Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer

Timing advance is a negative offset, at the UE, between the start of a received
downlink subframe and a transmitted uplink subframe. This offset at the UE is
necessary to ensure that the downlink and uplink subframes are synchronised at the
eNodeB.
A UE far from the eNodeB encounter a larger propagation delay so its uplink
transmission is somewhat in advance as compared to a UE closer to the eNodeB. As an
example (shown in the figure below), let us consider two UEs; UE1 is located far from
the eNodeB and UE2 is located close to the eNodeB. Let 1 be the propagation delay
experienced on the downlink for UE1 and 2 is the propagation delay experienced on
the downlink for UE2. Since UE1 is located far from the eNodeB as compared to UE2,
we can safely assume that 1 > 2. Let us say that the eNodeB has transmitted
subframe #n at time t1 which is seen by UE1 at time t1+1 and UE2 at time t1+2.
Both UE1 and UE2 take the downlink subframe arrival (together with Timing Advance)
as a reference to calculate uplink subframe timing.
The Timing Advance is equal to 2 x propagation delay assuming that the same
propagation delay value applies to both downlink and uplink directions. So, UE1 needs
to start its uplink at t1+21 whereas UE2 should start its uplink at t1+22. This will
ensure that both of the uplink transmissions (from UE1 and UE2) reach the eNodeB at
the same time which means that at the eNodeB, both uplink and downlink subframes
are time aligned.
If the Timing Advance is not applied, then the start of uplink transmission from UE2
for subframe #n+1 will overlap with the end of uplink transmission from UE1 for
subframe #n. Assuming that same resource blocks are assigned to UE1 in
subframe #n and UE2 in subframe #n+1, this overlap creates interference which
causes reception failures at the eNodeB. If a proper value of Timing Advance is
applied, then these subframes wont collide.
The eNodeB continuously measures timing of uplink signal from each UE and adjusts
the uplink transmission timing by sending the value of Timing Advance to the
respective UE. As long as a UE sends some uplink data (PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS), the
eNodeB can estimate the uplink signal arrival time which can then be used to
calculate the required Timing Advance value.
Timing Advance Command in LTE
The eNodeB estimates the initial Timing Advance from PRACH sent by the UE. PRACH
is used as timing reference for uplink during UEs initial access, radio link failure,
during Handover etcThe eNodeB sends Timing advance command in Random Access
Response (RAR). Once the UE is in connected mode, the eNodeB keep estimating
Timing Advance and sends Timing Advance Command MAC Control Element to the UE,
if correction is required.
The UE shall adjust the timing of its uplink transmission at subframe #n+6 for a Timing
Advance Command received in subframe #n
The UE shall adjust the timing of its transmissions with a relative accuracy better
than or equal to 4*TS seconds to the signalled timing advance value compared to the
timing of preceding uplink transmission
The timing advance command indicates the change of the uplink timing relative to
the current uplink timing as multiples of 16Ts.
NTA is the timing offset between uplink and downlink radio frames at the UE,
expressed in units of Ts. where Ts = 1/(2048x15000) = 1/30720000 sec
Timing Advance Command in MAC RAR

The Timing Advance Command in RAR takes 11 bits and it can indicate an index
value TA(0, 1, 2 1282) which used to control the amount of timing adjustment that
UE has to apply. The amount of the time alignment is given by NTA = TA 16. The
Timing Advance obtained via RAR is always positive
Example1 (TA = 0): When the received TA = 0 NTA = 0 so no timing adjustment
required.
Example2 (TA = 1): If TA = 1 Timing Adjustment = NTA = 16 Ts = 16/30720000
sec = 0.5208 s Distance = (3x108x0.5208x10-6)/2 = 78.12m which is the minimum
Example3 (TA = 1282): When the received TA =
1282 NTA = 1282x16Ts= 1282x16/30720000 sec = 667.66 s Distance =
(3x108x667.66x10-6)/2 = 100.15Km which is the maximum propagation distance
The maximum distance value (of slightly above 100Km) would facilitate cell radius of
up to 100Km.
Timing Advance Command MAC CE

In the case of Timing Advance Command MAC CE, it indicates relative Timing Advance
which is 6-bit index value TA (0, 1, 2 63). In this case, NTA,new = NTA,old + (TA
31)16where NTA,old is the current timing adjustment and NTA,new indicates new value.
Here, adjustment of NTA value by a positive or a negative amount indicates advancing
or delaying the uplink transmission timing by a given amount respectively
Timing Advance command in MAC RAR and MAC CE are illustrated below
Uplink Time Alignment
It was discussed above how the eNodeB controls Timing Advance that each UE has to
apply. Once the UE gets a Timing Advance Command, UE applies it and now the
question is for how long the UE uses the received Timing Advance value?
The eNodeB provides the UE with a configurable timer called timeAlignmentTimer.
TimeAlignmentTimer is used to control how long the UE is considered uplink time
aligned
The value of the timer is either UE specific (timeAlignmentTimerDedicated) and
managed through dedicated signalling between the UE and the eNodeB, or cell
specific (timeAlignmentTimerCommon) which is indicated in SIB2. In both cases, the
timer is normally restarted whenever a new Timing Advance is given by the eNodeB.
At the time of restart, the timer is restarted to a UE specific value if configured;
otherwise it is restarted to a cell specific value
The UE starts/restarts the TimeAlignmentTimer based on the condition when it
received the Timing Advance Command.
The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR
but timeAlignmentTimer is not already running: This case may arise in situations
like,timeAlignmentTimer has expired (connected mode), Initial access from
RRC_IDLE, during RRC Connection Re-establishment procedure etcAfter the
reception of RAR, the UE shall apply the Timing Advance Command value received in
RAR and start timeAlignmentTimer. If the contention is not resolved/successful, then
the UE stops timeAlignmentTimer, else, the UE continues running the timer
The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR as part of non-
contention based Random Access procedure (ex: PDCCH Order): After the reception
of RAR, the UE shall apply the Timing Advance Command value received in RAR and
starts/restart the timeAlignmentTimer
The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR as part of contention
based Random Access procedure in connected mode and timeAlignmentTimer is
already running: This could be in situations like UE is requesting for uplink resources
but UE doesnt have valid PUCCH resources for SchedulingRequest etcAfter the
reception of RAR, the UE shall ignore the received Timing Advance Command value
and shouldnt restart the timeAlignmentTimer
When a Timing Advance Command MAC CE is received, the UE shall apply the
received value of Timing Advance Command value and
start/restarttimeAlignmentTimer

As discussed before, the eNodeB continuously measures timing of uplink signal from
the UE and adjusts the uplink transmission timing by sending the Timing Advance
Command to the UE. If the UE has not received a Timing Advance Command until the
expiry oftimeAlignmentTimer, the UE assumes that it has lost the uplink
synchronization. Hence, prior to any PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS transmission in the uplink, an
explicit timing-re-alignment phase using the random access procedure must be
performed to restore the uplink time alignment
The UE shall perform the following actions upon the expiry of timeAlignmentTimer:
Flush all HARQ buffers;
If configured, release PUCCH resources of Periodic CQI and Scheduling Request,
and also SRS configuration. By doing so, the UE doesnt perform transmission of
SRS/PUCCH while timeAlignmentTimer is not running. The eNodeB has to configure
these parameters again in order for the UE to transmit SRS/Periodic CQI/Scheduling
Request after UE starts timeAlignmentTimer
Clear configured downlink assignments and uplink grants. i.e., release SPS
grant (uplink) and assignment (downlink) if configured

The UE shall not perform any uplink transmission except the Random Access Preamble
transmission when timeAlignmentTimer is not running.

For multiple Timing Advances in uplink Carrier Aggregation concepts in Release-11,

refer to the post here.