System information block 2 (SIB2) in LTE

After initial cell synchronization process is completed, UE will read master information block which
contains important information regarding downlink cell bandwidth, PHICH configuration and System
frame number. Then UE can read System information block 1 and System information block 2 to
obtain useful information related to cell access, SIB scheduling and radio resource configuration

System information block 2 carries radio resource configuration information which is common for all
UEs.

SIB2 information can be divided in following sub categories

Random access channel (RACH) related parameters
Idle mode paging configurations
Uplink physical control channel (PUCCH) and shared channel (PUSCH) configurations
Uplink power control and Sounding reference signal configurations
Uplink carrier frequency / Bandwidth
Cell barring information

SIB2 Example
Example SIB2 info is shown below (Taken from UE logs). This SIB2 does not represent any real
network

value BCCH-DL-SCH-Message ::=

message c1 : systemInformation :
criticalExtensions systemInformation-r8 :
sib-TypeAndInfo
sib2 :
radioResourceConfigCommon
rach-ConfigCommon
preambleInfo
numberOfRA-Preambles n40,
preamblesGroupAConfig
sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA n32,
messageSizeGroupA b144,
messagePowerOffsetGroupB dB10
,
powerRampingParameters
powerRampingStep dB2,
preambleInitialReceivedTargetPower dBm-104
,
ra-SupervisionInfo
preambleTransMax n10,
ra-ResponseWindowSize sf5,
mac-ContentionResolutionTimer sf32
,
maxHARQ-Msg3Tx 3
,
bcch-Config
modificationPeriodCoeff n8
,
pcch-Config
defaultPagingCycle rf64,
 nB oneT
,
prach-Config
rootSequenceIndex 30,
prach-ConfigInfo
prach-ConfigIndex 4,
highSpeedFlag FALSE,
zeroCorrelationZoneConfig 8,
prach-FreqOffset 3
,
pdsch-ConfigCommon
referenceSignalPower 11,
p-b 1
,
pusch-ConfigCommon
pusch-ConfigBasic
n-SB 1,
hoppingMode interSubFrame,
pusch-HoppingOffset 6,
enable64QAM FALSE
,
ul-ReferenceSignalsPUSCH
groupHoppingEnabled FALSE,
groupAssignmentPUSCH 0,
sequenceHoppingEnabled FALSE,
cyclicShift 0
,
pucch-ConfigCommon
deltaPUCCH-Shift ds2,
nRB-CQI 1,
nCS-AN 0,
n1PUCCH-AN 36
,
soundingRS-UL-ConfigCommon release : NULL,
uplinkPowerControlCommon
p0-NominalPUSCH -100,
alpha al1,
p0-NominalPUCCH -100,
deltaFList-PUCCH
deltaF-PUCCH-Format1 deltaF0,
deltaF-PUCCH-Format1b deltaF1,
deltaF-PUCCH-Format2 deltaF0,
deltaF-PUCCH-Format2a deltaF0,
deltaF-PUCCH-Format2b deltaF0
,
deltaPreambleMsg3 1
,
ul-CyclicPrefixLength len1
,
ue-TimersAndConstants
t300 ms200,
t301 ms200,
t310 ms500,
n310 n10,
 t311 ms3000,
n311 n1
,
freqInfo
ul-CarrierFreq 20600,
ul-Bandwidth n50,
additionalSpectrumEmission 12
,
timeAlignmentTimerCommon sf10240

Definition of important Parameters

Rach Configurations
numberOfRA-Preambles: Total number of random access preambles available for contention based
random access. Since there are maximum 64 preambles sequences available, others could be
reserved by eNB for Non-Contention based random access. Range of this parameter is 4 to 64
sizeOfRA-PreamblesGroupA: Total number of random access preambles sequences available
within Group A. Preambles are divided into Group A and Group B. Group A preambles are intended
for sending small packets and Group B preambles are intended for sending large packets. Range of
this parameter is 4 to 60
messageSizeGroupA: Message size threshold for selecting preamble Group A in term of bits (56,
144, 208 or 256 bits)
messagePowerOffsetGroupB: Power offset for selecting preamble Group B (0, 5, 8, 10, 12, 15 or
18 dB)
powerRampingStep: power ramping step size with possible values of 0, 2, 4 or 6 dB
preambleInitialReceivedTargetPower: Preamble initial received target power with values from -120
dBm to -90 dBm with step size of 2 dBm
preambleTransMax: Maximum number of preambles transmissions. Possible values are 3, 4, 5, 6,
7, 8, 10 ,20, 50, 100, 200.
ra-ResponseWindowSize: Duration of RA response window. RA response window size is in unit of
subframes (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 10 subframes)
mac-ContentionResolutionTimer: Mac contention resolution timer in unit of subframes (8, 16, 24,
32, 40, 58, 56 or 64 subframes)
maxHARQ-Msg3Tx: Maximum number of HARQ retransmissions for message 3 of RACH process
(contention-based Random access) with possible values from 1 to 8 in step of 1

BCCH Configurations
modificationPeriodCoeff: The value (2,4,6,8) of this parameter is multiplied with default DRX cycle
(e.g. 320ms, 640ms) to generate the BCCH modification period. It is the period in which the change
in SI is repeated to UEs so that the change in SI is acquired by UE.
BCCH modification period = modificationPeriodCoeff x idle mode DRX cycle

PCCH Configurations
defaultPagingCycle: The default DRX cycle in idle mode in unit of radio frames (rf64 means
640ms )
nB: This parameter value is used in finding the actual paging frames and paging occasions in RRC
idle mode with the following formula
 SFN modT = (T/N) x (UE_ID mod N)

Where
T = Drx cycle
N = Min (T, nB) (nB is broadcasted in SIB2)
UE_ID = IMSI mod 1024

PRACH Configurations
rootSequenceIndex: RA preambles are generated from Zadoff Chu sequence which consists of
series of root sequences. Each root sequence can be cyclic shifted to obtain preamble sequence.
Range of rootSequenceIndex is 0 to 837.
prach-ConfigIndex: This parameter defines exactly when UE should send RACH in frequency/time
grids (Details TS36.211 Table 5.7.1-2)
highSpeedFlag: For high speed UEs , as this can impact the correlation between cycles
zeroCorrelationZoneConfig: The zero correlation zone is used to guarantee orthogonality of
generated sequences. The value depends on particular condition in the cell
prach-FreqOffset: With this information cell informs UE and other neighbor cells know about which
PRB is available for RACH access

PDSCH Configurations
referenceSignalPower: This defines the energy per resource element for the reference signal using
a range from -60 to 50 dBm.
p-b: It is used to calculate the power difference between PDSCH and Reference Signal. Value is
from 0 to 3

PUSCH Configurations
n-SB: Number of subbands (range 1 to 4)
hoppingMode: Hopping mode can be inter-subframe, intra or inter-subframe
pusch-HoppingOffset: Offset values range from 1 to 98
enable64QAM: if 64QAM capable UE should use it (True or False)

groupHoppingEnabled: True or False

groupAssignmentPUSCH: Gives sequence shift pattern for group hopping (0 to 29)
sequenceHoppingEnabled: True or False
cyclicShift: Frequency shift for demodulation (0 to 7)

PUCCH Config
deltaPUCCH-Shift: 1,2 or 3
nRB-CQI: Number of PRBs per slot for PUCCH2 (0 to 98)
nCS-AN: Cyclic shift used for PUCCH1 (0 to 7)
n1PUCCH-AN: PUCCH to be used for HARQ (0 TO 2047)

Sounding Reference Signaling Configurations:

The uplink Sounding Reference Signal (SRS) is configured in terms of bandwidth and subframes

Uplink Power Control

p0-NominalPUSCH: It impacts the calculation of PUSCH transmit power and applicable to non-
persistent scheduling only (-126 to 24 dBm)
alpha: It also impacts the calculation of PUSCH transmit power and also scales the contribution of
path loss. Possible values are 0, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7, 0.8, 0.9 and 1
p0-NominalPUCCH: This parameter impacts the calculation of PUCCH transmit power (-127 to -96
dBm)
deltaFList-PUCCH: These parameters impacts the calculation of PUCCH transmit power

deltaPreambleMsg3: It impacts the transmit power of PUSCH when responding to random access
response grant (-1 to 6dB)

ul-CyclicPrefixLength: To differentitate between normal (len1) OR extended (len2) cyclic prefix for
uplink transmission

UE Timers and Constants

T300: Time during which UE waits for RRC connection request message response (100, 200, 300,
400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 ms)
T301: Started after RRC Connection Reestablishment request message. On expiration UE will go to
RRC idle (100, 200, 300, 400, 600, 1000, 1500, 2000 ms)
T310: Started after receiving N310 out of sync indications (0, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 ms)
T311: Started after initiating connection re-establishment procedure. On expiration UE goes to RRC
idle mode if it is unable to locate suitable cell (1, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 seconds)
N310: Consecutive out of sync indications (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20)
N311: Consecutive in-sync indications (1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 20)

Frequency Information
ul-CarrierFreq: Defined in terms of EARFCN
ul-Bandwidth: Defined in terms of resource blocks
additionalSpectrumEmission: This allows spectrum emission limits to be configured according to
local requirements (1 to 32)

timeAlignmentTimerCommon: it tells UE how long it should consider itself to be time aligned in

uplink in unit of subframes. (500, 750, 1280, 1920, 2560, 5120, 10240 or infinity sub frames)