Wideband Code Division Multiple

Access (WCDMA)

Beneyam Berehanu Haile

Acknowledgment: Jyri Hämälainen
November, 2016
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols
Network elements
 The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) utilizes
similar network architecture that has been used in second generation
systems:
– The UMTS system consists of a number of logical network elements that each admit a
defined functionality.
 In the standards, network elements are defined at the logical level and
the physical implementation usually follows the same logical structure
due to open interfaces
– If interface is ‘open’ then it is defined such that equipments at the endpoints
of an interface can be from two different manufacturers.
– Thus, open interfaces are defined by global standards that each
manufacturer must follow.
– UMTS standards have been created jointly by the industry community within
the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), see
http://www.3gpp.org

4
Network elements

 Functionally the network elements are grouped into the

– Radio Access Network (RAN/UTRAN) that handles radio-related
functionalities
– Core Network (CN), which is responsible for switching and routing
calls and data connections to external networks.
– User Equipment (UE) that interfaces with the user.
 From standardization point of view, both UE and UTRAN are fully
different from GSM.
 Part of the definition of Core Network (CN) is adopted from GSM.
– This supports, for example, cost effective introduction of new radio
technologies and global roaming.

UTRAN = UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network

5
Network elements in WCDMA based PLMN
Our main focus area

UE UTRAN Core Network

Uu Iub Iu MSC

External networks
Node B VLR
GMSC CS
USIM RNC
Node B
Cu HLR
Iur
Node B
ME RNC
Node B SGSN GGSN PS

PLMN = Public Land Mobile Network

6
Network elements: UE

 Typically PLMN is operated by a single operator

– Connected to other PLMNs and networks like internet
 User Equipment (UE) contains
– Mobile equipment (ME): Radio communication over Uu
interface
– UMTS Subscriber Identity Module (USIM): The subscriber
identity, execution of authentication algorithms, storing of
authentication and encryption keys and some subscription
information that is needed at the terminal.

7
Network elements: UTRAN
 UTRAN consists of Node B’s and RNC’s
 Node B (Base Station): Handles/manages the traffic between Uu
and Iub interfaces. Basic tasks like coding, interleaving, rate
adaptation, modulation, spreading etc. Handles also some mobility
management tasks.
 Radio Network Controller (RNC): Control radio resources of Node
B’s in its operation area. Provide services for Core Network (CN).
Load and congestion control, admission control, code allocation,
radio resource management tasks. In addition
– RNC terminates the RRC (Radio Resource Control) protocol that
defines the messages and procedures between the UE and UTRAN.
– The RNC controlling one Node B (i.e. terminating the Iub interface
towards the Node B) is indicated as the Controlling RNC (CRNC) of the
Node B. The Controlling RNC is responsible for the load and congestion
control of its own cells, and also executes the admission control and
code allocation for new radio links to be established in those cells.

Task: find pictures of 3G base stations and RNC’s from internet.

8
Network elements: CN
 HLR (Home Location Register): Database that is located in the
user’s home system. Stores the master copy of the user’s service
profile.
– The service profile consists of, for example, information on allowed
services and forbidden roaming areas. It is created when a new user
subscribes to the system, and remains stored as long as the subscription
is active.
 MSC/VLR (Mobile Services Switching Centre/Visitor Location
Register): The switch (MSC) and database (VLR) that serves the UE
for Circuit Switched (CS) services.
– The MSC function is used to switch the CS transactions
– The VLR function holds a copy of the visiting user’s service profile, as
well as more precise information on the UE’s location within the serving
system.
– The part of the network that is accessed via the MSC/VLR is often
referred to as the CS domain.

9
Network elements: CN

 GMSC (Gateway MSC): The switch at the point where UMTS

PLMN is connected to external CS networks. All incoming and
outgoing CS connections go through GMSC.
 SGSN (Serving GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Support
Node): Functionality is similar to that of MSC/VLR but is used for
Packet Switched (PS) services.
 The part of the network that is accessed via the SGSN is often referred
to as the PS domain.
 Similar to MSC, SGSN support is needed for the early UE handling
operation.
 GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node): Functionality is close to
that of GMSC but is in relation to PS services.

10
UTRAN Architecture: Open interfaces
 The UMTS standards are structured so that internal functionality of
the network elements is not specified in detail.
 Instead, the interfaces between the logical network elements have
been defined. Few important open interfaces are indicated below:

UE UTRAN Core Network

Uu Iub Iu MSC
Node B VLR
GMSC
USIM RNC
Node B
Cu HLR
Iur
Node B
ME RNC
Node B SGSN GGSN

11
UTRAN Architecture: Open interfaces
 Cu interface. This is the interface between the USIM smartcard and
the ME. The interface follows a standard format for smartcards.
 Uu interface. This is the WCDMA radio interface. The Uu is the
interface through which the UE accesses the fixed part of the system.
– It is important that radio interface standards are very precise since there
are many UE manufacturers and all UE’s should work in all WCDMA
networks.
– Uu is also called as ‘Air Interface’.
 Iub interface. The Iub connects a Node B and an RNC. Like the
other open interfaces, open Iub is expected to further motivate
competition between manufacturers in this area.
– However, in practice there have been incompatibility problems if Node
B’s and RNC are from different manufacturers.
– RNC controls Node B’s through Iub interface.

12
UTRAN Architecture: Open interfaces

 Iu interface. This connects UTRAN to the CN. The open Iu

interface gives UMTS operators the possibility of buying UTRAN
and CN from different manufacturers. The enabled competition in
this area has been one of the success factors of mobile networks.
 Iur interface. The open Iur interface allows soft handover between
Node B’s connected to different RNCs.

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Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols (optional)
7. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
Code division multiple access (1)
 In CDMA, each transmission is spread over the entire
bandwidth and separation between transmissions is
done using the Code Division Multiplexing (CDM)

DS

FH
DS = direct sequence FH = frequency hopping

15
Code division multiple access (2)
 In the so-called Direct-Sequence Spread-Spectrum (DS-
SS), the low rate stream of information bits from user is
modulated by pseudo-noise sequence
 So, inter-cell interference occurs evenly over the whole
bandwidth, and it is looking like white noise

Two narrowband FDMA users

Sum signal of
One CDMA user
two CDMA users

Frequency

16
Code division multiple access (3)

Despreading in presence
of wideband interference

17
CDMA Downlink (1)
 In the Downlink (DL) of a CDMA system, transmissions
to different users are synchronized by nature
– Transmission is emerging from a single point (i.e., the BS)
 Therefore, in DL users in the single cell can be
separated using orthogonal channelization codes

Row
”i”

Row
”j”

Hadamard-Walsh codes

18
CDMA Downlink (2)
 Thus, each user is assigned a channelization code
 Then, if reception in terminal receiver is perfect, signals
from base station to other users of the same cell may be
completely removed
 Yet, the co-channel interference from adjacent cells
cannot be removed, but for mobile terminal it is seen as
an additional component of Gaussian white noise

MS 1
MS 1 r1(t) BS
output
p1(t) p1(t)
r1(t)
p2(t)
MS 2 r2(t)
p2(t)
BS to MS 1
MS 2
19
output
Asynchronous vs synchronous CDMA uplink
 In the Uplink (UL) of CDMA systems, users are
asynchronous in nature
– I.e., each one has its local oscillator that runs independently
– Cross correlation properties of the spreading codes change
 Then, there are two options to separate users in a proper
way (i.e., keep co-channel interference low)
(a) Use scrambling codes (make interference look like AWGN)
(b) Estimate the timing advance, and synchronize to the local
oscillator to the oscillator of the base station

Asynchronous CDMA Synchronous CDMA

Baseline approach20in WCDMA

Asynchronous CDMA uplink
(a) Scrambling codes are assigned to users to randomize
different users wideband signals with respect to each other.
– When base station receiver detects the signal from a certain user,
the sum signal from other users is seen as AWGN
– Advanced receiver structures can be used at the base station to
improve the performance in this situation

PN Sequence Generator

The use of scrambling does not

affect the chip rate of CDMA21system
Some CDMA design aspects (1)
(1) In general, the interference in CDMA should be “white
noise like”
– If interference rejection methods are not used, then it is very
important to make interference as similar as AWGN as possible
(2) Since interference is spread over the entire bandwidth,
the interference should be kept as low as possible

 Aspect (2) may lead to the implementation of tight

power control mechanisms specially in UL, where large
differences in received powers from different users may
make detection of weak signals very difficult
 This phenomenon is called “near-far problem”

22
Some CDMA design aspects (2)
 In the DL, base station transmitter can centrally control
the signal differences
 However, UL power control requires the assistance of the
base station (feedback information is required)
 The best performance is obtained when received power
is just on the level that is needed for reliable detection

The near-far problem (CDMA UL)

23
Advantages of CDMA
 All frequency resources can be used in all cells (i.e., universal
frequency reuse)
 The implementation of CDMA provides relatively high system
capacity, especially when the data rates of users are low
– Thus, CDMA is relatively good multiple access method when system
is characterized by a large number of low rate users
 Different channels can be multiplexed easily in the code domain
– I.e., separation of control and data channels is quite easy
 Narrowband interference is spread in the receiver, which leads to
good protection against narrowband interference (Jamming)

Narrowband jamming
in CDMA systems
24
Disadvantages of CDMA (1)
 Accurate power control is needed, to avoid near-far
problem in both links
– This statement becomes especially true in the uplink direction
 The use of CDMA is a better choice when dealing with a
large number of low-rate users, rather than few users
that demand high data rates
 Code orthogonality can be partially
lost in presence of strong multipath
propagation conditions
– Then, interference between code
channels takes place, and orthogonality
on same cell users is partially lost (i.e.,
intra-cell interference is generated)

25
Disadvantages of CDMA (2)
 Inter-cell interference is similar to white noise, making the
interference mitigation difficult
 Very accurate synchronization is needed, since chip
duration is short in time

Rake receiver concept

26
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols
Spreading

Data

Spreading code

Signal after spreading

Spreading expands the signal to wide band

frequency frequency

Spreading Factor (SF) defines how many chips are used to

represent one data symbol

28
Spreading
 Spreading is done using orthogonal codes
– Codes remain orthogonal only if synchronization is perfect
– Multi-path fading will reduce the orthogonality

[1,1,1,1]

[1,1] …
[1,1,-1,-1]
[1]
[1,-1,1,-1]

[1,-1] [1,-1,-1,1,1,-1,-1,1]

[1,-1,-1,1] …
[1,-1,-1,1,-1,1,1,-1]

29
Spreading
 Spreading provides processing gain. Let us denote
– W = system chip rate
– R = user bit rate
Then processing gain is defined by
W 
PG  10 log10  
R
 While user data rate increases, the processing gain decreases as well
as the spreading factor. Hence, it is harder for the receiver to detect the
signal correctly.
 Sometimes we also use term spreading gain. It refers to value

Spreading gain  10 log10 SF 

30
WCDMA uplink transmission path

Data Modulation Spreading

Scrambling
Control Modulation Spreading

– Spreading codes are used to separate data and control of a user.

– Scrambling codes are used to separate different users.
– Dual channel QPSK modulation (data and control into different I/Q
branches)

31
WCDMA downlink transmission path

Stream 1 Modulation Spreading

. .
. . Scrambling
. .

Stream N Modulation Spreading

– Users within a cell (sector) are separated by orthogonal

spreading codes (sometimes also called as channelization
codes)
– Cells (sectors) are separated by scrambling codes
– QPSK modulation (in HSDPA higher order modulations
introduced).

32
Despreading: Separation of channels
(users) in DL
 Assume flat fading and N users with different spreading
codes. Then, (after descrambling) the receiver d sees the
sum signal

where
user i data symbol
user i chip code (vector)
channel response for user i
 Vector n contains the noise

33
Despreading: Separation of channels
(users) in DL
 In the despreading procedure of user d the signal
stream is correlated with the chip code

Interference from other Other noise/interference

Desired signal
users in the own cell

34
Despreading: Separation of channels
(users) in DL
 The code autocorrelation and cross correlation are
denoted by

 Value of the autocorrelation depends on the length of

the spreading code and other autocorrelation properties.
 If orthogonal codes are used (like in WCDMA) then
cross-correlation is zero in ideal case.

35
Despreading: Separation of channels
(users) in DL
 The (post-processing) signal-to-interference plus noise
ratio (SINR) after despreading at receiver d is now of the
form

 Note that we have taken expectations of the power of

the desired part of the signal and divided it by the
expectation of the interference + noise power.

36
Performance measures
 Some measures that are used in WCDMA receiver
investigations
– CINR = Carrier to interference and noise ratio, also term Signal
to interference and Noise Ratio (SINR) is used. Definitions of
these measures may vary in different books.
– CIR = Carrier to interference ratio, also SIR is used
– SNR = Signal to noise ratio
– E = Energy per user bit divided by the noise spectral density =
processing gain * power that is needed to overcome the
noise+interference from other users.
– Notation is commonly used for E
Eb / N 0

37
Spreading and multipath propagation

 In WCDMA chip rate is 3.84 Mcps.

– Temporal duration of the chip is 1/3.84*10^6 = 260.4ns.
– Signal travels 78.125 meters during the chip duration
– This distance defines the maximum accuracy by which receiver
can resolve different signal paths.

RAKE operations
Signal Chip duration long echos, usually only in Hilly
amplitude terrain environment

direct delay time

path nearby scatterers

38
RAKE receiver
 A basic receiver that is used in WCDMA is called as RAKE
– The multipath channel through which a radio wave propagates can
be viewed as a sum of many delayed copies of the original
transmitted wave, each with a different magnitude and time-of-
arrival at the receiver.
– Each multipath component contains the original information => if
the magnitude and time-of-arrival of each multipath component is
known (through channel estimation), then all the multipath
components can be added coherently
– RAKE is designed to counter the effects of multipath fading. It
does this by using several fingers, each delayed (by order of some
chips) in order to catch the individual multipath components.
– Component signals from fingers are combined coherently for the
sum signal that is used in decoding.

39
RAKE: separation of multipaths

 Assume that there are M signal paths after despreading. Then

ideal RAKE receiver can combine signals from different paths:

z d ,1  hd ,1sd xd  nd ,1

z d , M  hd , M sd xd  nd , M

M M
Z d   hd* ,m z d ,m   | hd ,m |2 sd xd  N d
m 1 m 1

40
RAKE: separation of multipaths
 Coherent combining of complex channels:

hd ,1 hd , 2 … hd , M

RAKE combining

| hd , M |2
| hd ,1 |2 | hd , 2 |2
+ + … + =

41
Scrambling

+1
Signal after spreading
-1

+1
Scrambling code
-1

+1
Signal after scrambling
-1

42
Scrambling

 Scrambling codes are used to separate users in uplink and cells in

downlink
 Scrambling is used on top of spreading
 Scrambling is not changing the signal bandwidth
 In downlink scrambling codes are allocated to the cells (sectors) in
network planning phase
– Number of scrambling codes is high => code planning is almost a trivial
task and can be automated

43
Spreading and scrambling summary

Spreading codes Scrambling codes

Usage UL: Separation of control and UL: Separation of

data from the same user users
DL: Separation of connections DL: Separation of cells
within a cell
Length UL: 4-256 chips UL: 38400 chips =
DL: 4-512 chips 10ms = frame length
Code length defines symbol rate DL: 38400 chips =
10ms = frame length
Bandwidth Increases transmission bandwidth No impact to
transmission
bandwidth

44
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols
Channel concepts
 Three separate channel concepts in the UTRA: logical,
transport, and physical channels.
 Concept of logical channels is omitted in this presentation.
 Transport channels define how and with which type of
characteristics the data is transferred by the physical
layer.
 Physical channels define the exact physical
characteristics of the radio channel. There exists
– physical channels that carry transport channel data
– physical channels used only for signaling purposes to carry
information between network and the terminals.

46
Mapping between (most important)
transport and physical channels
Transport channels Physical channels
DPDC Dedicated Physical Data CHannel
DCH
H Dedicated Physical Control CHannel
DPCCH
BCH PCCPC Primary Common Control Physical CHannel
H
RACH PRACH Physical Random Access CHannel

PCH SCCPC Secondary Common Control Physical CHannel

H
FACH
CPICH Common Pilot CHannel
Physical channels for SCH Synchronization CHannel
signaling purposes
(not associated to AICH Acquisition Indication CHannel
transport channels)
PICH Paging Indication CHannel

47
Uplink dedicated channel
 Physical layer control information in Dedicated Physical Control Channel
(DPCCH), spreading factor =256
 Data is carried in Dedicated Physical Data Channels (DPDCH). Variable
spreading factor
 There can be multiple DPDCHs but only one DPCCH.

Note: There is
usually a power
shift between
data and control
channels

48
Control information in DPCCH
 Pilot (reference) bits for channel estimation
– Always present
 Transmit Power Control (TPC) bits for downlink power control
– Always present
 Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI)
– Inform receiver about active transport channels
 Feedback Bit Information (FBI)
– Present only when downlink two-antenna closed loop transmit
diversity method is applied

49
Uplink DPDCH data rates

 Data rates in the table achieved Spreading factor User data rate
with ½ rate coding
256 7.5 kbps
 Parallel codes not used in
practice due to reduced power 128 15 kbps
amplifier efficiency 64 30 kbps
 Maximum rate below 500 kbps. 32 60 kbps
 Note: In uplink each user have 16 120 kbps
all spreading codes in its use
8 240 kbps
 Note: Higher rates can be
4 480 kbps
achieved through HSUPA, this
will be discussed later in more 4, 6 parallel 2.8 Mbps
details. codes

50
Uplink multiplexing

51
Downlink dedicated channel
 Downlink control information is carried in Dedicated Physical Control
Channel (DPCCH)
 Downlink data is carried in Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH)
 Spreading factor depends on the service

52
Downlink DPDCH data rates
 Data rates in the table achieved Spreading factor User data rate
with ½ rate coding 512 1-3 kbps
 In downlink all users share the 256 6-12 kbps
spreading codes => number of
128 20-24 kbps
orthogonal codes defines a hard
limit for cell capacity 64 45 kbps
 Part of the spreading codes are 32 105 kbps
reserved for control channels 16 215 kbps
 Note: Higher rates can be 8 456 kbps
achieved through HSDPA, this
4 936 kbps
will be discussed later in more
details. 4, 3 parallel 2.8 Mbps
codes

53
Downlink multiplexing

54
Signalling: Common PIlot CHannel
(CPICH)
 The function of the CPICH is to aid the channel estimation at the
terminal for the dedicated channel and to provide the channel estimation
reference for the common channels when they are not associated with
the dedicated channels.
 UTRA has two types of common pilot channel, primary (P-CPICH) and
secondary (S-CPICH). The difference is that the Primary CPICH is
always under the primary scrambling code with a fixed chanelisation
code allocation and there is only one such channel for a cell or sector.
 The typical area of Secondary CPICH usage would be operations with
narrow antenna beams intended for service provision at specific ‘hot
spots’ or places with high traffic density.
 An important area for the primary common pilot channel is the
measurements for the handover and cell selection/reselection.

55
Signalling: Common PIlot CHannel
(CPICH)
 CPICH defines the reference reception level at the terminal for
handover measurements => by adjusting the CPICH power level, the
cell load can be balanced between different cells. Reducing the
CPICH power causes part of the terminals to hand over to other cells,
while increasing it invites more terminals to hand over to the cell, as
well as to make their initial access to the network in that cell.
 The CPICH does not carry any higher layer information, neither is
there any transport channel mapped to it. The CPICH uses the
spreading factor of 256.
 CPICH may be sent from two antennas in case transmission diversity
methods are used in the base station.

56
Signalling: Synchronization CHannel
(SCH)
 SCH is needed for the cell search. It consists of two channels, the
primary and secondary synchronization channels.
 The Primary SCH uses a 256-chip spreading sequence identical in
every cell.
 The Secondary SCH uses sequences with different code word
combination possibilities representing different code groups. Once the
terminal has identified the secondary synchronization channel, it has
obtained frame and slot synchronization as well as information on the
group the cell belongs to.

See also cell search

57
Signalling: Synchronization CHannel
(SCH)
 There are 64 different code groups in use, pointed out by the 256 chip
sequences sent on the secondary SCHs. Such a full cell search
process with a need to search for all groups is needed only at the
initial search upon terminal power-on or when entering a coverage
area, otherwise a terminal has more information available on the
neighboring cells and not all the steps are always necessary.
 No transport channel is mapped on the SCH, as the code words are
transmitted for cell search purposes only.

See also cell search

58
Signalling: Primary Common Control
Physical CHannel (P-CCPCH)
 P-CCPCH is the physical channel carrying the Broadcast Channel
(BCH).
 P-CCPCH needs to be demodulated correctly by a terminal. If
parameters with respect to, for example, channel coding and
spreading code are not correctly received, the connection fails.
 Primary CCPCH needs to be available over the whole cell area and
does not use specific antenna techniques but is sent with the same
antenna radiation pattern as the common pilot channel.
 The channel bit rate is 30 kbps with spreading factor 256 of the
permanently allocated channelisation code.

59
Signalling: Secondary Common Control
Physical CHannel (S-CCPCH)

 S-CCPCH carries two different common transport channels: the

Forward Access Channel (FACH) and the Paging Channel (PCH).
The two channels can share a single Secondary CCPCH or can use
different physical channels.
 There must be at least one S-CCPCH in each cell
 The spreading factor used in a Secondary CCPCH is fixed and
determined according to the maximum data rate.

60
Signalling: Random Access CHannel
(RACH)
 RACH is typically used to register the terminal to the network or to
perform location update after moving from one location area to
another or to initiate a call.
 In addition to signaling purposes the physical RACH can be used for
user data transmission (in small scale)
 When used for signaling the RACH data rate needs to be kept
relatively low, otherwise the range achievable with RACH signaling
starts to limit the system coverage.
 RACH coverage optimization is important in network planning.

61
Signalling: Acquisition Indicator CHannel
(AICH)
 In connection with the Random Access Channel, the AICH is used to
indicate from the base station the reception of the random access
channel signature sequence.
 The AICH uses an identical signature sequence as the RACH on one
of the downlink channelization codes of the base station.
 Once the base station has detected the preamble with the random
access attempt, then the same signature sequence will be echoed
back on AICH.
 The AICH also needs to be heard by all terminals and needs to be
sent typically at high power level without power control.
 The AICH is not visible to higher layers but is controlled directly by the
physical layer in the base station

62
Signalling: Paging Indicator CHannel
(PICH)
 The Paging Channel (PCH) is operated together with the PICH to
provide terminals with efficient sleep mode operation.
 The paging indicators use a channelization code of length 256.
 PICH needs to be heard by all terminals in the cell and thus needs to
be sent at high power level without power control
 The paging indicators occur once per slot on the corresponding
physical channel, the Paging Indicator Channel (PICH).
 Depending on the paging indicator repetition ratio, there can be 18,
36, 72 or 144 paging indicators per PICH frame. How often a terminal
needs to listen to the PICH is parameterized.

63
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols
Physical layer procedures
 In the physical layer of a WCDMA system there are many
procedures essential for system operation:
– Power control procedure
– Paging procedure
– Random Access procedure
– Cell search procedure
– Multiantenna procedures (discussed in HSPA part)
– Measurement procedures (omitted)
– Compressed mode procedure (omitted)
 In the following we go through briefly paging, random access
and cell search while power control is discussed in
connection with Radio Resource Management.

65
Paging procedure
 In the Paging Channel (PCH) operation a terminal, once registered
to a network, is allocated a paging group.
 For the paging group there are Paging Indicators (PI) which appear
periodically on the Paging Indicator Channel (PICH) when there are
paging messages for any of the terminals belonging to that paging
group.
 Once a PI has been detected, the terminal decodes the next PCH
frame transmitted on the Secondary CCPCH to see whether there
was a paging message intended for it.
 The less often the PIs appear, the less often the terminal needs to
wake up from the sleep mode and the longer the battery life
becomes. The trade-off is the response time to the network-
originated call.

66
Random Access procedure
Phases in WCDMA Random Access procedure:
1. UE decodes the BCH to find out the available RACH sub-channels and
their scrambling codes and signatures.
2. UE selects randomly one of the RACH sub-channels and signature
from among the available signatures.
3. The downlink power level is measured and the initial RACH power
level is set with the proper margin.
4. 1 ms RACH preamble is sent with the selected signature.
5. UE decodes AICH from Node B to see whether its preamble has been
detected.
6. In case no AICH is detected, the terminal increases the preamble
transmission power by a step given by the Node B (1 dB step). The
preamble is retransmitted in the next available access slot.
7. When an AICH transmission is detected from the base station, the
terminal transmits the 10 ms or 20 ms message part of the RACH
transmission.

67
Random Access procedure
 The Random Access procedure in a WCDMA system has to cope
with the near–far problem: when initiating the RACH procedure
there is no exact knowledge of the required transmission power.
 The initial transmission power selection based on downlink CPICH
measurements has a large uncertainty because fast fading in uplink
and downlink are uncorrelated.
 As a result the explained power ramping needs to be used. Power
ramping is illustrated in the next slide.
 In the case of data transmission on RACH, the spreading factor and
thus the data rate may vary; this is indicated with the TFCI on the
DPCCH on PRACH.

68
Power ramping in RACH procedure

TX power
in UE

69
Cell Search Procedure
The initial cell search procedure has basically three steps:
1. The terminal searches the primary synchronization code that is
identical for all cells. As the primary synchronization code is the
same in every slot, the detected peak indicates the slot boundary.
2. Based on the detected peaks on the primary synchronization
code, the UE seeks the largest peak from the Secondary SCH
code word. The UE needs to check all 15 slots in frame since the
frame boundary is not known before Secondary SCH code word is
detected.
3. Once the Secondary SCH code word has been detected, the
frame timing is known. Then UE seeks the primary scrambling
codes that belong to code group defined by secondary SCH. Each
group consists of eight primary scrambling codes.

70
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols (optional)
General
 Radio Resource Management (RRM) is elementary part
of a mobile system.
 RRM is responsible for efficient utilization of the air
interface resources. It is needed to
– Guarantee Quality of Service (QoS)
– Maintain the planned coverage area
– Optimize the radio resource usage in the network

72
Objectives of RRM

 Ensure planned coverage for

services. QoS
 Ensure required connection
quality
 Ensure that allowed maximum OPTIMISATION
blocking is not exceeded.
 Optimise the effective usage of
system radio resources.

Cell coverage Cell capacity

73
RRM algorithms

 Power control
– Transmit (fast) power control (Node B, UE)
– Outer loop power control (RNC)
 Handover control (RNC)
 Admission control (RNC)
 Load control (RNC)
– Fast load control (Node B)
 Packet scheduling (RNC, Note: HSPA PS is in Node B)

74
Introduction to RRM/Functions

Handover
Control

Power
Control
Load Control
Admission
Control

Packet
Scheduler

75
RRM algorithm execution in different
elements
Node B RNC

MS

• Power Control
• Power Control • Load Control
• Load Control • Handover Control
• Power Control • Admission Control
• HSPA packet
(also in SGSN)
scheduling
• WCDMA packet
scheduler

76
Shotrtcut: Node B figures

NSN Flexi multimode BTS

77
WCDMA Power Control

78
Power control
 Objectives:
– Maintain the link quality in uplink and in downlink by controlling the
transmission powers
– Prevents the near-far effect
– Minimize effects of fast and slow fading
– Minimizes the interference in the network
 Accuracy of the power control is important in CDMA
– No time-frequency separation of users, all use the same bandwidth
– Inaccuracy in power control immediately lifts the network’s
interference level, which correspondingly lowers the capacity
– Due to users mobility the speed of power control is also a critical
issue

79
Near-far problem in uplink
 There can be large path loss difference between UE1 (cell centre)
and UE2 (cell edge)
 If both UEs are transmitting with the same power then UE1 will
block UE2 (and other cell edge users too)
 Power control will drive transmission powers of UE1 and UE2 to
the minimum level that is required to meet QoS
 After power control the Node B received powers from UE1 and
UE2 will be the same for the same services

UE2
UE1

80
Power control
 Power control on the common channels ensures that their coverage is
sufficient (common channel reception critical for UEs)
 Power control on the dedicated channels ensures an agreed quality of
connection in terms of Block Error Rate (BLER)
 Uplink Power Control increases the maximum number of connections
that can be served with the required Quality of Service (QoS), while
reducing both the interference and the total amount of radiated power in
the network.
 Downlink Power Control minimizes the transmission power of the
Node B and compensates the impact of channel fading. Minimizing
transmitted power improves the downlink capacity.

81
Main PC approaches in WCDMA

 Fast power control:

– Aim is to compensate the effect of fast fading
– Gain from fast power control is largest for slowly moving UEs
and when fading is flat, i.e. there is no multi-path diversity
– Fast power control drives the received power to a target SIR.
 Outer loop power control:
– Adjust the target SIR according to service QoS.

82
PC mechanism

Fast PC: Node B

Outer loop PC: RNC command terminal to
adjust the target SIR change transmit power
in order to meet in order to meet target
target BLER Received SIR
SIR

Outer loop power control

Fast power control

83
Uplink outer loop PC

 The goal is to control the target SIR in order to sustain the wanted QoS
with minimum transmit power
 The target BLER is defined by the admission control algorithm
 The outer loop algorithm is controlled in RNC
 Update frequency from 10 Hz up to 100 Hz
 Outer loop power control will raise or lower the target SIR according to
step size, which is defined during radio network planning and
optimization. Typical step size is 0.5dB.

84
Downlink outer loop PC
 Implemented in UE to set SIR target on DL traffic channels
 Quality target: BLER of each transport channel as set by RNC
 Admission control determines the target value of DL BLER.
 No SIR target change if Node B power reaches maximum or
network congestion occurs.

85
General Outer loop PC algorithm

86
Transmit Power Control (TPC)
 Ideal fast power control invert the channel
– In practice power control accuracy is reduced by feedback errors,

Fast fading channel

Transmitted power

Note: It is usual to talk about ‘fast power control’ when

power control is build up to mitigate fast fading. Transmit
power control
87
is a WCDMA specific term
Uplink TPC
 Update rate 1.5 kHz => fast enough to track and compensate fast fading
up to 30-50 km/h mobile speed
 If received SIR > target SIR in Node B => UE is commanded to
decrease its transmit power. Similarly UE is commanded to increase its
transmission power if received SIR < target SIR
 Network planning defines the step size. Usual step size values are
between 0.5dB and 2dB.
 UL soft handover:
– UE can receive contradictory PC commands from different Node Bs
– UE transmission power will be increased if all Node B’s ask for it and
decreased if at least one Node B demands it

88
Uplink TPC: Impact of mobile speed
-4.5 0

-2

-4

Channel response [dB]

Channel response [dB]

-5 -6

-8

-10

-5.5 -12

-14

-16

-6 -18
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time slot Time slot

3km/h 25km/h10
5

3 km/h TPC work well 0

25 km/h TPC still works Channel response [dB]

120 km/h TPC is not working well -5

-10

-15

-20

89
120km/h
-25
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
Time slot
Downlink TPC
 Similar as UL TPC:
– UE measures SIR on DL DPCCH during the pilot period (or use
CPICH)
– UE maintains the QoS by sending fast power control commands
(TPC bits) requesting power adjustment
 Power offsets can be used in DL in order to improve control reliability.
Offsets are network parameters that can be set in planning phase

90
TPC characters
 PC concerns in practise:
• In SHO, DL powers may drift apart due to the inaccurate
reception of uplink PC commands → Degraded SHO
performance
• In SHO, DL PC commands cannot be combined in RAKE
(because they contain different information). Data bits however
can be combined → decreased reability for PC commands.
• => Can be improved by allocating more power to control
channels
• Building corners in the urban areas
 Average TPC headroom (like 4dB) must be assumed to
compensate limited power control dynamics

91
WCDMA Handover

92
Handover types in WCDMA
UMTS -Handover

Intra-system Handover Inter-system Handover

Intra-frequency Inter-frequency UMTS<>GSM UMTS<>EDGE

Handover Handover

etc. UMTS <> GPRS

Soft Softer Hard Hard

SHO = Soft HandOver

HHO
93
= Hard HandOver
WCDMA Handover control: HHO

 All the old radio links of an UE are released before the new
radio links are established.
 Real time bearers: short disconnection in transmission.
 Non real time bearers: HHO is lossless.
 Shared & common channels: hard handover (cell
reselection)

94
WCDMA Handover control: SHO

 UE always keeps at least one radio link to UTRAN.

– Soft HO: UE is simultaneously controlled by two or more cells
belonging to different Node B of the same RNC or to different
RNC.
– Softer HO. UE is controlled by at least two cells under one base
station site.
– Dedicated channels: SHO applied
 Handover can be either network or UE initiated
– Serving RNC makes the decisions in both cases

95
WCDMA Handover control

Core network

RNC1 Iur RNC2 RNC3 RNC4 BSC

Combining (Softer HO)

Node B Node B Node B Node B Node B BTS

Soft Handover Soft Handover Hard Handover

Hard Handover Hard Handover
Softer Handover

96
Hard handover (HHO)
 Both intra and inter-frequency HHO’s
 Not recommended in WCDMA unless there is an urgent need, because
– Hard HO increases interference easily, since the real-time user is
disconnected temporarily and the used TX power must be re-evaluated
– This decreases the capacity in heavy traffic situations and can make the
near-far effect worse.
 Absence of Iur (connection between RNC’s) will cause HHO
 Compressed mode used in HOs between carriers and systems
– In compressed mode UE stop UL transmission for few milliseconds within a
radio frame (10ms) in order to enable measurements of different
carriers/systems

97
Inter frequency handover (IFHO) in
WCDMA
 IFHO can be used to
• Provide coverage (micro ↦ macro cell when micro and macro on
different frequencies)
• Reduce cell loading (load balancing between different frequency
carriers)
 Not so straightforward to perform in UE due to need of compressed
mode
 IFHO is generally seen as a means of optimisation as the traffic
evolves, but can be used also e.g. to provide indoor coverage on
separate carrier (safe solution but lowers the network capacity)

98
Soft Handover (SHO)

 SHO help to avoid near-far effect in case of real-time

connection
 For high mobility users shadow fading + (slow) hard
handovers would create near-far situations
 SHO is an essential interference mitigation tool in WCDMA

99
Soft Handover

DOWNLINK:
 SHO utilises two separate codes in DL (different RAKE fingers in UE
are assigned for reception)
 Maximum ratio combining done in UE for the signals
 SHO gain 1-3 dB, however...
– Gain depends on the difference of the component signals’ strength
– Gain depends on channel conditions and accuracy of the channel
estimates → in some cases the gain can be lost!
 The more multipath diversity is available the less SHO gain is
achieved

100
Softer/Soft Handover
UPLINK:
 More complex situation than in DL
 During softer HO, same procedure in Node B’s RAKE like
in DL case
– Produced gain is 1-3 dB
– Better performance than in soft HO because signals
are combined in the same Node B and MRC combining
is possible
 During Soft HO, the combining of signals is done in the
RNC
– Selection combining performed for baseband signal
– Based on Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)
– Better frame to be used in open loop PC (target SIR
estimation)

101
Soft Handover: Active and Monitored set
From UE point of view cells are divided into different mutually
excluding sets defined by:
 Active Set
– The cells in the active set participate to the SHO.
 Neighbour Set/Monitored Set
– The cells that are continuously measured by the UE but are not
part of the Active Set. The monitored set can consist of intra-
frequency, inter-frequency and inter-RAT cells
 The number of cells in active+monitored sets is limited to
32

102
Soft Handover: Active and Monitored set
 As UE moves, Node Bs are continuously added to and removed from
the active set. When added, they are also updated to the neighbor cell
list.
 UE measures the monitored set of cells and Handover Control
evaluates if any Node B should be added, removed or replaced in the
Active Set
 Maximum Active Set Size parameter
– Used to determine the maximum allowed number of SHO
connections (varies between 1-5, typical default 3)
• Too high value decreases capacity (signalling increases and multiple
connections occur too often)
• Too low value decreases the SHO performance (best candidate cells
may be excluded in some situations)

103
Soft Handover: Measurements
 The handover measurements for intra-frequency HO are based on P-
CPICH Ec/Io
 Ec/Io is the received signal code power divided by the total received
power. It is calculated from signal before the signal de-spreading
operation while Eb/No is calculated after de-spreading.
– Ec/Io can be determined for the signal ”in the air”
 Eb/No depends on the service (bit rate, receiving end) and Ec/Io is
service independent
 The accuracy of the Ec/Io measurements is essential for HO
performance
– Depends on filtering lenght and mobile speed
• Filter length for slowly moving and stationary UE’s should be just long
enough to avoid fast fading errors
• Too long filter length will cause HO delays for a fast moving UE

104
Soft Handover: Reporting Ranges and
Events
Event based triggered measurements and reporting:
 Reporting ranges 1a and 1b depend on the best cell power.
 Basic reporting events 1a, 1b and 1c
– 1a: P-CPICH enters the reporting range
– 1b: P-CPICH leaves the reporting range
– 1c: Non-active P-CPICH becomes better than an active P-CPICH
– 1d: Change of current best cell with new P-CPICH
 Handover decision is done by RNC based on
measurements and available resources

105
Soft Handover

• Picture of events 1a and 1b. Example: The terminal sends an event 1a

report to the RNC, if the new cell belongs to the monitored cells list and
Active Set is not full. Then new cell is proposed to be added to the Active
Set. If the Active Set is full, the cell is proposed as a replacement of the
worst cell in the Active Set (1c, next slide)
106
Soft Handover

• Picture of event 1c. Example: The terminal sends an event 1c report to

the RNC if the new cell belongs to the monitored cells list and Active
Set is not full. Then new cell is proposed to be added to the Active Set.
If the Active Set is full, then new cell is proposed as a replacement of
the worst cell in the Active Set
107
 Soft Handover

• Picture of event 1d. Example: The terminal sends an event 1d report to

the RNC if the cell belongs to the monitored cells list and Active Set is
not full. Then cell is proposed to be added to the Active Set. If the Active
Set is full, the cell is proposed as a replacement of the strongest cell in
the Active Set 108
Soft Handover

 Time-to-trigger: Reports
are send only if event
lasts long enough in
order to avoid
unnecessary signalling
overhead.

109
Inter-Frequency HO (IFHO)
 Inter-frequency handover is a hard handover where the UE is
ordered by the network to tune to another frequency.
 This means that there will be small interruption in the data flow to
and from the UE
 When inter-frequency HO is
considered, first the UE
measures the conditions to
start Compressed Mode
• Ec/Io of current carrier is the
measure
• Events 2d and 2f defined for
IFHO
• Time to trigger used

110
SHO margin in planning tools

Received signal Soft handover Soft handover

level in Node B window margin, which is
defined in the
radio network
planning

1 2

 Some 3G planning tools use one single SHO planning parameter (=SHO margin/SHO
gain)
 Default Value varies between 2 and 6 dB
 Value for this parameter can be defined as:

Reporting range1a + Reporting range1b

Handover margin =
111
2
HO related topics in network planning
 Network topology: How sites are located relative to each
other, how many sectors/site
 Node B antenna radiation patterns
– Overlapping patterns => more softer HOs
– Antenna tilt => number of potential Node B’s in Active Set
 Path loss and shadow fading characteristics
 The average number of Node B’s that a UE can
synchronize to
 HO parameter adjustments is part of the network
optimization

112
Admission and Congestion Control,
Packet Scheduler

113
Admission and Congestion Control
• Congestion/Load Control’s general responsibility is to keep the network
in a stable state and prevent overloading
• Congestion/Load control is in close co-operation with functions of
admission control and packet scheduler

Load control operates in RNC:

Information of network
loading level
Admission
control
Load control Loading status
Packet
scheduler
NRT (Non-Real Time
traffic) load

114
Admission and Congestion Control
 Admission control
– If air interface loading is allowed to increase too much the
coverage of the cell will be reduced below the planned value.
– Admission control decides whether to accept the terminal’s
request for new radio access bearer by calculating how much
interference new bearer would create to the cell in both UL
and DL
 Congestion control
– Responsible of returning the network back into desired target
load in case of overload
– Target load is set in network planning and overload should be
an exceptional situation

115
Admission Control

 There are predefined UL

and DL thresholds for
interference power. Interference power
Thresholds are set in
network planning. Maximum interference level defined by radio network planning

 If either UL or DL Estimated growth in

threshold is exceeded the interference when new UE
Maximum load level
RAB is not admitted. arrives to the cell defined by radio
 For decision AC may network planning
derive the transmitted bit
rate, processing gain,
radio link initial quality
Load
parameters, target BER, New bearer’s ?
BLER, Eb/No, SIR target. load factor

116
Congestion control
 In case of congestion the use of resources is scaled down to reach
normal loading status
 The priorisation and order of congestion control actions are based on
vendor specific algorithms.
 Actions that can be carried out in order to decrease the load
– Deny power-up commands received from UE (downlink)
– Reduce the UL Eb/No target used in UL fast power control
– Reduce the throughput of packet data traffic
– Handover UEs to other WCDMA carrier or to GSM
– Decrease bit rates in real time services
– Drop low priority data calls

117
Packet scheduler
 Determines the available radio resources for non-real time (NRT) radio
bearers
 Share the available radio resources between NRT radio bearers.
 Monitor the allocations for NRT radio bearers.
 Initiate the switching between common, shared and dedicated
channels when necessary.
 Monitor the system loading.
 Perform load control actions for the NRT radio bearers when
necessary.

118
 Packet scheduler
Load available for HSPA
 Capacity can be divided between
non-controllable and controllable
traffic
 Load caused by real time traffic,
interference from other cell users and
noise together is called non-
controllable load
 The part of the available capacity that
is not used for non-controllable load
is usually allocated to HSPA.
 PS is implemented for dedicated
(DCH) as well as common control
transport channels (RACH/FACH).
 PS takes care of filling the
controllable capacity with NRT traffic
• The amount of scheduled capacity
depends on:
• UE and BTS capabilities,
• the current load in the cell,
• the availability of physical resources.

119
Control summary

Admission Congestion Packet Scheduler Interference

control control
Maximum level
Decrease bit rates
Overload actions and NRT Bearers
are dropped Threshold

No new bearers are Preventive load

Decrease bit rates
admitted control actions Target level for
interference+offset
NRT load is not
No new bearers are increased, but bit rate
No actions
admitted changes are allowed

Target level for

New RT bearers are NRT bearers are interference
No actions
admitted normally increased

Load

120
Contents
1. UMTS radio access network architecture
2. Physical layer: CDMA principles
3. Physical layer: WCDMA spreading and scrambling
4. WCDMA channel concepts
5. Physical layer procedures
6. Radio Resource Management (RRM)
7. UMTS Radio Access Bearer concept, QoS and radio
interface protocols
Radio Access Bearer
UMTS

TE MT UTRAN CN Iu CN TE
EDGE Gateway
NODE
End-to-End Service

TE/MT Local UMTS Bearer Service External Bearer

Bearer Service Service

Radio Access Bearer Service CN Bearer

Service

Radio Bearer Iu Bearer Backbone

Service Service Bearer Service

UTRA Physical
FDD/TDD Bearer Service
Service

UE 122 Node B, RNC

Radio Access Bearer
 Main task of the UTRAN is to create and maintain RAB for
communication between UE and CN.
 RAB is build up in order to give for CN elements an illusion about fixed
communication path to UE.
 The network builds up the end-to-end QoS connection from small
pieces, which compose a complete chain without bottlenecks
 These pieces are called Bearers
 When the connection is set up, the network elements negotiate the QoS
requirements of the bearers
 The result is a compromise, in which the QoS requirements and
network’s capacity are taken into account

123
UMTS QoS Classes

Traffic Class Example application

Conversational class Speech and video calls

Streaming class Real-time streaming video

Interactive class Web surfing

Background class File downloading, e-mails

124
UMTS QoS Classes

Traffic Class Properties

Conversational class Minimum fixed delay, no buffering, symmetric

traffic, guaranteed bit rate
Streaming class Minimum variable delay, buffering allowed,
asymmetric traffic, guaranteed bit rate
Interactive class Moderate variable delay, buffering allowed,
asymmetric traffic, no guaranteed bit rate
Background class Big variable delay, buffering allowed,
asymmetric traffic, no guaranteed bit rate

125
UMTS QoS Parameters

Parameter Explanation

Maximum bit rate Defines the maximum bit rate when

delivering information between end points of
UMTS bearer.
Guaranteed bit rate Defines the bit rate that the UMTS bearer
must carry between its end points
Allowed transfer delay Set the limits for delay.

QoS negotiable QoS of some services are not negotiable

(speech), packet data services admit various
QoS classes

126
QoS Negotiation
UE UTRAN CN
(NB, RNC)
E2E service request

Maximum bit rate

Guaranteed bit rate UMTS bearer service: Request for UMTS QoS Class
Transfer delay
QoS negotiable (y/n) Maximum bit rate
Guaranteed bit rate
Transfer delay
QoS negotiable (y/n)
RAB assignment request

RRM: Admission control

Radio bearer and radio QoS negotiation

link establishment
RAB assignment response
UMTS Bearer service with negotiated QoS

127
QoS in UMTS
 The QoS over the air interface is implemented by matching each
radio bearer with a transport channel whose format defines the QoS
parameters
 The mapping is performed during the establishment of the RAB
 RNC performs the mapping of RAB characteristics to actual
resource requirements (vendor dependent)
 Operators can define the wanted QoS profile (in HLR) per
subscriber
 Users can be categorised (QoS differentiation) for various tariffing
schemes
 Traffic handling priorities can be set

128
Elements of WCDMA radio interface
protocol architecture

129 Physical channels

Main WCDMA radio interface protocols
 The radio interface protocols are needed to set up, reconfigure and
release the Radio Bearer services.
 The protocol layers above the physical layer (Layer 1) are called the
data link layer (Layer 2) and the network layer (Layer 3).
 In the UTRA FDD the Layer 2 is split into sublayers. In the control plane,
Layer 2 contains two sub-layers – Medium Access Control (MAC)
protocol and Radio Link Control (RLC) protocol.
 In the user plane, in addition to MAC and RLC, two additional service-
dependent protocols exist: Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)
and Broadcast/Multicast Control Protocol (BMC).
 Layer 3 consists of one protocol, called Radio Resource Control (RRC),
which belongs to the control plane.

The idea behind layered protocol structure is to multiplex

traffic flows of different kinds and origins. In UTRAN context
layered structure simplifies the design of service provision
that varies in e.g. QoS and rate requirements.

130
Radio interface protocol architecture

 The physical layer offers services to the MAC layer via

transport channels and MAC layer offers services to the
RLC layer by means of logical channels.
 The RLC layer offers services to higher layers via service
access points (SAPs), which describe how the RLC layer
handles the data packets
 On the control plane, the RLC services are used by the RRC
layer for signalling transport. On the user plane, the RLC
services are used either by the service-specific protocol
layers PDCP or BMC.

131
Radio interface protocol architecture
 The RLC services are called Signalling Radio Bearers in the
control plane and Radio Bearers in the user plane for
services not utilising the PDCP or BMC protocols.
 The Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) exists only
for the PS domain services. Its main function is header
compression. Services offered by PDCP are also called
Radio Bearers.
 The Broadcast Multicast Control protocol (BMC) is used to
convey messages originating from the Cell Broadcast
Centre.
 The RRC layer offers services to higher layers via service
access points

132
MAC Functions
 Mapping between logical channels and transport channels.
 Selection of appropriate Transport Format for each
Transport Channel, depending on the instantaneous data
rate.
 Priority handling between data flows of one UE. This is
achieved by selecting ‘high bit rate’ and ‘low bit rate’
transport formats for different data flows.
 MAC handles
– Dedicated channel (DCH)
– Broadcast channel (BCH)
– Paging channel (PCH)
– Forward link access channel (FACH)
– Random access channel (RACH)

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MAC Functions

 Priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic

scheduling
 MAC handles part of the service multiplexing for common
transport channels (RACH/FACH) and for dedicated
transport channels.
 Traffic volume monitoring.
– If the amount of data is too high or too low, MAC sends a measurement
report on traffic volume status to RRC. The RRC can also request MAC to
send these measurements periodically. The RRC uses these reports for
triggering reconfiguration of Radio Bearers and/or Transport Channels.

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Radio Link Control (RLC)
 RLC is mainly responsible for segmentation, retransmission and
buffering user and control data.
 In RLC the data unit from upper layer (Protocol Data Unit (PDU)) is
segmented and put into RLC payload units in buffer.
 There are 3 operation modes of each RLC instance:
– Transparent mode (TM), unacknowledged mode (UM), and acknowledged mode
(AM)
 For all RLC modes, the Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) is added
in the header of RLC PDU and checked in physical layer.
 In addition, AM uses an Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)
mechanism for error correction and in case of erroneous reception
the retransmission is made in SRNC.
 In network RLC is located in RNC.

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Data flow through PHY/MAC/RLC/PDCP
PDCP PDCP L2
header PDCP SDU header PDCP SDU
PDCP

Reassembly RLC SDU

RLC SDU

L2
Segmentation and
…
RLC
concatenation
RLC RLC
RLC PDUs: header … header

MAC-d MAC-d
header MAC-d SDU … header MAC-d SDU
L2
MAC-d
MAC-d PDU … MAC-d PDU
Optional padding is
used if the total size of
MAC-hs the MAC-hs header
header MAC-hs SDU … MAC-hs SDU P
and the SDUs is L2
smaller than the MAC-hs
Transport Block (MAC-hs PDU) transport block set
size

L1
CRC … PHY

136
Radio Resource Control (RRC)
 The major part of the control signalling between UE and
UTRAN is Radio Resource Control (RRC) messages.
– RRC messages carry all parameters required to set up, modify and
release Layer 2 and Layer 1 protocol entities.
 The RRC performs admission control and handover
decisions.
 RRC also manages the two basic operational modes of a
UE:
– Idle mode and connected mode.
– The connected mode can be further divided into service states,
which define what kind of physical channels a UE is using.

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Radio Resource Control (RRC)
 In the idle mode, after the UE is switched on, it selects a
PLMN to contact. Then UE looks for a suitable cell and after
finding it follows its control channel.
 After finding a cell in idle mode, the UE is able to receive
system information and cell broadcast messages. The UE
stays in idle mode until RRC connection is established.
 UTRAN has no information of individual idle mode UEs and
can only address, for example, all UEs in a cell or all UEs
monitoring a paging occasion.

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Other protocols
 PDCP: Compression of e.g. TCP/IP and RTP/UDP/IP headers in
the transmitting entity, and decompression at the receiving entity.
Transfer of user data. This means that the PDCP receives a PDCP
SDU and forwards it to the appropriate RLC entity and vice versa.
 BMC: This protocol is designed to control broadcast and multicast
services, originating from the Broadcast domain, on the radio
interface.
 MBMS: Enables transmission of content to multiple users in a point-
to-multipoint manner

– TCP = Transport Control Protocol

– RTP = Real Time Protocol
– UDP = User Datagram Protocol
– BMC = Broadcast/Multicast Control protocol
– MBMS = Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

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