White Paper PRACH Preamble Detection and Timing Advance Estimation For ...

PRACH - Preamble Detection and
Timing Advance Estimation for multi-

UE in 3GPP LTE
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.
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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 N cf available PRACH contention-based signatures, where N cf 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 UEs 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 UEs 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 T f = 307200 Ts =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 Ts = 1 / (150002048) 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 Tslot =15360x Ts = 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 NTA = 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
RB
153600 Ts . The first physical resource block nPRB allocated to the PRACH opportunity considered
RB
for preamble format 0, 1, 2 and 3 is defined as nPRB = nPRBoffset
RB
, where the parameter prach-
FrequencyOffset nPRBoffset
RB
is expressed as a physical resource block number configured by higher
UL
layers and fulfilling 0 nPRBoffset
RB
N RB 6.
Table 1 Frame structure type 1 random access configuration for preamble format 0-3.
PRACH Preamble Format System frame number Subframe number

Configuration
Index
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 Tslot =15360x Ts = 0.5 ms, numbered from
0 to 19. Each half-frame consists of five subframes of length 30720x Ts =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 Ts =1 ms . Each subframe i is defined as
two slots, 2 i and 2 i +1 of length Tslot = 15360 Ts = 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 DL-to-UL Subframe number
configuration Switch-point periodicity
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,
DRA , and version index, rRA . 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 Ts .
Table 3 Frame structure type 2 random access configurations for preamble format 0-4
PRACH Preamble Density per 10 ms Version

Configuration Format ( DRA ) ( rRA )
Index
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
0 1 2
for a certain PRACH density value, DRA . Each quadruple of the format ( f RA , t RA , t RA , t RA ) indicates
the location of a specific random access resource, where f RA is a frequency resource index
0
within the considered time instance, t RA =0 ,1,2 indicates whether the resource is reoccurring in
all radio frames, in even radio frames, or in odd radio frames, respectively, t 1RA = 0,1
indicates whether the random access resource is located in first half frame or in second half frame,
2
respectively, and where t RA 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
2
exception of preamble format 4 where t RA 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 NTA = 0 and the random access preamble format 4 shall start 4832 Ts before the end of
the UpPTS at the UE, where the UpPTS is referenced to the UEs uplink frame timing assuming NTA
= 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 DRA without overlap in time. For preamble
format 0-3, the frequency multiplexing shall be done according to
RA f
nPRB offset 6 RA , if f RA mod 2 0
2
RA
nPRB
N RB f RA
UL
6 nPRBRA
offset 6 , otherwise

2
UL RB
where N RB is the number of uplink resource blocks nPRB is the first physical resource block
allocated to the PRACH opportunity considered and where the parameter prach-FrequencyOffset
RB
nPRBoffset is the first physical resource block available for PRACH expressed as a physical resource
UL
block number configured by higher layers and fulfilling 0 nPRBoffset
RB
N RB 6 .
For preamble format 4, the frequency multiplexing shall be done according to
RA
nPRB
6 f RA ,
UL

if (n f mod 2) (2 N SP ) t 1RA mod 2 0
N RB 6( f RA 1), otherwise
Where n f is the system frame number and where N SP 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 UL/DL configuration
configuration Index 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) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,2) (0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
7 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,2) (0,0,1,0)
8 (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,1)
9 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,2) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2) (1,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
10 (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
11 N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A N/A N/A (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,0)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,1,1)
12 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2) (1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
(0,0,1,2) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (1,0,0,2) (1,0,0,1) (3,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
13 (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,2) (1,0,0,1) (0,0,1,1)
14 (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,2) (0,0,1,0)
(0,0,1,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
15 (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2) (1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,1) (3,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
(0,0,1,2) (1,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (1,0,0,2) (2,0,0,1) (4,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
16 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2) (1,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (1,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,2) (1,0,1,1) (2,0,1,0) (1,0,0,2) (2,0,0,0)
17 (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A N/A
(0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,2) (1,0,0,0) (1,0,0,1)
18 (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,0,2) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2) (1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0) (0,0,0,2)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (1,0,0,1) (3,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
(0,0,1,1) (1,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (1,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (4,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
(0,0,1,2) (1,0,1,1) (2,0,1,0) (1,0,0,2) (2,0,0,1) (5,0,0,0) (1,0,0,2)
19 N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,0) (0,0,0,2)

(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0)
(1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,1)
(1,0,1,0) (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) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
26 / 36 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) N/A (1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,1,0)
(1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (1,0,0,1)
27 / 37 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) N/A (1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) N/A (0,0,1,0)
(1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (1,0,0,1)
(1,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (3,0,0,1) (3,0,0,0) (1,0,1,0)
28 / 38 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
(1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) N/A (2,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) N/A (1,0,0,1)
(1,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (3,0,0,1) (3,0,0,0) (1,0,1,0)
(2,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (4,0,0,1) (4,0,0,0) (2,0,0,1)
29 /39 (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,1)
(0,0,1,1) (0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) (0,0,1,0)
(1,0,0,1) (1,0,0,0) N/A (2,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) N/A (1,0,0,1)
(1,0,1,1) (1,0,1,0) (3,0,0,1) (3,0,0,0) (1,0,1,0)
(2,0,0,1) (2,0,0,0) (4,0,0,1) (4,0,0,0) (2,0,0,1)
(2,0,1,1) (2,0,1,0) (5,0,0,1) (5,0,0,0) (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) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0) N/A N/A (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,0) (1,0,0,0) (1,0,0,0)
46 (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,0) N/A N/A (1,0,0,0) N/A N/A (1,0,0,0)
(1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0)
47 (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0) (0,0,0,0)
(0,0,1,0) N/A N/A (1,0,0,0) N/A N/A (1,0,0,0)
(1,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0) (2,0,0,0)
(1,0,1,0) (3,0,0,0) (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,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*)
(0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (0,0,1,*)
54 (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*)
(0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (0,0,1,*)
(1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*)
55 (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*)
(0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (0,0,1,*)
(1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*)
(1,0,1,*) (1,0,1,*) (1,0,1,*) (3,0,0,*) (3,0,0,*) (3,0,0,*) (1,0,1,*)
56 (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*)
(0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (0,0,1,*)
(1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*)

(1,0,1,*) (1,0,1,*) (1,0,1,*) (3,0,0,*) (3,0,0,*) (3,0,0,*) (1,0,1,*)
(2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (4,0,0,*) (4,0,0,*) (4,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*)
57 (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*) (0,0,0,*)
(0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (0,0,1,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (0,0,1,*)
(1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (1,0,0,*)
(1,0,1,*) (1,0,1,*) (1,0,1,*) (3,0,0,*) (3,0,0,*) (3,0,0,*) (1,0,1,*)
(2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*) (4,0,0,*) (4,0,0,*) (4,0,0,*) (2,0,0,*)
(2,0,1,*) (2,0,1,*) (2,0,1,*) (5,0,0,*) (5,0,0,*) (5,0,0,*) (2,0,1,*)
58 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
4. SEQUENCE DURATION:
The sequence duration Tseq 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 Tseq 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 s. Hence
Tseq ((200 103)/(3 108))+(16.67 10-6)=683.33sec

4.2 Subcarrier spacing compatibility:
Further constraints on Tseq are given by the Single- Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) signal generation
principle, such that the size of the DFT and IDFT where N DFT is DFT length and must be an integer
number:
N DFT = f s Tseq = k , kN
Where f s 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 f fra
f fra = f s / N DFT = 1/ Tseq =1/ k Tsym = f / k , k N

where Tsym = 66.67 s is the uplink subframe symbol duration. In other words, the preamble duration
must be an integer multiple of the uplink subframe symbol duration:
Tseq = k Tsym = k / f , k N

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 TCP TSEQ

format
0 3168 Ts 24576 Ts
1 21024 Ts 24576 Ts
2 6240 Ts 2 24576 Ts
3 21024 Ts 2 24576 Ts
4* 448 Ts 4096 Ts
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,
Ts = 1/(30.72MHz).
6. PREAMBLE SEQUENCE THEORY AND DESIGN:
In LTE prime-length ZadoffChu (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 ZadoffChu 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
e j k .The ZC sequence of odd-length N ZC is given by
n(n 1)
nl
q (n) = exp( j 2q 2 )
N zc
Where: q = {0,1,. N ZC } is the ZC sequence root index
n = {0,1,2 N ZC }
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:
N zc 1
rkk
n0
q (n) q [(n )] ( )
Where rkk (.) is the discrete periodic autocorrelation function of q at lag . 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/ sqrt( N ZC ) if |q1 q2| (where q1 and q 2 are the sequence
indices) is relatively prime with respect to (a condition that can be easily guaranteed if N ZC is a prime
number). The cross-correlation of sqrt( N ZC ) at all lags achieves the theoretical minimum cross-
correlation value for any two sequences that have ideal autocorrelation. Selecting N ZC as a prime
number results in ( N ZC 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
q (n) is a weighted cyclically shifted ZC sequence X x (k ) such that w 1 / q mod N ZC . 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 s 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
f
subcarriers) can also be well controlled at a fine granularity ( ra =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:
N ZC 1 N ZC 1 2nk
j
st PRACH x e j 2 k K k0 2 f RA t TCP
1
u , v ( n) e
N ZC
k 0 n 0
Where:
0 t TSEQ TCP
PRACH = amplitude scaling factor
k0 nPRB
RA
N scRB N RB
UL
N scRB 2 /2
RA
RA
nPRB : The location in the frequency domain is controlled by the parameter nPRB expressed as a
resource block number configured by higher layers and fulfilling
0 nPRB
RA
N PRB
UL
6
k F / f ra 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
N PRB = the uplink system bandwidth (in RBs).
RB
N SC = the number of subcarriers per RB is 12.
7. RA ACCESS CYCLIC SHIFTS:
From the uth root ZadoffChu sequence, random access preambles with zero correlation zones (ZCZ)
NCS 1
of length ( ) are defined by cyclic shifts according to
xu,v (n) xu (( n Cv ) mod N ZC ) .

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 f s , 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 s 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
m
that even though N DFT = n.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 Prole 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
N ZC 1
PDP(l ) | zu (l ) |2 | y(n) x [(n l ) N
n0
*
u ZC ] |2
where zu (l ) is the discrete periodic correlation function at lag l of the received sequence y (n) and
the reference searched ZC sequence xu (n) of length N ZC , and where () denotes the complex
conjugate. zu (l ) can be expressed as follows:
zu (l ) [ y(n) * x* (n)](l )
Let X u (k ) RX u (k ) jI X u (k ) , Yu (k ) RYu (k ) jI Yu (k ) and zu (k ) be the DFT coefficients of the

time-domain ZC sequence xu (n) , the received baseband samples y (n) , and the discrete periodic
correlation function zu (n) respectively. Using the properties of the DFT, zu (n) can be efficiently
computed in the frequency domain as
Zu (k ) [Y (k ) * X * (k )] for k 0,..., N ZC 1 and zu (n) IDFT{Zu (k )} for k 0,..., N ZC 1 . 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, Cv . If
the RA preamble is received with certain amount of propagation delay, the peak position information
is effected by not only Cv 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
N s 1
n 1 / N s znca (i)
i 0

Where N s is the number of samples in search window, and znca (i ) is given by following expression
N a 1 N nca 1
znca (i)
a 1 m0
| zam () |2
Where N a is the number of antennas, N nca is the number of additional non-coherent accumulations
(e.g. in case of sequence repetition preamble formats) and | zam () |2 is the PDP output for a particular
antenna. znca (i ) follows a central chi-square distribution with 2N=2 N a . N nca degrees of freedom
with Cumulative Density Function F (Tdet ) 1 p fa (Tdet ) Ns where N s is number of samples in
search window and Tdet is the desired absolute threshold . It is worth noticing that instead of the
absolute threshold we can consider the threshold Tr relative to the noise floor n as follows:
Tr Tdet / n
This removes the dependency of F (Tr ) on the noise variance:
N a N nca 1
F (Tr ) 1 exp( N a N ncaTr ) (N N
k 0
a T ) k / k!
nca r
As a result, the relative detection threshold can be precomputed and stored. F (Tr ) refers to the
probability of PDP output samples(which in this case is obtained by just transmitting noise) less than
relative threshold Tr and 1 F (Tr ) gives probability of false alarm. The target false alarm
probability drives the setting of absolute threshold Tdet .
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.
eNodeB SDR Emulator Spectrum Analyzer
ANT ANT
RF Unit
1 PPS Ref Clk
UE SDR Emulator
GPS 10MHz
ANT ANT
Display RF Unit
DL & UL RF Splitter
Results 1 PPS Ref Clk
GPS 10MHz
Multicore
CPU
GPU Display
MW1000 DL & UL
Results
Multicore
Fully CPU & GPU based CPU
1
Reprogrammable eNB GPU
MW1000
Ease of Reprogramming: Design,

2
modify, compile in C & Run & Verify
IQ Waveform Measurements & Capture
3 PHY-MAC-RLC-RRC-PDCP:
Low-level library access eNodeB DL UE RACH REQ
4 Conformance to LTE eNB air-

interface & protocol layers
Modify/ enhance/ replace with user

5 algorithms for R&D experiments
Generate any Sampling Rate

6 through GPU interface
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.

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PRACH - Preamble Detection and

Timing Advance Estimation for multi-

PRACH SLOT DURATION

Figure 1 Structure of LTE PRACH signal

2. RANDOM ACCESS PROCEDURE

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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

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Step 2: Random Access Response

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

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

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Figure 4 Timing of the message 3 transmission.

Step 4: Contention Resolution Message

2.2 Contention-Free Random Access Procedure:

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3. PRACH RESOURCE ALLOCATION

3.1 Frame structure:

- Type 1, applicable to FDD,

- Type 2, applicable to TDD.

3.1.1 Frame structure type 1:

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3.1.1.1 PRACH Resources for Frame structure type 1:

PRACH Preamble Format System frame number Subframe number

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

Figure 7 Frame Structure type 2

Table 2 Uplink Downlink Configurations for Frame structure type 2

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3.1.2.1 PRACH Resources for frame structure type 2:

PRACH Preamble Density per 10 ms Version

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

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The sequence duration Tseq is driven by the following factors:

4.1 Maximum round-trip time:

Tseq ((200 103)/(3 108))+(16.67 10-6)=683.33sec

f fra = f s / N DFT = 1/ Tseq =1/ k Tsym = f / k , k N

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Table 5 Preamble Formats

Preamble TCP TSEQ

6. PREAMBLE SEQUENCE THEORY AND DESIGN:

6.1 ZadoffChu Sequences:

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

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

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

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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.

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