WCDMA RAN PROTOCOLS

AND PROCEDURES
Chapter 5:
RLC and MAC Protocols
Objectives

After this chapter the participants will be able to:

1. Explain the RLC functions.
2. List the different modes of RLC (transparent, unacknowledged and
acknowledged mode) and explain the structure of the Protocol Data Unit
(PDU) involved in these cases.
3. Explain the MAC functions.
4. Explain the MAC architecture, its entities and their usage for the mapping of
transport channels.
5. List the contents of the MAC Protocol Data Unit (PDU).
6. Explain the Transport Format selection and the relation between
Combinations (TFC) and Sets (TFCS).
7. Explain Channel Type Switching.
8. Explain the structure and mapping of physical channels.

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 2 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Uu interface protocol architecture
Control UuS boundary
L3/RRC
RRC
PDCP L2/PDCP
control PDCP
control
control

control

BMC L2/BMC

RLC RLC L2/RLC

RLC RLC
RLC RLC
RLC RLC

Logical
Channels

MAC L2/MAC
Transport
Channels

PHY L1
Physical
Channels

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 3 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Protocol Data Unit (PDU) and
Service Data Unit (SDU)?
PDCP PDCP PDU PDCP PDU

RLC
RLCPCI
PCI RLC
RLCSDU
SDU RLC
RLCSDU
SDU
RLC

RLC PDU RLC

RLCPCI
PCI payload
payload RLC PDU RLC
RLCPCI
PCI payload
payload

MAC MAC
MACSDU
SDU MAC
MACSDU
SDU

Uu interface
SDU: Service Data Unit Processing done for the SDUs at layer N can be e.g.:
PDU: Protocol Data Unit - Add overhead (e.g. sequence number, ch type info)
- Segmentation, etc.
PCI: Protocol Control Information

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 4 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 RLC Protocol Entity
 RLC Services
– L2 connection establishment and release
– Transparent data transfer
– Unacknowledged data transfer
– Acknowledged data transfer L3
UuS boundary
Control

 RLC Functions RRC

– Segmentation and re-assembly PDCP

PDCP L2/PDCP

control
control

control
control
– Concatenation
BMC L2/BMC
– Padding
– Transfer of user data in
RLC RLC L2/RLC
transparent, unacknowledged RLC RLC
RLC RLC
and acknowledged mode. RLC RLC

– Error correction (ARQ) Logical

Channels

– In-sequence delivery MAC L2/MAC

– Duplicate detection Transport
Channels
– Flow control PHY L1
– Sequence number check
– Ciphering

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 5 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RLC Layer Architecture

TM UM AM

Tx Rx Tx Rx Tx/Rx

Rx Tx Rx Tx
Tx/Rx

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 6 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RLC Transparent Mode PDU

 The RLC TM PDU introduces no overhead

 Protocol functions may still be applied e.g. segmentation

Data

 TM is used for voice and circuit switched data where delay

should be as low as possible. It is also used for the SRB
for BCCH and PCCH.

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 7 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RLC Transparent Mode Entities
UE/UTRAN Radio Interface (Uu) UTRAN/UE

TM-SAP TM-SAP

Transmitting Receiving
TM- RLC TM- RLC
Transmission entity entity Reassembly
buffer

Reception
Segmentation buffer

CCCH/DCCH/DTCH/SHCCH– UE CCCH/DCCH/DTCH/SHCCH– UTRAN

BCCH/PCCH/DCCH/DTCH– UTRAN BCCH/PCCH/DCCH/DTCH– UE

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 8 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 RLC Unacknowledged Mode PDU
 Sequence number.
 E: Extension bit. Indicates whether next octet will be a length
indicator and E bit.
 Data shall be a multiple of 8 bits.
 If the transmitted data does not fill an entire PDU the remainder of the
data field is filled with padding bits.
Sequence Number E Oct1
Length Indicator E (Optional)
.
.
.
Ciphering Unit

Length Indicator E (Optional)

Data .
.
.
PAD (Optional)
Oct N

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 9 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Extension field,
note that piggybacked status PDU
is only possible for AM (table 5-1)

Bit Description
0 The next field is data, piggybacked STATUS
PDU or padding
1 The next field is Length Indicator and E bit

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 10 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Predefined length indicators

Length: 7 bits
Bit Description
0000000 The previous RLC PDU was exactly filled with the last segment of an RLC SDU and
there is no “Length Indicator” that indicates the end of the RLC SDU in the previous RLC PDU

UMD PDU: The first data octet in this RLC PDU is the first octet of an RLC SDU.
1111100
AMD PDU: Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded by this version of the protocol).

1111101 Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded by this version of the protocol).

1111110 AM D PDU: The rest of the RLC PDU includes a piggybacked STATUS PDU.
UM D PDU: Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded by this version of the protocol).
1111111 The rest of the RLC PDU is padding. The padding length can be zero

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 11 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Predefined length indicators
Length: 15bits

Bit
The previous RLC PDU was exactly filled with the last segment of an RLC
000000000000000 SDU and there is no “ Length Indicator” that indicates the end of the
RLC SDU in the previous RLC PDU.

The last segment of an RLC SDU was one octet short of exactly filling the
previous RLC PDU and there is no "Length Indicator" that indicates the end
111111111111011
of the RLC SDU in the previous RLC PDU.
The remaining one octet in the previous RLC PDU is ignored.
UMD PDU: The first data octet in this RLC PDU is the first octet of an
111111111111100 RLC SDU. AMD PDU: Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded
by this version of the protocol).
Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded by this version of the
111111111111101
protocol).
AM D PDU: The rest of the RLC PDU includes a piggybacked STATUS
111111011111111 PDU. UM D PDU: Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded by this
version of the protocol).

111111111111111 The rest of the RLC PDU is padding. The padding length can be zero

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 12 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 RLC Unacknowledged Mode
Entities
 Segmentation & UE/UTRAN Radio Interface (Uu) UTRAN/UE

Concatenation UM - SAP UM -SAP

 Padding
 Ciphering
Transmittin Receiving
 Sequence number Transmission
buffer g UM RLC
Reassembly

check UM RLC
entity
enti ty
Remove RLC
Segmentation & header
 Transfer of user Concatenation
data Reception
Add RLC header buffer

Ciphering Deciphering

DCCH/DTCH – UE DCCH/DTCH – UTRAN

CCCH/SHCCH/DCCH/DTCH/CTCH – UTRAN CCCH/SHCCH/DCCH/DTCH/CTCH – UE

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 13 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 RLC Acknowledged Mode PDU
 D/C: Data/Control PDU indicator bit
 P: Poll bit. To be used to request for
a Status PDU.
 HE: Header Extension bits. Indicates if the
next octet will be data or a length indicator
and E bit.
 E: Extension bit. Indicates whether next octet
will be a length indicator and E bit. D/C Sequence Number Oct1
Sequence Number P HE Oct2
Length Indicator E Oct3 (Optional)
.
.
Ciphering Unit

.
Length Indicator E (Optional)

Data

PAD or a piggybacked STATUS PDU

OctN

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 14 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
D/C field

Bit Description
0 Control PDU
1 Data PDU

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 15 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Sequence Number field, note that 7
bits are only used for UM

PDU type Length Notes

AMD PDU 12 bits Used for retransmission and reassembly
UMD PDU 7 bits Used for reassembly

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 16 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Poll bit

Bit Description
0 Status report not requested
1 Request a status report

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 17 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Header Extension field

Value Description
00 The succeeding octet contains data
01 The succeeding octet contains a length indicator and E
bit
10- 11 Reserved (PDUs with this coding will be discarded by
this version of the protocol).

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 18 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
PDU type field

Bit PDU Type

000 STATUS
001 RESET
010 RESET ACK
011 - 111 Reserved
(PDUs with this
coding will be
discarded by
this version of
the protocol).

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 19 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RLC PDU Formats- Status PDU

D/C PDU type SUFI 1 Octet 1

SUFI1 Octet 2

SUFIK Octet N

 D/C: Data/control PDU indicator.

 SUFI: Super Field. This field can be either a list, bitmap, relative bitmap,
Acknowledgment field etc. Which type of field it is is indicated within the SUFI.

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 20 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Super Fields

 Acknowledgement: Gives the SN up to which all PDUs are received

correctly
 List: Lists the SNs of the PDUs which were not received correctly
 Bitmap: Indicates the erroneous PDUs in a bitmap
 Relative List: Optimized method of listing erroneous PDUs

 Move Receive Window: Moves the receiving window when SDU

discard is performed
 No More Data: Indicates the end of a Status Report
 Window Size: This field is for flow control purposes

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 21 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RLC Acknowledged Mode PDU
UE/UTRAN

AM-SAP

AM RLC entity
Segmentation/Concatenation
RLC Control Unit
Add RLC header
Piggybacked
status
Retransmission Optional
buffer & Reassembly
management

ments
Acknowledge-
Received
Remove RLC header & Extract
MUX Piggybacked information

Transmission Acknowledgements Reception buffer

buffer & Retransmission
management
Deciphering
Set fields in PDU Header (e.g. set poll
bits) & piggybacked STATUS PDU
Ciphering(only for AMD PDU)
Demux/Routing

Transmitting side Receiving side

DCCH/ DCCH/ DCCH/ DCCH/ DCCH/ DCCH/

DTCH** DTCH* DTCH** DTCH** DTCH* DTCH**

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 22 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
MAC Protocol Entity
UuS boundary
L3
Control

RRC
PDCP L2/PDCP
PDCP

control
control
control

control
 MAC Services
BMC L2/BMC

– Data Transfer RLC

RLC
RLC
RLC
RLC L2/RLC
RLC
RLC
– Reallocation of resources
RLC

Logical
Channels

– Measurement reporting MAC L2/MAC

Transport

 MAC Functions PHY

Channels
L1

– Mapping between logical channels and transport channels

– Selection of appropriate Transport Format for each Transport
Channel depending on the instantaneous source rate
– UE identification on common transport channels
– Multiplexing of logical channels (common and dedicated)
– Traffic volume measurement
– Transport Channel Type switching
– Ciphering for transparent mode RLC

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 23 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Logical Channels
 Provided by L2/MAC sub layer to higher layers
 Defined by which type of information is transported

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

 Traffic Channels
– Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH, DL & UL)

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 24 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Transport Channels
 Services provided by the physical layer (layer 1) to the
MAC layer
 Defined by “how and with what characteristics” the data
is transported
 Common Transport Channels
– Broadcast Channel (BCH) (DL)
– Paging Channel (PCH) (DL)
– Random Access Channel (RACH) (UL) Same channel used by several
users
– Forward Access Channel (FACH) (DL) No UE identification provided
– High Speed Downlink Shared Channel (DL) by L1, in-band signaling of UE
identity
(HS-DSCH)
 Dedicated Transport Channels
– Dedicated Channel (DCH) (UL & DL)

For exclusive use of one user

UE inherently identified by the
physical channel

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 25 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
MAC Architecture – UE Side

PCCH BCCH CCCH

MAC Control DCCH DTCH DTCH

MAC -d

MAC -es /
MAC -hs MAC -c
MA C -e

E -DCH
HS -DSCH PCH FACH DCH DCH
Associated Associated Associated Associated FACH RACH
Downlink Uplink Downlink Uplink
Signalling Signalling Signalling Signalling

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 26 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 MAC DATA PDU
RLC PDU

MAC header MAC SDU

TCTF UE-Id UE-Id C/T MAC SDU

type

Ciphering Unit

 Target Channel Type Field (TCFT) identifies the type of logical channel
(CCCH, BCCH, CTCH, DTCH/DCCH) on RACH/FACH.
 UE-Id provides an identifier of the UE on common transport channels.
 UE-Id type is needed to ensure correct coding of the UE-Id field.
 C/T identifies the logical channel number (in case of MAC multiplexing of
several DTCH and DCCH).
5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 27 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Target Channel Type Field (TCTF)
 Provides identification of the logical channel type on FACH
or RACH
TCTF Designation TCTF Designation

00 BCCH

00 CCCH
01000000 CCCH

01000001- Reserved
01111111 (PDUs with this coding will be discarded 01 DCCH or DTCH
by this version of the protocol) over RACH
10000000 CTCH

10000001- Reserved 10-11 Reserved

10111111 (PDUs with this coding will be discarded (PDUs with this coding
by this version of the protocol) will be discarded by this
version of the protocol)
11 DCCH or DTCH
over FACH

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 28 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
UE-Id Type Field
 Needed to ensure correct coding of the UE-Id field
UE-Id Type field
UE-Id Type
2 bits

00 U-RNTI

01 C-RNTI

Reserved
(PDUs with this coding
10
will be discarded by this
version of the protocol)

Reserved
(PDUs with this coding
11
will be discarded by this
version of the protocol)

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 29 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
UE Id Field
 Provides an identifier of the UE on common transport
channels.

UE Id type Length of UE Id field

U-RNTI 32 bits

C-RNTI 16 bits

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 30 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
C/T Field
 Provides identification of the logical channel instance
when multiple channels are carried on the same transport
channel. C/T Designation
field

0000 Logical channel 1

0001 Logical channel 2

... ...

1110 Logical channel 15

1111 Reserved
(PDUs with this coding will be
discarded by this version of
the protocol)

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 31 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
WCDMA RAN side MAC
Architecture / MAC-d details
DCCH DTCH DTCH
MAC-Control
UE

Transport Channel Type Switching

C/T MUX Deciphering

/ Priority
setting
C/T
Flow Control MUX MAC-d
to MAC-c/sh MAC–c/sh /
MAC-d

DL scheduling/
priority handling

Ciphering

DCH DCH

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 32 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
WCDMA RAN side MAC
architecture / MAC-c/sh details MAC – Control
PCCH BCCH SHCCH CCCH CTCH
(TDD only)

MAC-c/sh
Flow Control to MAC –d
MAC -c/sh / MAC -d

TCTF MUX / UE Id MUX

Scheduling / Priority Hand ling/ Demux

TFC selection

TFC selection DL: code

allocation

PCH FACH FACH DSCH DSCH USCH USCH RACH CPCH

TDD only TDD only (FDD only )

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 33 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
MAC Model/WCDMA RAN side
PCCH BCCH CCCH CTCH MAC-Control DCCH DTCH DTCH

MAC-c/sh
Transport Channel Type Switching
Flow Control
MAC-c/sh/MAC-d
C/T MUX Deciphering
Priority
setting C/T MUX MAC-d
TCTF MUX / UE Id MUX

Scheduling / Priority Handling/ Demux DL scheduling/

priority handling

Ciphering
TFC selection

PCH FACH FACH RACH DCH DCH

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 34 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Transport Format Set (TFS)

Only the dynamic attributes differ

between the TFs within the TFS

TF1

Increasing
bit rate
TF2
TFS

TF3

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 35 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Transport format

 Describes instantaneous characteristics of a transport channel and the

data transfer format offered by L1.
 Semi-static part
– Transmission Time Interval (TTI)
– Channel-coding scheme
– Reconfiguration by RRC is needed.
 Dynamic part
– Number of transport blocks per TTI
– Number of bits per transport block

Transport Block

N Transport Block Transport Block

Transport Block Transport Block Transport Block

L bits TTI

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 36 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Transport Channel Coding

 CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check)

– Calculated for and added to each transport block Transport Channel
– CRC length : 0/8/12/16/24 bits
Add CRC
 FEC (Forward Error Correction)
– Convolution coding (R=1/2, R=1/3)
– Turbo coding (R=1/3) Channel coding

 Channel Interleaving
Interleaving
– Block interleaving over one TTI
Coded Transport Channel

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 37 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Examples of transport channel
structures
Simple variable-rate speech
 TTI = 20 ms
 Convolutional coding
 One transport block per TTI (one speech frame)
 Variable-length transport blocks

Rate = R Rate = R/4 Rate = R/2

TTI (typically 20 ms)

Packet data
 Turbo coding
 Fixed-length transport blocks
 Variable number of transport block per TTI

One ”packet”
One ”packet” One ”packet”
One ”packet” One ”packet” One ”packet”

TTI

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 38 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Characterization of transport
Format
Attribute BCH PCH FACH RACH DCH HS-DSCH
Values

Dynamic Transport Block Size 0 to 5000 246 0 to 5000 0 to 5000 0 to 5000 0 to 5000 1 TB =
Parts 1 bit 1 bit 1 bit 1 bit 1 bit N*MAC-d
granularity granularity granularity granularity granularity PDU +
Header

Transport Block Set 0 to 200 000 246 0 to 200 000 0 to 200 000 0 to 200 000 0 to 200 000 1 TB Set = 1
Size 1 bit granularity 1 bit granularity 1 bit 1 bit granularity 1 bit TB
granularity granularity

Semistatic Transmission Time 2, 10, 20, 40 or 20 10 10, 20, 40 or 10 or 20 10, 20, 40 or 2ms
Parts Interval 80 ms 80 80

Type of Channel No coding, Conv, Conv, coding No coding, Conv, coding No coding, Turbo
coding Turbo Coding, coding Turbo Coding, Turbo Coding,
Conv, coding Conv, coding Conv, coding

Code Rates ½, 1/3 1/2 1/2 ½, 1/3 1/2 ½, 1/3 1/3

CRC Size 0, 8, 12, 16, 24 16 0, 8, 12, 16, 24 0, 8, 12, 16, 24 0, 8, 12, 16, 24 0, 8, 12, 16, 24 24

Spreading Factor Variable to 256 128 variable variable variable 16

fixed

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 39 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Multiple Transport Channels

 A connection typically consists of multiple transport channels

in each direction
DL TrCh #1 DL TrCh #M UL TrCh #1 UL TrCh #N
UTRAN

UE

 One set of transport formats per transport channel

 Transport Format Combination (TFC):
– The instantaneous combination of transport formats for all
transport channels to (from) one UE
– Signaled over L1 as Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI)

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 40 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Transport Format Combination
A combination of currently valid Transport Formats at a given point of
time containing one Transport Format for each transport channel.

Transport Transport Transport

channel 1 channel 2 channel 3

TF1 TF1 TF1

TFC1

TF2 TF2 TF2

TF3 TF3 TF3

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 41 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Transport Format Combination Set
 TFCS is the set of TFCs that has been configured (by RRC)
 MAC selects a TFC out of the TFCS
 Current TFC is indicated by the Transport Format Combination
Indicator (TFCI) in each physical frame every 10 ms
Transport Transport Transport
channel 1 channel 2 channel 3

TF1 TF1 TF1 TFC1

TFC2

TF2 TF2 TF2 TFCS

TFC3

TF3 TF3 TF3 TFC4

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 42 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Summary of Data Exchange
through Transport Channels
 Transport block: the basic unit exchanged between L1 and MAC

 Transport block set: a set of transport blocks which are exchanged between L1 and MAC at
the same time instance on the same TrCH

 The Transmission Time Interval (TTI) and the error protection scheme to apply are semi-static
parameters for the TrCH while the number of transport blocks and their size are dynamic ones

 Transport format: a defined format offered by L1 for the delivery of a Transport Block Set
during a TTI

 Transport format set: a set of Transport Formats associated to a Transport Channel

 Transport Format Combination: a combination of transport formats submitted simultaneously to

L1, containing one Transport Format for each transport channel.

 Transport Format Combination Set: a set of transport format combinations

 The Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI): on L1 indicates the currently valid TFC.

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 43 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Channel Switching
Coverage,
Coverage,
badquality
bad quality
Cell_DCH EUL/HS orRAB
or RABnot
not
supported
supported
byEUL/HS
by EUL/HS
Cell_DCH 384/HS
SHOcan
SHO can
initiateaa
initiate
Soft Cell_DCH 64/HS switchififitit
Soft switch
Congestion
Congestion failstotoadd
add
fails
Cell_DCH 64/384 aaRLRL

Cell_DCH 64/128 Coverage

Coverage
Up triggered
triggereddown
downswitch
Upswitch
switch switch
based DL
basedon
on DL
bandwidth Cell_DCH 64/64
bandwidth

Commonto
Common to
Dedicated
Dedicated Cell_FACH
basedon
based on
buffersize
size No
No
buffer Activity
Activity Dedicated
activity
activity
URA_PCH to common
based on
No
No UL/DL
activity
activity throughput
Idle mode
5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 44 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Channel Switching (UL)

User 1 User 2

Random – Access Random – Access

Request Request

Random -Access Channel

Switch to Switch to
dedicated T Time -out common
Packet Packet Packet

Dedicated Channel
Release dedicated
channel

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 45 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Channel Switching
from dedicated to common (DCCH and DTCH)
before switching
 No MAC header is needed for the
DTCH. DCCHs DTCH
 Multiplexing of logical channels
MAC-d
(DCCHs used for SRBs, C/T MUX) Channel switching
 Mapped on DCH transport
C/T MUX
channels
Ciphering
DCCHs DTCH TFC Selection

RLC PDU RLC PDU

MAC header MAC SDU MAC SDU

DCH DCH
C/T MAC SDU MAC SDU
Physical layer L1
Ciphering Unit Ciphering Unit

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 46 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Channel Switching
from dedicated to common (DCCH and DTCH)
after switching
 Switching is transparent for the logical channels
 DTCH and DCCH mapped to RACH/FACH
 MAC header fields to distinguish logical channels and UEs
DCCH DTCH

CCCH CTCH BCCH

MAC-d
MAC-c Channel switching

UE ID
C/T MUX RLC PDU

TCTF MUX

MAC header MAC SDU

FACH RACH TCTF UE-Id UE-Id C/T MAC SDU

type

Physical layer, L1

Ciphering Unit

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 47 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Ciphering
of user and signaling data transmitted over the radio access link

/ SRNC SRNC /

COUNT-C DIRECTION COUNT-C DIRECTION

BEARE LENGTH BEARE LENGTH
R R

CK f8 CK f8

PLAIN TEXT CIPHERTEXT PLAIN TEXT

BLOCK BLOCK BLOCK

Sender Receiver
UE or SRNC SRNC or UE

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 48 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Physical Channels

 The final Layer 1 bit stream to be carried over the air

– Multiple multiplexed coded transport channels (CCTrCH)
– Layer 1 control information
 Pilot bits
 Transmit Power Control (TPC) commands and other
Feedback Information (FBI)
 Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI)

 Mapped to combination of
– Carrier frequency
– Code (channelization/scrambling code pair)
– Relative phase (UL only)

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 49 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Physical-layer overview

Transport channels

Channel Channel
coding coding

Multiplexing

Physical-layer
Transport-channel Mapping to physical channels procedures
processing and
measurements
Physical channels

Spreading Spreading

3.84 Mcps

Modulation Modulation

5 MHz

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 50 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RRC Connection Establishment

WCDMA
WCDMARAN
RAN
Idle
Mode

”RRC Connection Request” CCCH/RACH

”RRC Connection Setup” CCCH/FACH

WCDMA RAN
Connected
Mode

”RRC Connection Setup Complete” DCCH/DCH

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 51 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Physical Random Access Channel

RACH Message Data Slot (0.666 mSec)

Random Access Message (10, 20, 40, or 80 bits per slot) I

RACH Message Control Slot (0.666 mSec)

Pilot (8 bits) TFCI (2 bits) Q

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 Frame = 15 slots = 10 mSec

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 52 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
RACH carrying RRC Connection
request 8.4 Kbps => 166 bits in 20msec
166
166 Transparent Mode => no RLC header

166 2 bit MAC header

MAC layer
168 CRC 16
184 8 tail bits
192
Rate 1/2 CC 384
1st Interleaving
Rate Matching 300
2nd Interleaving

20 Slot segmentation 20
RACH Message part 30ksps SF 128 I
branch
PILOT TFCI Control part 8 2 Q

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 53 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Secondary Common Control
Physical Channel
Carries the Forward Access Channel (FACH) and Paging Channel (PCH)

Spreading Factor = 256 to 4

1 Slot = 0.666 mSec = 2560 chips = 20 * 2 k data bits; k = [0..6]

0, 2, or 8 bits 20 to 1256 bits 0, 8, or 16 bits

TFCI or DTX Data Pilot

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 Frame = 15 slots = 10 mSec

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 54 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
FACH carrying RRC Connection
Setup
152 152 Max rate 3040 bps => 10msec = 304 bits = 2X152
152 152 Unacknowledged Mode (UM) => 8 bit RLC
160 160 8 bit MAC
MAC layer
168 168 CRC 16
184 184 8 tail bits
376
Rate 1/2 CC 752
1st Interleaving

Rate Matching 1080

2nd Interleaving

72 Slot segmentation 72
8 L1 (8 bit TFCI) 8
S-CCPCH 60ksps => SF = 64

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 55 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Uplink DPDCH/DPCCH
Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH) Slot (0.666 mSec)
Coded Data, 10 x 2k bits, k=0…6 (10 to 640 bits) I

Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH) Slot (0.666 mSec)

Pilot TFCI FBI TPC Q

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
1 Frame = 15 slots = 10 mSec
DPCCH: 15 kb/sec data rate, 10 total bits per DPCCH slot

PILOT: Fixed patterns (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8 bits per DPCCH slot)

TFCI: Transmit Format Combination Indicator (0, 2, 3, or 4 bits)

FBI: Feedback Information (0, 1, or 2 bits)

TPC: Transmit Power Control bits (1 or 2 bits); power adjustment in steps of 1, 2, or

3 dB

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 56 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Uplink Signaling Radio Bearer on
DPDCH/DPCCH
RRC UM RRC AM or NAS DT normal or high priority
136 128
136 8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC
144 4 bit MAC 144 4 bit MAC
MAC Layer
148 CRC 16 136 bits in 10 msec => 13.6 kbps
164 8 tail bits
128bits in 10 msec => 12.8 kbps
172
Rate 1/3 CC 516
1st Interleaving

600 Rate Matching

2nd Interleaving

40 Slot segmentation 40

DPDCH 60ksps => SF = 64 I

branch
PILOT TFCI TPC DPCCH 15ksps 6 2 2 Q

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 57 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Downlink DPDCH/DPCCH
1 Slot = 0.666 mSec = 2560 chips = 10 x 2 k bits, k = [0...7]
SF = 512/2k = [512, 256, 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 4]

DPDCH DPCCH DPDCH DPCCH

Data 1 TPC TFCI Data 2 Pilot

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
1 Frame = 15 slots = 10 mSec

The
TheDPDCH
DPDCHcarries
carriesuser
usertraffic,
traffic,layer
layer22overhead
overheadbits,
bits,and
andlayer
layer33signaling
signaling
data.
data.
The
TheDPCCH
DPCCHcarries
carrieslayer
layer11control
controlbits:
bits:Pilot,
Pilot,TPC,
TPC,and
andTFCI
TFCI
Downlink
DownlinkClosed-Loop
Closed-LoopPower
PowerControl
Controlsteps
stepsof
of11dB
dBdB
dB

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 58 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Downlink Signaling Radio Bearer
on DPDCH/DPCCH (figure 5-36)
RRC UM RRC AM or NAS DT normal or high priority
136 128
136 8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC
144 4 bit MAC 144 4 bit MAC
MAC Layer
148 CRC 16 136 bits in 10 msec => 13.6 kbps
164 8 tail bits
128bits in 10 msec => 12.8 kbps
172
Rate 1/3 CC 516
1st Interleaving

510 Rate Matching

2nd Interleaving
34 Slot segmentation 34
4 2 2 TPC & 4 PILOT 2 4

DPDCH/DPCCH = 30ksps => SF = 128

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 59 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
Uplink Speech RB Mapping
20 msec of each subflow RRC
RRC AM or NAS DT normal priority
60 UM136
40 msec 128
81 103
8 bit RLC
136 128 16 bit RLC
81 CRC 12 4 bit MAC
144 144 4 bit MAC
MAC Layer
93 103 60 8 tail bits 148 CRC 16
1/3 1/3 1/2 Convolutional coding 164 8 tail bits
303+1 333+1 136 Radio frame equalization 516 Rate 1/3 CC
304 334 136 1st Interleaving 1st interleaving
129 129 129 129
152 152 167 167 68 68 Frame segmentation
140 140 140 140
152 167 68 152 167 68 Rate matching 2nd speech block
Rate match 360 140 Rate match 360 140
152 167 68 #1 110 152 167 68 #2 110

2nd interleaving 600 2nd interleaving 600

600 600

40 40 40 40
40 40 40 40

I
DPDCH 60kbps => SF=64 DPDCH 60kbps => SF=64
600 bits (600 symbols)
600 bits (600 symbols)

Branch
PILOT TFCI TPC DPCCH 15kbps 6 Q 2 2 Q

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 60 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Downlink Speech RB Mapping
RRC UM RRC AM or NAS DT normal
136 40 priority
msec 128
20 msec of each subflow 136 8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC
81 103 60 144 4 bit MAC 144 4 bit MAC
MAC Layer
81 CRC 12 148 CRC 16
93 103 60 8 tail bits 164 8 tail bits
303 (1/3) 333 (1/3) 136 (1/2) Convolutional coding 516 Rate 1/3 CC
294 316 172 Rate matching 476
294 316 172 1st interleaving 1st interleaving
147 147 158 158 86 86 Frame segmentation 119 119 119 119
2nd speech block
147 158 86 119 147 158 86 119
152 167 68 #1 110 152 167 68 #2 110

2nd interleaving 510 2nd interleaving 510

600 600

34 34 34 34
40 40 40 40

2 TPC 4 Pilot 2 TPC 4 Pilot

DPDCH 60ksps => SF=128 DPDCH 60kbps => SF=128

600
600

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 61 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Uplink PS 64 RB mapping
Up to 4X320 TBs in 20 msec
=> max data rate = 64 kbps RRC UM
RRC AM or NAS DT normal priority
1 2 3 4 136 40 msec 128
320 16 320 16 320

16 bit RLC
16

136
320 16

8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC

144 4 bit MAC 144 4 bit MAC
336 16

336 336 16

336 CRC 16 16 16

MAC Layer CRC 16

148
Turbo Coding 4224 12 Trellis termination bits 164 8 tail bits
1st Interleaving 4236 516 Rate 1/3 CC
1st interleaving
2118 2118 Frame segmentation
129 129 129 129
2246 2246 Rate matching 154 154 154 154
2nd speech block
2246 154 2246 154
152 167 68 #1 110 152 167 68 #2 110

2nd interleaving 2400 2nd interleaving 2400

600 600

160 160 160 160

40 40 40 40

I
DPDCH 240kbps => SF=16 DPDCH 240kbps => SF=16
600 bits (600 symbols)
600 bits (600 symbols)

Branch
PILOT TFCI TPC DPCCH 15kbps 6 Q 2 2 Q

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 62 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Downlink PS 384 RB Mapping
RRC UM RRC AM or NAS DT normal priority
Up to 12X320 TBs in 10 msec
136 40 msec 128
=> max data rate = 384 kbps
136 8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC
144 4 bit MAC 144 4 bit MAC
MAC Layer
320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16 320 16

148 CRC 16
16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16 16
12 Trellis 164 8 tail bits
termination
bits 516 Rate 1/3 CC
Turbo Coding 12672
Rate matching 380
9025
1st interleaving
1st interleaving 95 95 95 95
Next 3 blocks
9025 95
2nd interleaving 9120

608 608
8 TCI 8 TPC 16 Pilot

DPDCH 480ksps => SF=8 600 600 600

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 63 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Uplink MultiRAB, Speech RB + PS
64/64 RB mapping
20 msec of each subflow RRC RRC AM or NAS DT normal priority
1 2 3 4 UM136 40 msec
81 103 60 128
320 320 320 320 16 bit RLC 136 8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC
81 CRC 12 4 bit MAC 4 bit MAC
336 336 336 336 CRC 16 144 144
93 103 60 8 tail bits CRC 16
148
Turbo Coding 4224
1/3 1/3 1/2 164 8 tail bits

303+1 333+1 136 1st Interleaving 4236 516 Rate 1/3 CC

304 334 136 2118 2118 1st interleaving

129 129 129 129
148 148 158 158 88 88 1881 1881
125 125 125 125

148 158 88 1881 125 148 158 88 1881 125

2nd interleaving 2400 2nd interleaving 2400

160 160 160 160

I
DPDCH 60kbps => SF=16 DPDCH 60kbps => SF=16
Branch
PILOT TFCI TPC DPCCH 15kbps 6 2 2 Q

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 64 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
 Downlink MultiRAB, Speech RB +
PS 64/64 RB mapping
RRC UM RRC AM or NAS DT normal
priority
40 msec
Up to 4X320 TBs in 20 msec => 136 128
20 msec of each subflow max data rate = 64 kbps
136 8 bit RLC 128 16 bit RLC

81 103 60 144 4 bit MAC 144 4 bit MAC

1 2 3 4

CRC 12 320 320 320 320 16 bit RLC CRC 16

81 148

93 103 60 8 tail bits CRC 16 164 8 tail bits

336 336 336 336

303 (1/3) 333 (1/3) 136 (1/2) CC Turbo Coding 4224 12 Trellis termination bits 516 Rate 1/3 CC

RM 258 RM 276 RM 154 RM 3294 436

1st Int. 258 1st Int. 276 1st Int. 154 1st Int. 3294 1st interleaving
129 129 138 138 77 77 1647 1647 109 109 109 109

129 138 77 1647 109

2nd interleaving 2100

160 160

4 TPC 8 Pilot 8 TFCI

DPDCH 120 ksps => SF=32

5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 65 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols
5/038 13-EN/LZU 108 5886 Uae Rev G . Figure 5- 66 WCDMA RAN Protocols and Procedures: RLC and MAC Protocols