Uplink Control Channel Design for 3GPP LTE

Long term evolution (LTE) of the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access and Radio Access Network is aimed for commercial deployment in 2010. Goals for the evolved system include support for improved system capacity and coverage, high peak data rates, low latency, reduced operating costs, multi-antenna support, flexible bandwidth operations and seamless integration with existing systems. To reach these goals, a new design for the air interface is currently being specified in the 3GPP standards body. The Uplink (UL) for LTE is based on Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access. The UL control channel carries non-data associated control signaling like CQI, ACK/NACK, Scheduling request etc. To maintain the low PA power de-rating, the single carrier property of the UL has to be maintained. As such, special consideration should be given to the UL control channel design. This paper discusses in detail the LTE UL control channel design and its performance.