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DecodingtheUMTS/UTRANSpecifications
Thepurposeofthiswikiareaistoprovideaclearandconcisepresentationoftheinformation
giveninthe3GPPUMTS/UTRANspecifications,specificallyonthe"Uu"interface.Because
UMTS/UTRANinheritmanyconceptsandsubprotocolsfromGSMandGPRS("Um"),some
understandingofthosetechnologiesisprobablyaprerequisiteforunderstandingthiswiki.

GeneralCommentsontheWiki
OneoftheproblemwithUMTScomplexityisthatthestandardsupportsalotofdeployment
variations.Forsimplicity,thiswikishouldprobablyfocusonthemostcommonlydeployedstyle
ofUMTS/UTRANworldwide:FDDradiointerfaceandGSMMAPcorenetwork.

Pleasedonotjustcopypastelargesectionsoftextfromthespecificationsthemselvesintothe
wiki.First,it'sacopyrightviolation.Second,itdefeatsthepurposeofthewiki.Soifyou
can't/won'trewritesomethingtomakeitmoreunderstandable,justmakeareferencetothe
specificationdocumentandsection/paragraph,likethis:"3GPP25.33110.5.1".Smallquotations
aregood,butpleaseputtheminitalicslikethisandnotethedocumentandparagraphfrom
whichthetextwasquoted.

Toeditthiswiki,youcanloginasuser"guest"withthepassword"guestpass".Ifyouarea
regulareditorofthiswiki,pleaserequestapersonalaccountfromKurtis(logintoseecontact
info)sothatyourchangescanbetracked.

Ifyouhaveaspecificquestionaboutaspecificpartofthespecification,pleaseputthequestion
intothewikiusingitalicizedtextlikeyouseehere.

YoucanalsosubscribetotheUMTSdiscussionlisthere.

OtherWebResourcesforUnderstandingUMTS
AgoodtutorialonUMTS.

GeneralCommentsonUMTS
LikeGSM/GPRS,UMTSdefineslogicalandphysicalchannels,butthereisagreatervarietyof
physicalchanneltypesandthere'sisanewintermediatesublayer,thetransportlayer,between
thelogicalandphysicalchannel.Theexistenceoftransportchannelspermitsthegroupingof
logicalchannelswithsimilarbearerperformance(e.g.,errorrate)requirements.

UMTSChannels
LogicalChannels
BCCH(BroadcastControlChannel)Downlinkonly.Broadcast.FunctionallysimilartoGSM
BCCH.CarriesacycleofrepeatingSystemInformationBlocks(SIBs).
PCCH(PagingControlChannel)Downlinkonly.Unicast.FunctionallysimilartoGSM
PagingChannel(PCH).Carriespagingrequests.
CCCH(CommonControlChannel)Downlink/uplink.Unicast.FunctionallysimilartoGSM
AccessGrantChannel(AGCH)andRandomAccessChannel(RACH).Primarilycarries
messagesrelatedtoRRCconnectionsetup.
DCCH(DedicatedControlChannel)Downlink/uplink.FunctionallysimilartoGSMSDCCH,
SACCH,orFACCH,dependingonthecontext.Carriesuserspecificcontrolplanetraffic.
DTCH(DedicatedTrafficChannel)Downlink/uplink.FunctionallysimilartotheGSM
PDTCHorTCH.Carriesuserplanetraffic.

TransportChannels
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BCH(BroadcastChannel)Downlinkonly.CarriestheBCCH.
PCH(PagingChannel)Downlinkonly.CarriesthePCCH.
FACH(ForwardAccessChannel)Downlinkonly.CarriesthedownlinkCCCH.Maycarry
oneormoredownlinkDCCHand/orDTCHdependingonthecontext.MaycarrytheBCCH.
DCH(DedicatedChannel)Downlink/uplink.CarriestheDCCHand/ortheDTCH.
RACH(RandomAccessChannel)Uplinkonly.CarriestheuplinkCCCH.Maycarrythe
uplinkDCCHand/orDTCHdependingonthecontext.

PhysicalChannels
Thephysicalchannelsusedifferentslotformats,documentedin3GPP25.211Section5.The
mappingoftransportchannelsontophysicalchannelsisdefinedin3GPP25.211Section6.

PCCPCH(PrimaryCommonControlPhysicalChannel)CarriestheBCH.
SCCPCH(SecondaryControlControlPhysicalChannel)CarriesoneormoreFACHsand
thePCH.
PICH(PagingIndicationChannel)Carriesabitmaskofreducedpaginginformation.Its
existenceallowsthehandsettosleepmoreofthetimetherebyconservingbattery.Does
notcarryanyhigherlayerdata.
PSCH(PrimarySynchronizationChannel)Supportsthefirststageofcell
synchronization:wordsync.
SSCH(SecondarySynchronizationChannel)Supportsthesecondstageofcell
synchronization:framesync.
PRACH(PhysicalRandomAccessChannel)CarriestheRACH.
AICH(AccessIndicationChannel)Indicatesthebasestation'sreceptionofaPRACH
preambletransmission,whichisthegoaheadsignalforthehandsettotransmitthe
PRACHburst.Doesnotcarryanyhigherlayerdata.TheUMTSaccessprocedureismore
complextoinsureproperinitializationofuplinkpowercontrol.
PCPICH(PrimaryCommonPilotChannel)Channelstatereferenceandphysicalcell
identifier.Doesnotcarryanyhigherlayerdata.SimilarinpurposetotheGSMFCCH/SCH
logicalchannels.
DPDCH(DedicatedPhysicalDataChannel)CarriesoneormoreDCH.
DPCCH(DedicatedPhysicalControlChannel)Carriesphysicallinkcontrolinformation
suchaspowercontrolbitsandthetransportformatcombinationindicator.Doesnotcarry
anyhigherlayerdata.

UMTSLayers
Layer1PHY
TheUMTSPHYisbasedonWCDMA.KeyfeaturesofCDMA:

AsinglecompanyhasastrangleholdontheIP.
Intherealworld,withDopplerandmultipathandvaryingpropagationdelays,nothingis
reallyorthogonal,soyouusuallygetwelllessthanhalfthetheoreticalcapacity.
Itrequiresyoutocontroluplinkpowertowithinabout3dBtopreventthenearfareffect.
Itrequiresyoutoprocesslargeswathsofbandwidthcontinuouslyevenforlowrate
signals.
Themainnoisesourcethatdegradesreceiverperformanceisotherusers,notthermal
noise,soperuserperformancevarieswildlyasthetrafficmixchanges.
SincetheUMTSCDMAsignalhasahighcrestfactor(similartoGaussiannoise),the
amplifiersrequirealotofextraheadroom,makingthemmuchlessefficientthanthe
constantmodulusamplifiersusedinGSM/GPRS.

MostUMTSdeploymentsutilizefrequencydivisionduplexing(FDD).UnlikeGSM,inwhich
transmitandreceiveburstsareseparatedintime,UMTSFDDrequiressimultaneous
transmissionandreception.Thus,insteadofasimpleswitch,theRFfrontendinaUMTS
handsetutilizesaduplexer.Smallduplexersaretypicallyquitelossy,requiringthe(already
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inefficient)PAsinhandsetstoproduceevenmorepower.

UMTSFrequencyBands

TheprimaryUMTSoperatingfrequencybandistheIMT2000bandat2100MHz.Thisbandis
usedforUMTSthroughoutmostoftheworldincludingAsia,Europe,Australasia,Africa,and
partsofSouthAmerica.IntheUnitedStates,theIMT2000bandwasnot(entirely)availableat
thetimeUMTSwasbeingrolledout.Therefore,the1900MHz"PCS"bandandthe850MHz
"cellular"bandsareusedforUMTSintheU.S.andcountriesthattypicallyfollowU.S.frequency
bandplanninginNorthAmericaandpartsofSouthAmerica.

The3GPPtechnicalspecificationspermitUMTStobeoperatedinnumerous,oftenregionspecific
frequencybandsatotalof14asofR8ofthespecs.Astraffichasgrown,UMTShasbeen
deployedininmoreandmoreoftheseoperatingbandsaprocesscolloquiallyreferredtoas
spectrum"refarming"including900MHz(GSM),1800MHz(DCS),and1700/2100MHz(U.S.
AWS).

The3GPPtechnicalspecificationssupporttheuseofvirtuallyanydownlink/uplinkfrequency
pairinginFDDmode,thoughitisextremelyrarefornetworkstoutilizenonstandardoperating
bandsandduplexspacings.

FDDRadiomodem

Thisiseverythingfromtheformattedradioframedatabitstotheantenna,including:

spreading
scrambling
pulseshaping
radiofrequencytuningandpowercontrol

ForwardErrorCorrection

From3GPP25.2124.2.Thisistheencoding/transmissionpathbetweenatransportblockanda
radioframe:

transportblockconcatenation
paritywordappend
codeblocksegmentation
convolutionalorturboencoding
ratematching(puncturingorrepeatingchannelbitsincodedblockstomatchinputand
outputrates)
interleaving
segmentationofcodedblocksintoradioframes
moreinterleaving

SpecialCases

PRACHprocessing

Layer2
Layer12Interface

DatastructuresexchangedbetweenL1andL2arecalledtransportblocks.UMTSdefines
concatenationandratematchingmechanismsinL1thatallowsgreatflexibilityintransportblock
sizeonmostL1L2interfaces.However,thereisamaximumcodeblocksize,definedin3GPP
25.2124.2.2.2thatdeterminesthemaximumavailabledataratesforgivenchanneltypes.See
DecodingUMTS/FECformoredetails.

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MediumAccessControl(MAC)

RadioLinkControl(RLC)?

Layer3
Layer23Interface

RadioResourceControl(RRC)

Layer4
Layer34(ASNAS)Interface

CallControl(CC)?

ServiceManagement(SM)?

MobilityManagement(MM)?

GPRSServiceManagement(GSM)?

GPRSMobilityManagement(GMM)?

PacketSwitched(PS)Services

CircuitSwitched(CS)Services

UserEquipment
SIMvsUSIM

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