1.1.

Définition

La troisième génération (3G) [2] désigne une génération de normes de téléphonie mobile. Elle est
représentée principalement par les normes Universal Mobile Télécommunications System (UMTS) et
CDMA2000 [2]. Ces caractéristiques sont notamment les suivantes :

• Un haut débit de transmission

 144 Kbps avec une couverture totale pour une utilisation mobile
 384 Kbps avec une couverture moyenne pour une utilisation piétonne,
 2 Mbps avec une zone de couverture réduite pour une utilisation fixe

• Compatibilité mondiale

• Compatibilité des services mobiles de 3ème génération avec les réseaux de seconde génération.(
file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/recherche%20s/mobile3G-4G.pdf)

UMTS is as much an evolution as it is a revolution. While the UMTS radio access network (UTRAN)
was a completely new development, many components of the GSM core network were reused, with
only a few changes, for the first step of UMTS. New core and radio network enhancements were then
specified in subsequent steps. Today, this process continues with the LTE and 5G radio access and
core network architectures (file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/ericsson/From-GSM-to-LTEAdvanced-Pro-
and-5G-An-Introduction-to-Mobile-Networks-and-Mobile-Broadband.pdf)

The First UMTS Access Network Implementation (Release 99) :

Release 99 contains all the specifications for the first release of UMTS. The main improvement of
UMTS compared to GSM in this first step was the completely redesigned radio access network, which
the UMTS standards refer to as the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). Instead of using
the time‐ and frequencymultiplexing methods of the GSM air interface, a new method called
Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) was introduced. In WCDMA, users are no longer
separated from each other by timeslots and frequencies but are assigned a unique code.

La Release 99 est limitée à un débit maximal de 384 Kbits/s dans les sens montant et descendant. (
file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/ericsson/From-GSM-to-LTEAdvanced-Pro-and-5G-An-Introduction-to-
Mobile-Networks-and-Mobile-Broadband.pdf)
 Figure : Architecture 3GPP release 99(file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/recherche%20s/mobile3G-
4G.pdf)

L’UMTS connaît deux évolutions majeures que nous présentons brièvement dans les sections
suivantes :

• Le HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) ;

• Le HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access+).

3GPP Release 6: High‐Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) :

The HSPA functionality continued to evolve in 3GPP Release 6. This revision of the specification
brought the introduction of methods to increase uplink speeds, which have remained the same since
Release 99. This feature set, referred to as High‐Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) in public,
enables uplink datarates of 2–3 Mbit/s for a single user under ideal conditions today. Taking realistic
signal conditions, the number of users per cell and mobile device capabilities into account, HSUPA‐
enabled devices can still achieve significantly higher uplink speeds than was possible with Release 99.
Furthermore, HSUPA also increases the maximum number of users who can simultaneously send
data via the same cell and thus further reduced the overall cost of the network. The combination of
HSDPA and HSUPA is sometimes also referred to as HSPA.

3GPP Release 7: Even Faster HSPA and Continued Packet Connectivity :

One of the shortcomings of UMTS and HSPA is the high power consumption during transmission
gaps, for example, between the downloads of two web pages. Even though no user data is
transmitted or received during this time, a significant amount of energy is required to send control
information to keep the link established and to scan for new incoming data. Only after some time,
usually in the order of 5–15 seconds, does the system put the connection into a more power‐efficient
state. But even this state still requires a significant amount of power and the battery continues to be
drained until the point where the network finally puts the air interface connection into a sleep state.
In a typical setup, this happens after an additional 10–60 seconds. It then takes around 1–3 seconds
to wake up from this state, which the user notices, for example, when they click on a link on a web
page after the air interface connection goes into sleep mode. Reducing power consumption and
achieving a fast return to full active state have been the goals of Release 7 feature package referred
to as Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC). In addition, 3GPP Release 7 once again increased the
maximum possible data‐transfer speeds in the downlink direction with the introduction of:

● the use of several antennas and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) transmission schemes;

● 64‐Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (64‐QAM). The maximum speeds reached with these
enhancements under ideal signal conditions are 21 Mbit/s with 64‐QAM modulation and 28 Mbit/s
with MIMO.

In the uplink direction, the HSUPA functionality was also extended in this release. In addition to the
Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) modulation scheme, 16‐QAM is now also specified for uplink
operation, which further increases peak datarates to 11.5 Mbit/s under very good signal conditions.
Rising transmission speeds over the past few years have significantly increased bandwidth and
processing requirements in the network. To ease this burden, it was decided to simplify the
transmission path of user data through the UMTS network as much as possible. As a result, the SGSN
(see Chapter 2) can be removed from the user data transmission path with the direct‐tunnel
functionality.( file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/ericsson/From-GSM-to-LTEAdvanced-Pro-and-5G-An-
Introduction-to-Mobile-Networks-and-Mobile-Broadband.pdf

3GPP Release 8: LTE, Further HSPA Enhancements and  Femtocells :

In 3GPP Release 8, a number of features were introduced that had a significant impact on wireless
networks. First, Release 8 introduced the successor of the UMTS radio network, the E‐UTRAN, and
the successor architecture of the core network, the EPC. Together they are commonly known as LTE,
although technically this is not quite correct. As LTE is a revolution in many ways it is discussed
separately in Chapter 4. In the UMTS domain, this release of the standard also contains some notable
enhancements to keep pace with the rising data traffic. To reach even higher data speeds, Release 8
introduces the aggregation of two adjacent UMTS carriers to get a total bandwidth of 10 MHz. This is
referred to as Dual‐Cell or Dual‐Carrier operation. Also, the simultaneous use of 64‐QAM and MIMO
has entered the standards for single carrier operation. Under ideal radio conditions, a peak
throughput of 42 Mbit/s in the downlink direction can be reached. One small but important
functionality specified in 3GPP Release 8 is ‘In Case of Emergency’ (ICE). Devices that implement this
functionality allow the user to store information on the subscriber identity module (SIM) card that
can be accessed in a standardized way in emergency situations where the user of the phone is unable
to identify himself or to contact their relatives. Unfortunately, the feature has not found widespread
adoption so far. And finally, 3GPP Release 8 laid the groundwork for Femtocell management,
referred to as Home Node‐Bs in the standard, and Self‐Organizing Network (SON) functionality to
ease deployment and maintenance of base stations.

3GPP Release 9: Digital Dividend and Dual‐Cell Improvements :

For UMTS, Release 9 brought a number of further speed enhancements in both uplink and downlink
directions. In the uplink direction, aggregation of two adjacent 5 MHz carriers has been specified in a
similar way as in the downlink direction in the previous release. This in effect again doubles the
theoretical peak uplink datarate to over 20 Mbit/s. In the downlink direction, dual‐carrier operation
can now be combined with MIMO operation, increasing the peak throughput to 84 Mbit/s.
Furthermore, a new work item removed the dual‐carrier limitation that the two

carriers had to be adjacent to each other. With this addition, carriers can now be in different
frequency bands. As has been shown in Chapter 1, pre‐Release 9 GSM and GPRS security
mechanisms have not been changed in quite some time and vulnerabilities have been discovered.
With this release, 3GPP has added an additional ciphering algorithm, A5/4. Together with doubling of
the ciphering key (CK) length to 128 bits, this is considered to be a major security upgrade.(
file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/ericsson/From-GSM-to-LTEAdvanced-Pro-and-5G-An-Introduction-to-
Mobile-Networks-and-Mobile-Broadband.pdf)

The use of higher-order modulation provides the possibility for higher bandwidth utilization, that is
the possibility to provide higher data rates within a given bandwidth. However, the higher bandwidth
utilization comes at the cost of reduced robustness to noise and interference. Alternatively
expressed, higher-order modulation schemes, such as 16QAM or 64QAM, require a higher Eb / N0 at
the receiver for a given bit-error probability, compared to QPSK. This is in line with the discussion in
the previous section where it was concluded that high bandwidth utilization, i.e. a high information
rate within a limited bandwidth, in general requires a higher receiver Eb / N0 .

3.2.1 Higher-order modulation in combination with channel coding  :

Higher-order modulation schemes such as 16QAM and 64QAM require, in themselves, a higher
receiver Eb / N0 for a given error rate, compared to QPSK.

However, in combination with channel coding the use of higher-order modulation will sometimes be
more efficient, that is require a lower receiver Eb / N0 for a given error rate, compared to the use of
lower-order modulation such as QPSK. This may, for example, occur when the target bandwidth
utilization implies that, with lower-order modulation, no or very little channel coding can be applied.
In such a case, the additional channel coding that can be applied by using a higherorder modulation
scheme such as 16QAM may lead to an overall gain in power efficiency compared to the use of QPSK.

As an example, if a bandwidth utilization of close to two information bits per modulation symbol is
required, QPSK modulation would allow for very limited channel coding (channel-coding rate close to
one). On the other hand, the use of 16QAM modulation would allow for a channel-coding rate in the
order of one half. Similarly, if a bandwidth efficiency close to 4 information bits per modulation
symbol is required, the use of 64QAM may be more efficient than 16QAM modulation, taking into
account the possibility for lower-rate channel coding and corresponding additional coding gain in
case of 64QAM. It should be noted that this does not speak against the general discussion in Section
3.1 where it was concluded that transmission with high-bandwidth utilization is inherently power in-
efficient. The use of rate 1/2 channel coding for 16QAM obviously reduces the information data rate,
and thus also the bandwidth utilization, to the same level as uncoded QPSK.

From the discussion above it can be concluded that, for a given signal-to-noise/ interference ratio, a
certain combination of modulation scheme and channelcoding rate is optimal in the sense that it can
deliver the highest-bandwidth utilization (the highest data rate within a given bandwidth) for that
signal-t o-noise/ interference ratio.

Variations in instantaneous transmit power  :

A general drawback of higher-order modulation schemes such as 16QAM and 64QAM, where
information is encoded also in the instantaneous amplitude of the modulated signal, is that the
modulated signal will have larger variations, and thus also larger peaks, in its instantaneous power.
This can be seen from
 Figure 3.3 which illustrates the distribution of the instantaneous power, more specifically the
probability that the instantaneous power is above a certain value, for QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM,
respectively. Clearly, the probability for large peaks in the instantaneous power is higher in case of
higher-order modulation.

Larger peaks in the instantaneous signal power imply that the transmitter power amplifier must be
over-dimensioned to avoid that power-amplifier non- linearities,

Figure 3.3 : Distribution of instantaneous power for different modulation schemes. Average
power is same in all cases.

occurring at high instantaneous power levels, cause corruption to the signal to be transmitted. As a
consequence, the power-amplifier efficiency will be reduced, leading to increased power
consumption. In addition, there will be a negative impact on the power-amplifier cost. Alternatively,
the average transmit power must be reduced, implying a reduced range for a given data rate. High
poweramplifier efficiency is especially important for the mobile terminal, i.e. in the uplink direction,
due to the importance of low mobile-terminal power consumption and cost. For the base station,
high power-amplifier efficiency, although far from irrelevant, is still somewhat less important. Thus,
large peaks in the instantaneous signal power is less of an issue for the downlink compared to the
uplink and, consequently, higher-order modulation is more suitable for the downlink compared to
the uplink. (file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/recherche%20s/livre/3G%20Evolution%20HSPA%20and
%20LTE%20for%20Mobile%20Broadband%20by%20Erik%20Dahlman,%20Stefan%20Parkvall,
%20Johan%20Skold,%20Per%20Beming%20(z-lib.org).pdf)

État des lieux de l’UMTS :

Le tableau suivant dresse une comparaison non exhaustive des technologies 3GPP hors LTE jusqu’à la
Release 8.
Comparaison des technologies GSM, UMTS Release 99, HSPA et HSPA+ Release 8 [UMTS forum,
2010] :

(file:///C:/Users/DELL/Desktop/recherche%20s/Chap-1_Wolff%20(1).pdf)