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LTE Radio Protocol Architecture - Tutorialspoint

The document summarizes the LTE radio protocol architecture, which separates protocols into a user plane and control plane. In the user plane, packets are processed by PDCP, RLC, MAC and then the physical layer for transmission. The control plane additionally includes the RRC layer, which configures lower layers depending on whether the UE is idle or connected. Protocols in both planes process packets through layers from top to bottom.

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Alexandra Gonzalez
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88 views

LTE Radio Protocol Architecture - Tutorialspoint

The document summarizes the LTE radio protocol architecture, which separates protocols into a user plane and control plane. In the user plane, packets are processed by PDCP, RLC, MAC and then the physical layer for transmission. The control plane additionally includes the RRC layer, which configures lower layers depending on whether the UE is idle or connected. Protocols in both planes process packets through layers from top to bottom.

Uploaded by

Alexandra Gonzalez
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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10/30/2019 LTE Radio Protocol Architecture - Tutorialspoint

LTE Radio Protocol Architecture

The radio protocol architecture for LTE can be separated into control plane architecture and user plane
architecture as shown below:

At user plane side, the application creates data packets that are processed by protocols such as TCP,
UDP and IP, while in the control plane, the radio resource control (RRC) protocol writes the signalling
messages that are exchanged between the base station and the mobile. In both cases, the information is
processed by the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), the radio link control (RLC) protocol and the
medium access control (MAC) protocol, before being passed to the physical layer for transmission.

User Plane

The user plane protocol stack between the e-Node B and UE consists of the following sub-layers:

PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol)

RLC (radio Link Control)


Medium Access Control (MAC)

On the user plane, packets in the core network (EPC) are encapsulated in a specific EPC protocol and
tunneled between the P-GW and the eNodeB. Different tunneling protocols are used depending on the
interface. GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) is used on the S1 interface between the eNodeB and S-GW
and on the S5/S8 interface between the S-GW and P-GW.

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10/30/2019 LTE Radio Protocol Architecture - Tutorialspoint

Packets received by a layer are called Service Data Unit (SDU) while the packet output of a layer is
referred to by Protocol Data Unit (PDU) and IP packets at user plane flow from top to bottom layers.

Control Plane
The control plane includes additionally the Radio Resource Control layer (RRC) which is responsible for
configuring the lower layers.

The Control Plane handles radio-specific functionality which depends on the state of the user equipment
which includes two states: idle or connected.

Mode Description

Idle The user equipment camps on a cell after a cell selection or reselection process where factors like
radio link quality, cell status and radio access technology are considered. The UE also monitors a
paging channel to detect incoming calls and acquire system information. In this mode, control
plane protocols include cell selection and reselection procedures.

Connected The UE supplies the E-UTRAN with downlink channel quality and neighbour cell information to
enable the E-UTRAN to select the most suitable cell for the UE. In this case, control plane
protocol includes the Radio Link Control (RRC) protocol.

The protocol stack for the control plane between the UE and MME is shown below. The grey region of the
stack indicates the access stratum (AS) protocols. The lower layers perform the same functions as for the
user plane with the exception that there is no header compression function for the control plane.

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