Who Should Attend?

The course is intended for technical GSM/UMTS staff and their management who plan to or already work on introducing LTE/SAE network.

Course Content

1. Introduction (generations of the cellular systems, requirements for the evolved UMTS, multiple access, duplex division, frequency reuse and modulation technologies).
2. Network architecture
   • EPC – Evolved Packet Core (MME -Mobility Management Entity, S-GW – Serving Gateway, P-GW – Packet Data Network Gateway, HSS - Home Subscriber Server, EIR - Equipment Identity Register, PCRF - Policy and Charging Rules Function),
   • E-UTRAN (UTRAN and E-UTRAN architecture comparison, evolved Node B – eNB, the need for eNB-eNB X2 interface),
   • Architecture for interworking with GERAN/UTRAN (Serving GPRS Support Node - SGSN, interfaces: S3, S4, S12 and one tunnel option),
   • Architecture for roaming (user traffic routed to the HPLMN, local breakout),
   • Architecture for interworking with non-3GPP IP access (WLAN, WiMax) (trusted and untrusted non-3GPP IP acces, evolved Packet Data Gateway – ePDG, Authentication Authorisation and Accounting – AAA),
   • Interfaces and protocol stacks,
   • Gographical network structure (Tracking Area – TA and TA list registration),
   • Identity numbers (IMSI, MSISDN, IMEI, PDP address, GUTI, S-TMSI, M-TMSI).
3. OFDMA and SC-FDMA (Fourier Transform - FT and Discrete Fourier Transform - DFT, orthogonality of frequencies, channel separation in FDMA and OFDM, transmission example, implementation, advantages and disadvantages of OFDM, OFDMA,
   SC-FDMA).
4. Air interface
   • Frequency bands,
   • Inter-Cell Interference – ICI (ICI randomization, cancellation, co-ordination / avoidance),
   • Duplex mode (FDD and TDD),
   • Basic structures and parameters (resource grid, resource block, radio frame, reference symbols),
   • Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service – MBMS (single cell and multi-cell MBMS options),
   • Channels (radio, physical, transport, logical channels and their characteristics, UTRAN and E-UTRAN channel comparicon),
   • Cell search, synchronization and initial access,
   • Transmission process (UL/DL scheduling, HARQ acknowledgements and retransmissions).
5. Traffic Cases
   • Attach and detach,
   • Tracking Area Update,
   • Communication session establishment,
   • Security Function,
   • Handover and Intersystem handover,
6. Backbone network (GTP and PMIP comparison).
7. Policy Control and Charging - PCC (PCC in UMTS R5-, R6 and UMTS/EPS R8, Policy Decision Function - PDF, Charging Rules Function – CRF, Policy and Charging Rules Function – PCRF, interaction with services, flow based charging and policy control).
8. Services (voice and multimedia connections, push-to-talk, presence service, multicast and broadcast services, other IMS based services).

Course Objectives

The 3GPP evolution for the 3G mobile system created the UTRAN Long Term Evolution (LTE) and System Architecture Evolution (SAE) network. Under these specifications a mobile phone gets access to higher bandwidth with low latency in an improved and more efficient network architecture. The standards define an all-IP network as a base for the LTE/SAE. The LTE/SAE does not have a separate PS data traffic and CS voice network, both communicate over the same new Evolved Packet System (EPS) network. EPS (LTE/SAE) Technology course is an intermediate technical course, which covers all aspects of architecture and functionality of the EPS.

Pre-requisites

The participants should have attended the following courses for better
understanding:

• UMTS Technology,
• WCDMA Air Interface,

or have the equivalent knowledge on UMTS.

Training structure

Two days training divided into logical sessions.

Methodology

Lectures and theoretical exercises.