5G NR RRC Timers, Counters and Constants

March 22, 2020 Author

5G, 5G Network Architectures, 5G Network Planning, Future Network Optimization, 
New Radio, NR, Radio Resource Management, RRC, RRC Signalling, Signaling

5G NR  radio resource control  (RRC)  has introduced following listed  timers,
counters  and  constant  for reliable functioning of  procedures  like
RRCsetuprequest, RRCreestablishment, RRCresume, RRCsuspend etc.

RRC timer indicates the timer duration and event when to start, event when to
stop and actions to be taken if the timer is expired. These timers are denoted
by  letter “T” followed by 3 digit number e.g. T300. Each timer start we zero
value and  when the UE applies zero value for a timer, the timer shall be started
and immediately expire unless explicitly stated otherwise.

RRC  constant and counter defines the count or  no. of attempts  for particular
event. Counter are denoted by  letter “N”  and followed by  3 digit  number
e.g. N310.

Following is the complete list and details about timers, constant and counter.

Timer: T300
Start Point:
Upon transmission of RRCSetupRequest
Stop Point:
Upon reception of RRCSetup or RRCReject message
Upon Cell re-selection
Upon abortion of connection establishment by upper layers
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Timer: T301
Start Point:
Upon transmission of RRCReestabilshmentRequest
Stop Point:
Upon reception of RRCReestablishment or RRCSetupmessage
 when the selected cell becomes unsuitable
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Go to RRC-IDLE
Timer: T302
Start Point:
Upon reception of RRCReject while performing RRC connection
establishment or resume,
Upon reception of RRCRelease with waitTime
Stop Point:
Upon entering RRC-CONNECTED or RRC-IDLE
Upon cell re-selection
Upon reception of RRCReject message
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Inform upper layers about barring alleviation
Timer: T304
Start Point:
Upon detecting physical layer problems for the SpCell i.e. upon
receiving N310 consecutive out-of sync indications from lower
layers
Stop Point:
Upon receiving N311 consecutive in-sync indications from lower
layers for the SpCell,
Upon receiving RRCReconfiguration with reconfiguration With
Sync for that cell group, and upon initiating the connection re-
establishment procedure.
Upon SCG release, if the T310 is kept in SCG
Action upon Timer Expiry:
If the T310 is kept in MCG: If security is not activated: go
to RRC_IDLE else: initiate the connection re-
establishment procedure
If the T310 is kept in SCG, Inform E-UTRAN/NR about the
SCG radio link failure by initiating the SCG failure information
procedure as specified in 5.7.3 of specification 38.331
Timer: T311
Start Point:
Upon initiating the RRC connection reestablishment procedure
Stop Point:
Upon selection of a suitable NR cell or a cell using another RAT
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Enter RRC_IDLE
Timer: T319
Start Point:
 Upon transmission of RRCResumeRequest
Stop Point:
Upon reception of RRCResume, RRCSetup, RRCRelease,
RRCRelease with suspendConfig or RRCReject message, cell re-
selection
Upon abortion of connection establishment by upper layers
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Perform the actions as specified in 5.3.13.5 of 3GPP specification
38.331
Timer: T320
Start Point:
Upon reception of t320
upon cell (re)selection to NR from another RAT with validity
time configured for dedicated priorities (in which case the
remaining validity time is applied)
Stop Point:
Upon entering RRC-CONNECTED,
Upon reception of RRC Release, when PLMN selection is
performed on request by NAS
Upon cell (re)selection to another RAT (in which case the timer
is carried on to the other RAT)
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Discard the cell re-selection priority information provided
by dedicated signalling
Timer: T321
Start Point:
Upon receiving measConfig including a reportConfig with the
purpose set to report CGI
Stop Point:
Upon acquiring the information needed to set all fields of cgiinfo
Upon receiving measConfig that includes removal of
the reportConfig with the purpose set to reportCGI
upon detecting that a cell is not broadcasting SIB1
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Initiate the measurement reporting procedure, stop performing
the related measurements and remove the
corresponding measId
Timer: T325
Start Point:
Upon reception of RRCRelease message
with deprioritisationTimer
Action upon Timer Expiry:
 Stop deprioritisation of all frequencies or NR signalled
by RRCRelease
Timer: T380
Start Point:
Upon reception of RRCRelease including suspendConfig
Stop Point:
Upon reception of RRCResume, RRCSetup or RRCRelease
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Perform the actions as specified in 5.3.13 of 3GPP 38.331
Timer: T390
Start Point:
When access attempt is barred at access barring check for an
Access Category
The UE shall maintain one instance of this timer per Access
Category
Stop Point:
As specified in 5.3.14.3 of 3GPP 38.331
Action upon Timer Expiry:
Perform the actions as specified in 5.3.14.4  of 3GPP 38.331
Timer: T3xx
Start Point:
Upon transmitting UEAssistanceInformation message
with DelayBudgetReport
Stop Point:
Upon initiating the connection re-establishment procedures
Action upon Timer Expiry:
No action.
Counter and Constant

N310: Maximum number of consecutive “out-of-sync” indications for

the PCell received from lower layers
Reset
Upon reception of “insync” indication from lower layers
Upon
receiving RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync for
that cell group
Upon initiating the connection reestablishment procedure
Incremented
Upon reception of “out-of-sync” from lower layer while the
timer T310 is stopped
When reaching max value
Start timer T310
 N311: Maximum number of consecutive “in-sync” indications for the
PCell received from lower layers
Reset
Upon reception of “outof-sync” indication from lower layers
Upon
receiving RRCReconfiguration with reconfigurationWithSync for
that cell group
Upon initiating the connection reestablishment procedure
Incremented
Upon reception of the “in-sync” from lower layer while the
timer T310 is running
When reaching max value
Stop the timer T310
Refereneces:

3GPP TS 38.331 5G; NR; Radio Resource Control (RRC); Protocol

specification