LTE Protocol Principle

Protocol Structure on Control-Plane

UE

eNB
NAS

Physical layer (L1)

functions:
Wireless access
Power control
MIMO

RRC functions:
Broadcast
Paging
Link management
Wireless bearing
control
Mobility
UE measurement report
and control

RRC

RRC

PDCP

PDCP

RLC

RLC

MAC

MAC

PHY

PHY

UE

MME

NAS functions:
Certification
Authentication,
Security control
Mobility processing in
Idle mode
Paging launch in Idle
mode

NAS
PDCP performs the function of
encryption and integrity
protection
RLC functions:
PDU transmission
ARQ
Packet assembly and disassembly

MAC functions:
Scheduling
HARQ
Logic channel priority processing
PDU packetizing and demultiplexing

eNode-B

MME

Protocol Structure on User-Plane

PDCP performs the following
functions:
Header compression
Encryption

Physical layer (L1) performs the following functions:

Wireless access
Power control
MIMO

UE

SAE Gateway

eNB
PDCP

PDCP

RLC

RLC

MAC

MAC

PHY

PHY

UE

eNode-B

RLC performs the following functions:

PDU transmission
ARQ
Packet assembly and disassembly

MAC performs the following functions:

Scheduling
HARQ
Logic channel priority processing
PDU packetizing and demultiplexing

MME

Frame Structure

FDD frame structure

A wireless fraem, Tf = 307200Ts = 10 ms

A timeslot, Tslot = 15360Ts = 0.5 ms

#0

#1

#2

#3

#18

#19

A sub-frame

TDD frame structure

One radio frame, Tf = 307200Ts = 10 ms

One half-frame, 153600Ts = 5 ms

One slot,
Tslot=15360Ts

30720Ts

Subframe #0

Subframe #2

Subframe #3

Subframe #4

Subframe #5

Subframe #7

One subframe,
30720Ts
DwPTS

GP

UpPTS

DwPTS

GP

UpPTS

Subframe #8

Subframe #9

Physical Resource Block

DL
N symb
OFDM symbols

DL RB
k N RB
N sc 1

Resource block
DL
N symb
N scRB resource elements

N scRB subcarriers

One physical resource

block (RB) is composed of
DL
consecutive N symb
symbols
on the time-domain, and
RB
consecutive Nsubcarriers
sc
on frequency-domain.
DL
N symb
N scRB
and
are
determined by the CP type
and the subcarrier interval.

DL
N RB
N scRB subcarriers

One downlink slot Tslot

Resource element (k , l )

k 0

l0

DL
N symb

Resource Grouping

RE (Resource Element): The minimum resource unit which

is a symbol in time-domain and a subcarrier in frequencydomain
RB (Resource Block): A resource unit allocated by service
channel resource; It is a timeslot in time-domain and 12
subcarriers in frequency-domain.
REG (Resource Element Group): a resource unit allocated
by control channel resource allocation; composed of 4
REs
CCE (Channel Control Element): A resource unit allocated
by PDCCH resource ; composed of 9 REGs
RBG (Resource Block Group): A resource unit allocated
by the service channel resource; composed of a group of
RBs

Concept of REG
REG Diagram
1Tx or 2Tx configured
l=0 l=1 l=2
k = 83

l=0 l=1 l=2

k = 83

RS

k = 78
k = 77

k = 78
k = 77

RS

RS

k = 72

4Tx configured

RS

k = 72

RS

RS

RS

RS

RS

RS

RS

RS

min, DL
nPRB N RB
6
k0 12nPRB 12 6 72

Concept of REG

RBG is used for resource allocation of service channel

One RBG is composed of a group of RBs.
Size of grouping is related with the system bandwidth.
System Bandwidth
DL
N RB

RBG Size
(P)

10

11 26

27 63

64 110

Concept of CCE

CCE is used in PDCCH allocation.

PDCCH allocation is made after PCFICH and
PHICH.
One CCE corresponds to 9 REGs. CCE is
numbered from 0.
Total number of CCEs is determined by the
number of PDCCH-occupied symbols.

CP,Subcarrier interval and OFDM Symbol

Relations between CP Type and Subcarrier

Interval and OFDM Symbols
Subcarrie Number of Number of
r Interval OFDM
RB-Occupied
Symbols
Subcarriers
(one slot)

Correspon
ding REs in
One RB

Normal CP

15KHz

12

84

Extended
CP

15KHz

12

72

7.5KHz

24

72

One RB corresponds to 12 subcarriers in the frequency-domain, i.e. 180KHz=15 x 12

(for normal CP)

RB and Bandwidth

Number of RBs in Different Bandwidths

Nominal
bandwidth
(MHz)

1.4

10

15

20

Number of RBs

15

25

50

75

100

Actually
occupied
bandwidth
(MHz)

1.08

2.7

4.5

13.5

18

Occupied bandwidth = subcarrier interval x number of subcarriers in

one RB x number of RBs
Subcarrier interval = 15KHz
Number of subcarriers in one RB = 12
Remark: Maximum number of RBs is 110 in current protocols

Physical Downlink Channel and Signal

The LTE downlink link includes the following

physical channels:

Physical-control-format indication channel (PCFICH)

Physical broadcast channel (PBCH)
Physical HARQ indication channel (PHICH)
Physical downlink control channel (PDCCH)
Physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH)
Two physical-layer signals:
RS (reference signal)
P (S) -SCH (synchronized channel)

Resource Allocation

Remark:This diagram is to display the effect of the

resource allocation. Each square indicates timedomain length of a symbol x resource of 12
subcarriers. It is neither RE nor RB.