Scrutinizing Real-life Configurations of Random Access Procedures in Cellular Networks

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Belder, Joris, Bhattacharjee, Anup, Kuipers, Fernando
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
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author Belder, Joris
Bhattacharjee, Anup
Kuipers, Fernando
author_facet Belder, Joris
Bhattacharjee, Anup
Kuipers, Fernando
contents In cellular networks, base stations broadcast configurations that devices use for the random access procedure, which is a vital part of the connection setup. Ideally, the network should choose configurations based on the deployment scenario to optimize radio resource management. Doing so can, for example, decrease collisions of random access messages. We captured 112,806 data points of cellular broadcast information from nine network operators across three countries and analyzed how the operators configure the random access procedure. We found that configurations often do not fit the deployment scenario, and neighboring cells often use the same configuration, causing an unnecessarily high risk of collisions and, hence, delay in the connection setup. Furthermore, we simulated the random access procedure in NS-3 and found that by varying the configurations in a large area with many cells, the number of collisions can be reduced by 43% on average and up to 61%, and the connection delay can be lowered by 11% on average and up to 42%. Our findings indicate that simple adaptations in the random access configurations can greatly improve the performance of cellular networks.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2604_09077
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Scrutinizing Real-life Configurations of Random Access Procedures in Cellular Networks
Belder, Joris
Bhattacharjee, Anup
Kuipers, Fernando
Networking and Internet Architecture
In cellular networks, base stations broadcast configurations that devices use for the random access procedure, which is a vital part of the connection setup. Ideally, the network should choose configurations based on the deployment scenario to optimize radio resource management. Doing so can, for example, decrease collisions of random access messages. We captured 112,806 data points of cellular broadcast information from nine network operators across three countries and analyzed how the operators configure the random access procedure. We found that configurations often do not fit the deployment scenario, and neighboring cells often use the same configuration, causing an unnecessarily high risk of collisions and, hence, delay in the connection setup. Furthermore, we simulated the random access procedure in NS-3 and found that by varying the configurations in a large area with many cells, the number of collisions can be reduced by 43% on average and up to 61%, and the connection delay can be lowered by 11% on average and up to 42%. Our findings indicate that simple adaptations in the random access configurations can greatly improve the performance of cellular networks.
title Scrutinizing Real-life Configurations of Random Access Procedures in Cellular Networks
topic Networking and Internet Architecture
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.09077