Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TA Web 04
TA Web 04
EnodeB subframe and a transmitted uplink subframe. This offset at the UE is necessary to ensure
that the downlink and uplink subframes are synchronised at the eNodeB.
Make Your Own
Lab A UE far from the eNodeB encounter a larger propagation delay so its uplink transmission Android App
is somewhat in advance as compared to a UE closer to the eNodeB. As an example (shown
Wireshark in the figure below), let us consider two UEs; UE1 is located far from the eNodeB and UE2 No Coding Needed - Get
on radio is located close to the eNodeB. Let δ1 be the propagation delay experienced on the Your Android App Now! -
downlink for UE1 and δ2 is the propagation delay experienced on the downlink for UE2.
LTE, S1AP. Since UE1 is located far from the eNodeB as compared to UE2, we can safely assume that AppyPie.com
Includes δ1 > δ2. Let us say that the eNodeB has transmitted subframe #n at time t1 which is seen
Appy Pie
by UE1 at time t1+δ1 and UE2 at time t1+δ2. Both UE1 and UE2 take the downlink
free access
subframe arrival (together with Timing Advance) as a reference to calculate uplink
to remote subframe timing.
LTE hosted The Timing Advance is equal to 2 x propagation delay assuming that the same
core. propagation delay value applies to both downlink and uplink directions. So, UE1 needs to
start it’s uplink at t1+2δ1 whereas UE2 should start it’s uplink at t1+2δ2. This will ensure
YateBTS
that both of the uplink transmissions (from UE1 and UE2) reach the eNodeB at the same
time which means that at the eNodeB, both uplink and downlink subframes are time
aligned.
If the Timing Advance is not applied, then the start of uplink transmission from UE2 for
subframe #n+1 will overlap with the end of uplink transmission from UE1 for subframe #n.
Assuming that same resource blocks are assigned to UE1 in subframe #n and UE2 in
subframe #n+1, this overlap creates interference which causes reception failures at the
eNodeB. If a proper value of Timing Advance is applied, then these subframes won’t
collide.
► June (5)
► 2013 (1)
► 2012 (22)
The eNodeB continuously measures timing of uplink signal from each UE and adjusts the
uplink transmission timing by sending the value of Timing Advance to the respective UE.
As long as a UE sends some uplink data (PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS), the eNodeB can estimate
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 2 of 8
the uplink signal arrival time which can then be used to calculate the required Timing ► 2011 (58)
Advance value.
Lab The eNodeB estimates the initial Timing Advance from PRACH sent by the UE. PRACH is
used as timing reference for uplink during UE’s initial access, radio link failure, during
Handover etc…The eNodeB sends Timing advance command in Random Access Response
Wireshark
(RAR). Once the UE is in connected mode, the eNodeB keep estimating Timing Advance
on radio and sends Timing Advance Command MAC Control Element to the UE, if correction is
LTE, S1AP. required.
Includes The UE shall adjust the timing of its uplink transmission at subframe #n+6 for a Timing
free access Advance Command received in subframe #n
to remote The UE shall adjust the timing of its transmissions with a relative accuracy better than or
equal to ±4*TS seconds to the signalled timing advance value compared to the timing of
LTE hosted
preceding uplink transmission
core.
The timing advance command indicates the change of the uplink timing relative to the
YateBTS current uplink timing as multiples of 16Ts.
NTA is the timing offset between uplink and downlink radio frames at the UE, expressed in
units of Ts. where Ts = 1/(2048x15000) = 1/30720000 sec
The Timing Advance Command in RAR takes 11 bits and it can indicate an index value TA
(0, 1, 2… 1282) which used to control the amount of timing adjustment that UE has to
apply. The amount of the time alignment is given by NTA = TA × 16. The Timing Advance
obtained via RAR is always positive
Labels Example1 (TA = 0): When the received TA = 0 ⇨ NTA = 0 so no timing adjustment required.
CQI (2) The maximum distance value (of slightly above 100Km) would facilitate cell radius of up
to 100Km.
CRE (5)
EPC (51)
ESM (17)
FeICIC (5)
FGI (1)
Hetnet (4)
ICIC (5)
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 3 of 8
MAC Procedures (7) The eNodeB provides the UE with a configurable timer called timeAlignmentTimer.
TimeAlignmentTimer is used to control how long the UE is considered uplink time aligned
measurement gap (1)
NAS (45) The value of the timer is either UE specific (timeAlignmentTimerDedicated) and managed
through dedicated signalling between the UE and the eNodeB, or cell specific
NR (1)
(timeAlignmentTimerCommon) which is indicated in SIB2. In both cases, the timer is
Periodic CSI (4) normally restarted whenever a new Timing Advance is given by the eNodeB. At the time
PHY (8) of restart, the timer is restarted to a UE specific value if configured; otherwise it is
restarted to a cell specific value
PHY Procedures (10)
Resource Allocation (9) The UE starts/restarts the TimeAlignmentTimer based on the condition when it received
the Timing Advance Command.
RNTI (2)
RRC (30) l The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR but timeAlignmentTimer
RRC Messages (30) is not already running: This case may arise in situations like,
timeAlignmentTimer has expired (connected mode), Initial access from
Scheduling Request (3)
RRC_IDLE, during RRC Connection Re-establishment procedure etc…After the
Semi-Persistent Scheduling (3) reception of RAR, the UE shall apply the Timing Advance Command value
sps (3) received in RAR and start timeAlignmentTimer. If the contention is not
resolved/successful, then the UE stops timeAlignmentTimer, else, the UE
SR (3)
continues running the timer
SRS (2)
l The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR as part of non-contention
TDD (1)
based Random Access procedure (ex: PDCCH Order): After the reception of RAR,
Timing Advance (2) the UE shall apply the Timing Advance Command value received in RAR and
TTI Bundling (2) starts/restart the timeAlignmentTimer
UE Capabilities (1) l The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR as part of contention
based Random Access procedure in connected mode and timeAlignmentTimer is
UE Identities (4)
already running: This could be in situations like UE is requesting for uplink
resources but UE doesn’t have valid PUCCH resources for SchedulingRequest etc…
After the reception of RAR, the UE shall ignore the received Timing Advance
Command value and shouldn’t restart the timeAlignmentTimer
l When a Timing Advance Command MAC CE is received, the UE shall apply the
received value of Timing Advance Command value and start/restart
timeAlignmentTimer
As discussed before, the eNodeB continuously measures timing of uplink signal from the
UE and adjusts the uplink transmission timing by sending the Timing Advance Command to
the UE. If the UE has not received a Timing Advance Command until the expiry of
timeAlignmentTimer, the UE assumes that it has lost the uplink synchronization. Hence,
prior to any PUSCH/PUCCH/SRS transmission in the uplink, an explicit timing-re-alignment
phase using the random access procedure must be performed to restore the uplink time
alignment
The UE shall perform the following actions upon the expiry of timeAlignmentTimer:
l Clear configured downlink assignments and uplink grants. i.e., release SPS grant
(uplink) and assignment (downlink) if configured
The UE shall not perform any uplink transmission except the Random Access Preamble
transmission when timeAlignmentTimer is not running.
For multiple Timing Advances in uplink Carrier Aggregation concepts in Release-11, refer
to the post here.
Reference: 3GPP TS 36.321, 36.213, 36.331, 36.133, 36.300
Reactions:
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 4 of 8
31 comments:
Hi Kumar Swami,
Why we ignore Timing Advance Command when timeAlignment Timer is running? As TA is
suggested by network and it is difference which we have to add so that we sync. with eNB, if we
ignore sync. might fail or not? I m confused please reply?
Reply
Replies
Since this was contention based RA procedure, several UEs might use same
RAPID and transmit PRACH in the same subframe...The eNB might intend to
correct some other UEs timing by sending the respective TA command in the
RAR...So, if the UE which has sync (whose timeAlignmentTimer is running) uses
that TA command, then definitely the UE is going to be misaligned with the NW
timing...which is the reason why it should ignore the command...
Is there any other scenario for RA when timer is running (UL synchronized)?
This is the case when multiple UEs are contending for access.
The eNodeB might intend to correct a specific UEs timing but all other UEs
which have transmitted PRACHs could received RAR which is intended for the
specific UE. Any UE, upon realizing the fact that contention resolution is not
successful, should ignore TA.
Reply
So, UE1 needs to start it’s uplink at t1+2δ1 whereas UE2 should start it’s uplink at t1+2δ2. Is this
correct ?
Reply
Replies
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 5 of 8
Yes. Correct
I think UE should start its uplink 2δ1, 2δ2 early .. so that it reaches the node B at
exactly time t1...I mean eNode B is getting uplink transmission at time later then
t1 due to propagation delay δ1 , transmission which was supposed to come at
t1 .. so using TA Alignment UL transmissions are advanced by the TA time to
reach at exactly t1... isn't this correct ??
I did not understand why it it is t1+2δ1, should n't be just t1+δ1 ?so that eNodeB
receives at exactly t1 ?
Reply
Hi,
I would like to ask what is a state of ue from EPC point of view after Timealignemnt expiration. For
example when inactivity timere expire, ue goes into RRC-idle, ECM-idle and EMM-registered. In
order to to sent data again it have to perform Service request procedure. How it looks like in case
of "out of timealigment" state ?
Reply
Replies
so UE all the time is in RRC connected state, but in order to transmit new data
has to perform RA procedure ?
Reply
Hi Kumar Swami,
Thanks for good post .. i have one doubt .. Timing advance is in the UL direction ... what about the
DL direction .. How in DL direction the effect of prorogation delay catered ...
Reply
hi., one question.. What are the premeties involve during PRACH to RACH MAPPING IN LTE ?
Thanks in Advance
Reply
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 6 of 8
Hello,
Could you please explain how UE releases PUCCH resources after TA timer expiration. I mean
what message is sent toward eNB for this purpose ?
Thanks in advance
Reply
Replies
Reply
Reply
Hi,
I'd like to ask that what procedure will be followed after the RA procedure by PDCCH order has
successfully completed. For example, does UE go to reestablishment procedure or move to idle?
In order to send UL data including HARQ ack/nack, PUCCH or SRS needs to be reconfigured
between the UE and eNB.
Reply
Replies
Reply
Dear Sir,
It is possible to detect when exactly in time domain UE goes UL-Out-of-Sync by looking at logfile,
or which message to check to confirm UL-Out-of-Sync.
Reply
Replies
Sure, it should be possible to find out the time instance of out of sync from the
log file. At least, I have seen it in all the modems (logs) that I have worked on.
Please check with your dev. team or respective architect to know what string to
look for...
Reply
Dear Sir,
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 7 of 8
Can you please share any example. Like which message or string observed.
I am using very rough estimate that "once UE sends contention based RACH( content UL Data
Arrival) in RRC connected state to same cell and eNB replies with RRC connection
reconfiguration message( content usually PUCCH resource info). It should be case of UE UL-out-
of-sync.
Reply
Replies
Reply
Hi, This was really a good doc. However i have just one Question , How do i know which kind of
timer has been configured in my network, i can see only "tTimeAlignment" parameter and no such
segration done on the basis UE Specific or Cell Specific Value.?
Reply
Replies
Reply
Thanks for writing. My question is regarding your opinion on the granularity. Why it is kept at 16 (x
Ts), why not 8 or 32?
Reply
Comment as:
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
How LTE Stuff Works?: Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer Page 8 of 8
Powered by Blogger.
http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018