LTE Air Interface
- Duration: 2 days or 12 hours
- Level: Level 3
LTE Air Interface
Course Outline
Divided into 8 sections, the topics covered will include:
Section 1: Introducing the E-UTRA (1 hour)
- 3GPP Evolution, From R5 to R9, IMT Advanced, the goals of LTE.
- LTE Performance, Flexible Spectrum and Channels, MIMO in LTE, STC and SM, Adaptive MIMO Switch.
- LTE Development, R7 Study Phase, R8 Work Phase, Testing and Certification, the role of LSTI and the GCF.
- LTE Architecture, E-UTRAN, E-UTRA, eNB and E-UTRAN Interfaces, EPC, MME, S-GW, PDN Gateway.
- User Equipment Functionality and Identities, GUTI, M-TMSI, S-TMSI and C-RNTI.
- Network Identities, TAI and Cell Identity.
Section 2: E-UTRA Interface and States (1 hour)
- The E-UTRA Interface, Stratums, NAS Control Plane, NAS User Plane, NAS Messages, EMM Messages and ESM Messages.
- LTE States, EPS Mobility Management States, EMM States in the UE, EMM States in the MME, EPS Connection Management States.
- The E-UTRA Protocols, Radio Resource Control, RRC Messages, RRC States, Establishment of an RRC Connection.
- E-UTRA and LTE Security - Authentication, Algorithms and Keys, Ciphering and Integrity.
Section 3: E-UTRA PDCP, RLC and MAC (1 hour)
- The E-UTRA Protocol Stack, PDCP, PDCP Services and Functions, PDCP Profiles, Compression Standards, PDCP Headers and Frame Formats.
- RLC, RLC Transparent Mode, RLC Unacknowledged Mode and RLC Acknowledged Mode, RLC PDUs, the TMD PDU, UMD PDU, AMD PDU, AMD Segment PDU and the RLC Status PDU.
- MAC Functions and Operation.
- Logical Channels - BCCH, PCCH, CCCH, DCCH, DTCH.
- Transport Channels - BCH, DL-SCH, PCH, UL-SCH, RACH.
- Mapping Logical Channels into Transport Channels - RNTI Identities, Random Access Process, Non-contention Based Random Access Procedure.
Section 4: OFDMA and SC-FDMA (1 hour)
- E-UTRA Physical Layer, Multiplexing using OFDMA and SC-FDMA, Duplexing Techniques based on FDD and TDD, Modulation and Coding, QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM, Turbo Coding.
- FDM versus OFDM, FFT, Subcarriers and Reference Signals, OFDM Symbol Mapping, Cyclic Prefix, Multi Carrier Systems, Scrambling, the Physical Resource Block.
- SC-FDMA in the LTE Uplink - SC-FDMA Process.
Section 5: E-UTRA Physical Layer (3 hours)
- LTE Generic Frame Structure, Type 1 Radio Frames, Slots and Subframes, Type 2 Radio Frames, Slots and Subframes, Frequency Bands, Carrier Frequencies and EARFCN.
- Channel Bandwidths and Channel Bandwidths per Operating Band.
- Resource Grid and Resource Blocks, Downlink PRB Parameters, Uplink PRB Parameters, VRB and DVRB.
- The LTE Downlink Physical Channels - PBCH, PCFICH, PDCCH, PHICH, Primary Synchronization Signal, Secondary Synchronization Signal, Downlink Reference Signals and Cell Specific Reference Signals for MIMO Operation.
- The LTE Uplink Physical Channels - PRACH, PUCCH, PUSCH, Uplink Data Transmission, Uplink Reference Signals and Demodulation Reference Signals.
- Downlink and Uplink Timing - Timing Relationship and Timing Advance.
- HARQ Operation.
- Transmitter and Receiver Requirements.
- Transmission Modes, Transmit Diversity, MIMO Modes, SU-MIMO, MU-MIMO, Spatial Multiplexing 2x2 and 4x4.
Section 6: LTE Procedures (2 hours)
- LTE Initial Procedures, Power On, Cell Search, Location of Downlink Synchronization Signals, Primary Synchronization Signal and Secondary Synchronization Signal, Broadcast Information and Scheduling.
- PLMN Selection and Initial Cell Selection Algorithms, Cell Reselection Algorithms.
- Random Access, RRC Connection Process, Initial Attach, Establishing Default and Dedicated Bearers.
- DRX and Paging Cycles.
- Radio Link Monitoring - Downlink and Uplink Power Control, PUSCH, PUCCH and PRACH Power Calculations.
- E-UTRA Measurements, RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ.
- Automatic Neighbour Relationship Procedures.
Section 7: LTE Mobility (2 hours)
- LTE Mobility, LTE Cell Planning, Capacity and Coverage Planning, Frequency Deployment Options.
- Soft Frequency Re-use Options.
- Mobility Functional Architecture, Role of the eNB and MME, Tracking Areas.
- Idle Mode Procedures, SIB 1 to SIB 6, LTE Idle Mode Monitoring Requirements.
- Cell Reselection, Intra-frequency Measurements, Inter-frequency and Inter-RAT Measurements, High and Medium Mobility States, Ranking of Cells, Tracking Area Update.
- Mobility in the LTE Active State, Measurements and Gap Configurations, Event Triggers, Timing, the Handover Process.
- EPC Mobility (Relocation), Mobile IP in LTE, Proxy Mobile IP Operation.
- Femto Cells, Scenarios and Assumptions, Home eNB Selection.
Section 8: LTE Interworking (1 hour)
- Interworking Considerations, Network Discovery and Selection, Network Identities, IP Address Allocation, Authentication, Security and QoS Continuity.
- 3GPP Interworking, E-UTRAN to UTRAN / GERAN RAU Procedure, E-UTRAN to UTRAN / GERAN Handover Procedure.
- Non 3GPP Interworking, Trusted and Un-trusted non 3GPP IP Access Networks, Network Based and Host Based Mobility for non 3GPP Networks, Handover from 3GPP Access to Trusted non 3GPP Access, Handover from 3GPP Access to Un-Trusted non 3GPP Access using PMIP.
- Roaming.
The LTE air interface provides a spectrally efficient radio carrier capable of supporting multi megabit packet channels between the mobile and E-UTRAN. This course examines the protocols and procedures employed across the air interface as well as the architecture of the physical frame, transport and logical channels. The OFDMA and SC-FDMA multiplexing techniques employed in LTE are also discussed to provide a complete in-depth analysis. A good knowledge of the LTE architecture and operation as would be gained from mpirical’s LTE System Engineering course is advisable to anyone attending this course.
Who Should Attend
Engineers involved in the design, deployment and maintenance of the LTE Air Interface. Project Managers requiring a comprehensive explanation of the LTE Air Interface.