Enhanced Cell_FACH in the Downlink - An Introduction

Some of the biggest drawbacks in UMTS are the availability of less data rate on FACH (Forward Access Channel, also known as the common downlink channel) and the delay involved in the RRC state transition from common RRC states (Cell_FACH, Cell_PCH & URA_PCH) to dedicated RRC state (Cell_DCH). To understand these further let us analyse the nature of some of the services that are provided on the transport provided by the UMTS Radio Protocols. In "always on" services like PoC (Push-to-talk over Cellular), Push e-mail and VPN Connections small packets of data (for example: keep alive packets) are transmitted frequently in the background. For such services FACH channels cannot be employed because a) the required peak data rate for such services cannot be supported by FACH, b) FACH does not support fast power control mechanism that is required for supporting high data rates and, c) if several users want to use such services in a cell then using FACH channel for so many users is far from ideal. So, instead of using FACH if DCH transport channels (which are dedicated to an user) are to be used then it is not preferred for these kind of services because it is waste of channel bandwidth and channelisation code space. Let us consider one more example that explains the delay involved in RRC state transitions. If a mobile user is browsing the internet then most of the time there would not be any activity except for the times when the required content is to be downloaded or uploaded. In those kind of scenarios the mobile is directed by the network to be in Cell_PCH/URA_PCH state (semisleep mode) to conserve battery power. If the mobile user wants to again perform some activitiy (i.e. upload/download) when the UE is in semi-sleep mode then the UE has to perform a signalling procedure (Cell Update with an appropriate cause to inform the network of the latest cell in which the mobile is in and the reason for the Cell Update) with the network to again forward/download the data associated with the user request. Because of the latency involved in completing the required signalling the end-user would not perceive a good QoS (Quality of Service) hence degrading the overall end-user satisfaction. To overcome the above deficiencies and to provide a good QoS that results in better end-user satisfaction 3GPP has introduced a new feature called "Enhanced Cell_FACH" in Rel-7 UMTS specifications that will use the high speed shared channels in RRC states other than Cell_DCH. Because high speed shared channels are used in all the connected mode RRC states the name "Enhanced Cell_FACH" is a bit of a misnomer in that sense. Some of the advantages of using high speed shared channels in the downlink in RRC states other than Cell_DCH are:

HS-DSCH channels that are used in the downlink for achieving high data rates in HSDPA (Rel-5) can be used to prop up the available data rate as the network can use Adapative Modulation and Coding scheme to change the transmission parameters depending upon the network conditions although at a very slow rate because of unavailability of control channel in the uplink that will report the result of decoding at the UE and the radio conditions. For the kind of services described above, if HS-DSCH channels are used in the downlink in all the RRC states then there is no need tear down and establish channels in the downlink and its assciated signalling. In addition to the above the improvements done to high speed shared channels (HSDSCH) as part of other Rel-7 features like Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC) can also be taken advantage of.

Therefore, to summarise, some of the main goals of Enhanced Cell_FACH feature are to:

Increase the data rates in Cell_FACH state Decrease the latency in RRC state switching Better channelisation code usage Use of shared channels in the downlink to take advantage of features like CPC and other Rel-7 features that use downlink shared channels Align the radio protocol architecture of UMTS closer to the architecture used in LTE (Long Term Evolution) i.e. the use of shared channels in the uplink and downlink

Ok! enough of what Enhanced Cell_FACH can do to improve bla bla bla... Let us now look at the new mapping for logical channels, transport channels and physical channels in the downlink (in the below diagram). The indicator channels like PICH and MICH have been intentionally left out.

The red lines indicate the new mappings created for Enhanced Cell_FACH and the blue lines indicate the mapping of HS-DSCH that existed prior to introducing Enhanced Cell_FACH.