Timing Advance Management in the Presence of Repeaters and Remote Radio Heads

A method comprising:

• transmitting an assignment of a first timing advance group;
• receiving, from the mobile device, a random access preamble;
• in response to the random access preamble, determining a second timing advance group for the mobile device;
• and
• transmitting an assignment of the second timing advance group.

An apparatus, comprising at least one processor;

• and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
• to measure a strength of a signal from a first access point;
• to determine whether to send a random access preamble based at least in part on the strength of the signal from the first access point and a strength of a signal from a second access point, where a current downlink path comprises the second access point;
• and
• in response to determining to send a random access preamble, to transmit the random access preamble.

An apparatus, comprising at least one processor;

• and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following:
• to transmit an assignment of a first timing advance group;
• to receive, from the mobile device, a random access preamble;
• in response to the random access preamble, to determine a second timing advance group for the mobile device;
• and
• to transmit an assignment of the second timing advance group.