1: UMTS Fundamentals

Version 2.0 West Region - UMTS RF Engineering

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Module 1: UMTS Fundamentals

Module Overview
1.1 Introduction 1.2 CDMA Multiple Access Fundamentals 1.3 UMTS System Technology & Physical Interfaces WCDMA Air Interface UMTS Key Concepts 1.4 HSDPA 1.5 HSUPA
The overall aim of Module 1 is to give a broad grounding of UMTS concepts on which to build on in the following modules

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Slide 2

Introduction

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Introduction
abc

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Slide 4

Multiple Access Fundamentals

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FDMA Frequency Division Multiple Access

Frame Period (we may still need frames/timeslots for signalling) Channel Bandwidth

frequency
User N

User 1

time

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Slide 6

TDMA - Time Division Multiple Access

Timeslot Period
Frame Period

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frequency time
User 1 User 1
Slide 7

Channel Bandwidth

FDMA/TDMA
Timeslot Period Frame Period

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frequency

Channel Bandwidth

User 1

User 1

time

Slide 8

CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access

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frequency

code

Frame Period (we may still need frames/timeslots for signalling)

time

Slide 9

Code Division Multiple Access

Spreading
P

Despreading Channel

P f

P Tx Bit Stream

P
f

f Air Interface Chip Stream

P
f

Rx Bit Stream

Identica l codes
Code Chip Stream

Code Chip Stream

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Slide 10

Code Division Multiple Access

1

Tx Bit Stream

Spreading

-1

Code Chip Stream

Air Interface Chip Stream

Despreading

Code Chip Stream

Rx Bit Stream

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Slide 11

Code Division Multiple Access

1

Tx Bit Stream

Spreading

-1

Code Chip Stream

Air Interface Chip Stream

Despreading

Code Chip Stream Y Rx Bit Stream

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Slide 12

WCDMA System Overview

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WCDMA Network Topology

MSC (Voice & Video calls)

Iu-CS
WCDMA Air Interface Uu Iub

PSTN 2G Net
Iu-PS

User Equipment (UE) & USIM

Node Bs

RNC 3G SGSN

GGSN

IP Domain

(Wap, Internet, Streaming)

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Slide 14

WCDMA Air Interface Concepts

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Key WCDMA Concepts

Key WCDMA concepts to be covered
AIR INTERFACE OVERVIEW POWER CONTROL Open Closed (Fast/Slow) HANDOVER Intra-Frequency (Soft/Softer) Inter-Frequency (Other WCDMA carrier) Inter-System (3G->2G) RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Admission Control Load Control Packet Scheduler Resource Management Mobility Management Power Control

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Slide 16

WCDMA Air Interface Overview

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WCDMA Air Interface

UMTS FDD
Multiple Access Modulation Carrier Spacing Frame Length Slots per Frame Multiple Rates Chip Rate Max Data Rate Synchronous Handover
CDMA QPSK/16QAM 5MHz (200kHz raster) 10ms/2ms 15

UMTS TDD
CDMA QPSK 5MHz (200kHz raster) 10ms 15

Multi-code, Multi-code, multiVariable slot Spreading Factor 3.84Mcps 3.84Mcps 14.4Mbps No Soft 2Mbps Yes Hard

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Slide 18

WCDMA Spreading Codes

WCDMA used Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) Codes to spread user data in both the uplink and the downlink Spreading separates the different users in the code domain The maximum spreading factor used in UMTS is 512 DL Speech uses SF=128 DL 384k used SF=8
SF 2 SF 4 SF 8 SF 16

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Slide 19

WCDMA Scrambling Codes (SC)

After spreading the bit stream is scrambled In the uplink one SC per UE In the downlink (typically) one SC per sector Spreading separates the different base stations in the code domain

Spreading

Scrambling

User Bit Stream

TX Bit Stream

Spreading Code
Proprietary and Confidential Slide 20

Scrambling Code

WCDMA Code Summary

Synchronisation Codes
Gold Codes, Primary Synchronization Codes (PSC) and Secondary Synchronization Codes (SSC)

Channelisation Codes
Orthogonal Variable Spreading Factor (OVSF) codes, sometimes called Walsh codes

Scrambling Codes, UL
Complex-Valued Gold Code Segments (long) or ComplexValued S(2) Codes (short)

Scrambling Codes, DL

Type

Complex-Valued Gold Code Segments

Length

256 chips

4-512 chips

38400 chips /256 chips

38400 chips

Duration

66.67 s

1.04 s - 133.34 s

10 ms / 66.67 s

10 ms

Number of codes

1 primary code / 16 secondary codes

= spreading factor, 4 ... 256 UL, 4 ... 512 DL

16,777,216

512 primary / 15 secondary for each primary code

Spreading

No, does not change bandwidth

Yes, increases bandwidth

No, does not change bandwidth

No, does not change bandwidth

Usage

To enable terminals to locate and synchronise to the cells' main control channels

UL: to separate physical data and control data from same terminal. DL: to separate connection to different terminals in a same cell

Separation of terminal

Separation of sectors

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Slide 21

WCDMA Logical Channels

Control Channels
BCCH PCCH CCCH DCCH Broadcast Control Channel Paging Control Channel Common Control Channel Dedicated Control Channel

Traffic Channels
DTCH CTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel Common Traffic Channel

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Slide 22

WCDMA Transport Channels

Common Channels
BCH FACH PCH RACH CPCH Broadcast Channel Forward Access Channel Paging Channel Random Access Channel Common Packet Channel

Dedicated Channels
DCH DSCH Dedicated Channel Downlink Shared Channel

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Slide 23

WCDMA Physical Channels

Common Control Channels P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channels (DL) S-CCPCH Secondary Common Control Physical Channels (DL) P-SCH Primary Synchronisation Channel (DL) S-SCH Secondary Synchronisation Channel (DL) CPICH Common Pilot Channel (DL) AICH Acquisition Indicator Channel (DL) PICH Paging Indicator Channel (DL) PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel (DL) PRACH Physical Random Access Channel (UL) PCPCH Physical Common Packet Channel (UL) AP-AICH Access Preamble Acquisition Indicator Channel (DL) Dedicated Channels DPDCH DPCCH

Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DL & UL) Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DL & UL)

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Slide 24

WCDMA Transport -> Physical Channel Mapping

Transport Channels
RACH CPCH BCH PCH FACH DSCH DCH
PICH AICH DPCCH DPDCH PDSCH S-CCPCH P-CCPCH PCPCH PRACH P-SCH S-SCH CPICH AP-AICH CD/CA-ICH

Spreading/Modulation

Physical Channels

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Slide 25

WCDMA Air Interface Key Concepts

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Scrambling Codes & CPICH

CPICH

The Common Pilot Indication Channel (CPICH) is broadcast from every cell It carries no information and can be thought of as a beacon constantly transmitting the Scrambling Code of the cell It is this beacon that is used by the phone for its cell measurements for network acquisition and handover purposes (Ec, Ec/Io).

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Slide 27

3G Coverage Measurements

The majority of 3G coverage measurements are based upon measurements of the CPICH Golden Rule: If the UE cant see the CPICH the UE cant see the cell. Initial 3G network optimisation will be performed purely from CPICH measurements Three key related measurements for 3G optimisation are Ec Io Ec/Io - The Received Signal Level of a particular CPICH (dBm) - The Total Received Power (dBm) - The CPICH Quality (The ratio of the above two values)

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Slide 28

Total Received Power Io

Io

In a WCDMA network the User Equipment (UE) may receive signals from many cells whether in handover or not Io* = The sum total of all of these signals + any background noise (dBm)

*Note: Sometimes Io is referred to as No, RSSI or ISSI

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Slide 29

Received Power of a CPICH (RSCP)

Ec1

Ec2

Using the properties of SCs the UE is able to extract the respective CPICH levels from the sites received RSCP* = The Received Power of a Particular CPICH (dBm)

*Note: Sometimes RSCP is referred to as Ec

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Slide 30

The CPICH Quality (Ec/Io)

RSCP1

RSCP2

From the previous two measures we can calculate a signal quality for each CPICH (SC) received Ec/Io = RSCP - Io (dB)

*Note: Sometimes Ec/Io is referred to as Ec/No

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Slide 31

Example

Ec/Io1= -5dB

Ec/Io2 = -10dB

Io=-80dBm
From the above three measurements we can calculate for each pilot the RSCP level for that particular pilot
RSCP1 = -80 - 5 = -85dBm RSCP2 = -80 - 10 = -90dBm

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Slide 32

Ec, Io and Ec/Io Measurement

All commercial scanners and test UEs are capable of making Ec, Io and Ec/Io measurements It is these measurements that are used for coverage analysis and basic optimisation

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Slide 33

Power Control

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Slide 34

Power Control
The near far problem
In any CDMA network, the power of the BTS and UE must be tightly controlled to avoid interference to other BTSs/UEs

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Slide 35

Power Control
Types of Power Control
Open Loop Power Control Used to set the initial transmit power of the BTS/UE
Closed Loop Power Control Used to control power of uplink/downlink DCHs Inner Loop (Or Fast Power Control) used to control TX Power (UL/DL) Outer Loop (Or Slow Power Control) used to control SIR Targets (UL/DL)

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Slide 36

Open Loop Power Control

Open Loop Power Control (UPLINK)
Open Loop Power Control Used to set the initial transmit power of the BTS/UE UPLINK: Uses a measure of DL path loss to provide estimate uplink path loss UPLINK: CPICH measurement by the UE along with the reported BTS Noise Floor are used to determine the initial TX power of the UE
Preamble_Initial_power = CPICH_Tx_power CPICH_RSCP + UL_interference + UL_required_CI

CPICH_RSCP CPICH_Tx_power UL_Interference UL_required_CI

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Slide 37

Open Loop Power Control

Open Loop Power Control (DOWNLINK)
Open Loop Power Control Used to set the initial transmit power of the BTS/UE DOWNLINK: Uses a measure of DL path loss to set initial DL TX power

PPDPCH_Initial = Eb/No - PG + CPICH_Tx_Power CPICH_Ec/Io

CPICH_Tx_power

CPICH_Ec/Io Eb/No PG

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Slide 38

Closed Loop Power Control

Closed Loop Power Control
Enables the BTS/UE to rapidly adjust their DCH TX powers to track the changing channel conditions (path loss & interference) in order to maintain the required SIR at the receiving UE/BTS Uses feedback (power control commands) in the opposite link to adjust Tx power accordingly

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Slide 39

Closed Loop Power Control

Closed Loop Power Control
Closed Loop Power Control Used to control power of uplink/downlink DCHs Two components to Closed Loop Power control in WCDMA Inner Loop (Or Fast Power Control) used to control TX Power (UL/DL) Outer Loop (Or Slow Power Control) used to control SIR Targets (UL/DL)
Outer Loop PC Inner Loop PC Iu-CS Uu Iub

Iu-PS User Equipment (UE) & USIM Node Bs RNC

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Slide 40

Closed Loop Power Control

Closed Loop: Inner Loop Power Control
Transmit Power Control (TPC) commands (up/down) issued to UE (Uplink) and BTS (Downlink) to maintain Target SIR every time slot (1500 Hz) Power control step size typically 1dB (Algorithm 1) Below 30km/h 1.5KHz and 1dB is fast enough to track changes Above 30km/h other schemes such as (Algorithm 2) maybe more suitable

Inner Loop PC

Required SIRDL

Uu

Required SIRUL

User Equipment (UE) & USIM

Node Bs

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Slide 41

Closed Loop Power Control

Closed Loop: Outer Loop Power Control
RNC compares uplink BLER with BLER target and sets SIRUL accordingly UE compares downlink BLER with BLER target and set SIRDL accordingly Frequency 10 to 100 Hz Step size 0.1 to 1dB
Outer Loop PC

Uu

Iub

User Equipment (UE) & USIM

Node Bs

RNC

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Slide 42

WCDMA Handovers

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Slide 43

Handovers in WCDMA
Soft Handover
Intra-system Handover

Hard Handover
Inter-frequency Handover Inter-system Handover

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Slide 44

Handovers in WCDMA - Softer HO

Softer handover occurs between sectors of the same site

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Slide 45

Handovers in WCDMA - Soft HO

Soft handover occurs between sectors of the different sites

For both softer and soft handover UE Ec/Io measurements are used to determine whether a cell should be added or removed from the active set

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Slide 46

Soft Handover
Mechanics of Soft Handover
In WCDMA to avoid interference the UE must be connected to its best serving cell at all times Another mechanism to minimize interference is Soft Hanover the Make Before Break handover In order to ensure this when in-call the UE constantly monitors the CPICH signal quality (Ec/Io) of its serving cell and its serving cells declared neighbors

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Slide 47

Soft Handover
Neighbor List
In WCDMA like GSM each cell has to declare at list of valid neighbors Intra-system neighbors (32 Max) Inter-frequency neighbors (32 Max) Inter-system neighbors (32 Max)

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Slide 48

Soft Handover
The Active Set
The Active Set is defined as the list of cells the UE is connected to during dedicated mode Active set size = 1: UE Not in Soft Handover Active set size > 1: UE in Soft Handover Typically Active set size limited to 3

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Slide 49

Soft Handover
Updating the Active Set
Addition Window Drop Window Replacement Window
Io
-60dBm

RSCP1

-65dBm

RSCP2

-70dBm

RSCP3

-77dBm

RSCP4

-83dBm

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Slide 50

Soft Handover
Updating the Active Set
Addition Window Drop Window Replacement Window
Io
-60dBm

RSCP1

-65dBm

RSCP2

-70dBm

RSCP3

-77dBm

RSCP4

-83dBm

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Slide 51

Soft Handover
Updating the Active Set
Addition Window Drop Window Replacement Window
Io
-60dBm

RSCP1

-65dBm

RSCP2

-70dBm

RSCP3

-77dBm

RSCP4

-83dBm

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Slide 52

Soft Handover
Updating the Active Set
Addition Window Drop Window Replacement Window
Io
-60dBm

RSCP1

-65dBm

RSCP2

-70dBm

RSCP3

-77dBm

RSCP4

-83dBm

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Slide 53

Soft Handover
Updating the Active Set
Addition Window Drop Window Replacement Window
Io
-60dBm

RSCP1

-65dBm

RSCP2

-70dBm

RSCP3

-77dBm

RSCP4

-83dBm

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Slide 54

Soft Handover
Ec/Io1

Addition Window

Drop Window

Ec/Io2

Tadd

Tdrop

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Slide 55

Soft Handover
Ec/Io1

Addition Window Ec/Io2

Drop Window

Ec/Io3

Ec/Io4 Tadd Tadd Treplace

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Slide 56

Soft Handover
Updating the Active Set
Addition Window Drop Window Replacement Window
Io
-60dBm

RSCP1

-65dBm

RSCP2

-70dBm

RSCP3

-77dBm

RSCP4

-83dBm

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Slide 57

Handovers - Inter frequency HO

Inter frequency handover occurs between two WCDMA carriers Used once operator deploys its second carrier, for microcell layer or capacity purposes

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Slide 58

Handovers - Inter system HO

Inter system handover occurs between 3G and other systems (2G, TDD, WiMAX) As with all handovers, accurate adjacencies will be required

3G

2G

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Slide 59

Inter System Handover -3G/2G

Inter System HO occurs at the boundary of 3G coverage
3G Network Edge In building? Area of poor 3G coverage

3G

2G

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Slide 60

Inter System Handover -3G/2G

Currently most vendors only support Intersystem HO for Voice and PS Data services 3G->2G Voice HO is a real Hard Handover (seamless from user point of view) 3G->2G PS Data HO is effectively a reselection (disruption in data communications for a number of seconds)

3G

2G

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Slide 61

Inter System Handover -3G/2G Voice

Typical Dual Mode 3G/2G UEs utilize a single TRX During a voice call on WCDMA TRX utilise 100% However during 3G/2G HO UE needs to detect 2G neighbours Therefore some time sharing of TRX (RX actually) is required to detect potential 2G Handover candidates This time sharing mode is know as Compressed Mode During compressed mode the UE the instantaneous transmit power is increased in the compressed frame in order to keep the quality (BER, FER, etc.) unaffected by the reduced processing gain

3G

2G

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Slide 62

Inter System Handover -3G/2G Voice

During compressed mode UE attempts to detect 2G candidate cells (ARFCN) and reports detected neighbours to RNC RNC may requests further verification (BSIC) Finally RNC will instruct UE to handover to the chosen 2G cell and the call continues on GSM

3G

2G

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Slide 63

Inter System Handover -3G/2G PS Data

As with voice, during PS 3G/2G HO the UE needs to detect the 2G neighbors Again compressed mode is used to detect 2G candidate cells (ARFCN) and report detected neighbours to RNC RNC may requests further verification (BSIC) Finally RNC will instruct UE to reselect to the chosen 2G cell and initiate PS Data transfer on GSM (GPRS)

3G

2G

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Slide 64

Radio Resource Management

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Slide 65

Radio Resource Management

Overview of Radio Resource Management (RRM)
Aim of RRM is to efficiently manage the Radio Resources of the WCDMA air interface Different vendors have implemented different RRM strategies and algorithms Generally RRM functions can be group as follows Admission Control Load Control Packet Scheduler Resource Management

Cell Based

Power Control Mobility Control

Connection Based

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Slide 66

Radio Resource Management

Admission Control
Responsible for determining if the system (Air Interface, Code Tree, Channel Elements, Iub, RNC, Iu etc), can accept the call Air Interface (Uplink Load, Downlink Load/Tx Power) ? Code Tree Fragmentation ? Processing Capacity ? Iub Capacity ? RNC Capacity ? May give priority to different types of calls Typically voice/video take precedent

Considers reports from Load Control Entity to assist decisions

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Slide 67

Radio Resource Management

Load Control
Responsible for ensuring cell does not go into overload condition Constantly monitoring Uplink Rx power and Downlink Tx power Preventative action taken to avoid overload condition Load reports sent to Admission Control and Packet Scheduler

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Slide 68

Radio Resource Management

Packet Schedule
Responsible for maximizing throughput of cell/users Considers reports from Load Control Entity to assist decisions Should allocate the best bearer for the job HSDPA / 384k / 128k / 64k / 32k / FACH etc.

Load
Load Target
Free Capacity for PS or HSDPA

CS Load

Time

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Slide 69

Radio Resource Management

Resource Manager
Responsible for ensuring efficient use of cells processing capacity Code use Channel element use

384 user #2 384 user #1

SF 4
SF 8 SF 16

128 user #1

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Slide 70

Radio Resource Management

Power Control
As shown earlier power control is used to maintain the quality of the radio link Minimizing the uplink and downlink transmission power maximizes system capacity
Outer Loop PC Inner Loop PC Iu-CS Uu Iub

Iu-PS User Equipment (UE) & USIM Node Bs RNC

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Slide 71

Radio Resource Management

Mobility Manager
Responsible for maintaining radio links with UE during mobility Intra-system handover Inter-system handover Link Adaptation

3G

3G

3G

2G

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Slide 72

Key WCDMA Concepts Summary

Key WCDMA concepts to be covered
AIR INTERFACE OVERVIEW POWER CONTROL Open Closed (Fast/Slow) HANDOVER Intra-Frequency (Soft/Softer) Inter-Frequency (Other WCDMA carrier) Inter-System (3G->2G) RADIO RESOURCE MANAGEMENT Admission Control Load Control Packet Scheduler Resource Management Mobility Management Power Control

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Slide 73

Module 1. UMTS Fundamentals Summary

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Module 1: UMTS Fundamentals

Module Summary
1.1 Background & Evolution to 3G and beyond 1.2 CDMA Multiple Access Fundamentals 1.3 UMTS System Technology & Physical Interfaces WCDMA Air Interface UMTS Key Concepts 1.4 WCDMA Link Budgets 1.5 West Region Planning Process Overview
The overall aim of Module 1 is to give a broad grounding of UMTS concepts on which to build on in the following modules

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Slide 75