Objective

LTE Duplex Modes & Frequency Bands

OFDMA Feature, Principles and Challenges
SC-FDMA Principle
OFDM DATA Processing
Subcarrier Principle
Time Domain and Frequency Domain
LTE Air Interface Protocol Architecture
RRC Layer and Functionality
PDCP Layer and Functionality
RLC Layer and Functionality
Physical Layer Functionality
LTE Channel Concept
Logical Channel
Transport Channel
Physical Channel

Duplex Modes and Frequency

Bands

Duplexing and Multiple Access

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

up to
20MHz

up to
20MHz

up to
20MHz

Tim
e

Tim
e

Frequency

Frequency

FDD and TDD

Harmonization

Differences

Both are included in

same specification

FDD developed in the paired

3GPP spectrum

Same radio interface

schemes for both uplink
and downlink

TDD developed in the

unpaired 3GPP spectrum

Same sub-frame
formats

Small differences in the

physical channels design
Different frame formats

Same network
architecture
Same air interface
protocols
Same physical
channels procedures

FDD mode has

commonalities with 3G
UMTS
TDD mode has
commonalities with TDSCDMA (developed in China)

FDD Bands

TDD Bands

OFDMA and SC-FDMA

Multiple Access
3 UE 3 4 UE 4 5 UE 5

Ti
m

Power

1 UE 1 2 UE 2

TDMA
Time Division
Multiple
Access,
2G e.g. GSM,
PDC

OFDMA

3
Orthogonal
5
1
Frequency Division
3
4
5
Multiple Access
2

1
e.g. LTE
3
1
4

FDMA
Frequency
Division
1 2 3 4 5
Multiple
Access
5
1G e.g. AMPS,
4
NMT, TACS
3
2
12
CDMA
Code Division
Multiple Access
3G e.g. UMTS,
CDMA2000
5
4
3
2
1
Frequenc
y

Multiple Access

Motivation for OFDMA

OFDM Basics

Power

Bandwidth

Frequency

OFDM Signal

Fourier
Transform
amplitude

Time Domain

fs

Ts

time

1
Ts

Inverse
Fourier
Transform

Advantages:
Simple to implement: there is
no complex filter system required to
detect such pulses and to generate
them
The pulse has a clearly defined
duration. This is a major
advantage in case of multi-path
propagation environments as it
simplifies handling of inter-symbol
interference

spectral power density

The Rectangular Pulse

Frequency Domain

fs

frequency f/fs

Disadvantage:
It allocates a quite huge
spectrum
However the spectral power
density has null points exactly at
multiples of the frequency fs = 1/Ts
This will be important in OFDM

OFDMA Principle
Transmits hundreds or even thousands of separately
modulated radio signals using orthogonal subcarriers
spread across a wideband channel
Total transmission bandwidth
15 kHz in LTE: fixed

Orthogonality:
The peak (centre
frequency) of one
subcarrier

intercepts the
nulls of the
neighbouring
subcarriers

UE CATEGORIES

Challenges

1. Multi-Path Propagation and Inter-Symbol Interference

d1< d2 < d3

d2

Tt

d1
(Direct path)

Time 0

Ts

d3

BTS
Time 0 Tt

Ts+Tt

Inter Symbol Interference

Multi-Path Propagation and the Guard Period

2
1
3

Time Domain
(Direct path)

Tg

TSYMBOL

Guard Period (GP)

time

TSYMBOL
2

Guard Period (GP)

TSYMBOL

time
Guard Period (GP)
time

Propagation Delay Exceeding the Guard Period

2
1
3
4

Time Domain
1
Obviously when
the delay spread
of the multi-path
environment is
greater than the
guard period
duration (Tg), then
we encounter
inter-symbol
interference (ISI)

TSYMBOL

Tg

time
2
time
3
time
4
time

Cyclic Prefix
2
1
3

Tcp

Tsymb

CP

symbol

CP

symbol

CP

symbol
time

CP

CP

symbol

symbol

CP

CP

symbol

symbol

CP

CP

symbol

symbol

Cyclic Prefix

2. Multi-Carrier Modulation
The center frequencies must be spaced so that interference between
different carriers, known as Adjacent Carrier Interference ACI, is minimized;
but not too much spaced as the total bandwidth will be wasted.
Each carrier uses an upper and lower guard band to protect itself from its
adjacent carriers. Nevertheless, there will always be some interference
between the adjacent carriers.

fsubcarrier
fsub-used

f0

f1

f2

fN-2

fN-1

ACI = Adjacent Carrier Interference

frequency

Solution: OFDM MultiCarrier

Power Density

Power Density

OFDM allows a tight packing of small carrier called the subcarriers

into a given frequency band

Frequency (f/fs)

Frequency (f/fs)

No ACI (Adjacent Carrier Interference) in OFDM

due to the orthogonal subcarriers !

3.Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI)

Two effects begin to work:

Subcarrier has no longer its
power density maximum- so
loose of signal energy.

The rest of subcarriers have

no longer a null point here. So

we get some noise from the
other subcarrier.

I3
I1
I4
I0
f0

f1

f2

f3

f4

ICI = Inter-Carrier Interference

Frequency Drift

OFDM Key Parameters

1) Variable Bandwidth options: 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and
20 MHz

Frequency

f
Power
density

2) Subcarrier Spacing (f = 15
KHz)
Tsymbol = 1/ f = 66.7s
Frequency

Amplitude
TCP
TSYMBOL
CP

T
SYMBOL
TS

Time

OFDM Key Parameters

3) The number of Subcarriers Nc
If BW = 20MHz Transmission BW = 20MHz 2MHz = 18 MHz
the number of subcarriers Nc = 18MHz/15KHz = 1200
subcarriers
Channel Bandwidth [MHz]
Transmission Bandwidth Configuration [RB]

Channel edge

Resource block

Channel edge

Transmission
Bandwidth [RB]

Active Resource Blocks

DC carrier (downlink only)

OFDM Key Parameters

4) FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) size Nfft

For a bandwidth BW = 20 MHz

Nc = 1200 subcarriers not a power of 2
The next power of 2 is 2048 the rest 2048 -1200
848 padded with zeros

5. Sampling rate fs
This parameter indicates what is the sampling frequency:
fs = Nfft x f
Example: for a bandwidth BW = 5 MHz (with 10% guard band)
The number of subcarriers Nc = 4.5 MHz/ 15 KHz = 300
300 is not a power of 2 next power of 2 is 512 Nfft = 512
Fs = 512 x 15 KHz = 7,68 MHz fs = 2 x 3,84 MHz which is the chip
rate in UMTS
The sampling rate is a multiple of the chip rate from UMTS/
HSPA. This was acomplished because the subcarriers spacing
is 15 KHz. This means UMTS and LTE have the same clock
timing!

FFT Size and Sampling Rate

SC FDMA

OFDM Benefits and Challenges

OFDM benefits:

Good performance in frequency selective fading channels.

Low complexity of base-band receiver.
Good spectral properties and handling of multiple bandwidths.
Link adaptation and frequency domain scheduling.
Compatibility with advanced receiver and antenna technologies.

OFDM Challenges:
Tolerance to frequency offset.
The high Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) of the transmitter signal. It

requires transmitter with linear response in a large range. Those high linear
response amplifier have a low power conversion efficiency and therefore they
are not ideal for Mobile Stations. In LTE the problem was solved by adopting SCFDMA for Uplink, which has better power amplifier efficiency.

Peak-to-Average Power Ratio in OFDM

The transmitted power is the sum
of the powers of all the
subcarriers
Due to large number of
subcarriers, the peak to
average power ratio (PAPR)
tends to have a large range
The higher the peaks, the
greater the range of power
levels over which the
transmitter is required to
work.
Not best suited for use with
mobile ( battery-powered)
devices

SC-FDMA

SC-FDMA is a new hybrid modulation scheme that

cleverly combines the low PAR of single-carrier
systems with the multipath resistance and flexible
subcarrier frequency allocation offered by OFDM.

This mechanism can reduce the PAPR of 6..9 dB

compared to normal OFDMA.

SC-FDMA is one option in WiMAX (802.16d) and it is

the method selected for EUTRAN in the uplink
direction.

OFDMA

Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access is

another variant of OFDMA used to reduce the PAPR
for lower RF hardware requirements.

SC-FDMA

SC-FDMA Principles

This could be achieved by transmitting N

modulation symbols in series at N times
the rate.
One can see that the SC-FDMA symbol
which is having 66.66s is containing N
sub-symbols
N = 6 in the example shown
In Time domain only one modulation
symbol is transmitted at a time.

This limitation is imposed by the input of the FFT block

which is before the IFFT. This enables efficient
implementation of the FFT.
Note that also the number of Resource Blocks should be
multiple of 2,3 or/and 5

SC-FDMA Principles
Adjusting the data rate in SC-FDMA
If the data rate increases more bandwidth is needed to transmit more
modulation symbols (when data rate is doubled the resource allocation in
the frequency domain is also doubled). The individual transmission is
now shorter in time but wider in the frequency domain.
For double data rate the amount of inputs in transmitter doubles and the
sub-symbol duration (Time) is halved. Note that the SC-FDMA is still 67
s

Double the
data rate
SC-FDMA
subsymbol
duration

Halved SCFDMA subsymbol

duration
Doubled
bandwidth

Initial
bandwidt
h
SC-FDMA
symbol
67s

SC-FDMA
symbol
67s

In the example 6 modulation symbols are sent initially and 12 modulations for
double data rate

OFDMA and SC-FDMA

OFDMA transmits data in parallel across multiple subcarriers
SC-FDMA transmits data in series employing multiple subcarriers
In the example:
OFDMA: 6 modulation symbols ( 01,10,11,01,10 and 10) are
transmitted per OFDMA symbol, one on each subcarrier
SC-FDMA: 6 modulation symbols are transmitted per SC-FDMA
symbol using all subcarriers. The duration of each modulation
symbol is 1/6th of the modulation symbol in OFDMA

OFDMA

SCFDMA

SC-FDMA and OFDMA

Difference in transmission: for SC-FDMA there is an extra
block on the transmission chain: the FFT block
which should spread the input modulation symbols over all
the allocated subcarriers

OFDMA

SC-FDMA

OFDMA vs SC-FDMA: QPSK

OFDMA Data Processing

Resource Block and Resource Element

Physical Resource Block or Resource Block (PRB or RB)
12 subcarriers in frequency domain x 1 slot period in time domain.

PRB

One Time Slot of 12 sub carriers i.e. 0.5 ms x 180 KHz

Has 72/84 symbols
One TTI = Two Resource Blocks
One Resource Block carries four Reference Signals for
Antenna Port 0 and 1 and two Reference Signals for Antenna
Port 2 and 3
One Resource Block carries 168 symbols per ms
One RB carries 336 kbps for QPSK and 1.01 Mbps for 64 QAM
A pair of Resource Blocks is allocated to each antenna port
One Transport Block per pair of Resource Blocks (=TTI) or Two
Transport Blocks per pair of Resource Blocks (=TTI) for MIMO

LTE TIME DOMAIN ARCHITECTURE

CP used to overcome ISI

LTE RESOURCE ELEMENT

LTE FREQUENCY DOMAIN

FDD AND TDD UPLINK AND DOWN LINK TIME DOMAIN

FDD -Frame Structure

FDD Frame structure ( also called Type 1 Frame) is common to

both uplink and downlink.
Frame length =10 ms
Divided into 20 x 0.5ms slots
FDD: 10 ms sub-frame for UL
10 ms sub-frame for DL
1 Frame = 20 slots of 0.5ms
each
1 slot = 7 ( NCP) or 6 (ECP)

0.5 ms slot
s s s s s s s
y0 y1 y2 y3 y4 y5 y6

10 ms frame
s

s18 s19
SF: SubFrame

0.5 ms slot

SF0

s: slot

SF1

SF2

SF3
1 ms sub-frame

SF9

Sy: symbol

TDD -Frame Structure Type 2

There are 7 frame configurations, according to different DL/UL
partition
DL Downlink subframe
UL Uplink subframe
SS Special Switching subframe

1 frame = 10ms

1 subframe = 1ms
0

DL

SS

UL

UL

UL

DL

SS

UL

UL

DL

SS

UL

UL

DL

DL

SS

UL

UL

DL

DL

SS

UL

DL

DL

DL

SS

UL

DL

DL

DL

SS

UL

UL

UL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

SS

UL

UL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

SS

UL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

DL

SS

UL

UL

UL

DL

SS

UL

UL

UL

DL

TDD CONFIGURATION 0 TO 6

TDD -Frame Structure

SF
#0

subframe 0

SF
#2

...

subframe 2

SF
#4

SF
#0

DwPTS
DwPTS
GP
GP
UpPTS
UpPTS

f
UL/DL
carrier

DwPTS
DwPTS
GP
GP
UpPTS
pPTS
U

TDD has a single frame structure: same as FDD but with some
specific fields to enable also TD-SCDMA co-existence (China):
DwPTS, GP, UpPTS
Subframe 0 and DwPTS are reserved for downlink;
subframe2 and UpPTS are reserved for UL.
Remaining fields are dynamically assigned between UL and DL

subframe 0
subframe 4

SF
#2

...

subframe 2

SF
#4
Subframe 4

half frame

time
Downlink Subframe DwPTS: Downlink Pilot time Slot
Uplink Subframe

UpPSS: Uplink Pilot Time Slot

GP: Guard Period to separate UL/DL

Special Subframe
UE always needs a guard period in order to switch from receiver to transmitter.
The guard period includes RTD (Round Trip Delay).
PT = Propagation Time
SP = Switching Period
RTD = Round Trip Delay
GP = Guard Period

Start of UL subframe
reaches at eNodeB

eNodeB ends
transmitting
GP
PT

SP

PT

Downlink

Uplink

Downlink

End of DL subframe
has reached at the UE

Uplink

UE has switched to
transmission and has begun
UL subframe

eNodeB

UE

RTD = 2 x PT
GP = RTD + SP

LTE Air Interface Protocol

HARQ is
supported for
DL SCH AND
UL SCH Only

Radio Interface

RTP Real Time

Transport Protocol
UDP User
Datagram Protocol
TCP Transmission
Control Protocol

BLER
Residual
Errors

RRC Layer

PDCP Sublayer

RLC Sublayer

For VOIP Packets RLC layer uses Unacknowledged Mode to reduce

header overload

RLC Sublayer

MAC Sublayer

LTE DATA FLOW AN EXAMPLE

PHYSICAL LAYER PROCESSING

LTE Channels

Downlink Channels Mapping

PRB and PBR
Prioritized Bit Rate RBR

DL Logical Channels

DL Logical Channels

DL Transport Channels

DL Transport Channels

DL Physical Channels

Nine Transmission
Modes for PDSCH

Allocati
on of
RBs is
signaled
on
PDCCH

DL Physical Channels

MIB is carried over PBCH

SIB is carried over PDSCH

PBCH is
mapped
over the
central
six RBs
(central
72 sub
carriers)

Uplink Channels Mapping

RACH is used by UW in RRC_CONNECTED State but not uplink

synchronized, UE wants to transmit new data, when Timing
Advance is needed for UE positioning, for transition from RRC_IDLE
to RRC_CONNECTED, on recovering from Radio Link Failure, to send
a Scheduling Request SR

UL Logical Channels

UL Transport Channels

Physical Channels

DOWN LINK PHYSICAL DATA

AND CONTROL CHANNELS

LTE TIME FREQUENCY DOMAIN FOR A SUB FRAME

PBCH

PDSCH MODULATION SCHEMES

CELL SPECIFIC REFERENCE SIGNALS FOR FOUR ANTENNA PORTS

RS required for
channel
estimation for
coherent
detection
Port 0 and 1
have four RS per
RB
Port 2 and 3
have two RS per
RB to reduce
overheads
Every six
subcarriers have
one RB
When one
antenna radiated
RS, other keep
quiet so that UE
can measure one
RS at any time
Cell Specific
Frequency Shift is
applied up to six
cells to reduce
inter cell

L1/L2 CONTROL SIGNALLING

UP LINK PHYSICAL DATA AND

CONTROL CHANNELS

UP LINK PHYSICAL CHANNEL