Enhanced Data-rates for Global

Evolution (EDGE) :

An Overview
Executive Summary
 WIRELESS COMPUTING

WIRELESS INTERNET
GROWTH GROWTH

MOBILE
RF & DIGITAL
SOFTWARE
TECHNOLOGY
 DRIVERS FOR
WIRELESS DATA
100
90 USA market
80
70 cellular + PCS subs
Millions

60 Internet users

50
40
30
laptop users
20
10 annual laptop sales
0
1995 2000
 Wireless Data Terminals

Nokia
Sierra PCMCIA Nokia 9110 The new 3G vision
CDPD Modem
Ericsson R380
phone, which
features wireless
data functions
 EDGE Technology

• Evolutionary path to 3G services for GSM and TDMA

operators
• Builds on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) air
interface and networks
• Phase 1 (Release’99 & 2002 deployment) supports best
effort packet data at speeds up to about 384 kbps
• Phase 2 (Release’2000 & 2003 deployment) will add Voice
over IP capability
 GPRS Airlink

• General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

• Same GMSK modulation as GSM
• 4 channel coding modes
• Packet-mode supporting up to about 144 kbps
• Flexible time slot allocation (1-8)
• Radio resources shared dynamically between speech and
data services
• Independent uplink and downlink resource allocation
 EDGE Airlink

• Extends GPRS packet data with adaptive modulation/coding

• 2x spectral efficiency of GPRS for best effort data
• 8-PSK/GMSK at 271 ksps in 200 KHz RF channels supports
8.2 to 59.2 kbps per time slot
• Supports peak rates over 384 kbps
• Requires linear amplifiers with < 3 dB peak to average power
ratio using linearized GMSK pulses
• Initial deployment with less than 2x 1 MHz using 1/3 reuse
with EDGE Compact as a complementary data service
 GPRS Networks

• consists of packet wireless access network and IP-based

backbone
• shares mobility databases with circuit voice services and
adds new packet switching nodes (SGSN & GGSN)
• will support GPRS, EDGE & WCDMA airlinks
• provides an access to packet data networks
– Internet
– X.25
• provides services to different mobile classes ranging from 1-
slot to 8-slot capable
• radio resources shared dynamically between speech and
data services
 EDGE System Performance

Probability throughput < = X per timeslot Probability packet delay < = X

100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
% 60 60
50
% 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 10 X20(kb/s)
30 40 50 60 70 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
X (msec)

26 users/sector at 3.84 kbps average load per user

 EDGE Evolution

• Best effort IP packet data on EDGE

• Voice over IP on EDGE circuit bearers
• Voice over IP with statistical radio resource multiplexing
• Network based intelligent resource assignment
• Smart antennas & adaptive antennas
• Downlink speeds at several Mbps based on wideband
OFDM and/or multiple virtual channels
 EDGE for 3G Wireless: Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
 3G according to ITU

The ITU vision of global wireless access in the 21st century,

including mobile and fixed access, IMT is aimed at providing
direction to the many related technological developments in
this area to assist the convergence of these essentially
competing wireless access technologies……..

3G Proposals

http://www.itu.int/imt/2-radio-dev/index.html/
 IMT-2000:
Terrestrial RTT Harmonization

IMT-2000
GOAL

CDMA TDMA

3GPP2 3GPP

WP-CDMA

Global Global
cdma2000 CDMA I CDMA II
WIMS WCDMA/NA UTRA W-CDMA TD-SCDMA UWC-136 DECT

USA Korea USA USA

Europe Japan China Europe
 KEY APPLICATIONS

• Current: ~10 kb/s, circuit/packet

– Fax
– Short-messaging
– Being evolved to ~50-100 kb/s peak rate
• Needed to make wireless data attractive:
– Web Browsing - downlink bandwidth hungry
– FTP or Emails with file attachment - both links
• 3G: “Multimedia,” mainly packet
– Wide-area, low mobility, 384 kb/s
– Wide-area, high mobility, 144 kb/s
– Indoor, 2 Mb/s
• Beyond 3G ?
 Radio Technology Evolution

• High Speed Services

– Nominal Rates:
• At least 144 kbps macrocell
• At least 384 kbps outdoor pedestrian
• At least 2 Mbps indoor
• => 1-2 Mbps or higher in macrocell
– Support emerging IP-based services
• Real-time and non real-time
– Optimized for packet-switched operation
• Support appropriate QoS definitions
• Data and multimedia services
 IMT-2000 Spectrum

• WRC ‘92
– 50+ MHz x 2
– 1900 and 2100 MHz
• Prospects
– Europe - UMTS spectrum similar
– Japan - yes
– Asia - mixed but positive
– US - 1900 spectrum allocated for PCS (requires
spectrum clearing for 3G; WCDMA is not attractive)
• ~30 MHz at 700 MHz to be auctioned
 Technology Evolution to IMT-
2000 Radio Access
Existing New
EDGE/GPRS SpectrumSpectrum

IMT-2000
GSM GSM+ Systems
GPRS
UMTS/
PDC W-CDMA

TDMA TDMA UWC-136 HS

(EDGE) ?
(IS-136) IS-136+
?
CDMA CDMA 3G-1X cdma2000
(IS-95)
 Current Cellular Approaches

• Cellular coverage is designed for voice service

– Area outage, e.g. < 10% or < 5%.
– Minimal, but equal, service everywhere.
• Cellular systems are designed for voice
– 20 ms framing structure
– Strong FEC, interleaving and decoding delays.
• Spectral Efficiency
– around 0.04-0.07 bps/Hz/sector
– comparable for TDMA and CDMA
 Data Service Approaches

• Bursty: Circuit => Packet

• Need to “widen the data pipe”:
– Multi-bearer: multi-slot, multi-code
– Enhanced TX rate:
• TDMA: Enhanced/adaptive modulation/coding and Incremental
Redundancy (Generalized Hybrid Type II ARQ) e.g., EDGE
• CDMA: Variable processing gain, e.g., WCDMA
• New systems, e.g., OFDM with dynamic packet assignment
 EDGE for 3G Wireless: Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
 GPRS-136 HS

• UWCC sets high speed packet data

requirements (Jan ‘98)
– must support 384kbps packet data
– must be deployed within 1 MHz
– High spectrum efficiency
– economy of scale
• Results: GPRS-136HS EDGE
 History

• In June of 1998 UWCC decided to create a

standard for TDMA Packet Data based on
the GPRS technology
• This gave the benefit in economies of scale
for development and production of both
mobile stations and network infrastructure
 History...

• Another benefit of this choice was that the existing

GPRS standard could be use as a baseline,
allowing for a standard that could be developed
very quickly
• The decision was connected to the decision to
utilize the EDGE structure for the 136HS outdoor
component of the UWC-136 3G RTT proposal to
ITU
• The use of EDGE channels for TDMA packet data
will be standardized during 1999 and is called
GPRS-136HS
 GPRS-136HS

• UWCC has developed an RTT candidate for IMT-

2000 called UWC-136
• UWC-136 outdoor component allows for a user bit
rate of 384 kbps and an initial deployment that does
not require clearance of more than 1 MHz of
spectrum
• The work to develop this standard will be done in
the UWCC/GTF/PDFG and TIA TR-45.3 and will be
using the physical layer and the RLC/MAC layers
from EDGE
 Global TDMA Convergence

UWC-136 GSM

UWCC ETSI
PDFG SMG2

EDGE EDGE
Compact Classic

Global EDGE
 Global TDMA Convergence

Mobility Gateway

ANSI-136 GSM
Network Network
TCP/IP
Network

IW ANSI-41 IW MAP

ANSI-136 EGPRS GSM

UWC-136/EDGE
 EDGE for 3G Wireless: Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
EDGE modulations
 Multi-mode radio link

Scheme Modulation Maximum Code Rate Header Code Blocks Family

rate [kb/s] Rate per 20 ms

M CS-9 8PSK 59.2 1.0 0.36 2 A

M CS-8 54.4 0.92 0.36 2 A
M CS-7 44.8 0.76 0.36 2 B
M CS-6 29.6 / 27.2 0.49 1/3 1 A
M CS-5 22.4 0.37 1/3 1 B
M CS-4 GM SK 17.6 1.0 0.53 1 C
M CS-3 14.8 / 13.6 0.80 0.53 1 A
M CS-2 11.2 0.66 0.53 1 B
M CS-1 8.8 0.53 0.53 1 C
 Payload Format
MCS-3

Family A 37 octets 37 octets 37 octets 37 octets

MCS-6

MCS-9

MCS-3

34+3 octets 34+3 octets

Family A
MCS-6
padding

34 octets 34 octets 34 octets 34 octets

MCS-8

MCS-2

Family B 28 octets 28 octets 28 octets 28 octets

MCS-5

MCS-7

MCS-1

Family C 22 octets 22 octets

MCS-4
 Example: Family A
Coding and puncturing for MCS-9; uncoded 8PSK,two RLC
blocks per 20 ms

3 bits 45 bits 612 b its 612 b its

RLC/MAC
USF Hdr.
HCS FBI E Data = 592 bits BCS TB FBI E Data = 592 bits BCS TB

Rate 1/ 3 convolutional coding Rate 1/3 convolutional coding

36 bits 135 b its 1836 bits 1836 bits

puncturing puncturing
puncturing

SB = 8 36 bits 124 b its 612 b its 612 b its 612 b its 612 b its 612 b its 612 b its

P1 P2 P3 P1 P2 P3

1392 bits
 Example: Family A...
Coding and puncturing for MCS-6; rate 0.49 8PSK,
one RLC block per 20 ms

3 bits 33 bits 612 b its

RLC/M AC
USF Hdr.
HCS FBI E Data = 74 octets = 592 bits BCS TB

Rate 1/ 3 convolutional coding

36 bits 99 bits 1836 bits

puncturing
+1 bit
P1 P2

SB = 8 36 bits 100 b its 1248 bits 1248 bits

1392 bits
 Example: Family A...
Coding and puncturing for MCS-3; rate 0.80 GMSK,
one RLC block per 20 ms

3 bits 36 bits 316 b its

RLC/M AC
USF Hdr.
HCS FBI E Data = 37 octets = 296 bits BCS TB

Rate 1/ 3 convolutional coding

12 bits 108 b its 948 b its

puncturing
puncturing

SB = 12 12 bits 68 bits 372 b its 372 b its 372 b its

P1 P2 P3

464 b its
EDGE Link Throughput

GMSK MCS-9

8-PSK
9
8-PSK

GMSK

MCS-1
 Multi-slot Gain

Average User Throughput (kb/s)

300
250
sing le -slo t
200
150 M u lti-slo t
100
50
0
Ave. # of users per sector
9 18 27 36 45
 Incremental Redundancy (IR)

• Send redundancy only if necessary

• Generalized Type-II ARQ
– Finer granularity of code rate
• Example Data Parity
Transmitter
Receiver
1st attempt Rate 1
2nd attempt Rate 1/2

3rd attempt Rate 1/3

 State Diagram for IR

ARQ
Block
in error Transmit
parity or
Initial data Block
data sub-block
transmission in error
Data Error
Block Error
Detection
Detection

No error
No error

Accept data
block
Deliver to upper layer
IR Gain

Avg..
throughput
vs..
Loading
 EDGE for 3G Wireless:
Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
 Network Architecture Example

Wireless Access Core Packet Data

Network Network Network
(IP based)

GSM
IP
GPRS GPRS
X.25
EDGE GPRS+
new
WCDMA
protocol ?
 Deployment Scenario

Edge
SGSN

WCDMA GPRS
backbone

SGSN GGSN
BG
BG GGSN
GPRS Inter-
backbone operator
GGSN GPRS
SGSN
GGSN
Edge
router Public
Internet router server
router Backbone
 GPRS-136 Architecture

ANSI-41
C-D HLR/AC
N
C-D
E
M
ANSI-41 ANSI-41 Q ANSI-41
Serving Gateway- MC/OTAF SME
MSC/VLR MSC/VLR

Gs' GPRS
Gr HLR

Gc
Gb'
TE MT BS SGSN GGSN PDN TE
R Um' Gn Gi
Gn Gf
Gp
EIR

SGSN GGSN
Other PLMN

Signalling Interface
Signalling and Data Transfer Interface
 Protocol Stack:
Transmission Plane
Application
IP / X.25 IP / X.25
Relay
SNDCP SNDCP GTP GTP

LLC LLC UDP / UDP /

Relay TCP TCP
RLC RLC BSSGP BSSGP
IP IP
MAC MAC Network Network L2 L2
Service Service
GSM RF GSM RF L1bis L1bis L1 L1
Um Gb Gn Gi
MS BSS SGSN GGSN

GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol

SNDCP Sub-network Dependent Convergence Protocol
BSSGP Base Station System GPRS Protocol
LLC Logical Link Control
RLC Radio Link Control
GSM Architecture
GPRS Architecture
Example for packet
routing in GPRS
Example of GPRS Internet
Connection
 EDGE for 3G Wireless: Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
 Compact versus Classic

• Fundamental difference is the frequency reuse and

minimum startup spectrum: Compact (1/3 and 2x 600 kHz)
and for Classic (4/12 and 2x 2.4 MHz)
• Classic is specified by ETSI SMG2
• Compact is specified by the PDFG of the UWCC
• Compact achieves 4/12 reuse on control channels by
combining 4/4 time reuse with 1/3 space reuse
• Compact achieves 2x spectral efficiency of Classic on
traffic channels by combining 1/3 reuse with partial
loading
 Carriers,Frames,Timeslots
& Channels for Classic & Compact

• A GSM carrier’s time is divided into frames

• A frame is divided into 8 timeslots and each is designated a
timeslot number, TN0 …TN7
• All timeslots of a carrier’s timeslot number are considered a
single physical channel
• Control/Traffic logical channels map to parts of the physical
channels
GSM Carriers and TDMA Frames for
Classic and Compact
 1/3 Frequency Re-use
(EDGE Compact)

• 3 x 200 kHz carrier, reused in every site

• <1MHz x 2 initial deployment
• 3 sectors per site
 Control Channels for Compact

• 4/99,UWCC.GTF.PDFG: agreed on a time-reuse

solution to provide control channels with good reliability
F2 F2
Time Time
Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2
F3 F3 F3
Time Time Time
Gr oup 3 Gr oup 1 Gr oup 3
F1 F1 F1
Time Time Time
Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4
F2 F2 F2
Time Time Time
Gr oup 1 Gr oup 3 Gr oup 1
F3 F3 F3 F3
Time Time Time Time
Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4
F1 F1 F1
Time Time Time
F2 Gr oup 3 Gr oup 1 F2 Gr oup 3
F2 F2
Time Time Time Time
Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2
F3 F3 F3
Time Time Time
Gr oup 1 Gr oup 3 Gr oup 1
F1 F1 F1 F1
Time Time Time Time
Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4
F2 F2 F2
Time Time Time
Gr oup 3 Gr oup 1 Gr oup 3
F3 F3 F3
Time Time Time
Gr oup 2 Gr oup 4 Gr oup 2
 Reuse in Time for Compact

TN0 TN1 TN2 TN3 TN4 TN5 TN6 TN7

(OFF) (OFF) (OFF)
Traffic Control Traffic Traffic Traffic

• Reuse in time occurs over TN1, 3, 5 and 7

•Control channel reuse is in space and time
•Traffic channel reuse is in space only
 Compact Prerequisites

• Base Station Frame Synchronization - so that all

base stations can be switched on/off synchronously
to achieve reuse in time

• Modified air-interface protocols - to be able to

handle the resulting discontinuous nature of
transmissions
 Control/Traffic Channel
Reuse for Compact

• Reuse for control and reuse for traffic channels are

independent of each other
• The actual reuse employed - for traffic or control - is operator
controlled and limited only by the available spectrum
• Typically, 4/12 is used for control and 1/3 for traffic.
However, other combinations are also possible subject to
performance requirements, environment and spectrum
availability.
 Control Channel Performance

Prob. (BLER > =X) (%)

100
90
3/9 reuse
80
70
4/12 reuse
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

X
(%)
 EDGE for 3G Wireless: Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
 Performance Enhancements for EDGE

• Link Improvement:
– Terminal diversity and interference suppression
– Base smart antennas
– Base and terminal diversity: MIMO
– Transmit diversity: e.g., S-T codes
• Medium Access Control:
– Mode 0
– Time-slot management (Dynamic Packet Assignment)
 Improvement by Terminal Diversity and
Interference Suppression for Compact: User
Experience

Prob. (throughput <=X)

(%) Prob. (Delay < =X) (%)
100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
No Div.
10 Simple Div. 10
0 Int. Sup. 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
X (kb/s) X (msec)

26 users/sector (medium load)

 Improvement by Terminal Diversity and
Interference Suppression for Compact: System
Implication

Bps/Hz/site (%)
Ave. User Packet Delay (msec)
100
90 10000
80
8000
70
60 6000
50
4000
40
30 2000

20 0
10 100 200 300 400 500
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Throughput per site (kb/s)

Ave. # of users per sector

 Improvement by Downlink Smart Antenna
for Compact: User Experience

Prob. (throughput <=X) Prob. (Delay < =X) (%)

(%)
100 Baseline 100
90 Smart Antenna 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
X (kb/s) X (msec)
26 users/sector (medium load)
4 beams/sector; fixed
 Improvement by Downlink Smart Antenna for
Compact: System Implication

Bps/Hz/site (%) Ave. User Packet Delay (msec)

100
90
80 10000
70
8000
60
50 6000

40 4000
30
2000
20
10 0
0 100 200 300 400 500
0 5 1 0 15 20 25 3 0 35 40 45 50
Throughput per site (kb/s)
Ave. # of users per sector

4 beams/sector; fixed
 Mode 0

• No transmission mode: Mode 0

– Delay assigning resource to a user if its channel quality is not
good
– Cutoff Threshold to delay transmissions
• Features
– Reduce unnecessary retransmissions
– Control traffic load
– Improve spectrum efficiency
 Improvement by “Mode-0”for Compact:
User Experience

Prob. (throughput <=X) (%) Prob. (Delay < =X) (%)

100 100
90 90
80 80
70 70
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
w/o Mode-0 20
20
with Mode-0 10
10
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000
X (msec)
X (kb/s)
26 users/sector (medium load)
 Improvement by “Mode-0”:
System Implication

Bps/Hz/site (%) Ave. User Packet Delay (msec)

10000
W ithout Mode-0

8000
W ith Mode-0

6000

4000

2000

0
100 200 300 400 500

Ave. # of users per sector Throughput per site (kb/s)

 Interference Management
(Averaging vs. Avoidance)

Efficiency: IS-136 4%; IS-95 4 to 7%; GSM 4%

(3 Sectors/cell)
1
0.9 TDMA with Dynamic Assignment
0.8
can achieve better efficiency than CDMA!
0.7
0.6
0.5
Efficiency

0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
5 7.5 10 12.5 15

SNR (dB)

Synch CDMA
Dynamic Power Channel Allocation Algor 1
Dynamic Power Channel Allocation Algor 2
Dynamic Channel Allocation Algor 1
Results are from G. J. Pottie, “System Design Choices in Personal Communications,”
IEEE Personal Communications Magazine,” Oct. 1995, Vol. 2, No. 5, pp. 50-67.
 Measurement-Based
Dynamic Packet Assignment

RPA: random packet

assignment
LI-DPA: least interference
based dynamic packet
assignment

•15%-30% gain in capacity

•Implementation requirements
–SINR measurements at
terminal
240 280 320 –Low latency signaling
channel over the air
 EDGE for 3G Wireless: Outline

• 3G Wireless Data Overview

• EDGE history & standards activity
• The EDGE radio link & radio system
• GPRS/EDGE networks
• EDGE Classic and EDGE Compact
• Technology Roadmap for Performance
Enhancements
• Conclusions
 Conclusions

• EDGE is a 3G technology offering a common migration

path and convergence for GSM and TDMA operators
• EDGE Compact can be deployed with < 2x 1 MHz of
spectrum
• EDGE supports IP packet data at peak rates > 384 kbps
• Voice over IP is planned for EDGE R’2000 standards
 Conclusions, cont.

• Link adaptation and Incremental Redundancy improve wireless data

throughput
– High rates @ good SIR, smoothly adapting to low rates
– Less redundancy transmitted if not needed
• Tight reuse (1/3) improves spectrum efficiency
– Soft capacity with “partial loading”
– Also good for initial startup with small spectrum
– Uses time reuse with synchronized base stations to address common
control channel performance issues
• Possible Enhancements:
– PHY: Diversity & Interference Suppression, smart antennas, MIMO...
– MAC: Intelligent channel assignment