Time Advance
Time Advance
Time Advance
In GSM system MS sends its data three time slots after it received the data from the BTS.
This is ok as long as MS-BTS distance is small but increasing distance requires
consideration of propagation delay as well. To handle it Timing advance (TA) is conveyed by
network to MS and current value is sent to the MS within the layer 1 header of each SACCH.
BTS calculates the first TA when it receives RACH and reports it to the BSC and BSC/BTS
passes it to UE during Immediate Assignment.
In UMTS Timing Advance parameter was not used but in LTE Timing Advance is back.
In LTE, when UE wish to establish RRC connection with eNB, it transmits a Random Access
Preamble, eNB estimates the transmission timing of the terminal based on this. Now eNB
transmits a Random Access Response which consists of timing advance command, based
on that UE adjusts the terminal transmit timing.
The timing advance is initiated from E-UTRAN with MAC message that implies and
adjustment of the timing advance.
3GPP TA Requirements
UE shall adjust the timing of its uplink transmission timing at sub-frame n+6 for a timing
advancement command received in sub-frame n.
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
preceding uplink transmission. The timing advance command is expressed in multiples of
16* TS and is relative to the current uplink timing.
The UE has a configurable timer timeAlignmentTimer which is used to control how long the
UE is considered uplink time aligned
- if the Random Access Preamble was not selected by UE MAC then UE applies the Timing
Advance Command and starts or restarts timeAlignmentTimer.
- else if the timeAlignmentTimer is not running then UE applies the Timing Advance
Command starts timeAlignmentTimer; when the contention resolution is considered not
successful then UE stops timeAlignmentTimer.
The Timing Advance Command MAC control element is identified by MAC PDU subheader
with LCID value = 11101 (Timing Advance Command) .