Overview of The Universal Mobile Telecommunication System

(UMTS)

Presented by : Ibrahim Abdel Nabi

Outline

Towards 3G
3G Systems

UMTS Services
UMTS Architecture Radio Access Other Issues

Towards 3G (1)

Early systems: late 70s

Restricted mobility, low capacity, poor speech quality Example: Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS)

2G drivers

Need to improve quality, capacity, and coverage

2G characteristics

Low transmit power, handover, roaming, etc. Data rates up to 9.6 kbps

Services: mainly voice + basic data (SMS)

Example: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)

Towards 3G (2)

GSM enhancements and maximum theoretical bit rates

HSCSD: up to 115 kbps GPRS: known as 2.5G, up to 171 kbps

EDGE: known as 2.75G, up to 553 kbps

Higher bit-rate services, better spectrum efficiency High data rates of 144 kbps (mobile) till 2 Mbps (indoor) Variable bit rates (bandwidth on demand) Asymmetrical data transfer (IP-services) Circuit and packet switched services Open architecture that allows new services and architectures

Main 3G drivers

Requirements for 3G

Outline

Towards 3G
3G Systems UMTS Services UMTS Architecture Radio Access Other Issues

3G Systems

International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

IMT-2000 family

CDMA FDD: WCDMA (Europe, Japan)

CDMA Multi-carrier: CDMA2000 (US)

CDMA TDD: TD-SCDMA 3GPP is standardizing UMTS 3GPP2 is standardizing CDMA2000 ETSI in Europe, etc. Vendors, operators, etc. Political bodies

3GPP

3GPP members

UMTS Services

Services

Main driver for 3G systems

UMTS Services have four traffic classes

Conversational class (voice, video telephony) Streaming class (multimedia, video on demand) Interactive class (web browsing, network gaming) Background class (email, SMS, downloading)

Outline

Towards 3G
3G Systems

UMTS Services
UMTS Architecture Radio Access Other Issues

UMTS Architecture

Three main blocks

The User Equipment (UE) The UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) The Core Network (CN)

Interfaces: Uu, Iu, Iur, Iub

UTRAN

CN

User Equipment

Terminal used for radio comm. over Uu interface

Counterpart for Node B PS/CS mode of operation PS mode of operation CS mode of operation Security functions

Can operate in one of three modes

UMTS SIM card (USIM) functions

Stores subscription information

Etc.

UTRAN (1)

Provides the air interface access method for UE Base Station is referred to as Node-B Control equipment

Radio Network Controller (RNC)

Radio Network Subsystem (RNS)

Radio Network Subsystem (RNS)

UTRAN (2)

Node B main functions

Air interface TX/RX Modulation/demodulation

Channel coding
Etc. Radio resources control Macro diversity Handover control Channel allocation

RNC main functions

Core Network (CN)

Based on GSM network with GPRS

Equipment to be modified for UMTS operation and services Switching, routing and transit for user traffic Databases (VLR/HLR) and network management functions
To circuit-switched networks

Main functions

Core network contains

MSC/VLR

GMSC

HLR
SGSN GGSN To packet-switched networks

Core Network

Outline

Towards 3G 3G Systems UMTS Services UMTS Architecture Radio Access Other Issues

Radio Access (1)

Multiple access schemes

FDMA

Divide bandwidth into channels Each user is assigned a channel User inactive -> idle channel -> drawback Divide time into time slots Each user is assigned a time slot User uses the entire bandwidth in his time slot User inactive -> waste of resources

TDMA

Spectrum Inefficiency !!

Radio Access (2)

CDMA

All users use the same frequency band at the same time Differentiate between users by using spreading codes

Data is multiplied by a spreading code

Transmission bandwidth >> information bandwidth Spreading the signal -> spread spectrum

Receiver de-spread using the same spreading code

Channelization codes Scrambling codes

Spreading codes in UMTS

On Uplink and Downlink

Channelization and Scrambling

Channelization

Uplink: separate channels (data and control) of same terminal Downlink: separate connection to different terminals in a same cell Code: use orthogonal codes (OVSF) with good autocorrelation properties

Scrambling

Uplink: each user equipment has unique scrambling code Downlink: each cell is assigned unique scrambling code

Code: Gold code with very good cross-correlation properties

Outline

Towards 3G
3G Systems UMTS Services UMTS Architecture Radio Access Other Issues

Other Issues (1)

Power control

Very critical in UMTS systems Solves near-far effect, minimizes power radiation

Open loop power control

When a UE is accessing the network Setting initial transmit power

Closed loop power control

MS and BS measure received SIR and send control commands Requires feedback power control symbols (TPC) Inner: Node B and UE-> power up and down commands Outer: Node B and RNC->Adaptation of SIR->Channel conditions

Other Issues (2)

Handover

Soft handover

user connected to sectors of different BSs

Softer handover

user connected to sectors of same BS

Intersystem handover

UMTS GSM handover

Hard handover

Frequency handover

Thank You Questions???