LTE Basics and Key Technologies

Outline

Part I LTE Basics

Frame Structure & Physical Resource

Physical Channel and Signal

Part II LTE Key Technologies

Evolutionary Process Evolutionary Path of Wireless Technology

GSM

GPRS

EDGE

eEDGE

LTE

TDSCDMA
WCDMA
R99

CDMA
IS95

CDMA
2000 1x

CDMA 2000
1X EV-DO

HSDPA

HSDPA
R5

HSUPA

HSUPA
R6

HSPA+
R7

FDD/
TDD

4G

EV-DO
Rev. A
EV-DO
Rev. B

802.16 d

2G

2.5G

2.75G

802.16 e

3G

3.5G

802.16 m

3.75G

3.9G

4G

LTE becomes the trend of mobile communication technology evolution, during which, multiple
technologies will coexist for a long period of time before they evolve into one single network.

LTE Radio Frame Structure

LTE supports two types of radio frame structures: Type 1, applicable to FDD;
Type 2, applicable to TDD.

Frame Structure Type1 - FDD

Type1 frame structure: Each10 ms radio frame is divided into 20 timeslots or 10 subfra
mes.
Each subframe has 2 timeslots, 0.5 ms for each timeslot.
The UL and DL transport is conducted at different frequencies.

LTE Radio Frame Structure

Frame structure Type2
TDD

Further
analysis

Type2 frame structure:

Each 10 ms wireless frame is divided into two half frames
with the duration of 5 ms each.
Each half frame is composed of 8 timeslots with the duration
of 0.5 ms and 3 special zones DwPTS, GP, UpPTS.
The total duration of DwPTS, GP and UpPTS is 1 ms, while
the duration of DwPTS or UpPTS is configurable.

On the frequency domain, the subcarrier interval is 15KHz. For instance, there are 1200
subcarriers in the case of 20MHz system bandwidth.
On the time domain, each 1ms subframe is divided into several symbols, and there are
guard interval CP between symbols; there are 14 symbols in 1 ms for regular CP and 12
symbols in 1ms for extended CP.
5

LTE Radio Frame Structure

Normal cyclic prefix

Configuration

Uplink-downlink and special timeslot

configuration

"D" indicates downlink subframe, "U" indicates uplink

sub-frame, "S" indicates the
special sub-frame composed
of DwPTS, GP and UpPTS.

DwPTS

GP

Extended cyclic prefix

UpPTS

DwPTS

GP

10

1 OFDM
symbols

UpPTS

1 OFDM
symbols

10

11

10

12

10

11

2 OFDM
symbols

2 OFDM
symbols

Subframe number

Uplink-downlink
configuration

Downlink-to-Uplink
Switch-point
periodicity

5 ms

D S U U U D S U U U

5 ms

D S U U D D S U U D

5 ms

D S U D D D S U D D

10 ms

D S U U U D D D D D

10 ms

D S U U D D D D D D

10 ms

D S U D D D D D D D

10 ms

D S U U U D S U U D

The DwPTS, UpPTS and

GP in the special
subframe are
configurable.

LTE Physical Resource Allocation - RE/RB

One downlink slot Tslot

RE (Resource Element) is the minimum

resource unit; for each antenna port, it indicates
one OFDM symbol on the time domain and one

DL
N symb
OFDM symbols

subcarrier on the frequency domain.

DL RB
k N RB
N sc 1

RB (Resource Block) is the resource unit of

service channel resource allocation.

15 KHz

Regular CP

12

84

Extended
CP

12

72

DL
RB
N symb
N sc
resource elements

subcarriers

Subcarrier
Number of Number of Number of
CP duration
interval
subcarriers symbols
REs

subcarriers

Resource block

Resource element (k , l )

k 0
l 0

DL
l N symb
1

LTE Physical Resource Allocation - RE/RB Diagram

sym
bo

ls

subcarriers, 180kHz

LTE Physical Resource Allocation Control Area and

Data Area
Regular subframe: The regular subframe is composed of
two timeslots, including downlink and uplink regular
subframe.
Special subframe: The special subframe is composed of
three special zones, namely, DwPTS, GP and UpPTS.

1. Downlink subframe: Signals in the control area and in the data

area are distinguished by time, and the number of OFDM symbols
in the control area can be allocated.
Downlink subframe

Number of OFDM symbols in

control area

Special subfram

1, 2

General Subframe

1, 2, 3

2. Signals in the control area and in the data area in the uplink regular
subframe are distinguished by frequency.

Control area

Data area

Outline

Part I LTE Basics

Frame Structure & Physical Resource

Physical Channel and Signal

Part II LTE Key Technologies

LTE Physical Channel

Downlink physical channel
Channel type

Functions

PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel )

Carrying downlink service data

PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel)

Carrying broadcasting information

PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel)

Indicating the number of symbols occupied

by PDCCH in the same subframe

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

Carrying the downlink scheduling information

PHICH (Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel)

Carrying HARQ information

Uplink physical channel

Channel type

Functions

PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel)

Carrying uplink service data

PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

Carrying HARQ information

PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel)

Sending preamble information for random access of the

UE

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LTE Physical Channel RE Mapping of Downlink Physical Channel

PDSCH

and PBCH are mapped onto the data field of subframe.

PDSCH

and PBCH can exist in the same subframe.

36 sub-carriers

OFDM symbols
36 sub-carriers

12

LTE Physical Channel Uplink Physical Channel PRACH

PRACH Overview
One cell has 64 PRACH Preambles
Preamble is generated by sequences
One PRACH occupies 6 RBs

Preamble Format
Total 5 preamble formats
Format 0~3 are both for TDD & FDD,
and mapped in uplink sub-frames
Format 4 is only for TDD, and
Preamble
mapped in UpPTS
format
0

Duration
1ms

2ms

2ms

3ms

4(only for FS 2) 157.3us

13

TCP

3152 Ts
21012 Ts

TSEQ

Sequence length

24576 Ts

839

24576 Ts

2 24576 Ts

21012 Ts 2 24576 Ts

6224 Ts

448 Ts

4096 Ts

839
839 (transmitted
twice)
839(transmitted
twice)
139

LTE Physical Signal

DL physical signal

Reference signal

Cell dedicated reference signal

UE dedicated reference signal

Synchronization signal
Primary

synchronization signal

Secondary

synchronization signal

Uplink physical signal

Reference signal
Demodulation
Sounding

reference signal

reference signal

14

LTE Physical Signal Cell Dedicated Reference Signal

Cell dedicated reference signal mapped to the resource

element

At any antenna port in a timeslot, the RE for

transmitting reference signal cannot be used at any
other antenna port in the same timeslot

15

LTE Physical Signal Downlink Synchronization Signal

TDD

FDD

There are 504 cell IDs on the physical layer, that are divided into 168 groups (3 ID in
each group).

Primary synchronization signal: 3 different sequences

Secondary synchronization signal: 168 different sequences

16

LTE Physical Signal Demodulation Reference Signal & S

ounding Reference Signal

PUSCH demodulation reference signal is used

for obtaining the channel estimation matrix
Occupy the fourth symbol in each slot, an
d its frequency domain is consistent with t
he bandwidth of PUSCH.

Sounding reference signal is transmitted for th

e estimation and the scheduling of uplink.
Symbol position: the final symbol located i
n uplink.
Sub-frame configuration: UE obtains via th
e broadcasting information.
Duration: Once-for-all or unlimited through
RRC signaling
Period: 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, 80, and 160ms

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Outline

Part I LTE Basics

Part II LTE Key Technologies

Multiple Access -- OFDM

Multi-Antenna Technique -- MIMO

Link Adaptation and Scheduling

Evolution of Key Technologies

1G
(FDMA)

2G
(mainly TDMA)

3G
(CDMA)

LTE
(OFDM+MIMO+IP)

Main enhanced technologies of LTE: OFDM and MIMO

19

OFDM Basics

OFDM: Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

The principle of OFDM is to divide the high speed data flow into low speed data on N
subcarriers at the same time.
The subcarriers of OFDM modulation can be overlapped with each other and can ensure
the quadrature (no interference) among subcarriers.
5 Bandwidth
MHz Bandwidth

FFT

Sub-carriers

Guard Intervals

Symbols

Frequency

Time

20

OFDM Main Parameters

Subcarrier interval

15 kHz

Number of subcarriers
Channel bandwidth(MHz)

1.4

10

15

20

Number of subcarriers

72

180

300

600

900

1200

Uplink: SC-FDMA
Decrease the PAPR (Peak to
average power ratio) of the
signal
Interval: 15kHz
.

21

Outline

Part I LTE Basics

Part II LTE Key Technologies

Multiple Access -- OFDM

Multi-Antenna Technique -- MIMO

Link Adaptation and Scheduling

Multi-Antenna
Multiple Input Multiple Output

UL multi-antenna technology
MU-MIMO
DL multi-antenna technology
Transmit diversity
Spatial Multiplexing
Beam Forming

Classification
MIMO
SISO
SIMO
MISO

23

LTE Downlink MIMO Mode

1

Compatible with single

emission antennas

Single antenna port,port 0

Transmit diversity

Open-loop spatial multiplexing

Closed-loop spatial multiplexing

Improve the user peak value rate

Multi-user MIMO

Increase the cell throughput

Closed-loop Rank =1 pre-coding

Single antenna port,port 5

Dual-layer Beam Forming

Enhance transmit reliability

and improve noise ratio

Enhance cell coverage

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Application Scenario of MIMO

Cell central

Cell body

Cell edge
Mo
de

e 2
Mod

Edge
handover

3
Mode

de
Mo

High
speed
moving

Medium
speed
moving

Mode 2
,6,7

Mo
de

High Density

Low speed moving (indoor

nomadic)
Cell edge

Application Scenario of MIMO

MIMO Mode

Scenario

Character

TM1 Single Antenna port (Port

0)

Every scenario

TM2 Transmit diversity

High speed, poor quality of radio

channel

Improve Radio Channel stability

TM3 Open-loop spatial

multiplexing

medium or high speed, high SNR

Improve Peak data rates

TM4 Closed-loop spatial

multiplexing

static or low speed, high SNR

Improve Peak data rates

TM5 Multi-user MIMO

static or low speed, high SNR

Improve system Capacity

TM6 Closed-loop Rank =1

pre-coding

static or low speed, high SNR

Improve cell Coverage and

Suppress Interference

TM7 Single-antenna port

(Port 5)

static or low speed, poor SNR

Improve cell Coverage and

Suppress Interference

TM8: Dual-layer Beam Forming

static or low speed

Suppress Interference

Outline

Part I LTE Basics

Part II LTE Key Technologies

Multiple Access -- OFDM

Multi-Antenna Technique -- MIMO

Link Adaptation and Scheduling

Link Adaptation and Fast Scheduling

In LTE, link adaption is adaptive modulation and coding (AMC). Applying AMC can
help eNodeB adjust different modulation modes (QPSK, 16QAM, or 64QAM) and c
oding rates, according to the feedback about the channel status from the UE.

AMC can increase the system capacity without increasing interference to neighbori
ng cells.

Scheduling: For a certain resource block, schedule the users at its best channel tra
nsmission condition, so as to maximize the system throughput.

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Link AdaptionRate Control (AMC)

Adaptive Modulation

Adaptive Coding

mode

efficiency

Make good use of channel condition to

transmit user data efficiently
In good condition: transmit user data at high
rate
In poor condition: transmit user data at low rate

Time Domain AMC

Frequency Domain AMC

Space Domain AMC

The combination of modulation mode and coding mode makes AMC more efficient and flexible.

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HARQ

Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) combines Forward Error Correction (FEC)
and Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ). HARQ, working with AMC, provides flexible an
d accurate rate adjustment the LTE process.

FEC sends an error correction code from transmitters to correct errors at receivers.
ARQ send ACK or NACK message to feedback the decoding results

30

Fast Scheduling

Fast Scheduling is Grouping Scheduling. The basic aim is to serve fast.

The system gives higher priority to the users
who are served at the max C/I.
The system can get the maximum Throughput.
Do not fair for users.

Max C/I

Time-based round-robin

Each user, served in order, gets the same

allocated time in average. Owing to different
environments of users, their flows differ.

Flow-based round-robin

Despite the environment difference, every user

is ensured to get the same flow in a certain
order.

PF (Proportional Fair)

This method integrates the scheduling modes

above, considers the satisfaction of most
users, and ensures a relative high throughput.
It is a practical scheduling mode.

31