WCDMA Channels

10th Aug 2007

Deepak

WCDMA Channels
Logical Channels are not actually the channel rather they can
defined as a different task performed by the network and the UE
at different times.
They describes the type of information to be transferred.
Logical channels are categorized into control channels and
traffic channels.
Controls channels carry the control plane information
Traffic Channels carry the user plane information
Transport channels describes how the logical channels to be
transferred. Or it can be defined by how and with what
characteristics data is transferred over the interface.
It comes into two groups:
Dedicated Channels
Common Channels

Radio Frame Structure

In WCDMA the information is spread over 5MHz band (Wide

Bandwidth). There are separate radio channels for both
uplink and downlink of 5MHz.
One radio frame consist of 38400 chips and 15 slots. The
duration of the radio frame is 10ms which have ship rate of
3.84 Mcps. Each slots in the radio frame comprises of 2650
chips.
Radio Frame (10ms)
frame #i

frame #i+1

Time Slot (2560*Tc)

timeslot #0

timeslot #1

timeslot #2

timeslot #13

timeslot #14

Physical Channel
In uplink and downlink direction, each slot in a radio frame defined
with a code or a set of codes that carries a set of common and
dedicated channels called Physical Channel.
The information rate of the channel varies from 15 kbps to 1920
kbps for downlink and 30 kbps to 1920 kbps corresponding to
available Spreading Factor. In Downlink spreading factor from 256
to 4 and in downlink from 512 to 4.
Physical channels are the transmission media providing platform
(radio) through which information is going to be transferred
Physical Channels means different kinds of bandwidths
allocated for different purposes, its actually is the physical
existence of the Uu interface between UE domain and Access
domain.
Physical channel are defined by specific carrier freq, scrambling
and channelization code

Logical Channel
Broadcast Control Channel (BCCH):

It broadcast system control information for all mobiles in a cell like Code
values in the cell, neighbors information, allowed power levels in downlink
direction.
Paging Control Channel (PCCH):
It transfer paging information in downlink direction. Network page the mobile
to discover the UE location or UE in a cell connected state.
Common Control Channel (CCCH):
Network may have certain tasks which are or may be common to UE in the
cell. Its being used in both direction downlink & uplink. The CCCH is also
used when US is accessing a new cell after cell reselection.
Dedicated Control Channel (DCCH)
When there is dedicated/active connection means RRC connection between
the network and the mobile, the control information transferred using DCCH.
Its an bi-directional channel.

Logical Channel
Dedicated Traffic Channel (DTCH):
It is used transfer the user data between the network and the
mobile in both uplink and downlink direction.
Common Traffic Channel (CTCH):
It is used the transfer the data from one point to all mobile or
a specified group of mobiles.

Transport Channels

Transport channels describes how the logical channels to be

transferred
Transport channel is defined by how and with what characteristics
data is transferred over the interface.

It comes into two groups:

Dedicated Channels
Common Channels

Transport Channels

Dedicated Traffic Channels:

Dedicated Channel (DCH):
It is the channel used to send dedicated control and user data between UE and the
networks in both uplink & downlink direction
Enhanced Dedicated Channel (E-DCH):
It is a enhanced uplink transport channel.

Common Transport Channel :

Random Access Channel (RACH):
It is used to send a control information from UE in the uplink direction. Also may carry
short users packet.
Common Packet Channel (CPCH):
Its an uplink shared channel used for packet data. Several UE can use the same
channel for data transfer.

Transport Channels
Forward Access Channel (FACH):
It is a downlink common channel used to send small amounts of control and
user data.
Downlink Shared Channel (DSCH):
It is common channel used to send dedicated control and user data.
Broadcast Channel (BCH):
It broadcast system information in the downlink direction for all mobile
stations in a cell.
Paging Channel (PCH):
Its a downlink common channel used to send paging notification messages.
Dedicated Channel (DCH)
It is a channel that is used to send dedicated control and user data between the
UE and the network in both direction.

Physical Channels

In Uplink there are both dedicated and common physical

channels.

Dedicated Channels:
Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH)
Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH)
Common Channels:
Physical Random Access Channel
Physical Common Packet Channel

Physical Channels
Dedicated Physical Control Channel
For each radio link, there is one DPCCH, it carries control
information like
Pilot bits (used to support channel estimation at rake receiver)
Transmit Power Control (TPC) commands (Used power
control)
Feedback information (FBI) needed with transmit diversity
Transport Format Combination Indicator (TFCI)
Spreading factor is always 256.

Physical Channels
Data
Ndata bits

DPDCH

T slot = 2560 chips, N data = 10*2 k bits (k=0..6)

Pilot
N pilot bits

DPCCH

TFCI
NTFCI bits

FBI
NFBI bits

TPC
N TPC bits

T slot = 2560 chips, 10 bits

Slot #0

Slot #1

Subframe #0

Slot #2

Subframe #1

Slot #3

Subframe #2

1 subframe = 2 ms
1 radio frame: T f = 10 ms

Slot #i

Subframe #3

Slot #14

Subframe #4

Physical Channels
Dedicated Physical Data Channel
Each radio link may have no DPDCHs or several DPDCHs.
Spreading factor for the DPDCH can be between 256 and 4.
DPCCH & DPDCH are time multiplexed in downlink but
uplink these are I/Q modulation.

Physical Channels

Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)

It carries the Random Access Channel (RACH transport Channel).
UE uses when physical random access procedure is initiated.
Preamble

Preamble

Preamble

4096 chips

Preamble
4096 chips

Message part
10 ms (one radio frame)

Preamble

Preamble

Message part
20 ms (two radio frames)

Physical
Channels
RACH Preamble Part
Each preamble is of length 4096 chips and consist of 256 repetitions of a
signature of length 16 chips.
RACH Message Part
The 10 ms message part spilt into 15 slots each length of 2560 ships. Each slot
consist of data part onto which RACH transport part is mapped and
control part that carries layer 1 control information. The 20ms message
consists of two consecutive 10ms message part radio frames.
Data
Ndata bits

Data
Pilot
Npilot bits

Control

TFCI
NTFCI bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 10*2k bits (k=0..3)

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
Message part radio frame T RACH = 10 ms

Slot #14

Physical Channels

Physical Common Packet Channel (PCPCH)

It carries Common Packet Channel (CPCH Transport Channel). The
access transmission consists of Access Preambles (AP), one
collision Detection Preamble (CDP), a DPCCH Power Control
Preamble (PCP) and message. Check out the Structure from ECE
book.

Physical Channels
Downlink Dedicated Channel
In downlink there is only one dedicated channel DPCH. The
control data and user data are time multiplexed with one
DPCH.
The length of frame is 10 ms divided into 15 slots
The no. of bits in the data part depends on the spreading factor
between 512 and 4 correspondence of 15kbps to 1,920kbps.

DPCCH

DPDCH
Data1
Ndata1 bits

TPC
NTPC bits

TFCI
NTFCI bits

DPDCH

DPCCH

Data2
Ndata2 bits

Pilot
Npilot bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 10*2k bits (k=0..7)

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
One radio frame, Tf = 10 ms

Slot #14

DPCCH + DPDCH

Physical Channels
Common Pilot Channel
It has pre-defined bit sequence transmitted with a bit rate of 30 Kbps (Fixed
Scrambling code 256)
CPICH is divided into pilot channels:
Primary Common Pilot Channel (P-CPICH)
Secondary Common Pilot Channel (S-CPICH)
Reason for low bit rate as it is transmitted with high power to reduce the
interference. It is phase reference, must be transmitted in whole cell .
Pre-defined bit sequence
Tslot = 2560 chips , 20 bits

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

Slot #14

Physical
Channels
Primary Common Pilot channel (P-CPICH)
It has following characteristics:
The same channelization code is always used
The P-CPICH is scrambled by primary scrambling code
There is only one P-CPICH per cell
The P-CPICH broadcast over the entire cell

Secondary Common Pilot Channel (S-CPICH)

It has following characteristics:
An arbitrary channelization code is used SF256
A S-CPICH may scrambled with primary or secondary
scrambling code
There may be zero, one or several S-CPICH per cell
A S-CPICH transmitted over the entire cell or part of the cell

Physical Channels
Primary Common Control Physical Channel (P-CCPCH)
It has fixed bit rate of 30 Kbps (Fixed Scrambling code 256)
There are no TPC, Pilot bits and first 256 chips of the slot are used for the
primary and secondary synchronization Channel. This used to carry the
FACH and the PCH.
256 chips
Data
Ndata1=18 bits

(Tx OFF)

Tslot = 2560 chips , 20 bits

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

Slot #14

P-CCPCH + SCH

Physical Channels

Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (S-CCPCH)

It has variable bit rate from 30kbps to 1,920 kbps. There are data bits, pilot
bits and optional TFCI bits. It is transmitted only to smaller are of the
cell.
TFCI
NTFCI bits

Data
Ndata1 bits

Pilot
Npilot bits

Tslot = 2560 chips, 20*2k bits (k=0..6)

Slot #0

Slot #1

Slot #i
1 radio frame: Tf = 10 ms

Slot #14

Physical Channels
The only difference between the P-CCPCH and S-CCPCH the
transport channel mapped on this can only have fixed
predefined transport format combination and in case S-CCPCH
support multiple transport format combination using TFCI

Physical
Channels
Synchronization Channel
This channel used in the cell search procedure. It is divided into the Primary
Synchronization and Secondary Synchronization Channel

Primary Synchronization Channel

It carries primary synchronization codes transmitted in each slot of a radio frame. It is
same for cells in the network.

Secondary Synchronization Channel

It consist of the secondary Synchronization codes (SSC). System selects the SSC to be
transmitted in a slot, based on the scrambling code group and the slot number.
Slot #0
Primary
SCH
Secondary
SCH

acp
i,0

acs

Slot #1
acp

Slot #14
acp

i,1

i,14

acs

acs

256 chips
2560 chips
One 10 ms SCH radio frame

Physical Channels
Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)
It is used for data transmission by one or-several simultaneous users in the
downlink direction.
CD/CA-ICH
The collision Detection Assignment Indicator Channel is used in the CPCH
Access Procedure
CSICH
The CPCH Status Indicator Channel (CSICH) is associated with a CPCH. This
is uses the free spaces that occurs in the AICH. It is used to inform the
UE about CPCH existence and configuration. The duration of CSICH is
20ms. Each frame consist of 15 slots. The length of slot is 40 bits. Each
slot has a part that is no transmitted and a status indicator part that
includes 8 status indicator bits.

Physical Channels

Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH)

It is used in a random access procedure by the network to indicate that the RACH
preamble was detected.

It has 15 consecutive access slots.

Length of access slot is 5120 chips

Each access slot is further divided into 32 Acquisition indicators and one part has
no transmission.
AI part =

4096 chips, 32 real-valued signals

a0 a1 a2

AS #14

AS #0

AS #1

a30 a31

AS #i
20 ms

1024 chips
Transmission Off

AS #14

AS #0

Channel Mapping
The data can be sent through logical layer via different
channels in the transport layer.
And also one transport channel can be sent via
different physical channels.
These selection of channels in the transport and
physical layer depends on the data itself and radio
resource management and its parameters.

Transport Channels
DCH

E-DCH

RACH

BCH
FACH
PCH

HS-DSCH

Physical Channels

Dedicated Physical Data Channel (DPDCH)

Dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPCCH)
Fractional Dedicated Physical Channel (F-DPCH)
E-DCH Dedicated Physical Data Channel (E-DPDCH)
E-DCH Dedicated Physical Control Channel (EDPCCH)
E-DCH Absolute Grant Channel (E-AGCH)
E-DCH Relative Grant Channel (E-RGCH)
E-DCH Hybrid ARQ Indicator Channel (E-HICH)
Physical Random Access Channel (PRACH)
Common Pilot Channel (CPICH)
Primary Common Control Physical Channel (PCCPCH)
Secondary Common Control Physical Channel (SCCPCH)
Synchronisation Channel (SCH)
Acquisition Indicator Channel (AICH)
Paging Indicator Channel (PICH)
MBMS Notification Indicator Channel (MICH)
High Speed Physical Downlink Shared Channel (HSPDSCH)
HS-DSCH-related Shared Control Channel (HSSCCH)
Dedicated Physical Control Channel (uplink) for HS-

Burst Types Dedicated Physical Channel

There are four different types of bursts

All contains two data fields, midamble and GP.
Length of each is different in each bursts.
The no. of data symbol depends on SF or burst type.
Spreading factor
(SF)

Burst Type 1

Burst Type 2

Burst Type 3

Burst Type 4

1952

2208

1856

2112

976

1104

928

N/A

488

552

464

N/A

244

276

232

N/A

16

122

138

116

132

Burst Type - I

This burst type used fr both Uplink and Downlink

It has larger training sequence due to longer midamble field
Data field has 976 chips long, no. of symbol depends on the SF
Midamble is 512 chips long and GP is 96 chips period.
Chip number (CN)

Length of field in chips

Length of field in symbols

Contents of field

0-975

976

Cf table 1

Data symbols

976-1487

512

Midamble

1488-2463

976

Cf table 1

Data symbols

2464-2559

96

Guard period

Data symbols
976 chips

Midamble
512 chips
2560*Tc

Data symbols
976 chips

GP
96
CP

Burst Type - II

This burst type used for both Uplink and Downlink

It has shorter training sequence due to longer midamble field
Data field has 1104 chips long, no. of symbol depends on the SF
Midamble is 256 chips long and GP is 96 chips period.
Chip number (CN)

Length of field in chips

Length of field in symbols

Contents of field

0-1103

1104

cf table 1

Data symbols

1104-1359

256

Midamble

1360-2463

1104

cf table 1

Data symbols

2464-2559

96

Guard period

Data symbols
1104 chips

Midamble
256 chips
2560*Tc

Data symbols
1104 chips

GP
96
CP

Burst Type - III

This burst type used for Uplink only

It has longer guard period suitable for initial access or accss to new cell after
handover
Data field has 976 and 880 chips long, no. of symbol depends on the SF
Midamble is 512 chips long and GP is 192 chips period.
Chip number (CN)

Length of field in chips

Length of field in symbols

Contents of field

0-975

976

Cf table 1

Data symbols

976-1487

512

Midamble

1488-2367

880

Cf table 1

Data symbols

2368-2559

192

Guard period

Data symbols
976 chips

Midamble
512 chips
2560*Tc

Data symbols
880 chips

GP
192
CP

Burst Type - IV

This burst type used for downlink MBSFN

It has longer guard period suitable for initial access or accss to new cell after
handover
It has two data fiels each of 1056 chips long, no. of symbol depends on the SF
Midamble is 320 chips long and GP is 128 chips period.

Chip number (CN)

Length of field in chips

Length of field in symbols

Contents of field

0-1055

1056

Cf table 1

Data symbols

1056-1375

320

Midamble

1376-2431

1056

Cf table 1

Data symbols

2432-2559

128

Guard period

Data symbols
1056 chips

Midamble 320
chips

2560*Tc

Data symbols
1056 chips

GP 128
CP

TPC

Transmission of TPC burst is done in the data parts of traffic burst.

Data in TPC is always transmit at SF 32 irrespective SF of user data
TPC information is to be transmitted immediately after the midamble
Shall be transmitted with same channelization code and timeslot of TFCI

TPC field
Data symbols

Midamble
512/256 chips
2560*Tc

Data symbols

GP

TFCI

Transmission of TFCI is done in the data parts of the respective physical

channel.
In Downlink the TFCI code word bit and data bit subjected to the same
spreading procedure
In Uplink, independent to the SF of data bits TFCI code is applied with SF 32
TFCI is code to be transmitted directly adjacent to the midamble
1st part of TFCI code word

Data symbols

2nd part of TFCI code word

Midamble

512/320/256 chips

2560*Tc

Data symbols

GP

Questions and discussion