Facts about LTE

 LTE is the successor technology not only of UMTS but also

of CDMA 2000.

 LTE is important because it will bring up to 50 times

performance improvement and much better spectral
efficiency to cellular networks.

 LTE introduced to get higher data rates, 300Mbps peak

downlink and 75 Mbps peak uplink. In a 20MHz carrier,
data rates beyond 300Mbps can be achieved under very
good signal conditions.

 LTE is an ideal technology to support high date rates for

the services such as voice over IP (VOIP), streaming
multimedia, videoconferencing or even a high-speed
cellular modem.

 LTE uses both Time Division Duplex (TDD) and Frequency

Division Duplex (FDD) mode. In FDD uplink and downlink
transmission used different frequency, while in TDD both
uplink and downlink use the same carrier and are
separated in Time.

 LTE supports flexible carrier bandwidths, from 1.4 MHz up

to 20 MHz as well as both FDD and TDD. LTE designed with
a scalable carrier bandwidth from 1.4 MHz up to 20 MHz
which bandwidth is used depends on the frequency band
and the amount of spectrum available with a network
operator.

 All LTE devices have to support (MIMO) Multiple Input

Multiple Output transmissions, which allow the base
station to transmit several data streams over the same
carrier simultaneously.

 All interfaces between network nodes in LTE are now IP

based, including the backhaul connection to the radio base
stations. This is great simplification compared to earlier
technologies that were initially based on E1/T1, ATM and
 frame relay links, with most of them being narrowband and
expensive.

 Quality of Service (QoS) mechanism have been

standardized on all interfaces to ensure that the
requirement of voice calls for a constant delay and
bandwidth, can still be met when capacity limits are
reached.

 Works with GSM/EDGE/UMTS systems utilizing existing 2G

and 3G spectrum and new spectrum. Supports hand-over
and roaming to existing mobile networks.

Advantages of LTE
 High throughput: High data rates can be achieved in both
downlink as well as uplink. This causes high throughput.

 Low latency: Time required to connect to the network is

in range of a few hundred milliseconds and power saving
states can now be entered and exited very quickly.

 FDD and TDD in the same platform: Frequency Division

Duplex (FDD) and Time Division Duplex (FDD), both
schemes can be used on same platform.

 Superior end-user experience: Optimized signaling for

connection establishment and other air interface and
mobility management procedures have further improved
the user experience. Reduced latency (to 10 ms) for better
user experience.

 Seamless Connection: LTE will also support seamless

connection to existing networks such as GSM, CDMA and
WCDMA.

 Plug and play: The user does not have to manually install
drivers for the device. Instead system automatically
recognizes the device, loads new drivers for the hardware
 if needed, and begins to work with the newly connected
device.

 Simple architecture: Because of Simple architecture low

operating expenditure (OPEX).

LTE - QoS
LTE architecture supports hard QoS, with end-to-end quality of
service and guaranteed bit rate (GBR) for radio bearers. Just as
Ethernet and the internet have different types of QoS, for
example, various levels of QoS can be applied to LTE traffic for
different applications. Because the LTE MAC is fully scheduled,
QoS is a natural fit.

Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearers provide one-to-one

correspondence with RLC radio bearers and provide support for
Traffic Flow Templates (TFT). There are four types of EPS
bearers:

 GBR Bearer resources permanently allocated by

admission control

 Non-GBR Bearer no admission control

 Dedicated Bearer associated with specific TFT (GBR or

non-GBR)

 Default Bearer Non GBR, catch-all for unassigned

traffic.

This section will summarize the Basic parameters of the LTE:

Parameters Description

Frequency range UMTS FDD bands

and TDD bands
defined in
36.101(v860)
Table 5.5.1,
given below
Duplexing FDD, TDD, half-
duplex FDD

Channel coding Turbo code

Mobility 350 km/h

Channel Bandwidth (MHz)  1.4

 3

 5

 10

 15

 20

Transmission Bandwidth Configuration NRB : (1 resource block  6

= 180kHz in 1ms TTI )
 15

 25

 50

 75

 100

Modulation Schemes
UL: QPSK,
16QAM,
64QAM(optional)

DL: QPSK,
16QAM, 64QAM

Multiple Access Schemes

UL: SC-FDMA
(Single Carrier
Frequency
Division Multiple
Access) supports
50Mbps+
 (20MHz
spectrum)

DL: OFDM
(Orthogonal
Frequency
Division Multiple
Access) supports
100Mbps+
(20MHz
spectrum)

Multi-Antenna Technology UL: Multi-user

collaborative
MIMO

DL: TxAA,
spatial
multiplexing,
CDD ,max 4x4
array

Peak data rate in LTE

UL:
75Mbps(20MHz
bandwidth)

DL: 150Mbps(UE
Category 4, 2x2
MIMO, 20MHz
bandwidth)

DL: 300Mbps(UE
category 5, 4x4
 MIMO, 20MHz
bandwidth)

MIMO UL: 1 x 2, 1 x 4

(Multiple Input Multiple Output)

DL: 2 x 2, 4 x 2,
4x4

Coverage 5 - 100km with

slight
degradation after
30km

QoS E2E QOS allowing

prioritization of
different class of
service

Latency End-user latency

< 10mS

E-UTRA Operating Bands

Following is the table for E-UTRA operating bands taken from LTE
Sepecification 36.101(v860) Table 5.5.1:
 

The high-level network architecture of LTE is comprised of following three

main components:

 The User Equipment (UE).

 The Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN).

 The Evolved Packet Core (EPC).

The evolved packet core communicates with packet data networks in the
outside world such as the internet, private corporate networks or the IP
multimedia subsystem. The interfaces between the different parts of the
system are denoted Uu, S1 and SGi as shown below:
The User Equipment (UE)
The internal architecture of the user equipment for LTE is identical to the
one used by UMTS and GSM which is actually a Mobile Equipment (ME).
The mobile equipment comprised of the following important modules:

 Mobile Termination (MT) : This handles all the communication functions.

 Terminal Equipment (TE) : This terminates the data streams.

 Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) : This is also known as the SIM
card for LTE equipments. It runs an application known as the Universal
Subscriber Identity Module (USIM).

A USIM stores user-specific data very similar to 3G SIM card. This keeps
information about the user's phone number, home network identity and
security keys etc.

The E-UTRAN (The access network)

The architecture of evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-
UTRAN) has been illustrated below.
The E-UTRAN handles the radio communications between the mobile and
the evolved packet core and just has one component, the evolved base
stations, called eNodeB or eNB. Each eNB is a base station that controls
the mobiles in one or more cells. The base station that is communicating
with a mobile is known as its serving eNB.

LTE Mobile communicates with just one base station and one cell at a time
and there are following two main functions supported by eNB:

 The eBN sends and receives radio transmissions to all the mobiles using the
analogue and digital signal processing functions of the LTE air interface.

 The eNB controls the low-level operation of all its mobiles, by sending them
signalling messages such as handover commands.

Each eBN connects with the EPC by means of the S1 interface and it can
also be connected to nearby base stations by the X2 interface, which is
mainly used for signalling and packet forwarding during handover.

A home eNB (HeNB) is a base station that has been purchased by a user
to provide femtocell coverage within the home. A home eNB belongs to a
closed subscriber group (CSG) and can only be accessed by mobiles with
a USIM that also belongs to the closed subscriber group.

The Evolved Packet Core (EPC) (The core

network)
The architecture of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) has been illustrated below.
There are few more components which have not been shown in the
diagram to keep it simple. These components are like the Earthquake and
Tsunami Warning System (ETWS), the Equipment Identity Register (EIR)
and Policy Control and Charging Rules Function (PCRF).

Below is a brief description of each of the components shown in the above

architecture:

 The Home Subscriber Server (HSS) component has been carried forward from
UMTS and GSM and is a central database that contains information about all
the network operator's subscribers.

 The Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) communicates with the
outside world ie. packet data networks PDN, using SGi interface. Each packet
data network is identified by an access point name (APN). The PDN gateway
has the same role as the GPRS support node (GGSN) and the serving GPRS
support node (SGSN) with UMTS and GSM.

 The serving gateway (S-GW) acts as a router, and forwards data between the
base station and the PDN gateway.

 The mobility management entity (MME) controls the high-level operation of the
mobile by means of signalling messages and Home Subscriber Server (HSS).
  The Policy Control and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is a component which
is not shown in the above diagram but it is responsible for policy control
decision-making, as well as for controlling the flow-based charging
functionalities in the Policy Control Enforcement Function (PCEF), which
resides in the P-GW.

The interface between the serving and PDN gateways is known as S5/S8.
This has two slightly different implementations, namely S5 if the two
devices are in the same network, and S8 if they are in different networks.

Functional split between the E-UTRAN and the

EPC
Following diagram shows the functional split between the E-UTRAN and
the EPC for an LTE network:

2G/3G Versus LTE

Following table compares various important Network Elements & Signaling
protocols used in 2G/3G abd LTE.
2G/3G LTE

GERAN and UTRAN E-UTRAN

SGSN/PDSN-FA S-GW

GGSN/PDSN-HA PDN-GW

HLR/AAA HSS

VLR MME

SS7-MAP/ANSI-41/RADIUS Diameter

DiameterGTPc-v0 and v1 GTPc-v2

MIP PMIP

A network run by one operator in one country is known as a Public Land

Mobile Network (PLMN) and when a subscribed user uses his operator's
PLMN then it is said Home-PLMN but roaming allows users to move outside
their home network and using the resources from other operator's
network. This other network is called Visited-PLMN.

A roaming user is connected to the E-UTRAN, MME and S-GW of the visited
LTE network. However, LTE/SAE allows the P-GW of either the visited or
the home network to be used, as shown in below:
The home network's P-GW allows the user to access the home operator's
services even while in a visited network. A P-GW in the visited network
allows a "local breakout" to the Internet in the visited network.

The interface between the serving and PDN gateways is known as S5/S8.
This has two slightly different implementations, namely S5 if the two
devices are in the same network, and S8 if they are in different networks.
For mobiles that are not roaming, the serving and PDN gateways can be
integrated into a single device, so that the S5/S8 interface vanishes
altogether.

An LTE network area is divided into three different types of geographical

areas explained below:

S.N. Area and Description

1 The MME pool areas

This is an area through which the mobile can move without a change of
serving MME. Every MME pool area is controlled by one or more MMEs on
the network.

2 The S-GW service areas

 This is an area served by one or more serving gateways S-GW, through
which the mobile can move without a change of serving gateway.

3
The Tracking areas

The MME pool areas and the S-GW service areas are both made from
smaller, non-overlapping units known as tracking areas (TAs). They are
similar to the location and routing areas from UMTS and GSM and will be
used to track the locations of mobiles that are on standby mode.

Thus an LTE network will comprise of many MME pool areas, many S-GW
service areas and lots of tracking areas.

The Network IDs

The network itself will be identified using Public Land Mobile Network
Identity (PLMN-ID) which will have a three digit mobile country code (MCC)
and a two or three digit mobile network code (MNC). For example, the
Mobile Country Code for the UK is 234, while Vodafone's UK network uses
a Mobile Network Code of 15.

The MME IDs

Each MME has three main identities. An MME code (MMEC) uniquely
identifies the MME within all the pool areas. A group of MMEs is assigned
an MME Group Identity (MMEGI) which works along with MMEC to make
MME identifier (MMEI). A MMEI uniquely identifies the MME within a
particular network.

If we combile PLMN-ID with the MMEI then we arrive at a Globally Unique

MME Identifier (GUMMEI), which identifies an MME anywhere in the world:
The Tracking Area IDs
Each tracking area has two main identities. The tracking area code (TAC)
identifies a tracking area within a particular network and if we combining
this with the PLMN-ID then we arrive at a Globally Unique Tracking Area
Identity (TAI).

The Cell IDs

Each cell in the network has three types of identity. The E-UTRAN cell
identity (ECI) identifies a cell within a particular network, while the E-
UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI) identifies a cell anywhere in the world.

The physical cell identity, which is a number from 0 to 503 and it

distinguishes a cell from its immediate neighbours.

The Mobile Equipment ID

The international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) is a unique identity for
the mobile equipment and the International Mobile Subscriber Identity
(IMSI) is a unique identity for the UICC and the USIM.

The M temporary mobile subscriber identity (M-TMSI) identifies a mobile

to its serving MME. Adding the MME code in M-TMSI results in a S
temporary mobile subscriber identity (S-TMSI), which identifies the mobile
within an MME pool area.

Finally adding the MME group identity and the PLMN identity with S-TMSI
results in the Globally Unique Temporary Identity (GUTI).
The radio protocol architecture for LTE can be separated into control
planearchitecture 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.

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.

Let's have a close look at all the layers available in E-UTRAN Protocol Stack
which we have seen in previous chapter. Below is a more ellaborated
diagram of E-UTRAN Protocol Stack:
Physical Layer (Layer 1)
Physical Layer carries all information from the MAC transport channels over
the air interface. Takes care of the link adaptation (AMC), power control,
cell search (for initial synchronization and handover purposes) and other
measurements (inside the LTE system and between systems) for the RRC
layer.

Medium Access Layer (MAC)

MAC layer is responsible for Mapping between logical channels and
transport channels, Multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or different logical
channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to the physical layer
on transport channels, de multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or different
logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the physical
layer on transport channels, Scheduling information reporting, Error
correction through HARQ, Priority handling between UEs by means of
dynamic scheduling, Priority handling between logical channels of one UE,
Logical Channel prioritization.

Radio Link Control (RLC)

RLC operates in 3 modes of operation: Transparent Mode (TM),
Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM).

RLC Layer is responsible for transfer of upper layer PDUs, error correction
through ARQ (Only for AM data transfer), Concatenation, segmentation
and reassembly of RLC SDUs (Only for UM and AM data transfer).

RLC is also responsible for re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs (Only for AM
data transfer), reordering of RLC data PDUs (Only for UM and AM data
transfer), duplicate detection (Only for UM and AM data transfer), RLC SDU
discard (Only for UM and AM data transfer), RLC re-establishment, and
protocol error detection (Only for AM data transfer).

Radio Resource Control (RRC)

The main services and functions of the RRC sublayer include broadcast of
System Information related to the non-access stratum (NAS), broadcast
of System Information related to the access stratum (AS), Paging,
establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between
the UE and E-UTRAN, Security functions including key management,
establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point
Radio Bearers.

Packet Data Convergence Control (PDCP)

PDCP Layer is responsible for Header compression and decompression of
IP data, Transfer of data (user plane or control plane), Maintenance of
PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), In-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs
at re-establishment of lower layers, Duplicate elimination of lower layer
SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC
AM, Ciphering and deciphering of user plane data and control plane data,
Integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, Timer
based discard, duplicate discarding, PDCP is used for SRBs and DRBs
mapped on DCCH and DTCH type of logical channels.

Non Access Stratum (NAS) Protocols

The non-access stratum (NAS) protocols form the highest stratum of the
control plane between the user equipment (UE) and MME.

NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE and the session management
procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE and
a PDN GW.

Below is a logical digram of E-UTRAN Protocol layers with a depiction of

data flow through various layers:
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). Let's
see the flow of data from top to bottom:

 IP Layer submits PDCP SDUs (IP Packets) to the PDCP layer. PDCP layer does
header compression and adds PDCP header to these PDCP SDUs. PDCP Layer
submits PDCP PDUs (RLC SDUs) to RLC layer.

PDCP Header Compression : PDCP removes IP header (Minimum 20 bytes)

from PDU, and adds Token of 1-4 bytes. Which provides a tremendous savings
in the amount of header that would otherwise have to go over the air.
  RLC layer does segmentation of these SDUS to make the RLC PDUs. RLC adds
header based on RLC mode of operation. RLC submits these RLC PDUs (MAC
SDUs) to the MAC layer.

RLC Segmentation : If an RLC SDU is large, or the available radio data rate
is low (resulting in small transport blocks), the RLC SDU may be split among
several RLC PDUs. If the RLC SDU is small, or the available radio data rate is
high, several RLC SDUs may be packed into a single PDU.

 MAC layer adds header and does padding to fit this MAC SDU in TTI. MAC layer
submits MAC PDU to physical layer for transmitting it onto physical channels.

 Physical channel transmits this data into slots of sub frame.

The information flows between the different protocols are known as

channels and signals. LTE uses several different types of logical, transport
and physical channel, which are distinguished by the kind of information
they carry and by the way in which the information is processed.

 Logical Channels : Define whattype of information is transmitted over the

air, e.g. traffic channels, control channels, system broadcast, etc. Data and
signalling messages are carried on logical channels between the RLC and MAC
protocols.

 Transport Channels : Define howis something transmitted over the air, e.g.
what are encoding, interleaving options used to transmit data. Data and
signalling messages are carried on transport channels between the MAC and
the physical layer.

 Physical Channels : Define whereis something transmitted over the air, e.g.
first N symbols in the DL frame. Data and signalling messages are carried on
physical channels between the different levels of the physical layer.

Logical Channels
Logical channels define what type of data is transferred. These channels
define the data-transfer services offered by the MAC layer. Data and
signalling messages are carried on logical channels between the RLC and
MAC protocols.

Logical channels can be divided into control channels and traffic channels.
Control Channel can be either common channel or dedicated channel. A
common channel means common to all users in a cell (Point to multipoint)
while dedicated channels means channels can be used only by one user
(Point to Point).

Logical channels are distinguished by the information they carry and can
be classified in two ways. Firstly, logical traffic channels carry data in the
user plane, while logical control channels carry signalling messages in the
control plane. Following table lists the logical channels that are used by
LTE:

Channel Name Acronym Control Traffic

channel channel

Broadcast Control Channel BCCH X

Paging Control Channel PCCH X

Common Control Channel CCCH X

Dedicated Control Channel DCCH X

Multicast Control Channel MCCH X

Dedicated Traffic Channel DTCH X

Multicast Traffic Channel MTCH X

Transport Channels
Transport channels define how and with what type of characteristics the
data is transferred by the physical layer. Data and signalling messages are
carried on transport channels between the MAC and the physical layer.

Transport Channels are distinguished by the ways in which the transport

channel processor manipulates them. Following table lists the transport
channels that are used by LTE:
Channel Name Acronym Downlink Uplink

Broadcast Channel BCH X

Downlink Shared Channel DL-SCH X

Paging Channel PCH X

Multicast Channel MCH X

Uplink Shared Channel UL-SCH X

Random Access Channel RACH X

Physical Channels
Data and signalling messages are carried on physical channels between
the different levels of the physical layer and accordingly they are divided
into two parts:

 Physical Data Channels

 Physical Control Channels

Physical data channels

Physical data channels are distinguished by the ways in which the physical
channel processor manipulates them, and by the ways in which they are
mapped onto the symbols and sub-carriers used by Orthogonal frequency-
division multiplexing (OFDMA). Following table lists the physical data
channels that are used by LTE:

Channel Name Acronym Downlink Uplink

Physical downlink shared PDSCH X

channel
Physical broadcast channel PBCH X

Physical multicast channel PMCH X

Physical uplink shared channel PUSCH X

Physical random access channel PRACH X

The transport channel processor composes several types of control

information, to support the low-level operation of the physical layer. These
are listed in the below table:

Field Name Acronym Downlink Uplink

Downlink control information DCI X

Control format indicator CFI X

Hybrid ARQ indicator HI X

Uplink control information UCI X

Physical Control Channels

The transport channel processor also creates control information that
supports the low-level operation of the physical layer and sends this
information to the physical channel processor in the form of physical
control channels.

The information travels as far as the transport channel processor in the

receiver, but is completely invisible to higher layers. Similarly, the physical
channel processor creates physical signals, which support the lowest-level
aspects of the system.

Physical Control Channels are listed in the below table:

Channel Name Acronym Downlink Uplink

Physical control format indicator PCFICH X

channel

Physical hybrid ARQ indicator PHICH X

channel

Physical downlink control channel PDCCH X

Relay physical downlink control R-PDCCH X

channel

Physical uplink control channel PUCCH X

The base station also transmits two other physical signals, which help the
mobile acquire the base station after it first switches on. These are known
as the primary synchronization signal (PSS) and the secondary
synchronization signal (SSS).

To overcome the effect of multi path fading problem available in UMTS,

LTE uses Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for the
downlink - that is, from the base station to the terminal to transmit the
data over many narrow band careers of 180 KHz each instead of spreading
one signal over the complete 5MHz career bandwidth ie. OFDM uses a large
number of narrow sub-carriers for multi-carrier transmission to carry data.

Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), is a frequency-

division multiplexing (FDM) scheme used as a digital multi-carrier
modulation method.

OFDM meets the LTE requirement for spectrum flexibility and enables cost-
efficient solutions for very wide carriers with high peak rates. The basic
LTE downlink physical resource can be seen as a time-frequency grid, as
illustrated in Figure below:

The OFDM symbols are grouped into resource blocks. The resource blocks
have a total size of 180kHz in the frequency domain and 0.5ms in the time
domain. Each 1ms Transmission Time Interval (TTI) consists of two slots
(Tslot).

Each user is allocated a number of so-called resource blocks in the

time.frequency grid. The more resource blocks a user gets, and the higher
the modulation used in the resource elements, the higher the bit-rate.
Which resource blocks and how many the user gets at a given point in time
depend on advanced scheduling mechanisms in the frequency and time
dimensions.

The scheduling mechanisms in LTE are similar to those used in HSPA, and
enable optimal performance for different services in different radio
environments.

Advantages of OFDM
 The primary advantage of OFDM over single-carrier schemes is its ability to
cope with severe channel conditions (for example, attenuation of high
frequencies in a long copper wire, narrowband interference and frequency-
selective fading due to multipath) without complex equalization filters.

 Channel equalization is simplified because OFDM may be viewed as using many

slowly-modulated narrowband signals rather than one rapidly-modulated
wideband signal.

 The low symbol rate makes the use of a guard interval between symbols
affordable, making it possible to eliminate inter symbol interference (ISI).

 This mechanism also facilitates the design of single frequency networks

(SFNs), where several adjacent transmitters send the same signal
 simultaneously at the same frequency, as the signals from multiple distant
transmitters may be combined constructively, rather than interfering as would
typically occur in a traditional single-carrier system.

Drawbacks of OFDM
 High peak-to-average ratio

 Sensitive to frequency offset, hence to Doppler-shift as well

SC-FDMA Technology
LTE uses a pre-coded version of OFDM called Single Carrier Frequency
Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) in the uplink. This is to compensate
for a drawback with normal OFDM, which has a very high Peak to Average
Power Ratio (PAPR).

High PAPR requires expensive and inefficient power amplifiers with high
requirements on linearity, which increases the cost of the terminal and
drains the battery faster.

SC-FDMA solves this problem by grouping together the resource blocks in

such a way that reduces the need for linearity, and so power consumption,
in the power amplifier. A low PAPR also improves coverage and the cell-
edge performance.

Term Description

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

3GPP2 3rd Generation Partnership Project 2

ARIB Association of Radio Industries and Businesses

ATIS Alliance for Telecommunication Industry Solutions

AWS Advanced Wireless Services

CAPEX Capital Expenditure

CCSA China Communications Standards Association

CDMA Code Division Multiple Access

CDMA2000 Code Division Multiple Access 2000

DAB Digital Audio Broadcast

DSL Digital Subscriber Line

DVB Digital Video Broadcast

eHSPA evolved High Speed Packet Access

ETSI European Telecommunications Standards Institute

FDD Frequency Division Duplex

FWT Fixed Wireless Terminal

GSM Global System for Mobile communication

HSPA High Speed Packet Access

HSS Home Subscriber Server

IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

IPTV Internet Protocol Television

LTE Long Term Evolution

MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service

MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output

MME Mobility Management Entity

NGMN Next Generation Mobile Networks

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

OPEX Operational Expenditure

PAPR Peak to Average Power Ratio

PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect

PCRF Policing and Charging Rules Function

PDSN Packet Data Serving Node

PS Packet Switched

QoS Quality of Service

RAN Radio Access Network

SAE System Architecture Evolution

SC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access

SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

TDD Time Division Duplex

TTA Telecommunications Technology Association

TTC Telecommunication Technology Committee

TTI Transmission Time Interval

UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

WLAN Wireless Local Area Network