Generation and detection of physical random access channel (PRACH) preamble

1. A first device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory memory including computer program codes;

where the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device at least to:

determine a base sequence, a first scrambling sequence for the base sequence, and a second scrambling sequence for the base sequence;

generate a random access preamble with applying the first and second scrambling sequences to different portions of the base sequence, respectively; and

transmit the random access preamble to a second device.

2. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to determine the base sequence with:

determining a root sequence based on a format for the random access preamble, the root sequence having a property of zero auto-correlation; and

generating the base sequence based on the root sequence, a length of the root sequence being smaller than a length of the base sequence.

3. The first device of claim 2 , wherein generating the base sequence based on the root sequence comprises:

determining a first plurality of repetitions of the root sequence as a first portion of the base sequence; and

determining a second plurality of repetitions of the root sequence with inverted sign as a second portion of the base sequence.

4. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the first device to determine the first scrambling sequence and the second scrambling sequence with:

determining a first length of the first scrambling sequence and a second length of the second scrambling sequence based on a format for the random access preamble;

generating the first scrambling sequence with the first length; and

generating the second scrambling sequence with the second length.

5. The first device of claim 4 , wherein each of the first and second lengths is a half of a length of the base sequence.

6. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the base sequence is based on a Zadoff-Chu sequence, and the first and second scrambling sequences are based on pseudo-noise sequences.

7. The first device of claim 1 , wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, and the second device comprises a network device.

8. A second device comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one non-transitory memory including computer program codes;

where the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device at least to:

determine a first scrambling sequence for a base sequence and a second scrambling sequence for the base sequence;

determine, based on the first and second scrambling sequences, a timing metric for estimating timing offset; and

receive, based on the timing metric, a random access preamble from a first device, the random access preamble generated with applying the first and second scrambling sequences to different portions of the base sequence, respectively.

9. The second device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to determine the timing metric with:

determining a first cross correlation for a first portion of a received signal based on the first scrambling sequence;

determining a second cross correlation for a second portion of the received signal based on the second scrambling sequence; and

determining the timing metric based on the first cross correlation, the second cross correlation and energy of the received signal.

10. The second device of claim 9 , wherein determining the first cross correlation comprises:

dividing the first portion into a first and second sub-portions, each of sampling points in the first sub-portion corresponding to one of sampling points in the second sub-portion; and

determining the first cross correlation based on the first scrambling sequence, the sampling points in the first sub-portion and the corresponding sampling points in the second sub-portion.

11. The second device of claim 8 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the second device to determine the first and second scrambling sequences with:

determining a first length of the first scrambling sequence and a second length of the second scrambling sequence based on a format for the random access preamble;

generating the first scrambling sequence with the first length; and

generating the second scrambling sequence with the second length.

12. The second device of claim 8 , wherein the base sequence is based on a Zadoff-Chu sequence, and the first and second scrambling sequences are based on pseudo-noise sequences.

13. The second device of claim 8 , wherein the first device comprises a terminal device, and the second device comprises a network device.

14. A method comprising:

determining, at a first device, a base sequence, a first scrambling sequence for the base sequence, and a second scrambling sequence for the base sequence;

generating a random access preamble with applying the first and second scrambling sequences to different portions of the base sequence, respectively; and

transmitting the random access preamble to a second device.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining the base sequence comprises:

determining a root sequence based on a format for the random access preamble, the root sequence having a property of zero auto-correlation; and

generating the base sequence based on the root sequence, a length of the root sequence being smaller than a length of the base sequence.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein generating the base sequence based on the root sequence comprises:

determining a first plurality of repetitions of the root sequence as a first portion of the base sequence; and

determining a second plurality of repetitions of the root sequence with inverted sign as a second portion of the base sequence.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein determining the first scrambling sequence and the second scrambling sequence comprises:

determining a first length of the first scrambling sequence and a second length of the second scrambling sequence based on a format for the random access preamble;

generating the first scrambling sequence with the first length; and

generating the second scrambling sequence with the second length.

18. The method of claim 17 , wherein each of the first and second lengths is a half of a length of the base sequence.

19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the base sequence is based on a Zadoff-Chu sequence, and the first and second scrambling sequences are based on pseudo-noise sequences.

20. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions which when executed by a computer processor causes an apparatus to

determine, at a first device, a base sequence, a first scrambling sequence for the base sequence, and a second scrambling sequence for the base sequence;

generate a random access preamble with applying the first and second scrambling sequences to different portions of the base sequence, respectively; and

transmit the random access preamble to a second device.