012 WCDMA Access Procedure

WCDMA Access Procedure
Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

All rights reserved
WCDMA Access Procedure Confidentiality level: Customer
Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 2/34

Revision Record
Date Version Change description
Author
07-01-2008 1A Victor Toledo


Table of Contents
1 Access Procedure in UMTS ............................................................................... 9

Definition of access procedure....................................................................... 9
Cell search................................................................................................... 10
Cell selection ............................................................................................... 12
Cell reselection ............................................................................................ 14
Random access procedure ......................................................................... 17
2 Access procedure messages ......................................................................... 23
System information broadcast ..................................................................... 23
RRC connection messages ......................................................................... 24
3 Access procedure performance analysis ....................................................... 30
Access procedure performance indicators................................................... 30
The influence factors for performance ......................................................... 30


Objectives
Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:
Explain the main access procedures
Describe the messages of access procedure
Explain the performance indicators of access procedure


1 Access Procedure in UMTS
Access process is one of the most important processes in WCDMA network.

Understanding the access process is very crucial for UMTS optimization.
Access process steps, signaling and performance are introduced in this module,
which is very helpful for the UMTS optimization engineers.
Definition of Access Procedure
Two operating mode of UE

Idle mode
− After turning on, UE will stay in idle mode, which is identified
by the NAS identification, such as IMSI, TMSI or P-TMSI etc.
Connected mode
− UE will switch to connected mode which could be
CELL_FACH state or CELL_DCH state from the idle mode.
− After releasing RRC connection, UE will switch to the idle

mode from the connected mode
From the view of access stratum, access is the procedure UE shift from idle mode to
connected mode. UE can do the registration, service application, authentication and non-
access stratum actions.
The most important difference between idle mode and connected mode is whether
UE has RRC connection with UTRAN or not.
In idle mode, UE will be identified by IMSI, TMSI or PTMSI and so on.
In connected mode, UE will be identified by URNTI (UTRAN Radio Network

Temporary Identity), which is the ID of one RRC connection.

Generally speaking, access includes the following four basic processes: cell search,
receiving system information, cell selection and cell reselection, random access
procedure
Cell Search
UE doesn’t have UTRAN carrier information

In order to find a suitable cell to stay, UE will scan all the
frequencies in UTRAN. In each carrier, UE just need to find a cell with best
signal.
UE has UTRAN carrier information

UE will try whether the original cell is suitable to stay. If not, UE still
need to scan all the frequencies about UTRAN in order to find a suitable
cell in PLMN.
Typical scenario of first occasion is the first time a new UE is put into use.
The second occasion is very common.
Synchronization Procedure—Cell Search
During the cell search, the UE searches for a cell and detects the downlink
scrambling code and frame synchronisation of that cell. The cell search is typically
carried out in three steps:
Step 1: Slot synchronisation

During the first step of the cell search procedure the UE uses the primary
synchronisation code to acquire slot synchronisation to a cell. This is typically done with
a matched filter. The slot timing of the cell can be obtained by detecting peaks in the
matched filter output.

Step 2: Frame synchronization and code-group identification

During the second step of the cell search procedure, the UE uses the secondary
synchronization code to find frame synchronization and identify the code group of the cell
found in the first step. This is done by correlating the received signal with all possible
secondary synchronization code sequences, and identifying the maximum correlation
value. Since the cyclic shifts of the sequences are unique the code group as well as the
frame synchronization is determined.
Step 3: Scrambling-code identification

During the third and last step of the cell search procedure, the UE determines the
exact primary scrambling code used by the found cell. The primary scrambling code is
typically identified through symbol-by-symbol correlation over the CPICH with all codes
within the code group identified in the second step. After the primary scrambling code
has been identified, the Primary CCPCH can be detected. Then the system and cell
specific BCH information can be read.
If the UE has received information about which scrambling codes to search for,
steps 2 and 3 above can be simplified.
Figure 1.- UE synchronization procedure.

Cell Selection
After cell search, UE will judge whether current PLMN is a right one. If so,
the UE will measure the signal of the cell and use S criteria to judge whether the
cell is suitable to camp on. This process is cell selection
If the cell signal does not satisfy the S criteria, UE will start the cell
selection and PLMN selection again.
The following conditions will trigger cell selection:
Turn on UE
Back to idle mode from connected mode
Lose cell information in connected mode
UE reselects a cell according to cell list in “measurement control” message, but it
can not find a suitable cell to camp on
PLMN selection
UE can get the system information from PCCPCH

In system information, the PLMN information is transmitted in MIB
After getting the MIB, UE can judge weather the current PLMN is the
right one. If so, UE will get the SIB scheduling information from the MIB; if
not, UE will search another carrier, do this procedure again
If the scheduling information of MIB is already known, which are SIB_POS=0 and
SIB_REP =8. UE can get MIB at the radio frame of SFN=0,8,16, ...
If the pilot strength and quality of one cell meet S criteria, UE will stay in this cell and
get other system information. Then, UE will initiate a location update registration process.

If the cell doesn’t satisfy S criteria, UE will get adjacent cells information from SIB11.
Then, UE will judge weather these cells satisfy S criteria. If the adjacent cell is suitable,
UE will stay in the adjacent cell.
If no cell satisfies S criteria, UE will take the area as dead zone and continue the
PLMN selection and reselection procedure.
Decision criteria
UE can get “Cell selection and re-selection info” from SIB3, which
contains Qqualmin, Qrxlevmin/Maximum, allowed UL TX power
（UE_TXPWR_MAX_RACH）；
S criteria: Srxlev > 0 & Squal > 0, where:
Table 1.- Parameter explanation for S criteria.
Currently, the value of UE_TXPWR_MAX_RACH is less than P_MAX, so the value

of Pcompensation is 0.
Then the second formula of S criteria can be simplified.

Cell Reselection
The idea of cell reselection is to ensure that UE is always in the best cell, then the
access will be very smooth.
In idle mode, UE should monitor the quality of current cell and adjacent cell
in order to camp on the best cell to initiate service. This process is cell reselection
Trigger conditions
Event trigger in idle mode.
In idle mode, if the cell can not satisfy S criteria during Nserv DRXs
continuously.
When UE detected itself in “non-service area”
Measurement trigger condition
Intra-frequency measurement
Squal ≤ Sintrasearch
↓
Qqualmeas − Qqualmin ≤ Sintrasearch
↓
Qqualmeas ≤ Qqualmin + Sintrasearch
If the above inequation is not satisfied, UE will not initiate intra-frequency

measurement.
If the above inequation is satisfied, UE will initiate intra-frequency measurement.
If the Sintrasearch is not given in system information, UE always measure the intra-
frequency cells.

Inter-frequency measurement
Squal ≤ Sintersearch
↓
Qqualmeas − Qqualmin ≤ Sintersearch
↓
Qqualmeas ≤ Qqualmin + Sintersearch
If the above inequation is not satisfied, UE will not initiate inter-frequency

measurement.
If the above inequation is satisfied, UE will initiate inter-frequency measurement.
If the Sintersearch is not given in system information, UE always measure the intra-
frequency cells.
Inter-RAT measurement
Squal ≤ Ssearchrat
↓
Qqualmeas − Qqualmin ≤ Ssearchrat
↓
Qqualmeas ≤ Qqualmin + Ssearchrat
If the above inequation is not satisfied, UE will not initiate the measurement for other
system.
If the above inequation is satisfied, UE will initiate the measurement for other system.
If the Ssearchrat is not given in system information, UE always measure cells of “M”
system.

Decision criteria
In Rs, s means serving cell.

In Rn, n means neighbor cell.
If Rs>Rn, UE will stay in current cell.
If Rn>Rs, UE will select new cell.
From the principle, we can see that the current cell enjoys higher priority.
Table 2.- Parameter explanation for cell reselection.
HCS (Hierarchical Cell Structure) is to set priority for the candidate cells.
We don’t need to consider TOn for non-HCS.
Then the formula of Rn can be simplified.

Figure 2.- Cell Reselection Hysteresis Time.
If R criteria can be satisfied during Treselection, UE will camp on the neighbor cell.
Random Access Procedure
Definition
Random access procedure is initiated by UE in order to get service
from the system. Meanwhile, the access channels are allocated to the UE
by system.
This process may happen in the following scenario:

− Attach and detach
− LA update and RA update
− Signaling connection for services
As a uplink common transport channel, RACH can only carry low rate data services,
for example, the initial stage of access or non-real time services.
The transmission method of RACH is based on the ALOHA principle.
PRACH is responsible for carrying RACH, which is a physical channel mapped by
RACH.
The AI (Acquisition Indicator) is carried by AICH, which is used for confirming the
random access procedure.

The transmission method on RACH is based on the time slot ALOHA principal
UE will transmit the preamble at the access time slot.
Each 20ms access frame is composed of two 10ms radio frames, which is divided
into 15 access time slot, and 5120 chips for each slot.
The PRACH access slots, AICH access slots and their time offset are showed in
figure 3.
Figure 3. - Random access channel.
The access slots of different RACH sub-channels are illustrated by the

following table:
Table 3. - Access slots of RACH sub-channels.

The system will assign random access sub-channels according to the ASC (Access
Service Class) of UE.
High ASC means more sub-channels.

Figure 4. - PRACH transmission structure.
The message part of PRACH is divided into 15 slots, and each slot contains 2560
chips and includes two parts:
Data part, RACH is mapped to this part.
Control part, which carries the control information of L1.
Data part and control part are transmitted by multiplexed code.
One 10ms message part is composed by one radio frame, and one 20ms message
part is composed by two continuous radio frames.
Figure 5. - RACH procedure.
UE transmits the preamble on PRACH.

If UTRAN received the preamble, an AI will be transmitted on the downlink channel
as a response.

If the AI is received, UE will transmit message part.

If UE does not receive the AI in τp-a period, the next preamble will be transmitted
after τp-p period.
This procedure will be repeated like figure 5 till UE receive AI.
Figure 6. - PRACH and AICH timing relationship.
The downlink AICH is taken as downlink access time slot, and each time slot
contains 5120 chips.
The beginning time of downlink access slot is the same as PCCPCH.
Uplink PRACH is divided into time slots, and each of them contains 5120 chips.
The above figure shows the timing relationship between PRACH and AICH.
Parameters about the random access procedure
The interval between two preambles should be longer than the minimum
value
τp-p ≥ τp-p,min 。
Parameters are defined as following:
AICH_Transmission_Timing=0
τp-p,min = 15360 chips (3 access slots)
τp-a = 7680 chips
τp-m = 15360 chips (3 access slots)

AICH_Transmission_Timing=1
τp-p,min = 20480 chips (4 access slots)
τp-a = 12800 chips
τp-m = 20480 chips (4 access slots)
The parameter AICH_Transmission_Timing is given by the command from upper
layer
Figure 7.- PRACH specific procedure.
Preamble_Initial_Power = Primary CPICH TX power – CPICH_RSCP + UL

interference + Constant Value
=DL_Path Loss + UL interference + Constant Value
Preamble_Initial_Power is decided by uplink open loop power control, because
WCDMA is a FDD system, the working frequency of uplink and downlink are different,
the path loss must be different, so the power estimation is rough.
There are 4 key parameters for the total random access procedure.

PowerOffsetPpm: Power offset between preamble and message part.

PRACHPowerRampStep: Preamble power ramping step.
PreambleRetransMax: The maximum times that UE can transmit preamble
Constant Value
“RRC Connection Request” is contained in the message part.

2 Access Procedure Messages
System Information Broadcast
System information structure

Information elements are broadcasted in SIB, and the same
category information can be put into one SIB.
The structure of system information is like a tree, which showed in

the following figure: the MIB contains the scheduling information about SIB;
the upper class SIB contains the same information of lower class one.
Figure 8. - System information structure.
UE can get PLMN ID, scheduling info of SB and SIB from MIB.
UE can get scheduling info of SIB from SB.
For cell selection/reselection and random access, we usually care SIB3, SIB5, SIB7
and SIB11.

RRC Connection Messages
Typical RRC connection messages

RRC_CONNECTION_REQUEST
RRC_CONNECTION_SETUP
RRC_CONNECTION_SETUP_COMPLETE
RRC_CONNECTION_REJECT
RRC_CONNECTION_RELEASE
UE has to establish the RRC connection before getting network services, then
execute the signaling interaction with CN through access stratum.
Since UTRAN can decide the initial connected mode (CELL_FACH or CELL_DCH),
the different transport channel mapped to DCCH decides the RRC connection
establishment flows.
Signaling for RRC Connection Messages
Figure 9. - signaling for RRC Connection Setup on RACH/FACH.
Typical scenario: Detach

Figure 10. - RRC Connection Setup on DCH.
Typical scenario: Originating Call, Terminating Call.
Figure 11. - RRC connection request message.

UE information elements
Initial UE identity: TMSI, PTMSI, IMSI, or IMEI. UE will choose one of them
according to their priority.
Establishment cause ： the causes for RRC connection establishment, such as
Originating Conversational Call, Terminating Streaming Call, Inter-RAT cell re-selection,
Registration, etc.
Measurement information elements

：
Measured results on RACH report the intra-frequency cell measurement results of
the cells appeared in the SIB 11, including the PSC and Ec/Io of CPICH.
Figure 12. - RRC connection setup message.

UE Information Elements
After receiving this message, UE will compare the indicator to its own. The
message will be discarded if they are not identical. UE will read the connected mode in
RRC State Indicator which is transmitted by UTRAN
RB Information Elements, which includes 4 SRB

SRB1: RLC UM for non-direct transfer message.
SRB2: RLC AM for non-direct transfer message.
SRB3: RLC UM for direct transfer message.
SRB4: RLC AM for direct transfer message.
TrCH Information Elements

：
maxAllowed UL TX Power the UE maximum transmission power.
PhyCH information elements ：the downlink and uplink carriers information for the
intra-frequency reselection in connected mode.
Uplink radio resources ：including the UL DPCCH synchronization information such
as uplink power control algorithm, the power offset, scrambling code, spreading factor,
TFCI, puncturing limit.
：
Downlink radio resources including the power control method of DL DPCH, TFCI,
SF and SC.

Figure 13. - RRC connection setup complete message.
UE Information Elements ：
For authentication and integrity protection
Other information elements ：

Including the ability of UE such as RF ability, the access ability for inter-system, the
algorithms for authentication and integrity, measurement capability (support of compress
mode on downlink and uplink).

Figure 14. - RRC connection release message.
UE information elements for RRC connection reject message:
RRC transaction identifier.

Initial UE identity.
Rejection cause: congestion, unspecified, etc.
Wait time: how long UE should wait before the transmission of next “RRC
Connection Request” message.
Redirection info: ask UE to initiate connection request in other frequency or system.
Mapping of DCCH
DCCH is mapped on common channel (RACH/FACH)
DCCH is mapped on dedicated channel (DCH)
(1) When the RRC connection is established on common transport

channel, system does not need to setup RL for this RRC connection (SRB). But
the service (TRB) will be established on the dedicate channels, so RRC will be
reconfigured on dedicate channel.
(2) When the RRC connection is established on dedicate transport channel,
system need to setup RL for this RRC connection (SRB). And the service (TRB) will
also be established on the dedicate channels. But it needs more bandwidth, so the
RL should be reconfigured.
For both of the scenarios, the RRC connection messages are the same.

3 Access Procedure Performance Analysis
Access Procedure Performance Indicators
Accessibility.
System Resource Availability.
Access Time Delay.
(1) Accessibility
Through DT&CQT we can get call setup success rate
Through traffic statistics we can get paging success rate, RRC setup success rate
and RAB assignment success rate.
(2) System Resource Availability

Through traffic statistics we can get call admission rejection rate, paging congestion
rate and congested cell ratio.
(3) Access Time Delay

Through CQT we can get call (voice, VP) setup time delay.
The Influence Factors for Performance
Tcell
Incorrect Tcell setting could influence the Cell Search Speed

Tcell is used to define the relative time delay between the starting
transmission time of SCH, CPICH and BFN.
Purpose
Prevent that different cells of same NodeB transmit the SCH at the same time
If not, the second step of cell search will be influenced
Value range
The unit of Tcell is 256 chip, and the value can be: 0 ～ 9.

Neighbor list
In RRC CONNECTION REQUEST message, UE has to report the

measurement result about current cell and neighbor cells
If there are too many neighbor cells, UE needs longer time to do the
measurement. Then, the user access time will be longer
One of the most important optimization tasks is neighbor list optimization.
Radio environment
Complex radio environment will cause slow fading, which will influence the
access procedure
Experimental conclusion:
Under 20km/h, UE can compensate the performance decline by power control.
Above 60km/h, UE can compensate the fading by interleaving.
Between 20km/h and 60km/h, the above mentioned methods can not function
smoothly, which will require higher demodulation threshold. That will make the access
performance worse.
These problems can be solved by the network planning
Clutter difference
The path loss can be different on different clutters, which will influence the
preamble transmission power calculation in the open loop power control
procedure
By the formula, the compensation for the difference path loss of uplink and
downlink is Constant Value.
Preamble_Initial_Power = Primary CPICH TX power – CPICH_RSCP + UL
interference + Constant Value
In real radio environment, the received signal strengthen on the NodeB side will be
different because of the different distances between UE and BS or different clutter, even
though the open loop power is correctly estimated.

References
3GPP 25.211 Physical channels and mapping of transport channels onto

physical channels (FDD).
3GPP 25.213 Spreading and modulation (FDD).
3GPP 25.214 Physical layer procedures (FDD).
3GPP 25.331 Radio Resource Control Protocol Specification.



012 WCDMA Access Procedure

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

012 WCDMA Access Procedure

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

WCDMA Access Procedure

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 2/34

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 3/34

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 4/34

1 Access Procedure in UMTS ............................................................................... 9

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 5/34

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 6/34

Upon completion of this module, you will be able to:

Explain the main access procedures

Describe the messages of access procedure

Explain the performance indicators of access procedure

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 7/34

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 8/34

1 Access Procedure in UMTS

Access process is one of the most important processes in WCDMA network.

Definition of Access Procedure

Two operating mode of UE

− After releasing RRC connection, UE will switch to the idle

In idle mode, UE will be identified by IMSI, TMSI or PTMSI and so on.

In connected mode, UE will be identified by URNTI (UTRAN Radio Network

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 9/34

UE doesn’t have UTRAN carrier information

UE has UTRAN carrier information

Synchronization Procedure—Cell Search

Step 1: Slot synchronisation

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 10/34

Step 2: Frame synchronization and code-group identification

Step 3: Scrambling-code identification

Figure 1.- UE synchronization procedure.

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 11/34

The following conditions will trigger cell selection:

UE can get the system information from PCCPCH

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 12/34

Table 1.- Parameter explanation for S criteria.

Currently, the value of UE_TXPWR_MAX_RACH is less than P_MAX, so the value

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 13/34

Measurement trigger condition

If the above inequation is not satisfied, UE will not initiate intra-frequency

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 14/34

If the above inequation is not satisfied, UE will not initiate inter-frequency

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 15/34

In Rs, s means serving cell.

Table 2.- Parameter explanation for cell reselection.

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 16/34

Figure 2.- Cell Reselection Hysteresis Time.

Random Access Procedure

This process may happen in the following scenario:

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 17/34

Figure 3. - Random access channel.

The access slots of different RACH sub-channels are illustrated by the

Table 3. - Access slots of RACH sub-channels.

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 18/34

Figure 4. - PRACH transmission structure.

Figure 5. - RACH procedure.

UE transmits the preamble on PRACH.

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 19/34

If the AI is received, UE will transmit message part.

Figure 6. - PRACH and AICH timing relationship.

Parameters about the random access procedure

τp-m = 15360 chips (3 access slots)

Mexico Training Center Confidential information of Huawei. Page 20/34

Figure 7.- PRACH specific procedure.

Preamble_Initial_Power = Primary CPICH TX power – CPICH_RSCP + UL