E-UTRAN Node B, also known as Evolved Node B (abbreviated as eNodeB or eNB), is the element in
E-UTRA
E-UTRA is the air interface of 3rd Generation Partnership Project ( 3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) upgrade path for mobile networks. It is an acronym for Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System ( UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access, also ...
of
LTE that is the evolution of the element
Node B in
UTRA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Int ...
of
UMTS
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...
. It is the hardware that is connected to the mobile phone network that communicates directly wirelessly with mobile handsets (
UEs), like a
base transceiver station
A base transceiver station (BTS) is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless communication between user equipment (UE) and a network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets), WLL phones, computers with wireless Internet connectivity, ...
(BTS) in GSM networks.
Traditionally, a
Node B has minimum functionality, and is controlled by a
Radio Network Controller (RNC). However, with an eNB, there is no separate controller element. This simplifies the architecture and allows lower response times.
Differences between an evolved Node B and a Node B
Air interface
eNB uses the E-UTRA protocols
OFDMA
Orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) is a multi-user version of the popular orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) digital modulation scheme. Multiple access is achieved in OFDMA by assigning subsets of subcarriers to ...
(downlink) and
SC-FDMA
Single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) is a frequency-division multiple access scheme. It is also called linearly precoded OFDMA (LP-OFDMA). Like other multiple access schemes (TDMA, FDMA, CDMA, OFDMA), it deals with the assignment of multiple users to a ...
(uplink) on its LTE-Uu interface. By contrast, NodeB uses the
UTRA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Int ...
protocols
WCDMA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...
or
TD-SCDMA
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the In ...
on its
Uu interface
The Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation mobile cellular system for networks based on the GSM standard. Developed and maintained by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), UMTS is a component of the Int ...
.
Control functionality
eNB embeds its own control functionality, rather than using a RNC (Radio Network Controller) as does a Node B.
Network interfaces
eNB interfaces with the
System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core (also known as
Evolved Packet Core
System Architecture Evolution (SAE) is the core network architecture of mobile communications protocol group 3GPP's LTE wireless communication standard.
SAE is the evolution of the GPRS Core Network, but with a simplified architecture; an all-I ...
(EPC)) and other eNB as follows:
[3GPP TS 36.300 V11.0.0 (2011-12)]
* eNB uses the S1-AP protocol on the S1-MME interface with the
Mobility Management Entity
System Architecture Evolution (SAE) is the core network architecture of mobile communications protocol group 3GPP's LTE wireless communication standard.
SAE is the evolution of the GPRS Core Network, but with a simplified architecture; an all-IP ...
(MME) for control plane traffic.
References
External links
* {{cite web , title = LTE Application Notes , url = https://www.scribd.com/doc/222053099/49/eNodeB-and-Cell-parameters
LTE (telecommunication)
Telecommunications infrastructure