USING RATE MATCHING ATTRIBUTES FOR DIFFERENTIATED QoS IN UMTS
NETWORKS
R.M.Karthik and Joy Kuri
CEDT, IISc, Bangalore-560012.
email: rmkartik@cedt.iisc.ernet.in, kuri@cedt.iisc.ernet.in.
ABSTRACT
We consider transport channels on the downlink of an UMTS
network, with Rate Matching Attribute (RMA) values
 ,

 

,. . . , that are multiplexed on a single Coded Com-
posite Transport Channel (CCTrCh). We derive analytical expres-
sions for the Bit Error Ratios (BERs) seen by each channel in the
multiplex. Simulations indicate that the expressions are very ac-
curate. We also provide a procedure that gives the RMA values
required to achieve a target set of BERs for a specified signal-to-
noise ratio; when no feasible RMA values exist, the procedure in-
dicates that as well. The results of this paper will be of use to
UMTS service providers who wish to provide differentiated QoS
while maintaining high spectral efficiency.
1. INTRODUCTION AND SYSTEM MODEL
In UMTS technology, “transport channels” are used by WCDMA
physical layer to offer services to the higher layers. Transport
channels are always undirectional and are either common, shared
among several users or dedicated to a single user. Data arrives on
transport channels in the form of transport blocks. A variable num-
ber of blocks arrives on the transport channel at each transmission
time instant. The size of the transport blocks is, in general, dif-
ferent for different transport channels. The time interval between
consecutive transmission time instants is called the transmission
spreading codes and therefore separate physical channels are
used. A spreading code is a scarce resource. It would be desir-
able to use fewer codes (ideally one). It is also possible that the bit
error probability achieved using separate spreading codes is bet-
ter than what is actually required by a particular application; this
indicates a wastage of resources.
To conserve spreading codes, when several transport chan-
nels are destined to the same mobile, UMTS technology provides
the possibility of transporting multiple parallel services (transport

channels) with different quality requirements on one physical layer
connection. Parallel transport channels (TrCh- to TrCh- ) are
separately channel coded and interleaved. The coded transport
channels are then time-multiplexed into a single Coded Composite
Transport Channel (CC-TrCh). The number of bits available in a
CCTrCh per radio frame is fixed; these bits must be shared among
the transport channels that are multixplexed as shown in Fig. . 
Rate Matching Attributes (RMAs) are used to determine the share
of each channel in the CCTrCh. The procedure to determine each
channel’s share is given in Section 1.2.

If the RMA values determine a share for TrCh that is more
than the number of bits provided by the channel, then one or more
bits of the channel must be repeated one or more times. On the

other hand, if the share for TrCh is less than the number of bits

provided by the channel, then some bits of TrCh will be punc-
tured. It can be expected that punctured channels will see a de-
 
time interval (TTI) and is limited to the set 10, 20, 40, 80 ms
graded QoS, while the quality of repeated channels will improve.
. Thus RMA values can be used as an effective mechanism to con-
serve spreading codes, and yet achieve a differentiated QoS for
multiple connections on the downlink and uplink.
Spreading
TrCh 1 PhCh 1
Code 1 Puncturing/
repeating

Rate From
Spreading Channel TrCh 1
TrCh 2 PhCh 2 TrCh 1 coding Matching
Code 2 Attribute From
TrCh 2
Rate PhCh
TrCh 2 Channel Matching Multiplex CCTrCh
coding Attribute Single
Spreading
Spreading Code
TrCh I PhCh I
Code I
Rate
Channel Matching
TrCh I coding Attribute From
TrCh I
Fig. 1. Transport-channels using separate spreading codes in
WCDMA

Consider the situation depicted in Fig.


on the downlink Fig. 2. Transport-channel coding and multiplexing to a single CC-
where transport channels are destined to the same mobile. TrCh
1.1. Parameters 2.1. Determination of BER for a punctured transport channel

Let _   denote 

this
In  Transport
section, we list the parameters that are used in the study.  is negative
the event that a bit on TrCh is punctured. Recalling
  -- Number Block Size on TrCh .  that B  for a punctured channel, the probability of
of bits in a radio frame before rate matching on this event, J9_ M is given by
TrCh 
  - If. positive, the number of bits to be repeated in a radio frame B J9_  M` 2   
 TrCh
on 
 Transmission
. If negative, the number of bits to be punctured.  
 -- Semi Time interval on TrCh in msecs.  Let denote the event that a bit of TrCh is incorrectly detected. 



  - Total number ofMatching
Static Rate Attribute on TrCh .  The probability of this event is given by
bits available for the CCTrCh in a radio B J   `M  B J9_  M B J ba _  M =?B Jd_ c  M B J a _ c  M (4)
frame.

- Number  oferror Transport Channels in the CCTrCh. 
where _ c denotes the complementary event that the bit on TrCh


 -- Bit   is not punctured.  with
ratio for TrCh . When a bit is punctured, it is detected at the
Energy per bit over noise power spectral density. receiver as 
B   a _  M is givenequal
or probability. Then, the probability of
BPSK signalling is used for transmission over the AWGN error, J by
B J ba _  MG 
channel. The objective is to determine the BER in each transport
channel in the CCTrCh when no channel coding is used.

For a non-punctured bit, the probability of error is given by
1.2. Determination of the number of bits to be repeated or
punctured in each transport channel B J   a _ c  MG CeDGF     H
 
The number of bits to be repeated or punctured is determined as in

 
 
   for
 

. Given the RMA values,  

channels, variables    are defined, and

 , the 
  The overall probability of error is therefore
  , are obtained as follows:
    B J   GM   2 
 i

 =  =  
h   j
 h e
C D F 

 
 H
gf f (5)
  = !#"#$
!%!
$ This procedure is repeated for all channels in which the bits are
punctured and the corresponding BERs are determined.
() *, + * *-



   
 
  '& ) *,
 + * * . / 0    2.2. Determination of BER for a repeated transport channel

  
4 2 
(1)
For kml 
, let In  be the event 2 that a bit is repeated J5k
 M
times. When bit : is repeated J5k M times, the corresponding
   1
  32  5 4  2   / 6   7 (2)
k -bit transmitted sequence is given by
]bo   :^p rq :sp bq :sp n q 
$
2. APPROACH where : p
 
r q  
t: p ui: p n q t:  since the bit has been
b q
As a first step, we consider the simple case in which 98 the channel repeated.
The noise sequence added to the k -bit sequence is given by
coding 9

blocks8 in Fig. are 
absent. Consider the transmitted  > o   >  p rq  >  p bq  >  p n q 
bit : . The 
received bit is given by
$
;<  : #=?>@ >  p  p  >  p n q are independentsamples

r q >  
b q
where   . The from the
>  same Gaussian noise process with variance received
where  /2 corrupting
is the noise sample from a white Gaussian noise pro- sequence is given by
; o   ;  p rq  ;  p bq  ;
: . Since
cess with two sided noise power spectral density pn q 
the channel adds white Gaussian noise, the successive $
A inindependent.
noise samples added are uncorrelated and hence The   where ;  p v q  : p v q =U>  p v q    7xk#
probability of bit error for BPSK signalling an AWGN envi- w
ronment is given by
In the rate-dematching block, this sequence is averaged over k to

B6  CEDGF   I H

give
(3)
;<   y + n zJ :sp v q =?> pv q M
k 
where  4 Z Y[  \^] v  yn >
CKJ9L#MN O 
 : k + = pv q
QPSRUVX
T W
v 
For this particular bit, the noise variance
 is given by every bit in the original radio-frame of size
 
is repeated at least
 yn > q 
- J5k = M , let
once. To find the number of times a bit is repeated, we proceed as
( k and
, ' ' $ $ * J5k =  M
 
 D + pv H follows. For intergers
k k
 yn v  .
In this case, some bits are repeated k times and others J5k
= M
 k +


 J >  p v q M  nq
times. Let p bits in the original radio frame of size
  
n 4 
r q = 
  be
v repeated k times and p bits be repeated J5k M times.Then
All noise samples are independent samples from the same distri-   p n q =?  p n4 rq   
 4
(9)
bution. Therefore the noise variance is given by
 J5k =  M p  n q = =
J5k sM p   n 
r q  J   =    M (10)
  J    s M
k Solving the above two equations, we get
Therefore the SNR for this bit is given by   p n$4 rq  J #=   M 2 J5k =  M 
 
      k        p n q  J5k =  M  2  
J k M
Recalling that
n is the event that a bit is repeated k times, we
The probability of error associated with this bit is therefore given have
B J
n M  J5k =  M   2  




= C ("!  n$')#&( % -
by

B J
n4 bM   2 J5k  M   2    h
=
There are two cases which are to be considered. f
CASE A:  +*-, ' ' $/$ .  The probability of error is given by

, ' ' $1$ .  , the B J   GM  B J
n M B J xa
n M =?B J
$n 4 M B J ba
n$4  M

Let be the event that a bit is repeated. If 0* =  M  32    =   
probability of event is given by
 f J5k   h C D F  J5k   M H =
B J

MG     5  2 JZk =  M  2   =  
In this case, a bit is repeated just once (if at all). The probability
 
 6 C D F  J5k   M H (11)

of error is given by
B J
  GM  B J

M B J  ba

M = B J%

c M B J  ba

c M (6)
This procedure is repeated for all channels in which bits are re-
peated and the corresponding BERs are determined.
Thus using equations (5), (8) and (11), the BERs of all the


where c denotes the complementary event that a bit is not re-
   in .the CCTrCh can be determined, given the RMA values
channels
B J ba
For
peated.


the case of a bit repeated once, the probability of error
M is given by
and

B J   a
A  3. DETERMINATION OF RMAs, GIVEN BERs FOR ALL

MG1CED F  IH (7) THE CHANNELS
   


Given , the
probability
 
 of7bit
 is ,given
error by (3). The
For a non-repeated bit, the probability of error is given by
B .
given target BERs, 
 
 
 
 are compared
with
B J   a

c MG1C D F      H

 1: B  , then the channel can be punctured. As seen
CASE


B 
Therfore the overall probability of error J M is given by
If
2
before, the BER for punctured channel is given by

B J   M`   j h C'DGF A    H =  2     h CeDNF     H

   2  t   =  =        H

f f  f h f   h C D F
(8)
From this equation
2    can be calculated and leads to the fol-
This procedure is repeated for all channels in which the bits are
  (

 2 C ( !  '7# ( % -<-
repeated once and the corresponding BERs are determined. lowing

CASE B: , ' ' $/$ 2  2    

 2  C ( !  '7# ( % - (12)

, ' ' $32 

The number of times each bit is to be repeated is determined from
the number of repeated bits and the block size. If $ , then

 
  
 
 B p! q B p q B p! q B p q
 
 

6 15 2160 2160 0.2274 0.2273 0.0141 0.0142

10 10 2000 2000 0.0213 0.0212 0.0213 0.0214
10 12 2000 2000 0.0317 0.0317 0.0192 0.0193
10 14 2000 2000 0.0706 0.0705 0.0176 0.0175
10 14 2160 2160 0.1024 0.1024 0.0195 0.0196
10 15 2160 2160 0.1183 0.1185 0.0188 0.0187
10 30 2160 2160 0.2615 0.2616 0.0127 0.0127
20 24 1000 3320 0.0868 0.0866 0.0221 0.0221
20 24 2160 2160 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0210

Table 1. Comparison of BERs with

   :
 on both channels.

 2:
CASE

 * B  , then channel  must be repeated. Two integers k
for different values of RMAs, block sizes (in bits) and TTIs in the
If = B channels. In the Tables, the BERs are denoted by theA
2 transport

 n$')# ( % *

 * C ( !  p n$4 ')r( q # %

( ! found
and J5k M are - such that - letter . Tables  and compare the results for  and 
C respectively. In all the cases, the match is observed to be excellent.
This implies that some of
the must be repeated J5k
2  M times
and others k times. The
 
bits

in this case is given by 5. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK
B J   MG B J
In M B J   a
n^M = B J
n$4  M B J   a
In$4  M We presented a method for the evaluation of BERs of the different
 2   k   H =
services on the  transport
  onchannels, given the corresponding RMAs
 f k  h C DGF   and a specified the UMTS downlink. The procedure can
be extended to the uplink also. It is found that the simulated results
  2    =   
 2 k  
closely match the derived formula. In addition, we obtained a pro-
C D F J5k   M H (13)
at the specified
    whether
cedure to determine  on theit transport
is possible to satisfy the given BERs
channels using the RMAs.

From this equation,

   can be obtained as The results considered in this paper are for the case where no chan-
nel coding was done. We are currently extending the results to the
( !  n$# % - 2 2  ( !  n4 rq # % - 2
 
'7( J5k - M C p ')(
  case where transport channels use convolutional coding.
 k C

( !  n$# % 2 ( !  n$4 rq # % -


')( C p '7(
 
6. REFERENCES
C

Evaluating equations (12) and (14), the value of

   for all(14)
the
[1] Erik Dahlman, Bjorn Gudmundson, Mats Nilsson and Johan
Skold, “UMTS/IMT-2000 Based on WCDMA,” IEEE Commu-
channels are determined. Then we verify whether the following nications Magazine, vol. 36, Issue 8, pp. 1094–1105, Septem-
equation is satisfied: ber 1998.

y +
  #=  
 M 
 
[2] 3GPP TS 25.212 V5.0.0, Technical Specification, Multiplex-

  J . (15) ing and Channel Coding (FDD).

[3] Insoo Sohn and Seung Chang Bang, “Performance Studies



: cannot be of Rate Matching for WCDMA Mobile Receiver,” IEEE VTC

  
If Equation (15) is not satisfied,
  then the given 2000, vol. 6, pp. 2661-2665, September 2000.

satisfied for the specified with any value of the RMAs on
[4] Bernard Sklar, “Digital Communications, Fundamentals and

the transport channels.
If Equation (15) is satisfied, the RMA values can be obtained Applications,”  edition, Pearson Education, Asia.

using the procedure given in Section 1.2. Combining equations

[5] “User guide for RadioLab 3G,” www.radioscape.com.

can obtain the values of RMAs (   

  ) given the
 
( ) and ( ) with equations (12) and (14), and solving them we



(0
 
  ).
4. COMPARISON OF ANALYTICAL AND SIMULATED
RESULTS

The RadioLab 3G tool

 

is used for comparison. The simulated
   = 4320
BERs are compared with the analytical expressions for the BERs
    = 3 dB. The simulations are performed for variousbitsRMA
for the case of = 2, 3 and 4. We use and

channels. Tables

2  compare
values, different transport block sizes and different TTIs in the
the analytical and simulated BERs

 
  
 
 B p! q B p q B p! q B p q
 
 

10 12 2160 2160 0.0178 0.0179 0.0127 0.0127

10 15 2160 2160 0.0200 0.0201 0.0082 0.0083
10 20 2160 2160 0.0229 0.023 0.0024 0.0024
10 30 2160 2160 0.1185 0.1183 0.0015 0.0016
20 24 2160 4320 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0210

Table 2. Comparison of BERs with

 `   :  and
    : . 

 
   
 
 B d    : B and  B ,  A  : B 

 d    : and  , 
 :
B p! q B p q B p! q B p q
p ! q p q p ! q p q
   



   

10 12 2160 8640 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0211 17280 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0211
10 12 2160 6480 0.0218 0.0220 0.0175 0.0175 12960 0.0218 0.0220 0.0175 0.0176
10 15 2160 8640 0.1183 0.1185 0.0188 0.0187 17280 0.1183 0.1185 0.0188 0.0187

Table 3. Comparison of BERs with the mentioned

 :.


     A :      
 :

 
  
 B  p  ! q Q : B andq B p! q

B p q 

 B p ! q   : B and q
B p! q B p q 

 p 

 p  

10 12 4320 8640 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0211 17280 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0212
10 15 4320 8640 0.1183 0.1185 0.0188 0.0187 17280 0.1183 0.1185 0.0188 0.0187

Table 4. Comparison of BERs with the mentioned

 :.


  d  A  : and  ,  A  :  d  A  : and  , 
 :

 
  
 B p! q B p q B p! q B p q
 

 B p! q B p q B p! q 
B p q 

   

   

10 12 8640 12960 0.1594 0.1594 0.0909 0.0911 17280 0.0665 0.0665 0.0210 0.0211
10 15 8640 12960 0.2065 0.2067 0.0596 0.0597 17280 0.1183 0.1185 0.0188 0.0187

Table 5. Comparison of BERs with the mentioned

 :.

   
 B p! q B p q

 B p! q B p q  

    10 1080 0.0229 0.0230

10 1440 0.1024 0.1026 10 1080 0.1333 0.1337
12 1440 0.1422 0.1423 10 1080 0.1872 0.1873
12 1440 0.1349 0.1351

   
 B p! q B p q
12 1080 0.1099 0.1099  

  
 B p! q B p q 10 1080 0.0229 0.0229

  12 1080 0.0596 0.0596
12 1440 0.0229 0.0229 14 1080 0.0622 0.0623
14 1440 0.0229 0.0229

   
 B p! q B p q
15 1440 0.0430 0.0430  

15 1440 0.0224 0.0226 10 1080 0.0229 0.0229

 
 B p! q B p q 14 1080 0.0213 0.0215

  16 1080 0.0205 0.0206
14 1440 0.0195 0.0195

  
 B p! q B p q
16 1440 0.0178 0.0178  

20 1440 0.0172 0.0174 10 1080 0.0229 0.0229
20 1440 0.0154 0.0154 16 1080 0.0182 0.0182
20 1080 0.0166 0.0166


S  :s 
Table6. Comparison ofBERs for
    transport

: and   
channels
A
 Table7. Comparison of   
  :s  I   :s      :
with  BERs for transport channels
 : . with   
and ,  : .