Goodman Networks

NS&T
Network Services and Technology LTE Basics (3GPP)

GOODMAN NETWORKS

Table of Contents
Section 1 Introduction & Purpose Section 1.1 3G LTE Beginnings Section 1.2 3G LTE Development Section 1.3 3G LTE Technologies
1.3.1 OFM (Orthogonal Frequency Multiplex) 1.3.2 MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) 13.3 SAE (System Architecture Evolution)

Section 1.4 3G LTE Summary Section 1.5 OFDM Basics

1.5.1 Note on OFDM

Section 1.6 LTE Channel Bandwidths Section 1.7 LTE OFDM cyclic prefix, CP Section 1.8 OFDMA in the Downlink
1.8.1 Downlink carriers and resource block 1.8.2 LTE SC-FDMA in the Uplink

Section 2.0 LTE MIMO Basics

2.0.1 Note on MIMO

Section 2.1 LTE FDD Frequency Band Allocations Section 2.2 Abreviations

2
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

1.0 3G LTE Basics Tutorial Introduction & Purpose

The following will discuss information, overview, and tutorial about the basics of 3G LTE, the long term evolution plans for the next generation of cellular telecommunications services. With services such as WiMAX offering very high data speeds, work on developing the next generation of cellular technology has started. The UMTS cellular technology upgrade has been dubbed LTE - Long Term Evolution. The idea is that LTE will enable much higher speeds to be achieved along with much lower packet latency (a growing requirement for many services these days), and that LTE will enable cellular communications services to move forward to meet the needs for cellular technology to 2017 and well beyond. HSPA (High Speed Packet Access), a combination of HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) and HSUPA (High-Speed Uplink Packet Access), and HSPA+ are now being deployed, the 3G LTE development is being dubbed 3.99G as it is not a full 4G standard, although in reality there are many similarities with the cellular technologies being touted for the use of 4G. However, regardless of the terminology, it is certain that LTE will offer significant improvements in performance over the existing 3G standards. Many operators have not yet upgraded their basic 3G networks, and LTE is seen as the next logical step for many operators, who will leapfrog straight from basic 3G straight to LTE as this will avoid providing several stages of upgrade. The use of LTE will also provide the data capabilities that will be required for many years and until the full launch of the full 4G standards known as LTE Advanced.

3
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

1.1 3G LTE Beginnings

3GPP, the Third Generation Partnership Project that oversaw the development of the UMTS 3G system, started the work on the evolution of the 3G cellular technology. A workshop was held in Toronto Canada in November 2004 alongside this work. The work on 3G LTE started with a feasibility study started in December 2004, which was finalized for inclusion on 3GPP release 7. LTE core specifications were then included in release 8. The workshop set down a number of high level requirements for 3G LTE: Reduced cost per bit Increased service provisioning - more services at lower cost with better user experience Flexibility of use of existing and new frequency bands Simplified architecture, Open interfaces Allow for reasonable terminal power consumption

In terms of actual figures, targets for LTE included download rates of 100Mbps, and upload rates of 50Mbps for every 20MHz of spectrum. In addition to this LTE was required to support at least 200 active users in every 5MHz cell (i.e. 200 active
4
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS phone calls). Targets have also been set for the latency in IP packet delivery. With the growing use of services including VoIP, gaming and many other applications where latency is of concern, figures need to be set for this. As a result a figure of sub-10ms latency for small IP packets has been set.

1.2 3G LTE Development

Although there are major step changes between LTE and its 3P predecessors, it is nevertheless looked upon as an evolution of the UMTS / 3GPP 3G standards. Although it uses a different form of radio interface, using OFDMA / SC-FDMA instead of CDMA, there are many similarities with the earlier forms of 3G architecture and there is scope for much re-use. LTE can be seen for provide a further evolution of functionality, increased speeds and general improved performance.

5
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

In addition to this, LTE is an all IP based network, supporting both IPv4 and IPv6. There is also no basic provision for voice, although this can be carried as VoIP.

1.3 3G LTE Technologies

LTE has introduced a number of new technologies when compared to the previous cellular systems. They enable LTE to be able to operate more efficiently with respect to the use of spectrum, and also to provide the much higher data rates that are being required
6
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

1.3.1 OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex):

OFDM technology has been incorporated into LTE because it enables high data bandwidths to be transmitted efficiently while still providing a high degree of resilience to reflections and interference. The access schemes differ between the uplink and downlink: OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) is used in the downlink; while SC-FDMA (Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple Access) is used in the uplink. SC-FDMA is used in view of the fact that its pear to average power ratio is small and the more constant power enables high RF power amplifier efficiency in the mobile handsets - an important factor for battery power equipment.

1.3.2 MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output):

One of the main problems that previous telecommunications systems has encountered is that of multiple signals arising from the many reflections that are encountered. By using MIMO, these additional signal paths can be used to advantage and are able to be used to increase the throughput. When using MIMO, it is necessary to use multiple antennas to enable the different paths to be distinguished. Accordingly schemes using 2 x 2, 4 x 2, or 4 x 4 antenna matrices can be used. While it is relatively easy to add further antennas to a base station, the same is not true of mobile handsets, where the dimensions of the user equipment limit the number of antennas which should be place at least a half wavelength apart.

1.3.3 SAE (System Architecture Evolution):

With the very high data rate and low latency requirements for 3G LTE, it is necessary to evolve the system architecture to enable the improved performance to be achieved. One change is that a number of the functions previously handled by the core network have been transferred out to the periphery. Essentially this provides a much "flatter" form of network architecture. In this way latency times can be reduced and data can be routed more directly to its destination.

EPS Evolved Packet System

EUTRAN
IP STACK PROTOCOL

EPC

These technologies are addressed in much greater detail in the following pages of this tutorial. 3G LTE specification overview It is worth summarizing the key parameters of the 3G LTE specification. In view of the fact that there are a number of differences between the operation of the uplink and downlink, these naturally differ in the performance they can offer.

7
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

These LTE highlight specifications give an overall view of the performance that LTE will offer. It meets the requirements of industry for high data download speeds as well as reduced latency - a factor important for many applications from VoIP to gaming and interactive use of data. It also provides significant improvements in the use of the available spectrum.

1.4 3G LTE Summary

8
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS The basic work on LTE has now been completed, although the initial drafts were released in September 2007 and the parallel work on the infrastructure technology known as LTE System Architecture Evolution (SAE) followed shortly afterwards. In terms of the deployments of real systems some anticipate that the first deployments may be seen in 2010 although one of the main problems will be the user equipment. Initially these are likely to consist of broadband "dongles" for use with laptops with other mobiles appearing later. One of the key elements of LTE is the use of OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) as the signal bearer and the associated access schemes, OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex) and SC-FDMA (Single Frequency Division Multiple Access). OFDM is used in a number of other of systems from WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) to broadcast technologies including DVB (Digital Video Broadcasting) and DAB (Digital Audio Output). OFDM has many advantages including its robustness to multipath fading and interference. In addition to this, even though, it may appear to be a particularly complicated form of modulation, it lends itself to digital signal processing techniques. In view of its advantages, the use of ODFM and the associated access technologies, OFDMA and SC-FDMA are natural choices for the new LTE cellular standard.

1.5 OFDM Basics

The use of OFDM is a natural choice for LTE. While the basic concepts of OFDM are used, it has naturally been tailored to meet the exact requirements for LTE. However its use of multiple carrier each carrying a low data rate remains the same.

1.5.1 Note on OFDM:

Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex (OFDM) is a form of transmission that uses a large number of close spaced carriers that are modulated with low rate data. Normally these signals would be expected to interfere with each other. By making the signals orthogonal there is no mutual interference. This is achieved by having the carrier spacing equal to the reciprocal of the symbol period. This means that when the signals are demodulated they will have a whole number of cycles in the symbol period and their contribution will sum to zero - in other words there is no interference contribution. The data to be transmitted is split across all the carriers and this means that by using error correction techniques, if some of the carriers are lost due to multipath effects, then the data can be reconstructed. Additionally having data carried at a low rate across all the carriers means that the effects of reflections and inter-symbol interference can be overcome. It also means that single frequency networks, where all transmitters can transmit on the same channel can be implemented.

9
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS The actual implementation of the technology will be different between the downlink (i.e. from base station to mobile) and the uplink (i.e. mobile to the base station) as a result of the different requirements between the two directions and the equipment at either end. However OFDM was chosen as the signal bearer format because it is very resilient to interference. Also in recent years a considerable level of experience has been gained in its use from the various forms of broadcasting that use it along with Wi-Fi and WiMAX. OFDM is also a modulation format that is very suitable for carrying high data rates - one of the key requirements for LTE. In addition to this, OFDM can be used in both FDD and TDD formats. This becomes an additional advantage.

1.6 LTE Channel Bandwidths

One of the key parameters associated with the use of OFDM within LTE is the choice of bandwidth. The available bandwidth influences a variety of decisions including the number of carriers that can be accommodated in the OFDM signal and in turn influences elements including the symbol length and so forth. LTE defines a number of channel bandwidths. The size of the bandwidth is proportional to the size of the channel capacity.

The channel bandwidths that have been chosen for LTE are:

1.4 MHz 3 MHz 5 MHz 10 MHz 15 MHz 20 MHz

In addition, the subcarriers that are spaced 15 kHz apart from each other to maintain orthogonality, giving a symbol rate of 1 / 15 kHz = of 66.7 s. Each subcarrier is able to carry data at a maximum rate of 15 ksps (kilosymbols per second). This gives a 20 MHz bandwidth system a raw symbol rate of 18 Msps. In turn this is able to provide a raw data rate of 108 Mbps as each symbol using 64QAM is able to represent six bits. It may appear that these rates do not align with the headline figures given in the LTE specifications. This is because actual peak data rates are derived by first subtracting
10
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS the coding and control overheads. Then there are gains arising from elements such as the spatial multiplexing, etc.

1.7 LTE OFDM Cyclic Prefix (CP)

One of the primary reasons for using OFDM as a modulation format within LTE (and many other wireless systems for that matter) is its resilience to multipath delays and spread. However it is still necessary to implement methods of adding resilience to the system. This helps overcome the inter-symbol interference (ISI) that results from this. In areas where inter-symbol interference is expected, it can be avoided by inserting a guard period into the timing at the beginning of each data symbol. It is then possible to copy a section from the end of the symbol to the beginning. This is known as the cyclic prefix, CP. The receiver can then sample the waveform at the optimum time and avoid any inter-symbol interference caused by reflections that are delayed by times up to the length of the CP. The length of the cyclic prefix, CP is important. If it is not long enough then it will not counteract the multipath reflection delay spread. If it is too long, then it will reduce the data throughput capacity. For LTE, the standard length of the CP has been chosen to be 4.69 s. This enables the system to accommodate path variations of up to 1.4 km. The symbol length in LTE is set to 66.7 s. This is defined by the fact that for OFDM systems the length is equal to the reciprocal of the carrier spacing, so that orthogonality is achieved. A carrier spacing of 15 kHz gives the symbol length of 66.7 s.

1.8 LTE OFDMA in the Downlink

The OFDM signal used in LTE comprises a maximum of 2048 different sub-carriers having a spacing of 15 kHz. Although it is mandatory for the mobiles to have capability to be able to receive all 2048 sub-carriers, not all need to be transmitted by the base station which only needs to be able to support the transmission of 72 sub-carriers. In this way all mobiles will be able to talk to any base station. Within the OFDM signal it is possible to choose between three types of modulation: QPSK (= 4QAM) 16QAM 64QAM 2 bits per symbol

4 bits per symbol 6 bits per symbol

11
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS The exact format is chosen depending upon the prevailing conditions. The lower forms of modulation, QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) do not require such a large signal to noise ratio but are not able to send the data as fast. The higher order modulation format can be used only when there is a sufficient signal to noise ratio.

1.8.1 Downlink Carriers and Resource Blocks

In the downlink, the subcarriers are split into resource blocks. This enables the system to be able to compartmentalize the data across standard numbers of subcarriers. Resource blocks comprise 12 subcarriers, regardless of the overall LTE signal bandwidth. They also cover one slot in the time frame. This means that different LTE signal bandwidths will have different numbers of resource blocks.

1.8.2 LTE SC-FDMA in the Uplink

For the LTE uplink, a different concept is used for the access technique. Although still using a form of OFDMA technology, the implementation is called Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA).One of the key parameters that affects all mobiles is that of battery life. Even though battery performance is improving all the time, it is still necessary to ensure that the mobiles use as little battery power as possible. With the RF power amplifier that transmits the radio frequency signal via the antenna to the base station being the highest power item within the mobile, it is necessary that it operates in as efficient mode as possible. This can be significantly affected by the form of radio frequency modulation and signal format. Signals that have a high peak to average ratio and require linear amplification do not lend themselves to the use of efficient RF power amplifiers. As a result it is necessary to employ a mode of transmission that has as near a constant power level when operating. Unfortunately, OFDM has a high peak to average ratio. While this is not a problem for the base station where power is not a particular issue, it is unacceptable for the mobile. As a result, LTE uses a modulation scheme known as SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiplex) which is a hybrid format. This combines the low peak to average ratio offered by single-carrier systems with the multipath interference resilience and flexible subcarrier frequency allocation that OFDM provides.
12
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) is another of the LTE major technology innovations used to improve the performance of the system. This technology provides LTE with the ability to further improve its data throughput and spectral efficiency above that obtained by the use of OFDM. Although MIMO adds complexity to the system in terms of processing and the number of antennas required, it enables far high data rates to be achieved along with much improved spectral efficiency. As a result, MIMO has been included as an integral part of LTE.

2.0 LTE MIMO Basics

The basic concept of MIMO utilizes the multipath signal propagation that is present in all terrestrial communications. These paths can be used to an advantage, rather than providing interference.

2.0.1 Note on MIMO:

Two major limitations in communications channels can be multipath interference, and the data throughput limitations as a result of Shannon's Law. MIMO provides a way of utilizing the multiple signal paths that exist between a transmitter and receiver to significantly improve the data throughput available on a given channel with its defined bandwidth. By using multiple antennas at the transmitter and receiver along with some complex digital signal processing, MIMO technology enables the system to set up multiple data streams on the same channel, thereby increasing the data capacity of a channel.

MIMO is being used increasingly in many high data rate technologies including Wi-Fi and other wireless and cellular technologies to provide improved levels of efficiency. Essentially MIMO employs multiple antennas on the receiver and transmitter to utilize the multi-path effects that always exist to transmit additional data, rather than causing interference. The schemes employed in LTE again vary slightly between the uplink and downlink. The reason for this is to keep the terminal cost low as there are far more terminals than base stations and as a result terminal works cost price is far more sensitive. For the downlink, a configuration of two transmit antennas at the base station and two receive antennas on the mobile terminal is used as baseline, although configurations with four antennas are also being considered.
13
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS For the uplink from the mobile terminal to the base station, a scheme called MU-MIMO (Multi-User MIMO) is to be employed. Using this, even though the base station requires multiple antennas, the mobiles only have one transmit antenna and this considerably reduces the cost of the mobile. In operation, multiple mobile terminals may transmit simultaneously on the same channel or channels, but they do not cause interference to each other because mutually orthogonal pilot patterns are used. This techniques is also referred to as spatial domain multiple access (SDMA).

2.1 LTE FDD Frequency Band Allocations

There are a large number of allocations or radio spectrums that have been reserved for FDD, frequency division duplex, LTE use. The FDD frequency bands are paired to allow simultaneous transmission on two frequencies. The bands also have a sufficient separation to enable the transmitted signals not to unduly impair the receiver performance. If the signals are too close then the receiver may be "blocked" and the sensitivity impaired. The separation must be sufficient to enable the roll-off of the antenna filtering to give sufficient attenuation of the transmitted signal within the receive band.

14
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS

LTE TDD frequency band allocations

With the interest in TDD LTE, there are several unpaired frequency allocations that are being prepared for LTR TDD use. The TDD LTE allocations are unpaired because the uplink and downlink share the same frequency, being time multiplexed.

2.2 Abbreviations

3GPP Project

Third Generation Partnership

ADM

Add Drop Multiplexer

15
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS
ADSL Line ATM BSC BSS BTS CDMA DAB DAS DSL DSLAM Multiplexer DVB DWDM E911 E911 SR EDGE Evolution ECM EMM EPC ePDG EPS E-RAB Asynchronous Digital Subscriber GigE GPRS Asynchronous Transfer Mode Base Site Controller Business Support System Base Station Transceiver Code Division Multiple Access Digital Audio Broadcasting Distributed Antenna System Digital Subscriber Line Digital Subscriber Line Access Gigabit Ethernet General Packet Radio Service

GSM Global System for Mobile Communications GW HLR HSS Gateway Home Location Register Home Subscriber Server

IMEI International Mobile Station Equipment Identity IMS IMSI Identity IP IPTV ISDN Network LTE MDU MGW MIMO MIPv4 MIPv6 MME MIMO M-TMSI Identity MPLS MSC MSP MTSO 16 IP Multimedia Subsystem International Mobile Subscriber

Digital Video Broadcasting Dense Wave Digital Multiplexing Enhanced 911 E911 Selective Routing Enhanced Data Rates for GSM

Internet Protocol Internet Protocol Television Integrated Services Digital

Long Term Evolution Multi Dwelling Unit Media Gateway Multiple Input Multiple Output Mobile IP version 4 Mobile IP version 6 Mobility Management Entity Multiple Input Multiple Output M-Temporary Mobile Subscriber

EPS Connection Management EPS Mobility Management Evolved Packet Core Evolved Packet Data Gateway Evolved Packet System E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer

ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute E-UTRAN Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network EVDO GGSN Evolution Data Optimized Gateway GPRS Support Node

Multiprotocol Label Switching Mobile Switching Center Multiservice Platform Mobile Telephony Switching Office

Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.

GOODMAN NETWORKS
OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing Access OLT OMC-ID Identity ONT OSS PDN P-GW PDCP PDSN Optical Line Terminal Operation and Maintenance enter SS7 STP Signaling System 7 Signal Transfer Point

TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol TDD Time-Division Duplex Time Division Multiplexer

Optical Network Terminal Operational Support System Packet Data Network PDN Gateway Packet Data Convergence Protocol Packet Data Switching Node

TDM

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System VHO VSO VoIP WAC WBS WCDMA WDM WMG Video Hub Office Video Serving Office Voice over IP WiMAX Access Device WiMAX Base Station Wideband CDMA Wavelength Division Multiplexing Wireless Media Gateway

PMIP/PMIPv6 Proxy Mobile IP version 6 PON PSAP PSTN Network QAM Modulation QPSK RAN RG Passive Optical Network Public Safety Answering Point Public Switched Telephone

Quadrature Amplitude

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access WLAN WSS Wireless Local Area Network Wireless Soft Switch

Quadrature Phase Shift Keying Radio Access Network Residential Gateway

SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access SCP SDH S-GW SHE SGSN SIAD SONET Service Control Point Synchronous Digital Hierarchy Serving Gateway Super Head End Serving GPRS Support Node Site Access Device Synchronous Optical Network 17
Proprietary Information The information contained herein is not for use or disclosure outside GOODMAN NETWORKS, Supplier, their Affiliates and subsidiary companies, and their third party representatives, except under written agreement.