LTE Radio Interface
The course contains detailed information about the evolved radio access interface (E-UTRA, aka LTE) introduced in 3GPP Release 8 and Release 9 as part of the Evolved Packet System (EPS). The course focuses on the OFDM-based radio interface physical layer, describing in detail the layer 1 processing chain and the mapping of physical channels onto OFDM Resource Elements. Downlink and uplink control channels for scheduling, hybrid-ARQ operation and feedback signalling are described in detail.
The course covers the layer 1 procedures for synchronisation, random access, scheduling, sounding and hybrid-ARQ. The course also includes a chapter on the latest evolution of the LTE-Advanced physical layer standard (Release 10 and beyond) including Carrier Aggregation and enhanced uplink/downlink MIMO operation. Note: the course does not include the TDD option for LTE.
E-UTRA Overview
• Evolved Packet System network architecture
• Summary of radio techniques used in E-UTRA
• Current status of the LTE and LTE-A standard
E-UTRA Protocol Architecture
• Logical, transport and physical channels and their relation to the radio interface protocol stack
• Overview of RRC signalling and layer 2 functions relevant for proper layer 1 operation
Usage of OFDM & MIMO in E-UTRA
• Overview of OFDM transmission: subcarriers, OFDM symbols, cyclic prefixes, DFT processing
• E-UTRA resource definitions: Resource Elements, RE Groups, Control Channel Elements, Resource Blocks
• Multi-antenna transmission basics
• E-UTRA transmission modes: Tx diversity, spatial multiplexing and beam-forming
• Antenna-specific Reference Signals (RS)
Layer 1 Information Processing
• Channel coding and rate matching
• Scrambling and modulation
• Layer mapping, precoding and antenna mapping
• Resource Element mapping and OFDM signal generation
• The E-UTRA radio frame, subframe and slot structure
Synchronization & Network Access
• P-SS, S-SS and the Physical Cell Id.
• Generation of pseudo-random sequences
• PBCH and system information
• RACH and the Random Access procedure
• Coding and mapping of the PRACHDownlink Transmission Procedures
• Downlink control procedures on PCFICH and PDCCH
• Coding and mapping of the PCFICH
• Coding and mapping of the PDCCH
• Blind decoding of control channels in the UE: search spaces, aggregation levels and PDCCH formats
• Usage of different DCI contents
• Resource allocation type 0, 1 and 2
• Determination of transmission mode, MCS and TB size
Uplink Transmission Procedures
• Time-frequency mapping of the PUCCH region(s)
• Control signalling procedures on PUCCH
• Usage of different PUCCH/UCI formats
• Multiplexing UCI on PUSCH
• Coding and mapping of the PUCCH
• Coding and mapping of the PHICH
• Demodulation Reference Symbols (DMRS)
• The Sound Reference Symbol (SRS)
Hybrid-ARQ and Scheduling
• HARQ processes, timing, redundancy versions
• Discontinuous reception (DRX)
• Semi-Persistent Scheduling (SPS)
• CQI and PMI/RI reporting options
• Scheduling request procedure
LTE Advanced
• Enhanced downlink MIMO operation
• Non-codebook based precoding
• Uplink MIMO and multi-cluster allocation
• Carrier aggregation (CA)
• Cross-carrier scheduling for CA
• New DCI formats for uplink/downlink assignment
