Understanding LTE, OFDMA, and SC-FDMA for UMTS 4G Radio™

Training Format: ILT
Course Code: LTE

For a Class Schedule Contact TRA a 800.872.4736

Description

This course is intended for students interested in understanding the new radio technologies used in the UMTS 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution). The first section and the substantial Appendix also provide a good introduction to SAE (System Architecture Evolution), the infrastructure evolution of UMTS supporting LTE, but the major focus of the course is on the LTE radio technology. With the current dominance of UMTS in 3G worldwide deployments, LTE/SAE is likely to be the dominant 4G technology as well. Understanding this technology will be essential for anyone planning for the next generation in mobile broadband radio technology. This course has been designed to provide an intuitive understanding of how the OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) and SC-FDMA (Single Carrier- Frequency Division Multiple Access) technologies work and how the capabilities of these technologies will enable significantly higher performance than 3G. Technical sales personnel, product managers, network planners and development engineers will enjoy this course.

Designed for

This course is intended for students interested in understanding the new radio technologies used in the UMTS 4G LTE (Long-Term Evolution).

Expected Outcome

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Discuss the major strengths of LTE for 4G mobile broadband.
Sketch the architecture of LTE/SAE, identifying the major new infrastructure components and their functions
List the major characteristics of OFDMA as used in the LTE downlink.
Explain how OFDMA solves the challenges of multipath, frequency-selective fading, and Doppler shift
Justify the choice of SC-FDMA for the LTE uplink
List the major characteristics of SC-FDMA as used in the LTE uplink.
Describe how OFDM processing combined with pre-filtering can produce the desired “single carrier” signal
Understand intuitively the use of OFDMA and SC-FDMA in LTE.

Course Outline

UMTS Evolution to LTE/SAE

LTE (Long Term Evolution): UMTS Evolution to 4G Radio Technology with Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)

Evolved Node B (eNodeB)
Key Requirements for LTE

SAE (System Architecture Evolution): UMTS Evolution to 4G Core Network

Evolved Packet Core (EPC)
Key Requirements for SAE
Major New Functional Entities in SAE
New Standard Interfaces and their Protocol Stacks

Overview of a Handover Scenario Using GPRS Tunnel Re-routing
Status of UMTS LTE/SAE Standards Development and Deployment Plans

UMTS Evolution to 4G

UMTS Evolution to 4G Radio Technology: Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA)/LTE (Long-Term Evolution)

Why OFDM/OFDMA for the Downlink? The concise answer.
Why SC-FDMA (Single Carrier-FDMA)/DFTS-OFDM (Discrete Fourier Transform Spread- OFDM) for the Uplink? The concise answer.

UMTS Evolution of its Access Network Infrastructure: Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)
Status of UMTS LTE Standards Development

OFDM/OFDMA Fundamentals

How OFDM Handles Multipath and ISI (Inter-Symbol Interference)
What is the Cyclic Prefix and How is it Used?
The Relationship Between Multipath and Frequency-Selective Fading
How OFDM Handles Frequency-Selective Fading and Equalization
What is “Orthogonal” Frequency Division Multiplexing?
OFDMA compared to OFDM
How OFDM/OFDMA Handles Mobility and Doppler Frequency Shift
How to Choose an Optimum Subcarrier Bandwidth and OFDM/OFDMA Symbol Duration
Scalable OFDM/OFDMA

OFDM/OFDMA As Used in LTE Downlink

LTE Frame and Sub-Frame Structure
FDD and TDD modes
How Subcarriers are assigned to “Resource Blocks”
Downlink Physical Channels
Reference Signals and their purpose
How LTE Supports Advanced Antenna Systems, e.g. Beamforming and MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output Antenna Systems)

SC-FDMA/DFTS-OFDM Fundamentals

Why SC-FDMA/DFTS-OFDM for the Uplink instead of OFDMA?
Understanding PAPR (Peak-to-Average Power Ratio)
Understanding DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform) Spreading
Understanding How DFT Spreading combined with OFDMA produces a Single Carrier Uplink Signal
Localized vs. Distributed Subcarrier Allocations

SC-FDMA/DFTS-OFDM As Used in LTE Uplink

How Subcarriers are assigned to “Resource Blocks”
Uplink Physical Channels
How the Random Access Channel works
Reference Signals for the Uplink

Appendix: Introduction to the LTE Network Infrastructure

System Architecture Evolution (SAE)- The Evolution of the Infrastructure
Evolved Packet System (EPS) Architecture and Interfaces

Evolved Node B (eNodeB)
Mobility Management Entity (MME)
Serving Gateway (S-GW)
Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW)
Home Subscriber Server (HSS)

Major Interfaces

S1, X2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S8, S11, S12

Major Protocols

S1 Application Protocol (S1AP)
GTPv2 (GPRS Tunneling Protocol version 2)

Major 3GPP LTE and SAE Standards Documents (as references)
Scenario 1 with Message Flow

User powering up, attaching, and registering with the EPS

Scenario 2 with Message Flow

User activating a packet data service

Scenario 3 with Message Flow

Handover from one eNodeB to another eNodeB