PRACH Planning in LTE

PRACH Planning Principle

In LTE it is necessary the radio planner to selects the preamble format for each cell based on maximum
estimated cell range. Typical preamble format will be Preamble Format 0, allowing for cell sizes up to 15km.
Other preamble formats allow for larger cell ranges.
PRACH parameters should be planned. PRACH transmission can be separated by:
Time (prachConfIndex) specifies in which subframes the RA can occur
PRACH Configuration Index cannot be the same for different cells at the eNB
Frequency (prachFreqOff) avoid overlapping with PUCCH and PUSCH or splitting the PUSCH
area.PRACH area is next to PUCCH area either at upper or lower border of frequency band,
For simplicity use same configuration for all cells
Sequence (PRACH CS and RootSeqIndex) the cyclic shift ensures sufficient separation between the
preambles

Use different sequences for all neighbour cells

SIB2
value BCCH-DL-SCH-Message ::=
message c1 : systemInformation :
criticalExtensions systemInformation-r8 :
sib-TypeAndInfo
sib2 :
radioResourceConfigCommon
rach-ConfigCommon
preambleInfo
numberOfRA-Preambles n40,
preamblesGroupAConfig
sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA n32,
messageSizeGroupA b144,
messagePowerOffsetGroupB dB10
prach-Config
rootSequenceIndex 30,
prach-ConfigInfo
prach-ConfigIndex 4,
highSpeedFlag FALSE,
zeroCorrelationZoneConfig 8,
prach-FreqOffset 3,

Lo normal es que sean 64

Distrintos grupos distinta cantidad de info

PRACH Configuration Index (1)

The PRACH Configuration
Chosen after selecting the
Preamble format
The PRACH capacity is
determined by the SFN and
subframe figures
In the case of FDD, the PRACH
cannot be multiplexed in the
frequency domain, i.e. only 1
PRACH resource per
subframe

Recommendation:
Configure different
PRACHconfiguration
Indexes at cells belonging
to the same site. E.g.:
3/4/5 if RACH density=1 or
6/7/8 if RACH density=2
(Preamble Format 0)

PRACH Configuration Index

Preamble
Format

Cyclic Prefix
Length

Sequence
Length

Guard Time

Total
Length

Guard
Time
Equiv.
Dist.

Typical Max.
Cell Range

0
1
2
3

0.10 ms
0.68 ms
0.20 ms
0.68 ms

0.8 ms
0.8 ms
1.6 ms
1.6 ms

0.10 ms
0.52 ms
0.20 ms
0.72 ms

1 ms
2 ms
2 ms
3 ms

30 km
156 km
60 km
216 km

15 km
78 km
30 km
108 km

Frequency Offset (1)

Defines the position of the PRACH preamble

within the channel bandwidth
PRACH should be positioned adjacent to the
PUCCH

PUCCH

PUCCH
2 ms
Resource Block
signalled in SIB2

PRACH

PRACH Frequency Offset (2)

Indicates the first PRB available for PRACH in the UL frequency band
PRACH area (6 PRBs) should be next to PUCCH area either at upper or lower border of
frequency band in order to maximize the PUSCH area but not overlap with PUCCH area
Parameter is configured based on the PUCCH region i.e. its value depends on how many
PUCCH resources are available.
If PRACH area is placed at the lower border of UL frequency band then:
PRACH-Frequency Offset= roundup [PUCCH resources/2]

If PRACH area is placed at the upper border of the UL frequency band then:
PRACH-Frequency Offset= NRB -6- roundup [PUCCH resources/2]

NRB: Number of Resource Blocks

Root Sequence Index

The allocated root sequence index
broadcast in SIB2 is a logical index. The
actual physical index is obtained using a
look-up table defined within 3GPP TS 36.211
Each logical rootSeqIndex is associated with
a single physical root sequence number.
The reuse distance of root sequences
should be maximised
The eNB could be configured with all cells
using the same root sequences, provided
the cells use different preamble
configuration indexes.

PRACH Cyclic Shift for FDD preambles

Cyclic shift is used to assure sufficient separation between the preambles
The propagation delay and the cyclic separation are directly related to the cell range
Recommendation: assume all cells have same size=> same PrachCS

zeroCorrelationZoneConfig

The table highlights how the 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.

Zero Correlation Zone (1)

Selecting
Zero Correlation Zone
High Speed Flag
are prerequisites to planning the Root Sequence Index

High Speed Flag

= FALSE

High Speed Flag

= TRUE

>250 km/h

The Zero Correlation Zone determines the size of the cyclic shift used to generate the PRACH
sequence from the root sequence

Large cyclic shift (large Zero Correlation

Zone) required to support larger cell
ranges
Large cyclic shift means that fewer
PRACH sequences can be generated
from each root sequence
PRACH sequences generated from
different root sequences are not
orthogonal

Zero Correlation Zone (2)

There are 838 root sequences from which to generate the PRACH sequences(64)
Each root sequence has a length of 839
Each cell requires no more than 64 PRACH sequences
The number of PRACH sequences which can be generated from each root sequence is given by:
PRACH Sequences per Root Sequence = ROUNDDOWN(839 / Number of Cyclic Shifts (NCS))

The number of root sequences

required per cell is then given by:
ROUNDUP(64 / PRACH
Sequences per Root Sequence)
This determines the size of
the reuse pattern when
planning root sequences

zeroCorrelationZoneConfig

Zero Correlation Zone (3)

PRACH Planning
Wrap Up

Steps:
- Define the prachConfIndex
Depends on preamble format (cell range)
Depends on the amount of RACH attempts
It should be different for each cell of a site
- Define the prachFreqOff
Depends on the PUCCH region
It can be assumed to be the same for all cells of a network (simplification)
- Define the zeroCorrelationZoneConfig
Depends on the cell range
If for simplicity same cell range is assumed for all network then zeroCorrelationZoneConfig
is the same for all cells
- Define the rootSeqIndex
It points to the first root sequence
It needs to be different for neighbour cells
rootSeqIndex separation between cells depends on how many are necessary per cell
(depends on zeroCorrelationZoneConfig)

PRACH Planning example

Assumptions:
- prachConfIndex=3 for all cells
preamble format =0
One PRACH opportunity per 10ms
- prachFreqOff=6 for all cells
PRACH starts at sixth PRB in frequency domain
- Define the zeroCorrelationZoneConfig=8 for all cells
Max cell range = 5.5km
Each cell consumes 4 root sequences