LTE (Long Term Evolution)

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is a standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile
phones and data terminals. It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA network
technologies, increasing the capacity and speed using a different radio interface together
with core network improvements. The standard is developed by the 3GPP (3rd Generation
Partnership Project).
 LTE Introduction
3G LTE evolution
Although there are major step changes between LTE and its 3G predecessors, it is nevertheless looked
upon as an evolution of the UMTS / 3GPP 3G standards. Although it uses a different form of radio
interface, using OFDMA / SC-FDMA instead of CDMA, there are many similarities with the earlier forms
of 3G architecture and there is scope for much re-use.
LTE can be seen for provide a further evolution of functionality, increased speeds and general improved
performance.
WCDMA HSPA HSPA+ LTE
(UMTS) HSDPA / HSUPA
Max downlink speed 384 k 14 M 28 M 100M
bps
Max uplink speed 128 k 5.7 M 11 M 50 M
bps
Latency 150 ms 100 ms 50ms (max) ~10 ms
round trip time
approx
3GPP releases Rel 99/4 Rel 5 / 6 Rel 7 Rel 8

Approx years of initial 2003 / 4 2005 / 6 HSDPA 2008 / 9 2009 / 10

roll out 2007 / 8 HSUPA
Access methodology CDMA CDMA CDMA OFDMA / SC-FDMA

In addition to this, LTE is an all IP based network, supporting both IPv4 and IPv6. There is also no basic
provision for voice, although this can be carried as VoIP.
3GPP LTE technologies
LTE has introduced a number of new technologies when compared to the previous
cellular systems. They enable LTE to be able to operate more efficiently with respect
to the use of spectrum, and also to provide the much higher data rates that are being
required.
OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplex): OFDM technology has been
incorporated into LTE because it enables high data bandwidths to be transmitted
efficiently while still providing a high degree of resilience to reflections and
interference. The access schemes differ between the uplink and downlink: OFDMA
(Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access is used in the downlink; while SC-
FDMA(Single Carrier - Frequency Division Multiple Access) is used in the uplink. SC-
FDMA is used in view of the fact that its peak to average power ratio is small and the
more constant power enables high RF power amplifier efficiency in the mobile
handsets - an important factor for battery power equipment.
MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output): One of the main problems that previous
telecommunications systems has encountered is that of multiple signals arising from
the many reflections that are encountered. By using MIMO, these additional signal
paths can be used to advantage and are able to be used to increase the throughput.
When using MIMO, it is necessary to use multiple antennas to enable the
different paths to be distinguished. Accordingly schemes using 2 x 2, 4 x
2, or 4 x 4 antenna matrices can be used. While it is relatively easy to
add further antennas to a base station, the same is not true of mobile
handsets, where the dimensions of the user equipment limit the number
of antennas which should be place at least a half wavelength apart.
SAE (System Architecture Evolution): With the very high data rate
and low latency requirements for 3G LTE, it is necessary to evolve the
system architecture to enable the improved performance to be achieved.
One change is that a number of the functions previously handled by the
core network have been transferred out to the periphery. Essentially this
provides a much "flatter" form of network architecture. In this way latency
times can be reduced and data can be routed more directly to its
destination.
LTE specification overview
It is worth summarizing the key parameters of the 3G LTE specification. In view of the fact that there are a
number of differences between the operation of the uplink and downlink, these naturally differ in the
performance they can offer.
PARAMETER DETAILS

Peak downlink speed 100 (SISO), 172 (2x2 MIMO), 326 (4x4 MIMO)
64QAM
(Mbps)
Peak uplink speeds 50 (QPSK), 57 (16QAM), 86 (64QAM)
(Mbps)
Data type All packet switched data (voice and data). No circuit
switched.
Channel bandwidths 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20
(MHz)
Duplex schemes FDD and TDD

Mobility 0 - 15 km/h (optimised),

15 - 120 km/h (high performance)
Latency Idle to active less than 100ms
Small packets ~10 ms
Spectral efficiency Downlink: 3 - 4 times Rel 6 HSDPA
Uplink: 2 -3 x Rel 6 HSUPA
Access schemes OFDMA (Downlink)
SC-FDMA (Uplink)
Modulation types supported QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM (Uplink and downlink)
 LTE/SAE Key Features – EUTRAN 1/2
Evolved NodeB(eNB)
•No RNC is provided anymore
•The evolved Node Bs take over all radio management functionality.
•This will make radio management faster and hopefully the network architecture simpler

IP transport layer
•EUTRAN exclusively uses IP as transport layer

UL/DL resource scheduling

•In UMTS physical resources are either shared or dedicated
•Evolved Node B handles all physical resource via a scheduler and assigns them
dynamically to users and channels
•This provides greater flexibility than the older system
LTE/SAE Key Features – EUTRAN 2/2
QoS awareness
•The scheduler must handle and distinguish different quality of service classes
•Otherwise real time services would not be possible via EUTRAN
•The system provides the possibility for differentiated services

Self configuration
•Currently under investigation
•Possibility to let Evolved Node Bs configure themselves
•It will not completely substitute the manual configuration and optimization.
LTE/SAE Key Features – EPC (Evolved Packet Core)

Packet Switched Domain only

•No circuit switched domain is provided
•If CS applications are required, they must be implemented via IP
•Only one mobility management for the UE in LTE.

3GPP (GTP) or IETF (MIPv6) option

•The EPC can be based either on 3GPP GTP protocols (similar to PS domain in UMTS/GPRS)
or on IETF Mobile IPv6 (MIPv6)

Non-3GPP access
•The EPC will be prepared also to be used by non-3GPP access networks (e.g. LAN, WLAN,
WiMAX, etc.)
•This will provide true convergence of different packet radio access system
 LTE/SAE Air Interface 1/3
OFDMA
•Downlink multiplexing
•Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access
•Receiver complexity is at a reasonable level
•it supports various modulation schemes from BPSK, QPSK, 16QAM to
64 QAM.

SC-FDMA
64QAM
•Uplink multiplexing Modulation

•Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access, a variant of OFDMA

•The advantage against OFDMA to have a lower PAPR (Peak-to-Average
Power Ratio) meaning less power consumption and less expensive RF
amplifiers in the terminal.
LTE/SAE Air Interface 2/3
MIMO
•Multiple Input Multiple Output
TX RX
•LTE will support MIMO as an option,
•It describes the possibility to have multiple transmitter and MIMO
receiver antennas in a system. Tx Channel Rx
•Up to four antennas can be used by a single LTE cell (gain: spatial
multiplexing)
•MIMO is considered to be the core technology to increase spectral
efficiency.

HARQ Hybrid
HARQ Automatic
•Hybrid Automatic Retransmission on reQuest Repeat Request

•HARQ has already been used for HSDPA and HSUPA.

•HARQ especially increases the performance (delay and
throughput) for cell edge users.
• HARQ simply implements a retransmission protocol on layer
1/layer 2 that allows to send retransmitted blocks with different
coding than the first one.
LTE/SAE Air Interface 3/3
Scalable bandwidth
• LTE air interface allows to drive cells with 1.4
MHz, 3 MHz, 5 MHz, 10MHz & 20 MHz. scalable

•This gives the required flexibility for operators to

use spectrum allocations not available to a non-
scalable wide-band or ultra-wide-band system.
DL: OFDMA
UL: SC-FDMA
Requirements for LTE Air Interface
OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access)

HSDPA (Rel6) Target SAE/LTE

Peak Bit Rate 14.4 > 100 144

(Mbps)
Spectral 0.75 3..4 times 1.84
Efficiency HSDPA
(bps/Hz/cell)

DOWNLINK

UPLINK

SC-FDMA (Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access)

HSUPA (Rel6) Target SAE/LTE

Peak Bit Rate 5.67 > 50 57

(Mbps)
Spectral 0.26 2..3 times 0.67
Efficiency HSUPA
(bps/Hz/cell)

SC-FDMA is technically close to OFDMA, but is more power efficient

LTE/SAE Network Architecture
LTE/SAE Network Architecture

Air Interface
UE to eNB LTE Uu
eNB to eNB X2
eNB to MME S1-MME
eNB to SGW S1-U
SGSN TO MME S3
SGSN TO SGW S4
SGW TO PGW (Same
S5
PLMN)
SGW TO PGW (Different
S8
PLMN)
MME TO HSS S6a
PGW TO PCRF S7
MME TO MME S10
MME TO SGW S11
PGW TO External NW SGi
PCRF TO External NW Rx+
Evolved Node B (eNB)
eNB Functions
LTE-UE
Inter-cell RRM: HO, load balancing between cells
LTE-Uu Evolved
Node B Radio Bearer Control: setup, modifications and
cell
(eNB) release of Radio Resources
Connection Mgt. Control: UE State Mgmt. MME-UE
Connection
•It is the only network element defined as part Radio Admission Control
of EUTRAN.
eNode B Measurements
•It replaces the old Node B / RNC combination Collection and evaluation
from 3G.
Dynamic Resource
•It terminates the complete radio interface Allocation (Scheduler)
including physical layer.
•It provides all radio management functions IP Header Compression/ de-compression

•An eNB can handle several cells. Access Layer Security: ciphering and integrity
protection on the radio interface
•To enable efficient inter-cell radio
management for cells not attached to the same MME Selection at Attach of the UE
eNB, there is a inter-eNB interface X2 specified. User Data Routing to the SAE GW.
It will allow to coordinate inter-eNB handovers
without direct involvement of EPC during this Transmission of Paging Message coming from MME
process. Transmission of Broadcast Info (System info, MBMS)
Mobility Management Entity (MME)
HSS MME Functions
Evolved
S1-MME MME
Node B Control plane NE in EPC
S6a
(eNB)
S11 Non-Access-Stratum (NAS)
S1-U Serving Signalling
Gateway Idle State Mobility Handling
• It is a pure signaling entity inside the EPC.
Tracking Area updates
• SAE uses tracking areas to track the position of idle UEs. The
basic principle is identical to location or routing areas from Subscriber attach/detach
2G/3G. Signalling coordination for
• MME handles attaches and detaches to the SAE system, as SAE Bearer Setup/Release & HO
well as tracking area updates
Security (Authentication,
• Therefore it possesses an interface towards the HSS (home Ciphering, Integrity protection)
subscriber server) which stores the subscription relevant
Trigger and distribution of
information and the currently assigned MME in its permanent Paging Messages to eNB
data base.
Roaming Control (S6a interface
• A second functionality of the MME is the signaling to HSS)
coordination to setup transport bearers (SAE bearers) through
Inter-CN Node Signaling
the EPC for a UE. (S10 interface), allows efficient
inter-MME tracking area updates
• MMEs can be interconnected via the S10 interface and attaches
• It generates and allocates temporary ids for UEs
Serving SAE Gateway
Evolved
S1-MME MME
Node B
S6a
(eNB)
S11
S1-U S5/S8

Serving SAE PDN

Gateway Gateway
Serving Gateway Functions
• The serving gateway is a network element that manages
the user data path (SAE bearers) within EPC. Local Mobility Anchor Point:
Switching the User plane to a new
• It therefore connects via the S1-U interface towards eNB eNB in case of Handover
and receives uplink packet data from here and transmits
Mobility anchoring for inter-3GPP
downlink packet data on it. mobility. This is sometimes referred
to as the 3GPP Anchor function
• Thus the serving gateway is some kind of distribution and
packet data anchoring function within EPC. Packet Buffering and notification to
MME for UEs in Idle Mode
• It relays the packet data within EPC via the S5/S8 interface
to or from the PDN gateway. Packet Routing/Forwarding
between eNB, PDN GW and SGSN
• A serving gateway is controlled by one or more MMEs via
S11 interface. Lawful Interception support
•At a given time, the UE is connected to the EPC via a single
Serving-GW
Packet Data Network (PDN) SAE Gateway
S7 Rx+
MME PCRF
S6a
S11
PDN Gateway Functions
S5/S8 SGi
PDN Mobility anchor for mobility between
3GPP access systems and non-3GPP
Serving PDN SAE
access systems. This is sometimes
Gateway Gateway referred to as the SAE Anchor function

Policy Enforcement (PCEF)

• The PDN gateway provides the connection between EPC
Per User based Packet Filtering (i.e.
and a number of external data networks. deep packet inspection)
• Thus it is comparable to GGSN in 2G/3G networks.
Charging Support
• A major functionality provided by a PDN gateway is the
QoS coordination between the external PDN and EPC. Lawful Interception support

• Therefore the PDN gateway can be connected via S7 to

IP Address Allocation for UE
a PCRF (Policy and Charging Rule Function).
• If a UE is connected simultaneously to several PDNs this Packet Routing/Forwarding between
may involved connections to more than one PDN-GW Serving GW and external Data Network

Packet screening (firewall functionality)

Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF)
S7 Rx+
MME PCRF
S6a
S11
S5/S8 SGi
PDN
PCRF: Policy & Charging Rule
Serving PDN SAE Function
Gateway Gateway
QoS policy negotiation with PDN

• The PCRF major functionality is the Quality of Service Charging Policy: determines how
(QoS) coordination between the external PDN and EPC. packets should be accounted
• Therefore the PCRF is connected via Rx+ interface to
the external Data network (PDN)
• This function can be used to check and modify the QoS
associated with a SAE bearer setup from SAE or to
request the setup of a SAE bearer from the PDN.
•This QoS management resembles the policy and
charging control framework introduced for IMS with
UMTS release 6.
Home Subscriber Server (HSS)
HSS

MME
S6a
HSS Functions

• The HSS is already introduced by UMTS release 5. Permanent and central subscriber
database
• With LTE/SAE the HSS will get additionally data per
subscriber for SAE mobility and service handling. Stores mobility and service data for
every subscriber
•Some changes in the database as well as in the HSS
Contains the Authentication Center
protocol (DIAMETER) will be necessary to enable HSS (AuC) functionality.
for LTE/SAE.
•The HSS can be accessed by the MME via S6a
interface.
LTE/SAE Network Interfaces User plane
Control Plane
Control Plane + User plane

Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

HSS

MME: Mobility Management Entity

S6a

MME S10 S7
X2 Rx+
Evolved
Node B S1-MME PCRF
(eNB)
LTE-UE S11
S1-U S5/S8 SGi
cell PDN

LTE-Uu Serving SAE PDN

Gateway Gateway Gateway
 Protocol Stack
User Plane Protocol:
Control Plane Protocol:
 SAE/LTE Interworking with 2G/3G Networks
GGSN
Gb Gn Gi
GERAN SGSN PDN

Gr
Iu-PS
S4 S3
UTRAN
HSS

S6a

MME S7
Evolved Rx+
Node B S1-MME PCRF
(eNB) S11

LTE-UE S1-U S5/S8 SGi

cell PDN
LTE-Uu Serving PDN
Gateway Gateway

Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

SAE/LTE Interworking with 3G - Alternative
GGSN
Gb Gn Gi
GERAN SGSN PDN

Gr
Iu-PS
S4 S3
UTRAN
HSS

S6a
Direct Tunnels from
Serving GW to RNC
(User Plane) S12
MME S7
Evolved Rx+
Node B PCRF
S1-MME
(eNB) S11

S1-U S5/S8 SGi

cell PDN
LTE-Uu Serving PDN
Gateway Gateway

Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) Evolved Packet Core (EPC)

MIMO•MIMO stands for Multiple Input Multiple Output.
•It is a key technology to increase a channel’s capacity by using multiple transmitter and
receiver antennas.
•The propagation channel is the air interface, so that transmission antennas are handled as
input to the channel, whereas receiver antennas are the output of it.
•The very basic ideas behind MIMO have been established already 1970 , but have not
been used in radio communication until 1990.
• MIMO is currently used in 802.11n, 802.16d/e to increase the channel capacity.

Transmission antennas (inputs)

Air Interface

Reception antennas (outputs)

 Downlink Peak Bit Rate
• 2x2 MIMO (2 antennas for TX, 2 Antennas for RX)
• 64QAM
• Control overhead 7.1%
• Reference symbol overhead 7.7%
• 172 Mbps in 20 MHz and 86 Mbps in 10 MHz
Resource blocks 6 15 25 50 100
Subcarriers 72 180 300 600 1200
Modulation coding 1.4 MHz 3.0 MHz 5.0 MHz 10 MHz 20 MHz
QPSK 1/2 Single stream 0.9 2.2 3.6 7.2 14.4
16QAM 1/2 Single stream 1.7 4.3 7.2 14.4 28.8
16QAM 3/4 Single stream 2.6 6.5 10.8 21.6 43.2
64QAM 3/4 Single stream 3.9 9.7 16.2 32.4 64.8
64QAM 4/4 Single stream 5.2 13.0 21.6 43.2 86.4
64QAM 3/4 2x2 MIMO 7.8 19.4 32.4 64.8 129.6
64QAM 1/1 2x2 MIMO 10.4 25.9 43.2 86.4 172.8
64QAM 1/1 4x4 MIMO 20.7 51.8 86.4 172.8 345.6
Uplink Peak Bit Rate
• Single stream transmission with 64QAM assumed
• Reference symbol overhead 14.3%
• One resource block for Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH)
• 85 Mbps in 20 MHz and 42 Mbps in 10 MHz

Resource blocks 5 14 24 49 99
Subcarriers 60 168 288 588 1188
Modulation coding 1.4 MHz 3.0 MHz 5.0 MHz 10 MHz 20 MHz
QPSK 1/2 Single stream 0.7 2.0 3.5 7.1 14.3
16QAM 1/2 Single stream 1.4 4.0 6.9 14.1 28.5
16QAM 3/4 Single stream 2.2 6.0 10.4 21.2 42.8
16QAM 1/1 Single stream 2.9 8.1 13.8 28.2 57.0
64QAM 3/4 Single stream 3.2 9.1 15.6 31.8 64.2
64QAM 1/1 Single stream 4.3 12.1 20.7 42.3 85.5
64QAM 1/1 V-MIMO (cell) 8.6 24.2 41.5 84.7 171.1
LTE-Channel
 DCCH
UL-SCH PUSCH
DTCH
UL

PUCCH
CCCH RACH PRACH
MTCH
MCH PMCH
MCCH
Transport channels

PDCCH
Logical channels

Air interface
Upper Layers

PHY
MAC
RLC

PCFICH
PHICH
DL

DTCH
DCCH
DL-SCH PDSCH
CCCH
PCCH PCH
BCCH BCH PBCH
Physical channels: These are transmission channels that carry user data and control
messages.
Transport channels: The physical layer transport channels offer information transfer
to Medium Access Control (MAC) and higher layers.
Logical channels: Provide services for the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer within
the LTE protocol structure.
 Physical channels

Downlink:
Physical Broadcast Channel (PBCH): This physical channel carries system
information for UEs requiring to access the network.
( Transmit Broadcast channel)
Physical Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH) : This provides information to
enable the UEs to decode the PDCCH.
(Indicate PDCCH symbol)
Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) : The main purpose of this physical
channel is to carry mainly scheduling information.
(Assign PDSCH/PUSCH)
Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH) : This channel is used for unicast and
paging functions.(Transmit user data)
Physical Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (PHICH) : As the name implies, this channel
is used to report the Hybrid ARQ status.
(Indicate HARQ ACK for UL)
Physical Multicast Channel (PMCH) : This physical channel carries system
information for multicast purposes.
(Transmit multicast channel)
 Physical channels

Uplink:
Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) : A physical uplink control channel is
a transmission channel that is used to transport user signaling data
from one or more mobiles that can transmit on the control channel. The
PUCCH transports the acknowledgment responses and retransmission
requests (ARQ, ACK, NAK), sends service scheduling requests, and
transfers channel quality information measured by the mobile to the
system.

Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) : This physical channel found on the LTE
uplink is the Uplink counterpart of PDSCH(Transmit user data)

Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH) : This uplink physical channel is used
for random access functions. (Transmit random access preamble)
 Transport channels
Downlink:

Broadcast Channel (BCH) : The LTE transport channel maps to Broadcast

Control Channel (BCCH)

Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH) : This transport channel is the main

channel for downlink data transfer. It is used by many logical channels.

Paging Channel (PCH) : To convey the PCCH

Multicast Channel (MCH) : This transport channel is used to transmit

MCCH information to set up multicast transmissions.
Uplink:

Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH) : This transport channel is the main channel
for uplink data transfer. It is used by many logical channels.

Random Access Channel (RACH) : This is used for random access requirements.
 Logical channels

Control channels:
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH) : This control channel provides system information
to all mobile terminals connected to the eNodeB.

Paging Control Channel (PCCH) : This control channel is used for paging information
when searching a unit on a network.

Common Control Channel (CCCH) : This channel is used for random access
information, e.g. for actions including setting up a connection.

Multicast Control Channel (MCCH) : This control channel is used for Information
needed for multicast reception.

Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH) : This control channel is used for carrying user-
specific control information, e.g. for controlling actions including power control,
handover, etc..
Traffic channels:

Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH) : This traffic channel is used for

the transmission of user data.

Multicast Traffic Channel (MTCH) : This channel is used for the

transmission of multicast data.
 LTE Radio Frames, Slots and Subframes FDD mode
•The basic EUTRAN Radio Frame is 10 ms long.
•The EUTRAN Radio Frame is divided into 20 slots, each one 0.5 ms long.
•Always two slots together form a subframe. The subframe (1 ms) is the smallest time unit
the scheduler assigns to physical channels.
•In case of FDD there is a time offset between uplink and downlink transmission.

DL/UL Time offset

radio frame 10 ms
f

DL carrier Slot Slot Slot Slot ... Slot Slot Slot Slot
#0 #1 #2 #3 #16 #17 #18 #19

subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 8 subframe 9

subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 8 subframe 9

UL carrier Slot Slot Slot Slot ... Slot Slot Slot Slot
#0 #1 #2 #3 #16 #17 #18 #19
radio frame 10 ms
time
LTE Radio Frames, Slots and Subframes
TDD mode(1/2)

•If TDD mode is used, subframe 0 and subframe 5 must be downlink, all other
subframes can dynamically be used as uplink or downlink period.

TDD Frame Type 1

radio frame 10 ms
f

UL/DL
Slot Slot Slot Slot ... Slot Slot ... Slot Slot
carrier
#0 #1 #2 #3 #16 #17 #18 #19

subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 5 subframe 9

time

Downlink Subframe Uplink Subframe

 LTE Radio Frames, Slots and Subframes
TDD mode (2/2)
•EUTRAN also defines a frame type 2. It is for TDD only and is introduced for
compatibility with TD-SCDMA (low chip rate TDD mode) of WCDMA.

TDD Frame Type 2

Guard Period radio frame 10 ms

f
... ...
DwPTS

DwPTS

UpPTS
UpPTS
Guard

Guard
UL/DL Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot Slot
carrier #0 #1 #6 #0 #1 #6

subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 6

DL/UL subframe 6
Pilot half frame time
Signals

Downlink Subframe Uplink Subframe

LTE Frame Structure

The number of
Symbols per Slot
(0.5 ms) could be
6 or 7 depending
on the Cyclic
Prefix length
(Refer to next
slide for details)
 LTE Slot
The LTE Slot carries:
• 7 symbols with short cyclic prefix
• 6 symbols with long prefix
OFDM Resource Block for LTE/EUTRAN
frequency

• EUTRAN combines OFDM symbols in so called

Subcarriers
resource blocks RB.
• A single resource block is always 12
consecutive subcarriers during one subframe (2
slots, 1 ms):
• 12 subcarriers * 15 kHz= 180 kHz

Bandwidth
•It is the task of the scheduler to assign resource

180kHz
blocks to physical channels belonging to Subcarrier
different users or for general system tasks. Bandwidth
15kHz
•A single cell must have at least 6 resource
blocks (72 subcarriers) and up to 110 are
possible (1320 subcarriers).
Slot Slot

time

Subframe
1ms
OFDM resource Grid for LTE/EUTRAN

• OFDM symbols are arranged in a 2 dimensional matrix called the resource grid:
– One axis of the grid is the subcarrier index
– The other axis is the time.
• Each OFDM symbol has its place in the resource grid.

frequency Subframe = 1 ms
Resource Block
Slot = 0.5 ms (RB)

… …
… …
12 subcarriers

… …
… …

…
…

…
…

…
…
…
…
…

…
… …
… …
… … OFDM Symbol
… …
…

…
…

…
…
…
…
…
…
…

… …
… …
6 or 7 Symbols/slot time
Modulation Schemes for LTE/EUTRAN

•Each OFDM symbol even within a resource block can have a different modulation
scheme.
•EUTRAN defines the following options: QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM.
Not every physical channel will be allowed to use any modulation scheme: Control
channels to be using mainly QPSK.
•In general it is the scheduler that decides which form to use depending on carrier
quality feedback information from the UE.

64QAM
b0 b1b2b3 b4 b5
QPSK 16QAM Im
b0 b1 b0 b1b2b3
Im Im 1111
01 11

Re
00 10Re Re

0000
 LTE bit rate calculation
• From the 3gpp specification:
-1 Radio Frame = 10 Sub-frame
LTE bit rate calculation
-1 Sub-frame = 2 Time-slots
-1 Time-slot = 0.5 ms (i.e 1 Sub-frame = 1 ms)
-1 Time-slot = 7 Modulation Symbols (when normal CP length is used)
-1 Modulation Symbols = 6 bits; if 64 QAM is used as modulation scheme
Radio resource is manage in LTE as resource grid....
-1 Resource Block (RB) = 12 Sub-carriers
Assume 20 MHz channel bandwidth (100 RBs), normal CP
Therefore, number of bits in a sub-frame
= 100RBs x 12 sub-carriers x 2 slots x 7 modulation symbols x 6 bits
= 100800 bits
Hence, data rate = 100800 bits / 1 ms = 100.8 Mbps
* If 4x4 MIMO is used, then the peak data rate would be 4 x 100.8 Mbps = 403 Mbps.
* If 3/4 coding is used to protect the data, we still get 0.75 x 403 Mbps = 302 Mbps as data
rate.