HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) for WCDMA

HSDPA considers the trend that the volume of IP-based traffic has already exceeded that for circuit-switched traffic in most fixed networks. The same change can be anticipated in mobile networks because of new IP-based mobile services becoming available and are used by increasing number of people in their daily communication. Current estimates show that in advanced mobile communication markets, packet-switched traffic will overtake circuit-switched traffic in the near future. Delivery of digital content over mobile networks will generate additional traffic and revenue.

Feature Study
The HSDPA feature in 3GPP Release 5 is the result of a study carried out in the Release 4 time frame. This study considered a number of techniques in order to provide instantaneous high speed data in the downlink. Some of the considerations and goals taken into account in the evaluation of the different techniques were: o To focus on the streaming, interactive and background services: services which require a constant and/high throughput or low error rate. o To prioritise urban environments and then indoor deploymens (but not limited to these environments and supporting full mobility).

o To enable compatibility with advanced antenna and receiver techniques: transmit and receive diversity methods are used and might be enhanced o To take into account User Equipment processing time and memory requirements: UEs limitations are taken into account by the network to minimize changes on existing techniques and architectures: modest changes to Node B hardware and UTRAN software.

Compatibility with Release 99

HSDPA is designed to co-exist on the same carrier as the current Release 99 WCDMA services, enabling a smooth and cost-efficient introduction of HSDPA into existing WCDMA networks.

Demand for Packet Switched Traffic

The increasing demand for capacity in order to provide high data rate multimedia services in wireless environments necessitates enhanced radio transmission techniques and network protocol functionality. Such techniques have to be added to already existing mobile cellular networks. For 3rd generation UMTS networks based on WCDMA, the HSDPA is being introduced to meet this demand and improve spectral efficiency by higher order modulation using 16-QAM. The reverse link (uplink) may remain on 64 kbit/s until at a later stage new features are introduced with HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access). However, HSUPA will require new mobile terminals and PC-cards to operate with. Except where otherwise indicated, the description of this course only applies to the FDD mode of UMTS.

Note: HSDPA achieves gross data rates in downlink up to 14 Mbit/s under ideal conditions.

HSDPA Targets

Higher Data Rates for Streaming-, Interactive- and Background Services

HSDPA is a feature based on a downlink shared channel that allows user netdata rates of up to 10 Mbit/s. It is designed to support services that require instantaneous high rates in the downlink and lower rates on the uplink. This feature also decreases the level of retransmissions, in turn allowing the reduction of delivery time. Examples of end-user services targeted by HSDPA are internet browsing and video on demand.

Consideration of UE Processing Time and Memory Requirements

HSDPA takes UE limitations like available physical memory for transmission and especially for retransmission into account. Also the physical channel processing capability is considered.

Higher Spectrum Efficiency

With 16-QAM applied in downlink, throughput rates can be doubled compared to QPSK which is used for Rel. 99 and Rel. 4 physical channels. The amount of bits/Hz is increased with 16-QAM as one modulation symbol corresponds to 4 chips whereas in QPSK one modulation symbol represents 2 chips. Even when HSDPA is uses QPSK modulation the spectrum efficiency increases as HSDPA exploits good C/I conditions. This is achieved by reducing the protection (increasing the code rate) & thus having more capacity for the application data.

Small Changes to existing Techniques and Architectures

HSDPA minimizes the necessary upgrades and changes in UTRAN and UE. Nevertheless some protocol additions are necessary in NodeB and UE as well some enhancements of existing procedures and protocols. They are mentioned in the following pages and are explained in full detail in chapter 4.

Efficient Resource Sharing in Downlink among Users

HSDPA introduces a new transport channel type that makes efficient use of valuable radio frequency resources. Beside this, it takes into account the bursty nature of packet switched data by sharing the channelization codes, transmission power and infrastructure hardware among users.

HSDPA Characteristics
High Speed Downlink Packet Access comes with certain characteristics which distinguishes it clearly from Rel. 99 UTRAN.

Modulation Types
QPSK is already known from Rel. 99 UTRAN. Besides QPSK, HSDPA incorporates the 16-QAM modulation to increase the peak data rates for users served under favorable radio conditions. Support for QPSK is mandatory, though the support for 16-QAM is optional for the network and UE. 16-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) was newly introduced in Rel .5 with HSDPA. It is a so called higher order modulation which basically doubles the data rate in good radio conditions. Thus it increases the spectrum efficiency of WCDMA.

Higher Throughput Rates

HDSPA supports peak throughput rates far beyond 2 Mbit/s when radio conditions are suitable and therefore it satisfies the demand for instantaneous high throughput of packet switched services e.g. streaming or interactive traffic class. Theoretically, under optimum condition (Code Rate of 1:1) the following maximum throughput can be achieved: (with 16-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) and 15 channelization codes simultaneously used) 960kbit/s x 15 = 14.4 Mbit/s.

AMC (Adaptive Modulation and Coding)

AMC is a key feature of HSDPA allowing adjustment of modulation between QPSK and 16-QAM according to radio conditions and retransmission ratio. In addition a variable code rate is used to flexibly adapt the data rate to the physical channel capacity depending on the UEs downlink C/I.

Hybrid ARQ
HARQ functionality combines retransmission with the original transmissions. There a two different ways for HARQ to operate. Either identical retransmission of the data block is sent or retransmissions are not identical and differ in data and parity bits compared to the original transmission. The first method is known as chase combining and, the latter as incremental redundancy. HARQ operates on an N-channel Stop and Wait principle.

Transmission and Retransmission Scheduling in Node B

All Rel. 99 transport channels are terminated at the RNC, except BCH; hence the retransmission procedure for packet data is located in the serving RNC. In order to maximize throughput and reduce delays when retransmitting, additional intelligence is put into the Node B. In this way, retransmission is controlled by the Node B, leading to faster retransmission and therefore shorter delay for packet data services. A scheduler in Node B evaluates for different users what the radio channel conditions are, how much data is pending for each user, how much time has passed since a particular user was last served, for which user retransmission are pending etc. From this input data the scheduler in Node B may derive a decision how to assign resources to certain users.

QPSK versus 16-QAM Modulation

The figure illustrates the I/Q Plane for QPSK and 16-QAM modulation technique.

QPSK
Each symbol corresponds to 2 consecutive input bits. The four symbols are represented by different phase shifts in the I/Q plane.

16QAM
Each symbol corresponds to four consecutive input bits. Thus the data rate can be doubled with 16-QAM compared to QPSK. The 16 symbols are represented in the I/Q plane by different phase shifts and amplitudes. In 16-QAM modulation the symbol value is determined by phase and amplitude. Compared to that, in QPSK the phase is only modulated and variation in amplitude have only minor influence on the decision space in the I/Q diagram. However with 16-QAM the decision space is heavily influenced by amplitude variations, thus higher constraints are put on the transmitter linearity. Note, a more accurate phase estimate is necessary with 16-QAM since constellation points have smaller differences in phase domain compared to QPSK.

Note: The number of constellation points in the I/Q-diagram can be calculated with 2m, where m represents the number of bits or chips per modulation symbol. QPSK modulation has four constellation points in the I/Q-diagram: 2^m = 4, m = 2. 16-QAM modulation has 16 constellation points in the I/Q-diagram: 2^m = 16, m = 4.

Maximum Throughput Rates

The formulas opposite consider the physical maximum throughput rates available in FDD mode of WCDMA according to releases and modulation. In Rel. 99 and Rel. 4 only QPSK is used whereas Rel. 5 allows also to user higher order modulation scheme 16-QAM. The standard chip rate is 3.84 M chips/s across all releases. The slot duration is in all releases 0.67ms corresponding to 2560 chips. Note that the physical maximum chip rate achievable with 3.84 M chips/s and QPSK modulation is: 2 chips/symbol x 3.84 M chips/s = 7.68 M chips/s.

UMTS Rel. 99 / Rel. 4

Downlink:
o In the downlink, the DPDCH and DPCCH are time multiplexed onto I and Q plane so the DPDCH data rate also depends on the DPCCH data rate. The physical maximum bit rate (ignoring losses due to DPCCH) using spreading factor 4 is 5.76 M bit/s. o The downlink slot format # 16 allows for 1248 DPDCH bits/slot and per physical channel. o The maximum DPDCH data rate considering 3 spreading codes @ sf4 is: 1248 bits/slot x 15 slots x (3 OVSFs) = 5.616 M bit/s

Uplink:
o In the uplink each channel DPDCH and DPCCH is assigned an orthogonal channelization code. As both physical channels are I/Q multiplexed, (i.e. separated onto I and Q phases), the maximum physical data rate has to be calculated with 1 bit/symbol. o The uplink slot format # 6 allows for 640 bits/slot. o The maximum DPDCH data rate considering 6 spreading codes @ sf4 is therefore: 5.76 M bit/s.

HSDPA Rel. 5
In HSDPA the spreading factor for the user plane is fixed to 16. Thus up to 15 physical channels can be allocated at maximum per UE.

QPSK:
o The downlink slot format # 0 allows for 320 bits/slot and per physical channel. This results in 960 bits/ 2 ms sub frame. o The maximum physical data rate considering 15 spreading codes: @ sf16 is: 7.2 M bit/s.

16-QAM
o The downlink slot format #1 allows for 640 bits/slot and per physical channel. This results in 1920 bits/ 2 ms sub frame. o The maximum physical data rate considering 15 spreading codes @ sf16 is: 14.4 M bit/s.

Maximum Throughput Rates

UMTS Rel. 99 / Rel 4
o Downlink: 2 bits/symbol x [3.84 M cps / (4 chips/symbol)] x (3 OVSF's) = 5.76 M bits/S . o Uplink: 1 bits/symbol x [3.84 M cps / (4 chips/symbol)] x (6

OVSF's) = 5.76 M bits/S

HSDPA Rel. 5
o QPSK: 2 bits/symbol x [3.84 M cps / (16 chips/symbol)] x (15 OVSF's) = 7.2 M bits/S. o 16-QAM: 4 bits/symbol x [3.84 M cps / (16 chips/symbol)] x (15 OVSF's) = 14.4 M bits/S.

Important Changes for HSDPA

HSDPA involves significant changes in the UTRAN providing a high flexibility to react to changing air-interface conditions or variable user QoS.

New 2 ms Sub frame for HSDPA

The TTI (Transmission Time Interval) in HSDPA has been reduced to 2 ms in order to be faster in retransmitting erroneous data blocks compared to the minimum TTI of 10 ms in UTRA-FDD. Another advantage of the shorter TTI in HSDPA is that Node B can adapt literally every data block to fast changing radio conditions by the means of AMC. Thus it is possible to counteract fading on the air-interface by adjusting modulation and coding every 2 m s.

New Physical Channels and Transport Channel with HSDPA

New channels are introduced for HSDPA: HS-PDSCH, HS-SCCH, HS-DPCCH and HS-DSCH.

No Fast Power Control and variable Spreading Factor

With HSDPA, two of the most fundamental features of WCDMA, fast power control and variable spreading factor are disabled and replaced by AMC (Adaptive Modulation and Coding).

Note: AMC uses multi code operation (the UE can use more than one channelization code in parallel) in order to increase the data rate for a certain user and adapts the code rate to the air-interface quality. By these means AMC is able to improve the user throughput or at least keep it constant even the downlink channel quality deteriorates between subsequent transmissions.

New UE Capabilities / Categories

The HSDPA feature is optional for both UE and network in Rel. 5. The UE indicates its HSDPA support and its HS-DSCH physical layer category within the radio access capability parameter.. The physical layer category defines among other parameters the maximum number of channelization codes the UE supports in parallel for multi code operation. A UE may support up to 5, 10 or 15 channelization codes in parallel.

New MAC-hs in Node B and UE

The implementation of Medium Access Control (MAC-hs) in Node B and UE is a pre-requisite for allowing the Node B to schedule transmissions and retransmission, to maintain the HSDPA specific channels and to operate with AMC and Hybrid ARQ.

Impact on NBAP and Frame Protocol Procedure

NBAP procedures need to support HSDPA capability and HSDPA related parameters. The increased bandwidth needs to be supported by the frame protocol. Among other parameters the frame protocol needs to cater for HSDPA flow control information, priority queue handling and UE capability information.

New Channels with HSDPA

The support of HSDPA is based on several new physical channels and one new transport channel.

Transport Channel:
HS-DSCH (High Speed Downlink Shared Channel)
The HS-DSCH is the actual transport resource carrying the packet data of the user applications. As it also follows the shortened TTI of 2 ms, it allows for short round trip delay in the operation between Node B and UE. The 2 ms TTI is short when compared to 10, 20, 40 or 80 ms TTIs supported by Rel. 99 and Rel. 4 transport channels. HS-DSCH describes the physical layer processing by MAC-hs of a HSDPA transport block. o Dynamic part: TB size = TBS size {1 to 200 000 bits with 8 bit granularity}; modulation scheme {QPSK, 16-QAM}; redundancy / constellation version {1 8}. o Static part: TTI {2 ms for FDD}; type of channel coding {turbo coding}; mother code rate {1/3}, CRC size {24 bits}. o No semi-static attributes are defined for HS-DSCH.

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Physical Channels
High Speed Shared Control Channel (HS-SCCH)
The HS-SCCH has a fixed spreading factor of value 128 and is configured only in the downlink direction. It also adopts the shortened TTI of 2 m s. In theory, up to 127 HS-SCCHs can be configured in a cell. However, the UE is required only to be able to listen to up to four HS-SCCH in parallel. The HS-SCCH allows the efficient sharing of one or more HS-PDSCHs among different users. Nevertheless every UE needs to be informed on the DCCH via RRC messages about the specific HS-SCCH-set that it shall monitor in order to receive data via the HS-PDSCHs.

High Speed Physical Downlink Shared Channel (HS-PDSCH)

The HS-PDSCH has a fixed spreading factor of value 16. Thus, it provides for multi code operation using up to 15 channelization codes in parallel. Of course the UE must support the use of up to 15 channelization codes which depends on its category. The HS-PDSCH adopts the shortened TTI of 2 m s.

Uplink Dedicated Control Channel Associated with HS-DSCH Transmission (Uplink HS-DPCCH).
The HS-DPCCH has a fixed spreading factor of value 256 and is only configured in uplink direction. The HS-DPCCH also follows the shortened TTI of 2 m s. Its purpose is to provide feedback information about the downlink receive quality and whether the packet data received by the UE are error-free or need to be retransmitted. Thus the Node B is quickly notified of unsuccessful transmissions and/or changing radio conditions in downlink direction.

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HSDPA Basic Operation

The figure consists of three functional parts. The upper part shows the basic communication between UE and Node B via MAC-hs for packet transmission and retransmission. The lower left part depicts the Uu-interface together with the newly introduced physical channels and transport channel. Note for simplicity reasons the red colored arrows represent the individual HS-DPCCHs per UE. In the lower right corner we sketched a basic scheduling principle illustrating how the HS-DSCH resources can be assigned among several UEs.

MAC-hs
MAC-hs located in Node B receive user packets from the SRNC. MAC-hs is responsible for transmission and in case of erroneous reception also for retransmission of user packets. The retransmission of user packets is commanded by Node Bs MAC-hs which represents the fundamental change in HSDPA compared to Rel. 99 or Rel. 4. In legacy UMTS releases retransmission are always performed between the RLC peers in UE and SRNC. Of course in downlink the SRNC retransmits the user packets if the UE indicates a Nack. The UE sends feedback information about the downlink channel quality in regular intervals to the Node B.

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New Channels
Two UEs receiving user packets via the HS-DSCH. The physical channels in uplink and downlink are only necessary to firstly signal which UE shall decodea specific HS-DSCH. This is indicated by the UE-id in the HS-SCCH. Secondly after decoding of the user packet, the respective UE has to signal the successful or unsuccessful transmission to the MAC-hs entity in Node B via the so called Ack/Nack description. HSDPA employs the uplink HS-DPCCH to signal the downlink reception quality and the Ack/Nack description. The downlink reception quality informs the Node B about the current radio condition which serves as a vital input for Node Bs MAC-hs. The MAC-hs is therefore able to derive the proper modulation scheme and code rate for transmission and retransmission. This process is denoted as AMC in HSDPA.

UE Scheduling
The Node B also contains a scheduling/priority handling function which determines whether a new transmission or retransmission shall be performed. The green and blue line represents the changing downlink channel quality reported by UE in the uplink. One scheduling method which could be implemented in Node B is to serve each UE according to the reported downlink channel quality and therefore always exploit best radio conditions. This method maximizes user throughput as it allows using 16-QAM and an aggressive code rate if C/I is high. Another option is to serve each user proportionally fair despite unfavorable downlink radio conditions. This benefits especially UE 2 which indicates for several TTIs a bad radio quality, but this second method assures at least a minimum guaranteed throughput for UE 2.

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HSDPA and DPCH Operation HSDPA Setup

HSDPA Setup via DPCH
The resource allocation of HSDPA requires the previous setup of a dedicated logical control channel DCCH which is mapped on a dedicated transport channel (DCH). The DCH transport channel runs on a dedicated physical channel (DPCH). Upon RRC connection request sent by UE, the SRNC may request the UEs HSDPA capabilities. The HSDPA related configuration supported in a cell is signaled to the UE via a DCCH mapped onto a DCH which is carried by DPDCH+DPCCH. By decoding the so called "High Speed Information" on the DCCH the UE obtains the knowledge of the physical layer configuration for HSDPA in the Cell. This physical layer configuration allows the UE to decode the HS-SCCH which informs the UE about available user data on the shared transport channel HS-DSCH. Note, that there are no parameters broadcast via BCCH about a cells HSDPA capability. The basic HSDPA setup is explained below: o Before moving in CELL_DCH state the UE is told by the RNC to reveal its HSDPA capabilities and category e.g. via RRC Connection Setup message. o Once the RNC has obtained the UEs HSDPA capabilities, the subsequent RRC configuration messages (e.g. Radio Bearer Setup) contain the high speed information telling the UE about the HSDPA configuration in the cell. High speed information contains e.g. the UE identity (called H-RNTI) which is implicitly encoded on HS-SCCH to identify the very UE getting HSDSCH resources allocated, the scrambling code to be applied for HSPDSCH and HS-SCCH and the HS-SCCH channelization code-set. This is necessary to inform the UE about the decoding of the HS-SCCH which contains specific information about the HS-PDSCHs format carrying the HS-DSCH. From this moment on the UE is in a so called HSDPA standby mode ready to decode HS-SCCHs. Note: The UE might be told to monitor up to four HS-SCCHs. o A DPCH must always exist before a UE is able to operate in HSDPA as it carries the DCCH. The DPCH handles the real-time services, e.g. AMR 12.2 voice channel and the RRC signaling via SRBs. On SRBs the necessary RRC signaling messages are exchanged e.g. to reconfigure the physical link for HSDPA or prepare for HS-DSCH cell change. Please remember that HSDPA is not (yet) intended for services with real-time QoS requirements. o If there is packet data to be transferred to the UE in the downlink, the Node B will relay the necessary information for decoding the HS-DSCH to the UE on HS-SCCHs. The UE must be capable of decoding up to four HSSCCH in parallel. This is a so called HS-SCCH-set. From the HS-SCCHs the

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UE obtains information how to decode the subsequent HS-PDSCHs and finally obtains the user data from the HS-DSCH. o If the UE detects consistent control information intended for it, the UE shall start receiving the HS-PDSCHs. Consistent control information means e.g. that the UE decodes its H-RNTI in one of the assigned HS-SCCHs of the HS-SCCH code-set.

DL-HSPDSCH-Info
The downlink HS-PDSCH information consists of HS-SCCH Info and measurement feedback info.

HS-SCCH Info
Downlink Scrambling Coding
This information element informs the UE about the DL scrambling code to be applied for HS-PDSCHs and HS-SCCHs. Default is same scrambling code as for the P-CPICH. If dl-Scrambling Code IE is present, then secondary scrambling code is used in the cell under which HSDPA operates.

HS-SCCH Channelization Code info

This information element contains the maximum number of HS-SCCH codes that can be assigned to a UE. In Rel. 5 this parameter is set to four.

HS-SCCH Codes
This information element tells the UE the specific channelization codes used for the HS-SCCH set. As a HS-SCCH channel has a fixed spreading factor of 128, the channelization code ranges from 0127. The channelization code C(ch,128,0) cannot be used as the related branch is already occupied by the P-CPICH and PCCPCH. The same is valid for C(ch,16,0). And also if secondary scrambling codes are used.

Note: HSDPA may operate on a different frequency than legacy UMTS traffic so almost the entire resources of the second carrier could be dedicated to HSDPA.

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Channel Type Switching with HSDPA

The figure shows only the important RRC connected states of a UE in UTRAN.We would like to show here that even with HSDPA transport channel type switching is feasible which saves resources in UTRAN and battery in UE. A prerequisite is that HSDPA retains MAC-d in SRNC. In order to ease the understanding we distinguish the Rel. 99 CELL_DCH state between CELL_DCH & HSDPA and CELL_DCH ONLY. Note the CTS description does not intend to be exhaustive. For detailed information about the various RRC states and transitions between them the reader kindly is referred to [8].

CELL_DCH ONLY
This RRC state is identical to the CELL_DCH in Rel. 99. Here we would like to highlight that whenever the UE moves from a HSDPA capable cell to a noncapable cell, the radio bearer(s) have to be reconfigured to e.g. a ordinary 384 kbit/s bearer known since Rel. 99.

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CELL_DCH & HSDPA

Here the UE is actually in HSDPA standby and ready to receive data on HS-DSCH. A DCCH and possibly also DTCHs (e.g. for real time traffic) exist and are transmitted via DCHs. o Soft and softer handover are possible with DCH. UE is known on Cell level. o UE has been configured for HSDPA (e.g. through Radio Bearer Setup or Physical Channel Reconfiguration message) and is monitoring the assigned HS-SCCH code-set. o For HSDPA there are DTCHs configured and ready to use. o High speed user data is transmitted to the UE within 2 ms sub frames. o If the UE changes from a HSDPA capable cell to a cell without HSDPA capability, then the packet switched radio bearers need to be reconfigured to e.g. a 384 k bit/s bearer. This allows user data exchange within the packet domain to continue. o Changes of the HSDPA serving cell (serving HS-DSCH radio link change) are performed through hard handover through e.g. Transport Channel Reconfiguration or Radio Bearer Reconfiguration messages. o Of course, if the UE changes back to a HSDPA capable cell, bearer reconfiguration puts the UE back into HSDPA standby. o If the UE is idle (not receiving any user data on HS-DSCH) for a while being in Cell_DCH with HSDPA setup, the SRNC may put the UE into CELL_FACH state.

CELL_FACH
The advantage of being in CELL_FACH state is twofold. Firstly the UE does not have to monitor the HS-SCCH code-set anymore which extends its battery capacity. Secondly the UTRAN saves channelization code resources as the UE does not longer occupy DCHs. Through traffic volume measurements the UE reports its RLC transmit buffer occupancy and a rise in uplink or downlink (RLC transmit buffer in SRNC) above a certain threshold triggers the reconfiguration of UE into CELL_DCH and possibly into HSDPA standby mode.

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HSDPA Control and User Plane Extensions

Control Plane Extensions:

New NBAP, RRC & RNSAP IEs
Theses protocols are extended in Rel. 5 with new IEs in order to support the HSDPA procedures like e.g. Intra-Node B Serving HS-DSCH Radio Link Change, HS-DSCH MAC-d Flow Addition/Deletion etc. Examples are: the AUDIT procedure is extended by the HS-DSCH resources Information IE for every cell which has been configured with HS-DSCH resources. RRC messages contain new information elements like for example the HS-DPCCH feedback cycle IE in uplink. RNSAP-messaging must also be extended similar to NBAP to cope with the additional HSDPA functionality.

Radio Resource Sharing

Radio Resource Sharing has to be extended in order to support the shared operation of dedicated and shared channels in a cell. For example, a simple algorithm can be used for best effort services in HSDPA to always use the capacity (e.g. available transmission power) that remains unused by the DCH channels in a cell for HS-DSCH and HS-SCCH. However, streaming services require an algorithm with a dynamic behavior when sharing dedicated and HSDPA channels to assure a constant throughput. Both transport channel types HS-DSCH and DCH share the available downlink transmission power in the Node B.

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Admission / Congestion Control

The additional transmission output power and higher throughput rates have to be taken into account by the admission control algorithm in order to protect existing services from quality degradation due to too high interference generated by HSDPA transmission. Updated thresholds for overload defense strategies have to be implemented. Ultimately, congestion control has to be updated with new thresholds and mechanisms for denying services, downlink power up commands, throughput reduction and last but not least deliberate dropping if the overall QoS is jeopardized. A vendor dependent solution can be assumed for such capacity control issues in conjunction with HSDPA support.

User Plane Extensions:

PDCP/RLC/MAC-d
These user plane protocols have to be (re-)designed to meet the higher bandwidth needs for user allocated to HSDPA channels. PDCP may perform header TCP/IP header compression or not, RLC parameters (mode, timers, TTI etc.) are configured like in Rel. 99 / Rel. 4 but now much higher throughput rates must be supported by processing boards in the RNC.

Frame Protocol
A new variant of frame protocol, called HS-DSCH FP, has to be implemented with a suitable flow control in order to support the higher throughput rates. The TTI of RLC is of Rel.99 / Rel.4 (10 ms, 20 ms, 40 ms or 80 ms) whereas the TTI of MAC-hs is 2 m s.

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HSDPA Packet Switched Protocol Stacks

The protocol stack of HSDPA can be divided like it is done for legacy UMTS releases in control plane and user plane function. Note that HSDPA is only meant to operate in the packet domain of UMTS because of the use of shared resources preventing real time traffic. However, real time service could be handled in parallel via the circuit switched domain beside HSDPA. Note that the transport layer in UTRAN might be based solely on IP only in Rel. 5.

HSDPA Control Plane

The packet-switched control plane is used for the exchange of control information related to packet-switched services between UE and UTRAN as well between UE and Core Network. In addition, the packet-switched control plane can be used for the exchange of short messages. With the introduction of HSDPA the Rel. 99 / Rel. 4 protocol stack remains nearly unchanged except that a new MAC-hs (high speed MAC) is introduced in Node B.

Access Stratum Protocols

The Access Stratum (AS) protocols are all protocols within the rectangle that is defined by the RRC-protocol (Radio Resource Control) at the upper left corner, the MAC-protocol (Medium Access Control) at the lower left corner and the RANAP-protocol (Radio Access Network Application Part) at the upper right corner.

Non Access Stratum Protocols

The Non Access Stratum (NAS) protocols are GMM (GPRS Mobility Management), SM (Session Management), and GSMS (SMS over packet-switched domain). Note that for HSDPA, the control plane signaling has to be extended in order interact and inter-connect with MAC-hs. HSDPA brings new IEs and procedures (e.g. HS-DSCH cell change) thus NBAP, RNSAP and RRC signaling have to be extended.

MAC-hs
The high speed MAC controls the operation of the shared resources through new the signaling control channels HS-SCCH and HS-DPCCH. Please note that the HSSCCH is a point to multipoint control channel received by all UEs which are in

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HSDPA standby and having the same HS-SCCH channelization codes assigned. On the other side the HS-DPCCH is a point to point signaling channel which is unique per UE as it is scrambled by UEs uplink scrambling code. MAC-hs is located in Node B and gets configured for each UE through NBAP messages only extended by HSDPA specific IEs (Rel. 5 information elements). The SRNC setups HSDPA in UE via RRC signaling messages. Both UE and SRNC communicate via Rel. 99 / Rel. 4 RRC messages which are extended by HSDPA specific IEs (Rel. 5 information elements).

HSDPA Packet Switched Protocol Stacks

HSDPA User Plane
Configuration without MAC-c/sh
In this case, the CRNC does not have any user plane function for the HS-DSCH. MAC-d in the SRNC is located directly above MAC-hs in the Node B, i.e. in the HS-DSCH user plane the SRNC is directly connected to the Node B via the HSDSCH Frame Protocol, thus bypassing the CRNC.

MAC-d entity UE Side

MAC-d has a connection to the MAC-hs entity. This connection is used to receive data from the HS-DSCH transport channel which is handled by MAC-hs.

MAC-hs entity UE Side

MAC-hs handles the HSDPA specific functions like HARQ, data queue distribution, reordering of MAC-hs PDUs and disassembly of MAC-hs PDUs.

MAC-d entity UTRAN Side

MAC-d covers the following functionality: transport channel type switching, channel type field multiplexing, ciphering/deciphering for RLC TM mode, DL scheduling / priority handling and flow control. A flow control function exists towards MAC-hs transparently passing through a CRNC, if present. MAC-d is responsible for the mapping of dedicated logical channels onto the available dedicated transport channels or routing the data received on a DCCH or DTCH towards MAC-hs.

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MAC-hs UTRAN Side

There is one MAC-hs entity in the NodeB for each cell that supports HS-DSCH transmission. The MAC-hs is responsible for handling the data transmitted on the HS-DSCH as well for the management of the physical resources (HS-PDSCH, HSSCCH, HS-DPCCH) allocated to HSDPA. There is a companion flow control function between MAC-hs and MAC-d. Both entities provide a controlled data flow taking the transmission capabilities of the air interface into account in dynamic manner. This reduces discarded and retransmitted data as a result of HS-DSCH congestion or HS-DSCH cell change in RLC-UM (less RL-UM PDUs have to be discarded in case of HS-DSCH cell change).

Note: If CRNC and SRNC are identical, then actually nothing changes for MAC-d and Node Bs MAC-hs except that the Iur interface is not present.

HSDPA Timing Relations

HSDPA Downlink Timing
The HSDPA HS-SCCH is aligned with the P-CPICH and the P-CCPCH on which the cell SFN (System Frame Number) is transmitted. The HS-DSCH follows the HSSCCH with a fixed offset. The HS-PDSCHs carrying the HS-DSCH is/are always transmitted with a fixed offset of 5120 chips after the related HS-SCCH subframe has started. Note that the users Rel. 99/Rel. 4 DPCH and HS-SCCH/HS-DSCH are not slot aligned but differ always by a multiple of 256 chips in order to maintain downlink orthogonality. Therefore some additional timing constraints have to be considered in uplink.

DPCH (Dedicated Physical Channel)

The DL-DPCH consists of DPDCH and DPCCH which are time multiplexed. The DPDCH is the physical bearer for the DCH transport channel which carries DCCH and may be also DTCH (e.g. real time services). The DPCH timing may be different for different DPCHs, but the offset from the CPICH frame timing is always a multiple of 256 chips, i.e. t(DPCH,n) = Tn x 256 chips, Tn = {0, 1, 2, 3 149} resulting in maximum chip offset of 38,144 chips. The DPCH is divided into 15 slots per radio frame allowing for a fast power control in every slot (1500 times / s) via DPCCH.

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HS-SCCH (High Speed Shared Control Channel)

The HS-SCCH is time aligned with the CPICH. It has a fixed spreading factor of 128 which results in a fixed rate of 2 x 38400/128 = 60 k bit/s. The HS-SCCH is transmitted in downlink only and is used to carry HS-DSCH related signaling information. In difference to the DPCH, the HS-SCCH is divided into five sub frames per radio frame resulting into a duration of 2 ms per sub frame. One sub frame consists therefore of three slots resulting in 2560 chips/slot x 3 = 7680 chips.

HS-PDSCH (High Speed Physical Downlink Shared Transport Channel)

The HS-PDSCH is the physical bearers for the HS-DSCH. The HS-PDSCH has a fixed spreading factor of 16. Like the HS-SCCH the HS-DSCH is transmitted in sub frames. However the start of HS-DSCH sub frame is always delayed by 5120 chips compared to the related HS-SCCH allowing the UE to obtain the most important information on HS-SCCH before attempting to decode the very HSDSCH sub frame.

Note: The HS-SCCH sub frame structure is aligned with the CPICH. Default is the P-CPICH. The downlink DPCH timing is not tied to the HS-SCCH or consequently HS-DSCH timing.

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Hybrid ARQ Techniques

ARQ (automatic repeat request) is basically a mechanism which allows the receiver to request retransmission of erroneous received packets. Hybrid ARQ schemes (HARQ) can be classified as type I, type II and type III depending on the level of complexity employed in their implementation.

Type I Hybrid ARQ Low UE Complexity

The ARQ method used in Rel. 99 / Rel. 4 specifications is referred to as HARQ type I. In this basic HARQ type I, a CRC is added to the TB and the data is encoded with a forward error correction (FEC) code. In the receiver the FEC code is decoded and the quality of the packet is checked (CRC check). If there are errors in the packet, a retransmission of the packet (RLC-PDU) is requested. The erroneous packet is discarded and retransmission uses the same coding as the first transmission. In EGPRS for instance LA (link adaptation) is used beside IR for retransmission of erroneous packets. LA means adjusting the Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) for retransmission. Basically a more robust MCS could be used to increase the likelihood of successful transmission.

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Type II Hybrid ARQ High UE Complexity

In this HARQ scheme, also denoted as full IR (incremental redundancy), retransmission requests only consist of parity bits. The original transmission must be self-decodable, but the retransmission are not and typically not identical with the original transmission. The receiver combines additional parity bits from retransmission with bits of the first transmission resulting in lower code rates, before decoding is attempted. The basic difference between type I and type II is that when retransmitting a coded block with HARQ type II, each retransmission is punctured using a different puncturing pattern than the original coded block. Thus the level of redundancy is increased for each retransmission. Type III is a variant of type II wherein each retransmission is self-decodable.

Type III Hybrid ARQ medium UE Complexity

Like type II, type III hybrid ARQ also belongs to the IR ARQ schemes. This means that retransmission concerning one PDU are not discarded but kept at the receiver for combination with additional information before decoding. In situations where the original transmitted PDU is severely damaged, for example, due to interference, it is desirable to have a scheme where any additional information sent is self decodable. In type III HARQ each retransmission is selfdecodable but different redundancy bits are retransmitted in various transmissions of the same PDU. Thus, the data can be recovered from the retransmitted packet even without combining with previous transmission instances if it is transmitted with sufficient quality. Chase combining is yet another special form of type III HARQ where each transmission instance contains the same bits like in the original transmission.

Note: Both methods chase combining and IR perform combining of original transmitted and retransmitted packets based on soft decision bits. This means the combining is made by simply adding soft bits after equalization. Chase combining involves the retransmission of the same coded block in each retransmission, whereas in IR, instead of simple repetitions, additional redundancy (parity bits) information is transmitted with each retransmission until the base code rate is reached.

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DCH / HS-DSCH Comparison

Variable Spreading Factor

The SF does not vary for the DCH on a frame by frame basis but is chosen upon setup according to the max. expected data rate. The data rate variation on the DCH during operation is taken care of through either rate matching or through DTX. Compared to that, the SF for the HS-DSCH is always fixed at SF=16, the data rate variation is achieved by AMC and therefore no explicit RRC signaling is needed.

Fast Power Control

The DCH DL power control is based on the inner-loop power control commands sent by the UE on the associated uplink DPCCH. Since the HS-DSCH uses AMC, fast power control in downlink is on the one hand not allowed when 16-QAM is used. Note, 16-QAM requires amplitude estimations by the receiver. On the other hand it is not needed as the DL power control dynamics is quite limited (about 20 dB) due to intra-cell interference and by Node B implementation. Intra-cell interference occurs between users on parallel code channels. This interference is caused by various propagation delays in downlink. Thus former transmitted orthogonal channelization codes at Node B side are no longer orthogonal when they arrive at the UE. For a user close to Node B, the power control cannot reduce power maximally, and on the other hand reducing the power beyond 20 dB dynamics would have only marginal impact on the DCHs capacity. With HSDPA, this property is now utilized by the link adaptation function and AMC to

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select a coding and modulation combination that requires higher Ec/Ior, which is only available for user close to the cell. To enable a large dynamic range of the HSDPA link adaptation and to maintain a good spectral efficiency, a user may simultaneously utilize up to 15 HS-DSCH channelization codes in parallel. The use of more robust coding, Hybrid ARQ and multi code operation removes therefore the need for a variable SF and fast power control.

AMC
The MAC-hs in Node B is applying adaptive modulation and coding only for the HS-DSCH.

Multi code Operation

Both HS-DSCH and DCH may use more than one channelization code, but for HSDSCH the UE can go for the maximum of either 5, 10 or 15 parallel channelization codes with SF = 16 depending on the UEs category. Therefore HSDPA uses the code multiplexing extensively compared to DCH operation.

Fast Layer 1 ARQ

The significant difference between DCH and HS-DSCH is that MAC-hs allows for retransmission in Node B directly at the air interface once the UE indicates a negative reception via the uplink DPCCH feedback channel. Therefore the higher layer RLC located in SRNC is not confronted with retransmission in the first place, whereas for DCH operation, RLC takes care of retransmission.

Note: retransmission is only performed in RLC acknowledged mode.

16-QAM Modulation / Interleaving / Channel Coding Scheme

DPCH uses the Rel. 99 QPSK modulation with interleaving depth between 10-80 ms depending on the configured TTI. Turbo and convolutional coding can be configured for the DCH, whereas HS-PDSCH exclusively uses turbo coding. In order to reduce the latency for retransmission, HS-PDSCH uses a shortened TTI of 2 ms and can interchange between QPSK and 16-QAM modulation depending on UE capability and radio conditions.

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TrCH Multiplexing
The HS-DSCH is a transport channel with only one TB (transport block) per TTI per UE, so there is no need for static rate matching, transport block concatenation or balancing of quality. This complex matter shall be explained here in detail now:

Static rate matching - DCH versus HS-DSCH

On transport channels, transport blocks are exchanged between MAC layer and the physical layer. For each transport block there is a CRC checksum calculated which provides for error detection. After that, channel coding is performed. After channel coding the code blocks become encoded blocks and are treated in rate matching. Static rate matching ensures, that there are firstly only as many coded bits to be transmitted as there are bits available on the physical channel but also it balances the coding rate between different transport channels according to their relative importance. In rate matching, the bits of encoded blocks are repeated or punctured according to the available bandwidth and according to the RMAs (rate matching attributes). Those RMAs define the priorities between the coded bits of different transport channels, and are set by layer 3 (semi-static attribute). For instance, by setting RMA of transport channel x to twice the value of the RMA of a transport channel y, the coded bits of the TrCH x are made twice more important than the coded bits of TrCH y. This mechanism allows for balancing the coding rate between transport channels. As HSDPA uses only one transport channel per TTI, there is no need to match this only one transport channel to the capacity of the available physical channels. HSDPA uses a fixed SF = 16 for HS-DSCH and there is only one transport block per TTI, thus the entire transport block can be mapped onto the HS-DSCH. Only one transport channel per TTI is allowed in HSDPA, so there is never the case that two transport channels of type HS-DSCH must be mapped onto a CCTrCH and need to apply rate matching.

Transport block concatenation - DCH versus HS-DSCH

In HSDPA there occurs only 1 transport block per HS-DSCH TTI, thus no case where 2 or more transport blocks need to be mapped onto the same HS-DSCH. As HSDPA uses only transport channel, the balancing of quality is not applicable as quality balancing makes only sense if more than one TrCH are in use.

Soft(er) Handover
For HS-DSCH there is no macro diversity possible as it is a common transport channel. Of course DCH supports SHO.

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Advantages and Disadvantages of HSDPA

Data services are anticipated to have an enormous growth rate over the coming years and will likely become the dominating source of traffic load in 3G mobile cellular networks. As more sophisticated services evolve, a major challenge of cellular systems design is to achieve a high system capacity and simultaneously facilitate a mixture of diverse services with very different QoS-requirements. HSDPA tries to meet those requirements and brings quite significant benefits for the subscribers:

Advantages of HSDPA
Reduced Latency for retransmission
With MAC-hs installed in Node B, the uplink feedback channel and the shortened TTI of 2 ms, reception of erroneous packet data results in a faster retransmission. On top of this, no transmission is wasted due to the use of incremental redundancy or chase combining.

Higher DL Throughput and Peak Throughput Rates up to: 14 M bit/s

As HSDPA makes extensive use of code multiplexing in conjunction with higher order modulation, the downlink throughput can be increased beyond 10 M bit/s. If the radio conditions are favorable, AMC allows a very aggressive code rate of 1:1, thus offering peak data rates up to 14 M bit/s.

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Support of Non-Real Time and Streaming Applications

Through a sophisticated packet scheduler implementation in the Node B it is possible to manage stringent QoS requirements of streaming applications and of course less time critical services as well. The packet scheduler is able to adjust the code rate, modulation type, number of channelization codes and the transmission power within every sub frame. Thus the Node B is highly flexible in assuring various QoS requirements of subscribers services.

High Spectrum and Code Efficiency due to 16-QAM

Spectrum efficiency increases when the modulation scheme changes from QPSK to 16-QAM as literally more k bit/s respectively M bit/s can be transmitted in the 5 MHz bandwidth. Code efficiency increases when the UE is able to dynamically make use of the available channelization codes. In downlink, the WCDMA power control dynamics is in the order of about 20 dB. It is limited by the intra-cell and inter-cell interference compared to the uplink power control dynamics of about 70 dB. This means that for a particular user, very close to the Node B, the DL power control cannot reduce the power maximally, and on the other hand reducing power beyond 20 dB dynamics may only have marginal impact on the downlink capacity. HSDPA now utilizes this available DL capacity though link adaptation and through AMC. The higher Ec/Io signal quality (when user is close to Node B) is exploited by selecting a very aggressive code rate and 16-QAM. Vice versa, if radio conditions become worse, HSDPA switches down to the more robust QPSK, applies lower code rate (meaning more protection) but may use increasing number of channelization codes to support the users QoS demands.

Disadvantages of HSDPA

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Higher Processing power in UE

The higher throughput rates in the downlink require that the UEs processors and DSPs are designed accordingly. UEs battery consumption will increase, too. This imposes serious challenges on the UE vendors.

More Memory in UE due to HARQ

The HARQ is making use of every previous transmission instance of a data packet. In case of incremental redundancy, the UE is required to buffer previously transmitted data blocks for soft combining. Compared to that, chase combining allows the UE to add the soft decision values after every transmission instance of a data packet, thus less memory is needed. Incremental redundancy requires the maximum UE memory. Therefore the terminal default memory requirements are set on the basis of chase combining at the maximum data rate which is supported by the terminal. Hence, at the highest data rate, only chase combining may be used, while with lower data rates, also incremental redundancy can be used. The UE category value informs the RNC about the so called "total number of soft channel bits" which may limit the IR performance if it comes to peak data rates.

Advanced Receiver for 16-QAM

With QPSK only a phase estimate is necessary for the demodulation process. However, with 16-QAM an amplitude estimation is additionally required to separate the constellation points on the I-Q plane. Furthermore, accurate phase information is needed since constellation points have smaller decision space in the phase domain compared to QPSK.

Higher Vulnerability using 16-QAM

For peak data rates using 16-QAM, higher C/I (Eb/No) values are required and thus the HS-DSCH is more vulnerable to interference including inter-symbol interference. As 16-QAM needs both the phase and the amplitude to determine the symbol value, amplitude distortions have big impact. Compared to that in QPSK where only the phase is considered for determining the symbol value, amplitude distortions are negligible. Beside this, the HSDPA transmitters with 16QAM need an improved linearity of the power amplifier chain in terms of EVM performance (Error Vector Magnitude).

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Software and possibly Hardware Upgrade

Depending on the very UTRAN vendor, a hardware upgrade might be necessary for the Node B in order to support 16-QAM. Additional software upgrades in Node B and RNC complement the HSDPA support.

No Macro-Diversity for HS-PDSCH, HS-SCCH

As HS-PDSCH and HS-SCCH are shared channels, no soft handover is possible and thus the performance decreases particularly at cell edge. Nevertheless mobility procedures like intra-Node B and inter Node B cell changes are supported which will mitigate this disadvantage.

Power / Interference Increase in uplink and downlink

HSDPA operation may require quite large transmission power in downlink in order to operate at reasonable BLER (considering 1st transmission) and may therefore increase the inter cell interference. Especially HSDPA operation at cell edge is only feasible at high downlink transmission power for HS-SCCHs and HSPDSCHs. It should be noted, that the amount of HS-SCCHs increases with code multiplexing of HS-PDSCHs and can add considerably to the downlink interference when users are subjected to unfavorable radio conditions. In the uplink the HS-DPCCH may increase uplink interference if e.g. operated at maximum power value. Proper decoding of HS-DPCCH is on the one hand necessary to avoid unnecessary retransmission but on the other hand high uplink HS-DPCCH transmission power increases the interference among the various users.

Signalling Overhead caused by HS-SCCH (dl) and DPCCH (ul)

The necessary signalling in order to support HS-DSCH consumes valuable channelization code resources. In downlink a spreading factor of 128 is needed per HS-SCCH and in uplink a spreading factor of 256 is needed per UE. Of course, the channelization code consumption in uplink is negligible as every UE has its dedicated uplink scrambling code so there is almost no resource limitation. However, in downlink every HS-SCCH occupies a spreading factor of 128 which is also necessary for one AMR 12.2 k bit/s speech conversation.

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