Physical Channel Structures and Cell Search Method for Scalable Bandwidth for OFDM Radio Access in Evolved UTRA Downlink

Motohiro TANNO
Kenichi HIGUCHI
Satoshi NAGATA
Yoshihisa KISHIYAMA
Mamoru SAWAHASHI

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E90-B    No.12    pp.3622-3631
Publication Date: 2007/12/01
Online ISSN: 1745-1345
DOI: 10.1093/ietcom/e90-b.12.3622
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: Terrestrial Radio Communications
Keyword: 
OFDM,  evolved UTRA,  cell search,  synchronization channel,  scalable bandwidth,  

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Summary: 
This paper proposes physical channel structures and a cell search method for OFDM based radio access in the Evolved UTRA (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access) downlink, which supports multiple scalable transmission bandwidths from 1.25 to 20 MHz. In the proposed physical channel structures, the central sub-carrier of the OFDM signal is located on the frequency satisfying the 200-kHz raster condition regardless of the transmission bandwidth of the cell site. Moreover, the synchronization channel (SCH) and broadcast channel (BCH), which are necessary for cell search, are transmitted in the central part of the entire transmission spectrum with a fixed bandwidth. In the proposed cell search method, a user equipment (UE) acquires the target cell in the cell search process in the initial or connected mode employing the SCH and possibly the reference signal, which are transmitted in the central part of the given transmission bandwidth. After detecting the target cell, the UE decodes the common control information through the BCH, which is transmitted at the same frequency as the SCH, and identifies the transmission bandwidth of the cell to be connected. Computer simulations show the fast cell search performance made possible by using the proposed SCH structure and the cell search method.