RRC Connection Request

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB0
CCCH (LCID : 00000)
TM (Transparent Mode)
UPLINK (UE to eNodeB)

If the RRC Connection Request is accepted by the eNodeB it will prepare a RRC
Connection Setup which is sent to UE providing all the details needed to setup SRB1.
Details of RRC Connection Setup will be provided in its section.

If the
RRC

Connection Request can not accepted by the eNodeB do to some reason then RRC
Connection Reject will be sent to the UE. Details of RRC Connection Reject will be
provided in its section.

What
does
the

eNodeB do when receiving the RRC Connection Request message?

On receiving the RRC Connection Request from the UE the following steps are
performed:
Step1: Perform ASN.1 decoding for the message
Step2: Based on the choice which is only support for the first choice which is
rrcConnectionRequest-r8 and not for criticalExtensionsFuture the respective switch case
will be selected.

Step3: On selecting the rrcConnectionRequest-r8 the another choice parameter is

chosen to select if RRC Connection Request was encoded or RRC Connection
Reestablishment was encoded. For the case of RRC Connection Request was encoded
continue with Step4 onwards.
Step4: The RRC Connection Request will contain only two information.
1.

UE_Identity

Here UE_Identity can be of two types:

a) S-TMSI (40bit)
The S-TMSI composes of a 40 bit value. S-TMSI = MMEC (MME Code) a 8 bit value
which identifies a MME uniquely out of a MME group + M-TMSI (MME Mobile
Subscriber Identity) a 32 bit value which is a unique number with in a MME.
The S-TMSI will generally be used with RRC Connection Request if the UE has already
performed attached with the core network. The need for this would allow the user to hide
the IMSI number which is to be communicated rarely for security reasons. The IMSI
number contains three parts.
IMSI = MCC (3bits) + MNC (3bits) + MSIN (10bits)
b) RandomValue (40bit)
RandomValue can be used in two scenario:
- When the UE is attaching for the very first time. In this case there is no prior
information present with the UE. Hence the UE at the time of attach will send RRC
Connection Request using a 40bit Random Value.
- During the decoding of SIB1 message before the RRC Connection Request is sent
the UE will learn if it is present in the same tacking area which it may have store in its
database. If the UE is not present in the same Tracking Area which is signalled via SIB1
it will then perform the RRC Connection Request using Random Value.
2. Establishment Cause:
Establishment causes for RRC Connection Request is based on the following it is based
on the cause that the UE may be treated different:
- emergency: If the cause of the establishment is based on an emergency cause the UE
will be needed to be served. Hence in this case in spite of the fact the PDCP buffer pool
may have cross the 80% mark the enodeB will have to check as follows:
Check for active nonGBR user present which as been served for the longest period. If
found the enodeB will prepare to release the RRC Connection with the UE and establish
the RRC connection with the new UE whos RRC Connection Request cause
was
mentioned as emergency.

The priority is as follows:

-

nonGBR users of max time

GBR user of max time
CGS user non emergency nonGBR of max time
CGS user non emergency GBR of max time

If no user case be found in the following priority then the UE even though its cause is set
as emergency can not be admitted and RRC Connection Reject message will be sent.
highPriorityAccess: A highPriorityAccess cause will allow the enodeB to gain a
understanding that the RRC Connection Request has come from a UE of AC11 - 15. The
UE of such access class admission control may be treated with difference to UEs
of
normal access class AC0-9. However at the UE Access class information will be stored
in the USIM. Based on the access class of the UE the procedures to invoke
the RRC
Connection Request will differ as explained below:
Access Class AC0-9:
All users need to decode the SIB1 and SIB2 message before the RRC Connection
Request message is invoked from the UE. SIB1 and SIB 2 message will contain the acBarringInfo. This information as and example is given below:
SIB1
cellBarred notBarred,
intraFreqReselection allowed,
csg-Indication FALSE
SIB2 ac-BarringInfo
ac-BarringInfo
{
ac-BarringForEmergency FALSE,
ac-BarringForMO-Signalling
{
ac-BarringFactor p95,
ac-BarringTime s8,
ac-BarringForSpecialAC '00000'B
},
ac-BarringForMO-Data
{
ac-BarringFactor p95,
ac-BarringTime s8,
ac-BarringForSpecialAC '00000'B
}
}

cellBarred IE: Will indicate if the cell is barred or not barred. If the cell is barred it will
be barred for all PLMN mentioned in SIB1. All UE of all AC0-15 are not allowed to
access the cell.
csg-Indication IE: csg-Indication will provide the UE with the information if the cell is
reserved for a particular CSG group. This IE is boolen value which is set as FALSE or
TRUE.
csg-Identity IE: csg-Identity IE will contain a csgIdentity number which will be used to
compare if the UE csg-Identity number stored in the CSG whitelist is the same. If it is the
same the UE is allowed to access the cell.
cellReservedForOperatorUse IE: cellReservedForOperatorUse IE can be Reserved or
NonReserved. If the cellReservedForOperatorUse = Reserved this would be Reserved per
PLMN. Hence if SIB1 will contain multiple PLMN then each PLMN mentioned in the
SIB will have a separate cellReservedForOperatorUse field to specify if the particular cell
is reserved or non-reserved. If this field is reserved then all UE of AC 11 &15 will treat
this cell as accessible, however the UE of AC0-9 & 12,13,and 14 will be treating this cell
as barred.
ac-BarringForEmergency IE: This IE can have values as FALSE or TRUE. The value will
indicate if access is barred for emergency or not for AC10. For example in the case of 911
services for police in such cases if a call is to be initiated by the UE to 911 it will be
treated as a emergency call.
ac-BarringFactor IE: This IE can have various values from p00 = 0, p05 = 0.05, p10 =0 .
10, p15, p20, p25, p30, p40, p50, p60, p70, p75, p80, p85, p90, p95 = 0.95. The UE will
randomly generate a value between 0 to 1. It will compare this value to the acBarringFactor. If the value is lower than the value set in ac-BarringFactor then the UE
will be allowed access to the eNodeB. If the value is higher then the cell will be barred
for the UE. The UE will remained barred for time specified in ac-BarringTime.
ac-BarringTime IE: This IE can have values s4, s8, s16, s32, s64, s128, s256, s512. The
barring time is specified in seconds.
ac-BarringForSpecialAC IE: This IE is used to specify barring for AC11 to 15
mt_Access = 2,
mo_Signalling = 3,
mo_Data = 4,
What does the RRC Connection Request Message Look like?
The RRC Connection Request Message will look like as below:

When is RRC Connection Request sent?

The RRC Connection Request is sent by the UE in the following cases:

RRC Connection Reject

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB0
CCCH (LCID : 00000)
TM (Transparent Mode)
DOWNLINK (eNodeB to UE)

When the enodeB can not admit the UE at the time when it has sent down the RRC
Connection Request it will send RRC Connection Reject message. The message will
contain no information of the cause why it has been reject. The only information that it
will contain is just the wait time. The timer T302 is set to the wait time specified in the
RRC Connection Reject. The UE will not be allowed to send a RRC Connection Request
again until the wait time has expired. The wait time can be a value from 1 to 16. However
the timer T300 which is started after the RRC Connection Request was invoked by the
enodeB is stopped on receiving the RRC Connection Reject.

The causes when RRC Connection Reject is triggered by the eNodeB are the following:
- When the UE can not be admitted due to congestion on the network for example
when 80% of the PDCP resources have been occupied.
- If the RRC Connection Request has been triggered and in between the S1AP link
between the enodeB and the MME has gone down. In that case after receiving
the RRC Connection Request it will be mandatory to check if the state of the cell in
the case of S1AP is enable or in some other state. If the state is not ENABLED then s
the enodeB will send RRC Connection Reject.
- If the user context generated is not in a particular range then it will send the RRC
Connection Reject.
The Timer T302 is a dependent timer of this message and will be configured to the RRC
Connection Reject wait Time value. In a simplified fashion, timer T302 is used for access
barring after the network has sent rejected. After T302 expires (or T302 is stopped due to

other reasons) the RRC indicates to the upper layers that access is again allowed. During
the wait Time the UE may attempt to attach with another cell by sending the RRC
Connection Request. Another case can be during cell re selection if the UE is able to
complete re selection process then it can stop the T302 timer.

RRC Connection Setup

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB0
CCCH (LCID : 00000)
TM (Transparent Mode)
DOWNLINK (eNodeB to UE)

The enodeB will send the RRC Connection Setup to the UE after it has received the RRC
Connection Request and it has checked if it is able to admit the UE or not.
At the UE when it has received the RRC Connection Setup it will stop the T300 timer and
the T302 timer if it UE is attempting connect with another cell after it has received the
RRC Connection Reject from a previous attempted cell.
The RRC Connection Setup can be broken down to 3 major groups:
1. SRB/DRB to add Mod List
2. Mac Main Configuration
3. Physical Configuration Dedicated
SRB/DRB to add Mod List:
This part of the configuration is used to configure SRB or DRB Bearers. It will contain
information to configure the RLC parameter for UM or AM mode and to add
configuration for the logical channel.
srb-ToAddModList
{
{
srb-Identity 1,
rlc-Config explicitValue : am :
{
ul-AM-RLC
{
t-PollRetransmit ms80,
pollPDU p128,

pollByte kB125,
maxRetxThreshold t16
},
dl-AM-RLC
{
t-Reordering ms80,
t-StatusProhibit ms60
}
},
logicalChannelConfig explicitValue :
{
ul-SpecificParameters
{
priority 1,
prioritisedBitRate kBps16,
bucketSizeDuration ms300,
logicalChannelGroup 0
}
}
}
}
Details of the parameter used to configure the logical channel and the RLC parameters
will not be discussed here. However this example is to give a understanding of how the
SRB1 is getting established.
Mac Main Configuration
mac-MainConfig explicitValue :
{
ul-SCH-Config
{
maxHARQ-Tx n4,
periodicBSR-Timer sf5,
retxBSR-Timer sf320,
ttiBundling FALSE
},
drx-Config release : NULL,
timeAlignmentTimerDedicated infinity,
phr-Config setup :
{
periodicPHR-Timer sf10,
prohibitPHR-Timer sf0,
dl-PathlossChange dB1
}
}

The Mac Main Configuration in the RRC Connection Setup will hold information for the
Mac Configuration for the specified DRB/SRB. For instance in the case of SRB1 there
may be not a need for configurations related to DRX-Configuration etc. What is
configured in the RRC Connection Setup for the Mac Configurations is given below:
ULSCH Configuration:
maxHARQ-Tx:
this is for retransmission
periodicBSRTimer: this is to set the periodicity of the BSR (Buffer status report) which
the UE would need to send for amount of data present on the UPLINK.
Retxbsr-timer:
this timer is used for preventing repeated BSR reported to be sent.
ttiBundling:
this IE isused to inform if ttiBundling is enabled or not
DRX Configuration
timeAlignmentTimerDedicated
PHR Configuration
sr_ProhibitTimer
Physical Configuration Dedicated:
The following are the Physical Layer Configurations
PDSCH Configuration:
pa-> the pa value 0 to 7
PUCCH Configuration:
ackNackRepetition
PUSCH Configuration:
betaOffset-ACK-Index
betaOffset-RI-Index
betaOffset-CQI-Index
Uplink Power Control:
p0-UE-PUSCH
deltaMCS-Enabled
accumulationEnabled
p0-UE-PUCCH
pSRS-Offset
filterCoefficient

RRC Connection Setup Complete

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB1
DCCH
AM (Acknowledged Mode)
UPLINK (UE to eNodeB)

The RRC CONNECTION SETUP COMPLETE message is used to confirm the

successful completion of an RRC connection establishment. The RRC connection Setup
Complete consists of two types of messages as shown below:

The two different messages differ on the bases that the second RRC Connection Setup
Complete message contains registered MME info.
The registeredMME IE will contain information of the following
PLMN Identity :- The PLMN Identity may or may not be present depending on the
following condition. If the registeredMME IE is present the PLMN Identify will be
present
If (PLMN Identity is based on SIB1 && PLMN Identity && PLMN Identity received in
the registered MME is different to the PLMN Identity which was selected by the upper
layer)
MMEGI - MME Group Identifier
MMEC - MMEC

RRC Connection Reestablishment Request.

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB0
CCCH
TM (Transparent Mode)
UPLINK (UE to eNodeB)

RRC Connection Reestablishment Request is invoked by the UE due to the following

reasons:
- On detection of RLF
- On handover failure
- On RRC Connection Reconfiguration Failure
- Integrity Check Failure indication from lower layer
- Upon mobility from E-UTRA

ShortMAC-I: Set ShortMAC-I to 16 least significant bits of the calculated MAC-I.

Since the RRC Connection Reestablishment Request is a CCCH based message and it
goes via RLC TM mode then here the PDCP does not play any part. Hence since the
authencity of the RRC message needs to be validated hence the shortMAC-I will plays
the role to validate the RRC message.
C-RNTI
: The old C-RNTI will be filled here
physCellId : The physical cell id which the UE was previously connected to will be
placed here of the source cell.

RRC Connection Reestablishment.

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB0
CCCH
TM (Acknowledged Mode)
DOWNLINK (eNodeB to UE)

This RRC message is used to reestablish the SRB1 connection between the UE and
enodeB. The message is basically a copy of the RRC Connection Setup which containing
the same info to reestablish the SRB1.

RRC Connection Reestablishment Reject

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB0
CCCH
TM (Acknowledged Mode)
DOWNLINK (eNodeB to UE)

This RRC message is used to indicate a rejection to the RRC Connection Reestablishment
Request message that was sent to the enodeB.
Why would the enodeB send back a RRC connection Reestablishment Reject?
- If the enodeB can not find the UE context through the use of the C-RNTI hence the it
will issue a RRC Connection Reestablishment Reject message
- If the enodeB finds a miss match PCI value then it will send a Reject
- If the enodeB can not validate the RRC message by the ShortMAC-I then in this case
the reject message will be sent.

RRC Connection Reestablishment Complete

Radio Bearer
Logical Channel
RLC Mode
UP-Link/Down-Link

:
:
:
:

SRB1
DCCH
AM (Acknowledgment Mode)
UPLINK (UE to eNodeB)

RRC Connection Reestablishment Complete message is used to confirm the completion

of the RRC Connection Reestablishment.
There is no primary information that is communicate.