Introduction to 3GPP Physical Layer

By
Barry Cardiff
UK L1 Integration

NOKIA

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Agenda

Main item: Basic concepts of CDMA

followed by:
3GPP WCDMA parameters
Services provided by physical layer
FDD Spectrum Usage
Downlink Spreading and Modulation
Uplink Spreading and Modulation
OVSF codes
FDD Physical channels (all of them)
L1 procedures
Transport channels
Structure of 3GPP (L1)
Where to find more
Q&A

NOKIA

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3GPP WCDMA parameters

Chip rate = 3.84mcps (hence the term wideband).

Spreading factors from 4 to 512 are supported.
A common pilot channel exists for channel estimation.
Channelisation codes are OVSF codes.
QPSK is used on the down link for each physical channel.
HPSK is used on the uplink.
Circuit and packet switched channels are available.
Data is spread twice, first by channelisation codes, then by pseudo

random scrambling codes to differentiate between basestations on the

downlink, (and between mobiles on the uplink).
Open loop and feedback Tx diversity is employed.
Softhandover with up to 3 basestations is permitted.
Flexible design so that there is no fixed way to map a service onto the
physical layer, the mapping is informed at call setup, and can vary
dynamically or be reconfigured during a call.
Fast power control commands: 1500Hz.
NOKIA

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Cellular stack model

Measurement Report
Radio Resource
Assignment
[Code, Frequency,
TS, TF Set, Mapping,
etc.]

RLC

RLC

C o n tro l
M ea su re m en ts

M easu re m en ts
C o n tro l

MAC

Transport channels

L1

UTRAN

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C o n tro l
M ea su re m en ts

M easu re m en ts
C o n tro l

RLC retransmission
control

MAC

NOKIA

RRC

C o n tro l

C o n tro l

RRC

Physical channels

L1

UE

Services provided by physical layer

- Soft handover execution
- Error detection on transport channels and indication to higher layers
- FEC encoding/decoding of transport channels
- Multiplexing of transport channels and demultiplexing of coded composite transport channels
- Rate matching (data multiplexed on DCH)
- Mapping of coded composite transport channels on physical channels
- Power weighting and combining of physical channels
- Modulation and spreading/demodulation and despreading of physical channels
- Frequency and time (chip, bit, slot, frame) synchronisation
- Radio characteristics measurements including FER, SIR, Interference Power, etc., and
indication to higher layers
- Inner loop power control
- RF processing

NOKIA

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3GPP WCDMA Physical layer has two modes

FDD

TDD

physical channels are defined by two

parameters:
radio frequency channel number
a channelisation code

physical channels are defined by

three parameters:
radio frequency channel number
a channelisation code
time slots

Suitable for fast mobile use

Uplink and downlink are separated in
the frequency domain.
Downlink has more capacity than
uplink
100% duty cycle on both uplink and
downlink

Suitable for indoor or slow moving

mobile use
Uplink and are on same frequency.
Uplink and Downlink have similar
capacity.
Employs DTx on both uplink and
downlink

Whilst there are major differences in the physical layer, the higher layer interface
(transport channels) is the same for both schemes

The rest of this presentation is FDD only

NOKIA

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FDD Spectrum Usage

UP Link

1920

190MHz (default)

1980

Down Link

2110

2170

Frequency (MHz)

5 MHz (typical)
Carrier frequencies are on 200kHz boundries

Uplink
Downlink

UTRA Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number

Nu = 5 * (Fuplink MHz)
0.0 MHz Fuplink 3276.6 MHz
where Fuplink is the uplink frequency in MHz
Nd = 5 * (Fdownlink MHz)
0.0 MHz Fuplink 3276.6 MHz
where Fdownlink is the downlink frequency in MHz

NOKIA

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Downlink Spreading and Modulation

I

Sdl,n
I+jQ

Cch,SF,m
Q

G1
cos(t)

G2

P-SCH
GP
S-SCH

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Pulseshaping
Pulseshaping
-sin(t)

GS

NOKIA

Re{S}
Split
real &
imag.
Im{S}
parts

Uplink Spreading and Modulation

(dedicated channels)
cd,1

cd,3

DPDCH1

DPDCH3
cd,5

DPDCH5

Slong,n or Sshort,n
I+jQ
cd,2

cd,4

cd,6

cc

DPDCH2

DPDCH4

DPDCH6

DPCCH

NOKIA

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A quick aside on OVSF codes (1/2)

Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) codes

Generated from a single base matrix as follows:
2 codes, with SF =2

4 codes, with SF =4

1 1
1 -1
1 1
1 -1

1 1
1 -1

1 1
1 -1

-1 -1
-1 1

8 codes, with SF =8

Green matrices are copied

Red matrices are copied and inverted

1 1 1 1
1 -1 1 -1
1 1 -1 -1
1 -1 -1 1

1 1 1 1
1 -1 1 -1
1 1 -1 -1
1 -1 -1 1

1 1 1 1
1 -1 1 -1
1 1 -1 -1
1 -1 -1 1

-1 -1 -1 -1
-1 1 -1 1
-1 -1 1 1
-1 1 1 -1

Common Pilot channel

always on code # 0

Codes #5 & #7 were

used in previous
example
etc

NOKIA

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A quick aside on OVSF codes (2/2)

the code tree

Cch,4,0 =(1,1,1,1)
Cch,2,0 = (1,1)
Cch,4,1 = (1,1,-1,-1)
Cch,1,0 = (1)
Cch,4,2 = (1,-1,1,-1)
Cch,2,1 = (1,-1)
Cch,4,3 = (1,-1,-1,1)
SF = 1

NOKIA

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SF = 2

SF = 4

FDD Physical channels

Common Pilot Channel (P-CPICH)

Synchronization Channel (SCH)
P-CCPCH
S-CCPCH
Paging Indication Channel (PICH)
Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
Acknowledge Indication Channel (AICH)
Dedicated Channel (DCH): contains DPCCH (L1 ctrl)
and DPDCH(data) fields.

NOKIA

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Physical channels - (primary) CPICH

Pre-defined symbol sequence
Tslot = 2560 chips , 20 bits = 10 symbols

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i

Slot #14

1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

Antenna 1

A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A

Antenna 2

-A -A A A -A -A A A -A A -A -A A A -A -A A A -A -A A A -A -A
slot #14
Frame#i

slot #0
Frame Boundary

slot #1
Frame#i+1

OVSF code #0
broadcast over entire cell
Used for channel estimation
Can be used for open loop Tx diversity (antenna 2 option)
NOKIA

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Physical channels - SCH

Slot #0
Primary
SCH
Secondary
SCH

acp
acs

i,0

Slot #1
acp
acs

Slot #14
acp

i,1

acs

i,14

256 chips
2560 chips
One 10 ms SCH radio frame

Contains two parts (neither use the cell scrambling code)

primary - SCH, same for every cell
secondary - SCH, indicates which of the 64 code groups the
primary scrambling code of that cell belongs to.
Broadcast over entire cell
Used to acquire initial synchronization to a cell
NOKIA

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Physical channels - P-CCPCH

256 chips
Data
18 bits

(Tx OFF)

Tslot = 2560 chips , 20 bits

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

Broadcast over entire cell (=> P-CPICH as phase reference)

OVSF code #1
The Tx-off space is taken up by the SCH channel
Contains the BCH transport data
Fixed spreading factor (=256)
This is the only channel with fixed channel coding scheme.
NOKIA

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Slot #14

Physical channels - S-CCPCH

TFCI
NTFCI bits

Data
Ndata bits

Pilot
Npilot bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 20*2k bits (k=0..6)

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i

Slot #14

1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

Carries both PCH and FACH transport blocks

Broadcast over either the entire OR part of a cell
If a radio frame contains a PCH then that frame is broadcast over
entire cell
Flexible coding and physical channel mapping (18*2 possibilities)
TFCI and Blind Rate detection possible
Can be on any code
NOKIA

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Physical channels - PICH

288 bits for paging indication
b0 b1

12 bits (undefined)
b287 b288

b299

One radio frame (10 ms)

PICH frame containing paging indicator
Associated S-CCPCH frame
PICH

Associated with a S-CCPCH

Broadcast over the entire cell
Informs mobiles L1 if there is a paging message for any mobile in

NOKIA

the same group, so that it can then Receive the PCH frame of the
associated S-CCPCH
Power saving in idle mode
Can be on any code
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Physical channels - PRACH (1/2)

Preamble

Preamble

Preamble

4096 chips

Preamble
4096 chips

Message part
10 ms (one radio frame)

Preamble

Preamble

Message part
20 ms (two radio frames)

Preamble part:
Preamble is a signature of length (16*256) chips multiplied by a
scrambling code (chosen by network)
Based on Hadamard codes
Used as part of an open loop power control algorithm (power
ramping prior to message part)

NOKIA

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Physical channels - PRACH (2/2)

cd

Data
Pilot
Npilot bits

Control

Sc-msg,n

Data
Ndata bits

I+jQ
TFCI
NTFCI bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 10*2k bits (k=0..3)

cc

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i

Slot #14

Message part radio frame TRACH = 10 ms

Message part:
Can be 10 or 20ms long
Carries RACH transport blocks
Flexible coding
Uses same scrambling code as preamble part
Open Loop Power control

NOKIA

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Physical channels - AICH

AI part
a0 a1 a2

AS #14

AS #0

AS #1

Unused part
a30 a31 a32 a33

AS #i

a38 a39

AS #14

AS #0

20 ms

Message part:
Used to carry L1 acknowledgments to PRACH preambles
Three valued (positive, negative ack, or just not there)
Comprises a signature that maps exactly to the signature used for
the PRACH preamble being acknowledged
Broadcast over entire cell

NOKIA

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Physical channels - DCH (1/3)

DPCCH

DPDCH
Data1
Ndata1 bits

TPC
NTPC bits

TFCI
NTFCI bits

DPDCH

DPCCH

Data2
Ndata2 bits

Pilot
Npilot bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 10*2k bits (k=0..7)

Downlink
Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i

Slot #14

One radio frame, Tf = 10 ms

Data
Ndata bits

DPDCH
Pilot
Npilot bits

DPCCH

TFCI
NTFCI bits

TPC
NTPC bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 10*2k bits (k=0..6)

Uplink

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

NOKIA

FBI
NFBI bits

File name / 21 / Date / Initials

Slot #14

Physical channels - DCH (2/3)

Slot
Format
#i
0
0A
0B
1
2
2A
2B
3
4
5
5A
5B

Channel Bit
Rate (kbps)
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15

Channel
Symbol Rate
(ksps)
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15
15

SF

Bits/
Frame

Bits/
Slot

Npilot

NTPC

NTFCI

NFBI

256
256
256
256
256
256
256
256
256
256
256
256

150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150
150

10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10

6
5
4
8
5
4
3
7
6
5
4
3

2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
1
1
1

2
3
4
0
2
3
4
0
0
2
3
4

0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2

Transmitted
slots per
radio frame
15
10-14
8-9
8-15
15
10-14
8-9
8-15
8-15
15
10-14
8-9

Loads of physical channel configurations !!

DPCCH fields carry:

TPC commands for fast power control
Pilots bits for channel estimation and/or
synchronisation
TFCI bits for selection of the format of the transport
channels
DPCCH fields are not visible to higher layers.

NOKIA

File name / 22 / Date / Initials

Slot Channel Channel SF

Format Bit Rate Symbol
#i
(kbps)
Rate
(ksps)
0
0A
0B
1
1B
2
2A
2B
3
3A
3B
4
4A
4B
5
5A
5B
6
6A
6B
7
7A
7B
8
8A
8B
9
9A
9B
10
10A
10B
11
11A
11B
12
12A
12B
13
13A
13B
14
14A
14B
15
15A
15B
16
16A

15
15
30
15
30
30
30
60
30
30
60
30
30
60
30
30
60
30
30
60
30
30
60
60
60
120
60
60
120
60
60
120
60
60
120
120
120
240
240
240
480
480
480
960
960
960
1920
1920
1920

7.5
7.5
15
7.5
15
15
15
30
15
15
30
15
15
30
15
15
30
15
15
30
15
15
30
30
30
60
30
30
60
30
30
60
30
30
60
60
60
120
120
120
240
240
240
480
480
480
960
960
960

512
512
256
512
256
256
256
128
256
256
128
256
256
128
256
256
128
256
256
128
256
256
128
128
128
64
128
128
64
128
128
64
128
128
64
64
64
32
32
32
16
16
16
8
8
8
4
4
4

Bits/
Slot

DPDCH
Bits/Slot

DPCCH
Bits/Slot

NData1 NData2 NTPC

10
10
20
10
20
20
20
40
20
20
40
20
20
40
20
20
40
20
20
40
20
20
40
40
40
80
40
40
40
40
40
80
40
40
80
80
80
160
160
160
320
320
320
640
640
640
1280
1280
1280

0
0
0
0
0
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
6
6
12
6
6
12
6
6
12
6
6
12
12
12
24
28
28
56
56
56
112
120
120
240
248
248

4
4
8
2
4
14
14
28
12
10
24
12
12
24
10
8
20
8
8
16
6
4
12
28
28
56
26
24
52
24
24
48
22
20
44
48
40
96
112
104
224
232
224
464
488
480
976
1000
992

2
2
4
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
2
2
4
4
4
8
4
4
8
8
8
16
8
8
16
8
8

NTFCI NPilot
0
0
0
2
4
0
0
0
2
4
4
0
0
0
2
4
4
0
0
0
2
4
4
0
0
0
2
4
4
0
0
0
2
4
4
8*
16*
16*
8*
16*
16*
8*
16*
16*
8*
16*
16*
8*
16*

4
4
8
4
8
2
2
4
2
2
4
4
4
8
4
4
8
8
8
16
8
8
16
4
4
8
4
4
8
8
8
16
8
8
16
8
8
16
8
8
16
16
16
32
16
16
32
16
16

Transmitted
slots per
radio frame
NTr
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14
8-14
15
8-14

Physical channels - DCH (3/3)

Slot (2560 chips)

DL DPCCH
at UTRAN

PILOT

T TF
P
C CI

Data1

Data2

Propagation delay
DL-UL timing
offset (1024 chips)

DL DPCCH
at UE

PILOT

Data1

PILOT

Data1

T
P
C

Response
To TPC (*3)

T TF
P
C CI

PILOT

Data2

Data1

512 chips

DL SIR
measurement (*1)

UL DPCCH
at UE

PILOT

Response
to TPC
TFCI

TPC

PILOT

Slot (2560 chips)

Propagation delay

UL DPCCH
at UTRAN
*1,2
*3

NOKIA

PILOT

UL SIR
measurement (*2)
TFCI

TPC

PILOT

The SIR measurement periods illustrated here are examples. Other ways of measurement are allowed to achieve
accurate SIR estimation.
If there is not enough time for UTRAN to respond to the TPC, the action can be delayed until the next slot.

File name / 23 / Date / Initials

T
P
C

L1 procedures
Items covered here
Initial synchronisation
RACH transmission
DCH synchronisation
Compressed mode
Other items
Packet transfer
power control
out-of-sync detection
neighbour measurements
etc...

NOKIA

File name / 24 / Date / Initials

Initial Synchronisation
Procedure:
AGC
fast AFC
P-SCH search (Matched filter)
Frame synchronisation and code-group identification (S-SCH)
Scrambling-code identification

Decoding of P-CCPCH

NOKIA

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PRACH Procedure
Mobiles
Rx

Basestation
detects preamble

P0

P1

Message Part

Mobiles
Tx
4096 chips
10 or 20 ms
Prach Preamble
AICH

Control part
Data part

Procedure:
Mobile selects Preamble timing and signatures from allowed
possibilities in a random fashion.
Looks for a L1 acknowledge on AICH channel
When/if it gets a positive ack it then sends the message part
Otherwise it ramps the power up until it succeeds or timesout.

NOKIA

File name / 26 / Date / Initials

DCH Synchronisation Procedure (1/2)

UE

UTRAN

Start downlink
synchronisation process
Start transmission of
downlink channels
Establish chip and frame
synchronisation and report
status to higher layers

Start uplink
synchronisation process

Start transmission of
uplink channels
Establish chip and frame
synchronisation and report
status to higher layers

NOKIA

File name / 27 / Date / Initials

DCH Synchronisation Procedure (2/2)

P-CCPCH

P-CCPCH

P-CCPCH

FACH on S-CCPCH
TB

Tk x 256
chips

P-CCPCH

frame boundary
Npcp slots

Tn x 256 chips

NOKIA

File name / 28 / Date / Initials

DL DPCCH

DL DPCCH

Noffset_1 frames

T0
1 frame = 10 ms

P-CCPCH

TC

Noffset_2
frames

Npcp slots

UL DPCCH

Compressed Mode

One frame
(10 ms)

Transmission gap available for

inter-frequency measurements

Used to create a gap in DCH channel during which time the mobile

can measure over frequencies, TDD, or other systems (e.g. GSM)

Can be in either or both uplink and donwlink
Can be done using SF/2 or puncturing methods
Causes problems at edge of cell
operators hate this.

NOKIA

File name / 29 / Date / Initials

Transport channels (1/4)

BCH - carries system wide information

FACH - downlink common signaling channel
RACH - uplink common signaling channel
PCH - paging channel
DCH - dedicated channel (can be used for packet also)
CPCH - Common uplink packet channel (out of R99)
DSCH - Downlink shared channel (packet)

BCH is the only one with a fixed coding scheme, all others are totally
flexible.

NOKIA

File name / 30 / Date / Initials

Transport channels (2/4)

mapping to physical channels

Transport Channels

Physical Channels

DCH

Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH)

Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH)

RACH

Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)

CPCH

Physical Common Packet Channel (PCPCH)

Common Pilot Channel (CPICH)

BCH

Primary Common Control Physical Channel (P-CCPCH)

FACH

Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (S-CCPCH)

PCH
Synchronisation Channel (SCH)
DSCH

Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)

Acquisition Indication Channel (AICH)
Page Indication Channel (PICH)

NOKIA

File name / 31 / Date / Initials

Transport channels (3/4)

Generic coding - downlink
CRCattachment

TrBkconcatenation/
Codeblocksegmentation

Channelcoding

Ratematching

st

1 insertionofDTX
indication

st

1 interleaving

Radioframesegmentation

TrCHMultiplexing

nd

insertionofDTX
indication

Physicalchannel
segmentation

nd

interleaving

Physicalchannelmapping

NOKIA

File name / 32 / Date / Initials

Rate
matching

Transport channels (4/4)

Generic coding - uplink

CRCattachment

TrBkconcatenation/
Codeblocksegmentation

Channelcoding

Radioframeequalisation

st

1 interleaving

Radioframesegmentation

Ratematching

TrCHMultiplexing

Physicalchannel
segmentation

nd

interleaving

Physicalchannelmapping

NOKIA

File name / 33 / Date / Initials

Rate
matching

Structure of 3GPP (L1)

RAN

RAN WG 1

Produce all RAN specs

25.xxx documents

RAN WG 4

Functional Specification

Performance Specification

25.2xx documents

25.1xx documents

RAN approves CRs generated by the working groups

NOKIA

File name / 34 / Date / Initials

Where to find more ?

One Place:

http://cst.ntc.nokia.com/essv/stand/DataBase/Specs/default.htm
All 3GPP & ETSI specification can be found here
Can search by number, name of keyword

NOKIA

File name / 35 / Date / Initials