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Objective
Understand LTE Duplexing
Single Transmitter
FDMA Principle
Multi carrier principle
OFDMA and SC FDMA Principle

Multipath Propagation
Cyclic Prefix
OFDMA and SC FDMA
Transmitter
Receiver

OFDM and SC FDMA Key Parameters

Resource Block

Duplexing and Multiple Access

Legacy- Single Transmitter

FDMA Principle

LTE: Multi-Carrier Principle

The Rectangular Pulse

Fourier
Transform
spectral power density

amplitude

Time Domain

fs

Ts

1
Ts

time

Advantages:
Simple to implement: there is no
complex filter system required to
detect such pulses and to generate
them.
The pulse has a clearly defined
duration. This is a major advantage
in case of multi-path propagation
environments as it simplifies handling
of inter-symbol interference.

Frequency Domain

Inverse
Fourier
Transform

fs

frequency f/fs

Disadvantage:
It allocates a quite huge spectrum
However the spectral power density
has null points exactly at multiples
of the frequency fs = 1/Ts.
This will be important in OFDM.

OFDMA Principle
Transmits hundreds or even thousands of separately modulated
radio signals using orthogonal subcarriers spread across a
wideband channel
Total transmission bandwidth
15 kHz in LTE: fixed

Orthogonality:
The peak (centre
frequency) of one
subcarrier

intercepts the
nulls of the
neighbouring
subcarriers

OFDM Basics
Data is sent in parallel across the set of subcarriers, each subcarrier only
transports a part of the whole transmission
The throughput is the sum of the data rates of each individual (or used)
subcarriers while the power is distributed to all used subcarriers
FFT ( Fast Fourier Transform) is used to create the orthogonal subcarriers.
The number of subcarriers is determined by the FFT size ( by the bandwidth)
Power

Bandwidth

Frequency

OFDM Signal

OFDM: Nutshell

Frequency-Time Representation

FFT/IFFT
It can be shown that the OFDM signal may be obtained by transforming
L data symbols by the IFFT, where L is the number of subcarriers.
Therefore, OFDM transmitter and receiver are implemented using IFFT
and FFT respectively.
Time-domain
(to be transmitted)
d1
d2

dL

IFFT

FFT

d1
d2

dL

The size of the FFT should be chosen carefully as a balance between

protection against multipath (i.e. ISI), temporal variations (i.e. ICI), and
design cost/complexity.
LTE FFT period is 66.67 usec, corresponding to the 15 KHz subcarrier
separation.

Motivation for OFDMA

Good performance in frequency selective fading
channels
Low complexity of base-band receiver
Good spectral properties and handling of multiple
bandwidths
Link adaptation
Frequency domain scheduling
Compatibility with advanced receiver and antenna
technologies.

Challenges

1) ISI

Solution: CP

2) Multi-Carrier Modulation
The center frequencies must be spaced so that interference between different
carriers, known as Adjacent Carrier Interference ACI, is minimized; but not too
much spaced as the total bandwidth will be wasted.
Each carrier uses an upper and lower guard band to protect itself from its
adjacent carriers. Nevertheless, there will always be some interference
between the adjacent carriers.
fsubcarrier
fsub-used

f0

f1

f2

fN-2

ACI = Adjacent Carrier Interference

fN-1

frequency

Solution: OFDM Multi-Carrier

Power Density

Power Density

OFDM allows a tight packing of small carrier

called the subcarriers - into a given frequency band.

Frequency (f/fs)

Saved
Bandwidth

Frequency (f/fs)

No ACI (Adjacent Carrier Interference) in OFDM

due to the orthogonal subcarriers !

3)Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI)

The price for the optimum subcarrier spacing is the sensitivity of OFDM
to frequency errors.
If the receivers frequency slips some fractions from the subcarriers
center frequencies, then we encounter not only interference between
adjacent carriers, but in principle between all carriers.
This is known as Inter-Carrier Interference (ICI) and sometimes also
referred to as Leakage Effect in the theory of discrete Fourier
transform.
One possible cause that introduces frequency errors is a fast moving
Transmitter or Receiver (Doppler effect).

Two effects begin to work:

Subcarrier has no longer its
power density maximum- so
loose of signal energy.

The rest of subcarriers have

no longer a null point here.
So we get some noise from
the other subcarrier.

I3
I1
I4
I0

f0

f1

f2

f3

f4

ICI = Inter-Carrier Interference

Frequency Drift

OFDM Transmitter

f0 f1 f2

b10 ,b11,

Modulation
Mapper

s0

b20 ,b21,

Modulation
Mapper

s1

Serial to
Parallel
Converter
(Bit
Distrib.)

.
.
.

x0 x1

sN-1

t0 t1 xt22

fN-1 freq.

tN-1 time

Time Domain Signal

cos(2fct)
Frequency Domain

Binary
Coded
Data

s1 s2

IFFT

x0, x1, , xN-1

Time
Domain

CP/Guard
Generation

Frequency
Domain Signal:
(Collection of
Sinusoids)

s0

xN-1

I
IQ
Split

D
A

D
A

Low
Pass

Low
Pass

RF

-sin(2fct)
bN-1 0

Modulation
Mapper

sN-1

Each entry to the IFFT module

corresponds to a different subcarrier
Each sub-carrier is modulated
independently by Modulation
Schemes:
BPSK,QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM

OFDM Receiver

tN-1 time

Frequency Domain

AGC
Automatic
Gain Control

s0

s0

s1

s1

.
.
.

sN-1

reference
(pilot)

Frequency And Timing Sync

Channel Correction

Windowing +
FFT

signal autocorreation

timee
adjust

phase correction

LNA gain

Derotator

signal strength

Demodulator

RF

Low Noise Amp.

+ Bandpass

Time Domain

sN-1

Channel
Estimation

sN-1

f0 f1 f2

Bit Mapping
Bit Mapping

.
.
.

channel
response

t0 t1 t2

Frequency Domain

x2

s1 s2

fN-1 freq.
B10 ,B11,
B20 ,B21,

.
.
.

.
.
.

BN-1 0

Bit Mapping
QPSK
Im

11

01
sk

d11
Re
d10

00

10

Bit Distribution

s0

yN-1

y0 y1

Soft Bit
Coded
Data

OFDM Key Parameters

1) Variable Bandwidth options: 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz

Frequency
f
Power
density
2) Subcarrier Spacing (f = 15 KHz)
The Symbol time is
Tsymbol = 1/ f = 66,7s
Frequency

Amplitude
TCP
TSYMBOL
CP

T
SYMBOL
TS

Time

OFDM Key Parameters

3) The number of Subcarriers Nc
If BW = 20MHz Transmission BW = 20MHz 2MHz = 18 MHz
the number of subcarriers Nc = 18MHz/15KHz = 1200 subcarriers
Channel Bandwidth [MHz]
Transmission Bandwidth Configuration [RB]
Transmission
Bandwidth [RB]
Channel edge

Resource block

Channel edge

Active Resource Blocks

DC carrier (downlink only)

OFDM Key Parameters

4) FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) size Nfft
For a bandwidth BW = 20 MHz
Nc = 1200 subcarriers not a power of 2
The next power of 2 is 2048 the rest 2048 -1200
848 padded with zeros
5. Sampling rate fs
This parameter indicates what is the sampling frequency:
fs = Nfft x f
Example: for a bandwidth BW = 5 MHz (with 10% guard band)
The number of subcarriers Nc = 4.5 MHz/ 15 KHz = 300
300 is not a power of 2 next power of 2 is 512 Nfft = 512
Fs = 512 x 15 KHz = 7,68 MHz fs = 2 x 3,84 MHz which is the chip rate in
UMTS!!
The sampling rate is a multiple of the chip rate from UMTS/ HSPA. This
was acomplished because the subcarriers spacing is 15 KHz. This
means UMTS and LTE have the same clock timing!

OFDM Recap
Bandwidth
(NCf)

1.4 MHz

3 MHz

5 MHz

Subcarrier

Fixed to 15 kHz Spacing (f)

10 MHz

15 MHz

20 MHz

Symbol
duration

Tsymbol = 1/f = 1/15kHz = 66.67s

Sampling rate,
fS (MHz)

1.92

3.84

7.68

15.36

23.04

30.72

Data
Subcarriers (NC)

72

180

300

600

900

1200

NIFFT
(IFFT Length)

128

320

512

1024

1536

2048

15

25

50

75

100

Number of
Resource Blocks
Symbols/slot
CP length

Normal CP=7; extended CP=6

Normal CP=4.69/5.12sec., Extended CP= 16.67sec

OFDMA Challenges
ICI

1) Tolerance to frequency offset

(Inter carrier Interference-ICI)

Frequency

2) High Peak-to-Average Power Ratio

(PAPR)

SC FDMA

SC-FDMA
Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple
Access is another variant of OFDMA used to
reduce the PAPR for lower RF hardware
requirements.
SC-FDMA is a new hybrid modulation scheme
that cleverly combines the low PAR of singlecarrier systems with the multipath resistance
and flexible subcarrier frequency allocation
offered by OFDM.
OFDMA

SC-FDMA is one option in WiMAX (802.16d)

and it is the method selected for EUTRAN in the
uplink direction.

SC-FDMA

This mechanism can reduce the PAPR of 6..9

dB compared to normal OFDMA.

SC-FDMA and OFDMA

OFDMA transmits data in parallel across multiple subcarriers

SC-FDMA transmits data in series employing multiple subcarriers
In the example:
OFDMA: 6 modulation symbols ( 01,10,11,01,10 and 10) are
transmitted per OFDMA symbol, one on each subcarrier
SC-FDMA: 6 modulation symbols are transmitted per SC-FDMA
symbol using all subcarriers. The duration of each modulation
symbol is 1/6th of the modulation symbol in OFDMA

OFDMA

SC-FDMA

SC-FDMA and OFDMA

Difference in transmission: for SC-FDMA there is an extra block on
the transmission chain: the FFT block
which should spread the input modulation symbols over all the
allocated subcarriers

OFDM

SC-FDMA

OFDMA vs SC-FDMA: QPSK

From:

TS 36.211.

SC-FDMA Principles
PAPR is the same as that used for the input modulation symbols
This could be achieved by transmitting N
modulation symbols in series at N times the
rate.
One can see that the SC-FDMA symbol which is
having 66.66s is containing N sub-symbols
N = 6 in the example shown
In Time domain only one modulation symbol
is transmitted at a time.

The number of subcarriers which could be allocated for transmission

should be multiple of 2,3 and/or 5
This limitation is imposed by the input of the FFT block which is
before the IFFT. This enables efficient implementation of the
FFT.
Note that also the number of Resource Blocks should be
multiple of 2,3 or/and 5

SC-FDMA Principles
The FFT output size is always smaller than the IFFT input size
This is because a typical cells uplink
capacity will be greater than 180kHz
Other UEs will be assigned other groups of
subcarriers to use across the uplink channel
bandwidth.
No two UEs will be assigned the same
180KHz block to use simultaneously.
As not all sub-carriers are used by the
mobile station, many of them are set to zero
in the diagram
Note that if the output size of the FFT is equal
to the size of the IFFT input then the overall
effect is null since the two operations (FFT and
IFFT are complementary)

FFT

Subcarriers
allocated for one
UE

Subcarriers
allocated to
other users or
set to zero

.
.
.

IFFT

SC-FDMA Principles
Adjusting the data rate in SC-FDMA
If the data rate increases more bandwidth is needed to transmit more modulation
symbols (when data rate is doubled the resource allocation in the frequency domain
is also doubled). The individual transmission is now shorter in time but wider in
the frequency domain.
For double data rate the amount of inputs in transmitter doubles and the subsymbol duration (Time) is halved. Note that the SC-FDMA is still 67 s

Double the data

rate
SC-FDMA
subsymbol
duration

Halved SC-FDMA
sub-symbol
duration

Doubled
bandwidth

Initial
bandwidth
SC-FDMA
symbol 67s

SC-FDMA
symbol 67s

In the example 6 modulation symbols are sent initially and 12 modulations for double data rate

SC-FDMA: Multiplexing

One user always continuous in frequency

Smallest uplink bandwidth, 12 subcarriers: 180 kHz (same for OFDMA in downlink)
Largest uplink bandwidth: 20 MHz (same for OFDMA in downlink)

In time domain the granularity for resource allocation is 1 ms

for one user (same for OFDMA in downlink)

Receiver
User 1

User 1
User 2

User 2

Bandwidth Distribution
Carrier
Number of
Bandwidth
SubCarriers
(MHz)

1.4

72

198

330

10

660

15

990

20

1320

Resource: Element, Block, Grid

LTE Reference Signals (R)are

Interspersed Among Resource
Elements
[source: 3GPP TR 25.814]

The Usage of RE
One subframe (1ms)

12 subcarriers

Frequency

Resource elements
reserved for
reference symbols

Control Channel
Region (1-3 OFDM symbols)

Data
Region

Time

Duplexing FDD/TDD

FDD

..

Frequency band 1..

..

Frequency band 2..

TDD

..

Single frequency
band

Downlink

..

Uplink

Frame Structure: Generic

Radio Frame Type 1 - FDD

subframe 1 msec

Type 1

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

radio frame 10 msec

0

1 2 3 4 5 6
7 OFDM symbols (short CP)

Radio Frame Type 2 - TDD

radio frame 10 ms
UpPTS

GP

DwPTS

UpPTS

Slot

GP

UL/DL
carrier

DwPTS

subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 2 subframe 3 subframe 4 subframe 5 subframe 6 subframe 7 subframe 8 subframe 9

half frame

half frame

time
radio frame 10 ms
UpPTS

Slot

GP

UL/DL
carrier

DwPTS

subframe 0 subframe 1 subframe 2 subframe 3 subframe 4 subframe 5 subframe 6 subframe 7 subframe 8 subframe 9

half frame

half frame

time
Downlink Slot

Uplink Slot

Uplink or Downlink

Special Slot

Special Subframe
DwPTS (Downlink Pilot Timeslot Channel)
Can contain synchronization, PDSCH and PDCCH.
The DwPTS is used for downlink synchronization.
Primary synchronization signal transmitted in the first OFDM symbol of the
DwPTS.
Secondary synchronization signal transmitted in the last OFDM symbol of
subframe 0 (immediately preceding to the DwPTS).
Resources not used for synchronization signals can be used for data,
reference signals and control signaling.

UpPTS (Uplink Pilot Timeslot Channel)

Used by eNB to determine the received power level and the received
timing from the UE.
Resources not used for reference signals(sounding and/or demodulation
reference signals) can be used for random access.
No PUCCH is transmitted in UpPTS.

GP (Guard Period)
The guard period between DwPTS and UpPTS determines the maximum cell
size.

TDD Frame Configurations

Configuration1 DL:UL=2:2 (or 3:2)
Configuration2 DL:UL=3:1 (or 4:1)
Uplinkdownlink
configuration

Downlink-to-Uplink
Switch-point
periodicity

5 ms

5 ms

5 ms

10 ms

10 ms

10 ms

5 ms

Downlink

Subframe number

Special

Uplink

Different Methods for OFDMA

Plain OFDM

Time Division Multiple Access

on OFDM

time

time

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subcarrier

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...

subcarrier

.
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time

...

subcarrier

subcarrier

.
.
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Orthogonal Frequency
Multiple Access
OFDMA

time

...

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Plain Orthogonal Frequency

Multiple Access
OFDMA

...

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UE 1

UE 2

UE 3

OFDMA is registered trademark of Runcom Technologies Ltd.

common info
(may be addressed via HL)

Resource Block (RB)

Summary
Understand LTE Duplexing
Single Transmitter
FDMA Principle
Multi carrier principle
OFDMA and SC FDMA Principle

Multipath Propagation
Cyclic Prefix
OFDMA and SC FDMA
Transmitter
Receiver

OFDM and SC FDMA Key Parameters

Resource Block

HAPPY LEARNING
MobileComm Professionals, Inc.
www.mcpsinc.com