LTE RACH Procedure Explained

Sanil RC

LTE RACH PROCEDURE EXPLAINED

RACH: can be triggered by 1. 2. 3. 4. Initial access from RRC_IDLE Initial access after radio link failure HO requiring RACH procedure DL data arrival during RRC_CONNECTED when UL synchronization status is not connected 5. UL data arrival during RRC_CONNECTED when UL synchronization status is not connected

1. Contention based RACH

Message1: Random access Preamble on RACH 6bit: 5 bit preamble ID and 1 bit to indicate size of message3 Message2: RACH Response by MAC on DL-SCH No HARQ Addressed to RA-RNTI Contains Preambe ID, Timing Alignment, Initail UL grant, T-CRNTI

LTE RACH Procedure Explained

Sanil RC

Message3: Schedule transmission on UL-SCH HARQ used. For initial Access: NAS UE ID but no NAS message RRC Connection Req over CCCH RLC TM After Radio Link Failure: RRC Connection Reestablishment via CCCH RLC TM No NAS message After HO in target cell: RRC coxn Reconfiguration Complete ie, the confirmation for the RRC coxn Reconfiguration over DCCH. Allocated CRNTI . Includes Uplink Buffer Status Report when reqrd. Message4: Not synchronized with Message3 HARQ supported T-CRNTI for Initial Access and after Radio Link failure CRNTI for UE in RRC_CONNECTED

2. Contention free RACH:

LTE RACH Procedure Explained

Sanil RC

Message1: RA preamble assignment on DL dedicated signalling HO: HO Command generated by Target eNB sent via source eNB DL data arrival: MAC signaling in case of DL data arrival

Message2: RA preamble on rach Use preamble received from message1. Message3: No HARQ Addressed to RA-CRNTI. Contains at least Timing Alignment, Initial UL grant for HO case, Timing alignment for DL data arrival case, RA-preamble identifier.