Architecture of the radio

base station
The functionality of a radio base station
(RBS) is divided into two main parts: user-
plane functions and control-plane functions.
The user-plane functions are associated with
transport, baseband, radio and the antenna.
The control-plane functions pertain to the
transmission of user data and operation and
maintenance (O&M) data. Ericssons RBS is
based on the connectivity packet platform
(CPP, formerly called Cello packet plat-
form)that is, the RBS employs the infra-
structure of hardware and software modules
provided in CPP.
1
Figure 1 shows a typical indoor RBS with
power subrack, baseband subrack, radio fre-
quency subrack and power amplifier sub-
rack.
2
User-plane signals from the radio net-
work controller (RNC) via the Iub interface
are input directly via CPP boards to the
baseband parts, whereas control-plane sig-
nals are input to the baseband parts via the
traffic and O&M control parts of the main
processor. Figure 2 shows the architecture
of the Ericsson RBS3000.
3
Please note that
for simplicitys sake the CPP parts and main
processor are not shown.
The architecture can be broken down into
a cell-specific part and a non-cell-specific
part. The cell-specific part contains trans-
ceiver (TRX) boards, multicarrier power
amplifier (MCPA) boards and antenna in-
terface unit (AIU) boards, whereas the com-
mon part contains boards for baseband pro-
cessing. In Figure 2, the baseband process-
ing has been split between the transmitter
(TX) and random access and receiver (RAX)
boards. The TX board handles downlink
processing and enables coding, spreading
and modulation. The RAX board handles
uplink processing and enables demodula-
tion, de-spreading and decoding.
Baseband functions
The physical layer functions on the baseband
boards have been implemented to include
the mapping and de-mapping of physical
channels and transport channels;
multiplexing and demultiplexing;
channel coding and decoding;
spreading and de-spreading;
modulation and demodulation;
physical layer procedures; and
physical layer measurements.
In addition, the baseband boards in a radio
base station perform the following functions:
32 Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003
Advanced baseband technology in third-generation
radio base stations
Zhongping Zhang, Franz Heiser, Jrgen Lerzer and Helmut Leuschner
WCDMA, one of the technologies selected for the air interface of the
3GPP standard, is widely used in emerging third-generation mobile com-
munication systems. This interface supports data rates of up to 2 Mbit/s
on a common 5 MHz frequency carrier. Moreover, with the introduction of
HSDPA, the peak service rate for packet access in the downlink can be
increased to more than 10 Mbit/s.
Ericssons radio base station has been designed to comply with the
3GPP standard. The kernel part of WCDMA technology has been imple-
mented in the baseband of the radio base station. Compared to previous
generations, the baseband signals in WCDMA are spread with a high
chip-rate code at 3.84 megachips per second on a 5 MHz frequency band.
This is much wider than the frequency band used in GSM, cdmaOne and
CDMA2000, or PDC. Therefore, to process the signals, more advanced
technology is deployed in WCDMA baseband. Ericssons baseband tech-
nology uses the very latest ASIC, DSP, and FPGA technologies.
Numerous requirements are being channeled toward the baseband
platform, both to support a technical implementation of WCDMA and to
satisfy operator and radio network management points of view. Being the
kernel in WCDMA, the baseband platform must be able to efficiently han-
dle the entire life cycle of an RBS, from initial deployment, with a low-
cost, low-content focus, to subsequent scaling for newly developed ser-
vices and traffic growth. Moreover, it must do so while networks are
evolving and expanding with more users and new mixes of end-user ser-
vices. New radio network functions and features will also be added
through base station hardware and software to perfect the WCDMA sys-
tem.
The authors describe the implementation of Ericssons WCDMA base-
band. They also show how it has been prepared to grow with and meet
the needs of future developments by facilitating small, incremental
upgrades and thanks to a flexible architecture that supports the expan-
sion of the uplink and downlink together with critical functionality that
resides in loadable hardware.
Figure 1
Indoor RBS and baseband subrack.
Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003 33
radio base station configuration;
cell control;
the distribution of system information;
radio link configuration for dedicated and
common channels;
Iub data-stream handling; and
node synchronization and distribution.
The baseband functions in the radio base sta-
tion thus provide a platform for radio net-
work functions, configuration functions,
and O&M functions. Accordingly, the base-
band constitutes a platform of resources for
handling common and dedicated channels
for higher layers.
Figure 3 gives an overview of standard
channel mapping between logical channels,
transport channels and physical channels.
4,5
The upper part pertains to the downlink
channels and the lower part (shown in dark
blue) pertains to the uplink channels. The
Third-generation Partnership Project
6
(3GPP) has defined the
synchronization procedures for cells, com-
mon channels and dedicated channels;
random-access procedures; and
inner- and outer-loop power control pro-
cedures.
To improve the performance of the radio
link connection, the 3GPP has recom-
mended possible enhancements, such as
open-loop and closed-loop transmit diversi-
ty. After the baseband boards have been con-
figured properly with respect to the inter-
faces to other subsystems, they can be put
into traffic operation. If the traffic load on
the baseband is light, all or part of the board
can be put into power save mode to reduce
power consumption. By contrast, supervi-
sion and protection mechanisms reduce the
risk of dropped calls when the traffic load
on the baseband boards is too heavy.
Baseband design aspects
Ericssons baseband has been designed to
comply with 3GPP standards for WCDMA.
In addition, the baseband architecture has
been designed to meet requirements for op-
erating radio base stations. These include
configuration flexibility, effective use of re-
sources, easy roll-out, compatibility and
future-proof hardware. By introducing the
very latest in digital signal processor (DSP),
field-programmable gate array (FPGA)
and application-specific integrated circuit
(ASIC) technologies, Ericsson has signifi-
cantly increased the capacity for traffic and
control signaling, measured in terms of
channel elements for the dedicated physical
TX board
From RNC
(user plane)
To RNC
(user plane)
Random access
and RX board
Data and/or fast control
Baseband bus
Interface between downlink and
uplink baseband processing
Baseband
TXB
TRXB
MCPA and
AIUB
TRXB
MCPA and
AIUB
TRXB
MCPA and
AIUB
RAXB
Cell
Cell
Cell
Transciever
board
Multicarrier power amplifier
and antenna interface
unit board
Figure 2
Baseband in RBS and interfaces.
RNC RBS
RNC control
Logical
channel
Logical
channel
Transport
channel
RBS/RNC
control
link
lub data
stream
Physical
channel
Downlink
channels
Uplink
channels
PCCH
DCCH
CCCH
DTCH
DTCH
DCCH
DCCH
RACH
DCH
FACH
PCH
BCH BCCH
SCH
P-CCPCH
CPICH
PICH
S-CCPCH
S-CCPCH
DPDCH
DPCCH
AICH
PRACH
DPDCH/
DPCCH
MAC-hs
HS-DSCH
HS-SCCH
HS-PDSCH
HS-PDCCH
DCH
CCCH
DTCH
DTCH
DCCH
RBS control
Figure 3
Channel-mapping model. Area marked in red is for HSDPA.
channels. A channel element is defined as
the equivalent baseband resource (hardware
and software) needed to transmit a voice
channel at 30 kbit/s.
Configuration flexibility and efficient
use of resources
Operators want a radio base station that can
be adapted to handle different site and radio
configurations. Ericssons baseband imple-
mentation gives operators this flexibility,
allowing them to change radio configura-
tions without having to physically visit the
site. Flexible interfaces have been provided
between the subsystems of the radio base sta-
tion, and the baseband parts have been de-
signed in a modular fashion. Each baseband
unit provides a certain amount of traffic ca-
pacity for dedicated and common transport
channels. This modular design enables op-
erators to configure the radio base station for
various traffic scenarios and load.
Baseband board typesTX board
and RAX board
Obviously, the use of separate baseband
downlink and uplink modules makes it eas-
ier to upgrade the system and to better adapt
it to the asymmetric traffic associated with
third-generation services. Ericssons
RBS3000 has two baseband board types: the
TX board handles downlink traffic, and the
RAX board handles uplink traffic.
Traffic over the air interface is expected to
be asymmetricalthat is, there will be more
traffic in the downlink than in the uplink.
By adding separate TX and RAX boards,
operators can increase capacity in small or
large increments either symmetrically or
asymmetrically.
34 Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003
3GPP Third-generation Partnership
Project
AICH Acquisition indication channel
AIU Antenna interface unit
ASIC Application-specific integrated
circuit
BCCH Broadcast control channel
BCH Broadcast channel
BP Board processor
CCCH Common control channel
CCH Common channel
CCTrCH Coded composite transport
channel
CDMA Code-division multiple access
CPICH Common pilot channel
CPP Connectivity packet platform
CRC Cyclic redundancy check
DCCH Dedicated control channel
DCH Dedicated channel
DL-TPC Downlink TPC
DP Data processing
DPCCH Dedicated physical control
channel
DPCH Dedicated physical channel
DPDCH Dedicated physical data channel
DSCH Downlink shared channel
DSP Digital signal processor
DTCH Dedicated traffic channel
DTX Discontinuous transmission
FACH Forward access channel
FP Frame protocol
FPGA Field-programmable gate array
GPRS General packet radio service
GSM Global system for mobile
communication
HS-DPCCH High-speed dedicated physical
control channel
HS-PDSCH High-speed physical downlink
shared channel
HSDPA High-speed downlink packet-
data access
HS-SCCH High-speed shared control
channel
MCPA Multicarrier power amplifier
MUX Multiplexing unit
O&M Operation and maintenance
PCCH Paging control channel
P-CCPCH Primary common control
physical channel
PCH Paging channel
P-CPICH Primary CPICH
PDC Personal digital cellular
PICH Paging indicator channel
PRACH Physical random access channel
RACH Random access channel
RAKE Name of WCDMA receiver
RAX Random access and receiver
RBS Radio base station
RF Radio frequency
RNC Radio network controller
S-CCPCH Secondary common control
physical channel
SCH Synchronization channel
SIR Signal-to-interference ratio
TFCI Transport format combination
indicator
TPC Transmission power control
TrCH Transport channel
TRX Transceiver
TX Transmitter
UE User equipment
UL-TPC Uplink TPC
WCDMA Wideband CDMA
BOX A, TERMS AND ABBREVIATIONS
Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003 35
Modularity of the baseband
Traffic load and distribution vary over time
in different sectors and frequencies. The
Ericsson baseband architecture employs
pooling to optimize the use of available re-
sources. This approach also guarantees that
configurations can be flexible. Figure 4
shows the advantages of modularity and
pooled resources in two different radio con-
figurations.
Some operators require redundancy in the
radio base station. The modular baseband
design easily restricts the loss of traffic due
to, say, a faulty component or unit in base-
band processing.
Easy roll-out of third-generation
infrastructure
Established GSM and GSM/GPRS operators
can more easily roll out third-generation in-
frastructure by reusing site locations and in-
frastructure. Most operators starting out in
the third-generation business want low-
cost, low-capacity RBSs. Later, when the
number of subscribers has increased and
more advanced services are to be introduced,
they will need RBSs that can handle greater
traffic capacity in individual cells. The base-
band boards have been designed with scal-
ability in mindgreater capacity can be had
by adding hardware units (TX boards and
RAX boards).
Another way of increasing traffic capaci-
ty is to deliver and install prepared hardware
on site. As operator needs grow, more ca-
pacity can be activated successively by
means of software functions. This approach
advocates the use of simple, standard hard-
ware configurations.
A further advantage of baseband scalabil-
ity is that the RBS can be equipped with as
many baseband units as needed to satisfy
traffic, site conditions, and air-interface ca-
pacity for a given frequency band. This helps
operators to avoid wasting unnecessary re-
sources.
Future-proof and compatible
As mentioned above, most operators just
starting out in the third-generation business
want low-cost, low-content RBSs. Later,
however, apart from increasing capacity in
the RBS, they will also need more func-
tionality and more advanced features. In de-
signing the baseband, Ericsson has careful-
ly considered various evolution scenarios,
making allowances for customer-specific re-
quirements for functions, services, capacity,
redundancy, and site conditions.
In general, the functions in the physical
layer have been implemented in hardware
(ASIC) or close to hardware (DSP); the con-
trol functions have been implemented in
software on DSPs and board processors. To
avoid the logistical problems and costs as-
sociated with frequent on-site updates or
upgrades, Ericsson has prepared the hard-
ware for future functionsthese can be-
come available via remote software and
firmware updates. Ericsson calls this feature
forward hardware compatibility.
On the other hand, new baseband boards
must work in environments that use old
baseband boards. This is called backward
hardware compatibility. Ericssons base-
band hardware and software are forward
hardware and backward hardware compat-
ible. Future-proofnessin terms of addi-
tional radio configurations, services, func-
tions, and greater capacityis an impor-
tance aspect of Ericssons baseband design.
Figure 5 illustrates the forward hardware
compatibility concept. Function Z has been
provided in hardware. A remote software
upgrade can thus activate the entire func-
Baseband resources
Number of users in a cell
Frequency 1
Frequency 2
Frequency 1
Frequency 2
Baseband resources
Change in
traffic
Figure 4
Baseband modularity and pooled resources.
Function A
Function B
Function C
Function D
Function Z (forward hardware prep.)
Function A
Function B
Function C
Function D
Function Z (forward hardware prep.)
Remote software
upgrade
Software
Hardware
Figure 5
Forward hardware compatibility.
tion. Figure 6 shows the backward hardware
compatibility concept. The baseband unit,
C, is added to the existing RBS to improve
functionality and capacity.
Downlink processing
boardTX board
Downlink processing functions
Figure 7 shows the main function blocks for
processing the downlink. Each of these
blocks also contains other baseband func-
tions (not pictured). The first process is frame
protocol (FP) handling (pictured left). After
confirming when the data frames on the com-
mon channels (paging channel, PCH, and
forward access channel, FACH) and the ded-
icated channels (DCH) arrived from the Iub
interface, the frame protocol handler aligns
the frames and extracts the payload part of
the data frame. The payload part contains the
data of the uncoded transport channels.
For the dedicated channels, the encoding
function block
generates the cyclic redundancy check
(CRC);
concatenates the transport blocks;
segments the coding blocks;
performs convolutional coding or turbo
coding;
inserts the first discontinuous transmis-
sion (DTX);
matches rates; and
performs the first interleaving.
To fit the 10 ms radio frame, the transport
blocks from different transport channels are
multiplexed in the multiplexing unit
(MUX) function block. This activity is fol-
lowed by insertion of the second DTX, the
second interleaving, and multicode split-
ting. Data and control information are then
sent to the cell-split function block. The
control information contains transport for-
mat combination indicator (TFCI) bits and
corresponding transmission power control
(TPC) commands which have been mapped
with pilot bits onto the dedicated physical
control channel (DPCCH).
After the frame protocols have been han-
dled, the broadcast channel (BCH, which is
mapped to the primary common control
physical channel, P-CCPCH, and to PCH
and FACH) and PCH and FACH (which are
mapped to the secondary common control
physical dedicated channel, S-CCPCH) are
processed in a manner similar to that de-
scribed for the dedicated channels. The cell-
split function identifies the common and
dedicated physical channels that belong to
one cell carrier. These processes are followed
by modulation, spreading and weighting,
36 Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003
BB unit A BB unit B
Hardware addition
Software
Hardware
BB unit A BB unit B BB unit C
(new)
Figure 6
Backward hardware compatibility.
Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003 37
with power information for the downlink
power control, and scrambling.
TX board implementation
Figure 8 shows the downlink processing
board (TX board), which is divided into two
main parts: the board processor and board-
specific hardware. The board processor con-
trols the board and parts of the traffic. The
board-specific hardware, which processes
user data sent to the air interface, contains
the Iub user-plane interface handler,
symbol-rate processor, chip-rate processor,
and the physical layer processing controller.
The Iub user-plane interface handler han-
dles the Iub interface user-plane protocol for
the DCH and CCH data streams to the radio
network controller.
The symbol-rate processor handles the
transport channel (TrCH), the coded com-
posite transport channel (CCTrCH), the
physical channel for the primary and sec-
ondary common control physical channels,
the paging indicator channel (PICH), and
the dedicated physical channel (DPCH).
The chip-rate processor handles the dis-
tribution of physical channels, generates the
synchronization channel (SCH), the prima-
ry common pilot channel (P-CPICH) and
acquisition indicator channel (AICH), and
transmits the distributed output sequences
to the TRX. It also measures the transmit-
ted code power and handles all cell-carrier
processing-related functionality.
The physical layer processing controller
handles the configuration of the symbol-
PCH FP
FACH FP
DCH FP
DCH
encoding
BCH
encoding
Modulation
spreading
PCH
encoding
FACH
encoding
MUX Cell
split
lub l/f l/f to TRX
DL/UL l/f
Figure 7
Downlink processing function blocks.
Figure 8
TX board implementation.
and chip-rate processing parts with respect
to the control of measurements, set-up, re-
lease, and reconfiguration of cell-carriers
and channels.
The functionality of the Iub user-plane in-
terface handler and the physical layer pro-
cessing controller is implemented in DSPs
to give flexible implementation of
the controller functions;
external interfaces to the RNC for the user
data interface; and
interfaces to the board processor for the
control interface.
The symbol-rate processing functionality is
implemented in FPGAs due to processing
delay and varying requirements put on the
throughput of user data. Some flexibility is
also provided in view of changing require-
ments for the implemented functionality.
The chip-rate processing functionality is
implemented in ASICs. This approach em-
ploys parallel processing to meet the de-
mand for limited processing delay. It also
allows synchronous transmission of the dis-
tributed output sequence to the TRX.
Figure 9 shows a TX board used in an
RBS3000. The board can handle multiple
cell-carriers with more than one antenna
branch.
Interface between the TX and RAX boards
The interface between the TX and RAX
boards supports fast signaling for controlling
call set-up and power. When the user equip-
ment (UE) sets up a call to the RBS, the cor-
responding RAX board in the RBS reserves
sufficient resources. The RAX board then
sends a layer-1 acknowledgement signal via
the TX board to the UE, indicating that the
UE may send the RACH message part. To
control power in the downlink, the RAX
board detects the TPC commands and sends
them to the TX board, which adjusts down-
link transmission power.
To control power in the uplink, the RAX
board compares the signal-to-interference
ratio (SIR) target with the SIR of the re-
ceived signals and generates the TPC com-
mands, which it sends to the UE in the
downlink DPCCH.
Uplink processing
boardRAX board
Uplink processing functions
In the uplink, the signals received from the
air interface are input to the baseband in a
digital signal format from the TRX radio
part of the RBS (Figure 10). For the dedi-
cated physical channel (DPCH), the incom-
ing signals from the TRX are processed in
the demodulator function block, which con-
tains a searcher and RAKE receiver. The de-
modulator
performs de-spreading;
38 Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003
Figure 9
TX board of the RBS3000 series.
Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003 39
recovers the uplink control channel data
and DPDCH data;
generates uplink TPC (UL-TPC) com-
mands;
detects downlink TPC (DL-TPC) com-
mands; and
decodes and de-maps the TFCI.
Searcher
In multipath propagation environments,
the RAKE receiver must know when the
multipath rays arrivethat is, it must de-
termine the position of the multipath rays
along the delay axis, so that it can allocate
the RAKE fingers to positions where the
multipath components hit with signal
power. The task of the searcher in the base-
band is to synchronize the RAKE fingers.
To speed up the searching process, a nar-
row searcher window is placed where the
multipath rays are expected. However, in
some cases, such as soft-handover set-up, the
propagation delay is unknown; therefore, a
wide searcher window is needed that corre-
sponds to the entire cell range. The searcher
also estimates the profiles of radio channel
delay and sends them to the RAKE receiver.
RAKE receiver
The RAKE receiver separates the multipath
components and combines them coherently
into a large signal vector that provides good
demodulation conditions. This increases the
probability of making correct decisions and
improves receiver performance.
Given the proper spreading code, the
RAKE receiver can de-spread all detected
multipath rays. Using the pilot bits to es-
timate channel amplitude, phase, frequen-
cy offset and Doppler spread, the RAKE re-
ceiver processes the multipath rays with the
corresponding weighting, and combines
the rays. Before combining the rays, how-
ever, each ray is processed by one RAKE
finger.
To make efficient use of the hardware re-
sources, the RAKE fingers can be treated as a
pool of hardware resources. They can also be
flexibly allocated between users on the same
RAX. This allocation is made according to
the position information delivered by the
searcher. Fewer RAKE fingers are needed in
rural settings with a line-of-sight connection
between UEs and the radio base station than
in urban settings with multipath fading.
During softer handover, which is the
handover between cells in the same RBS and
on the same carrier, the detected signals are
combined.
The DPCH signals are demultiplexed and
de-mapped to the DCH of the transport
channel for the next step of processing in the
decoder. The decoder input signal consists
of interleaved soft bits from the demodula-
tor. The following tasks are performed in the
decoder block:
RACH FP
DCH FP
DCH
decoder
Cell
combiner
DMUX
RACH
decoder
RACH demodulator
RAKE Searcher
RAKE Searcher
DCH demodulator
Preamble
detection
lub l/f l/f to TRX
DL/UL l/f
Figure 10
Uplink processing function blocks.
the second de-interleaving;
desegmentation of the physical channel;
service demultiplexing;
rate matching;
radio frame de-segmentation;
the first de-interleaving;
convolutional and turbo decoding; and
error detection by the CRC.
When the UE tries to contact a radio base
station, the random-access receiver detects
the preamble that contains the signature
used for the RACH message part. When it
has detected the preamble, it determines
which signature the RACH message part is
using, and whether sufficient baseband re-
sources are available. If so, it sends a
layer-1 Ack or Nack message to the UE via
downlink processing and begins processing
the RACH message part in a similar man-
ner as described for the DCH.
The frame protocol function for the DCH
and RACH assembles frame protocol data,
which consists of a header part and a pay-
load part (user data). Frame protocol data
frames are sent to the RNC via the Iub user
plane.
The RAX board recovers and restores the
information originally transmitted from the
incoming radio signal for random access and
dedicated channels. The 3GPP has defined
the requirements put on uplink reception
performance.
7
Reception sensitivity,
signal-to-interference performance, and the
capacity of the physical channels determine
the characteristics of the receiver.
RAX board implementation
The uplink processing board (RAX board)
is divided into two main parts: the board
processor (BP), and board-specific user-
data-processing (DP) hardware. The board
processor controls the board and parts of the
traffic. The DP hardware processes user data
received from the air interface to the Iub in-
terface. Figure 11 shows the blocks on a
RAX board in the RBS3000.
The DP part contains blocks for process-
ing the CCH chip rate, DCH chip rate, CCH
symbol rate, and DCH symbol rate.
The CCH chip-rate processing block de-
tects the preamble, generates the acquisition
indicator, and detects and extracts the mes-
sages (DPDCH/DPCCH) for the physical
random access channel (PRACH) from the
data received on the air interface.
The DCH chip-rate processing block de-
tects and extracts the DPCH
(DPDCH/DPCCH) from the data available
on the air interface, including power control
support.
The CCH symbol-rate processing block
processes the CCTrCH provided by the
CCH chip-rate processing block into de-
coded TrCH, which is sent via the Iub frame
protocol to the radio network controller.
The DCH symbol-rate processing block
processes the CCTrCH provided by the
DCH chip-rate processing blocks into
decoded TrCH, which is sent via the Iub
frame protocol to the radio network
controller.
Algorithms and functionality for process-
ing stable user data have been implement-
ed in fixed hardware (ASIC) to yield high
capacity. By contrast, algorithms for pro-
cessing variable user data, such as channel
estimation, are allocated in loadable hard-
ware (DSP or FPGA). New functionality,
due to enhancements to 3GPP standards, is
also implemented in loadable hardware
(DSP and FPGA).
The block structure (Figure 11) and the
mix of fixed and loadable hardware results
in a future-proof architecture:
Reception sensitivity can be improved by
upgrading the algorithms in loadable
hardware and software.
The hardware has been prepared to sup-
port future 3GPP functions (future re-
leases). This means that basic functional-
40 Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003
CCH symbol-rate processing
ASIC DSP/FPGA
DCH symbol-rate processing
Iub control frames from TXB Synchronization,
power control and
feedback information
to TXB
Iub user plane to RNC UU L1 data from TRX
ASIC DSP/FPGA
BP
CCH chip-rate processing
ASIC DSP/FPGA
DCH chip-rate processing
ASIC DSP/FPGA
L1 acknowledge to TXB
Figure 11
RAX board implementation.
Ericsson Review No. 1, 2003 41
ity and extensions of the 3GPP physical
layer can be upgraded.
The scalable nature of the DCH and CCH
ensures that the capacity of each block can
be increased using new ASIC, FPGA, and
DSP technologies.
The block structure supports integra-
tion within as well as between process-
ing blocks. This also leads to greater ca-
pacity.
Ericssons use of modular building blocks
enables operators to vary the implementa-
tion as needed. For example, a low-capacity
DCH/CCH solution would make use of
separate low-capacity DCH/CCH chip-
rate processing and combined symbol-rate
processing, whereas a high-capacity
DCH/CCH solution would make use of
separate, scalable, high-capacity DCH
chip- and symbol-rate processing and com-
bined CCH chip- and symbol-rate pro-
cessing.
Figure 12 shows a RAX board used in the
RBS3000. The board supports two-way
diversity and can handle multiples of 16-
channel elements serving up to six cell car-
riers.
Future baseband
enhancements
High-speed downlink packet-data
access
High-speed downlink packet-data access
(HSDPA) can be introduced in the down-
link for best-effort services. This enhance-
ment can increase the bit rate to more than
10 Mbit/s in the existing frequency band.
3
HSDPA can be implemented in the TX
board for the downlink by exploiting more
advanced baseband technology.
Interference cancellation
Interference cancellation can be introduced
in the uplink DCH receiver to improve cov-
erage or to increase capacity. The main ef-
fect of interference cancellation is reduced
interference received from users in the same
cell as the target user. This technique can
either increase the amount of uplink traffic
or reduce the interference margin in the di-
mensioning, thus increasing coverage.
The configuration can be serial or paral-
lel. Serial configurations yield the greatest
improvement in performance and require
less processing power, but result in greater
delay. Parallel configurations, which offer a
reasonable improvement in performance, re-
quire greater processing power, but result
in shorter delay. Parallel configurations are
thus preferred for voice service.
Conclusion
The baseband part of Ericssons RBS3000
provides a hardware platform for third-
generation radio network functions and
complies in full with the 3GPP WCDMA
standard. All physical layer functions and
frame protocol processing are implemented
on the baseband boards.
The baseband design supports free alloca-
tion of baseband resources to frequency and
sectors, thereby supporting operator needs
for flexibility in configuring the radio net-
work for different sites. The architecture
scales easily to meet operator demands for
capacity. The baseband software and hard-
ware support forward hardware prepara-
tionfor future functional enhancements.
The baseband architecture is also backward
compatiblethat is, operators will be able
to insert future-generation hardware into an
existing platform running the RBS infra-
structure.
Planned enhancements to the baseband
include HSDPA, to increase the bit rate for
best-effort service in the downlink, and in-
terference cancellation, to improve coverage
or capacity in the uplink.
1 Kling, L., Lindholm, ., Marklund L. and
Nilsson G: CPPCello packet platform,
Ericsson Review Vol. 79(2002):2, pp. 68-
75
2 Zune, P.: Family of RBS 3000 products for
WCDMA systems, Ericsson Review Vol.
77(2000):3, pp. 170-177
3 Hedberg, T. and Parkvall, S.: Evolving
WCDMA, Ericsson Review Vol. 77(2000):2,
pp. 124-131
4 3GPP WCDMA Technical Specification
25.211
5 3GPP WCDMA Technical Specification
25.301
6 3GPP WCDMA Technical Specification
25.214
7 3GPP WCDMA Technical Specification
25.104
REFERENCES
Figure 12
RAX board of RBS3000 product series.