PRACH Planning in LTE

PRACH Planning Principle

In LTE it is necessary the radio planner to selects the preamble format for each cell based on maximum
estimated cell range. Typical preamble format will be Preamble Format 0, allowing for cell sizes up to 15km.
Other preamble formats allow for larger cell ranges.
PRACH parameters should be planned. PRACH transmission can be separated by:
Time (prachConfIndex) specifies in which subframes the RA can occur
PRACH Configuration Index cannot be the same for different cells at the eNB
Frequency (prachFreqOff) avoid overlapping with PUCCH and PUSCH or splitting the PUSCH
area.PRACH area is next to PUCCH area either at upper or lower border of frequency band,
For simplicity use same configuration for all cells
Sequence (PRACH CS and RootSeqIndex) the cyclic shift ensures sufficient separation between the
preambles

Use different sequences for all neighbour cells

PRACH Configuration Index (1)

The PRACH Configuration
Chosen after selecting the
Preamble format
The PRACH capacity is
determined by the SFN and
subframe figures
In the case of FDD, the PRACH
cannot be multiplexed in the
frequency domain, i.e. only 1
PRACH resource per
subframe

Recommendation:
Configure different
PRACHconfiguration
Indexes at cells belonging
to the same site. E.g.:
3/4/5 if RACH density=1 or
6/7/8 if RACH density=2
(Preamble Format 0)

Frequency Offset (1)

Defines the position of the PRACH preamble

within the channel bandwidth
PRACH should be positioned adjacent to the
PUCCH

PUCCH

PUCCH
2 ms
Resource Block
signalled in SIB2

PRACH

PRACH Frequency Offset (2)

Indicates the first PRB available for PRACH in the UL frequency band
PRACH area (6 PRBs) should be next to PUCCH area either at upper or lower border of
frequency band in order to maximize the PUSCH area but not overlap with PUCCH area
Parameter is configured based on the PUCCH region i.e. its value depends on how many
PUCCH resources are available.
If PRACH area is placed at the lower border of UL frequency band then:
PRACH-Frequency Offset= roundup [PUCCH resources/2]

If PRACH area is placed at the upper border of the UL frequency band then:
PRACH-Frequency Offset= NRB -6- roundup [PUCCH resources/2]

NRB: Number of Resource Blocks

Root Sequence Index

The allocated root sequence index broadcast in SIB2 is a logical index. The actual physical index is
obtained using a look-up table defined within 3GPP TS 36.211 (part of the table is shown below)
Each logical rootSeqIndex is associated with a single physical root sequence number.
The reuse distance of root sequences should be maximised
The eNB could be configured with all cells using the same root sequences, provided the cells use
different preamble configuration indexes.

PRACH Cyclic Shift for FDD preambles

Cyclic shift is used to assure sufficient separation between the preambles
The propagation delay and the cyclic separation are directly related to the cell range
Recommendation: assume all cells have same size=> same PrachCS

The table highlights how the intra-cell interference is optimized with respect to cell size: the smaller the cell size, the
larger the number of orthogonal signatures and the better the detection performance.

Zero Correlation Zone (1)

Selecting
Zero Correlation Zone
High Speed Flag
are prerequisites to planning the Root Sequence Index

High Speed Flag

= FALSE

High Speed Flag

= TRUE

The Zero Correlation Zone determines the size of the cyclic shift used to generate the PRACH
sequence from the root sequence

Large cyclic shift (large Zero Correlation

Zone) required to support larger cell
ranges
Large cyclic shift means that fewer
PRACH sequences can be generated
from each root sequence
PRACH sequences generated from
different root sequences are not
orthogonal

Zero Correlation Zone (2)

There are 838 root sequences from which to generate the PRACH sequences(64)
Each root sequence has a length of 839
Each cell requires 64 PRACH sequences
The number of PRACH sequences which can be generated from each root sequence is given by:
PRACH Sequences per Root Sequence = ROUNDDOWN(839 / Cyclic Shift)

The number of root sequences

required per cell is then given by:
ROUNDUP(64 / PRACH
Sequences per Root Sequence)
This determines the size of
the reuse pattern when
planning root sequences

PRACH Planning
Wrap Up

Steps:
- Define the prachConfIndex
Depends on preamble format (cell range)
It should be different for each cell of a site
- Define the prachFreqOff
Depends on the PUCCH region
It can be assumed to be the same for all cells of a network (simplification)
- Define the PrachCS
Depends on the cell range
If for simplicity same cell range is assumed for all network then prachCS is the same for all
cells
- Define the rootSeqIndex
It points to the first root sequence
It needs to be different for neighbour cells
rootSeqIndex separation between cells depends on how many are necessary per cell
(depends on PrachCS)

PRACH Planning example

Assumptions:
- prachConfIndex=3 for all cells
preamble format =0
One PRACH opportunity per 10ms
- prachFreqOff=6 for all cells
PRACH starts at sixth PRB in frequency domain
- Define the prachCS=8 for all cells
Max cell range = 5.5km
Each cell consumes 4 root sequences

Exercise
Plan the PRACH Parameters
for the sites attached in the
excel
Assumptions:
PUCCH resources =6
Cell range = 12km (all
cells have same range)
BW:10MHz

Exercise Solution