1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=DcmnJN3Qgx8&list=PLIjcuHcIw1q56zRPztlDxImMVsbhzwR8Z introduction
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npsI6eenugs protocol stack-interfaces
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5EyJFzg7a8 EUTRAN architecture and interfaces

In a mobile network using the Long Term Evolution (LTE) architecture, bearers are the tunnels used
to connect the user equipment to Packet Data Networks (PDNs) such as the Internet. In practice,
bearers are concatenated tunnels that connect the user equipment to the PDN through the Packet
Data Network Gateway (P-GW).

In older architectures, bearers were known as packet data protocol (PDP) contexts. One PDP context
connects to one PDN location by default (this was the default PDP context). Other PDP contexts (up
to 11) could be established to or from the same user device. The maximum of 11 still holds in 4G/LTE
networks. Figure 1 shows the relationship between bearers and P-GWs.

In an LTE mobile network, one default bearer is established to a default P-GW whenever the user
equipment device is activated (this means the user equipment is on and has performed
authentication). There must be at least one default bearer to one default P-GW, but up to 11 other
bearers to the same or other P-GWs can be active to a single user equipment device.

Bearers encapsulate user data with the GPRS tunneling protocol, user plane (GTP-U). The GTP-U
information is in turn sent with UDP and inside IP packets.

Every user equipment device has an “always on” default bearer for each P-GW to which it connects.
For example, if user equipment connects to the Internet through one P-GW and a corporate intranet
through another P-GW, two default bearers will be active. In addition, the user equipment can
establish other dedicated bearers to other PDNs, based on quality-of-service (QoS) requirements. For
instance, viewing a streaming video over the Internet could be done over a dedicated bearer.
Dedicated bearers can use a bandwidth guarantee (a guaranteed bit rate, or GBR) or the user
equipment can establish a non-GBR bearer.

The bearer itself is a concatenated tunnel consisting of three portions (in a non-roaming situation),
established in the following order:

 The S5 bearer—This tunnel connects the Serving Gateway (S-GW) to the P-GW. (The tunnel
can extend from P-GW to PDN service network, but this is not considered here.)
  The S1 bearer—This tunnel connects the evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) radio cell with the
S-GW. Handover establishes a new S1 bearer for end-to-end connectivity.

 The radio bearer—This tunnel connects the user equipment to the eNodeB (eNB). This
bearer follows the mobile user under the direction of the Mobile Management Entity (MME)
as the radio network performs handovers when the user moves from one cell to another.

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In this class we will discuss the protocol stack of LTE network. we will talk about the user plane and
control plane, protocol stack, architecture and different layers in the protocol stack.

we will also see, how does a data packet flow across different layers when data is transmitted from
either UE to network or network to UE.

So let's start the protocols over the air interface, that is between UE and E-UTRAN and over s1
interface that is between E-UTRAN and EPC. These are divided into two structures.

 User plane and E-RAB services provided by these protocols

 control plane

let's have an overview of both these structures

The user plane protocol stack is responsible for transferring user application data. The EPC pair
established between UE and PDN gateway carry the user data through the access Satum(AS). The
user plane protocol provides the E-RAB services, that helps in transferring user data.

The control plane protocol stack is responsible for transferring signalling messages. these protocols
control the E-RABs. it manages and controls the signaling aspects between the UE and network, such
as requesting for a service, controlling different transmission resources, mobility and security.

Both the protocols provide a mechanism for transparent transfer of NAS messages between UE and
MME via eNB.

we will quickly see the concept of sdu and pdu

sdu - service data unit and pdu - protocol data unit

the data packet received by any layer is called an sdu and this sdu is modified by that layer and
transmitted as pdu. The modifications done by protocol layer can be encapsulation, concatenation,
segmentation, padding etc. let's understand this with the help of a diagram

consider these different protocol layers at the sending side let's say for example this is the protocol
stack of an UE and this is the protocol stack layer of the receiving side that is the eNB. Now the data
packet that enters any particular layer is known as sdu.

let's consider layer n+1 which receives a data packet or an sdu from its upper layer, layer n plus 1 will
modify this sdu by adding a header or segmenting or concatenating the packets or add some
padding to it. The new packet formed after these modifications will be transferred to the next layer
below that is layer n, so a packet entering layer n+1 is referred as layer n+1 sdu and after
modifications, when this sdu leaves the layer n+1, it is referred as layer n+ pdu. Now when this layer
n+1 pdu enters the next layer that is layer n, it will be referred as layer and sdu and when this sdu
leaves the layer and after modification it will be referred as layer n pdu.
this concept is followed across all the layers even at the receiving side. The direction of the packet
flow is shown by the arrows as you can see. So this was all about sdu and pdu

let's take a look at the user plane protocol stack architecture. This is the protocol stack at the UE
end and this is the protocol stack at eNB that is E-UTRAN.

At lower layer we have,

 physical layer, which is the layer 1.
 Mac, RLC and PDCP constitutes the layer 2. and a
 above that we have the application layer, which represents the highest layer and it receives
data transfer services from lower layers.

The physical, Mac, RLC and PDCP layers at UE terminates at their respective counterparts at eNB. It
means that, a layer or an entity at UE side communicates with its peer layer or entity at eNB side.
LTE-Uu is the interface between UE and eNB, which is nothing but the air interface.

This is the protocol stack layer at eNB that terminates at serving gateway.
 The connection between eNB and serving gateway is based upon s1 user plane protocol[s1-u].
 The lower layer L1 is the physical layer which is based on electrical or optical connection, for
transferring data to serving gateway[S-GW].
 The GTPU layer at the top represents a GTPU tunnel, that is used to transfer user data
between tunnel Endpoints.
 The GTPU packets are transferred using UDP protocol over IP.
Similar connection is Present between serving gateway and PDN gateway.
 GTPU tunnel is established between these two nodes and they represent a pair of endpoints
as well.
 The connection between serving gateway and PDN gateway is based upon s5/s8 user plane
protocol.
The IP layer of UE terminates at IP layer of PDN gateway.
 PDN gateway assigns ip address to UE, which is used to transfer user data over the packet
switch network.
 PDN gateway connects to the external application server via SGI interface.
The application layer at UE terminates at application server.
 PDN gateway routes the ip packets towards the application server. So this is the complete
protocol stack of user plane.
As you can see, the eNB, serving gateway and PDN gateway relay the application data between UE
and application server.
now let's go through the user plane protocol in little more detail. we will focus mostly on the
protocol stack layers over the air interface that is between UE and eNB.
We saw in the architecture before that, the sub layers Mac, RLC and PDCP at UE side terminates at
eNB on network side.
The list of functions supported by each of these layers. We will concentrate mostly on the air
interface protocol stack between UE and eNB.
Let's start with the functions of Mac layer.
 The mapping between logical and transport channels happens at mac layer.
 The logical channels carry the RLC-pdus, which are mapped to the transport blocks to be sent
over the transport channels.
 The multiplexing and de-multiplexing of Mac-sdu takes place at this layer.
 Mac-sdus are nothing but RLC-pdus, which the output of RLC layer
 Mac layer performs the scheduling related functions in uplink and downlink direction.
 Now the scheduling is done at eNB. Hence Mac layer is responsible for reporting scheduling
related information such as uv buffer occupancy and power headroom.
 Mac layer also supports heart to improve the reliability of transmission.
 Error correction allows Mac layer to inform RLC about any transmission failure, So that the
packet can be retransmitted.
 In case of dynamic scheduling, the Mac layer handles the priority between the uvs. Dynamic
scheduling is used to allocate resources for the transmission. So it decides which uvs should be
given priority for re-transmitting packets.
Now let's look at the RLC layer functions.
 RLC layer performs concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC-sdus.
 The RLC-pdus are re-segmented and reordered before transferring to Mac layer.
 RLC layer also detects, any duplicate packets and if there's any protocol error in any of the
packets.
now coming to the PDCP layer functions.
 PDCP layer performs header compression and decompression.
 Header compression is based on a method called RoHC, that is robust header compression.
It is used to compress the size of the header, which reduces the signalling overhead in the
data packet.
 It also improves the overall bandwidth efficiency.
 The ciphering and deciphering of user data is also done at the PDCP layer.
 As we have discussed, GTPU protocol establishes a tunnel between two nodes for
transferring user data. It is used over s1 interface between eNB and serving gateway.
 GTPU tunnel is also used over x2 interface between two eNBs. It is applicable during inter
eNB handover.
 The overall EPS bearer for transferring user data is formed using radio bearer, which is
between UE and Enb. s1 bearer which is between eNB and serving gateway and s5 bearer,
which is between serving gateway and PDN gateway.
 uplink and downlink data traffic are mapped onto roper bearers or tunnel ids, based on
traffic flow template. traffic flow template are a set of packet filters for the UE, that is
applied in uplink and downlink direction.

moving on next, let's now discuss the control plane protocol stack.
 The control plane protocol stack is responsible for control plane signalling.
  The RRC and NAS layer at the top of the protocol stack at UE end are used for RRC and NAS
signaling purpose.
 The rest of the protocols at the lower layer is same as that of a user plane.

These are the protocol stack layers at eNB side. UE-eNB

 The protocol termination of the lower layers that is Mac, RLC and PDCP between the two
entities are same as that of user plane and LTE-Uu is the physical layer interface between
them.
 now the layer 2 protocols, that is PDCP, RLC and Mac layer deals with the signaling messages
that are transmitted through control channels.
 PDCP handles the integrity protection and ciphering of control messages.
 RLC layer is used to transfer control plane signaling messages in transparent or
acknowledged mode.
 Mac layer is responsible for prioritizing and multiplexing of control and user data from
logical channels.
 It also supports link adaptation and hark.
 The RRC layer is used for signalling between UE and eNB. it uses signaling radio bearers or
SRB for transferring signaling messages.
 The examples of RRC messages include
 RRC connection request,
 RRC reconfiguration request,
 RRC connection release, paging etc.
As you can see here, there is no NAS layer present in eNB hence the NAS layer of UE communicates
directly with the NAS layer of MME.

eNB-MME
This is the protocol stack layer between eNB and MME and the protocol layers terminating at the
corresponding pair entities. and s1 MME is the interface between them.
 So here, eNB is responsible for transferring the NAS messages between UE and MME, as eNB
is the radio interface termination point of UE.
 The NAS messages are piggybacked into the RRC messages while transferring between UE
and MME. eNB only reads and interprets the RRC messages that is meant for it. It does not
interpret the content of NAS messages and forward straight away to MME or UE as received.
 The physical layer processes the data from transport channels by modulating and coding the
information.
  The data is mapped to the resource blocks and OFDM signal is generated to be transmitted
over the air interface.

now let's look at the lower protocol layers between eNB and MIME.
 The s1-AP protocol at the top is used for signaling procedures and transferring messages
between eNB and MIME.
 The s1-AP protocol deals with end user connection procedure such as e-wrap setup,
modification and release, handover preparation, resource allocation, transport of NAS
messages etc.
 It also deals with network management functions, such as s1 setup, eNB and MIME
configuration update, eNB and MIME status transfer etc.
 SCTP, that is session control transmission protocol, it provides a reliable data transfer service.
It is an alternative to tcp and udp. HTTP supports retransmission, which makes it more
reliable. It allows transmission of signaling in parallel streams. The ip protocol is used to route
the ip data between eNB and MIME. The physical layer connection between eNB and MIME
are based upon electrical or optical connection.
 The interface between them is s1 MIME or s1c interface.

Now similar to this, we have x2 control plane protocol stack which is used for signaling between two
eNBs.
 The interface between two eNBs is x2.
 The x2 application protocol or x2-AP at the top of the protocol stack supports various
procedures related to mobility.
 The messages transferred between them are known as x2-AP messages.
 The x2ap messages include handover request, handover acknowledgement, releasing uv
context setup and release of x2 connection etc.
 These messages are primarily used during inter eNB handover.
 The rest of the layers below the x2-AP layer is same as those below s1-AP layer. In s1 control
plane protocol stack.
 HTTP is used over ip for transferring signaling messages and the physical layer is based upon
electrical or optical connection.
let's discuss a little more on control plane protocols.
 So the PDCP, RLC and Mac layers function the same way as we saw for the user plane.
 RRC layer is responsible to perform some important functions. RRC messages are exchanged
between eNB and UE for various purposes.
 eNB broadcasts master information block or system information messages to UE. These
messages contain useful info that help UE to establish a connection with the network.
 eNB also sends paging messages to UE. paging messages allows UE to know if there is any
downlink data available to be received.
 RRC layer manages the RRC connection between UE and network. It allows UE to establish
an RRC connection during initial attach process or when UE wants to move to active state
from idle state. It releases the RRC connection when UE moves to RRC idle state. Any
modifications to be done on existing RRC connection, is done using RRC connection
reconfiguration message.
 When UE loses an RRC connection, then the connection is set up again using RRC connection
re-establishment.
  RRC layer supports in mobility functions, such as handover, cell re-selection, cell redirection
etc.
 UE reports measurement data such as RSRP, RSRQ, SINR, RSSI of its serving and neighbor
cells.
 Based on the measurement report, the UE connection with the network is controlled.
 During its mobility, as UE will be moved to a different cell or eNB based on the measurement
it reports using RRC procedures.
 The NAS layer is responsible for handling functions such as ,managing the EPS bearer. EPS
barrier establishment is part of attached procedure or PDN connectivity procedure. Once
bearer is set up then based on different conditions the bearer can be modified.
 In scenarios such as handover, which requires change in serving gateway and also when QoS
parameters needs to be modified as per service request, then EPS bearer modification is
required and when user ends the active session, EPS bearer shall be released.
 Mutual authentication and establishing security context at NAS and access datum level for
secure transmission of data is also a functionality of NAS layer.
 NAS layer also handles the mobility of UEs in ECM idle state. s1-AP and x2-AP as we
discussed are the two radio network layer application protocols.
 s1ap supports signaling procedures such as radio access barrier management, paging, NAS transport
etc. and
 x2-AP supports inter eNB handover, mobility load management, x2 error handling etc.
 Both s1 ap and x2 ap uses SCTP for transmission of signaling due to its high reliability, better
redundancy and better transmission efficiency.
now let's see the overall picture of how the user data or a signaling message is transferred from
higher layer to lower layer. we will see this only for the radio interface protocol between UE and
eNB.
Let's first start with layer 3. these are the protocol layers of layer 3.

 NAS and RRC are the protocol layers of control plane and internet protocol is the layer of
user plane. There's also an application protocol above the internet protocol.
  Layer 2 protocols: it consists of PDCP, RLC and Mac layer.
 They are used to transfer both signalling as well as user plane data.
 Finally we have layer 1 which is the physical layer.
 The data reaches the physical layer to be transmitted over the air interface.
 Basically the lower layers in the protocol stack provides data transfer services to the higher
layers.
 The data that originates from higher layer needs to be transmitted through a medium for
which the lower layers support them by applying different procedures to the data to make it
suitable for transmission and providing channels. So that the data can be
we have already discussed the functionality of each layer previously.
 The user data from ip layer is transferred to PDCP layer.
 PDCP will perform header compression and ciphering of user data.
 PDCP layer transfers this data known as PDCP-PDU to RLC layer. Between PDCP and RLC
layer there are radio bearers present, that carries the data radio bearers can be signalling
bearer or data bearer.
 RLC layer will perform segmentation, concatenation and reassembly of the data. It will
transfer the packet in either of the three modes that is transparent, unacknowledged and
acknowledged mode. RLC layer maps this data known as RLC-PDUs to different logical
channels and transfers them to Mac layer.
 Mac layer will multiplex or demultiplex the data, add padding bits to it and forms a transport
block. This block is mapped to different transport channels and sent to physical layer.
 Physical layer will process the data packet. It will perform scrambling, modulation and
coding map the data bits to OFDM symbols generate OFDMs signal and transmit over the air
interface.
Now let's look at the control plane part.
 The signaling message from the NAS layer reaches the RRC layer.
 RRC encapsulates the NAS message inside RRC message and transfers it to the PDCP layer as
RRC-PDU.
 Here you can see the RRC layer controls the data at each layer by providing control
information on how the data must be treated at each layer.
 Each layer will then perform different functions and process the data as instructed.
 so this complete procedure that i just explained applies to the sending entity at either UE
side or network side while transmitting uplink data or downlink data.
 Now the same rule applies for the receiving entity as well, but in exactly reverse way.
So let's summarize the concept quickly.
 The radio air interface protocols between UE and eNB in access stratum(AS) consists of three
layers, layer 1 that is physical layer,
 layer 2 that is Mac RLC and PDCP layer and
 layer 3 that is RRC layer.
 The data flows from higher layer to lower physical layer at the transmitter end and from
physical layer to higher layers at the receiver end.
 The lower layers serve the higher layers with data transfer services.
 ome of the services provided by the lower layers to the application data from the upper
layer are ciphering, segmentation, and concatenation, multiplexing, mapping of data to
channels resource assignment etc.