Buffer Status Reporting

Buffer Status Reporting Procedure is used to provide the serving enodeB information
about the amount of data in the uplink buffer for transmission. The RRC messages
contain information and parameters to configure the Buffer Status Reporting mechanism.
There are 3 parameters which are configured during the RRC messages for BSR:
- logicalChannelGroup : Each Radio Bearer (RB) is mapped to a logical
ChannelGroup (LCG) at the time when the Radio Bearer is getting setup. There can be
only 4 LCGs per UE numbering from 0-3. SRB1 and SRB2 RBs when getting setup are
by default placed in LCG number 0. The LCG are numbered based on priority 0 being the
highest priority LCG, then being 1 and so on.
- periodicBSR_Timer : When this timer expires UE periodically sends BSR
reports informing about the amount of data that is present in uplink for transmission. As
the name suggest this timer is repetitive.
- retxBSR_Timer
: After a BSR report is transmitted this retxBSR_Timer is
started. This timer is stopped when a uplink grant has been received. If the uplink grant is
not received eventually the timer will expire during which a new BSR will be triggered
and the timer will be restarted.
There are mainly 3 types of BSRs based on the number of LCG and data for
transmission.
1. Long BSR : When more than 1 LCG have data for transmission then a long BSR
MAC CE is used. The LCID used for transmission of Long BSR is 11110.
2. Short BSR : When there is only a single LCG which has data for transmission
then a short MAC CE us used. The LCID used for transmission of Short BSR is 11101.
3. Padding BSR/Truncated BSR : This type of BSR is slightly tricky. Consider that a
uplink grant is provided and the data is filled but still some space is left and the space is
sufficent enough to fill a BSR. Then depending on if there is more than one LCG and
they all have data for transmission and depending on the space available either a
truncated BSR or a long BSR can be sent. If there is only a single LCG which has data to
be sent on the uplink and the space is sufficent enough then a short BSR will be sent. The
conditions for sending BSR is given below:
IF (No padding bits => size(Short BSR) + subheader && No padding bits < size(Long
BSR) + subheader)
- IF (No LCG > 1 && data available for transmission in the TTI where the BSR is
transmitted)
report Truncated BSR of the LCG with the highest

priority logical channel with data available for transmission;

- else
report Short BSR.
ELSE IF (No of padding bits is => size(Long BSR) + subheader)
report Long BSR.

Power Headroom Reporting

Power Headroom Report is a MAC Control Element (CE) which is used by the UE to
inform the serving enodeB if the UE can transmit on a higher power or not.
Below is a MAC CE PHR structure
R
R
LCID

F2
R
:

5 bit Long LCID

6 bit Long PHR

11010

The MAC CE PHR is a 8 bit long message which contains 2 reserved bits. 8 - 2 = 6 bits
are actually used to report the PHR index to a table. The index value range is 0 to 63. The
range of the power based on the index value is from -23 to 40dB.
The RRC message contain the information for the PHR Configuration which is present as
a part of the MAC Configuration of RRC Connection Setup.
There are basically 3 major parameters which govern the functionality of PHR.
- periodicPHR_Timer : periodicPHR_Timer is a timer which is used by the UE to
send PHR Reports to the serving enodeB periodically.
- prohibitPHR_Timer : The prohibitPHR_Timer is a timer used by the UE to
prevent any PHR to be sent by the UE to the serving enodeB. Hence during this period
the UE can not sent any PHR. This is done to prevent frequent PHR reports being sent.
- dl_PathlossChange : The dl_PathlossChange IE is a value which indicates that
if the power change is more than the value specified by dl_PathlossChange then trigger
PHR. This value is represented in dBs.
If the UE has UL resources allocated for new transmission for this TTI:
- if it is the first UL resource allocated for a new transmission since the last MAC
reset, start periodicPHR-Timer;
- if the Power Headroom reporting procedure determines that at least one PHR has
been triggered since the last transmission of a PHR or this is the first time that a
PHR is triggered (if a PHR has been triggered (because of a timer expiry or a
change in path loss), send the PHR and reset the conditions), and;
- if the allocated UL resources can accommodate a PHR MAC control element plus
its subheader as a result of logical channel prioritization:
- obtain the value of the power headroom from the physical layer;
- instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate and transmit a
PHR MAC control element based on the value reported by the physical layer;
- start or restart periodicPHR-Timer;
- start or restart prohibitPHR-Timer;

- cancel all triggered PHR(s).

if PUSCH_data is present
{
if(First time UL resource allocated)
{
periodicPHR-Timer_count = 0;
}
if(periodicPHR-Timer_count < periodicPHR-Timer)
{
if(prohibitPHR-Timer_count > prohibitPHR-Timer)
{
if(dl-PathlossChange_cal > dl-PathlossChange)
{
send(PHR Report)
prohibitPHR-Timer_count = 0;
periodicPHR-Timer_count = 0;
}
else
{
"Nothing needs to be done here"
prohibitPHR-Timer_count++;
}
}
else
{
"Cannot sent any PHR now since the prohibitPHR-Timer is running"
}
periodicPHR-Timer_count++;
}
else
{
send(PHR Report as the periodicPHR-Timer has expired)
prohibitPHR-Timer_count = 0;
periodicPHR-Timer_count = 0;
}
}
The power headroom is triggered on the bases:
There are two triggers for PHR (Power Headroom Report).
i) Path Loss Change greater than a certain threshold : UE can calculate the path loss
based on RS(Reference Signal) power notified by network and the measured RS power at
UE antenna port. If this value changes over a certain threshold UE transmit PHR.

ii) By periodic Timer.

The Periodic Timer is understood that a set periodicity is defined where the UE will
provide a PHR to the enodeB. This periodicity is based on a timer which is set at RRC
level called periodicPHR-Timer.
However for Path Loss Change would be calculated on the bases of Reference Signal
power notified by the network which is transmitted in the SIB2 message.