II. Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle Mode Tasks

II.
Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle Mode Tasks
Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle

Mode Tasks
Module Objectives:
Basic Principles of UTRAN Radio Protocol Model in UE and UTRAN,
WCDMA Overview,
Radio Bearers,
Logical Channels,
Transport Channels,
Physical Channels,
UE Procedures in Idle Mode.
1 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

II. Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle Mode Tasks
UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 2

1 Principles of UTRAN Radio Interface Design

1.1 Radio Protocol Model in UE and UTRAN

The protocol structure on the air interface is built according to a general radio protocol
suite model provided by ITU-R M.1035. This model proposes a three layered structure
with the following layers:
Physical Layer: The physical layer deals with the radio interface physics. This
means it provides the service to transmit bits over radio waves. Because every radio
technology has its special problems, the physical layer handles things like channel
coding (forward error correction), interleaving (uniform distribution of bit errors),
power control, handling of propagation delays (timing advance) and synchronization.
Every data transport service, the physical layer offers to higher layers, is denoted as
transport channel. A transport channel describes the properties of the service (data
rate, channel coding,).
Layer 2 (Access & Data Link): The layer 2 is concerned with the access to the
radio media and provides data links between two entities using the radio interface.
The access to the radio interface covers two tasks: multiplexing of different UE to the
radio waves and multiplexing of several data streams of one UE. The data links
handling typically consists of services of different reliability classes (sequence order
guarantee, backward error correction, unreliable transport). The transport services,
layer 2 provides to the higher layers, are called radio bearers (One UE supports up
to 32 radio bearers). The radio bearers have to be mapped by the layer 2 to the
transport channels provided by the physical layer.
Layer 3 (Application & Control): On top of layer 2 there are the control protocols
for access and non access control. Both protocol classes use signaling bearers of
the layer 2. Also the user data streams are located in the layer 3. They use special
bearer services (radio bearers) of layer 2.

Control Protocol User Data Streams

(Non Access Stratum) (Non Access Stratum)
Control Protocol
(Access Stratum)
Radio Bearer
Signalling Bearer Data Bearer
Access & Data Link Layer
Transport Channels
Physical Layer (WCDMA)
figure 1 General radio protocol architecture defined by ITU-R.

For the UMTS radio interface using WCDMA the physical layer is implemented in one
protocol. This protocol provides all necessary tasks to transmit a bit over the radio
wave. This includes tasks like forward error correction (channel coding), bit error
distribution (interleaving), error detection (cyclic redundancy check), closed loop power
control, synchronization and timing advance control (only for TDD).
The physical layer offers its services to the higher layer by so called transport
channels. A transport channel is the mean with which properties (data rate, channel
coding) bits are transmitted over the air.
These transport channels are accessed by the MAC (media access control) protocols.
This protocol belongs to the layer 2 and has two general tasks:
multiplexing of several UE to the shared radio resource (e.g. random access control,
multiplexing of UEs to shared channels)
multiplexing of logical channels within one UE to transport channels (logical

channels describe the type of information to be transmitted, they are the services
offered by MAC to higher layers).
As already mentioned, the MAC protocol offers its transport services via logical
channels. The information to be transmitted is mapped onto logical channels according
to the type of information (e.g. dedicated control information, dedicated data, common
control information).
The layer contains now several protocols to enhance the logical channel service offered
by MAC. The first protocol of this is the RLC (radio link control). The RLC protocol
creates for every logical channel an instance of an RLC protocol. Such an instance is
able to provide three different reliability services for the corresponding logical channel.
These services are:
transparent mode : The RLC protocol instance provides no further reliability.
unacknowledged mode : The RLC protocol instance provides sequence order

control functionality.
acknowledged mode : The RLC protocol instance performs backward error

correction.

The two protocols PDCP (packet data convergence protocol) and BMC (broadcast /
multicast protocol) also belong to the layer 2 to enhance the data bearers for user
data. The PDCP protocol is used to perform compression of user data (e.g. IP header
compression). The BMC protocol supports cell broadcasting and multicast broadcasting
services.
The only control protocol for the access stratum is RRC (radio resource control). It
contains all procedures to control, modify and release radio bearers. The RRC
messages use radio bearer services offered by layer 2 for transport.
Layer 3
NAS NAS signalling protocols NAS: user data streams
Layer 3 Radio Resource Control

AS (RRC)
Radio Bearers
Layer 2
PDCP PDCP BMC
RLC RLC RLC RLC RLC RLC . . . RLC RLC

Radio Link Control (RLC)
Logical Channels
Medium Access Control (MAC)

Transport Channels
Layer 1
Physical Layer (PHY)
figure 2 UTRAN radio protocol architecture.

In contrast to the protocol model used within UTRAN and on the Iu interface there is no
ALCAP (access link control application part) protocol for the radio interface, although all
the radio bearers require a dynamic set up. The reason is, that the RRC protocol
provides all function for the physical set up of radio bearers.
That requires that the RRC protocol can directly control all lower layers, that are
responsible for bearer service provisioning.
So there are the following inter-layer interfaces used for bearer control:
RRC Physical Layer : The RRC uses this interface to control the physical layer
directly. This includes control procedures for power control and physical channel
(radio) set up. The physical layer can sent measurement reports and
synchronization indications to the RRC protocol.
RRC - MAC : The RRC will configure the transport channels (e.g. data rate, channel
coding) via this link. A special feature the RRC has to configure in the MAC is the
multiplexing of the logical channels onto transport channels (Quality of Service
problem). The MAC protocol can send traffic measurement to the RRC using this
interface.
RRC RLC : When a radio bearer is set up, a RLC protocol instance provides one
of three reliability levels, already mentioned before. The RRC protocol has to
configure the RLC protocol instance according to the wanted reliability before the
radio bearer can be used.
RRC PDCP : When a radio bearer for packet switched user data is needed, the
RRC protocol can insert a PDCP protocol instance in the radio bearer. The PDCP
protocol will then perform compression / de-compression of the header information
in the packet switched data (e.g. IP header compression). The RRC protocol has to
specify the type of compression.
RRC BMC : When a cell broadcast or multicast service shall be used, the RRC
protocol will include a BMC protocol instance in the radio bearer. The RRC protocol
has to configure the BMC protocol.

Radio Resource Control

(RRC)
Radio Bearers
PDCP BMC
RLC RLC RLC RLC

Logical Channels

Transport Channels
figure 3 Inter-layer control paths in the UTRAN protocol model.

1.2 WCDMA Physics An Overview

The UTRAN radio interface uses DS-CDMA (direct sequence code division multiple
access). Within UMTS release 3/release 1999 this interface comes in two different
versions:
FDD (frequency division duplex): Uplink and downlink transmission are in

separated frequency bands. This requires a pair of frequency bands for the radio
interface.
TDD (time division duplex): Uplink and downlink transmission are time multiplexed
onto the same frequency band. This requires only one frequency band for the radio
interface.
A cell can support FDD, TDD or both.
A frequency channel of UMTS has a radio channel bandwidth of 5 MHz for FDD and
TDD. To uniquely address every radio channel a so called UARFCN (UMTS Absolute
Radio Frequency Channel Number) is assigned.
Every UMTS radio channel of TDD and FDD has to have a center frequency which
proves to be an integer multiple of 200 kHz. Therefore the IMT 2000 standard defines
the UARFCN to be
UARFCN = 5 * ( Fcenter / MHz ).
The center frequency can have a range of 0.0 MHz Fcenter 3276.6 MHz. This
definition is absolute, so it will be easily possible to integrate new frequency ranges into
UMTS.
There is especially no special numbering of uplink and downlink channels for the FDD
mode. Which uplink downlink frequency separation is used depends on UTRAN and
on the UE radio capabilities. Therefore the UE sends the supported duplex frequencies
after the first access to the UTRAN to the RNC. The RNC then has to choose an
appropriate duplex frequency if FDD mode will be used.

... ...
200 kHz Fcentre =N*200 kHZ
UARFCN = 5 * (Fcentre )
figure 4 Absolute radio frequency channel numbering used in UTRAN.

FDD and TDD mode of UTRAN use QPSK (Quaternary Pulse Shift Keying) for
transmission. The data streams before modulation (chip sequence) are combined to a
complex valued stream.
In the modulator this stream is separated in the real and in the imaginary part. The real
part is input to pulse shaping filter (cosine roll off filter) and modulated onto the cosine of
the radio wave. The imaginary part also runs through a pulse shaping filter and is then
modulated onto the sine of the radio wave. Both modulated components are summed
and amplified for transmission.

cos
Real Part
Pulse
Split Shaping
Complex valued Real &
Data stream Imaginary Imaginary RF
part Part Pulse
Shaping
-sin
QPSK Q (imaginary part)
I (real part)
figure 5 Modulation scheme used in UTRAN.

UTRAN uses a direct sequence CDMA approach. This means that every bit to be
transmitted is first coded into a chip sequence. Typically the chip sequence requires a
higher bandwidth, so that also the term spread spectrum technology can be applied.
Within UTRAN a two step mechanism for the spreading of a bit stream is used. The two
steps are :
spreading: Spreading means the coding of a bit into several chips. The chip
sequence used to encode a bit is called channelisation code. Channelisation
codes are taken from the so called OVSF (orthogonal variable spreading factor)
code tree. This code tree supports spreading factors that are powers of 2 (e.g. 2, 4,
8, 16, 32, 64, 256, 512). In UMTS the channelisation codes are used to separate
data streams (physical channels) within one source (cell, UE).
scrambling: After a bit stream is spread with a channelisation code, it can be

combined with other spread sequences using perfect orthogonal codes relative to
each other. To separate the different UEs and cells, the combined chip sequences of
every entity are scrambled by a entity specific scrambling code. This means the
scrambling codes separate UEs or cells. In contrast to the channelisation codes the
scrambling codes represent pseudo noise sequences, that are not perfect
orthogonal, but are statistically independent and have good cross correlation
properties with each other.
Typically there will be power factors applied to each spread sequence. This is because
when a higher spreading factor is used, less power is necessary for the transmission.
How the real data streams are transformed into a complex stream, needed for
modulation, is different in UE and Node B. In the UE some streams are assigned to the
real part, other streams to the imaginary part. In a cell every stream is transmitted in
parallel on real and imaginary part. This is simply done by assigning all chips with even
number to the real part, the chips with odd number are assigned to the imaginary part
(serial to parallel transformation).

Spreading and Scrambling in UE Uplink
B
I
T
ccI,1 I,1

S ccI,2 I,2 to QPSK
T modulation
R s
E c
A
M
ccQ, Q,1
1
cc : channelisation code
S j sc : scrambling code
ccQ, Q,2
j : imaginary unit
2
: power factors
figure 6 Spreading and scrambling in UE for uplink transmission.

--intentionally left blank--

Spreading and Scrambling in the cell Downlink
B
Serial
I To cc1
T Parallel
(1->2) s 1
S . c
cc1 j
T .
R . to QPSK
E
A
Serial
To cck
modulation
M Parallel
S (1->2) s k
c
cck j
Synchronisation
Channels
figure 7 Spreading and scrambling in Node B for downlink transmission.

The channelisation codes of UTRAN are defined as so called OVSF (orthogonal,

variable spreading factor) codes. These OVSF codes provide a complete set of
perfect orthogonal spreading codes for the spreading factors 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128,
256, 512, . This means the spreading factor is a power of 2.
The OVSF codes are arranged in a code tree. This tree represents the spreading
factors in the horizontal line. For a spreading factor SF there are exactly SF orthogonal
codes, arranged in a vertical line. These k codes are labeled from 0 to SF-1 according
to their spreading factor SF. With this a channelisation code can be selected with two
values : spreading factor and code number :
cch, SF, k with 0 k SF-1.
A channelisation code consists of a sequence of +1 and 1 of length SF. All codes

having the same SF are orthogonal. In general codes that are located in different trees
are orthogonal. This allows to use streams with different spreading factors and hence
with different data rates.
The use of a channelisation code blocks all codes that come after this code in the same
tree. But because of the use of scrambling codes, this blocking is valid within one entity
(e.g. within one UE or within one cell).

figure 8 Tree of orthogonal channelisation codes used in UTRAN
Cch, 4, 0
(1111)
Cch, 2, 0
(11) Cch, 4, 1
Cch, 1, 0 (11-1-1)
(1) Cch, 4, 2
...
Cch, 2, 1 (1-11-1)
(1-1) Cch, 4,3

(1-1-11)
SF = 1 SF = 2 SF = 4 SF = 8 512

1.3 Logical Channels

The MAC (media access control) has the task to multiplex different data streams
coming from different radio bearers to the same physical interface, means to the same
physical layer. For this task the MAC layer offers higher layers transport services
according to the type of information to be transported. Therefore these services are
divided into so called logical channels. A logical channel describes the type of
information transmitted on the radio bearer.
According to the general protocol model, that is divided into a control plane and an user
plane, there are two categories of logical channels:
control channels (CCH): Control channels transport data to and from the control
plane. So typically the information carried over control channels consists of control
protocol messages (access and non-access stratum).
traffic channels (TCH): Traffic channels are used to convey user data to and from
the user plane. The information within TCHs are the frames and messages from the
user plane protocols and the user data streams itself.
The data of the logical channels are input and output to/from MAC in the direction of the
RLC protocol instances. As one can see, every radio bearer running through a RLC
instance is assigned a logical channel type. The MAC layer multiplexes and de-
multiplexes these logical channels to/from transport channels, which prove to be the
services offered by the physical layer. It is the task of the RRC protocol to configure the
assignment of radio bearers to physical channels and to configure the multiplexing onto
the transport channels.
An important note is, that the MAC handles all traffic related control activities by the
multiplexing of logical onto transport channels. Therefore a radio bearer that is assigned
to a certain logical channels can get a priority by the RRC protocol. This priority shall be
used by MAC for the data scheduling.

NAS signaling protocols NAS: user data streams
RRC
Radio Bearers
PDCP PDCP BMC
RLC RLC RLC RLC RLC RLC . . . RLC RLC
Logical
Control Channels Traffic Channels
channels

Transport Channels
figure 9 Logical channel categories and their relation to the UTRAN radio protocols.

The logical channels are defined by the following logical channel types, where every
logical channel type is either a control channel CCH, or a traffic channel TCH, but never
both.
The traffic channels TCH are used for the user plane information transport. The
following logical channel types are defined:
dedicated traffic channel (DTCH): Dedicated traffic channels is an unidirectional

point-to-point traffic channel, this means it is dedicated to a single UE. DTCH can
exist in uplink and downlink.
common traffic channel (CTCH): In contrast to a DTCH a common traffic channels

is point-to-multipoint and only downlink (so it is also unidirectional). This means, a
CTCH is used by the network (cell) to transfer user plane information to UEs.
Several UEs can listen to one CTCH, everyone of these UE has to pick out its
dedicated data. This requires an explicit addressing. Note that it is possible to
transmit data to a group or UEs or a single UE.
The control plane information consists of access and non-access stratum protocol
messages. This kind of information uses control channels CCH for transport. The
following logical channel types are defined:
broadcast control channel (BCCH ): A broadcast control channel exist in downlink

only, every cell has such a BCCH. It is used by the cell to convey general system
information to the UEs camped on this cell.
paging control channel (PCCH): As the BCCH also the paging control channels
are downlink only. This channels is used, when the network does not know the
location cell of an UE or the UE is in sleep mode (UE has to be woken up).
common control channel (CCCH): A common control channel is bi-directional

channel, commonly used by several UE that have no connection at the moment. Its
main use is for radio access to the first or a new cell.
dedicated control channel (DCCH): A dedicated control channel is a point-to-point,

bi-directional channel. It is used to transport control data dedicated to a single UE. A
DCCH is normally established after the radio access.

shared channel control channel (SHCCH): This channels exists for TDD mode
only. It is used for general control information when shared physical resources are
used.
Logical Channels
Control Channels Traffic Channels
BCCH CTCH
PCCH
DTCH
CCCH downlink, dedicated

uplink, dedicated
DCCH downlink, shared
uplink, shared
SHCCH
figure 10 Logical channel types used in UTRAN.

1.4 Transport Channels

The logical channels, discussed before, describe the type of information that is
transmitted. The transport channels describe the transport services provided by the
physical layer. This means a transport channels is the means, how data of the logical
channels is carried over the air interface.
Like the logical channels the transport channels come in different types. These types
belong to one of the following two classes:
common transport channels: Common transport channels indicated shared

resources. This means the information of several UEs will be multiplexed onto the air
interface. This implies, that an explicit addressing is necessary, when data is sent on
a common transport channel. It is a task of MAC to provide the needed addressing
information (c-RNTI or u-RNTI).
dedicated transport channels: In contrast to a common transport channel, a

dedicated transport channel indicates the transfer of information on a physical
resource dedicated to exactly one UE.
When a radio bearer set up happens (controlled by RRC protocol), the radio bearer to
be established is assigned a logical channel. Additionally the RRC protocol will add one
or several transport channels to this radio bearer, hence to the corresponding logical
channel. It is up to MAC to select one of these transport channels for a concrete packet
of data for transmission. This means it is also possible that data of a single radio bearer
is sent on a common transport channel, the next time it is carried over a dedicated
resource of a dedicated transport channel.
With this knowledge also the role of MAC in the protocol stack of the UMTS air interface
becomes clear. First MAC multiplexes different radio bearers (data streams) of a single
UE, second MAC multiplexes several UE onto shared radio resources.

Radio bearer Radio bearer

UE 2 UE 1
RLC Menu Menu
RLC
Logical Channel Logical Channel
MAC MAC
Dedic. Common Common Dedic.
TrCH TrCH TrCH TrCH
PHY PHY
Dedic. Common Dedic. Dedic.

Physical Physical Physical Physical
resource resource resource resource
cell
figure 11 Transport channel categories and their relation to the physical resource usage.

In the same way, the logical channels are divided into logical channel types, also the
transport channels can be distinguished by their type. Each type is either a common or
a dedicated transport channel.
The common transport channels form the biggest group. Most of them are used to
describe fixed transport characteristics of certain standard information flows. In detail
there are the following common transport channel types:
random access channel (RACH) : Random access channels exist in the uplink
direction only. A RACH is used by the UEs to get radio access. It is a channel with
collision risk and a very limited space for data transmission.
forward access channel (FACH) : The FACH is the counterpart of the RACH. It
exists in the downlink only and is typically used by the network after random access
of an UE to provide a radio bearer to this UE.
broadcast channel (BCH) : The BCH is a pure downlink channel, that carries
BCCH information to the UEs. It has a very low and fixed bit rat.
paging channel (PCH) : Also the PCH exist in the downlink direction only. It is used
to transport the PCCH information to the UE. An UE having no ongoing transaction
with the network shall listen to the PCH to receive PCCH information.
downlink shared channel (DSCH) : The DSCH is downlink only. It is a common

transport channel for data and control information transmission to the UEs. A DSCH
is always associated with one or several DCHs in the uplink.
common packet channel (CPCH) : This channel is used for the FDD mode only. It
is an uplink channel, where several UEs are allowed to transmit dedicated user data
(DTCH) and dedicated control information (DCCH). A CPCH is always associated
with a DCH in the downlink direction (e.g. for power control)
uplink shared channel (USCH) : This channel is available in TDD mode only. As
the name says, it is an uplink channel with the same tasks like CPCH for the FDD
mode. The SHCCH information is tightly related to the USCH.
In the current implementations of UTRAN there is only one dedicated transport channel.

dedicated channel (DCH) :The DCH is a unidirectional channel, that can exist in
uplink or in downlink. It is dedicated to a single UE and can be used for dedicated
traffic (DTCH) and dedicated control (DCCH) information.
Transport Channels
Common Channels Dedicated Channels
BCH
DCH
PCH
RACH
FACH downlink, dedicated

uplink, dedicated
DSCH
downlink, shared
CPCH
uplink, shared
USCH
figure 12 Transport channel types used in UTRAN.

1.5 Mapping of Logical onto Transport Channels

The mapping of logical channel types onto transport channel types is task of MAC.
There are restriction for this mapping defined. In the uplink the following logical /
transport channel type combination are allowed (CPCH only for FDD; SHCCH, USCH
only for TDD) :
CCCH : CCCH information can be transmitted on RACH.
DCCH : DCCH information can occur on RACH, CPCH / USCH, DCH.
DTCH : DTCH data can be sent on RACH, CPCH / USCH, DCH.
SHCCH : The data of a SHCCH can occur on RACH, USCH.
In the downlink there are different channels and different type combination allowed :
BCCH : BCCH information can be sent on BCH, FACH.
PCCH : PCCH data is allowed on PCH only.
CCCH : CCCH information can use the FACH only.
DCCH : DCCH data for the downlink can occur on FACH, DSCH, DCH.
DTCH : DTCH information can be transmitted on FACH, DSCH, DCH.
CTCH : CTCH data can occur on FACH only.
SHCCH : The SHCCH occurs in TDD only and can be sent on FACH or DSCH.

cell
BCCH PCCH CCCH DCCH DTCH CTCH SHCCH
MAC multiplexing
BCH PCH FACH DSCH DCH

MAC demultiplexing
BCCH PCCH CCCH DCCH DTCH CTCH SHCCH
Menu
UE
figure 13 Mapping of downlink logical channels onto transport channels.

--intentionally left blank--

cell
CCCH DCCH DTCH SHCCH
MAC demultiplexing
RACH CPCH USCH DCH

MAC multiplexing
CCCH DCCH DTCH SHCCH
Menu
UE
figure 14 Mapping of uplink logical channels onto transport channels.

1.6 Transport Formats and Transport Format Sets

The transport channels enable the MAC layer to sent and receive data to/from the
physical layer. The data transfer between these two layer is organized by the
transmission of so called transport blocks. A transport block is the basic data unit
exchanged between MAC and the physical layer. Every transport block belongs to one
and only one transport channel.
But to have an optimized size of transmitted data unit (e.g. for error checks), several
transport blocks can be transferred at the same time on the same transport channel
between MAC and PHY. The set of all transport blocks exchanged at the same time on
one transport channel is called transport block set.
The transport blocks and transport block sets can have several characteristics,
described by the following attributes:
transport block size : This attribute specifies the number of bits in one transport
block. All transport blocks within one transport block set have a fixed transport
block size. Between different transport block sets (at different times) the size can
change.
transport block set size : This is the number of bits in a transport block set. It is
always an integer multiple of the transport block size of the transport blocks. In
other words, this values is
(number of transport blocks) x (transport block size)
transmission time interval (TTI) : This time value indicates the time interval
between two subsequent transport block set transfers between MAC and PHY. It
is equal to the periodicity at which the transport block sets are sent by the
physical layer. This means the MAC delivers one transport block set every TTI.
The TTI is always an integer multiple of the radio frame length (10 ms).
error protection scheme : This attribute specifies the forward error check type
to be applied to every transport block of the transport block set. In UMTS
WCDMA there are at the moment the following types defined : turbo coding (rate
1/3), convolution coder (rate 1/2 or 1/3), no channel coding.

size of CRC : Every transport block of a transport block set is error protected
with a CRC (cyclic redundancy check). This CRC can have different sizes (0, 8,
12, 16, 24 bits for CRC).
Transport Block Size
Transport Block
Transport Block Transport
Block
Transport Block Set Size
Transport Block
Transport Block
Set
Transport Block Set

Transmission Time Interval
MAC PHY
Transport Block Set
figure 15 Transport blocks and transport block sets.

The mentioned transport blocks are defined between MAC and the physical layer PHY.
This holds exactly with respect to the UE. In UTRAN there is a little modification. This is
because the physical layer PHY is terminated in the Node B, whereas MAC usually is
placed in the serving RNC. Therefore in UTRAN the transport blocks are sent between
Node B and serving RNC using an ATM AAL 2 virtual channel. In this channel the data
of the corresponding transport channel is packed into a frame protocol and sent like
user data.

Menu
UE Node B RNC
to/from RLC to/from RLC
Radio bearers Radio bearers
MAC MAC
TB 1 Transport Transport TB 1
Block Set Block Set
TB 2 TB 2
TB 3 TB 3
. .
. .
. .
TB 3 TB 3
RELAY
FP/AAL2 FP/AAL2
Physical Channel Frame Protocol
PHY (TTI radio frames) PHY in AAL2 VC
PHY ATM/L1
figure 16 Transport of transport blocks on air interface and on Iub.

For an established transport channel different transport block and transport block set
attributes can be used. When MAC sends a transport block to the physical layer it has
to indicate, with which attributes the transport blocks shall be sent. The same is
necessary, when the physical layers receives data and sends it to the MAC layer.
For this purpose the so called transport format parameter set is used. This set
consists of two general parts:
semi-static part: The parameters that belong to this part, are configured by the
RRC layer. These parameters are fixed for all transport block sets of the
corresponding transport channel until the RRC reconfigures the parameters.
dynamic part: The values of the parameters of the dynamic part can change from
transport block set to transport block set, it is up to the MAC to choose an
appropriate set of parameters from the allowed values. Also the values of the
dynamic part are configured by the RRC layer.
The individual parameters of the dynamic part are:
Transport Block Size,
Transport Block Set Size,
The semi-static parameters are :
Transmission Time Interval,
error correction scheme (no channel coding, convolution coder 1/2, convolution
coder 1/3, turbo coder 1/3),
size of CRC (0, 8, 12, 16, 24 bits).
static rate matching parameter (used by PHY to perform dynamic puncturing, when
the transport block set is too long for the radio frame).
In the TDD mode the transmission time interval can be also in the dynamic part
(optional feature).

For the communication between MAC and PHY every transport format gets a unique
transport format indicator. This indicator is only for internal use, so it will not be
further discussed here.
Transport Format
MAC
Semi-Static Part TTI
Transport
Channel Coding TFI
Block
Set
CRC size
Rate matching Transport
TFI
Block
Dynamic Part TB size Set
TB set size PHY
TFI: Transport Format Indicator
figure 17 Transport format and the associated parameters (FDD mode).

When a radio bearer is configured, there will be signaling exchange between UE and
RNC. The responsible protocol is RRC. During the radio bearer configuration the MAC
layers and physical layers in UE and network will be informed about the allowed
transport formats for a certain transport channel.
The information about the allowed formats will be contained in a so called transport
format set, which is in fact a list of one or several transport formats. The only restriction
is, that the semi-static parts of all transport formats in the set are the same. This means
all allowed variations of transport formats concern the transport block size, the number
of transport blocks in a set. (In TDD also the transmission time interval can be variable.)
For the transmission of a transport block set, the MAC layer will choose one the
indicated transport formats. It is important to note, that some combination of transport
formats of different transport channels at the same time may be forbidden (e.g. because
of limited maximum data rate or other UE capability restrictions).

Transport Format Set

Semi-Static TTI
Part
Channel Coding
CRC size
Rate matching
Dynamic TB size ... TB size

Parts
TB set size TB set size
Transport
Format ...
TFI 1 TFI 2
Indicator
figure 18 Transport format combination.

1.6.1 Example for Usage of different Transport Formats
Lets consider a transport channel that can be used with several data rates, but has a
fixed frame size of 64 bits and a fixed delay requirement of 10 ms (on air interface).
This leads possibly to the following dynamic parts in the form {transport block size,
transport block set size} :
(a) {64 bits , 64 bits}
(b) {64 bits, 128 bits} (means two transport blocks),
(c) {64 bits, 192 bits} (means three transport blocks),
(d) {64 bits, 256 bits} (means four transport blocks).
The transport channel shall require a convolution coder with rate 1/3 and the
transmission time interval is fixed to 10 ms. We have already a channel coding, so lets
assume, there is no need for an additional error check, means a CRC with 0 bits is to be
applied:
{TTI : 10 ms, convolution coder 1/3, CRC 0 bits, rate matching parameter}.
If the MAC layer wants to send data for this transport channel, it has to take the semi
static parameters and to select one of the four possible semi- static parameters (a) ,
(d). In the figure an example with sequence (a) (c) (c) (b) (c) (a) is shown.

Transport format set :
- dynamic: {64,64}, {64,128}, {64,192}, {64,256}
- semi-static : {10 ms, convolution 1/3, no CRC, ...}
TTI : 10 ms TTI : 10 ms TTI : 10 ms TTI : 10 ms TTI : 10 ms TTI : 10 ms
Transport block Transport block Transport block
Transport block Transport block Transport block Transport block
Transport block Transport block Transport block Transport block Transport block Transport block
(a) (c) (c) (b) (c) (a)

6.4 kbps 19.2 kbps 19.2 kbps 12.8 kbps19.2 kbps 6.4 kbps
figure 19 ``Simultaneous usage of different transport formats example.

1.6.2 Transport Formats for various Transport Channels
In the tables below the possible transport formats for the different transport channel
types are shown.
Attribute BCH PCH FACH RACH

Values
Dynamic Transport 0 5000 bits 0

Part Block Size 1 bit 246 bits 1 5000 bits 5000 0 5000 bits
granularity bits
Transport 0 200 000
0
Block Set Size bits 1 200 000 0 200 000
246 bits 200
1 bit bits bits
000 bits
granularity
Semi- Transmission 10, 20, 10, 20 ms

10, 20, 40, 80 10 ms (FDD)
static Time Interval 20 ms 40, 80 (FDD)
ms 20 ms (TDD)
Part ms 10 ms (TDD)
Type of no
channel no coding coding,
coding turbo coding convolutional convolutional turbo convolutional
convolutional coding coding coding, coding
coding convol.
coding
code rates 1/1,
1/1, 1/2, 1/3 1/2 1/2 1/2
1/2, 1/3
CRC size 0, 8,
0, 8, 12, 16,
16 bits 0, 8, 12,16, 24 12,16, 0, 8, 12,16, 24
24 bits
24
figure 20 Possible transport formats for BCH, PCH, FACH, RACH.

Attribute CPCH DCH DSCH USCH
Values
Dynamic Transport 0 5000 bits

0 0 5000
Part Block Size 1 bit 0 5000 bits 0 5000 bits
5000 bits bits
granularity
Transport 0 200 000
0 0
Block Set Size bits 0 200 000 0 200 000
200 000 200 000
1 bit bits bits
bits bits
granularity
Transmission not
Time Interval applicable - 10, 20, 40, 10, 20,
10, 20, 40, 80
(optional, for ( CPCH uses 80 ms 40, 80 ms
10, 20, 40, 80 ms
TDD only) a ( for TDD ( for TDD
ms ( for TDD real-
random real-time real-time
time data)
access data) data)
principle)
Semi- Transmission not

static Time Interval applicable -
Part ( CPCH uses
10, 20, 40, 80 10, 20, 40, 80 10, 20, 40, 10, 20,
a
ms ms 80 ms 40, 80 ms
random
access
principle)
Type of no coding no coding no coding no coding no coding
channel turbo coding turbo coding turbo coding turbo cod. turbo cod.
coding convolutional convolutional convolutional convol. convol.
coding coding coding coding coding
code rates 1/1, 1/2, 1/1, 1/2,
1/1, 1/2, 1/3 1/1, 1/2, 1/3 1/1, 1/2, 1/3
1/3 1/3
CRC size 0, 8, 12, 16, 0 0, 8, 12, 0, 8, 12,
0, 8, 12,16, 24
24 bits 16, 24 16, 24
figure 21 Possible transport formats for CPCH, DCH, DSCH, USCH.

1.7 Physical Channels An Overview

On the air interface UTRAN uses a time hierarchical structure for organization
purposes. This structure knows the following elements:
radio frame: A radio frame has a length of 10 ms in time, which corresponds to

38400 chips. Radio frames are numbered with a SFN (system frame number).
slot: Every radio frame is further divided into 15 slots. These slots especially
represent the period for fast power control. Every slot has 25600 chips, so a slot has
a duration of 666.7 s.
chip: The chip is the smallest information unit, that can be transmitted. As already
mentioned, UMTS uses QPSK. This means one channel can transmit two chips at
one moment. The chip rate is 3.84 Mcps (Mega chips per second).
For the peer-to-peer communication of physical layers of different entities (cell UE) the
physical layer defines so called physical channels. In contrast to logical and transport
channels, which are defined between different protocols in one entity, the physical
channels are like protocol messages. Especially they are needed to provide data
transmission for physical layer procedures, like power control or random access.
Because of this tight relation between radio physics and the physical channels, there
are differences for FDD and TDD mode. And one can easily imagine, that in future
radio access technologies (e.g. HIPERLAN/2) there will be new physical channels
definitions. The already discussed concepts of transport and logical channels shall be
more or less independent of the physical channels, so that an exchange of the radio
technology will be possible in future.
Now the problem with independence is, that the RRC layer is responsible for the
configuration of radio links, therefore the physical channels will have some common
properties, which are:
carrier frequency (indicated by an UARFCN),
scrambling code,
channelisation code or spreading factor,

start / stop time (can also be infinite duration),
(on FDD uplink only) relative phase (e.g. transmission on I or Q branch).
Additionally every physical channel gets a slot format definition, which indicates the
number and meaning of bits to be transmitted on this physical channel.
10 ms 10 ms = 38400 chips 10 ms
SFN = 4 SFN = 5 SFN = 6
radio frame radio frame radio frame
Slot #0 Slot #1 Slot #2 Slot #3 ... Slot #14

10 ms DPDCH : Dedicated
Physical Data
2560 chips
Channel
DPCCH : Dedicated
Physical Control
Channel
DPDCH Data TFCI : Transport Format
Combination Ind.
FBI : Feedback Ind.
TPC : Transmit Power

DPCCH Pilot bits TFCI FBI TPC Command
figure 22 Radio frame architecture and slots on UTRAN radio interface; physical channels as slot
formats.

Because the physical layer can work in FDD or TDD mode, which are in fact two
different radio interface solutions, there are separated physical channel definition for
FDD and TDD.
In FDD we have to distinguish three different types of physical channels :
physical channels carrying transport channel data ,
physical channels for physical layer procedures,
physical signals carrying information of the physical layer.
In detail we have the following:
DPCCH (Dedicated Physical Control Channel) and DPDCH (Dedicated Physical

Data Channel): The DPDCH carries the DCH information. The DPCCH is
associated to one or several DPDCHs and is used for physical layer signaling.
PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel): The PRACH is the channel that
transports the RACH information and organizes the random access.
PCPCH (Physical Common Packet Channel): The CPCH is like the PRACH a
shared physical channel. Its use is to transport the CPCH transport channel.
P-CCPCH (Primary Common Control Physical Channel): The P-CCPCH carries

the BCH and is transmitted in the entire cell.
S-CCPCH (Secondary Common Control Physical Channel): The S-CCPCH

supports FACH and PCH.
PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel): The PDSCH is the physical channel
for the DSCH.
SCH (Synchronization Channel): The SCH is not associated with a transport

channel. This channel is split into a P-SCH (Primary SCH) and a S-SCH (Secondary
SCH). Both channels use a so called synchronization code. The UEs shall use the
P-SCH to find a cell and synchronize to its slot timing. The S-SCH will be used by
the UEs to find the begin of the radio frame and to determine the scrambling code
group of the cell.

CPICH (Common Pilot Channel): The CPICH is also not associated with a
transport channel. The CPICH consists of a predefined symbol sequence and is
used by UEs to find out the scrambling code used in the cell.
Physical Signals: The physical signals are physical channels that carry ternary
information (-1,0,+1). They are used in several physical layer procedures (e.g.
random access, paging ).
DCH DPDCH
DPCCH
RACH PRACH
CPCH PCPCH
TrCH
BCH P-CCPCH
FACH S-CCPCH
PhCH
PCH
DSCH PDSCH
SCH
CPICH
FDD Physical Signals
figure 23 Physical channels for FDD mode.


2 UE Procedures in Idle Mode

2.1 General on UE Idle Mode Procedures

An UE is in idle mode, when there is no ongoing signaling or user data transaction with
the network using a radio connection. In this state the UE has to perform three tasks :
cell selection / re-selection : Before a UE can access a network it has to have

knowledge about the network. This knowledge comes from the BCCH that is
broadcasted in every cell of the network all the time. The task of the UE is first to find
a suitable cell, then to listen to the BCCH of this cell. When the UE is moving away
from the cell, radio signal strength and quality decrease. Therefore also when the
UE has a suitable cell, the UE will search for better cells. The criteria to perform
such a re-selection are typically formed by signal quality and strength.
PLMN selection / re-selection : When the UE searches the complete frequency

spectrum for suitable cells, cells of several PLMN may be found. The access stratum
protocols (RRC) have to report the available PLMN to the higher layer (GMM/MM). It
is up to these non access stratum protocols to select one of the available PLMN.
This includes the change of a PLMN, when certain preferred PLMN (e.g. home
PLMN) are available.
Location Registration : When the UE enters a new PLMN or a new region

(Location Area, Routing Area) of a PLMN, the new location has to be registered
within the network. It is up to the radio protocol RRC to report the current location
information (routing area identity, location area identity), received from the BCCH of
the current cell, to the higher layers (non access stratum protocols GMM/MM). If
these layers detect a change in the location, they will trigger the corresponding
location registration procedure.

PLMN selection /
automatic or
re-selection cell
manual selections
cell
Location PLMN cell
Registration available
Response
PLMN BCCH
selected RF measurement
cell selection /
re-selection
NAS control
Location
Area
changes
location registration
periodic updating
attach / detach
figure 24 General overview of the idle mode tasks.

For the idle mode of an UE there is a special set of states defined. There are three idle
mode states :
camped normally : In this state the UE listens to the common control channels of a
cell, that provides full service access for the UE. In detail the UE performs the
following actions :
UE listens to the PCH of the cell,
UE monitors the relevant BCCH information,
UE performs measurements of the current and of other cells (indicated in BCCH)
and triggers cell re-selection when necessary.
any cell selection : This state is entered, when no suitable cell with full service is
found, or after unsuccessful location registration procedures. In this state, the UE
shall try to find an acceptable cell of any PLMN, with full or restricted service access
rights. If such a cell is found, the state camped on any cell is entered.
camped on any cell : In this state the UE is camped on a cell with restricted service
access only. This means the UE can use emergency services only. The following
actions are done by the UE:
UE listens to PCH of the cell,
UE monitors relevant system information,
UE performs measurements for cell re-selection,
the UE shall try to find cells with full service access.
When the UE requests a network service (e.g. mobility management procedure, call,
data session, short message), the UE will leave the idle mode and enters the
connected mode state. For the state behavior in idle mode four functions are
important:
initial cell selection : The UE searches the frequency spectrum supported by the
UE for suitable cells.
stored information cell selection : The UE will maintain a list with frequencies and
scrambling codes of the last used cells. If this list is available the search process can
be accelerated.
cell reselection evaluation process : This function evaluates the UE
measurements to find the best new cell.
cell selection when leaving idle mode : After connected mode the UE returns to
idle mode. The functions determines the best cell for idle mode after the connection
is released.

new PLMN selected
cell info stored 1 no cell info stored
Stored info Initial

no suiable cell found
Cell selection Cell selection
no suitable 2
cell found suitable cell found suitable cell found no suitable
cell found
cell selection Camped location
suitable cell found registration
after idle mode normally
rejection
return to leave idle suitable
trigger
idle mode mode cell found
Connected
mode
Cell Reselection no suitable
Evaluation cell found no USIM
Any cell
no acceptable cell found USIM
selection
inserted
acceptable cell found 1
cell selection acceptable cell found
after idle mode Camped on suitable 2
any cell cell found
leave idle
return to mode
trigger suitable
idle mode Connected Mode
cell found
(limited services)
Cell Reselection
no acceptable cell found
Evaluation
figure 25 State diagram to control the behavior of the UE in idle mode.

2.2 PLMN Selection and Reselection

The PLMN selection is in fact controlled by NAS protocols (GMM, MM), the execution of
the selection is done by the AS protocol (RRC).
The initial PLMN selection (e.g. after switch on) is always controlled by the NAS
protocols. An user interaction is usually only possible before the PLMN selection. The
procedure runs in two steps :
1. The UE-NAS protocols (GMM,MM) send a PLMN search request to RRC. In the
request the corresponding PLMN identity is contained. The radio protocols now
search for cells belonging to the given PLMN. This is in fact a cell selection.
2. When a suitable cell belonging to the correct PLMN is found, and confirmation is
sent to the NAS protocol. In case a cell of this PLMN cannot be found, the RRC
protocol will send a list of available PLMNs is sent to the NAS protocols.

Me nu
UE
UE - NAS UE - AS
use last
stored PLMN
PLMN Search.REQ
(PLMN ID)
use last cell 2
stored cell list cell 1
cell 3
search for cell
with PLMN ID
PLMN Search.CNF
(PLMN ID
or
all available PLMN)
figure 26 PLMN selection.

For the PLMN reselection there are two different modes of operation:
automatic mode: The NAS protocols select a new PLMN without user interaction.
manual mode: The selection is performed by the user.
The PLMN reselection has three general steps:
1. The UE-AS protocol RRC provides the NAS protocols with a list of available PLMN.
2. Either the user or the NAS protocol itself select on the indicated PLMN.
3. A cell of the selected PLMN is chosen in the cell reselection process. After
successful completion of the cell reselection, an indication is sent to the NAS
protocols.

Menu
UE
UE - NAS UE - AS
PLMN Search.REQ
(ALL)
PLMN List.CNF
(all available PLMNs)
PLMN
reselection
PLMN Search.REQ
(PLMN ID)
use last stored
cell list, if any
for
cell reselection
PLMN Search.CNF
(PLMN ID)
figure 27 Manual PLMN (re-)selection.

2.3 Location Registration Trigger

When the UE is camped on a cell (camped normally or camped on any cell state), the
UE will constantly read the system information that is broadcasted on the BCCH of the
corresponding cell.
When the information received by the RRC protocol changes, due to cell reselection or
change of the current cells system information, the NAS protocols have to be informed
about this. This happens with a primitive message between RRC and the MM sub-layer.
This primitive is called RRC System Information.IND and contains all changed
parameters of the system information.
On reception of this primitive, the NAS protocols have to decide about further actions to
be triggered. One example here is the location registration. When the RRC System
Information.IND indicates that the location or routing area changed, the MM or GMM
layer will start a location or routing area update.

Menu
UE
UE - NAS UE - AS
BCCH
cell
System Information
changed
System Information.IND
( sys info to be updated)
e.g. location reg.

trigger
figure 28 Location trigger; Location information received from cell broadcast.


II. Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle Mode Tasks

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II. Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle Mode Tasks

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II.

Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle Mode Tasks

Radio Protocol Architecture and Idle

Basic Principles of UTRAN Radio Protocol Model in UE and UTRAN,

UE Procedures in Idle Mode.

1 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 2

1 Principles of UTRAN Radio Interface Design

3 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

1.1 Radio Protocol Model in UE and UTRAN

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 4

Control Protocol User Data Streams

Signalling Bearer Data Bearer

Access & Data Link Layer

Physical Layer (WCDMA)

figure 1 General radio protocol architecture defined by ITU-R.

5 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

multiplexing of logical channels within one UE to transport channels (logical

transparent mode : The RLC protocol instance provides no further reliability.

unacknowledged mode : The RLC protocol instance provides sequence order

acknowledged mode : The RLC protocol instance performs backward error

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 6

Layer 3 Radio Resource Control

RLC RLC RLC RLC RLC RLC . . . RLC RLC

Medium Access Control (MAC)

figure 2 UTRAN radio protocol architecture.

7 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 8

Radio Resource Control

RLC RLC RLC RLC

Medium Access Control (MAC)

Physical Layer (PHY)

figure 3 Inter-layer control paths in the UTRAN protocol model.

9 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

1.2 WCDMA Physics An Overview

FDD (frequency division duplex): Uplink and downlink transmission are in

A cell can support FDD, TDD or both.

UARFCN = 5 * ( Fcenter / MHz ).

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 10

200 kHz Fcentre =N*200 kHZ

figure 4 Absolute radio frequency channel numbering used in UTRAN.

11 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 12

QPSK Q (imaginary part)

figure 5 Modulation scheme used in UTRAN.

13 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

scrambling: After a bit stream is spread with a channelisation code, it can be

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 14

Spreading and Scrambling in UE Uplink

figure 6 Spreading and scrambling in UE for uplink transmission.

15 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

--intentionally left blank--

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 16

Spreading and Scrambling in the cell Downlink

figure 7 Spreading and scrambling in Node B for downlink transmission.

17 UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols

The channelisation codes of UTRAN are defined as so called OVSF (orthogonal,

cch, SF, k with 0 k SF-1.

A channelisation code consists of a sequence of +1 and 1 of length SF. All codes

UTRAN and UMTS Radio Protocols 18

figure 8 Tree of orthogonal channelisation codes used in UTRAN

(1-1) Cch, 4,3