LTE-Advanced

Part 2: LTE-Advanced relaying

Jyri Hmlinen, 2015
Department of Communications and Networking

Contents
Part 2: LTE-Advanced relaying (Rel.10)
2.1 Relaying principles, need for relaying and use cases
2.2 LTE-Advanced relaying principles
2.3 LTE-Advanced Type 1 relaying: The Backhaul problem

2.1 Relaying principles, need for relaying

and use cases

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Repeaters (amplify and forward relays) are

well known and used in 2-3G networks.

Wireless relay: Principle

I have a
message

I listen,
modify and
retell
I am only
listening

Base Station (BS)

Relay Station (RS)

Mobile Station (MS)

Decode and forward relays in mobile communication systems:

-
IEEE802.16e admit amendment IEEE802.16j (relay specification)
-
DF relays form an integral part of IEEE802.16m
-
LTE-Advanced include DF relay specifications

Basic relaying types

Decode and Forward (DF)

Signal is detected and encoded
before retransmission.
DF relay retransmit interference
free signal if detection is
successful
The principle of DF relays have
been well known for a long time
but DF relays has been accepted to
mobile communication standards
only recently.
DF relays are feasible also for
interference limited network
scenarios.

Amplify and Forward (AF)

Signal is received, amplified and
retransmitted as such.
AF relay amplifies both desired
signal and noise.
Conventionally used as gap fillers
(to fill coverage holes)
Noise limited network scenarios
are more favorable for AF
relaying.
AF admit simple structure but
antenna implementation maybe
costly if full duplex operation is
assumed.

In addition
to guide
DF and AF relays there are hybrid
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relay
types but they are omitted in this course.
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Duplexing approaches
Half Duplex (HD)
No simultaneous reception and
retransmission of the signals.

RX

TX

1
Processing delay

Full Duplex (FD)

Simultaneous reception and
retransmission of the signals.

Processing delay

Relays in LTE

BS signal is not
received well but RN
signal level is good

IP network

High capacity
wired backbone

Link between BS and UE

First
hop

UE

RN2
eNB

UE
RN1

RN above rooftop:
Coverage increase

RN below rooftop:
Local capacity/service boost

UE

UE
UE
Direct connection to eNB
possible but no high data
rates without RN

Important:
- RN is wireless => more location opportunities + lower site costs
- Relays are used to boost cell coverage/capacity
- RN is preferably simpler, smaller and cheaper than eNB

LTE-Advanced relay?
Micro base station.
- Wall installation possible.
- Antennas under the rooftop but in relatively
high locations
- Few blocks coverage usual on urban areas

Wireless relay
- LTE-A relays are actually
small wireless base stations
(Pico, Femto, Micro)

Macro base station.

- Antennas on towers or over the rooftop
- High transmissions powers
- High capacity backhaul and power backup needed.

Pico base station

- Indoor/outdoor installation.
- Antennas can be integrated in the box
- Coverage over an office area (floor)

Femto base station

- Used in homes/offices etc
- User may install
- Indoor installation
- Coverage for a very limited area

Why relays for LTE?

Some key requirements for
LTE-Advanced
1 Gbps on the downlink and
500 Mbps on the uplink.
Higher peak and average
spectral efficiencies than in LTE
Rel8.
More homogeneous distribution
of the user experience over the
coverage area.

Expected properties of LTEAdvanced relays

Enhanced capacity in hotspots.
Enhanced cell coverage.
Overcome extensive shadowing.
Enable more homogenous user
experience.
Low total cost of operation
(TCO).

Proposed benefits from relaying

Relay link
Access link
Direct link
UE

UE

Increase
RN
throughput in hotspots

UE

RN
UE

d-eNB

Extend coverage

RN

Overcome excessive shadowing

Is this convincing? We need to dig little bit deeper.

But are relays really needed?

Claim is that relays will provide an easy and cost effective
way to increase macrocell range, fill coverage holes in
macrocells and improve indoor coverage.
Counter argument: There are other efficient solutions like macrocell
antenna diversity and beamforming, and more importantly, micro and
pico cells.
Fact: Among small access nodes only relays are wireless (no wired
backhaul) and thus flexible to deploy. Therefore direct comparison
against e.g. pico eNBs of the same size is not fair.
There seems not to be any inband DF relay products on the market.
Outband relays (wireless pico base stations exists)

Use cases for LTE-Advanced relays

Fixed Infrastructure
Usage

Relay use case

Temporary Usage

Outdoor Relay for

Indoor Coverage
Enhancement
In-Building Relay
for Coverage
Enhancement
Coverage in case
of emergency /
disaster
Coverage in case
of events

Mobile Usage

Coverage in trains,
busses, ferries

This has not realized in Rel.10/11

2.2 LTE-Advanced relaying principles

LTE-Advanced relaying principles

In 3GPP Technical Report [TR 36.814] the following has been
stated:
Relaying is considered for LTE-Advanced as a tool to improve e.g.
the coverage of high data rates, group mobility, temporary network
deployment, the cell-edge throughput and/or to provide coverage in
new areas.
LTE-A specifications support fixed relaying and nomadic relaying is
possible but relay (group) mobility is not yet part of the standards.

The relay node is wirelessly connected to the radio-access network

via a donor cell.
Donor cell
Relay-eNB link

Donor eNB

Relay Node (RN)

Inband operation/outband operation

In 3GPP terminology the relay nodes usage of spectrum can be
classified into:
Inband, in which case the eNB -relay link shares the same carrier
frequency with relay-UE links. LTE Rel-8 UEs should be able to connect
to the donor cell in this case.
Outband, in which case the eNB-relay link does not operate in the
same carrier frequency as relay-UE links. LTE Rel-8 UEs should be
able to connect to the donor cell also in this case.

For both inband and outband relaying, it shall be possible to

operate the eNB-to-relay link on the same carrier frequency as
eNB-to-UE links

Inband operation/outband operation

Donor cell

Inband operation
UE-eNB link

Donor eNB

UE

Relay-eNB link

Relay Node (RN)

Donor cell

Outband operation
UE-eNB link

UE

UE

Donor eNB

Relay-eNB link

Relay Node (RN)

UE

Note: In outband operation RN-UE link do not need to be LTE

Rel8 compatible if Rel8 terminals are not operating on this
frequency carrier.

3GPP relays control their own resources

Relay control cells of its own
Donor eNB control
resources in eNB relay link

Donor eNB

Relay Node (RN)

UE

Relay control cell of its own: protocol

terminations done mostly in RN

Relay control its own cell

Cell ID: A unique physical-layer cell identity (PCI) is assigned
for each of the cells controlled by the relay. Thus, relay may
control multiple sectors like eNodeB.
Radio Resource Management: The same RRM
mechanisms as in eNodeB are used in relays and from a UE
perspective there is no difference in accessing cells controlled
by a relay and cells controlled by a normal eNodeB.
Backward compatibility: The cells controlled by the relay
should support also LTE Rel-8 UEs.
Self-backhauling: Type 1 relay nodes, Type 1a relay
nodes, and Type 1b relay nodes use this type of relaying
(defined later).

Relaying types: Type 1

Type 1 relay node is an inband relaying node
characterized by the following:
It control it own cells, each of which appears to a UE as a
separate cell distinct from the donor cell
The cells shall have their own Physical Cell ID (defined in LTE
Rel-8) and the relay node shall transmit its own synchronization
channels, reference symbols, etc
Relay shall appear as a Rel-8 eNodeB to Rel-8 UEs (i.e. be
backwards compatible)
To LTE-Advanced UEs, it is possible for a relay node to appear
differently than Rel-8 eNodeB to allow for further performance
enhancement.

Relaying types: Type 1a and Type 1b

Type 1a and Type 1b relays are defined as follows:
Type 1a and Type 1b relay nodes are characterised by the same
set of features as the Type 1 relay node, except
Type 1a operates outband and Type 1b operates inband with
adequate antenna isolation.
Type 1a relay node is expected to have little or no impact on
LTE physical layer specifications.

Relaying types: Type 1a and Type 1b

Notes:
Type 1a: outband operation means that RN-donor eNodeB link is
operated on different carrier frequency than link RN-UE. Then both
links can be implemented according to existing Rel8 specifications
since no time division between links is needed.
Type 1b: Similar inband operation is assumed for Type 1b like for
Type 1 but the difference between Type 1 and Type 1b is that Type
1b assumes adequate antenna isolation between RN receive and
transmit antennas =>
Type 1 RN is preferably a half duplex relay.
Type 1a RN is preferably a full duplex relay
Type 1b RN is preferably a full duplex relay

It is important to note that Type 1b requires antenna design that can

be expensive due to assumed antenna isolation.

Type 2 relay
In 3GPP Technical Report [TR 36.814] A Type 2 relay
node was defined to be an inband relaying node
characterized by the following:
It does not have a separate Physical Cell ID and thus would not
create any new cells.
It is transparent to Rel-8 UEs; a Rel-8 UE is not aware of the
presence of a Type 2 relay node.

Yet, up to date such relay type has not been

standardized for LTE.

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2.3 LTE-Advanced Type 1 relaying: The

Backhaul problem

Inband Type 1 relaying: the resource

sharing needed between links
In order to allow inband relaying, resources in the LTE
time-frequency space needs to be shared between
backhaul and access links
Backhaul link between RN and Donor eNodeB: The name of this
logical interface is Un (defined in LTE Rel.10)
Backhaul resources cannot be used for the access link. The
name of this logical interface is Uu (as in LTE Rel. 8).

Un
Donor eNB

Uu
Relay Node (RN)

UE

Resource sharing should be compatible with LTE Rel8

Resource sharing: General principle

General principle for resource partitioning at the LTEAdvanced Type 1 relay:
eNB RN and RN UE links are time division multiplexed in
a single carrier frequency
RN eNB and UE RN links are time division multiplexed in
a single carrier frequency
DL

(Donor) eNodeB RN

RN UE

UL

UE RN

RN (Donor) eNodeB

Sounds simple but is it really straightforward?

Resource sharing: FDD and TDD

principles
Multiplexing of backhaul links in FDD:
eNB RN transmissions are done in the DL frequency band
RN eNB transmissions are done in the UL frequency band

Multiplexing of backhaul links in TDD:

eNB RN transmissions are done in the DL subframes of the
eNB and RN
RN eNB transmissions are done in the UL subframes of the
eNB and RN

This is still simple and straightforward

BH backward compatibility: A problem

Backward compatibility requirement with LTE Rel.8
creates a problem:
Rel.8 UE expects continuous pilot/control transmission in DL
from eNodeB. In case of Type 1 relay, RN represents the
eNodeB for Rel.8 terminal.
RN should be able to receive backhaul (Un) transmissions on
the same frequency.
Problem: Reception and transmission on the same frequency
carrier is possible only for Type 1b relay that admit physical
separation between RX and TX antennas. Yet, this is costly
solution.

This problem does not occur in uplink.

Type 1 relaying is the most attractive relaying option. Yet, due to
above problem there was a threat in the beginning of the LTEAdvanced standardization that relaying will be dropped out.

BH backward compatibility: The solution

Recall: LTE Frame consists of 10 subframes of 1 ms each.
Part of the LTE DL subframes can be configured as MBSFN
subframes

What this means?

MBSFN what?
MBSFN refers to term Multi-Media Broadcast over a
Single Frequency Network.
In LTE Rel.8 MBSFN subframes are designed to carry
MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast System)
information.
Before LTE MBMS was introduced for WCDMA/HSPA
Rel.6 and it supports multicast/broadcast services over a
single frequency network. MBMS service area typically
covers multiple cells.
Example application is Mobile TV.

MBSFN subframe assignment

LTE Rel.8 terminals in Donor eNodeB cell can be
informed regarding the set of applied MBSFN
subframes.
LTE Rel.8 terminals in RN cell will have reception gap during
MBSFN subframe but RN will be able to listen backhaul
transmission from Donor eNodeB. Thus, backward compatibility
problem is solved.

The set of MBSFN subframes is semi-statically

assigned; a maximum of 6 subframes can be configured
out of the subframes 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, and 8 [*].

MBSFN subframe assignment

It is important to note that UEs that are directly
connected to eNodeB and RNs can both be coscheduled on MBSFN subframes.
Number of MBSFN subframes defines the backhaul
resources for relays in the Donor eNodeB cell.
If there are too few MBSFN subframes, then RN cell capacity
will be limited (backhaul becomes bottleneck).
If there are too many MBSFN subframes, then RN cells enjoy of
good data rates but in cost of reduced rates among users that
are directly connected to Donor eNodeB.

Some details
A new physical control channel (referred as the R-PDCCH) is used
to dynamically or semi-persistently assign resources, within the
semi-statically assigned sub-frames, for the downlink backhaul data
(corresponding to the R-PDSCH physical channel). The R-PDCCH
may assign downlink resources in the same and/or in one or more
later subframes.
The R-PDCCH is also used to dynamically or semi-persistently
assign resources for the uplink backhaul data (the R-PUSCH
physical channel). The R-PDCCH may assign uplink resources in
one or more later subframes.
More information: Physical layer for relaying operation
(Release 10), 3GPP TS 36.216

2.4 Relay deployments and performance

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Outdoor to indoor coverage provision

Relay height e.g. 5m

Donor eNodeB
200m

600m

1000m

Height:
25 m
RN

Feasible indoor
Internet service
range without RN
RN is outdoors
=> 20dB better
link budget
than for indoor
terminals

200 m

30 m
Important:
Relay should be placed in location where
- Link to donor eNodeB is good
- Target area is covered
- Interference is minimized

RLB example on use of relaying

Assume the (previous CA example) 10MHz band, 800MHz/2GHz component

carriers, 35 meter base station antenna height, 1.5 meter UE height and 5 meter
relay height (lamp post relay).
Compute the relay link rate (on 2GHz carrier) when eNodeB allocates 60% of the 1
MBSFN subframe for the relay backhaul. Relay is placed outdoors, distance from
eNodeB is 600 meters.
Macro indoor coverage for 800MHz carrier

Macro
eNodeB

Macro indoor coverage for 2GHz carrier

Relay coverage on 2GHz carrier
BH link to relay (on 2GHz carrier)

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RLB example on use of relaying

According to previous CA example, the 800MHz component carrier defines the cell
range:
Indoor user maximum distance from eNodeB = 730 meters = cell range
Relay is located 600 meters from eNodeB

Relay backhaul link assumptions:

Relay is outdoors, on 5 meter height, applies 2 antennas and consumes 1 MBSFN subframe
(10% of eNodeB resources) in backhaul link
Relay applies 2x2 MIMO, admit no receive antenna gain and NF = 5dB

Relay BH rate:
If relay link uses 29PRBs on one subframe it reaches 38 Mbit/s instantaneous rate and in
average 0.2*38Mbit/s = 7.6 Mbit/s rate which is available for users connected to the relay.

Remarks:
In this example only very few resources are allocated to relay but since it operates close to
maximum efficiency (7.28bit/s/Hz) the BH rate is quite good.
In general outdoor relays operate close to maximum efficiency and take only small amount of
BH resources

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