摘要 |
A method of configuring a network node in a wireless telecommunications network to use a secondary cell for dual connectivity communication, a computer program product and network control node operable to perform that method. The method comprises: determining at least one RACH preamble reserved by the secondary cell for use by dual connectivity capable user equipment; identifying user equipment meeting criteria for implementation of dual connectivity communication with the secondary cell; and communicating an allocation of the at least one RACH preamble reserved by the secondary cell for use by dual connectivity capable user equipment to the identified user equipment. Aspects may avoid or mitigate contention experienced by user equipment on RACH and thus may enable fast, contention-free access to a cell. According to some aspects and embodiments, a dedicated preamble can be configured for user equipment identified as a candidate suited to implementation of dual connectivity techniques. Use of a dedicated preamble may, according to some embodiments, both avoid possible contention and also be used, in some embodiments, as a means to identify user equipment by a newly accessed cell, for example, in the case of RRC connected user equipment. |