WCDMA Overview

Christiaan Roobol

WCDMA overview Page 1

UTRA

l UTRA = Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

l UTRA is the radio-access part of UMTS
– Layer 1 (physical layer)
– Layer 2 (MAC + RLC) and Layer 3 (RRC)
– The radio-network architecture
l UTRA is specified by ETSI/SMG2
l UTRA is specified in co-ordination with ARIB (Japan)

WCDMA overview Page 2

UTRA Requirements

l Multimedia Service Requirements

– Support for high data rates
l At least 384 kbps wide-area coverage
l Up to 2 Mbps indoor and low-range outdoor coverage
– Support for high service flexibility
l Packet- and circuit-oriented services
l Wide range of bit rates with high granularity
l Multiple services on one connection
l Additional requirements
– Improved capacity/coverage compared to GSM
– Easy deployment, e.g. no frequency planning
– Dual-mode/coexistence with GSM
l Terminal implementation
l Handoff between UMTS and GSM

WCDMA overview Page 3

Spectrum allocation for UMTS/IMT-2000

Reg.2
MSS
ITU/RR

Reg.2
IMT-2000

MSS
IMT-2000 MSS MSS

Europe

UMTS
UMTS
DECT
DECT

GSM 1800 UMTS MSS UMTS MSS

Japan PHS IMT-2000 MSS IMT-2000 MSS

North- PCS MSS MSS

America
1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 2050 2100 2150 2200 2250
Frequency in MHz

WCDMA overview Page 4

History

Paris Decision

Europe ETSI UTRA

FRAMES (FMA1, FMA2)
RACE II (CODIT, ATDMA)
RACE 1

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

Japan ARIB WCDMA

DoCoMo, NEC, etc.

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998

WCDMA overview Page 5

UMTS Architecture - Alternative view

Core Network

Iu Iu

RNS RNS
Iur
RNC RNC

Iub Iub Iub Iub

Node B Node B Node B Node B

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UMTS Radio Interface Protocol Architecture
C-plane signalling U-plane information

GC Nt DC

RRC L3

RLC L2/RLC
RLC
RLC RLC RLC
Logical
Channels

M AC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY
L1

WCDMA overview Page 7

Radio Interface Protocol Architecture (contd.)

l Non-access Stratum (Mobile Station - Core Network)

l Control Plane
– Call Control (CC)
– Mobility Management (MM)
l User Plane
– Link Access Control (LAC)
(radio-independent retransmisssion protocol)
l Access Stratum (Mobile Station - UTRAN)
l Control Plane
– Radio Resource Control (RRC)
l Control and User Plane
– Radio Link Control (RLC)
(radio-dependent retransmission protocol)
– Medium Access Control (MAC)
– Physical Layer (PHY, L1)
WCDMA overview Page 8
Physical Layer - Basic Parameters

UTRA FDD UTRA TDD

Multiple-Access scheme W-CDMA W-TDMA/CDMA

Duplex scheme FDD TDD

Chip rate 4.096 Mcps (8.192 Mcps, 16.384 Mcps)

Carrier spacing (4.096 Mcps) 4.2-5 MHz (200 kHz carrier raster)

Frame length 10 ms

Inter-BS synchronisation Not requried Required

Maximum spreading factor 256 16

WCDMA overview Page 9

Physical Channels

l Dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH), UL/DL

l Dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH), UL/DL
l Physical random access channel (PRACH), UL
l Primary common control channel (primary CCPCH), DL
l Secondary common control channel (secondary CCPCH), DL
l Synchronization channel (SCH), DL

WCDMA overview Page 10

Physical Layer - Dedicated Physical Channel

l Consists of two parts:

– DPDCH (Dedicated Physical Data Channel)
Carries data generated at Layer 2 and above

– DPCCH (Dedicated Physical Control Channel)

Carries data generated at Layer 1 (pilot bits, TPC commands, and
optional transport-format information)

l DPDCH/DPCCH multiplexing
– Downlink: Time multiplex
– Uplink: Code/IQ multiplex

WCDMA overview Page 11

Physical Layer - Downlink Dedicated Physical Channel

720 ms (one super frame)

Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame i Frame N

10 ms

Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot i Slot 16

Pilot TPC TFI Data

DPCCH DPDCH

0.625 ms, 20×2k channel bits

WCDMA overview Page 12

Physical Layer - Uplink Dedicated Physical Channel

720 ms (one super frame)

Frame 1 Frame 2 Frame i Frame N

10 ms

Slot 1 Slot 2 Slot i Slot 16

DPDCH Data

DPCCH Pilot TPC TFI

0.625 ms, 10×2k channel bits

WCDMA overview Page 13

Physical Layer - Transport Channel Multiplexing
T rC H T rC H

Add C R C per Add CRC per

T r . b lo c k T r . b lo c k

C hannel C hannel
c o d in g c o d in g

1 st 1 st
In te rle a v in g In te rle a v in g

R a t e - M a t c h in g

M u l t ip l e x i n g

2 nd
In te rle a v in g

M a p p in g to
P h y s ic a l c h a n n e ls

WCDMA overview Page 14

UMTS Radio Interface Protocol Architecture
C-plane signalling U-plane information

GC Nt DC

RRC L3

RLC L2/RLC
RLC
RLC RLC RLC
Logical
Channels

M AC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels
PHY
L1

WCDMA overview Page 15

Transport Channels

l Provided by Layer 1 to L2/MAC

l Described by how and with what characteristics data are
transferred over the radio interface
l Classified into
– Common Transport Channels (need for inband identification
of MSs)
– Dedicated Transport Channels (MS identified by physical
channel)

WCDMA overview Page 16

Transport Channel Types

l Common Transport Channels

– Broadcast Channel (BCH, DL)
– Paging Channel (PCH, DL)
– Random Access Channel (RACH, UL)
– Forward Access Channel (FACH, DL)
– Downlink Shared Channel (DSCH, DL)
l Dedicated Transport Channels
– Dedicated Channel (DCH, DL & UL)

WCDMA overview Page 17

Transport Format

l Transport Format: A combination of encodings, interleaving,

bit rate and mapping onto physical channels.
l Transport Format Set: A set of transport formats out of which
the MAC can assign a transport format to a certain radio
access bearer
l Transport Format Combination Set: A set of combinations of
transport formats.

WCDMA overview Page 18

Logical Channels

l Provided by the L2/MAC sublayer to higher layers

l Definition: An information stream dedicated to the transfer of

a specific type of information over the radio interface

l Classified into:
– Control channels (for transfer of control information)
– Traffic channels (for transfer of user plane information)

WCDMA overview Page 19

Logical Channel Structure

l Control Channels
– Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH, DL)
– Paging Control Channel (PCCH, DL)
– Common Control Channel (CCCH, DL & UL)
– Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH, DL & UL)
l Traffic Channels
– Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH, DL & UL)

WCDMA overview Page 20

Mapping Between Logical Channels and Transport Channels
SCCH- BCCH- PCCH- DCCH- CCCH- DTCH-
SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP
MAC SAPs

UTRAN side

Transport
SCH BCH PCH RACH FACH DSCH DCH Channels

SCCH- BCCH- PCCH- DCCH- CCCH- DTCH-

SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP SAP
MAC SAPs

UE side (MS)

Transport
SCH BCH PCH RACH FACH DSCH DCH Channels

WCDMA overview Page 21

Radio Resource Control (RRC) Services

l The RRC offers services to the non-access stratum according to the

23.10 specification

l Three different SAPs have been defined in 23.10

– General Control (GC)
– Notification (Nt)
– Dedicated Control (DC)

WCDMA overview Page 22

Radio Resource Control (RRC) Functions

l Broadcast of information provided by the non-access stratum

l Broadcast of information related to access stratum (cell-specific
info)
l Establishment, maintenance and release of RRC connection between
UE and UTRAN
l Establishment, reconfiguration and release of radio access bearers
l Assignment, reconfiguration and release of radio resources for the
RRC connection
l RRC connection mobility functions
l Arbitration of radio resource allocation between cells
l Control of requested QoS
l UE measurement reporting and control of reporting
l Outer loop power control

WCDMA overview Page 23

Radio Resource Control (RRC) Functions (contd.)

l Control of ciphering
l Initial cell selection and reselection in idle mode (FFS)
l Paging/notification (FFS)
l Contention resolution (FFS)
l Congestion control (FFS)

WCDMA overview Page 24

RRC Model, UE side

NAS DC-SAP
NAS

GC-SAP
... Nt-SAP
... DC-SAP ...
... ...
GC-SAP GC-SAP

... Nt-SAP DC-SAP DC-SAP

Nt-SAP

RFE RFE
RRC
RFE

BCFE PNFE DCFE

TME

RLC-
ctrl Tr-SAP UM SAP AM SAP

RLC
MAC
ctrl
MAC
L1-ctrl
L1

WCDMA overview Page 25

Interactions Between MAC and RRC in C-plane

Measurement Report
M
M RRC RRC
Radio Resource e
e a
Assignment
a s
[Code, Frequency,
s Control Control u
TS, TF Set, Mapping,
u r
r etc.]
M m
m MAC
e MAC e M
a e n
n e
s t a
u t
s
r u
m r
e m
n Control Control e
t n
L1 L1 t

UTRAN UE

WCDMA overview Page 26

 Relation RRC & MAC

l RRC assigns radio access bearer 1: TFSet {32 kb/s,64 kb/s}

l RRC assigns radio access bearer 2: TFSet {16 kb/s,64 kb/s}
l RRC determines the limits within which MAC may schedule
between RAB through the Transport Format Combination Set:
TFCSet {16 kb/s,32 kb/s,48 kb/s,64 kb/s}

l MAC schedules within the TFCSet. Thus if

– TF of RAB1 is 32 kb/s, then
– TF of RAB2 is 16 kb/s or 32 kb/s.

WCDMA overview Page 27

Media Access Control (MAC) Services

l Data transfer (unacknowledged transfer of MAC SDUs between peer

MAC entities)
l Reallocation of radio resources and MAC parameters
l Reporting of measurements (FFS)

WCDMA overview Page 28

Media Access Control (MAC) Functions

l Selection of appropriate transport format for each transport channel

depending on instantaneous source rate
l Priority handling between data flows of one user
l Priority handling between users by means of dynamic scheduling
l Scheduling of broadcast, paging and notification messages
l Identification of UEs on common channels
l Multiplexing and demultiplexing of higher layer PDUs into/from
transport blocks delivered to/from L1 on common transport
channels
l Routing of higher layer signalling
l Dynamic transport channel switching (FFS)
l Traffic volume monitoring (FFS)
l Support of open-loop power control (FFS)

WCDMA overview Page 29

 MAC Model: UTRAN side
CCCH DCCH DTCH DTCH DTCH

UE

MAC-d
MAC-d
MAC-d
Channel switching

C/T MUX C/T MUX

MAC-c RNTI
MUX

C/D MUX

DL: TF
DL: TFC selection
selection

RACH/FACH DCH DCH

DL Downlink RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identity

TF Transport Format UE User Equipment
TFC Transport Format Combination UL Uplink

WCDMA overview Page 30

 MAC Model: UE side
CCCH DCCH DTCH DTCH DTCH

M AC-ue
Channel switching

C/T MUX C/T MUX

add/read
RNTI

C/D MUX

UL: TF
selection UL: TFC selection

RACH/FACH DCH DCH

DL Downlink RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identity

TF Transport Format UE User Equipment
TFC Transport Format Combination UL Uplink

WCDMA overview Page 31

 MAC PDUs

MAC header

C/D UE-ID C/T MAC SDU

l C/D : Common/Dedicated traffic discriminator

l UE-ID : User equipment identity
l C/T : Control/Traffic logical channel discriminator

WCDMA overview Page 32

Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) Services

l L2 connection establishment and release

l Acknowledged mode operation (with ARQ)
l Unacknowledged mode operation (without ARQ)
l Transparent mode operation (no protocol overhead)
l Qos setting

WCDMA overview Page 33

 RLC Model

Transm. Transm. AM-Entity Receiv. Receiv. Transm. Transm. AM-Entity Receiv. Receiv.
Tr-Entity UM-Entity UM-Entity Tr-Entity Tr-Entity UM-Entity UM-Entity Tr-Entity

Transmitting side Receiving side Transmitting side Receiving side

WCDMA overview Page 34

Radio Link Control Protocol (RLC) Functions

l Connection control
l Segmentation and reassembly
l Transfer of user data
l Error correction by means of retransmission
l In-sequence delivery of L2 SDUs
l Duplicate detection
l Flow control
l Protocol error detection and recovery
l Suspend/resume (FFS)
l Quick repeat (FFS)
l Keep alive (FFS)
l Ciphering (FFS)

WCDMA overview Page 35

RLC Model- Transparent mode entity
Radio Interface

Tr-SAP Tr-SAP

Transm. Receiving
Tr-Entity Tr-Entity
Segmentation Reassembly

Transmission Receiver
buffer buffer

BCCH/PCCH/ BCCH/PCCH/
CCCH/DTCH CCCH/DTCH

WCDMA overview Page 36

RLC Model- Unacknowledged mode entity
Radio Interface

UM-SAP UM-SAP

Transm. Receiver
UM-Entity UM-Entity
Segmentation & Remove RLC
Concatenation & Header &
Add RLC Header Reassembly

Transmission Receiver
buffer buffer

DCCH/ DCCH/
DTCH DTCH

WCDMA overview Page 37

RLC Model- Acknowledged mode entity

A M -S A P

A M -E n tity

S e g m e n ta tio n & R L C C o n tro l U n it

C o n c a te n a tio n &
A dd R L C H eader
R e tr a n s m is s io n
b u ffe r &

Received acknowledgements
m angem ent

M U X
R em ove R LC
H eader &
R e a ss e m b ly

T ra n sm is sio n
b u ffe r
A c k n o w le d g e m e n ts
R e c e iv e r b u ffe r &
R e tra n s m iss io n
m anagem ent
C o m p le te R L C
P D U ( e .g . s e t C /A
p o ll b its ) C /A

D /C
D /C
T r a n s m it t in g S id e R e c e iv in g S id e

D CCH / D CCH / D CCH / D CCH / D CCH / D CCH /

D TCH D TCH D TCH D TCH D TCH D TCH

WCDMA overview Page 38

 Segmentation

l Segmentation of higher layer PDUs into fixed size PDUs, the size of which is
determined by:
– Minimum transmission rate
– Transmission time interval (the frequency with which the rate may change)

l Example: TF ={16kb/s,32 kb/s} and Transmission time interval is 10 ms, then the
PDU length is 160 bits.

160 bits 160 bits 160 bits

10 ms, 32 kb/s 10 ms, 16 kb/s

TF change

WCDMA overview Page 39

 ARQ mechanisms

l Polling from transmitter side:

– Every higher layer PDU (control plane)
– When transmitter window needs to be moved
– When last PDU in the buffer is transmitted

l Status reports from the receiver side:

– if an error is detected
– if a poll is received
– status reports are retransmitted

WCDMA overview Page 40

 ARQ mechanisms, example
T r a n s m it te r R e c e iv e r

R e tra n s m itte d S T A T

WCDMA overview Page 41

Data Flow for RLC SDU concatenation to RLC PDUs

Higher layers Higher layer PDU 1 Higher layer PDU 2

RLC SDU 1 RLC SDU 2

L2 RLC

RLC H

L2 MAC

WCDMA overview Page 42

RLC PDU Formats, Data PDU

D/C Sequence number Octet 1

Sequence number P E
Octet 2 Acknowledged Mode Data PDU
Length Indicator E
Optional
Data

Sequence number E Octet 1 Unacknowledged Mode Data PDU

Length Indicator E
Optional
Data

WCDMA overview Page 43

RLC PDU formats, Control PDU

D/C R/S SSN Octet 1

SSN R Octet 2
RPB

Octet N

WCDMA overview Page 44

Data Flow for Non-transparent MAC and RLC
(e.g. packet transmission on RACH/FACH with ARQ)

Higher Layer Higher Layer PDU

RLC SDU reassembly

L2 RLC
(non-transparent)
… segmentation

RLC
header … RLC
header

L2 MAC
MAC
header
MAC SDU
… MAC
header
MAC SDU

(non-transparent)
Transport block (MAC PDU) … Transport block (MAC PDU)

L1

CRC … CRC

WCDMA overview Page 45