3G Long Term Evolution (LTE)

LTE is being developed by 3GPP to create mobile technology that delivers higher data rates and supports bandwidth-heavy applications such as file sharing, video on demand, and broadband Internet. As the demand for mobile broadband will grow, LTE will get further momentum. It is expected that two thirds of mobile broadband subscribers will be served by HSPA and LTE. To service the ever-growing end-user demands and retain its competitiveness, the 3GPP initiated work on the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of 3G in November 2004. LTE implements a new radio access technology that is optimized for IP-based traffic and offers operators a simple upgrade path from 3G networks. LTE is also focused on evolving the core architecture of mobile networks called system architecture evolution. Together, they will deliver significant performance enhancements over 3G. Also called 4G technology, LTE will improve spectral efficiency by 2-4 times as compared to that of 3G/HSPA networks. This simply translates into higher data speeds and increased capacity that enable wireless broadband services and other rich media applications.

The set of high-level requirements identified for 3G LTE are:

• A reduced cost per bit
• An increased service provisioning: more services at a lower cost with an enhanced end user experience
• Flexibility to use existing as well as new frequency bands
• A simplified architecture and open interfaces
• A reduced terminal power consumption

Field deployment of the first LTE networks is expected in 2010. This puts pressure on equipment vendors, hardware manufacturers, and software vendors to quickly develop and test products, reduce risks, and control costs. As a member of the 3GPP, Aricent is committed to investing in developing and supporting solutions for Long Term Evolution (LTE). With proven expertise in developing solutions for UMTS network nodes, Aricent can help device and infrastructure manufacturers address the key challenges of entering this market, including speeding development, optimizing R&D resources, reducing risks and costs, and adapting quickly to evolving specifications.

Aricent’s Companion Lifecycle Services

The majority of Aricent’s products are delivered with tailored combinations of our Lifecycle Services, including Global Innovation and Design, Product Development, Testing and Certification, Network Engineering, Maintenance and Support, and Business Operations and Systems Integration. Aricent’s engineers and consultants have successfully completed thousands of services engagements globally using flexible delivery models ranging from on-site to off-shore. Aricent’s services offer deep communications domain expertise, cost and time efficiencies, quick ramp up and contemporary commercial engagement models including end-to-end commitments.

Capabilities

Aricent is a member of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) global initiative, which is working on LTE standards and evolution. With proven expertise in pre-LTE technologies and standards, Aricent is uniquely and competitively poised to deliver solutions for LTE eNodeB, EPC (Evolved Packet Core) and other network components. Since 2007, Aricent has been extensively investing in LTE R&D, testing infrastructure, and engineering resources to help its customers develop quality products, reduce cost and speed time to market. The table below gives an overview of Aricent’s technical capabilities in LTE technology. Exclusive focus on communications technology and wide range of experience in GSM/GPRS, UMTS, WiMAX, Femtocell and RNC technologies help us speed development and reduce costs and risks.
Aricent capabilities support every phase of the LTE product lifecycle from technical consulting to product development and testing, and on through product sustenance. Technical Consulting Aricent has proven capabilities in product evolution for Content Service Management Gateways, Node definition practices, enodeB and Evolved Packet Core (EPC). Aricent provides solutions and services to equipment manufacturers, hardware and software vendors, and system integrators. We also provide consulting to OEMs to help them migrate seamlessly to LTE-based network solutions from their existing Release 5- or Release 6-compliant WCDMA-based solutions. Product Development Services With its extensive domain knowledge, Aricent has an established capability in LTE product design and development. Aricent has proven expertise in developing and testing eNodeB modules including control plane software, middleware, supervisory software, and test tools. Testing Services Aricent uses various 3rd-party test vendors and tools to ensure compliance and performance benchmarking for LTE standards and specifications. In addition, Aricent has a proven testing methodology and infrastructure to test equipment against various parameters, including interoperability with other network nodes. Benefits Working with Aricent, equipment manufacturers reduce risk and speed development of LTE products, gaining the market agility they need to capture significant market share. Time to market On-demand access to Aricent’s consulting, proven expertise in developing 2G, 2.5G, 3G, HSPA/HSPA+, and UMTS network nodes; OS and hardware-agnostic intellectual property resources (IPRs), ready-to-use frameworks, and strong partnerships with silicon vendors shortens product development cycles. This proven approach speeds time to market and reduces risks and costs. Optimize R&D resources Aricent has extensive expertise in developing control plane and signaling stacks for UMTS 3G networks. We can take complete ownership of developing scalable LTE network node software components that meet real-time performance requirements, allowing our customers to optimize their R&D resources for core LTE products and to focus on developing new products and entering new markets. Flexibility, expertise and scale Aricent has the expertise to move across the technology value chain in both the eNodeB (different layers and LTE protocol stacks) and Evolved Packet Core (EPC) technology domains and to quickly adapt to evolving requirements. With our exclusive focus on the communications industry, coupled with more than 8000 global consultants and engineers, Aricent has the expertise and scale to support every phase of LTE product development. Solutions Aricent provides a reference solution for porting, optimization and integration of layer1 (PHY) and layer 2 (MAC, RLC, PDCP) LTE protocol stacks for eNodeB processors and chipsets. LTE Layer 1 – LTE Baseband/PHY Library Aricent’s LTE Baseband/LTE PHY Library is hardware- and OS-independent. It conforms to the latest 3GPP LTE standards and supports all mandatory and optional features. With this product, OEMs can easily customize, port, optimize and integrate the LTE PHY library on any platform, which substantially reduces costs and shortens time to market. Aricent provides MATLAB simulation and fixed point C reference libraries for LTE PHY for eNodeB supporting FDD mode. The PHY components are compliant with 3GPP TS 36.211, 36.212 and 36.141. Aricent software provides:

• Transmitter functionality (CCM Tx + Modulator) for the downlink channels
• Receiver functionality (CCM Rx + Demodulator) for the uplink channels
• Proprietary receiver components like channel estimation/equalization, Timing & Frequency synchronization, Multiple Antenna Receiver Diversity and MU-MIMO

Aricent validates uplink receiver chain for performance per Chapter 8, 3GPP TS 36.141, for various reference channels under various propagation conditions.

Modules

• CRC
• Code Block Segmentation/ De-segmentation
• Channel coding (Turbo, Viterbi, Reed Muller)
• Rate matching and de-matching
• Code Block Concatenation/De-concatenation
• Channel Interleaver/De-interleaver
• Scrambler / Descrambler
• Transform Precoding/Decoding
• Mapping to/Demapping from physical resources
• Demodulation reference signal generation
• Modulation (QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM)
• Soft Demapper
• SC-FDMA Baseband Signal generation
• Channel estimation and equalization
• Timing & Frequency synchronization
• MIMO/diversity

Features & Benefits

• Plug-n-play functional library
• MATLAB simulation chain available
• Hardware-independent software
• RTOS-agnostic software
• Improved performance
• Minimal resource utilization
• Convertible to HDL for FPGA, SoC
• Complies with the latest available drafts of specifications
• Message-based configuration and runtime control
• Layered API software approach
• Debugging features including runtime trace enabling/disabling

eNobeB Baseband High Level Architecture

LTE Layer 2 – LTE MAC Library Our LTE MAC Library is hardware- and OS-independent, conforming to the latest 3GPP LTE standards. It supports all mandatory and optional features, enabling users to easily customize, port, optimize and integrate the LTE PHY library on any platform to substantially reduce costs and shorten time to market. Features and Benefits:

• The Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol layer of E-NodeB provides the coupling between the logical link level layer (RLC) and the physical layer. The MAC layer has the control interface with the RRC layer.
• The LTE MAC layer supports multithreading architecture to effectively utilize multi-core and virtual multithread-enabled chips. This is highly scalable can be ported onto any hardware platform.
• MAC stack entity supports the following functionality as specified by the 3GPP E-UTRAN specification:
  • Mapping between logical channels and transport channels
  • Multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or different logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to the physical layer on transport channels
  • De-multiplexing of MAC SDUs for one or different logical channels from uplink transport blocks delivered from physical layer on that transport channel
  • Error correction through HARQ
  • Priority handling between UEs through dynamic scheduling
  • Priority handling between logical channels of one UE
  • Transport format selection
• Support for BCH, PCH, and Downlink SCH, Uplink SCH transport channel
• MAC scheduler design is generic in nature considering the factors that are important for providing long-term fairness between the UEs. The factors will be UE Priority, Logical Channel Priority and other parameters like GBR, MBR, Queue Load, Modulation Scheme, Relative time delay and CQI
• The MAC layer provides a well-defined interface for interfacing with RLC, Physical Layer and RRC layer
• The MAC layer is scalable to support large number of user in the system.

LTE MAC High-Level Architecture

Mobility Management Entity (MME) Solutions With vast experience in developing software for UMTS nodes and demonstrated capabilities in solutions such SGSN and GGSN, Aricent can deliver MME server framework: high performance source code that implements 3GPP LTE MME functionality. The MME server is the heart of all control plane and session management functions of LTE Evolved Packet Core (EPC). It manages complex features such as resource allocation and bearer control for multiple nodes and gateways in the EPC. MME also takes care of features such as Inter eNodeB handover, which are more complex in terms of testing and deployment.

EPC (Evolved Packet Core) Solutions

Aricent is currently formulating a Base architecture definition for evolved Packet Core Server. It has expertise and experience in LTE/SAE protocols and architecture as well as in SGSN Content Service Management Gateways. It has matured and evolved 3G protocol offerings and frameworks, which are Release 5- and Release 6-compliant. This allows Aricent to develop additional IETF protocols for Evolved Packet Core (EPC).

• Diameter/Radius
  • AAA Interface
  • Mobile IP
• S2-C Control
  • End-to-end data path management
  • Inter-Access handovers
• L2TP
  • Gi-U Interface
• IPIP or GRE
  • S2-U interface

Note: It is expected that some extensions specific to LTE may have to be defined for the above-mentioned IETF protocols. Aricent currently has the following protocols as part of its 3G portfolio available. The figure below shows the 3G IPR evolution for Serving Gateway and PDN Gateway.