UMTS BASICS

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013

WCDMA CONCEPT

The spectrum is resource that can be divided into channels depending on the technology 3 radio multiple access techniques are use in radio mobile network domain : FDMA: Frequency Division multiple Acess : each user use a different frequency, a channel is a frequency

TDMA : Time Division Multiple Acess : each user use a different Time Slot (window period in time), a channel is a specific Time Slot on a specific frequency
CDMA : Code Division Mutiple Access : all user use the same frequency all the time, but with different codes; a channel is a code

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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FDD & TDD MODES

FDD mode : its duplex method where the UL and DL transmissions use 2 separate frequency bands : UL 1920-1980 Mhz DL 2110-2170 Mhz Each carrier is 5 Mhz width and the UL channel is 190 Mhz from the DL. So there is up to 12 pairs of carriers FDD mode is the preferred mode for macro-cellular applications

TDD : its a duplex method where the UL and the DL transmissions are carried over same frequency using different synchronized time intervals. The carrier still uses a 5 Mhz band
TDD mode is the preferred mode for the asymetrical traffic environment, because each TS can be assigned a different direction. The TDD will be used for low mobility coverage in urban areas

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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WIDE BAND CDMA

Capacity, that is to say the ability to send a great amount of bit very quickly on the radio interface, is linked to the wideness of the frequency band and the signal to noise ratio For a given capacity, the higher the carrier beamwidth the lower the signal to noise ratio can be This is really intersting! This means that using a wideband signal, if the transmitted signal strength is lower than the overall noise, it still can be decoded In UMTS we use WCDMA which means Wide band CDMA. The width of the band is 5Mhz which is considered as wide Same capacity : wide low S/N WCDMA : low S/N narrow high S/N

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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CODE NOTION

Imagine that you see 3 numbers in red, green and blue

Imagine that there are superimposed without a colour: it is impossible to read

Now there are superimposed without colour and we add some fog (noise). It is even more impossible to decode But now, if each number got a colour code, your eye is able to distinguish each number If you add some noise your eye will still able to identify each number, according to the noise level

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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WCDMA multiple access principle 1

Each user encodes its signal

Each user is assigned a unique code

The code signal bandwidth is larger than the bandwith of the information signal So the encoding process spreads the spectrum of the signal. The resulting signal is called a a spread spectrum signal (spreading)

The receiver, knowing the code of the user, decodes a received signal after reception and recovers the original data (despreading)
The spectral spreading of the transmitted signal gives to CDMA its multiple access capability

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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WCDMA multiple access principle 2

All users signals overlap in time and frequency

Correlating the received signal despreads only the wanted signal

If multiple users transmit a spread spectrum signal at the same time, the receiver will still be able to distinguish between the users provided each user with his unique code

Correlating the received signal with a code signal from a certain user will then only despread the signal of this user, while the other spread spectrum signals willl remain spread over a large bandwith
If 2 users generate a spread spectrum signal from their narrow band data signals, both users transmit their spread spectrum signals at the same time. At the receiver 1 only the signal of user 1 is despread and the data is recovered

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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WCDMA multiple access principle 3

If the overall noise at the receiver side is higher than the desired despread signal, this last one can not be detected In order to permit multiple access, the codes must have a proprty of low crosscorrelation among them. This means that codes are almost orthogonal The maximum capacity is reached if the codes are perfectly orthogonal

Orthogonal codes = no interference

No orthogonal codes = total noise level will be increased so the capacity will be reduced

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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Chanellization Codes (OVSF)

Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor are used to preserve orthogonality between different physical channels. There are defined using a code tree. In the code tree, the channelization codes are described by SF (Spreading Factor) SF= chip rate/bit rate= 3,84 Mchips/s / bit rate duration of a chip = 0,26 micro s

This means that the higher the SF the lower the bit rate. Low SF are reserved for high data services
UMTS : SF4 up to SF512

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
9

Scrambling Codes

At node B level, each signal is coded using a channelization code. On reception, the UE will use the code assigned by the network to decode the signal But the problem is that the spreading codes are reused from one cell to another That is to say, a mobile station communicating with the cell 1 thanks to the spreading code 1 may also receive the signals from the neighbouring cells using the same spreading code 1 (remember all cells use the same frequency) That would create huge interferences The solution is to assign each cell a specific code called scrambling code It enables the mobiles to identify each cell from the neighbouring ones

So the SC will be used in the DL to discriminate each cell form the others

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
10

Scrambling Codes

Scambling Codes distinguish cells (DL) and users (UL)

Channelization codes separate different physical channels transmitted by the same Node B or UE
1 physical channel = 1 spreading code + 1 scrambling code + 1 frequency Channelization codes identify every mobiles on the same cell (DL) separates the different channels of one user 512 SC divided into 64 groups of 8 SC each and

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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CAPACITY DEFINITION

Maximum number of silmutaneous users / Maximum bit rate in a cell, in a given spectrum With WCDMA, capcity depends on the interference level Capacity and quality are linked. They are limited by the amount of interference power present in the band

Quality is defined as the perceived condition of a radio link assigned to a particular user; this perceived link quality is directly related to the probability of bit error rate (BER)
Capacity depends on the accuracy of power control Capacity is soft ( in GSM capacity is hard ) Capacity for DL and UL are different

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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EB/NO TARGET

In GSM, the desired signal must be strong enough to override any interference. The figure of quality is the C/I (signal power over the co-channel interference power) Co-channel users are kept at a safe distance by carefu frequency planning to keep interference at low levels. Nearby users and cells must use different frequencies to avoid interference

In WCDMA, all users use the same frequency at the same time. WCDMA interference comes mainly from nearby users (UE & Node B)
The figure of quality is Eb / No (Energy per bit over the intterference [noise] spectral density)

For a given service, a given (Eb / No) target

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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Interference Sources

UL interference sources :

Intracell and intercell interference at the base station receiver comes from the imperfect orthogonality of the Scrambling codes ( 1 SC per UE)

DL interference sources :

Intracell interference comes from multi path reception (channelization codes)

Intercell comes from the imperfect orthogonality of the scrambling codes

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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Processing Gain

Eb= Signal power / bit rate = S / Rb

No = Noise Power / bandwidth = N / W

Eb / No = S / N * W / Rb S / N = Signal to noise ratio W / Rb = Gp = Processing Gain Example : speech Eb / No > 4 dB ; bit rate = 12,2 kbps bandwidth = 3,84 Mcps Gp = W / Rb = 315 = 25 dB S/ N > -21 dB

In GSM we are concerned with the critical parameter C/I (or S/N)
In WCDMA we are interested by the parameter Eb / No

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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Cell breathing

When the loading increases, the interference increases

WCDMA cell size is dynamic : cell breathing

Capacity/quality and coverage are linked

The noise rise is the noise that is due to the interference created by the mobiles communicating with the node B Nose Rise = f (Loading factor) Loading Factor = f (Thermal noise) typical value : 50 % corresponds to a Noise Rise = 3 dB Greater values than 50 % for the loading factor can lead to to the systems instability

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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WCDMA handover

We can distinguish 2 different kinds of handover :

Hard-handovers, like in GSM : when travelling from one cell to another one, the connection with the first cell will be broken down, just before the establishment of a new connection with the second cell
The mobile is communicating with one cell at a time Soft-handovers : consist in communicating with 2 or 3 cells at the same time. This is only possible with a WCDMA system, as the neighboring cells use the same frequency to communicate So a mobile will have the possibility to establish a new communication with a new cell without breaking its current link with the first cell This property is interesting because the transmission power can be manged to be as small as possible, and then reducing the interference level within one cell and increasing the cell capacity

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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HO designations

Soft : between 2 sites

Softer : between 2 cells of one site

Softer-Soft : between 3 cells of two sites Soft-Soft : between 3 different sites Hard HO : between 2 different carriers or systems (GSM and UMTS)

Depending on cell overlap, soft and softer situations happen 20% to 40% of the time Studies have found out that the best values should be set at 30%

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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CONCLUSION

WCDMA allows low S/N

User signal is spread

Bite rate * SF = 3,84 Mcps (Chip rate) Channelization codes discriminate each user in DL Scrambling codes distinguish cells (DL) and users (UL)

Eb/No target is the equivalent of C/I for GSM

Each service requires a given Eb/No Cell capacity is limited by interferences level Interferences increase with higher rate services Cell coverage decreases with increasing loading (cell breathing) Power control is required to control capacity Handover can be soft or softer (macro diversity)

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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Physical Channels

Channels without connection to transport channels are called Stand-alone channels

All Stand-alone channels exist in DL only

Stand alone channels are

CPICH SCH AICH Common Pilot Channel Synchronization Channel (Primary & Secondary) Acquisition Indication Channel

PICH Paging Indicator Channel CSICH CPCH Status Indicator Channel CD/CAICH Collision Detection / Channel Assignment Indicator Channel
Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE 08/10/2013
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DL Physical Channels - CPICH

CPICH - Common Pilot Channel

Primary CPICH (PCPICH) SF=256, predefined bit/symbol sequence, fixed channelization code Scrambled with the primary scrambling code Only one PCPICH per cell Used for level measurements & channel estimation The PCPICH is the phase reference for all DL physical channels Transmitted over the entire cell
Secondary CPICH (SCPICH) SF=256, arbitrary channelization code Zero, one or several SCPICH per cell Not necessarily transmitted over entire cell
Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE 08/10/2013
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DL Physical Channels - SCH

SCH - Synchronization Channel

Time multiplexed with PCCPCH first 256 chips of slot SCH, rest PCCPCH Primary SCH Consists of a a fixed 256 chips code Primary Synchronization Code (PSC) The PSC is the same for every cell in the system

The PSC is repeated in each slot Secondary SCH Transmitted in parallel to the Primary SCH In each of the 15 slots a different Secondary Synchronization Code SSC is transmitted The SSC sequence indicates the used downlink scrambling code set (8 codes) out of 64 scrambling code groups
Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE 08/10/2013
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DL Physical Channels - Other Stand-Alone

AICH - Acquisition Indication Channel

SF256, Frame length 20ms 5120 chips/slot Used to confirm reception of (P)RACH

PICH - Paging Indicator Channel

SF=256, carries the paging indicators associated with an SCCPCH to which a PCH transport channel is mapped

Once a PI message has been detected on the PICH, the UE decodes the next PCH frame transmitted on the SCCPCH whether there is a paging message intended for it.

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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DL Physical Channels

DL Channels associated with a transport channel

PCCPCH - Primary Common Control Physical Channel Used to carry the BCH Time multiplexed with SCH

Fixed transmit power / fixed data rate SCCPCH - Secondary Common Control Physical Channel Used to carry the FACH or PCH / no fast power control

Adel EL JAZIRI OF/UPR SE

08/10/2013
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