LTE and NR Question and Answer

What is LTE & VoLTE?

LTE (Long-Term Evolution) is a fourth- generation (4G) wireless standard that provides
increased network capacity and speed.

 An IP Address based core network

 A simplified network architecture
 A new radio Interface
 A new modulation method
 Multiple input, multiple output radios (MIMO) for all devices

Two types of LTE handle data transmission, LTE-TDD and LTE-FDD

Comparison Table Between FDD LTE Networks vs TDD LTE Networks

Parameters of
FDD LTE Networks TDD LTE Networks
Comparison

FDD LTE shows both uplink and TDD LTE does not show both uplink and
Application
downlink at the same time. downlink at the same time.

TDD LTE is different from FDD LTE

Special FDD LTE does not need any special
because it does need some special
considerations planning.
considerations or planning.

Symmetric or
FDD LTE has symmetric traffic. TDD LTE has asymmetric traffic.
asymmetric

TDD LTE is a half-duplex that means that

Full duplex or
FDD LTE is called a full-Duplex. TDD LTE can either uplink or downlink
half-duplex
at a time.

The interferences in FDD LTE between The interferences in TDD LTE between
the base stations as the transmission and the base stations as the transmission and
Interferences
reception are done on different reception are done on the same
frequencies. frequencies.

FDD LTE came from a 3G network

Came from? TDD LTE came from TD-SCDMA.
migration path.

Spectrum FDD LTE has a paired spectrum. TDD LTE uses an unpaired spectrum.
Difference between LTE and VoLTE
The following table highlights the points that differentiate LTE and VoLTE −

LTE VoLTE

LTE stands for long term evolution. VoLTE stands for voice over Long term
evolution.

You cannot use the voice and Data Services It supports data and call services at a similar
at the same time. time.

It will support the data and voice services While you can enjoy good voice calling
simultaneously, then the quality of the voice when using the data services.
decreases.

The data will get off when the voice call is At the time of the voice call, it does not turn
happening. off the data.

Call connection between the two servers is If both the connection users are on VoLTE is
slow going. speedy.

You need to use WhatsApp and skype for You do not have to download any
the video calling facility. application for video calling.

It is slowly getting obsolete. It is used by most people nowadays.

What is LTE Call flow?

The LTE Call Flow process:

1.(MIB, SIB): Master Information Block (MIBs) and System Information Block (SIBs)
elements allow UE to find and sync itself to network.

2.Random Access Preamble (RAP): Is the first message from the UE to eNB, to achieve
uplink synchronization in order to obtain the resource for the third message.

3.Random Access Preamble Response (RAP Response): Random Access Preamble

response allows the UE to send further messages.

4.Radio Resource Connection (RRC LTE): The UE uses UL-SCH allocation message to
eNodeB which contains UE identity (typically S-TMSI: MMEC+M-TMSI) and the
establishment cause for the RRC connection.

5.Radio Resource Connection Setup (RRC Setup): eNodeB sends DL-SCH message to the
UE in order to create the signaling radio bearer (SRB). The message contains: configuration
parameters for uplink RLC, UL-SCH, Power Head Room (PHR) and Uplink Power Control.

6.PDN Connectivity: The UE sends a message to eNodeB which contains: RRC has been
completed, Initiate the Attach procedure as Non-access spectrum (NAS) payload and PDN
Connectivity request.
7.Attach PDN request: eNodeB will send its first message to the core network passing the
attach request to the MME. This message is sent via S1AP interface, and it contains the initial
UE message which includes: the PDN Connectivity Request, the Tracking Area Identify
(TAI) and E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier (ECGI).

8.Authentication request and info: The MME will reach the HSS will send the security
tuple to the MME containing K-ASME, AUTN, XRES and RAND.

9.Authentication response: The UE sends the Auth response value which was computed
from the key K, AUTN and RAND.

10.Security Mode Complete: Security mode command MME sends the encryption and
integrity protection algorithms and key selection identifier (KSI-ASME). The UE response
message back to the MME with NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

11.Location update request: Acknowledgment message sent from HSS to MME that
contains PDN subscription contexts (EPS subscribed QoS profile and the subscribed APN-
AMBR).

12.Session request: Create session request message from the Mobility Management Entity
(MME) to the Serving Gateway (SGW) to create a GTP tunnel.

13.Default Bearer Request: Serving Gateway (SGW) will send this request to Packet Data
Network Gateway (PGW), to create a new entry in its EPS bearer context table and generates
a Charging Id.

14.Default bearer response: The default bearer response from the PGW to the SGW will
contain PDN GW User Plane address, PDN GW TEIDs User and Control Plane, EPS Bearer
Identity and QoS. On the other hand, PGW will also send Downlink data that will be buffered
in the SGW for now.

15.Session response: Acknowledgment message from SGW to the MME that indicates the
establishment of GPRS Tunneling Protocol for control (GTP-C) tunnel.

16.Initial context setup request: MME will send eNB initial context setup message
containing S1 interface context setup request, NAS attachment accept and activate default
bearer request.

17.RRC security mode: The eNodeB will reach the UE with RRC security mode message
with the AS integrity protection and encryption algorithms and START parameters. The UE
sends to eNodeB acknowledge message that uses the newly activated keys to encrypt and
integrity protection.

18.RRC Reconfigure: eNodeB will send RRC reconfigure to activate the default radio
bearer.

19.RRC complete: UE will send acknowledgment message and attach RRC LTE complete
(EPC Bearer Identity, NAS sequence number, NAS-MAC).

20. Data flowing: Now, the UE has successfully established a connection to the network and
the buffered data will be passed to the UE in the Data Radio bearer.
KPIs for LTE RAN (Radio Access Network)
LTE KPI INDICATORS
 RRC setup success rate
 ERAB setup success rate
Accessibility  Call Setup Success Rate
KPI Are used to measure properly of whether services requested by users can be accessed in given
condition, also refers to the quality of being available when users needed. eg. user request to
access the network, access the voice call, data call, ......
 Call drop rate
Retainability  Service Call drop rate
KPI Are used to measure how the network keep user's possession or able to hold and provide the
services for the users
 Intra-Frequency Handover Out Success Rate
 Inter-Frequency Handover Out Success Rate
Mobility  Inter-RAT Handover Out Success Rate (LTE to WCDMA)
KPI
Are used to measure the performance of network which can handle the movement of users and
still retain the service for the user, such as handover,
 E-UTRAN IP Throughput
 IP Throughput in DL
Integrity  E-UTRAN IP Latency
KPI
Are used to measure the character or honesty of network to its user, such as what is the
throughput, latency which users were served.
 E-UTRAN Cell Availability
Availability  Partial cell availability (node restarts excluded)
KPI Are used to measure how the network keep user's possession or able to hold and provide the
services for the users
 Mean Active Dedicated EPS Bearer Utilization
Utilization
KPI
Are used to measure the utilization of network, whether the network capacity is reached its
resource.
4G Architecture:

----------- Control Data

The high-level network architecture of LTE is composed of the following three

key components:
 The User Equipment (UE).
 The Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN).
 The Evolved Packet Core (EPC).
The E-UTRAN is comprised of:

 User Equipment (UEs)

 evolved Node B basestations (eNodeBs)

 the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)

The EPC is comprised of:

 the Mobility Management Entity (MME)

 the Serving Gateway (SGW)

 the Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW)

 the Home Subscriber Server (HSS)

 the Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF)

 the Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG)

The EPC
The Evolved Packet Core (EPC) is the LTE core network. It is comprised of components that
have the following functions: mobility management, authentication, quality of service,
routing upload and download IP packets, IP address allocation, and more.
The EPC has a “flat” IP architecture that allows the network to handle a great amount of data
traffic in an efficient and cost-effective manner.
The sections below will describe the EPC’s main elements.
The MME
The Mobility Management Entity (MME) handles all of the signaling exchanges between the
UEs and the EPC, as well as those between the eNodeBs and the EPC. The signaling
performed by the MME is also known as the NAS (Non-Access Stratum) signaling, as it done
through the NAS protocol. The MME connects to the eNodeB through the S1-AP interface
and performs authentication. It connects to the HSS and requests the authentication
information for the subscriber trying to connect to the network.
The MME has the following functions:
Authentication – enables UEs to authenticate to the network by exchanging authentication
information between the UE and the HSS.
Mobility management – allows the subscriber’s mobility within the network or across
networks.
Location update – keeps track of the subscriber’s location within the network, and of it’s
current state.
Bearer establishment – establishes bearers by deciding on a gateway router to the
Internet if there are more gateways available.
Handover support – enables handover between eNodeBs (for handover on the S1
interface)
The MME is also responsible for allocating a gateway router to the Internet if there are more
available.
While the eNodeB itself has handover capabilities, the MME transmits handover messages
between eNodeBs when the X2 interface is not available.
The NAS signaling terminates at the MME and it is also responsible for generation and
allocation of temporary identities to UEs. It checks the authorization of the UE to camp on
the service providers Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) and enforces UE roaming
restrictions. The MME is the termination point in the network for ciphering/integrity
protection for NAS signaling and handles the security key management.
The MME also supports lawful interception of signaling. It provides the control plane
function for mobility between LTE and 2G/3G access networks with the S3 interface
terminating at the MME from the SGSN. The MME also terminates the S6a interface towards
the home HSS for roaming UEs.
The S-GW
The S-GW (Serving Gateway) acts like an anchor for handover between neighboring
eNodeBs routes and routes all the user data packets. The S-GW also handles mobility
between LTE and other CS networks.
For idle state UEs, the S-GW maintains the UEs’ context, and generates paging requests
when the UE receives downlink data.
The S-GW also performs replication of the user traffic in case of lawful interception.
The P-GW
The P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway) ensures the UE’s connectivity to external packet
data networks, acting like the point of exit and entry of traffic for the UE. A UE can be
connected to more than one P-GW while accessing multiple PDNs.
The P-GW handles policy enforcement, user by user packet filtering, charging support,
lawful intereption and packet screening. It also acts like Another key role of the P-GW is to
act as the anchor for mobility between 3GPP and non-3GPP technologies such as WiMAX
and 3GPP2 (CDMA 1X and EvDO)
The HSS
The Home Subscriber Server (HSS) is a central database that contains user-related and
subscription-related information. The functions of the HSS include mobility management,
call and session establishment support, user authentication and access authorization. The HSS
is based on the Home Location Register (HLR) and the Authentication Center (AuC) of 2G
and 3G networks.
The PCRF
The Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) , is a combination of the Charging Rules
Function (CRF) and the Policy Decision Function (PDF), and ensures the service policy and
sends Quality of Service (QoS) information for each session begun and accounting rule
information. These policies are enforced in the eNodeB.
LTE Interfaces :

S1-MME :- Reference point for the control plane protocolbetween E-UTRAN and MME.

S1-U:-Reference point between E-UTRAN and ServingGW for the per bearer user plane
tunnelling and inter eNodeB path switching during handover.

S3:- It enables user and bearer information exchange forinter 3GPP access network mobility
in idle and/or activestate.

S4:- It provides related control and mobility support between GPRS Core and the 3GPP
Anchor function of Serving GW. In addition, if Direct Tunnel is not established, it provides
the user plane tunnelling.

S5:- It provides user plane tunnelling and tunnel management between Serving GW and PDN
GW. It is used for Serving GW relocation due to UE mobility and if the Serving GW needs to
connect to a non-collocated PDNGW for the required PDN connectivity.
S6a:- It enables transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing
useraccess to the evolved system (AAA interface) between MME and HSS.

Gx:- It provides transfer of (QoS) policy and chargingrules from PCRF to Policy and
Charging EnforcementFunction (PCEF) in the PDN GW.

S8:- Inter-PLMN reference point providing user and control plane between the Serving GW
in the VPLMN andthe PDN GW in the HPLMN. S8 is the inter PLMN variantof S5.

S9:- It provides transfer of (QoS) policy and charging control information between the Home
PCRF and the Visited PCRF in order to support local breakout function.

S10:- Reference point between MMEs for MME relocationand MME to MME information
transfer.

S11:- Reference point between MME and Serving GW.

S12:- Reference point between UTRAN and Serving GW for user plane tunnelling when
Direct Tunnel is established. It is based on the Iu-u/Gn-u reference pointusing the GTP-U
protocol as defined between SGSN and UTRAN or respectively between SGSN and GGSN.
Usageof S12 is an operator configuration option.

S13:- It enables UE identity check procedure betweenMME and EIR.

SGi:- It is the reference point between the PDN GW and the packet data network. Packet data
network may be an operator external public or private packet data network oran intra operator
packet data network, e.g. for provision ofIMS services. This reference point corresponds to Gi
for 3GPP accesses.

https://yatebts.com/documentation/concepts/lte-concepts/
Massive MIMO(Multiple Input Multiple Output):
Massive MIMO (massive multiple-input multiple-output) is a type of wireless
communications technology in which base stations are equipped with a very large number of antenna
elements to improve spectral and energy efficiency.
Massive MIMO systems typically have tens, hundreds, or even thousands of antennas in a
single antenna array.
Benefits of Massive MIMO
Increases Network Capacity. Massive MIMO increases the capacity of a particular wireless
communication network in two ways. ...

Enhances Network Coverage. Another advantage of Massive MIMO is that it provides high spectral
efficiency through the coordination of multiple antennas using simple processing and without
intensive power consumption.

Complements Beamforming. Beamforming technology works by focusing a signal toward a

specific direction, rather than broadcasting in all directions, thus resulting in more direct
communication between a transmitter and ...

Enables Next-Gen Technologies. Massive MIMO is an essential component of 5G technology. For

example, in Sub-6 5G specification, it allows the utilization of frequencies within the sub-6 GHz
range.

MIMO, SISO, SIMO And MISO Comparison

Antenna system Transmitter (Tx) Receiver (Rx)

SISO (Single Input Single Output) One antenna One antenna

MISO (Multiple Input Single Output) Multiple antennas (two or more) One antenna

Multiple antennas (two

SIMO (Single Input Multiple Output) One antenna
or more)

MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) Multiple antennas (two or more) Multiple antennas (two o
Beamforming :
Beamforming is a kind of radio frequency (RF) management in which an access point makes
use of various antennas to transmit the exact same signal. Beamforming is considered a
subset of smart antennas or Advanced Antenna Systems (AAS).

Beamforming can be used with 5G signals to overcome the obstacles 5G typically faces,
including interference and range limitations. 5G beamforming enables more focused signals
to be sent to a receiving device like a smartphone or laptop. The process minimizes
interference between individual beams.

Hybrid beamforming and massive MIMO are common candidates for 5G. Massive MIMO,
for example, may use multi-antenna arrays and spatial multiplexing to transmit multiple
independent signals.

Advantages of beamforming include the following:

 More power is directed in the beam's specified direction.

 Higher signal quality reaches the receiving device, which increases the coverage
capacity of the cell tower or base station.

 There are faster information transfers and fewer errors.

 Signal interference between devices is avoided since signals are only broadcast
where needed.

 Analog beamforming is relatively simple to implement and has lower power

requirements.

What Is RSSI?
RSSI stands for Received Signal Strength Indication. It is used almost in all the RATs to
identify power received from the cell inidle as well as connected/dedicated modes. This
helps UE always camped on to the best cell all the time. In case of drop inpower measured
using RSSI, either UE or network initiates the handover or cell re-selection is carried out.
5G use cases across sectors:-

5G Architecture :-
Followings are the name of each network component:
AMF Access and Mobility Management Function ==> Equivalent to MME in 4G
AUSF Authentication Server Function
DN Data Network
NEF Network Exposure Function
NRF Network Repository Function
NSSF Network Slice Selection Function
PCF Policy Control Function ==> Equivalent to PCRF in 5G
RAN Radio Access Network
SMF Session Management Function
UDM Unified Data Management ==> Equivalent to HSS in 4G
UPF User Plane Function ==> Equivalent to PGW in 4G
SMSF SMS Function
SEAF Security Anchor Function ==> part of AMF function
ARPF Authentication credential Repository and Processing Function
SIDF Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function
N1 interface:
The N1 interface is a transparent interface from User Equipment (UE) to the AMF. It is used to
transfer UE information (related to connection, Mobility and sessions) to the AMF.
N2 interface:
N2 connects the gNodeB to the Access and Mobility Management Function, or AMF. This is
essential, because of Control and User Plane Separation, commonly known as CUPS.

Both N1 and N2 are included in the Evolver 5G test suite range, allowing effective emulation of test
messages from emulated UE devices to be sent to the AMF. In this configuration, Evolver acts as a
gNodeB, so the validation is an essential step towards service verification.
N2 (control plane) and N3 (user plane) to interface to the core and transparent N1 interface to
the user devices.

N3 interface:
N4 interface connects the UPF to the SMS and caters for a number of key session management
procedures. For example, the UPF identifies and transports user plane traffic information and flow
based on session management data received from the 5G Session Management Function (SMF).
N6 interface:

The N6 interface plays the same role in the 5G network, providing connectivity between the User
Plane Function (UPF) and any other external (or internal) networks or service platforms, such as the
Internet, the public cloud or private clouds.

N7 interface:

N7 interface to trigger session management policies towards Session Management Function (SMF).
SMF controls the User plane Function (UPF) . It translates policies received from the PCF to a set of
directives/information understood to the UPF and then forwards it to the UPF.

N8 interface:

The N8 Reference point is between UDM (Unified Data Management) and the AMF (Access and
Mobility Management Function).

N9 interface:

Interface between two UPF's (i.e the Intermediate I-UPF and the UPF Session Anchor) N6: Interface
between the Data Network (DN) and the UPF. N4: Interface between the Session Management
Function (SMF) and the UPF.

N11 interface:

N11 interface represent a trigger to add, modify or delete a PDU session across the user plane. The
SMF sends messages to the UPF over the N4 reference interface using the Packet Forwarding Control
Protocol (PFCP).

N14 interface:
The N14 Reference point is between two AMFs (Access and Mobility Management Functions). If you
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NSSF interface:

NSSF Installation in 5G environment. Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) selects the network
slicing instance (NSI), determines the allowed network slice selection assistance information (NSSAI)
and set AMF to serve the UE.

AMF interface :-
SMF interface :-
UDM interface :-
AUSF
Difference between CPRI and ECPRI

Difference between SA and NSA