How Downlink Control Information or DCI in LTE?

Downlink Control Information or DCI in LTE

  • The PDCCH carries Downlink Control Information or DCI to indicate the resource assignment in UL or DL for one RNTI.
  • A DCI can convey various pieces of information, but the useful content depends on the specific case of system deployment or operations.
  • If the MIMO is not used during the transmission, there is no need to transmit the MIMO parameter in the DCI.
  • There are several format of DCI defined by the 3GPP for each need.
  • UE feed backs the network with CQI (Channel Quality Indication) giving an estimation of the channel quality

The network adapts downlink transmission accordingly by changing:

  • The coding rate (amount of information bits over number of transmitted bits)
  • The modulation (QPSK, 16QAM, 64QAM)
  • Radio resources are shared among users: a trade-off is needed between maximizing the bitrates and using
  • the smallest amount of resource blocks
  • For MIMO configuration, the RI and PMI are also reported

The main DCI formats are:

  • Format 0
    For scheduling of the PUSCH (UL Grant)
  • Format 1A
    Used during the Random Access Procedure
  • Format 1
    For the scheduling of the PDSCH (DL Grant)
    In case of TxDiv
  • Format 2A
    For the scheduling of the PDSCH (DL Grant)
    In case of Open Loop SU- MIMO
  • Format 2
    For the scheduling of the PDSCH (DL Grant)
    In case of Closed Loop SU- MIMO

Downlink Control Information (DCI) used to grant UL/DL traffic

  • DCI0 for uplink grant of PUSCH
  • DCI1 and DCI1A for downlink grant of PDSCH with one single codeword
  • DCI2 for downlink grant of PDSCH with one or two codewords (closed-loop MIMO)
  • DCI2A for downlink grant of PDSCH with one or two codewords (open-loop MIMO)
  • DCI carried in PDCCH transport channel