HSPA systems

Contents
Introduction HSDPA HSUPA Continuous Packet Connectivity I-HSPA Conclusions

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Introduction

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High Speed Packet Access (1/3)

There were number of pushing forces to improve the packet data capabilities of WCDMA even further, e.g.
Growing interest towards rich calls, mobile-TV and music streaming in the wireless domain Competitive technologies such as WIMAX

High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) evolution introduced first downlink counterpart of the evolution called High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) in Release 5 Uplink evolution followed later in Release 6 by the name of High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) HSPA was originally designed for non-real time traffic with high transmission rate requirements

2008

High Speed Packet Access (2/3)

HSPA features/properties include e.g.
Higher order modulation and coding
Higher throughput and peak data rates

In theory up to 5,8 Mbps in the uplink and 14 Mbps in the downlink without Multiple Inputs and Multiple Outputs (MIMO) Multiple Inputs and Multiple Outputs (MIMO)
Roughly speaking equals to additional transmitter and receiver antennas

Fast scheduling in the Node B

Possibility to take advantage of channel conditions with lower latency

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High Speed Packet Access (3/3)

Link adaptation in downlink
Possibility to adjust the used modulation and coding scheme according to be appropriate for current radio channel conditions

Improved retransmission capabilities

Newly introduced layer one retransmissions called as Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) => reduced delay Radio Link Control (RLC) level retransmissions still possible

Shorter frame sizes and thus Transmission Time Intervals (TTI)

With HSDPA 2ms and with HSUPA 10ms and 2ms

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WCDMA Background and Evolution

3GPP Rel -99 12/99 3GPP Rel 4 03/01 3GPP Rel 5 (HSDPA) 03/02 3GPP Rel 6 (HSUPA) 2H/04 3GPP Rel 7 HSPA+ 06/07 Further Releases, (LTE)

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

Japan

Europe (precommercial)

Europe (commercial)

HSDPA (commercial)

HSUPA (commercial)

2008

High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA)

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Introduction to HSDPA (1/2)

In Release 99 there basically exists three different methods for downlink packet data operation

DCH, Forward Access Channel (FACH) and Downlink Shared Channel (DSCH)
After the introduction of HSDPA in Release 5 some changes to downlink packet data operations occurred

New High Speed DSCH (HS-DSCH) channel was introduced DSCH was removed due to lack of interest for implementing it in practical networks

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Introduction to HSDPA (2/2)

HSDPA Improvements for packet data performance both in terms of capacity and practical bit rates are based on

The use of link adaptation, Higher order modulation, Fast scheduling, Shorter frame size (or transmission time interval), and Physical layer retransmission

HSDPA does not support DCH features like fast power control or soft handover

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Mobility with HSDPA (1/4)

Handovers are roughly tradeoff between two issues

When channel conditions are getting worse, handover to better cell should be made so that packets wont get lost due to poor channel conditions However, each time when the handover is made, transmission buffers in the Node B are flushed resulting to additional delays from RLC level retransmission or disruption of service
When regarding HSDPA, the user can be connected only to one serving HSDPA Node B at the time

Leading to hard handover when the handover between HSDPA Node Bs is required in contrary to DCH soft handover

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Mobility with HSDPA (2/4)

Even though there is only one serving HS-DSCH cell, the associated DCH itself can be in soft(er) handover and maintain the active set as in Rel99

Node B, Serving HSDPA DCH DCH HS-SCCH Node B, Part of DCH active set

DCH/HSDPA

UE
DCH

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Mobility with HSDPA (3/4)

HSDPA handover procedure includes following steps

Serving HS-DSCH cell change procedure is initiated when a link in (DCH) active set becomes higher in strength and stays stronger for certain period of time, referred as time-to-trigger If the condition mentioned above is met then the measurement report is sent from the UE to the Node B, which forwards it to the RNC If e.g. the admission control requirements are met the RNC can then give the consent for the UE to make the handover by sending so called Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) (re)configuration message

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Mobility with HSDPA (4/4)

In the case of intra Node B handover, the HARQ processes (transmissions) and Node B buffers can be maintained and thus there is only minimal interruption in data flow However, with inter Node B handover i.e. between Node Bs, the Node B packet buffers are flushed including all unfinished HARQ processes which are belonging to the UE that is handed off

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High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)

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Introduction to HSUPA (1/2)

Roughly three years later when HSDPA was introduced uplink counterpart of the high speed packet access evolution was introduced in Release 6

In 3GPP original name was not HSUPA but Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH) The obvious choices for uplink evolution was to investigate the techniques used for HSDPA and, if possible, adopt them for the uplink as well
Improvements in HSUPA when compared to Rel99

Layer 1 Hybrid ARQ (HARQ) i.e. fast retransmissions Node B based scheduling

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Introduction to HSUPA (2/2)

Easier multicode transmissions Shorter frame size, 10ms mandatory for all HSUPA capable devices and 2 ms as optional feature
HSUPA is not a standalone feature, but requires many of the basic features of the WCDMA Rel99

Cell selection and synchronization, random access, basic power control loop functions, basic mobility procedures (soft handover), etc.

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Mobility with HSUPA (1/2)

HSUPA supports the soft(er) handover procedure similar to WCDMA Rel99 The HARQ operation in HSUPA soft handover situation is done in following manor

If any Node B part of the active set sends an ACK, then the information given to the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer is that an ACK has been received and the MAC layer will consider the transmission successful

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Mobility with HSUPA (2/2)

Packet reordering RNC

NodeB Layer 1 ACK/NACK Data NodeB

Correctly received packet

UE
Layer 1 ACK/NACK

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2008

Internet HSPA (I-HSPA)

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I-HSPA (1/3)
Internet-HSPA (I-HSPA) aims to provide competitive mobile internet access with much more simpler network architecture than it is in normal WCDMA systems Deployable with existing WCDMA base stations Utilizes standard 3GPP terminals Simplified architecture brings many benefits such as

Cost-efficient broadband wireless access Improves the delay performance Transmission savings Enables flat rating for the end user Works anywhere (compared to WLAN or WIMAX)

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I-HSPA (2/3)
NodeB / E-NodeB UE RNC SGSN GGSN

Internet / Intranet

I-HSPA

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I-HSPA (3/3)
Release 99 ~200 ms
200 180

Round trip time of 32-Byte packet HSDPA <100 ms HSUPA ~50 ms I-HSPA ~25 ms

160
140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 Today

Internet Iu + core RNC Iub Node B AI UE

HSDPA

HSDPA+HSUPA

I-HSDPA+ I-HSUPA

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Conclusions

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Conclusions (1/2)
High Speed Packet Access evolution for WCDMA was introduced in Release 5 and 6 for downlink and uplink, respectively HSPA offers much higher peak data rates, reaching in theory up to 14 Mbps in the downlink and 5,4 Mbps in the uplink, in addition to reduced delays Key technologies with HSPA are

Fast Layer 1 retransmissions i.e. HARQ Node B scheduling Shorter frame size (2ms in DL and 2/10ms UL) Higher order modulation and coding along with link adaptation in downlink Real support for multicodes in the uplink

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Conclusions (2/2)
HSPA improved also the performance of delay critical low bit rate services like VoIP even though it was not originally designed for it Continuous Packet Connectivity (CPC) enhancements introduced in Release 7 improved VoIP performance even more I-HSPA was introduced to provide competitive internet access solution

High data rates with low delay Reduced costs => flat rate could be possible
Femtocells were introduced to improve the mobile convergence and performance in small offices or at home, for instance

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HSPA vs DCH (basic WCDMA)

Feature Variable spreading factor Multicode transmission Fast power control Soft handover DCH Yes Yes
(No in practice)

HSUPA Yes Yes Yes Yes

HSDPA No Yes No

Yes Yes

No
(associated DCH only)

Adaptive modulation
BTS based scheduling Fast L1 HARQ

No
No No

No
Yes Yes

Yes
Yes Yes

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HSPA Peak Data Rates

Downlink HSDPA Theoretical up to 14.4 Mbps Initial capability 1.8 3.6 Mbps
# of codes Modulation
5 codes 5 codes 10 codes 15 codes 15 codes QPSK 16-QAM 16-QAM 16-QAM 16-QAM Max data rate 1.8 Mbps 3.6 Mbps 7.2 Mbps 10.1 Mbps 14.4 Mbps

Uplink HSUPA Theoretical up to 5.76 Mbps Initial capability 1.46 Mbps

# of codes 2 x SF4 2 x SF2 2 x SF2 2 x SF2 + 2 x SF4 TTI 2 ms 10 ms 10 ms 2 ms 2 ms Max data rate 1.46 Mbps 2.0 Mbps 2.9 Mbps 5.76 Mbps

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2008

Thank you!
kari.aho@magister.fi

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29 2008 Magister Solutions Ltd Ltd 2008 Magister Solutions