LTE NB-IoT NPBCH Function | LTE NB NPBCH Physical Layer Processing
This page describes LTE NB-IoT NPBCH function and its basics with respect to LTE-NB IoT Standard. It covers LTE NB NPBCH Physical Layer Processing and NPBCH applications in the system.
Function:
The NPBCH stands for NB-IoT Physical Broadcast Channel. It is used to carry MIB informations to the device in the downlink
by eNB (i.e. Base station). This helps device to operate with NB-IoT network.

Location: As shown in the figure-1, NPBCH uses 640 ms TTI but within the TTI only subframe #0 is used in every radio frame. Following table mentions useful NPBCH informations.
NPBCH information | Value |
---|---|
Subframe | 0 |
Subframe periodicity | 10 ms |
Basic TTI | 640 ms |
Subcarrier spacing | 15 KHz |
Bandwidth | 180 KHz |
Carrier | Anchor |
LTE NB NPBCH Physical Layer Processing

• As shown in the figure-2, 100 REs (Resource Elements) are available for NPBCH in a subframe. NPBCH uses QPSK modulation.
Hence 200 encoded bits can be carried in NPBCH subframe.
• TBS of 34 bits along with 16 bits of CRC will give 50 bits during NPBCH processing.
• These 50 bits are encoded by LTE TBCC and will later rate matched to give output of 1600 encoded bits.
• These 1600 encoded bits are segmented into 8 CSBs (Code Subblocks), having 200 bits size.
Each of these CSBs are mapped to 100 QPSK symbols.

The figure-3 depicts transmission of NPBCH CSBs. On each CSB, a symbol level scrambling is applied to offer robust protection against intercell interference.
Reference: 3GPP 36 series Rel.13, 14, 15
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