Downlink transport channels:

• Broadcast Channel (BCH)characterized by:
  • Fixed, pre-defined transport format
  • Requirement to be broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell.
• Downlink Shared Channel (DL-SCH)characterized by:
  • Support for HARQ
  • Support for dynamic link adaptation by varying the modulation, coding and transmit power
  • Possibility to be broadcast in the entire cell
  • Possibility to use beamforming
  • Support for both dynamic and semi-static resource allocation
  • Support for UE discontinuous reception (DRX) to enable UE power saving.
• Paging Channel (PCH)characterized by:
  • Support for UE discontinuous reception (DRX) to enable UE power saving (DRX cycle is indicated by the network to the UE)
  • Requirement to be broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell
  • Mapped to physical resources which can be used dynamically also for traffic or other control channels.
• Multicast Channel (MCH) (from Release 9)characterized by:
  • Requirement to be broadcast in the entire coverage area of the cell
  • Support for MBSFN combining of MBMS transmission on multiple cells
  • Support for semi-static resource allocation e.g., with a time frame of a long cyclic prefix.

Uplink transport channels:

• Uplink Shared Channel (UL-SCH)characterized by:
  • Possibility to use beamforming (likely no impact on specifications)
  • Support for dynamic link adaptation by varying the transmit power and potentially modulation and coding
  • Support for HARQ
  • Support for both dynamic and semi-static resource allocation.
• Random Access Channel(s) (RACH)characterized by:
  • Limited control information
  • Collision risk