LTE RAN concepts

- RAN related 3GPP Specification Numbers for RRC, MAC, PDCP, PHY layers

TS 36.331 (RRC), TS 36.323 (PDCP), TS 36.322 (RLC) TS 36.321 (MAC), (TS 36.211, TS 36.212, TS
36.213, TS 36.216) PHY

- LTE Frequency Bands used in different customer networks

700, 850, 1700, 1800, 1900, 2100, 2600,

- QCI model in LTE ? (GBR/VoLTE, NGBR/data, e.t.c)

https://forum.huawei.com/enterprise/en/a-basic-explanation-of-qos-and-qci/thread/463509-
100305

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=blog&tag=36&no=5932

https://www.netmanias.com/en/post/blog/5933/lte-qos/lte-qos-part-2-lte-qos-parameters-qci-
arp-gbr-mbr-and-ambr

QoS management is a mechanism that helps an EPS network meet service quality requirements. It
ensures service quality by coordinating among all network elements (NEs) involved on an end-to-
end basis, from the service initiation to its service response. QoS management is performed on
EPS bearers.

Chapter 13 in 3GPP TS 36.300 V10.10.0.

EPS bearers are classified into guaranteed bit rate (GBR) and non-GBR bearers based on GBR
attributes.

GBR bearers are used for real-time services, such as voice, video, and real-time gaming. These
bearers are dedicated bearers.

Non-GBR bearers are used to carry non-real-time services, such as emails, File Transfer Protocol
(FTP) services, and Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) services.

EPS bearers are classified into default and dedicated bearers based on setup modes.
Table 2. EPS bearer classification based on setup modes

Bearer Type Description

Default Allocated by the EPC to a UE when the UE is initially attached to the
bearer EPS. If the UE has multiple access point names (APNs), for example,
an IMS APN and an Internet APN, the EPS sets up a default bearer for
each APN. The default bearer remains established to ensure a short
delay for the UE to start a service and provide the UE with always-on IP
connectivity.
The default bearer is a non-GBR bearer.
Dedicated Set up for a UE if the default bearer cannot meet the QoS requirements.
bearer A dedicated bearer can generally meet more stringent QoS
requirements than the default bearer. Multiple dedicated bearers can be
set up for a UE simultaneously.
The EPC sets up dedicated bearers for a UE based on QoS
requirements. A dedicated bearer can be a GBR or non-GBR bearer.

A maximum of eight bearers with different QoS class identifiers (QCIs) can be set up for a UE.

3GPP TS 23.203 first defines the standardized QCIs 1 to 9 and then introduces QCIs 65, 66, 69 and
70 for push-to-talk (PTT) services in Release 13. For TDD, QCIs 75 and 79 are introduced in Release
14 for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) services. These QCIs indicate the corresponding service quality
requirements and service priorities.

However, these standardized QCIs are not sufficient for operators needing to differentiate the
services for the UEs. For this reason, 3GPP specifications have introduced extended QCIs, enabling
operators to define their own QCIs for different UEs and services.

Extended QCIs currently apply only to non-GBR services. Extended QCIs help differentiate non-GBR
services and implement differentiated experience for UEs that perform services of the same type.

The QCI determines how an IP packet on a bearer is processed on the user plane.
- UE categories (Cat 3, Cat 4, e.t.c, and characteristics of each category)

Downlink physical layer parameter values set by the field ue-Category (36.306 table 4.1-1):
Maximum number of DL- Maximum number of Maximum number of
SCH transport block bits bits of a DL-SCH supported layers for
received within a TTI transport block Total number of soft spatial multiplexing in
UE Category (Note 1) received within a TTI channel bits DL

Category 1 10296 10296 250368 1

Category 2 51024 51024 1237248 2

Category 3 102048 75376 1237248 2

Category 4 150752 75376 1827072 2

Category 5 299552 149776 3667200 4

149776 (4 layers,
64QAM)

75376 (2 layers,
Category 6 301504 64QAM) 3654144 2 or 4
 149776 (4 layers,
64QAM)

75376 (2 layers,
Category 7 301504 64QAM) 3654144 2 or 4

Category 8 2998560 299856 35982720 8

149776 (4 layers,
64QAM)

75376 (2 layers,
Category 9 452256 64QAM) 5481216 2 or 4

149776 (4 layers,
64QAM)

75376 (2 layers,
Category 10 452256 64QAM) 5481216 2 or 4

149776 (4 layers,
64QAM)

195816 (4 layers,
256QAM)

75376 (2 layers,
64QAM)

97896 (2 layers,
Category 11 603008 256QAM) 7308288 2 or 4

149776 (4 layers,
64QAM)

195816 (4 layers,
256QAM)

75376 (2 layers,
64QAM)

97896 (2 layers,
Category 12 603008 256QAM) 7308288 2 or 4

NOTE 1:    In carrier aggregation operation, the DL-SCH processing capability can be shared by the UE with that of MCH
received from a serving cell. If the total eNB scheduling for DL-SCH and an MCH in one serving cell at a given TTI is larger
than the defined processing capability, the prioritization between DL-SCH and MCH is left up to UE implementation.

Uplink physical layer parameter values set by the field ue-Category (36.306 table 4.1-2):
Maximum number of UL-SCH Maximum number of bits of
transport block bits transmitted an UL-SCH transport block
UE Category within a TTI transmitted within a TTI Support for 64QAM in UL

Category 1 5160 5160 No

Category 2 25456 25456 No

Category 3 51024 51024 No

Category 4 51024 51024 No

Category 5 75376 75376 Yes

Category 6 51024 51024 No

Category 7 102048 51024 No

Category 8 1497760 149776 Yes

Category 9 51024 51024 No

Category 10 102048 51024 No

Category 11 51024 51024 No

Category 12 102048 51024 No

LTE ue Cat- LTE ue LTE ue LTE ue LTE ue

Feature 1 Cat-2 Cat-3 Cat-4 Cat-5

Data Downlink(DL
Rate(Mbps ) 10, DL 50, DL 100, DL 150, DL 300,
) Uplink(UL) 5 UL 25 UL 50 UL 50 UL 75

DL:
DL: DL: DL: QPSK,
DL: QPSK, QPSK, QPSK, 16QAM,
QPSK, 16QAM, 16QAM, 16QAM, 64QAM,
16QAM, 64QAM, 64QAM, 64QAM, UL:
Modulation 64QAM, UL: UL: UL: QPSK,
type UL: QPSK, QPSK, QPSK, QPSK, 16QAM,
supported 16QAM 16QAM 16QAM 16QAM 64QAM

Not Mandator Mandator Mandator Mandator

2x2 MIMO supported y y y y
 Not Not Not Not Mandator
4x4 MIMO supported supported supported supported y

Total
Layer-2
Buffer
Size(Bytes
) 150 000 700 000 1 400 000 1 900 000 3 500 000

Max. no. of
bits of a
MCH
transport
block
received
within a
TTI 10296 51024 75376 75376 75376

Max. no. of
bits of a
DL-SCH
transport
block
received
within a
TTI 10296 51024 75376 75376 149776

Max. no. of 1 2 2 2 4
supported
layers for
spatial
 multiplexin
g in DL

Max. no. of
bits
of an UL-
SCH
transport
block
transmitted
within a
TTI 5160 25456 51024 51024 75376

- Mobility states - (EMM Registered/Deregistered, ECM Idle/Connected, RRC Idle/Connected ?)

A UE can attach to a network and use services regardless of its location by exchanging control
signaling messages with the network using NAS signaling between the UE and an MME. EPS
Mobility Management (EMM) and EPS Session Management (ESM) functions are two major NAS
functions, and this document will cover EMM states and their transitions to help understand the
EMM procedures to be discussed in details in the documents to be presented later on. EMM
connection management is performed through EPS Connection Management (ECM) function, and
an ECM connection consists of an RRC (Radio Resource Control) connection over the radio
interface and an S1 signaling connection over the S1-MME interface. Thus, ECM and RRC states
will also be explained when discussing the EMM states of a UE in this document.

https://www.netmanias.com/en/post/techdocs/5909/ecm-emm-lte-mobility/lte-emm-and-ecm-
states

Figure 1 illustrates EMM, ECM and RRC states associated with the UE and MME3. EMM can be in
either “EMM-Registered” or “EMM-Deregistered” state depending on whether the UE is attached
to, or detached from, the network. ECM can have either “ECM-Connected” or “ECM-Idle”
depending on whether a NAS signaling connection (i.e. ECM connection) is established or not.
Likewise, RRC can be in either “RRC-Connected” or “RRC-Idle” depending on whether an RRC
connection is established or not. Table 2 shows in what conditions a UE stays in a particular state.
There is an error in Figure 2 and it will be fixed later.

Find comments belows (from Jakub Bluszcz in LinkedIn):

RLF doesn’t necessarily result in transition from RRC-CONNECTED to RRC-IDLE [3GPP 36.331
5.3.11].

If cell selection and reestablishment procedures are successful the UE remains in RRC-
CONNECTED. In case there is no suitable cell or reestablishment fails the UE goes to RRC-IDLE.

Some selected cases are presented here: http://www.sploty.com/en/rlf-and-connection-

reestablishment

Moreover, the RLF and subsequent transition to RRC-IDLE doesn’t result in transition from EMM-
REGISTERED to EMM-DEREGISTERED. The correct state should be EMM-REGISTERED substate NO-
CELL-AVAILABLE [see 24.301 5.1.3.2.4.7], which means that after new cell selection followed by
new RRC Connection Establishment the EMM Service Request procedure can be successful (i.e. no
Attach nor default EPS bearer establishment is necessary).
- Basic LTE FDD Frame Structure - TTI/Resource Blocks, PBCH, PDCCH, PDSCH, PUCCH, PUSCH
(Which messages are sent in which channel ?)

LTE Frame Structure

 - Radio Frame Type1 (LTE-FDD): This transmits DL and UL separately in different
frequency. In FDD the concept is carrier.
- Radio Frame Type2 (LTE-TDD): This transmits DL and UL in the same frequency but in
different times to transmit. In TDD the concept is frame, subframe, slot and symbol.

- The period is 10ms = 1 frame.

- The minimum definition in LTE is Symbol.
- 1 Slot can contain 7 symbols or 6 symbols depending on the CP definition.
- CP is Cyclic Prefix and is used to overcome multiple path delay.
- There are two definitions for CP: Normal and Extended. In most of cases we required
to use only Normal CP. When the cell radius is wider and there are multiple path delay we
need to consider use Extended CP.

-
- In Radio Frame Type2 (FDD), there are Special Subframe which support to convert DL
frames to UL frames and viceversa.
- DwPTS / UpPTS can be used to transmit data or signaling, and Guard Period is not used
to transmit data it is only used for the conversion from DL to UL and viceversa.

-
- There are 7 possible configurations to set which subframes are for DL or for UL, these
can be set in the cell configuration.
- Switching Point Periodicity, determines when to change from DL/UL if every 5ms or
every 10ms.
 - For 5ms configuration delay is less but there are more Special subframes, so less
throughput.
- 10ms is high delay but higher throughput since there is only 1 Special subframe.

- The quantity of symbols assigned for DwPTS/UpPTS/GB depends on the parameter SSP
(Special Subframe Pattern) and the CP configuration.
- If there are at least 9 symbols in DwPTS then this slot can transmit data so the DL THP
can be improved.
- The length of the GP determines the cell radius, 1 symbol for GP can support 10 km of
cell radius, if we need wide cell radius we can use bigger GP.
- The other function of GP is the interoperability between LTE and WiMAX, if we require
them to operate at the same time then we require bigger GP (typically 9 symbols).
- For UpPTS, if there is 1 symbol then it is used for signaling, if there are 2 symbos then
it is used for random access (this last is the typical configuration).
- Typical configurations of SSP are number 5 or 7.

-
- So for LTE TDD it should be done 2 configurations: subframe configuration and special
subframe configuration.

-
 - RE (Resource Element): It’s composed by 1 subcarrier and 1 symbol.
- RB (Resource Block): It’s composed by 12 subcarriers and 1 slot. It’s the basic unit for
the eNodeB to allocate data resources. For the traffic channel the basic unit is RB.

-
- REG (RE Group) & CCE (Control Channel Elements) are basic units of control channel
scheduling, such as PHICH, PCFICH, PDCCH.
- 1 REG = 4 RE
- 1 CCE = 9 REG = 36 RE.
- CCE is mainly used for Scheduling Channel (PDCCH).

LTE DL PHY Channel & Signal

PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel)

PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel)

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

PHICH (Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel)

PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel)

Reference Signal

Synchronization Signals

The difference between channels and signals is that in channels the information carried by them is
not fixed after cell establishment, the information always changes. For the signals the information
is always fixed after cell establishment.
From Synchronization Signals (PSS / SSS) UE can find the PCI, after that UE can find PBCH due to
PBCH and Synchronization Signals are adjacent, from PBCH the UE can get the DL BW and SFN,
then UE is able to read other channels and finally UE can read PDSCH and get the cell parameters
that are System Information (SIB), after read cell parameters then UE can make the cell selection,
and then UE can make initial access by performing Random Access Procedure.

LTE UL PHY Channel & Signal

PRACH (Physical Random Access Channel)

PUCCH (Physical Uplink Control Channel)

PUSCH (Physical Uplink Shared Channel)

Reference Signal
http://dhagle.in/LTE

Synchronization Signal

- It Includes Primary Synchronization Signal (PSS) and Secondary Synchronization Signal

(SSS).
- Functions of Synchronization Signal
 PSS: Get slot synchronization. It is repeated twice in 1 frame and the value is the same in
subframe 0 and subframe 5, according to PSS UE can know current Slot information.
 SSS: Get frame/subframe synchronization. It carries two different format in subframe 0
and subframe 5. According to SS UE can know subframe information.
 By reading PSS and SSS, UE can get slot and subframe synchronization. After this process
the UE can be synchronized with LTE network.
  Get PCI (Physical Cell ID)
- PSS and SSS occupies one symbol and 72 carriers from which only 62 carriers are used
for data and the others are for guard.
- In Frequency Domain they’re located at the cell frequency center as in this part there
should be less interference.
- In Time Domain, they’re located in Subframe 0 and Subframe 5, each one occupies 1
symbol.

-
- In TDD, they’re located in the same frequency but in time PSS is located in subframe 1
and subframe 6, while SSS is in subframe 0 and subframe 5.

-
- By the location of PSS and SSS the UE can know if the Cell is TDD or FDD.

Reference Signal

- The reference signal is measured by UE to get the channel quality evaluation.

- There are two types of RS:
 Cell-specific RS: It is measured by all the UEs in the cell.
 UE-specific RS:
- Location of cell RS is related to number of antenna ports (1/2/4), the below picture is
an example of 2 antenna ports.
 -
- The reason of why some symbols don’t have R but instead they have an X (OFF) is due
to this configuration have 2 antenna ports, so in order to avoid interference between them,
when 1 antenna port is transmitting R then then the other antenna port must not transmit R.
- There are four R in 1 RB.
- The RS are distributed along all the possible RBs as UE require to continue measure to
evaluate channel quality.
- Through RS we can obtain RSRP and RSRQ, which are the two metrics to estimate
coverage and quality of the cell.

PBCH (Physical Broadcast Channel)

-
- It carries one part of the SI which is named MIB (Master Information Block).
- MIB carries the most important information for SI: DL Bandwidth and System Frame
Number (SFN). According to this two information UE can get the other information.
- The MIB provided by the system is distributed into 4 PBCH
- Each frame carries 1 PBCH. So the PBCH interval is 10ms. Because 4 PBCH carries 1
MIB, so typical we say MIB interval is 40ms.
- In time domain the PBCH is located in subframe 0/slot 1 and occupies 4 symbols.
- In frequency domain is the same as PSS and SSS.

PCFICH (Physical Control Format Indicator Channel)

- PCFICH indicates the number of symbol for PDCCH. That means, the size of the
scheduling channel. This is because PDCCH can occupies 1, 2, 3 or 4 symbols (it’s not fixed)
and UE needs to know the size of PDCCH to read the scheduling.
- PCFICH is after PBCH due to PBCH carriers the DL BW of the cell which is required to
know the location of the PCFICH in frequency domain.
- PCFICH always occupies the first symbol in 1 subframe in time domain.
 - In frequency domain the location is calculated by the formula shown in the picture.

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

-
- This channel carriers the following information:
 UL scheduling information
 DL scheduling information
 UL power control information
- Scheduling means the allocation of the PDSCH/PUSCH
- The power control command is used for the open-loop power control to tell the UE
how to adjust the UL power
- The information carried by the PDCCH is named as DCI (Downlink Control Indicator).
The DCI can be classified into several types. Each type is used to carry the scheduling for 1
function.
- In time domain the PDCCH occupies 1, 2, 3 or 4 symbols. 4 symbol configuration is only
used for 1.4 MHz LTE configuration. In each subframe the first symbols belongs to PDCCH.
- In frequency domain the PDCCH occupies all frequencies. From the bottom to top all
subcarriers are used by PDCCH in the first symbols of each subframe.
 -
PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel)

- Functions of PDSCH:
 It carries common control signaling: Paging, SIB, Random Access.
 It carries dedicated control signaling: RRC signaling, NAS signaling.
 It carries user data.
- In time and frequency domain all the resources not used by previous channel can be
used by PDSCH.

PHICH (Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel)

- PHICH carriers ACK/NACKs in response to uplink transmission.

- In time domain it is located in the first symbol of each subframe.
- In frequency domain the location is determined by the DL BW and one formula.
- The quantity of PHICH is determined by the parameter Ng (number of group). We can
configure this parameter Ng, the bigger the value the more PHICH group.
- 1 PHICH group can be used to transmit a maximum 8 ACK/NACK.
 -

- Transmission Modes (TM3/TM4 – which mode is used in which customer network ?)

LTE Transmission
mode MIMO Scheme

Mode-1 single antenna transmission

Mode-2 transmit diversity

Mode-3 open loop codebook based pre-coding

Mode-4 closed loop codebook based pre-coding

Mode-5 Multiuser MIMO version of transmission mode-4

single layer special case of closed loop codebook based

Mode-6 pre-coding

release 8 non codebook based pre-coding supporting

Mode-7 only single layer, based on beamforming
 release 9 non codebook based pre-coding supporting
Mode-8 upto 2 layers.

release 10 non codebook based pre-coding supporting

Mode-9 upto 8 layers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArUkFGsKE0Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e9ACpy4Vm8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiSsU7nebzQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n678uZ-csjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOxuZjtuu-Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-8UfAnpbkE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFBcljxRhzM

- Control Plane and User Plane Protocol definitions - (SRB, DRB, etc, Logical, Transport and
Physical channels)

Control Plane Protocol Stack

Air interface constraints:

Not Secured
 Limited Resource (maximum speed without features is 100 Mbps)

Shared resources

Layer definition is to solve some problems in Air Interface, to make this interface to be operative.

NAS (Non-Access Stratum): It’s connected between UE and MME. The eNodeB doesn’t process the
signaling.

RRC (Radio Resource Control): It’s connected between UE and eNodeB, so it mainly carries eNodeB
signaling

PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol): Two main functions

- Ciphering & Encryption: for data protection.

- Compress IP Head: Compress the IP Head in order to improve the efficiency or the Tx
RLC (Radio Link Control): Provides one reliable Tx mode for all data, due to air interface is not
realiable.

MAC (Medium Access Control): Performs Resource scheduling/allocation based on many factors
(in LTE 1ms scheduling is used)

PHY (Physical Layer): Provides physical signals to the UEs, it transfers the RF signals.

User Plane Protocol Stacks

IP (Internet Protocol): Data addressing.

PDCP (Packet Data Convergence Protocol): Two main functions

- Ciphering & Encryption: for data protection.

- Compress IP Head: Compress the IP Head in order to improve the efficiency or the Tx.
 It doesn’t compress Payload.
- Integration Check.
RLC (Radio Link Control): Provides one reliable Tx mode for all data, due to air interface is not
reliable. Can provide UDP or TCP mode. (Ack or Non Ack mode). Perform the segmentation.

MAC (Medium Access Control): Performs Resource scheduling/allocation based on many factors
(in LTE 1ms scheduling is used) In the case of User Plane it’s important to note that Data have
lower scheduling priority than data from Signaling Plane. MAC Layer does the scheduling according
to available resource, service priority, channel quality and other factors. Make the QoS based
scheduling.

PHY (Physical Layer): Provides physical signals to the UEs, it transfers the RF signals. The same as
Control Plane. Makes modulation mapping, makes the MIMO, OFDM, Power Amplifier.

DL/UL Processing of User Plane

Main difference between DL and UL is the PHY Layer.

Modulation: In DL most of UEs can support 64 QAM, in UL not happen this.

MIMO Mode: eNodeB can support MIMO but UE can’t.

UL Signaling Processing of Control Plane

For signaling Flow the receiver is different, sometimes can be the eNodeB (through the RRC) or the
MME (Through the NAS)

RRC FUNCTIONS

eNodeB controls UE through the RRC Layer.

Main functions of RRC Layer

- System Information Broadcast

- Paging information transmitting
- RRC connection management
- Radio bearer control
- Mobility Management
- Measurement report
- NAS Transport between UE and MME

- IDLE MODE
 Broadcast SI to tell UE what kind of parameters are used in this cell
 Paging information transmitting, in order to command UE to connected mode or to tell
UE what’s information is updated in the cell.
 - CONNECTED MODE
 RRC connection management. The RRC needs to control UE connection, to tell the UE
how to establish connection to network.
 Radio bearer control. eNodeB needs to say to UE how to create, how to delete and how
to modify the radio connection to network.
 Mobility Management (Handover): eNodeB needs to control UE while it’s moving from
one place to another (from one cell to another)
 Measurement report: Through this function the eNodeB can determine whether HO
needs to be perform or not based on radio conditions measurement from UE.
 NAS transport between UE and MME: RRC perform the transparent transmit of NAS
signaling

RRC STATES

RRC_IDLE. To move from RRC_IDLE to RRC_Connected is through RRC Connection Setup message.

- No connection between UE and eNodeB: UE doesn’t have dedicated resource, UE can

only use some public resource, UE needs to monitor SI and Paging.
- Paging: UE monitors SI and Paging information
- Cell re-selection mobility: when the UE doesn’t have dedicated resources (data
exchange with network) when moving then this process is called cell re-selection
- Broadcast of system information: UE monitors SI

RRC_CONNECTED. To move from RRC_IDLE to RRC_Connected is through RRC Connection Release

message. The UE has RRC connection. The RRC connection can be used to download or upload the
data, receive or transmit the signaling.

- UE has an EUTRAN RRC Connection

 - Handover. The UE needs to exchange some signaling data with eNodeB
- Network transmit/receive data to/from UE

RRC SIGNALING RADIO BEARER

SRB is used to transmit the signaling. 3 SRBs are establish for UE and they’re meant to transmit
different kind of information. They’re established in different steps of RRC connection setup.

- SRB0: Default bearer, it’s established in RRC_IDLE state. Transport RRC setup signaling
and RRC reestablishment signaling.
- SRB1: It’s established when RRC connection is established. Transport most part of
signaling, such as handover, measurement report, etc.
- SRB2: It’s established after authentication and encryption process. Transport NAS
signaling.

PDCP FUNCTIONS

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF PDCP LAYER

- IP Header compression (User Plane): Improve data transmission efficiency

- Encryption for signaling (Control Plane) and data (User Plane) of high layer: Make sure
the data is secretly transmitted. To prevent data from being detected from other devices.
- Integrity checking for signaling of high layer (control plane): to prevent data from being
modified from other devices.
- In the PDCP Layer we have two transmission algorithm (EEA1/EEA2) EPS Encryption
Algorithm. When RRC connection is established the eNodeB will negotiate with UE about the
algorithm to tell the UE how to make the encryption and integrity check.
IP Header Compression

- Header compression function can reduce the consumption of IP and TCP/UDP header,
it can improve the transmission efficiency of air interface.
- IP Header + TCP/UDP Header = 40 Bytes
- PDCP can use one algorithm which name is RoHC (Robust Head Compression) which
can compress IP Header + TCP/UDP to 3~4 Bytes. It doesn’t compress Payload.
- If Payload is very large (1500 Bytes) then the Header Compression feature cannot
improve the transmission efficiency due to Header is insignificant compared with payload.
- If the Payload is in small size then the header compression will improve the
transmission efficiency.
- In the eNodeB we can decide whether to config RoHC

Encryption and Decryption

 - PDCP Encrypt the signaling and data from the higher layer.
- PDCP Decrypt the signaling and data from the lower layer.

Integrity Protection

- PDCP check the integrity of signaling from higher layer.

- PDCP check the integrity of signaling from lower layer.

RLC FUNCTIONS

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF RLC LAYER

- PDU transport from higher layer (support AM, UM and TM): In order to provide a very
reliable transmission mode the RLC layer requires to select a suitable transmission mode for
different kind of data (AM, UM or TM)
- ARQ (Automatic Repeat Request) for error correction (in AM Mode): According to the
feedback from the receiver, RLC can determine if retransmits the data.
- Offer segmentation, re-assembly and concatenation of information (in AM or UM
mode)

Transmission Modes of RLC

RLC can provide three transmission modes based on QoS requirement:

- AM (Acknowledge Mode): the transmitted packet needs to be confirmed. Have RLC

header. Offer reliable transmission. TCP type service use AM.
- UM(Un-Acknowledge Mode): No ACK info from receiver. Have RLC Header. Not offer
 reliable transmission. VoIP service use UM Mode.
- TM (Transmission Mode): No RLC Header. No process for higher layer information.
Broadcast and paging use TM Mode.

ARQ for AM (Automatic Repeat Request)

In this mode the data/signaling sent by the transmitter will be retransmitted or not based of the
feedback from the receiver. In other words, new or old data will be transmitter based if the
feedback is ACK or NACK respectively.

Concatenation & Segmentation

If the data from upper layer is very huge then the RLC layer does the segmentation, to segment big
packet into small packets, this is another way to guarantee the transmission reliability.

MAC LAYER FUNCTIONS

MAIN FUNCTIONS OF MAC LAYER

- Scheduling: to assign the limited resources to all subscribers. It needs to consider

many factors to make the process reasonable and high efficient.
 - Mapping between logical channel and transport channel: transport channel
determines the scheduling algorithm and logical channel indicates different kind of data.
Different data might have different transmission algorithm so the scheduling is different. MAC
layer needs to determine what kind of scheduling is used for a kind of data, so it requires to
make the mapping between logical channel and transport channel.
- Error correction – HARQ: MAC Layer also has an algorithm to make sure the
transmission reliability,

Scheduling

- Scheduling means to allocate freq-time resources of SCH to different users.

- In LTE the resource allocation TTI is 1ms.
- In LTE the resource is mainly based on frequency. So, every 1ms the MAC Layer
requires to schedule this frequency resource (for example, 20 MHz) to all subscribers.

Input of Scheduling

- Scheduling algorithm are designed to dynamically allocate frequency resource to all

subscribers
- MAC Schedule resource based on several factors:
 Channel condition: if the UE has very good channel conditions then we can use very high
modulation to make the transmission more efficient, otherwise, the MAC layer can use
the low modulation to make sure the transmission reliability is high.
 Amount of transmitting data: depending on the size of the data the MAC layer will
decide how to do the scheduling.
 Fairness among UEs: what is priority of the users or what is the waiting time of the users.
 QoS requirement of service: if the QoS is not high then the MAC Layer can do the low
priority of scheduling, otherwise, will do higher priority.
- MAC layer is the most complicated layer in LTE. Different vendors can have different
algorithm in this layer.

Two Scheduling Modes

- Dynamic Scheduling:
 Period 1ms (per TTI)
 Service application: all service
- Semi-persistence scheduling:
 Period 20ms (Huawei eNodeB)
 Service application: real-time service, etc. VoIP
 Save signaling consumption.
Scheduling Strategy

- MAC layer has several strategies considering different factors

- Max C/I: typically used for testing, if we want to have higher throughput during tests
and UE is located in a placed with better conditions then scheduling will be more for this UE.
 Effect Factor: Channel Quality
 Scheduling Priority: the UE with better channel quality has a higher priority in scheduling
- RR (Round Robin): The disadvantage is QoS cannot be guarantee since the scheduling
will be equal for each UE
 Effect Factor: None.
 Scheduling Priority: Each UE has equal opportunity to be scheduled
- PF (Proportional Fair): The scheduling considering many factors such as, waiting time
of UE, channel quality, fairness between UEs
 Effect Factor: service rate and channel quality
 Scheduling Priority: The UE with a small ratio between the service rate and the channel
quality has a higher priority in the scheduling
- EPF (Enhanced Proportional Fair): This is similar than PF but includes QoS requirement.
For commercial network this strategy is commonly used
 Effect Factor: service rate, channel quality, UE capability and QoS requirement
 Scheduling Priority: Integrated priority with service rate, UE category, QoS and CQI

TB, TTI, Transmission Format

- MAC of transmitter would transfer 1 or 2 transmission blocks (TB) to PHY every TTI.
The size of TB is transmission format
- MAC layer can make the scheduling to subs by sending 1 or 2 TBs.
- Whether to send 1 or 2 TBs will depend on MIMO working mode. If the MIMO
requires 2 TBs then MAC can make the scheduling for 2 TBs, or if require 1 TBs then will make
scheduling for 1 TB
- The maximum size of 1 TB is 75376 bits
- If 1 TB is sent in 1 TTI then we have that the maximum throughput is 1 TB / 1 TTI =
75,376 Mbps.
- If 2 TB are sent in 1 TTI then we have that the maximum throughput is 2 TB / 1 TTI =
150,752 Mbps.

HARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request)

- MAC user HARQ to improve transmission efficiency

LTE Channel Structure

 - In other to make a reasonable scheduling, the MAC Layer needs to be aware of what
kind of information (logical channel) and scheduling algorithm/method (transport channel)
will be transmitted, so, it’s required to do a mapping between Logical and Transport Channels.
- Logical Channel: Determines/Define the data type to be transmitted.
 BCCH (Broadcast Common Control Channel). System Information. Uses the BCH to
transmit most important system information, the other information is transmitted
through SCH.
 PCCH (Paging Common Control Channel). Paging information. It’s mapped to PCH
 CCCH (Common Control Channel): Common control signaling information. It’s mapped to
SCH.
 DCCH (Dedicated Control Channel): Dedicated control signaling information. It’s mapped
to SCH.
 DTCH (Dedicated Traffic Channel): Dedicated traffic information. It’s mapped to SCH.
- Transport Channel: Determines the scheduling algorithm/method. Depending if the
resources are dedicated or shared then some transport channels are defined.
 BCH (Broadcast Channel): Dedicated resources. TTI is fixed to 40 ms.
 PCH (Paging Channel): Dedicated resources. TTI can be 10ms but it can be configured to
another values.
 SCH (Shared Channel): Shared resources. TTI is 1ms dynamically. There are two types DL-
SCH and UL-SCH.
 RACH (Random Access Channel): it doesn’t have mapping to logical channel due to it is
not required to send information to upper layer. RACH is only one MAC process.

PHY FUNCTIONS & OFDMA SC-FDMA INTRUCTIONS

It is the most important layer as it has to provide the medium which limits the maximum
throughput.

Main Functions of PHY Layer

- Provide freq-time resources for data and signaling transmission: Frequency resources
 mainly refers to subcarriers and time resources mainly refers to frames.
- FEC encoding/decoding: it can use the channel coding and a rate matching to provide
the protection bits for PData.
- Modulation/Demodulation of PHY channel: convert digital bits to RF signals. Select one
suitable modulation according to the radio conditions.
- MIMO procession, beamforming and RF Processing.

Comparation between FDM and OFDM

- FDM consists in carriers with a BW which are separated with a Guard Band that
typically has the same BW as the carrier.
- OFDM the carriers can be overlapped so we can have more carriers in the frequency.
- Why OFDM doesn’t have interference between carriers? In OFDM it’s not used a filter
to receive the signal but it’s used another technology that is the sampling. OFDM needs to do
the sampling at the carrier central frequency. In this case we get the power of the central
carrier (other carriers power will be zero so there won’t be interference)
- For LTE in 20 MHz a total of 1200 subcarriers can be supported. (this is because in LTE
2 MHz are used for protection so we can use only 18 MHz)

Inverse Fast Fourier Transform

- OFDM was not used before due to technology lack of capabilities. That is, before the
FFT and IFFT cannot be implemented in chipsets but now it is possible.
- The IFFT is used in the transmitter to map the data to subcarriers and generate the
waveform.
Fast Fourier Transform

In the receiver the process is inversed to get the Coded bits.

High Peak to Average Power Ratio

- The main disadvantage of OFDM is that it has high PAPR. Because LTE is composed by
thousands of subcarriers, then if they’re aggregated in sometimes the power can be very high
but the average power is regular so in this way the PAPR is high.
- If the PAPR is high it causes two problems:
 Power consumption is very high
 High PAPR requires very good quality amplifier.
- Because of these two main problems in DL the OFDM is possible due to the amplifier
and power consumption is in eNodeB. But in the UE side the power consumption is high and
the amplifier is expensive then the subscriber won’t accept, so in the UL is not used the OFDM
but another technology SC-FDMA.
- SC-FDMA has lower PAPR but also lower performance, but in UL it can be accepted
due to DL data is always more than UL Data
Resource Allocation of OFDMA

- In MAC the resource allocation is done every 1ms.

- In time domain 1 subframe (1ms) is the basic unit.
- The system uses 12 subcarriers (180 KHz) to make the resource allocation.
- In the frequency domain 12 subcarriers (180KHz) is the basic unit.
- In OFDMA one user can occupy various RB in different frequency, that is, frequency
can be non-continuous
- SC-FDMA stands for Single Carrier, and this means that various subcarriers are treated
as a single carrier, that is, the subcarriers allocated to the UE must be continuous. So in 1ms
frequency resource must be continuous.

SIGNAL PROCESSING IN PHY LAYER

DL PHY Layer Processing

- MAC Layer transmits 1 or 2 TBs to PHY Layer

- 1st Step in PHY Layer is CRC which main function is to make sure in transmission there
is no error bit. Add one tail to the original data to make sure the check result is consistent in
the Tx and the Rx.
- 2nd Step in PHY Layer is Segmentation, which not always is required, it depends on the
size of TB, if is large then the segmentation is done.
- 3rd Step in PHY Layer Channel Coding, which main function is to add more protection
bits for useful data, this can help to overcome the interference. The typical channel coding in
PHY Layer is 1/3 Turbo coding, that means, 1 bit has 2 bits for protection. This turbo coding
has 1 limitation and that is that the maximum input is 6144 bits. If the TB size exceeds these
then PHY Layer requires to do the segmentation to divide the TB into several packets.
- 4th Step in PHY Layer is Rate Matching, which main function is to add or delete
protection bits according to channel quality. When 2 protections bits are too much bits and
the channel quality is good then the eNodeB can delete some protection bits.
- The coding efficiency is measured by the UE based on channel conditions and reported
to eNodeB. eNodeB can choose one rate matching based on this coding efficiency.

- Scrambling: consists that in the same frequency and the same moment we can use
different codes in adjacent cells to avoid interference. In LTE the scrambling is also used in LTE
and the scrambling code is determined by PCI we configure in each cell.
- Modulate: The modulation is selected based on channel quality. The better the
channel quality is the higher the modulation is, and viceversa.
- Precoding: to make the data to be transmitted in multiple antennas to be not
correlated in order to avoid interference. Distribute the codeword (coded data, coded bits) to
multiple antennas. Original data is multiplied one matrix, the matrix can be selected by
eNodeB according to PMI (Precoding Matrix Index), this matrix can determine how the
precoding is process and is selected based on channel quality reported by UE.
- Scrambling, modulate and precoding will not add anymore bits in the processing. They
only modify the data format.
- After precoding the data bits are ready.
- Resource Element Mapper: PHY Layer needs to map transmission bits to resource
elements. it is the process to map data bits to OFDM signals one by one. This step depends on
the modulation. If the modulation is 64 QAM the mapper can map 6 bits to 1 OFDM signal.
PHY Layer need to map the coded bits to antenna ports. There can be multiple antenna ports
 but only 1 or 2 TBs. PHY layer needs to do the mapping between TB and Antenna ports. This
mapping is also based on channel quality. If the UE has good conditions in one frequency then
mapping can use that frequency in advanced. MAC Layer can inform PHY Layer how the
frequency is selected because it uses a specific scheduling algorithm (frequency selected
algorithm)
- OFDM signal generation: generate OFDM signal waveform. Various subcarriers can be
converted to one waveform OFDM for transmission. OFDM processing needs to convert all
subcarriers to waveform and transmit it to the air interface.

UL PHY Layer Processing

- 1st Difference is the MAC layer can only send 1 TB to PHY Layer, because in UL the UE
cannot support multiplexing mostly.
- 2nd Difference is modulation, the UE cannot support 64 QAM for the modulation
mostly.
- 3rd Difference is SC-FDM signal generation not OFDM.
- Rank Indicator & CQI ?

https://ltebasics.wordpress.com/2014/09/21/use-of-rank-indication-in-lte/

https://lte-question.blogspot.com/2013/07/rank-indicaton-in-lte.html
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/lte-quality-indicators-nishant-tiwari-/

https://www.sharetechnote.com/html/Handbook_LTE_CQI.html

Rank indication (RI), providing a recommendation on the transmission rank to use or expressed
differently, the number of layers that should preferably be used for downlink transmission to the
terminal. RI only needs to be reported by terminals that are configured to be in one of the spatial
multiplexing transmission modes. There is at most one RI reported, valid across the full
bandwidth– that is, the RI is frequency non-selective. Frequency-dependent transmission rank
would be impossible to utilize since all layers are transmitted on the same set of resource blocks in
LTE.

Precoder matrix indication (PMI), indicating which of the precoder matrices (see Chapter 10)
should preferably be used for the downlink transmission. The reported precoder matrix is
determined assuming the number of layers indicated by the RI. The precoder recommendation
may be frequency selective, implying that the terminal may recommend different precoders for
different parts of the downlink spectrum. Furthermore, the network can restrict the set of
matrices from which the terminal should select the recommended precoder, so-called codebook
subset restriction, to avoid reporting precoders that are not useful in the antenna setup used.

Channel-quality indication (CQI), representing the highest modulation-and-coding scheme that, if

used, would mean PDSCCH transmissions (using the recommended RI and PMI) were received with
a block-error rate of at most 10%. The reason to use CQI as a feedback quantity instead of, for
example, the signal-to-noise ratio, is to account for different receiver implementation in the
terminal. Also, basing the feedback reports on CQI instead of signal-to-noise ratio also simplifies
the testing of terminals; a terminal delivering data with more than 10% block-error probability
when using the modulation-and-coding scheme indicated by the CQI would fail the test. As will be
discussed further below, multiple CQI reports, each representing the channel quality in a certain
part of the downlink spectrum, can be part of a channel-state report.

Together, a combination of the RI, PMI, and CQI forms a channel-state report. Exactly what is
included in a channel-state report depends on the reporting mode the terminal is configured to be
in. As mentioned earlier, RI and PMI do not need to be reported unless the terminal is in a spatial
multiplexing transmission mode. However, also given the transmission mode, there are different
reporting modes that typically differ as to what set of resource blocks the report is valid for and
whether precoding information is reported or not. The type of information useful to the network
also depends on the particular implementation and antenna deployment.

CQI stands for Channel Quality Indicator. As the name implies, it is an indicator carrying the
information on how good/bad the communication channel quality is. This CQI is for HSDPA. (LTE
also has CQI for its own purpose).
- Modulation and MCS used in Uplink and Downlink - (How CQI is mapped to MCS ?)
- MIB and SIB details – (UE attach would fail if MIB and SIB is not decoded properly)

http://www.techtrained.com/importance-sibs-mibs-lte/

MIB or Master Information Block is a very important message or information that is broadcasted
by the LTE eNodeB irrespective of any users presence. The MIB is first among the other system
information blocks or SIB, which are also broadcasted by the eNodeB. It includes a limited number
of most essential and most frequently transmitted parameters that are needed to acquire other
information from the cell. The MIB is transmitted on BCH while all other SYSTEM INFORMATION
messages are transmitted on DL-SCH.
As MIB is the most important information block, it is transmitted more frequently with a fixed
scheduling. The MIB uses a periodicity of 40ms and repetitions made within 40ms. The first
transmission of the MIB is scheduled in subframe #0 of radio frames for which the SFNmod4 = 0,
and repetitions are scheduled in subframe #0 of all other radio frames

The MIB is transmitted using a physical layer channel called PBCH and contains DL bandwidth of
the cell, PHICH configuration and the System Frame Number (SFN). The MIB is a 24 bit information
with following information within,

3 bits for system bandwidth

3 bits for PHICH information,

1 bit to indicate normal or extended PHICH

2 bit to indicate the PHICH Ng value

8 bits for system frame number

10 bits are reserved for future use

SIB (SYSTEM INFORMATION BLOCKS) UE reads system information in RRC Idle mode to acquire
the parameters necessary to complete cell selection and cell reselection. System information also
provides the parameters necessary to access the network and detect paging messages
UE starts by reading the MIB and this provides sufficient information to read SIB 1. SIB 1 provides
scheduling information for the remaining SIB. The hierarchy of reading system information is
shown below.
- SDUs and PDUs definition

text

- X2 link establishment between 2 eNodeBs

text

- Handover Threshold definitions (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, B1, B2)
https://telecompedia.net/handover-events-in-lte/

https://www.sqimway.com/lte_event.php

- Handover X2 / S1 call flow for both Data call and VoLTE call

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=techdocs&no=6224

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=techdocs&no=6286

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=techdocs&no=6257

- PDCCH format types and usage

PDCCH (Physical Downlink Control Channel)

REG (RE Group) & CCE (Control Channel Elements) are basic units of control channel scheduling,
such as PHICH, PCFICH, PDCCH.

1 REG = 4 RE

1 CCE = 9 REG = 36 RE.

CCE is mainly used for Scheduling Channel (PDCCH).

This channel carriers the following information:
UL scheduling information
DL scheduling information
UL power control information
Scheduling means the allocation of the PDSCH/PUSCH
The power control command is used for the open-loop power control to tell the UE how to adjust
the UL power
The information carried by the PDCCH is named as DCI (Downlink Control Indicator). The DCI can be
classified into several types. Each type is used to carry the scheduling for 1 function.
In time domain the PDCCH occupies 1, 2, 3 or 4 symbols. 4 symbol configuration is only used for 1.4
MHz LTE configuration. In each subframe the first symbols belongs to PDCCH.
In frequency domain the PDCCH occupies all frequencies. From the bottom to top all subcarriers
are used by PDCCH in the first symbols of each subframe.

- UE Timer values (T311, T301, e.t.c)

This page covers LTE timers which include T300, T301, T303, T304, T305, T310, T311, T320 and
T321.

Source: 3GPP 36.331

https://telecompedia.net/lte-rrc-timers-and-constants/

- RRC Reconfiguration and Re-establishment scenarios ?

http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2011/10/rrc-connection-reconfiguration.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/radio-resource-control
LTE: RRC Connection Reconfiguration

Direction: E-UTRAN => UE

Signaling Radio Bearer: SRB1

RLC Mode: AM

Logical Channel: DCCH

Transport Channel: DL-SCH

RRC CONNECTION RECONFIGURATION message is the command to modify an RRC connection. The
purpose of this procedure is,

· To establish/modify/release Radio Bearers

· To perform Handover

· To setup/modify/release Measurements

· To add/modify/release SCells

· Dedicated NAS Information might also be transferred from eNodeB to UE

The RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message is used by the eNB entity to command a

modification of the RRC connection. This message may relate to the configuration of the
measurements, control of the mobility and configuration of the DRB default bearer. This message
can also transport NAS messages.

The message RRC ConnectionReconfigurationComplete message is used by the mobile to confirm

the reconfiguration of the RRC connection.

RRC Reestablishment Scenarios

The RRC ConnectionReestablishmentRequest message is used by the mobile to request the re-
establishment of the RRC connection.

The RRC ConnectionReestablishment message is used by the eNB entity to re-establish the RRC
connection.

The RRC ConnectionReestablishmentComplete message is used by the mobile to confirm the re-
establishment of the RRC connection.

The RRC ConnectionReestablishmentReject message is used by the eNB entity to indicate that the
re-establishment of the RRC connection has been rejected.
LTE: RRC Connection Reestablishment Request

The purpose of RRC CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHMENT procedure is to re-establish the RRC

connection, which involves the resumption of SRB1 operation and the re-activation of security
(without changing algorithms). The UE shall only initiate this procedure when AS security has been
activated.

The connection re-establishment succeeds only if the concerned cell is prepared i.e. has a valid UE
context. In case E-UTRAN accepts the re-establishment, SRB1 operation resumes while the
operation of other radio bearers remains suspended. If AS security has not been activated, the UE
doesn’t initiate this procedure, instead, it moves to RRC_IDLE directly

The UE initiates the RRC CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHMENT procedure when one of the following
conditions is met:

Upon detecting radio link failure; or

Upon handover failure; or

Upon mobility from E-UTRA failure; or

Upon integrity check failure indication from lower layers; or

Upon an RRC CONNECTION RECONFIGURATION failure

RRC Connection Reestablishment Request Message

Direction: UE => E-UTRAN

Signalling Radio Bearer: SRB0

RLC Mode: TM

Logical Channel: CCCH

Transport Channel: UL-SCH

IEs in RRC CONNECTION REESTABLISHMENT REQUEST message are given below:

ue-Identity: UE identity is included to retrieve UE context and to facilitate contention resolution by

lower layers. The UE Identity shall be set as follows:

Set the C-RNTI to the C-RNTI used in the source PCell (In case of handover and mobility from E-
UTRA failure) or used in the PCell in which the trigger for the re-establishment occurred (other
cases);

Set the physCellId to the physical cell identity of the source PCell (handover and mobility from E-
UTRA failure) or of the PCell in which the trigger for the re-establishment occurred (other cases);

Set the shortMAC-I to the 16 least significant bits of the calculated MAC-I

reestablishmentCause: This IE indicates the failure cause that triggered the re-establishment
procedure and shall be set as follows:

If the re-establishment procedure was initiated due to reconfiguration failure (the UE is unable to
comply with the reconfiguration sent in RRC CONNECTION RECONFIGURATION), then set the
reestablishmentCause to the value 'reconfigurationFailure';

If the re-establishment procedure was initiated due to handover failure (intra-LTE handover failure
or inter-RAT mobility from EUTRA failure) then, set the reestablishmentCause to the value
'handoverFailure'

Set the reestablishmentCause to the value 'otherFailure' if the re-establishment procedure was
triggered due other causes than indicated in cases 1 and 2

- Difference between Redirection and Handover ?

https://the-mobile-communication.blogspot.com/2014/05/cell-reselection-redirection-
and_24.html

https://www.netmanias.com/en/post/techdocs/6322/emm-lte/emm-procedure-7-cell-
reselection-without-tau

Handover

In Handover procedure, target cell allocates all the required radio resources (Radio bearers and
dedicated PRACH resource) upfront for the UE to move seamlessly. Target Cell radio resource
information is provided to UE by serving cell in RRC reconfiguration message. UE stays in
connected mode during this procedure.

UE moves from one eNB to target eNB while keeping its connected state. LTE Services will be
uninterrupted. In handover procedure, target cell would be prepared and UE will latch on target
cell based on the configuration sent by source enodeb to UE.
Redirection

In Redirection procedure, target cell will not be allocating any radio resources upfront. So UE has
to release the radio connection (in serving cell) and use the target cell info provided in the RRC
Reconfiguration (if any, else UE needs to do full scan) to camp and further request for the radio
resources in target cells. UE goes to idle mode in serving cell and once it moves to target cell, UE
moves to connected mode through RRC connection request.

UE changes its state from connected to Idle mode during Redirection. LTE Service will be
interrupted. Meaning the Source ENB shall release the connection of the UE and will ask the UE to
redirect itself onto the target ENB by indicating the carrier frequency or the cell id in the RRC
connection release message. For example, During CS Fallback, the UE is redirected from LTE
RRC_CONNECTED mode to (2G/3G) idle mode).

Cell Selection: It allows a UE to search and camp on a suitable cell. Cell selection occurs during
Initial cell selection (when UE switches ON), Stored information cell selection (uses stored cell info
to identify appropriate cell), and Cell selection when leaving RRC connected mode (When UE
move from RRC CONNECTED to RRC IDLE mode)

Cell Reselection: Its Idle mode procedure and happens from idle mode to idle mode. Reselection
can occur on cell within same RAT (Intra-RAT) or different RAT(Inter-RAT).

- SRVCC call flow and CSFB call flow

General processes of CSFB and SRVCC

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=blog&no=10905

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=blog&no=10906

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=blog&no=10907

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=blog&no=10908

CSFB call flow

https://www.3glteinfo.com/csfb-call-flow/

https://www.eventhelix.com/lte/csfb/lte-to-3g-circuit-switched-fall-back.pdf

SRVCC call flow

http://go.radisys.com/rs/radisys/images/paper-lte-srvcc.pdf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6w9VPD4zPM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3A9jyt-F0c
- dBm to Watt conversion

dBm to Watt

P  = 1W ⋅ 10
(W)
(P
(dBm)   / 1000
/ 10)

Watt to dBm

P  = 10 ⋅ log ( 1000 ⋅ P  / 1W)

(dBm) 10 (W)

- RSRP and RSRQ calculation (Internal value to Field value mapping)

https://arimas.com/2016/04/04/78-rsrp-and-rsrq-measurement-in-lte/

http://anisimoff.org/eng/rsrp_rsrq.html

RSRP=RSSI – 10LOG(12*N)

RSRQ = N*(RSRP/RSSI) or RSRQ = 10LO(N) + RSRP(dBm) – RSSI(dBm)

Where:

N = Number of RBs as per Channel Bandwidth

N=6 for 1.4 MHz

N=15 for 3 MHz

N=25 for 5 MHz

N=50 for 10MHz

N=75 for 15 MHz

N=100 for 20MHz

- RACH procedure (during normal attach ? And during incoming handover ?)

https://www.eventhelix.com/lte/random-access-procedure/lte-random-access-procedure.pdf

- Scenarios where DRX and Paging is used in RRC Idle and RRC Connected

https://www.sharetechnote.com/html/Handbook_LTE_DRX.html

https://www.sharetechnote.com/html/Handbook_LTE_eDRX.html

http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/06/connected-mode-drx.html
- UE’s power headroom ?

https://www.sharetechnote.com/html/Handbook_LTE_PHR.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/power-headroom

https://www.3glteinfo.com/power-headroom-report-control-element/

- Carrier Aggregation basic call flow

Until 3GPP Release 10, we could achieve maximum 150 Mbps downlink throughput with 20 MHz
bandwidth, but in 3GPP Release 10 a new mark of LTE was introduced where several frequencies
can be aggregated. The new mark of LTE was called as LTE-Advanced and the new introduced
feature in this release was named as Carrier Aggregation or with the abbreviated version CA.
Carrier Aggregation allows to aggregate contiguous or non-contiguous carriers to widen
bandwidth up to 100 MHz.

With simple explanation, let’s assume we have a carrier from Band7 (LTE 2600) with 10 MHz and
another 20 MHz bandwidth from Band3 (LTE 1800). Now we combine these carriers and get a 30
MHz carrier.

Carrier Aggregation can be used for both FDD and TDD separately, as well as the combination of
both technology.

- Understanding of ANR mechanism (LTE and Inter RAT)

Automatic Neighbor Relations or with shortened version ANR is a self-optimization function of
SON. ANR automatically identifies and adds missing neighboring cells which have strongest signal.
It removes incorrect or redundant neighboring cells, and it automatically optimizes the attributes
of neighbor relationships. LTE ANR is available from LTE to LTE, LTE to WCDMA, LTE to GSM and
LTE to CDMA.

Here we will see brief description of a neighbor addition by ANR:

1. The serving eNodeB delivers the measurement configuration to the UE, instructing the UE to
measure neighboring cells.

2. The UE identifies that target cell meets the measurement requirements, and then it reports the
PCI, RSRP of the target cell to the serving site.

3. The serving site checks whether target cell has the strongest signal, but PCI of the target cell is
not exist in its neighboring database.

4. The serving site instructs the UE to read the ECGI, TAC, and PLMN list of the target cell.

*4. If the target cell is other technology (GSM/WCDMA), then it requires to read CGI, LAC and RAC.

5. The UE reports the ECGI, TAC, and PLMN list of the target cell to the serving site.

6. The eNodeB attempts to add the missing neighbor cell to its database with the provided data

If the ANR neighbor addition procedure succeeds, the eNodeB selects the neighboring cell as the
target cell for the handover.

- VoLTE Bandwidth and Latency Requirements – Codecs & RoHC Profiles

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- Experience in mobility layer management strategy & key 4G features like Power control,
scheduler, VoLTE, SRVCC, CA, UL CoMP is must

https://www.netmanias.com/en/?m=view&id=blog&no=6558

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- 5G Architecture & technology details

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- Open RAN Architecture / Open RAN Standards

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- Wireshark traffic analysis

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- IPSEC Protocol

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- Console commands Linux

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- Experience in quality test tools e.g. XCAL/XCAP, TEMS, NEMO, ACTIX, QXDM, RF Base Station
Analyser, Spectrum Analyser, RF Scanner e.g. JDSU, PCTEL, Anritsu, R&S etc

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- Understanding of Small Cells, HetNet , Macro deployment scenario

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