Wireless Fundamentals

 2nd Part of Module -1

Basic Wireless Communication System
 Broadband Wireless Channel

 Fundamental Factors affecting the received signal in a wireless

system and how to model them.
 Scattering & Diffraction

 Scattering & Diffraction - signal from transmitter are reflected

by obstacles - trees, buildings, cars, hills, etc.
 Direct path – creates line of sight path LOS
 Scatter path – creates non line of sight path NLOS
 Multipath propagation environment – signals take multiple paths
to reach MS.
 Scattering & Diffraction
 Due to multipath effects - each signal travels through different
distance with different delay and phase of arrival is different at
the receiver.
 Due to the delays – these signals can

either:
 Add constructively – to create

constructive interference -
increase in the signal amplitude.
 Add destructively – to create

destructive interference –
cancel out each other.
 Channel

 The profile of received signal can be obtained from that of the

transmitted signal if we have a model of the medium between
the two. This model of the medium is called channel model.
 Power profile of the received signal can be obtained by
convolving the power profile of the transmitted signal with the
impulse response of the channel.
 Convolution in time domain is = to multiplication in the
frequency domain.
 Transmitted signal x, after propagation through the channel H
becomes y: y(f)=H(f)x(f)+n(f) Here H(f) is channel response,
and n(f) is the noise.
 x, y, H, and n are all functions of the signal frequency f. The
three key components of the channel response are path loss,
shadowing, and multipath.
 Channel
 Simplest channel- free space LOS channel with no objects between Tx & Rx
or around the path between them. In this simple case, the transmitted signal
attenuates since the energy is spread spherically around the transmitting
antenna.
 Due to multipath effect – attenuation factor ho and delay factor ko.
 Overall model for the channel in discrete time.

 Output of channel over a period of time.

 Path Loss – Friis formula
 Main difference between wired and wireless channel – amount
of power that actually reaches the receiver.
 Assuming an isotropic antenna – propagated signal energy
expands over a spherical wavefront.
 Energy received at the Rx antenna at a distance d away is
inversely proportional to the sphere surface area 4πd2
 Friis formula on free-space path loss

 As λ = C/fc : larger bandwidths

are available at higher frequencies
but range decreases.
 Path Loss – Friis formula
 Higher frequencies suffers greater power loss. Pr α λ2
 Thus Pr α 1/fC2 - Lower carrier frequencies are more desirable and more crowded.
 Reflections from earth and other objects – would increase the received power. A reflected
wave often experience 180° phase shift at a relatively large distance – destructive
interference.
 Path loss is :

 Equation is dependent on Antenna heights – ht & hr and independent to carrier frequency.

 Energy loss is severe as distance increases.
 Emperical path loss
 Emperical path loss – developed from experimental data

 Emperical model groups all the various effects into 2

parameters :
 α – path loss exponent & Po – measured path loss at a
reference distance do (1meter).
 Lower path loss, better improvement of the system.
 SNR - defined as the ratio of signal power to the noise power,
often expressed in decibels.
 SIR - signal-to-interference ratio– defined as the average
received signal power to the average received
co-channel interference power I, i.e. cross-talk, from other
 Example – 2.1
 Consider a user in the downlink of a cellular system, where the desired base
station is at a distance of 500meter (0.5km) and there are numerous nearby
interfering base stations transmitting at the same power level. If there are 3
interfering base stations at a distance of 1km, 3 at a distance of 2km and 10
at a distance of 4km, use empirical path loss formula to find the signal-to-
interference ratio SIR(i.e. noise is neglected) when α = 3 and when α=5.
 Shadowing

 Obstacles like trees and buildings located between the

transmitter and receiver can temporarily degrade the
received signal or temporarily increase the signal.
 Random shadowing effect in introduced to account for
all these effects.
 With shadowing empirical path loss formula :
 Shadowing can cause large deviations from path loss
prediction.
 Χ – sample of the shadowing
random process.
 Shadowing is also called
large scale fading.
 Broadband Wireless Channel : Fading

 Fading - time variation of received signal due to changes in

medium. Receiving multiple version of same signal.
 Fading depends on various factors:
 In fixed scenario - atmospheric conditions like rainfall, lightening etc.
 In mobile scenario - obstacles over the path.
Types of Fading
 Types of Fading

 Large Scale Fading - It includes path loss and shadowing

effects.
 Small Scale Fading - It is divided into two main categories viz.
multipath delay spread and doppler spread.
 Multipath delay spread is further divided into flat fading and

frequency selective fading.

 Doppler spread is divided into fast fading and slow fading.

 Large scale fading - occurs when an obstacle comes in

between Tx & Rx causing signal strength reduction, due to
blocking of EM wave by the obstacle. It is related to large
fluctuations of the signal over distance.
 Small scale fading - rapid fluctuations of received signal
strength over very short distance and short time period.
 Types of Fading

 Flat fading – channel has constant gain and linear phase

response over the channel bandwidth.
 All the frequency components of the received signal fluctuate in
same proportions simultaneously - non-selective fading.
 Signal BW << Channel BW
 Effects - decrease in SNR. These flat fading channels are
known as amplitude varying channels/narrowband channels.
 Frequency selective fading - different frequency components
are affected with different amplitudes.
 Signal BW> Channel BW.
Flat vs Frequency selective fading
 Fast and Slow Fading
 Doppler spread - 2 types of fading viz. fast fading and slow
fading. Depends on relative mobile speed.
 Fast fading - rapid fluctuations of signal over small BW. Fast
fading occurs when channel impulse response changes very
rapidly within the symbol duration. Fast fading is result of
reflections of local objects and motion of objects relative to
those objects. Constructive/destructive.
 • High doppler spread - Symbol period > Coherence time
• Signal Variation < Channel variation
 Slow fading - shadowing by buildings, hills, mountains and
other objects over the path.
 • Low Doppler Spread - Symbol period << Coherence Time
• Signal Variation >> Channel Variation
Fast and Slow Fading
 Fading
 Fading is caused by the multiple reception of the same signal,
which is caused by reflections due to multipath.
 Reflections may arrive at shorter intervals– when local
scattering around the Rx. Or the reflections may arrive at
relatively longer intervals – due to multiple different paths
between Tx & Rx.
 Depending on the phase difference between the arriving signals
– interferences can be constructive or destructive.
 As Tx or Rx moves relative to each other the channel response
h(t) also changes. – h(t) has 2 dimensions : delay dimension ζ
and time dimension t.
 Since channel changes with distance & time, values of ho, h1,
….hv also changes from time t to time t+Δt.
 Fading

 As channel is highly variant in both delay and time dimension –

statistical model is used to discuss the channel response.
 2D autocorrelation function A(Δζ, Δt) is used to statistically
describe the broadband fading channel.
 A(Δζ, Δt) = E[h(ζ1, t1)h*(ζ2, t2)]
= E[h(ζ1, t)h*(ζ2, t+Δt)]
= E[h(ζ, t)h*(ζ+Δζ, t+Δt)]

 Channel described by A(Δζ, Δt) - referred to as Wide Sense

Stationary Uncorrelated Scattering WSSUS – most popular
model for wideband fading channel.
 This is relatively accurate in many practical scenario.
Broadband Fading Parameters
 Wireless Channel Parameters

 3 main parameters of wireless channel:

 Delay Spread and Coherence Bandwidth

 Doppler Spread and Coherence Time

 Angular Spread and Coherence Distance

 Coherence Bandwidth

 Coherence bandwidth Bc - bandwidth over which the channel

transfer function remains virtually constant.
 Narrowband transmission has flat fading - channel is considered
relatively constant over the transmit bandwidth – happens if the
transmission BW < 'coherence' BW Bc of the channel.
 A signal sees a narrowband channel if the bit duration >> inter-
arrival time of reflected waves - ISI is small.
 Coherence BW - BW for which the
auto co-variance of the signal amplitudes at two extreme
frequencies reduces from 1 to 0.5.
 For a Rayleigh-fading WSSUS channel with an exponential delay
profile, Bc = 1/(2 p Trms) where Trms is the rms delay spread.
 Delay Spread and Coherence
Bandwidth
 Delay Spread – specifies duration of the channel impulse response h(ζ, t) –
amount of time that elapses between the 1 st arriving path and the last arriving
path.
 It is the max delay after which the received signal becomes negligible ζmax.
Large ζmax - highly dispersive channel. Often ζrms is used instead of ζmax .
 Delay spread can be found by setting Δt =0 in the channel autocorrelation
function Aζ(∆ζ) – Multipath Intensity Profile / Power Delay Profile.
 If Aζ(∆ζ) has negligible values from (0, ζmax) the maximum delay spread is ζmax
 General rule of
Thumb ζmax= 5ζrms
 ζrms - gives measure of width or spread of the channel response in time.

 Large ζrms – highly dispersive channel and a long channel impulse response. Small ζrms
– channel not heavily dispersive.
 Coherence BW gives a measure of the maximum frequency separation over which the
channel frequency response is correlated.

 Coherence BW and delay spread

are inversely related:
 Doppler Spread and Coherence Time
 Doppler power spectrum gives the statistical power distribution of the channel
vs frequency for a single frequency transmission.
 It is caused by motion between Tx & Rx and is the Fourier transform of At(∆t) :
 Doppler spread

 γ – maximum speed between Tx & Rx, fc – carrier frequency, c – speed of light.

 Doppler power spectrum is constant when communication BW B << fc.

 Coherence time and doppler spread inversely related

 Angular Spread and Coherence Distance

 Channel can also vary over space.

 RMS angular spread of a channel can be denoted as θrms –
statistical distribution of the angle of the arriving energy.
 Large θrms – channel energy is coming in from many
directions due to lot of local scattering and small θrms –
channel energy is more focused.
 Dual of angular spread is coherence distance Dc – as angular
spread increases coherence distance decreases.
 Coherence distance of d – any physical positions separated by
d have uncorrelated received signal amplitude and phase.
 Rayleigh fading with uniform angular spread.
 Coherence distance – indicates how far the antennas should
be spread apart, for multiple antenna system.
 Modelling Broadband Fading Channel

 To design and standardize wireless communication channel –

channel models are developed to incorporate their variations
in time, frequency and space.
 2 major classes : statistical & empirical.
 Statistical model – simpler and useful for analysis and
simulations.
 Empirical model – complicated and represent a specific
channel type more accurately.
 Statistical Channel Model

 The received signal is superposition of numerous reflections or

multipath components.
 Statistical method is used to characterize the amplitude and
power of r(t).
 Special case of Multipath Intensity Profile is considered
where Aζ(∆ζ) =0 for ∆ζ ≠ 0.- all the received energy arrives at the
receiver at the same time.
 Practically this is true – when symbol time >> delay spread
T >> ζmax. – so these models are valid for narrowband fading
channel.
 Rayleigh Fading

 Rayleigh fading – is a statistical model - caused by

multipath reception.
 Due to wave cancellation effects, the instantaneous received
power seen by a moving antenna becomes a random variable,
dependent on the location of the antenna.
This models assume –
signal magnitude vary
randomly/ fade according to
Rayleigh distribution.
 Applicable for heavily
built-up urban
environments, where no
dominant LOS
propagation.
 Rayleigh Fading

 If the no. of scatterers is large – angle of arrival between them are

uncorrelated from the central limit theorem.
 Central limit theorem - when independent random variables are
added, their properly normalized sum tends toward a normal
distribution even if the original variables themselves are not
normally distributed
 In-phase (cosine) & quadrature phase (sine) components of r(t) are
denoted as ri(t) & rQ(t).
 Consider at time t=0, r(0) = ri(0) + rQ(0). As ri(t) & rQ(t) are
Gaussian random variables.
 Distribution of its amplitude envelope is Rayleigh and
the is exponentially distributed.
 Rayleigh Fading

 Pr – average received power due to shadowing and pathloss.

 Pathloss and shadowing determine the mean received power

and the total received power fluctuates around this mean due to
fading.
 Amplitude and power

distribution

 Phase of r(t)
 Line of sight channel – Ricean Distribution
 An important assumption in Rayleigh fading – all arriving reflections have zero mean.
 This is not valid when there is a direct LOS path between Tx & Rx.
 Received signal envelop distribution is more accurately given

 µ2- power of the LOS component, Io – 0th order Bessel function

 For µ = 0 Ricean distribution reduces to Rayleigh in absence of LOS component.
 Factor K – indicates how strong the LOS component is relative to the Non-LOS components.

K=0 – Non-LOS path, K- ∞ - single LOS path no scattering.
 Line of sight channel – Ricean Distribution

 Average received power under Ricean is combination of

scattering power + LOS power
 Ricean envelop distribution is found by substituting in the
distribution equation.

 As K grows large – Ricean

distribution tends to be
Gaussian about its mean µ –
received power becomes more
deterministic.
 Rayleigh is simple but Ricean
is more accurate.
 Nakagami-m Fading: a more general model


PDF of Nakagami fading is parameterized by m and given by :


When - gives Ricean distribution and when m=1 – gives Rayleigh distribution.

Power distribution of Nakagami fading :


As m - ∞ - received power tends to become constant.
 Nakagami-m Fading: a more general model

 Nakagami-m distribution is a probability distribution related to

the gamma distribution.
 If the envelope of a signal is Nakagami distributed, the
corresponding instantaneous power is gamma distributed.
 The parameter m is called the 'shape factor' of the Nakagami or
the gamma distribution.
 For m > 1, the fluctuations of the signal strength reduce
compared to Rayleigh fading.
 Nakagami fading model was initially proposed as it matched
empirical results for short wave ionospheric propagation.
 Statistical Correlation of the Received
Signal
 Statistical methods describes how samples of the received
signal were statistically distributed.
 3 main statistical models were considered – Rayleigh, Riciean,
Nakagami-m – their PDF functions gave the likelihood of the
received signal envelope and power at a given time instant.
 Important point is how to link these models with the channel
autocorrelation function A(Δζ, Δt) to understand how the
envelope signal r(t) changes over time, frequency and location.
 Rayleigh distribution is taken as example.
 Time correlation
 Frequency correlation
 Dispersion-selectivity duality
 Multidimentional correlation
 3rd Generation Partnership Project

 3GPP- unites 7 telecommunications standard development

organizations and provides their members with a stable
environment to produce the Reports and Specifications that
define 3GPP technologies.
 It is a collaborative project aimed at developing globally
acceptable specifications for 3G mobile systems
 LTE

 Long-Term Evolution (LTE) - standard for wireless

broadband communication for mobile devices and data
terminals.
 It is based on the GSM/EDGE and UMTS/HSPA
technologies. The standard is developed by the 3GPP.
 LTE changes the method of moving data. It moves large
packets of data to an internet protocol system.
 LTE has a speed of approx. 12Mbps. LTE+ (LTE Advanced) is
based on the same technologies with triple the speed upto 300
Mbps.
 Empirical Channel Models
 Empirical and semi-empirical wireless channel models are
developed to accurately estimate the path loss, shadowing
and small-scale fast fading.
 Empirical models are based on extensive measurement of
various propagation environments and they specify the
parameters and methods for modelling the scenario.
 Empirical model incorporates the realistic factors :
 Angle of arrival, angle of departure, antenna array fashion,
angle spread, antenna array gain pattern.
 Different empirical channel model exist for different wireless
scenarios :
 Sub-urban macro, urban macro, urban micro cells, .. Etc.
 Major empirical channel models are discussed:
 LTE Channel Models for Path Loss

 LTE channel models for modelling outdoor macro and micro

cell wireless environments – 3GPP channel models.
 1st step is to specify the environment where an empirical
channel model will be used – suburban macro, urban macro,
urban micro environment.
 BS – BS distance > 3Km – macro cells & BS-BS distance <
1Km – urban micro cells.
 Pathloss can be specified empirical models for these different
scenarios.
 For 3GPP macro cell – pathloss is given by – COST Hata
model:
 LTE Channel Models for Path Loss

 hb – BS antenna height (meters)

 fc – carrier frequency (MHz)
 d – distance between BS and MS (km)
 a(hm) – correction function for mobile height defined as
 hm – mobile antenna height(m).

 COST Hata model is accurate when d- 100m – 20Km and fc-

1500, 2000MHz.
 For LTE systems operating at 700MHz - Hata model is for
urban area is used:
 LTE Channel Models for Path Loss

 C1 – correction factor varies according to size of city

 Suburban pathloss PLs[dB]:

 Open area Hata model is

 Hata Model
 1968, Okumura conducted extensive measurements of BS to mobile signal attenuation
throughout Tokyo. Which was not convenient to use.
 1980, Hata developed closed-form expressions for Okumura's data. According to Hata
model the path loss in an urban area at a distance d is:

 fc - carrier frequency, ht, hr – transmitting & receiving antenna height, a(hr) -

correction factor for the mobile antenna height based on the size of the coverage area.
 Hata model works for d > 1km, large cells with BS placed higher than the surrounding
rooftops, 150-1500 MHz and 1G cellular systems, not for WiMAX systems with smaller
cell sizes and higher frequencies.
 LTE Channel Models for Multipath

 3GPP channel models also incorporate multipath modelling and

scattering.
 Received signal consists of N time-delayed versions of the
transmitted signal. The N paths are characterized by powers
and delays.
 No. of paths N ranges from 1-20. for 3GPP N=6 multipath
component. Power distribution follows exponential profile.
 Each multipath component corresponds to a cluster of M
subpaths, each subpath characterizes the incoming signal
from a scatterer.
 M subpaths will have random phases uniformly distributed from
0-360° and subpath gains
 LTE Channel Models for Multipath

 nth multipath component in 3GPP model.

 LTE Channel Models for Multipath

 Angle of departure – is a narrow range for outdoor and is

uniformly distributed for indoor applications.
 Angle of arrival – has uniform distribution due to absence of
local scattering around the Rx.
 Pn –power of the nth path following exponential distribution
 - lognormal shadow fading – determined by delay spread,
angle spread, shadow fading parameters.
LTE Channel Models for Multipath
 LTE Semi-Empirical Channel Model

 Due to large no. of parameters involved, constructing a fully

Empirical channel model is time consuming and complicated.
 Alternative is semi-empirical channel models which has
accurate practical parameters of the real world with simplicity.
 Well-known e.g. of simpler channel model – 3GPP2 Pedestrian
A, Pedestrian B, Vehicular A & Vehicular B – suited for low-
mobility pedestrian mobile users and higher mobility vehicular
mobile users.
 Each multipath component is modelled as independent
Rayleigh fading with different power levels.
 LTE Semi-Empirical Channel Model

 Pedestrian A – flat fading model with a single Rayleigh

fading component with a speed of 3km/hr.
 Pedestrian B – power delay profile with 4 paths of delays (0,
0.11, 0.19, 0.41) microsec and power profile given by (1,
0.1071, 0.0120, 0.0052) at 3km/hr.
 Vehicle A model – mobile speed = 30km/hr – 4 multipath
components exists with delay profile (0, 0.11, 0.19, 0.41)
microsec and power profile given by (1, 0.1071, 0.0120,
0.0052)
 Vehicle B model - mobile speed = 30km/hr – 6 multipath
components exists with delay profile (0, 0.2, 0.8, 1.2, 2.3, 3.7)
microsec and power profile (1, 0.813, 0.324, 0.158, 0.166,
0.004).
 LTE Semi-Empirical Channel Model

 LTE standard has additionally defined Extended delay profiles

with increased multipath resolution – Extended Pedestrian A,
Extended Vehicular A & Extended Typical urban
 Mitigation of Narrowband Fading

 Effect of unmitigated fading

 Spatial diversity
 Coding and interleaving
 Automatic repeat request ARQ
 Adaptive modulation and coding AMC
 Combining narrowband diversity techniques
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading
 Frequency selective fading causes dispersion in time, which
causes adjacent symbols to interfere with each other unless,
T << ζmax
 Data rate R is proportional to 1/T – high data rate systems will
have large delay spread T << ζmax. – causes severe ISI.
 OFDM is a popular choice for combating ISI.
 Other methods to reduce ISI:
 Spread spectrum and RAKE receivers
 Equalization
 Multicarrier modulation: OFDM
 Single carrier modulation with frequency domain equalization
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading

 Spread spectrum and RAKE receivers – Signal is transmitted

on a BW larger than the information signal frequency.
 Frequency hopping is a basic modulation technique used in
spread spectrum signal transmission.
 Decreases the potential interference to other receivers.
 Spread spectrum uses sequential noise-like signal structure
to spread the narrowband information signal over a
relatively wideband frequencies.
 The receiver correlates the received signals to retrieve the
original information signal.
 Spread spectrum is speeding up the transmission rate of a
narrowband signal resulting in wideband transmission.
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading
 2 category : direct sequence & frequency hopping
 Direct sequence - CDMA – can multiplex large no. of cellular
user of variable rates in cellular network.
 Frequency hopping – used in low rate WLAN, Bluetooth,
GSM.
 These are used in low data rate communication system like
voice - large BW is used to send a relatively small data rate.
 This is used for multiplexing large no. of users to increase the
overall capacity.
 Spread spectrum is not a good choice for wireless broadband
networks.
 Direct-Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS)

 Modulation technique used to reduce overall signal

interference. Used is CDMA.
 Signal spreading makes the resulting wideband channel
more noisy, allowing for greater resistance to interference.
 Message signal modulates a bit sequence - Pseudo Noise
(PN) code - consists of a radio pulse that is much shorter in
duration (larger BW) than the original message signal.
 This modulation of the message signal scrambles and spreads
the pieces of data.
 Duration of the radio pulse for the PN code - chip duration.
The smaller this duration, the larger the BW of the resulting
DSSS signal; more BW gives better resistance against
interference.
 Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS)

 Transmission of signals by rapidly switching a carrier among

many frequency, using a pseudorandom sequence known to
both Tx & Rx.
 It is used as a multiple access method - frequency-hopping
code division multiple access (FH-CDMA).
 Each available frequency band is divided into sub-
frequencies. Signals rapidly change ("hop") among these in a
predetermined order. Interference at a specific frequency will
only affect the signal during that short interval.
 FHSS can, cause interference with adjacent direct-sequence
spread spectrum (DSSS) systems.
 Adaptive frequency-hopping spread spectrum (AFH), a
specific type of FHSS, is used in Bluetooth.
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading
 Equalization – most logical approach to remove ISI. Don’t
require additional antenna or BW.
 It is implemented at the Rx to reverse he distortion
introduced by the channel.
 2 types: Linear & Non-linear
 Linear Equalizers – it runs the receive signal through a filter
that models the inverse of the channel. It inverts the
received noise also which enhance the noise and degrade Rx
performance. Simple to implement.
 Nonlinear Equalizers - uses previous symbol decisions made
by the Rx to cancel out their subsequent interference -
Decision Feedback Equalizers DFE. In multipath prior symbol
causes interferences with later symbol. If Rx knows the prior
symbol it can cancel out the interference.
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading

 Common problem in nonlinear equalizers - is if Rx makes

mistake in prior symbol – error propagation.
 Increases complexity.
 Maximum likelihood sequence detection – MLSD – optimum
method of suppressing ISI.
 Complexity given by O(Mv)
 M - constellation size, v – channel delay.
 MLSD is used for low data rate systems like GSM
 MLSD is impractical for high data rate broadband wireless
systems.
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading
 Multicarrier modulation: OFDM – rather than fighting the time
- dispersive ISI channel why not utilize its diversity.
 Large no. of subcarriers L are used in parallel, so that the
symbol time of each goes from T to LT.
 Instead of sending a single signal with data rate R and BW B, L
no. of signals are sent with data rate R/L and BW B/L.
 If B/L << Bc – each of the signal will undergo flat fading and the
time dispersion for each signal will be negligible.
 As long as no. of subcarriers L is large B/L << Bc condition for
flat fading can be met.
 This is the basic principle of OFDM
 Mitigation of Broadband Fading
 Single carrier modulation with frequency domain
equalization- drawback of OFDM is the transmit signal has
high peak-to-average ratio PAR.
 Large dynamic range of the signal - resulting in clipping and
distortion and requires highly linear power amplifiers.
 Resolved by sending a single carrier signal with cyclic prefix
which has a low PAR.
 SC - data is modulated on single fc, is converted to the
modulated RF frequency, amplified using RF power amplifier
and transmitted.
 Used in : Satellite communication systems, GSM, CDMA, HF
and other radio systems.
SC & OFDM
 1st Part of Module -1
 Key Requirements of LTE Design

 Performance on par with wireless broadband – network

performance parameters – high throughput and low latency.
 3GPP set peak data rate target of 100Mbps – downlink and
50Mbps – uplink. – experienced by few users nearby the BS
 For delay sensitive application – voice & interactive gaming
network latency is kept very low. Target round trip latency for
LTE < 10ms better than 20-40ms delay of DSL systems.
 Enhancing QoS capabilities to support variety of applications is
another goal of LTE.
 LTE system supports optimized high quality handoff.
 It supports connections up to speed – 15kmph, 120kmph with
minor degradation, 35kmph with low quality support.
 Key Requirements of LTE Design

 Flexible spectrum usage – 3GPP allows high degree of

spectrum flexibility to LTE.
 Amount of spectrum available for LTE depends on how
aggressive is the demand of LTE.
 Operators can deploy LTE in 700MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz &
2.6GHz bands.
 LTE supports a variety of channel bandwidths – 1.4MHZ,
3MHz, 5MHz, 10MHz, 15MHz, & 20MHz.
 End user devices are eligible to operate at all the channel
bandwidths lower than their maximum capability.
 LTE also supports Frequency Division Duplexing FDD & Time
Division Duplexing TDD to accommodate paired and unpaired
spectrum allocations. Commonly used is FDD.
 Key Requirements of LTE Design

 Co-existence and Interworking with 3G systems as well as

Non-3GPPsystems –
 Due to the large no. of subscribers, it is a critical requirement
that LTE networks interwork seamlessly with existing 2G & 3G
systems.
 To obtain seamless user experience – service continuity &
mobility and handoff & roaming – between LTE and existing
2G/3G systems are critical.
 As LTE aims to be a truly global standard – interworking
requirements have been extended to Non-3GPP systems –
3GPP2, CDMA, WiMAX, all IP networks and wired IP networks.
 Key Requirements of LTE Design

 Reducing cost per Megabyte

 Total network cost to be reduced.
 3GPP has made reducing the cost per megabyte of data a key
design criterion for LTE :
 High-capacity, high-spectral efficiency air-interface.
 Ability to deploy in existing spectrum and reuse cell sites and
transmission equipments, BS - lower power and space requirements
 Interworking with non-3GPP systems to be a global standard and
achieve higher sales.
 Flat architecture with fewer network components and protocols.
 Single IP packet core for voice & data. IP architecture for larger
development community and increase sales.
 Support for lower cost Ethernet based backhaul networks, self-
configuring and self-optimizing network and technologies to reduce
installation and management cost.
 Key Enabling Technologies and
Features of LTE
 Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

 SC-FDE and SC-FDMA

 Channel dependent multiuser resource scheduling

 Multiantenna techniques

 IP-based flat network architecture

 1. Orthogonal frequency division
multiplexing
 OFDM – 3G systems – UMTS & CDMA2000 – uses Code
division multiple access.
 CDMA works by spreading a narrowband signal over a
wider bandwidth to achieve interference resistance.
 It works well with low data rate communication like voice where
a large no. of users can be multiplexed to achieve high
system capacity.
 CDMA can’t be used for high speed applications due to large
BW needed to achieve useful amount of spreading.
 OFDM gives high data rates – used in Wi-Fi, WiMAX
 Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing - Numerous closely
spaced orthogonal sub-carrier signals with overlapping spectra
are emitted to carry data.
 Advantages of OFDM:

 Elegant solution to multipath interference - High bit rate

transmissions are affected by ISI caused by multipath.
 In multipath environment - multipath delay > symbol period
of transmitted signal – transmitted symbol may arrive at the
receiver during the next symbol causing ISI.
 At higher data rates, symbol time is shorter – small delay
causes severe ISI.
 Multicarrier modulation – OFDM is used –where high bit rate
data stream is divided into several parallel lower bit rate
streams and modulate each stream on separate carriers-
subcarriers/ tones. – increases symbol duration of each
stream >> multipath delay spread- Orthogonal subcarriers
 -Any residual ISI is removed by guard intervals > multipath
delays. – power wastage and decrease in BW efficiency.
 Advantages of OFDM:
 Reduce computational complexity –
 OFDM can be easily implemented using FFT/IFFT.
 Computational complexity is shown by O(BlogB Tm) – B – BW,
Tm – delay spread.
 Reduced complexity simplifies Rx processing and reduces MS
cost and power consumptions.
 Graceful degradation of performance under excess delay –
performance of OFDM system degrades as delay spread
exceeds the designed value.
 OFDM is well suited for adaptive modulation and coding and
is better than single carrier system.
 Advantages of OFDM:

 Exploitation of frequency diversity – OFDM facilitates

coding and interleaving across subcarriers in the frequency
domain providing robustness against errors caused due to deep
fading.
 OFDM allows scalable channel BW without effecting hardware
design of BS & MS. – allowing LTE to be deployed in various
BW.
 Enables efficient multi access schemes – OFDM can be
used as multi access by dividing different subcarriers among
multiple users- OFDMA provides capacity improvements.
 Robust against narrowband interference – narrowband
interferences effects only a portion of the subcarriers
 Suitable for coherent demodulation – it is more power
efficient.
 Advantages of OFDM:

 Facilitates use of MIMO –

 Uses multiple antennas at both Tx & Rx to improve system
performance.
 For MIMO system flat fading channel are more suitable.
 OFDM converts frequency selective broadband channel into
several flat fading narrowband channels where MIMO works
well.
 MIMO & OFDM are combined in Wi-Fi & WiMAX.
 Efficient support of broadcast services –
 Broadband services are improved by enabling higher data rate
 2. SC-FDE and SC-FDMA

 To reduce cost and

increase battery life –
Single Carrier Frequency
Domain Equalization is
used.
 The data symbols are
transmitted as a set of
QAM symbols with a
cyclic prefix added.
 It has low peak to average
ratio.
 SC-FDE increases the Tx &
Rx complexity.
Multiple Access
 3. Channel dependent multiuser resource
scheduling
 OFDM provides flexibility in channel resource allocation in LTE.
This allocation is done is both time & frequency.
 Frequency selective multiuser scheduling - As each user will be
experiencing uncorrelated fading channel subcarriers are
assigned so as to increase the overall capacity.
 Each user is given the maximum transmission power of its
capacity. It requires good channel tracking and is used for slow
varying channel.
 Frequency selective scheduling can be combined with multiuser
time domain fading
 For high mobility users OFDMA is used to achieve frequency
diversity.
 Frequency diverse scheduling is best suited for control
signalling and delay sensitive services.
 4. Multiantenna techniques
 LTE provides support for multiantenna to improve link
robustness, system capacity & spectral efficiency. Multiantenna
technique uses:
 Transmit diversity – reduces multipath fading, increases
system capacity and cell range. Transmit multiple copies of
same signal, coded differently, over multiple transmit antenna.
LTE transmit diversity is based on space-frequency block
coding techniques along with frequency shift time diversity.
 Beamforming – multiple antennas are used to focus the beam
in the direction of the receiver and away from interference,
improving the received SIR. Improves coverage range,
capacity, reliability & battery life.
 4. Multiantenna techniques

 Spatial multiplexing – multiple streams can be transmitted

in parallel over multiple antenna and separated at the
receiver. LTE supports spatial multiplexing with 4 Tx & Rx
antennas.
 Multiuser MIMO – spatial multiplexing is not used currently
due to complexity & cost. Multiuser MIMO – MU-MIMO
gives each user an antenna to transmit.
 5. IP-based flat network architecture
 Low cost & low latency gave a flat architecture to LTE with
fewer nodes gives- low infrastructure cost, fewer interfaces,
reduced interoperability, low development & deployment cost.
 Fewer nodes also allows better optimization of radio interfaces,
merging of control protocol and short start-up session time.
 3GPP release 6 – 4 network elements in its data path:
 BS node B, RNC – radio network controller, SGSN – serving
GPRS service node, GGSN – gateway GPRS service node.
 Release 7 – direct tunnel option from RNC to GGSN.
 LTE has 2 network element: enhanced Node- B/ eNode-B and
SAE-GW – system architecture evolution gateway. MME –
mobility management entity – provides control function related
to user, mobility & session management.
 All services are supported on IP protocol.
Flat SAE Architecture
 LTE Network Architecture

 Core network design presented in 3GPP release 8 to support

LTE is Evolved Packet Core – EPC.
 It provides high capacity, all IP, reduced latency, flat
architecture, reduced cost, supports advanced real-time and
media services.
 It also provides interworking with 2G GERAN & 3G UTRAN
networks connected via SGSN.
 Functions provided by EPC : access control, packet routing &
transfer, mobility management, security, radio resource
management and network management.
 LTE Network Architecture

 EPC includes 4 elements:

 SGW- serving gateway – which terminates the interface
towards the 3GPP radio access network. Manages mobility,
downlink packet buffering, inter-operator charging.
 Packet data network gateway – PGW – controls IP data
services, does routing, allocates IP addresses, enforces policy,
packet filtering, charging support, provides access for non-
3GPP access networks.
 Mobility management entity – MME – supports user
equipment context and identity, authenticates & authorizes
users, location tracking, paging, roaming, handover, security.
 Policy and charging rules function – PCRF - manages QoS
aspects, supports data flow detection, policy enforcement, flow-
based charging.
Evolved Packet Core Architecture