HARQ in 

FDD
UE and eNodeB sends data to each other in the form of Transport Block. If transport block receives
correctly, ACK is sent otherwise NACK. PHICH physical channel is used to carry HARQ in the
downlink direction for the received uplink data. Similarly, PUSCH/PUCCH are used to carry HARQ in
the uplink direction for the received downlink data.
What happens when there are error packets received on UE or eNB. Of-course, there would be some
sort of mechanism applied on the devices to rectify the errors. Therefore, in LTE two mechanisms are
followed to detect and correct the errors. A mechanism (HARQ) is implemented to correct the error
packets in the PHY layer. Furthermore, there might be a chance that some packets are still left with
errors and might be acceptable to some applications. Hence, these are passed to upper layers. The
second mechanism (ARQ) is implemented in RLC layer which takes care of these residual errors. It
either fixes those errors or discards the packets.
A little bit different mode of HARQ process is used depending on whether it is for FDD or TDD and
whether it is for Uplink and Downlink. But I will talk only about FDD case.
In FDD, we are using 8 HARQ process.
Difference between ARQ and HARQ
ARQ:

 Works at RLC layer

 If the received data has an error (as detected by ARQ) then it is discarded, and a new re-
transmission is requested from the sender
HARQ:

 Works at PHY layer but controlled by MAC layer

 If the received data has an error then the Receiver buffers the data and requests a re-
transmission from the sender.
 When the receiver receives the re-transmitted data, it then combines it with buffered data
prior to channel decoding and error detection. This helps the performance of the re-transmissions.
Two Types of HARQ

1. Synchronous for UL ( Uplink Data transmission Processor or UL-HARQ )

2. Asynchronous for DL ( Downlink Data transmission Process or DL HARQ)
(1) Synchronous for UL ( Uplink Data transmission Processor or UL-HARQ )

 UE  sends data to eNodeB  in the form of Transport Block. If transport block receives
correctly, ACK is sent otherwise NACK. PHICH physical channel is used to carry HARQ in the
downlink direction for the received uplink data.
 Re-transmissions are scheduled at fixed time intervals.
 Uses the specific process in a specific subframe. Every 8 subframes UE repeats the
process id. As a result, eNB knows exactly when each HARQ process comes.
 UL HARQ Process ID = (SFN x 10 + subframe) modulo 8
 Always works in cycle even if no resources are allocated during a specific sub frame;
which means that the 1st process will repeat itself after every 8 ms.
 Since UE have to use specific HARQ process ID at specific subframe, the reciever
(eNode B) knows exactly which HARQ process comes when. And eNodeB can also knows about
RV because UL Grant (DCI 0) from eNodeB can specify RV using MCS field.
 As mentioned, above HARQ is synchronous in the UL. Whenever, a re-
transmission occurs in UL, it can be either Adaptive and Non-adaptive.
Adaptive Transmission : 

 Triggered when NDI bit is not toggled relative to the previous transmission. This
information should be present in the PDCCH DCI0.
 MCS and RB’s may change as per resources allocated by the eNB on PDCCH
DCI0 transmission
 UE does “Adaptive retransmission” if it detects PDCCH(DCI 0 and NDI not-toggled). UE
does not care about HARQ feedback (PHICH), it just retransmits based on DCI 0 information

Non-adaptive Transmission:

 Triggered when NACK is received on PHICH.

 Use same resources as per the previous transmission i.e. MCS and RB’s remains
unchanged
 Retransmission occurs only in predefined time after previous trx/retx using the same
resources.
 Advantage is only NACK has to be signalled back to start a retransmission.
 UE figures out that it is using “Non-Adaptive retransmission” if it got “HARQ feedback
(PHICH=NACK)” but does not get DCI 0 over PDCCH and instead uses predefined sequence.
Q. “How UE decide if it is supposed to do Adaptive retransmission and Non-Adaptive retransmission ?”

 “Adaptive retransmission” by UE if it detect DCI 0  and NDI is not toggled. In this scenario,
UE does not care about “HARQ feedback (PHICH)”, it retransmit based on DCI 0 information.
 UE do “Non-Adaptive retransmission” if it got “HARQ feedback (PHICH=NACK)” but does
not get DCI 0.
Important Points:

 If ACK is there on PHICH and PDCCH carriers the NDI bit as not toggled then NON-
ADAPTIVE re-transmission will occur.
 If NACK is there on PHICH and no PDCCH is received then UE will store the data in the
HARQ buffer and no re-transmission will occur
(2) Asynchronous for DL ( Downlink Data transmission Process or DL HARQ)

 eNB provides instructions to the UE regarding which HARQ process to use during each
sub-frame for which resources are allocated. (The HARQ process identity is included within the
PDCCH transmission)
 Asynchronous HARQ increases signalling overhead because it includes the HARQ
process Identity within the DCI.
 Asynchronous HARQ increases flexibility because re-transmissions doesn’t have to be
scheduled during every sub-frame.
 Network sends these (Process ID, RV) in PDCCH DCI0 message. UE doesn’t know
which Process ID to look for until it gets the DL data.
 At Network side ( RRC->MAC)   Transmit the data toward the lower layer.
 Network send to UE and data is Transmitted via PDSCH
 Now UE receive PDSCH data.
 UE check CRC error for the PDSCH data.
 Now here two scenario is exist ,
 If UE has some data to transmit to the network, UE send the result of CRC
check(ACK/NACK) via PUSCH
 If UE does not have any data to transmit to the network, UE sends the result CRC
check via PUCCH
 Network receives CRC check result from UE and does one of the following steps.
 If it receives ACK, Network transmit the next data (new data)
 If it receives NACK, Network HARQ process retransmit the exisiting data (with
different revision)
Query_1 : What is SAW process?

1. Also referred as HARQ Process. In LTE FDD there are 8 SAW process.
2. Once a packet is send from a particular process, it waits for an ACK/NACK. Till it receives
ACK/NACK, the process will be in-active state and will not process other packets. This significantly
reduces the round trip time and does impact throughput. Therefore, multiple SAW processes are used.
3. When the 1st process is waiting for an ACK, the 2nd SAW process will send data and so
on with the eight processes.
4. MAC layer manages these HARQ (SAW) processes.
Each transmission in LTE corresponds to 1 TTI (Transmission Time Interval). Therefore each SAW
process should process the data within 1 ms or 1 sub frame. As we know that there are 8 SAW
process hence each process will have to wait for 8 ms before sending another chunk of data or a re-
transmission over the Air Interface.
The sending entity buffers the transmitted data until an ACK is received, because if NACK is received
then it has to re-transmit the data.
Query_2: When the data is removed from the buffer?
 Ans:
–Data is removed when:
a. ACK is received
b. Max number of re-transmission has reached
New data can then be send by the same HARQ process once its transmit buffer is empty.
Query_3: With some differences in UL and DL HARQ process, they use parallel HARQ process.
 Ans: Please see above…..
Query_4: UL HARQ is synchronous while DL HARQ is asynchronous.
Ans: Please see above…..