity is implemented at the terminal.
• Transmit Diversity: This form of diversity is
implemented at the transmitter. The transmitter
transmits a signal, possibly in different forms, from
multiple antennas at the same time. With transmit
diversity, multiple copies of the same data stream are
sent to the same user and each stream experiences
independent fading. Thus, multiple copies of
47
Single-User MIMO (SU-MIMO)

Each antenna transmits a
separate data stream
Tx h11 Rx
A 1 A 1 A+B
h12
A
h21
B
Tx Rx
B 2 -B 2 A-B
h22
Each receiver detects the

combination of all symbols on
each frequency
In Single-User MIMO (SU-MIMO), also known as Spatial The net result is a significantly higher data rate, since
Multiplexing (SM), each antenna carries a separate data each transmit antenna is sending a separate data stream
stream on each frequency assigned to the user. Each in parallel using the same frequency and time resources,
receiver picks up the combined signal on each frequency, at the cost of increased receiver complexity.
containing the sum of all symbols sent in each symbol
time. The multiple copies of the same received signal,
along with the UE’s knowledge of the MIMO matrix
channel (derived from reference signals from each
transmit antenna), allow the UE to extract each of the
original symbols.
This diagram illustrates a 2x2 MIMO system, with two
transmit antennas and two receive antennas. The signal
between transmit antenna 1 and receive antenna 1 is
quantified by the channel response h11. Each of the four
possible paths has its own channel response
characteristics. Accurate channel characterization allows
each transmit antenna to independently deliver a different
data stream, potentially increasing the peak data rates
linearly with the number of transmit antennas; a 2x2
system can double the data rate, while a 4x4 system can
quadruple it.
48
Beamforming Concept
Antenna
1 A
In-phase
Signal 1
A
Antenna Add in- Signal 2

2 phase
signals UE
eNB
2A
After Beamforming
Power = (2A)2 = 4A2
Beamforming is a signal-processing technique that mimics When transmitting, a beamformer controls the relative
older hardware methods that used variable-length cables phase of the signals from each transmitter antenna in
going to different antenna elements. The modern signal order to create a pattern of constructive and destructive
processing methods are widely used in electronic antenna interference in the wave front at the receiver.
arrays for the directional transmission or reception of
signals. The improvement derived from narrowed and
directional beams, when compared with omnidirectional
transmissions or receptions, is known as the
transmit/receive gain or loss.
Beamforming results in spatial selectivity, which is
achieved by using adaptive or fixed receive/transmit
beam patterns. The beam patterns come from the
different relative phase shifts observed between the
antennas at different points in space. A mobile, for
example, at a certain point relative to two antennas
transmitting the same information at different relative
phase offsets will “see” varying degrees of constructive or
destructive combing of the two waveforms from each of
the two antennas at different points.
49
MU-MIMO: SDMA Implementation

eNB
120° cellization
40 Mbps cell B
40 Mbps
f1,f2,f3……f100 f1,f2,f3……f100
SDMA Beam1 SDMA Beam2
Radio channels in cell B: 100

cell throughput: 80 Mbps
• Benefit : High throughput
• Drawback : Potential for high interference
MU-MIMO in LTE provides multi-stream transmission to

multiple users simultaneously. This increases the system
throughput. Also, it increases the sum data-rate and
reduces the latency of mobile users as compared to other
multiple access schemes like TDMA. In MU-MIMO inter-
user interference is a major challenge and needs to be
taken care at the transmitter so as to save UE power
consumption and keep them as simple as possible. The
Multi User MIMO (MU-MIMO) theory is based on SDMA
concept, i.e., use of spatial sharing of the channel by the
users. It schedules multiple users in one time frequency
slot. It needs extra hardware but no extra bandwidth.
50
MU-MIMO in the UL
Multiple users in the
same radio resource
(frequency time slot)
1 Tx Antenna 1 Tx Antenna
UE1 Goals UE2

• Increase UL sector throughput
• Keep terminal cost lower
While MU-MIMO can significantly increase capacity and/or Uplink MU-MIMO can increase UL sector throughput. For
throughput in the downlink, it can also be applied in the example, if a system with one transmit antenna and one
uplink. The goal of uplink MU-MIMO is to increase uplink receive antenna yields a sector throughput of 10 Mbps in
sector throughput with just one transmit antenna at the the uplink, uplink (2x2) MU-MIMO can provide sector
UE. Note that the cost of the UE is kept low in this case. If throughout of 20 Mbps in the uplink.
we start using multiple transmit antennas at the UE, we
would need to worry about the cost of the antennas,
transmit power requirements, processing power, and
complexity.
Consider a system in which we want to implement uplink
(2x2) MU-MIMO. To have two transmit antennas in the
uplink, we will use one antenna from one UE and another
antenna from another UE. The eNB uses two receive
antennas to receive signals from two transmit antennas.
The basic operation of uplink MU-MIMO is similar to that
for downlink MU-MIMO. Basically, one transmit antenna
sends out one data stream, and another transmit antenna
sends out another data stream. Two UEs use the same
radio resource (frequency time slot). In order to use uplink
MU-MIMO, two UEs need to locate in good radio condition.
51
PUSCH and UL Antenna Selection

Antenna Port 0
PDCCH
(DCI)
UE eNB
PUSCH
(Traffic)
Antenna Port 1
DCI Format Description

0 • Basic Contents:
UL resource allocation (RBs, hopping, MCS), TPC, DMRS, CQI
Request
• CRC for the DCI:

 16 bits
 Masked with
(i) UE ID (i.e., C-RNTI)
(ii) UE transmit antenna selection mask (0 or 1 for antenna
port 0 or 1)
When closed-loop antenna selection is enabled the eNB

tells its UE which of its antennas to use on its PUSCH with
an implicit signaling mechanism within the UL scheduling
grant on the eNB’s DL Control Information (DCI) directed
toward the UE. The DCI includes all kinds of information
useful to the UE: Radio Bearer (RB) assignments,
prescribed hopping sequences (ON or OFF, intra- or inter-
sub-frame frequency hopping in explicit or pre-defined
patterns), the applicable Modulation and Coding Scheme
(MCS), Transmit Power Control (TPC) for the UE, the power
of the Demodulation Reference Signal (DMRS) relative to
the eNB’s carrier power, and the CQI requests. The DCI’s
message includes a 16-bit Cyclic Redundancy Count
(CRC), a type of block coding which is masked with the
UE’s ID (iC-RNTE or Cell-RNTI) and the eNB’s antenna
preferences (antenna port 0 or antenna port 1).
52
Summary
• Characteristics of the LTE Physical Layer are:
– OFDMA in the DL and SC-FDMA in the UL,
– Channel bandwidth of 1.4 to 20 MHz, and
– Resources are assigned per sub-frame.
• LTE supports multiple-antenna techniques, including:
– Transmit and receive diversity,
– Spatial multiplexing (SU-MIMO), and
– Beamforming and Spatial Division Multiple Access.
53
Review Questions
1. Why was SC-FDMA chosen for the uplink?
2. Describe the relationship among sub-frames,
slots, resource blocks (RB), modulation symbols,
and sub-carriers.
3. What is the overhead of reference signals in LTE?
4. How do multiple-antenna techniques improve
coverage and throughput?
5. Which physical channels carry user traffic in the
UL and DL?
6. Which physical channel carries the DL and UL
resource allocations?
54
3 | System Acquisition
Chapter 3:
System Acquisition
55
Objectives
• Explain the steps involved in system acquisition
• Describe DL synchronization
• Specify the roles played by various signals and
channels in network acquisition
• Illustrate the cell selection procedure
References:
[1] 3GPP TS 36.211 – E-UTRA Physical channels and
modulation
[2] 3GPP TS 36.213 – E-UTRA Physical layer procedures
description stage 2
[4] 3GPP TS 36.306 – E-UTRA User Equipment (UE) radio
access capabilities
[5] 3GPP TS 36.321 – E-UTRA Medium Access Control
(MAC) Protocol specification
[6] 3GPP TS 36.331 – E-UTRA Radio Resource Control
(RRC) Protocol specification
56
Overview of System
Acquisition
57
Downlink Channels
DL Physical Purpose
Channels/Signals
Primary Sync Signal Slot Synchronization
Secondary Sync Signal Frame Synchronization
Physical Broadcast Master Information

Channel Block (MIB)
Physical Control Format Amount of Resources
Indicator Channel Consumed by PDCCHs
Physical Downlink Control UL Power Control, UL and
UE Channel DL Resource Allocations
Physical Downlink Shared DL Traffic, Common and eNB
Channel UE-specific Signaling,
Paging
After power-up, the UE goes through the process of trying System information is periodically broadcast by all LTE
to find an LTE network to make a connection. The eNB eNBs. An important system information message called
uses several downlink channels to assist the UE with the the Master Information Block (MIB) is broadcast every 40
overall Network Acquisition process. First, the UE needs to ms by the eNB on the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH).
synchronize with the downlink transmissions of the eNB. The MIB contains a few very important LTE system
The Primary Synchronization Signal is used to obtain DL parameters that are essential in system acquisition.
slot timing synchronization. The eNB repeatedly
broadcasts one of three possible 62-bit sequences to help
the UE recognize where slot transmissions begin.
The Secondary Synchronization Signal is used to obtain DL
frame timing synchronization. The eNB repeatedly
broadcasts one of 168 possible 62-bit sequences to help
the UE recognize where frame transmissions begin. A
different Secondary Synchronization Signal sequence is
transmitted in 2 sub-frames 5 ms apart in every frame.
This difference is used to identify the beginning of the
frame.
Both the primary and secondary synchronization signals
are transmitted on the center 62 subcarriers, and
together identify the cell using one of 504 possible
Physical Layer Cell Identities.
58
Downlink Channels (Continued)

DL Physical Purpose
Channels/Signals
Primary Sync Signal Slot Synchronization
Secondary Sync Signal Frame Synchronization
Physical Broadcast Master Information

Channel Block (MIB)
Physical Control Format Amount of Resources
Indicator Channel Consumed by PDCCHs
Physical Downlink Control UL Power Control, UL and
UE Channel DL Resource Allocations
Physical Downlink Shared DL Traffic, Common and eNB
Channel UE-specific Signaling,
Paging
The Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) is

used by the eNB to inform the UEs about the number of
OFDM symbols used for the PDCCH.
The Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) is the
channel used by the eNB to send control information to
the UE. The PDCCH channel carries DL resource allocation
information, UL scheduling grants and Transmit Power
Control (TPC) commands for the UE.
The Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) is used to
carry user data, paging and control signals and broadcast
information.
59
Process of Network Acquisition

UE Power-up
Downlink Synchronization
and Determination of
Physical Cell ID
UE Frequency and
Acquire Another Time Synchronized
LTE Cell MIB Acquisition
(PBCH Processing)
System Bandwidth
Known
Control Format Indicator Acquisition
(PCFICH Processing)
PDCCH location Known
Shared Channel Resource Acquisition
(PDCCH Processing)
Locations of SIBs Found
Retrieval of SIBs
(PDSCH Processing)
PLMN ID, Cell Selection
Criteria, Other Cell Info
Obtained
No Cell Selection
Successful?
Yes
UE Ready for Initial
Award Solutions Access
Proprietary
The UE performs the functions shown in the slide in Then, the UE decodes the System Information Broadcast
sequence during initial network acquisition. With the (SIB) messages to acquire the PLMN ID of the network. If
completion of the cell selection procedure the UE will have the PLMN ID of the network matches with the PLMN ID list
downlink synchronization with the eNB. Following the of the UE, then UE runs the cell selection algorithm. If cell
power-up, the UE undergoes a series of hardware tests to selection is successful, then UE tries to acquire UL
verify the integrity of memory and other peripherals. It synchronization through the initial access procedure, else
selects a frequency band to acquire an LTE system based the UE acquires another LTE cell and restarts the process
on its configured list. At this point, the UE still has no again.
knowledge of any operator’s presence. It simply tries to
acquire the network.
The UE scans for the sync signals to acquire frequency
and time synchronization. Once the UE acquires primary
and secondary sync signal information, it gains knowledge
about both synchronization and physical cell identity. Now,
the UE is ready to acquire the master information block
from the PBCH to determine the actual DL channel
bandwidth.
Now, the UE decodes the information from the PCFICH
and reads the PDCCH to find the system information
resources on the shared channel (PDSCH).
60
Processing of
Synchronization
Signals and PBCH
61
Primary Sync Signal

Acquisition
• Slot Synchronization Achieved
• Unique (one of three) Primary
Sync Signal Acquired
Secondary Sync Signal
Acquisition
• Frame Synchronization Acquired
• Unique (one of 168) Cell Group ID
Sequence Acquired
Physical Cell ID Detection
Combination of
Primary and Secondary Sync
Sequences
The UE performs the functions shown in the slide during the primary sync information, the UE tries to acquire the
Physical Layer Cell Identity (PCI) acquisition. After secondary sync signal to acquire frame synchronization.
completion of power-up tests, the UE initiates DL The secondary sync signal repeatedly broadcasts one of
synchronization and the PCI acquisition procedure. 168 possible 62-bit sequences to help the UE recognize
where frame transmissions begin. The secondary sync
The first step in the process is the frequency acquisition
signal information is also transmitted every 5 ms in the
procedure, where the UE tries to acquire the center 72
same slots as the primary synch signal. The secondary
subcarriers (72 subcarriers * 15 kHz = 1.08 MHz) of the
synch signal broadcasts a different sequence format in
DL channel to decode the primary and secondary
each of the 2 slot times per radio frame. This difference is
synchronization signals. The center 72 subcarriers are
used to identify the beginning of the frame. Both the
equivalent to the smallest usable channel bandwidth (1.4
primary and secondary sync signals are transmitted on
MHz) supported by LTE. This mechanism of using only the
the center 62 subcarriers, and together they indicate the
smallest possible bandwidth configuration provides a
Physical Cell Identity (PCI) (one of 504 possible PCIs) for
consistent way for UEs to acquire networks that may be
the cell.
operating with any of the possible bandwidth
configurations (1.4 MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz,
20 MHz).
Next, the UE tries to acquire the primary sync signal to get
slot synchronization. The eNB transmits the
synchronization signals on the center 62 subcarriers. The
primary sync signal broadcasts one of three possible 62-
bit sequences every 5 ms (twice per radio frame) to help
the UE recognize where slot transmissions begin. Using
62
Frequency Locations for Acquisition
Detect sync Sync Signals (62 subcarriers)

signals PBCH (72 subcarriers)
eNB
UE
20 MHz
f
Look at center 62 subcarriers
around a target center
frequency to detect sync signals 72 subcarriers
f
PBCH reception PBCH
The slide shows the UE frequency acquisition procedure in

LTE. The E-UTRA cell search procedure supports a
scalable overall transmission bandwidth of 1.4 MHz to 20
MHz, corresponding to six or more Resource Blocks (RBs).
Each RB consists of 12 subcarriers per OFDM symbol. The
UE first detects the central part of the spectrum
regardless of receiving bandwidth capability.
In this figure, the cell operates at a 20 MHz bandwidth.
The UE first detects the center frequency of the 20 MHz
spectrum. The primary synchronization and secondary
synchronization signals are carried on 62 subcarriers
centered around the center frequency. They carry 62-bit
sequences that occupy the center 62 subcarriers with five
unused subcarriers on each side. Once the UE detects
primary synchronization and secondary synchronization
signals, it acquires DL timing synchronization. Next, the UE
looks for the Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH). The
PBCH information is always spread over 72 subcarriers
centered around the center frequency. Now that the UE
has DL frame synchronization, it acquires the PBCH and
reads the MIB. One essential piece of information sent on
the PBCH is the actual DL channel bandwidth.
63
Slot Synchronization
Frame Durations = 10ms
Frame
SF SF SF SF SF
0 1 2 5 9
1ms
S0 S1 S2 S10 S19
0.5ms 0.5ms
0 1 2 ….. 5 6 0 1 2 ….. 5 6
Primary Sync Signal sequences in S0 and S10 are the same

1 of 3 Primary Synchronization sequences
After performing power-up tests, the UE tries to obtain The Type 1 frame structure using a normal cyclic prefix
timing information and frame synchronize with the (CP) is shown in this diagram. A 10 ms duration frame
system. For this, the UE needs to obtain some timing contains 10 sub-frames (numbered 0 through 9) of 1 ms
information indicators to indicate where the each. A subframe is further divided into two slots of 0.5
subframe/frame begins and ends. The primary ms each (numbered 0 through 19), thus making a total of
synchronization signal is used to obtain slot 20 slots in each frame. Each slot contains seven OFDM
synchronization. symbols (when using normal cyclic prefix). Primary
synchronization signals are transmitted on the last OFDM
Radio frame structure Type 1, used for Frequency Division
symbol of time slots S0 and S10 (OFDM symbol number 6
Duplex (FDD) (for both full duplex and half duplex
of the first slots in Sub-frames 0 and 5).
operation), has a duration of 10 ms and consists of 20
slots with a slot duration of 0.5 ms. Two adjacent slots The mechanism for using primary synchronization signal is
form one sub-frame 1 ms long. The number of OFDM as follows. The mobile station searches for the eNB to
symbols in a slot depends on subcarrier spacing and cyclic which it has the least path loss. This is accomplished by
prefix (CP) length. looking for the primary synchronization signal whose
sequence in a cell can be selected from a set of three
Radio frame structure Type 2 is used for Time Division
different sequences. Since no timing information is
Duplex (TDD) and consists of two half-frames with a
available, the mobile relies on matched filters to get the
duration of 5 ms each and containing each eight slots 0.5
best possible match. Once it matches with any primary
ms long and three special fields (DwPTS, GP and UpPTS)
synchronization signal the UE has obtained slot
that have configurable individual lengths and a total
synchronization.
length of 1 ms. A sub-frame consists of two adjacent slots,
except for sub-frames 1 and 6, which consist of the
DwPTS, GP and UpPTS.
64
Frame Synchronization
T Frame = 10ms T Frame = 10ms
Frame Frame
Tsf=1ms
SF0 SF1 SF2 SF9 SF0 SF1 SF2 SF9
Ts=0.5ms
S0 S1 S2 S10 S19 S0 S1 S2 S 10 S19
0 1 2 ….. 5 6 0 1 2 ….. 5 6
Secondary Sync Signal sequences in S0 and S10 are different
&  Secondary Synchronization Signal

After the primary sync signal acquisition, the UE tries to

obtain frame information and the PCI. The secondary
synchronization signal carries this information.
A secondary sync signal occupies the center 62
subcarriers of the DL channel. The Type 1 frame structure
using a normal cyclic prefix (CP) is shown in this diagram.
For the Type 1 frame structure, secondary synchronization
signals are transmitted on the second to last OFDM
symbol of slots S0 and S10 (OFDM symbol number 5 of
the first slots in sub-frames 0 and 5). The secondary sync
signal information carried on the two sub-frames within a
frame are different. This difference is used to identify the
beginning of the frame.
65
Physical Cell ID (PCI)
Secondary Sync (NID1)

0 167
Primary Sync (NID2) 0 1 2 0 1 2

0 1 2 0 1 2
Cell ID =3NID1+NID2
Physical Cell ID
0 1 2 3 4 5 501 502 503
LTE defines 504 unique Physical Layer Cell Identities.

These identities are arranged as 168 unique 62-bit
sequences representing unique cell group identities. Each
of these sequence is then scrambled with one of three 62-
bit zadoff-chu sequences to get 168 * 3 = 504 unique cell
Identities. Each eNB transmits one of the 168 unique 62-
bit sequences on the secondary sync signal and one of the
three unique scrambling sequences on the primary sync
signal (i.e., secondary sync signals are scrambled with one
of the three unique zadoff-chu sequences transmitted on
the primary sync signal). The UE first acquires the primary
sync signal to know the unique 62-bit zadoff-chu
sequence (from a set of three sequences) and get time
synchronized with the system. Using this information, the
UE tries coherent detection of the secondary sync
information to extract frame timing and the PCI. Hence,
the UE can easily decode the secondary sync signal and
identify the unique PCI.
66
Master Information Block (MIB)

Example MIB Contents
• DL Bandwidth
• System Frame Number
• New MIB every 40 ms TTI

• Same information
every 10ms within TTI
eNB
PBCH
4 OFDM symbols x 72 subcarriers
UE
SFN i SFN i+1 SFN i+2 SFN i+3

The Master information block (MIB) is important system – In each of these four radio frames, the same MIB
information that an eNB broadcasts every 40 ms with a information is repeated.
repeat broadcast every radio frame (10 ms) on the PBCH.
– MIB content only changes at SFN mod 4 = 0.
The logical and transport channel for the MIB broadcast
information are the BCCH and BCH respectively. The MIB
information is summarized below.
• Physical Layer parameters like the LTE downlink
bandwidth, the number of transmit antennas (this
information is masked with the CRC of MIB), and
PHICH configuration help the UE to read various DL
physical channels.
• The System Frame Number (SFN) helps in
synchronization and provides a source of reference to
find the system information blocks.
– For example, System Frame Number (SFNi mod
4 = 0) starts the transmission of new MIB
information on the PBCH.
– In each of these four radio frames, four OFDM
symbols x 72 subcarriers are used to send the
MIB.
67
Exercise: Locate the Signals/Channel
• Map the Primary and Secondary sync signals on

the LTE resource grid.
• Map the Physical Broadcast Channel on the LTE
resource grid.
• Questions to ask yourself include:
– Which and how many RBs?
– Which symbols?
68
Acquiring SIBs
69
Control Format Indicator (CFI)

Answers the Q:
How many OFDMA symbols are
occupied by PDCCHs?
eNB
UE
Why does a UE Need to look for the PCFICH here?
• Where are SIBs? PDSCH
• How to find PDSCH? PDCCHs
• How many symbols occupied by PDCCHs? PCFICH
Once the UE has read the PBCH, it needs to read the

PCFICH. The PCFICH carries the Control Format Indicator
(CFI) field, which indicates to the UE the number of OFDM
symbols in the sub-frame that will carry the PDCCH. The
PDCCH carries information about the radio resources for
the PDSCH that will carry the SIB information. The CFI
information is a 2-bit number, containing a number value
of one to four. When using FDD, LTE supports a maximum
of three OFDM symbols to carry the PDCCH when the total
number of PRBs in the channel is 10 or more.
70
Resource Element Groups

Why? Control channel mapping and frequency diversity.
11 4 4 4 4
10 3 3 3 3
• 1 REG: 4 modulation
symbols
9 2 2
8 2 2 1 1
7 1 1 4 4
Sub carriers
6 3 3
5 4 4 2 2
4 3 3 1 1
3 4 4 REG
2 2 2 3 3
1 1 1 2 2
0 1 1
0 1 2 3
OFDM symbols
Award Solutions Proprietary : Reference Signals
Resource Element Groups (REGs) are used for defining

the mapping of control channels to resource elements.
Frequency diversity is obtained for the control channel by
distributing each control channel element over the entire
bandwidth of all control symbols, basically for reliability
reception.
A REG is a contiguous grouping of four resource elements
not counting resource elements used for reference
signals. Assuming two antenna ports in a cell, there are
two resource element groups in the first OFDM symbol of
a physical resource block. In the other OFDM symbols
there are three resource element groups per physical
resource block. If there are four antennas in a cell, then
the number of REGs in the second OFDM symbol would
only be two per PRB.
71
DL Control Information (DCI)

• Conveys PDSCH resource allocation for SIBs
(and user signaling/traffic)
• SI-RNTI: Used to scramble CRC of the DCI to
identify the DCI describing SIB resources
eNB
UE
Based on the information transmitted on the PCFICH, the

UE knows how to read the PDCCH channel information.
The DL Control Information (DCI) records in the PDCCH
carry the scheduling information about resources
allocated on the PDSCH for carrying SIBs, user signaling
information and user traffic. The CRC of a DCI indicating
PDSCH resources used for SIBS is scrambled with a 16-bit
System Information-Radio Network Temporary Identity (SI-
RNTI) (0xFFFF).
Several DCI formats have been defined to carry DL control
information for different transmission modes on the
PDSCH.
72
System Information Block Type 1

• 80ms TTI
• Same info repeated
every 20ms
PLMN
••PLMN ID ID eNB
UE Cell
••Cell ID, ID, tracking
Tracking areaarea
codecode
Cell
••Cell barring
Barring status
status
••q-Rxlevmin
q-Rxlevmin
••Scheduling
Scheduling info information
for other SIBSfor
other SIBs
SFN i SFN i+1 SFN i+2 SFN i+3 SFN i+4 SFN i+5 SFN i+6 SFN i+7
SIB type 1 is important system information that an eNB

broadcasts every 80 ms with a repeat broadcast every two
radio frames (20 ms) on the PDSCH. SIB type 1 messages
help the UE in cell selection. The logical and transport
channels for the SIB that broadcast information are the
BCCH and DL-SCH respectively. The parameters in SIB1
include:
• PLMN IDs of the network operator,
• Cell ID and tracking area code information useful for
the UE on mobility,
• Cell barring status to indicate whether the UE can
latch on to the cell or not,
• Q-Rxlevmin, a scalar quantity that helps cell selection,
and
• Scheduling information that indicates when other
SIBs transmission starts and what the periodicity is.
73
System Information Block Type 2

• Access Probability Factor
• UL-Bandwidth
• PRACH Configuration
• RACH Root Sequence
eNB
UE
SIB type 2 helps the UE access a cell. The SIB type 2

parameters are:
• Access Probability factor: A scalar that indicates the
success rate of initial access.
• UL-EARFCN: Indicates the UL LTE carrier frequency.
• UL-Bandwidth: Indicates the UL bandwidth.
• PRACH Configuration: Indicates the physical
resources for the initial random access in terms of
sub-frame number.
• RACH Root Sequence: A logical root sequence to
generate cell-specific preambles for random access
initiation.
74
SIB Mapping
TTI = 80ms
SFN i i+2 i+4 i+6
Subframes
0 5 9 0 5 9 0 5 9 0 5 9
S 10 =0.5ms S 11 =0.5ms
OFDMA
…… NDL- …… NDL-
Symbols 0 1 2 3 …… 0 1 2 3 ……
1 1
 Control info (DCI + CFI)

NDL Number of OFDM  SIB info
symbols in a slot i  System Frame (SFN mod 2)
This slide shows the physical resource mapping of SIB

information on the PDSCH. SIB 1 has a periodicity of 80
ms (i.e., every eight radio frames). The SIB 1 information is
transmitted on sub-frame 5 of even-numbered radio
frames. In sub-frame 5, the scheduler at the eNB decides
where SIB information should be transmitted. This
information will be conveyed in the PDCCH. SIBs other
than SIB 1 are scheduled based on the eNB scheduler
decisions.
75
Cell Selection Summary

and DL Bandwidth Determination
SIB Type 1 Acquisition

Acquire another
LTE Cell
No PLMN ID
Matches?
Yes
Yes
Cell Barred?
No
No Rx-levmin
Threshold Met?
Yes
SIB Type 2 Acquisition
Carry out Random Access Procedure
This slides shows the flow chart describing the initial cell the PLMN ID. If it fails, the UE restarts the cell
selection procedure. selection procedure again with a new LTE cell.
Otherwise, if the UE found a matching one, it checks
1. The initial cell selection process starts with DL
the cell-barred status in the SIB type 1. If the cell is
synchronization and bandwidth selection. The DL
barred to latch on, the UE restarts the cell selection
synchronization procedure includes frequency
procedure again with a new LTE cell. It checks
synchronization, slot synchronization with primary
another important parameter, Rx-levmin threshold. If
sync signal and PCI acquisition, and frame
the measured signal strength is higher than this
synchronization with the secondary sync signal
threshold, the UE proceeds to decode the SIB type 2
acquisition. If any of these procedures fail, the UE will
message on the PDSCH. Otherwise, it repeats the cell
restart the whole procedure with another LTE cell.
selection procedure once again with a new LTE cell.
Once the DL synchronization is successful, the UE
On successful reception of SIB type 2 information, the
tries to decode the MIB on the PBCH. The MIB
UE checks with the access probability factor. If it finds
provides the UE with bandwidth information. The UE
a favorable value, then the UE will select the cell and
will now scale the FFT size in accordance with the
initiate a random access procedure to register with
system bandwidth information acquired.
the network.
2. The second step in the cell selection procedure is SIB
type 1 acquisition. With successful bandwidth
selection, the UE tries to decode the DCI information
to know the SIB resources and receive the SIB type 1
information. For cell selection, the UE requires the
PLMN ID of the network, cell barring status and Rx-
levmin threshold from SIB type 1. The UE first checks
76
Summary
• A UE uses primary and secondary sync signals for
timing and frequency synchronization and for
determination of the Physical Cell ID.
• The UE reads the MIB on the PBCH to retrieve critical
system information such as system bandwidth.
• The PCFICH informs the UE which symbols carry the
PDCCHs.
• The PDCCH specifies the PDSCH resources that
contain SIBs.
• The cell selection procedure involves the selection of a
suitable cell based on the channel quality of the
current cell and the PLMN of the cell.
77
True or False?
1. The UE can easily figure out the PHY Layer Cell ID just by
observing the primary and secondary synchronization
signals.
2. The UE learns about the system bandwidth based on the
way it is programmed or configured.
3. PBCH carries all SIBs so that the UE learns about the
system.
4. Resource Element Groups (REGs) are defined so that
the UE knows what primary and secondary
synchronization sequences to look for during network
acquisition.
78
Review Exercise
Pretend that you are a UE and you have just
experienced Power-up/Power-on.
1. Describe the order in which you will process the
following signals/channels:
− PDSCH, PCFICH, PDCCH, PBCH, Primary Sync,
Secondary Sync
2. Specify the main purpose of a given channel or
signal during network acquisition.
79
Additional Material
80
BCH Processing
Transport Block
16 bit CRC
X-OR
Antenna Mask
CRC Attachment
Transport Block CRC

Tail-Biting Convolution
Coding
R = 1/3 , K = 7
Rate Matching
Codeword
This slide shows the BCH processing in sequence. The first

step in BCH processing is the CRC computation of the
transport block that contains MIB information. The
computed CRC is then appended to the transport block.
Tail-biting convolution coding with the rate 1/3 and
constraint-length seven is used at the channel coding
block. The three output streams of the channel coding
forms the data (Parity 1 and Parity 2 sub-packets) where
the data packet contains exclusively data bits while parity
1 and 2 sub-packets contain only parity bits essential for
error correction. All three sub-packets are of the same
length equal to that of the transport block. At the rate
matching, combining of the three sub-packets with
puncturing yields a single sub-packet that forms a code
word. The code word is now applied to the Physical Layer
processing for system information broadcast on the PBCH.
81
PBCH Processing
Code Word
Scrambler
(Cell ID)
Layer Mapping : Transmit Diversity

1/2/4 Precoding Matrix
This slide shows the PBCH processing in sequence. The

MIB information contained in the code word is first
scrambled with the cell ID. The randomization of the bits
will provide the receiver (UE) with a means to identify the
source of transmission (eNB). The scrambled codeword
bits are now mapped to complex valued symbols using the
QPSK modulation scheme. This provides a modulation
gain of two. The complex value symbols of the code word
is then layer mapped and multiplied by a suitable
precoding matrix to derive multiple streams for MIMO
transmission - i.e., multiple copies of the same code word
is transmitted on different antennas (mapped on different
layers). LTE supports two or four antennas for transmit
diversity. Resource-element mapping and OFDMA signal
generation are preformed separately for different layers.
The precoded data stream is mapped on the scheduled
radio resources by the resource-element mapper. Finally,
the MIB information is transmitted on the PBCH after
OFDMA signal generation.
82
PDCCH Processing
PDCCH Transport Block (DCI)
Codewords
PDCCH1 PDCCH2 PDCCHn CRC Attachment
Tail biting Convolution Coding

R= 1/3, K = 7 Similar to
Multiplexer
BCH
Multiplexed Processing
Code Words Rate Matching
Scrambler
(Cell ID, Subframe No.) Code Word
Layer Mapping : Predetermined

Multiple-Antenna Scheme:
Award Transmit Diversity
Solutions Proprietary
PDCCH transport block processing is similar to that for the streams for transmission. LTE supports two or four
PBCH transport block. The first step in PDCCH processing antennas for transmit diversity. The precoded data stream
is the CRC computation of the transport block that is mapped on the scheduled radio resources by the
contains the DCI. The computed CRC is then appended to resource-element mapper. Finally, PDCCHs are combined
the transport block. Tail-biting convolution coding with a with other channels to generate an OFDMA.
rate 1/3 and constraint-length seven is used at the
channel coding block. The three output streams of the
channel coding forms the data, parity 1 and parity 2 sub-
packets where the data packet contains exclusively data
bits while parity 1 and 2 sub-packets contains only parity
bits essential for error correction. All three sub-packets
are of the same length equal to that of transport block. At
the rate matching, combining of the three sub-packets
with puncturing yields a single sub-packet that forms a
code word. The code word is submitted to the Physical
Layer processing.
Multiple PDCCH code words are multiplexed and then
scrambled. Next, they are mapped to complex valued
symbols using the QPSK modulation scheme. This
provides a modulation gain of two. The complex value
symbols of the code word is then layer-mapped and
multiplied by a suitable precoding matrix to derive multiple
83
PCFICH Processing
CFI (2 bits)
Block Coding
R = 1/16
Code Word (32 bits)

Scrambler
(Cell ID and Subframe No.)
Layer Mapping : Transmit Diversity

The PCFICH is a physical only signal that carries the CFI.

This slide details the PCFICH processing in sequence.
Block coding with rate 1/16 is performed on the 2-bit CFI
to generate a 32-bit code word. The code word is then
scrambled with cell ID and the sub-frame number. The
scrambling sequence enables the UE to identify the eNB
and the subframe number to which the CFI is received.
Modulation converts 32 coded symbols to 16 modulation
symbols.
84
4 | System Access
Chapter 4:
System Access
85
4 | System Access
Objectives
• Explain the Random Access procedure
• Specify the role of System Information Block 2
• Describe how preamble sequences are selected
• Illustrate the format of a preamble
• Show how the PRACH is mapped to radio
resources
• Explain how collision and contention resolution
are managed
References:
modulation
description stage 2
[4] 3GPP TS 36.306 – E-UTRA User Equipment (UE) radio
access capabilities
(RRC) Protocol specification
86
4 | System Access
Random Access
Procedure Overview
87
4 | System Access
Random Access Procedures

Contention-Based
• UE-initiated
• Random preamble
• Risk of collision
Random Access
UE 1
Non-Contention eNB
• eNB-initiated
• Assigned preamble
• No collisions
LTE supports two types of random access procedures.

Which one is used depends on the specific circumstances.
• Contention-Based access is the “normal” access
process, and is used on initial system access when a
radio link is lost, when uplink synchronization is lost,
and during some handover scenarios. The UE initiates
the process by transmitting a randomly chosen
preamble over the RACH, and then waits for a
corresponding uplink assignment from the eNB
before it can transmit its message.
• Non-Contention access is used when the UE is
already in communication with the eNB. The network
initiates the process by sending an allocated
preamble to the UE indicating when it can transmit.
Since the eNB provides a dedicated preamble not
used by any other UE, there are no collisions with
other UEs and latency is significantly reduced.
88
4 | System Access
Contention-based Random Access

Preamble sequence 1. Random Access Preamble
(RACH/PRACH)
Random Access Response

• Timing alignment 2. Random Access Response
(DL-SCH/PDSCH)
• Initial UL grant
• Temp C-RNTI
3. Scheduled Transmission
Establishing RRC (e.g., RRC Connection Request)
Connection with eNB; (UL-SCH/PUSCH)
Retransmissions
controlled by the MAC
Layer are supported eNB
4. UE Contention Resolution Identity
(DL-SCH/PDSCH)
Addressed to C-RNTI on PDCCH
Non-contention Random Access:

• Dedicated Random Access Preamble allocated via RRC signaling
• Dedicated Random Access Preamble used in Step 1.
• Step 4 not applicable.
• Example message in Step 3:Award
RRC Connection
Solutions Proprietary Reconfiguration Complete
The basic steps involved in contention-based access are: the timing adjustment, UL resource allocation, and a
temporary Cell Radio Network Temporary ID, or C-
1. Random Access Preamble Transmission: Once a UE
RNTI.
has selected a cell, it listens to the system overhead
information transmitted on the downlink. The system 3. Scheduled Transmission: The UE uses the allocated
information blocks (SIBs) provide configuration resources to transmit its message (such as an RRC
parameters for the network. SIB 2, in particular, Connection Request), and includes a UE identity such
includes key parameters for initial system access. as S-TMSI or a 40-bit random number.
The UE randomly selects a random access preamble
and sends it over the PRACH. The transmit
opportunity is identified by the Random Access-Radio
Network Temporary ID, or RA-RNTI. In LTE FDD, the
RA-RNTI (a value of 1 to 10) identifies the sub-frame
number of the PRACH used for the preamble
transmission. It is obvious that multiple UEs may
transmit in the same sub-frame and thus use the
same RA-RNTI.
2. Random Access Response: The eNB allocates uplink
resources for the UE and sends a response on the
PDSCH identifying which UE group the allocation is for
by using the RA-RNTI. Within each RA-RNTI group, the
RA preamble identifier is used to identify a specific
UE. The Random Access Response (RAR) contains
89
4 | System Access
Contention-based Random Access

(continued)
Preamble sequence 1. Random Access Preamble
(RACH/PRACH)

• Timing alignment 2. Random Access Response
(DL-SCH/PDSCH)
• Initial UL grant
• Temp C-RNTI
3. Scheduled Transmission
Establishing RRC (e.g., RRC Connection Request)
Connection with eNB; (UL-SCH/PUSCH)
Retransmissions
controlled by the MAC
Layer are supported eNB
4. UE Contention Resolution Identity
(DL-SCH/PDSCH)
Addressed to C-RNTI on PDCCH
Non-contention Random Access:

• Dedicated Random Access Preamble allocated via RRC signaling
• Dedicated Random Access Preamble used in Step 1.
• Step 4 not applicable.
• Example message in Step 3:Award
RRC Connection
Solutions Proprietary Reconfiguration Complete
4. Contention Resolution: The eNB sends a UE

Contention Resolution Identity message on the
downlink directed to the temporary C-RNTI. If the UE
sees its temporary C-RNTI on the PDCCH and its 40-
bit UE ID in the message, then its transmission was
successfully received. The temporary C-RNTI is
promoted to the C-RNTI, if the UE has no C-RNTI yet. If
the UE already has a C-RNTI but loses UL
synchronization, the UE’s C-RNTI is kept and the
temporary C-RNTI is discarded. If the UE does not
receive a UE Contention Resolution Identity message
containing its UE ID, there was a collision or other
failure and the UE must retry the random access
attempt.
Non-Contention random access is typically used during
handover. The network initiates the process by sending an
allocated preamble to the UE via RRC signaling (before
Step 1). Since the eNB provides a dedicated preamble not
used by any other UE, there are no collisions with other
UEs, and latency is significantly reduced.
90
4 | System Access
Random Access
Parameters
91
4 | System Access
Prior to Random Access: SIB2

PRACH Parameters Access Parameters
• Channel configuration • Access probability
• Preamble format • Access barring
System Information Block 2 (SIB2)

UE 1
DL-SCH/PDSCH
eNB
Power Parameters Preamble Parameters
• Initial target power • Root sequence index
• Power ramp step • Cyclic shift
• Maximum number of attempts • Number of non-dedicated
sequences
SIB Type 2 provides a number of detailed parameters • Settings for controlling the amount of power to be
needed to generate the preambles and control used when transmitting the preamble, starting with
transmissions on the RACH. These parameters include: the initial target power level, and increasing by the
power step until either the access is successful or the
• The configuration of the Physical Random Access
maximum number of attempts is reached.
Channel (PRACH) such as the format to be used for
the random access preamble and the sub-frames
that can be used for access.
• Access control settings for managing when UEs can
attempt to access the cell, including access
probabilities for different access classes (which
determine whether the UE can proceed with the
access attempt or must wait some period of time),
and access barring information (which limits which
UEs can access the cell).
• Information on how to select a valid random access
preamble for this cell, based on the root sequence
index and cyclic shift, as well as the number of non-
dedicated of sequences.
92
4 | System Access
Step 1: Transmitting Preamble

Determine preamble format
Select random preamble sequence
Determine preamble power level
Transmit preamble
Random Access Preamble

UE 1
RACH/PRACH
eNB
In the slide above are the steps to process the parameters

before the random access preamble is sent.
There are four possible formats for the random access
preamble, differing by the length of the fields within the
preamble. Bigger preambles take longer to transmit and
are better suited for larger cells. The specific format to be
used is set in SIB 2. SIB 2 also indicates the transmit
opportunity, i.e., when (in which system frames and sub-
frames) the preamble may be sent.
The specific preamble sequence to be transmitted is
selected randomly using the sequence root index and
cyclic shift information from SIB 2. There are a total of 64
different sequences available in each cell.
The initial target power level determines how loud the
preamble transmission can be to start. The goal is to
estimate the minimum amount of power needed for the
preamble to be successfully received by the eNB. If no
response is received, the UE will try again, increasing its
power (by the power step value) until it reaches the
maximum number of attempts allowed.
93
4 | System Access
Preamble Format
Guard Time = Round Trip
Delay + Delay Spread
(multipath related)
(near cells)
CP Sequence GT
RA Preamble
CP Sequence
(Non-Synchronized)
(at cell edge)
• Four preamble formats (0~3) are defined for LTE

FDD to address different cell size X ms (1, 2, 3)
• Depend on format, a preamble may occupy 1, 2,
3 sub-frames (consecutive)
• Only one format is used in a cell
This slide explains why a different preamble format is Note that the preamble format is decided on at the
needed. In LTE, a UE has not synchronized with the network planning stage, and only one format is used for a
network in the uplink when it sends out random access specific cell.
preamble. So the random access sequences sent by the
UE at the cell edge and the UE near the eNB may arrive at
the eNB at different moments. But the preamble should
not interfere with the information/sub-frame the eNB
receives before and after the preamble, i.e., the non-
synchronized preambles are received within a certain
window.
As shown in the figure, the preamble from the UE near the
eNB arrives the earliest and the preamble from the UE at
the cell edge arrives the latest. The difference between
the arrival moments is the guard time, which is equal to
the round-trip delay plus the delay spread. Obviously, the
length of the guard time determines the cell size; a longer
guard time supports larger cell size.
In order to address different cell sizes, four preamble
formats are defined for LTE FDD. Depending on the
specific format, a preamble may occupy one, two, or three
consecutive sub-frames. The cyclic extension or preamble
repetition can be used to lengthen the preamble.
94
4 | System Access
Preamble Format Examples

Preamble
CP Sequence
Guard Cell
Format CP Sequence Subframes
Time Radius
0 103.125 μs 800 μs 1 96.875 μs ~14 km
1 684.375 μs 800 μs 2 515.625 μs ~75 km
2 206.25 μs 1600 μs* 2 193.75 μs ~28 km
3 684.375 μs 1600 μs* 3 715.625 μs ~103 km
* 800 μs sequence repeated
Award Solutions Proprietary Ref: 3GPP TS 36.211
Here are the details of four supported preamble formats

for LTE FDD. A preamble consists of a cyclic prefix (to
handle multipath interference) followed by an 800 μs
sequence. The sequence may be repeated in some
formats. The total length of the cyclic prefix and the
sequence(s) determines how long it takes to transmit the
preamble. Since the actual physical transmission occurs in
units of sub-frames (1 ms), the remaining time determines
how far away the UE can be without overlapping another
UE’s access attempt (the guard time). For further details,
refer 3GPP TS 36.211 – Physical Channels and
Modulation.
95
4 | System Access
Physical RA Channel (PRACH)

1 frame (10 ms)
PRACH PRACH configuration example:

(format 0) on sub-frame 0, 2, 4, 6, 8
with 6 percent overhead for a cell with 10 MHz
6 RBs
Frequency Domain: Six RBs

Time Domain: Transmit opportunity is defined in 3GPP 36.211
Table 5.7.1-2 “PRACH configuration” and broadcast in SIB 2
This slide shows how the PRACH is mapped to the physical

resource.
In a frequency domain a PRACH occupies six consecutive
resource blocks and the frequency location is determined
by the parameter prach-FreqOffset.
The times when a random access can be sent are
determined by the specific PRACH configuration. SIB 2
identifies which one of 64 possible “transmit opportunity”
patterns will be used in that cell. For example, PRACH
configuration index 12 indicates that preamble format 0
will be used, the random access can be sent in any
system frame, and the access can appear only in the
even-numbered sub-frames (0, 2, 4, 6 and 8). This
configuration example is illustrated here, which consumes
6 percent of the resources of a 10 MHz system.
96
4 | System Access
Preamble Transmission Power
Transmit Power
2 subframes
Power Step
Random Access
Random Access
Random Access
Random Access
Initial Power
Subframes
Response Window Size

Preamble Trans Max (Ex: 4)
The random access is often the first transmission from the The UE will determine the initial power level based on the
UE and it is a short transmission (less than 3 ms at most). Preamble Initial Received Target Power value and an
The UE must estimate the minimum amount of power it estimate of the uplink path loss (PL) as follows:
needs to send the access without causing excessive
Pinitial = min (Pmax, Preamble Initial Received Target
interference.
Power + PL)
The UE receives a number of key parameters for PRACH
where Pmax is the maximum transmit power of the UE,
power control in SIB 2, including:
based on its category.
• Preamble Initial Received Target Power: The power
If the eNB fails to respond to the random access in the
level the eNB would like to receive for a random
designated time window (RA Response Window), then the
access.
UE can repeat the random access, increasing its power
• Power Ramping Step: The amount of additional power level by the Power Ramping Step value. If no response is
to be used every time the random access is received after Preamble Trans Max attempts the UE will
attempted again. This can be 0, 2, 4 or 6 dB. return an access failed indication.
• Preamble Trans Max: The maximum number of times
a random access can be attempted before the UE
gives up, to a maximum of 200 attempts.
• RA Response Window Size: The number of sub-
frames the UE will wait for a response two subframes
after a random access as shown in the diagram. This
window size varies from 2 to 10 sub-frames.
97
4 | System Access
Step 2: Random Access Response

UE 1
PDSCH
eNB
MAC Random Access Response PDU

MAC sub-header MAC RAR
Backoff Indicator • Timing Adjustment (TA) (11 bits)

or RA Preamble Identifier • UL Grant (20 bits)
• Temporary C-RNTI (16 bits)
The Random Access Response is carried by the PDSCH. In

the PDCCH, the message is directed to a group of UEs
identified with the same RA-RNTI. In LTE FDD, the RA-RNTI
identifies the sub-frame number of the PRACH used by
one or more UEs to send a preamble. The RA-RNTI value
will range from one to 10. It is obvious that multiple UEs
may transmit in the same sub-frame and thus use the
same RA-RNTI.
The MAC Random Access Response can include one of
two possible sub-headers. If the eNB is busy, it tells the
UEs to back off by sending a Backoff Indicator MAC sub-
header. Otherwise, a MAC sub-header carries the RA
preamble identifier (RAPID), which is used to distinguish
among UEs with the same RA-RNTI. If the RAPID sub-
header is sent, then a MAC RAR is also sent. The MAC
RAR contains the timing adjustment, the UL grant, and a
temporary C-RNTI. The MAC RAR is only transmitted with
the RAPID sub-header.
98
4 | System Access
Reception of RA Response
RA-RNTI
RA Preamble
matches? Backoff
Identifier UE Action
(within RA Indicator
Matches
Response window)
No / /
Yes Yes / Backoff and Retransmit
Yes / No
Adjust TA
Accept Temp C-RNTI
Yes / Yes Process Grant
Go step 3
Since the UE does not know exactly when to expect a the UE yet or it may not have detected the UE’s RA
response from the eNB (it only knows how long to wait), preamble (e.g., due to low power).
each random access response must identify which access
3. Neither the RA-RNTI nor the RA preamble match. The
attempt it relates to. This is accomplished by using the RA-
response is intended for someone else. The UE must
RNTI in the PDCCH, and including the received RA
continue to wait for its response. If the RA Response
preamble identifier in the MAC sub-header. Since the UE
window expires, the UE will back off and try again.
knows when it sent the random access preamble, it knows
which RA-RNTI to look for. It listens for an RA Response 4. Note that the eNB can also explicitly tell the UE to
until the RA Response window expires or it successfully back off in the response if there is a collision or if the
receives an RA Response that matches both its RA-RNTI eNB is too busy to process it right now. This can be
and RA Preamble ID. used for access control to spread out initial access
attempts over time.
There are four possible responses from the eNB:
1. The RA-RNTI and RA Preamble Identifier in the
response match the UE’s random access. This is the
success case and the UE can proceed to the next
step.
2. The RA-RNTI matches but no RA Preamble Identifier
is found. This may be due to a collision with another
UE and the UE must back off and try again if RA
response window has closed. Furthermore, the
eNodeB may not have yet found time to respond to
99
4 | System Access
Steps 2 and 3: RAR and UL Transmission
Random Access Response (RAR)

PDCCH and PDSCH
UE 1
For UL
TA eNB
synchronization TA UL Grant
UL Grant R
To transmit RRC
UL Grant A
signaling message
Temporary C-RNTI R
UE’s temporary Temporary C-RNTI
identity
Scheduled Transmission
UL-SCH/PUSCH
In the success case, the random access response from

the eNB includes the additional information (the uplink
grant) that the UE needs in order to send its transmission
(such as an RRC Connection Request message) to the
network.
The PDCCH indicates where the UE can find its Random
Access Response (RAR). The PDCCH is addressed to the
RA-RNTI, which depends on the sub-frame the UE has
used for sending a preamble.
If the UE needed to use the random access procedures to
request initial uplink grants, the initial uplink grant
information will be sent in a MAC RAR message as
indicated in the slide. The RAR includes the timing
advance command, UL grant, and temporary C-RNTI. The
uplink grant defines the resource block allocation to be
used.
The UE uses the UL grant to sent an RRC message such
as RRC Connection Request to the eNB. This transmission
reflects the timing adjustment received from the eNodeB
in the RAR.
100
4 | System Access
Step 4: Contention Resolution
UE Contention Resolution Identity

UE 1
PDSCH
eNB
C-RNTI UE Contention
UE Action
Matches? ID Matches?
Yes Yes Random Access procedure complete.
Yes No Contention. Back off and try again.
No ----- Wait and re-try later.
After using the assigned UL resources to send an RRC

message (step 3 of the random access procedure), the UE
will watch for the UE Contention Resolution Identity
message from the eNB. If a UE Contention Resolution ID
message is also included, the UE will check that the UE ID
in the message matches the one it sent previously. If the
IDs match, the UE knows that its initial access was
successful, and its temporary C-RNTI becomes its actual
C-RNTI. If the UE is unable to match the IDs within a given
number of sub-frames (the Contention Resolution Timer,
given in SIB 2, set between eight and 64 sub-frames) the
contention resolution process has failed, and the UE must
back off and go back to step 1 of the random access
procedure.
101
4 | System Access
RRC Connection
Establishment
102
4 | System Access
RRC Connection Establishment

S1 MME/
P-GW
S-GW
eNB
UE 1. RRC Connection Request
Uses Random Access Procedure
2. RRC Connection Setup
Air Interface Configuration

3. RRC Connection Setup Complete
eNB now identifies UE with a C-RNTI

Before the UE can receive any services from the LTE MME. The UE also includes the selected PLMN ID and
network, an RRC connection must be established. The optionally provide identification information about the
RRC connection is a logical connection between the E- MME where the UE is registered. At this point, the UE
UTRAN and the UE, and is used for all signaling between moves to the RRC Connected state.
the UE and the E-UTRAN. The E-UTRAN can also use the
RRC connection to track the location and state of the UE
throughout the life of its calls or data sessions.
The RRC connection setup process begins with an RRC
Connection Request from the UE. This message carries
the UE’s identity (its S-TMSI or a 40-bit random number)
and a cause value indicating the reason for the request.
Since an idle UE does not have an existing connection,
this message must be sent during the random access
procedure.
The eNB responds with an RRC Connection Setup
message, containing the parameters needed to configure
Signaling Radio Bearer1 (SRB1).
The UE then acknowledges the successful configuration of
the RRC connection with an RRC Connection Setup
Complete message, along with an RRC transaction ID and
a dedicated Non-Access Stratum (NAS) message for the
103
4 | System Access
Summary
• The Random Access Channel (RACH) is used to support
initial network access.
– Multiple UEs can access the network at the same time.
– Randomly selected preambles are used to minimize the risk
of collisions.
• System Information Block 2 (SIB2) provides the parameters
the UE needs to use the RACH.
– PRACH configuration
– Access controls
– Preamble selection
– Power management
104
4 | System Access
Review Questions
1. What information does the UE receive from SIB 2?
2. Why is there a need to define multiple preamble
formats?
3. How does the UE know whether its access
attempt is successful?
4. Why does the UE increase its PRACH power if the
network does not respond?
5. What is the primary reason of non-contention-
based random access?
105
106
5 | Data Session Setup
Chapter 5:
Data Session Setup
107
Objectives
• Define an EPS bearer
• List the key steps involved in setting up a data
session
• Illustrate how mobility is handled from the
network’s perspective
References:
[1] 3GPP TS 36.331, “Radio Resource Control (RRC)
Protocol specification”
[2] 3GPP 23.401, “General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)
enhancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access Network (E-UTRAN) access”.
[3] 3GPP TS 24.301, “Non-Access-Stratum (NAS)
protocol for Evolved Packet System (EPS), Stage 3”
108
Overview of Initial
Attach
109
After Power-up Initial Attach by UE

LTE-Uu S1 MME S11 S-GW S5/S8 P-GW HSS
UE
eNB
Network Acquisition, Random Access, and RRC Connection Establishment
Step 0
Step 1 1A. Attach Request
1B. MME Selection and S1

signaling bearer setup
1C. Attach Request
Step 2 Authentication and Security

S-GW and P-GW selection
Step 3 3A. Attach Accept
3B. Default EPS Bearer Setup and IP Address Allocation
Step 4 IP Address Allocation

Award Solutions(If Needed)
Proprietary
This picture shows a high-level view of the main steps of can be allocated after default bearer setup. It is common
the UE’s Initial Attach after power-up, where the UE for the network to allocate an IP address to the UE during
registers with the network to receive services. After the UE the default EPS bearer setup. The attach procedure may
has acquired the network and has established a Signaling trigger one or multiple dedicated bearer establishment
Radio Bearer (SRB) with the eNB during the RRC procedures to establish dedicated EPS bearers for that
connection setup, it is ready to carry out the initial attach UE. With a successful Attach procedure a context is
procedure. During the initial attach procedure, the UE established for the UE in the MME, and a default bearer is
sends an Attach Request message (destined for an MME) established between the UE and the P-GW, thus enabling
to the eNodeB. The eNB selects an MME and then always-on IP connectivity to the UE.
establishes a UE-specific S1 signaling bearer with the
MME.
The next step is authentication. Authentication in LTE is
mutual authentication (i.e., the UE and network
authenticate each other). Then, the serving gateway (S-
GW) and packet gateway (P-GW) are selected by the MME.
The always-on IP connectivity for users of the Evolved
Packet System (EPS) is enabled by establishing a default
EPS bearer between the UE and P-GW for a given Packet
Data Network (PDN). The MME responds to the Attach
Request message by sending the Attach Accept message,
which includes a request for a default EPS bearer. The IP
address can be allocated during default bearer setup, or it
110
Step 1: Attach Request

LTE Uu
S1
MME
UE eNB
1A. Attach Request
1C. Initial UE Message
1D. DL NAS Transport
1B. MME
Selection
1A. Attach Request: The UE initiates the attach procedure Request in the above scenario), the eNB selects a
by the transmission of an Attach Request message, MME. One eNB is connected to multiple MMEs in a
which contains the International Mobile Subscriber MME Pool Area, so it may select any MME. A pool
Identity (IMSI) or old Globally Unique Temporary ID area provides network redundancy. If one core
(GUTI), the UE network capability, PDN Connectivity network node fails, its load can be distributed to
request, Protocol Configuration Options (PCO), PLMN another MME. It also provides load balancing by
ID and old Tracking Area ID (TAI) to the eNB. UE connecting eNBs to multiple MMEs and sharing traffic
network capabilities include security algorithms, key on these nodes to avoid network congestion. Load
generation derivatives and the inter-RAT HO balancing between MMEs enables the network to
supported by the UE. The PDN connectivity procedure ensure equally loaded MMEs within a pool area. It
is used by the UE to trigger creation of a default also enables UEs to be registered with an appropriate
bearer to a PDN. The default bearer creation MME to balance the load between various MMEs.
messages can be transmitted independently or This is achieved by setting a weight factor for each
piggybacked using the Attach-related messages. The MME such that the probability of the eNB selecting an
default bearer creation to the default APN is done MME is proportional to its weight factor. The weight
with the Attach procedure. Default bearer creation to factor is proportional to the capacity of an MME node
other PDNs can be done during Attach or at a later relative to other MME nodes, e.g., a newly installed
stage. The PCO indicates if the UE is requesting for MME may have a much higher weight set. This allows
IPv4 or IPv6, or IPv4 and IPv6; both address the the new MME to be quickly loaded to its capacity. The
capability of the IP stack associated with the UE. load rebalancing functionality permits registered UEs
to be moved from one MME to another MME (within a
1B. MME Selection: After receipt of the RRC Connection
pool area) for MME maintenance periods.
Setup Complete containing a NAS message (Attach
111
Step 1: Attach Request (Continued)

LTE Uu
S1
MME
UE eNB
1A. Attach Request
1C. Initial UE Message
1D. DL NAS Transport
1B. MME
Selection
1C. Initial UE Message: With the successful selection of

an MME the, the UE sends an initial UE message (an
S1-AP message) to the selected MME containing the
eNB S1-AP UE Identity. Also, the attach request
message is piggybacked on this initial UE message.
1D. DL NAS Transport: The MME processes the Attach
request message and sends back a NAS reply, like an
Identity request or Authentication request. The NAS
reply from the MME is carried on the S1-AP DL NAS
Transport message. This message carries the MME
S1-AP UE Identity. Reception if the MME S1-AP UE
Identity in the S1-AP message completes the S1-MME
bearer establishment procedure.
1E. S1-MME Bearer setup is complete.
112
Step 2: Authentication and Security

HSS/AuC
MME
UE 2A. Authentication Information Request
2B. Generate KASME, IMSI K
2D. Stores KASME
AUTN and XRES using
and XRES
Key (K) and RAND
2C. Authentication Information Answer
2E. Authentication Request
2F. Generates KASME, AUTN
and RES using K and RAND
and Compares if
AUTNUE=?= AUTNMME
2G. Authentication Response
2H. Compare RES =?= XRES
2I: AS and NAS Security procedures
2A. Authentication Information Request: The network may 2C. Authentication Information Answer: The HSS provides
initiate the Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) the RAND, XRES, KASME and AUTN to the MME. XRES
procedure during the attach and routing area update is used by the MME to authenticate the UE.
procedures. Above we consider that the MME is
2D. MME Stores KASME and XRES: KASME is the key
initiating the AKA procedure during the initial attach
parameter to generate the other parameters
procedure. The UE sends the first NAS message,
necessary for encryption and integrity procedures. An
Attach Request, to the LTE network requesting for
Authentication Token (AUTN) is used by the UE to
registration. This message contains the identity of the
authenticate the network.
UE, a reference number to the last used security
parameters called Key Set identifiers and UE 2E. Authentication Request: The MME stores all the
capabilities, which includes security information like parameters sent by the HSS and sends the AUTN,
the encryption and integrity algorithms supported by KSIASME and RAND to the UE in the NAS
the UE. The MME uses the IMSI of the UE that it Authentication Request message. The MME may have
received in the Attach Request message to request multiple sets of EPS authentication vectors stored.
security parameters from the HSS/AuC. Both the MME and UE share an identifier called the
Key Set Identifier (KSI) to identify the set of keys
2B. IMSI  K and Generation of Security Parameters: At
being used. The KSI enables the UE and MME to sync
the AuC, the IMSI is used to retrieve a secure
with the security context when the UE moves from idle
parameter called the Subscriber Authentication Key
to active mode. This parameter is similar to Ciphering
(K). The HSS/AuC uses K, together with a randomly
Key Sequence Number (CKSN) in legacy GSM/GPRS
generated number called RAND, with a predefined set
networks. Using S1-AP Downlink NAS Transport and
of algorithms to generate these security parameters:
RRC DL Information transfer messages, the NAS
XRES, KASME and AUTN.
message can be routed to the UE.
113
Step 2: Authentication and Security

(Continued)
HSS/AuC
MME
UE 2A. Authentication Information Request
2B. Generate KASME, IMSI K
2D. Stores KASME
AUTN and XRES using
and XRES
Key (K) and RAND
2C. Authentication Information Answer
2E. Authentication Request
2F. Generates KASME, AUTN
and RES using K and RAND
and Compares if
AUTNUE=?= AUTNMME
2G. Authentication Response
2H. Compare RES =?= XRES
2I: AS and NAS Security procedures

2F. UE Generates and Compares: At this point, the UE 2I. Security Mode procedures: After a successful
generates a local AUTN and validates the network. authentication procedure, the network initiates the
Moreover, it also calculates the KASME and the security procedures for the Access Stratum and the
response value (RES). Non-Access Stratum. After the successful conclusion
of the security procedures, the signaling messages
2G. Authentication Response: KASME is stored in the UE to
between the UE and the MME can be ciphered and
generate NAS and AS security keys while the RES is
integrity checked. The RRC signaling messages
sent back to the MME in the NAS Authentication
between the UE and the eNodeB can be ciphered and
Response message.
integrity checked. The user traffic between the UE
2H. MME Compares: The MME now compares the RES and the eNodeB can be ciphered.
provided by the UE and the one received by the HSS.
In cases of a successful match, the UE is regarded as
authenticated.
114
S-GW and P-GW Selection

S6a
HSS
MME
Update Location Request
Selection Criteria for P-GW Update Location Answer

Subscription data:
 List of APNs
 Default APN
 P-GW selection in V-PLMN
allowed or not for each of
APNs
2 S-GW
1 P-GW
MME P-GW selection first S-GW selection next
Update Location Request: After successful authentication

and security procedures, the MME updates the HSS with
the current location of the UE using the Update Location
message. The HSS replies back with the UE’s subscription
information in the Insert Subscriber Data message. The
subscription information lists all information about the
services the UE is registered to with APN configurations.
The APN configuration carries the PDN type, QoS
characteristics (such as QCI, ARP and AMBR), PDN
connectivity (IPv4, IPv6, or both) and type of IP address
(static or dynamic) supported by that PDN. Subscription
data also indicates whether the UE is allowed to connect
to the P-GW on the visited network for that service.
Update Location Answer: The MME learns about the
default APN from the subscription information, and
initiates the creation of the default bearer to the default
APN. The MME maps each APN to a particular P-GW. The
P-GW is selected based on the subscription data. In LTE,
the P-GW can support either GPRS Tunneling Protocol
(GTP) or Proxy MIP (PMIP). The mobility mechanism
supported by the P-GW selected plays a role in selecting
the S-GW.
115
Default EPS Bearer

Setup
116
Step 3: Default EPS Bearer Setup - I
MME S-GW P-GW

IP Address Allocation
3A. Create Session Request

3B. Create Session Request
3C. Create Session Response

3D. Create Session Response
After selection of the S-GW, the next important step is to 3A. Create Session Request: The MME sends a Create
create the default EPS bearer. The EPS bearer has three Session Request to the S-GW. In this request, the
portions associated with it: one is the radio bearer MME sends the GTP-C MME tunnel ID, APN, APN-
between the UE and the eNB, the second is the S1-U AMBR, PDN type, PCO, default bearer context
tunnel between the eNB and the S-GW, and the third is information and, optionally, other bearer contexts.
the S5/S8 tunnel between the S-GW and the P-GW. The Each bearer context information includes the TFTs,
MME keeps track of all the bearers created for a UE bearer ID, QoS and charging characteristics.
through a bearer identity. The MME initiates the bearer
3B. Create Session Request: The S-GW and P-GW create
creation procedure based on the subscription information
the S5/S8 default bearer and also the S5 control
from the HSS. During the attach procedure, GTP-C control
bearer. The S-GW creates endpoints for the default
tunnels are set up between the S-GW and P-GW and also
bearer and sends them to the P-GW using the Create
between the MME and S-GW to transfer signaling
Session Request message. It also sends the UE’s PCO
messages. One control tunnel exists per PDN per UE.
parameter to enable the P-GW to decide whether to
The order in which the three portions of the bearer are allocate an IP address during the default bearer
created is as follows: creation or not, and if so, should it be IPv4, IPv6, or
both.
1. S5/S8 default bearer, S5 control bearer,
2. S11 control bearer, S1-U Bearer S-GW endpoint
creation,
3. Default radio bearer,
4. S1-U bearer completion.
117
Step 3: Default EPS Bearer Setup - I

(continued)
MME S-GW P-GW

IP Address Allocation
3A. Create Session Request

3B. Create Session Request
3C. Create Session Response

3D. Create Session Response
3C. Create Session Response: In the above scenario, we

consider the case of the P-GW allocating an IP
address to the UE during the default bearer creation.
The P-GW returns a Create Session Response
message to the S-GW. This message contains the P-
GW tunnel IDs for the default bearer, and also the IP
address.
3D. Create Session Response: The S-GW replies to the
MME with the Create Session Response message. In
this response, the S-GW transmits tunnel IDs to
establish default bearers between the S-GW and the
eNB. Note that the creation of the default bearers
between the S-GW and the eNB is coordinated by the
MME. A GTP-C tunnel for transferring the signaling
messages between the S-GW and P-GW is also
created here.
118
Step 3: Default EPS Bearer Setup - II
UE MME
3E. Initial Context Setup Request

(Attach Accept)
3F. RRC Connection Reconfiguration
(Attach Accept)
3G. RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete
3H. Initial Context Setup Response
3E. Initial Context Setup Request: The MME sends an 3G. RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete: The UE
Attach Accept message, which contains the GUTI and now sends the RRC Connection Reconfiguration
TAI list. This also contains the default bearer context Complete message to the eNB. This completes the
request, which, in turn, carries all the bearer context establishment of the default EPS radio bearer.
information and the IP address given by the P-GW.
3H. Initial Context Setup Response: The eNB informs the
The Attach Accept is embedded in the Initial Context
MME of the successful set up of the default radio
Setup Request S1-AP message, which contains
bearer with an Initial Context Setup Response
additional information on the radio bearers that
message.
needs to be created by the eNB. A default radio
bearer is always created; along with it, other bearers
may also be created. The bearer context information
in the Initial Context Setup Request message carries
the S1-U S-GW tunnel ID endpoint for the S1-U bearer
between the S-GW and eNB.
3F. RRC Connection Reconfiguration: The eNB makes a
note of the S-GW tunnel IDs and forwards the Attach
Accept message to the UE using the RRC Connection
Reconfiguration message. The eNB sends default
radio bearer-related parameters in the RRC
connection reconfiguration message.
119
Step 3: Default EPS Bearer Setup - III
UE eNB MME S-GW P-GW
3I. UL Info Transfer

3J. UL NAS Transport 3K. Modify Bearer
(Attach Complete)
Request
(Attach Complete)
3L. Modify Bearer
Response
Note. IP address allocation during

Award Solutions Proprietarythe Default EPS Bearer setup.
3I. UL Information Transfer (Attach Accept): The UE

finishes the process by sending an Attach Complete
message to the eNB (carried in an Uplink Information
Transfer message over the air interface), indicating
the successful completion of the network attach. The
UE begins using the NAS security mechanisms
(encryption and integrity checking).
3J. Uplink NAS Transport (Attach Accept): The eNB
forwards this message to the MME (in an Uplink NAS
Transport message), and provides information about
its end of the default S1-U bearer.
3K. Modify Bearer Request: The MME sends an Update
Bearer Request (eNB address, eNB TEID, EPS bearer
ID) message to the S-GW.
3L. Modify Bearer Response: Finally, the S-GW
acknowledges by sending the Update Bearer
Response (EPS Bearer Identity) message to the MME.
This completes the establishment of the default S1-U
EPS access bearer. The end-to-end default EPS
bearer establishment is complete.
120
Supported Network Mobility

S1-U S5/S8 External
Data
Bearer Bearer Bearer
Radio
UE Bearer eNB S-GW P-GW Server
Data
Radio
Bearer
UE eNB
Data
Radio S1-U
Bearer Bearer
UE eNB S-GW
The end-to-end EPS bearer is maintained regardless of

how far the UE may move during its data session. Only
those portions of the bearer that are directly affected by
the UE’s mobility are reconfigured, and segments that are
no longer required are released.
When the UE moves to another eNB, a new radio bearer is
established, and a new S1 bearer is set up to connect
back to the S-GW. The previous radio and S1 bearers are
released.
If the UE moves to a location that is not reachable by the
current S-GW, a new S5/S8 bearer must be established to
connect the new S-GW with the P-GW.
Throughout this process, the UE remains connected to its
P-GW, and its assigned EPS bearers continue to deliver
traffic with the corresponding QoS. The end-to-end path is
undisturbed and any external servers or users are
unaffected by the UE’s mobility.
121
Summary
• Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearers carry traffic between
the UE and the PDN Gateway.
– A default EPS bearer is always available while the UE is
connected to the network.
– Additional dedicated EPS bearers may be configured to
provide particular QoS capabilities for new services.
• After the RRC Connection has been established for signaling
upon power-up, the UE:
– Registers with the network and gets authenticated, and
– Establishes a default EPS bearer and receive its IP address.
122
Review Questions
1. What happens during the mutual
authentication?
2. What are the components of the EPS bearer?
3. At what point in the process does the UE learn
its IP address?
4. What value does the default EPS bearer
provide?
123
124
6 | Downlink Operations
Chapter 6:
Downlink Operations
125
Objectives
• Sketch the overall flow of downlink operations
• Summarize how UEs report channel quality
• Describe the key factors in downlink scheduling
• Specify example contents of the resource
allocation message carried by the PDCCH
• Explain how UEs receive data over the PDSCH
• Illustrate the operation of Hybrid ARQ
References:
modulation
[2] 3GPP TS 36.212 – E-UTRA Multiplexing and channel
coding
description stage 2
126
Overview of DL Traffic Operations

UE 1
1 CQI, PMI, RI
(PUCCH/PUSCH) Run the
UE 2 2 Scheduling
Algorithm
DL Resource Allocation (PDCCH)

3 DL
Scheduler
Data Transmission (PDSCH)
4 HARQ ACKs/NACKs (PUCCH/PUSCH)
eNB
Let’s discuss an overview of the downlink (DL) traffic 3. Data is transmitted to the selected user. When the
operation. Multiple UEs may be assigned to the DL-SCH by scheduler selects a user, it uses the CQI value
the eNB since it is a shared channel. DL-SCH operations reported by the UE and the data buffer waiting for
are summarized in the following four-step procedure: transmission to decide the resource blocks, data rate,
and modulation scheme for the transmission. The
1. The first step in the sequence is the Channel Quality
eNB uses the selected configuration to send the data
Indicator (CQI) reporting by all the UEs assigned to the
over the air. Information on how the data is
UL-SCH. Each device measures its radio conditions
transmitted is sent on the PDCCH.
and provides the eNB with an accurate idea of the
current receiving condition. The eNB gathers the CQI 4. The UE receives the data and verifies the checksum.
reports from all the UEs before proceeding to the next If the transmission was received properly, the UE that
step. The UEs may report the CQI value in subframe received the data transmits an ACK to the eNB. If the
units. Other feedback includes the PMI and RI in transmitted information was received with errors, the
support of multiple-antenna techniques. UE sends a NACK to the eNB.
2. The scheduler is executed at the eNB to determine
which user’s data should be transmitted next. The
standards do not specify a scheduling algorithm.
Hence, the scheduling algorithm and the assignment
approach will differ from one implementation to
another. A suitable multiple-antenna technique is
chosen for a given UE.
127
Channel Quality
128
Feedback Reports
Periodic reporting on the
PUCCH and aperiodic Different types of feedback reports
reporting on the PUSCH (Ex: wideband CQI only and
wideband CQI with 1 PMI report)
Reporting of
Feedback: on the (CQI, PMI, RI)
order of milliseconds Feedback
Specific feedback type

and relevant parameters
Basic use of reports: support
(Ex: periodicity of reports)
various transmission modes
configured by RRC
(Ex: OL-SM and Transmit Diversity)
UEs send their feedback reports in order to support the wideband or it can be sub-banded.
various transmission modes open to them, at least insofar
RI feedback influences CQI reports. Single-antenna
as they are able to support those modes. The mode, the
techniques, including open- and closed-loop spatial
type of feedback and the applicable parameters are part
multiplexing and transmit diversity, with RI=1 indications,
of RRC configurations, as is the frequency of the feedback
yield 4-bit wideband CQI reports. Closed-loop spatial
reports themselves. UEs send their feedback to the eNB
multiplexing with RI>1 indications yield two 4-bit wideband
periodically on the PUCCH, or non-periodically on the
CQI reports, where each of the CQI values refers to
PUSCH. PUCCH-based feedback is inherently periodic
different code words transmitted from the eNB. A code
(e.g., once every few milliseconds). PUSCH-based
word is the output of a turbo coder.
reporting is inherently aperiodic since the reports go to the
eNB along with the user’s data, whenever it occurs. There
are, therefore, different kinds of feedback reports from
UEs. CQI feedback can be wideband (referring to the
entire allocated spectrum, say, 10 MHz), or they can be
sub-band reports in which a particular CQI value applies to
each sub-band.
Consider the UE providing sub-band CQI to an eNB. Upon
receiving this kind of CQI feedback, the eNB can decide
which sub-band is most favorable for high-speed data
transmissions and apply the highest order modulation
appropriate for the sub-band. This is called frequency-
selective scheduling. Likewise, PMI feedback can be
129
CQI Table
CQI Index Modulation Coding Rate x 1024 Efficiency
0 Out of Range
1 QPSK 78 0.1523
2 QPSK 120 0.2344
3 QPSK 193 0.3770
4 QPSK 308 0.6016
5 QPSK 449 0.8770
6 QPSK 602 1.1758
7 16QAM 378 1.4766
8 16QAM 490 1.9141
9 16QAM 616 2.4063
10 64QAM 466 2.7305
11 64QAM 567 3.3223
12 64QAM 666 3.9023
13 64QAM 772 4.5234
14 64QAM 873 5.1152
15 64QAM Award Solutions Proprietary 948 5.5547
For a single transmit antenna, there are 16 possible CQI

values, as shown here. The higher the CQI index the
higher the modulation scheme, the lower the effective
coding rate, and the higher the spectral efficiency of the
corresponding downlink transmission. The coding rate
indicates how many “real” data bits are present out of
1024 bits, while the efficiency provides the number of
information bits per modulation symbol.
For example, CQI Index 6 means that the UE can receive
602/1024 = 0.5879 data bits per coded bit, which
translates to 2*0.5879 = 1.1758 data bits per symbol,
since a single QPSK symbol carries two bits.
130
Periodic CQI Reporting

Nature of Feedback
• Every X ms (X: Configurable)
CQI Report [PUCCH]

UE 1
eNB
Feedback Types
• Wideband CQI
• UE-selected subband CQI
When and how often the UE reports is determined by the

network. Periodic reporting causes the UE to report the
CQI at regular intervals, as specified by the network. Since
the UE may not have PUSCH resources allocated when it
comes time to send a report, it will use the PUCCH for all
periodic reports. Both wideband CQI and UE-selected sub-
band CQI can be reported on a periodic basis. Periodic
reports are appropriate for both frequency-selective
scheduling (where the network assigns resources in a
particular sub-band) and frequency non-selective
scheduling (where the allocated resources may appear
anywhere in the entire band).
The CQI report itself consists of the 4-bit CQI value plus (if
needed) a 1- or 2-bit sub-band label indicating which sub-
band the CQI report relates to.
131
Aperiodic CQI Reporting
Includes aperiodic request
Uplink Grant [PDCCH]
UE 1
eNB
CQI Report [PUSCH]
Feedback Types
• Wideband CQI
• UE-selected subband CQI
• Network-selected subband CQI
Aperiodic reports are sent only when the network explicitly

requests them as part of an uplink scheduling grant. The
UE uses the allocated PUSCH resources to report the CQI
information and can send a report as often as every sub-
frame (1 ms) if a PUSCH is allocated every 1 ms and the
eNB has included a CQI request along with PUSCH
resource allocation. Aperiodic reports can be used for
wideband CQI, UE-selected sub-band CQI, and higher-layer
configured (network-selected) sub-band CQI.
132
PMI and RI In Closed-Loop MIMO
Reference signals (Four Transmit Antennas)
Evaluate available PMI and RI options
PMI (Precoding Matrix Indicator) and

RI (Rank Indication) (Ex: 2)
MIMO data transmission for (2x2) MIMO

MIMO data transmission for (2x2) MIMO
Closed-loop MIMO uses a predefined codebook matches the observed conditions. The UE informs the eNB
(precoding) to allow the receiver to inform the transmitter of its recommendations, and the eNB adjusts its
of which MIMO parameters or coefficients to use for data transmissions accordingly.
transmission. Precoding Matrix Indicator (PMI) refers to a
precoding matrix that specifies which antennas should be
transmitting specific modulation symbols and any phase
shifts that need to be applied to the modulation symbols.
Rank Indication (RI) specifies the number of spatial
multiplexing layers that the UE can handle at this time. For
example, if RI=2, the UE can receive data using DL (2x2)
MIMO, where the same resource element can transmit
two distinct modulation symbols from two eNodeB
antennas. The PMI and RI feedback is quite useful when
the channel conditions on the downlink and uplink are
very different. This is often the case in Frequency Division
Duplex, or FDD, systems, where the downlink and uplink
use frequencies 10s of MHz apart.
The UE observes the downlink channel conditions using
the reference signals sent over each antenna. Each
antenna uses different subcarriers or OFDM symbols to
allow the UE to tell them apart. The UE then evaluates the
options in its codebook and determines which option best
133
Layer Mapping For MIMO

Purpose: Increase throughput by sending different
modulation symbols on different “layers.”
Example 1:
Codeword 0 → Modulation Layer 0 (Ant 1)
Codeword 1 → Modulation Layer 1 (Ant 2)
Example 2: Layer 0
Codeword 0 → Modulation Layer 1
Layer 2
Codeword 1 → Modulation
Layer 3
Number of layers: Number of distinct modulation symbols on same resource
In LTE’s Spatial Multiplexing (SM), up to two code words,

the outputs of channel coders, can be mapped onto
different “spatial layers” or antenna ports. One code word
represents an output from a channel coder, which is
transformed into a series of modulation symbols during
the modulation process. The number of spatial layers
available for transmission is called the “rank.” LTE
specifies the manner in which code words and modulation
symbols are mapped onto antennas (ports) or “layers,”
which, in turn, is the number of unique and distinct
modulation symbols on a resource (antenna port). In LTE,
up to two code words can be mapped onto different
layers.
In Example 1, the UE asked for two layers (rank indication
= 2) from its eNB, which is to say the UE “feels” it can
distinguish two different transmissions from two different
antennas.
In Example 2, the UE says it can handle four different
antenna versions of its DL transmissions (rank indication
= 4), or the UE “feels” it can separate four different
streams of modulation symbols coming from four
antennas.
134
Downlink Scheduler
Uplink Feedback
QoS (CQI, ACK/NACK)
Requirements
Buffer Status
Radio Resources
UE Capabilities
Traffic Model
The algorithm to be used for scheduling downlink • Traffic Model: Traffic patterns may influence how
resources is not specified in the standards; each vendor is resources are allocated by, for example, limiting the
responsible for implementing their own solution. That data rates offered to any single user during busy
said, any scheduler can take into account a number of periods in the network.
possible inputs in order to make optimal use of the
• Radio Resources: The actual radio resources
available resources. These inputs may include:
themselves (the subcarriers and symbols grouped
• QoS Requirements: Subscription parameters and into Resource Blocks) are the key input into the
application requirements (such as guaranteed bit scheduler function. The more resources there are the
rates) determine the amount of resources needed more can be allocated to the users.
and the scheduling strategy (persistent vs. non-
persistent allocations, intervals between allocations,
and so on).
• Uplink Feedback: The reported CQI values and the
ACK/NACK indications from the UEs determine how
quickly the UE can receive data and how soon the
scheduler can move on to the next packet.
• Buffer Status: The size of the queues in the eNB, and
the age of the packets, can influence how urgently a
particular UE needs to be served.
• UE Capabilities: The physical capabilities of the UE
itself establish the types of allocations it can handle.
135
Downlink Scheduler Outputs

Selected users
Transport Block
Size
Number of
Resource Blocks
Coding and Bit
Selection
Modulation
Scheme
Allocation
Duration
Regardless of the actual algorithm used, the output of the • The modulation scheme to be used. The eNB
scheduler is the same. The scheduler must decide: determines this based on the UE’s radio condition.
• Which users will receive resources in the next • The duration of the allocation (persistent or non-
interval. It can select one or more users among all the persistent). The eNB supports both persistent and
RRC-connected users. non-persistent scheduling. The duration of non-
persistent allocation is only for this sub-frame.
• The transport block size (the number of bits) to be
sent to each user. It needs to decide how much of the
resources should be given to individual scheduled
users. This depends on the QoS of this user, the
available resources, the amount of data buffered for
this user, the user’s radio conditions, the resources
required for on-going transmissions (re-transmission
of packets that were NACKed), etc.
• The number of resource blocks required. This is
determined based on the transport block size and
coding and modulation scheme used.
• The specific coded bits to be sent. The eNB decides
the actual encoded symbols that it would send among
the turbo-encoded symbols.
136
Resources
1 symbol
Resource RB n-1 RB n-1 RB n-1 RB n-1
Element RE 1 subcarrier
RB n-2 RB n-2 RB n-2 RB n-2
RB n-3 RB n-3 RB n-3 RB n-3
Resource Block
REF RB 5 RB 5 RB 5 RB 5
12 subcarriers
RB 4 RB 4 RB 4 RB 4
REF
RB 3 RB 3 RB 3 RB 3
1 to 4 RBs
RB 2 RB 2 RB 2 RB 2
REF
RB 1 RB 1 RB 1 RB 1
REF RB 0 RB 0 RB 0 RB 0
6 or 7 symbols Resource Block Group

The basic unit of resource allocation is a resource

element, which consists of one subcarrier for one symbol.
A resource element holds one modulation symbol that can
represent two, four or six bits of data, depending on the
modulation scheme being used (QPSK, 16QAM, or
64QAM).
Resource elements are organized into resource blocks
that contain 12 consecutive subcarriers over six or seven
symbols, depending on the size of the cyclic prefix being
used; thus, a single resource block holds 72 or 84
symbols. A resource block is the smallest resource that
can be assigned to a UE.
For efficient allocation purposes, resource blocks may be
grouped into resource block groups, each of which holds
one, two, three, or four resource blocks, depending on the
system bandwidth.
137
Non-Persistent Scheduling
Scheduler performs
dynamic scheduling
• Resources allocated
as needed
• AMC possible
• Suitable for burst traffic
UE
like web browsing
• More signaling
overhead as resources
are valid for one sub-
eNB frame only
This slide illustrates the dynamic resource allocation

scheme in the downlink, where the resource allocation
interval can be as short as one millisecond. The resource
allocation applies only to the sub-frame in which the
corresponding DCI is received (a non-persistent
allocation). At the end of the sub-frame, the UE loses the
allocated resources and must wait for another DCI in order
to receive additional data over the PDSCH.
While this approach allows the transmission format to
adapt to current radio conditions on every allocation the
additional signaling overhead and scheduling delays make
non-persistent allocations suitable only for non-delay-
sensitive or bursty applications.
138
Generic Downlink Transmission
PDCCH (QPSK)
UE 1
DCI [UE 1] DCI [UE 2]

UE 2
eNB
UE 3
PDSCH (QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM)
Once the scheduler has made its decision it will format the
packet for transmission over the PDSCH. Since the PDSCH
is a shared channel, the UEs do not know when their
transmissions will be sent, what radio resources have
been assigned to them, and what formats are being used.
The eNB uses the PDCCH to convey this information.
Each UE was assigned a Cell-Radio Network Temporary ID
(C-RNTI) when it first accessed the network. This C-RNTI is
used to identify which users have data in the PDSCH; each
UE scans the contents of the PDCCH for Downlink Control
Information (DCI) associated with its C-RNTI. If there is a
match, the corresponding allocation information tells the
UE where to look in the PDSCH and how to decode the
data.
139
PDCCH and PDSCH

PDCCHs PDSCH PDCCHs
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
REF REF REF
CCE REG
1 subframe
The OFDM symbols used for the Physical Downlink Control Each UE will scan one or more PDCCHs looking at the
Channels (PDCCHs) carry DL control information from the CCEs to determine whether they contain information that
eNB to the UEs. A PDCCH contains multiple groups of pertains to that UE. In the case of a downlink resource
Control Channel Elements (CCEs) (multiple PDCCHs) each assignment, the CCE will contain a DCI associated with the
of which contains an uplink assignment, a downlink UE’s assigned C-RNTI.
assignment, and uplink power control commands. The
The PDSCH contains the actual data and occupies the
content of a group of CCEs (a single PDCCH) may be
remaining resource elements in the sub-frame that are
common to all UEs or may be specific to a particular UE.
not being used for other purposes (such as reference
A resource element group consists of either six resource signals).
elements (if it appears in OFDM symbol 0 of a sub-frame)
or four resource elements (in OFDM symbols 1, 2 or 3,
depending on size of PDCCH) in a cell with 2 transmit
antenna ports. One CCE occupies nine resource element
groups and a single PDCCH may contain one, two, four or
eight CCEs, depending on which of the four possible
PDCCH formats is being used. The Physical Control Format
Indicator Channel, or PCFICH, tells the UEs how many
OFDM symbols are used for PDCCHs. PDCCHs are always
found in the first OFDM symbol up to a maximum of four
OFDM symbols in every sub-frame; the exact number of
OFDM symbols is determined by the PDCCH format and
the number of resource blocks in the radio channel.
140
Downlink Control Information (DCI)
Uplink
Allocation
Power Control
UE 1
UE 2 DCI DCI DCI DCI DCI

PDCCH
UE 1 UE 2 UE4 UE 1,2,3 UE 1
eNB
UE 3 Downlink
Allocation
UE 4
In order for the UE to be able to find and decode its data adjustments.
on the PDSCH, it must first be told what resources are
For downlink data transmissions Format 1 is the primary
being used, which bits are being sent, and how the data
DCI format. Formats 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D are shorter
was encoded. The PDCCH contains (among other things)
formats used for specific allocation scenarios (e.g.,
DCI blocks that provide uplink allocations, downlink
assignment of Virtual Resource Blocks and antenna
allocations and power control commands for specific UEs.
precoding).
Allocation DCIs describe the specifics of the uplink or
downlink resources allocated to a single UE while power
control DCIs may include commands for multiple UEs.
DCIs come in multiple sizes and formats depending on the
specific information being carried:
• Format 0: Used for uplink (PUSCH) allocations;
• Format 1: Used for type 0 or type 1 downlink (PDSCH)
allocations;
• Format 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D: Used for Type 2 downlink
(PDSCH) allocations;
• Format 2 and 2A: Used for type 0 or type 1 downlink
(PDSCH) allocations in spatial multiplexing (multiple
antenna) systems;
• Format 3 and 3A: Used for PUCCH and PUSCH power
141
DCI Format 1
Resource New Data

Indicator Transmit
allocation Selected
Power
type modulation and
Control
coding scheme
RA Modulation HARQ Pad

Allocation NDI RV TPC CRC
Type and Coding Process (0 or
(n bits) (1 bit) (2 bits) (2 bits) (16 bits)
(1 bit) (5 bits) (3 bits) 1 bit)
Bitmap of Hybrid ARQ

buffer Redundancy Checksum
allocated
version and UE
resources
identity
DCI Format 1 provides all of the information a UE needs to • New data indicator: This flag indicates that this
correctly locate and decode a downlink transmission over transmission is the start of a new packet, and that
the PDSCH. The fields include: any data in the HARQ buffer should be discarded.
• Resource allocation type: A “0” indicates that the UE • Redundancy version: This field indicates which set of
is being assigned entire resource block groups coding bits is being sent (systematic, parity 1, or
(RBGs), which have between one and four resource parity 2), so that they can be interpreted correctly by
blocks (depending on the total number of RBs in the the decoder.
channel). A “1” indicates that the UE is being
• Transmit power control: Provides closed-loop
assigned specific RBs within the RBGs.
(up/down) power commands to manage the PUCCH
• Allocation: A bitmap of the RBGs being assigned and PUSCH power levels.
(allocation type 0) or of the RBGs and RBs within the
• Padding: An extra “0” bit is added when necessary to
RBGs (allocation type 1). The total number of bits
ensure that the total length of the DCI is correct.
used depends on the number of RBGs available.
• Modulation and coding: The modulation and coding
scheme is selected by the eNB, based on the CQI
reports from the UE.
• HARQ process: An index to the specific Hybrid ARQ
(HARQ) process buffer that this transmission relates
to. This allows the UE to combine and decode related
parts of the same packet transmission.
142
DCI Format 1 (Continued)
Resource New Data

Indicator Transmit
allocation Selected
Power
type modulation and
Control
coding scheme
RA Modulation HARQ Pad

Allocation NDI RV TPC CRC
Type and Coding Process (0 or
(n bits) (1 bit) (2 bits) (2 bits) (16 bits)
(1 bit) (5 bits) (3 bits) 1 bit)
Bitmap of Hybrid ARQ

buffer Redundancy Checksum
allocated
version and UE
resources
identity
• Cyclic redundancy check: This field actually serves

two purposes: It provides a verification that the other
fields in the DCI are correct and it is also used to
identify which UE the DCI is for. The calculated CRC
value is scrambled with the C-RNTI of the UE. Each UE
reading the DCI will also calculate the CRC and
scramble the result with its own C-RNTI. If the result
matches what is in the CRC field, then the UE knows
(1) that the DCI is for it, and (2) the fields are correct.
If the result does not match, the UE will ignore the
DCI.
143
Downlink Allocations
Subcarriers
PDSCH
PDCCH
PDCCH
PDCCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
DCI
Resource
Blocks
Allocation
UE 1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Symbols
1 slot
1 subframe
In each sub-frame, the UE scans the PDCCH (located in

the first one to four symbols of the first slot) looking for
DCIs with a matching C-RNTI. If it finds one, the UE can
read the related allocation information, including:
• The allocated resources that will map to one or more
resource blocks,
• The modulation and coding scheme used, and
• The nature of the bits in the transmission (new data,
HARQ process, systematic versus parity bits, etc.).
Once the UE processes the DCI, it knows exactly when and
where to look for its data, and how to decode it. Note that
any other UE could also locate the same data; however,
since all transmissions are encrypted, the UE would be
unable to read the information.
144
Receiving the PDSCH

DCI Format 1
RA Allocation MCS HARQ NDI RV TPC Pad CRC
Number and
location of
Resource
PDSCH
PDCCH
PDCCH
PDCCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
PDSCH
Blocks
Resource
Blocks
Allocation
Size of Transport Block

and Modulation Scheme
The allocation field in the DCI tells the UE which resource Note that, although resources are allocated in units of
blocks have been assigned to it within the sub-frame. The resource blocks (which contain six or seven symbols), the
specific subcarriers carrying the UE’s data depends on the actual allocation spans the entire sub-frame (up to 13
type of the allocation (virtual vs. physical resource blocks, symbols, not counting the PDCCH).
localized vs. distributed assignments, frequency hopping,
etc.). Note that the allocated subcarriers may be different
between the first slot and the second.
Once the resource blocks have been identified and
mapped to the physical subcarriers, the UE can extract its
coded data bits. The modulation and coding scheme field
in the DCI is an index into a table that identifies the
modulation scheme used (QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM) and
the transport block size (TBS) index; for example, MCS
value 20 corresponds to 64QAM modulation and TBS
index 18.
The actual transport block size is determined from
another table, using the TBS index and the number of
physical resource blocks the UE has been assigned; the
transport block can range from 16 bits at the smallest to a
maximum of 75,376 bits.
145
Hybrid ARQ
146
Hybrid ARQ
ACK/NACK
feedback after 4 Asynchronous
subframes HARQ
HARQ
Up to eight HARQ
processes/buffers Adaptive
transmission
parameters
The HARQ process for downlink transmission has the once, overlapping in time. Note that, because of
following characteristics: possible errors in the radio link, a later packet may
actually be successfully decoded before an earlier
• ACK/NACK feedback: The receiver sends explicit ACK
one; the receiver is responsible for delivering packets
and NACK feedback indications exactly four sub-
in order.
frames after a transmission is received to inform the
transmitter whether retransmissions are required for
a particular packet.
• Asynchronous HARQ: Even though ACKs and NACKs
are sent at a fixed interval, the actual HARQ
retransmissions may occur at any time, without a
predefined schedule. The receiver must continuously
monitor the channel in order to not miss any
retransmissions.
• Adaptive transmission parameters: The transmitter
may change some or all of the transmission attributes
(modulation, resource block allocation, duration of
transmission, etc.) used in each retransmission, due
to changes in the radio conditions.
• As many as eight HARQ processes and buffers: The
receiver must be able to handle up to eight separate
transmissions (and corresponding retransmissions) at
147
Summary
• Downlink operations involves these steps:
– UEs report channel quality indicator (CQI) to the eNB.
The CQI reports provide an estimate of the UE’s current
radio conditions to assist the eNB in determining the
coding/modulation scheme.
– The eNB allocates available resources (resource blocks)
based on its proprietary scheduling algorithm.
– The UEs monitor the PDCCH for resource allocation and
use the information to decode the PDSCH.
– The UEs provide feedback to inform the eNB if
retransmissions are needed to decode the original
packet. Award Solutions Proprietary
148
Review Exercise
Match the information elements to the physical
channel (or channels) that can carry them.
1 CQI A PDCCH
HARQ ACK/NACK
2 (Response to a B PDSCH
DL packet)
C PUSCH
3 DCI
PUCCH
D
4 DL User Data
149
Review Questions
1. What is the purpose of CQI reporting?
2. How does the UE’s CQI report influence its
PDSCH allocation?
3. How does the UE know how to decode the
PDSCH?
4. What type of HARQ is used for downlink
transmissions in LTE?
5. What might the eNB do if it receives a HARQ
NACK from the UE?
150
Additional Material
151
Packet Processing
Resource Modulation
Blocks Scheme
Transport Block CRC
Segmentation
Coding
S P1 P2
Interleaving Interleaving Interleaving
Rate Matching
Concatenation Code Word

The number of resource blocks and the modulation • Rate Matching: The interleaved streams are
scheme assigned by the scheduler determine the size of combined into a circular buffer and then pruned (bits
the transport block (the number of bits) that will be sent to removed) or padded (bits added) to produce the
the UE. Each transport block is processed as follows: required number of bits for transmission.
• CRC Attachment: The eNB calculates a 24-bit • Concatenation: The segments are concatenated to
checksum and adds it to the end of the transport create the final code word to be transmitted over the
block. PDSCH.
• Segmentation: If the transport block and CRC is larger
than the maximum code block size (6144 bits), then
the block is segmented into smaller blocks and an
additional 24-bit CRC is added to each block.
• Channel Coding: Each block is coded with a 1/3 rate
turbo coder, which generates three output streams.
One stream contains the original input data (the
systematic, or S, bits) while the other streams contain
the error detection and correction bits (the parity, or
P1 and P2, bits).
• Interleaving: Each output stream is interleaved
separately to provide bit separation of any
transmission errors.
152
PDSCH Transmission
Code Word A
Code Word B Multiplexing
Scrambling
Modulation
Layer Mapping
Precoding
RE Mapping
Symbol Generation
The content of the PDSCH consists of all of the code words • OFDMA Signal Generation: All of the modulation
to be sent to the selected UEs in the next subframe. The symbols to be transmitted in each symbol interval
PDSCH is generated as follows: over all subcarriers are combined in an Inverse Fast
Fourier Transform (IFFT) operation to create a single
• Multiplexing: The code words to be sent to each UE
wideband OFDM symbol. A cyclic prefix is added to
are multiplexed together.
provide protection from multipath interference, and
• Scrambling: Each code word is scrambled using the the result is transmitted over the radio channel.
UE’s C-RNTI, the slot number within the frame, and
the Physical Layer Cell ID.
• Modulation: The scrambled bits are modulated using
the selected modulation scheme (QPSK, 16QAM, or
64 QAM), creating a set of modulation symbols.
• Layer Mapping: If multiple transmit antennas are
being used, the modulation symbols are assigned to
the appropriate layers (one layer per antenna).
• Precoding: Depending on the antenna scheme being
used, the modulation symbols may be precoded
before transmission.
• Resource Element Mapping: The modulation symbols
in each layer are assigned to the allocated resource
elements (subcarriers and symbols).
153
Physical and Virtual Resource Blocks

Virtual Resource Block: VRB PRB #
VRB # Frequency
Physical Resource Block: PRB
Hopping
50 PRBs Without Frequency With Frequency

0 1 2 49 Hopping Hopping
10 MHz PRB # Slot n VRB X = PRB X VRB X = PRB Y

Within a given VRB or PRB
Slot (m) VRB X = PRB X VRB X = PRB Z
subcarriers are consecutive
in frequency domain
Users find their DL data on physical resource blocks always composed of adjacent subcarriers.
(PRBs), which, in the physical realm of the 10 MHz
The notion that a UE might have to “strain” or expend
allocation, for example, provides 50 PRBs numbered, as
additional processing power to recover its VRBs is an
shown in the slide, from “0” on the low end of the
illusion, because a UE has to recover all the RBs and all
Transmission Bandwidth through “49” on the high end.
the actual PRBs in the entire OFDMA signal via FFT. It’s
Fast- or moderately-moving mobiles can enjoy the benefit not much effort to sort through all the recovered RBs to
of a little gain with frequency hopping. We implement find the designated VRBs that are present in certain PRBs.
frequency hopping in OFDMA by mapping Virtual Resource
Slow-moving mobiles do not realize benefits from
Blocks (VRBs) to PRBs in such a way that a user’s
frequency hopping because channel-selective signaling is
presence in the OFDMA signal is not in orderly PRBs; his
fast enough for slow-movers to distinguish “good” PRBs in
presence changes, the PRBs actually used change, with
one part of the spectrum from “bad” ones in another part;
each slot. Recall that there are two slots in one
there is plenty of time for the eNB to react appropriately to
millisecond sub-frame and that we allow rate changes
channel conditions made known to it by the UE’s feedback
every millisecond or every sub-frame. The UE receiving its
mechanisms.
OFDMA signal from an eNB “knows” how the assigned DL
VRBs map to a changing assignment of PRBs that appear
to “dance” about in the transmission bandwidth. In order
for the UE to “know” which PRBs actually carry its VRBs, it
has to convert the assigned VRBs with a formula or
algorithm that maps VRBs to PRBs; the mapping changes
with each slot and is influenced by other factors such as
the PCI. Whatever the mapping, the actual PRBs are
154
Type 0 Resource Allocation

Allocated RBGs
0010001111000110
10 MHz
RBG 0 RBG 1 RBG 2 RBG 3 RBG 15 RBG 16
(50 PRBs)
PRB 6 PRB 7 PRB 8
• Allocation for a UE: Bitmap with each bit corresponding to one Total PRBs
Resource Block Group (RGB) PRB’s per RBG
• Number of PRBs/RBG: Function of system bandwidth 1 - 10 1
• Another example: 5 MHz, 25 PRBs, two PRBs per RBG, number
of RBGs = cell (25/2) = 13 11 - 26 2
27 - 63 3
64 -110 4
Resources can be allocated to a UE using different

methods depending on the number of resources being
allocated.
Type 0 resource allocation divides the available resources
into Resource Block Groups (RBGs), each one of which
contains one, two, three or four PRBs. For a 20 MHz
system, there are 25 RBGs, each containing four PRBs; a
5 MHz system has only 12 RBGs, each containing two
PRBs.
In a Type 0 allocation, the UE receives a bitmap of RBGs
assigned to it. Each “1” bit indicates that the
corresponding RBG and all of the PRBs within that RBG
have been assigned to the UE. In theory, a UE can be
assigned all of the downlink resources with a single Type 0
allocation. Type 0 resource allocation is a good choice for
small system bandwidth where both the bitmap size and
allocation granularity is small.
155

RBG 0 RBG 1 RBG 2 RBG 3 RBG 4 RBG 5 RBG 14 RBG 15 RBG 16
10 MHz, 50 RBs
RBG 0 6 RBGs
RBG 3 RBG 5
RBG Subset 0 012 345 15 16 17
RBG
RBG 1 RBG 4 16 6 RBGs
RBG Subset 1 15 16
RBG 2 RBG 5 RBG 14 5 RBGs
RBG Subset 2
• Allocation to a UE: One of three RBG subsets and PRBs within an RBG subset
• Number of RBG subsets = Number of PRBs in one RBG (function of system BW)
• Finer resolution than Type 0
• Smaller BW can be allocated per UE
Type 1 allocation provides better granularity than Type 0.

The RBGs are grouped into several subsets by putting
every kth RBG into the same subset. The k is decided by
system bandwidth. For 10 MHz, k is equal to 3. Within
each RBG subset, a bitmap is used to allocate resource in
the granularity of one PRB.
For a 10 MHz bandwidth, we begin by configuring RBGs,
each with their PRBs, of which there are 17 as shown in
the slide. Then, we define RBG subsets (three in the slide:
RBG subsets 0, 1, and 2). As an example, consider an
allocation, described by a bitmap, within RBG Subset “0.”
If the UE’s bitmap is “100000010000000001,” then,
according to the slide, only three PRBs were actually
assigned to the UE.
The advantage of Type 1 resource allocations is that a UE
can get as few as one PRB. The disadvantage is that a UE
can never get the entire bandwidth assigned since the
assignments are confined to a single RBG subset.
156
Virtual Resource Blocks

Localized VRB Distributed VRB
UE1 UE2 UE3 UE4
0 1 2 3 4 5 0 1 2 3 4 5
PRBs
PRBs 49
49
Z1 5
2 Y2
1 X2
5
4 2
3 Y1
2 X1 1 5 Z2
1
0 0
Slot 0 Slot 1 Slot 0 Slot 1
1 Subframe
1 Subframe
LVRB # = PRB # DVRB #  Interleaving/

 PRB #
Freq Hopping
A Virtual Resource Block (VRB) is defined for Type 2

resource allocation, which uses a starting point plus length
as an allocation parameter instead of the bitmap used by
Type 0 and Type 1. VRBs are mapped to PRBs using
predefined algorithms. There are two types of VRB:
localized and distributed. For the localized VRB, the LVBR
number equals the PRB number in both slots of a sub-
frame. For the distributed VRB, the DVRB number is
mapped to PRB number differently in slot 0 and slot 1 of a
sub-frame. Within each resource block the 12 subcarriers
are consecutive for both the PRB and VRB.
Distributed VRBs are mapped to PRBs that may be
scattered across the available spectrum, and the mapping
may change every slot (frequency hopping). This
distributed mapping and hopping approach avoids
frequency-selective fading and interference. The
distributed transmission is better suited for users with low
payloads such as VoIP applications and for high-mobility
users.
157
0 1 49
VRB
50 RBs for 10 MHz
• Allocation to a UE: (i) starting VRB number and (ii) number of consecutive VRBs
• Two approaches (i) localized VRBs and (ii) distributed VRBs
• PRB = VRB • PRB  VRB mapping: function of a

• Allocation of BW: 1 RB frequency hopping formula
to entire system BW • BW Allocation to a UE: 1 RB to 16 RBs
(system BW of 50 or 100 RBs)
In the Type 2 resource allocation, the assigned resources

are VRBs, which are then dynamically mapped to PRBs.
The allocation indicates the starting VRB, and, then, how
many VRBs have been assigned. For example, if the
allocation starts at “1” and the number of the VRB to be
allocated is “3,” then, from the slide, the PRB allocation is
1, 2 and 3.
There are two approaches to this kind of allocation
mechanism, each of which maps VRBs to PRBs. One is the
localized VRB approach and the other is the distributed
VRB approach. The localized approach has the VRB
number being the same as the PRB number. The much
more complicated distributed approach relies on an
interleaving table to map VRB numbers to their PRB
numbers. The interleaving table maps, on a per-slot basis,
VRBs to PRBs by drawing numbers, by column, from an
interleaving table. Then, with each slot, the sequence
resumes but with a cyclic shift. The result is a deliberate
distribution of PRBs all over the deployed bandwidth.
158
Mapping of DVRB to PRB
For a distributed allocation scheme the VRB-to-PRB last step is to implement an offset for the second half of
mapping depends on the system bandwidth, gap value, mapping for both slots. The goal of the offset is to
and slot in which the data is being transmitted. The VRB- increase frequency diversity.
to-PRB mapping is done by using an interleaving table.
Now, if a UE is allocated a DVRB of 1 and 2, the actual
Let’s take the example of a system with 28 PRBs and resource it occupies is PRB 6 and 18 in the first slot and
illustrate the mapping. A UE obtains the system bandwidth PRB 24 and 0 in the second slot.
during the system acquisition and gap value indicator from
PDCCH resource allocation. The actual gap value and RBG
size can be found in the specification based on the system
bandwidth. The entire system bandwidth is shared by
resource allocation: Type 0, 1, and 2. Next, we need to
calculate the number of usable VRBs for distributed type
and interleaving block parameters. The algorithm is
defined in 3GPP TS 36.211 section 6.2.3.2.
In this example, 20 RBs can be used for the DVRB. We
write the DVRB index 0~19 into the 4x6 interleaving table
row by row and read it out column by column. The output
of the interleaving table is written into the PRB index of
the system bandwidth starting from PRB = 0 for the first
slot of a sub-frame. For the second slot, a cyclic shift of
the mapping of the first slot is carried. The effect is the
swap of the first half and the second of the mapping. The
159
Semi-Persistent Scheduling
UE eNB
SPS C-RNTI, NDI=0, Virtual CRC using DCI on PDCCH;
Transmission interval on RRC SPS Activation
Data Transmission
• DCI Format 1/1A & 2/2A
ACK
• HARQ process #: “000”
• MSB of MCS: “0”
Data Transmission
• RV: “00”
NACK
SPS C-RNTI, NDI=1, on PDCCH Resource assignment for ReTx
Data Retransmission • DCI Format 1A
ACK • HARQ process #: “000”
• MCS: “1111”
Data Transmission • RV: “00”
• Resource block
assignment: all “1”s
SPS C-RNTI, NDI=0, Virtual CRC using DCI on PDCCH
Explicit SPS release
ACK
SPS = Persistent new transmission + Dynamic re-transmission

Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) is the combination of Format 1/1A and 2/2A, the constraints include: the
persistent scheduling and dynamic scheduling where the HARQ process number is set to “000,” the MSB of the
persistent scheduling is used for a new transmission and MCS (the enabled transport block for 2/2A) is set to
the dynamic scheduling is used for a retransmission. With “0,” and the RV is set to”00.” The SPS interval or
persistent scheduling, a resource is allocated with a periodicity is configured for a UE using an RRC
certain interval/periodicity. Once allocated, the resource signaling message.
will be always valid until it is released. The dynamic
• SPS Retransmission: When the eNB receives a NACK,
resource allocation is valid only for the current sub-frame.
it automatically schedules a retransmission
The SPS C-RNTI is used for SPS activation/modification, opportunity. The retransmission resource is sent on
SPS retransmission, and SPS release. The definition of the the PDCCH with the SPS C-RNTI and NDI = 1.
NDI field in the DCI for SPS is different than that for
dynamic scheduling. In SPS NDI = 0 indicates SPS
activation or release, and NDI = 1 indicates SPS
retransmission.
Let’s look at the SPS procedure:
• SPS Activation: When a UE detects an SPS C-RNTI on
the PDCCH and NDI = 0, it looks for other information
in DCI to confirm if it is an SPS activation. The
additional constraints in DCI works as a “virtual CRC”
to overcome false activation. The SPS activation and
release use different additional constraints. For DCI
160
Semi-Persistent Scheduling (Continued)
UE eNB
Transmission interval on RRC SPS Activation
Data Transmission
• DCI Format 1/1A & 2/2A
ACK
• HARQ process #: “000”
• MSB of MCS: “0”
Data Transmission
• RV: “00”
NACK
SPS C-RNTI, NDI=1, on PDCCH Resource assignment for ReTx
Data Retransmission • DCI Format 1A
ACK • HARQ process #: “000”
• MCS: “1111”
Data Transmission • RV: “00”
• Resource block
assignment: all “1”s
Explicit SPS release
ACK
SPS = Persistent new transmission + Dynamic re-transmission

• SPS Release: The SPS release in the DL is explicit. It

is sent on the PDCCH with the SPS C-RNTI and NDI =
0. The same as SPS activation, additional constraints
in DCI are set to protect against false release. DCI
Format 1A is used for SPS release and the DCI
constraints include: the HARQ process number set to
“000,” MCS is set to “11111,” RV is set to “00,” and
resource block assignment is set to all “1”s. After the
UE detects the SPS release for the DL, it sends an
ACK. SPS has the advantages in reducing control
signaling overheads and reducing latency delays. But
the link adaptation parameters are saved and
modulation and coding remains the same throughout
transmission. This makes scheduling unadjustable to
the channel condition and, thus, the likelihood of a
transmission failure will increase over time.
161
162
7 | Uplink Operations
Chapter 7:
Uplink Operations
163
Objectives
• Illustrate the uplink traffic operation procedure
• Explain how a scheduling request is constructed
on the PUCCH
• List parameters in the UL grant
• Explain how UL frequency hopping is done
• List the characteristics of UL HARQ
• Map UL physical channels and signals onto
physical resources in a subframe
References:
modulation
[2] 3GPP TS 36.212 – E-UTRA Multiplexing and channel
coding
description stage 2
(MAC) protocol specification
(RRC) protocol specification
164
Overview of UL
Transmission
165
UL Transport and PHY Channels

Transport Channel Physical Channels and Signals
Channel
Random Access PRACH Physical Random Access Channel; carries
Channel (RACH) Random Access Preamble (and nothing else!)
UL-Shared Channel PUSCH Physical UL Shared Channel; carries UL user

(UL-SCH) data and signaling, Buffer Status Reports,
HARQ ACK/NACK, CQI
PUCCH Physical UL Control Channel; carries SR,
HARQ ACK/NACK, CQI
DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal; sent in

PUSCH and PUCCH, helps the eNB with the
demodulation of UL data/control info
SRS Sounding Reference Signal; helps the eNB

with UL channel estimation and UL
scheduling
This slide shows the available resources for the LTE In addition to physical channels, there are also two types
uplink. It lists LTE uplink transport channels, physical of physical Reference Signals (RS).
channels/signals, as well as their mapping.
1. The Demodulation RS (DM RS) is transmitted with
There are two UL transport channels, the: data or control messages and helps the eNB with
channel estimation and coherent demodulation.
1. Random Access Channel (RACH) maps to the Physical
RACH (PRACH), which carries random access 2. The Sounding RS (SRS) is scheduled by the eNB and
preambles. transmitted on PUSCH resources. It helps with UL
channel condition monitoring and scheduling.
2. Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) maps to the Physical
UL Shared Channel (PUSCH), which is the channel for
UL data transmission. It also carries Buffer Status
Reports (BSRs), HARQ ACK/NAKs, and Channel
Quality Indicators (CQIs).
The Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) carries
uplink control information including scheduling requests
(SRs), HARQ ACKs, and CQIs. At any time, a UE can
transmit on either the PRACH, PUSCH, or PUCCH, but only
on one of them.
166
UE Preparation for UL Transmission
Data in buffers for UL grant allocations

each logical channel from the eNB
Logical channel QoS

UL Processing Requirements
priorities
at UE
Scheduling Requests,
Buffer Status Reports
and Packet Formation
When data arrives in the UE buffer for transmission, the

UE scheduler will process it and prepare for UL data
transmission. The scheduler first checks to see if there is
a UL grant available. If none is available, the UE needs to
send a Scheduling Request (SR). If a UL grant is available,
the scheduler considers the data in the buffer for each
logical channel with different priorities and their QoS
requirement, then forms packets for UL transmission.
During the UL transmission, BSRs are sent to the eNB to
notify it of the UL buffer status. The eNB will assign more
UL grants if needed.
A UE maintains the logical channel buffer status for each
logical channel. When a scheduling request needs to be
sent, the UE sends the logical channel identity of the
highest priority logical channel that has data waiting in its
buffer to a higher layer. Whenever a new data
transmission happens, a logical channel with higher
priority is allocated resources first.
167
LTE Uplink Traffic Operation

UE eNB
New data in buffers and
no PUSCH resource 1. Scheduling Request
available PUCCH
2. UL Grant eNB sends a UL Grant
PDCCH on the PDCCH
UE uses grant to 3. Buffer Status Report and/or Data

send BSR or BSR PUSCH
and data
Based on the BSR, eNB
4. Additional UL Grants
sends a UL grant
PDCCH
5.Transmit data on PUSCH
6 HARQ ACK/NACK
PHICH
This slide provides an overview of a typical uplink data Steps four through six would be repeated until the UE’s
transmission procedure. buffers are empty.
1. If new data has arrived in a buffer in the UE, and
there are no PUSCH resources available in this TTI
(for the UE), the UE will signal a scheduling request
on the PUCCH. If no PUCCH resource is available, the
UE will start a random access procedure on the
PRACH to get PUSCH resources to send a BSR.
2. The eNB sends a UL grant for the UE on the PDCCH.
3. The UE uses the received UL grant to send its BSR so
the eNB can make a decision on additional UL
resources to be allocated. If there are additional UL
resources after generating the BSR, data can also be
transmitted.
4. Based on the UE BSR, the eNB sends the UE an
additional UL grant, if needed.
5. The UE transmits UL data on the PUSCH. An updated
BSR could also be sent with this data.
6. The eNB sends back an HARQ ACK/NACK for the
received UL data.
168
Request for UL
Resources
169
Step 1: Scheduling Request From UE
Data arrival in UE buffer…

Send a scheduling request (SR) on the
PUCCH to obtain UL scheduling grant
eNB
UE
When new data arrives in the UE buffer, and there is no

UL grant available, the UE will generate a Scheduling
Request (SR) and send it on the PUCCH. The PUCCH
resources are assigned to each UE when a UE is in the
RRC Connected state. The purpose of the SR is to request
resources on the PUSCH for UL data transmission. If there
is no SR resource available on the PUCCH, the UE will start
a random access process using the PRACH to get
resources to send a BSR. The purpose of the SR is to
request the PUSCH resources for UL data transmission.
170
UL Control Information and PUCCH

Transport Channel Coding Format PUCCH Format
UL Combination Number of
Coding of UL control PUCCH format bits in a sub-
control Output bits
scheme info frame
info
SR 1 N/A
N/A,
indicated by 1a (HARQ with
SR No coding 1
presence or HARQ or 1 bit)
absence HARQ+SR 1b (HARQ with
2
2 bits)
ACK-1
HARQ 1 bit or 2 bits
NACK-0 CQI 2 20
2a (HARQ with
Reed- 21
1 bit)
CQI Muller 20 bits CQI + HARQ 2b (HARQ with
(20, n) 22
2 bits)
The Uplink Control Information (UCI) includes an SR, HARQ

ACK/NACK, and CQI. This slide shows how UL Control
Information is channel coded, and which PUCCH format is
used to carry them.
There is no coding for an SR; it is indicated by being
“present” or “absent.” The SR is carried by PUCCH Format
1 or PUCCH 1a/1b.
The channel coding for an HARQ ACK/NACK is straight
forward: “1” for ACK and “0” for NACK. The HARQ
ACK/NACK is carried by PUCCH Format 1a/1b or PUCCH
Format 2a/2b. When using HARQ with 2 bits, 1 bit is the
ACK/NACK indicator for codeword 0 and the other bit is
for codeword 1.
The CQI uses Reed-Muller channel coding and has 20
output bits. These 20 bits are carried by PUCCH Format 2
or 2a/2b.
171
PUCCH Resource Mapping

PUCCH format 1/1a/1b DMRS for PUCCH format 2/2a/2b
49
48
DMRS for
1 PUCCH
PUCCH format
Format 0 1/1a/1b
2/2a/2b
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Slot 0 Slot 1
1 Subframe (1 ms)
A PUCCH occupies one resource block in each slot of a

subframe and undergoes frequency hopping between the
first and second slots within a sub-frame. For example,
assuming 10 MHz of system bandwidth, a PUCCH with
Format 1/1a/1b occupies (slot 0, PRB n) and (slot 1, PRB
49-n). Another PUCCH with Format 2/2a/2b may occupy
(slot 0, PRB 49-n) and (slot 1, PRB n). The total number of
resource blocks in a slot used for PUCCH transmission is
configured by RRC.
Demodulation reference signals (DM RSs) are transmitted
together with the PUCCH to help demodulation. As shown
in the figure, DMRS for PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b occupies
OFDM symbols 2, 3, 4 in the middle of the slot; DMRS for
PUCCH Format 2/2a/2b occupies OFDM symbols 1 and 5
in the slot.
172
UL Grant Allocation
173
Step 2: UL Grant From eNB
eNB
UE
DCI Format 0 for UL-SCH Resource Assignments
C-RNTI/CRC: 16 bits C-RNTI used to mask CRC
Hopping Flag (1 bit): Frequency hopping on/off
Hopping type bits if frequency hopping is on
Resource Block Assignment
Modulation and coding scheme
After receiving the scheduling request, the eNB sends an

uplink grant on the PDCCH using DCI Format 0. The UE’s
16-bit C-RNTI is implicitly encoded in the CRC.
The resource allocation information includes:
• Hopping flag: indicates if the frequency hopping is on
or off.
• Hopping type if the hopping flag is on: there are two
types of hopping, via grant or a pre-defined pattern.
The hopping type indicates which type is used.
• Resource block assignment: indicates the n
consecutive physical resource blocks allocated to the
UE by starting position and length.
• Modulation and coding scheme (MCS): indicates
which MCS should be used for the UL transmission.
174
BSR Reporting
175
Step 3: Buffer Status Reporting

Need to give
additional
UL grants
eNB
UE • How many bits in buffer?

• Which logical channel group (with
highest priority) has data?
The UE transmits the Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the

eNB on the allocated PUSCH resources. The BSR is used
to report the amount of data in the UE’s buffer. The BSR
indicates a range of the number of bits in the buffer and
the identity of the logical channel group that needs UL
resources. There are four logical groups, and, a given
logical channel (e.g., a logical channel carrying data)
belongs to one of the logical channel groups. Based on the
received BSR, the eNB allocates additional UL grants to
UE. In addition to the BSR, if additional PUSCH resources
are still available, the UE can send data as well.
176
Types of BSR
UE eNB
New data arrives in UE transmit buffer or UE moves to a new cell
“Regular” Buffer Status Report
BSR Timer expires
“Periodic” Buffer Status Report
BSR smaller than expected padding bytes in data transmission
“Padding” Buffer Status Report
BSRs sent in MAC PDU as MAC Control Element

There are three scenarios for sending a BSR to the eNB:

1. New UL data arrives in a UE buffer or a UE moves to a
new cell; this is a “Regular BSR.”
2. The Periodic BSR timer expires, in which case the
BSR is a “Periodic BSR.” The Periodic BSR timer is
restarted.
3. The number of padding bits in a data message to be
transmitted is larger than the size of the BSR so that
padding-bit space is used to send a BSR. This is
referred to as a “Padding BSR.”
177
UL Grant for Data

Transmission
178
Step 4: Additional UL Grant

Buffer Status Reports
Logical channel
for logical channel
priority
queues from UEs
Scheduling
Requests from
Scheduler QoS Requirements
UEs at the eNB
Scheduling
grants
The eNB scheduler needs to manage multiple UE

requirements while optimizing resource utilization, QoS
and capacity, and maintaining a healthy uplink
interference level.
The inputs are the scheduling request, buffer status
report, logical channel priority and QoS requirements.
Recent allocation, performance history, the amount of
transmit power available at the UE, and channel condition
are other potential inputs.
The output of the scheduler is the UL scheduling grant,
including resource assignment, frequency hopping
pattern, and modulation and coding scheme, as well as
the type of scheduling. There are three types of
scheduling: dynamic scheduling, persistent scheduling,
and semi-persistent scheduling.
179
Transmission on the
PUSCH
180
Step 5: Data Transmission on PUSCH
All transmission parameters specified by eNB

(e.g., RBs, frequency hopping, and MCS)
UE
eNB
The eNB sends a UL grant in the PDCCH, assigning one or

more resource blocks and deciding the Modulation and
Coding Scheme (MCS) the UE needs to use. This grant
applies to a sub-frame that is four milliseconds (ms) after
the sub-frame that carries the grant. After getting the UL
grant, the UE transmits data (user traffic or signaling) on
the PUSCH using the allocated PRBs, frequency hopping
pattern, and MCS. If the UE still has data to send (the UL
buffer is not empty yet), the UE may decide to send a BSR
piggybacked on user data.
181
UL Data Transmission Timing
Subframe
i i+4 i+8 i+12 i+16
eNB
UL RxTransmission
UL grant on PDCCH
UL grant on PDCCH
UL Transmission
NACK on PHICH
ACK on PHICH
on PUSCH
on PUSCH
Subframe
i i+4 i+8 i+12 i+16
UE
This slide illustrates the timing relation of a UL data

transmission. If the eNB sends a UL grant in sub-frame i,
the UL should transmit using the allocated resource in
sub-frame (i+4), then the eNB should acknowledge the UL
transmission in sub-frame ((i+4)+4) = (i+8). If the eNB can
not correctly decode the data, it sends a NACK on the
PHICH with a UL grant for retransmission. The UE then
retransmits the data in sub-frame ((i+8)+4) = (i+12).
Again, after four subframes, the eNB sends an ACK back
to the UE in sub-frame (i+16).
182
PUSCH Hopping
UL Frequency Hopping Benefits of Frequency Hopping
• Frequency diversity
• Interference diversity
No Hopping Hopping
Pre-defined hopping
Hopping via grant
pattern
PDCCH DCI format 0 hopping bit definition for hopping via grant
System BW (RBs) Hopping bits Hopping type
6 ~ 49 0 Via grant
1 Pre-defined
50 - 110 00, 01, 10 Via grant
11 Pre-defined
Frequency hopping for the PUSCH is optional. The UE gets parameters. For a system bandwidth of 50-110 RBs,
its packet from different parts of the spectrum in two there are two hopping bits. The value of “00,” “01,” and
different slots of the subframe when frequency hopping is “10” points to different equations that calculate the
used. The main benefits of frequency hopping are location of the resource in the second slot. They are
frequency diversity and interference diversity. Frequency “hopping via grant.” The value “11” indicates a pre-
diversity is useful when different parts of the spectrum defined hopping pattern.
undergo different levels of fading. Interference diversity
Note that both “inter-sub-frame” and “Intra- and inter-sub-
becomes useful when different resource blocks have
frame” hopping modes are supported, and the hopping
different levels of utilization in different cells.
mode is indicated by a higher layer.
The UL grant from the eNB tells the UE if the frequency
hopping is on or off. If frequency hopping is off, the same
PRBs are used on both slots of a sub-frame. If the
frequency hopping is on, there are two patterns: hopping
via grant or a pre-defined hopping pattern.
Assume the frequency hopping flag is on. Let’s look at the
hopping bits for the second slot resource allocation in
PDCCH DCI Format 0. For a system bandwidth of six to 49
RBs, there is one hopping bit. If it is “0,” the hopping
position in the second slot is directly given by an equation,
so this hopping type is called “hopping via grant.” If the bit
is “1,” the pre-defined hopping pattern will be used, which
is decided by the cell ID, slot number and other
183
Pre-defined Frequency Hopping

Figure 2 Figure 3
Hopping 1 subband, Hopping 1 subband,
Figure 1 Mirroring - No Mirroring - Yes
PUCCH PUCCH PUCCH
1 10 12
Subband
2 11 11
3 12 10
4 1 3
5 2 2
6 3 1
7 4 6
8 5 5
9 6 4
10 7 9
11 8 8
12 9 7
PUCCH PUCCH PUCCH
Time slot Freq hopping =f (Ncell
)ID
This slide shows the predefined frequency hopping for the

PUSCH. The available resource blocks for PUSCH
transmission are divided into multiple subbands. The
number of subbands is given by higher layers. The
frequency hopping is done on a per sub-band basis. There
are four sub-bands in the example provided.
The hopping position in the second slot is decided by
many parameters including the cell ID, slot number,
number of sub-bands, system bandwidth, amount of
PUCCH resources, hopping mode.
Let’s assume figure 1 is the resource allocation in the first
slot and figure 2 is the hopping position in the second slot.
Each sub-band takes one hopping step and goes to the
position of the next sub-band. It’s actually a cyclic shift of
one in the unit of the sub-band. The resource block
position within each sub-band does not change.
Let’s look at another example, figure 1 is hopped to figure
3. In this case, the cyclic shift of one remains the same,
but the resource block position within each sub-band is
reversed or mirrored.
184
Hopping Via Grant

Application Examples
• Avoid “holes” in the spectrum
• Allow hopping inside frequency subsets to
help interference coordination
PUCCH
Frequency
subset 1
Frequency
subset 2
Frequency
subset 3
PUCCH
1 sub-frame
This slide explains how “hopping via grant” works and

gives its application scenarios. With hopping via grant, the
UE is directly told how to find the resource allocation in the
second slot of a sub-frame. This enables two application
examples:
• Avoid “holes” in the spectrum: after the system is on
for some time, it is possible that some resource
blocks are less frequently used with the pre-defined
hopping pattern. By directly hopping to these
resource blocks via grant, the resource utilization can
be improved.
• Allow hopping within frequency subsets to help
interference coordination. With “hopping via grant” it
is possible to divide the available PUSCH resource
blocks into several subsets and hopping within each
subset. If two eNBs use the same system bandwidth,
by scheduling and hopping within different subsets at
cell edge, the interference can be lowered. As shown
in the figure, the resource allocation and hopping are
limited within frequency subset 1.
185
PUSCH Subcarrier Mapping
PUCCHs
DMRS
n RBs on
PUSCH
PUCCHs
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
1 sub-frame
This slide shows the PUSCH subcarrier mapping in a sub-

frame. The similar structure appears in other subframes.
On both ends of the system bandwidth, certain resource
blocks are allocated for PUCCH transmission. The
remaining resource blocks are for the PUSCH. Within each
slot, OFDM symbol 3 in the middle of the slot is used for a
DM RS. When the eNB allocates a UL grant to the UE, 1 or
n consecutive physical resource blocks are given in the
first slot. Depending on frequency hopping or not, the
system will figure out the location of the 1 or n
consecutive physical resource blocks in the second block.
Within the 1 or more consecutive resource blocks, the
data will map to OFDM symbols 0, 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, and
the DMRS will be mapped to OFDM symbol 3.
186
UL HARQ
187
Step 6: HARQ For Uplink Transmission
Synchronous
Eight HARQ
(re)transmission
processes
Retransmissions HARQ HARQ

configured per UE re-transmissions
priority
ACK/NACK on the PHICH with a

four-sub-frame offset between
PUSCH Tx and HARQ Tx
The HARQ functionality ensures delivery of packets • UE configured retransmissions: Each UE is configured
between peer entities at the Physical Layer. The HARQ with maximum number of retransmissions it can
transmits and retransmits transmission blocks and is perform.
based on the ACK/NACK. HARQ process for uplink
transmission has the following characteristics:
• Number of HARQ processes: Eight HARQ processes
are supported for UL transmission.
• Synchronous HARQ: Transmissions/retransmissions
for a certain HARQ process occur at predefined time
instants with no explicit signaling of the HARQ process
number. Synchronous operation with an arbitrary
number of simultaneous active processes at a time
instant requires additional signaling.
• ACK/NACK: ACK/NACK in response to an uplink
retransmission are sent on the Physical HARQ
Indicator Channel (PHICH).
• HARQ re-transmissions priority: Whenever an HARQ
retransmission collides with a measurement gap, the
higher priority is given to the measurement gaps and
HARQ retransmission does not take place.
188
Physical HARQ Indicator Channel

(PHICH)
Total PHICH resources
• PHICH resources locate in symbol 0 of a sub-frame
• Number of PHICH groups in a sub-frame is signaled by system information
master block on PBCH
DL sub-frame 0 1 2 9
PHICH
Symbol 0
PHICH resource for a UL transmission
• Identified by (PHICH group number, orthogonal sequence index)
• Calculated from the lowest PRB index in the first slot of UL transmission,
UL DMRS cyclic shift, and other higher layer configuration
When and where does a UE find the HARQ ACK/NACK for

UL transmission? The eNB will send a HARQ ACK/NACK
four sub-frames after it receives the UL transmission. The
HARQ ACK/NACK is sent to the UE on the PHICH. The UE
calculates the PHICH resource based on the lowest PRB
index in the first slot of the corresponding UL
transmission, the UL DMRS cyclic shift associated with the
UL transmission, and other higher-layer configurations.
PHICHs are located at the first symbol of each sub-frame
and occupy several Resource Element Groups (REGs).
Each REG occupies four subcarriers on OFDM symbol 0.
The number of REGs in a sub-frame for PHICHs is signaled
by a SIB on the PBCH. Each REG can carry multiple
PHICHs and these multiple PHICHs form a PHICH group.
Within a PHICH group, PHICHs are separated by
orthogonal sequences; therefore, a PHICH resource is
identified by PHICH group number, or orthogonal
sequence index. The concept of CDMA is used here.
The channel coding of the ACK/NACK is straight forward:
“111” for “1” (ACK) and “000” for “0”(NACK).
189
UL Physical Channels and Signals

DM RS for PUCCH DM RS for PUCCH
format 1/1a/1b format 2/2a/2b
49
PUCCH
48
DMRS Sounding
for RS if any
PUSCH
PUSCH
PRACH
1
0
PUCCH 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 Subframe 1 Subframe 9
Subframe 0 (1 ms) Award Solutions Proprietary
This slide summarizes the mapping of physical channels The resource blocks between two ends (used for the
and signals to physical resources for the FDD Physical PUCCH) are used for the PUSCH. A PUSCH occupies n
Layer frame format. The frame length is 10 ms, which consecutive RBs and may have frequency hopping
contains 10 subframes. Each sub-frame is divided into between two slots.
two slots of 0.5 ms each. Within each slot, there are seven
The DM RS is transmitted with the PUCCH or PUSCH. For
OFDM symbols (for a normal cyclic prefix). Assume the
PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b, it occupies OFDM symbol 2, 3, 4
system bandwidth is 10 MHz and there are 50 resource
in the middle of the slot. For PUCCH Format 2/2a/2b it
blocks (RBs) available.
occupies OFDM symbol 1 and 5. For the PUSCH it always
A PRACH occupies six RBs in the frequency domain and occupies OFDM symbol 3 in the middle of the slot.
one or several consecutive sub-frames in the time
The Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) occupies the last
domain. As shown in the figure, the PRACH is adjacent to
OFDM symbol in the second slot of a sub-frame if there is
the PUCCH.
any. The number of consecutive resource blocks an SRS
A PUCCH occupies one resource block in each end of the occupies is given by eNB.
system bandwidth and does frequency hopping between
The examples are mainly given in the first sub-frame, a
the first and second slots within a sub-frame. For
similar structure is seen in other subframes.
example, a PUCCH with Format 1/1a/1b occupies (slot 0,
RB 49) and (slot 1, RB 0). Another PUCCH with Format
2/2a/2b occupies (slot 0, RB 0) and (slot 1, RB 49).
190
Summary
• These are basic steps in the UL traffic operation procedure:
1. Scheduling request,
2. UL grant,
3. Buffer Status Report and/or data transmission,
4. HARQ ACK/NACK and additional UL grant,
5. UL data transmission,
6. HARQ ACK/NACK.
• UL physical resources include the PUCCH, PUSCH, PRACH, DMRS,
and SRS.
• Scheduling requests are carried by the PUCCH.
• A UL grant is indicated by DCI format 0 on the PDCCH.
• UL HARQ supports eight parallel processes, and HARQ ACKs and
NACKs are carried by the DL PHICH.
191
Review Questions
1. List the UL data transmission steps.
2. Which channel carries the scheduling request
(SR)?
3. Where can you find the UL grant? Give
examples of key parameters.
4. What are the benefits of frequency hopping?
5. Which DL channel carries HARQ ACKs and
NACKs in response to the UL packet?
192
Additional Material
193
PUCCH Processing-Modulation
}
Present or Absent
Format 1 d(0)= 1 if present
One
Modulation modulation
Format 1 or 2 bits d(0) symbol
1a/1b: 1a→BPSK
1b→QPSK
Format 2/2a/2b:
Scrambling Modulation d(0)....d(9) (10 modulation

20/21/22 bits by slot 2QPSK symbols)
number, Cell 2aQPSK+BPSK d(10) used in the
ID, UE RNTI 2bQPSK+QPSK generation of DMRS
PUCCH Format 1 carries an un-modulated Scheduling

Request (SR). If the SR is positive, a “1” is sent; if the SR
is negative nothing is sent and no energy is present.
PUCCH formats 1a and 1b carry 1 bit and 2 bits,
respectively. One modulation symbol is generated using
BPSK/QPSK modulation. In the case of HARQ and SR
multiplexing, the HARQ ACK/NACK is sent using the
exclusively SR resource. On one hand, the eNB knows the
SR is positive because of the presence of energy on the
SR resource. On the other hand, the eNB decodes the
HARQ ACK/NACK.
PUCCH format 2/2a/2b carry CQI (20 bits)/CQI+HARQ (21
or 22 bits). The information is scrambled by slot number,
cell ID, and UE RNTI first, then modulation is applied. The
first 10 modulation symbols are generated by QPSK on 20
bits. An additional one modulation symbol is generated by
BPSK/QPSK for 2a/2b. The first 10 modulation symbols
are mapped to the PUCCH channel directly while the
additional modulation symbol is implicitly used in the
generation of the DM RS for the corresponding PUCCH
2a/2b transmission.
194
PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b

Subcarrier Mapping
One modulation symbol
Spread in time
ZC domain by
12 orthogonal covers
In frequency domain
use cyclic-shifted ZC
sequence which has IFFT IFFT IFFT IFFT
zero correlation
W1 Orthogonal cover for W2 W3
W0
reference signal
12
1 long block 1 LB
= 12 subcarriers 1 slot
X 1 OFDM symbol
Multiple UEs can share the same physical resource

block by using different cyclic shifts and orthogonal covers
Additionally, different scramble codes are applied
for sequence in two slots of a sub-frame
This slide shows how this one modulation symbol of The middle three OFDM symbols are used for the
PUCCH format 1/1a/1b is mapped to subcarriers and reference signal, which also uses orthogonal cover (length
OFDM symbols. 3). There are three OC for data and three OC for reference
signals. Therefore, three UEs can be differentiated by
The concept of CDMA is applied here. Multiple UEs share
orthogonal cover in the time domain.
the same PUCCH resource (two RBs total in a sub-frame
with one RB in each slot). They are distinguished by cyclic How many UEs can a PUCCH support? If cyclic shift is two,
shift and orthogonal cover. there are (12/2) x 3 = 18; if cyclic shift is three, there are
(12/3) x 3 = 12.
In the frequency domain, a Zadoff-Chu (ZC) sequence is
used. The cyclic-shifted ZC sequence has zero correlation. Now we know how this one modulation symbol is
The modulation symbol is spread by a ZC sequence of subcarrier mapped in the resource block of the first slot in
length 12, and thus can occupy 12 subcarriers over one a sub-frame. In the second slot, the same cyclic shift and
OFDM symbol, which fits into a long block (LB). Different orthogonal cover are used, but with different scramble
UEs can be distinguished by different cyclic shifts. For the codes for protection.
length-12 ZC sequence, if cyclic shift is two (at every other
location), six UEs can be supported. If cyclic shift is three
(at every third location), four UEs can be supported.
In time domain, orthogonal cover (OC) is used to spread
the modulation symbol and differentiate UEs. As shown in
the figure, the modulation symbol is spread to the length
of four.
195
ACK/NACK and SR Multiplexing in

PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b
PUCCH Format 1/1a/1b resources (12, 18, or 36 channels per RB)
(decided by cyclic shift + orthogonal cover)
• ACK/NACK Resource • Periodic SR Resource

• Dynamically allocated • Reserved using RRC
on PDCCH + RRC
Time Instant SR Resource HARQ Resource

Send SR only Y
Send HARQ only Y
Send both SR Negative SR Y (HARQ on HARQ resource)
and HARQ Positive SR Y (HARQ on SR
resource)
How are scheduling requests (SRs) and HARQ ACK/NACK SR is negative. If the SR is positive, the HARQ
multiplexed? For PUCCH transmission, multiple UEs can ACK/NACK should be sent using SR resource. Since
share the same physical resource block using different the energy is present on the SR resource, the eNB
cyclic shift and orthogonal cover. The combination of cyclic will know there is a scheduling request coming.
shift and orthogonal cover forms channels. There are
three orthogonal covers and 4/6/12 available ZC
sequences depending on cyclic shift of 1/2/3; therefore,
the total of 12/18/36 channels can be supported per RB.
The number of RBs used for PUCCH is configurable by
high layer. Among the available channels some of them
are exclusively reserved to support periodic transmission
opportunity for SR using RRC signaling. The remaining are
allocated to HARQ ACK/NACK dynamically using PDCCH
and RRC signaling.
There are three scenarios for multiplexing.
1. If it is time for a UE to send an SR only, it uses the SR
resource.
2. If it is time for a UE to send a HARQ ACK/NACK only,
it uses the ACK/NACK resource.
3. If it is time for a UE to send both a HARQ ACK/NACK
and SR, it uses the HARQ ACK/NACK resource if the
196
Semi-Persistent UL Scheduling
UE eNB
Scheduling Request

SPS Activation
Transmission interval on RRC
Data Transmission
DCI Format 0
ACK • TPC CMD for scheduled
PUSCH: ”00”
• Cyclic shift DM RS: ”000”
Retransmission is similar to DL: • MCS and RV:MSB= “0”
“SPS C-RNTI”+”NDI=1”
Data Transmission Implicit SPS
release
Explicit SPS
release
UE eNB
Empty BSR
DCI Format 0
• TPC CMD for scheduled PUSCH: ”00” N
• Cyclic shift DM RS: ”000” Empty BSR
• MCS and RV: ”11111”
• RB assignment & hopping resource allocation: all”1”s
Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS) is the combination of for a scheduled PUSCH is set to “00,” cyclic shift DM
persistent scheduling and dynamic scheduling where the RS is set to “000,” and the MSB of the MCS and
persistent scheduling is used for new transmission and redundancy version (RV) is set to “0.” The SPS
the dynamic scheduling is used for retransmission. With interval or periodicity is configured for a UE using an
the persistent scheduling a resource is allocated with RRC signaling message.
certain interval/periodicity. Once allocated, the resource
• SPS Retransmission: When the eNB sends the UE a
will be always valid until it is released. The dynamic
NACK, it automatically schedules a retransmission
resource allocation is valid only for the current sub-frame.
opportunity. The retransmission resource is sent on
The SPS C-RNTI is used for SPS activation/modification, PDCCH with SPS C-RNTI and NDI = 1.
retransmission, and release. The definition of an NDI field
in the DCI for SPS is different than that for dynamic
scheduling. In SPS, NDI = 0 indicates SPS activation or
release and NDI = 1 indicates SPS retransmission.
Let’s look at the SPS procedure:
• SPS Activation: When a UE detects an SPS C-RNTI on
the PDCCH and NDI = 0, it looks for other information
in the DCI to confirm if it is an SPS activation. The
additional constraints in the DCI works as virtual CRC
to overcome false activation. The SPS activation and
release use different additional constraints. For DCI
Format 0 the constraints include the TPC command
197
Semi-Persistent UL Scheduling
(Continued)
UE eNB
Scheduling Request

SPS Activation
Transmission interval on RRC
Data Transmission
DCI Format 0
ACK • TPC CMD for scheduled
PUSCH: ”00”
• Cyclic shift DM RS: ”000”
Retransmission is similar to DL: • MCS and RV:MSB= “0”
“SPS C-RNTI”+”NDI=1”
Data Transmission Implicit SPS
release
Explicit SPS
release
UE eNB
DCI Format 0 Empty BSR
• TPC CMD for scheduled PUSCH: ”00”
• Cyclic shift DM RS: ”000” N
Empty BSR
• MCS and RV: ”11111”
• RB assignment & hopping resource allocation:
Award all”1”s
Solutions Proprietary
• SPS Release: The SPS release in the UL can be either

implicit or explicit. If the UE finds no more data in the
buffer, it can initiate the implicit release by sending N
consecutive empty BSRs using the SPS resources.
Alternatively, the eNB can release the SPS resource
explicitly. The explicit SPS release is sent on the
PDCCH with the SPS C-RNTI and NDI = 0. As with SPS
activation, additional constraints in the DCI are set to
protect against false release. For DCI Format 0, the
constraints include: the TPC command for a
scheduled PUSCH is set to “00,” Cyclic shift DM RS is
set to “000,” the MCS and RV are set to “11111,”
and resource block assignment and hopping resource
allocation are set to all “1”s. No ACK is sent by the UE
for the UL SPS release.
• SPS has the advantage in reducing control signalling
overheads and latency delays. But the link adaptation
parameters are saved, and modulation and coding
remains the same throughout transmission. This
makes scheduling unadjustable to channel condition,
and thus the likelihood of a transmission failure will
increase over time.
198
UL-SCH Processing
data
Transport block
CRC attachment
Code block segmentation

Code block CRC attachment
Channel coding
(Coding: turbo)
(Coding rate =1/3)
CQI/PMI RI ACK
Rate matching
Code block Channel Channel Channel

concatenation coding coding coding
Data and control multiplexing
Channel interleaver
The following procedures are applied on UL-SCH transport After processing data and control information separately,
block. these are multiplexed. This multiplexed information is
finally sent for channel interleaving. The channel
As data enters the transport block, the CRC is performed
interleaving ensures that the HARQ- ACK information is
for error detection, i.e., parity bits are added with the
present on both slots in a sub-frame and is mapped to
actual bits. Because the number of bits increases the
resources around the uplink demodulation reference
maximum code block size (6144 bits), the code block is
signals.
sent for code block segmentation. CRC is individually
attached after segmentation (24 bits) to each segmented
code block.
These code blocks are sent for channel coding and are
individually turbo encoded at a coding rate of 1/3. Each
code block is individually rate matched. These rate-
matched bits from different code blocks are sequentially
concatenated.
Note that the UL-SCH is used not just for data
transmission but can also be used for control information
transmission. Control information includes CQI/PMI, HARQ
ACK and rank indication, which are coded at different
coding rates.
199
PUSCH Processing
Scrambling=f (C-RNTI, Slot, Cell ID)
General uplink channel processing for the PUSCH in LTE is

as follows:
The first step is scrambling. Input data bits are scrambled
by UE-specific scrambling sequence, e.g., with the C-RNTI
and PCI of the cell. These scrambled data bits are sent for
modulation. For the PUSCH, QPSK, 16QAM, or 64QAM can
be used depending on UE capability and UL scheduling
grant.
These modulated symbols are sent for transform
precoding, which is a DFT operation. After DFT, the
frequency domain complex value symbols are mapped to
physical resource elements. The last step is IFFT, which
generates SC-FDMA signal.
200
8 | Mobility and Power Control
Chapter 8:
Mobility and Power
Control
201
Objectives
• Identify the types of mobility supported in LTE
• Explain the cell selection and reselection
procedures
• Illustrate the different stages of handover
• Describe handover measurements and
measurement reporting
• Summarize uplink power control
References: [9] 3GPP TS 36.300; (E-UTRA) and (E-UTRAN); Overall

description; Stage 2 (Release 8)
[1] 3GPP TS 36.300; (E-UTRA) and (E-UTRAN); Overall
description; Stage 2 (Release 8) [10] 3GPP TS 36.211; Physical Channels and Modulation
(Release 8)
[2] 3GPP TS 36.211; Physical Channels and Modulation
(Release 8) [11] 3GPP TS 36.213; Physical layer procedures (Release
8)
[3] 3GPP TS 36.213; Physical layer procedures (Release
8) [12] 3GPP TS 36.212; Multiplexing and channel coding
(Release 8)
[4] 3GPP TS 36.212; Multiplexing and channel coding
(Release 8)
[5] 3GPP TS 23.401; System Architecture Evolution:
GPRS enhancements for LTE access (Release 8)
[6] 3GPP TS 23.402; Architecture Enhancements for
non-3GPP accesses (Release 8)
[7] 3GPP TR 25.814 V7.1.0; Physical layer aspects for
evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)
(Release 7)
[8] 3GPP TR 23.882 V1.8.0 (2207-02):Report on
Technical Options and Conclusions (Release 7)
202
Mobility
203
Radio Network Mobility in LTE

Radio Network Mobility
RRC Idle RRC Connected
Cell Reselection Handovers

• UE-controlled • Network-controlled, UE -
• No measurement reports assisted handovers
• Measurement reports are
sent from UE to eNB
Mobility is the key differentiator between mobile wireless

systems and other forms of wireless communication (such
as wireless LANs). Mobility tracks the location of the user
so that new service requests can be established quickly,
and active applications can continue to operate as the
user moves. In LTE, the specific functions of mobility differ
depending on the state of the UE:
• RRC Idle: When a UE first powers up it must locate a
suitable cell, synchronize itself, and monitor the
network before it can initiate or receive service. If the
UE moves away out of the coverage area of the cell, it
must select another cell that is capable of supporting
its needs. Cell selection and reselection are entirely
under the control of the UE.
• RRC Connected: After the UE registers with the
network and establishes an RRC connection, the UE
is provided with an active set (a group of cells to
monitor and measure) and the network determines
when and where the UE hands over, based on
measurement reports from the UE. This allows the
network to more closely track the UE’s location and
ensure it is always using the optimum cell.
204
Measurement Control
LTE Uu
S1
MME/S-GW
UE eNB
UE in RRC-IDLE state….
Protocol: RRC
Logical Channel: BCCH
System Information Blocks Cell Selection/Reselection
parameters
UE in RRC- CONNECTED state…

Protocol: RRC
RRC Connection Reconfiguration Logical Channel: DCCH
Handover Parameters
E-UTRAN controls measurement criteria

UE measurements are critical for cell selection and

handover operations, but the UE must be told what
measurements to take and what criteria to use for its
decisions.
System Information Blocks (SIBs) are sent periodically
over the broadcast channel to provide system
configuration information to the surrounding UEs. SIBs
provide common control parameters for all UEs in the cell,
and include all of the data necessary for cell selection and
reselection.
When a UE sets up an RRC connection, the network
provides additional measurement parameters in one or
more RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages, telling
each UE what specific measurements to make and when
to report the results. Measurement reports from the UE
are used to manage the UE’s active set and to trigger
handovers when needed.
205
Mobility in RRC-Idle
PLMN Selection
(Automatic/Manual)
Return to Idle Mode
Cell Selection
(Initial/Stored information)
Suitable Cell Found
Leave Idle
State Camping on Suitable Cell
Idle State
Mobility
Connected Mode Cell Reselection
If a “suitable” cell is not found, the UE can select

an “acceptable” cell.
While in the RRC Idle state, the UE continually attempts to

locate the best cell in the area. A preferred or “suitable”
cell is the strongest cell in the area with a PLMN identity
that matches a prioritized list in the UE. The PLMN to
search for may be chosen automatically, or may be
selected by the user. UEs prefer to lock on to cells owned
by their service provider. If the UE cannot locate a suitable
cell it will look for an “acceptable” cell (one that is at least
capable of supporting emergency calls).
Once a UE has selected a cell, it will store the relevant
channel information and will look for that channel on its
next power-up, in order to save time on the initial search.
If the selected cell becomes too weak, or if another cell
becomes stronger, the UE uses the cell reselection criteria
to determine when and where to select a new serving cell.
Whenever a UE returns to the RRC Idle state, either
because it has been powered off and on, or because it
has disconnected from the network, it will return to the
cell selection process.
206
Reading the PDSCH for SIBs
Once the UE has selected a cell, it monitors different SIBs

to discover the cell selection and reselection parameters it
needs.
• SIB 1 contains the serving cell’s PLMN identity, cell
barring status and signal quality required to select
this cell, including the specific type of measurement
to be made, and the minimum criteria for choosing
this cell.
• SIB 3 carries the common cell reselection parameters
for intra-frequency, inter-frequency and inter-RAT
neighbors.
• SIB 4 lists cell reselection parameters for specific
intra-frequency neighbor cells.
• SIB 5 lists cell reselection parameters for specific
EUTRA inter-frequency neighbor cells and
frequencies.
• SIB 6, 7 and 8 list parameters related to cell
reselection to inter-RAT neighbors.
207
Cell Selection and

Reselection
208
Searching for a Suitable Cell

Suitable Cell Reserved Cell
Barred Cell
Acceptable Cell
Normal service Operator service

(public use) (Operators use) Restricted Access
Limited services
(emergency calls)
? Which is my Suitable Cell?

i.e., cell which is……
• Part of selected PLMN
• Not barred
• Satisfies cell selection criteria
The UE will divide the surrounding cells into four

categories, depending on their suitability for providing
service to the UE:
• A suitable cell is the type for which the UE is actively
searching. It satisfies the cell selection criteria, is not
barred or reserved for operator use, and is part of the
selected PLMN. A suitable cell is (potentially) capable
of supporting all of the UE’s services.
• An acceptable cell also satisfies the selection criteria,
and is not barred or reserved; however, it may not be
part of the desired PLMN. An acceptable cell may
limit the UE to emergency calls, but can be used as a
starting point for locating a suitable cell later on.
• A barred cell does not allow any access from the UE
due to traffic overload or other conditions. The UE will
not attempt to select any barred cell.
• A reserved cell is part of a registration area that the
UE is not allowed to enter. In general, reserved cells
are only for the operator’s use (for initial testing, etc.);
the UE will not attempt to select any restricted cell.
209
Cell Selection Criteria

2. Measures
RSRP
UE
3. Calculates Srxlev
eNB
Cell selection
receive level Minimum required
(Srxlev) Measured cell receive offset to minimum
receive level in
(dB) level value (RSRP) req. receive level
cell (dBm)
in cell
Cell Selection Criteria Srxlev > 0
In order for a cell to be selected, it must provide a

minimum level of quality to the UE. The UE will measure
the downlink reference signals from the cell, and calculate
the Cell Selection Receive Level (Srxlev) for that cell, as
follows:
• Srxlev = Qrxlevmeas – (Qrxlevmin - Qrxlevminoffset)
Qrxlevmeas is the measured Reference Signal Received
Power (RSRP), Qrxlevmin is the minimum level for
selecting this cell, and Qrxlevminoffset is an offset used
when the UE is in a visited PLMN and is searching for a
cell in its preferred PLMN list. Qrxlevmin and Qrxlevoffset
are configuration parameters received in SIB 1.
If Srxlev > 0 then the cell is good enough to serve the UE,
but still may not be selected. Additional criteria must be
checked first.
210
Suitable Cell Selection
UE
eNB
Checks
 Yes PLMN ID matches
 Cell not barred
 Cell selection criteria satisfied
I have found my
suitable cell
If any check fails, select another cell

and repeat the process.
Once the UE finds a cell that is strong enough, it checks

the cell’s PLMN identity and barring status in SIB 1. If the
PLMN is in the UE’s prioritized PLMN list, and if the cell is
not barred, then the cell is suitable and the UE can select
it. Otherwise, the UE moves on to the next cell and repeats
the process.
211
Cell Reselection - Idle mode

As I am moving, RSRP from
serving cell is going down, but
RSRP of neighboring cell is
increasing……….what do I do??? Neighboring Cell
RSRP -Serving RSRP -
RSRP - cell Neighboring
Neighboring cell
cell
RSRP -Serving
cell
Serving Cell Neighboring Cell
UE reselects a cell if:

• the serving cell fails to satisfy cell selection criteria
• a neighboring cell is a better serving cell
As long as the UE remains in the RRC Idle state, it

continues to search for the strongest cell within its
preferred PLMN. The UE will move to a different cell (cell
reselection), if the current serving cell is no longer strong
enough (Srxlev < 0), or if a neighboring cell is better.
212
Tracking Area Update
213
Tracking a UE in Idle Mode

The Tracking Area Identifier (TAI) is transmitted on SIB 1.
MME 2
MME 1
Tracking Tracking Tracking

Area 1 Area 2 Area 3
TAI = 1 TAI = 1 TAI = 2
TAI = 1 TAI = 1 TAI = 2 TAI =3
TAI = 1 TAI = 1 TAI = 2
Detect a new TAI different

• MMEs in an MME pool area serve a given geographic from the old TAI; transmit a
area that consists of one or more TAs. tracking update.
• A given UE is the responsibility of one of the MMEs in
the MME pool area. Award Solutions Proprietary
Whenever an idle UE selects a new cell as its serving cell,

it may need to inform the network of its new location so it
can be reached for paging or other purposes. In order to
keep the number of location updates to a minimum, cells
are grouped into Tracking Areas, identified in the system
broadcast parameters by a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI).
Whenever the UE selects a cell with a different TAI than its
previous serving cell, it has entered a new Tracking Area,
and informs the network; if the two cells have the same
TAI, then an update is not required.
If an idle UE needs to be paged, the page request will be
sent to all cells within the UE’s last known Tracking Area.
A given geographic area is served by MMEs in an MME
pool area. The MME pool area may span one or more
(usually more) tracking areas. Load balancing can be
performed among the MMEs in the MME pool area. At a
given time, a UE is served by a single MME.
214
Tracking Area Update

E-UTRAN EPC
Old/New S-GW HSS
UE MME
eNB
1. Tracking Area Update Request
2. Authentication
4. Tracking Area Update Accept 3. Deactivate

bearers not
active in UE
Start T3450 if
new GUTI
5. Tracking Area Update Complete
Stop T3450
The Tracking Area Update Request not only includes the

UE’s identity (its GUTI) and the old and new TAIs, it also
contains security-related information and the UE’s list of
its defined (but dormant) EPS bearers. The MME checks
the integrity of the message, and may choose to
authenticate the UE as well (to avoid spoofing attacks).
The MME then confirms that its list of EPS bearers
matches the UE’s; if there is a discrepancy, the MME will
tear down any active bearers that should be idle. The
location update is acknowledged with a Tracking Area
Update Accept message.
If the UE has entered an area served by a different MME,
it will also be assigned a new GUTI, which it must
acknowledge with a Tracking Area Update Complete
message before a timer (T3450) expires on the MME; this
step is needed only if a new GUTI is assigned. The new
MME will also inform the HSS that the UE has moved, so
that the old MME can be told to clear out its UE context
and any related bearers.
215
Handover
216
Handover in RRC-Connected State

LTE Release 8 uses hard handover
Neighboring eNB
RSRP or RSRQ
- Serving cell
RSRP or RSRQ
- Neighboring
cell
RSRP or RSRQ
- Serving cell
Neighboring eNB
Serving eNB (Target eNB)
Handover to Target cell: Cell

with highest signal strength
Handover is used in mobile wireless systems to maintain

connections as the UE moves between the coverage areas
of different cells. Unlike 3G systems, LTE supports only
hard handovers where the previous connection is broken
before the new connection is established.
Once the UE has set up an RRC connection, it is in the
RRC Connected state. The UE continues to measure the
strength and quality of the serving cell and compares it to
the neighboring cells. When the UE determines that a
neighbor is better than the serving cell, it reports that
information to the network, which may request that the UE
perform a handover.
217
Handover Measurements
3. Performs
measurements on 1. Configures the UE
Serving and Neighboring eNB with handover
Neighboring cells measurements
UE
Serving eNB
5. Makes a Handover
decision
Neighboring eNB
When the RRC connection is established, the serving eNB

sends RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages to the
UE informing it of the criteria to be used for measuring
and reporting channel strength and quality of the serving
cell and neighboring cells. The UE then monitors other
cells as it moves through the network. When any of the
specified reporting criteria is met, the UE sends the results
to the serving eNB in a Measurement Report message. If
the Measurement Report indicates that a neighboring cell
is better than the current serving cell, the serving eNB can
request that the UE handover to the new cell.
218
Measurement Configuration
UE
eNB
Source eNB configures

Yes, now I am configured.
• Measurement type: Inter-frequency/Intra-
frequency/Inter-RAT
• Listed cells, blacklisted cells
• Reporting criteria: periodic/event-triggered and
reporting format
• Associated filtering
• Measurement gap patterns
The RRC Connection Reconfiguration message is a Radio

Resource Control (RRC) message sent to the UE after the
RRC connection has been established, and at any time
after that, if changes are required. The message tells the
UE:
• What to measure (intra-frequency channels, inter-
frequency channels, inter-technology channels, etc.);
• Where not to measure (blacklisted cells);
• How to measure (Ec/No vs. RSRP, absolute vs.
relative thresholds, filtering, etc.);
• When to measure (measurement gaps); and
• When to report (on event triggers, periodically, etc.).
The eNB usually does not send an intra-frequency
neighbor list to the UE. The UE autonomously detects
intra-frequency neighbors. The eNB may send a blacklist
of cells, and the UE should not measure or report such
cells. The standard does include a mechanism whereby a
list of neighboring cells with cell-specific handover
parameters could be sent to the UE.
219
UE Measurements
Which cell
is better ?
Detected Neighbor Cell Serving Cell
(Most commonly used in RSRP/ RSRP/
commercial deployments) RSRQ RSRQ
RSRP/
RSRQ
Blacklisted Cell:
Not considered for
measurements Listed Neighbor Cell
Award Solutions Proprietary (Not typically used)
The UE must deal with different types of cells while it is in

the RRC Connected state.
• The serving cell is the one cell that is currently
providing downlink and uplink allocations for the UE.
• Listed neighbor cells are the cells that the UE has
been asked to monitor in one or more Measurement
Control messages when cell-specific offsets are
defined for such cells.
• Blacklisted cells are the cells the UE has been told to
ignore.
• Detected neighbor cells are non-serving cells that are
not listed cells. These are the cells that a UE usually
detects as part of autonomous cell search.
The UE sends a Measurement Report message containing
measurements of serving and detected cells to the
serving eNodeB.
220
Types of Measurements
Measurements
Gap Assisted
Non-Gap-Assisted
(Required for inter- frequency
(for intra-
and Inter RAT cells in case of a
frequency cells)
single-transceiver UE)
Measurement is Gap Assisted or Non-Gap-Assisted and

depends on:
• UE Capability
• Current Operating Frequency
Measurements may be either gap-assisted or non-gap-

assisted. During a gap-assisted measurement, the
network ensures that the UE will not send or receive any
information during the measurement period (a gap in the
transmission); this is especially useful for inter-frequency
and inter-RAT measurements where the single-transceiver
UE must tune briefly to another channel to take the
measurement. For intra-frequency measurements, the UE
may continue to send and receive information while taking
the measurement, since no retuning is required (non-gap-
assisted).
Support for gap-assisted measurements depends on the
physical capabilities of the UE and the particular
frequencies being measured.
221
Measurement Gaps
UE Measurement Gap
Repetition Period
Idle
period
Measurement
UE Transmission Gap
Period
• Used for measurements

• No Transmission/Reception by UE
• Constant gap durations
• Two possible gap patterns
• Single gap pattern configured in UE by eNB
• Higher priority than HARQ retransmissions
If the UE has been configured to use gap-assisted

measurements, the eNB will inform the UE of when to
start the transmission gaps, how often they occur, and
how long they last (the gap pattern). During each gap, the
UE will not receive any information on the downlink, and
will not send anything on the uplink. A gap will last at least
one subframe (1 ms), and override any other transmission
requirement, such as HARQ retransmissions. The UE is
assigned one gap pattern and will continue the pattern
until the connection is reconfigured or the UE goes idle.
222
Measurement Gap Patterns

Gap Pattern ID 0 40 ms
6 ms
• Measurement Gap = 6 ms
• Measurement Gap Repetition Period = 40 ms
80 ms
Gap Pattern ID 1
6 ms
• Measurement Gap = 6 ms
• Measurement Gap Repetition Period = 80 ms
Two gap patterns have been defined. Gap pattern ID 0

has a 6-ms gap every 40 ms, while gap pattern ID 1 has a
6-ms gap every 80 ms. The longer interval for pattern 1
means that data transmissions are interrupted less often,
and therefore have a higher average throughput. The
shorter interval for pattern 0 means that the UE can take
measurements more often, which makes it more suitable
for situations involving fast-changing channel conditions.
223
Measurement Reporting
OK! I decide to
perform handover
UE
• Event Triggered Reporting Serving Cell
• Periodic Reporting
Measurement Report X2 interface

•Serving cell RSRP and RSRQ
measurement
•List of Measurement Results:
― Physical Cell ID1, RSRP & RSRQ
― Physical Cell ID2, RSRP & RSRQ
………………..
…………………
Target Cell
Whenever a UE measurement meets any of the criteria set

in the RRC Connection Reconfiguration messages, it
reports the result in a Measurement Report message. The
report indicates the type of measurement, the identity of
the cell or cells involved, and the specific measurement
results. Reports may be triggered by specific events (the
target cell’s signal strength is now x dB stronger than the
serving cell’s), or may be sent periodically (report the cell’s
signal strength every n seconds).
Measurement reports may indicate that a target cell is
better than the current serving cell but the final decision
to hand over belongs to the serving eNB.
224
Handover Preparation
Ongoing connection
CN
S-GW
1. Measurement Report
2. Decision on
UE X2 Source handover to target eNB
eNB
3. GTP Tunnel
is established
4. Assignment of
resources by Target eNB
Target
eNB
A handover between two eNBs is executed in three establish a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnel to the
phases: target eNB and informs the target to prepare for a
handover. The target eNB allocates the necessary
1. Handover Preparation: Handover signaling exchange
resources to support the UE.
occurs over the X2 interface. U-plane tunnels are
established between the eNBs for each active EPS
bearer to allow downlink traffic to be forwarded.
2. Handover Execution: The UE leaves the source eNB
and establishes radio connection with the target eNB.
User data is forwarded from the source eNB to the
target eNB until the S-GW is ready to send the
packets to the new eNB.
3. Handover Completion: A new S1-U bearer is
established between the target eNB and the S-GW
while the source eNB completes forwarding the
remaining DL user data to the target eNB. Then the
original E-RAB is released.
Handover Preparation: When the serving eNB receives a
measurement report that indicates that the target eNB
has a better signal, it determines whether a handover is
necessary and desirable. If it decides to perform a
handover, it communicates over the X2 interface to
225
Handover Execution
On going call
CN
S-GW
2. RRC Connection
UE Source
Reconfiguration
eNB
X2
5. Establish Data Radio
bearer from Target eNB 6. Data Forwarding
Target
eNB
Once the target eNB is ready, the execution phase begins.

The source eNB begins to forward any unacknowledged
packets to the target over the X2-U GTP tunnel. The target
eNB assigns resources (the UE’s identity – new C-RNTI,
preamble - helps establish an RRC connection with the
target eNB) to the UE and sends a handover message
over the X2. The serving eNB carries this information in an
RRC Connection Reconfiguration message and sends it to
the UE. The UE performs a handover and now establishes
an RRC connection with the target eNB. This establishes a
new data radio bearer between the target eNB and UE.
Note that any new packets arriving at the S-GW are still
sent on to the source eNB and then forwarded to the
target for delivery.
226
Handover Completion
6. Release
9. Data Forwarding
bearers
X X S-GW
CN
X2 Source
eNB
8. Receive Data from
Target eNB X
7. Establish Access
Bearer
UE Target
eNB
Once the new data radio bearer(s) is in place, the

handover process can be completed. An S1-U or access
bearer is established between the target eNB and the S-
GW. New packets arriving at the S-GW are now sent
directly to the target eNB. At this point the old EPS bearer
is removed: the data radio bearer and access bearer are
released, the GTP tunnel between the source and the
target is removed, and any resources associated with the
UE on the source eNB are de-allocated. The UE
establishes an RRC connection with the target eNB and
sends an RRC Connection Reconfiguration Complete
message to the target eNB. This completes the
establishment of a new EPS bearer between the UE and
the network.
227
Power Control
228
Power Management in LTE

eNB implementation-specific
algorithms
No power control commands Downlink Power
“Constant” energy per RE

eNB
Open-loop control for random

access
Closed-loop control for

Uplink Power dedicated channels
UE Uplink interference
management
Power management in LTE shares some common On the dedicated channels, closed-loop power control
characteristics with 3G systems, but there are a number uses feedback from the network to provide tighter control
of unique aspects to the process. of uplink power levels. The primary goal on the uplink is
interference management.
On the downlink, the LTE standards do not specify how
much power the various channels and reference signals
should use, instead, it is up to the eNB vendor to develop
the appropriate algorithms and controls. Unlike 3G, there
are no power commands or feedback mechanisms to help
manage downlink power. In general, the goal for the
downlink is to maintain a “constant” Energy Per Resource
Element (EPRE) so that UEs can use reference signal
measurements to estimate the power of other downlink
channels. EPRE is not exactly the same in all resource
elements since different modulation schemes require
different power levels.
Uplink power management is much closer in design to 3G
techniques. On the RACH, open-loop power control is used
to determine the initial power levels, based on downlink
signal strength measurements and the configured
parameters.
229
Open-loop Power Control

Max UE Power
Power
Power_Ramping_Step
Initial
Preamble 1
Preamble 2
Preamble 3
Preamble n
Power
Time
Preamble_Trans_Max
Open-loop power control in LTE is virtually identical to the it receives a response, reaches its maximum power level,
corresponding operation in 3G networks. When the UE or reaches the preambleTransMax attempts.
needs to transmit a preamble on the Physical Random
Access Channel (PRACH), it determines an initial power
level based on a measurement of the downlink signal
strength and a number of configuration parameters:
• Initial Power = min (Max UE Power,
preambleInitialReceivedTargetPower + Path Loss)
Max UE Power is the maximum transmit power of the UE
as determined by its power class.
preambleInitialReceivedTargetPower is a configured value
that sets the desired received power level at the eNB.
Path Loss is the UE’s estimate of the uplink path loss
based on its downlink measurements.
The UE uses this calculated power level to send its first
preamble over the PRACH. If it fails to get a successful
response from the network, it tries again, increasing the
power level by the powerRampingStep, which can be 0, 2,
4, or 6 dB. The UE also needs to consider the most recent
path loss estimate while deciding the transmit power level.
The UE continues to increase its power on the PRACH until
230
Closed-loop Power Control - I

Up to 1000 power
control commands
Goal: per second
Minimize inter-cell
interference
Variable power control

step sizes for PUSCH
and PUCCH
No TPC command
means a 0 dB
adjustment
Four subframe delay
response
The primary goal of closed-loop power control is to

minimize interference between cells. Uplink interference
within a cell is less of a concern due to the orthogonality of
OFDMA/SC-FDMA transmissions.
In LTE, Transmit Power Control (TPC) commands can be
sent in every subframe, 1000 times a second. A single
TPC command can represent as many as four different
power steps depending on the specific format. For
example, PUCCH power commands can represent -1 dB, 0
dB, 1 dB or 3 dB steps. TPC commands take effect four
sub-frames (4 ms) after the command is received. If no
TPC command is received in a particular sub-frame, the
UE will assume that a 0 dB adjustment (no change) has
been requested.
231
Closed-loop Power Control - II
TPC Commands [DCI 0, 1, 2, 3, 3A]
UE
eNB
Calculate
required
power
PUCCH/PUSCH/Reference Signals
The UE monitors the PDCCH for transmit power control • The transport block size; and
(TPC) commands for PUSCH that are included in DCI
• The TPC commands received from the network.
formats 0, 3 and 3A. Format 0 allows the network to set
an absolute power step from the UE’s starting power level
(-4 dB, -1 dB, 1 dB, or 4 dB) or a relative (cumulative)
offset (-1 dB, 0 dB, 1 dB, or 3 dB). Formats 3 and 3A
provide a 3G-like up/down power step indication with
Format 3 allowing 4 options and Format 3A allowing 2
options. The TPC commands for PUCCH are included in
DCI formats 1, 2, 3 and 3A.
The actual power used for an uplink transmission depends
on multiple factors, including:
• The estimated path loss, based on downlink signal
measurements;
• The configured cell, UE and channel-specific power
offsets;
• The allocated uplink bandwidth;
• The selected transport format (modulation scheme,
coding rate, etc.);
232
Summary
• Cell selection and cell reselection are carried
out by the UE in RRC-Idle mode.
• Measurements in the RRC-Connected state are
made by the UE, but the handover decision is
made by the serving eNB.
• Power control in the uplink reduces inter-cell
interference.
233
Review Exercise
UE Source Target
eNB eNB
The signal strength of the source eNB’s cell falls well below the
configured threshold and the signal strength of the target eNB’s cell is
much better. Answer the following questions about this scenario:
1. Who is responsible for making the signal strength measurements?
2. Who is responsible for making the cell reselection or handover
decision?
3. Will this situation lead to cell reselection or handover?
234
Review Questions
1. What specific quantity can a UE measure to
facilitate handover in the RRC-Connected
mode?
2. What information is included in the
Measurement Configuration message for a UE
in RRC-Connected mode?
3. LTE implements uplink power control to
minimize interference in the uplink. True or
False?
235
236
A | OFDM Essentials
Appendix A:
OFDM Essentials
237
A | OFDM Essentials
Objectives
After completing this module you will be able to:
• Define an OFDM symbol
• Describe the need for a Cyclic Prefix (CP) in
OFDM
• Explain the basic operation of an OFDMA
Transmitter and Receiver
238
A | OFDM Essentials
OFDM Principle
Multicarrier
OFDM
saved bandwidth
no interference
• FDM transmission (number of narrow

band overlapping carriers)
• Orthogonal carriers to avoid interference
OFDM employs a multicarrier technique where data is Two signals can occur on the same frequency at the same
sent over a large number of channels called subcarriers. time but remain orthogonal if they are transmitted from
OFDM implements some tricks that allow us to completely places far from each other (the spatial domain), e.g.,
remove the guard bands normally required in MCM. This Barstow, California, and the far side of the Moon. Guard
slide illustrates the spectrum savings that can be derived bands maintain orthogonality in the frequency domain.
by removing the guard bands between carriers.
The OFDM trick that allows us to omit the guard bands is
The guard bands are essential if we want to recover the to (a) separate the subcarriers making up the OFDM
slow data streams from the slow modulation in each of signal by exactly the inverse of the modulation rate, and
the subcarriers without having to suffer the effects of (b) make absolutely sure the modulation rate is exactly
interference between the subcarriers. OFDM’s tricks let us the same on all the subcarriers.
remove the guard bands and even jam the carriers very
close to each other providing we maintain orthogonality.
What is orthogonality? Signals are said to be orthogonal if
they do not interfere with each other. Signals can be
orthogonal in several domains: time, space, and
frequency are the three most obvious domains. Signals
are orthogonal to each other in the time domain if they
occur on the same frequency, but not at the same time.
The high frequency (HF – 3 to 30 MHz) short wave
broadcasters can maintain orthogonality if they adhere to
a worldwide transmission schedule.
239
A | OFDM Essentials
Orthogonal Subcarriers
Symbol k-1 Symbol k Symbol k+1
1 cycle
2 cycles
3 cycles
At its highest level there are three requirements to build a

viable OFDM signal.
1. An exact, integer number of radio carrier cycles
during a Modulation Symbol. The modulation symbol
duration is the same as the parent OFDM Symbol
duration.
2. The number of radio carrier cycles between
subcarriers are integers − exactly.
3. Constant amplitude and phase during a Modulation
Symbol.
The OFDM receiver is obliged to (a) observe the pure sine
waves during the symbol times, (b) ignore the actual
instances when modulation actually occurs (these
modulation instances make the subcarriers lose their
orthogonality in the receiver) and (c) calculate what the
modulation must have been on each subcarrier to yield
what was observed on the subcarriers.
Building an OFDM signal with these tight restrictions is
one achievement. Maintaining the integrity of the signal
during its journey to the receiver is quite another.
240
A | OFDM Essentials
OFDM Signal
Modulation Symbol
Subcarriers pure sine wave between modulation
instances on one subcarrier
modulation point
subcarrier spacing
Frequency Domain
The figure defines some of the important concepts in • An OFDM symbol consists of all modulation symbols
OFDM transmission. The OFDM trick is to separate the (in parallel) that occurred at the same time on all
subcarriers making up the OFDM signal by exactly the subcarriers. The OFDM symbol in the figure includes
inverse of the modulation rate, and make absolutely sure six modulation symbols. We observe only pure, un-
the modulation rate is exactly the same on all the modulated sine waves on each of the subcarriers
subcarriers. This picture illustrates an OFDM signal at this making up an OFDM symbol.
high level of abstraction.
• Since it’s a form of MCM, an OFDM signal is made of
multiple subcarriers.
• The subcarriers are equally and closely spaced at
exactly the inverse of the modulation rate. The longer
the modulation symbol time (the slower the
modulation), the closer together the subcarriers, and
the more subcarriers we can have in our allotted
bandwidth. Bandwidth remains the currency of the
data rate realm.
• A modulation symbol is the time between modulation
instances (sudden changes in the phase and/or
amplitude of a subcarrier). There is only a pure sine
wave on a subcarrier during the modulation symbol
time.
241
A | OFDM Essentials
OFDM Signals
Guard Data
Frequency
DC
Time
Guard Reference Symbol Time
An OFDM symbol contains all of the symbols on all of the UEs to synchronize their timing and frequencies
subcarriers during a symbol period. The symbols may
The remaining subcarriers are used to send user data,
serve different purposes, depending on which subcarrier
signaling messages, or other system information. Note
and which symbol is involved, and that purpose may
that particular data symbols may use different modulation
change over time.
schemes (generally QPSK, 16QAM or 64QAM), depending
The subcarrier in the exact center of the channel is known on the channel quality.
as the Direct Current, or DC, subcarrier. The DC transmits
no signal at all, and is always turned off; UEs use the DC
to identify the center of the OFDM signal in the frequency
domain.
Similarly, a number of subcarriers on either extreme of the
channel are also disabled. These are the guard
subcarriers, and they prevent the OFDM signal from
leaking over into adjacent bands.
Reference signals (also known as pilot subcarriers) are
distributed throughout the channel, and are used for
channel estimation and fine synchronization. Reference
signals may appear in different subcarriers in different
symbols, to avoid frequency-specific fading. Periodic
synchronization signals, which carry a known pattern at
predefined intervals on a known set of subcarriers, allow
242
A | OFDM Essentials
Effect of Multipath
Symbol
Time
Transmitter
Delayed multipath
causes ISI
Receiver
OFDM receivers use a signal processing technique called The start of the symbol is very important in OFDM systems
an Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) to determine what is since it is required by the receiver to identify any change
embedded in the modulation on the subcarriers. The FFT in phase; therefore, it is required to infer information
method dictates the very strict requirements of (a) an transmitted in the symbol. The ISI causes distortion to the
integer number of cycles during a symbol period, (b) an beginning of the symbol resulting in increased error rate.
integer number of cycles separating the subcarriers, and
(c) no phase or amplitude changes during symbol periods.
This picture illustrates how difficult this is to accomplish in
the presence of multipath distortion. Multipath distortion
is caused by the different paths signals take on their
journey from a transmitter to a receiver. The delayed path
may add to the direct path or it may cause deep fade. This
cannot be avoided in any mobile cellular system. The
delay spread is the time between the first and the last
significant multipath component. However, another key
effect of multipath in OFDM systems is Inter-Symbol
Interference (ISI). This is because the delayed path
interferes with the start of the following symbol causing
significant phase distortion.
243
A | OFDM Essentials
Cyclic Prefix (CP)

Symbol k
1 cycle
2 cycles
3 cycles
Cyclic Prefix Copy tail-end of the symbol to the front

Multipath distortion, the devil in mobile radio, brings

phase jitter and ISI to the subcarriers in an OFDM signal.
The OFDM process is not immune to the hazards of the
radio channel. OFDM can be made relatively robust
against multipath distortion with cyclic prefixes (CP) or
guard times (GT) added to the symbols before
transmission. With these a symbol’s timing can vary within
the guard time without causing ISI.
The result is a lengthening of the modulation symbol at
the transmitter. We accomplish this by copying a portion
of a subcarrier’s sine wave and adding it to the other end
of the Modulation Symbol. Even with this lengthening, the
original subcarrier spacing is maintained.
The CP or the GT can be viewed as a transformation of
MCM’s guard bands into the time domain. The symbol
extensions are also called the Guard Interval (GI) or the
Cyclic Extension (CE). These symbol extensions represent
some waste in the OFDM signal so the receiver discards
them.
244
A | OFDM Essentials
Effect of Cyclic Prefix (CP)

Extended
Symbol Time CP
Transmitter
ISI is avoided as long as

the delayed path is within
the CP
Receiver
The figure shows the effect of the CP. The CP increases

the symbol time by copying part of the back of the symbol
in front of it. The effect is to add a guard period at the
beginning of each symbol. When there is multipath the
delayed component falls within the guard period of the
next symbol. Since the guard period contains information
that is thrown away the original symbol is left intact. As
long as the multipath components fall within the Cyclic
Prefix window Inter Symbol Interference (ISI) is avoided.
The disadvantage of the CP is the overhead it adds to the
system. Since no useful information is transmitted the CP
impacts the overall throughput. The length of the CP is an
important design consideration in OFDM systems. If the
CP is too small it may not overcome the ISI. If it is too large
it adds significant overhead to the transmission. Typically,
it is four to six times the delay spread, and is usually
specified as a fraction of symbol time without the CP. For
example, if the symbol time without the CP is X
microseconds the CP may be ¼, 1/8, 1/16 or 1/32 of X.
245
A | OFDM Essentials
OFDM Terminology Summary

• Subcarrier: One of the many closely-spaced radio channels, each
of which carries a portion (at a diminished data rate) of the
user’s information.
• Subcarrier Spacing: The reciprocal of the modulation symbol

time.
• Modulation Symbol: The waveform that carries information bits

based on the constellation diagram.
• OFDM Symbol: Combination of all modulation symbols on all

subcarriers during a certain symbol period.
• Cyclic Prefix (CP): Extension of symbol times at the transmitter to

counter Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI).
The following list contains a summary of OFDM terms and • There are many names for the extension of the
ideas. modulation symbols that are essential for countering
the effects of multipath in OFDM systems, such as
• There are typically dozens, hundreds, or even
cyclic prefix, cyclic extension, guard time, and guard
thousands of subcarriers in an OFDM signal.
interval.
• The CPs that extend the length of the modulation
symbols in the OFDM transmitter do not affect the
carrier spacing. Lengthening the symbols with CPs
this way adds some extra margin against the hazards
of multipath fading.
• A modulation symbol is the waveform that carries
information bits based on a constellation diagram.
Modulation symbol time is the time between
modulation instances on subcarriers (sudden
changes in the phase and/or amplitude of the
subcarrier representing information). There is only a
pure sine wave on a subcarrier during the modulation
symbol time.
• An OFDM symbol is the collection of all the
modulation symbols (in parallel) that occurred at the
same time on all the subcarriers.
246
A | OFDM Essentials
Simplified OFDMA Transmitter

Channel 1 Combines
0000 channels
Channel 2
1111
…01… …000111…
User Modulation
Data Symbols
Ex. Turbo Ex.: 16QAM Combined
Coding Signal
0000
Multiple channels High
1111 simultaneously carry Data
information Rate
The block diagram of simplified OFDMA processing at the Therefore, if we want to increase the data rate we can
transmitter is shown here. The user data is passed assign multiple channels to the same user, which leads to
through a channel coding mechanism such as multiple channels simultaneously carrying multiple
convolutional or turbo coding. Such a coding mechanism modulation symbols. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT)
basically adds redundancy to the data so that the original accepts multiple channels and generates a complex time
data can be retrieved even when some bits become domain signal. Such a time domain signal represents all
corrupted due to the radio environment. The channel the channels in a given spectrum bandwidth.
coding can be viewed as a sophisticated form of adding
redundancy as opposed to a simple repetition of bits. The
output of the coding mechanism is given to the
modulation block that represents information in a
compact fashion. Modulation can be viewed as data
compression where a signal waveform such as a sine
wave represents multiple information bits rather than a
single information bit. For example, a 16QAM modulation
symbol that seems like a sine wave represents four
information bits, “0000.” Another sine wave (such as the
inverted waveform) can represent another set of four bits
such as “1111.” When the eNB sends one 16QAM
modulation symbol the UE effectively get four information
bits. One narrowband channel carries one modulation
symbol at a given time instant.
247
A | OFDM Essentials
Simplified OFDMA Receiver
Estimate
0000
modulation
symbols
1111
Channel 1
...01… User
Channel 2 Data
Separate
Channels
Rectify errors due to the
Extract all channels from RF and retrieve info bits
a combined signal
The processing at the receiver is the opposite of the

processing done at the transmitter. First, the Fast Fourier
Transform (FFT) block accepts the complex time domain
signal and extracts all the channels. Each channel carries
one modulation symbol at a given time instant, and the
demodulation block maps the received modulation symbol
on a channel into a set of bits (e.g., four bits in the case of
a received 16QAM modulation symbol). The decoder then
recovers the original information bits. The decoder can
correct some errors potentially introduced by the radio
environment by exploiting the structured nature of
channel coding used at the transmitter.
248
A | OFDM Essentials
Review Exercise
Match the following.
1. Symbol Time _ Combat against multipath (ISI)
2. OFDM _ Prevents interference to adjacent

spectrum
3. Cyclic Prefix
_ Has integer number of carrier cycles
4. RS Subcarrier
_ Subcarriers are orthogonal
5. Guard Subcarriers
_ Used for channel estimation
6. DC Subcarrier
_ Comprised of all modulation symbols
7. OFDM Symbol
_ Provides a reference to the center
frequency
249
250
Acronyms
2G Second Generation Wireless Systems

3G Third Generation Wireless Systems
3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
4G Fourth Generation Wireless Systems
AAA Authentication, Authorization and Accounting
ACK Acknowledge or Acknowledgement
AKA Authentication and Key Agreement procedure
AMBR Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate
AMC Adaptive Modulation and Coding
APN Access Point Name
APN-AMBR Access Point Name - Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate
ARP Allocation and Retention Priority
ARQ Automatic Repeat reQuest
AS Access Stratum
ASME Access Security Management Entity
AuC Authentication Center
AUTN Authentication Token
AUTNMME Authentication Token Mobility Management Entity
AUTNUE Authentication Token- UE
BCCH Broadcast Control Channel
BCH Broadcast Channel
BER Bit Error Rate
BLER Block Error Rate
BPSK Binary Phase Shift Keying
BS Base Station
BTS Base Transceiver Station
BW Bandwidth
CCCH Common Control Channel
CCE Control Channel Element
CDD Cyclic Delay Diversity
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CE Cyclic Extension
CFI Canonical Format Indicator
CKSN Ciphering Key Sequence Number
CL-SM Closed Loop- Spatial Multiplexing
CN Core Network
CP Cyclic Prefix
C-Plane Control Plane
CQI Channel Quality Indicator
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
C-RNTI Cell Radio Network Temporary Identity
251
Acronyms
DC Direct Current
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
DCH Dedicated Channel
DCI Downlink Control Information
DFT Discrete Fourier Transform
DL Downlink
DL-SCH Downlink Shared Channel
DL-SCH/PDSCH Downlink-Shared Channel/Physical Downlink Shared Channel
DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal
DRX Discontinuous Reception
DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel
DVRB Distributed Virtual Resource Block
eNB Evolved Node B or E-UTRAN Node B
EPC Evolved Packet Core
EPRE Energy Per Resource Element
EPS Evolved Packet System
E-UTRA Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access or Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network or Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access Network
FDD Frequency Division Duplex
FDM Frequency Division Multiplexing
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FSTD Frequency-Switched Time Diversity
FTP File Transfer Protocol
GERAN GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
GI Guard Interval
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
GT Guard Time
GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol
GTP-C GPRS Tunneling Protocol - Control Plane
GTP-U GPRS Tunneling Protocol - User Plane
GUTI Globally Unique Temporary ID
GW Gateway
HA Home Agent
HARQ Hybrid ARQ
HF High Frequency - 3 to 30 MHz
HI Hybrid ARQ Indicator
HO Handover
252
Acronyms
HSDPA High Speed Downlink Packet Access

HSPA High Speed Packet Access
HSPA+ High Speed Packet Access Evolved
HSS Home Subscriber Server
HSS/AUC Home Subscriber Server/Authentication Center
HSS/AuC Home Subscriber Server/Authentication Center
HSUPA High Speed Uplink Packet Access
ICI Inter-Carrier Interference
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IFFT Inverse Fast Fourier Transform
IMS IP Multimedia Subsystem
IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
Inter-RAT Inter-radio Access Technology
IP Internet Protocol
ISI Inter-Symbol Interference
KSI Key Set Identifier
LOS Line of Sight
LTE Long Term Evolution
LTE-Uu Long Term Evolution- Uu
LVRB Localized Virtual Resource Block
MAC Medium Access Control
MAC Message Authentication Code
MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service
Mbps Megabits per second
MCM Multi-Carrier Modulation
MCS Modulation and Coding Scheme
MCW Multiple Code Word
MHz Mega Hertz
MIB Master Information Block
MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
MIMO-SM Multiple Input Multiple Output- Spatial Multiplexing
MISO Multiple Input Single Output
MME Mobility Management Entity
MME/S-GW Mobility Management Entity and Serving Gateway
ms millisecond (1/1000 second)
MSB Most Significant Bits
MSC Mobile Switching Center
MU-MIMO Multi User Multiple Input multiple Output
NACK Negative ACK
NAS Non-Access Stratum
NDI New data Indicator
253
Acronyms
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
P Provider node
PA Paging Agent
PAPR Peak-to-Average Power Ratio
PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel
PCCH Paging Control Channel
PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel
PCH Paging Channel
PCI Physical Layer Cell ID
PCO Protocol Configuration Option
PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel
PDCP Packet Data Convergence Protocol
PDN Packet Data Network
PDN-GW Packet Data Network- Gateway
PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel
PDU Protocol Data Unit
P-GW PDN Gateway
PHICH Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel
PHY Physical Layer
PL Path Loss
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PMI Precoding Matrix Indication
PMIP Proxy MIP
PRACH Physical Random Access Channel
PRB Physical Resource Block
PTMSI Packet-Temporary Mobile Subscriber ID
PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel
PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
QCI QoS Class Indicator
QoS Quality of Service
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
RA Reverse Activity
RA Routing Area
RACH Random Access Channel
RAND Random Number
RA-RNTI Random Access- Radio Network Temporary Identity
RAT Radio Access Technology
RB Radio Bearer
RBG Resource Block Group
254
Acronyms
RE Resource Element
REG Resource Element Group
RES Response Value
ReTx Retransmission
RF Radio Frequency
RI Rank Indication
RLC Radio Link Control
RNC Radio Network Controller
RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identity
ROHC Robust Header Compression
RRC Radio Resource Control
RRM Radio Resource Management
RS Reed-Solomon
RS Reference Signal
RSRP Reference Signal Received Power
RSRPn Reference Signal Received Power neighbor
RV Redundancy Version
S1-AP S1- Application Protocol
S1-U S1 - User Plane
SAE System Architecture Evolution
SC Single Carrier
SC-FDMA Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple Access
SCW Single Code Word
SDM Space Division Multiplexing
SDMA Space (or Spatial) Division Multiple Access
SF Subframe
SFBC Space Frequency Block Coding
SFN System Frame Number
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
S-GW Serving Gateway
SIB System Information Block
SIM Subscriber Identity Module
SIMO Single Input Multiple Output
SI-RNTI System Information- Radio Network Temporary Identity
SM Spatial Multiplexing
SNR Signal-to-Noise Ratio
SOFDMA Scalable Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access
SPS Semi-Persistent Scheduling
SRB Signaling Radio Bearer
SRS Sounding Reference Signal
SS Subscriber Station
255
Acronyms
STC Space Time Coding

SU-MIMO Single User Multiple Input Multiple Output
TA Tracking Area
TAI Tracking Area ID
TBS Transport Block Size
TDD Time Division Duplex
TDMA Time Division Multiple Access
TEID Tunnel Endpoint Identifier
TFTs Traffic Flow Templates
TPC Transmit Power Control
TTI Transmission Time Interval
UCI Uplink Control Information
UE User Equipment
UL Uplink
UL-SCH Uplink Shared Channel
UL-SCH/PUSCH Uplink-Shared Channel/Physical Uplink Shared Channel
UMB Ultra Mobile Broadband
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
U-Plane User Plane
UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access
UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
V-PLMN Visited- Public Land Mobile Network
VRB Virtual Resource Block
WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access
XRES Expected Response
256
References
Standards
1. 3GPP TS 36.211: “Physical Channels and Modulation”
2. 3GPP TS 36.212: “Multiplexing and channel coding”
3. 3GPP TS 36.213: “Physical layer procedures”
4. 3GPP TS 36.300: “E-UTRA and E-UTRAN over all description; stage 2”
5. 3GPP TS 36.321, “Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol specification”
6. 3GPP TS 36.322, “Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol specification”
7. 3GPP TS 36.331, “Radio Resource Control (RRC) Protocol specification”
8. 3GPP TR 25.814: “Physical layer aspects for Evolved UTRA”
9. 3GPP TR 23.882: “3GPP System Architecture Evolution”
10. 3GPP TS 23.401: “System Architecture Evolution: GPRS enhancements for LTE access”
11. 3GPP TS 23.402: “Architecture Enhancements for non-3GPP accesses”
12. 3GPP TR 25.913: “Requirements of Evolved UTRA and Evolved UTRAN”
13. 3GPP 23.401, “General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) enhancements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio
Access Network (E-UTRAN) access”
14. 3GPP TS 24.301, “Non-Access-Stratum (NAS) protocol for Evolved Packet System (EPS), Stage 3”
IEEE Papers
1. Junsung Lim, “Adaptive radio resource management for uplink wireless networks”, Ph.D dissertation, Polytechnic
university.
2. Junsung Lim et al., “Peak-to-average power ratio of SC-FDMA signals with pulse shaping”, IEEE international
symposium on PIMRC, 2006.
3. Hyung G Myung et al., “Single carrier FDMA for uplink wireless transmission”, IEEE vehicular technology
magazine, September 2006.
Web Sites
1. Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Homepage – www.3GPP .org
2. European Telecommunications Standards Institute – www.etsi.org
3. UMTS Forum – www.umts-forum.org
4. www.bechteltelecoms.com/docs/bttj_v1/Article2.pdf
5. CDMA Development Group – www.cdg.org
6. 3G and 4G Comparison - www.mobileinfo.com/3G/4GVision&Technologies.htm
7. White paper” Mobile Broadband: The Global Evolution of UMTS/HSPA – 3GPP Release 7 and Beyond” -
www.3gamericas.org/English/index.cfm
257

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Mastering LTE

Award Solutions, Inc. www.awardsolutions.com +1-972-664-0727

© 2013 Award Solutions, Inc.

Knowledge Services Consulting Services: Our goal is to help our

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Introduction to LTE .......................................................................................................................................... 1

Goals and Requirements................................................................................................................................. 3

Network Architectures and Interfaces ............................................................................................................ 7

Air Interface .................................................................................................................................................... 11

LTE Protocols and Interfaces ........................................................................................................................ 14

LTE Devices .................................................................................................................................................... 17

LTE Air Interface Essentials.......................................................................................................................... 23

OFDMA and SC-FDMA .................................................................................................................................... 25

LTE Frame Structure ...................................................................................................................................... 30

LTE Channels and Signals ............................................................................................................................. 37

Multiple-Antenna Techniques ....................................................................................................................... 45

System Acquisition ........................................................................................................................................ 55

Overview of System Acquisition .................................................................................................................... 57

Processing of Synchronization Signals and PBCH ....................................................................................... 61

Acquiring SIBs ................................................................................................................................................ 69

LTE_301 Version 1.9 i

Random Access Procedure Overview ........................................................................................................... 87

Random Access Parameters ......................................................................................................................... 91

RRC Connection Establishment .................................................................................................................. 102

Data Session Setup .....................................................................................................................................107

Overview of Initial Attach ............................................................................................................................. 109

Default EPS Bearer Setup ........................................................................................................................... 116

Downlink Operations ...................................................................................................................................125

Channel Quality ............................................................................................................................................ 128

Hybrid ARQ ................................................................................................................................................... 146

Additional Material....................................................................................................................................... 151

Uplink Operations ........................................................................................................................................163

Overview of UL Transmission ...................................................................................................................... 165

Request for UL Resources........................................................................................................................... 169

UL Grant Allocation ...................................................................................................................................... 173

BSR Reporting .............................................................................................................................................. 175

UL Grant for Data Transmission ................................................................................................................. 178

Transmission on the PUSCH ....................................................................................................................... 180

UL HARQ ....................................................................................................................................................... 187

Additional Material....................................................................................................................................... 193

Mobility and Power Control ........................................................................................................................201

Mobility ......................................................................................................................................................... 203

Cell Selection and Reselection ................................................................................................................... 208

Tracking Area Update .................................................................................................................................. 213

Handover ...................................................................................................................................................... 216

Power Control ............................................................................................................................................... 228

OFDM Essentials .........................................................................................................................................237

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LTE: Long Term Evolution

E-UTRAN + EPC= EPS (Evolved Packet System)

E-UTRAN Performance Goals

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eNB and E-UTRAN

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

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LTE-Uu User Plane