5G PRACH Implementation

PRACH Procedure
These four steps includes
•Msg1 : Random Access Preamble (RA)
•Msg2 : Random Access Response (RAR)
•Msg3 : RRC Connection Request
•Msg4 : Contention Resolution

•http://www.techplayon.com/5g-nr-msg2-random-access-
response-rar-sa-mode/
PRACH Procedure
General Structure of PRACH
 ZadoffChu Sequence & its Properties
• ZC sequence is a constant amplitude which minimizes PAPR
• ZC sequence generates very large spike when correlated itself for zero time shift and will be almost zero for other
shifts
• Cross correlation of one ZC sequence with other ZC sequence will be very low
• One ZC Sequence of length x can generate x-1 ZC sequences of length x. These are known as Root Sequences
• In 5G, ZC sequence of lengths 839 and 139 are used for PRACH. These can generate 838 and 138 Root Sequences,
respectively.
• From a Root Sequences additional ZC sequences are generated by applying cyclic shifts
ZadoffChu Sequence & its Properties
• Total number sequences available depends upon sequence length and
cyclic shift.
• Ex: for long PRACH seq. 839 with cyclic shift 119 will generate
floor(839/119) = 7 sequences per Root sequence
• Total number of Sequences = 838x7 = 5866 sequences
• Duration of a ZC sequence is inverse of subcarrier spacing.
• So for PRACH with 1.25 KHz will have a duration of 1/1250 = 800 us.
Similarly, for 5 KHz it is 1/5000 = 200us
ZadoffChu Sequence & its Properties
• Long PRACH sequences are vulnerable to frequency offsets.
• In case of UE mobility, PRACH received can experience round trip doppler as UE uses the doppler
shifted Downlink signal as reference.
• Frequency offsets can generate additional peaks in the auto correlation. So, gNb may synchronize with
additional peaks and can lead wrong propagation delay estimate.
• There can be cases with overall Offset could be greater than Long PRACH Sub carrier spacings. In such
cases, it is possible that gNb detects a wrong cyclic shift
 Restricted & Unrestricted Cyclic Shifts
• To avoid wrong cyclic shift detection 3GPP has defined restricted and
the unrestricted sets for Long PRACH sequences.
• But this will reduce the total number sequences available for
transmission
PRACH Waveform Generation
 PRACH Waveform Generation

• u – Root Sequence
• Cv – Cyclic Shift
• LRA – Length of the Random-Access Sequence
PRACH Waveform Generation
PRACH Waveform Generation
• 𝐿𝑅𝐴 𝜖 571, 1151 , This configuration is used in the context of UE
with wideband operation (>20 MHz) and shared spectrum access.
PRACH Waveform Generation Example:
Δ𝑓𝑅𝐴 = 1.25 𝐾𝐻𝑧
Δ𝑓 = 15 𝐾𝐻𝑧
No. of RA RBs = 6
Total Bw for PRACH =
6x12x15kHz = 1080 KHz

PRACH Occupied = 839 x

1.25 KHz = 1048.75 kHz

Diff = Total BW for PRACH –

PRACH Occupied
= 1080 kHz – 1048.75kHz
= 31.25 kHz
= (31.25/1.25) = 25 Prach
Subcarriers
Long Format Sequence
• There are four formats
• Sequence length of 839
• Subcarrier spacing of 1.25 KHz & 5 KHz which corresponds to 800 & 200 us
respectively
• Applicable only for FR1
• Applicable to TDD & FDD configurations that allows relatively long periods of
continuous uplink transmission.
 Long Format Sequence
• Zero Correlation Zone Configuration index gives information about
the length set of sequences available for transmission at UE
• 𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. =
839
𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟(𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡)
• 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 =
64
𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑙(𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. )
• 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. 𝑟𝑒 − 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 =
838
𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟(𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞.𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙. )
• Max. cell range associated with cyclic shift
is given by
𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒
= 300
800
× ቈ 𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡 − 1 ×
839

− 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑቉ /(2 × 1000)

 Long Format Sequence
• Prach Configuration Index specifies the time domain position of the
PRACH
Short Format Sequence
• Sequence length is 139, results in 138 root sequences
• Applicable to FR1 for subcarrier spacing 15KHz or 30KHz, applicable
for FR2 for subcarrier spacing 60KHz or 120KHz
• Support for cells with small to medium cell range
• Applicable to TDD configurations which are restricted to relatively
short period of continuous uplink transmission
• There are 9 PRACH formats A1,A2,A3,B1,B2,B3,B4,C0 & C2
• Repetition in the PRACH formats depends on the PRACH
Configuration index
Short Format Sequence
• Formats A1,A2,A3 have CP or Seq. Combinations occupy
integer number of symbols. So, the start of one PRACH
symbol is itself a guard Period. The final PRACH occasion
relies on a guard period at the end of Seq. transmission
• Formats A1,A2 & A3 have 2,4 & 6 symbols respectively.
Format A1 includes 2 repetitions of the PRACH sequence.
• Each repetition duration is equal to payload of the PUSCH
2048 × T𝑠 × 2𝜇 𝜇 is the subcarrier Spacing index
• This implies PRACH CP duration are multiples of normal CP
• Max 𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 =
𝑃𝑅𝐴𝐶𝐻 𝐶𝑃 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 – 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 × 𝐶 ÷
2 , 𝐶 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡
• Cell range calculations usually account for the guard
period. Here, guard period does not limit the cell range
because it is either empty or the start of another PRACH
occasion.
• Delay Spread for formats A2 & A3 is assumed to equal the
duration of the normal CP i.e., 144 × T𝑠 × 2𝜇 and for A1 it
is 96 × T𝑠 × 2𝜇
Short Format Sequence
• Formats B1,B2,B3 & B4 have CP or Seq. Combinations
occupy a non-integer number of symbols. This implies the
need for an explicit guard period.
• Formats B1,B2, B3 & B4 have 2,4,6 & 12 repetitions, of
PRACH sequences, respectively..
• Each repetition duration is equal to payload of the PUSCH
2048 × T𝑠 × 2𝜇 𝜇 is the subcarrier Spacing index
• CP duration for B1,B2,B3 & B4 are slightly lower than
format A1,A2 & A3.
• Max. Cell range for these formats is minimum of the cell
ranges defined by the CP duration and Guard Period
duration.
• Max 𝐶𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 =
min{ 𝑃𝑅𝐴𝐶𝐻 𝐶𝑃 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 – 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 × 𝐶 ÷ 2 ,
𝐺uard Period × 𝐶 ÷ 2}
• Delay Spread for formats B2,B3 & B4 is assumed to equal
the duration of the normal CP i.e., 144 × T𝑠 × 2𝜇 and for
B1 it is 96 × T𝑠 × 2𝜇
• Max cell range for B1 & A1 combination is minimum of the
cell ranges of B1 & A1
• Formats C0 & C2 will support large cell ranges with SHORT
PRACH preambles upto 10 km
• Cell ranges greater than 10 km (macro cells) Long PRACH
Sequences must be used
Short Format Sequence
• For PRACH transmission of a specific format beyond the max.
cell range the tail end transmission may generate ISI.
• The repetition within short PRACH preambles can be either
used to improve SINR or provide transmission across multiple
positions of a beam sweep
Short PRACH Sequence
• The repetition within short PRACH preambles can be either used to
improve SINR or provide transmission across multiple positions of a beam
sweep
 • In TDD, due to channel reciprocity the best downlink

Short PRACH Sequence •

beam is used as uplink beam for the PRACH
transmission. Hence, only single beam transmission.
In FDD case, UE transmits across the multiple beams to
allow gNodeB to identify the best uplink beam
• Short PRACH sequences occupy a wider bandwidth than
long PRACH preamble
• From the table, UE which support FR2 must have a
higher bandwidth Capacity
• Since Sequence length 139 is not a multiple of 12 so the
PRACH does not occupy an integer number of RBs. In all
such cases 5 additional PRACH subcarriers act as a
guard band.
• Short PRACH preambles are relatively very less affected
to frequency Offsets and hence no need of restricted
cyclic shifts like in Long PRACH preambles
139
• 𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. = 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟( )
𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡
64
• 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 = 𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑙(𝑆𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. )

• 𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞. 𝑟𝑒 − 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛 =

138
𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑟(𝑅𝑜𝑜𝑡 𝑆𝑒𝑞.𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙. )

• Reuse pattern size is smaller for short PRACH

Sequence as the Root Sequences set is itself is small.
• Smaller the re-use pattern size makes the Radio
network planning more challenging.
• Max. cell range associated with cyclic shift is given by

• 𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 = 300 × ቂ 𝐶𝑦𝑐𝑙𝑖𝑐 𝑆ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡 − 1 ×

1000
𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔×139
− 𝐷𝑒𝑙𝑎𝑦 𝑆𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑 ቃ /(2 × 1000)
Short PRACH Sequence
• FR2 has a greater number of starting slot numbers than for FR1. This
is due to increased number of beams to provide coverage across the
cells.
• FR1 supports up to 8 SS/PBCH Blocks which can be transmitted using
up to 8 beams
• FR2 supports up to 64 SS/PBCH Blocks which can be transmitted using
up to 64 beams
 PRACH detection
PRACH Wave
form
Generation

Inputs for
PRACH Wave Best Uplink
PRACH Formats PRACH PRACH Random Access
form beam detection
Generation Transmission detection Response to
Generation if FDD
MAC

UE Tx gNode B Rx
PUSCH for Type-2 random access procedure
• In Type-2 RACH Process, UE transmits PUSCH, N symbols after the
PRACH transmission.
• Value of N depends on the SCS, shown below:
N = 2 for u = 0 or 1
N = 4 for u = 3 or 4, where u is SCS configuration
• There is no HARQ ACK for msg-A PUSCH transmission
• UE transmits PUSCH at PUSCH Occasions and the PUSCH Occasions is
configured by IE msgA-PUSCH-Config.
• msgA-PUSCH-Config is either obtained from a RRC message.
• In the case of initial access msgA-PUSCH-Config is provided in initial
UL BWP of SIB1 RRC message
• If the UE is in RRC Connected mode the network can configure msgA-
PUSCH-Config as part of active UL BWP
Type-2 RACH PUSCH Occasions
Type-2 RACH PUSCH Occasions
Power Control in PRACH
• It is an open loop power control procedure
Power Control in PRACH
PRACH Performance Metrics
• Probability of False detection <= 0.1 %
• Probability of detection >= 99%
• Timing estimation error occurs if the estimation error of the timing of
the strongest path is larger than the time error tolerance
References
• 5G NR in bullets
• TS 38.211, TS 38.212, TS 38.213
• TS 38.141, TS 38.101
Action Items
• Use cases for RACH Seq. lengths 1151 & 571 2.
• Power Ramp up procedure in RACH?
• Beamforming using PRACH in UL when no Channel Reciprocity and with
Channel Reciprocity basically in TDD & FDD?
• How short formats are used for the beamforming?
• How UE side best beam is selected ?
• How PUSCH symbols are sent in msg-A along with preamble in 2-Step
PRACH ?
• Check for any possibility for optimization in choosing the preambles or
reducing the preambles with 2-step RACH procedure?
• UE procedures from the initial power up ?
• Purpose of formats C0 & C1 ?
• Is it possible to send data in the symbols adjacent to the PRACH symbols
although they are part of other PRACH occasions