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How LTE Stuff Works?

Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Timing Advance and Time Alignment Timer

Timing advance is a negative offset, at the UE, between the start of a received downlink

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.

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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

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the uplink signal arrival time which can then be used to calculate the required Timing ► 2011 (58)
Advance value.

EnodeB Timing Advance Command in LTE

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

    Timing Advance Command in MAC RAR

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.

5G (1) Example2 (TA = 1): If TA = 1 ⇨ Timing Adjustment = NTA = 16 Ts = 16/30720000

BSR (1)
Buffer Status Reporting (1)
Bundling (1)
Carrier Aggregation (7)
sec = 0.5208 μs ⇨ Distance = (3x108x0.5208x10-6)/2 = 78.12m which is the minimum Followers
Example3 (TA = 1282): When the received TA = 1282 ⇨ NTA = 1282x16Ts Followers (155) Next
= 1282x16/30720000 sec = 667.66 μs ⇨ Distance = (3x108x667.66x10-6)/2 = 100.15Km which
is the maximum propagation distance

CQI (2) The maximum distance value (of slightly above 100Km) would facilitate cell radius of up
to 100Km.
CRE (5)

CS fallback (2)     Timing Advance Command MAC CE

Follow
CSG (1) In the case of Timing Advance Command MAC CE, it indicates relative Timing Advance
CSI (2) which is 6-bit index value TA (0, 1, 2… 63). In this case, NTA,new = NTA,old + (TA − 31)×16
where NTA,old  is the current timing adjustment and NTA,new indicates new value. Here,
DCI Formats (3)
adjustment of NTA value by a positive or a negative amount indicates advancing or
DRX (2) delaying the uplink transmission timing by a given amount respectively
eICIC (5)
Timing Advance command in MAC RAR and MAC CE are illustrated below
EMM (28)

EPC (51)

ESM (17)

FeICIC (5)

FGI (1)

Hetnet (4)

ICIC (5)

LTE Calculators (12)

LTE Security (7)

LTE System Information (10)

Uplink Time Alignment
MAC PDU (3)
It was discussed above how the eNodeB controls Timing Advance that each UE has to
apply. Once the UE gets a Timing Advance Command, UE applies it and now the question
is for how long the UE uses the received Timing Advance value?

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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)
UE Identities (4)
l The Timing Advance Command is received in MAC RAR as part of contention
based Random Access procedure in connected mode and timeAlignmentTimer is
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 Flush all HARQ buffers;

l If configured, release PUCCH resources of Periodic CQI and Scheduling Request,

and also SRS configuration. By doing so, the UE doesn’t perform transmission of
SRS/PUCCH while timeAlignmentTimer is not running. The eNodeB has to
configure these parameters again in order for the UE to transmit SRS/Periodic
CQI/Scheduling Request after UE starts 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:

Posted by Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti at 5:02 PM

Labels: MAC Procedures, PHY, PHY Procedures, Timing Advance

http://howltestuffworks.blogspot.com/2014/07/timing-advance-and-time-alignment-timer.... 04/17/2018
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31 comments:

Anonymous November 7, 2014 at 11:23 AM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti November 7, 2014 at 12:11 PM

When timeAlignmentTimer is running, UE probably insync.

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...

If it was non-contention based RA procedure, the UE should apply the TA even

if timeAlignmentTimer is running as the RAR is intended for this UE.

Anonymous July 11, 2015 at 7:11 PM

Correct answer.. only in contention based case it should ignore

Unknown August 28, 2016 at 2:42 AM

from my understanding, when timeAlignmentTimer is running (UL synchronized),

the only scenario for random access (RA) is when no valid PUCCH resource for
SR is configured or sr_counter >= dsr-TranMax. In this case it should be
contention based RA since the prachConfigIndex is not provided by RRC or
PDCCH order. therefore we can safely ignore TA in UL synchronized mode!

Is there any other scenario for RA when timer is running (UL synchronized)?

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti August 31, 2016 at 9:50 AM

No

Anonymous December 19, 2016 at 8:37 PM

Please, Regarding first question of UE ignores Timing Advance Command when

timeAlignment Timer is running;
Why EnodeB might intend to correct some Other UE if this will cause a
misaligned with NW Timing ?

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti December 21, 2016 at 5:43 PM

Hi,

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

Anonymous June 11, 2015 at 12:17 PM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti July 27, 2015 at 9:50 AM

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Yes. Correct

ravneet November 2, 2015 at 2:11 PM

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 ??

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti November 2, 2015 at 10:03 PM

Yes,

Anonymous May 12, 2016 at 7:49 AM

I did not understand why it it is t1+2δ1, should n't be just t1+δ1 ?so that eNodeB
receives at exactly t1 ?

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti July 11, 2016 at 12:38 PM

As it has been illustrated, 2*δ1 is the time measured between Start of Downlink
subframe (at the UE) and the start of uplink subframe (at the UE)...

Reply

Anonymous August 11, 2015 at 5:43 PM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti August 12, 2015 at 8:55 AM

TimeAlignmentTimer expiry won't affect the EPC state. The UE performs RA
procedure to re-align the timing in uplink...This is not all known to NAS.

Anonymous August 12, 2015 at 9:33 AM

so UE all the time is in RRC connected state, but in order to transmit new data
has to perform RA procedure ?

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti August 12, 2015 at 9:51 AM

Yes, UE is still RRC connected even after TAtimer expiry.

Reply

ravneet November 6, 2015 at 12:01 PM

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

Telengineer February 21, 2016 at 7:13 AM

hi., one question.. What are the premeties involve during PRACH to RACH MAPPING IN LTE ?
Thanks in Advance

Reply

Anonymous September 19, 2016 at 10:40 PM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti September 21, 2016 at 9:51 AM

The UE won't send any explicit message to the eNodeB, it just releases the
configuration internally. The eNodeB anyway comes to know about this when
the UE initiates RA procedure...

Reply

Unknown October 4, 2016 at 10:18 AM

This comment has been removed by the author.

Reply

Handel Bae October 4, 2016 at 10:25 AM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti October 24, 2016 at 9:44 AM

Hi,

Once RA procedure is successful (cause: PDCCH order), the UE is in timing

sync, and the UE is ready to use the old configuration (prior to PDCCH order).
The UE doesn't need any configuration of PUCCH/SRS etc...unless, the
configuration wasn't explicitly released by the eNB

Reply

Anonymous November 22, 2016 at 8:13 AM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti November 22, 2016 at 10:06 AM

Hi,

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

Anonymous November 22, 2016 at 10:52 AM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti November 22, 2016 at 1:09 PM

It could vary but it should be something like "OUT_OF_SYNC_IND" from phy
layer.

Reply

Abhishek Singh December 4, 2016 at 4:59 PM

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

Kumar Swamy Pasupuleti December 6, 2016 at 9:13 AM

Hi Abhishek,

Are you looking at UE logs or eNB logs?

Reply

Bikramjit Singh April 16, 2018 at 10:31 AM

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

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