7/18/2015 LTECommunicationChannels

LTECOMMUNICATIONCHANNELS
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/lte/lte_communication_channels.htm Copyrighttutorialspoint.com

Theinformationflowsbetweenthedifferentprotocolsareknownaschannelsandsignals.LTEuses
severaldifferenttypesoflogical,transportandphysicalchannel,whicharedistinguishedbythekindof
informationtheycarryandbythewayinwhichtheinformationisprocessed.

LogicalChannels:Definewhattypeofinformationistransmittedovertheair,e.g.traffic
channels,controlchannels,systembroadcast,etc.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedon
logicalchannelsbetweentheRLCandMACprotocols.

TransportChannels:Definehowissomethingtransmittedovertheair,e.g.whatare
encoding,interleavingoptionsusedtotransmitdata.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedon
transportchannelsbetweentheMACandthephysicallayer.

PhysicalChannels:Definewhereissomethingtransmittedovertheair,e.g.firstNsymbols
intheDLframe.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonphysicalchannelsbetweenthe
differentlevelsofthephysicallayer.

LogicalChannels
Logicalchannelsdefinewhattypeofdataistransferred.Thesechannelsdefinethedatatransfer
servicesofferedbytheMAClayer.Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonlogicalchannelsbetween
theRLCandMACprotocols.

Logicalchannelscanbedividedintocontrolchannelsandtrafficchannels.ControlChannelcanbe
eithercommonchannelordedicatedchannel.Acommonchannelmeanscommontoallusersinacell
P ointtomultipoint whilededicatedchannelsmeanschannelscanbeusedonlybyoneuser

P ointtoP oint .

Logicalchannelsaredistinguishedbytheinformationtheycarryandcanbeclassifiedintwoways.
Firstly,logicaltrafficchannelscarrydataintheuserplane,whilelogicalcontrolchannelscarry
signallingmessagesinthecontrolplane.FollowingtableliststhelogicalchannelsthatareusedbyLTE:

ChannelName Acronym Control Traffic

channel channel

BroadcastControlChannel BCCH X

PagingControlChannel PCCH X

CommonControlChannel CCCH X

DedicatedControlChannel DCCH X

MulticastControlChannel MCCH X

DedicatedTrafficChannel DTCH X

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cgibin/printpage.cgi 1/4
7/18/2015 LTECommunicationChannels

MulticastTrafficChannel MTCH X

TransportChannels
Transportchannelsdefinehowandwithwhattypeofcharacteristicsthedataistransferredbythe
physicallayer.DataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedontransportchannelsbetweentheMACand
thephysicallayer.

TransportChannelsaredistinguishedbythewaysinwhichthetransportchannelprocessor
manipulatesthem.FollowingtableliststhetransportchannelsthatareusedbyLTE:

ChannelName Acronym Downlink Uplink

BroadcastChannel BCH X

DownlinkSharedChannel DLSCH X

PagingChannel PCH X

MulticastChannel MCH X

UplinkSharedChannel ULSCH X

RandomAccessChannel RACH X

PhysicalChannels
Dataandsignallingmessagesarecarriedonphysicalchannelsbetweenthedifferentlevelsofthe
physicallayerandaccordinglytheyaredividedintotwoparts:

PhysicalDataChannels

PhysicalControlChannels

Physicaldatachannels

Physicaldatachannelsaredistinguishedbythewaysinwhichthephysicalchannelprocessor
manipulatesthem,andbythewaysinwhichtheyaremappedontothesymbolsandsubcarriersused
byOrthogonalfrequencydivisionmultiplexingOF DM A .Followingtableliststhephysicaldata
channelsthatareusedbyLTE:

ChannelName Acronym Downlink Uplink

Physicaldownlinksharedchannel PDSCH X

Physicalbroadcastchannel PBCH X

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cgibin/printpage.cgi 2/4
7/18/2015 LTECommunicationChannels

Physicalmulticastchannel PMCH X

Physicaluplinksharedchannel PUSCH X

Physicalrandomaccesschannel PRACH X

Thetransportchannelprocessorcomposesseveraltypesofcontrolinformation,tosupportthelow
leveloperationofthephysicallayer.Thesearelistedinthebelowtable:

FieldName Acronym Downlink Uplink

Downlinkcontrolinformation DCI X

Controlformatindicator CFI X

HybridARQindicator HI X

Uplinkcontrolinformation UCI X

PhysicalControlChannels

Thetransportchannelprocessoralsocreatescontrolinformationthatsupportsthelowleveloperation
ofthephysicallayerandsendsthisinformationtothephysicalchannelprocessorintheformof
physicalcontrolchannels.

Theinformationtravelsasfarasthetransportchannelprocessorinthereceiver,butiscompletely
invisibletohigherlayers.Similarly,thephysicalchannelprocessorcreatesphysicalsignals,which
supportthelowestlevelaspectsofthesystem.

PhysicalControlChannelsarelistedinthebelowtable:

ChannelName Acronym Downlink Uplink

Physicalcontrolformatindicator PCFICH X
channel

PhysicalhybridARQindicatorchannel PHICH X

Physicaldownlinkcontrolchannel PDCCH X

Relayphysicaldownlinkcontrol RPDCCH X
channel

Physicaluplinkcontrolchannel PUCCH X

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cgibin/printpage.cgi 3/4
7/18/2015 LTECommunicationChannels

Thebasestationalsotransmitstwootherphysicalsignals,whichhelpthemobileacquirethebase
stationafteritfirstswitcheson.TheseareknownastheprimarysynchronizationsignalP S S andthe
secondarysynchronizationsignalS S S .

http://www.tutorialspoint.com/cgibin/printpage.cgi 4/4