Chapter 1

LTE Introduction

1.1   Introduction 

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The challenge for any book tackling a subject as broad and deep as a completely new cellular radio standard is
one of focus. The process of just creating the Long Term Evolution (LTE) specifications alone has taken several

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years and involves tens of thousands of temporary documents, thousands of hours of meetings and hundreds of

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engineers. The result will be several thousand pages of specifications. Then the hard work begins, turning those
specifications into real products that deliver real services to real people willing to pay real money. A single book
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of this length must therefore choose its subject wisely if it is to do more than just scratch the surface of such a
complex problem.

The focus that Agilent has chosen for this book is a practical one: to explain design and measurement tools and
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techniques that engineering teams can use to accelerate turning the LTE specifications into a working system.
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The first half of the book provides an overview of the specifications starting in Chapter 2 with RF aspects and
moving through the physical layer and upper layer signalling to the System Architecture Evolution (SAE) in
GH

Chapter 5. Due to limited space, the material in Chapters 2 through 5 should be viewed as an introduction to the
technology rather than a deep exposition. For many, this level of detail will be sufficient but anyone tasked with
designing or testing parts of the system will always need to refer directly to the specifications. The emphasis in the
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opening chapters is often on visual rather than mathematical explanations of the concepts. The latter can always
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be found in the specifications and should be considered sufficient information to build the system. However, the
former approach of providing an alternative, more accessible explanation is often helpful prior to gaining a more
detailed understanding directly from the specifications.
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Having set the context for LTE in the opening chapters, the bulk of the remainder of the book provides a more
detailed study of the extensive range of design and measurement tools and techniques that are available to help
bring LTE from theory to deployment.

1.2   LTE System Overview 

Before describing the system overview it is useful to explain some of the terminology surrounding LTE since the
history and naming of the technology is not intuitive. Some guidance can be found in the Vocabulary of 3GPP
Specifications 21.905 [1], although this document is not comprehensive. The term LTE is actually a project name of


 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The goal of the project, which started in November 2004, was to
determine the long-term evolution of 3GPP’s Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS). UMTS was also a 3GPP
project that studied several candidate technologies before choosing Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
(W-CDMA) for the Radio Access Network (RAN). The terms UMTS and W-CDMA are now interchangeable,
although that was not the case before the technology was selected.

In a similar way, the project name LTE is now inextricably linked with the underlying technology, which is described
as an evolution of UMTS although LTE and UMTS actually have very little in common. The UMTS RAN has two
major components: (1) the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which is the air interface including the User
Equipment (UE) or mobile phone, and (2) the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), which includes
the Radio Network Controller (RNC) and the base station, which is also known as the Node B (NB).

Because LTE is the evolution of UMTS, LTE’s equivalent components are thus named Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA) and
Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN). These are the formal terms used to describe the RAN. The system, however, is more
than just the RAN since there is also a parallel 3GPP project called System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which is
defining a new all-IP packet-only Core Network (CN) known as the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The combination
of the EPC and the evolved RAN (E-UTRA plus E-UTRAN) is the Evolved Packet System (EPS). Depending on the
context, any of the terms LTE, E-UTRA, E-UTRAN, SAE, EPC and EPS may get used to describe some or all of the
system. Although EPS is the only correct term for the overall system, the name of the system will often be written
as LTE/SAE or even simply LTE, as in the title of this book.

Figure 1.2-1 shows a high level view of how the evolved RAN and EPC interact with legacy radio access
technologies.

Figure 1.2-1.  Logical high-level architecture for the evolved system (from 23.882 [2] Figure 4.2-1)

 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

3GPP’s drive to simplify the existing hybrid circuit-switched/packet-switched core network is behind the SAE
project to define an all-IP core network. This new architecture is a flatter, packet-only core network that is an
essential part of delivering the higher throughput, lower cost and lower latency that is the goal of the LTE evolved
RAN. The EPC is also designed to provide seamless interworking with existing 3GPP and non-3GPP radio access
technologies. The overall requirements for the System Architecture Evolution are summarized in 22.278 [3]. A
detailed description of the EPC is given in Chapter 5.

1.3   The Evolution from UMTS to LTE 

The LTE specifications are being written by 3GPP, which is a partnership of Standards Development Organizations
(SDOs). The work of 3GPP is public and, as will be described in Section 1.6, it is possible to gain access to all
meeting reports, working documents and published specifications from the 3GPP website: www.3gpp.org. The
organizational partners that make up 3GPP are the Japanese Association of Radio Industries and Businesses
(ARIB), the USA Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), the China Communications Standards
Association (CCSA), the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), the Korean Telecommunications
Technology Association (TTA) and the Japanese Telecommunications Technology Committee (TTC).

Table 1.3-1.  Evolution of the UMTS specifications

Release Functional freeze Main UMTS feature of release

Rel-99 March 2000 Basic 3.84 Mcps W-CDMA (FDD & TDD)
Rel-4 March 2001 1.28 Mcps TDD (TD-SCDMA)
Rel-5 June 2002 HSDPA
Rel-6 March 2005 HSUPA (E-DCH)
Rel-7 Dec 2007 HSPA+ (64QAM downlink, MIMO, 16QAM uplink)
LTE and SAE feasibility study
Rel-8 Dec 2008 LTE work item — OFDMA/SC-FDMA air interface
SAE work item — new IP core network
Further HSPA improvements

Table 1.3-1 summarizes the evolution of the 3GPP UMTS specifications towards LTE. Each release of the 3GPP
specifications represents a defined set of features. A convenient summary of the contents of any release can be
found at www.3gpp.org/releases. The date given for the functional freeze relates to the date when no further
new items can be added to the release. After this point any further changes to the specifications are restricted
to essential corrections. The commercial launch date of a release depends on the period of time following the
functional freeze before the specifications are considered stable and then implemented into commercial systems.
For the first release of UMTS the delay between functional freeze and commercial launch was several years,
although the delay for subsequent releases was progressively shorter. With LTE/SAE being a completely new
system, the delay before commercial launch is likely to increase again to perhaps two years. This period includes
the time taken to develop and implement the conformance test cases, which requires significant work that cannot
begin until the feature set of the release is frozen.


 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

After Release 99, 3GPP stopped naming releases after the year and opted for a new scheme starting with
Release 4. This choice was driven by the document version numbering scheme explained in Section 1.6. Release
4 introduced the 1.28 Mcps narrow band version of W-CDMA, also known as Time Domain Synchronous Code
Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). Following this was Release 5, in which High Speed Downlink Packet
Access (HSDPA) introduced packet-based data services to UMTS in the same way that the General Packet Radio
Service (GPRS) did for GSM in Release 97 (1998). The completion of packet data for UMTS was achieved in
Release 6 with the addition of High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA), although the official term for this
technology is Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH). HSDPA and HSUPA are now known collectively as High
Speed Packet Access (HSPA). Release 7 contained the first work on LTE/SAE with the completion of feasibility
studies, and further improvements were made to HSPA such as downlink Multiple Input-Multiple Output (MIMO),
64QAM on the downlink and 16QAM on the uplink. In Release 8, HSPA continues to evolve with the addition of
numerous smaller features such as dual carrier HSDPA and 64QAM with MIMO.
The main work in Release 8, however, is the specification of LTE and SAE, which is the main focus of this book.
Work beyond Release 8 is also in progress and will be covered briefly in Chapter 8, which describes the process
whereby LTE will be enhanced and put forward as a candidate technology for 4G. Within 3GPP there are further
standardization activities not shown in Table 1.3-1 such as those for the GSM Enhanced RAN (GERAN) and
Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

1.4   LTE/SAE Requirements 

The high level requirements for LTE/SAE include reduced cost per bit, better service provisioning, flexible use of
new and existing frequency bands, simplified network architecture with open interfaces, and an allowance for
reasonable power consumption by terminals. These are detailed in the LTE feasibility study 25.912 [4] and in the
LTE requirements document 25.913 [5].
To meet the requirements for LTE outlined in 25.913 [5], LTE/SAE has been specified to achieve the following:
• Increased downlink and uplink peak data rates, as shown in Table 1.4-1. Note that the downlink is
specified for Single Input-Single Output (SISO) and MIMO antenna configurations at a fixed 64QAM
modulation depth, whereas the uplink is specified only for SISO but at different modulation depths.
These figures represent the physical limitation of the FDD air interface in ideal radio conditions with
allowance for signalling overheads. Lower peak rates are specified for specific UE categories, and
performance requirements under non-ideal radio conditions have also been developed. Comparable
figures exist in [4] for TDD operation.
• Scalable channel bandwidths of 1.4 MHz, 3.0 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz and 20 MHz in both the
uplink and the downlink.
• Spectral efficiency improvements over Release 6 HSPA of 3 to 4 times in the downlink and 2 to 3
times in the uplink.
• Sub-5 ms latency for small Internet Protocol (IP) packets.
• Performance optimized for low mobile speeds from 0 to 15 km/h supported with high performance from 15 to
120 km/h; functional support from 120 to 350 km/h. Support for 350 to 500 km/h is under consideration.
• Co-existence with legacy standards while evolving toward an all-IP network.

 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

Table 1.4-1.  LTE (FDD) downlink and uplink peak data rates (from 25.912 [4] Tables 13.1 & 13.1a)

FDD Downlink Peak Data Rates

(64QAM)
Antenna 2x2 4x4
SISO
configuration MIMO MIMO
Peak data rate
100 172.8 326.4
Mbps
FDD Uplink Peak Data Rates
(single antenna)
Modulation
QPSK 16QAM 64QAM
depth
Peak data rate
50 57.6 86.4
Mbps

The headline data rates in Table 1.4-1 represent the corner case of what can be achieved with the LTE RAN in
perfect radio conditions; however, it is necessary for practical reasons to introduce lower levels of performance to
enable a range of implementation choices for system deployment. This is achieved through the introduction of UE
categories as specified in 36.306 [6] and shown in Table 1.4-2. These are similar in concept to the categories used
to specify different levels of performance for HSPA.

Table 1.4-2.  Peak data rates for UE categories (derived from 36.306 [6] Tables 4.1-1 and 4.1-2)

Peak downlink Peak uplink

Downlink antenna configuration Support for 64QAM
UE category data rate data rate
(eNB transmit x UE receive) in uplink
(Mbps) (Mbps)
Category 1 10.296 1x2 5.16 No
Category 2 51.024 2x2 25.456 No
Category 3 102.048 2x2 51.024 No
Category 4 150.752 2x2 51.024 No
Category 5 302.752 4x2 75.376 Yes

There are other attributes associated with UE categories, but the peak data rates, downlink antenna configuration
and uplink 64QAM support are the categories most commonly referenced.

The emphasis so far has been on the peak data rates but what really matters for the performance of a new system
is the improvement that can be achieved in average and cell edge data rates. The reference configuration against
which LTE/SAE performance targets have been set is defined in 25.913 [5] as being Release 6 UMTS. For the
downlink the reference is HSDPA Type 1 (receive diversity but no equalizer or interference cancellation). For the
uplink the reference configuration is single transmitter with diversity reception at the Node B. Table 1.4-3 shows
the simulated downlink performance of UMTS versus the design targets for LTE. This is taken from the work of
3GPP during the LTE feasibility study [7]. Table 1.4-4 shows a similar set of results for the uplink taken from [8].


 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

Table 1.4-3.  Comparison of UMTS Release 6 and LTE downlink performance requirements

Case 1
Spectrum efficiency Mean user throughput Cell-edge user throughput
500m inter site distance
[bps/Hz/cell] x UTRA [bps/Hz/user] x UTRA [bps/Hz/user] x UTRA
UTRA baseline 1x2 0.53 x1.0 0.05 x1.0 0.02 x1.0
E-UTRA 2x2 SU-MIMO 1.69 x3.2 0.17 x3.2 0.05 x2.7
E-UTRA 4x2 SU-MIMO 1.87 x3.5 0.19 x3.5 0.06 x3.0
E-UTRA 4x4 SU-MIMO 2.67 x5.0 0.27 x5.0 0.08 x4.4

Table 1.4-4.  Comparison of UMTS Release 6 and LTE uplink performance requirements

Case 1
Spectrum efficiency Mean user throughput Cell-edge user throughput
500m inter site distance
[bps/Hz/cell] x UTRA [bps/Hz/user] x UTRA [bps/Hz/user] x UTRA
UTRA baseline 0.332 x1.0 0.033 x1.0 0.009 x1.0
E-UTRA 1x2 0.735 x2.2 0.073 x2.2 0.024 x2.5
E-UTRA 1x2 MU-MIMO 0.675 x2.0 0.067 x2.0 0.023 x2.4
E-UTRA 1x4 1.103 x3.3 0.110 x3.3 0.052 x5.5
E-UTRA 2x2 SU-MIMO 0.776 x2.3 0.078 x2.3 0.010 x1.1

From these tables the LTE design targets of 2x to 4x improvement over UMTS Release 6 can be seen. Note,
however, that UMTS is not standing still and there are Release 7 and Release 8 enhancements that significantly
narrow the gap between UMTS and LTE. Although the figures in Tables 1.4-3 and 1.4-4 are meaningful and
user-centric, they were derived from system level simulations and are not typical of the methods used to specify
minimum performance. The simulation involved calculation of throughput by repeatedly dropping ten users
randomly into the cell. From this data a distribution of performance was developed and the mean user throughput
calculated. The cell edge throughput was defined as the 5th percentile of the throughput cumulative distribution.
For this reason the cell edge figures are quoted per user assuming 10 users per cell, whereas the mean user
throughput is independent of the number of users.

When it comes to defining minimum performance requirements for individual UEs, the simulation methods used
to derive the figures in Tables 1.4-3 and 1.4-4 cannot be used. Instead, the minimum requirements for UMTS and
LTE involve spot measurement of throughput at specific high and low interference conditions, and for additional
simplicity, this is done without the use of closed loop adaptive modulation and coding. This is a pragmatic
approach to defining performance but it means there is no direct correlation between the results from the
conformance tests and the simulated system performance in Tables 1.4-3 and 1.4-4.

1.5   LTE/SAE Timeline 

The timeline of LTE/SAE development is shown in Figure 1.5-1. This includes the work of 3GPP in drafting the
specifications as well as the conformance test activities of the Global Certification Forum (GCF) and the trials
being carried out by the LTE/SAE Trial Initiative (LSTI). The work of GCF towards the certification of UE against

 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

the 3GPP conformance specifications is covered in some detail in Section 7.4. The LSTI is an industry forum
and complimentary group who are working in parallel with 3GPP and GCF with the intent of accelerating the
acceptance and deployment of LTE/SAE as the logical choice of the industry for next generation networks.
The work of LSTI is split into four phases. The first phase is Proof of Concept of the basic principles of LTE/SAE,
using early prototypes not necessarily compliant with the specifications. The second phase is Interoperability
Development Testing (IODT), which is a more detailed phase of testing using standards-compliant equipment but
not necessarily commercial platforms. The third stage is Interoperability Testing (IOT), which is similar in scope to
IODT but uses platforms that are intended for commercial deployment. The final phase is Friendly Customer Trials,
which will run until mid 2010 when GCF is expected to certify the first UE against the 3GPP conformance tests.
Dates beyond February 2009, the time of this writing, are estimates and actual dates will depend on industry
conditions and progress.

Figure 1.5-1.  Projected LTE/SAE timeline

1.6   Introduction to the 3GPP LTE/SAE Specification Documents 

The final section in this introductory chapter provides a summary of the LTE/SAE specification documents and
where to find them.

1.6.1  Finding 3GPP Documents

A good place to start looking for documents is www.3gpp.org/specifications. From there it is possible to access
the specification documents in a number of different ways, including by Release, publication date or specification
number. A comprehensive list of all 3GPP specifications giving the latest versions for all releases can be found
at www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/html-info/SpecReleaseMatrix.htm. Each document has a version number from

 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

which the status of the document can be determined. For instance with 36.101 Vx.y.z, x represents the stability
of the document, y the major update and z an editorial update. If x is 1, then the document is an early draft
for information only. If x is 2, then the document has been presented for approval. If x is greater than 2, then
the document has been approved and is under change control. Once under change control, the value of x
also indicates the Release. Therefore a 3 is Release 1999, a 4 is Release 4, a 5 is Release 5, and so on. Most
documents in an active Release will get updated quarterly, which is indicated by an increment of the y digit. The
document will also contain the date when it was approved by the Technical Specification Group (TSG) responsible
for drafting it. This date is often one month earlier than the official quarterly publication date.

To avoid confusion, individual documents should be referenced only by the version number. Groups of documents
can be usefully referenced by the publication date — e.g., 2008-12 — but note that the version numbers of the
latest documents for that date will vary depending on whether they have all been updated at the same frequency.
For example, at 2008-12, most of the physical layer specifications are at version 8.5.0 but most of the radio
specifications are at version 8.4.0. It is therefore meaningless to refer to “version 8.x.y” of the specifications unless
only one particular document is being referenced.

The set of specifications valid on any publication date will contain the latest version of every document regardless
of whether the document was actually updated since the previous publication date. To access the specifications
by publication date, go to ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/. Within each date there will be a list of all the Releases
and from there each series of specifications can be accessed. If only the latest documents for a Release are
required, go to ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/latest/. Newer, less stable, unpublished documents can often be found at
ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/Latest-drafts/, although care must be taken when making use of this type of information.

All versions of the releases of any particular document number can be accessed from ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/specs/archive/.
This information can also be obtained from ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/Specs/html-info/, which provides the most
comprehensive information. From this link the easiest way to proceed is to select a series of documents; e.g.,
ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/Specs/html-info/36-series.htm. This location will list all 36-series documents with the document
numbers and titles. Selecting a document number will access a page with the full history of the document for all
releases, including a named rapporteur and the Working Group (WG) responsible for drafting the document. At the
bottom of the page will be a link to the Change Request (CR) history, which brings up yet another page listing all
the changes made to the document and linked back to the TSG that approved the changes.

By tracing back through the CR history for a document it is possible to access the minutes and temporary
documents of the TSG in which the change was finally approved. For instance, tracing back through a CR
to 36.101 V8.5.0 (2008-12) would lead to a temporary document of the TSG RAN meeting that approved it
stored under ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/tsg_ran/TSG_RAN/TSGR_42/. The change history of a document can also
be found in the final annex of the document, but linking to the CR documents themselves has to be done via
the website. The lowest level of detail is found by accessing the WG documents from a specific TSG meeting.
An example for TSG RAN WG4, who develop the LTE 36.100-series radio specifications, can be found at
ftp://ftp.3gpp.org/tsg_ran/WG4_Radio/TSGR4_50/. The link to this WG from the document can also be made
from the html-info link given above.

 CHAPTER 1 | LTE Introduction

The final way to gain insight into the work of the standards development process is to read the email exploders of
the various committees. This capability is hosted by ETSI at http://list.etsi.org/.

1.6.2  LTE/SAE Document Structure

The feasibility study for LTE/SAE took place in Release 7, resulting in several Technical Reports of which [1] and
[2] are the most significant.

The LTE RAN specifications are contained in the 36-series of Release 8 and are divided into the following
categories:
• 36.100 series, covering radio specifications and eNB conformance testing
• 36.200 series, covering layer 1 (physical layer) specifications
• 36.300 series, covering layer 2 and 3 (air interface signalling) specifications
• 36.400 series, covering network signalling specifications
• 36.500 series, covering user equipment conformance testing
• 36.800 and 36.900 series, which are technical reports containing background information

The latest versions of the 36 series documents can be found at www.3gpp.org/ftp/Specs/latest/Rel-8/36_series/.

The SAE specifications for the EPC are more scattered than those for the RAN and are found in the 22-series,
23-series, 24-series, 29-series and 33-series of Release 8, with work happening in parallel in Release 9. A more
comprehensive list of relevant EPC documents can be found in Chapter 5.

1.7   References 
[1] 3GPP TR 21.905 V8.7.0 (2008-12) Vocabulary for 3GPP Specifications
[2] 3GPP TR 23.882 V8.0.0 (2008-09) 3GPP System Architecture Evolution: Report on Technical Options and
Conclusions
[3] 3GPP TS 22.278 V9.2.0 (2008-12) Service requirements for the Evolved Packet System (EPS)
[4] 3GPP TR 25.912 V8.0.0 (2008-12) Feasibility study for evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA)
and evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)
[5] 3GPP TR 25.913 V8.0.0 (2008-12) Requirements for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)
and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)
[6] 3GPP TR 36.306 V8.2.0 (2008-05) Evolved Universal terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRA); User
Equipment (UE) radio access capabilities
[7] 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Tdoc R1-072578 “Summary of downlink performance evaluation,” Ericsson, May
2007
[8] 3GPP TSG RAN WG1 Tdoc R1-072261 “LTE performance evaluation — uplink summary,” Nokia, May
2007

Links to all reference documents can be found at www.agilent.com/find/ltebook.