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Introduction

CellReselectionProceduresinLTE

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Contents
1Introduction
2LTEInitialAccess
3Initialsynchronization
3.1PrimarySynchronizationSignal
(PSS)
3.2SecondarySynchronizationSignal
(SSS)
4LTECellselectionandreselection
criteria

LTERFPlanning
PublicSafetyLTE
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Introduction
CellreselectionisacomplexprocessinLTE.Thefollowingextractfrom[1]providesaverygoodunderstandingof
theoverallprocedure.

LTEInitialAccess
Likeallmobilecommunicationsystems,inLTEaterminalmustperformcertainstepsbeforeitcanreceiveor
transmitdata.Thesestepscanbecategorizedincellsearchandcellselection,derivationofsysteminformation,
andrandomaccess.ThecompleteprocedureisknownasLTEInitialAccessandisshownintheFigurebelow.
Aftertheinitialaccessprocedure,theterminalisabletoreceiveandtransmititsuserdata.

Initialsynchronization
Successfulexecutionofthecellsearchandselectionprocedureaswellasacquiringinitialsysteminformationis
essentialfortheUEbeforetakingfurtherstepstocommunicatewiththenetwork.Forthisreason,itisimportant
totakeacloserlookatthisfundamentalphysicallayerprocedure.Thissectionfocusesonthecellsearchscheme
definedforLTEandthenextchapterdescribesreceptionoftheessentialsysteminformation.
Asin3G(WCDMA),LTEusesahierarchicalcellsearchprocedureinwhichanLTEradiocellisidentifiedbyacell
identity,whichiscomparabletothescramblingcodethatisusedtoseparatebasestationsandcellsinWCDMA.
Toavoidtheneedforexpensiveandcomplicatednetworkandcellplanning,504physicallayercellidentitiesofis
sufficientlylarge.Withahierarchicalcellsearchscheme,theseidentitiesaredividedinto168uniquecelllayer
identitygroupsinthephysicallayer,inwhicheachgroupconsistsofthreephysicallayeridentities.Toremember
thishierarchicalprinciple,considertheexampleoffirstnamesandsurnames.Accordingtostatistics,themost
commonEnglishsurnameisSmith,whichcorrespondstophysicallayercellidentitygroup0.Thesecondmost
commonsurnameisJohnson,whichrepresentsthephysicallayercellidentitygroup1.Thisexamplecanbe
extendedtothelastgroup,whichwouldbeRose.ThemostcommonmalefirstnamesareJames,John,
orRobertandfemalenamesareMary,Patricia,andLinda.Eachfirstnamerepresentsoneofthethree
physicallayeridentities.Thisinformationisnowtransmittedusingtwodifferentsignals,generatedbyLayer1.
Thetwosignals,carryingthephysicallayeridentityandthephysicallayercellidentitygroup,aretheprimaryand
thesecondarysynchronizationsignalsrespectively.Thismeansthatthecompletecellsearchprocedureconsists
oftwostepstoidentifythecellsidentityasshownGraphicallyintheFigurebelow:

PrimarySynchronizationSignal(PSS)
TheUEfirstlooksfortheprimarysynchronizationsignal(PSS)whichistransmittedinthelastOFDMsymbolof
thefirsttimeslotofthefirstsubframe(subframe0)inaradioframe.ThisenablestheUEtoacquiretheslot
boundaryindependentlyfromthechosencyclicprefixselectedforthiscell.Basedonthedownlinkframestructure
(Type1,FDD).Theprimarysynchronizationsignalistransmittedtwiceperradioframe,soitisrepeatedin
subframe5(intimeslot11).ThisenablestheUEtogettimesynchronizedona5msbasis,whichwasselected
tosimplifytherequiredinterfrequencyandinterRATmeasurements.LTEmustaccommodatehandovertoand
fromotherradioaccesstechnologies,suchasGSM/GPRS/EDGE,WCDMA/HSPAorCDMA2000
1xRTT/1xEVDO.

SecondarySynchronizationSignal(SSS)
Afterthemobilehasfoundthe5mstiming,thesecondstepistoobtaintheradioframetimingandthecellsgroup
identity.ThisinformationcanbefoundfromtheSSS.Inthextimedomain,theSSSistransmittedinthesymbol
beforethePSS.TheSSSalsohas5msperiodicity,whichmeansitistransmittedinthefirstandsixth
subframes(subframes0and5)asshownintheFigurebelow.LikethePSS,theSSSistransmittedon62ofthe
72reservedsubcarriersaroundtheDCsubcarrier.

LTECellselectionandreselectioncriteria
TheprevioussectiondescribedhowinitialcellselectionwillworkandthedifferencebetweenLTEFDDandTD
LTE.However,onlywhenspecificcriteriaarefulfilledistheUEallowedtocamponthatcell.Thesecriteriafor
cellselectionaswellascellreselectionforLTEarespecifiedin[3].Itisfurtherillustratedbyadescriptionofthe
twoprocedures:Intheinitialcellselectionprocedure,asdescribedintheprevioussections,noknowledgeabout
RFchannelscarryinganEUTRAsignalisavailableattheUE.InthatcasetheUEscansthesupportedEUTRA
frequencybandstofindasuitablecell.Onlythecellwiththestrongestsignalpercarrierwillbeselectedbythe
UE.Thesecondprocedurereliesoninformationaboutcarrierfrequenciesandoptionallycellparametersreceived
andstoredfrompreviouslydetectedcells.IfnosuitablecellisfoundusingthestoredinformationtheUEstarts
withtheinitialcellselectionprocedure.Sisthecriteriondefinedtodecideifthecellisstillsuitable.Thiscriterion
isfulfilledwhenthecellselectionreceivelevelis

iscomputedbasedontheEquationbelow:

isthemeasuredreceivelevelvalueforthiscell,i.e.theReferenceSignalReceivedPower
(RSRP).
Thismeasuredvalueisthelinearaverageoverthepoweroftheresourceelementsthatcarrythecell
specific
referencesignalsovertheconsideredmeasurementbandwidth.Consequently,itdependsontheconfigured
signalbandwidth.InthecaseofreceiverdiversityconfiguredfortheUE,thereportedvaluewillbe
equivalent
tothelinearaverageofthepowervaluesofalldiversitybranches.


istheminimumrequiredreceivelevelinthiscell,givenindBm.Thisvalueissignaledas
QrxLevminbyhigherlayersaspartoftheSystemInformationBlockType1(SIBType1).QrxLevminis

calculatedbasedonthevalueprovidedwithintheinformationelement(70and22)multipliedwithfactor2in

dBm.

isanoffsettoQrxlevminthatisonlytakenintoaccountasaresultofaperiodicsearchfora
higherpriorityPLMNwhilecampednormallyinaVisitorPLMN(VPLMN).Thisoffsetisbasedonthe
informationelementprovidedwithintheSIBType1,takingintegervaluesbetween(18)alsomultiplied
bya
factorof2indB.Thisgivesawiderrangebykeepingthenumberofbittransmittingthisinformation.The
offsetisdefinedtoavoidpingpongbetweendifferentPLMNs.IfitisnotavailablethenQrxlevminoffsetis
assumedtobe0dB.

isamaximumfunctionasshowninEquation5.Whateverparameterishigher,
PEMAXPUMAXor0,isthevalueusedforPCompensation.PEMAX[dBm]isthemaximumpoweraUEis

allowedtouseinthiscell,whereasPUMAX[dBm]isthemaximumtransmitpowerofanUEaccordingtothe

powerclasstheUEbelongstoo.AtthemomentonlyonepowerclassisdefinedforLTE,which
corresponds
toPowerClass3inWCDMAthatspecifies+23dBm.PEMAXisdefinedbyhigherlayersandcorresponds
to
theparameterPMAXdefinedin[2].Basedonthisrelationship,PEMAXcantakevaluesbetween30to+33
dBm.OnlywhenPEMAX>+23dBmPCompensationisitconsideredwhencalculatingSrxlev.ThePMAX
informationelement(IE)ispartofSIBType1aswellasinthe"RadioResourceConfigCommon"IE,
which
ispartoftheSIBType2.
Asexplainedabove,allparametersexceptforQrxlevmeasareprovidedviasysteminformation.Inarealnetworka
UEwillreceiveseveralcellsperhapsfromdifferentnetworkoperators.TheUEonlyknowsafterreadingtheSIB
Type1ifthiscellbelongstoitsoperatorsnetwork(PLMNIdentity).FirsttheUEwilllookforthestrongestcellper
carrier,thenforthePLMNidentitybydecodingtheSIBType1todecideifthisPLMNisasuitableidentity.
AfterwardsitwillcomputetheScriterionanddecideforasuitablecellornot.

TheFigureaboveshowsonepossiblescenarioinarealnetwork.AssumethattheUEbelongstonetwork
operator1.TherearetwoothercarriersalsooperatinganLTEnetworkbutofcourseatdifferentfrequencies.The
terminalreceivesallbasestationsbutatdifferentpowerlevels.BasedontheabovedefinitiontheUEwillselect
thestrongcellforeachcarrier.UsingthistheUEwillstartwithnetworkoperator3andfigureoutafterdecoding
theSIBType1thatthePLMNsavedontheUSIMdoesnotmatchtothetransmittedone.Fromthisinformationit
willstopwithitsattemptandproceedtothenextstrongestsignal,whichisoperator2.NowthePLMNdoesnot
correspondsotheUEwillcontinuewithsignal3(green)andthePLMNwillmatch.TheUEcontinuestousethe
informationinSIBType1andType2tocomputethecellselectioncriteria.Inthisexample,theparameters
transferredandbelongingtoeNB1donotfulfillS>0wheretheUEwillmovealongwithdemodulatingand
decodingtheinformationprovidedbyeNB2.S>0isfulfilledandtheUEstartscampingonthiscell.

References
[1]Rohdes&Schwarz,"CellsearchandcellselectioninUMTSLTE",ApplicationNote,09/2009
http://www2.rohdeschwarz.com/file_12728/1MA150_0E.pdf
[2]3GPPTS36.331V8.6.0RadioResourceControl(RRC)specification(Release8)
[3]3GPPTS36.304V8.6.0UEproceduresinidlemode(Release8),

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