LTE QoS - EPS Bearers

QoS functions provided by any network, whether wired or wireless, are all based on
standards (IETF RFC, IEEE 802, 3GPP TS, etc.). They may work differently using different
standards depending on whether the network is wired (Ethernet/IP/MPLS) or wireless
(LTE/WiBro/Wi-Fi). But, basically what the QoS is about is that traffic quality is guaranteed
(i) if you pay more, or (ii) for high-priority traffic (e.g. voice or video traffic that is more
sensitive to delay in its nature than Internet traffic).

Practically, (i) does not sound very likely because no network operator offers a service plan
that guarantees certain level of QoS to those who pay more. But, (ii) sounds like a more
practical and sensible reason for most network operators to have QoS functions. In a wired
network, the most common usage of QoS would be for VoIP or IPTV services. I've been
using KT IPTV. KT provides a higher QoS level for its IPTV (Live & VoD) traffic than for its
Internet traffic (with differentiated treatment, e.g. 802.1p for L2, DSCP for IP, and EXP field
of MPLS header for MPLS), guaranteeing the quality of the IPTV traffic even when there is
very high Internet traffic. So, I can watch PSY dancing without any service interruption,
which makes me a very satisfied subscriber of KT.

Now, we will look into QoS in LTE, a wireless network. We will go over the basic features of
the LTE QoS only this time, and will revisit it for a more in-depth description in the later
posts.

As you may recall, when a UE attaches to an LTE network, an EPS bearer connecting from
the UE to a PGW (UE - eNB - S-GW - P-GW) is created as a combination of one logical
channel and two GTP tunnels. Each UE can have more than one EPS bearer depending on
the services in use (e.g. three if using Internet, IPTV and VoIP. The number of bearers will
be determined according to the policy of the network operator.). There are two types of EPS
bearers, default and dedicated, depending on when they are created.

Default EPS Bearer

When a UE attaches to an LTE network, at least one EPS bearer has to be created. This EPS
bearer is called the "default EPS bearer", and remains activated until the UE detaches from
the network.
The QoS of the default EPS bearer is Non-Guaranteed Bit Rate (Non-GBR), which means
support of best effort (no guaranteed quality) delivery.

Dedicated EPS Bearer

Additional EPS bearers that may be created after the default one are called "dedicated EPS
bearers". Generally, Internet and voice services are separately provided through two
different PDNs. However, we will use an example of using one PDN for both services here.
When a UE attaches to an LTE network, only a default EPS bearer for Internet service is
created. Later when the UE attempts to use a voice (VoIP) service, a higher QoS level than
the Internet service is required. Since the default EPS bearer set for the Internet service
cannot meet the QoS level required for the voice service, a dedicated EPS bearer for voice
service can be created on demand.
The dedicated EPS bearers can be either GBR or Non-GBR. If for the voice service as in the
foregoing example, it has to be GBR for guaranteed QoS.
An EPS bearer is a pipe (delivery path) connecting from a UE to a P-GW. Through this pipe
(i.e. EPS bearer), various types of traffic classified by 5-tuple are delivered. These types of
traffic are called IP flows, and each IP flow is classified by the 5-tuple (Source IP,
Destination IP, Protocol ID, Source Port, and Destination Port). For example, when a UE
connects to Google, it would have a 5-tuple, which would be defined as IP flow, as follows:
Source IP = UE IP address
Destination IP = Google server IP address
Protocol ID = 6 (refers to TCP)
Source Port = Random number (Ephemeral port number)
Destination Port = 80 (refers to WWW)

IP Flow and Service Data Flow (SDF)

So, depending on how many applications/services a UE is using (or depending on the

incoming and outgoing traffic), there can be quite a lot of IP flows (e.g., Google, Yahoo,
chatting, games, VoIP, YouTube, etc.). These IP flows are mapped to Service Data Flow
(SDF) by the classifier based on 5-tuple in a P-GW. The classifier is called as ACL in
conventional IP router, and as SDF Template in LTE. Once they are mapped to SDF, the P-
GW processes QoS at SDF level (Detailed QoS process will be discussed next time) so that
the SDF can be mapped to the EPS bearer and delivered to the UE.

Once the P-GW processes QoS at SDF level and has each SDF mapped to the EPS bearer, it
processes QoS at EPS bearer level from the P-GW to the UE where SDF remains
undisclosed.

We will look a little bit further into LTE QoS that we discussed last time, and learn what QoS
parameters are for.
There are two types of EPS bearers: default and dedicated. In the LTE network, the EPS
bearer QoS is controlled using the following LTE QoS parameters:

▶ Resource Type: GBR or Non-GBR

▶ QoS Parameters
QCI
ARP
GBR
MBR
APN-AMBR
UE-AMBR
Every EPS bearer must have QCI and ARP defined. The QCI is particularly important
because it serves as reference in determining QoS level for each EPS bearer. In case of
bandwidth (bit rate), GBR and MBR are defined only in GBR type EPS bearers, whereas
AMBR (APN-AMBR and UE-AMBR) is defined only in Non-GBR type EPS bearers.

Below, we will explain the LTE QoS parameters one by one.

Resource Type = GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate)

For an EPS bearer, having a GBR resource type means the bandwidth of the bearer is
guaranteed. Obviously, a GBR type EPS bearer has a "guaranteed bit rate" associated (GBR
will be further explained below) as one of its QoS parameters. Only a dedicated EPS bearer
can be a GBR type bearer and no default EPS bearer can be GBR type. The QCI of a GBR
type EPS bearer can range from 1 to 4.

Resource Type = Non-GBR

For an EPS bearer, having a non-GBR resource type means that the bearer is a best effort
type bearer and its bandwidth is not guaranteed. A default EPS bearer is always a Non-GBR
bearer, whereas a dedicated EPS bearer can be either GBR or non-GBR. The QCI of a non-
GBR type EPS bearer can range from 5 to 9.

QCI (QoS Class Identifier)

QCI, in an integer from 1 to 9, indicates nine different QoS performance characteristics of
each IP packet. QCI values are standardized to reference specific QoS characteristics, and
each QCI contains standardized performance characteristics (values), such as resource type
(GBR or non-GBR), priority (1~9), Packet Delay Budget (allowed packet delay shown in
values ranging from 50 ms to 300 ms), Packet Error Loss Rate (allowed packet loss shown
in values from 10-2 to 10-6. For more specific values, search on Google for "3GPP TS
23.203" and see Table 6.1.7 in the document. For example, QCI 1 and 9 are defined as
follows:

QCI = 1
: Resource Type = GBR, Priority = 2, Packet Delay Budget = 100ms, Packet Error Loss Rate
= 10-2 , Example Service = Voice
QCI = 9
: Resource Type = Non-GBR, Priority = 9, Packet Delay Budget = 300ms, Packet Error Loss
Rate = 10-6, Example Service = Internet

QoS to be guaranteed for an EPS bearer or SDF varies depending on the QCI values
specified.
QCI, though a single integer, represents node-specific parameters that give the details of
how an LTE node handles packet forwarding (e.g. scheduling weights, admission thresholds,
queue thresholds, link layer protocol configuration, etc). Network operators have their LTE
nodes pre-configured to handle packet forwarding according to the QCI value.

By pre-defining the performance characteristics of each QCI value and having them
standardized, the network operators can ensure the same minimum level QoS required by
the LTE standards is provided to different services/applications used in an LTE network
consisting of various nodes from multi-vendors.

QCI values seem to be mostly used by eNBs in controlling the priority of packets delivered
over radio links. That's because practically it is not easy for S-GW or P-GW, in a wired link,
to process packets and also forward them based on the QCI characteristics all at the same
time (As you may know, a Cisco or Juniper router would not care about delay or error loss
rate when it processes QoS of packets. It would merely decide which packet to send first
through scheduling (WFQ, DWRR, SPQ, etc.) based on the priority of the packets
(802.1p/DSCP/MPLS EXP)).

ARP (Allocation and Retention Priority)

When a new EPS bearer is needed in an LTE network with insufficient resources, an LTE
entity (e.g. P-GW, S-GW or eNB) decides, based on ARP (an integer ranging from 1 to 15,
with 1 being the highest level of priority), whether to:
remove the existing EPS bearer and create a new one (e.g. removing an EPS bearer with
low priority ARP to create one with high priority ARP); or
refuse to create a new one.
So, the ARP is considered only when deciding whether to create a new EPS bearer or not.
Once a new bearer is created and packets are delivered through it, the ARP does not affect
the priority of the delivered packet, and thus the network node/entity forwards the packets
regardless of their ARP values.
One of the most representative examples of using the ARP is an emergency VoIP call. So,
an existing EPS bearer can be removed if a new one is required for a emergency 119 (911
in US, 112 in EC, etc) VoIP call.
GBR (UL/DL)

This parameter is used for a GBR type bearer, and indicates the bandwidth (bit rate) to be
guaranteed by the LTE network. It is not applied to a non-GBR bearer with no guaranteed
bandwidth (UL is for uplink traffic and DL is for downlink traffic).

MBR (UL/DL)

MBR is used for a GBR type bearer, and indicates the maximum bit rate allowed in the LTE
network. Any packets arriving at the bearer after the specified MBR is exceeded will be
discarded.

APN-AMBR (UL/DL)

As you read the foregoing paragraph, you may wonder why a non-GBR type bearer does not
have a "bandwidth limit"? In case of non-GBR bearers, it is the total bandwidth of all the
non-GBR EPS bearers in a PDN that is limited, not the individual bandwidth of each bearer.
And this restriction is controlled by APN-AMBR (UL/DL). As seen in the figure above, there
are two non-GBR EPS bearers, and their maximum bandwidths are specified by the APN-
AMBR (UL/DL). This parameter is applied at UE (for UL traffic only) and P-GW (for both DL
and UL traffic).

UE-AMBR (UL/DL)

In the figure above, APN-AMBR and UE-AMBR look the same. But, please take a look at the
one below.
A UE can be connected to more than one PDN (e.g. PDN 1 for Internet, PDN 2 for VoIP using
IMS, etc.) and it has one unique IP address for each of its all PDN connections. Here, UE-
AMBR (UL/DL) indicates the maximum bandwidth allowed for all the non-GBR EPS bearers
associated to the UE no matter how many PDN connections the UE has. Other PDNs are
connected through other P-GWs, this parameter is applied by eNBs only.
Reference Signal
Downlink

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. Another important role of
reference signal is to help the receiver demodulate the received
signal. Since the reference signal is made up of data known to
both transmitter and receiver, the receiver can figure out how the
communication channel destort the data by comparing the
decoded received reference signal and predefined reference signal
and use the result of this comparison to equalize (post process)
the received user data. The process for the receiver to perform
this comparison and figure out the characteristics of a
communication channel is called 'Channel Estimation' which is one
of the most critical part of many high-end wireless communication
like LTE. (If you are really interested in the detailed procedure, I
would strongly suggest you to study the basic concept of channel
estimation)

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.

As LTE gets evolved into higher version, we are getting more and
more reference signal which is mapped to a specific antenna port.
And we are getting more and more confused as a result -:)

Following shows the reference signals supported by each 3GPP version.

3GPP Reference Signal (Antenna Ports)

36.211 V8.9.0 (2010- p0,p1,p2,p3,p4,p5
01) - Section 6.10
36 211 V9.1.0 (2010- p0,p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8
04) - Section 6.10
36.211 V10.7.0
(2013-04) - Section p0,p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8,p9,p10,p15,p16,p17,p18,p19,p20,p21,p22
6.10
36 211 V11.4.0
(2013-10) - Section p0,p1,p2,p3,p4,p5,p6,p7,p8,p9,p10,p15,p16,p17,p18,p19,p20,p21,p22
6.10
For the exact Resource Element locations of each reference signal, refer to following pages.

 RS (Reference Signal) - Cell Specific (Antenna port 0,1,2,3)

 RS (Reference Signal ) - MBSFN (Antenna Port 4)

 RS (Reference Signal ) - UE Specific (Antenna Port 5,7,8,9,10)

 RS (Reference Signal ) - Positioning (Antenna Port 6)

 RS (Reference Signal ) - CSI (Antenna Port 15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22)

To implement this signal, you need to go through two steps - signal generation and
resource allocation. The details of signal generation and resource allocation would vary on
the type of reference signal. In this page, I would focus mostly on Cell Specific Reference
Signal to give you general idea.

Followings are the list of topics in this page.

 Generation of Reference Signal (Symbol Data of the Reference Signal)
 Resource Allocation (Resource Element Mapping) of Reference Signal
 Reference Signal (Antenna Port Number) vs Transmission Mode

Generation of Reference Signal (Symbol Data of the Reference Signal)

Signal generation is done by the following procedure. You would notice that Cell ID is a key
parameter for the sequence and you would guess the sequence will be unique for each Cell
ID.

Another thing you would notice here would be that downlink reference signal is a kind of
Gold sequence whereas most of UL reference signal and DL Synchronization signal is based
on Zadoff Chu sequence. (c(n) is a Gold Sequence(Psuedo Random Sequence)and you see
the reference signal is generated by combining the two Gold Sequences). Following equation
is based on 36.211 6.10.1.1

< LTE Downlink Refence Signal - Sequence Generation >

 One example of reference signal symbol data is as follows. This is generated by Matlab LTE
Toolbox and Refer to Matlab :ToolBox : LTE : Downlink : Cell Specific Reference Signal for
the detailed Matlab source. You don't have to try to understand the details of how this is
generated (If you really want to understand the details of the signal generation. The only
way is to create a program on your own based on the mathematical formula shown above).
With this example, you can just build up some intuitive understandings of reference signal
properties. See the constellation, it is QPSK, not Zadoff Chu.

< LTE Downlink Reference Signal - Matlab Tool Box >

This is Cell Specific Reference Signal for
enb.NDLRB = 6;
System Bandwidth = 1.4,
enb.CellRefP = 1;
TM1,
enb.NCellID = 10;
PCI = 10,
enb.NSubframe = 0;
Subframe Number = 0

Resource Allocation (Resource Element Mapping) of Reference Signal

Once you have generated the sequence, next step is to allocate each data point of the
sequence to a specified resource elements. That is done by the following process. The
resulting location of the process is as shown in Reference Signal section of Downlink Frame
Structurepage. Following equation is based on 36.211 6.10.1.2

< LTE Downlink Reference Signal - RE Mapping >

Note 1 : The DL Reference Signal (Cell Specific Reference Signal) is mainly determined
by Physical Cell ID.
Note 2 : The resource element locations for DL reference signal gets different according to
Physical Cell ID, but there is possibility that the reference signal location with two different
physical cell ID can be same if (PCI1 mod 6) == (PCI2 mod 6). (PCI stands for Physical Cell
ID). It means that you should be careful when you allocate the physical cell ID for multiple
cells in a specific area. Following is some of examples of Reference Signal Location with
different physical cell IDs.
(I created following subframe structure using LTE Resource Grid and edited to fit the topics
of this page)

< LTE Downlink Reference Signal - SISO - Location based on Physical Cell ID >
If you examined the location of the reference signal (black cells) shown above, you may ask
"According to the RE mapping formula, the reference signal shift is done by ' CellID mod 6'
which imply that the reference signal location would repeat at every 6 CellID interval, but
according to the grid shown above it seems the location repeats at every 3 CellID interval,
not 6. Because of this, UE may experience some degree of RS interference at every 3 CellID
intervals even though RS location is shifted by 'CellID mod 6'. (You may see this kind of
interference at Intra Frequency Interference between LTE and LTE with Varying Physical Cell
ID (PCI) )

Actually this is a kind of illusion. In reality the location repeats at every 6 cellID, but the
interval of the reference signal in frequency domain (vertical direction) repeats at every 3
RE(resource element) and all the reference signal is marked in a same color (black). That's
why it looks as if it repeat at every 3 CellID. To remove this confusion, I marked the RS at a
symbol and marked in different color with 6 REs in vertical direction(I picked only one
symbol.. it was too much work to mark different colors manually in Windows Paint :). Now
you may (hopefuly) see the shift by 6 interval.

< LTE Downlink Reference Signal - SISO - Location based on Physical Cell ID >
Reference Signal (Antenna Port Number) vs Transmission Mode

Reference Signals are used for various purpose and the type of reference signal being used
varies depending on transmission mode. Some of the possible combination of refernece
signal and transmission mode are as follows.
 Reference Signal (Antenna Port)
No of No of No of DCI
TM No of CW
Layers Tx Rx Format Control CH PDSCH CSI Meas UE Specific
TM1 1 1 1 1 1, 1A p0 p0 p0 N/A
2 2 1, 1A p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A
TM2 1 2
4 2 1, 1A p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A

2 2 2 1A p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A

1
4 4 2 1A p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A
TM3
2 2 2 2A p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A
2
4 4 2 2A p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A

1 1 1 1A p0 p0 p0 N/A

1 2 2 2 2 p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A

TM4 4 4 2 2 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A
2 2 2 2 p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A
2
4 4 2 2 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A

1 2 2 1D p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A

2 2 2 1A p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A

TM5 1
1 4 2 1A,1D p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A

4 4 2 1A,1D p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A

2 2 2 1A,1B p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A
TM6 1
4 4 2 1A,1B p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 p0,p1,p2,p3 N/A

1 1 1 1 p0 p5 ? p5

1 2 2 1 p0,p1 p5 ? p5

TM7 1 1 4 2 1 p0,p1,p3,p4 p5 ? p5

2 2 2 1A p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A

4 4 2 1A p0,p1,p3,p4 p0,p1,p3,p4 p0,p1,p3,p4 N/A

1 2 2 2B p0 p7 or p8 ? p7 or p8

1 2 2 2 1A p0,p1 p7 or p8 ? p7 or p8

TM8 4 4 2 1A p0,p1,p3,p4 p7 or p8 ? p7 or p8

2 2 2 2B p0,p1 p7,p8 ? p7,p8

2
4 4 2 2B p0,p1,p3,p4 p7,p8 ? p7,p8

TM9 1 2 2 2 1A p0,p1 p0,p1 p0,p1 N/A

 2 2 2 2C p0,p1 p7,p8 p15,p16 p7,p8

2 4 4 2 2C p0,p1 p7,p8 p15,p16,p17,p18 p7,p8

p15,p16,p17,p18
8 8 2 2C p0,p1,p3,p4 p7,p8 p7,p8
p19,p20,p21,p22

Note : ',' indicate "AND". (E.g, p0, p1 means that p0 AND p1 are used)
Note : UE Specific means "UE Specific Reference Signal, UE Specific Antenna ports" or is
called "DMRS (Demodulation Reference Signal) as well.
Note : "No of Tx" means the number of Tx antenna on eNodeB and "No of Rx" means
number of Rx antenna on UE
Note : TM9 can have much more combinations, but I listed only on the combination I have
seen until now (Jun 2014)

Frame Structure - Downlink

One good way to study this kind of thing and get some practical understanding would be to
start from the view from the highest level and get deeper into it step by step.

Overview - FDD : Frame Structure Type 1

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.

< 36.211 Figure 4.1-1 : Frame Structure type 1 >

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. The length shown in this illustration does not vary with the Sampling Rate, but the
number of samples in each symbol and CP varies with the sampling rate. The number of
samples shown in this illustration is based on the case of 30.72 Mhz sampling rate.

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 30.72 M samples/sec and 2048 bins/IFFT(N_ifft). Real sampling rate
and N_ifft may vary depending on system BW, you need to scale this number
according to a specific BW. (or you may implement the hardware sampling at the
same rate regardless of bandwidth (e.g, 30.72 Mhz sampling) and decimate the
samples to the rate corresponding to each bandwidth after decoding MIBs. Actually
this is more practical since you don't know the system bandwidth until you decode
MIB.)
 Typical N_ifft for each system BW is as follows
System BW Number of RBs N IFFT (bins/IFFT)
1.4 6 128
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)

<LTE FDD Frame Structure >

Following is an example of Downlink Frame Structure and RE (Resource Element) mapping

for 4 Antenna case. Actually this is an ideal case of showing all 4 Antenna's signal super-
imposed (overlapped). In reality, the signal from each antenna has a little different symbol
data and reference signal position. The constellation shown on top and at the bottom of the
RE mapping is the measurement result from LTE signal Analyzer measuring the LTE signal
coming out of the LTE network simulator. This was captured at Antenna port 0 while LTE
network is transmitting MIB/SIBs and UE is not connected. If you do the similar thing with
different channel power (e.g, PCFICH power, PDCCH Power, CRS Power etc) you may see a
little bit different constellation.

< FDD LTE Frame Structure with Constellation >

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.

< FDD LTE Frame Structure with Focus On Physical Channels >
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 sub-carriers.
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 : Frame Structure Type 2

 < TDD LTE Frame Structure >

Followings are examples for various TDD UL/DL configurations. I got all of the following
examples using Sandesh Dhagle's Resource Grid.

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 0 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 1, Special Subframe Config 0 >
< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 2, Special Subframe Config 0 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 3, Special Subframe Config 0 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 4, Special Subframe Config 0 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 5, Special Subframe Config 0 >

 < TDD UL/DLConfiguration 6, Special Subframe Config 0 >

Followings are the examples showing the radio resource grid with different Special
Subframe Configuration. In these examples, just pay attention to how the symbol structure
in subframe 0 and subframe 6 varies.

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 0 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 1 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 2 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 3 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 4 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 5 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 6 >

 < TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 7 >

< TDD UL/DLConfiguration 0, Special Subframe Config 8 >

Overview-LAA : Frame Structure Type 3

From 3GPP Rel 13, a new frame structure (Frame Structure Type 3) and major application
of this type is LAA. I don't find much details on this as of 36.211 V13.1.0. Following
description is all for now. I think the green part is same as the existing frame type (Type 1 /
Type 2) and the blue part is unique to Type 3.

Frame structure type 3 is applicable to LAA secondary cell operation with normal cyclic
prefix only. Each radio frame is Tf = 307200⋅Ts =10ms long and consists of 20 slots of
lengthTslot = 15360⋅Ts = 0.5 ms , numbered from 0 to 19. A subframe is defined as two
consecutive slots where subframe i consists of slots 2i and 2i +1 .

The 10 subframes within a radio frame are available for downlink transmissions. Downlink
transmissions occupy one or more consecutive subframes, starting anywhere within a
subframe and ending with the last subframe either fully occupied or following one of the
DwPTS durations in Table 4.2-1.

Another differences in Rel 13 is in following table. As you see here, in Rel 13 the length of
UpPTS became parameterized (become a variable). If you set X = 0, the table is indentical
to Frame type 2 case. I think X would get different values in Frame Type 3, but I haven't
found any details about the value range of this parameter X yet (I will update as I find more
information).

< 36.211 Table 4.2-1: Configuration of special subframe (lengths of DwPTS/GP/UpPTS) >

Physical Channels and Signals in Radio Frame

Now I will talk about the details of various type of physical channels that will be embedded
into the frame structure shown above. The description on this page is just an overview of
each physical channels. It is too much to put all the details of each physical channels in
single page. I recommend you to use this as a summary (cheat sheet) for each channels
and refer to other pages linked under each descriptions if you want to get further details.

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.
 o Mapped to Resource Elements which is not reserved for transmission of
reference signals, PDCCH or PCHICH
o Refer to Physical Layer : PBCH and Matlab Toolbox : PBCH page for the
details.

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-frame. This contains
the information on number of OFDM symbols carrying the control channels (PDCCH
and PHICH). UE decode this channel to figure out how many OFDM symbols are
assigned for the control channels(PDCCH and PHICH)
 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 Physical Layer : PCFICH and Matlab Toolbox :
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 and other additional
information depending on DCI format.
 PDCCH also carries DCI 0 which is for UL Scheduling assignment (e.g, UL Grants).
 Multiple PDCCH can be assigned in single subframe and a UE do blind decoding of all
the PDCCHs.
 Modulation Scheme is QPSK.
 PDCCH is like HS-SCCH for HSDPA and PDCCH for R99, E-AGCH/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 a control 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.
 Refer to Physical Layer : PDCCH and Matlab Toolbox : PDCCH for the details

PHICH
 Carries H-ARQ Feedback for the received PUSCH
 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.
 Refer to Physical Layer : PHICH and Matlab Toolbox : PHICH for the details

PDSCH (Physical Downlink Shared Channel)

 Carries user specific data (DL Payload).
 Carries Random Access Response Message.
 It is using AMC with QPSK, 16 QAM, 64 QAM, 256 QAM modulation scheme (This
modulation scheme is determined by MCS that is carried by DCI)
 Refer to Physical Layer : PDSCH and Matlab Toolbox : PDSCH for the details.

PRACH
 It carries the random access preamble
 It is occupying 72 subcarriers (6 RB) of bandwidth in the frequency domain.
 Within this channel is Random Access Preamble. This Random Access Preamble is
generated with Zadoff-Chu sequence.
 Refer to RACH page and Matlab Toolbox : PRACH page for the details.

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
 Refer to Physical Layer : PSS and Matlab Toolbox : PSS for the details.
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.
How can you find the exact location of the PSS from the sequence of IQ data captured at
baseband ? This is one of the most import part of Timing Synchronization. This is one of the
very tricky part of understanding LTE protocol and it would take a long time for study.

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
 Refer to Physical Layer : SSS and Matlab Toolbox : SSS for the details
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 (especially at
baseband area), this would be one of the first signal you have to implement.

RS (Reference Signal ) - Cell Specific

Most of the channels (e.g, PDSCH, PDCCH, 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. (Follwing illustration
is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.1.2-1. Mapping of downlink reference signals (normal cyclic
prefix))
 < LTE Cell Specific Reference Signal (CRS) >

Following is an example of physical channel configuration and RE (Resource

Element) mapping for 4 Antenna case. The measurement result is from LTE signal Analyzer
measuring the LTE signal coming out of the LTE network simulator. It shows only one RB
(RB0) of 20 Mhz System Bandwidth (i.e, 100 RBs in total) and was captured at Antenna port
0, 1, 2, 3 respectively while LTE network is transmitting MIB/SIBs and UE is not connected.
You would notice that location of Reference Signal is different for each antenna. Due to this
reference signal location difference, the REG grouping may vary slightly resuting in a little
bit different location of PCFICH.
 < LTE Cell Specific Reference Signal for Each 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 and described in Physical Layer : Cell Specific Reference
Signal page.(Note : The uplink reference signal - DMRS (i.e, PUSCH DMRS and PUCCH
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.

Is CRS transmitted in any subframe type (type 1, 2, 3) ?

At the initial phase of LTE develoyment, you haven't doubt on that every LTE subframe
would carries CRS(Cell Sepecific Reference Signal) in it. But as we see more diverse types of
subframe structure (FDD-frame structure Type1, TDD -frame structure Type 2, LAA - frame
structure type 3), I see my confidence gets weaker. The question is 'Does every frame
type(type 1, 2, 3) transmit CRS ?

The short anwer is 'YES'. More detailed answer is following as stated in 36.211 - 6.10.1 Cell-
specific Reference Signal (CRS).
 CRS is transmitted in all downlink subframes for frame structure type 1,
 CRS is transmitted in all downlink subframes and DwPTS for frame structure type 2,
 CRS is transmitted in non-empty subframes for frame structure type 3

RS (Reference Signal ) - MBSFN

Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.2.2-1: Mapping of MBSFN reference signals

(extended cyclic prefix, Δf = 15 kHz )

< Reference Signal - MBSFN >

RS (Reference Signal ) - UE Specific

Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.3.2-1: Mapping of UE-specific reference signals,

antenna port 5 (normal cyclic prefix)

< Reference Signal - UE Specific - Antenna Port 5 >

< Reference Signal - UE Specific - Antenna Port 5 >

RS (Reference Signal ) - Positioning

Following is based on 36.211 Figure 6.10.4.2-1: Mapping of positioning reference signals

(normal cyclic prefix)

< Reference Signal - Positioning - Antenna Port 6 >

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)

< Reference Signal - CSI - Antenna Port 15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 >

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

< LTE DL Map - Full Frame >

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.

< Physical Channels in Communication >

Following is an example of channel map that is happening during real communication

between UE and Amarisoft LTE Network Simulator. It has an excellent log analysis tool that
shows physicall channel mapping for every subframe as shown below. If you roll over
mouse pointer onto each channel, it will give you the detailed physical parameter. It would
be very helpful for troubleshooting and for study. This example is a snapshot while I was
watching YouTube over the phone.
 < LTE RB Map - Example 01 >

Now let's look at another example, which might look more complicated and confusing but
hopefully look more interesting :). This shows an example of what's happening during the
initial process (RACH process) after you turn on your mobile phone.
Again, the log and background RB map is from Amarisoft LTE Network simulator. All the
labels were put manually (If you roll over the mouse pointer onto each channel it shows
some detailed information, but it would not show information on the exact contents. This is
understandable.. because Physical channel by itself does not have any detailed knowledge
on the contents).
 < LTE RB Map - Example 02 - 1 >

How can I figure out all the details printed on each labels shown above ? It came from the
text based log as shown below.
It took me almost an hour to pul all the lables shown above based on the log below.
However, this can be a good practice if you are at learning phase of LTE protocol.. or you
HAVE TO go through this tedious process when you are in troubleshooting situation.

Downlink Interference

I want to talk a little bit about Interference between multi cells (Inter Cell Interference). In
this page, I will show you some of the measurement result but don't pay too much attention
to the exact measurement values. You would get different value in different situations or the
value shown here would be different from the value measured by UE in live network. But
general trend and characteristics of the interence would apply to most of the cases. You
should be well aware of this kind of properties especially if you are working on test cases
related to various mobility issues (Cell Selection, Reselection, Measurement Report,
Handover, Redirection etc).

Followings are the general characteristics (tendencies) in intercell interference.

 Interfence among Cells with the same frequency (Intrafrequency Interference) is
much higher (more serious) than the interference among cells with different
 frequency. (Compare the result between Interfrequency and Intrafrequency
measurement result shown below).
 Within Intra frequency cells, the interference between cells with same reference
signal location tend to be higher than the interference between cells with different
reference signal locations.

< When the Interference come into play ? >

Now the question is When we have to take this interference seriously ?.

The general answer is 'Always'. We have to take precautions anytime and as much as
possible. I think The most crucial situation is at cell detection/selection/reselection stage
because it would be the worst case if you power on the mobile phone and it fail to detect
any cell due to the interference. To understand on possibile mode of interference, you need
to know the detailed procedure/factors for this process. Following is what's happenning
when you power on UE.
i) Frequency Aquisition
ii) Primary Sync Signal Aquisition (Slot Timing Aquired, Secondary Sync Signal
Scrambling Code Aquired)
iii) Secondary Sync Signal Aquisition (Frame timing Aquired, Cell Group ID sequence
aquired)
iv) with PSS and SSS, Cell ID can be calculated
v) with Cell ID, Reference Signal Location is detected
vi) With the help of Reference Signal, PBCH (MIB) can be detected
vii) From MIB, SFN and System BW can be detected
viii) Decode PCFICH and detect how many symbols are allocated for PDCCH.
ix) Decode DCI for SIB1 from PDCCH
x) Decode SIB1 and get the scheduling information for other SIBs
xi) Decode SIBs (other than SIB1)
Now let's think of each of the steps and what might be the issues with those steps in terms
of interference.
i) Frequency Aquisition
o Most of the frequency Aquisition is based on RSSI Scan for each subcarriers
within all the bands that the UE is configured to support. Because of this
mechanism, UE may have difficulties to find correct frequency if the frequency
of two or more cells are in very close neighbouring location or the frequencies
are partially overlapping.
ii) Primary Sync Signal Aquisition (Slot Timing Aquired, Secondary Sync Signal
Scrambling Code Aquired)
iii) Secondary Sync Signal Aquisition (Frame timing Aquired, Cell Group ID sequence
aquired)
iv) with PSS and SSS, Cell ID can be calculated
o There wouldn't be much problem if the frequency of cells are different
(Interfrequency), but UE may suffer from inteference if the frequency of the
neighbouring cells are same.
o This inteference would be more serious if the reception of Sync signal from
multiple cells are better aligned in time domain. (Even though they tried to
design the sync signal interfering as little as possible, but still the sync signal
is not 100% orthogonal).
v) with Cell ID, Reference Signal Location is detected
o This inferference would be especially serious among intra frequency cells.
o The location of Reference Signal is primarily determined by Physical Cell ID
and the Scrambling Code is also influenced by Physical Cell ID(PCI). So if the
Physical Cell ID are different, there should be no interference for this
 reference signal. But in reality there would be a certain degree of interference
whatever PCIs you allocate for the neighbouring cells.
o Location of Reference signal gets same in some case even though PCI is
different. (Refer to Downlink Reference Signal page if you are interested in
details on this). So you need to very carefully assign PCI to each of the cells
in such a way to minimize the interference.
vi) With the help of Reference Signal, PBCH (MIB) can be detected
vii) From MIB, SFN and System BW can be detected
viii) Decode PCFICH and detect how many symbols are allocated for PDCCH.
o This interference would be especially serious among intra frequency cells.
o Location of PCFICH is mainly determined by System Bandwidth and Physical
Cell ID (PCI). In most intra frequency settings, the neighbouring cells are
using the same system bandwidth. So even though PCI is different, it is highly
likely that there are certain level of overlapping of PCFICH location between
cells.
o Since PCFICH is located only at the first symbol of each subframe, this
PCFICH interference would get less serious if the timing sync of the signal
coming from neighbouring cell is not well synchronized.
ix) Decode DCI for SIB1 from PDCCH
o This interference would be especially serious among intra frequency cells.
o If the location of DCI in PDCCH region is same or overlapping among multiple
cells, UE would have more difficulties of decoding the DCI and as a result may
fail to decode SIB1.
o If the multiple cells are transmitting SIB1 in the same RB (Resource Blocks),
the possibility of interferences would get higher.
x) Decode SIB1 and get the scheduling information for other SIBs
xi) Decode SIBs (other than SIB1)
o This interference would be especially serious among intra frequency cells.
o If the SIB transmission scheduling is same between neighbouring cells, the
interference would get higher
o If the multiple cells are transmitting SIBs in the same RB (Resource Blocks),
the possibility of interferences would get higher

< Inter Frequency Interference between LTE and LTE with Varying Channel Power
>

In this example, I setup two cells with different band (Inter frequency, Inter band) as
follows. I used BTS1 as a serving cell and BTS2 as a neighbouring interfering cell. and I
used a Vector signal analyzer as a kind of DUT and measured EVM (Error Vector Magnitude)
detected by the serving cell.
 BTS 1 = Band 4
 BTS 2 = Band 17
 Test Variable : Cell of BTS2 changes
 Measurement : BTS1
As you see in the result shown below, there is almost no difference in the measured EVM at
BTS1 regardless of the power of interfering cell. (In this example, the frequency of two cell
is very far away from each other, so interference from the other cell is negligible, if the
fequency of neighbouring cell is closer to each other, you would see stronger interference
than in this example).
< Intra Frequency Interference between LTE and LTE with Varying Channel Power
>

In this example, I setup two cells with same frequency (Intra frequency) as follows. I used
BTS1 as a serving cell and BTS2 as a neighbouring interfering cell. and I used a Vector
signal analyzer as a kind of DUT and measured EVM (Error Vector Magnitude) detected by
the serving cell. I set the BTS1 power to be fixed and increased the power of BTS2 step by
step and checked how the measurement EVM varies.
 BTS 1 = Band 4
 BTS 2 = Band 4
 Test Variable : Cell of BTS2 changes
 Measurement : BTS1
Just by looking at the constellation, you can intuitively notice that EVM gets larger
(constellation gets worse) as the interferering cell power gets higher.
The EVM result shown here is a little extreme case. According to this result, the DUT (Vector
signal Analyzer) fail to decode the signal if the cell power difference between two cell is less
than 20. But in live network, the situation would be much better than this. Isolation
between the two cell would be much better than this test environment and real UE (mobile
phone) can decode signal much which is much worse than this since the chipset has channel
estimation and use various error correction. However the point is that UE would experience
pretty serious interference when it seems multiple cells with the same frequency around the
UE.
You can see obvious difference (outstanding difference) if you compare this result with the
previous case (Inter frequency case).

< Intra Frequency Interference between LTE and LTE with Varying Physical Cell ID
(PCI) >

In this example, I setup two cells with same frequency (Intra frequency) as follows. I used
BTS1 as a serving cell and BTS2 as a neighbouring interfering cell. and I used a Vector
signal analyzer as a kind of DUT and measured EVM (Error Vector Magnitude) detected by
the serving cell.
 BTS 1 = Band 4
 BTS 2 = Band 4
 Test Variable : Cell of BTS2 changes
 Measurement : BTS1

I set the PCI of BTS1 to be fixed and changed PCI of BTS2 to various different values to
how the measured EVM changes. This is to check how the location of reference signal of the
serving cell and neigbhouring cell can influence on the interference (If you are not sure
about how PCI is related to Reference Signal location, refer to Downlink Reference Signal
page)

As shown in the following result, when there is almost no inteference between two cells
when the cell power of the two different cell is very large.

But the cell power difference between two cells is relatively small (actually this difference in
this example is still very big difference in live network), you would see the DUT (Signal
Analyzer) fails to measure signal when the PCI is configured in such a way that the
reference signal of the two cells are same.