March 2018 @qualcomm Jakarta

PCI And RSI

Planning
Physical Cell Identity (PCI)
Importance of PCI
• PCI used as unique identifier for an LTE Cell, to
distinguish between one cell to another
• There are 504 PCIs can be used ranging from 0 to 503
• PCI derives from PSS and SSS, PCI = PSS ID + 3*SSS ID
• PSS (Primary Synchronization Signal) is in the range of 0 to 2
• SSS (Secondary Synchronization Signal) is in the range of 0 – 167

• On the initial acquisition, UE reads the PBCH channel to

acquire the MIB after PCI is known, which is after PSS and
SSS synchronization were done
• PCI determined the position of Cell Reference Signal
Source sample text

Improper PCI planning such as collision/confusion rises the

ambiguities, which may lead to erroneous thereby reduces network
performances 2
 PCI Collision/Conflict
PCI Planning
PCI Collision & Confusion Cell A Cell D
PCI = 9 PCI = 11
The PCI Planning should minimize co-PCI between Cell A
PCI = 11
neighboring cells and between the neighbor’s
neighbor Cell A
PCI = 10
PCI Collision
• PCI Collision/Conflict occurs between two intra-frequency cells that
PCI Confusion
use an identical PCI

• UE in the overlapping area between those cells cannot do signal

synchronization or decoding Cell A Cell D
PCI = 9 PCI = 10
PCI Confusion Cell A
• Occurs if there are two or more neighbor cells that have the same PCI = 11
PCI on the same frequency Cell A
• PCI Confusion may lead to handover failures/service drop as the PCI = 10
eNodeB cannot determined the intended cell for Handover
3
 PCI 3, Mod3 = 0

PCI Planning
`

Collision between RS
Port 0 and Port 1
PCI Modulo Rule

PCI determined the position of Cell Specific

Reference Signal PCI 6, Mod3 = 0
PCI 4, Mod3 = 1
• CS-RS Position on time domain is fixed on symbol 0 and 4 in each
time slot

• While the position on frequency domain is changing according the

PCI, one PCI differences will shift the CS-RS by 1 subcarrier
`

PCI Modulo 3 and 6

PCI 5, Mod3 = 2
• In 2x2 MIMO configuration, it is important to follow the PCI Mod 3 RS Port 0
rule to avoid Reference signal collision between cells RS Port 1

• By applying PCI Mod 3, PCI Mod 6 and Mod 30 will be also covered

• PCI Mod 3 will create RS Port 0 and Port 1 collision, while Mod 6 will
create RS Port 0 – Port 0 or Port 1 – Port 1 collision

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LTE Random Access Procedure
Importance of RACH Procedure
RACH Procedure
• RACH procedure holds important rule in LTE as it
uses to acquire UL synchronization as well as access
the network for transmitting signaling and data
• RACH procedure can be initiated from idle or
connected modes (e.g. Handover)
• Failure or delay in executing RACH procedure can
have a noticeable impact on user experience as well
as Network KPIs

Source sample text

Proper RACH configuration can help to improve the system KPIs and
User Experiences
5
LTE Random Access Procedure
Introduction
Contention Free
Random Access Procedure
eNodeB assigns a dedicated
• The procedure uses by UEs when UE want to do initial preamble for the UE to use
for RA procedure (e.g.
access/establishing radio connection to the eNodeB Handover)
• Since eNodeB do not have prior dedicated resource to communicate Group B
Contention Based
with UE, Random Access procedure is needed
UE chooses a preamble
• Contention Based RA is used for initial access, while Contention

64 preambles
randomly from group A or
Free is used for Handover group B. Collisions may
happen, degrading RA
These following scenarios will lead the UE to perform Random Access procedure.
procedure: Group B
UE will choose group B
• Initial RRC Connection Setup preambles when message
size is higher than a
• RRC Connection Re-Establishment threshold (higher UL grant
requested)
• Handover

• Uplink Data Arrival (when uplink is in out-of-sync condition)

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LTE Random Access Procedure Random Access Procedure

Random Access Procedure Type UE eNode-B

Preamble (Msg 1)
Contention Based Procedure
Random Access Response (Msg2)
• Contention based is used when UE has not yet known/allocated a dedicated
RACH preamble

• RACH preamble is randomly chose by the UE (Group A or Group B based on

Scheduled Transmission (Msg3)
Msg3 size) and UE sends the preamble (Msg1) until RAR (Random Access
Response/Msg2) is received

• RAR message (Msg2) sends by the eNodeB contains UL Grant for Msg3
transmission, temporary C-RNTI and preamble identifier Contention Resolution (Msg4)

• Msg3 transmission can be RRC Connection Request, RRC Re-establishment

or RRC Handover ra-ResponseWindowSize ContentionResolutionTimer

• Contention Resolution (Msg4) contain matches temporary C-RNTI and Msg3

DeltaPreambleMsg3
content (S-TMSI or random number sent in Msg3), this way contention is PwrRampingStep
resolved and UE can proceed with dedicated transmission

Msg4
Msg2

Msg3
Msg1
Msg1
Contention Free Procedure

Msg1
• In Contention Free Procedure, UE is allocated with dedicated preamble
assigned by the eNodeB, thus no contention resolution is needed preambleTransMax
7
 • Guarantee good RSI planning • RA procedure is controlled by
Main Factors for will avoid MSG1 collisions
and improve Random Access
network parameters.
• Proper parameter setting can
Random Access performance
RSI, Ncs
provide improvement in RA
performance
Planning

Proper
planning/configuration
Random
and parameter Cells Over-
shooting Access Parameter
Config.
Performance
adjustment will ensure
good Random Access
Performance
• There is correlation between
Random Access performance
and overshooting cells
• By making sure that the cell
Cell Radius
coverage follow designed link • Configured “cell radius” parameter
budget, Random Access will define Ncs value, and add
failures will be under control constraints to RSI planning
• Propoer value of cell radius need to
match desired coverage based on
link budget / morphology

Source sample text 8

LTE Random Access Procedure
Random Access Performance Metrics
Random Access Performance can be derived from the division of Contention Resolution message (MSG4) over Random
Access Response message (MSG2)

L.RA.GrpA.ContResolution + L.RA.GrpB.ContResolution 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

𝑹𝑹𝑹𝑹 𝑷𝑷𝑷𝑷𝑷𝑷𝑷𝑷, % =
𝐿𝐿.𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅.𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺.𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅+𝐿𝐿.𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅.𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺𝐺.𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅𝑅
= 𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀𝑀

• When cells have overlapped area and uses the same/partially overlapping RACH Roots Sequence, when a UE sends MSG1 preamble
several cells could detect the MSG1 preamble which result MSG2 respond from those cells

• It means that there are unnecessary MSG2 signaling from the unwanted cells as the UE reads the MSG2 from the intended serving cell
only and the MSG3 and MSG4 signaling continue on that cell only

• Such case will increase the # of MSG2 transmission and some of them are unnecessary, the more the unwanted MSG2 being transmitted
caused the degradation of Random Access Performance (MSG4/MSG2)

Source sample text 9

LTE Random Access Procedure
Root Sequence Index (RSI) Planning
This value represents the
How to generate 64 preambles ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig
; cyclic shift is derived from
this value. ZCZConfig is
• 64 preambles need to be generated per cell from Root derived from cell radius.

Sequence Index (RSI) and cyclic shift

• Preamble sequences are orthogonal to each other by using

a different RSI, or by applying a cyclic shift to the sequence
generated with the same RSI

• Cyclic shift need to consider the propagation delay and the

maximum delay spread of the channel to guarantee
orthogonality. Therefore, cyclic shift value depends on cell
radius

• The use of bigger cyclic shift will limit the number of

preambles that can be generated with one RSI, but will
allow larger cell radius. If cyclic shift is high, the number of
preambles that can be generated per RSI will be low

• In order to generate 64 preambles with higher cyclic shift, The higher the NCS the lower The higher the NCS the higher
more RSIs need to be occupied, limiting RSI reuse for the number of preambles
generated from single RSI
the number of root sequences
for generating 64 preambles
neighboring cells.
Source sample text 10
LTE Random Access Procedure
Root Sequence Index (RSI) Planning
Example of improper RSI planning

• Example of bad RSI plan of two co-site cells

Configured cell radius of 14 km, ZeroCorrelationZoneConfig equals 12

RSI = 416

RSI = 728
RSI = 724

RSI gap less than 10

RSI = 728 p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7 RSI = 724 p1 p2 p3 p4 p5 p6 p7

RSI = 729 p8 p9 p10 p11 p12 p13 p14 RSI = 725 p8 p9 p10 p11 p12 p13 p14
RSI = 730 p15 p16 p17 p18 p19 p20 p21 RSI = 726 p15 p16 p17 p18 p19 p20 p21
RSI = 731 p22 p23 p24 p25 p26 p27 p28 RSI = 727 p22 p23 p24 p25 p26 p27 p28
RSI = 732 P29 p30 p31 p32 p33 p34 p35 RSI = 728 p29 p30 p31 p32 p33 p34 p35
RSI = 733 p36 p37 p38 p39 p40 p41 p42 RSI = 729 p36 p37 p38 p39 p40 p41 p42
RSI = 734 p43 p44 p45 p46 p47 p48 p49 RSI = 730 p43 p44 p45 p46 p47 p48 p49
RSI = 735 p50 p51 p52 p53 p54 p55 p56 RSI = 731 p50 p51 p52 p53 p54 p55 p56
RSI = 736 p57 p58 p59 p60 p61 p62 p63 RSI = 732 P57 p58 p59 p60 p61 p62 p63
RSI = 737 p64 RSI = 733 p64

Colliding preambles

Source sample text 11

 •

10.00%
20.00%
30.00%
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60.00%
70.00%
80.00%
90.00%

0.00%
100.00%
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Example of improper RSI planning

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Example of bad RSI plan of two co-site cells

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RA Performance (Msg4/Msg2)

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+ 16%

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Root Sequence Index (RSI) Planning

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LTE Random Access Procedure

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•
•
•

collisions.
Actions Performed:

as impacting RA efficiency.
noticeable from 80% to 96%.
and sector 3. Improvement in RA performance is

Reducing overshooting also helps improving RSI

improves. This provides advantages for configuring a
If cell radius is reduced so its cyclic shift. By reducing
Changed RSI of sector 2 from 724 to 426. This left an

12
This eliminated collision of preambles between sector 2
sufficient with current cell radius of 14km and Ncs of 12.

better RSI plan. This is where overshooting is presented

Another solution is to reduce “cell radius” parameter, only
offset of RSI of 10 between sector 1 and sector 2, which is

cyclic shift, required offset of RSI is shorter and RSI re-use

if this value excedes desired cell coverage (overshooting) .
LTE Random Access Procedure
Root Sequence Index (RSI) Planning
Recommendations (1)

• Larger cells require higher Ncs, as users at edge of larger cells have higher propagation delay; hence more root sequences are needed to
generate the 64 preambles. Since a cell can have one or more physical root sequences to generate the 64 preambles, only the first logical
root sequence is communicated by higher layers (this reduces overead).

• MSG1 Preambles are based on Zadoff-Chu sequences, where one or more root sequence might be assigned to each cell to generate the
64 preambles. To reduce MSG1 collisions and potential interference between neighbor cells, different root requences need to be used,
and a reuse distance needs to be maintained before repeating the same Root Sequence Index in the same area.

• As previsously discussed, the number of root sequences used per cell will depend on its cell radius. Larger than desired cell radius will
add constraints to RSI planning. Cell radius set at 14.5 km is aggresive for urban cells, and increase probability of MSG1 collisions. Larger
than required cell radius configuration (hence Ncs as derived in Huawei RAN) leads to the following:

• Reduction in physical roots reuse distance, making adding more cells as network expands a more challenging task.

• Reduction in orthogonality between preambles, as more ZC base sequences are used to generate the 64 preambles, having non-
zero cross correlation. When Ncs is smaller, fewer ZC base sequences are used, leading to a higher degree of orthogonality
between preambles.

• Defining cell radius requires attention, as configuring a value lower than required can lead to preamble ID detection issues, and TA
estimation problames for the eNB.

Source sample text 13

LTE Random Access Procedure
Root Sequence Index (RSI) Planning
Recommendations (2)

The following steps are recommended for Ncs and RSI Planning:

1. Find the appropiate cell radius in km for a cell.

Consider the largest distance that a UE could be camped on a certain cell that will start PRACH process. This depends on desired cell
radius per morphology as per power budget calculation. Rural cells will have larger cell radius than Urban or Suburban for example.

2. Decide the preamble formats to be used based on cell radius.

Preamble format defines the maximum delay spread

(based on sequence and CP length).

3. Find Ncs based on cell radius and number of roots used per cell.

4. Assign RSI based on the coordination of the neighbor cells that ensures:

a) Logical roots are spaced by the number of roots required for each cell belonging to the same cluster (based on Ncs value).

b) When assigning the same or overlapping RSIs to another cell, the minimum re-use distance has to be met.

Source sample text 14

LTE Random Access Procedure
Root Sequence Index (RSI) Planning
Recommendations (3)

• Logical root sequences can follow a sequential pattern where:

Next RSI = Last used RSI + Number of Roots used in last cell
Depends on Ncs,
which depends on
Cell Radius

• Considering fixed Ncs value then the logical root reuse factor can be calculated as:

Root Reuse Factor = Floor ( 838 / Number of Roots used per cell )

Source sample text 15

RSI Planning for Telkomsel
Delta RSI per Region

Region Vendor Cell Radius NCS Config Delta RSI (ZeroCorrelationConfig)

Sumbagut Ericsson/Huawei 15 Km 12 10
Sumbagteng Ericsson/Huawei 15 Km 12 10
Sumbagsel Huawei 8 Km 10 6
Jabodetabek Huawei 8 Km 10 6
West Java Huawei 8 Km 10 6
Central Java Huawei 8 Km 10 6
East Java Huawei 8 Km 10 6
Bali Nusra Huawei/Nokia 8 Km 10 6
Kalimantan Ericsson/Nokia 15 Km 12 10
Sulawesi ZTE 5.3 Km 10 6
Puma Nokia 15 Km 12 10

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