Overview - FDD

The highest level view from 36.211 for FDD LTE is as follows. It
only shows the structure of one frame in time domain. It does not
show any structure in frequency domain.
Some of high level description you can get from this figure would
be
i) Time duration for one frame (One radio frame, One system
frame) is 10 ms. This means that we have 100 radio frame per
second.
ii) the number of samples in one frame (10 ms) is 307200
(307.200 K) samples. This means that the number of samples per
second is 307200 x 100 = 30.72 M samples.
iii) Number of subframe in one frame is 10.
iv) Number of slots in one subframe is 2. This means that we
have 20 slots within one frame.

So one slot is the smallest structure in time domain ? No, if you

magnify this frame structure one step further, you would get the
following figure.
Now you see that one slot is made up of 7 small blocks called
'symbol'. (One symbol is a certain time span of signal that carry
one spot in the I/Q constellation.).
And you see even smaller structures within a symbol. At the
beginning of symbol you see a very small span called 'Cyclic
Prefix' and the remaining part is the real symbol data.

There are two different type of Cyclic Prefix. One is normal Cyclic
Prefix and the other is 'Extended Cyclic Prefix' which is longer
than the Normal Cyclic Prefix. (Since the length of one slot is
fixed and cannot be changed, if we use 'Extended Cyclic Prefix',
the number of symbols that can be accomodated within a slot
should be decreased. So we can have only 6 symbols if we use
'Extended Cyclic Prefix').

If you magnify a subframe to show the exact timing and samples,

it can be illustrated as below.

A couple of things to be noticed about the subframe structure

illustrated above is
the first OFDM symbol within a slot is a little bit longer than
the other OFDM symbols
the number of samples shown in this illustration is based on
the assumption that the sampling rate is 30.072 M
samples/sec and 2048 bins/IFFT(N_ifft). Since real sampling
rate and N_ifft varies depending on system BW, you need to
scale this number according to a specific BW.
Typical N_ifft for each system BW is as follows
System BW

Number of RBs

N IFFT (bins/IFFT)

1.4

128

3.0

15

256

5.0

25

512

10.0

50

1024

15.0

75

2048

20.0

100

2048

Following shows the overal subframe structure from "LTE

Resource Grid" (I realized that this site is not available any more.
Fortunately, recently another expert put great effort to create
another resource grid application and allowed me to share with
everybody. Here goes Sandesh Dhagle's Resource Grid)

Now let's magnify the structure even further, but this time expand
in frequency domain, not in time domain. You will get the
following full detail diagram.

The first thing you have to be very familiar with as an engineer

working on LTE is the following channel map shown above.
We can represent an LTE signal in a two dimensional map as
shown above. The horizontal axis is time domain and the vertical
axis is frequency domain. The minimum unit on vertical axis is a
sub carrier and the minimum unit on horizontal axis is symbol.
For both time domain and frequency domain, there are multiple
hiarachies of the units, meaning a multiple combination of a
smaller unit become a larger units.
Let's look at the frequency domain structure first.
LTE (any OFDM/OFDMA) band is made up of multiple small
spaced channels and we call each of these small channels as "Sub
Carrier".
Space between the chhanel and the next channel is always same
regardless of the system bandwidth of the LTE band.
So if the system bandwidth of LTE channel changes, number of
the channels (sub carriers) changes but the space between
channels does not change.

Q> What is the space between a subcarrier and the next sub
carrier ? A> 15 Khz
Q> What is the number of channels(sub carriers) for 20 Mhz LTE
band ? A> 1200 sub carriers.
Q> What is the number of channels(sub carriers) for 10 Mhz LTE
band ? A> 600 sub carriers.
Q> What is the number of channels(sub carriers) for 5 Mhz LTE
band ? A> 300 sub carriers.
Got any feelings about sub carriers and it's relation to system
bandwidth ?
Now let's look at the basic units of horizontal axis which is time
domain. The minimum unit of the time domain is a Symbol, which
amounts to 66.7 us. Regardless of bandwidth, the symbol length
does not changes.In case of time domain, we have a couple of
other structures as well. The largest unit in time domain is a
frame, each of which is 10 ms in length. Each of the frame
consists of 10 sub frames, each of which is 1 ms in length. Each
of sub frame consists of 2 slots, each of which is 0.5 ms in
length.Each of slots consists of 7 symbols, each of which is 66.7
us.
With this in mind, let's think about the scale in reverse direction.
Q> How many symbols are there in a slot ? A> 7 symbols.
Q> How many symbols in a sub frame ? A> 14 symbols.
Q> How many slots are there in a frame ? A> 20 slots.
Now let's look at the units which is made up of both time domain
(horizontal axis) and frequency domain (vertical axis). Let's call
this type of unit a two-dimensional unit.
The minimum two dimensional unit is resource element which is
made up of one symbol in time domain and one sub carrier in
frequency domain. Another two dimensional unit is resource
block(RB) which is made up of one slot in time domain and 12

sub-carrier in frequency domain. Resource Block(RB) is the most

important units in LTE both for protocol side and RF measurement
side.
Now here goes questions.
Q> How many symbols in a resource block ? A> 7 symbols.
Q> How many sub-carriers in a resource block ? A> 12 subcarriers.
Q> How many resource elements in a resource block ? A> 84
resource elements.
Now it's time to combine all the units we covered. The following
questions are very important to read any of the LTE specification.
Q> How many resource blocks in a 20 Mhz band ? A> 100
resource blocks.
Q> How many resource blocks in a 10 Mhz band ? A> 50
resource blocks.
Q> How many resource blocks in a 5 Mhz band ? A> 25 resource
blocks.
I have seen this type of mapping so many times from so many
different sources, but do I really understand all the details of the
map ? No not yet. It will take several years to understand every
aspects of the map.
Probably what I do as the first step is to describe each part of the
map in a verbal form

Overview-TDD

PBCH(Physical Broadcast Channel)

o It carries only the MIB.
o It is using QPSK.
o Mapped to 6 Resource Blocks (72 subcarriers), centered
around DC subcarrier in sub frame 0.

Mapped to Resource Elements which is not reserved for

transmission of reference signals, PDCCH or PCHICH
The first L(1 or 2 or 3) Symbols
This is one of the most confusing area of the map because
multiple channels are located in this area. On the first symbol is
PCFICH but PCFICH takes only part of the resource blocks on the
first symbol not all. PHICH is carried by this area as well. And the
remaining space not occupied by PCFICH and PHICH is allocated
for PDCCH.
PCFICH(Physical Control Format Indicator Channel)
It carries the number of symbols that can be used for control
channels (PDCCH and PHICH).
Mapped to the first OFDM symbol in each of the downlink
sub-frameThis contains the information on number of OFDM
symbols for PDCCH and PHICH symbol duration received
from the PBCHUE decode this channel to figure out how
many OFDM symbols are assigned for PDCCH
It is 16 data subcarriers of the first OFDM symbol of the
subframe.
PCFICH data is carried by 4 REGs and these four REGs are
evenly distributed across the whole band regardless of the
bandwidth.
The exact position of PCFICH is determined by cell ID and
bandwidth.
For further details, refer to PCFICH page.

PDCCH(Physical Downlink Control Channel)

Mapped to the first L OFDM symbols in each of the downlink
sub-frame.
Number of the symbols (L) for PDCCH can be 1,2, or 3.

Number of the symbols for PDCCH is specified by PCFICH

PDCCH carries DCIs and the DCI carries Transport format,
resource allocation, H-ARQ information related to DL-SCH,
UL-SCH and PCH.
PDCCH also carries DCI 0 which is for UL Scheduling
assignment (e.g, UL Grants).
Multiple PDCCH are supported and a UE monitors a set of
control channels.
Modulation Scheme is QPSK.

PDCCH is like HS-SCCH for HSDPA and PDCCH for R99, EAGCH/E-RGCH for HSUPA
Even though PDCCH has a lot of functions, not all of them
are used at the same time so PDCCH configuration should be
done flexibly.
If you are interested in the detailed information mapping in
this channel, refer to 6.8.1 of 36.211. Following is the initial
descrition on this section.
The physical downlink control channel carries scheduling
assignments and other control information. A physical
controlchannel is transmitted on an aggregation of one or several
consecutive control channel elements (CCEs), where acontrol
channel element corresponds to 9 resource element groups. The
number of resource-element groups notassigned to PCFICH or
PHICH is REG N . The CCEs available in the system are numbered
from 0 and N_CCE-1 , where N_CCE = floor(N_REG/9) . The
PDCCH supports multiple formats as listed in Table 6.8.1-1. A
PDCCH consisting of nconsecutive CCEs may only start on a CCE
fulfilling imod n = 0 , where i is the CCE number.
PHICH
Carries H-ARQ Feedback

After UE trasmitted the data in UL, it is waiting for PHICH for

the ACK.

It is like E-HICH in HSPA

Sometimes several PHICH constitutes a PHICH group using
the same resource elements.

PDSCH(Physical Downlink Shared Channel)

Carries user specific data (DL Payload).

Carries Random Access Response Message.

It is using AMC with QPSK, 16 QAM and 64 QAM

PRACH
It carries the random access preamble

It is occupying 72 subcarriers of bandwidth in the frequency

domain. If the random access preamble is successfuly
received, the random access message is transmitted on the
UL-SCH.
Within this channel is Random Access Preamble. This
Random Access Preamble is generated with Zadoff-Chu
sequence.

P-SS(Primary Synchronization Signal)

Mapped to 72 active sub carriers(6 resource blocks), centered
around the DC subcarrier in slot 0 (Subframe 0) and slot 10
(Subframe 5).
Made up of 62 Zadoff Chu Sequence Values
Used for Downlink Frame Synchronization
One of the critical factors determining Physical Cell ID
May Not be a big issues for most of the case since it would be working
fine for most of the device that you have for test. Otherwise it would
have not been given to you for test.
However, If you are a developer working at early stage of LTE chipset,
this would be one of the first signal you have to implement.

But when you have the following data and information, can you locate
exactly which part of the channel map would carry this message ? This is
one of the very tricky part of understanding LTE protocol and it would
take a long time for study. (If you are an RF engineer, this may not be so
important to you).

S-SS(Secondary Synchronization Signal)

SSS is a specific physical layer signal that is used for radio frame
synchronization. It has characterstics as listed below.
Mapped to 72 active sub carriers(6 resource blocks), centered
around the DC subcarrier in slot 0 (Subframe 0) and slot 10
(Subframe 5) in FDD.
The sequence of SSS in subframe 0 and the one in subframe 5 are
different from each other
Made up of 62 Scrambling Sequence (based on m-sequence)
The value in odd indexed resource element and the one in even
indexed resource elements is generated by different equation
Used for Downlink Frame Synchronization
One of the critical factors determining Physical Cell ID
May Not be a big issues for most of the case since it would be working
fine for most of the device that you have for test. Otherwise it would
have not been given to you for test.
However, If you are a developer working at early stage of LTE chipset,
this would be one of the first signal you have to implement.
RS (Reference Signal ) - Cell Specific
Most of the channels (e.g, DPSCH, DPCCH, PBCH etc) is for
carrying a special information (a sequence of bits) and they have
some higher layer channel connected to them, but Reference
Signal is a special signal that exists only at PHY layer. This is not
for delivering any specific information. The purpose of this

Reference Signal is to deliver the reference point for the downlink

power.
When UE try to figure out DL power (i.e, the power of the signal
from a eNode B), it measure the power of this reference signal
and take it as downlink cell power.
These reference signal are carried by multiples of specific
Resource Elements in each slots and the location of the resource
elements are specifically determined by antenna configuration.
In the figures below, Red/Blue/Green/Yellow is the part where the
reference signal are carried and the resource elements marked in
gray are the ones reserved for reference signal, but are not
carrying Reference Signal for that specific antenna.

There are two different types of reference signal : Cell Specific

Reference Signa and UE specific Reference Signal
Cell Specific Reference Signal : This reference signal is being
transmitted at every subframe and it spans all across the
operating bandwidht. It is being transmitted by Antenna port
0,1,2,3.
UE Specific Reference Signal : This reference signal is being
transmitted within the resource blocks allocated only to a
specific UE and is being transmitted by Antenna port 5.
Is the Resource element for the cell specific reference signal fixed
?

No, the location changes according to Physical Cell ID as

described below.
The time domain index (l) for the reference signal = fixed.
( l = [0,4] )
The frequency domain index k for the reference signal =
changes according to physical cell ID as specified in 36.211
6.10.1.2 Mapping to resource element.
o main rule is : k = 6 m + (v + v_shift) mod 6, where
v_shift = Physical Cell ID mod 6. For further details,
refer to 36.211 6.10.1.2
What kind of value is carried by the downlink reference signal ?
The value is a pseudo random sequence generated by the
algorithm defined in 36.211 6.10.1.1 Sequence Generation.
(Note : The uplink reference signal - DMRS - is Zadoff Chu
sequence)
One of the determining value of this sequence is Physical Cell ID,
meaning that the physical cell ID influences the value of the
reference signal as well.
RS (Reference Signal ) - MBSFN
Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.2.2-1: Mapping of
MBSFN reference signals (extended cyclic prefix, f = 15 kHz )

RS (Reference Signal ) - UE Specific

Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.3.2-1: Mapping of UEspecific reference signals, antenna port 5 (normal cyclic prefix)

RS (Reference Signal ) - Positioning

Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.4.2-1: Mapping of
positioning reference signals (normal cyclic prefix)

RS (Reference Signal ) - CSI

Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.5.2-1: Mapping of CSI
reference signals (CSI configuration 0, normal cyclic prefix)

Whole Frame Snapshot

Following is a snapshot showing the whole channels described
above. Of course this is not to give you the detailed information.
It is to give you a overall picture of a whole frame. Would you be
able to identify the locations of each channels described above ?
Just try it, it will be a good practice.
Each components in this grid has it's own role and used in various
different context. If you are interested in how each of these
channels are used in real communication process, refer to
following sections in Quick Reference page.
Cell ID Detection and System Information Detection

Uplink Data Transmission Scheduling - Persistent Scheduling

Uplink Data Transmission Scheduling - Non Persistent

Scheduling
Downlink Data transmission Process
Channel Coding Processing for DL SCH/PCH/MCH
Physical Channel Processing

Physical Channels in Communication

Following diagram shows overall sequence of Uplink/Downlink

data transmission. You would be able to associate the data
transmission sequence diagram and the specific location of each
channels in DL/UL frame structure.

Gallery
I would not put much of the comments for the following captures.
These captures are for your practice to associate what you read in
previous sections to the real life signal pattern.