Wireless Cellular & LTE 4G

Broadband-15EC81

Module-3: Downlink Transport Channel

Processing(Lecture-2)
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing

• Overview

• Downlink Shared Channels

• Downlink Control Channels

• Broadcast Channels

• Multicast Channels

• Downlink Physical Channels

• H-ARQ on Downlink
 Introduction
□ LTE uses a channels to provide effective,
efficient data transport over the LTE
radio interface.
□ There are three categories into which the
various data channels may be grouped.

• 1. Physical channels : These are

transmission channels that carry
user data and control messages.

• 2. Logical channels: Provide

services for the Medium Access
Control (MAC) layer within the
LTE protocol structure.

• 3. Transport channels: The

physical layer transport channels
offer information transfer to
Medium Access Control (MAC)
and higher layers. The PHY layer
provides services to the MAC layer
 Introduction
□ Following are Downlink Transport Channels:
1. Broadcast Channel (BCH)characterized by:
o Fixed, pre-defined transport format
o Requirement to be broadcast in the entire coverage area of the
cell.
2. Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)characterized by:
o Support for HARQ
o Support for dynamic link adaptation by varying the modulation,
coding and transmit power
o Possibility to be broadcast in the entire cell
o Possibility to use beam forming
o Support for both dynamic and semi-static resource allocation
o Support for UE discontinuous reception (DRX) to enable UE power
saving.
 Introduction
3. Paging Channel (PCH)characterized by:

o Support for UE discontinuous reception (DRX) to enable UE power saving

(DRX cycle is indicated by the network to the UE)
o Requirement to be broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell
o Mapped to physical resources which can be used dynamically also for traffic
or other control channels.
4. Multicast Channel (MCH) (from Release 9)characterized by:
o Requirement to be broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell
o Support for MBSFN combining of MBMS transmission on multiple cells
o Support for semi-static resource allocation e.g., with a time frame of a long
cyclic prefix.
 Introduction

• Transport Blocks:
• Data and control streams coming from the MAC layer are organized in
the form of trans port blocks.
• Each transport block is a group of resource blocks with a common
modulation and coding scheme.
• Downlink Shared Channel (DL_ SCH) are used to transmit transport
block.
• The physical layer processing :

• It mainly consists of coding and modulation , which maps each

transport block to specific physical time-frequency resources.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview

o The downlink physical layer processing mainly consists of

1. Channel coding process : It involves mapping the incoming trans port blocks
from the MAC layer into different code words
2. Modulation process: M odulation generates complex -valued OFDM
baseband signals for each antenna port, which are then up converted to the
carrier frequency.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
Channel Coding Processing: The channel coding processing steps as shown in figure 7.2. The
Channel Coding Processing procedure includes
1. CRC Addition
2. Code Block segmentation
3. Channel coding: Tail-Biting Convolutional, Convolution Turbo Coding
4. Rate Matching: Sub-block interleaving, Bit collection and Bit selection
5. Code Block Concatenation
o The downlink channel coding processing is shown in Figure 7.2.
• Channel coding provides an error-control mechanism for data transmission using forward
error correction (FEC) code and error detection based on cyclic redundancy check (CRC).
• In LTE, the coding rate at the channel encoder is fixed, and different effective coding
rates for the whole transport block are achieved by repetition/puncturing during the rate
matching procedure.
Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing
Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing
Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing

1. CRC Addition :
o The CRC is used to provide error detection on the transport block.
o It generates cyclic generator polynomials, which are then added at
the end of the transport block.
o The 24-bit CRC is added to the each transport block for the
downlink shared channel, o The CRC allows for receiver side
detection errors in the decoded transport block, o The corresponding
error indication is then used by the down link hybrid- ARQ protocol.

Transport Block CRC

 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing
2. Code Block Segmentation:
o Transport block is divided into smaller size code blocks in LTE, which is
referred as code block segmentation in the LTE physical layer.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing

2. Code Block Segmentation:

o In LTE there are two sizes defined for code block i.e. minimum and maximum
code block size. These block sizes are based on block sizes as supported by the
turbo interleaver module of CTC Encoder. They are as follows:
• 40 bits of minimum code block size
• 6144 bits of maximum code block size
o If input transport block length B is greater than the maximum code block size as
supported by encoder then the input block is segmented into the one supported.
This segmented block is referred as code blocks (c] and it is given by
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing

• Where L is the number of CRC parity bits. Each of these C code blocks is then
encoded independently. This is to prevent excessive complexity and memory
requirement for decoding at the receiver

• Each of these code blocks has a 24 bit CRC attached. This CRC is calculated
similar to Transport Block CRC calculation.

• Filler bits are appended at the start of segment, this helps code block size to
match a set of valid turbo interleaver block sizes.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing
3. Channel Coding:
o In LTE, the channel encoders applied to transport channels include
1. Tail-biting convolutional coding
2. Convolutional turbo coding.
o The usage of channel coding schemes and coding rates for different downlink
transport channels is specified in Table below

o For control information, other channel coding schemes are supported,

including block coding and repetition coding, specified in Table below
Control Information Coding Scheme Coding Rate
DCI Tail-biting convolutional coding 1/3
CFI Block coding 1/16
HI Repetition coding 1/3
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview: Channel
Coding Processing
A. Tail-Biting Convolutional Coding:
o The convolutional encoder used in LTE is a rate 1/3 encoder with a
constraint length of 7 as shown in Figure 7.3.

So S| Sj 5j S4 Sj

133 (octal)

171 (octal)

165 (octal)

o Trellis termination must be performed at the end of each code block in order

to restore the state of the encoder to the initial state for the next code block,
o If the initial and the final states of the encoder are known, then a lower
block error rate can be achieved at the decoder while using a Viterbi
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
o Two of the most common approaches for trellis termination are
a. Padding: Here the end of the code block is padded with zeros.
– This forces the encoder to state '0' at the end of the code block, which is the
starting state for the next code block.
– Main drawbacks of this method is that additional bandwidth is wasted due to the
extra zeros that are added to the end of each code block.
b. Tail biting : It is more efficient method, where the information bits from the end of
each code block are appended to the beginning of the code block.
– Once these appended bits are passed through the encoder, it ensures that the start
and end states of the encoder are the same.
– With tail biting, all the input bits are afforded the same amount of error protection,
and there is no code-rate loss compared to zero padding, but the decoding
algorithm becomes more complicated.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
B. Convolution Turbo Coding:
o It is a Parallel Concatenated Convolutional Code (PCCC) with two eight -
state constituent encoders and one turbo code internal interleaver, with a
coding rate of 1/3.
o LTE employs a new contention -free internal interleaver based on
Quadrature Permutation Polynomial (QPP)

Figure 7.4 Structure of rate 1/3

turbo encoder(dotted lines apply for
trellis termination only)
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
o The transfer function of the eight-state constituent code for the PCCC is

o The initial values of the shift registers shall be all zeros when starting to encode the
input bits.
O Due to the recursive nature of the encoder, the trellis termination is performed by
taking the recursive bit and performing a modulo 2 addition with itself as shown in
Figure 7.4.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing

o For each K -bit input code block, the output of the turbo encoder consists of
three K – bit data streams:
a. One systematic bit stream
b. Two parity bit streams.
o 12 tail bits due to trellis termination are added to the end of the output streams, so
each bit stream has K + 4 bits. Therefore, the actual coding rate is slightly lower
than 1/3.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
4. Rate Matching:
o The main task of the rate-matching is to extract the exact set of bits to be transmitted
within a given TTI.
o The rate-matching for Turbo coded transport channels is defined for each code block:
there are three basic steps composing a rate-matching, As illustrated in Figure 7.5.
o Rate matching is defined per coded block and consists of the following stages:
a. Interleaving b. Bit collection c. Bit selection

Figure 7.5 Rate matching for

coded transport channels.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
a. Interleaving:

• It is performed at Sub -block level in order to spread out the occurrence of bursty
errors across the code block, which improves the overall performance of the
decoder.

• It is performed independently for each bit stream, done by a block interleaver with
inter -column permutations. The inter -column permutation patterns are different
for turbo coding and convolutional coding.

b. Bit Collection: Bit collection stage is required to place the systematic and parity
bits in the right order as needed by the decoder. A virtual circular buffer is formed
by collecting bits from the interleaved streams.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
• The systematic bits are placed at the beginning, followed by bit-by-bit interlacing
of the two interleaved parity streams, as shown in Figure 7.5.

• Bit Selection : The bit selection extracts consecutive bits from the circular buffer
to the extent that fits int o the assigned physical resource.

– To select the output bit sequence, the sequence length L should first be
determined, Then L bits are read from the virtual circular buffer.

– The starting point of the bit selection depends on the redundancy version of the
current transmission, which is different for different retransmissions associated
with the H -ARQ process. This means that from one H-ARQ transmission to
the next even though the number of bits L is the same, the parity bits that are
punctured or repeated can be different.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Channel Coding Processing
– During bit selection if the end of the buffer is reached, the reading continues
by wrapping around to the beginning of the buffer . With K input bits to the
channel encoder, the effective coding rate is K/L, which can achieve any
continuum of coding rates.

d. Code Block Concatenation : It is needed only for turbo coding when the number of
code blocks is larger than one. It consists of sequentially concatenating the rate
matching outputs for different code blocks, forming the code word input to the
modulation processing.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
□ Modulation takes in one or two code words, depending on whether spatial
multiplexing is used, and converts them to complex-valued OFDM baseband
signals for each antenna port.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing

□ The modulation processing consists of

□ Scrambling
□ Modulation Mapping
□ Layer Mapping and Pre-coding
□ Resource Mapping
□ OFDM Signal Generation.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
1. Scrambling : A scrambler (or randomizer) is an algorithm that converts an input
string into a seemingly random output string of the same length , thus avoiding long
sequences of bits of the same value
o There are two main reasons scrambling is used:
1. To enable accurate timing recovery on receiver equipment without resorting
to redundant line coding. It facilitates the work of a timing recovery circuit,
an automatic gain control and other adaptive circuits of the receiver.
2. For energy dispersal on the carrier, reducing inter-carrier signal
interference.
o Before modulation, the code word is scrambled by a bit-level scrambling
sequence.
o The block of bits for code word q is denoted as b^q\0),......(M^ — l), Where
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
o The scrambling sequence c(q)is a pseudo-random sequence defined by a length-
31 Gold sequence [3]. The scrambled bits are generated using a modulo 2
addition as:

o Up to two codewords can be transmitted in the same subframe, so q — 0 if

spatial multiplexing is not used or q £{0,1} if spatial multiplexing is used,
o Except the multicast channel, for all other downlink transport channels and
control information, the scrambling sequences are different for neighboring
cells so that inter-cell interference is randomized, which is one of the
approaches for interference mitigation.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
2. Modulation Mapping:
o For each codeword q, the block of scrambled bits 6^(0),......b^ (M^ — l) are
modulated into a block of complex-valued modulation symbols d^q\0),......d^ \M^ —
l) where M^ is the number of the modulation symbols in each codeword and
depends on the modulation scheme.

o Where is the number of bits in the modulation constellation, with Qin = 2 for QPSK,
Qm= 4 for 16QAM, and Q,„ = 6 for 64QAM.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
o Different physical channels employ different modulation listed in Table 7.3.

3. Layer Mapping and Precoding:

□ Mapping and pre-coding are associated with MIMO. An illustrated in figure 7.6
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
3. Layer Mapping and Precoding:
□ Mapping and pre-coding are associated with MIMO. An illustrated in figure 7.6

□ Layer Mapping: This is the process where each codeword is mapped to one or

multiple layers.
□ Pre-coding: This is process where the layer data are allocated to multiple antenna

ports . An antenna port is defined by its associated reference signal .

□ Antenna ports are divided into three groups:
1. Antenna ports 0 -3 2. Antenna port 4 3. Antenna port 5
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
□ . Layer Mapping: This is the process where each codeword is mapped to one or

multiple layers.

• A codeword is defined as the output of each channel coding associated with a

single transport block coming from the MAC layer .

• For MIMO transmission with multiple codewords on different spatial channels .

In LTE, up to four transmit/receive antennas are supported, the number of
codewords is limited to two.

• A layer corresponds to a data stream of the spatial multiplexing channel. Each

codeword is mapped into one or multiple layers
□ Pre-coding: This is process where the layer data are allocated to multiple antenna
ports . An antenna port is defined by its associated reference signal .
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing

• The number of transmit antenna ports at the eNode-B is sent to UEs through the
PBCH channel, which can be 1, 2, or 4 in LTE. Antenna ports are divided into three
groups:
1. Antenna ports 0 -3: These ports are cell specific, which are used for downlink
MIMO transmission.
2. Antenna port 4: It is MBSFN specific and is used for MBSFN transmission.
3. Antenna port 5: It is UE specific, which is used for beamforming to a single UE
using all physical antennas.
□ Cell-specific ports and the UE-specific port cannot be simultaneously used.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
□ Layer mapping is different for different MIMO modes, described as follows.
1. Single antenna port: One codeword is mapped to a single layer.
2. Transmit diversity: One codeword is mapped to two or four layers.
3. Spatial multiplexing : Are codewords are mapped to v layers, the detailed mapping is
in Table 7.4.
• Note that the case of a single codeword mapped to two layers occurs only
when the initial trans mission contains two codewords and a codeword
mapped onto two layers needs to be retransmitted.
• Both open -loop (OL) and closed -loop (CL) spatial multiplexing modes
are supported in LTE. Number of Layers Codeword 0 Codeword 1
1 Layer 0
Table 7.4 Codeword-to-Layer Mapping for 2 Layer 0 Layer 1
Spatial Multiplexing Layer 0, 1
2
3 Layer 0 Layer 1,2
4 Layer 0,1 Layer 2,3
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
□ The precoder is either fixed or selected from a predefined codebook based on the
feedback from UEs. The general form for precoding is
y(t) = w (t) * x(i)
Where W(i) is the precoding matrix of size P x v.
□ Different physical channels support different MIMO modes, specified in Table 7.5.
• The PDSCH channel supports all the specified MIMO modes, while the PMCH
channel only supports single antenna-port transmission (antenna port 4).
Physical Single Antenna Port OL Transmit Diversity Spatial
Channel Multiplexing
PDSCII S / /
PDCCH / /
PBCH / /
PMCH /
PHICH / /
PCFICH / /

Table 7.5 Supported MIMO Modes for Different Physical Channels

 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing

4. Resource Mapping:

□ For each of the antenna ports used for transmission of physical channels.
□ The block of complex-valued symbols y^ (0),......y^ ( M(ap) — 1) shall be mapped

in sequence.
□ Starting with y (0), to resource blocks assigned for transmission.
□ The mapping to resource element (k, l) on antenna port p not reserved for other |
purposes.
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
5. OFDM Baseband Signal Generation:
□ The continuous-time signal s; (p ) (t) on antenna port p in OFDM symbol l
in a downlink slot is generated as:

Configuration CP Length Ncp.t

Normal CP A/ = 15kHz 160 for / = 0 144
for / = 1,2.....6

Extended CP A/ = 15kHz 512 for / = 0.1.....5

A / = 7.5kHz 1024 for / = 0,1.2
 Downlink Transport Channel Processing Overview:
Modulation Processing
□ The OFDM signal generation with multiple users are illustrated in figure 7.8
 Downlink Shared Channels (DL-SCH)
□ The DL-SCH is carried on the Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH).

□ Data transmission in the PDSCH is based on the concept of shared -channel

transmission , where the resource blocks available for PDSCH, is treated as a
common resource that can be dynamically shared among different UEs.
□ The dynamic multiplexing of LTEs on the PDSCH is done by the scheduler on
1ms interval.
□ The channel mapping around the DL-SCH is shown in Figure 7.9.
 Downlink Shared Channels (DL-SCH): Channel
Encoding and Modulation
□ Channel Coding of DL-SCH:
o It uses the rate 1/3 convolutional turbo code.
o Rate matching is used in order to achieve an effective channel coding rate that
matches the payload capacity-
o For MIMO spatial multiplexing with two codewords, different modulation and
coding can be used for each codeword, which requires individual signaling.

□ Modulation scheme of DL-SCH:

o It includes QPSK, 16QAM, and 64QAM and is chosen based on the Channel
Quality Indicator (CQI) provided by the UE and various other parameters.
o The transport block size, the redundancy version, and the modulation order are
indicated in the Downlink Control Information (DCI).
o Channel coding for the PCH transport channel is the same as that for the DL -
SCH channel. Both of which are mapped to the PDSCH physical channel.
 Downlink Shared Channels (DL-SCH): Multi-antenna
Transmission
• The PDSCH supports all the MIMO modes specified in LTE.***

• There are seven transmission modes defined for data transmission on the
PDSCH
channel:

1. Single-antenna port (port 0): One transport block is transmitted from a single
physical antenna corresponding to antenna port 0.
2. Transmit diversity: One transport block is transmitted from more than one physical
antenna, that is, ports 0 and 1.
3. Open-loop (OL) spatial multiplexing: One or two transport blocks are transmitted
from two or four physical antennas. In this case, precoding is fixed based on RI
feedback.
4. Closed-loop (CL) spatial multiplexing: One or two transport blocks are transmitted
 Downlink Shared Channels (DL-SCH): Multi-antenna
Transmission
5. Multiuser MIMO: Two UEs are multiplexed onto two or four physical antennas
with one transport block to each UE.
6. Closed-loop rank-1 precoding: It is a special case of the Closed Loop spatial
multiplexing with single-layer transmission, that is, a P x 1 precoder is applied.
7. Single-antenna port (port 5): A single transport block is transmitted from two
or more physical antennas. The eNode-B performs beamforming to a single UE
using all physical antennas. Beamforming can be used to improve the received
signal power and/or reduce the interference signal power, which is especially
important for cell edge users.
• Transmission mode 1 can be classified as a Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) mode
that does not require any layer mapping and precoding.
 Downlink Shared Channels (DL-SCH): Multi-antenna
Transmission

• Transmission modes 2-6 can be classified as MIMO modes, which require explicit layer
mapping and precoding.
• Transmission MIMO modes classified into
i. Open Loop(OL) Transmission MIMO modes: OL MIMO technique requires no
feedback from UEs, so it is suitable for scenarios where accurate feedback is
difficult to obtain or the channel changes rapidly enough, such as the high mobility
scenario. This mode includes (a). OL transmit diversity (b) OL Spatial multiplexing
ii. Closed Loop (CL) Transmission MIMO modes: CL MIMO transmission
requires explicit feedback from UEs. UE determines precoding matrix based on its
current MIMO channel and sends this information to the eNode-B using the uplink
control channel. This mode includes
(a) CL Spatial Multiplexing (RI > 1)

(b) CL Rank-1 Precoding (RI = 1)

 Downlink Control Channels
□ Downlink control channels are carried over the Physical Downlink Control Channel
(PDCCH).
□ Control information from the MAC layer, including
1. Downlink Control Information (DCI).
2. Control Format Indicator (CFI).
3. H-ARQ Indicator (HI).
□ Channel mapping between control information and physical channels in the downlink is
shown in Figure 7.11.
□ There is a specific physical channel for each type of co ntrol infor mation. On the
physical layer the PDCCH and the PDSCH are time multiplexed and
□ PDCCH is carried over the first few OFDM symbols of each subframe
□ PDSCH is carried over the rest of the OFDM symbols.
□ The number of OFDM symbols allocated for PDC CH can vary from one to four
and is conveyed by the CFI.
 Downlink Control Channels
□ The CFI is carried on yet another control channel known as the Physical
Control Format Indicator Channel (PCFICH), which is always carried in a
predetermined format over the first OFDM symbol of each subframe.
□ This predetermined format of PCFICH allows each UE to decode the CFI
without ambiguity and thus determine the number of OFDM symbols in the
beginning of earth subframe that are used as the control region.

Figure 7.11 Channel mapping for control information

in the downlink
 Downlink Control Channels: Downlink Control
Information (DCI) Formats:

Downlink Control Information (DCI) Formats:

o DCI is the most important as it car ries detailed control information for
both
downlink and uplink transmissions.
o The DCI carries the downlink scheduling assignments, uplin k scheduling
grants, power control commands, and other information necessary for the
scheduled UEs to decode and demodulate data symbols in the downlink or
encode and modulate data symbols in the uplink.
 Downlink Control Channels: Downlink Control
Information (DCI) Formats:
o In Table 6.1 , LTE defines ten different DCI formats for different transmission
scenarios, summarized as follows:

Table 6.1 DCI Formats

 Downlink Control Channels: Downlink Control
Information (DCI) Formats:
□ By considering format 0 and format 1 as examples, the different fields of DCI format are
explained in Table 7.10 and Table 7.11, respectively.
Information Typo Number of Bits Purpose
Flag for format 0/1A Indicates format 0 or format 1A
differentiation 1
Hopping flag Indicates whether Pl’SC’H frequency hopping
1 is performed
[A //o ( A ///y + I)/2)l Indicates assigned resource blocks
Resource block assignment and
hopping resource allocation
Modulation and coding scheme 5 For determining the modulation order,
and redundancy version redundancy version and the transport block
size
New data indicator 1 Indicates whether the packet is a new
transmission or a ret rnnsm ission
TPC command for scheduled 2 Transport Power Control (TPC) command for
PUSCH adapting the transmit power on the PUSCH
Cyclic shift for dcmndulat ion 3 Indicates the cyclic shift for the demodulation
reference signal reference signal for
PUSCH
UL index 2 Indicates the scheduling grant and only applies
to TDD operation with uplink-downlink
configuration 0
Downlink Assignment Index 2 For AC'K/NAK reporting and only applies to
(DAI) TDD operating wit it uplink-downlink
configurations 1-0

CQI request i Requests an aperiodic CQI from the UE

Downlink Control Channels: Downlink Control
Information (DCI) Formats:

Table 7.11 Fields of DCI Format 1

 Downlink Control Channels: Control Format Indicator
(CFI).
□ The CFI is a parameter used on the LTE air interface. It defines the amount of
symbols in each subframe allocated to PDCCH. The CFI takes values CFI = 1, 2 or
3 OFDM symbols as shown in Table 7.13

Number of OFDM Number of OFDM Symbols

Symbols for PDCCH for PDCCH When JVgLD <
Subframe When N%LB >10 10

1.2 2
Subframe 1 and 6 for frame structure type 2
MBSFX subframes on a carrier supporting 1,2 2
both PMCH and PDSCH for one or two cell-
specific antenna ports
MBSFN subframes on a carrier supporting 2 2
both PMCH and PDSCH for four cell-
specific antenna ports
0 0
MBSFX subframes on a carrier not
supporting PDSCH
All other cases 1,2,3 2,3,4
Table 7.13 Number of OFDM Symbols Used for PDCCH
 Downlink Control Channels: Control Format
Indicator (CFI).

• For example system bandwidths , fth^ DCMpans 1, 2, or 3 OFDM symbols, given

by the value of the CFI; for system bandwidths NRBDL < 10, the DCI spans 2, 3,
or 4 OFDM symbols, given by CFI+1.
• Finally, the CFI is mapped to the PCFICH physical channel carried on specific
resource elements in the first OFDM symbol of the subframe.
• The PCFICH is transmitted when the number of OFDM symbols for PDCCH is
greater than zero. The PCFICH shall be transmitted on the same set of antenna
ports as the PBCH.
 Downlink Control Channels: H-ARQ Indicator (HI)
• LTE uses a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) scheme for error correction.
• The eNodeB sends a HARQ indicator to the UE to indicate a positive
acknowledgement (ACK) or negative acknowledgement (NACK) for data sent
using the uplink shared channel.
• The channel coded HARQ indicator codeword is transmitted through the Physical
Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request Indicator Channel (PHICH).
• H-ARQ Indicator: H-ARQ indicator of ‘0' represents a NACK and a ‘1' represents
an ACK.
• A repetition code with rate 1/3 and BPSK modulation is applied used for encoding
and mapping the H-ARQ Indicator.
• Multiple PHICHs mapped to the same set of resource elements constitute a PHICH
group, where PHICHs within the same group are separated through different
orthogonal sequences with a spreading factor of four._
 Broadcast Channels (PBCH)

• Broadcast channels carry system information such as downlink system

bandwidth, antenna configuration, and reference signal power.
• Due to the large size of the system information field, it is divided into two portions:
1. Master Information Block (MIB): It is transmitted on the PBCH. The
PBCH contains basic system parameters necessary to demodulate the
PDSCH. The transmission of the PBCH is characterized by a fixed pre-
determined transport format and resource allocation
2. System Information Blocks (SIB): It is transmitted on the PDSCH.
Which contains the remaining SIB.
 Broadcast Channels (PBCH):

• Coding and Modulation types for PBCH:

□ Error detection is provided through a 16-bit CRC.

□ The tail-biting convolutional coding with rate 1/3 is used, and the coded bits
are rate matched to 1920 bits for the normal CP and to 1728 bits for the
extended CP.
□ The modulation scheme is QPSK. No H-ARQ is supported.

□ PBCH supports single-antenna transmission and OL transmit diversity.

 Multicast Channels
• Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS), introduced in 3GPP supports

multicast /broadcast services in a cellular system.

• MBMS is a point-to-multipoint service in which data is transmitted from a single
source entity to multiple recipients. Transmitting the same data to multiple recipients
allows network resources to be shared.
• The MBMS bearer service offers two modes:
1. Broadcast Mode. 2. Multicast Mode.

• In principle, the MBMS transmission can originate from a single base station or
multiple base stations, but multicell transmission is preferred as large gains can be
achieved through soft combining of transmissions from multiple base stations.
• One major design requirement for LTE is to provide enhanced support for the MBMS
 Multicast Channels
• Combining of multicast/broadcast transmissions from multiple base stations is
possible in LTE with an extended CP.
• The extended CP is used as the propagation delay from multiple cells and will
typically be larger than the delay spread in a single cell.
• The E-MBMS transmission in LTE occurs on the MCH transport channel, along with
the 7.5 kHz subcarrier spacing and the extended CP. There are two types of E-
MBMS
transmissions:
1. Single-cell transmission (non-MBSFN operation): The MBMS service
(MTCH and MCCH) is transmitted on the NKR, and combining of MBMS
transmission from multiple cells is not supported.
2. Multi-cell transmission (MBSFN operation): The MBMS service
(MTCH and MCCH) is transmitted synchronously on the RICH, and
 Multicast Channels
• The PMCH and DL-SCH can be multiplexed with the following rules:

o The MBSFN and DL-SCH transmission can be multiplexed in a time-division

multiplexing (TDM) manner on a subcarrier basis, but cannot be transmitted
within the same subframe.
o In the subframes where PMCH is transmitted on a carrier supporting a mix of
PDSCH and PMCH transmissions, up to two of the first OFDM symbols of a
subframe can be reserved for non-MBSFN transmission and shall not be used
for PMCH transmission.
o In a cell with four cell-specific antenna ports, the first OFDM symbols of a
subframe are reserved for non-MBSFN transmission in the subframes in which
the PMCH is transmitted.

o The non-MBSFN symbols shall use the same CP as used for subframe 0.

o PMCH shall not be transmitted in subframes 0 and 5 on a carrier supporting a

mix of PDSCH and PMCH transmissions.
 Downlink Physical Signals:
• It including downlink reference signals and synchronization signals.

• Downlink Reference Signals:

o Downlink reference signals consist of known reference symbols that are

intended for downlink channel estimation at the UE needed to perform
coherent demodulation.

o To facilitate the channel estimation process, scattered reference signals are

inserted in the resource grid at pre-determined intervals.

o The time and frequency intervals are mainly determined by the characteristics
of the channels, and should make a tradeoff between the estimation accuracy
and the overhead.

o There are three different types of downlink reference signals:

1. Cell-specific reference signals♦

 Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference
Signals
1. Cell-Specific Reference Signals:
o The reference sequence is generated from a pseudo-random sequence, with
different initializations for different types of reference signals o Cell-specific
reference signals are transmitted in all downlink subframes in a cell supporting
non-MBSFN transmission.
o There is one reference signal transmitted per downlink antenna port.
o Cell-specific reference signals are defined separately for antenna ports 0, 1, 2, and
3 as shown in Figure 7.12.
o Only the first two OFDM symbols can be used for cell-specific reference symbols.
Therefore, in LTE a maximum of four antennas can be used while transmitting the
cell specific reference signal.
o Cell specific reference signal are defined only for normal subcarrier spacing of Af
Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference
Signals
 Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference
Signals
o Reference Signal(RS) mapping in time domain:
□ For the antenna port p e {0, 1}, the RS are inserted within the first and the third last
OFDM symbols in each slot, which are the 1st and 5th OFDM symbols for the
normal CP and the 1st and 4th OFDM symbols for the extended CP.
□ For p e (2, 3), the RSs are only inserted in the 2 nd OFDM symbol. So antenna ports 0
and 1 have twice as many reference symbols as antenna ports 2 and 3. This is to
reduce the reference signal overhead but also causes an imbalance in the quality of the
respective channel estimates.
o Reference Signal(RS) mapping in time domain:
□ The spacing between neighboring reference symbols in the same OFDM symbol is
five subcarriers, that is, the reference symbols are transmitted every six subcarriers.
□ There is a staggering of three subcarriers between the 1st and 2nd reference symbols.
 Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference
Signals
2. MBSFN Reference Signals
o MBSFN RSs are only transmitted in subframes allocated for MBSFN transmission,
which is only defined for extended CP and transmitted on antenna port 4.
o In the time domain: For even-numbered slots, the RSs are inserted in the 3 rd
OFDM symbol for A/ = 15kHz and in the second OFDM symbol for A/ = 7.5 kHz
For odd-numbered slots, the reference symbols are inserted in the 1 st and 5th
OFDM
symbols for A/ = 15kHz. and in the first and third OFDM symbols for A/ = 7.5
kHz.
O In the frequency domain: The RSs are transmitted every two subcarriers for
A/ = 15 kHz and every four subcarriers for A/ = 7.5 kHz. In the 0th OFDM
symbols, the reference symbols are transmitted from the 2 nd and the 3rd subcarrier
for A/ = 15 kHz and A/ = 7.5 kHz.
 Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference
Signals
o Based on these rules, an example of the resource mapping of MBSFN reference
signals is shown in Figure 7,13 with the extended CP, and A/ = 15 kHz.
o Note: The density of the MBSFN reference signal in the frequency domain is three
times higher than that of the cell-specific reference signal.

Aiilenna poll 4

Figure 7.13 An example of mapping of MBSFN reference

signals, with the extended CP and Sf = 15kHz.
 Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference Signals

3. UE- Specific Reference Signals

• UE-specific reference signals support single-antenna-port transmission
with beam forming for the PDSCH and are transmitted on antenna port
5.
• They are transmitted only on the resource blocks upon which the
corresponding PDSCH is mapped.
• The UE-specific signal is not transmitted in resource elements in which
one of the other physical signals or physical channels is transmitted.
 Downlink Physical Signals: Downlink Reference Signals

• An example of resource ma pping of UE -specific reference signals is shown in

Figure 7.14 with the normal CP. In the even -numbered slots, the reference symbols
are inserted in the fourth and seventh OFDM symbols: in the odd -number slots, the
reference symbols are inserted in the thi rd and sixth OFDM symbols. There is a
frequency shift of two subearriers in neighboring reference symbols.
 Downlink Physical Signals: Synchronization Signals
• The downlink synchronization signals are sent to facilitate the cell search
procedure, during which process the time and frequency synchronization between
the UE and the eNode -B is achieved and the cell ID is obtained.
• There are a total of 504 unique physical-layer cell IDs, which are grouped into 168
physical -layer cell-ID groups. A physical-layer cell ID is uniquely defined as:
 Downlink Physical Signals: Synchronization Signals
• The synchronization signals are designed in such a way to make the cell search
procedure fast and of low complexity.
• The sequence used for the primary synchronization signal is generated from a
frequency -domain Zadoff-Chu sequence.
• The Zadoff -Chu sequence possesses the Constant Amplitude Zero Auto -Correlation
(CAZAC) property, which means low peak -to-average power ratio (PAPR). This
property is desirable for synchronization signals as it improves coverage, which is an
important design objective.
• Both primary and secondary synchronization signals are transmitted on the 62

sub –carriers centered on the DC subcarrier, with five reserved subcarriers on either
side in the frequency domain, so there are a total of 72 subcarriers occupied by
synchronization signals, corresponding to the narrowest bandwidth supported by
 Downlink Physical Signals: Synchronization Signals

• In the time domain, both primary and secondary synchronization signals are
transmitted twice per 10 ms in predefined slots.
• For frame structure type 1, the primary and secondary synchronization signals are
mapped to the last and the OFDM symbols in slot 0 and 10.
• For frame structure type 2, the primary synchronization signal is mapped to the third
OFDM symbol in slot 2 and 12 and the secondary synchronization signal is mapped
to the last OFDM symbol in slot 1 and 11.
• The difference in the location of the synchronization signal enables the UE to detect
the duplex mode of the cell.
 Downlink Physical Signals: Synchronization Signals
• The resource mapping for synchronization signals is illustrated in Figure 7.15.
 H-ARQ in the Downlink

• It is an acknowledgement processes in LTE for a received error packet.

• In the case of LTE both Type I Chase Combining (CC) H-ARQ and Type II
Incremental Redundancy (IR) H-ARQ schemes have been defined.
• The H-ARQ operation is part of the MAC layer, while the PHY layer handles soft
combining.
• At the receiver : Turbo decoding is first applied on the received code block.
– If this is a retransmission, which is indicated in the DC I, the code block will
be combined with the previously received versions for decoding.
– If there is no error detected in the output of the decoder, an ACK signal is fed
back to the transmitter through the PUCCH physical channel and the decoded
block is passed to the upper layer; otherwise, an NAK signal is fed back and
the received code block is stored in the buffer for subsequent combining.
 H-ARQ in the Downlink
• At the transmitter:
– For each (re)transmission, the same turbo -encoded data is transmitted with
different puncturing, so each of these (re)transmissions has a
different redundancy version and each is self -decodable.
– Puncturing is performed dur ing the rate matching process. The rate matcher can
produce four different redundancy versions of the original coded block.
– H-ARQ transmissions are indexed with the redundancy version rv, which indicates

whether it is a new transmission (rv , =0) or the rv th retransmission

(rv , = 1, 2, or 3).
• Time interval between two successive H-ARQ transmissions, which is typically 8 ms in
LTE.
 H-ARQ in the Downlink

• N-channel Stop-and-Wait protocol is used for downlink H -ARQ operation. An N-

channel Stop-and-Wait protocol consists of N parallel H -ARQ processes. When
on e or more of the processes are busy waiting for the H -ARQ ACK /NAK, the
processes that are free can be used to transmit other transport blocks.
• The maximum number of H-ARQ processes in the downlink is determined by the
UL/DL configuration, specified in Table 7.17, which ranges from 4 to 15.
TDD UL/DL Maximum Number of H-ARQ
Configuration Processes
0 4
1 7
2 10
3 9
4 12
5 15
6 6

Table 7.17 Maximum Number of

Downlink H-ARQ Processes for TDD
 H-ARQ in the Downlink
□ Figure 7.16 an example of a 10-msec frame with eight H-ARQ processes.

□ The H -ARQ process 1 is transmitted in the first TTI, for which the H -ARQ
ACK/NAK is received in the 5-th TTI, and then the H-ARQ process 1 is transmitted
again in the 9-th TTI.
□ Each H-ARQ process is associated with an 11-ARQ process ID.
 H-ARQ in the Downlink
□ When spatial multiplexing is used, both transport block s are associated with the
same H -ARQ process.

□ Figure 7.16 shows a 10 msec frame with TTI index 1 transmitting the H -ARQ
process 1, TTI index 2 transmitting the H-ARQ process 2, and so on.

□ The H-ARQ ACK/NAK for the 11-ARQ process 1 is received in TTI index 5.2 ,
Then in TTI index 9 the H-ARQ process 1 is transmitted again, either a new
transmission if an ACK is received or a retransmission if an NAK is received.

□ LTE downlink applies the asynchronous H -ARQ protocol, where the H -ARQ pro
cesses can be transmitted in any order without fixed timing. Therefore, in the
example in Figure 7.16, the retransmission of H-ARQ process 1 does not necessarily
occur in the 9th TTI.
 H-ARQ in the Downlink

□ The asynchronous H -ARQ makes it possible to reflect channel quality

measurements at the instance of retransmission, which is able to provide a higher
throughput with re -scheduling or changing the modulation and coding scheme,
called adaptive RQ.

□ In addition, asynchronous operation makes it possible for the eNode -B to avoid

potential collision of H -ARQ retrans missions with other high priority scheduled
transmissions such as persistent scheduling.

□ Meanwhile, the asynchronous 11 -ARQ requires more overhead, as the receiver does
not know ahead of time what is being transmitted and when the retransmission
occurs.
 H-ARQ in the Downlink

□ To support asynchronous H-ARQ in the downlink, PDCCH contains fields

indicating the H -ARQ process number and the current redundancy version (see
Table 7.11 for an ex ample with DCI format 1).

□ The maximum number of H-ARQ retransmissions of each transport block is

configured by the Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer.

□ When this maximum number is reached without a successful transmission of the

transport block or the transmission is in error due to the error in H-ARQ-ACK
signaling, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer ARQ protocol will be triggered to
handle the error event.
Thank You