LTE RF Technical Interview Questions

Here is list of questions you may be asked during the technical interview of LTE RF planning
and optimization job.

1. Tell us about LTE Frame Structure?

I find below table probably the best way to remember about LTE frame structure.

(TDD) Frame
Configuration (FDD)Frame Type 1
Type 2

Frame Length 10 ms 10 ms

Subframes per Frame 10 10

Subframe Length (ms) 1 1

Slots per Subframe 2 2

Symbols/Slot, normal CP 7 7

Symbols/Slot, extended CP 6 6

2. What are the Bandwidths used for LTE deployment?

We have following Bandwidths being used for LTE,

1.4 MHz
3 MHz
5 MHz
10 MHz
15 MHz
20 MHz
 3. How Many subcarriers/RBs are there in 5/10/20 MHz channel

Channel Bandwidth, MHz 1.4 3 5 10 15 20

Subcarriers per Resource Block 12 12 12 12 12 12
Number of Resource Blocks 6 15 25 50 75 100
Total subcarriers 128 256 512 1024 1536 2048
Occupied Subcarriers 72 180 300 600 900 1200

4. What is Subcarrier Bandwidth in LTE?

15 kHz

5. How can we calculate LTE DL/UL throughput?

Note: Please see tables in Q.1 and Q.3 for relevant info provided in below answer.

Lets assume we have 20 MHz channel bandwidth.

we need to calculate the resource elements in a subframe for this band i.e.

12subcarriers x 7 OFDMA symbols x 100 resource blocks x 2 slots= 16800 REs per subframe.

o Assume we have 64 QAM modulation and no coding, one modulation symbol

will carry 6 bits.

16800 modulation symbols x 6 bits / modulation symbol = 100800 bits.

So, the data rate is 100800 bits / 1 ms = 100.8 Mbps.

With 44 MIMO, the peak data rate goes up to 100.8 Mbps x 4 = 403 Mbps.
Estimate about 25% overhead e.g. PDCCH, reference signal, sync signals, PBCH, and
some We get 403 Mbps x 0.75 = 302 Mbps.

6. What Maximum LTE throughput can be achieved in the field?

I have seen upto 70Mbps on TDD network with 20 MHz bandwidth channel.

7. How many states a UE can have ?

There are 2 UE stats i.e. UE Idle and UE Connect.

UE can either be on Connected or on Idle state at a time.

Please note that UE Idle/Connected and RRC Idle/Connected means the same .

8. What is difference between Idle & Connected Mode

In LTE UE can either be on Connected or on Idle state.

Following diagram taken from (http://www.teletopix.org/4g-lte/state-of-rrc-in-lte/) shows a

better difference b/w these two states;

1. RRC Connected, when it has a RRC connection with a given eNB

2. RRC IDLE when it has no valid RRC link with any eNB.

9. What is difference between HO , Redirection, Cell Selection / Re-Selection?

Handover (HO): UE moves from one eNB to target eNB while keeping its connected state. LTE
Services will be uninterrupted.
In handover procedure, target cell would be prepared and UE will latch on target cell based on
the configuration sent by source enodeb to UE.

Redirection: UE changes its state from connected to Idle mode during Redirection. LTE Service
will be interrupted. Meaning the Source ENB shall release the connection of the UE and will ask
the UE to redirect itself onto the target ENB by indicating the carrier frequency or the cell id in
the RRC connection release message. For example, During CS Fallback, the UE is redirected
from LTE RRC_CONNECTED mode to (2G/3G) idle mode).

Cell Selection: It allows a UE to search and camp on a suitable cell. Cell selection occurs during
Initial cell selection (when UE switches ON), Stored information cell selection (uses stored cell
info to identify appropriate cell), and Cell selection when leaving RRC connected mode (When
UE move from RRC CONNECTED to RRC IDLE mode)

Cell Reselection: Its Idle mode procedure and happens from idle mode to idle mode. Reselection
can occue on cell within same RAT (Intra-RAT) or different RAT(Inter-RAT).

10. What is RRC Reconfiguration?

RRC CONNECTION RECONFIGURATION message is the command to modify an RRC

connection. Main purposes of RRC Connection Reconfiguration are to,

Establish/modify/release Radio Bearers

Perform Handover
Setup/modify/release Measurements
Add/modify/release SCells
Dedicated NAS Information might also be transferred from eNodeBto UE

11. What is Difference between MIB and SIB?

o How many types of SIBs are available in LTE?
o What does SIB1/SIB2/ /SIB13 do?
o On which channels SIBs are transmitted?
o Which SIBs are essential?
o Why we need SIB19?

MIB and SIM are two types of System Information (SI) that is broadcasted in the serving are of
particular cell. SI is carried by the logical channel BCCH, which in turn is carried by either of the
transport channels BCH or DL-SCH.
Master information Block (MIB): is a static part of SI and contain information like number of
antennas, system bandwidth,PHICH configuration, transmitted power and scheduling
information on how the SIBs are scheduled together with other data on DL-SCH. MIB is
transmitted on the BBCH> PBCH with periodicity of every 40 ms.

System Information Block (SIB): is a dynamic part of SI. It carry relevant information for the
UE, which helps UE to access a cell, perform cell re-selection, information related to INTRA-
frequency, INTER-frequency and INTER-RAT cell selections. It is mapped on DL-SCH
>PDSCH with periodicity of every 80 ms, 160ms or 320ms for SIB1,SIB2 and SIB3
respectively.

How many types of SIBs are available in LTE?

There are 13 types of SIBs for LTE.

What does SIB1/SIB2/ /SIB13 do?

Each SIB carry information related to specific tasks.

SIB-1 Carries Cell access related parameters like cell ID, MCC, MNC, TAC, scheduling of
other SIBs

SIB-2 Carries Common and shared channel configuration, RACH related configuration are
present; RRC, uplink power control, preamble power ramping, uplink Cyclic Prefix Length, sub-
frame hopping, uplink EARFCN

SIB-3 Parameters required for intra-frequency, inter-frequency and I-RAT cell re-selections

SIB-4 Information regarding INTRA-frequency neighboring cells (E-UTRA) carries serving

cell and neighbor cell frequencies required for cell reselection as well handover

SIB-5 Information regarding INTER-frequency neighboring cells (E-UTRA); carries E-UTRA

LTE frequencies, other neighbor cell frequencies from other RATs.
SIB-6 Information for re-selection to INTER-RAT (UTRAN cells)

SIB-7 Information for re-selection to INTER-RAT (GERAN cells)

SIB-8 Information for re-selection to INTER-RAT (CDMA2000)

SIB-9 Information related to Home eNodeB (FEMTOCELL)

SIB-10 ETWS (Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System) information (Primary

notification)

SIB-11 ETWS (Earthquake and Tsunami Warning System) information (Secondary

notification)

SIB-12 Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) information.

SIB-13 Contains the information required to acquire the MBMS control information
associated with one or more MBSFN areas.

Explore below link to know more about earch and every SIB,

http://www.rfwireless-world.com/Terminology/LTE-MIB-SIB-system-information-blocks.html

On which channels SIBs are transmitted?

BCCH> DL-SCH> PDSCH.

Which SIBs are essential?

In LTE, for a UE to access the eNB, at the most minimum 2 SIBs are required (SIB1 and SIB2).
Information regarding SIB2-SIB13 are carried in SI messages and are included in
schedulingInfoList which is part of SIB1.

Why we need SIB19?

SIB 19 is needed when UE is coming back from 3G to 4G. LTE priority should be set high in
3G. SIB19 carries the absolute priority of the serving UMTS cell, the absolute priorities of the
LTE frequencies, and the cell reselection thresholds.

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HO , Redirection, Cell Selection and Re-Selection

February 7, 2017Uncategorized

What is difference between HO , Redirection, Cell Selection and Re-Selection?

Handover (HO): UE moves from one eNB to target eNB while keeping its connected state. LTE
Services will be uninterrupted.

In handover procedure, target cell would be prepared and UE will latch on target cell based on
the configuration sent by source enodeb to UE.

Redirection: UE changes its state from connected to Idle mode during Redirection. LTE Service
will be interrupted. Meaning the Source ENB shall release the connection of the UE and will ask
the UE to redirect itself onto the target ENB by indicating the carrier frequency or the cell id in
the RRC connection release message. For example, During CS Fallback, the UE is redirected
from LTE RRC_CONNECTED mode to (2G/3G) idle mode).

Cell Selection: It allows a UE to search and camp on a suitable cell. Cell selection occurs during
Initial cell selection (when UE switches ON), Stored information cell selection (uses stored cell
info to identify appropriate cell), and Cell selection when leaving RRC connected mode (When
UE move from RRC CONNECTED to RRC IDLE mode)

Cell Reselection: Its Idle mode procedure and happens from idle mode to idle mode. Reselection
can occue on cell within same RAT (Intra-RAT) or different RAT(Inter-RAT).

12. Message flow during LTE Call?

13. Can you tell us about Prach/PCI/Pusch/Pucch Planning?
14. Handover types in LTE
15. What is difference between X2 and S1 HO?
16. Explain Handover signalling messages?
17. Explain Events measurements in LTE
18. Which event trigger during the reselection from LTE to 3G and vice versa
19. What is ANR?
20. What are the types of ANR? Which one is better?
21. What is QCI?
22. What is LTE modulation?AMC?
23. What is MIMO?
24. What is TM? TM1? TM2? TM3? TM4?
25. What is close loop MIMO?
26. Mapping of MIB and SIB messages?
27. Explain SIB messages?
28. What is purpose of SIB19?
29. What Message will be observed on layer-3 During handover stage?
30. Which channel carries CQI information to enodB?
31. What other info PUCCH carries?
32. What is DRX?
33. What is UE disconnection Timer?
34. What is the Location of PUCCH in the UL Spectrum?
35. CS Fall back criteria and event?
36. Explain CSFallback signalling?
37. What basic parameters are required from Planning to configure a site?
38. Explain PCI (Physical Cell id) Planning?
39. How do you deal with Interference issues during PCI planning
40. How do we do optimization of site?
41. What are the Features available to improve accessibility, retainability?
42. What is BLER? Whats Target value?
43. How to investigate low throughput?
44. What major KPIs have you been analyzing most?