LTE-PHY-PRACH-White Paper

PRACH - Preamble Detection and

Timing Advance Estimation for multi-

UE in 3GPP LTE

Mymo Wireless Technology Pvt Ltd, www.mymowireless.com

1. INTRODUCTION

An LTE User Equipment (UE) can only be scheduled for uplink transmission if its uplink

transmission timing is synchronized. The LTE Random Access Channel (RACH) plays a key role as

an interface between non-synchronized UEs and the orthogonal transmission scheme of the LTE

uplink radio access. Random access is generally performed when the UE powers-on or turns-on from

sleep mode or during the handoff from one cell to another or when it loses uplink timing

synchronization. At the time of random access, it is assumed that the UE is time-synchronized with

the eNodeB on the downlink. Therefore, when a UE turns on from sleep mode, it first acquires

downlink timing synchronization. The downlink timing synchronization is achieved by receiving

primary and secondary synchronization sequences. After acquiring downlink timing synchronization

and receiving system information including information on parameters specific to random access, the

UE can perform the random access preamble transmission. Random access allows the eNodeB to

estimate and, if needed, adjust the UE uplink transmission timing to within a fraction of the cyclic

prefix. When an eNodeB successfully receives a random access preamble, it sends a random access

response indicating the successfully received preamble(s) along with the timing advance (TA) and

uplink resource allocation information to the UE. The UE can then determine if its random access

attempt has been successful by matching the preamble number it used for random access with the

preamble number information received from the eNodeB. If the preamble number matches, the UE

assumes that its preamble transmission attempt has been successful and it then uses the TA

information to adjust its uplink timing. After the UE has acquired uplink timing synchronization, it

can send uplink scheduling.

CP SEQUENCE GUARD

TIME

PRACH PREAMBLE

PRACH SLOT DURATION

Figure 1 Structure of LTE PRACH signal

The LTE PRACH preamble consists of a complex sequence which is an OFDM symbol, built with a

CP (part of the end of the sequence is appended at the start of the preamble), thus allowing for an

efficient frequency-domain receiver at the eNodeB. The preamble length is shorter than the PRACH

slot in order to provide room for a Guard Time (GT) to absorb the propagation delay.

2. RANDOM ACCESS PROCEDURE

The LTE random access procedure comes in two forms, allowing access to be either contention-based

(implying an inherent risk of collision) or contention-free. A UE initiates a contention-based random

access procedure in which a random access preamble signature is randomly chosen by the UE, with

the result that it is possible for more than one UE simultaneously to transmit the same signature,

leading to a need for a subsequent contention resolution process. For the use-cases which includes

new downlink data and handover the eNodeB has the option of preventing contention occurring by

allocating a dedicated signature to a UE, resulting in contention-free access. This is faster than

contention-based access – a factor which is particularly important for the case of handover, which is

time-critical.


A fixed number (64) of preamble signatures is available in each LTE cell, and the operation of the two

types of RACH procedure depends on a partitioning of these signatures between those for contention-

based access and those reserved for allocation to specific UEs on a contention-free basis. The two

procedures are outlined in the following sections.

Figure 2 Contention-based Random Access Procedure

2.1 Contention-Based Random Access Procedure:

The contention-based procedure consists of four-steps as shown in Figure 2:

• Step 1: Preamble transmission;

• Step 2: Random access response;

• Step 3: Layer 2 / Layer 3 (L2/L3) message;

• Step 4: Contention resolution message.

Step 1: Preamble Transmission

The UE selects one of the 64 – cfN available PRACH contention-based signatures, where cfN is the

number of signatures reserved by the eNodeB for contention-free RACH. The set of contention-based

signatures is further subdivided into two subgroups, so that the choice of signature can carry one bit of

information to indicate information relating to the amount of transmission resource needed to transmit

the message at Step 3. The broadcast system information indicates which signatures are in each of the

two subgroups (each subgroup corresponding to one value of the one bit of information), as well as

the meaning of each subgroup. The UE selects a signature from the subgroup corresponding to the

size of transmission resource needed for the appropriate RACH use case (some use cases require only

a few bits to be transmitted at Step 3, so choosing the small message size avoids allocating

unnecessary uplink resources), which may also take into account the observed downlink radio channel

conditions. The eNodeB can control the number of signatures in each subgroup according to the


observed loads in each group. The initial preamble transmission power setting is based on an open-

loop estimation with full compensation for the path-loss. This is designed to ensure that the received

power of the preambles is independent of the path-loss; this is designed to help the eNodeB to detect

several simultaneous preamble transmissions in the same time-frequency PRACH resource. The UE

estimates the path-loss by averaging measurements of the downlink Reference Signal Received Power

(RSRP). The eNodeB may also configure an additional power offset, depending for example on the

desired received signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR), the measured uplink interference and

noise level in the time-frequency slots allocated to RACH preambles, and possibly also on the

preamble format .

Step 2: Random Access Response

The Random Access Response (RAR) is sent by the eNodeB on the Physical Downlink Shared

Channel (PDSCH), and addressed with an ID, the Random Access Radio Network Temporary

Identifier (RA-RNTI), identifying the time-frequency slot in which the preamble was detected. If

multiple UEs had collided by selecting the same signature in the same preamble time-frequency

resource, they would each receive the RAR. The RAR conveys the identity of the detected preamble,

a timing alignment instruction to synchronize subsequent uplink transmissions from the UE, an initial

uplink resource grant for transmission of the Step 3 message, and an assignment of a Temporary Cell

Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) (which may or may not be made permanent as a result

of the next step – contention resolution). The RAR message can also include a ‘backoff indicator’

which the eNodeB can set to instruct the UE to back off for a period of time before retrying a random

access attempt.

The UE expects to receive the RAR within a time window, of which the start and end are configured

by the eNodeB and broadcast as part of the cell-specific system information. The earliest subframe

allowed by the specifications occurs 2 ms after the end of the preamble subframe, as illustrated in

Figure 3. However, a typical delay (measured from the end of the preamble subframe to the beginning

of the first subframe of RAR window) is more likely to be 4 ms. Figure 2 shows the RAR consisting

of the step 2 message (on PDSCH) together with its downlink transmission resource allocation

message ‘G’ (on Physical Downlink Control Channel).

Figure 3 Timing of the Random Access Response (RAR) window.

If the UE does not receive a RAR within the configured time window, it retransmits the preamble.

The minimum delay for preamble retransmission after the end of the RAR window is 3 ms. (If the UE

receives the PDCCH signalling the downlink resource used for the RAR but cannot satisfactorily

decode the RAR message itself, the minimum delay before preamble re-transmission is increased to 4

ms, to allow for the time taken by the UE in attempting to decode the RAR.) The eNodeB may

configure preamble power ramping so that the transmission power for each retransmitted preamble is

increased by a fixed step.

Step 3: Layer 2/Layer 3 (L2/L3) Message

This message is the first scheduled uplink transmission on the PUSCH and makes use of Hybrid

Automatic Repeat request (HARQ). It conveys the actual random access procedure message, such as

an RRC connection request, tracking area update, or scheduling request. It includes the Temporary C-

RNTI allocated in the RAR at Step 2 and either the C-RNTI if the UE already has one


(RRC_CONNECTED UEs) or the (unique) 48-bit UE identity. In case of a preamble collision having

occurred at Step 1, the colliding UEs will receive the same Temporary C-RNTI through the RAR and

will also collide in the same uplink time-frequency resources when transmitting their L2/L3 message.

This may result in such interference that no colliding UE can be decoded, and the UEs restart the

random access procedure after reaching the maximum number of HARQ retransmissions. However, if

one UE is successfully decoded, the contention remains unresolved for the other UEs. The following

downlink message (in Step 4) allows a quick resolution of this contention. If the UE successfully

receives the RAR, the UE minimum processing delay before message 3 transmission is 5 ms minus

the round-trip propagation time. This is shown in Figure 4 for the case of the largest supported cell

size of 100 km.

Figure 4 Timing of the message 3 transmission.

Step 4: Contention Resolution Message

The contention resolution message is addressed to the C-RNTI or Temporary C-RNTI, and, in the

latter case, echoes the UE identity contained in the L2/L3 message. It supports HARQ. In case of a

collision followed by successful decoding of the L2/L3 message, the HARQ feedback is transmitted

only by the UE which detects its own UE identity (or C-RNTI); other UEs understand there was a

collision, transmit no HARQ feedback, and can quickly exit the Current random access procedure and

start another one. The UE’s behaviour upon reception of the contention resolution message therefore

has three possibilities:

• The UE correctly decodes the message and detects its own identity: it sends back a positive

ACKnowledgement, ‘ACK’.

• The UE correctly decodes the message and discovers that it contains another UE’s identity

(contention resolution): it sends nothing back (Discontinuous Transmission, ‘DTX’).

• The UE fails to decode the message or misses the DL grant: it sends nothing back (‘DTX’).

2.2 Contention-Free Random Access Procedure:

The slightly unpredictable latency of the random access procedure can be circumvented for some use

cases where low latency is required, such as handover and resumption of downlink traffic for a UE, by

allocating a dedicated signature to the UE on a per-need basis. In this case the procedure is simplified

as shown in Figure 5. The procedure terminates with the RAR.


Figure 5 Contention-free Random Access Procedure.

3. PRACH RESOURCE ALLOCATION

The transmission of a random access preamble is restricted to certain time and frequency resources.

These resources are enumerated in increasing order of the subframe number within the radio frame

and the physical resource blocks in the frequency domain such that index 0 correspond to the lowest

numbered physical resource block and subframe within the radio frame. PRACH resource allocations

will be different for FDD mode and TDD mode. The following section describes frame structure in

LTE and PRACH resource allocations for Frame structure type1 (applicable to FDD) and Frame

structure type 2(applicable to TDD).

3.1 Frame structure:

Downlink and uplink transmissions are organized into radio frames with fT = 307200× sT =10 ms

duration. Two radio frame structures are supported:

- Type 1, applicable to FDD,

- Type 2, applicable to TDD.

Throughout this specification, unless otherwise noted, the size of various fields in the time domain is

expressed as a number of time units sT = 1 / (15000×2048) seconds.

3.1.1 Frame structure type 1:

Frame structure type 1 shown in Figure 6 is applicable to both full duplex and half duplex FDD. Each

radio frame is 10 ms long and consists of 20 slots of length slotT =15360x sT = 0.5 ms, numbered from

0 to 19. A subframe is defined as two consecutive slots where subframe i consists of slots 2 i and 2 i

+1. For FDD, 10 subframes are available for downlink transmission and 10 subframes are available

for uplink transmissions in each 10 ms interval. Uplink and downlink transmissions are separated in

the frequency domain.


Figure 6 Frame structure type 1

3.1.1.1 PRACH Resources for Frame structure type 1:

For frame structure type 1 with preamble format 0-3, there is at most one random access resource per

subframe. Table 1 lists the Frame structure type 1 random access configuration for preamble format 0-

3.and the subframes in which random access preamble transmission is allowed for a given

configuration in frame structure type 1. The parameter prach-ConfigurationIndex is given by higher

layers. The start of the random access preamble shall be aligned with the start of the corresponding

uplink subframe at the UE assuming TAN = 0. For PRACH configuration 0, 1, 2, 15, 16, 17, 18, 31,

32, 33, 34, 47, 48, 49, 50 and 63 the UE may for handover purposes assume an absolute value of the

relative time difference between radio frame i in the current cell and the target cell of less than

153600⋅ sT . The first physical resource block RB

PRBn allocated to the PRACH opportunity considered

for preamble format 0, 1, 2 and 3 is defined as RB

PRBn = RB

PRBoffsetn , where the parameter prach-

FrequencyOffset RB

PRBoffsetn is expressed as a physical resource block number configured by higher

layers and fulfilling 0 ≤ RB

PRBoffsetn ≤ UL

RBN − 6 .

Table 1 Frame structure type 1 random access configuration for preamble format 0-3.

PRACH

Configuration

Index

Preamble Format System frame number Subframe number

0 0 Even 1

1 0 Even 4

2 0 Even 7

3 0 Any 1

4 0 Any 4

5 0 Any 7

6 0 Any 1 ,6

7 0 Any 2 , 7

8 0 Any 3 , 8

9 0 Any 1 , 4 , 7

10 0 Any 2 , 5, 8

11 0 Any 3, 6 , 9

12 0 Any 0, 2, 4, 6, 8

13 0 Any 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

14 0 Any 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,

5, 6, 7, 8, 9

15 0 Even 9

16 1 Even 1


17 1 Even 4

18 1 Even 7

19 1 Any 1

20 1 Any 4

21 1 Any 7

22 1 Any 1, 6

23 1 Any 2 ,7

24 1 Any 3, 8

25 1 Any 1, 4, 7

26 1 Any 2, 5, 8

27 1 Any 3, 6, 9

28 1 Any 0, 2, 4, 6, 8

29 1 Any 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

30 N/A N/A N/A

31 1 Even 9

32 2 Even 1

33 2 Even 4

34 2 Even 7

35 2 Any 1

36 2 Any 4

37 2 Any 7

38 2 Any 1 ,6

39 2 Any 2 , 7

40 2 Any 3 , 8

41 2 Any 1 , 4 , 7

42 2 Any 2 , 5, 8

43 2 Any 3, 6 , 9

44 2 Any 0, 2, 4, 6, 8

45 2 Any 1, 3, 5, 7, 9

46 N/A N/A N/A

47 2 Even 9

48 3 Even 1

49 3 Even 4

50 3 Even 7

51 3 Any 1

52 3 Any 4

53 3 Any 7

54 3 Any 1, 6

55 3 Any 2 ,7

56 3 Any 3, 8

57 3 Any 1, 4, 7

58 3 Any 2, 5, 8

59 3 Any 3, 6, 9

61 N/A N/A N/A

62 N/A N/A N/A

63 3 Even 9


3.1.2 Frame structure type 2:

Frame structure type 2 shown in Figure 7 is applicable to both full duplex and half duplex FDD. Each

radio frame is 10 ms long and consists of 20 slots of length slotT =15360x sT = 0.5 ms, numbered from

0 to 19. Each half-frame consists of five subframes of length 30720x sT =1 ms. The supported uplink-

downlink configurations are listed in Table-2 where, for each subframe in a radio frame, “D” denotes

the subframe is reserved for downlink transmissions, “U” denotes the subframe is reserved for uplink

transmissions and “S” denotes a special subframe with the three fields DwPTS, GP and UpPTS. The

total length of DwPTS, GP and UpPTS being equal to 30720⋅ sT =1 ms . Each subframe i is defined as

two slots, 2 i and 2 i +1 of length slotT = 15360⋅ sT = 0.5 ms in each subframe.

Uplink-downlink configurations with both 5 ms and 10 ms downlink-to-uplink switch-point

periodicity are supported. In case of 5 ms downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicity, the special

subframe exists in both half-frames. In case of 10 ms downlink-to-uplink switch-point periodicity, the

special subframe exists in the first half-frame only. Subframes 0 and 5 and DwPTS are always

reserved for downlink transmission. UpPTS and the subframe immediately following the special

subframe are always reserved for uplink transmission.

Figure 7 Frame Structure type 2

Table 2 Uplink –Downlink Configurations for Frame structure type 2


UL-DL configuration

DL-to-UL Switch-point periodicity

Subframe number

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

0 5 ms D S U U U D S U U U

1 5 ms D S U U D D S U U D

2 5 ms D S U D D D S U D D

3 10 ms D S U U U D D D D D

4 10 ms D S U U D D D D D D

5 10 ms D S U D D D D D D D

6 5 ms D S U U U D S U U D

3.1.2.1 PRACH Resources for frame structure type 2:

For frame structure type 2 with preamble format 0-4, there might be multiple random access resources

in an UL subframe (or UpPTS for preamble format 4) depending on the UL-DL configuration [see

Table 2]. Table 3 lists PRACH configurations allowed for frame structure type 2 where the

configuration index corresponds to a certain combination of preamble format, PRACH density value,

RAD , and version index, RAr . The parameter prach-ConfigurationIndex is given by higher layers. For

frame structure 2 PRACH configuration 0, 1, 2, 20, 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42, 48, 49 and 50, the

UE may for handover purposes assume an absolute value of the relative time difference between radio

frame i in the current cell and the target cell is less than 153600⋅ sT .

Table 3 Frame structure type 2 random access configurations for preamble format 0-4

PRACH

Configuration

Index

Preamble

Format

Density per 10 ms

( RAD )

Version

( RAr )

0 0 0.5 0

1 0 0.5 1

2 0 0.5 2

3 0 1 0

4 0 1 1

5 0 1 2

6 0 2 0

7 0 2 1

8 0 2 2

9 0 3 0

10 0 3 1

11 0 3 2

12 0 4 0

13 0 4 1

14 0 4 2

15 0 5 0

16 0 5 1

17 0 5 2

18 0 6 0

19 0 6 1

20 1 0.5 0

21 1 0.5 1

22 1 0.5 2

23 1 1 0


24 1 1 1

25 1 2 0

26 1 3 0

27 1 4 0

28 1 5 0

29 1 6 0

30 2 0.5 0

31 2 0.5 1

32 2 0.5 2

33 2 1 0

34 2 1 1

35 2 2 0

36 2 3 0

37 2 4 0

38 2 5 0

39 2 6 0

40 3 0.5 0

41 3 0.5 1

42 3 0.5 2

43 3 1 0

44 3 1 1

45 3 2 0

46 3 3 0

47 3 4 0

48 4 0.5 0

49 4 0.5 1

50 4 0.5 2

51 4 1 0

52 4 1 1

53 4 2 0

54 4 3 0

55 4 4 0

56 4 5 0

57 4 6 0

58 N/A N/A N/A

59 N/A N/A N/A

60 N/A N/A N/A

61 N/A N/A N/A

62 N/A N/A N/A

63 N/A N/A N/A

Table 4 lists the mapping to physical resources for the different random access opportunities needed

for a certain PRACH density value, RAD . Each quadruple of the format (

210 ,,, RARARARA tttf ) indicates

the location of a specific random access resource, where RAf is a frequency resource index

within the considered time instance, 0

RAt =0 ,1,2 indicates whether the resource is reoccurring in

all radio frames, in even radio frames, or in odd radio frames, respectively, 1

RAt = 0,1

indicates whether the random access resource is located in first half frame or in second half frame,

respectively, and where 2

RAt is the uplink subframe number where the preamble starts, counting from


0 at the first uplink subframe between 2 consecutive downlink-to-uplink switch points, with the

exception of preamble format 4 where 2

RAt is denoted as (*). The start of the random access

preamble formats 0-3 shall be aligned with the start of the corresponding uplink subframe at the UE

assuming TAN = 0 and the random access preamble format 4 shall start 4832⋅ sT before the end of

the UpPTS at the UE, where the UpPTS is referenced to the UE’s uplink frame timing assuming TAN

= 0 . The random access opportunities for each PRACH configuration shall be allocated in time first

and then in frequency if and only if time multiplexing is not sufficient to hold all opportunities of a

PRACH configuration needed for a certain density value RAD without overlap in time. For preamble

format 0-3, the frequency multiplexing shall be done according to

otherwise,2

66

02mod if,2

6

RARA

offsetPRB

UL

RB

RARARA

offsetPRBRA

PRB fnN

ff

n

n

where UL

RBN is the number of uplink resource blocksRB

PRBn is the first physical resource block

allocated to the PRACH opportunity considered and where the parameter prach-FrequencyOffset RB

PRBoffsetn is the first physical resource block available for PRACH expressed as a physical resource

block number configured by higher layers and fulfilling 0 ≤ RB

PRBoffsetn ≤ UL

RBN − 6 .

For preamble format 4, the frequency multiplexing shall be done according to

otherwise),1(6

02mod)2()2mod( if,6 1

RA

UL

RB

RASPfRARA

PRBfN

tNnfn

Where fn is the system frame number and where SPN is the number of DL to UL switch points

within the radio frame. Each random access preamble occupies a bandwidth corresponding to 6

consecutive resource blocks for both frame structure.

Table 4 Frame structure type 2 random access preamble mapping in time and frequency


PRACH

configuration Index

UL/DL configuration

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

0 (0,1,0,2) (0,1,0,1) (0,1,0,0) (0,1,0,2) (0,1,0,1) (0,1,0,0) (0,1,0,2)

1 (0,2,0,2) (0,2,0,1) (0,2,0,0) (0,2,0,2) (0,2,0,1) (0,2,0,0) (0,2,0,2)

2 (0,1,1,2) (0,1,1,1) (0,1,1,0) (0,1,0,1) (0,1,0,0) N/A (0,1,1,1)

3 (0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2)

4 (0,0,1,2) (0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,1,1)

5 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,1)

6 (0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,1)

7 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,2)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

8 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,1)

9 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,1)

10 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,1,0)

N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

11 N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

N/A N/A N/A N/A (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

12 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

13 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,2)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,1)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,1)

14 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

15 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

(4,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

16 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,1,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,0)

N/A N/A

17 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,1)

N/A N/A N/A

18 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,1,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(2,0,1,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,2)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

(4,0,0,0)

(5,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,2)

19 N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

N/A N/A N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,2)


(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,1,1)

20 / 30 (0,1,0,1) (0,1,0,0) N/A (0,1,0,1) (0,1,0,0) N/A (0,1,0,1)

21 / 31 (0,2,0,1) (0,2,0,0) N/A (0,2,0,1) (0,2,0,0) N/A (0,2,0,1)

22 / 32 (0,1,1,1) (0,1,1,0) N/A N/A N/A N/A (0,1,1,0)

23 / 33 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,1)

24 / 34 (0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) N/A N/A N/A N/A (0,0,1,0)

25 / 35 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

N/A (0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

26 / 36 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,1)

27 / 37 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(3,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,0)

28 / 38 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,0,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(3,0,0,1)

(4,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

(4,0,0,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,0,1)

29 /39 (0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(2,0,1,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(2,0,1,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(1,0,0,1)

(2,0,0,1)

(3,0,0,1)

(4,0,0,1)

(5,0,0,1)

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

(4,0,0,0)

(5,0,0,0)

N/A

(0,0,0,1)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,1)

(1,0,1,0)

(2,0,0,1)

(2,0,1,0)

40 (0,1,0,0) N/A N/A (0,1,0,0) N/A N/A (0,1,0,0)

41 (0,2,0,0) N/A N/A (0,2,0,0) N/A N/A (0,2,0,0)

42 (0,1,1,0) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

43 (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

44 (0,0,1,0) N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A

45 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

46 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

N/A

N/A

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

N/A

N/A

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

47 (0,0,0,0)

(0,0,1,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(1,0,1,0)

N/A

N/A

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

N/A

N/A

(0,0,0,0)

(1,0,0,0)

(2,0,0,0)

(3,0,0,0)

48 (0,1,0,*) (0,1,0,*) (0,1,0,*) (0,1,0,*) (0,1,0,*) (0,1,0,*) (0,1,0,*)

49 (0,2,0,*) (0,2,0,*) (0,2,0,*) (0,2,0,*) (0,2,0,*) (0,2,0,*) (0,2,0,*)

50 (0,1,1,*) (0,1,1,*) (0,1,1,*) N/A N/A N/A (0,1,1,*)

51 (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*)

52 (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) N/A N/A N/A (0,0,1,*)

53 (0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

54 (0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

55 (0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

56 (0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)


(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(4,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(4,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(4,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

57 (0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(2,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(2,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(2,0,1,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(4,0,0,*)

(5,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(4,0,0,*)

(5,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(3,0,0,*)

(4,0,0,*)

(5,0,0,*)

(0,0,0,*)

(0,0,1,*)

(1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*)

(2,0,0,*)

(2,0,1,*)

58 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A






4. SEQUENCE DURATION:

The sequence duration seqT is driven by the following factors:

Trade-off between sequence length and overhead: a single sequence must be as long as possible

to maximize the number of orthogonal preambles , while still fitting within a single sub frame in

order to keep the PRACH overhead small in most deployments;

Compatibility with the maximum expected round-trip delay;

Compatibility between PRACH and PUSCH subcarrier spacing;

Coverage performance.

4.1 Maximum round-trip time:

The lower bound for seqT must allow for unambiguous round-trip time estimation for a UE located at

the edge of the largest expected cell (i.e.100 km radius), including the maximum delay spread

expected in such large cells, namely 16.67 μs. Hence

seqT ≥ ((200103)/(310

8))+(16.6710

-6)=683.33μsec

4.2 Subcarrier spacing compatibility:

Further constraints on seqT are given by the Single- Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) signal generation

principle, such that the size of the DFT and IDFT where DFTN is DFT length and must be an integer

number:

DFTN = sf seqT = k , Nk

Where sf is the system sampling rate (e.g. 30.72 MHz). Additionally, it is desirable to minimize the

orthogonality loss in the frequency domain between the preamble subcarriers and the subcarriers of

the surrounding uplink data transmissions. This is achieved if the PUSCH data symbol subcarrier

spacing ∆f is an integer multiple of the PRACH subcarrier spacing fraf

fraf = sf / DFTN = 1/ seqT =1/ k symT = f / k , Nk

where symT = 66.67 μs is the uplink subframe symbol duration. In other words, the preamble duration

must be an integer multiple of the uplink subframe symbol duration:

seqT = k symT = k / f , Nk


5. PREAMBLE FORMATS:

Depending on the duration of the sequence and also the duration of CP (cyclic prefix), GT (guard

time) four different formats are present as shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Preamble Formats

Preamble

format CPT SEQT

0 s3168 T s24576 T 1 s21024 T s24576 T 2 s6240 T s245762 T 3 s21024 T s245762 T

4*

s448 T s4096 T

The resulting cell radius and delay spread ranges associated with the four PRACH preamble formats.

The CP lengths are designed to be an integer multiple of the assumed system sampling period for

LTE, sT= 1/(30.72MHz).

6. PREAMBLE SEQUENCE THEORY AND DESIGN:

In LTE prime-length Zadoff–Chu (ZC) sequences have been chosen to generate the preamble

sequence. These sequences enable improved PRACH preamble detection performance. In particular:

- The power delay profile is built from periodic instead of aperiodic correlation

- The intra-cell interference between different preambles received in the same PRACH resource is

reduced

- Intra-cell interference is optimized with respect to cell size: the smaller the cell size, the larger the

number of orthogonal signatures and the better the detection performance

- The eNodeB complexity is reduced

- The support for high-speed UEs is improved

6.1 Zadoff–Chu Sequences:

ZC sequences are non-binary unit-amplitude sequences, which satisfy a Constant Amplitude

Zero Autocorrelation (CAZAC) property. CAZAC sequences are complex signals of the form kj

e

.The ZC sequence of odd-length ZCN is given by

)(nq = )2

)1(

2exp(zcN

nlnn

qj

Where: q = {0,1,………. ZCN } is the ZC sequence root index

n = {0,1,2……… ZCN }

l =any integer. But in LTE we take l =0 for simplicity


ZC sequences have the following three important properties:

Property1: A ZC sequence has constant amplitude, and its l point DFT also has constant

amplitude. The constant amplitude property limits the Peak-to-Average Power Ratio (PAPR) and

generates bounded and time-flat interference to other users. It also simplifies the implementation as

only phases need to be computed and stored, not amplitudes

Property 2: ZC sequences of any length have ‘ideal’ cyclic autocorrelation (i.e. the correlation with

its circularly shifted version is a delta function). The zero autocorrelation property may be formulated

as:

)()][()(1

0

nnr q

N

n

qkk

zc

Where (.)kkr is the discrete periodic autocorrelation function of q at lag σ. This property is of major

interest when the received signal is correlated with a reference sequence and the received reference

sequences are misaligned.

Property 3: The absolute value of the cyclic cross-correlation function between any two ZC

sequences is constant and equal to 1/ )( ZCNsqrt if |q1 − q2| (where 1q and 2q are the sequence

indices) is relatively prime with respect to (a condition that can be easily guaranteed if ZCN is a prime

number). The cross-correlation of )( ZCNsqrt at all lags achieves the theoretical minimum cross-

correlation value for any two sequences that have ideal autocorrelation. Selecting ZCN as a prime

number results in ( ZCN − 1) ZC sequences which have the optimal cyclic cross-correlation between

any pair. However, it is not always convenient to use sequences of prime length. In general, a

sequence of non-prime length may be generated by either cyclic extension or truncation of a prime-

length ZC sequence. A further useful property of ZC sequences is that the DFT of a ZC sequence

)(nq is a weighted cyclically shifted ZC sequence )(kX x such that qw /1 mod ZCN . This

means that a ZC sequence can be generated directly in the frequency domain without the need for a

DFT operation.

6.2 PREAMBLE SEQUENCE LENGTH:

The sequence length design should address the following requirements:

- Maximize the number of ZC sequences with optimal cross-correlation properties.

- Minimize the interference to/from the surrounding scheduled data on the PUSCH.

The former requirement is guaranteed by choosing a prime-length sequence. For the latter, since data

and preamble OFDM symbols are neither aligned nor have the same durations, strict orthogonality

cannot be achieved. At least, fixing the preamble duration to an integer multiple of the PUSCH

symbol provides some compatibility between preamble and PUSCH subcarriers. However, with the

800 μs duration, the corresponding sequence length would be 864, which does not meet the prime

number requirement. Therefore, shortening the preamble to a prime length slightly increases the

interference between PUSCH and PRACH by slightly decreasing the preamble sampling rate.

The PRACH uses guard bands to avoid the data interference at preamble edges. A cautious design of

preamble sequence length not only retains a high inherent processing gain, but also allows avoidance

of strong data interference. In addition, the loss of spectral efficiency (by reservation of guard

subcarriers) can also be well controlled at a fine granularity ( raf =1.25 kHz).In the absence of

interference, there is no significant performance difference between sequences of similar prime

length. In the presence of interference, it can be seen that reducing the sequence length below 839


gives no further improvement in detection rate. No effect is observed on the false alarm rate.

Therefore the sequence length of 839 is selected for LTE PRACH, corresponding to 69.91 PUSCH

subcarriers in each SC-FDMA symbol, and offers 72 −69.91 = 2.09 PUSCH subcarriers protection,

which is very close to one PUSCH subcarrier protection on each side of the preamble. So the

preamble is positioned centrally in the block of 864 available PRACH subcarriers, with 12.5 null

subcarriers on each side.

The PRACH preamble signal s(t)can therefore be defined as:

1

0

21

0

2

,PRACH

ZC

CPRA21

0

ZC

ZC)(

N

k

TtfkKkjN

n

N

nkj

vu eenxts

Where:

CPSEQ0 TTt

PRACH = amplitude scaling factor

2RB

sc

UL

RB

RB

sc0 NNNnk RA

PRB /2

RA

PRBn : The location in the frequency domain is controlled by the parameter RA

PRBn expressed as a

resource block number configured by higher layers and fulfilling

60 UL

PRB

RA

PRB Nn

rafFk / Accounts for the ratio of subcarrier spacing between the PUSCH and PRACH. The

variable (equal to 7 for LTE FDD) defines a fixed offset determining the frequency domain

location of the random access preamble within the resource blocks

UL

PRBN = the uplink system bandwidth (in RBs).

RB

SCN = the number of subcarriers per RB is 12.

7. RA ACCESS CYCLIC SHIFTS:

From the uth root Zadoff–Chu sequence, random access preambles with zero correlation zones (ZCZ)

of length (1CSN

) are defined by cyclic shifts according to

)mod)(()( ZC, NCnxnx vuvu .


8. PRACH IMPLEMENTATION:

8.1 UE TRANSMITTER:

The PRACH preamble can be generated at the system sampling rate, by means of a large IDFT as

shown in the following figure.

Figure 9: Functional structure of PRACH preamble transmitter

The DFT block in the figure is optional as the sequence can be mapped directly in the frequency

domain at the IDFT input. The cyclic shift can be implemented either in the time domain after the

IDFT, or in the frequency domain before the IDFT through a phase shift. For all possible system

sampling rates, both CP and sequence durations correspond to an integer number of samples. The

method described above does not require any time-domain filtering at baseband, but leads to large

IDFT sizes (up to 24 576 for a 20 MHz spectrum allocation), which are cumbersome to implement in

practice. Therefore, another option for generating the preamble consists of using a smaller IDFT,

actually an IFFT, and shifting the preamble to the required frequency location through time-domain

upsampling and filtering (hybrid frequency/time-domain generation, shown in figure below).Given

that the preamble sequence length is 839, the smallest IFFT size that can be used is 1024, resulting in

sampling frequency IFFT= 1.28 Msps. Both the CP and sequence durations have been designed to

provide an integer number of samples at this sampling rate. The CP can be inserted before the

upsampling and time-domain frequency shift, so as to minimize the intermediate storage

requirements.

Figure 10: Hybrid frequency/time domain PRACH generation


8.2 eNodeB PRACH RECEIVER

8.2.1 Front-End

In the same way as for the preamble transmitter, a choice can be made for the PRACH receiver at the

eNodeB between full frequency-domain and hybrid time/frequency domain approaches. As illustrated

in Figure 11, the common parts to both approaches are the CP removal, which always occurs at the

front-end at the system sampling rate sf , the PDP computation and signature detection. The

approaches differ only in the computation of the frequency tones carrying the PRACH signal(s).

The full frequency-domain method computes, from the 800 µs worth of received input samples during

the observation interval, the full range of frequency tones used for UL transmission given the system

bandwidth. As a result, the PRACH tones are directly extracted from the set of UL tones, which does

not require any frequency shift or time-domain filtering but involves a large DFT computation. Note

that even though DFTN = mn 2. , thus allowing fast and efficient DFT computation algorithms inherited

from the building-block construction approach , the DFT computation cannot start until the complete

sequence is stored in memory, which increases delay.

On the other hand, the hybrid time-frequency domain method first extracts the relevant PRACH signal

through a time-domain frequency shift with down-sampling and anti-aliasing filtering. There follows

a small-size DFT (preferably an FFT), computing the set of frequency tones centered on the PRACH

tones, which can then be extracted. The down-sampling ratio and corresponding anti-aliasing filter are

chosen to deliver a number of PRACH time samples suitable for an FFT or simple DFT computation

at a sampling rate which is an integer fraction of the system sampling rate. Unlike the full frequency-

domain approach, the hybrid time/frequency-domain computation can start as soon as the first

samples have been received, which helps to reduce latency.

Figure 11: PRACH receiver options.


8.2.2 Power Delay Profile Computation

The LTE PRACH receiver can benefit from the PRACH format and Constant Amplitude Zero Auto

Correlation (CAZAC) properties of ZC sequences by computing the PRACH power delay profile

through a frequency-domain periodic correlation. The PDP of the received sequence is given by

21

0

*2 |])[()(||)(|)(

ZCN

n

ZCuu NlnxnylzlPDP

where )(lzu is the discrete periodic correlation function at lag l of the received sequence )(ny and

the reference searched ZC sequence )(nxu of length ZCN , and where (·)∗ denotes the complex

conjugate. )(lzu can be expressed as follows:

))]((*)([)( * lnxnylzu

Let )()()( kjIkRkXuu XXu , )()()( kjIkRkY

uu YYu and )(kzu be the DFT coefficients of the

time-domain ZC sequence )(nxu , the received baseband samples )(ny , and the discrete periodic

correlation function )(nzu respectively. Using the properties of the DFT, )(nzu can be efficiently

computed in the frequency domain as

)](*)([)( * kXkYkZu for 1,...,0 ZCNk and )}({)( kZIDFTnz uu for 1,...,0 ZCNk . The

PDP computation is illustrated in Figure 12.

Figure 12: PDP computation per root sequence

As explained above the received signal in frequency domain is complex-conjugate multiplied with

frequency domain root ZC sequence. Due to the fact that frequency domain complex multiplication

with root ZC sequence is equal to time domain cyclic correlation, the output of IFFT block gives time

domain cyclic correlation .The zero padding aims at providing the desired oversampling factor and/or

adjusting the resulting number of samples to a convenient IFFT size. Note that for high-speed cells,

additional non-coherent combining over three timing uncertainty windows can be performed for each

receive antenna.

8.2.3 Signature Detection

The fact that different PRACH signatures are generated from cyclic shifts of a common root sequence

means that the frequency-domain computation of the PDP of a root sequence provides in one shot the

concatenated PDPs of all signatures derived from the same root sequence. Therefore, the signature


detection process consists of searching, within each ZCZ defined by each cyclic shift, the PDP peaks

above a detection threshold over a search window corresponding to the cell size. Figure 13 shows the

basic functions of Signature detector.

Figure 13: Signature detector per root sequence.

The noise-floor threshold function collects the PDP output and estimates the absence or presence of

an RA preamble by predefined threshold level. If the noise-floor threshold function detects the

existence of RA preamble in received signal, peak searching function estimates preamble ID and

propagation delay. Due to the unique correlation properties of ZC sequence as described previously,

the preamble ID can be indicated by the peak position information and its cyclic shift value, vC . If

the RA preamble is received with certain amount of propagation delay, the peak position information

is effected by not only vC but also the amount of delay. As described in Fig. 10, the position of the

peak is delayed in temporal domain by the quantity of propagation delay. According to this, the

preamble detection module can estimate Preamble ID and its propagation delay exactly if the quantity

of propagation delay in time domain is less than unit cyclic shift value.

Figure 14: PRACH Preamble detection

8.2.4 Noise floor estimation and Threshold Calculations:

Noise floor can be calculated by considering transmission of only Gaussian noise, in the absence of

preamble. The noise floor can be estimated as follows

1

0

)(/1sN

i

ncasn izN


Where sN is the number of samples in search window, and )(iznca is given by following expression

21

1

1

0

|()|)(

a ncaN

a

m

a

N

m

nca ziz

Where aN is the number of antennas, ncaN is the number of additional non-coherent accumulations

(e.g. in case of sequence repetition preamble formats) and 2|()| m

az is the PDP output for a particular

antenna. )(iznca follows a central chi-square distribution with 2N=2 aN . ncaN degrees of freedom

with Cumulative Density Function Ns

fa TpTF )(1)( detdet where sN is number of samples in

search window and detT is the desired absolute threshold . It is worth noticing that instead of the

absolute threshold we can consider the threshold rT relative to the noise floor n as follows:

nr TT /det

This removes the dependency of )( rTF on the noise variance:

1

0

!/)()exp(1)(ncaaNN

k

k

rncaarncaar kTNNTNNTF

As a result, the relative detection threshold can be precomputed and stored. )( rTF refers to the

probability of PDP output samples(which in this case is obtained by just transmitting noise) less than

relative threshold rT and )(1 rTF gives probability of false alarm. The target false alarm

probability drives the setting of absolute threshold detT .

9. SIMULATION RESULTS:

Figure15: Generated PRACH preamble=0 signal


Figure 16: Generated PRACH preamble=5 signal

Figure 17: Power delay profile of single UE using preamble 5 with delay=10 time samples (SNR=-20db)


Figure 18: Power delay profile of 10 UEs transmitting 10 different preambles (SNR=1db)

Figure 19: Power delay profile of 10 UEs transmitting 10 different preambles (SNR=-15db)


Figure 20: Power delay profile of 10 UEs transmitting 10 different preambles (SNR=-20db)

Figure 21: Plot for false alarm probability varying the SNR from -20db to 10db (and hence threshold is

calculated using this range)


Figure 22: Plot for false alarm probability varying the SNR from -25db to 25db (and hence threshold is

calculated using this range)

10. Real time preamble generation and detection using MW-1000 4G LTE test-bed:

The preamble signals generated have been processed through MW-1000 4G LTE test-bed with the

following specifications:

- Bandwidth=20 MHz.

- Carrier frequency=2.4 GHz.

- Sampling frequency=30.72 MHz.

- Frame type-TDD

- Cyclic prefix-normal

- UL/DL configuration: 1,

- Subframe number : 2 (PRACH Transmission).

10.1 MYMOWIRELESS LTE MW-1000 TEST BED:

The unique eNodeB-UE real-time test-bed from Mymo offers the designers a faster way to design,

verify and validate the algorithms, system design and Phy and protocol stack layers. The test-bench

enables the design team to quickly build the complete system models either customized or inbuilt into

the test-bench. The UE and eNodeB test-bench is validated against IQ test vectors from the standards

documents, and are also validated with leading LTE vendors. All the 3GPP LTE UE and eNodeB

layers are seamlessly integrated, and the baseband at IQ sampling rate 30.72MHz or 15.36MHz is

interfaced with RF-Mixed-Signal card for operation at desired ISM RF band. The design test-bench is

built with a flexibility to access the any part of the LTE UE or eNodeB system in ANSI code libraries


with an access to modify/enhance the design followed by compilation and run in real-time mode in

1x1 SISO, 2X1 MIMO and 1X2 MIMO RF modes of LTE.

Spectrum Analyzer

eNodeB DL UE RACH REQ

RF Splitter

RF Unit

GPS 10MHz

ANT ANT

Ref Clk1 PPS

MW1000

Multicore CPUGPU

Display

DL & UL

Results

eNodeB SDR Emulator

IQ Waveform Measurements & Capture

Generate any Sampling Rate

through GPU interface

Ease of Reprogramming: Design,

modify, compile in C & Run & Verify

PHY-MAC-RLC-RRC-PDCP:

Low-level library access

Modify/ enhance/ replace with user

algorithms for R&D experiments

Conformance to LTE eNB air-

interface & protocol layers

RF Unit

GPS 10MHz

ANT ANT

Ref Clk1 PPS

MW1000

Multicore CPUGPU

Display

DL & UL

Results

UE SDR Emulator

Fully CPU & GPU based

Reprogrammable eNB1

2

3

4

5

6

CPU Multi-core partitioning as per

DL-UL processing load

Figure 23: PRACH subframe-U2 generated in TDD mode using the kit.


Plot 1: When a single UE transmits a preamble (2nd

preamble is considered here) and is processed by

the test bed and then processed using our algorithm, the following plot is obtained. We find a peak at

36 indicating that the transmitted preamble is 2nd

preamble

Figure 22: Real time simulation plot using a single UE

Plot 2: When multiple UEs transmit preambles (1,5,8,14,18,19,24,29,30) and are processed by the

test bed and then processed using our algorithm, the following plot is obtained. We can find from the

plot that the peaks are located exactly at the positions of the preambles.

Figure 23: Real time simulation plot using multiple UEs


References:

1. LTE – The UMTS Long Term Evolution From Theory to Practice Second Edition -Stefania Sesia

ST-Ericsson, France, Issam Toufik -ETSI, France.

2. Essentials of LTE and LTE –A by Amitabha Ghosh and Rapeepat Ratasuk.

3. LTE for 4G mobile broad band – farooq Khan.

4. An Efficient Implementation of PRACH Generator in LTE UE Transmitters

Ying He∗, Jian Wang∗, Yongtao Su∗, Eryk Dutkiewicz†, Xiaojing Huang‡, Jinglin Shi.

5. A Delay-Robust Random Access Preamble Detection Algorithm for LTE System

Sungbong Kim, Kyunghwan Joo, and Yonghoon Lim.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our guide Dr.Sondur Lakshmipathi and co-guide

Puneetha Reddy for their support and guidance during the course of this work. Their encouragement

and guidance has always been a source of motivation for us to explore various aspects of the topic.

Discussions with them have always been instructive and insightful and helped us to identify our ideas.

We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to our Prof. Kiran Kuchi and Prof. P. Rajalakshmi

for providing us this opportunity.

Documents

LTE-PHY-PRACH-White Paper