AFTER PSS & SSS DECODING

Once, the UE has decoded both the PSS and SSS, it can derive the PCI which tells
the location of the RS and the PCFICH. This lets the UE get the RSRP and verify
that the cell is above the cell selection threshold. Then it goes for PBCH which is
after the PSS of the first subframe. PBCH tells about the system BW, System frame
number, PHICH config and number of Tx. Now that the UE knows PHICH, PCFICH and RS
location, all the other REs belong to PDCCH.

The UE looks for the DCI for SIB-1 by decoding the DCI masked with CRC of SI-RNTI.
The SIB-1 is sent after every 20 ms but the TTI is 80 ms (like PBCH – comes every
10 ms but the TTI is 40 ms). The copies of SIB-1 after 20 ms are different
redundacny versions of the same SIB-1. The SIB-1 tells about the other SIBs (SI
periodicity and SI Window length), including SIB-2 which tells about the RACH
information required for uplink synchronization.

The location of RACH is determined by the following parameters in SIB-2

PRACH CONFIGURATION INDEX ==> Tells the SFN (even/odd) and subframe number – thus
the location in time domain
PRACH FREQUENCY OFFSET ==> Tells the PRB offset and thus the location in frequency
domain
NCS VALUE ==> Tells the NCS value and the number of root sequences per cell needed
to generate 64 preambles
ROOT SEQUENCE INDEX ==> Tells the starting root sequence index for the cell

Based on these values, the UE generates a random preamble and sends a RACH request.
After the RACH request, the UE needs to start reading PDCCH for its RA-RNTI after 3
subframes (3 SF after the prach preamble transmission is finished). The RA RSP
WINDOW SIZE tells the maximum number of subframes within which the eNB needs to
send the RAR. Usually, it is set to 10 SF and therefore the eNB needs to respond to
a PRACH request within 12 SF. The RAR contains RA-RNTI or temporary C-RNTI and
RAPID (which contains the preamble ID that UE sent).

Once RAR is received, the UE sends msg3 which is RRC Conn Req message that contains
UE ID (TMSI or random value). eNB responds with a MCE Contention resolution message
before RRC Conn Setup and that contention resolution message contains the same UE
ID that is sent by UE in RRC Conn Req message. So, if there are two UEs using the
same preamble, then at this step the contention will be resolved. As the UE with
the same ID will send the HARQ ACK to Contention resolution message but the other
UE will consider RACH failure and re-initiate RACH. In response to RRC Connection
Request, eNB sends a RRC Connection Setup which carries SRB1 (Signalling Radio
Bearer) addition parameters. Before this, the UE uses SRB0 to send the RRC message.

Once the UE gets RRC Connection Setup message, the UE responds with the RRC Setup
Complete message. It is this message that carries NAS messages. At this moment, the
RRC setup is completed and SRB1 is also setup.

Based on this, the eNB initiates S1 Initial UE message to the MME and MME can
respond to this message in different ways but the most common response is S1
Initial Context Setup Request. This message is considered as the ERAB Setup Request
and it usually contains the ERAB-ID and QCI that has to be setup for the UE along
with MBR configuration of the bearer.Consequently, the eNB reconfigures UE using
RRC Connection Reconfiguration message which contains the addition for SRB2 and DRB
(data radio bearer) based on the QCI requirement. eNB also sends Security Mode
Command to UE to configure the security context at this stage. Once this is done,
the eNB responds to MME with S1 Initial Setup Response and at this point the ERAB
Setup is considered successful.