A NgnGuru Solutions White Paper

Long Term Evolution (LTE) White Paper

rd
Date 23 Aug 2008
 Contents

1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 3

1.1 Overview .......................................................................................................... 3

1.2 History behind LTE ....................................................................................... 3
1.3 LTE requirements ......................................................................................... 3
1.4 Architecture overview ................................................................................. 4
2 LTE Air Interface.................................................................................................................... 6
2.1 LTE L1 Access................................................................................................. 6
2.1.1 Physical Interface Access .................................................................. 6
2.1.2 Physical Channels ................................................................................. 6
2.1.3 Modulation............................................................................................... 6
2.2 LTE Uu interface Protocols ........................................................................ 7
2.2.1 Radio Link Control (RLC) ................................................................... 7
2.2.2 Medium Access Control (MAC)....................................................... 8
2.2.3 Radio Resource Control (RRC) ........................................................ 9
2.2.4 Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) .............................. 10
3 EUTRAN Interfaces ............................................................................................................. 12
3.1 S1 Interface .................................................................................................. 12
3.1.1 S1 Application Protocol (S1AP) ..................................................... 13
3.1.2 S1AP Transport.................................................................................... 14
3.2 X2 Interface .................................................................................................. 14
3.2.1 X2 Application Protocol (X2AP) ..................................................... 14
3.2.2 X2AP Transport.................................................................................... 15
4 LTE Solutions ...................................................................................................................... 16
4.1 LTE S1-MME Interface Simulator ......................................................... 16
4.2 LTE eNB-eNB X2 Interface Simulator ................................................. 16
4.3 LTE Test Specifications............................................................................. 17
5 Reference ............................................................................................................................. 18
6 Acronyms............................................................................................................................. 19
About NgnGuru Solutions........................................................................................................... 21
1 Introduction

1.1 Overview

3GPP is currently in the process of defining the long-term evolution (LTE) for 3G
radio access, so that 3G technology system remains competitive in the future.
The main targets for this evolution are increased data rates, improved spectrum
efficiency, improved coverage, reduced latency and packet-optimized system
that support multiple Radio Access Technologies.

1.2 History behind LTE

LTE (Long Term Evolution) is initiated by 3GPP to improve the mobile phone
standard to cope with future technology evolutions and needs. 3GPP work on the
Evolution of the 3G Mobile System started with the RAN Evolution Work Shop, 2
- 3 November 2004 in Toronto, Canada.

1.3 LTE requirements

Main requirements include reduced cost per bit, increased service provisioning –
more services at lower cost with better user experience, flexibility of use of
existing and new frequency bands, simplified architecture, open interfaces and
reasonable terminal power consumption.

Some of key LTE requirements related to data rate, throughput, latency, and
mobility are provided below

Peak data rate

• Instantaneous DL peak data rate of 100 Mb/s within a 20 MHz DL
spectrum allocation (5 bps/Hz)
• Instantaneous UL peak data rate of 50 Mb/s (2.5 bps/Hz) within a
20MHz UL spectrum allocation)

Control-plane latency
• Transition time of less than 100 ms from a camped state
• Transition time of less than 50 ms between a dormant state and an
active state

Control-plane capacity
 • At least 200 users per cell in the active state for spectrum
allocations up to 5 MHz

User-plane latency
• Less than 5 ms in unload condition (ie single user with single data
stream) for small IP packet

User throughput
• DL: average user throughput per MHz, 3 to 4 times Release 6
HSDPA
• UL: average user throughput per MHz, 2 to 3 times Release 6
Enhanced Uplink

Spectrum efficiency
• DL: In a loaded network, target for spectrum efficiency
(bits/sec/Hz/site), 3 to 4 times Release 6 HSDPA )
• UL: In a loaded network, target for spectrum efficiency
(bits/sec/Hz/site), 2 to 3 times Release 6 Enhanced Uplink

Mobility
• E-UTRAN should be optimized for low mobile speed from 0 to 15
km/h
• Higher mobile speed between 15 and 120 km/h should be
supported with high performance
• Mobility across the cellular network shall be maintained at speeds
from 120 km/h to 350 km/h (or even up to 500 km/h depending on
the frequency band)
Coverage
• Throughput, spectrum efficiency and mobility targets above should
be met for 5 km cells, and with a slight degradation for 30 km cells.
Cells range up to 100 km should not be precluded.

1.4 Architecture overview

The evolved architecture comprises E-UTRAN (Evolved UTRAN) on the access

side and EPC (Evolved Packet Core) on the core side.

The figure below shows the evolved system architecture

GERAN Gb

Iu SGSN GPRS Core PCRF

UTRAN S7

S3 S4
S6 HSS

S5 S5b Op.
S1 SGi IP
MME/ 3GPP SAE
eNB Anchor Anchor Serv.
SGW (IMS,
eNB
PSS,
S2b WLAN
X2 Evolved IASA etc…)
Packet Core S2a ePD 3GPP IP
Uu
Access
Evolved
RAN
WLAN
Trusted non Access NW
3GPP IP Access

LTE System Architecture

In E-UTRAN, eNBs provide the E-UTRA user plane protocols

(PDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane (RRC) protocol which terminates
towards the UE.

The eNBs are interconnected with each other by means of the X2 interface. The
eNBs are connected by the S1 interface to the EPC (Evolved Packet Core). The
eNB connects to the MME (Mobility Management Entity) by means of the S1-
MME interface and to the Serving Gateway (S-GW) by means of the S1-U
interface. The S1 interface supports a many-to-many relation between MMEs /
Serving Gateways and eNBs.
2 LTE Air Interface

2.1 LTE L1 Access

2.1.1 Physical Interface Access

LTE physical layer multiple access scheme is based on Orthogonal Frequency

Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) in the downlink, and on
Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with a cyclic
prefix in the uplink. LTE supports two duplex modes: Frequency Division Duplex
(FDD), supporting full duplex and half duplex operation, and Time Division
Duplex (TDD).

For FDD, radio frame structure type 1 is used and has duration of 10ms and
consists of 20 slots with a slot duration of 0.5ms. Two adjacent slots form one
sub-frame of length 1ms.

For TDD, radio frame structure type 2 is used and consists of two half-frames
with a duration of 5ms each and containing each 8 slots of length 0.5ms and
three special fields (DwPTS, GP and UpPTS)..

2.1.2 Physical Channels

The physical channels in the downlink are:

• Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH),

• Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH),
• Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH),
• Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH),
• Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH)
• Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH).

The physical channels in the uplink are:

• Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH),

• Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH),
• Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH).

2.1.3 Modulation
The modulation schemes used in the downlink and uplink are QPSK, 16QAM
and 64QAM.

2.2 LTE Uu interface Protocols

The figure below shows the protocol stack for the user-plane and control-plane at
air interface

2.2.1 Radio Link Control (RLC)

An RLC layer receives/delivers RLC SDUs from/to upper layer (i.e. RRC for
CCCH, PDCP otherwise) and sends/receives RLC PDUs to/from its peer RLC
layer via lower layers (i.e. MAC and physical layer).

The following services are provided by RLC to upper layer (i.e. RRC or PDCP):

• TM data transfer
• UM data transfer
• AM data transfer, including indication of successful delivery of upper
layers PDUs

The RLC layer supports following functions:

• Transfer of upper layer PDUs;

• Error correction through ARQ (only for AM data transfer);
• Concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs (only for UM
and AM data transfer);
• Re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs (only for AM data transfer);
• In sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs (only for UM and AM data
transfer);
• Duplicate detection (only for UM and AM data transfer);
 • RLC SDU discard (only for UM and AM data transfer);
• RLC re-establishment;
• Protocol error detection and recovery

An RLC layer performs data transfer in one of the following three modes:

• Transparent Mode (TM)

• Unacknowledged Mode (UM)
• Acknowledged Mode (AM)

A TM RLC entity delivers/receives TMD PDUs through the BCCH, DL/UL CCCH
and PCCH logical channels

An UM RLC entity delivers/receives UMD PDUs through the DL/UL DCCH,

DL/UL DTCH, MCCH or MTCH logical channels

An AM RLC entity delivers/receives the AMD (data) PDUs and STATUS (control)
PDUs through the DL/UL DCCH or DL/UL DTCH logical channels

2.2.2 Medium Access Control (MAC)

The following services are provided by MAC to upper layer

• Data transfer
• Radio resource allocation

The MAC layer supports following functions:

• Mapping between logical channels and transport channels

• Multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or different logical channels onto
transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to the physical layer on transport
channels
• De-multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or different logical channels from
transport blocks (TB) delivered from the physical layer on transport
channels
• Scheduling information reporting
• Error correction through HARQ
• Priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling
• Priority handling between logical channels of one UE
• Logical Channel prioritizations
• Transport format selection
MAC layer handle the following transport channels:

• Broadcast Channel (BCH)

• Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)
• Paging Channel (PCH)
• Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH)
• Random Access Channel(s) (RACH)

The MAC entity is responsible for mapping logical channels for the
downlink/uplink onto downlink/uplink transport channels. The downlink/uplink
logical channels is mapped as shown below

2.2.3 Radio Resource Control (RRC)

The following services are provided by RRC to upper layers:

• Broadcast of general control information to UEs

• Notification of UEs in RRC_IDLE, e.g. about a terminating call, for ETWS
• Transfer of dedicated control information, i.e. information for one specific
UE

The RRC protocol supports following main functions:

• Broadcast of system information:

o Including NAS common information
o Information applicable for UEs in RRC_IDLE, e.g. cell (re-)selection
parameters, neighbouring cell information and information (also)
applicable for UEs in RRC_CONNECTED, e.g. common channel
configuration information.

• RRC connection control:

o Paging
 o Establishment/ modification/ release of RRC connection
o Initial security activation, i.e. initial configuration of AS integrity
protection (CP) and AS ciphering (CP, UP)
o RRC connection mobility
o Establishment/ modification/ release of (ptp) RBs carrying user data
(DRBs)
o Radio configuration control
o QoS control Recovery from radio link failure

• Inter-RAT mobility including e.g: security activation, transfer of RRC

context information
• Measurement configuration control and reporting:
o Establishment/ modification/ release of measurements
o Configuration and (de-)activation of measurement gaps
o Measurement reporting

• Transfer of dedicated NAS information and non-3GPP dedicated

information
• Transfer of UE radio access capability information
• Support for E-UTRAN sharing (multiple PLMN identities)
• Multicast/ broadcast:
o Notification of service/ session start
o Indication of available services
o Establishment/ modification/ release of ptm RBs.

• Generic protocol error handling

• Support of self-configuration and self-optimization

2.2.4 Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)

PDCP provides its services to the RRC and user plane upper layers at the UE or
to the relay at the evolved Node B (eNB). The following services are provided by
PDCP to upper layers:

• Transfer of user plane data

• Transfer of control plane data
• Header compression
• Ciphering
• Integrity protection

The Packet Data Convergence Protocol supports the following functions:

 • Header compression and decompression of IP data flows using the ROHC
protocol, at the transmitting and receiving entity, respectively
• Transfer of data (user plane or control plane). This function is used for
conveyance of data between users of PDCP services
• Maintenance of PDCP sequence numbers for radio bearers mapped on
RLC AM
• In-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at handover
• Duplicate elimination of lower layer SDUs at handover for radio bearers
mapped on RLC AM
• Ciphering and deciphering of user plane data and control plane data
• Integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data
• Timer based discard
• Duplicate discarding.

PDCP uses the services provided by the RLC layer

3 EUTRAN Interfaces

In the E-UTRAN architecture a set of eNBs are connected to the EPC through
the S1 interface. An eNB interfaces with MME logical node in control plane and
SAE GTW logical node in the user plane.

An eNB can have interfaces with multiple MME logical nodes towards the EPC.
An eNB can have interfaces with multiple SAE GTW logical node s towards the
EPC as well.

3.1 S1 Interface

The radio network signaling over S1 consists of the S1 Application Part (S1AP).
The S1AP protocol handles all procedures between the EPC and E-UTRAN. It is
also capable of carrying messages transparently between the EPC and the UE.

Over the S1 interface the S1AP protocol primarily supports general E-UTRAN
procedures from the EPC, transfers transparent non-access signaling and
performs the mobility function

The figure below shows the protocol stack for the user-plane and control-plane at
S1 interface
3.1.1 S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)

S1AP is responsible for reliable transfer of S1-AP message over S1-MME

interface as well as providing networking and routing function.

S1AP protocol provides following functions:

• SAE Bearer management: Setting up, modifying and releasing SAE

bearers, which are triggered by the MME The release of SAE bearers may
be triggered by the eNB as well.
• Initial Context Transfer: To establish an S1UE context in the eNB, to setup
the default IP connectivity, to setup one or more SAE bearer(s) if
requested by the MME, and to transfer NAS signaling related information
to the eNB if needed.
• UE Capability Info Indication function: To provide the UE Capability Info
when received from the UE to the MME.
• Mobility Functions for UEs in LTE_ACTIVE in order to enable
o A change of eNBs within SAE/LTE (Inter MME/Serving SAE-GW
Handovers) via the S1 interface (with EPC involvement).
o A change of RAN nodes between different RATs (Inter-3GPP-RAT
Handovers) via the S1 interface (with EPC involvement).

• Paging: To provide the EPC the capability to page the UE.

• S1 interface management:
o Reset functionality to ensure a well defined initialization on the S1
interface.
o Error Indication functionality to allow a proper error
reporting/handling in cases where no failure messages are defined.
o Overload function to indicate the load situation in the control plane
of the S1 interface.
o Load balancing function to ensure equally loaded MMEs within an
MME pool area
o S1 Setup functionality for initial S1 interface setup for providing
configuration information
• NAS Signaling transport function between the UE and the MME is used:
o To transfer NAS signaling related information and to establish the
S1 UE context in the eNB.
o To transfer NAS signaling related information when the S1 UE
context in the eNB is already established.

• S1 UE context Release: To manage the release of UE specific context in

the eNB and the MME.
 • Status Transfer: To transfer PDCP SN Status information from source
eNB to target eNB in support of in-sequence delivery and duplication
avoidance for intra LTE handover.

3.1.2 S1AP Transport

S1AP uses services provided by SCTP/IP layer to transport its messages. Only
one SCTP association is established between one MME and eNB pair. SCTP
multi-homing functionality provides path redundancy at S1 interface.

3.2 X2 Interface

Two eNBs inter-connected via the X2 interface. The primary functions of X2

interface are to provide intra LTE-access-system mobility Support for UE in
LTE_ACTIVE state & inter-cell interference coordination functionality.

The figure below shows the protocol stack for the user-plane and control-plane at
X2 interface

3.2.1 X2 Application Protocol (X2AP)

The X2AP protocol provides the following functions:

 • Mobility Management: To allow the eNB to move the responsibility of a
certain UE to another eNB. Forwarding of user plane data is a part of the
mobility management.
• Load Management: To indicate overload and traffic load to each other.
• Reporting of General Error Situations: To allow reporting of general error
situations, for which function specific error messages have not been
defined.
• Resetting the X2: To completely reset the X2 interface.
• Setting up the X2: To exchange necessary data for the eNB for setup the
X2 interface.

3.2.2 X2AP Transport

X2AP uses services provided by SCTP/IP layer to transport its messages. Only
one SCTP association is established between the eNBs. SCTP multi-homing
functionality provides path redundancy at X2 interface.
4 LTE Solutions

NgnGuru LTESim can be used in functional testing of S1-MME and X2 LTE

interfaces. LTESim can send or receive any protocol messages of the S1 and X2
interfaces.

4.1 LTE S1-MME Interface Simulator

LTESim has SCTP protocol integrated in it, which is used to transport S1AP
protocol messages on S1-MME interface. A GUI interface is available to
generate S1AP protocol messages and build script for the test scenarios.

LTESim eNB
S1AP

SCTP SCTP

IP IP
S1-MME
L2/L1 L2/L1

4.2 LTE eNB-eNB X2 Interface Simulator

LTESim has SCTP protocol integrated in it, which is used to transport X2AP
protocol messages on X2 interface. A GUI interface is available to generate
X2AP protocol messages and build script for the test scenarios.

LTESim eNB
X2AP

SCTP SCTP

IP IP
X2
L2/L1 L2/L1
4.3 LTE Test Specifications

NgnGuru Solution has ready to use protocol conformance test specifications for
S1, X2 and Uu interfaces. Test specifications for individual LTE layers e.g. S1AP,
X2AP are also available.
5 Reference

[1] 3GPP TS 23882 (Release 7)

[2] 3GPP TS 36201 v8.1.0
[3] 3GPP TS 36300 v.8.5.0
[4] 3GPP TS 36302 v.8.0.0
[5] 3GPP TS 36401 v.8.2.0
[6] 3GPP TS 36321 v.8.2.0
[6] 3GPP TS 36322 v.8.2.0
[7] 3GPP TS 36323 v.8.2.1
[8] 3GPP TS 36331 v.8.2.0
[9] 3GPP TS 36410 v.8.0.0
[10] 3GPP TS 36411 v.8.0.0
[11] 3GPP TS 36412 v.8.2.0
[12] 3GPP TS 36413 v.8.2.0
[13] 3GPP TS 36414 v.8.2.0
[14] 3GPP TS 36420 v.8.0.0
[15] 3GPP TS 36421 v.8.0.0
[16] 3GPP TS 36422 v.8.2.0
[17] 3GPP TS 36423 v.8.2.0
[18] 3GPP TS 36424 v.8.2.0
[19] http://www.3gpp.org/
6 Acronyms
16-QAM 16 symbols Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
MHz Mega Hertz
3G 3rd Generation
MIMO Multiple In / Multiple Out
3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
MME Mobility Management Entity
4G 4th Generation
OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
64-QAM 64 symbols Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
PCRF Policy Control and Charging Rules Function
PDN Packet Data Network
CCCH Common Control Channel
PDP Packet Data Protocol
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
PoC Push to talk over Cellular
CS Coding Scheme
PS Packet Switched
CS Circuit Switched
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
DCCH Dedicated Control Channel
QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation
DL Downlink
QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying
DL-SCH Downlink Shared Channel
RACH Random Access Channel
RNC Radio Network Controller
E-UTRA Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access
RRC Radio Resource Control
eNB Enhanced Node B
S1-AP S1 Application Part
EPC Evolved Packet Core
SAE System Architecture Evolution
FDD Frequency Division Duplex
SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access
FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access
SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node
GERAN GSM EDGE Radio Access Network
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
SNIR Signal to Noise and Interference Ratio
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
TDD Time Division Duplex
GW Gateway
HSPA High Speed Packet Access
HSPA Enhanced High Speed Packet Access
UE User Equipment
HSS Home Subscriber Server
UL Uplink
IP Internet Protocol
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
UTRA UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access
LTE Long Term Evolution
UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network
About NgnGuru Solutions

NgnGuru Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is an established telecom training & services

provider company for next generation telecommunication networks. With highly
trained & motivated resources we offer a wide range of services including
consultancy, development, testing, integration & deployment of telecom products.

Company Focus

NgnGuru's focus is on providing communications training and services in

challenging markets. Ngnguru is determined to provide high quality training and
solutions to its customers. We have a full suite of integrated services to assist in
the creation and/or enhancement of your communications software and services
in GSM, GPRS, 3G, SS7 & VOIP space.

NgnGuru is proud to be providing a platform to develop strong telecom skills to

individuals & corporate seeking a broad understanding of a range of modern
wireless communications systems, networks and programming.

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http://ngnguru.com/