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

Time

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

Bandwidth

up to 20MHz

up to 20MHz

up to 20MHz

UL
UL
UL
UL
UL
UL
UL
UL
UL
UL

DL
DL
DL
DL
DL
DL
DL
DL
DL
DL

Time

Frequency

DL
SF
UL
DL
DL
DL
SF
UL
DL
UL

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

Same network architecture

Different frame formats

Same air interface protocols

FDD mode has commonalities

with 3G UMTS

Same physical channels

procedures

TDD mode has commonalities

with TD-SCDMA (developed in
China)

FDD Bands
E-UTRA Operating Band
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28

Frequency UL/DL MHz

1920-1980/2110-2170
1850-1910/1930-1990
1710-1785/1805-1880
1710-1755/2110-2155
824-849/869-894
830-840/875-885
2500-2570/2620-2690
880-915/925-960
1749.9-1784.9/1844.9-1879.9
1710-1770/2110-2170
1427.9-1447.9/1475.9-1495.9
699-716/729-746
777-787/746-756
788-798/758-768
Reserved
Reserved
704-716/734-746
815-830/860-875
830-845/875-890
832-862/791-821
1447.9-1462.9/1495.9-1510.9
3410-3490/3510-3590
2000-2020/2180/2200
1626.5-1660.5/1525-1559
1850-1915/1930-1995
814-849/859-894
807-824/852-869
703-748/758-803

Duplex Mode
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD
FDD

TDD Bands
E-UTRA Operating Band
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44

Frequency UL/DL MHz

1900-1920
2010-2025
1850-1910
1930-1990
1910-1930
2570-2620
1880-1920
2300-2400
2496-2690
3400-3600
3600-3800
703-803

Duplex Mode
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD
TDD

OFDMA and SC-FDMA

Multiple Access
2 UE 2

3 UE 3 4 UE 4 5 UE 5

Power

1 UE 1

1
TDMA
Time Division
Multiple Access,
2G e.g. GSM,
PDC

2
12

OFDMA

Orthogonal
Frequency
Division Multiple
Access
e.g. LTE
4

5
2
1

2
4

FDMA
Frequency
Division
Multiple Access
1G e.g. AMPS,
NMT, TACS

CDMA
Code Division
Multiple Access
3G e.g. UMTS,
CDMA2000
5
4
3
2
1
Frequency

Multiple Access
Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access(OFDMA) is used in the Downlink
Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access(SC-FDMA) is used in the uplink
OFDMA and SC-FDMA will be used for both FDD and TDD Modes

Motivation for OFDMA

Good performance in frequency selective fading channels
Low complexity of base-band receiver
Good spectral properties and handling of multiple bandwidths
Link adaptation
Frequency domain scheduling
Compatibility with advanced receiver and antenna technologies

OFDM Basics
Data is sent in parallel across the set of subcarriers, each subcarrier only transports a part of
the whole transmission
The throughput is the sum of the data rates of each individual (or used) subcarriers while the
power is distributed to all used subcarriers
The number of subcarriers is determined by the FFT size ( by the bandwidth)

Power

Bandwidth

Frequency

OFDM Signal

OFDMA Principle
Parallel transmission using a large number of narrowband sub-carriers
Multi-carrier transmission
Implemented with IFFT (Inverse Fast Fourier Transform) at transmitter and FFT at receiver side
Uplink uses similar approach, but with precoder to achieve single carrier properties

f1

Coded and
modulated
data

f1

IFFT

f2

f2

S/P

FFT

fM

split

Tx

fM

filter

P/S

Rx
f = 15 kHz

20 MHz (example)

The Rectangular Pulse

Fourier
Transform
spectral power density

amplitude

Time Domain

fs

Ts

1
Ts

time

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

Frequency Domain

Inverse
Fourier
Transform

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

Challenges

1. Multi-Path Propagation and Inter-Symbol Interference

Tt

Time 0

Ts

BTS
Time 0 Tt

Ts+Tt

Inter Symbol Interference

Multi-Path Propagation and the Guard Period

2
1
3

Time Domain

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

ACI = Adjacent Carrier Interference

fN-1

frequency

Solution: OFDM Multi-Carrier

Power Density

Power Density

OFDM allows a tight packing of small carrier called the subcarriers - into a given
frequency band

Frequency (f/fs)

Saved
Bandwidth

Frequency (f/fs)

No ACI (Adjacent Carrier Interference) in OFDM

due to the orthogonal subcarriers !

3.Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI)

The price for the optimum subcarrier spacing is the sensitivity of OFDM to frequency errors
If the receivers frequency slips some fractions from the subcarriers center frequencies, then we
encounter not only interference between adjacent carriers, but in principle between all carriers
This is known as Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and sometimes also referred to as Leakage Effect in
the theory of discrete Fourier transform
One possible cause that introduces frequency errors is a fast moving Transmitter or Receiver (Doppler
effect)

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]
Transmission
Bandwidth [RB]
Channel edge

Resource block

Channel edge

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 SC-FDMA 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 SC-FDMA
sub-symbol
duration

Doubled
bandwidth

Initial
bandwidth
SC-FDMA
symbol 67s

SC-FDMA
symbol 67s

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

SC-FDMA: Multiplexing

One user always continuous in frequency

Smallest uplink bandwidth, 12 subcarriers: 180 kHz (same for OFDMA in downlink)
Largest uplink bandwidth: 20 MHz (same for OFDMA in downlink)

In time domain the granularity for resource allocation is 1 ms for one user
(same for OFDMA in downlink)

Receiver
User 1

User 1
User 2

User 2

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

SC-FDMA

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.

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
sy sy sy sy sy sy sy
0

10 ms frame
s0

s1

s2

s3

s4

s5

s6

s7

s18

s19

SF: SubFrame
0.5 ms slot

SF0

s: slot

SF1

SF2

SF3
1 ms sub-frame

SF9

Sy: symbol

TDD -Frame Structure

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 -Frame Structure

UL/DL
carrier

SF
#0

DwPTS
GP
UpPTS

subframe 0

SF
#2

...

subframe 2

SF
#4
subframe 4

SF
#0

DwPTS
GP
UpPTS

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

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

Special Subframe Formats

Special
Subframe
configuration
Number

0
1
2

Extended Cyclic Prefix length in OFDM

Symbols
DwPTS

3
8

Gp

UpPTS

8
3
2

Normal Cyclic Prefix length in OFDM

Symbols
DwPTS

3
9

Gp

10

10

4
3

11

12

3
9

10

11

9
10

6
7

UpPTS

LTE Air Interface Protocol

Radio Interface

RRC Layer
System Information Broadcasting
Paging
RRC Connection Management
EUTRAN Security
Management of point to point Radio Bearers
Mobility Functions
MBMS
QOS Control
Transfer of NAS Messages

PDCP Sublayer

Header Compression and decompression of IP Data flows using ROHC

protocol at the transmitting and receiving end

Ciphering and Deciphering of user plane data and control plane data

Transfer of user plane and control plane data between the users of PDCP
services

RLC Sublayer
Transfer of upper layer PDUs

Error correction through ARQ(only for AM data transfer)

Concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs
In sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs
Duplicate detection
SDU Discard
RLC Re establishment
Protocol error detection and recovery

RLC Sublayer
Transparent Mode:
RLC only delivers and receives the PDUs on a logical channel but doesnt add any
headers to it, thus no track of received PDUs is kept between the receiving and
transmitted entity
Unacknowledged Mode:
Provides more functionality including in sequence delivery of data, which might
be received out of sequence

Acknowledged Mode:
In addition to UM mode, AM mode also provides the retransmission if PDUs are
lost as a result of operation in the lower layer

MAC Sublayer
Mapping between logical channels and Transport channels
Scheduling Information reporting
Error correction through HARQ
Priority handling between logical channels of one UE
Priority handling between UEs by means of dynamic scheduling
Transport format selection
Logical channel Prioritization

Time alignment
The eNB maps the logical channels to transport channels in DL

LTE Channels

Downlink Channels Mapping

DL Logical Channels

DL Logical Channels

Dedicated
Control
Channel (DCCH)

A point to point bi -directional channel that

transmit dedicated control information
between UE and the network
Used by UEs having an RRC connection

Dedicated
Traffic Channel

A point to point bi -directional channel that

transmit dedicated user information
between UE and the network
Used by UEs having an RRC connection

(DTCH)

DL Transport Channels
Paging Channel
(PCH)

Broadcast
Channel

Supports UE discontinuous reception to enable

UE power saving
Broadcast in entire coverage area of the cell
Mapped to the PDSCH

Fixed pre defined transport format

Broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell

(BCH)
Downlink
Shared Channel
(DL-SCH)

Supports HARQ
Supports dynamic link adaption by varying the
modulation, coding and transmit power
Supports both dynamic and semi static resource
allocation
Supports UE discontinuous reception to enable
UE power saving

DL Physical Channels
Physical
Downlink
Shared Channel
(PDSCH)
Physical
Broadcast
Channel
(PBCH)

Carries the DL-SCH and PCH

QPSK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM Modulation

The coded BCH Transport block is mapped to four

sub frames with in a 40 ms interval. 40 ms timing is
blindly detected i.e. there is no explicit signaling
indicating 40 ms timing
Each sub frame is assumed to be self decodable, i.e.
the BCH can be decoded from a single reception,
assuming sufficiently good channel condition
QPSK modulation

DL Physical Channels
Physical Control
Format Indicator
Channel

Indicating the size of PDCCH

Number of OFDM symbol in a sub frame used for PDCCH

(PCFICH)
Physical Downlink
Control Channel
(PDCCH)

Physical Hybrid ARQ

Indicator Channel
(PHICH)

Informs the UE about the resource allocation of PCH and

DL- SCH and HARQ information related to DL- SCH
Carries the uplink scheduling grant
QPSK Modulation

Carries HARQ ACK/ NACK in response to uplink

transmission
QPSK Modulation

Physical Signals
Downlink
Reference
Signal(DL-RS)

Downlink Channel estimation for coherent

demodulation at the UE
Used to avoid the problem of frequency drift

Primary
Synchronization
Signal(PSS)

Provides slot synchronization and physical

cell ID

Secondary
Synchronization
Signal(SSS)

Provides frame synchronization and cell ID

group

Uplink Channels Mapping

UL Logical Channels

UL Transport Channels

Physical Channels
Physical Random
Access Channel
(PRACH)

Physical Uplink
Shared Channel

Carries the Random Access Preamble

The Random Access Preambles are generated from
Zadoff Chu sequences with zero correlation zone,
generated from one or several root Zadoff Chu
sequences

Carries the UL- SCH

QPSK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM Modulation

(PUSCH)
Physical Uplink
Control Channel
(PUCCH)

Carries the HARQ ACK/NACK in response to the

downlink transmission
Carries Scheduling Request
Carries CQI Reports
BPSK and QPSK Modulation

Physical Signals

Demodulation
Reference
Signal

Used for Channel estimation for coherent

detection and demodulation(both
PUCCH and PUSCH)
Associated with Transmission of uplink
data on PUSCH or PUCCH

Sounding
Reference
Signal

Used for the estimation of uplink channel

quality to enable channel dependent
scheduling
Not associated with uplink data
transmission

HAPPY LEARNING
MobileComm Professionals, Inc.
www.mcpsinc.com