5G NG-RAN Architecture
5G NG-RAN Architecture
5G NG-RAN Architecture
Learning objectives
Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:
NG-RAN Architecture
4
5G radio architecture options for cloud RAN gNB
9
NG-RAN Architecture
Overall Architecture
NG NG
NG NG
• a gNB, providing NR user plane and control NG-RAN Xn
plane protocol terminations towards the ng-eNB ng-eNB
UE; or Xn Xn
• an ng-eNB, providing E-UTRA user plane
and control plane protocol terminations
towards the UE. gNB Xn gNB
Uu Uu
UE
UE UE
Functional split between NG-RAN and 5GC
NG-RAN 5GC
UPF
gNB or ng-eNB AMF
Mobility Anchoring
The following identities are used in NG-RAN for identifying a specific network entity:
• used to identify NR cells globally. The NCGI is constructed from the PLMN identity the cell belongs to
NR Cell Global Identifier (NCGI) and the NR Cell Identity (NCI) of the cell.
gNB Identifier (gNB ID) • used to identify gNBs within a PLMN. The gNB ID is contained within the NCI of its cells.
• used to identify gNBs globally. The Global gNB ID is constructed from the PLMN identity the gNB
Global gNB ID belongs to and the gNB ID. The MCC and MNC are the same as included in the NCGI.
• used to identify tracking areas. The TAI is constructed from the PLMN identity the tracking area
Tracking Area identity (TAI) belongs to and the TAC (Tracking Area Code) of the Tracking Area.
For NR connected to 5GC, the following UE identities are used at cell level
• unique identification, which is used as an identifier of the RRC Connection and for
C-RNTI: scheduling
• during some transient states, the UE is temporarily identified with a random value used for
Random value for contention resolution: contention resolution purposes
For NR connected to 5GC, the following UE identities are used at NG-RAN level:
Challenging
RF RF RF RF Radio site
Transport
Functional split in the gNB
DU : Distributed Unit (at RF site), CU: Central Unit (in Central location/cloud)
gNB gNB
Xn-C
CU-CP CU-UP
E1
RRC SDAP Central Unit
RRC SDAP PDCP-U
PDCP-C
Xn-U
PDCP
F1-C Higher layer split F1-U
RLC
DU
MAC
RLC
PHY
MAC
Distributed Unit
PHY
Open Radio Access Network Architecture
• describe 5G NR Protocols
• describe Network Interfaces protocols
• explain the main functions and protocol data units of each protocol layer
Table of contents
5G NR Protocols
4
Network Interfaces protocols
22
5G NR Protocols
NG and Uu user and control plane
UE NG-RAN 5GC
Protocols NAS Non Access Stratum Protocols NAS
(CM,SM..) (NAS) (CM,SM..)
Access Stratum
Radio
NG
(Uu)
The radio interface protocols are defined in 3GPP TS 38.2xx and TS 38.3xx. The NG interface protocols are defined in 3GPP TS 38.41x.
User Plane Protocol Stack
UE gNB
SDAP SDAP
• New Service Data Adaptation Protocol
supports per packet QoS PDCP PDCP
• Processing friendly to support extremely
Layer 2
high bit rates
• Supports very low latency transmissions RLC RLC
and efficient power saving techniques
• Full 5G radio protocol specifications in June MAC MAC
2018 for standalone 5G operation
• In December 2017 version only parts Layer 1 PHY PHY
necessary for the “early drop”
SDAP QoS flow handling QoS flow handling SDAP QoS flow handling
Layer 2 RLC Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ RLC Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ
PDCP PDCP
• Radio Resource Control (RRC) – system
information broadcast, connection and mobility
control in RAN, measurement handling, RLC RLC
configuration of ‚lower’ protocol parameters Layer 2
• Non-Access Stratum (NAS) – connection and MAC MAC
mobility control between UE and Next Generation
Core (NGC)
Layer 1 PHY PHY
n n+1 m
General rules:
• PDU of a layer = SDU of this layer + this layer’s header, e.g. PDCP PDU = PDCP SDU + header
• Upper layer’s PDU becomes a lower layer’s SDU, e.g. RLC PDU becomes MAC SDU
Service Data Adaptation Protocol
UE/NG-RAN NG-RAN/UE
Transmitting Receiving
SDAP SDAP entity SDAP entity
associated to a
associated to a
to a PDCP SDU Reception buffer:
Packets not
Packets not
PDCP SDU
PDCP SDU
• Guarantees in-order delivery without duplicates Reordering
Duplicte discarding
Integrity Protection
Radio bearers
RLC
ROHC ROHC ROHC ROHC
• PDCP
Radio Link Control
• Specified in 38.322 Security Security Security Security
• Takes care of error correction and segmentation.
• The RLC sublayer supports 3 transmission modes: RLC channels
• Transparent Mode (TM)
RLC Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ Segm. ARQ
• Unacknowledged Mode (UM)
• Acknowledged Mode (AM) Logical channels
Scheduling/Priority Handling
Transmitting Receiving
1. Transparent Mode (TM), used for: TM-RLC entity TM-RLC entity
• SRB0 (control information transfer
before RRC connection is established)
• Paging Transmission buffer
• broadcast system information
2. Unacknowledged Mode (UM)
3. Acknowledged Mode (AM)
BCCH/PCCH/CCCH BCCH/PCCH/CCCH
Transparent Mode mode data PDU Model of Transparent Mode mode entity
Radio Link Control UE/GNB GNB/UE
Radio interface (Uu)
UM-RLC channel UM-RLC channel
DTCH DTCH
Example of Unacknowledged Mode Data PDU Model of an unacknowledged mode entity
Radio Link Control
AM-RLC channel
DTCH/DCCH DTCH/DCCH
Segmentation:
RLC SDU n n+1
• Provides error correction functionality based on • Combines ARQ with Forward Error Correction (FEC) functions,
retransmissions of the same packet following NACK and ACK re-sent packet does not necessarily have to be exactly the
indications same
• In NR ARQ is executed on RLC layer and is slower than HARQ • In NR HARQ provides fast retransmissions on PHY layer and
is controlled by MAC
Re
tra
tra
Er
Er
K
K
K
K
ns
ns
ro
ro
NA
NA
AC
AC
m
m
r
r
iss
iss
io
io
n
n
P1 P1 P2 P1A P1B P2A
RX RX
P1A
Combining (CC,IR)
Upper layers
Medium Access Control PCCH BCCH CCCH DCCH DTCH MAC-control
RRC
• Radio Resource Control UE gNB AMF
• Specified in 3GPP TS 38.331
• Enables the message exchange over Uu interface (gNB UE)
• Defines associated procedures NAS NAS
• Responsible for:
• system information broadcast, RRC RRC
• connection establishment
• connection control
PDCP PDCP
• mobility and measurements
RLC RLC
Main differences with LTE
MAC MAC
• On demand system information
• RRC Inactive State
• Beam handling PHY PHY
Radio Resource Control
Reselection NR
E-UTRA
RRC_IDLE RRC_IDLE
Radio Resource Control
NG-U NG-C
User Plane PDUs NG-AP
Xn-U Xn-C
User Plane PDUs Xn-AP
GTP-U
The Xn-C interface supports the
Xn-U provides non-guaranteed delivery following functions:
of user plane PDUs and supports the UDP SCTP
following functions: • Xn interface management;
• Data forwarding; IP IP • UE mobility management, including
context transfer and RAN paging:
• Flow control.
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer • Dual connectivity.
• Describe 5G Spectrum
• Identify 5G NR Operating frequency bands
• Explain Supplementary Uplink
• List supported NR carrier bandwidths
• discuss spectrum sharing mechanisms and flexible spectrum use
Table of contents
5G Spectrum
4
5G NR Operating frequency bands
8
Supplementary Uplink
11
Channel bandwidths
13
Spectrum sharing and flexible spectrum use
19
5G Spectrum
Different spectrum for different use cases
Spectrum Peak
Bands Coverage Bandwidth Use Cases
range Data rates
37-37.6GHz
600MHz (2x35MHz) 2.5GHz (LTE B41) 3.5GHz (150MHz) 5.9–7.1GHz 27.5-28.35GHz 37.6-40GHz 64-71GHz
37-37.6GHz
600MHz (2x35MHz) 3.5GHz (150MHz) 5.9–7.1GHz 27.5-28.35GHz 37.6-40GHz 64-71GHz
3.6–3.8GHz
New 5G band
3.4–3.7GHz 26.5-29.5GHz
Licensed
Unlicensed / shared 3.6–4.2GHz 4.4–4.9GHz 27.5-29.5GHz
Existing band
3.4–3.7GHz 28GHz 39GHz
Spectrum availability
Standards
roadmap 3GPP 5G Phase 1 3GPP 5G Phase 2 3GPP 5G Rel 17 Optimized standard
completing full
Mobile Broadband, Massive IoT
Low latency & high Shared and un- 5G vision
Pre-standard
reliability licensed spectrum
industry specs Future-X-like new core
NSA (*) SA (*)
FR1 FR2
450 MHz – 6000 MHz 24250 MHz – 52600 MHz
Coverage Capacity
5G NR Operating bands
Band Uplink Downlink Duplex These frequency bands will be supported, in accordance with spectrum
requirements defined by Report ITU-R M.2411-0.
n257 26.5 –29.5 GHz 26.5 –29.5 GHz TDD
Transmission Bandwidth
Channel Edge
Channel Edge
[RB]
Resource Block
Active Resource Blocks
Guardband
(can be asymmetric)
Definition of channel bandwidth and transmission bandwidth configuration for one NR channel
Supported NR channel bandwidths
NR Channel bandwidths (MHz) and SCS per operating band in FR1 NR Channel bandwidths (MHz) and SCS per operating band in FR1
Frequency range [MHz] ΔFGlobal [kHz] FREF-Offs [MHz] NREF-Offs Range of NREF
0 – 3000 5 0 0 0 – 599999
3000 – 24250 15 3000 600000 600000 – 2016666
24250 – 100000 60 24250.08 2016667 2016667 – 3279165
NR Frame structure
4
Slot and Mini-Slot
7
Slot patterns
13
NR Frame structure
Frame structure
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
1 Slot/SubF µ=0
Each frame is divided into two equally-sized half-frames of 5 subframes each. with half-frame 0
consisting of subframes 0 – 4 and half-frame 1 consisting of subframes 5 – 9
2 Slot/SubF µ=1 Each subframe consists of an OFDM sub-carrier spacing dependent number of slots. Each slot consists of
14 OFDM symbols
f 8 Slot/SubF µ=3
•0.25 ms slot, 4 slots per sub-frame
60 kHz SCS:
120 kHz SCS: •0.125 ms slot, 8 slots per sub-frame
16 Slot/SubF µ=4
240 kHz SCS: •0.0625 ms slot (only used for synchronization, not for data)
Slot and Mini-Slot
1ms Sub-Frame
Frame • 10 ms
15
Slot (14 symbols)
kHz
1ms (1 slot per sub-frame)
Sub-frame • 1ms Reference period
30
Slot (14 symbols)
kHz
• Slot based scheduling 0.5 ms (2 slots per sub-frame)
• 14 OFDM symbols
Slot • One possible scheduling unit 60
kHz
Slot (14 symbols)
• Slot duration scales with the
0.25ms (4 slots per sub-frame)
subcarrier spacing = 1ms/2µ
120
Slot
kHz
0.125ms (8 slots per sub-frame)
• Non-slot based scheduling
Mini-Slot • 7, 4 or 2 OFDM symbols 240
• Minimum scheduling unit kHz
0.0625ms (only used for synchronization, not for data)
Slot and Mini-Slot
Slot Structure
NR
& 15 66.67 4.76 1000 500 286 143
LTE
Number of OFDM symbols per slot, slots per frame, and slots per subframe for normal cyclic prefix
µ Number of OFDM symbols per slot Number of slots per frame Number of slots per subframe
Number of OFDM symbols per slot, slots per frame, and slots per subframe for extended cyclic prefix
2
Exercise - Solution
Number of OFDM symbols per slot, slots per frame, and slots per subframe for normal cyclic prefix
µ Number of OFDM symbols per slot Number of slots per frame Number of slots per subframe
0 14 10 1
1 14 20 2
2 14 40 4
3 14 80 8
4 14 160 16
Number of OFDM symbols per slot, slots per frame, and slots per subframe for extended cyclic prefix
2 12 40 4
Slot patterns
Slot patterns
Examples for frequencies below 6GHz, 8 beams configured, PRACH config 0 and different DL:UL ratios
SlotPatternLength = 40slots
Slot number 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
9:1 ratio
DL slot
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
8:2 ratio
• Slot patterns can have different length and structure depending on: UL slot
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
7:3 ratio SSB slot
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39
PRACH
5:5 ratio slot
Below are slot pattern examples for FR2, 32 beams configured (analog beamforming on), PRACH config 1 and different DL:UL ratios:
SlotPatternLength = 320slots
9:1 ratio
8:2 ratio
7:3 ratio
5:5 ratio
1 frame (10ms)
Downlink slot
SSB slots for frequencies above 6 GHz are using 2 slots with 240kHz SCS (each Uplink slot
numerology µ = 4 (240kHz Subcarrier spacing), to containing 2 beams info.) can
SSB slot
squeeze 32 SS Blocks containing information about 32 fit into one 120kHz SCS slot,
beams into smaller number of 120kHz SCS slots therefore 32 beams can be PRACH slot
send within 8 120kHz slots
(1ms)
Slot patterns
• Each OFDM symbol can be dynamically assigned for downlink or uplink transmission
• By reading the DL and the UL grant contained in PDCCH channels,
• the UEs dynamically acquire (part of) the slot configuration
Slot patterns
… …
Broadcast in system information Used by UEs for power Meant for less DL/UL switch Slot pattern can be over-written
(optional) consumption optimization point (similar to TDD-LTE) by dedicated slot pattern using
• Common to all cells of a cluster • UEs don’t have to monitor the • Guard Period of several GC-PDCCH
• Up to 2 different patterns can signal during UL pattern symbols can be used with
be concatenated within the reasonable overhead
periodicity