WCDMA interview questions and answers

This page covers WCDMA questionnaire set prepared by experienced specialists in WCDMA
domain. These top 10 WCDMA interview questions and answers help engineers seeking
WCDMA/UMTS job to crack the interview at initial attempt.These questions are very useful as
viva questions also.

1. What is CDMA? Explain different versions as per 3GPP releases.

2. What is the basic difference between CDMA and GSM?

3. Differentiate CDMA technique with respect to TDMA and FDMA.

4. What is the difference between EV-DO and EV-DV?

5. What is spread spectrum?

6. What is compressed mode in WCDMA?

7. What is the difference between QPSK and OQPSK?

8. Explain WCDMA frame structure.

9. What are the physical, transport and logical channels in WCDMA? Explain function of each.

10. What is the function of channelization code, scrambling code and synchronization code?

11. What is the difference between DSSS and FHSS?

Refer UMTS Tutotial for more information.

UMTS Tutorial-Page1

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers

Introduction

This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS overview,UMTS Releases, UMTS frequency

bands,UARFCN,UMTS multiple access,UMTS frame structure, UMTS network architecture,
UMTS channel types(logical,transport,physical channels), mapping between
channels,spreading,scrambling and modulation.

This tutorial covers following in addition to overview and UMTS releases outlined here:

UMTS Overview

UMTS stands for Universal Mobile Telecommunications System. It came into existence from
GSM technology developed by 3GPP. UMTS network composed of three main parts UE (User
Equipment), Radio Access Network (RAN) and Core Network. UMTS is released in several
phases by 3GPP standard body as shown below. UMTS is also referred by 3G. The main features
of 3G standardization by ITU includes support for circuit and packet switching, support for both
voice and data applications, support for seamless mobility for both voice and data, improvement
in spectral efficiency, legacy support for GSM/GPRS systems, increase in voice quality, low
round trip packet delay and more.

UMTS Releases

Following table mentions UMTS releases with features.

Release Feature introduced

R99 WCDMA air interface introduced in UMTS

R4 IPMS (IP Multimedia Service) introduced on network side

R5 HSDPA

R6 HSUPA + Fractional DPCH

HSPA, MIMO, higher modulation scheme 64QAM, continuous packet connectivity and Flexible
R7
RLC

R8 LTE, Dual cell HSDPA

R9 DC HSUPA

R10 LTE Advanced, Multi cell HSDPA

R11 8 carrier HSDPA

References

3GPP TS 25.201, Physical layer general description

3GPP TS 25.101, UARFCN

UMTS Tutorial-Page2

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers
This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS frequency bands vs UARFCN.

UMTS Frequency bands and UARFCN

RF carrier frequency in UMTS is calculated based on UARFCN. UARFCN stands UTRA

Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number. In GSM, ARFCN is used to calculate the carrier
frequency. UARFCN calculation formulas are mentioned below.

Uplink: NUL = 5 * (FUL - FUL_Off)

Downlink: NDL = 5 * (FDL - FDL_Off)

FUL_Off and FDL_Off is defined in TS 21.101 standard released by 3GPP, with this we can
obtain following UARFCNs.

UMTS Frequency band Carrier Frequency range(MHz) UARFCN

Band I 1922.4-1977.6(FUL), 2112.4-2167.6(FDL) 9612-9888(UL), 10592-10838(DL)

Band II 1852.4-1907.6(FUL), 1932.4-1987.6(FDL) 9262-9538(UL), 9662-9938(DL)

Band III 1712.4-1782.6(FUL), 1807.4-1877.6(FDL) 937-1288(UL), 1162-1513(DL)

Band IV 1712.4-1752.6(FUL), 2112.4-2152.6(FDL) 1312-1513(UL), 1537-1738(DL)

Band V 826.4-846.6(FUL), 871.4-891.6(FDL) 4132-4233(UL), 4357-4458(DL)

Band VI 832.4-837.6(FUL), 877.4-882.6(FDL) 4162-4188(UL), 4387-4413(DL)

UMTS Multiple Access Network

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers

This tutorial on UMTS covers multiple access types used in UMTS system.

UMTS Multiple access types

UMTS uses Direct Sequence CDMA and information is spread across bandwidth in multiple
ways as shown below, which derives different physical channels or air interfaces.
1. Information is spread across 1.6 MHz BW (1.28Mcps), referred as narrowband CDMA
2. Information is spread across 5 MHz BW (3.84 Mcps), referred as WCDMA
3. Information is spread across 10MHz BW (7.68 Mcps)

UMTS supports both FDD and TDD duplex modes. FDD is supported in 3.84Mcps option. TDD
is supported in all the three options i.e. 1.28, 3.84 and 7.68 Mcps.

UMTS Tutorial-Page4

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers

This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS frame structure.

UMTS Frame Structure

Figure depicts UMTS frame structure for 3.84Mcps radio system. It is made of super frame,
radio frame and chips. Each radio frame is of duration 10ms and composed of 15 slots. Each slot
is composed of 2560 chips. Chip duration is about 0.26micro-sec (derived from 1/3.84Mcps).
Slot duration is about 0.667ms.

Refer frame structure of other standards as mentioned below.

RELATED LINKS

UMTS Network Architecture

UMTS Protocol Stack
UMTS Logical, Transport and physical channels
UMTS Spreading,scrambling and modulation

Frame structure of wireless standards, technologies

Frame structure of various wireless standards/technologies are mentioned below. It include

WiMAX, WLAN, Zigbee, GSM, GPRS, UMTS, LTE, TD-SCDMA, GPS, SDH, 11ac WLAN,
AMPS, Ethernet, VLAN etc.

WiMAX physical layer Frame Structure as per 802.16d and 802.16e standards
WiMAX MAC layer Frame Structure as per OFDM 802.16d standard
Zigbee RF4CE Frame Structure
Zigbee physical layer Frame Structure
Zigbee MAC layer Frame Structure
GPRS Frame Structure
GPS Frame Structure
LTE Frame Structure
TD-SCDMA Frame Structure
UMTS Frame Structure
SONET Frame Structure
SDH Frame Structure
802.11ac PHY Frame Structure
802.11ac MAC layer Frame Structure
WLAN Frame Structure as per 802.11a,11b,11n,11ac standards
AMPS Frame Structure
Ethernet Frame Structure
VLAN Frame Structure
GSM Frame Structure

UMTS Network Architecture

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers
This tutorial on UMTS covers network architecture in UMTS system.

UMTS Network Architecture

As shown in the figure there are three main components in UMTS network architecture, User
Equipments is composed of Mobile Equipment (ME) and USIM. Radio Access Network is
composed of NodeB and RNC. Core Network is composed of circuit switched and packet
switched functional modules. For Circuit switched (CS) operations MSC and GMSC along with
database modules such as VLR, HLR will be available. For packet switched (PS) operations
SGSN and GGSN will serve the purpose. GMSC will be connected with PSTN/ISDN in CS case.
GGSN is connected with Packet data Network (PDN) for PS case. Interfaces between these
entities are summarized below.
Uu interface between UE and NodeB
Iub interface between NodeB and RNC
Iur interface between RNC and RNC
Iu-CS interface between RNC and MSC
Iu-PS interface between RNC and SGSN
UMTS Protocol stack

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers

This tutorial on UMTS covers protocol stack of UMTS system.

UMTS Protocol Stack

UMTS protocol stack consists of Access Stratum(AS) and Non Access Stratum(NAS). Access
Stratum supports OSI-layer 1 to 3. It consists of PHY(layer 1), MAC(layer 2),RLC(layer 2) and
RRC(layer 3). NAS or core network part is divided based on circuit switched(CS) or packet
switched(PS) functionalities.

For CS functions it consists of CM(connection management) and MM(Mobility Management)

layers. CM layer takes care of CC(Call Control), SM(supplementary Services) and SMS(Short
Message Service). This is for UMTS CS control plane stack. For UMTS CS user plane stack
NAS part do not include CM and MM layers but it includes application data layer protocol end
to end (between UE-NodeB-RNC-MSC-Remote user).

For PS functions if consists of SM(session Management) and GMM(GPRS Mobility

Management) layers. This is for UMTS PS control plane stack. For PS user plane stack, AS part
incorporates PDCP(Packet Data Convergence) and NAS part incorporates packet protocol
data(IP/PPP/..) and packet data applications(FTP/HTTP/..). PDCP does compression of IP
headers, it may or may not exist in the UMTS protocol stack.
UMTS Channels

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers

This tutorial on UMTS covers UMTS logical channels, transport channels and physical channels.

Logical,transport,physical channels

As shown in the figure, there are three types of UMTS channels viz. logical channels(RLC
layer), transport channels(MAC layer) and physical channels(PHY layer). As they tranverse
between layers they map to other layer frames. For example logical channels are mapped to
transport channels and transport channels are mapped tp physical channels.

UMTS logical channels

As shown in the figure, UMTS/WCDMA logical channels are divided into control channels and
traffic channels(DTCH,CTCH). As the name suggests traffic channels carry information(voice)
annd control channels carry signalling information useful to establish and maintain connection
between UE and network(NodeB).Following are the functions of each of these logical channels.
Pls. note that DL stands for Downlink from network to UE and UL stands for Uplink from UE to
Network.
DTCH(DL and UL, point to point)- Dedicated Traffic channel,carry user information.
CTCH(unidirectional point to multi-point)-Common traffic channel.
BCCH(DL broadcast)- Broadcast Control Channel, carry SYSTEM INFORMATION
CCCH(Bidirectional)- Common Control Channel
DCCH(Dedicated Control Channel, point to point bidirectional)
PCCH(Paging Control Channel,DL)-carry paging information
SHCCH(Shared Channel Control Channel,Bidirectional)

UMTS/WCDMA Logical Duplex

Function Direction
Channel Mode

Dedicated traffic carry user plane data (speech/packet

Uplink(UL)/Downlink(DL) FDD/TDD
channel(DTCH) data)

Dedicated control carry signalling messages used for

Uplink/Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(DCCH) control operations

Shared control
carry control messages Uplink/Downlink TDD
channel(SHCCH)

Common control
It is used to carry control messages Uplink/Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(CCCH)

Common traffic It is used to carry user traffic(e.g.cell

Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(CTCH) broadcast SMS)

Paging control It is used to carry paging messages

Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(PCCH) directed towards UE

Broadcast control It is used to carry broadcast messages

Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(BCCH) towards UE

UMTS Transport channels

Following are the transport type of UMTS channels.
BCH(DL broadcast) - SYSTEM/Cell related INFORMATION
FACH(DL/Forward Access Channel)- carry control information from network to UE
PCH (DL)- Paging Channel
DCH (UL or DL) - Dedicated Channel
DSCH(DL) - Downlink Shared Channel
USCH(UL)- Uplink Shared Channel
RACH(UL)- Random Access Channel

UMTS/WCDMA Duplex
Function Direction
Transport Channel Mode

Random access
It is used for initial access of the network by UE Uplink FDD/TDD
channel(RACH)

Common packet
It is used as contention channel for bursty data Uplink FDD/
channel(CPCH)

Forward access It is used to transfer user data/control signalling

Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(FACH) messages

Downlink shared It is used as shared channel carrying dedicated

Downlink FDD/TDD
channel(DSCH) user data/control messages in the downlink

Uplink shared It is used as shared channel carrying dedicated

Uplink TDD
channel(USCH) user data/control messages in the uplink

Broadcast channel(BCH) Broadcast channel to all UEs in a cell Downlink FDD/TDD

Broadcast of paging & notification

Paging channel(PCH) messages,also allows UE to make use of sleep Downlink FDD/TDD
Mode

Dedicated It is used as dedicated channel to transfer

Uplink/Downlink FDD/TDD
Channel(DCH) traffic/control messages in both the direction
UMTS Physical channels

Following are physical type of UMTS channels for 3.84Mcps case.

P-CCPCH- Primary Common Control Physical Channel
SCH- Synchronization Channel
S-CCPCH- Secondary Common Control Physical Channel
PICH- Paging Indicator Channel
DPCH(DL)- Dedicated Physical Channel in the downlink
PDSCH-Physical Downlink Shared Channel
DPCH(UL)-Dedicated Physical Channel in the uplink
PUSCH- Physical Uplink Shared Channel
PRACH- Physical Random Access Channel
PNBSCH- Physical Node B Synchronization Channel
Mapping between channels

UMTS Channels

Following are links to various UMTS channels which cover SCH, SCCPCH, PRACH, PICH,
PDSCH, PCPCH, PCCPCH, DPDCH, DPCH, DPCCH, CSICH, CPICH, CD CAICH, AICH
channels.

WCDMA SCH channel

WCDMA SCCPCH channel
WCDMA PRACH channel
WCDMA PICH channel
WCDMA PDSCH channel
WCDMA PCPCH channel
WCDMA PCCPCH channel
WCDMA DPDCH channel
WCDMA DPCH channel
WCDMA DPCCH channel
WCDMA CSICH channel
WCDMA CPICH channel
WCDMA CD CAICH channel
WCDMA AICH channel
UMTS Spreading Scrambling modulation

This tutorial section on UMTS basics covers following sub topics:

Main Page Architecture Stack channel types Bands UARFCN Frame Timers

This tutorial on UMTS covers spreading, scrambing and modulation concepts.

Scrambling using scrambling code

Scrambling does not change the bit rate. It only helps in separating signals from different
sources. Gold codes are used for this purpose as they have good correlation properties. Long and
short type of scrambling codes are available. In the uplink it separates different UEs and in the
downlink it s used for separation of cells/sectors.

Modulation:
DPCCH and DPDCH are BPSK modulated.

Synchronization using synchronization code:

These codes will have good auto correlation functionality hence are used for initial cell search
and synchronization in the downlink. Primary sync. codes are derived using Golay sequence and
secondary words from Hadamard sequence.