What is TTI bundling?

TTI Bundling
With all the hype created around IMS and LTE, operators have started questioning network vendors
if they are supporting RAN specific features for VoLTE. TTI bundling is one of the features among
many others that can help VoIP (VoLTE) calls in LTE.
TTI Bundling is LTE feature to improve coverage at cell edge or in poor radio conditions. UE has
limited power in uplink (only 23dBm for LTE) which can result in many re transmissions at cell edge
(poor radio). Re transmission means delay and control plan overhead which may not be acceptable
for certain services like VoIP. To understand TTI bundling one need to have the basic idea of Hybrid
Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) and Transmission Time interval (TTI).

HARQ
HARQ is a process where data at mac layer is protected against noisy wireless channels through
error correction mechanism. There are couple of different versions of HARQ but in LTE we have a
type known as 'Incremental Redundancy Hybrid ARQ'. When receiver detects erroneous data,
it doesn't discard it. On the other hand, sender will send the same data again but this time, with
different set of coded bits. The reciever will combine the previously recieved erroneous data with
newly attempted data by the sender. This way the chances of successfully decoding the bits improve
every time. This will repeat as long as the receiver is not able to decode the data. The advantage of
this method is that with each re-transmission, the coding rate is lowered. Whereas in other types of
HARQ, it might use the same coding rate in every re-transmission

TTI
TTI is LTE smallest unit of time in which eNB is capable of scheduling any user for uplink or downlink
transmission. If a user is receiving downlink data, then during each 1ms, eNB will assign resources
and inform user where to look for its downlink data through PDCCH channel. Check the following
figure to understand the concept of TTI

Now coming to TTI Bundling ...

HARQ is a process where receiver combines the new transmission every time with previous
erroneous data. There is one drawback however, that it can result in delay and too much control
overhead in case of poor radio conditions if the sender has to attempt many transmissions. For
services like VoIP this means bad end user experience. Well, there is another way- Instead of retransmitting the erroneous data with new set of coded bits, why not send few versions (redundancy
versions) of the same set of bits in consecutive TTI and eNB sends back Ack when it successfully
decodes the bits. I hope the figure below will make it clear. This way we are avoiding delay and
reducing control plane overhead at mac layer

Describe all LTE physical channels?

General antenna questions, and some questions on SINR/RF interference. What
problem did you have in your group project and how did you fix it? When working
with a group, tell us a time when you experienced a problem and how you dealt
with it.
For example what is the relationship between frequency and wavelength? You are X
feet from a cell tower and measure the RF Power. You then double your distance to Y
and measure the RF Power. What is the Power at distance Y? The relationship? Ans
In general, the power decreases as the square of distance increase. Thus, the
distance is doubled, and the power at Y is one-fourth of the power at X. The formula
is Pd = Pt / (4*pi*R^2). Or I knew that! 1/4 of the power at twice the distance. and
1/16 at another increment of that distance.
Describe how PN offsets work and the concept of timing in CDMA.
What is EC/I0, Carrier power, pilot pollution and what tools have you used in the
past to measure these metrics
What is the frequency range you would operate in an area with high density of tall
buildings? and also what modulation techniques are most commonly used these
days