BACKGROUND ON LTE

6.1 Introduction
We live in the era of a mobile data revolution. With the mass-market expansion of smartphones,
tablets, notebooks, and laptop computers, users demand services and applications from mobile
communication systems that go far beyond mere voice and telephony. The growth in data intensive
mobile services and applications such as Web browsing, social networking, and music and video
streaming has become a driving force for development of the next generation of wireless standards.
As a result, new standards are being developed to provide the data rates and network capacity
necessary to support worldwide delivery of these types of rich multimedia application

LTE (Long Term Evolution) and LTE-Advanced have been developed to respond to the
requirements of this era and to realize the goal of achieving global broadband mobile
communications. The goals and objectives of this evolved system include higher radio access data
rates, improved system capacity and coverage, flexible bandwidth operations, significantly
improved spectral efficiency, low latency, reduced operating costs, multi-antenna support, and
seamless integration with the Internet and existing mobile communication system.

In some ways, LTE and LTE-Advanced are representatives of what is known as a fourth generation
wireless system and can be considered an organic evolution of the third-generation predecessors.
On the other hand, in terms of their underlying transmission technology they represent a disruptive
departure from the past and the dawn of what is to come.

LTE was designed by a collaboration of national and regional telecommunications standards

bodies known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP. In 2004, 3GPP began a study
into the long term evolution of UMTS. The aim was to keep 3GPP’s mobile communication
systems competitive over timescales of 10 years and beyond, by delivering the high data rates and
low latencies that future users would require. Figure 1.1 shows the resulting architecture and the
way in which that architecture developed from that of UMTS.

In the new architecture, the evolved packet core (EPC) is a direct replacement for the packet
switched domain of UMTS and GSM. There is no equivalent to the circuit switched domain, which
allows LTE to be optimized for the delivery of data traffic, but implies that voice calls have to be
handled using other techniques. The evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN)
handles the EPC’s radio communications with the mobile, so is a direct replacement for the
UTRAN. The mobile is still known as the user equipment, though its internal operation is very
different from before.

The new architecture was designed as part of two 3GPP work items, namely system architecture
evolution (SAE), which covered the core network, and long-term evolution (LTE), which covered
the radio access network, air interface and mobile. Officially, the whole system is known as the

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evolved packet system (EPS), while the acronym LTE refers only to the evolution of the air
interface. Despite this official usage, LTE has become a colloquial name for the whole system,
and is regularly used in this way by 3GPP.

Figure 6. 1 Evolution of the system architecture from GSM and UMTS to LTE.

6.2 Advantages of LTE

1. High throughput: High data rates can be achieved in both downlink as well as uplink.
This causes high throughput.
2. Low latency: Time required to connect to the network is in range of a few hundred
milliseconds and power saving states can now be entered and exited very quickly.
3. FDD and TDD in the same platform: Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) and Time
Division Duplex (FDD), both schemes can be used on the same platform.
4. Superior end-user experience: Optimized signaling for connection establishment and
other air interface and mobility management procedures have further improved the user
experience. Reduced latency (to 5ms) for better user experience.
5. Seamless Connection: LTE also supports seamless connection to existing networks such
as GSM, CDMA and WCDMA.
6. Plug and play: The user does not have to manually install drivers for the device. Instead
system automatically recognizes the device, loads new drivers for the hardware if needed,
and begins to work with the newly connected device.
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7. Simple architecture: Because of Simple architecture low operating expenditure (OPEX).

6.3 High-Level Architecture of LTE

Figure 2.2 reviews the high-level architecture of the evolved packet system (EPS). There are three
main components, namely the user equipment (UE), the evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access
network (E-UTRAN) and the evolved packet core (EPC). In turn, the evolved packet core
communicates with packet data networks in the outside world such as the internet, private
corporate networks or the IP multimedia subsystem. The interfaces between the different parts of
the system are denoted Uu, S1 and SGi.

Figure 6. 2 High-level architecture of LTE.

The actual communication device is known as the mobile equipment (ME). In the case of a voice
mobile or a smartphone, this is just a single device.
The E-UTRAN handles the radio communications between the mobile and the evolved packet core
and just has one component, the evolved Node B (eNB). Each eNB is a base station that controls
the mobiles in one or more cells. A mobile communicates with just one base station and one cell
at a time, so there is no equivalent of the soft handover state from UMTS. The base station that is
communicating with a mobile is known as its serving eNB.

6.3.1 Architecture of the E-UTRAN

The evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) is illustrated in Figure 5.3. The
E-UTRAN handles the radio communications between the mobile and the evolved packet core
and just has one component, the evolved Node B (eNB).
Each eNB is a base station that controls the mobiles in one or more cells. A mobile
communicates with just one base station and one cell at a time, so there is no equivalent of the

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soft handover state from UMTS. The base station that is communicating with a mobile is known
as its serving eNB.

Figure 6. 3 Architecture of the evolved UMTS terrestrial radio access network [36].

The eNB has two main functions.

➢ Firstly, the eNB sends radio transmissions to all its mobiles on the downlink and receives
transmissions from them on the uplink, using the analogue and digital signal processing
functions of the LTE air interface.
➢ Secondly, the eNB controls the low-level operation of all its mobiles, by sending them
signalling messages such as handover commands that relate to those radio transmissions.
In carrying out these functions, the eNB combines the earlier functions of the Node B and
the radio network controller, to reduce the latency that arises when the mobile exchanges
information with the network.

Each base station is connected to the EPC by means of the S1 interface. It can also be connected
to nearby base stations by the X2 interface, which is mainly used for signalling and packet
forwarding during handover.

The X2 interface is optional in two senses. Firstly, communications are only required
between nearby base stations that might be involved in handovers, whereas distant base
stations do not have to interact. Secondly, the most important X2 communications can also be
carried through the evolved packet core using two instances of S1, albeit indirectly and more
slowly. Even if it is used, the X2 interface does not have to be configured by hand; instead, a
network can set up its X2 interfaces automatically using the self-optimization functions.

6.3.2 Architecture of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

Figure 6.4 shows the main components of the evolved packet core. The packet data network
gateway (P-GW) is the EPC’s point of contact with the outside world. Through the SGi interface,

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each PDN gateway exchanges data with one or more external devices or packet data networks,
such as the network operator’s servers, the internet or the IP multimedia subsystem. Each packet
data network is identified by an access point name (APN). A network operator typically uses a
handful of different APNs; for example, one for the internet and one for the IP multimedia
subsystem.

Each mobile is assigned to a default PDN gateway when it first switches on, to give it always-on
connectivity to a default packet data network such as the internet. Later on, a mobile may be
assigned to one or more additional PDN gateways, if it wishes to connect to additional packet data
networks such as private corporate networks or the IP multimedia subsystem. Each PDN gateway
stays the same throughout the lifetime of the data connection.

Figure 6. 4 Main components of the evolved packet core.

The serving gateway (S-GW) acts as a high-level router, and forwards data between the base
station and the PDN gateway. A typical network might contain a handful of serving gateways,
each of which looks after the mobiles in a certain geographical region. Each mobile is assigned to
a single serving gateway, but the serving gateway can be changed if the mobile moves sufficiently
far.
The mobility management entity (MME) controls the high-level operation of the mobile by
sending it signalling messages about issues such as security and the management of data streams
that are unrelated to radio communications. As with the serving gateway, a typical network might
contain a handful of MMEs, each of which looks after a certain geographical region. Each mobile
is assigned to a single MME, which is known as its serving MME, but that can be changed if the
mobile moves sufficiently far. The MME also controls the other elements of the network, by means
of signalling messages that are internal to the EPC. Comparison with UMTS and GSM shows that

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the PDN gateway has the same role as the gateway GPRS support node (GGSN), while the serving
gateway and MME handle the data routing and signalling functions of the serving GPRS support
node (SGSN). Splitting the SGSN in two makes it easier for an operator to scale the network in
response to an increased load: the operator can add more serving gateways as the traffic increases,
while adding more MMEs to handle an increase in the number of mobiles. To support this split,
the S1 interface has two components: the S1-U interface carries traffic for the serving gateway,
while the S1-MME interface carries signalling messages for the MME.

The HSS is a central database that contains user-related and subscription-related information.
The functions of the HSS include functionalities such as mobility management, call and session
establishment support, user authentication and access authorization. It also holds information
about the PDNs to which the user can connect. In addition the HSS holds dynamic information
such as the identity of the MME to which the user is currently attached or registered. The HSS
may also integrate the authentication center (AUC), which generates the vectors for
authentication and security keys.

The PCRF is responsible for policy control decision-making as well as for controlling the flow-
based charging functionalities in the Policy Control Enforcement Function (PCEF), which
resides in the P-GW. The PCRF provides the QoS authorization (QoS class identifier [QCI] and
bit rates) that decides how a certain data flow will be treated in the PCEF and ensures that this is
in accordance with the user's subscription profile.

6.4 Network Areas

The EPC is divided into three different types of geographical areas, which are illustrated in Figure
2.4. An MME pool area is an area through which the mobile can move without a change of serving
MME. Every pool area is controlled by one or more MMEs, while every base station is connected
to all the MMEs in a pool area by means of the S1-MME interface. Pool areas can also overlap.
Typically, a network operator might configure a pool area to cover a large region of the network
such as a major city and might add MMEs to the pool as the signalling load in that city increases.
Similarly, an S-GW service area is an area served by one or more serving gateways, through which
the mobile can move without a change of serving gateway. Every base station is connected to all
the serving gateways in a service area by means of the S1-U interface. S-GW service areas do not
necessarily correspond to MME pool areas. MME pool areas and S-GW service areas are both
made from smaller, non-overlapping units known as tracking areas (TAs). These are used to track
the locations of mobiles that are on standby and are similar to the location and routing areas from
UMTS and GSM.

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Figure 6. 5 Relationship between tracking areas, MME pool areas and S-GW service are.

6.5 Numbering, Addressing and Identification

The components of the network are associated with several different identities. As in previous
systems, each network is associated with a public land mobile network identity (PLMN-ID). This
comprises a three digit mobile country code (MCC) and a two or three digit mobile network code
(MNC).

Each MME has three main identities, which are shown as the shaded parts of Figure 1.5. Each
MME pool area is identified using a 16 bit MME group identity (MMEGI), while the 8 bit MME
code (MMEC) uniquely identifies the MME within a pool area. Combining them gives the 24 bit
MME identifier (MMEI), which uniquely identifies the MME within a particular network. By
bringing in the network identity, we arrive at the globally unique MME identifier (GUMMEI),
which identifies an MME anywhere in the world.

Similarly, each tracking area has two main identities. The 16 bit tracking area code (TAC)
identifies a tracking area within a particular network. Combining this with the network identity
gives the globally unique tracking area identity (TAI).

Cells have three types of identity. The 28 bit E-UTRAN cell identity (ECI) identifies a cell within
a particular network, while the E-UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI) identifies a cell anywhere
in the world. Also important for the air interface is the physical cell identity, which is a number
from 0 to 503 that distinguishes a cell from its immediate neighbours.

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Figure 6. 6 Identities used by the MME.

6.6 LTE Air Interface

The technique used for radio transmission and reception in LTE is known as orthogonal frequency
division multiple access (OFDMA). OFDMA carries out the same functions as any other multiple
access technique, by allowing the base station to communicate with several different mobiles at
the same time. However, it is also a powerful way to improve the system’s spectral efficiency and
to minimize the problems of fading and inter-symbol interference. Also, a modified radio
transmission technique, known as single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA),
is used for the LTE uplink. The LTE air interface has procedures similar to that in HSPA. The
main difference is that LTE uses OFDMA instead of WCDMA.

The physical layer has three parts. The transport channel processor applies the error management
procedures, while the physical channel processor applies the techniques of OFDMA, SC-FDMA
and multiple antenna transmission from. Finally, the analogue processor converts the information
to analogue form, filters it and mixes it up to radio frequency for transmission.

The information flows between the different protocols are known as channels and signals. Data
and signalling messages are carried on logical channels between the RLC and MAC protocols,
transport channels between the MAC and the physical layer, and physical data channels between
the different levels of the physical layer. LTE uses several different types of logical, transport and
physical channel, which are distinguished by the kind of information they carry and by the way in
which the information is processed.

Logical channels are distinguished by the information they carry and can be classified in two ways.
Firstly, logical traffic channels carry data in the user plane, while logical control channels carry
signalling messages in the control plane. Secondly, dedicated logical channels are allocated to a
specific mobile, while common logical channels can be used by more than one [10].

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Transport channels are distinguished by the ways in which the transport channel processor
manipulates them.

Physical data channels are distinguished by the ways in which the physical channel processor
manipulates them, and by the ways in which they are mapped onto the symbols and sub-carriers
used by OFDMA.

The final information streams are the physical signals, which support the lowest-level operation of
the physical layer. In the uplink, the mobile transmits the demodulation reference signal (DRS)
at the same time as the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and physical uplink control
channel (PUCCH), as a phase reference for use in channel estimation. It can also transmit the
sounding reference signal (SRS) at times configured by the base station, as a power reference in
support of frequency-dependent scheduling. The downlink usually combines these two roles in the
form of the cell specific reference signal (RS). UE specific reference signals are less important,
and are sent to mobiles that are using beamforming in support of channel estimation. The
specifications introduce other downlink reference signals as part of Releases 9 and 10. The base
station also transmits two other physical signals, which help the mobile acquire the base station
after it first switches on. These are known as the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the
secondary synchronization signal (SSS).