Timing Advance (TA) in LTE

Issue 01
Date 16 April 2014

HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

All rights reserved.

 About This Document

Overview
This document provides an overview of the Timing Advance (TA) in LTE . It also describes why we need TA,How to
Claculate the TA , Huawe Counters ,why we need the TA calculation and Using EFMA to calculate the TA.

In LTE, when UE wish to establish RRC connection with eNB, it transmits a Random Access Preamble, eNB estimates the
transmission timing of the terminal based on this. Now eNB transmits a Random Access Response which consists of timing
advance command, based on that UE adjusts the terminal transmit timing.
The timing advance is initiated from E-UTRAN with MAC message that implies and adjustment of the timing advance

Document Version
Prepared by Alaa Eldin Ahmed Date
22 April 2014
(00741338)
Reviewed by Date

Contents:

1- overview
2- TA in LTE Usage.
3- Timing Advance Command MAC Control Element
4-LTE Users Distributions
a- How Huawei calculate the TA (Counters).
b- How Huawei calculate the TA (CHR Data using EFMA).
5- Hints .
6- Refrences
 Timing Advance (TA) in LTE

Overview
In GSM system MS sends its data three time slots after it received the data from the BTS. This is ok as long as MS-BTS
distance is small but increasing distance requires consideration of propagation delay as well. To handle it Timing advance
(TA) is conveyed by network to MS and current value is sent to the MS within the layer 1 header of each SACCH. BTS
calculates the first TA when it receives RACH and reports it to the BSC and BSC/BTS passes it to UE during Immediate
Assignment.
In UMTS Timing Advance parameter was not used but in LTE Timing Advance is back.
In LTE, when UE wish to establish RRC connection with eNB, it transmits a Random Access Preamble, eNB estimates the
transmission timing of the terminal based on this. Now eNB transmits a Random Access Response which consists of timing
advance command, based on that UE adjusts the terminal transmit timing.
The timing advance is initiated from E-UTRAN with MAC message that implies and adjustment of the timing advance.

TA Usage :
Belwo points can show why we need TA in LTE

- UL Transmission in LTE is Not Synchronized.

- Used to control the Uplink Timing of Individual UE.
- Ensure that transmissions from All UE are Synchronized when received by the eNodeB.
- UE furthest from the eNodeB requires a larger Timing Advance to compensate for the Larger Propagation Delay.
- The UE has a configurable timer timeAlignmentTimer which is used to control how long the UE is considered
uplink
time aligned
- timeAlignmentTimerCommon(Common For All UEs In a Cell) included in SIB2.
- timeAlignmentTimerDedicated (UE specific value for Time Alignment Timer) is included in the RRC Connection
Reconfiguration Message.

-The TA used in LTE for Transmission timing adjustments in both idle case (random access) and Connected case.
-Upon reception of a timing advance command, the UE shall adjust its uplink transmission timing for
PUCCH/PUSCH/SRS of the primary cell. The timing advance command indicates the change of the uplink timing
relative to the current uplink timing as multiples of 16Ts .

In case of random access response, 11-bit timing advance command, TA, indicates NTA values by index values of
TA = 0, 1, 2, ..., 1282, where an amount of the time alignment is given by NTA = TA ×16 TS.

In other cases, 6-bit timing advance command , TA, indicates adjustment of the current NTA value, NTA,old, to the new
NTA value, NTA,new, by index values of TA = 0, 1, 2,..., 63, where NTA new = NTA old + (TA −31)×16 Ts.
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.
For a timing advance command received on subframe n, the corresponding adjustment of the timing shall apply from
the beginning of subframe n+6.When the UE’s uplink PUCCH/PUSCH/SRS transmissions in subframe n and subframe
n+1 are overlapped due to the timing adjustment, the UE shall transmit complete subframe n and not transmit the
overlapped part of subframe n+1.

Example :
Distance between a device and the network antenna :
A timing advance of one Ts is equivalent to a distance of (3 x 108 x 1 / (15000 x 2048)) / 2 = 4.89 m
Distance = propagation speed (light speed) x one Ts delay / 2 (downlink path + uplink path)
Initial absolute Random Access Response MAC payload (11 bits) TA range = 0, 1, 2,..., 1282
 Random Access Response NTA = TA x 16. Timing adjustment is always positive

Example :
TA = 1 then NTA = 1 x 16 Ts. Distance equals 16 x 4.89 m = 78.12 m
Distance maximum between a device and the network antenna = 1282 x 78.12 m = 100.156 km.

Timing Advance Command MAC Control Element

1- In case of random access response:

Timing Advance is initialized in RAR command using 11 bit TA command.

Timing Advance in RAR takes a value from 0 - 1282
According to Spec 36.321:

1- In case of Connected mode :

The Timing Advance Command MAC control element is identified by MAC PDU subheader with LCID value =
11101 (Timing Advance Command) .
It has a fixed size and it consists of a single octet as show below.
According to Spec 36.321:

- R: reserved bit, set to "0"

- Timing Advance Command: This field indicates the index value TA (0, 1, 2… 63) used to control the amount
of timing adjustment that UE has to. The length of the field is 6 bits.
LTE Users Distributions :
One of the important results of calculating the TA that we can got the users Distributions in LTE network
which can lead us to analysis Access and Call drop issues so we can improve the LTE Network KPIs.

So starting from ERAN 6 Huawei offered new counters which show the users distriputions

a-Number of Times the TA with a Specific Value Range in a UE-Initiated

Random Access Procedure in a Cell
Counter ID Counter Name Counter Description

1526728956 L.RA.TA.UE.Index0 Number of times the TA value is 0 or 1 (index 0) in a

UE-initiated random access procedure in a cell

1526728957 L.RA.TA.UE.Index1 Number of times the TA value is 2 or 3 (index 1) in a

UE-initiated random access procedure in a cell
1526728958 L.RA.TA.UE.Index2 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 4 to 7
(index 2) in a UE-initiated random access procedure
in a cell
1526728959 L.RA.TA.UE.Index3 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 8 to 13
(index 3) in a UE-initiated random access procedure
in a cell
1526728960 L.RA.TA.UE.Index4 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 14 to
25 (index 4) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728961 L.RA.TA.UE.Index5 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 26 to
45 (index 5) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728962 L.RA.TA.UE.Index6 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 46 to
85 (index 6) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728963 L.RA.TA.UE.Index7 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 86 to
185 (index 7) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728964 L.RA.TA.UE.Index8 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 186 to
385 (index 8) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728965 L.RA.TA.UE.Index9 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 386 to
685 (index 9) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728966 L.RA.TA.UE.Index10 Number of times the TA value is ranging from 686 to
985 (index 10) in a UE-initiated random access
procedure in a cell
1526728967 L.RA.TA.UE.Index11 Number of times the TA value is greater than 985
(index 11) in a UE-initiated random access procedure
 Counter ID Counter Name Counter Description

in a cell
b-Description

The counter measures the number of times the TA with a specific value range contained in the Random
Access Response message in a UE-initiated random access procedure in a cell. One TA equals 0.52
microsecond.

c- Measurement Points

In a UE-initiated random access procedure, when the eNodeB sends a Random Access Response (RAR)
message to the UE after receiving a Random Access Preamble message, the corresponding counter is
incremented based on the TA value contained in the RAR message each time the eNodeB receives the first
uplink data packet that passes the cyclic redundancy check (CRC).

HINT :

As this Counters were not available before ERAN6 so we can Use eRAN FMA CHR Analysis to calculate the
User distribution as below

User Distribution Analysis using E-FMA:

This rule is used to measure the usTa field in the imported CHR data that is recorded by the L2 dedicated
Preamble module, and estimate the distances between UEs and the eNodeB.
In eRAN2.1 and eRAN2.2, the TA information reported by the L1 module is contained in
L2_L1_RPT_DEDI_PERAMBLE events.

usTA = TA = 16 x Ts = 16 x (0.5 ms/15360) = 0.52 μs

A single TA is 156 m long. Therefore, the distance between a UE and the eNodeB can be calculated using the
following formula:
Distance between a UE and the eNodeB = 156 x Number of TAs/2

In eRAN3.0, the ulTa field in L2_USER_INFO events indicates TA information reported by the L1 module.

ulTA = TA = 16 x Ts = 16 x (0.5 ms/15360) = 0.52 μs

A single TA is 156 m long. Therefore, the distance between a UE and the eNodeB can be calculated using the
following formula:

Distance between a UE and the eNodeB = 156 x Number of TAs/2

In eRAN6.0, the measurement rules are as follows:

− When the ILastTa field in the L2_UEAbnormal event is a positive value: Distance between a UE and the
eNodeB = 156 x TA value/2/16

In this formula, the TA value is the value of the ILastTa field. If multiple L2_UEAbnormal events are generated
for the same call ID, the TA value is the average value of the ILastTa fields in these events.

− When the ILastTa field in the L2_UEAbnormal event is a negative value: Distance between a UE and the
eNodeB = 156 x TA value/2

In this formula, the TA value is the value of the ulta field under strL1Rpt in the
L2_CHR_USER_DEDI_PREAMBLE_INFO event.

− In the other cases: Distance between a UE and the eNodeB = 156 x TA value/2

In this formula, the TA value is the value of the ulTa field in the L2_CHR_USER_SRB_INFO event.

As shown in the following figure, two tables explain this rule. The upper table lists field statistics and contains
the following columns: TA, Distance(m), Counts, and Percentage.
For more details please check operation guide Eran FMA V2.8 (30.2.2 & 30.3.3)

Hints :

1- How to calculate Ts

Ts= 1/Sampling frequancy

Sampling frequancy in case of LTE = subcarrier spacing * order of ( IDFT(Tx) OR DFT(Rx) )

IDFT: Inverse direct fourier transform, DFT: Direct Fourier transform

In LTE Design the IDFT(Tx)/DFT(Rx) size Depened on the used Bw in the Network as below table so It’s mean
that every BW have different Ts

Channel Bandwidth [MHz] 1.4 3 5 10 15 20

Number of resource blocks (N_RB) 6 15 25 50 75 100

Number of occupied subcariers 72 180 300 600 900 1200
IDFT(Tx)/DFT(Rx) size 128 256 512 1024 1536 2048
Sample rate [MHz] 1.92 3.84 7.68 15.36 23.04 30.72
Samples per slot 960 1920 3840 7680 11520 15360

2- Basic TS (Timing units)

Almost all numbers , duration and calculations related to E-UTRAN are drived from a fundamental
parameters knows as Ts (Basic Time Unit).

Ts represents the sampling Time of the overall channel and itself drived frombasic channel parameters

The calculation for E-UTRAN are based on the service that operates in 20 MHZ channel with 2048 subcarriers
set at 15 KHz spacing , EUTRAN deployment at all other bandwidths are based on these parameters

Ts = 1/15.000*2048 second =0.0325 micro second

Frame,Subfram and Slot lenghts , Cyclic Prefix durations and many other key parameters are calculated as
multiples of Ts.
Crucially , the value of Ts doesen’t vary even when E-UTRAN operates in channel bandwidthes are smaller
than 20 MHz , As Ts stays constant all other , all of the Keys Parameters used to define the E-UTRAN Services
also stay constant

The consistency reduce the overall Complexity of E-UTRAN and enable the manufactures to scal their devices
more easily to a varity of channel BW and frequancy Bands

Refrences :

1- 3GPP specifications (36.133 & 36.321)

2- Operation Guide to ERAN FMA 2.8

3- LTE Evolved UTRAN Enginnering overview (wary castle)