Enhanced PRACH Preamble Format

A user terminal (UE) configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the user terminal comprising:

• a transmitter circuit configured to transmit data in sub-frames, wherein each sub-frame comprises a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols;
• a control circuit operably coupled to the transmitter circuit and configured to:
• create a Physical Random-Access CHannel (PRACH) preamble from a plurality of repetitions of a random access sequence, wherein the random access sequence has the same length in time as one of the OFDM symbols;
• and
• cause the transmitter circuit to transmit the PRACH preamble during one sub-frame.

A base station configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the base station comprising:

• a receiver circuit configured to receive samples of uplink transmissions from user terminals (UEs);
• and
• a control circuit operably coupled to the receiver circuit and configured to:
• cause the receiver circuit to receive uplink samples comprising a sub-frame;
• and
• process the uplink samples with a plurality of repetitions of an FFT window, to selectively extract either of the following:
• uplink data from a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols comprising the subframe, wherein each OFDM symbol has the same length in time as the FFT window;
• or
• a Physical Random-Access Channel (PRACH) preamble transmitted by a user terminal (UE), wherein the PRACH preamble comprises a plurality of repetitions of a random access sequence, wherein the random access sequence has the same length in time as one of the OFDM symbols.

A method for a base station configured to operate in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

• receiving uplink samples comprising a sub-frame;
• and
• processing the uplink samples with a plurality of repetitions of an FFT window, to selectively extract either of the following:
• uplink data from a plurality of Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) symbols comprising the subframe, wherein each OFDM symbol has the same length in time as the FFT window;
• or
• a Physical Random-Access Channel (PRACH) preamble transmitted by a user terminal (UE), wherein the PRACH preamble comprises a plurality of repetitions of a random access sequence, wherein the random access sequence has the same length in time as one of the OFDM symbols.