EP4666644A1 - Activation of measurement gaps for ntn - Google Patents

Activation of measurement gaps for ntn

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Publication number
EP4666644A1
EP4666644A1 EP24706224.3A EP24706224A EP4666644A1 EP 4666644 A1 EP4666644 A1 EP 4666644A1 EP 24706224 A EP24706224 A EP 24706224A EP 4666644 A1 EP4666644 A1 EP 4666644A1
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EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
optional
time window
measurement gap
network
cell
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
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EP24706224.3A
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German (de)
French (fr)
Inventor
Johan Rune
Helka-Liina Määttanen
Ming Li
Claes-Göran PERSSON
Emre YAVUZ
Ignacio Javier PASCUAL PELAYO
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Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
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Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
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Publication of EP4666644A1 publication Critical patent/EP4666644A1/en
Pending legal-status Critical Current

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W84/00—Network topologies
    • H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
    • H04W84/04—Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
    • H04W84/06—Airborne or Satellite Networks
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W24/00—Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
    • H04W24/10—Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0083—Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
    • H04W36/0085—Hand-off measurements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0083—Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
    • H04W36/0085—Hand-off measurements
    • H04W36/0094—Definition of hand-off measurement parameters
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/34—Reselection control
    • H04W36/36—Reselection control by user or terminal equipment
    • H04W36/362—Conditional handover
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0083—Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
    • H04W36/0085—Hand-off measurements
    • H04W36/0088—Scheduling hand-off measurements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/08—Reselecting an access point
    • H04W36/083—Reselecting an access point wherein at least one of the access points is a moving node
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/08—Reselecting an access point
    • H04W36/085—Reselecting an access point involving beams of access points
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/24—Reselection being triggered by specific parameters
    • H04W36/32—Reselection being triggered by specific parameters by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
    • H04W36/322—Reselection being triggered by specific parameters by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data by location data

Definitions

  • the present disclosure generally relates to communication networks, and more specifically to activation of measurement gaps for a non-terrestrial network (NTN).
  • NTN non-terrestrial network
  • BACKGROUND [0002] Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies the Evolved Packet System (EPS). EPS is based on the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio network and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPS was originally intended to provide voice and mobile broadband (MBB) services but has continuously evolved to broaden its functionality.
  • LTE Long-Term Evolution
  • EPC Evolved Packet Core
  • 3GPP Release 13 narrowband Internet-of-things (NB-IoT) and LTE for machines (LTE-M) are part of the LTE specifications and provide connectivity to massive machine type communications (mMTC) services.
  • 3GPP Release 15 specified the first release of the 5G system (5GS). This is a new generation radio access technology intended to serve use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) and mMTC services.
  • 5G includes the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC).
  • NR New Radio
  • 5GC 5G Core Network
  • the NR physical and higher layers reuse parts of the LTE specification, and additional components are introduced when motivated by new use cases.
  • 3GPP also started work to prepare NR for operation in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). The work was performed within the Study Item “NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks” and resulted in 3GPP TR 38.811. In 3GPP release 16, the work to prepare NR for operation in a NTN continued with the Study Item “Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Network,” which resulted in 3GPP TR 38.821.
  • a user equipment (UE) in a wireless network may use measurement gaps.
  • UE user equipment
  • a UE connected in a cell referred to as the UE’s serving cell
  • the network configures the UE with a measurement gap.
  • a measurement gap is a short time period within which the UE can retune its receiver to the other carrier frequency, measure on the downlink signals in the concerned other cell(s) and again retune its receiver to the carrier frequency in its serving cell to continue normal operation.
  • Measurement gaps are configured as repeatedly recurring time periods.
  • the network configures the UE with measurement gaps as a part of a radio resource management (RRM) measurement configuration that is conveyed to the UE in an RRCReconfiguration message.
  • the measurement configuration may have the purpose of triggering measurement reports to the serving gNB or monitoring the execution condition of a conditional handover (CHO) configuration.
  • the measurement gap configuration comes in the form of a MeasGapConfig information element (IE), which is included in a MeasConfig IE.
  • IE MeasGapConfig information element
  • the MeasGapConfig IE is specified in ASN.1 code as below in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0.
  • MeasGapConfig :: SEQUENCE ⁇ gapFR2 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, --
  • measurement gaps are configured as part of a RRM measurement configuration (for triggering measurement reports or monitoring a CHO execution condition).
  • a RRM measurement configuration, or a configuration of measurements monitoring CHO execution condition(s) consists of a measurement object (MeasObjectNR) and a measurement reporting configuration (ReportConfigNR) that are linked together by a measurement ID (MeasId).
  • the measurement object also links in a measurement gap configuration (GapConfig-r17) using an identifier of a measurement gap configuration (MeasGapId-r17).
  • the IE for measurement reporting configuration (ReportConfigNR) is also used to configure the events that trigger CHO execution (CondEvents).
  • P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 4 of 99 [0009]
  • Figure 1 illustrates how the measurement gap configuration fits into the overall RRM measurement configuration.
  • Figure 1 illustrates the relationship of IEs used for measurement configuration and reporting.
  • the target services vary, from backhaul and fixed wireless, to transportation, to outdoor mobile, to IoT. Satellite networks could complement mobile networks on the ground by providing connectivity to underserved areas and multicast/broadcast services.
  • LTE and NR terrestrial wireless access technologies
  • 3GPP release 15 3GPP started the work to prepare NR for operation in a non-terrestrial network (NTN).
  • NTN non-terrestrial network
  • 3GPP release 16 the work to prepare NR for operation in an NTN continued with the study item “Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Network”, which has been captured in 3GPP TR 38.821.
  • 3GPP release 17 contains both a work item on NR NTN and a study item and work item on NB-IoT and LTE-M support for NTN (RP-193235, Study on NB-IoT/eMTC support for Non-Terrestrial Network; RP-211601, NB- IoT/eMTC support for Non-terrestrial Networks (NTN), RAN#92-e, Jun 2021).
  • a satellite radio access network usually includes the following components: a satellite that refers to a space-borne platform; an Earth-based gateway that connects the satellite to a base station or a core network, depending on the choice of architecture; a feeder link that refers to the link between a gateway and a satellite; and an access link, or service link, that refers to the link between a satellite and a UE.
  • a satellite may be categorized as low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), or geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite.
  • LEO includes typical heights ranging from 250 – 1,500 km, with orbital periods ranging from 90 – 120 minutes.
  • MEO includes typical heights ranging from 1,500 – 35,786 km, with orbital periods, P MEO , in the range 2 hours ⁇ PMEO ⁇ 24 hours.
  • MEO and LEO are also known as a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) type of satellite.
  • GEO includes a height at about 35,786 km, with an orbital period of 24 hours.
  • GSO geosynchronous orbit
  • the satellite forwards the received signal between the terminal and the network equipment on the ground with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency.
  • the transparent payload architecture means that the gNB is located on the ground and the satellite forwards signals/data between the gNB and the UE
  • Another architecture is regenerative payload.
  • the satellite includes on-board processing to demodulate and decode the received signal and regenerate the signal before sending it back to the Earth.
  • the regenerative payload architecture means that the gNB is located in the satellite. [0018] In the work item for NR NTN in 3GPP release 17, only the transparent payload architecture is considered.
  • Figure 2 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders (i.e., the transparent payload architecture).
  • the gNB may be integrated in the gateway or connected to the gateway via a terrestrial connection (wire, optic fiber, wireless link).
  • the significant orbit height means that satellite systems are characterized by a path loss that is significantly higher than what is expected in terrestrial networks. To overcome the pathloss, it is often required that the access and feeder links are operated in line-of-sight conditions, and that the UE is equipped with an antenna offering high beam directivity.
  • a communication satellite typically generates several beams over a given area.
  • the footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has been traditionally considered as a cell (but a cell consisting of multiple beams is not precluded).
  • the footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam.
  • the spotbeam may move over the Earth surface with the satellite movement (and the Earth’s rotation) or may be Earth fixed using beam pointing by the satellite to compensate for its motion.
  • the size of a spotbeam depends on the system design and may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers.
  • the NTN beam may, in comparison to the beams observed in a terrestrial network, provide a very wide footprint and may cover an area outside of the area defined by the served cell.
  • NTN supports three types of beams or cells.
  • Earth-fixed beams/cells are provisioned by beam(s) continuously covering the same geographical areas all the time (e.g., for GEO satellites).
  • Quasi-Earth-fixed beams/cells are provisioned by beam(s) covering one geographic area for a limited period and a different geographic area during another period (e.g., for NGSO satellites generating steerable beams).
  • Earth-moving beams/cells are provisioned by beam(s) whose coverage area slides over the Earth’s surface (e.g., in the case of NGSO satellites generating fixed or non-steerable beams).
  • the terms beam and cell are used interchangeably herein, unless explicitly noted otherwise.
  • RRC_CONNECTED state all UEs connected in the old cell (i.e., UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state) are handed over (or otherwise moved, e.g., using Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reestablishment) from the old to the new cell, and all UEs camping on the old cell (i.e., UEs in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state) perform cell reselection to the new cell.
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • Such cell switches include two alternative principles: 1) hard switch; and 2) soft switch.
  • the coexistence/overlap period allows some time for connected UEs to be handed over and for camping UEs to reselect to the new cell, which facilitates distribution of the access load in the new cell and thereby also provides better conditions for handovers with shorter interruption time.
  • Soft switch is likely to be the most prevalent cell switch principle in quasi-Earth-fixed cell deployments.
  • the time when a quasi-Earth-fixed cell will stop serving the current area i.e. the time the quasi-Earth-fixed cell will cease to exist, is indicated by the t-Service-r17 IE which is broadcast in SIB19 in NR NTN (and in SIB31 in IoT NTN).
  • Ephemeris data (sometimes referred to as just “ephemeris”) is data that enables a UE (or other entity) to determine a satellite’s position and velocity, i.e., the ephemeris data contains parameters related to the satellite’s orbit.
  • ephemeris data contains parameters related to the satellite’s orbit.
  • TR 38.821 specifies that ephemeris data should be provided to the UE, for example to assist with pointing a directional antenna (or an antenna beam) towards the satellite, and to calculate a correct timing advance (TA) and Doppler shift.
  • TA timing advance
  • ephemeris data will be broadcast in the system information (SI) in each cell, included in an NTN specific SIB, (labeled SIB19 in NR NTN and SIB31 IoT NTN).
  • SI system information
  • a satellite orbit can be fully described using 6 parameters. Which set of parameters is chosen may be decided by the user; and many different representations are possible. For example, a choice of parameters used often in astronomy is the set (a, ⁇ , i, ⁇ , ⁇ , t).
  • the semi-major axis a and the eccentricity ⁇ describe the shape and size of the orbit ellipse; the inclination i, the right ascension of the ascending node ⁇ , and the argument of periapsis ⁇ determine its position in space, and the epoch time t determines a reference time (e.g., the time when the satellites moves through periapsis).
  • a reference time e.g., the time when the satellites moves through periapsis.
  • the two-line elements use mean motion n and mean anomaly M instead of a and t.
  • a completely different set of parameters is the position and velocity vector (x, y, z, v x , v y , v z ) of a satellite. These are sometimes referred to as orbital state vectors. They can be derived from the orbital elements and vice versa, because the information they contain is equivalent. All these formats (and many others) are possible choices for the format of ephemeris data to be used in NTN.
  • An aspect discussed during the 3GPP study item and captured in 3GPP TR 38.821 is the validity time of ephemeris data.
  • a global navigation satellite system comprises a set of satellites orbiting the Earth in orbits crossing each other, such that the orbits are distributed around the globe.
  • the satellites transmit signals and data that allows a receiving device on Earth to accurately determine time and frequency references and, maybe most importantly, accurately determine its position, provided that signals are received from a sufficient number of satellites (e.g., four).
  • the position accuracy may typically be in the range of a few meters, but using averaging over multiple measurements, a stationary device may achieve much better accuracy.
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • GLONASS Russian Global Navigation Satellite System
  • BeiDou Navigation Satellite System Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System
  • European Galileo European Galileo
  • the transmissions from GNSS satellites include signals that a receiving device uses to determine the distance to the satellite. By receiving such signals from multiple satellites, the device can determine its position. However, this requires that the device also knows the positions of the satellites. To enable this, the GNSS satellites also transmit data about their own orbits (from which P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 9 of 99 position at a certain time can be derived). In GPS, such information is referred to as ephemeris data and almanac data (or sometimes lumped together under the term navigation information). [0037] The time required to perform a GNSS measurement, e.g.
  • GPS measurement may vary widely, depending on the circumstances, mainly depending on the status of the ephemeris and almanac data the measuring devices has previously acquired (if any). In the worst case, a GPS measurement can take several minutes. GPS is using a bit rate of 50 bps for transmitting its navigation information. The transmission of the GPS date, time and ephemeris information takes 90 seconds. Acquiring the GPS almanac containing orbital information for all satellites in the GPS constellation takes more than 10 minutes. If a UE already possesses this information, the synchronization to the GPS signal for acquiring the UE position and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a significantly faster procedure. [0038] 3GPP relies on GNSS for NR NTN and IoT NTN.
  • the GNSS receiver enables a device to estimate its geographical position.
  • an NTN gNB carried by a satellite, or communicating via a satellite, broadcasts its ephemeris data (i.e., data that informs the UE about the satellite’s position, velocity, and orbit) to a GNSS equipped UE.
  • the UE can then determine the propagation delay, the delay variation rate, the Doppler shift, and its variation rate based on its own location (obtained through GNSS measurements) and the satellite location and movement (derived from the ephemeris data).
  • the GNSS receiver also enables a device to determine a time reference (e.g., in terms of UTC) and frequency reference. This can also be used to handle the timing and frequency synchronization in an NR or LTE based NTN.
  • a time reference e.g., in terms of UTC
  • frequency reference e.g., in terms of UTC
  • an NTN gNB carried by a satellite, or communicating via a satellite, broadcasts its timing (e.g., in terms of a UTC timestamp) to a GNSS equipped UE.
  • the UE can then determine the propagation delay, the delay variation rate, the Doppler shift, and its variation rate based on its time/frequency reference (obtained through GNSS measurements) and the satellite timing and transmit frequency.
  • the UE may use this knowledge to compensate its uplink transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect.
  • the 3GPP release 17 SID on NB-IoT and LTE-M for NTN supports this observation: “GNSS capability in the UE is taken as a working assumption in this study for both NB-IoT and eMTC devices. With this assumption, UE can estimate and pre-compensate timing and frequency P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 10 of 99 offset with sufficient accuracy for UL transmission.
  • GNSS capability is assumed, i.e., it is assumed that an NR NTN capable or IoT NTN capable UE also is GNSS capable and GNSS measurements at the UEs are essential for the operation of the NTN, e.g., the UEs are expected to compensate their uplink transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect.
  • the UE uses knowledge of its location and broadcast information about the satellite’s position (i.e., ephemeris data) to calculate the UE-satellite round trip time (RTT), which is then used in UE autonomous calculation of a timing advance.
  • RTT UE-satellite round trip time
  • an IoT NTN UE is not expected to be able to perform a GNSS measurement while receiving transmissions from the network at the same time.
  • the GNSS measurement must be fresh enough to be reliable.
  • a GNSS validity timer which governs the maximum age UE location information may have when used in such operations (e.g., for calculation of a timing advance).
  • a suitable value for this maximum age may depend on the UE’s implementation, and therefore the GNSS validity timer is a UE implementation specific mechanism.
  • the standard specifications include means by which the UE can inform the network (i.e., the serving gNB in NR NTN and the serving eNB in IoT NTN) of the remaining time of the UE’s currently running GNSS validity timer.
  • the long propagation delay/RTT in an NTN impacts the timing advance.
  • Propagation delay is an important aspect of satellite communications and its expected impact in NTN is different from the impacts of propagation delay in a terrestrial mobile system.
  • the UE-gNB round-trip delay may, depending on the orbit height, range from a few or tens of ms for LEO satellites to several hundreds of ms for GEO satellites.
  • the round-trip delays in terrestrial cellular networks are typically below 1 ms.
  • the distance between the UE and a satellite can vary significantly, depending on the position of the satellite and thus the elevation angle ⁇ seen by the UE.
  • TA is the time a UE has to advance its uplink transmission in relation to the corresponding frame, slot and symbol in the downlink to achieve alignment between the uplink and the downlink frame/slot/symbol structure at an uplink/downlink alignment reference point, which typically is the gNB).
  • the TA will continuously change and will do so quite rapidly. 3GPP has dealt with these circumstances through a combination of new parameters and introduction of the principle of UE autonomous adaptation of the TA.
  • the network wants the uplink and downlink to be aligned at the gNB receiver, which means that the TA should be equal to the UE-gNB RTT.
  • the UE-gNB RTT can be divided into two parts: the UE-satellite RTT (i.e., the service link RTT) and the gNB-satellite RTT (which is equal to the feeder link RTT assuming that the gateway and the gNB are collocated).
  • the satellite-gNB RTT is equal for all locations in the cell and thus the same for all UEs in the cell, whereas the UE-satellite RTT depends on the UE’s location and thus is UE specific.
  • the satellite broadcasts (in the system information, in a new SIB with NTN specific data (SIB19 in NR NTN and SIB31 P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 12 of 99 in IoT NTN)) Common TA information, consisting of a Common TA value, the first time derivative of the Common TA value (denoted as “drift”) and the second time derivative of the Common TA value (denoted as “drift variation”).
  • the UE specific part of the TA i.e., the UE- satellite RTT is left to the UE to autonomously calculate. To do this, the UE obtains its own location and the satellite position.
  • the UE can obtain its own location, e.g., using GNSS measurements, and the satellite’s position (as well as its velocity) can be derived from the ephemeris data broadcast by the gNB (in the same SIB as the Common TA parameters).
  • the ephemeris data and the Common TA parameters are nominally valid at an epoch time, which is also indicated in the same SIB.
  • the UE can predict the satellite’s position a certain time into the future, and the first and second time derivatives (i.e., the drift and drift variation parameters) of the Common TA enables the UE to calculate how the Common TA value changes with time.
  • the broadcast ephemeris data and Common TA parameters have a limited validity time, which is also indicated in the same SIB.
  • the UE location information typically based on a GNSS measurement
  • the UE uses in the TA calculation in particular to calculate the UE-satellite RTT.
  • 3GPP has also introduced support for the possibility to place the uplink/downlink alignment reference point at some other place than in the gNB.
  • Kmac a parameter denoted as Kmac.
  • the Kmac parameter accounts for the RTT between the gNB and the chosen uplink/downlink alignment reference point.
  • the UE When calculating the UE specific TA, the UE only uses the Common TA parameters, the ephemeris data and its own location, i.e.
  • Kmac is not needed for this calculation.
  • the UE needs to know Kmac for other purposes so that it can adapt certain timers to the UE-gNB RTT.
  • the long propagation delay means that the TA that the UE uses for its uplink transmissions is essential and is much greater than in terrestrial networks for the uplink and downlink to be time-aligned at the gNB (or at another P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 13 of 99 point if Kmac > 0), as is the case in NR and LTE.
  • One of the purposes of the random access (RA) procedure is to provide the UE with a valid TA.
  • the random access preamble i.e., the initial message from the UE in the random access procedure
  • the random access preamble has to be transmitted with a timing advance to allow a reasonable size of the RA preamble reception window in the gNB (and to ensure that the cyclic shift of the preamble’s Zadoff-Chu sequence cannot be so large that it makes the Zadoff-Chu sequence, and thus the preamble, appear as another Zadoff Chu sequence, and thus another preamble based on the same Zadoff-Chu root sequence
  • this TA does not have to be as accurate as the TA the UE subsequently uses for other uplink transmissions, where the TA has to be accurate enough to keep the timing error smaller than the cyclic prefix (CP).
  • CP cyclic prefix
  • the gNB provides the UE with an accurate (i.e., fine-adjusted) TA in the random access response (RAR) message (in 4-step RA) or MsgB (in 2-step RA), based on the time of reception of the random access preamble.
  • RAR random access response
  • MsgB in 2-step RA
  • the gNB can subsequently adjust the UE’s TA using a timing advance command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (or an absolute timing advance command MAC CE), based on the timing of receptions of uplink transmissions from the UE.
  • MAC medium access control
  • CE absolute timing advance command MAC CE
  • timing advance is typically to keep the time error of the UE’s uplink transmissions at the gNB’s receiver within the cyclic prefix (which is required for correct decoding of the uplink transmissions, e.g., on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)).
  • PUSCH physical uplink shared channel
  • PUCCH physical uplink control channel
  • the time alignment timer is restarted every time the gNB adjusts the UE’s TA and if the time alignment timer expires, the UE is not allowed to transmit in the uplink without a prior random access procedure (which provides the UE with a valid timing advance).
  • These rules associated with the time alignment timer will assumedly be the same in NTN, but the relation and/or interaction between the time alignment timer and certain NTN specific functionality, e.g. related to GNSS measurements, may impact the role of the time alignment timer in NTN.
  • 3GPP has also agreed that in addition to the gNB’s control of the UE’s TA, the UE is allowed to autonomously update its TA based on estimation of changes in the UE-gNB RTT (using the UE’s location and broadcast parameters related to the satellite orbit and the feeder link RTT, as previously described).
  • the long propagation delays and the resulting large TA a UE has to use also impacts the scheduling of uplink transmissions.
  • the network has to account for the large TA P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 14 of 99 when the network determines the delay to be used between an uplink grant (i.e., a downlink control information (DCI) on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) allocating uplink transmission resources for the UE to transmit on) and the uplink transmission resources the uplink grant allocates.
  • a new parameter denoted as “Koffset” (or “Koffset” or “K_offset”) is introduced, which is added to the legacy delay, e.g. added to the legacy delay parameter K 2 (or K2) contained in the uplink grant in NR NTN.
  • the Koffset parameter comes in two forms: the cell- specific K offset , which is broadcast in the system information and which is common for all UEs in the cell, and the UE-specific Koffset, which the network optionally configures for each UE. Configuration of a UE-specific K offset value is optional, and when it is absent, the cell-specific Koffset value applies.
  • a mechanism for TA reporting is introduced in NTN, whereby the UE can report its current TA to the network (where the granularity of the reported TA value is one slot).
  • the broadcast system information may include NTN-specific information.
  • the system information broadcast in an NTN cell includes NTN-specific information.
  • a new SIB (SIB19) is introduced in NR NTN that contains NTN-specific information.
  • the new SIB31 more or less corresponds to SIB19 in NR NTN.
  • ntn-Config Provides parameters needed for the UE to access NR via NTN access such as Ephemeris data, common TA parameters, k_offset, validity duration for UL sync information and epoch.
  • ntn-NeighCellConfigList, ntn-NeighCellConfigListExt Provides a list of NTN neighbour cells including their ntn-Config, carrier frequency and PhysCellId. This set includes all elements of ntn-NeighCellConfigList and all elements of ntn-NeighCellConfigListExt.
  • ntn-Config is absent for an entry in ntn- NeighCellConfigListExt, the ntn-Config provided in the entry at the same position in ntn- NeighCellConfigList applies.
  • referenceLocation defined in TS 38.304. t-Service Indicates the time information on when a cell provided via NTN quasi-Earth fixed system is going to stop serving the area it is currently covering.
  • the field indicates a time in multiples of 10 ms after 00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900).
  • the exact stop time is between the time indicated by the value of this field minus 1 and the time indicated the value of this field.
  • EpochTime-r17 SEQUENCE ⁇ sfn-r17 INTEGER(0..1023), subFrameNR-r17 INTEGER(0..9)
  • TAInfo-r17 SEQUENCE ⁇ ta-Common-r17 INTEGER(0..66485757), ta-CommonDrift-r17 INTEGER(-257303..257303)
  • OPTIONAL -- Need R P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 16 of 99 ta-CommonDriftVariant-r17 INTEGER(0..28949)
  • EphemerisInfo This field provides satellite ephemeris either in format of position and velocity state vector or in format of orbital parameters.
  • EpochTime Indicate the epoch time for the NTN assistance information.
  • EpochTime is the starting time of a DL sub- frame, indicated by a SFN and a sub-frame number signaled together with the assistance information.
  • the reference point for epoch time of the serving satellite ephemeris and Common TA parameters is the uplink time synchronization reference point. If this field is absent, the epoch time is the end of SI window where this SIB19 is scheduled. This field is mandatory present when provided in dedicated configuration.
  • this field is absent in ntn- Config provided via NTN-NeighCellConfig the UE uses epoch time from the serving satellite ephemeris, otherwise the field is based on the timing of the serving cell, i.e. the SFN and sub- frame number indicated in this field refers to the SFN and sub-frame of the serving cell. In case of handover, this field is based on the timing of the target cell, i.e. the SFN and sub- frame number indicated in this field refers to the SFN and sub-frame of the target cell. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes to epochTime should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1.
  • K_offset is number of slots for a given subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz. If the field is absent UE assumes value 0. kmac Scheduling offset provided by network if downlink and uplink frame timing are not aligned at gNB. It is needed for UE action and assumption on downlink configuration indicated by a MAC CE command in PDSCH [see TS 38.2xy]. If the field is absent UE assumes value 0. For the reference subcarrier spacing value for the unit of K_mac in FR1, a value of 15 kHz is used. The unit of K_mac is number of slots for a given subcarrier spacing.
  • ntn-PolarizationDL If present, this parameter indicates polarization information for downlink transmission on service link: including Right hand, Left hand circular polarizations (RHCP, LHCP) and Linear polarization.
  • ntn-PolarizationUL If present, this parameter indicates Polarization information for Uplink service link. If not present and ntn-PolarizationDL is present, UE assumes the same polarization for UL and DL.
  • ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration A validity duration configured by the network for assistance information (i.e.
  • ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration is second.
  • Value s5 corresponds to 5 s
  • value s10 indicate 10 s and so on. This parameter applies to both connected and idle mode UEs. If this field is absent in ntn-Config provided via NTN-NeighCellConfig, the UE uses validity duration from the serving cell assistance information. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e.
  • ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1.
  • ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration is only updated when at least one of epochTime, ta-Info, ephemerisInfo is updated.
  • ta-Common Network-controlled common timing advanced value and it may include any timing offset considered necessary by the network.
  • ta-Common with value of 0 is supported.
  • the granularity of ta-Common is 4.072 ⁇ 10 ⁇ (-3) ⁇ s. Values are given in unit of corresponding granularity. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e.
  • ta-CommonDrift Indicate drift rate of the common TA.
  • the granularity of ta-CommonDrift is 0.2 ⁇ 10 ⁇ (-3) ⁇ s ⁇ s Values are given in unit of corresponding granularity. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes of ta-CommonDrift should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1.
  • ta-CommonDriftVariant Indicate drift rate variation of the common TA.
  • the granularity of ta-CommonDriftVariation is 0.2 ⁇ 10 ⁇ (-4) ⁇ s ⁇ s ⁇ 2.
  • ta-Report When this field is included in SIB19, it indicates reporting of timing advanced is enabled during Random Access due to RRC connection establishment or RRC connection resume, and during RRC connection reestablishment.. When this field is included in ServingCellConfigCommon within dedicated signaling, it indicates TA reporting is enabled during Random Access due to reconfiguration with sync (see TS 38.321, clause 5.4.8).
  • the NTN described above is based on 5G/NR technology adapted for communication via satellites.
  • IoT NTN an NTN standard for IoT, denoted as “IoT NTN”, is also being specified in release 17 of the 3GPP standards.
  • IoT NTN is based on the LTE NB-IoT technology adapted for communication via satellites.
  • NR NTN NTN based on 5G/NR technology
  • NTN NTN based on 5G/NR technology
  • NTN NTN based on 5G/NR technology
  • connected state i.e., RRC_CONNECTED state
  • RRC_CONNECTED state in the 3GPP specifications known as the RRC_CONNECTED state
  • the UE has an active connection to the network for sending and receiving of data and signaling.
  • mobility is controlled by the network to ensure connectivity is retained to the UE with no interruption or noticeable degradation of the provided service as the UE moves between the cells within the network.
  • Connected state mobility is also known as handover. During the handover the UE is moved from a source node using a source cell connection, to a target node using a target cell connection where the target cell connection is associated with a target cell controlled by the target node.
  • the UE moves from the source cell to a target cell.
  • the source node and the target node may also be referred to as the source access node and the target access node or the source radio network node and the target radio network node.
  • the source node and the target node are referred to as the source gNB and the target gNB.
  • a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state is required to search and perform measurements on neighbor cells both on the current carrier frequency (intra- frequency) as well as on other carrier frequencies (inter-frequency).
  • the UE does not take any autonomous decisions when to trigger a handover to a neighbor cell (except to some extent when the UE is configured for conditional handover, described in more detail below). Instead, the UE sends the measurement results from the measurements it performed on serving and neighboring cells to the network where a decision is taken whether to perform a handover to one of the neighbor cells.
  • the network may send a message to the UE to instruct the UE to execute a handover.
  • This message is an RRCReconfiguration message with a reconfigurationWithSync IE.
  • the message is often informally referred to as a “handover command” (although a HandoverCommand is really an inter-gNB RRC message which is transferred in the “Target NG-RAN node To Source NG- RAN node Transparent Container” IE in the Handover Request Acknowledge XnAP message during preparation of an Xn handover and in the “Target to Source Transparent Container” IE in the Handover Request Acknowledge NGAP message and the Handover Command NGAP message during preparation of an NG handover).
  • the source node and the target node are different nodes, such as different gNBs.
  • Such a case is referred to as an inter-node or inter-gNB handover.
  • the source node and the target node are one and the same node, such as the same gNB.
  • Such a case is referred to as an intra-node or intra-gNB handover and covers the case when the source and target cells are controlled by the same node.
  • handover is performed within the same cell and thus also within the same node controlling that cell.
  • intra-cell handover and may be performed to refresh security parameters.
  • the source node (or source access node) and the target node (target access node) refer to a role served by a given access node during a handover of a specific UE.
  • a given gNB may serve as source gNB during handover of one UE, while it also serves as the target gNB during handover of a different UE.
  • the same gNB serves both as the source gNB and target gNB for that UE.
  • An inter-node handover in NR can further be classified as an Xn-based or NG-based handover depending on whether the source and target node communicate directly using the Xn interface or indirectly via the core network (through one or two access and mobility management functions AMF(s)) using NG interfaces.
  • AMF(s) access and mobility management functions
  • protocol data unit (PDU) session resources e.g., quality of service (QoS) flow(s)
  • the target gNB performs admission control (and assumedly accepts the handover) and returns indications of the admitted PDU session resources (e.g., QoS flow(s)) and the configuration the UE should apply when accessing the target cell.
  • the UE configuration the target gNB provides is included in an inter-gNB RRC message called “HandoverCommand” and is formatted as an RRCReconfiguration message (including a reconfigurationWithSync IE).
  • This RRCReconfiguration message (i.e., the handover command) is then forwarded by the source gNB to the UE and this triggers the UE to execute the handover (by releasing its connection in the source cell, synchronizing with the target cell, and initiating a random access procedure in the target cell to establish a connection).
  • the UE sends an P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 20 of 99 RRCReconfigurationComplete message (often referred to as a Handover Complete message) to acknowledge the RRCReconfiguration message that triggered the handover execution and to confirm the successful execution of the handover.
  • Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified signaling flow between the UE, the source gNB and the target gNB during an Xn-based inter-gNB handover in NR. A more detailed signaling flow for the same Xn-based inter-gNB handover is illustrated in Figure 5.
  • Control plane data i.e., RRC messages such as the measurement report, handover command and handover complete messages
  • SRBs signaling radio bearers
  • DRBs data radio bearers
  • the UE has an active connection to the source gNB where user data is sent and received to/from the network. Due to a trigger in the source gNB, e.g.
  • the source gNB decides to handover the UE to a target (neighbor) cell controlled by the target gNB.
  • the source gNB sends the XnAP HANDOVER REQUEST message to the target gNB passing a transparent RRC container with necessary information to prepare the handover at the target side.
  • the information includes, for example, the target cell id, the target security key, the current source configuration and UE capabilities.
  • 304 the target cell id, the target security key, the current source configuration and UE capabilities.
  • the target gNB prepares the handover and responds with the XnAP HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the source gNB, which includes the handover command (an RRCReconfiguration message containing the reconfigurationWithSync field) to be sent to the UE.
  • the handover command includes configuration information that the UE should apply once it connects to the target cell, e.g., random access configuration, a new cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) assigned by the target node, security parameters, etc. [0072] 305.
  • the source gNB triggers the handover by sending the handover command (received from the target gNB in the previous step) to the UE. [0073] 306.
  • the UE Upon reception of the handover command the UE releases the connection to the old (source) cell, starts the handover supervision timer T304, and starts to synchronize to the new (target) cell. [0074] 307-309.
  • the source gNB stops scheduling any further downlink user data to the UE and sends the XnAP SN STATUS TRANSFER message to the target gNB indicating the latest Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sequence number (SN) transmitter and receiver status. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 21 of 99
  • the source gNB now also starts to forward downlink user data received from the core network to the target gNB, which buffers the data for now. [0075] 310.
  • the UE stops the T304 timer and sends the handover complete message (an RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target gNB.
  • the target gNB starts sending (and receiving) user data to/from the UE.
  • the target gNB requests the core network to switch the downlink user data path between the User Plane Function (UPF) and the source gNB to the target gNB (communication to the CN is not shown in the Figure).
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • the target gNB sends the XnAP UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the source gNB to release all resources associated to the UE.
  • Mobility in RRC_CONNECTED state is network-controlled because the network has the best information regarding the current overall network situation, such as load conditions, resources in different nodes, available frequencies, etc. The network may also account for the situation of many UEs in the network from a resource allocation perspective.
  • the network prepares a target cell before the UE accesses that cell.
  • the source gNB provides the UE with the RRC configuration to be used in the target cell, including SRB1 configuration for sending of the handover complete message in the target cell.
  • the source gNB receives this RRC configuration from the target gNB in the form of a HandoverCommand inter-node RRC message included in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP message (where the HandoverCommand is included in the “Target NG-RAN node To Source NG- RAN node Transparent Container” IE).
  • the target gNB configures the UE with a C-RNTI to be used in the target cell.
  • the target gNB then identifies the UE from the C-RNTI in the MAC PDU containing the RRCReconfigurationComplete message constituting the handover complete message.
  • the network provides the UE with information on how to access the target cell, e.g. RACH configuration, so the UE does not have to acquire SI (other than P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 22 of 99 the MIB) from the target cell prior to the handover. This information is included in the HandoverCommand and thus in the target cell RRC configuration sent to the UE.
  • the UE may be provided with contention free random access (CFRA) resources (in the above mentioned RRC configuration forwarded to the UE by the source gNB).
  • CFRA resources consist of one or more CFRA preamble(s) and may also contain CFRA occasions (i.e., PRACH transmission resources that are not included in the common PRACH configuration).
  • Msg1 random access preamble
  • the target cell RRC configuration may be provided to the UE in two different forms: full configuration or delta configuration. In the former case, the provided RRC configuration is complete and self-contained, but a delta configuration only contains the configuration parts that are different in the target cell than in the source cell. The advantage of delta configuration is that the size of the HandoverCommand can be minimized.
  • Another option is conditional handover (CHO).
  • handover typically occurs when the channel quality of the serving cell is degrading.
  • the network is in control and bases the handover decision on measurement reports from the UE.
  • the UE is configured to send a measurement report when an A3 event (neighbor cell quality becomes offset better than serving cell quality) is fulfilled. This will then trigger the gNB to decide to pursue a handover for the UE with the target cell being selected based on the reported neighbor cell measurements. If the target cell is controlled by another gNB (i.e., a neighbor gNB), the serving gNB initiates the handover preparation by sending a Handover Request XnAP message to the neighbor gNB.
  • a neighbor gNB i.e., a neighbor gNB
  • the neighbor gNB then responds with a Handover Request Acknowledge XnAP message containing, in the form of a HandoverCommand, the RRC configuration the UE should apply when connecting to the target cell.
  • the serving (source) gNB then forwards the HandoverCommand to the UE as an RRCReconfiguration message.
  • the UE receives this message, it releases the source cell and starts the procedure of connecting to the target cell (i.e., synchronizing with the target cell and performing random access).
  • FIG. 6 illustrates two such error cases.
  • Figure 6 includes two flow diagrams illustrating error cases addressed by conditional handover. As illustrated, one potential error associated with a regular handover is that the measurement report from the UE, which would trigger the gNB to initiate the handover, never reaches the gNB because of too many transmission/reception errors.
  • conditional handover a special variant of handover referred to as conditional handover was introduced in 3GPP release 16.
  • the CHO feature allows the serving gNB to configure a UE to autonomously trigger handover execution to a candidate target cell when a handover execution condition (or trigger condition) configured by the serving gNB is fulfilled.
  • the serving gNB includes a handover execution condition – often referred to as a CHO execution condition – together with the Handover Command (which in this case may be referred to as a Conditional Handover Command) forwarded from the candidate target gNB controlling the candidate target cell.
  • a handover execution condition – often referred to as a CHO execution condition – together with the Handover Command (which in this case may be referred to as a Conditional Handover Command) forwarded from the candidate target gNB controlling the candidate target cell.
  • This is configured in the condExecutionCond-r16 IE in the ASN.1 code in the RRC specification 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0. Release 16 of the 3GPP standards supports configuration of two triggering events, which in the context of CHO are referred to as conditional events (CondEvents).
  • CondEvent A3 and CondEvent A5 which are reused from the A3 and A5 events of the RRM framework.
  • A3 is defined as “Conditional reconfiguration candidate becomes amount of offset better than PCell/PSCell”
  • A5 is defined as “PCell/PSCell becomes worse than absolute threshold1 AND Conditional reconfiguration candidate becomes better than another absolute threshold2”.
  • the specification also allows the combination of two events, whose conditions both have to be fulfilled for the duration of the configured time-to-trigger period for the CHO execution to be triggered. [0089] CHO is applicable for both intra-gNB handover and inter-gNB handover.
  • a gNB controlling a cell associated with a conditional handover configuration may be referred to as a candidate target gNB.
  • the UE may be configured with multiple candidate target cells. For each candidate target cell, the UE is provided with an associated Handover Command (i.e., an RRCReconfiguration to be applied if/when connecting to the candidate target cell) and an associated CHO execution condition.
  • an associated Handover Command i.e., an RRCReconfiguration to be applied if/when connecting to the candidate target cell
  • an associated CHO execution condition i.e., an RRCReconfiguration to be applied if/when connecting to the candidate target cell
  • the UE releases the source cell and starts executing the handover towards the candidate target cell (which then becomes the target cell) for which the associated CHO execution condition was fulfilled.
  • the rest of the procedure proceeds like a regular handover procedure, except that the UE discards all CHO configurations when it has successfully connected to the target cell.
  • the serving/source gNB is not aware of if or when a CHO execution condition is fulfilled for the UE, i.e., the UE will silently release the source cell without informing the source gNB. Therefore, after handover completion, i.e., after successful random access and successful reception of the RRCReconfigurationComplete message (which often is referred to as the Handover Complete message), the target gNB sends a HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message to the source gNB.
  • the source gNB This informs the source gNB that the UE has left the source cell and successfully completed a handover to the target cell controlled by the target gNB. If multiple candidate target gNBs were prepared for CHO for the UE, the source gNB can cancel the CHO preparations in the other (non-selected) candidate target gNBs using the HANDOVER CANCEL XnAP message, so that these gNBs can release any reserved resources. [0095] During a regular handover, the source gNB starts to forward user plane data arriving in the source gNB to the target gNB (for further forwarding to the UE) as soon as the Handover Command is sent to the UE.
  • the source gNB can choose not to initiate user plane forwarding until it receives the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message from the target gNB.
  • not initiating user plane forwarding until the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message is received delays the availability of buffered downlink data in the target gNB, which increases the handover interruption time.
  • FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified message diagram for an inter-gNB conditional handover.
  • the RRCReconfiguration* indicated with an asterisk (‘*’) is the Handover Command containing the RRC reconfiguration the UE shall apply if/when connecting to the candidate target gNB in the selected target cell.
  • Figure 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an inter-gNB conditional handover message flow in NR.
  • the RRCReconfiguration message in step 6 is the Handover Command containing the CHO configuration(s).
  • the message diagram is copied from 3GPP TS 38.300 version 17.3.0.
  • the source node Based on, e.g., a measurement report received from the UE (in a MeasurementReport RRC message), the source node decides to configure the UE for CHO (step 2 in Figure 8).
  • the source node prepares one or potentially more candidate target nodes by including a CHO indicator and the current UE configuration in the HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message sent over Xn (step 3).
  • CHO enables the network to prepare the UE with more than one candidate target cell, each candidate target cell with its own target cell configuration (RRCReconfiguration) and its own CHO execution condition.
  • the target cell configuration is generated by the candidate target node while the CHO execution condition is configured by the source node.
  • the CHO execution condition may P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 26 of 99 consist of one or two trigger conditions – the A3 and A5 signal strength/quality-based events as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 16.7.0.
  • the handover command (RRCReconfiguration message) sent to the UE in step 6 is generated by the candidate target node but transmitted to the UE in the source cell by the source node.
  • the handover command is sent from the candidate target node to the source node within the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP message (step 5) as a transparent container (specified as the HandoverCommand inter-node RRC message in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0), meaning that the source node does not change the content of the handover command.
  • the target cell configuration (the RRCReconfiguration for the UE to use in the candidate target cell) and the CHO execution condition for each candidate target cell provided by the network to the UE may collectively be referred to as a CHO configuration, or, alternatively, each combination of candidate target cell, target cell configuration and CHO execution condition may be referred to as a CHO configuration.
  • the target cell configuration is not applied immediately as in a regular (non-CHO) handover. Instead, the UE starts to evaluate the CHO execution condition(s) configured by the network.
  • the network may configure the UE with one or two trigger conditions (A3 and/or A5 event) per CHO execution condition and candidate target cell. If the UE is configured with two trigger conditions, then both events need to be fulfilled to trigger the UE to execute the CHO towards the candidate target cell.
  • the UE releases its source cell connection, applies the associated target cell configuration (RRCReconfiguration) and starts the handover supervision timer T304. The UE now connects to the target node as in a regular handover (step 8). Any CHO configuration stored in the UE is released after completion of the (conditional) handover procedure.
  • the target node sends the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message over Xn to the source node to inform the source node that the UE has successfully accessed the target cell (step 8a).
  • Triggering of data forwarding to the target node is typically done after receiving the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message in the source node – this is also known as “late data forwarding”.
  • data forwarding may be triggered at an earlier stage in the handover P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 27 of 99 procedure, after receiving the RRCReconfigurationComplete message from the UE (step 7). This mechanism is also known as “early data forwarding”.
  • the source node needs to cancel the CHO for the candidate target cells not selected by the UE.
  • the source node sends the HANDOVER CANCEL XnAP message over Xn on the other signaling connection(s) and/or the other candidate target node(s) to cancel the CHO and thus to initiate a release of the reserved resources in the target node(s) (step 8c).
  • the handover attempt fails due to, e.g., a radio link failure or expiry of timer T304, the UE will typically perform a cell selection and continue with an RRC re-establishment procedure.
  • the CHO configurations are provided to a UE in the form of an add-mod-list (a ToAddModList denoted as CondReconfigToAddModList-r16). That is, a list of CHO configurations to be added to the CHO configurations the UE has previously received and stored, or to replace/modify CHO configurations the UE has previously received and stored.
  • a ToAddModList denoted as CondReconfigToAddModList-r16
  • the UE stores the CHO configurations in the “UE variable” VarConditionalReconfig.
  • a UE is not mandated to implement a UE variable exactly as specified.
  • a UE variable is a tool used in the specification to clearly describe the expected behavior or outcome of certain specified actions, e.g. configuration actions.
  • the add- mod-list containing CHO configurations i.e., CondReconfigToAddModList-r16
  • CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 is included in an IE referred to as ConditionalReconfiguration, which in turn is included in an RRCReconfiguration message.
  • ConditionalReconfiguration which in turn is included in an RRCReconfiguration message.
  • the relevant ASN.1 code from 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0 is included below.
  • RRCReconfiguration :: SEQUENCE ⁇ rrc-TransactionIdentifier
  • RRC-TransactionIdentifier, : : -- Omitted ASN.1 code -- P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 28 of 99 : : : RRCReconfiguration-v1610-IEs :: SEQUENCE ⁇ otherConfig-v1610 OtherConfig-v1610 OPTIONAL, -- Need M bap-Config-r16 SetupRelease ⁇ BAP-Config-r16 ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M iab-IP-AddressConfigurationList-r16 IAB-IP-AddressConfigurationList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need M conditionalReconfiguration-r16 ConditionalReconfiguration-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need M daps-SourceRelease-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need N t316-
  • CHO is also available in NTNs. Connected mode mobility challenges have been studied in the NTN study item phase for 3GPP Release 16 and are reported in the technical report 3GPP TR 38.821.
  • the cell When the satellite covering the geographic area is replaced, the cell is also replaced, meaning that all the UEs connected in the old cell are handed over to the new cell, which potentially results in a high control signaling peak, because all the handovers occur in conjunction with the cell replacement (also referred to as cell switch).
  • cell switch also referred to as cell switch.
  • Hard and soft cell switch have been discussed in 3GPP, with preference for the soft switch case, wherein the old and the new cell both (simultaneously) cover the geographic area during a short overlap period to simplify handovers with low interruptions.
  • 3GPP agreed to introduce support for CHO for NTN in 3GPP release 17 with the CHO procedure and the trigger conditions as defined for NR in 3GPP release 16 as a baseline.
  • a UE can typically determine that it is near a cell edge by detecting a clear difference in the received signal strength (e.g., by performing RSRP-based measurements) compared to the received signal strength at the cell center.
  • the difference in signal strength between the cell center and the cell edge is P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 30 of 99 typically smaller.
  • a UE may experience a small difference in signal strength between two beams (e.g., representing two cells) in a region of overlap. This may lead to suboptimal UE behaviors such as repetitive handovers (“ping-pong handovers”) back and forth between the two cells.
  • 3GPP agreed to introduce the following trigger conditions (apart from the already existing trigger conditions, the A3 and A5 CondEvents) for CHO in NTN.
  • the time-based trigger condition is defined by 3GPP as the time period [T1, T2] associated with each candidate target cell, where T1 is the starting point of the time period represented by a UTC and T2 is the end point of the time period represented by a time duration or a timer value, e.g., 10 seconds.
  • the time-based condition (condEventT1-r17) is defined in ASN.1 in the ReportConfigNR IE as shown below: condEventT1-r17 SEQUENCE ⁇ t1-Threshold-r17 INTEGER (0..549755813887), duration-r17 INTEGER (1..6000) ⁇ [0119]
  • the t1-Threshold-r17 field represents T1 and its INTEGER value encodes the UTC (in terms 10 ms units elapsed since the UTC starting point).
  • the t1- Threshold-r17 field counts the number of UTC seconds in 10 ms units since 00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900).
  • time-based trigger condition can only be configured in the UE in combination with one of the signal strength/quality based CondEvents A3, A4 or A5. This implies that the UE may only perform CHO to the candidate target cell in the time window defined by T1 and T2 if the signal strength/quality-based event is fulfilled within this time frame.
  • the time-based condition AND the signal strength/quality-based condition must thus be fulfilled simultaneously for the UE to execute the CHO.
  • the UE is not allowed to use the CHO configuration after T2, even if it in the cell selection during a triggered RRC re-establishment procedure happens to select the concerned candidate target cell and even if the network configuration allows the UE (by including the attemptCondReconfig field in the ConditionalReconfiguration IE) to perform conditional reconfiguration in a candidate target cell.
  • This rule applies also if the UE selects another cell for which the UE has a CHO configuration, i.e., if time has passed T2 for that CHO configuration, the UE is not allowed to use the CHO configuration to turn the RRC re- establishment into a CHO execution for that cell.
  • 3GPP has also agreed to specify a location- based condition for CHO execution.
  • the location-based condition is fulfilled if the UE’s distance to a reference location of the serving (source) cell (assumedly representing the center of the serving/source cell) exceeds a first threshold while the distance to a reference location of a candidate target cell (assumedly representing the center of the candidate target cell) goes below a second threshold.
  • the location-based condition must be combined with one of the signal strength/quality-based CondEvents A3, A4 or A5, and both the location- based condition and the signal strength/quality-based condition have to be fulfilled for the CHO execution to be triggered.
  • the old and the new cell coexist for a period of time (soft switch) during which the UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state can be handed over from the old to the new cell, and UEs in RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_IDLE state can reselect from the old to the new cell.
  • Such cell switches may occur due to a switch of the satellite serving the cell covering P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 32 of 99 the quasi-Earth-fixed cell area, or due to the satellite serving the cell covering the quasi-Earth- fixed cell area switching its feeder link.
  • a similar situation may occur in a moving cell scenario when a satellite serving a moving cell switches its feeder link, and in this process the cell the satellite serves is switched to a new cell (wherein the old and the new cell, and thus the old and the new feeder link, temporarily coexist).
  • a new cell wherein the old and the new cell, and thus the old and the new feeder link, temporarily coexist.
  • a consequence of this is that UEs connected in the old cell will need measurement gaps when they measure downlink signals in the new cell taking over as the cell serving the area, and during measurement gaps, no data transmission scheduling is allowed in the serving cell.
  • a UE may be configured to perform such measurements and report to the serving gNB so that the serving gNB can trigger a handover to the new cell when appropriate. More preferably, however, the UE is configured with a CHO anticipating the switch from an old to a new NTN cell (i.e., the candidate target cell of the CHO configuration is the new cell), and then the UE has to measure on the downlink signals in the new cell to monitor the execution condition of the CHO configuration.
  • a gNB controlling a quasi-Earth-fixed cell is expected to configure UEs connected in the cell with time-based CHO, i.e. CHO configurations with a time-based execution condition, combined with a channel quality condition.
  • the candidate target cell i.e., the new P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 33 of 99 cell
  • the channel quality condition of the candidate target cell i.e., the new P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 33 of 99 cell
  • the channel quality e.g., signal strength or signal quality
  • a well implemented UE configured to measure on a new quasi-Earth-fixed cell (or a new moving cell resulting from a feeder link switch in the serving satellite), e.g.
  • a UE configured for a time-based CHO will not perform (and should preferably not perform) any measurements in the measurement gaps occurring outside the time period during which measurements are useful (unless the UE is located or moving close to the border of the serving cell which then may require the UE to perform measurements of the neighbor cell(s) existing in parallel with the serving cell, i.e. other cells than the new quasi-Earth-fixed cell or the new moving cell). Still, communication (i.e., data transmission scheduling) to and from the UE in the serving cell will be precluded during these measurement gaps. This means that the UE’s performance/service is reduced in vain (i.e., without anything to gain).
  • NTN non-terrestrial network
  • inventions enable configuration of an active time window for a measurement gap configuration and signal this active time window configuration to a user equipment (UE) using dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • Some embodiments include examples of how the measurement gap active time window definition may be included in existing ASN.1 code defining configuration data intended P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 34 of 99 for the UE.
  • the examples include both examples of explicit active time window definitions using a start time and a duration and examples where the active time window is defined through a reference to the execution time window of a time-based conditional handover (CHO) configuration, which the measurement gap active time window should match.
  • CHO conditional handover
  • Some ASN.1 code examples illustrate how the active time window definition may be included in the current MeasGapConfig information element (IE), and other ASN.1 code examples illustrate how the active time window definition may be included in the current MeasObjectNR IE.
  • the active time window configuration is given in the MeasGapConfig IE, it is specific to that measurement gap configurations for the UE for all frequencies the UE measures, or for FR1, FR2 in case of those measurement gaps.
  • the active time window configuration is in the MeasObjectNR IE, it is possible to give the information per frequency or even per physical cell identifier (PCI) or list of PCIs.
  • PCI physical cell identifier
  • Some embodiments associate multiple active time windows with the same measurement gap configuration. [0134] Some embodiments enable and disable pre-configured measurement gaps using RRC signaling. [0135] Some embodiments configure an active time window for a synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) (especially for intra-frequency or inter- frequency cases without measurement gap) in the same manner as the measurement gap active time window definition, e.g., all examples of the measurement gap active time window may be used correspondingly for the SMTC active time window. [0136] In general, particular embodiments enable time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration by associating an active time window with the measurement gap configuration.
  • SSB synchronization signal block
  • SMTC measurement timing configuration
  • Particular aspects include including an active time window definition in the MeasGapConfig IE or the MeasObjectNR IE, which may be signaled to a UE, e.g. in an RRCReconfiguration RRC message, and wherein the active time window definition may be an explicit active time window definition using a start time and a duration, or a reference to the execution time window of a time- based CHO configuration, which the measurement gap active time window should match.
  • a method is performed by a wireless device for time- based activation of a measurement gap configuration.
  • the method comprises: obtaining a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 35 of 99 time window for performing measurements; and performing measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window.
  • the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network.
  • the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration.
  • the active time window corresponds to a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non-terrestrial network.
  • the active time window is associated with one or more cells and/or one or more frequencies.
  • obtaining the measurement gap configuration comprises receiving RRC signaling from a network node.
  • the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element.
  • a wireless device comprises processing circuitry operable to perform any of the wireless device methods described above.
  • a method performed by a network node for time- based activation of a measurement gap configuration comprises: determining to configure a wireless device with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration; and transmitting a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements.
  • transmitting the measurement gap configuration comprises transmitting RRC signaling to the wireless device.
  • the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element.
  • determining to configure the wireless device with time- based activation of the measurement gap configuration is based on a location of the wireless device.
  • a network node comprises processing circuitry operable to perform any of the network node methods described above.
  • a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, the computer readable program code P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 36 of 99 operable, when executed by processing circuitry to perform any of the methods performed by the wireless devices described above.
  • Another computer program product comprises a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, the computer readable program code operable, when executed by processing circuitry to perform any of the methods performed by the network node described above.
  • Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages.
  • particular embodiments eliminate or reduce the problem with the suboptimal measurement gap configurations in conjunction with time-based CHO configuration, i.e., that communication to and from the configured UE is unnecessarily precluded during measurement gaps occurring outside the CHO execution time window.
  • Particular embodiments facilitate configuring a measurement gap active time window even if a time-based CHO configuration is not configured to the UE.
  • Figure 1 illustrates how the measurement gap configuration fits into the overall RRM measurement configuration
  • Figure 2 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders
  • Figure 3 illustrates orbital elements – the parameters included in one ephemeris data format
  • Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified Xn-based inter-gNB handover in New Radio (NR)
  • Figure 5 is a flow diagram illustrating Xn-based inter-gNB handover in NR
  • Figure 6 includes two flow diagrams illustrating error cases addressed by conditional handover
  • Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified message diagram for an inter-gNB conditional handover
  • Figure 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an inter-gNB conditional handover message flow in NR
  • Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system, according to certain embodiments
  • Figure 10 shows a user equipment (UE), according to certain embodiments
  • Figure 11 shows a network node, according to certain embodiments
  • NTN non-terrestrial network
  • Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.
  • particular embodiments address the above-described problem using time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration.
  • particular embodiments enable configuration of an active time window for a measurement gap configuration and signal this active time window configuration to a user equipment (UE) using dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling.
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • non-terrestrial network may, depending on the context, refer to either or both of New Radio (NR) NTN and Internet-of-things (IoT) NTN, and sometimes the term is used to refer to only NR NTN.
  • NR New Radio
  • IoT Internet-of-things
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • network is used herein to refer to a network node, which typically will be a gNB (e.g., in a NR based NTN) or an eNB (e.g., in an LTE based NTN, such as an IoT NTN), but which may also be a base station or an access point in another type of network based on communication via satellites or high-altitude platform systems (HAPS), or any other network node (in a network involving satellites or HAPS) with the ability to directly or indirectly communicate with a UE. Refinements with finer granularity are also conceivable.
  • a gNB may be an en-gNB, and if a split gNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “network” or “network node” or “node” may refer to a part of the gNB, such as a gNB-central unit (CU) (often referred to as just CU), a gNB-distributed unit (DU) (often referred to as just DU), a gNB-CU-control plane (CP) or a gNB-CU-user plane (UP).
  • CU gNB-central unit
  • DU gNB-distributed unit
  • CP gNB-CU-control plane
  • UP gNB-CU-user plane
  • an eNB may be an ng-eNB, and if a split eNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “network” (and the network node it implies) may refer to a part of the eNB, such as an eNB-CU, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU-CP or an eNB-CU-UP. Furthermore, the term “network” (and the network node it implies) may also refer to an integrated access and backhaul (IAB)-donor, IAB-donor-CU, IAB-donor-DU, IAB-donor-CU-CP, or an IAB-donor-CU-UP.
  • IAB integrated access and backhaul
  • the terms “source node,” “target node” and “candidate target node” may be used herein.
  • the “node” in these terms should be understood as typically being a radio access network (RAN) node in a NTN based on NR technology, LTE technology or any other radio access technology (RAT) in which conditional handover or another conditional mobility concept is defined.
  • RAN radio access network
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • RAT radio access technology
  • a gNB may be an en-gNB, and if a split gNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the gNB, such as a gNB-CU, a gNB-DU, a gNB-CU-CP or a gNB-CU-UP.
  • an eNB may be an ng-eNB, and if a split eNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the eNB, such as an eNB-CU, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU-CP or an eNB-CU- UP. Furthermore, the “node” in the terms may also refer to an IAB-donor, IAB-donor-CU, IAB- donor-DU, IAB-donor-CU-CP, or an IAB-donor-CU-UP.
  • conditional handover When conditional handover (CHO) is configured for a UE, a cell which the UE potentially can connect to (i.e., if the CHO execution condition is fulfilled for the cell) is denoted P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 39 of 99 as “candidate target cell.” Similarly, a RAN node controlling a candidate target cell is denoted as “candidate target node” or, in NR and NR NTN, “candidate target gNB.” However, once the UE has detected a fulfilled CHO execution condition for a candidate target cell, this terminology becomes a bit blurred.
  • a condition included in a CHO configuration governing the execution of the conditionally configured procedure may be referred to as a CHO execution condition, a handover (HO) execution condition, a CHO trigger condition, a HO trigger condition or sometimes just a trigger condition.
  • CHO configuration typically refers to a CHO configuration for a single candidate target cell. However, sometimes the term “CHO configuration” refers collectively to all CHO related configuration that a UE has stored, which may include configurations for multiple candidate target cells.
  • the target cell configuration (the RRCReconfiguration for the UE to use in the candidate target cell) and the CHO execution condition for each candidate target cell provided by the network to the UE may collectively be referred to as a CHO configuration, or, alternatively, each combination of candidate target cell, target cell configuration and CHO execution condition may be referred to as a CHO configuration.
  • a CHO configuration each combination of candidate target cell, target cell configuration and CHO execution condition may be referred to as a CHO configuration.
  • the writing principle “ ⁇ protocol name> ⁇ message name> message”, for example “XnAP HANDOVER CANCEL message”, and the writing principle “ ⁇ message name> ⁇ protocol name> message”, for example “HANDOVER CANCEL XnAP message” are equivalent, both referring to a message (i.e., “ ⁇ message name>”) of a communication protocol (i.e., “ ⁇ protocol name>”), e.g., the HANDOVER CANCEL message of the communication protocol XnAP.
  • a communication protocol i.e., “ ⁇ protocol name>”
  • the same writing format equivalence applies to other communication protocols, such as NGAP.
  • the first message the UE sends to the target node in the target cell, after having sent a random access preamble and having received a Random Access Response message, is an RRCReconfigurationComplete message, indicating the successful completion of the HO or CHO.
  • the RRCReconfigurationComplete message is often referred to as a Handover Complete message.
  • Handover Command and “HandoverCommand” are used interchangeably herein. Both terms refer to a UE configuration the target node (of a regular handover) or candidate target node (of a conditional handover), during the (conditional) handover preparation phase, compiles for the UE to be subject to the handover or conditional handover.
  • This UE configuration is compiled in the form of an RRCReconfiguration message that is conveyed to the UE via the source node.
  • the RRCReconfiguration is associated with a certain target cell or candidate target cell and the UE applies the RRCReconfiguration when/if it accesses the concerned (candidate) target cell controlled by the (candidate) target node.
  • “HandoverCommand” is an RRC inter-node message that is conveyed from a target node or a candidate target node to a source node during the preparation of a handover or a conditional handover. It is carried by the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP in the Target NG-RAN node To Source NG-RAN node Transparent Container information element (IE).
  • the “HandoverCommand” RRC inter-node message contains an RRCReconfiguration the UE should apply when accessing the target cell or candidate target cell.
  • the source node forwards the RRCReconfiguration (i.e., the HandoverCommand) to the UE.
  • HybridHandoverCommand is also used to denote the RRCReconfiguration when it is stored in a UE as a part of a CHO configuration. This is also referred to as the condRRCReconfig-r16 IE in the CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 IE (which contains the CHO configuration) in the CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 IE in the P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 41 of 99 ConditionalReconfiguration-r16 IE. In the context of CHO, the terms “Conditional Handover Command,” “(Conditional) Handover Command” and “(conditional) Handover Command” may also be used.
  • conditional handover e.g., conditional PSCell change (e.g., a dual connectivity scenario with the PCell in a terrestrial network and PSCell in a NTN), or conditional L1/L2 mobility procedures (e.g., time-based L1/L2 mobility procedures).
  • conditional PSCell change e.g., a dual connectivity scenario with the PCell in a terrestrial network and PSCell in a NTN
  • conditional L1/L2 mobility procedures e.g., time-based L1/L2 mobility procedures.
  • conditional handover procedures that primarily are described as Xn based conditional handovers, i.e., inter-gNB CHOs where a Xn interface is established between the gNBs and the XnAP messages HANDOVER REQUEST and HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE are used during the preparation of a CHO.
  • the embodiments are also applicable when the CHO is prepared between gNBs which lack an established Xn interface, in which case the CHO preparation signaling is conveyed via the core network using NGAP messages (and possibly a protocol for messaging between two access and mobility management functions (AMFs) in the core network).
  • NGAP messages and possibly a protocol for messaging between two access and mobility management functions (AMFs) in the core network.
  • the HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message is replaced by the HANDOVER REQUIRED NGAP message and the HANDOVER REQUEST NGAP message, where the HANDOVER REQUIRED NGAP message is sent from the source gNB to the core network and the core network sends the relevant information further to the candidate target gNB in a HANDOVER REQUEST NGAP message.
  • the HANDOVER REQEUST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP message is replaced by the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE NGAP message and the HANDOVER COMMAND NGAP message, where the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE NGAP message is sent from the candidate target gNB to the core network and the core network sends the relevant information further to the source gNB in a HANDOVER COMMAND NGAP message.
  • this may involve one or more AMF(s). If the source gNB and the candidate target gNB are connected to the same AMF, this AMF handles all the above-described message receptions and transmissions.
  • IE information element
  • field is used more or less interchangeably herein.
  • parameter is sometimes used to denote the same concept.
  • Parameters/IEs/fields used in ASN.1 code as well as in procedural text in the 3GPP RRC specification for 5G/NR, i.e.3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, are often named with a suffix indicating the number of the release of the 3GPP standard the parameter/IE/field was introduced in (e.g.
  • NTN has two main deployment principles: quasi-Earth-fixed cells and Earth-moving cells. These deployment principles are also referred to by other names.
  • the quasi-Earth-fixed cells deployment principle is also referred to as quasi-Earth-fixed beams.
  • the Earth-moving cells deployment principle is also referred to as Earth-moving beams, or shorter, moving and/or moving beams.
  • a time window is defined within which the configured UE may execute the CHO, provided that the signal strength/quality CHO execution condition is fulfilled, and outside which the UE may not execute the CHO. Such a time window is herein sometimes referred to as a CHO execution time window or a CHO execution window.
  • Both the t1-Threshold-r17 field and duration-r17 field are included in the condEventT1-r17 IE, which in turn is included in the CondTriggerConfig-r16 IE, which in turn is included in the ReportConfigNR IE.
  • the t1-Threshold-r17 field is a UTC timestamp and the duration-r17 field represents a time period between 100 ms and 600 seconds (in steps of 100 ms).
  • Particular embodiments address the problems described above by modifying, or augmenting, the measurement gap configuration in a way that the time the configuration of the repetitive measurement gaps is active may be limited to a certain time period.
  • One way to achieve this is to extend the MeasGapConfig IE, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, with an optional definition of a time window in which the measurement P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 43 of 99 gap configuration (GapConfig-r17) should be applied (e.g.
  • ⁇ MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 :: INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)
  • ActiveTimeWindow-r18 :: SEQUENCE ⁇ startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms ⁇ -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0174]
  • the startTime-r18 and duration-r18 of the ActiveTimeWindow-r18 IE should be set to values matching the execution time window of the concerned CHO configuration (i.e., the time window defined by the time-based condition (the t1- Threshold-r17 and the duration-r17 fields) in the CHO configuration).
  • the ActiveTimeWindow-r18 parameters may be set so that the start of the time window occurs slightly before the start of the CHO execution time window (i.e., startTime-r18 ⁇ t1-Threshold-r17), so that the UE can start its measurements on the new cell proactively and have a fresh channel quality measurement result when the CHO execution time window starts (thereby enabling the fastest possible triggering of the CHO execution, if this is desired).
  • startTime-r18 ⁇ t1-Threshold-r17 the UE can start its measurements on the new cell proactively and have a fresh channel quality measurement result when the CHO execution time window starts (thereby enabling the fastest possible triggering of the CHO execution, if this is desired).
  • the period of coexistence of the old and the new cell starts before the start time of the CHO execution time window (i.e., before t1-Threshold-r17).
  • a further option is to let the active window for the measurement gaps end slightly before the CHO execution time window (i.e., startTime-r18 + duration-r18 ⁇ t1-Threshold-r17 + duration-r17).
  • the rationale for this option is that performing a channel quality (e.g., signal strength or signal quality) measurement on the new cell right before the end of the CHO execution time window is not beneficial, because it would be too late to execute the CHO within the CHO execution time window (in typical scenarios where the UE cannot expect the candidate target gNB to retain the CHO related configuration information after the end of the CHO execution time window).
  • a UE is able to complete corresponding measurements in a measurement gap on a target cell before ending of CHO execution time window upon starting the measurements at t1-Threshold-r17.
  • the network node e.g. gNB
  • the measurement gap active time window can be identical to the CHO execution time window.
  • the measurement gap active time window reuses the CHO execution time window provided the ActiveTimeWindow-r18 is configured as: in one example, ⁇ , ⁇ are configured with 0; in another example, ⁇ , ⁇ are absent in the configuration (e.g., either not specified in the standard or specified as optional parameters which in this example are omitted). In another example, the fields startTime-r18 and/or duration-r18 are blanked. [0177] A more compact extension of the MeasGapConfig IE may be achieved by referring to the CHO execution time window where the purpose is to match, instead of actually defining the active time window (as in the example above).
  • a suitable reference to the concerned CHO execution time window may be the condReconfigId-r16 of the CHO configuration (i.e., the CondReconfigToAddMod-r16) or the MeasId or ReportConfigId associated with the time-based execution condition.
  • the MeasGapConfig IE is extended with a reference (cho-WindowToMatch-r18) to the CHO execution time window to match, where the reference has the form (ASN.1 type) of a CondReconfigId-r16.
  • the extension is included in the example below.
  • MeasGapConfig :: SEQUENCE ⁇ gapFR2 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 46 of 99 posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGap
  • the reference means that the P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 47 of 99 measurement gap active time window exactly matches the CHO execution time window in terms of start time and end time (and thus duration).
  • the reference means that the measurement gap active time window ends at the same time as the CHO execution time window ends, but the measurement gap active time window starts an offset ⁇ before the start of the CHO execution time window.
  • the reference means that the measurement gap active time window starts at the same time as the start of the CHO execution time window, but ends an offset ⁇ before the end of the CHO execution time window.
  • the reference means that the measurement gap active time window starts an offset ⁇ before the start of the CHO execution time window, and ends an offset ⁇ before the end of the CHO execution time window.
  • the reference means that the measurement gap active time window has the same length (duration) as the CHO execution time window, but it starts an offset ⁇ (or ⁇ or another delta-offset parameter) before the start of the CHO execution time window.
  • the offsets ⁇ and ⁇ may be specified (in a standard), configured via the system information, or configured together with the CHO execution time window reference. The latter is illustrated in the following ASN.1 example (based on ASN.1 code in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0), with the ⁇ offset is represented by the field “startOffset-r18” and the ⁇ offset is represented by the field “endOffset-r18”.
  • MeasGapConfig :: SEQUENCE ⁇ gapFR2 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, --
  • ⁇ MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 :: INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)
  • ActiveGapWindow-r18 :: SEQUENCE ⁇ cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, -- [0185]
  • a caveat of tying the measurement gap active time window to an execution window of a time-based CHO configuration is that it is not possible to configure a measurement gap active time window without a corresponding CHO execution time window, i.e., it is not possible to configure a measurement gap active time window independently of CHO configurations.
  • an ASN.1 CHOICE structure may be used to allow both explicit active time window definition and active time window definition based on a reference to a CHO configuration.
  • the ASN.1 example below illustrates this.
  • the startOffset-r18 and endOffset-r18 fields are included in the example, but as mentioned before, these parameters may instead be specified in a standard or configured via the system information, or not used at all.
  • the ASN.1 example is based on 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0.
  • MeasGapConfig :: SEQUENCE ⁇ gapFR2 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, --
  • ActiveTimeWindow-r18 SEQUENCE ⁇ startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) --
  • Each step represents 10 ms endOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL --
  • Each step represents 10 ms ⁇ -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0186]
  • An alternative to including the measurement gap active time window definition in the MeasGapConfig IE is to include
  • ASN.1 example with explicit active time window definition in the MeasObjectNR IE: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR :: SEQUENCE ⁇ ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc1 SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc2 SSB-MTC2 OPTIONAL, -- Cond IntraFreqConnected refFreqCSI-RS ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond CSI-RS P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 51 of 99 referenceSignalConfig ReferenceSignalConfig, absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R absThr
  • a UE is configured with time-based CHO for multiple candidate target cells, and where not all the CHO execution time windows (for the respective candidate target cells) are identical.
  • this may be handled by defining a list of active time window definitions, where the active window definitions in the list may be any of the ones previously exemplified.
  • a UE with such a list configured regards the measurement gap configuration as active and performs measurements within all of the active time windows in the list.
  • MeasGapActiveWindowList-r18 :: SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofActiveWindows-r18)) OF MeasGapActiveWindow-r18
  • MeasGapConfig IE extension SEQUENCE ⁇ gapFR2 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease ⁇ GapConfig ⁇ OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)
  • MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 SEQUENCE ⁇ startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms ⁇ -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0197] If the measurement gap active window definition is included in the MeasObjectNR IE, then multiple active time windows associated with the same measurement gap configuration may be achieved without the above kind of list construction by configuring multiple MeasObjectNR IEs, all referencing the same measurement gap configuration using the same MeasGapId, but each with a different measurement gap active time window configuration.
  • the different MeasObjectNR IEs may, e.g., be associated with different carrier frequencies.
  • Using a list construction in the MeasObjectNR IE is another option.
  • the previous MeasObjectNR IE extension examples may be modified in the same way as the MeasGapConfig IE extension P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 58 of 99 examples were modified above, i.e., where the definition of a single active time window was replaced by a list of active time windows.
  • the following is one of the previous examples of MeasObjectNR IE extension, this time with the single active time window definition replaced by a list of active time windows.
  • MeasObjectNR IE extension examples may be modified in analogous ways.
  • -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR :: SEQUENCE ⁇ ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing [[ smtc3list-r16 SSB-MTC3List-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R rmtc-Config-r16 SetupRelease ⁇ RMTC-Config-r16 ⁇ OPTIONAL, -- Need M t312-r16 SetupRelease ⁇ T312-r16 ⁇ OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R associatedMeasGapCSIRS-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need Need
  • the configuration may be specified to be physical cell identifier (PCI) specific by configuring a PCI or list of PCIs associated with the window configuration. This may be done by specifying a new PCI list or by stating the association in relation to one of the existing PCI lists. Using existing PCI lists or by defining another new PCI list, it may also be specified which PCIs are not applicable.
  • PCI physical cell identifier
  • one or more measurement gap active time window(s) is(are) configured in configuration data signaled to a UE using dedicated RRC signaling, is to specify in the standard that when a measurement gap configuration is associated with a measurement of the signal strength/quality (e.g., reference signal receive power (RSRP) or reference signal receive quality (RSRQ)) for the purpose of evaluating the execution condition of a time-based CHO, wherein the concerned candidate target cell is an NTN cell which replaces the UE’s current serving cell (because of a feeder link switch or satellite switch in a quasi-Earth-fixed cells deployment, or a feeder link switch in an Earth-moving cells deployment), then the measurement gap configuration is regarded as active only during the coexistence period of the old and the new cell.
  • RSRP reference signal receive power
  • RSRQ reference signal receive quality
  • the rule is configurable with an indication in the system information, e.g. indicating whether the UEs should apply the rule or not.
  • the decision whether to configure a UE with one or more measurement gap active time window(s) is made in the serving node, e.g., based on the UE location within the serving cell. If for example the UE is located close to the cell border (or is moving in direction towards the cell border) of the serving cell, the UE may need to perform measurements of other neighbor cell(s), i.e., other cells than the new quasi-Earth-fixed cell or the new moving cell after a feeder link switch.
  • a single measurement gap active time window associated with a certain time period may not be suitable.
  • the serving node may decide to configure the UE with one or more measurement gap active time window(s) as in the above examples.
  • Aforementioned embodiments introduce explicit measurement gap active time window through RRC signaling.
  • the measurement gap active time window may be regarded as a (set of) indication(s) indicating when to activate a measurement gap and when to deactivate a measurement gap.
  • the indication may be commanded by network node through medium access control (MA) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI) command or enabled by the UE with respect to a time-based condition in the CHO configuration, e.g., CHO execution time window.
  • MA medium access control
  • CE control element
  • DCI downlink control information
  • One way to achieve this is adding an optional definition of a preconfigured measurement gap in MeasGapConfig IE, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0.
  • the UE shall determine the enabling of the pre-configured measurement gap based on one or more concurrent triggering conditions occurring: ⁇ Dedicated MAC CE or DCI command to enable pre-configured measurement gap, ⁇ Receiving signaling containing time-based condition in the CHO configuration, e.g. t1- Threshold-r17 and duration-r17, or, alternatively, t-Service-r17. ⁇ Receiving CHO command. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 62 of 99 ⁇ Current time reaches the CHO execution time window, e.g. t1-Threshold-r17.
  • the condition may be defined as current time reaches ⁇ t1-Threshold-r17 - ⁇ _preconfig ⁇ , wherein the value of ⁇ _preconfig is pre-defined or configured by a network node (e.g., the serving gNB) through RRC signaling.
  • a network node e.g., the serving gNB
  • pre-configured measurement gap is disabled.
  • Particular embodiments may be extended to be used in definition of conditional relaxed measurements with a measurement gap.
  • ⁇ UE performs inter-frequency measurements following configured measurement gap if current time instant is in measurement gap active time window.
  • ⁇ UE performs inter-frequency measurements relaxed from measurement gap if current time instant is outside measurement gap active time window.
  • the relaxation means UE shall follow a pre-defined method or rule to skip measurements but perform data scheduling in some of the configured measurement gap occasions.
  • startTime-r18 is signaled using SFN (System Frame Number) and/or H-SFN (Hyper-SFN) as a reference instead of an integer value that indicates the time in UTC.
  • the SFN is a 10-bit value where the most significant 6 bits are provided in the master information block (MIB) and the 4 least significant bits are provided in the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transport block as part of channel coding (i.e., outside the MIB encoding), as defined in clause 7.1 in 3GPP TS 38.212 version 17.4.0.
  • MIB master information block
  • PBCH physical broadcast channel
  • startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN or startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)) -- H-SFN or startTime-H-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)), -- H-SFN startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN
  • start time is a combination of startTime-H-r18 and startTime-r18 with the former and latter providing the MSBs and LSBs, respectively.
  • the measurement gap active time window is defined to match the coexistence period of the serving/source cell and the candidate target cell of the CHO configuration.
  • a new parameter may be introduced to indicate to the UE when the candidate target cell appears, i.e., when the coexistence period begins.
  • the new parameter may e.g., be referred to as t-ServiceStart-r18, and the measurement gap active time window thus be defined as the duration between t-ServiceStart-r18 for the candidate target cell and t-Service-r17 for the serving/source cell.
  • the t-ServiceStart-r18 parameter may be signaled in the RRCReconfiguration message conveying the CHO configuration to the UE, e.g., as indicated in the ASN.1 example below (which is based on ASN.1 code copied from 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0).
  • the t-ServiceStart-r18 parameter may be included in the ServingCellConfigCommon IE in the ReconfigurationWithSync IE, or in parallel with the ServingCellConfigCommon IE (and other IEs) in the ReconfigurationWithSync IE, e.g., as in the ASN.1 example below (which is based on ASN.1 code copied from 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0).
  • ReconfigurationWithSync :: SEQUENCE ⁇ P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 64 of 99 spCellConfigCommon ServingCellConfigCommon OPTIONAL, -- Need M newUE-Identity RNTI-Value, t304 ENUMERATED ⁇ ms50, ms100, ms150, ms200, ms500, ms1000, ms2000, ms10000 ⁇ , of the candidate target cell and the serving/source cell may be specified in a standard or may be configured.
  • a simple indication e.g., a single-bit flag, or a BOOLEAN, which could be denoted as “matchActiveWindowWithCoexistencePeriod-r18”.
  • This indication may be included in the MeasGapConfig IE or in the MeasObjemctNR IE or in the CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 IE.
  • the presence of the t-ServiceStart-r18 parameter may be an implicit indication that the measurement gap active time window would match the coexistence period of the serving/source cell and the candidate target cell.
  • An alternative to such an indicator may be to, as previously described, link the measurement gap configuration to a certain CHO configuration (with the implicit rule that the active time window of the measurement gap configuration should match the coexistence period of the candidate target cell of the CHO configuration and the serving/source cell).
  • a reference to a CHO configuration may, e.g., be a CondReconfigId-r16 IE (i.e., it may be a field of the type CondReconfigId-r16, wherein the field may, e.g., be denoted as coexistencePeriodToMatch-r18).
  • a list of CondReconfigId-r16 IEs may be associated with the measurement gap configuration, e.g., a list of coexistencePeriodToMatch-r18. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 65 of 99 [0216] These embodiments may be particularly beneficial if adapted to the LTE-based NTN technology IoT NTN.
  • t-ServiceStart-r17 field which indicates a UTC
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • Some embodiments apply to SSB measurement timing configuration (SMTC). Even if there are no requirements or it is up to UE implementation on when the UE shall start measuring intra-frequency cells and considering the fact that UE is able to schedule data when not measuring intra-frequency cells provided intra-frequency SMTC is configured, it still is beneficial to prevent UE to start measuring intra-frequency cells too early before CHO or CHO execution time window.
  • SMTC SSB measurement timing configuration
  • some embodiments may only define one active window for all configured SMTCs per MeasObjectNR.
  • IE SSB-SMTC below only lists example in IE SSB-SMTC, but the same updates may be added in IE MeasObjectNR.
  • MTC-activeTimeWindow-r18 following (with similar properties as) ActiveTimeWindow-r18 in aforementioned solution for measurement gaps.
  • SMTC especially for intra-frequency cells or inter-frequency cells without measurement gap, is valid during the time window defined by MTC-activeTimeWindow-r18.
  • MTC-activeTimeWindow-r18 may be different from those in ActiveTimeWindow-r18 or the same as in ActiveTimeWindow-r18. In the latter case, ActiveTimeWindow-r18 may directly be reused in the SSB-SMTC configuration.
  • MTC-startTime-r18 is signaled using SFN and/or H-SFN as a reference instead of an integer value that indicates the time in UTC.
  • MTC-startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN or MTC-startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)) -- H-SFN or MTC-startTime-H-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)), -- H-SFN MTC-startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN
  • the start time is a combination of MTC-startTime-H-r18 and MTC-startTime-r18 with the former and latter providing the MSBs and LSBs, respectively.
  • FIG. 9 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108.
  • the access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point.
  • 3GPP 3 rd Generation Partnership Project
  • the network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.
  • UE user equipment
  • Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors.
  • the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 68 of 99 signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
  • the communication system 100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.
  • the UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices.
  • the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102.
  • the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts.
  • the core network 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components.
  • Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).
  • MSC Mobile Switching Center
  • MME Mobility Management Entity
  • HSS Home Subscriber Server
  • AMF Access and Mobility Management Function
  • SMF Session Management Function
  • AUSF Authentication Server Function
  • SIDF Subscription Identifier De-concealing function
  • UDM Unified Data Management
  • SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy
  • NEF Network Exposure Function
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • the host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and/or the telecommunication network 102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.
  • the host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.
  • the communication system 100 of Figure 9 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts.
  • the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive IoT services to yet further UEs.
  • URLLC Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication
  • eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband
  • mMTC Massive Machine Type Communication
  • the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction.
  • a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104.
  • a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode.
  • a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).
  • MR-DC multi-radio dual connectivity
  • the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b).
  • the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs.
  • the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs.
  • the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 70 of 99 to one or more actuators in the UEs.
  • Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114.
  • the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data.
  • the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content.
  • the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.
  • the hub 114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b.
  • the hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106.
  • the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection.
  • the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection.
  • UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection.
  • the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 110b.
  • the hub 114 may be a non- dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.
  • FIG. 10 shows a UE 200 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs.
  • Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc.
  • VoIP voice over IP
  • LME laptop-embedded equipment
  • LME laptop-mounted equipment
  • CPE wireless customer-premise equipment
  • a UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to- everything (V2X).
  • D2D device-to-device
  • DSRC Dedicated Short-Range Communication
  • V2V vehicle-to-vehicle
  • V2I vehicle-to-infrastructure
  • V2X vehicle-to- everything
  • a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device.
  • a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller).
  • a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).
  • the UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input/output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.
  • Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 2. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.
  • the processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210.
  • the processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above.
  • the processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).
  • the input/output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices.
  • Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof.
  • An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200.
  • Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 72 of 99 digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like.
  • the presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user.
  • a sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof.
  • An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device.
  • a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.
  • the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used.
  • the power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 208.
  • Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied.
  • the memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth.
  • the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216.
  • the memory 210 may store, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
  • the memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 73 of 99 any combination thereof.
  • RAID redundant array of independent disks
  • HD-DVD high-density digital versatile disc
  • HDDS holographic digital data storage
  • DIMM external mini-dual in-line memory module
  • SDRAM
  • the UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’
  • the memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data.
  • An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.
  • the processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212.
  • the communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222.
  • the communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network).
  • Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and/or a receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth).
  • the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.
  • communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof.
  • GPS global positioning system
  • Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.
  • a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE.
  • a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change.
  • the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.
  • a UE when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare.
  • IoT Internet of Things
  • Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item- tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot.
  • UAV Unmanned
  • a UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in Figure 2.
  • a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node.
  • the UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device.
  • the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard.
  • a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 75 of 99 that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.
  • a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone.
  • the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed.
  • the first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above.
  • a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.
  • Figure 11 shows a network node 300 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network.
  • network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)).
  • APs access points
  • BSs base stations
  • Node Bs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR NodeBs
  • Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations.
  • a base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay.
  • a network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).
  • DAS distributed antenna system
  • network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).
  • MSR multi-standard radio
  • RNCs radio network controllers
  • BSCs base station controllers
  • BTSs base transceiver stations
  • OFDM Operation and Maintenance
  • OSS Operations Support System
  • SON Self-Organizing Network
  • positioning nodes e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)
  • the network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308.
  • the network node 300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components.
  • the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components)
  • one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs.
  • each unique NodeB and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node.
  • the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs).
  • RATs radio access technologies
  • some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs).
  • the network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies.
  • RFID Radio Frequency Identification
  • the processing circuitry 302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality.
  • the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC).
  • the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314.
  • the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units.
  • part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.
  • the memory 304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 77 of 99 memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 302.
  • volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 77 of 99 memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a
  • the memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300.
  • the memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and/or any data received via the communication interface 306.
  • the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 is integrated.
  • the communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE.
  • the communication interface 306 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection.
  • the communication interface 306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310.
  • Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322.
  • the radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302.
  • the radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302.
  • the radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection.
  • the radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and/or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. [0257] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310.
  • the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306.
  • the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
  • the antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals.
  • the antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port. [0259] The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node.
  • the power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component).
  • the power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein.
  • the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308.
  • the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry.
  • the battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.
  • Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 11 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein.
  • the network node 300 may include user interface P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 79 of 99 equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300.
  • FIG 12 is a block diagram of a host 400, which may be an embodiment of the host 116 of Figure 1, in accordance with various aspects described herein.
  • the host 400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm.
  • the host 400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.
  • the host 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 404 to an input/output interface 406, a network interface 408, a power source 410, and a memory 412. Other components may be included in other embodiments.
  • the memory 412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 414 and data 416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 400 or data generated by the host 400 for a UE.
  • Embodiments of the host 400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown.
  • the host application programs 414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems).
  • the host application programs 414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network.
  • the host 400 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE.
  • the host application programs 414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.
  • HLS HTTP Live Streaming
  • RTMP Real-Time Messaging Protocol
  • RTSP Real-Time Streaming Protocol
  • MPEG-DASH Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP
  • P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 80 of 99
  • Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.
  • virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources.
  • virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components.
  • Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host.
  • VMs virtual machines
  • hardware nodes such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host.
  • the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host)
  • the node may be entirely virtualized.
  • Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth.
  • Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 508), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
  • the virtualization layer 506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 508.
  • the VMs 508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 506.
  • NFV network function virtualization
  • P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 81 of 99 physical switches P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 81 of 99 physical switches
  • physical storage which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.
  • a VM 508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine.
  • Each of the VMs 508, and that part of hardware 504 that executes that VM forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 508 on top of the hardware 504 and corresponds to the application 502.
  • Hardware 504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g.
  • hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.
  • Figure 14 shows a communication diagram of a host 602 communicating via a network node 604 with a UE 606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.
  • UE such as a UE 112a of Figure 9 and/or UE 200 of Figure 2
  • network node such as network node 110a of Figure 9 and/or network node 300 of Figure 3
  • host such as host 116 of Figure 9 and/or host 400 of Figure 4
  • embodiments of host 602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory.
  • the host 602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 602 and executable by the processing circuitry.
  • the software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 606 P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 82 of 99 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 650 extending between the UE 606 and host 602.
  • OTT over-the-top
  • a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 650.
  • the network node 604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 602 and UE 606.
  • the connection 660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 106 of Figure 1) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks.
  • an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.
  • the UE 606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry.
  • the software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 606 with the support of the host 602.
  • an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 650 terminating at the UE 606 and host 602.
  • the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data.
  • the OTT connection 650 may transfer both the request data and the user data.
  • the UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 650.
  • the OTT connection 650 may extend via a connection 660 between the host 602 and the network node 604 and via a wireless connection 670 between the network node 604 and the UE 606 to provide the connection between the host 602 and the UE 606.
  • connection 660 and wireless connection 670 over which the OTT connection 650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 602 and the UE 606 via the network node 604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.
  • the host 602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application.
  • the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 606.
  • the user data is associated with a UE 606 that shares data with the host 602 without explicit human interaction.
  • the host 602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 606.
  • the host 602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 606.
  • the request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 606 or P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 83 of 99 by operation of the client application executing on the UE 606.
  • the transmission may pass via the network node 604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 612, the network node 604 transmits to the UE 606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.
  • the UE 606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 606 associated with the host application executed by the host 602.
  • the UE 606 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 602.
  • the user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 602.
  • the UE 606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application.
  • the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 606.
  • the UE 606 initiates, in step 618, transmission of the user data towards the host 602 via the network node 604.
  • the network node 604 receives user data from the UE 606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 602.
  • the host 602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 606.
  • One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 606 using the OTT connection 650, in which the wireless connection 670 forms the last segment.
  • factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 602.
  • the host 602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps.
  • the host 602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights).
  • the host 602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE.
  • the host 602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs.
  • the host 602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 84 of 99 data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data.
  • a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve.
  • the measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 602 and/or UE 606.
  • sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities.
  • the reconfiguring of the OTT connection 650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art.
  • measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 602.
  • the measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.
  • the computing devices described herein e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts
  • Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • processing circuitry may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination.
  • computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 85 of 99 be partitioned between separate components.
  • a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface.
  • non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
  • some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner.
  • FIGURE 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a relay wireless device, according to certain embodiments. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of FIGURE 15 may be performed by UE 200 described with respect to FIGURE 10. The wireless device is configured to operate in an NTN.
  • the method begins at step 1512, where the wireless device (e.g., UE 200) obtains a measurement gap configuration.
  • the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements.
  • the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration and/or a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non-terrestrial network.
  • the active time window is associated with one or more cells and/or one or more frequencies.
  • Additional examples of the active time window corresponding to handover configurations and/or coexistence time periods are described in more detail with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein.
  • obtaining the measurement gap configuration comprises receiving RRC signaling from a network node.
  • the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. Additional examples are provided with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein.
  • the wireless device performs measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window. Examples are provided with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein. [0290] Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 1500 of FIGURE 15. Additionally, one or more steps in the method of FIGURE 15 may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.
  • FIGURE 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a network node, according to certain embodiments. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of FIGURE 16 may be performed by network node 300 described with respect to FIGURE 11.
  • the method begins at step 1612, where the network node (e.g., network node 300) determines to configure a wireless device with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration. In particular embodiments, determining to configure the wireless device with time- based activation of the measurement gap configuration is based on a location of the wireless device. Other examples of when the wireless device is configured with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration are provided with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein.
  • the network node transmits a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device.
  • the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements.
  • transmitting the measurement gap configuration comprises transmitting RRC signaling to the wireless device.
  • the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element.
  • the measurement gap configuration is described in more detail with respect to FIGURE 15 and the embodiments and examples described herein.
  • Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 1600 of FIGURE 16. Additionally, one or more steps in the method of FIGURE 16 may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order.
  • a method performed by a wireless device for time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration comprising: ⁇ obtaining a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and ⁇ performing measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window.
  • the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration.
  • a method performed by a wireless device for time-based activation of a SMTC P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 88 of 99 configuration the method comprising: ⁇ obtaining a SMTC configuration, wherein the SMTC configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and ⁇ performing measurements according to the SMTC configuration during the active time window. 4.
  • a method performed by a base station for time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration comprising: ⁇ transmitting a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements.
  • the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration.
  • the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network. 12.
  • a method performed by a base station comprising: ⁇ any of the steps, features, or functions described above with respect to base station, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above. 13.
  • the method of the previous embodiment further comprising one or more additional base station steps, features or functions described above.
  • the method of any of the previous embodiments further comprising: ⁇ obtaining user data; and ⁇ forwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device.
  • Group C Embodiments 15 A mobile terminal comprising: ⁇ processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and ⁇ power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device. 16.
  • a base station comprising: ⁇ processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; ⁇ power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.
  • a user equipment comprising: ⁇ an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 90 of 99 ⁇ radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; ⁇ the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; ⁇ an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; ⁇ an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and ⁇ a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.
  • a communication system including a host computer comprising: ⁇ processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and ⁇ a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), ⁇ wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments. 19.
  • the communication system of the pervious embodiment further including the base station.
  • ⁇ the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and ⁇ the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.
  • the method of the previous embodiment further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data.
  • 25. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to performs any of the previous 3 embodiments. 26.
  • UE user equipment
  • a communication system including a host computer comprising: ⁇ processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and ⁇ a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), ⁇ wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
  • UE user equipment
  • the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.
  • ⁇ the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and ⁇ the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 92 of 99 associated with the host application.
  • a communication system including a host computer comprising: ⁇ communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, ⁇ wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
  • UE user equipment
  • the communication system of the previous embodiment further including the UE.
  • 33. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station. 34.
  • ⁇ the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application
  • ⁇ the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.
  • ⁇ the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data
  • ⁇ the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.
  • a method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: ⁇ at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 37.
  • the method of the previous embodiment further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station.
  • 38. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising: ⁇ at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; and ⁇ at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application. 39.
  • a communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 94 of 99 circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.
  • the communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station. 42.
  • a method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: ⁇ at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
  • the method of the previous embodiment further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE.
  • the method of the previous 2 embodiments further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

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Abstract

According to some embodiments, a method is performed by a wireless device for time- based activation of a measurement gap configuration. The method comprises: obtaining a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and performing measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window.

Description

P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 1 of 99 Activation of Measurement Gaps for NTN TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present disclosure generally relates to communication networks, and more specifically to activation of measurement gaps for a non-terrestrial network (NTN). BACKGROUND [0002] Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifies the Evolved Packet System (EPS). EPS is based on the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio network and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC). EPS was originally intended to provide voice and mobile broadband (MBB) services but has continuously evolved to broaden its functionality. Since 3GPP release 13, narrowband Internet-of-things (NB-IoT) and LTE for machines (LTE-M) are part of the LTE specifications and provide connectivity to massive machine type communications (mMTC) services. [0003] 3GPP Release 15 specified the first release of the 5G system (5GS). This is a new generation radio access technology intended to serve use cases such as enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC) and mMTC services. 5G includes the New Radio (NR) access stratum interface and the 5G Core Network (5GC). The NR physical and higher layers reuse parts of the LTE specification, and additional components are introduced when motivated by new use cases. One such component is the introduction of a sophisticated framework for beam forming and beam management to extend the support of the 3GPP technologies to a frequency range going beyond 6 GHz. [0004] In release 15, 3GPP also started work to prepare NR for operation in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). The work was performed within the Study Item “NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks” and resulted in 3GPP TR 38.811. In 3GPP release 16, the work to prepare NR for operation in a NTN continued with the Study Item “Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Network,” which resulted in 3GPP TR 38.821. [0005] The Release 16 study item resulted in a Work Item for NR in Release 17, “Solutions for NR to support non-terrestrial networks (NTN)”, which is described in the Work Item Description RP-193234. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 2 of 99 [0006] A user equipment (UE) in a wireless network may use measurement gaps. When a UE connected in a cell (referred to as the UE’s serving cell) using one carrier frequency is supposed to measure on downlink signals in one or more other cell(s) using another carrier frequency, the network configures the UE with a measurement gap. A measurement gap is a short time period within which the UE can retune its receiver to the other carrier frequency, measure on the downlink signals in the concerned other cell(s) and again retune its receiver to the carrier frequency in its serving cell to continue normal operation. [0007] Measurement gaps are configured as repeatedly recurring time periods. The network configures the UE with measurement gaps as a part of a radio resource management (RRM) measurement configuration that is conveyed to the UE in an RRCReconfiguration message. The measurement configuration may have the purpose of triggering measurement reports to the serving gNB or monitoring the execution condition of a conditional handover (CHO) configuration. The measurement gap configuration comes in the form of a MeasGapConfig information element (IE), which is included in a MeasConfig IE. The MeasGapConfig IE is specified in ASN.1 code as below in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0. -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, ..., [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 3 of 99 mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... } PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF PosGapConfig-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, ... } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0008] As described above, measurement gaps are configured as part of a RRM measurement configuration (for triggering measurement reports or monitoring a CHO execution condition). A RRM measurement configuration, or a configuration of measurements monitoring CHO execution condition(s), consists of a measurement object (MeasObjectNR) and a measurement reporting configuration (ReportConfigNR) that are linked together by a measurement ID (MeasId). The measurement object also links in a measurement gap configuration (GapConfig-r17) using an identifier of a measurement gap configuration (MeasGapId-r17). Somewhat counterintuitively, the IE for measurement reporting configuration (ReportConfigNR) is also used to configure the events that trigger CHO execution (CondEvents). P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 4 of 99 [0009] Figure 1 illustrates how the measurement gap configuration fits into the overall RRM measurement configuration. Figure 1 illustrates the relationship of IEs used for measurement configuration and reporting. [0010] There is an ongoing resurgence of satellite communications. Several plans for satellite networks have been announced in the past few years. The target services vary, from backhaul and fixed wireless, to transportation, to outdoor mobile, to IoT. Satellite networks could complement mobile networks on the ground by providing connectivity to underserved areas and multicast/broadcast services. [0011] To benefit from the strong mobile ecosystem and economy of scale, adapting the terrestrial wireless access technologies including LTE and NR for satellite networks is drawing significant interest, which has been reflected in the 3GPP standardization work. In 3GPP release 15, 3GPP started the work to prepare NR for operation in a non-terrestrial network (NTN). [0012] The work was performed within the study item “NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks” and resulted in 3GPP TR 38.811. In 3GPP release 16, the work to prepare NR for operation in an NTN continued with the study item “Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Network”, which has been captured in 3GPP TR 38.821. In parallel, the interest to adapt NB-IoT and LTE-M for operation in NTN is growing. As a consequence, 3GPP release 17 contains both a work item on NR NTN and a study item and work item on NB-IoT and LTE-M support for NTN (RP-193235, Study on NB-IoT/eMTC support for Non-Terrestrial Network; RP-211601, NB- IoT/eMTC support for Non-terrestrial Networks (NTN), RAN#92-e, Jun 2021). [0013] A satellite radio access network usually includes the following components: a satellite that refers to a space-borne platform; an Earth-based gateway that connects the satellite to a base station or a core network, depending on the choice of architecture; a feeder link that refers to the link between a gateway and a satellite; and an access link, or service link, that refers to the link between a satellite and a UE. [0014] Depending on the orbit altitude, a satellite may be categorized as low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), or geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite. LEO includes typical heights ranging from 250 – 1,500 km, with orbital periods ranging from 90 – 120 minutes. MEO includes typical heights ranging from 1,500 – 35,786 km, with orbital periods, PMEO, in the range 2 hours < PMEO < 24 hours. MEO and LEO are also known as a non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) type of satellite. GEO includes a height at about 35,786 km, with an orbital period of 24 hours. Also known as a geosynchronous orbit (GSO) type of satellite. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 5 of 99 [0015] Two basic architectures can be distinguished for satellite communication networks, depending on the functionality of the satellites in the system: [0016] One architecture is transparent payload (also referred to as bent pipe architecture). The satellite forwards the received signal between the terminal and the network equipment on the ground with only amplification and a shift from uplink frequency to downlink frequency. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the transparent payload architecture means that the gNB is located on the ground and the satellite forwards signals/data between the gNB and the UE [0017] Another architecture is regenerative payload. The satellite includes on-board processing to demodulate and decode the received signal and regenerate the signal before sending it back to the Earth. When applied to general 3GPP architecture and terminology, the regenerative payload architecture means that the gNB is located in the satellite. [0018] In the work item for NR NTN in 3GPP release 17, only the transparent payload architecture is considered. [0019] Figure 2 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders (i.e., the transparent payload architecture). The gNB may be integrated in the gateway or connected to the gateway via a terrestrial connection (wire, optic fiber, wireless link). [0020] The significant orbit height means that satellite systems are characterized by a path loss that is significantly higher than what is expected in terrestrial networks. To overcome the pathloss, it is often required that the access and feeder links are operated in line-of-sight conditions, and that the UE is equipped with an antenna offering high beam directivity. [0021] A communication satellite typically generates several beams over a given area. The footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has been traditionally considered as a cell (but a cell consisting of multiple beams is not precluded). The footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam. The spotbeam may move over the Earth surface with the satellite movement (and the Earth’s rotation) or may be Earth fixed using beam pointing by the satellite to compensate for its motion. The size of a spotbeam depends on the system design and may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers. [0022] The NTN beam may, in comparison to the beams observed in a terrestrial network, provide a very wide footprint and may cover an area outside of the area defined by the served cell. Beam covering adjacent cells will overlap and cause significant levels of intercell interference resulting from the slow decrease of the signal strength in the outwards radial direction. This is due P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 6 of 99 in part to the high elevation angle and long distance to the network-side (satellite-borne) transceiver, which, compared with terrestrial cells, results in a comparatively small relative difference between the distance from the cell center to the satellite and the distance from a point at the cell edge to the satellite. To overcome the large levels of interference, a typical approach in NTN is to configure different cells with different carrier frequencies and polarization modes. [0023] NTN supports three types of beams or cells. Earth-fixed beams/cells are provisioned by beam(s) continuously covering the same geographical areas all the time (e.g., for GEO satellites). Quasi-Earth-fixed beams/cells are provisioned by beam(s) covering one geographic area for a limited period and a different geographic area during another period (e.g., for NGSO satellites generating steerable beams). Earth-moving beams/cells are provisioned by beam(s) whose coverage area slides over the Earth’s surface (e.g., in the case of NGSO satellites generating fixed or non-steerable beams). [0024] The terms beam and cell are used interchangeably herein, unless explicitly noted otherwise. [0025] Of the three above cell types, quasi-Earth-fixed cells and moving cells seem to be the ones most promising for actual deployment. For moving cells, each cell (the footprint of its beam(s)) moves across the surface of the Earth as its serving satellite moves along its orbit. For quasi-Earth-fixed cells, the cell area remains fixed to the same geographical area, regardless of satellite movements. To enable this, a serving satellite dynamically directs its beam(s) so that the same area of the Earth is covered despite the satellite’s movement. However, because of the satellites orbit around the Earth, the same satellite will only be able to cover the same area on the Earth for a limited time, unless the satellite is in a geostationary orbit (and note that LEO satellites have the most traction in the satellite communication industry). This means that different satellites will have the task of covering a certain geographical cell area at different time periods. When this task is switched from one satellite to another, this in principle means that one cell is replaced by another, although covering the same area. A similar cell replacement occurs when satellite a covering a certain geographical area switches its feeder link (because it has moved away from its old GW/gNB and become closer to another GW/gNB). As a consequence, all UEs connected in the old cell (i.e., UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state) are handed over (or otherwise moved, e.g., using Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection reestablishment) from the old to the new cell, and all UEs camping on the old cell (i.e., UEs in RRC_IDLE or RRC_INACTIVE state) perform cell reselection to the new cell. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 7 of 99 [0026] Such cell switches include two alternative principles: 1) hard switch; and 2) soft switch. With hard switch, there is an instantaneous switch from the old to the new cell, i.e., the new cell appears at the same time as the old cell disappears. This makes completely seamless (i.e., interruption free) handover in practice impossible and creates a situation which may lead to overload of the access resources in the new cell, due to potential access attempt peaks when many UEs try to access the new cell right after the cell switch. With soft switch there is a time period during which the new and the old cell coexist (i.e., overlap), covering the same geographical area. The coexistence/overlap period allows some time for connected UEs to be handed over and for camping UEs to reselect to the new cell, which facilitates distribution of the access load in the new cell and thereby also provides better conditions for handovers with shorter interruption time. Soft switch is likely to be the most prevalent cell switch principle in quasi-Earth-fixed cell deployments. [0027] The time when a quasi-Earth-fixed cell will stop serving the current area, i.e. the time the quasi-Earth-fixed cell will cease to exist, is indicated by the t-Service-r17 IE which is broadcast in SIB19 in NR NTN (and in SIB31 in IoT NTN). [0028] Ephemeris data (sometimes referred to as just “ephemeris”) is data that enables a UE (or other entity) to determine a satellite’s position and velocity, i.e., the ephemeris data contains parameters related to the satellite’s orbit. There are several different formats defined for ephemeris data. [0029] TR 38.821 specifies that ephemeris data should be provided to the UE, for example to assist with pointing a directional antenna (or an antenna beam) towards the satellite, and to calculate a correct timing advance (TA) and Doppler shift. In NR NTN and IoT NTN, ephemeris data will be broadcast in the system information (SI) in each cell, included in an NTN specific SIB, (labeled SIB19 in NR NTN and SIB31 IoT NTN). [0030] A satellite orbit can be fully described using 6 parameters. Which set of parameters is chosen may be decided by the user; and many different representations are possible. For example, a choice of parameters used often in astronomy is the set (a, ε, i, Ω, ω, t). Here, the semi-major axis a and the eccentricity ε describe the shape and size of the orbit ellipse; the inclination i, the right ascension of the ascending node Ω, and the argument of periapsis ω determine its position in space, and the epoch time t determines a reference time (e.g., the time when the satellites moves through periapsis). This set of parameters is illustrated in Figure 3. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 8 of 99 [0031] Figure 3 illustrates orbital elements – the parameters included in one ephemeris data format. [0032] As an example of a different parametrization, the two-line elements (TLEs) use mean motion n and mean anomaly M instead of a and t. A completely different set of parameters is the position and velocity vector (x, y, z, vx, vy, vz) of a satellite. These are sometimes referred to as orbital state vectors. They can be derived from the orbital elements and vice versa, because the information they contain is equivalent. All these formats (and many others) are possible choices for the format of ephemeris data to be used in NTN. [0033] An aspect discussed during the 3GPP study item and captured in 3GPP TR 38.821 is the validity time of ephemeris data. Predictions of satellite positions in general degrade with increasing age of the ephemeris data used, due to atmospheric drag, maneuvering of the satellite, imperfections in the orbital models used, etc. Therefore, the publicly available TLE data are updated quite frequently. For example, the update frequency depends on the satellite and its orbit and ranges from weekly to multiple times a day for satellites on very low orbits which are exposed to strong atmospheric drag and need to perform correctional maneuvers often. Even more frequent updates will be used in NR NTN (and IoT NTN) to enable the UE to determine/predict the satellite’s position (and velocity) accurately enough to satisfy the requirements in NTN, e.g., to enable a UE to calculate an accurate enough UE-specific TA. [0034] A global navigation satellite system (GNSS) comprises a set of satellites orbiting the Earth in orbits crossing each other, such that the orbits are distributed around the globe. The satellites transmit signals and data that allows a receiving device on Earth to accurately determine time and frequency references and, maybe most importantly, accurately determine its position, provided that signals are received from a sufficient number of satellites (e.g., four). The position accuracy may typically be in the range of a few meters, but using averaging over multiple measurements, a stationary device may achieve much better accuracy. [0035] A well-known example of a GNSS is the American Global Positioning System (GPS). Other examples are the Russian Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and the European Galileo. [0036] The transmissions from GNSS satellites include signals that a receiving device uses to determine the distance to the satellite. By receiving such signals from multiple satellites, the device can determine its position. However, this requires that the device also knows the positions of the satellites. To enable this, the GNSS satellites also transmit data about their own orbits (from which P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 9 of 99 position at a certain time can be derived). In GPS, such information is referred to as ephemeris data and almanac data (or sometimes lumped together under the term navigation information). [0037] The time required to perform a GNSS measurement, e.g. GPS measurement, may vary widely, depending on the circumstances, mainly depending on the status of the ephemeris and almanac data the measuring devices has previously acquired (if any). In the worst case, a GPS measurement can take several minutes. GPS is using a bit rate of 50 bps for transmitting its navigation information. The transmission of the GPS date, time and ephemeris information takes 90 seconds. Acquiring the GPS almanac containing orbital information for all satellites in the GPS constellation takes more than 10 minutes. If a UE already possesses this information, the synchronization to the GPS signal for acquiring the UE position and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is a significantly faster procedure. [0038] 3GPP relies on GNSS for NR NTN and IoT NTN. To handle the timing and frequency synchronization in an NR or LTE based NTN, a promising technique is to equip each device with a GNSS receiver. The GNSS receiver enables a device to estimate its geographical position. In one example, an NTN gNB carried by a satellite, or communicating via a satellite, broadcasts its ephemeris data (i.e., data that informs the UE about the satellite’s position, velocity, and orbit) to a GNSS equipped UE. The UE can then determine the propagation delay, the delay variation rate, the Doppler shift, and its variation rate based on its own location (obtained through GNSS measurements) and the satellite location and movement (derived from the ephemeris data). [0039] The GNSS receiver also enables a device to determine a time reference (e.g., in terms of UTC) and frequency reference. This can also be used to handle the timing and frequency synchronization in an NR or LTE based NTN. In a second example, an NTN gNB carried by a satellite, or communicating via a satellite, broadcasts its timing (e.g., in terms of a UTC timestamp) to a GNSS equipped UE. The UE can then determine the propagation delay, the delay variation rate, the Doppler shift, and its variation rate based on its time/frequency reference (obtained through GNSS measurements) and the satellite timing and transmit frequency. [0040] The UE may use this knowledge to compensate its uplink transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect. [0041] The 3GPP release 17 SID on NB-IoT and LTE-M for NTN supports this observation: “GNSS capability in the UE is taken as a working assumption in this study for both NB-IoT and eMTC devices. With this assumption, UE can estimate and pre-compensate timing and frequency P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 10 of 99 offset with sufficient accuracy for UL transmission. Simultaneous GNSS and NTN NB-IoT/eMTC operation is not assumed.” [0042] Furthermore, in the NR NTN work item and IoT NTN work item for 3GPP release 17, GNSS capability is assumed, i.e., it is assumed that an NR NTN capable or IoT NTN capable UE also is GNSS capable and GNSS measurements at the UEs are essential for the operation of the NTN, e.g., the UEs are expected to compensate their uplink transmissions for the propagation delay and Doppler effect. In particular, the UE uses knowledge of its location and broadcast information about the satellite’s position (i.e., ephemeris data) to calculate the UE-satellite round trip time (RTT), which is then used in UE autonomous calculation of a timing advance. However, an IoT NTN UE is not expected to be able to perform a GNSS measurement while receiving transmissions from the network at the same time. [0043] When using GNSS measurements for purposes related to the operation and performance of an NR NTN or IoT NTN, the GNSS measurement must be fresh enough to be reliable. For this reason, the notion of a GNSS validity timer has been introduced, which governs the maximum age UE location information may have when used in such operations (e.g., for calculation of a timing advance). A suitable value for this maximum age may depend on the UE’s implementation, and therefore the GNSS validity timer is a UE implementation specific mechanism. However, the standard specifications include means by which the UE can inform the network (i.e., the serving gNB in NR NTN and the serving eNB in IoT NTN) of the remaining time of the UE’s currently running GNSS validity timer. [0044] The long propagation delay/RTT in an NTN impacts the timing advance. Propagation delay is an important aspect of satellite communications and its expected impact in NTN is different from the impacts of propagation delay in a terrestrial mobile system. For a bent pipe satellite network, the UE-gNB round-trip delay may, depending on the orbit height, range from a few or tens of ms for LEO satellites to several hundreds of ms for GEO satellites. As a comparison, the round-trip delays in terrestrial cellular networks are typically below 1 ms. [0045] The distance between the UE and a satellite can vary significantly, depending on the position of the satellite and thus the elevation angle ε seen by the UE. Assuming circular orbits, the minimum distance is realized when the satellite is directly above the UE (ε = 90°), and the maximum distance when the satellite is at the smallest possible elevation angle. Table 1 shows the distances between satellite and UE for different orbital heights and elevation angles together with the one-way propagation delay and the maximum propagation delay difference (the difference P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 11 of 99 from the propagation delay at ε = 90°). Note that this table assumes regenerative payload architecture. For the transparent payload case, the propagation delay between gateway and satellite needs to be considered as well, unless the base station corrects for that. Table 1: Propagation delay for different orbital heights and elevation angles. Orbital Elevation Distance One-way Propagation delay height angle UE <-> satellite propagation delay difference 600 km 90° 600 km 2.0 ms --- 30° 1075 km 3.6 ms 1.6 ms 10° 1932 km 6.4 ms 4.4 ms 1200 km 90° 1200 km 4.0 ms --- 30° 1999 km 6.7 ms 2.7 ms 10° 3131 km 10.4 ms 6.4 ms 35786 km 90° 35786 km 119.4 ms --- 30° 38609 km 128.8 ms 9.4 ms 10° 40581 km 135.4 ms 16.0 ms [0046] The propagation delay may also be highly variable due to the high velocity of the LEO and MEO satellites and change in the order of 10 – 100 µs every second, depending on the orbit altitude and satellite velocity. [0047] The long propagation delays in NTN have many consequences, one of which being that large TA values have to be used (where a TA is the time a UE has to advance its uplink transmission in relation to the corresponding frame, slot and symbol in the downlink to achieve alignment between the uplink and the downlink frame/slot/symbol structure at an uplink/downlink alignment reference point, which typically is the gNB). In addition, due to the fast movement of the satellite (excluding GEO satellites), the TA will continuously change and will do so quite rapidly. 3GPP has dealt with these circumstances through a combination of new parameters and introduction of the principle of UE autonomous adaptation of the TA. [0048] Typically, the network wants the uplink and downlink to be aligned at the gNB receiver, which means that the TA should be equal to the UE-gNB RTT. The UE-gNB RTT can be divided into two parts: the UE-satellite RTT (i.e., the service link RTT) and the gNB-satellite RTT (which is equal to the feeder link RTT assuming that the gateway and the gNB are collocated). The satellite-gNB RTT is equal for all locations in the cell and thus the same for all UEs in the cell, whereas the UE-satellite RTT depends on the UE’s location and thus is UE specific. [0049] For the part of the TA that is common for all UEs in the cell, the satellite broadcasts (in the system information, in a new SIB with NTN specific data (SIB19 in NR NTN and SIB31 P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 12 of 99 in IoT NTN)) Common TA information, consisting of a Common TA value, the first time derivative of the Common TA value (denoted as “drift”) and the second time derivative of the Common TA value (denoted as “drift variation”). The UE specific part of the TA, i.e., the UE- satellite RTT is left to the UE to autonomously calculate. To do this, the UE obtains its own location and the satellite position. The UE can obtain its own location, e.g., using GNSS measurements, and the satellite’s position (as well as its velocity) can be derived from the ephemeris data broadcast by the gNB (in the same SIB as the Common TA parameters). The ephemeris data and the Common TA parameters are nominally valid at an epoch time, which is also indicated in the same SIB. Based on the ephemeris data, the UE can predict the satellite’s position a certain time into the future, and the first and second time derivatives (i.e., the drift and drift variation parameters) of the Common TA enables the UE to calculate how the Common TA value changes with time. Furthermore, the broadcast ephemeris data and Common TA parameters have a limited validity time, which is also indicated in the same SIB. The ephemeris data and Common TA parameters the UE uses when calculating the UE specific TA have to be valid, i.e. their validity time (captured in the ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration-r17 IE) must not have expired. The same goes for the UE location information, typically based on a GNSS measurement, the UE uses in the TA calculation (in particular to calculate the UE-satellite RTT). [0050] 3GPP has also introduced support for the possibility to place the uplink/downlink alignment reference point at some other place than in the gNB. This support comes in the form of a parameter denoted as Kmac. The Kmac parameter accounts for the RTT between the gNB and the chosen uplink/downlink alignment reference point. Thus, Kmac = 0 means that the uplink/downlink alignment reference point is located in the gNB, while other Kmac values will place the uplink/downlink alignment reference point somewhere between the gNB and the satellite. Kmac is included in the same SIB as the other above mentioned NTN specific configuration parameters. Broadcast of Kmac is optional and absence of a Kmac parameter in the concerned SIB implicitly means that Kmac = 0 should be used. [0051] When calculating the UE specific TA, the UE only uses the Common TA parameters, the ephemeris data and its own location, i.e. Kmac is not needed for this calculation. However, the UE needs to know Kmac for other purposes so that it can adapt certain timers to the UE-gNB RTT. [0052] For NTNs using 3GPP technology, in particular 5G/NR, the long propagation delay means that the TA that the UE uses for its uplink transmissions is essential and is much greater than in terrestrial networks for the uplink and downlink to be time-aligned at the gNB (or at another P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 13 of 99 point if Kmac > 0), as is the case in NR and LTE. One of the purposes of the random access (RA) procedure is to provide the UE with a valid TA. However, even the random access preamble (i.e., the initial message from the UE in the random access procedure) has to be transmitted with a timing advance to allow a reasonable size of the RA preamble reception window in the gNB (and to ensure that the cyclic shift of the preamble’s Zadoff-Chu sequence cannot be so large that it makes the Zadoff-Chu sequence, and thus the preamble, appear as another Zadoff Chu sequence, and thus another preamble based on the same Zadoff-Chu root sequence), but this TA does not have to be as accurate as the TA the UE subsequently uses for other uplink transmissions, where the TA has to be accurate enough to keep the timing error smaller than the cyclic prefix (CP). [0053] In conjunction with the random access procedure, the gNB provides the UE with an accurate (i.e., fine-adjusted) TA in the random access response (RAR) message (in 4-step RA) or MsgB (in 2-step RA), based on the time of reception of the random access preamble. In terrestrial NR, the gNB can subsequently adjust the UE’s TA using a timing advance command medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) (or an absolute timing advance command MAC CE), based on the timing of receptions of uplink transmissions from the UE. A goal with such network control of the UE’s timing advance is typically to keep the time error of the UE’s uplink transmissions at the gNB’s receiver within the cyclic prefix (which is required for correct decoding of the uplink transmissions, e.g., on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) and the physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)). [0054] The timing advance control framework for terrestrial NR and LTE also includes a time alignment timer with which the gNB configures the UE. The time alignment timer is restarted every time the gNB adjusts the UE’s TA and if the time alignment timer expires, the UE is not allowed to transmit in the uplink without a prior random access procedure (which provides the UE with a valid timing advance). These rules associated with the time alignment timer will assumedly be the same in NTN, but the relation and/or interaction between the time alignment timer and certain NTN specific functionality, e.g. related to GNSS measurements, may impact the role of the time alignment timer in NTN. For NTN, 3GPP has also agreed that in addition to the gNB’s control of the UE’s TA, the UE is allowed to autonomously update its TA based on estimation of changes in the UE-gNB RTT (using the UE’s location and broadcast parameters related to the satellite orbit and the feeder link RTT, as previously described). [0055] The long propagation delays and the resulting large TA a UE has to use also impacts the scheduling of uplink transmissions. Specifically, the network has to account for the large TA P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 14 of 99 when the network determines the delay to be used between an uplink grant (i.e., a downlink control information (DCI) on the physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) allocating uplink transmission resources for the UE to transmit on) and the uplink transmission resources the uplink grant allocates. For this purpose, a new parameter denoted as “Koffset” (or “Koffset” or “K_offset”) is introduced, which is added to the legacy delay, e.g. added to the legacy delay parameter K2 (or K2) contained in the uplink grant in NR NTN. The Koffset parameter comes in two forms: the cell- specific Koffset, which is broadcast in the system information and which is common for all UEs in the cell, and the UE-specific Koffset, which the network optionally configures for each UE. Configuration of a UE-specific Koffset value is optional, and when it is absent, the cell-specific Koffset value applies. To facilitate for the network to determine a suitable UE-specific Koffset value for a certain UE, a mechanism for TA reporting is introduced in NTN, whereby the UE can report its current TA to the network (where the granularity of the reported TA value is one slot). [0056] The broadcast system information may include NTN-specific information. Due to the special operating conditions in a NTN, the system information broadcast in an NTN cell includes NTN-specific information. To serve this purpose, a new SIB (SIB19) is introduced in NR NTN that contains NTN-specific information. In IoT NTN, the new SIB31 more or less corresponds to SIB19 in NR NTN. [0057] In 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, SIB19 is defined as follows in ASN.1 code: -- ASN1START -- TAG-SIB19-START SIB19-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { ntn-Config-r17 NTN-Config-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R t-Service-r17 INTEGER (0..549755813887) OPTIONAL, -- Need R referenceLocation-r17 ReferenceLocation-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R distanceThresh-r17 INTEGER(0..65525) OPTIONAL, -- Need R ntn-NeighCellConfigList-r17 NTN-NeighCellConfigList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, ..., [[ ntn-NeighCellConfigListExt-v1720 NTN-NeighCellConfigList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need R ]] } NTN-NeighCellConfigList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE(1..maxCellNTN-r17)) OF NTN-NeighCellConfig-r17 NTN-NeighCellConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { ntn-Config-r17 NTN-Config-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R carrierFreq-r17 ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R physCellId-r17 PhysCellId OPTIONAL -- Need R } -- TAG-SIB19-STOP -- ASN1STOP P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 15 of 99 SIB19 field descriptions distanceThresh Distance from the serving cell reference location and is used in location-based measurement initiation in RRC_IDLE and RRC_INACTIVE, as defined in TS 38.304. Each step represents 50m. ntn-Config Provides parameters needed for the UE to access NR via NTN access such as Ephemeris data, common TA parameters, k_offset, validity duration for UL sync information and epoch. ntn-NeighCellConfigList, ntn-NeighCellConfigListExt Provides a list of NTN neighbour cells including their ntn-Config, carrier frequency and PhysCellId. This set includes all elements of ntn-NeighCellConfigList and all elements of ntn-NeighCellConfigListExt. If ntn-Config is absent for an entry in ntn- NeighCellConfigListExt, the ntn-Config provided in the entry at the same position in ntn- NeighCellConfigList applies. referenceLocation defined in TS 38.304. t-Service Indicates the time information on when a cell provided via NTN quasi-Earth fixed system is going to stop serving the area it is currently covering. The field indicates a time in multiples of 10 ms after 00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900). The exact stop time is between the time indicated by the value of this field minus 1 and the time indicated the value of this field. [0058] Furthermore, the NTN-Config-r17 IE is defined as follows in ASN.1 code in same specification: -- ASN1START -- TAG-NTN-CONFIG-START NTN-Config-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { epochTime-r17 EpochTime-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration-r17 ENUMERATED{s5, s10, s15, s20, s25, s30, s35, s40, s45, s50, s55, s60, s120, s180, s240, s900} OPTIONAL, -- Cond SIB19 cellSpecificKoffset-r17 INTEGER(1..1023) OPTIONAL, -- Need R kmac-r17 INTEGER(1..512) OPTIONAL, -- Need R ta-Info-r17 TAInfo-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ntn-PolarizationDL-r17 ENUMERATED {rhcp,lhcp,linear} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ntn-PolarizationUL-r17 ENUMERATED {rhcp,lhcp,linear} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ephemerisInfo-r17 EphemerisInfo-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ta-Report-r17 ENUMERATED {enabled} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ... } EpochTime-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { sfn-r17 INTEGER(0..1023), subFrameNR-r17 INTEGER(0..9) } TAInfo-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { ta-Common-r17 INTEGER(0..66485757), ta-CommonDrift-r17 INTEGER(-257303..257303) OPTIONAL, -- Need R P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 16 of 99 ta-CommonDriftVariant-r17 INTEGER(0..28949) OPTIONAL -- Need R } -- TAG-NTN-CONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP NTN-Config field descriptions EphemerisInfo This field provides satellite ephemeris either in format of position and velocity state vector or in format of orbital parameters. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes to ephemerisInfo should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1. epochTime Indicate the epoch time for the NTN assistance information. When explicitly provided through SIB, or through dedicated signaling, EpochTime is the starting time of a DL sub- frame, indicated by a SFN and a sub-frame number signaled together with the assistance information. The reference point for epoch time of the serving satellite ephemeris and Common TA parameters is the uplink time synchronization reference point. If this field is absent, the epoch time is the end of SI window where this SIB19 is scheduled. This field is mandatory present when provided in dedicated configuration. If this field is absent in ntn- Config provided via NTN-NeighCellConfig the UE uses epoch time from the serving satellite ephemeris, otherwise the field is based on the timing of the serving cell, i.e. the SFN and sub- frame number indicated in this field refers to the SFN and sub-frame of the serving cell. In case of handover, this field is based on the timing of the target cell, i.e. the SFN and sub- frame number indicated in this field refers to the SFN and sub-frame of the target cell. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes to epochTime should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1. cellSpecificKoffset Scheduling offset used for the timing relationships that are modified for NTN [see TS 38.211]. The unit of the field K_offset is number of slots for a given subcarrier spacing of 15 kHz. If the field is absent UE assumes value 0. kmac Scheduling offset provided by network if downlink and uplink frame timing are not aligned at gNB. It is needed for UE action and assumption on downlink configuration indicated by a MAC CE command in PDSCH [see TS 38.2xy]. If the field is absent UE assumes value 0. For the reference subcarrier spacing value for the unit of K_mac in FR1, a value of 15 kHz is used. The unit of K_mac is number of slots for a given subcarrier spacing. ntn-PolarizationDL If present, this parameter indicates polarization information for downlink transmission on service link: including Right hand, Left hand circular polarizations (RHCP, LHCP) and Linear polarization. ntn-PolarizationUL If present, this parameter indicates Polarization information for Uplink service link. If not present and ntn-PolarizationDL is present, UE assumes the same polarization for UL and DL. ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration A validity duration configured by the network for assistance information (i.e. Serving and/or neighbour satellite ephemeris and Common TA parameters) which indicates the maximum P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 17 of 99 time during which the UE can apply assistance information without having acquired new assistance information. The unit of ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration is second. Value s5 corresponds to 5 s, value s10 indicate 10 s and so on. This parameter applies to both connected and idle mode UEs. If this field is absent in ntn-Config provided via NTN-NeighCellConfig, the UE uses validity duration from the serving cell assistance information. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes of ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1. ntn-UlSyncValidityDuration is only updated when at least one of epochTime, ta-Info, ephemerisInfo is updated. ta-Common Network-controlled common timing advanced value and it may include any timing offset considered necessary by the network. ta-Common with value of 0 is supported. The granularity of ta-Common is 4.072 × 10^(-3) μs. Values are given in unit of corresponding granularity. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes of ta-Common should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1. ta-CommonDrift Indicate drift rate of the common TA. The granularity of ta-CommonDrift is 0.2 × 10^(-3) μs⁄s Values are given in unit of corresponding granularity. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes of ta-CommonDrift should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1. ta-CommonDriftVariant Indicate drift rate variation of the common TA. The granularity of ta-CommonDriftVariation is 0.2×10^(-4) μs⁄s^2. Values are given in unit of corresponding granularity. This field is excluded when determining changes in system information, i.e. changes of ta- CommonDriftVariant should neither result in system information change notifications nor in a modification of valueTag in SIB1. ta-Report When this field is included in SIB19, it indicates reporting of timing advanced is enabled during Random Access due to RRC connection establishment or RRC connection resume, and during RRC connection reestablishment.. When this field is included in ServingCellConfigCommon within dedicated signaling, it indicates TA reporting is enabled during Random Access due to reconfiguration with sync (see TS 38.321, clause 5.4.8). [0059] The NTN described above is based on 5G/NR technology adapted for communication via satellites. But an NTN standard for IoT, denoted as “IoT NTN”, is also being specified in release 17 of the 3GPP standards. IoT NTN is based on the LTE NB-IoT technology adapted for communication via satellites. To distinguish NTN based 5G/NR technology from IoT NTN, NTN based on 5G/NR technology is often referred to as “NR NTN”. In light of these distinctions, depending on the context, the term “NTN” is sometimes used to refer to either or both of NR NTN and IoT NTN, and sometimes the term “NTN” is used to refer only to NR NTN. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 18 of 99 [0060] In connected state (i.e., RRC_CONNECTED state), in the 3GPP specifications known as the RRC_CONNECTED state, the UE has an active connection to the network for sending and receiving of data and signaling. In connected state, mobility is controlled by the network to ensure connectivity is retained to the UE with no interruption or noticeable degradation of the provided service as the UE moves between the cells within the network. [0061] Connected state mobility is also known as handover. During the handover the UE is moved from a source node using a source cell connection, to a target node using a target cell connection where the target cell connection is associated with a target cell controlled by the target node. In other words, during a handover, the UE moves from the source cell to a target cell. The source node and the target node may also be referred to as the source access node and the target access node or the source radio network node and the target radio network node. In the 5G system the source node and the target node are referred to as the source gNB and the target gNB. [0062] As requested by the network, a UE in RRC_CONNECTED state is required to search and perform measurements on neighbor cells both on the current carrier frequency (intra- frequency) as well as on other carrier frequencies (inter-frequency). The UE does not take any autonomous decisions when to trigger a handover to a neighbor cell (except to some extent when the UE is configured for conditional handover, described in more detail below). Instead, the UE sends the measurement results from the measurements it performed on serving and neighboring cells to the network where a decision is taken whether to perform a handover to one of the neighbor cells. Thus, upon receiving a measurement report from the UE indicating that it may be preferable to move the UE’s RRC connection to a neighbor cell (e.g., because the measurement report indicates that the radio link in the service cell is deteriorating and/or that the radio channel quality in the neighbor cell has become (significantly) better than the radio channel quality in the serving cell), the network may send a message to the UE to instruct the UE to execute a handover. This message is an RRCReconfiguration message with a reconfigurationWithSync IE. The message is often informally referred to as a “handover command” (although a HandoverCommand is really an inter-gNB RRC message which is transferred in the “Target NG-RAN node To Source NG- RAN node Transparent Container” IE in the Handover Request Acknowledge XnAP message during preparation of an Xn handover and in the “Target to Source Transparent Container” IE in the Handover Request Acknowledge NGAP message and the Handover Command NGAP message during preparation of an NG handover). P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 19 of 99 [0063] In some cases, the source node and the target node are different nodes, such as different gNBs. Such a case is referred to as an inter-node or inter-gNB handover. In other cases, the source node and the target node are one and the same node, such as the same gNB. Such a case is referred to as an intra-node or intra-gNB handover and covers the case when the source and target cells are controlled by the same node. In yet another case, handover is performed within the same cell and thus also within the same node controlling that cell. These cases are referred to as intra-cell handover and may be performed to refresh security parameters. [0064] It should also be understood that the source node (or source access node) and the target node (target access node) refer to a role served by a given access node during a handover of a specific UE. For example, a given gNB may serve as source gNB during handover of one UE, while it also serves as the target gNB during handover of a different UE. For an intra-node or intra- cell handover of a given UE, the same gNB serves both as the source gNB and target gNB for that UE. [0065] An inter-node handover in NR can further be classified as an Xn-based or NG-based handover depending on whether the source and target node communicate directly using the Xn interface or indirectly via the core network (through one or two access and mobility management functions AMF(s)) using NG interfaces. [0066] During an inter-node handover, after the handover decision has been made in the source gNB, the actual handover execution is preceded by a handover preparation phase consisting of communication between the source gNB and the target gNB. During the preparation phase, the source gNB provides the target gNB with state information related to the UE (referred to as the UE context), e.g. information about the UE’s protocol data unit (PDU) session resources (e.g., quality of service (QoS) flow(s)) and various other configuration information, and the target gNB performs admission control (and assumedly accepts the handover) and returns indications of the admitted PDU session resources (e.g., QoS flow(s)) and the configuration the UE should apply when accessing the target cell. The UE configuration the target gNB provides is included in an inter-gNB RRC message called “HandoverCommand” and is formatted as an RRCReconfiguration message (including a reconfigurationWithSync IE). This RRCReconfiguration message (i.e., the handover command) is then forwarded by the source gNB to the UE and this triggers the UE to execute the handover (by releasing its connection in the source cell, synchronizing with the target cell, and initiating a random access procedure in the target cell to establish a connection). In the third message of the random access procedure in the target cell, the UE sends an P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 20 of 99 RRCReconfigurationComplete message (often referred to as a Handover Complete message) to acknowledge the RRCReconfiguration message that triggered the handover execution and to confirm the successful execution of the handover. [0067] Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified signaling flow between the UE, the source gNB and the target gNB during an Xn-based inter-gNB handover in NR. A more detailed signaling flow for the same Xn-based inter-gNB handover is illustrated in Figure 5. [0068] Control plane data (i.e., RRC messages such as the measurement report, handover command and handover complete messages) are transmitted on signaling radio bearers (SRBs), while the user plane data is transmitted on data radio bearers (DRBs). [0069] 301-302. The UE has an active connection to the source gNB where user data is sent and received to/from the network. Due to a trigger in the source gNB, e.g. a measurement report received from the UE, the source gNB decides to handover the UE to a target (neighbor) cell controlled by the target gNB. [0070] 303. The source gNB sends the XnAP HANDOVER REQUEST message to the target gNB passing a transparent RRC container with necessary information to prepare the handover at the target side. The information includes, for example, the target cell id, the target security key, the current source configuration and UE capabilities. [0071] 304. The target gNB prepares the handover and responds with the XnAP HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE message to the source gNB, which includes the handover command (an RRCReconfiguration message containing the reconfigurationWithSync field) to be sent to the UE. The handover command includes configuration information that the UE should apply once it connects to the target cell, e.g., random access configuration, a new cell radio network temporary identifier (C-RNTI) assigned by the target node, security parameters, etc. [0072] 305. The source gNB triggers the handover by sending the handover command (received from the target gNB in the previous step) to the UE. [0073] 306. Upon reception of the handover command the UE releases the connection to the old (source) cell, starts the handover supervision timer T304, and starts to synchronize to the new (target) cell. [0074] 307-309. The source gNB stops scheduling any further downlink user data to the UE and sends the XnAP SN STATUS TRANSFER message to the target gNB indicating the latest Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sequence number (SN) transmitter and receiver status. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 21 of 99 The source gNB now also starts to forward downlink user data received from the core network to the target gNB, which buffers the data for now. [0075] 310. Once the UE has completed the random access procedure in the target cell, the UE stops the T304 timer and sends the handover complete message (an RRCReconfigurationComplete message) to the target gNB. [0076] 311. Upon receiving the handover complete message, the target gNB starts sending (and receiving) user data to/from the UE. The target gNB requests the core network to switch the downlink user data path between the User Plane Function (UPF) and the source gNB to the target gNB (communication to the CN is not shown in the Figure). Once the path switch is completed, the target gNB sends the XnAP UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the source gNB to release all resources associated to the UE. [0077] In NR, the following principles are used for handovers (or in more general terms, mobility in RRC_CONNECTED state). [0078] Mobility in RRC_CONNECTED state is network-controlled because the network has the best information regarding the current overall network situation, such as load conditions, resources in different nodes, available frequencies, etc. The network may also account for the situation of many UEs in the network from a resource allocation perspective. [0079] The network prepares a target cell before the UE accesses that cell. The source gNB provides the UE with the RRC configuration to be used in the target cell, including SRB1 configuration for sending of the handover complete message in the target cell. The source gNB in turn receives this RRC configuration from the target gNB in the form of a HandoverCommand inter-node RRC message included in the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP message (where the HandoverCommand is included in the “Target NG-RAN node To Source NG- RAN node Transparent Container” IE). [0080] In the RRC configuration provided to the UE via the source gNB, the target gNB configures the UE with a C-RNTI to be used in the target cell. The target gNB then identifies the UE from the C-RNTI in the MAC PDU containing the RRCReconfigurationComplete message constituting the handover complete message. Thus, there is no context fetching, unless a failure occurs, because the UE context was already transferred to the target gNB during the handover preparation (in the HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message in the case of Xn handover). [0081] To speed up the handover, the network provides the UE with information on how to access the target cell, e.g. RACH configuration, so the UE does not have to acquire SI (other than P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 22 of 99 the MIB) from the target cell prior to the handover. This information is included in the HandoverCommand and thus in the target cell RRC configuration sent to the UE. [0082] The UE may be provided with contention free random access (CFRA) resources (in the above mentioned RRC configuration forwarded to the UE by the source gNB). The CFRA resources consist of one or more CFRA preamble(s) and may also contain CFRA occasions (i.e., PRACH transmission resources that are not included in the common PRACH configuration). In that case the target gNB identifies the UE from the random access preamble (Msg1). The principle is that the random access procedure can always be optimized with dedicated resources. [0083] Security is prepared before the UE accesses the target cell, i.e., when performing an inter-gNB handover, security keys must be refreshed before sending the handover complete message (i.e., the RRCReconfigurationComplete message), so that new keys are used to encrypt and integrity protect the handover complete message, enabling verification in the target cell. [0084] The target cell RRC configuration may be provided to the UE in two different forms: full configuration or delta configuration. In the former case, the provided RRC configuration is complete and self-contained, but a delta configuration only contains the configuration parts that are different in the target cell than in the source cell. The advantage of delta configuration is that the size of the HandoverCommand can be minimized. [0085] Another option is conditional handover (CHO). As previously described, handover typically occurs when the channel quality of the serving cell is degrading. The network is in control and bases the handover decision on measurement reports from the UE. In a typical case, the UE is configured to send a measurement report when an A3 event (neighbor cell quality becomes offset better than serving cell quality) is fulfilled. This will then trigger the gNB to decide to pursue a handover for the UE with the target cell being selected based on the reported neighbor cell measurements. If the target cell is controlled by another gNB (i.e., a neighbor gNB), the serving gNB initiates the handover preparation by sending a Handover Request XnAP message to the neighbor gNB. The neighbor gNB then responds with a Handover Request Acknowledge XnAP message containing, in the form of a HandoverCommand, the RRC configuration the UE should apply when connecting to the target cell. The serving (source) gNB then forwards the HandoverCommand to the UE as an RRCReconfiguration message. When the UE receives this message, it releases the source cell and starts the procedure of connecting to the target cell (i.e., synchronizing with the target cell and performing random access). P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 23 of 99 [0086] However, given the typical circumstances for handover, i.e., that the channel quality in the serving (source) cell is deteriorating when the UE is getting closer to the cell border, the handover operation is quite susceptible to errors. Figure 6 below illustrates two such error cases. [0087] Figure 6 includes two flow diagrams illustrating error cases addressed by conditional handover. As illustrated, one potential error associated with a regular handover is that the measurement report from the UE, which would trigger the gNB to initiate the handover, never reaches the gNB because of too many transmission/reception errors. Another potential error is that all handover preparations are successful, but the gNB fails to reach the UE with the RRCReconfiguration message constituting the Handover Command. Both these errors are typically caused by a serving cell channel quality degrading faster than expected. [0088] To combat such errors, a special variant of handover referred to as conditional handover was introduced in 3GPP release 16. The CHO feature allows the serving gNB to configure a UE to autonomously trigger handover execution to a candidate target cell when a handover execution condition (or trigger condition) configured by the serving gNB is fulfilled. To realize this feature, the serving gNB includes a handover execution condition – often referred to as a CHO execution condition – together with the Handover Command (which in this case may be referred to as a Conditional Handover Command) forwarded from the candidate target gNB controlling the candidate target cell. This is configured in the condExecutionCond-r16 IE in the ASN.1 code in the RRC specification 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0. Release 16 of the 3GPP standards supports configuration of two triggering events, which in the context of CHO are referred to as conditional events (CondEvents). The supported CondEvents are CondEvent A3 and CondEvent A5 which are reused from the A3 and A5 events of the RRM framework. When used as CondEvents, A3 is defined as “Conditional reconfiguration candidate becomes amount of offset better than PCell/PSCell” and A5 is defined as “PCell/PSCell becomes worse than absolute threshold1 AND Conditional reconfiguration candidate becomes better than another absolute threshold2”. Furthermore, the specification also allows the combination of two events, whose conditions both have to be fulfilled for the duration of the configured time-to-trigger period for the CHO execution to be triggered. [0089] CHO is applicable for both intra-gNB handover and inter-gNB handover. The remainder of this CHO background description looks at the feature in the inter-gNB CHO case, because this is the most comprehensive and challenging case and best illustrates the complete concept. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 24 of 99 [0090] When the UE receives the RRCReconfiguration message including configuration of a CHO (i.e., including a Handover Command and an associated CHO execution condition), the UE does not initiate execution of the handover immediately. Instead, it remains connected to the serving cell and begins to monitor the configured CHO execution condition (for the indicated candidate target cell). [0091] A cell associated with a conditional handover configuration (i.e., a cell that the UE may connect to if the CHO execution condition is fulfilled) may be referred to as a candidate target cell. Similarly, a gNB controlling a cell associated with a conditional handover configuration (i.e., a candidate target cell) may be referred to as a candidate target gNB. [0092] The UE may be configured with multiple candidate target cells. For each candidate target cell, the UE is provided with an associated Handover Command (i.e., an RRCReconfiguration to be applied if/when connecting to the candidate target cell) and an associated CHO execution condition. [0093] If/when the CHO execution condition is fulfilled for a candidate target cell, the UE releases the source cell and starts executing the handover towards the candidate target cell (which then becomes the target cell) for which the associated CHO execution condition was fulfilled. From the UE point of view, the rest of the procedure proceeds like a regular handover procedure, except that the UE discards all CHO configurations when it has successfully connected to the target cell. [0094] On the network side, the serving/source gNB is not aware of if or when a CHO execution condition is fulfilled for the UE, i.e., the UE will silently release the source cell without informing the source gNB. Therefore, after handover completion, i.e., after successful random access and successful reception of the RRCReconfigurationComplete message (which often is referred to as the Handover Complete message), the target gNB sends a HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message to the source gNB. This informs the source gNB that the UE has left the source cell and successfully completed a handover to the target cell controlled by the target gNB. If multiple candidate target gNBs were prepared for CHO for the UE, the source gNB can cancel the CHO preparations in the other (non-selected) candidate target gNBs using the HANDOVER CANCEL XnAP message, so that these gNBs can release any reserved resources. [0095] During a regular handover, the source gNB starts to forward user plane data arriving in the source gNB to the target gNB (for further forwarding to the UE) as soon as the Handover Command is sent to the UE. In CHO, however, due to the uncertainty of if and when the UE will P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 25 of 99 actually execute a handover, it may be suboptimal to start forwarding user plane data to a candidate target gNB upon transmission of the Handover Command, because this will cause unnecessary load on the Xn user plane, as well as processing load in the candidate target gNB. Therefore, the source gNB can choose not to initiate user plane forwarding until it receives the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message from the target gNB. On the other hand, not initiating user plane forwarding until the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message is received delays the availability of buffered downlink data in the target gNB, which increases the handover interruption time. Therefore, both options are available for CHO, referred to as early data forwarding (triggered any time after transmission of the Handover Command and before reception of the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message) and late data forwarding (triggered upon reception of the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message). [0096] The conditional handover procedure is illustrated below by the simplified message diagram in Figure 7 and the more detailed message diagram in Figure 8. [0097] Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified message diagram for an inter-gNB conditional handover. The RRCReconfiguration* indicated with an asterisk (‘*’) is the Handover Command containing the RRC reconfiguration the UE shall apply if/when connecting to the candidate target gNB in the selected target cell. [0098] The principle for CHO, as defined in 3GPP TS 38.300 Release 16 version 17.3.0, is described in Figure 8. Figure 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an inter-gNB conditional handover message flow in NR. The RRCReconfiguration message in step 6 is the Handover Command containing the CHO configuration(s). The message diagram is copied from 3GPP TS 38.300 version 17.3.0. [0099] Based on, e.g., a measurement report received from the UE (in a MeasurementReport RRC message), the source node decides to configure the UE for CHO (step 2 in Figure 8). [0100] The source node prepares one or potentially more candidate target nodes by including a CHO indicator and the current UE configuration in the HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message sent over Xn (step 3). Unlike a regular (non-CHO) handover, CHO enables the network to prepare the UE with more than one candidate target cell, each candidate target cell with its own target cell configuration (RRCReconfiguration) and its own CHO execution condition. The target cell configuration is generated by the candidate target node while the CHO execution condition is configured by the source node. For CHO in 3GPP Release 16, the CHO execution condition may P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 26 of 99 consist of one or two trigger conditions – the A3 and A5 signal strength/quality-based events as defined in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 16.7.0. [0101] As in a regular (non-CHO) handover, the handover command (RRCReconfiguration message) sent to the UE in step 6 is generated by the candidate target node but transmitted to the UE in the source cell by the source node. For an inter-node handover (as in Figure), the handover command is sent from the candidate target node to the source node within the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP message (step 5) as a transparent container (specified as the HandoverCommand inter-node RRC message in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0), meaning that the source node does not change the content of the handover command. [0102] The target cell configuration (the RRCReconfiguration for the UE to use in the candidate target cell) and the CHO execution condition for each candidate target cell provided by the network to the UE may collectively be referred to as a CHO configuration, or, alternatively, each combination of candidate target cell, target cell configuration and CHO execution condition may be referred to as a CHO configuration. When received by the UE in the handover command (RRCReconfiguration message in step 6), the target cell configuration is not applied immediately as in a regular (non-CHO) handover. Instead, the UE starts to evaluate the CHO execution condition(s) configured by the network. [0103] The network may configure the UE with one or two trigger conditions (A3 and/or A5 event) per CHO execution condition and candidate target cell. If the UE is configured with two trigger conditions, then both events need to be fulfilled to trigger the UE to execute the CHO towards the candidate target cell. [0104] When the CHO execution condition is fulfilled for one of the candidate target cells, the UE releases its source cell connection, applies the associated target cell configuration (RRCReconfiguration) and starts the handover supervision timer T304. The UE now connects to the target node as in a regular handover (step 8). Any CHO configuration stored in the UE is released after completion of the (conditional) handover procedure. [0105] The target node sends the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message over Xn to the source node to inform the source node that the UE has successfully accessed the target cell (step 8a). Triggering of data forwarding to the target node is typically done after receiving the HANDOVER SUCCESS XnAP message in the source node – this is also known as “late data forwarding”. As an alternative, data forwarding may be triggered at an earlier stage in the handover P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 27 of 99 procedure, after receiving the RRCReconfigurationComplete message from the UE (step 7). This mechanism is also known as “early data forwarding”. [0106] If more than one candidate target cell was configured during the Handover Preparation phase, then the source node needs to cancel the CHO for the candidate target cells not selected by the UE. The source node sends the HANDOVER CANCEL XnAP message over Xn on the other signaling connection(s) and/or the other candidate target node(s) to cancel the CHO and thus to initiate a release of the reserved resources in the target node(s) (step 8c). [0107] During a regular (non-CHO) handover, if the handover attempt fails due to, e.g., a radio link failure or expiry of timer T304, the UE will typically perform a cell selection and continue with an RRC re-establishment procedure. But when a CHO execution attempt fails and the selected cell happens to be a candidate target cell included in the CHO configuration, the UE will instead attempt a CHO execution to the selected cell. This UE behavior is however enabled/disabled by means of network configuration. [0108] In the ASN.1 code in the RRC specification 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, the CHO configurations are provided to a UE in the form of an add-mod-list (a ToAddModList denoted as CondReconfigToAddModList-r16). That is, a list of CHO configurations to be added to the CHO configurations the UE has previously received and stored, or to replace/modify CHO configurations the UE has previously received and stored. The UE stores the CHO configurations in the “UE variable” VarConditionalReconfig. Note that a UE is not mandated to implement a UE variable exactly as specified. A UE variable is a tool used in the specification to clearly describe the expected behavior or outcome of certain specified actions, e.g. configuration actions. The add- mod-list containing CHO configurations (i.e., CondReconfigToAddModList-r16) is included in an IE referred to as ConditionalReconfiguration, which in turn is included in an RRCReconfiguration message. The relevant ASN.1 code from 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0 is included below. RRCReconfiguration message -- ASN1START -- TAG-RRCRECONFIGURATION-START RRCReconfiguration ::= SEQUENCE { rrc-TransactionIdentifier RRC-TransactionIdentifier, : : -- Omitted ASN.1 code -- P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 28 of 99 : : : RRCReconfiguration-v1610-IEs ::= SEQUENCE { otherConfig-v1610 OtherConfig-v1610 OPTIONAL, -- Need M bap-Config-r16 SetupRelease { BAP-Config-r16 } OPTIONAL, -- Need M iab-IP-AddressConfigurationList-r16 IAB-IP-AddressConfigurationList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need M conditionalReconfiguration-r16 ConditionalReconfiguration-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need M daps-SourceRelease-r16 ENUMERATED{true} OPTIONAL, -- Need N t316-r16 SetupRelease {T316-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M needForGapsConfigNR-r16 SetupRelease {NeedForGapsConfigNR-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M onDemandSIB-Request-r16 SetupRelease { OnDemandSIB-Request-r16 } OPTIONAL, -- Need M dedicatedPosSysInfoDelivery-r16 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING PosSystemInformation-r16-IEs) OPTIONAL, -- Need N sl-ConfigDedicatedNR-r16 SetupRelease {SL-ConfigDedicatedNR-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M sl-ConfigDedicatedEUTRA-Info-r16 SetupRelease {SL-ConfigDedicatedEUTRA-Info-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M targetCellSMTC-SCG-r16 SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Need S nonCriticalExtension RRCReconfiguration-v1700-IEs OPTIONAL } : : : -- Omitted ASN.1 code -- : : : -- TAG-RRCRECONFIGURATION-STOP -- ASN1STOP ConditionalReconfiguration information element -- ASN1START -- TAG-CONDITIONALRECONFIGURATION-START ConditionalReconfiguration-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { attemptCondReconfig-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Cond CHO condReconfigToRemoveList-r16 CondReconfigToRemoveList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need N condReconfigToAddModList-r16 CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need N ... } CondReconfigToRemoveList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofCondCells-r16)) OF CondReconfigId-r16 -- TAG-CONDITIONALRECONFIGURATION-STOP -- ASN1STOP CondReconfigToAddModList information element -- ASN1START -- TAG-CONDRECONFIGTOADDMODLIST-START CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofCondCells-r16)) OF CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 condReconfigId-r16 CondReconfigId-r16, condExecutionCond-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..2)) OF MeasId OPTIONAL, -- Need M condRRCReconfig-r16 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCReconfiguration) OPTIONAL, -- Cond condReconfigAdd ..., [[ condExecutionCondSCG-r17 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING CondReconfigExecCondSCG-r17) OPTIONAL -- Need M ]] P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 29 of 99 } CondReconfigExecCondSCG-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..2)) OF MeasId -- TAG-CONDRECONFIGTOADDMODLIST-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0109] As can be seen from the ASN.1 code above, the condRRCReconfig-r16 IE contains an RRCReconfiguration. This is the RRCReconfiguration the UE should apply in the candidate target cell towards which the CHO is executed, if and when the CHO execution condition indicated by the condExecutionCond-r16 IE is fulfilled for the candidate target cell (i.e., the RRCReconfiguration constitutes the Conditional Handover Command). [0110] CHO is also available in NTNs. Connected mode mobility challenges have been studied in the NTN study item phase for 3GPP Release 16 and are reported in the technical report 3GPP TR 38.821. Two of the challenges discussed in the Technical Report are frequent and unavoidable handovers (e.g., due to feeder link switch or cell switch in a quasi-Earth-fixed cell deployments) and handover of a large number of UEs, both of which may result in significant control plane overhead and frequent service interruptions. This issue is perhaps most pronounced in the quasi-Earth-fixed cell scenario when a geographic area is covered by a satellite (serving a cell covering the geographic area) for a limited time period while being replaced by a new satellite (serving a new cell covering the same geographic area) during the next time period, and so on. When the satellite covering the geographic area is replaced, the cell is also replaced, meaning that all the UEs connected in the old cell are handed over to the new cell, which potentially results in a high control signaling peak, because all the handovers occur in conjunction with the cell replacement (also referred to as cell switch). [0111] Hard and soft cell switch have been discussed in 3GPP, with preference for the soft switch case, wherein the old and the new cell both (simultaneously) cover the geographic area during a short overlap period to simplify handovers with low interruptions. [0112] To mitigate the expected signaling overhead at frequent handovers for a large number of UEs, 3GPP agreed to introduce support for CHO for NTN in 3GPP release 17 with the CHO procedure and the trigger conditions as defined for NR in 3GPP release 16 as a baseline. [0113] In terrestrial networks, a UE can typically determine that it is near a cell edge by detecting a clear difference in the received signal strength (e.g., by performing RSRP-based measurements) compared to the received signal strength at the cell center. In NTN deployments on the other hand, the difference in signal strength between the cell center and the cell edge is P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 30 of 99 typically smaller. That is, the signal strength decreases slowly with the distance from the cell center (much smaller than in a typical terrestrial cell). This is often described as a “flat signal strength” or a “flat RSRP”. Thus, a UE may experience a small difference in signal strength between two beams (e.g., representing two cells) in a region of overlap. This may lead to suboptimal UE behaviors such as repetitive handovers (“ping-pong handovers”) back and forth between the two cells. [0114] To avoid an overall reduction in handover robustness, 3GPP agreed to introduce the following trigger conditions (apart from the already existing trigger conditions, the A3 and A5 CondEvents) for CHO in NTN. [0115] One is a new time-based trigger condition, defining a time period, or a time window, when the UE may execute CHO to a candidate target cell. Another is a new location-based trigger condition, defining a first distance threshold for the distance from the UE to a reference location in the source cell and a second distance threshold for the distance from the UE to a reference location in a candidate target cell, based on which the UE may trigger and execute CHO. [0116] Reuse of the existing A4 event (neighbor becomes better than threshold) as defined, e.g., in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 16.7.0, i.e., an A4 CondEvent is introduced in release 17 of the 3GPP standard (specified, e.g., in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0). [0117] The time-based trigger condition is defined by 3GPP as the time period [T1, T2] associated with each candidate target cell, where T1 is the starting point of the time period represented by a UTC and T2 is the end point of the time period represented by a time duration or a timer value, e.g., 10 seconds. [0118] In 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, the time-based condition (condEventT1-r17) is defined in ASN.1 in the ReportConfigNR IE as shown below: condEventT1-r17 SEQUENCE { t1-Threshold-r17 INTEGER (0..549755813887), duration-r17 INTEGER (1..6000) } [0119] In the above ASN.1 code, the t1-Threshold-r17 field represents T1 and its INTEGER value encodes the UTC (in terms 10 ms units elapsed since the UTC starting point). The t1- Threshold-r17 field counts the number of UTC seconds in 10 ms units since 00:00:00 on Gregorian calendar date 1 January, 1900 (midnight between Sunday, December 31, 1899 and Monday, January 1, 1900). The duration encoded by the duration-r17 field indicates steps of 100 ms (i.e., P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 31 of 99 it ranges from 100 ms to 10 minutes). It should be counted as starting from T1, which means that in principle T2 = T1 + duration = t1-Threshold-r17 + duration-r17. [0120] 3GPP further agreed that the time-based trigger condition can only be configured in the UE in combination with one of the signal strength/quality based CondEvents A3, A4 or A5. This implies that the UE may only perform CHO to the candidate target cell in the time window defined by T1 and T2 if the signal strength/quality-based event is fulfilled within this time frame. The time-based condition AND the signal strength/quality-based condition must thus be fulfilled simultaneously for the UE to execute the CHO. [0121] If the CHO execution for a certain candidate target cell is not triggered during the time period [T1, T2], i.e. after T1 but before T2, or if the CHO execution is triggered during this time period, but the CHO execution fails, the UE is not allowed to use the CHO configuration after T2, even if it in the cell selection during a triggered RRC re-establishment procedure happens to select the concerned candidate target cell and even if the network configuration allows the UE (by including the attemptCondReconfig field in the ConditionalReconfiguration IE) to perform conditional reconfiguration in a candidate target cell. This rule applies also if the UE selects another cell for which the UE has a CHO configuration, i.e., if time has passed T2 for that CHO configuration, the UE is not allowed to use the CHO configuration to turn the RRC re- establishment into a CHO execution for that cell. [0122] In addition to the time-based condition, 3GPP has also agreed to specify a location- based condition for CHO execution. The location-based condition is fulfilled if the UE’s distance to a reference location of the serving (source) cell (assumedly representing the center of the serving/source cell) exceeds a first threshold while the distance to a reference location of a candidate target cell (assumedly representing the center of the candidate target cell) goes below a second threshold. Like the time-based condition, the location-based condition must be combined with one of the signal strength/quality-based CondEvents A3, A4 or A5, and both the location- based condition and the signal strength/quality-based condition have to be fulfilled for the CHO execution to be triggered. [0123] There currently exist certain challenges. For example, during the switch of cells covering a certain quasi-Earth-fixed cell area, the old and the new cell coexist for a period of time (soft switch) during which the UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state can be handed over from the old to the new cell, and UEs in RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_IDLE state can reselect from the old to the new cell. Such cell switches may occur due to a switch of the satellite serving the cell covering P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 32 of 99 the quasi-Earth-fixed cell area, or due to the satellite serving the cell covering the quasi-Earth- fixed cell area switching its feeder link. A similar situation may occur in a moving cell scenario when a satellite serving a moving cell switches its feeder link, and in this process the cell the satellite serves is switched to a new cell (wherein the old and the new cell, and thus the old and the new feeder link, temporarily coexist). [0124] During the coexistence period of an old and a new cell (with ideally 100% coverage overlap), there would be severe harmful interference between the cells if the cells were to use the same carrier frequency. To avoid this problem, the old and the new NTN cell involved in a cell switch can be expected to use different carrier frequencies. [0125] A consequence of this is that UEs connected in the old cell will need measurement gaps when they measure downlink signals in the new cell taking over as the cell serving the area, and during measurement gaps, no data transmission scheduling is allowed in the serving cell. A UE may be configured to perform such measurements and report to the serving gNB so that the serving gNB can trigger a handover to the new cell when appropriate. More preferably, however, the UE is configured with a CHO anticipating the switch from an old to a new NTN cell (i.e., the candidate target cell of the CHO configuration is the new cell), and then the UE has to measure on the downlink signals in the new cell to monitor the execution condition of the CHO configuration. However, these downlink signals in the new cell are available only when the cell has been “turned on”, i.e., in practice during the period of coexistence of the old and the new cell, and thus the UE cannot measure (at least not successfully) on these downlink signals during other times than during the coexistence period of the old and the new cell. [0126] A similar situation also happens in intra-frequency measurements. Even though no measurement gaps are configured/used, some intra-frequency measurements using SSB measurement timing configuration (SMTC) precludes data scheduling in the SMTC duration. Considering that up to 4 SMTCs may be configured, the scheduling restriction is severe and 3GPP TS 38.133 version 17.8.0 defines that the overall overhead ratio due to scheduling restriction caused by all configured SMTCs (i.e., the scheduling restriction overhead of all SMTCs in one SMTC periodicity), shall be less than 75%. [0127] Furthermore, a gNB controlling a quasi-Earth-fixed cell is expected to configure UEs connected in the cell with time-based CHO, i.e. CHO configurations with a time-based execution condition, combined with a channel quality condition. With such a time-based execution condition, it is pointless to monitor the channel quality condition of the candidate target cell (i.e., the new P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 33 of 99 cell) other than during the CHO execution time window (i.e., between T1 and T2) and slightly before the start of the CHO execution time window associated with the candidate target cell, so that the channel quality (e.g., signal strength or signal quality) measurements are fresh during the time window when the CHO can be triggered. For UEs configured with time-based CHO for a coming switch from an old to a new NTN cell, it is expected that the CHO execution time window will be fully contained in the coexistence period of the old and the new cell, and thus the time during which the measurements on the downlink signals of the new cell are useful to perform may be even shorter than the coexistence period of the old and the new cell. [0128] Thus, a well implemented UE configured to measure on a new quasi-Earth-fixed cell (or a new moving cell resulting from a feeder link switch in the serving satellite), e.g. a UE configured for a time-based CHO, will not perform (and should preferably not perform) any measurements in the measurement gaps occurring outside the time period during which measurements are useful (unless the UE is located or moving close to the border of the serving cell which then may require the UE to perform measurements of the neighbor cell(s) existing in parallel with the serving cell, i.e. other cells than the new quasi-Earth-fixed cell or the new moving cell). Still, communication (i.e., data transmission scheduling) to and from the UE in the serving cell will be precluded during these measurement gaps. This means that the UE’s performance/service is reduced in vain (i.e., without anything to gain). [0129] If the network, as a countermeasure, were to configure all the UEs connected in the cell (i.e., all UEs in RRC_CONNECTED state in the cell) right before the relevant time period, this would potentially create a massive signaling peak for the serving gNB. SUMMARY [0130] As described above, certain challenges currently exist with activation of measurement gaps for a non-terrestrial network (NTN). Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, particular embodiments address the above-described problem using time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration. To this end, particular embodiments enable configuration of an active time window for a measurement gap configuration and signal this active time window configuration to a user equipment (UE) using dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. [0131] Some embodiments include examples of how the measurement gap active time window definition may be included in existing ASN.1 code defining configuration data intended P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 34 of 99 for the UE. The examples include both examples of explicit active time window definitions using a start time and a duration and examples where the active time window is defined through a reference to the execution time window of a time-based conditional handover (CHO) configuration, which the measurement gap active time window should match. Some ASN.1 code examples illustrate how the active time window definition may be included in the current MeasGapConfig information element (IE), and other ASN.1 code examples illustrate how the active time window definition may be included in the current MeasObjectNR IE. [0132] In the embodiments where the active time window configuration is given in the MeasGapConfig IE, it is specific to that measurement gap configurations for the UE for all frequencies the UE measures, or for FR1, FR2 in case of those measurement gaps. In the embodiments where the active time window configuration is in the MeasObjectNR IE, it is possible to give the information per frequency or even per physical cell identifier (PCI) or list of PCIs. [0133] Some embodiments associate multiple active time windows with the same measurement gap configuration. [0134] Some embodiments enable and disable pre-configured measurement gaps using RRC signaling. [0135] Some embodiments configure an active time window for a synchronization signal block (SSB) measurement timing configuration (SMTC) (especially for intra-frequency or inter- frequency cases without measurement gap) in the same manner as the measurement gap active time window definition, e.g., all examples of the measurement gap active time window may be used correspondingly for the SMTC active time window. [0136] In general, particular embodiments enable time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration by associating an active time window with the measurement gap configuration. Particular aspects include including an active time window definition in the MeasGapConfig IE or the MeasObjectNR IE, which may be signaled to a UE, e.g. in an RRCReconfiguration RRC message, and wherein the active time window definition may be an explicit active time window definition using a start time and a duration, or a reference to the execution time window of a time- based CHO configuration, which the measurement gap active time window should match. [0137] According to some embodiments, a method is performed by a wireless device for time- based activation of a measurement gap configuration. The method comprises: obtaining a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 35 of 99 time window for performing measurements; and performing measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window. [0138] In particular embodiments, the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network. [0139] In particular embodiments, the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. [0140] In particular embodiments, the active time window corresponds to a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non-terrestrial network. [0141] In particular embodiments, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more cells and/or one or more frequencies. [0142] In particular embodiments, obtaining the measurement gap configuration comprises receiving RRC signaling from a network node. For example, the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. [0143] According to some embodiments, a wireless device comprises processing circuitry operable to perform any of the wireless device methods described above. [0144] According to some embodiments, a method performed by a network node for time- based activation of a measurement gap configuration comprises: determining to configure a wireless device with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration; and transmitting a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. [0145] In particular embodiments, transmitting the measurement gap configuration comprises transmitting RRC signaling to the wireless device. For example, the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. [0146] In particular embodiments, determining to configure the wireless device with time- based activation of the measurement gap configuration is based on a location of the wireless device. [0147] According to some embodiments, a network node comprises processing circuitry operable to perform any of the network node methods described above. [0148] Also disclosed is a computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, the computer readable program code P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 36 of 99 operable, when executed by processing circuitry to perform any of the methods performed by the wireless devices described above. [0149] Another computer program product comprises a non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code, the computer readable program code operable, when executed by processing circuitry to perform any of the methods performed by the network node described above. [0150] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, particular embodiments eliminate or reduce the problem with the suboptimal measurement gap configurations in conjunction with time-based CHO configuration, i.e., that communication to and from the configured UE is unnecessarily precluded during measurement gaps occurring outside the CHO execution time window. Particular embodiments facilitate configuring a measurement gap active time window even if a time-based CHO configuration is not configured to the UE. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS [0151] The present disclosure may be best understood by way of example with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings that are used to illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure. In the drawings: Figure 1 illustrates how the measurement gap configuration fits into the overall RRM measurement configuration; Figure 2 shows an example architecture of a satellite network with bent pipe transponders; Figure 3 illustrates orbital elements – the parameters included in one ephemeris data format; Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified Xn-based inter-gNB handover in New Radio (NR); Figure 5 is a flow diagram illustrating Xn-based inter-gNB handover in NR; Figure 6 includes two flow diagrams illustrating error cases addressed by conditional handover; Figure 7 is a flow diagram illustrating a simplified message diagram for an inter-gNB conditional handover; Figure 8 is a flow diagram illustrating an inter-gNB conditional handover message flow in NR; P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 37 of 99 Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system, according to certain embodiments; Figure 10 shows a user equipment (UE), according to certain embodiments; Figure 11 shows a network node, according to certain embodiments; Figure 12 is a block diagram of a host, according to certain embodiments; Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized; Figure 14 shows a communication diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments; Figure 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a wireless device, according to certain embodiments; and Figure 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a network node, according to certain embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION [0152] As described above, certain challenges currently exist with activation of measurement gaps for a non-terrestrial network (NTN). Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, particular embodiments address the above-described problem using time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration. To this end, particular embodiments enable configuration of an active time window for a measurement gap configuration and signal this active time window configuration to a user equipment (UE) using dedicated Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling. [0153] Particular embodiments are described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. [0154] As used herein, the term non-terrestrial network may, depending on the context, refer to either or both of New Radio (NR) NTN and Internet-of-things (IoT) NTN, and sometimes the term is used to refer to only NR NTN. [0155] The embodiments outlined below are described mainly in terms of NR based NTNs, but they are equally applicable in an NTN based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology (and in particular IoT NTN). P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 38 of 99 [0156] The term “network” is used herein to refer to a network node, which typically will be a gNB (e.g., in a NR based NTN) or an eNB (e.g., in an LTE based NTN, such as an IoT NTN), but which may also be a base station or an access point in another type of network based on communication via satellites or high-altitude platform systems (HAPS), or any other network node (in a network involving satellites or HAPS) with the ability to directly or indirectly communicate with a UE. Refinements with finer granularity are also conceivable. For example, a gNB may be an en-gNB, and if a split gNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “network” or “network node” or “node” may refer to a part of the gNB, such as a gNB-central unit (CU) (often referred to as just CU), a gNB-distributed unit (DU) (often referred to as just DU), a gNB-CU-control plane (CP) or a gNB-CU-user plane (UP). Similarly, an eNB may be an ng-eNB, and if a split eNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “network” (and the network node it implies) may refer to a part of the eNB, such as an eNB-CU, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU-CP or an eNB-CU-UP. Furthermore, the term “network” (and the network node it implies) may also refer to an integrated access and backhaul (IAB)-donor, IAB-donor-CU, IAB-donor-DU, IAB-donor-CU-CP, or an IAB-donor-CU-UP. [0157] The terms “source node,” “target node” and “candidate target node” may be used herein. The “node” in these terms should be understood as typically being a radio access network (RAN) node in a NTN based on NR technology, LTE technology or any other radio access technology (RAT) in which conditional handover or another conditional mobility concept is defined. In an NR based NTN, such a RAN node may be assumed to be a gNB. In an LTE based NTN (including an IoT NTN), such a RAN node may be assumed to be an eNB. Alternatives to, or refinements of, these interpretations are however also conceivable. For example, a gNB may be an en-gNB, and if a split gNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the gNB, such as a gNB-CU, a gNB-DU, a gNB-CU-CP or a gNB-CU-UP. Similarly, an eNB may be an ng-eNB, and if a split eNB architecture is applied (dividing the gNB into multiple separate entities or notes), the term “node” may refer to a part of the eNB, such as an eNB-CU, an eNB-DU, an eNB-CU-CP or an eNB-CU- UP. Furthermore, the “node” in the terms may also refer to an IAB-donor, IAB-donor-CU, IAB- donor-DU, IAB-donor-CU-CP, or an IAB-donor-CU-UP. [0158] When conditional handover (CHO) is configured for a UE, a cell which the UE potentially can connect to (i.e., if the CHO execution condition is fulfilled for the cell) is denoted P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 39 of 99 as “candidate target cell.” Similarly, a RAN node controlling a candidate target cell is denoted as “candidate target node” or, in NR and NR NTN, “candidate target gNB.” However, once the UE has detected a fulfilled CHO execution condition for a candidate target cell, this terminology becomes a bit blurred. At this point, during the actual execution of the CHO and when the UE has connected to the new cell, the concerned cell may be referred to as either a “candidate target cell” or a “target cell”. Similarly, a RAN node controlling such a cell, may in this situation be referred to as either a “candidate target node” (or “candidate target gNB”) or a “target node” (or a “target gNB”). [0159] A condition included in a CHO configuration governing the execution of the conditionally configured procedure may be referred to as a CHO execution condition, a handover (HO) execution condition, a CHO trigger condition, a HO trigger condition or sometimes just a trigger condition. Furthermore, phases of the procedure may be referred to as the Handover Preparation phase, the Handover Execution and/or the Handover Completion phase, or may be referred to as the Conditional Handover Preparation phase (or the (conditional) Handover Preparation phase), the Conditional Handover Execution phase and/or the Conditional Handover Completion phase. [0160] As used herein, the term “CHO configuration” typically refers to a CHO configuration for a single candidate target cell. However, sometimes the term “CHO configuration” refers collectively to all CHO related configuration that a UE has stored, which may include configurations for multiple candidate target cells. Furthermore, the target cell configuration (the RRCReconfiguration for the UE to use in the candidate target cell) and the CHO execution condition for each candidate target cell provided by the network to the UE may collectively be referred to as a CHO configuration, or, alternatively, each combination of candidate target cell, target cell configuration and CHO execution condition may be referred to as a CHO configuration. [0161] When writing message names of a communication protocol, two equivalent principles are used herein. The writing principle “<protocol name> <message name> message”, for example “XnAP HANDOVER CANCEL message”, and the writing principle “<message name> <protocol name> message”, for example “HANDOVER CANCEL XnAP message” are equivalent, both referring to a message (i.e., “<message name>”) of a communication protocol (i.e., “<protocol name>”), e.g., the HANDOVER CANCEL message of the communication protocol XnAP. The same writing format equivalence applies to other communication protocols, such as NGAP. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 40 of 99 [0162] When accessing a target cell during a HO or a CHO, the first message the UE sends to the target node in the target cell, after having sent a random access preamble and having received a Random Access Response message, is an RRCReconfigurationComplete message, indicating the successful completion of the HO or CHO. The RRCReconfigurationComplete message is often referred to as a Handover Complete message. [0163] According to Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) agreements, and the current NR RRC specification (3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0), a time-based CHO execution condition will always be combined with a signal strength/quality CHO execution condition (both of which have to be fulfilled to trigger CHO execution). However, all the embodiments proposed herein that do not assume that the UE monitors a signal strength/quality condition (i.e., an A3, A4 or A5 event), are equally applicable if the UE is configured only with a time-based CHO execution condition. In embodiments describing lack of trigger of the CHO execution within the time window (i.e., between T1 and T2) assume that a signal strength/quality condition is configured but not fulfilled between T1 and T2). [0164] The terms “Handover Command” and “HandoverCommand” are used interchangeably herein. Both terms refer to a UE configuration the target node (of a regular handover) or candidate target node (of a conditional handover), during the (conditional) handover preparation phase, compiles for the UE to be subject to the handover or conditional handover. This UE configuration is compiled in the form of an RRCReconfiguration message that is conveyed to the UE via the source node. The RRCReconfiguration is associated with a certain target cell or candidate target cell and the UE applies the RRCReconfiguration when/if it accesses the concerned (candidate) target cell controlled by the (candidate) target node. Formally, “HandoverCommand” is an RRC inter-node message that is conveyed from a target node or a candidate target node to a source node during the preparation of a handover or a conditional handover. It is carried by the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP in the Target NG-RAN node To Source NG-RAN node Transparent Container information element (IE). The “HandoverCommand” RRC inter-node message contains an RRCReconfiguration the UE should apply when accessing the target cell or candidate target cell. The source node forwards the RRCReconfiguration (i.e., the HandoverCommand) to the UE. As used herein, the term “HandoverCommand” is also used to denote the RRCReconfiguration when it is stored in a UE as a part of a CHO configuration. This is also referred to as the condRRCReconfig-r16 IE in the CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 IE (which contains the CHO configuration) in the CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 IE in the P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 41 of 99 ConditionalReconfiguration-r16 IE. In the context of CHO, the terms “Conditional Handover Command,” “(Conditional) Handover Command” and “(conditional) Handover Command” may also be used. [0165] Particular embodiments are described in terms of conditional handover, but are equally applicable to other conditional mobility procedures, e.g., conditional PSCell change (e.g., a dual connectivity scenario with the PCell in a terrestrial network and PSCell in a NTN), or conditional L1/L2 mobility procedures (e.g., time-based L1/L2 mobility procedures). [0166] Particular embodiments are described with respect to conditional handover procedures that primarily are described as Xn based conditional handovers, i.e., inter-gNB CHOs where a Xn interface is established between the gNBs and the XnAP messages HANDOVER REQUEST and HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE are used during the preparation of a CHO. However, the embodiments are also applicable when the CHO is prepared between gNBs which lack an established Xn interface, in which case the CHO preparation signaling is conveyed via the core network using NGAP messages (and possibly a protocol for messaging between two access and mobility management functions (AMFs) in the core network). In this case, the HANDOVER REQUEST XnAP message is replaced by the HANDOVER REQUIRED NGAP message and the HANDOVER REQUEST NGAP message, where the HANDOVER REQUIRED NGAP message is sent from the source gNB to the core network and the core network sends the relevant information further to the candidate target gNB in a HANDOVER REQUEST NGAP message. Similarly, the HANDOVER REQEUST ACKNOWLEDGE XnAP message is replaced by the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE NGAP message and the HANDOVER COMMAND NGAP message, where the HANDOVER REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE NGAP message is sent from the candidate target gNB to the core network and the core network sends the relevant information further to the source gNB in a HANDOVER COMMAND NGAP message. [0167] When the messaging is passed via the core network, this may involve one or more AMF(s). If the source gNB and the candidate target gNB are connected to the same AMF, this AMF handles all the above-described message receptions and transmissions. If the source gNB and the candidate target gNB are connected to different AMFs, these AMFs forward the information between each other using a core network protocol. [0168] The terms information element (IE) and field are used more or less interchangeably herein. Also, the term parameter is sometimes used to denote the same concept. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 42 of 99 [0169] Parameters/IEs/fields used in ASN.1 code as well as in procedural text in the 3GPP RRC specification for 5G/NR, i.e.3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, are often named with a suffix indicating the number of the release of the 3GPP standard the parameter/IE/field was introduced in (e.g. the suffix “-r17” for a parameter/IE/field introduced in release 17 of the 3GPP standard). Parameters/IEs/fields following this naming convention are typically referred to both with and without the suffix, where the name including the suffix is used in the ASN.1 code (and thus defines the formal name from the ASN.1 compiler’s perspective), while the name without the suffix is used in running text, e.g. in field descriptions and procedural text. Relevant examples in the context of this document include the parameters/IEs/fields t1-Threshold-r17/t1-Threshold and t-Service- r17/t-Service. Both name variants may occur herein for various parameters/IEs/fields. [0170] NTN has two main deployment principles: quasi-Earth-fixed cells and Earth-moving cells. These deployment principles are also referred to by other names. The quasi-Earth-fixed cells deployment principle is also referred to as quasi-Earth-fixed beams. The Earth-moving cells deployment principle is also referred to as Earth-moving beams, or shorter, moving and/or moving beams. [0171] In a time-based CHO configuration for a certain candidate target cell, a time window is defined within which the configured UE may execute the CHO, provided that the signal strength/quality CHO execution condition is fulfilled, and outside which the UE may not execute the CHO. Such a time window is herein sometimes referred to as a CHO execution time window or a CHO execution window. A CHO execution time window is said to last between the times T1 and T2, where T1 is represented by the t1-Threshold-r17 field and T2 is derived from the t1- Threshold-r17 field combined with the duration-r17 field, such that T2 = t1-Threshold-r17 + duration-r17. Both the t1-Threshold-r17 field and duration-r17 field are included in the condEventT1-r17 IE, which in turn is included in the CondTriggerConfig-r16 IE, which in turn is included in the ReportConfigNR IE. The t1-Threshold-r17 field is a UTC timestamp and the duration-r17 field represents a time period between 100 ms and 600 seconds (in steps of 100 ms). [0172] Particular embodiments address the problems described above by modifying, or augmenting, the measurement gap configuration in a way that the time the configuration of the repetitive measurement gaps is active may be limited to a certain time period. [0173] One way to achieve this is to extend the MeasGapConfig IE, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0, with an optional definition of a time window in which the measurement P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 43 of 99 gap configuration (GapConfig-r17) should be applied (e.g. referred to as an “active window” or “active time window”). This extension is included in the ASN.1 example below: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, ..., [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ activeTimeWindow-r18 ActiveTimeWindow-r18 OPTIONAL ]] } PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF PosGapConfig-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 44 of 99 PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, ... } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) ActiveTimeWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0174] To serve the intended purpose, the startTime-r18 and duration-r18 of the ActiveTimeWindow-r18 IE should be set to values matching the execution time window of the concerned CHO configuration (i.e., the time window defined by the time-based condition (the t1- Threshold-r17 and the duration-r17 fields) in the CHO configuration). Optionally, the ActiveTimeWindow-r18 parameters may be set so that the start of the time window occurs slightly before the start of the CHO execution time window (i.e., startTime-r18 < t1-Threshold-r17), so that the UE can start its measurements on the new cell proactively and have a fresh channel quality measurement result when the CHO execution time window starts (thereby enabling the fastest possible triggering of the CHO execution, if this is desired). Note that in this option the period of coexistence of the old and the new cell starts before the start time of the CHO execution time window (i.e., before t1-Threshold-r17). [0175] A further option is to let the active window for the measurement gaps end slightly before the CHO execution time window (i.e., startTime-r18 + duration-r18 < t1-Threshold-r17 + duration-r17). The rationale for this option is that performing a channel quality (e.g., signal strength or signal quality) measurement on the new cell right before the end of the CHO execution time window is not beneficial, because it would be too late to execute the CHO within the CHO execution time window (in typical scenarios where the UE cannot expect the candidate target gNB to retain the CHO related configuration information after the end of the CHO execution time window). [0176] In an example where both these options are used, the following may be the relations between the measurement gap active time window parameters and the CHO execution time window parameters: P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 45 of 99 startTime-r18 = t1-Threshold-r17 - ^, where 0 < ^ << duration-r17 duration-r18 = duration-r17 + ^, where 0 < ^ < ^ For the sake of flexibility, ^ and ^ are larger than 0 normally. Also, if duration-r17 is longer than a threshold, e.g. handover delay (refer to chapter 6.1C.2.2 in 3GPP TS 38.133 version 17.8.0), a UE is able to complete corresponding measurements in a measurement gap on a target cell before ending of CHO execution time window upon starting the measurements at t1-Threshold-r17. In other words, if the network node, e.g. gNB, configures t1-Threshold-r17 to ensure that measurements in a measurement gap is started and completed in duration-r17, the measurement gap active time window can be identical to the CHO execution time window. In this case, the measurement gap active time window reuses the CHO execution time window provided the ActiveTimeWindow-r18 is configured as: in one example, ^ , ^ are configured with 0; in another example, ^ , ^ are absent in the configuration (e.g., either not specified in the standard or specified as optional parameters which in this example are omitted). In another example, the fields startTime-r18 and/or duration-r18 are blanked. [0177] A more compact extension of the MeasGapConfig IE may be achieved by referring to the CHO execution time window where the purpose is to match, instead of actually defining the active time window (as in the example above). A suitable reference to the concerned CHO execution time window may be the condReconfigId-r16 of the CHO configuration (i.e., the CondReconfigToAddMod-r16) or the MeasId or ReportConfigId associated with the time-based execution condition. [0178] In the following ASN.1 example (based on ASN.1 code in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0), the MeasGapConfig IE is extended with a reference (cho-WindowToMatch-r18) to the CHO execution time window to match, where the reference has the form (ASN.1 type) of a CondReconfigId-r16. The extension is included in the example below. -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 46 of 99 posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, ..., [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16 OPTIONAL ]] } PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF PosGapConfig-r17 ) OF PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, ... } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0179] There are different options for how to specify the meaning of the CHO execution time window reference cho-WindowToMatch-r18. As one option, the reference means that the P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 47 of 99 measurement gap active time window exactly matches the CHO execution time window in terms of start time and end time (and thus duration). [0180] As another option, the reference means that the measurement gap active time window ends at the same time as the CHO execution time window ends, but the measurement gap active time window starts an offset ^ before the start of the CHO execution time window. [0181] As yet another option, the reference means that the measurement gap active time window starts at the same time as the start of the CHO execution time window, but ends an offset ^ before the end of the CHO execution time window. [0182] As yet another option, the reference means that the measurement gap active time window starts an offset ^ before the start of the CHO execution time window, and ends an offset ^ before the end of the CHO execution time window. [0183] As yet another option, the reference means that the measurement gap active time window has the same length (duration) as the CHO execution time window, but it starts an offset ^ (or ^ or another delta-offset parameter) before the start of the CHO execution time window. [0184] Both of, or either of, the offsets ^ and ^ may be specified (in a standard), configured via the system information, or configured together with the CHO execution time window reference. The latter is illustrated in the following ASN.1 example (based on ASN.1 code in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0), with the ^ offset is represented by the field “startOffset-r18” and the ^ offset is represented by the field “endOffset-r18”. -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 48 of 99 mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, ..., [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ activeGapWindow-r18 ActiveGapWindow-r18 OPTIONAL ]] } PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF PosGapConfig-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, ... } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) ActiveGapWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, -- [0185] A caveat of tying the measurement gap active time window to an execution window of a time-based CHO configuration is that it is not possible to configure a measurement gap active time window without a corresponding CHO execution time window, i.e., it is not possible to configure a measurement gap active time window independently of CHO configurations. To P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 49 of 99 provide the flexibility to do this, but still provide the possibility of defining the measurement gap active time window with a reference to a CHO configuration, an ASN.1 CHOICE structure may be used to allow both explicit active time window definition and active time window definition based on a reference to a CHO configuration. The ASN.1 example below illustrates this. The startOffset-r18 and endOffset-r18 fields are included in the example, but as mentioned before, these parameters may instead be specified in a standard or configured via the system information, or not used at all. As before, the ASN.1 example is based on 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0. -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, ..., [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 50 of 99 gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ r18 CHOICE { ) OF PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, ... } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) ActiveTimeWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } ActiveGapWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, startOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, -- Each step represents 10 ms endOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL -- Each step represents 10 ms } -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0186] An alternative to including the measurement gap active time window definition in the MeasGapConfig IE is to include it in the MeasObjectNR IE. [0187] If the different options for the definition of a measurement gap active time window illustrated in the ASN.1 examples above are instead to be included in the MeasObjectNR IE, this may be achieved as in the following corresponding ASN.1 examples (as before, based on 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0). [0188] ASN.1 example with explicit active time window definition in the MeasObjectNR IE: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR ::= SEQUENCE { ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc1 SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc2 SSB-MTC2 OPTIONAL, -- Cond IntraFreqConnected refFreqCSI-RS ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond CSI-RS P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 51 of 99 referenceSignalConfig ReferenceSignalConfig, absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS-BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R quantityConfigIndex INTEGER (1..maxNrofQuantityConfig), offsetMO Q-OffsetRangeList, cellsToRemoveList PCI-List OPTIONAL, -- Need N cellsToAddModList CellsToAddModList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N ..., [[ freqBandIndicatorNR FreqBandIndicatorNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCycleSCell ENUMERATED {sf160, sf256, sf320, sf512, sf640, sf1024, sf1280} OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ smtc3list-r16 SSB-MTC3List-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R rmtc-Config-r16 SetupRelease {RMTC-Config-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M t312-r16 SetupRelease { T312-r16 } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R associatedMeasGapCSIRS-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCyclePSCell-r17 ENUMERATED {ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, ms1024, ms1280, spare1} OPTIONAL, -- Cond SCG cellsToAddModListExt-v1710 CellsToAddModListExt-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]], <Omitted ASN.1 code.> : : ActiveTimeWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0189] ASN.1 example with the active time window defined using a reference to a time- based CHO configuration: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR ::= SEQUENCE { ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 52 of 99 ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc1 SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc2 SSB-MTC2 OPTIONAL, -- Cond IntraFreqConnected refFreqCSI-RS ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond CSI-RS referenceSignalConfig ReferenceSignalConfig, absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS-BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R quantityConfigIndex INTEGER (1..maxNrofQuantityConfig), offsetMO Q-OffsetRangeList, cellsToRemoveList PCI-List OPTIONAL, -- Need N cellsToAddModList CellsToAddModList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N ..., [[ freqBandIndicatorNR FreqBandIndicatorNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCycleSCell ENUMERATED {sf160, sf256, sf320, sf512, sf640, sf1024, sf1280} OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ smtc3list-r16 SSB-MTC3List-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R rmtc-Config-r16 SetupRelease {RMTC-Config-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M t312-r16 SetupRelease { T312-r16 } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R associatedMeasGapCSIRS-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCyclePSCell-r17 ENUMERATED {ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, ms1024, ms1280, spare1} OPTIONAL, -- Cond SCG cellsToAddModListExt-v1710 CellsToAddModListExt-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Need N <Omitted ASN.1 code.> : : -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0190] ASN.1 example with the active time window defined using a reference to a time- based CHO configuration and optional startOffset-r18 (the ^ offset) and endOffset-r18 (the ^ offset) fields: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR ::= SEQUENCE { P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 53 of 99 ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc1 SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc2 SSB-MTC2 OPTIONAL, -- Cond IntraFreqConnected refFreqCSI-RS ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond CSI-RS referenceSignalConfig ReferenceSignalConfig, absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS-BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R quantityConfigIndex INTEGER (1..maxNrofQuantityConfig), offsetMO Q-OffsetRangeList, cellsToRemoveList PCI-List OPTIONAL, -- Need N cellsToAddModList CellsToAddModList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N ..., [[ freqBandIndicatorNR FreqBandIndicatorNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCycleSCell ENUMERATED {sf160, sf256, sf320, sf512, sf640, sf1024, sf1280} OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ smtc3list-r16 SSB-MTC3List-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R rmtc-Config-r16 SetupRelease {RMTC-Config-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M t312-r16 SetupRelease { T312-r16 } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R associatedMeasGapCSIRS-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCyclePSCell-r17 ENUMERATED {ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, ms1024, ms1280, spare1} OPTIONAL, -- Cond SCG cellsToAddModListExt-v1710 CellsToAddModListExt-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Need N <Omitted ASN.1 code.> : : ActiveGapWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, startOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, -- Each step represents 10 ms endOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL -- Each step represents 10 ms } -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-STOP -- ASN1STOP P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 54 of 99 [0191] ASN.1 example with an ASN.1 CHOICE structure allowing a choice between an explicit active time window definition and an active time window definition based on a reference to a time-based CHO configuration: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR ::= SEQUENCE { ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc1 SSB-MTC OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB smtc2 SSB-MTC2 OPTIONAL, -- Cond IntraFreqConnected refFreqCSI-RS ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond CSI-RS referenceSignalConfig ReferenceSignalConfig, absThreshSS-BlocksConsolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R absThreshCSI-RS-Consolidation ThresholdNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofSS-BlocksToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofSS-BlocksToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R nrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage INTEGER (2..maxNrofCSI-RS-ResourcesToAverage) OPTIONAL, -- Need R quantityConfigIndex INTEGER (1..maxNrofQuantityConfig), offsetMO Q-OffsetRangeList, cellsToRemoveList PCI-List OPTIONAL, -- Need N cellsToAddModList CellsToAddModList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N excludedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToRemoveList PCI-RangeIndexList OPTIONAL, -- Need N allowedCellsToAddModList SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCI-Ranges)) OF PCI- RangeElement OPTIONAL, -- Need N ..., [[ freqBandIndicatorNR FreqBandIndicatorNR OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCycleSCell ENUMERATED {sf160, sf256, sf320, sf512, sf640, sf1024, sf1280} OPTIONAL -- Need R ]], [[ smtc3list-r16 SSB-MTC3List-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R rmtc-Config-r16 SetupRelease {RMTC-Config-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M t312-r16 SetupRelease { T312-r16 } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R associatedMeasGapCSIRS-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCyclePSCell-r17 ENUMERATED {ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, ms1024, ms1280, spare1} OPTIONAL, -- Cond SCG cellsToAddModListExt-v1710 CellsToAddModListExt-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Need N : <Omitted ASN.1 code.> : : P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 55 of 99 ActiveTimeWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } ActiveGapWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, startOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, -- Each step represents 10 ms endOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL -- Each step represents 10 ms } -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0192] Furthermore, scenarios where associating multiple (disjoint or overlapping) active time windows with the same measurement gap configuration are conceivable. One such scenario is where a UE is configured with time-based CHO for multiple candidate target cells, and where not all the CHO execution time windows (for the respective candidate target cells) are identical. [0193] In ASN.1 code this may be handled by defining a list of active time window definitions, where the active window definitions in the list may be any of the ones previously exemplified. A UE with such a list configured regards the measurement gap configuration as active and performs measurements within all of the active time windows in the list. Such a list construction may be as follows: MeasGapActiveWindowList-r18 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofActiveWindows-r18)) OF MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 [0194] A MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 may be any of the previously exemplified options for active time window definition, e.g., MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } … or … MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, startOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, -- Each step represents 10 ms endOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL -- Each step represents 10 ms } … or … MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 ::= CHOICE { activeTimeWindow-r18 ActiveTimeWindow-r18, activeGapWindow-r18 ActiveGapWindow-r18 } ActiveTimeWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 56 of 99 startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } ActiveGapWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { cho-WindowToMatch-r18 CondReconfigId-r16, startOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL, -- Each step represents 10 ms endOffset-r18 INTEGER (0..63) OPTIONAL -- Each step represents 10 ms } [0195] The MeasGapActiveWindowList-r18 may also be a list of references to time-based CHO configurations, where such a reference is, as before, represented by CondReconfigId-r16: MeasGapActiveWindowList-r18 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofActiveWindows-r18)) OF CondReconfigId-r16 [0196] The list construction may be inserted into the MeasGapConfig IE in the same ways as the definition of a single active time window in the previous examples. The following is one of the previous examples of MeasGapConfig IE extension, this time with the single active time window definition replaced by a list of active time windows. The other previous MeasGapConfig IE extension examples may be modified in analogous ways. -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M ..., [[ gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, ..., [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 57 of 99 GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R ..., [[ measGapActiveWindowList-r18 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofActiveWindows-r18)) OF MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 OPTIONAL ]] } PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF PosGapConfig-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, ... } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0197] If the measurement gap active window definition is included in the MeasObjectNR IE, then multiple active time windows associated with the same measurement gap configuration may be achieved without the above kind of list construction by configuring multiple MeasObjectNR IEs, all referencing the same measurement gap configuration using the same MeasGapId, but each with a different measurement gap active time window configuration. In such a scenario, the different MeasObjectNR IEs may, e.g., be associated with different carrier frequencies. [0198] Using a list construction in the MeasObjectNR IE is another option. To include a list of active time window definitions in the MeasObjectNR IE, the previous MeasObjectNR IE extension examples may be modified in the same way as the MeasGapConfig IE extension P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 58 of 99 examples were modified above, i.e., where the definition of a single active time window was replaced by a list of active time windows. The following is one of the previous examples of MeasObjectNR IE extension, this time with the single active time window definition replaced by a list of active time windows. The other previous MeasObjectNR IE extension examples may be modified in analogous ways. -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-START MeasObjectNR ::= SEQUENCE { ssbFrequency ARFCN-ValueNR OPTIONAL, -- Cond SSBorAssociatedSSB ssbSubcarrierSpacing SubcarrierSpacing [[ smtc3list-r16 SSB-MTC3List-r16 OPTIONAL, -- Need R rmtc-Config-r16 SetupRelease {RMTC-Config-r16} OPTIONAL, -- Need M t312-r16 SetupRelease { T312-r16 } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R associatedMeasGapCSIRS-r17 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R smtc4list-r17 SSB-MTC4List-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R measCyclePSCell-r17 ENUMERATED {ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, ms1024, ms1280, spare1} OPTIONAL, -- Cond SCG cellsToAddModListExt-v1710 CellsToAddModListExt-v1710 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]], [[ associatedMeasGapSSB2-v1720 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Cond AssociatedGapSSB associatedMeasGapCSIRS2-v1720 MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL -- Cond AssociatedGapCSIRS ]], [[ measGapActiveWindowList-r18 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofActiveWindows-r18)) OF MeasGapActiveWindow-r18 OPTIONAL ]] } : : <Omitted ASN.1 code.> : P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 59 of 99 : MeasGapActiveWindow-r18::= SEQUENCE { startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } -- TAG-MEASOBJECTNR-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0199] When the measurement gap active time window configuration is in the measurement object (i.e., in the MeasObjectNR IE), it is frequency specific. Optionally, the configuration may be specified to be physical cell identifier (PCI) specific by configuring a PCI or list of PCIs associated with the window configuration. This may be done by specifying a new PCI list or by stating the association in relation to one of the existing PCI lists. Using existing PCI lists or by defining another new PCI list, it may also be specified which PCIs are not applicable. [0200] An alternative to the above examples where one or more measurement gap active time window(s) is(are) configured in configuration data signaled to a UE using dedicated RRC signaling, is to specify in the standard that when a measurement gap configuration is associated with a measurement of the signal strength/quality (e.g., reference signal receive power (RSRP) or reference signal receive quality (RSRQ)) for the purpose of evaluating the execution condition of a time-based CHO, wherein the concerned candidate target cell is an NTN cell which replaces the UE’s current serving cell (because of a feeder link switch or satellite switch in a quasi-Earth-fixed cells deployment, or a feeder link switch in an Earth-moving cells deployment), then the measurement gap configuration is regarded as active only during the coexistence period of the old and the new cell. In some embodiments, the rule is configurable with an indication in the system information, e.g. indicating whether the UEs should apply the rule or not. [0201] The decision whether to configure a UE with one or more measurement gap active time window(s) is made in the serving node, e.g., based on the UE location within the serving cell. If for example the UE is located close to the cell border (or is moving in direction towards the cell border) of the serving cell, the UE may need to perform measurements of other neighbor cell(s), i.e., other cells than the new quasi-Earth-fixed cell or the new moving cell after a feeder link switch. In such a case, a single measurement gap active time window associated with a certain time period (i.e., a time period associated with the old and the new cell coexistence) may not be suitable. [0202] But if the UE is located, e.g., in the center of the quasi-earth fixed cell (or in the center of the moving cell), or within a certain radius of the cell center of the quasi-earth fixed cell (or the P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 60 of 99 moving cell), the serving node may decide to configure the UE with one or more measurement gap active time window(s) as in the above examples. [0203] Aforementioned embodiments introduce explicit measurement gap active time window through RRC signaling. The measurement gap active time window may be regarded as a (set of) indication(s) indicating when to activate a measurement gap and when to deactivate a measurement gap. The indication may be commanded by network node through medium access control (MA) control element (CE) or downlink control information (DCI) command or enabled by the UE with respect to a time-based condition in the CHO configuration, e.g., CHO execution time window. [0204] One way to achieve this is adding an optional definition of a preconfigured measurement gap in MeasGapConfig IE, as specified in 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0. The example of pre-configured measurement gap is included in the ASN.1 example below: -- ASN1START -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-START MeasGapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapFR2 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapFR1 SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL, -- Need M gapUE SetupRelease { GapConfig } OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], [[ gapToAddModList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF GapConfig-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N gapToReleaseList-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofGapId-r17)) OF MeasGapId-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need N posMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 OPTIONAL -- Need N ]] } GapConfig ::= SEQUENCE { gapOffset INTEGER (0..159), mgl ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6}, mgrp ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, …, [[ refServCellIndicator ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL -- Cond NEDCorNRDC ]], [[ refFR2ServCellAsyncCA-r16 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA mgl-r16 ENUMERATED {ms10, ms20} OPTIONAL -- Cond PRS ]] } P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 61 of 99 GapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measGapId-r17 MeasGapId-r17, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1, ms1dot5, ms2, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5, ms0dot75}, refServCellIndicator-r17 ENUMERATED {pCell, pSCell, mcg-FR2} OPTIONAL, -- Cond NEDCorNRDC refFR2-ServCellAsyncCA-r17 ServCellIndex OPTIONAL, -- Cond AsyncCA preConfigInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R ncsgInd-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapAssociationPRS-r17 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapSharing-r17 MeasGapSharingScheme OPTIONAL, -- Need R gapPriority-r17 GapPriority-r17 OPTIONAL, -- Need R preConfigInd-r18 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, -- Need R …, } PosMeasGapPreConfigToAddModList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF PosGapConfig-r17 PosMeasGapPreConfigToReleaseList-r17 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17)) OF MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 PosGapConfig-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { measPosPreConfigGapId-r17 MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17, gapOffset-r17 INTEGER (0..159), mgl-r17 ENUMERATED {ms1dot5, ms3, ms3dot5, ms4, ms5dot5, ms6, ms10, ms20}, mgrp-r17 ENUMERATED {ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160}, mgta-r17 ENUMERATED {ms0, ms0dot25, ms0dot5}, gapType-r17 ENUMERATED {perUE, perFR1, perFR2}, … } MeasPosPreConfigGapId-r17 ::= INTEGER (1..maxNrofPreConfigPosGapId-r17) -- TAG-MEASGAPCONFIG-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0205] The parameter preConfigInd-r18 indicates whether the measurement gap is a pre- configured measurement gap which can be based on CHO configuration. [0206] In one example, the UE shall determine the enabling of the pre-configured measurement gap based on one or more concurrent triggering conditions occurring: ^ Dedicated MAC CE or DCI command to enable pre-configured measurement gap, ^ Receiving signaling containing time-based condition in the CHO configuration, e.g. t1- Threshold-r17 and duration-r17, or, alternatively, t-Service-r17. ^ Receiving CHO command. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 62 of 99 ^ Current time reaches the CHO execution time window, e.g. t1-Threshold-r17. Similar to the aforementioned definition of ^ in startTime-r18, the condition may be defined as current time reaches {t1-Threshold-r17 - ^_preconfig}, wherein the value of ^_preconfig is pre-defined or configured by a network node (e.g., the serving gNB) through RRC signaling. [0207] Otherwise, pre-configured measurement gap is disabled. [0208] In above embodiments, it is assumed a measurement gap is enabled or activated in the introduced measurement gap active time window only, otherwise, measurement gap is disabled or deactivated. Particular embodiments may be extended to be used in definition of conditional relaxed measurements with a measurement gap. The core principle of conditional relaxed measurements with measurement gap can be summarized as: ^ UE performs inter-frequency measurements following configured measurement gap if current time instant is in measurement gap active time window. ^ UE performs inter-frequency measurements relaxed from measurement gap if current time instant is outside measurement gap active time window. The relaxation means UE shall follow a pre-defined method or rule to skip measurements but perform data scheduling in some of the configured measurement gap occasions. [0209] In a variant for the embodiments captured above, startTime-r18 is signaled using SFN (System Frame Number) and/or H-SFN (Hyper-SFN) as a reference instead of an integer value that indicates the time in UTC. The SFN is a 10-bit value where the most significant 6 bits are provided in the master information block (MIB) and the 4 least significant bits are provided in the physical broadcast channel (PBCH) transport block as part of channel coding (i.e., outside the MIB encoding), as defined in clause 7.1 in 3GPP TS 38.212 version 17.4.0. For example, startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN or startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)) -- H-SFN or startTime-H-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)), -- H-SFN startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN [0210] Where in the last alternative, the start time is a combination of startTime-H-r18 and startTime-r18 with the former and latter providing the MSBs and LSBs, respectively. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 63 of 99 [0211] In other embodiments, the measurement gap active time window is defined to match the coexistence period of the serving/source cell and the candidate target cell of the CHO configuration. To achieve this, a new parameter may be introduced to indicate to the UE when the candidate target cell appears, i.e., when the coexistence period begins. The new parameter may e.g., be referred to as t-ServiceStart-r18, and the measurement gap active time window thus be defined as the duration between t-ServiceStart-r18 for the candidate target cell and t-Service-r17 for the serving/source cell. The t-ServiceStart-r18 parameter may be signaled in the RRCReconfiguration message conveying the CHO configuration to the UE, e.g., as indicated in the ASN.1 example below (which is based on ASN.1 code copied from 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0). -- ASN1START -- TAG-CONDRECONFIGTOADDMODLIST-START CondReconfigToAddModList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxNrofCondCells-r16)) OF CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { condReconfigId-r16 CondReconfigId-r16, condExecutionCond-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..2)) OF MeasId OPTIONAL, -- Need M condRRCReconfig-r16 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING RRCReconfiguration) OPTIONAL, -- Cond condReconfigAdd ..., [[ condExecutionCondSCG-r17 OCTET STRING (CONTAINING CondReconfigExecCondSCG-r17) OPTIONAL -- Need M ]], -- TAG-CONDRECONFIGTOADDMODLIST-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0212] Alternatively, t-ServiceStart-r18 may be included in the Handover Command provided by the candidate target gNB via the source gNB, i.e., the RRCReconfiguration including a ReconfigurationWithSync IE, which is included as an OCTET STRING in the condRRCReconfig-r16 field in the ASN.1 example above. Specifically, the t-ServiceStart-r18 parameter may be included in the ServingCellConfigCommon IE in the ReconfigurationWithSync IE, or in parallel with the ServingCellConfigCommon IE (and other IEs) in the ReconfigurationWithSync IE, e.g., as in the ASN.1 example below (which is based on ASN.1 code copied from 3GPP TS 38.331 version 17.3.0). ReconfigurationWithSync ::= SEQUENCE { P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 64 of 99 spCellConfigCommon ServingCellConfigCommon OPTIONAL, -- Need M newUE-Identity RNTI-Value, t304 ENUMERATED {ms50, ms100, ms150, ms200, ms500, ms1000, ms2000, ms10000}, of the candidate target cell and the serving/source cell may be specified in a standard or may be configured. If configured, it may be indicated with a simple indication, e.g., a single-bit flag, or a BOOLEAN, which could be denoted as “matchActiveWindowWithCoexistencePeriod-r18”. This indication may be included in the MeasGapConfig IE or in the MeasObjemctNR IE or in the CondReconfigToAddMod-r16 IE. Alternatively, the presence of the t-ServiceStart-r18 parameter may be an implicit indication that the measurement gap active time window would match the coexistence period of the serving/source cell and the candidate target cell. [0214] An alternative to such an indicator may be to, as previously described, link the measurement gap configuration to a certain CHO configuration (with the implicit rule that the active time window of the measurement gap configuration should match the coexistence period of the candidate target cell of the CHO configuration and the serving/source cell). As previously described, such a reference to a CHO configuration may, e.g., be a CondReconfigId-r16 IE (i.e., it may be a field of the type CondReconfigId-r16, wherein the field may, e.g., be denoted as coexistencePeriodToMatch-r18). [0215] As previously described in other embodiments, it may be desirable to associate multiple active time windows with the same measurement gap configuration. The mechanisms described in those embodiments, involving lists of measurement gap active time window definitions may be used for these embodiments too (i.e., embodiments with active window to coexistence period matching). For example, a list of CondReconfigId-r16 IEs may be associated with the measurement gap configuration, e.g., a list of coexistencePeriodToMatch-r18. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 65 of 99 [0216] These embodiments may be particularly beneficial if adapted to the LTE-based NTN technology IoT NTN. The reason is that for IoT NTN, there is already a t-ServiceStart-r17 field (which indicates a UTC) specified in the RRC specification for LTE (see 3GPP TS 36.331 version 17.3.0). [0217] Some embodiments apply to SSB measurement timing configuration (SMTC). Even if there are no requirements or it is up to UE implementation on when the UE shall start measuring intra-frequency cells and considering the fact that UE is able to schedule data when not measuring intra-frequency cells provided intra-frequency SMTC is configured, it still is beneficial to prevent UE to start measuring intra-frequency cells too early before CHO or CHO execution time window. The reason is that once the UE starts intra-frequency measurement, scheduling restriction is applied during the united SMTC duration (i.e., during all overlapping or non-overlapping SMTCs together, i.e. during all time resources occupied by SMTCs, details can be found in Chapter 9.2C.5.3.1 in 3GPP TS 38.133 version 17.8.0) in some configurations, it results into significant throughput degradation. [0218] To achieve a similar target, particular embodiments reuse the aforementioned measurement gap active time window(s) in SMTC configurations, referred to as SMTC active window(s). For flexibility, it is rational to set separate active windows to each SMTC. But to save signaling or complexity, some embodiments may only define one active window for all configured SMTCs per MeasObjectNR. Below only lists example in IE SSB-SMTC, but the same updates may be added in IE MeasObjectNR. [0219] In the following ASN.1 example, the IE SSB-SMTC containing SSB-MTC4-r17 for NTN is extended with MTC-activeTimeWindow-r18 following (with similar properties as) ActiveTimeWindow-r18 in aforementioned solution for measurement gaps. SMTC, especially for intra-frequency cells or inter-frequency cells without measurement gap, is valid during the time window defined by MTC-activeTimeWindow-r18. [0220] The values of parameters in MTC-activeTimeWindow-r18 may be different from those in ActiveTimeWindow-r18 or the same as in ActiveTimeWindow-r18. In the latter case, ActiveTimeWindow-r18 may directly be reused in the SSB-SMTC configuration. -- ASN1START -- TAG-SSB-MTC-START SSB-MTC ::= SEQUENCE { periodicityAndOffset CHOICE { sf5 INTEGER (0..4), sf10 INTEGER (0..9), P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 66 of 99 sf20 INTEGER (0..19), sf40 INTEGER (0..39), sf80 INTEGER (0..79), sf160 INTEGER (0..159) }, duration ENUMERATED { sf1, sf2, sf3, sf4, sf5 } } SSB-MTC2 ::= SEQUENCE { pci-List SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCIsPerSMTC)) OF PhysCellId OPTIONAL, -- Need M periodicity ENUMERATED {sf5, sf10, sf20, sf40, sf80, spare3, spare2, spare1} } SSB-MTC2-LP-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { pci-List SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCIsPerSMTC)) OF PhysCellId OPTIONAL, -- Need R periodicity ENUMERATED {sf10, sf20, sf40, sf80, sf160, spare3, spare2, spare1} } SSB-MTC3-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { periodicityAndOffset-r16 CHOICE { sf5-r16 INTEGER (0..4), sf10-r16 INTEGER (0..9), sf20-r16 INTEGER (0..19), sf40-r16 INTEGER (0..39), sf80-r16 INTEGER (0..79), sf160-r16 INTEGER (0..159), sf320-r16 INTEGER (0..319), sf640-r16 INTEGER (0..639), sf1280-r16 INTEGER (0..1279) }, duration-r16 ENUMERATED {sf1, sf2, sf3, sf4, sf5}, pci-List-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCIsPerSMTC)) OF PhysCellId OPTIONAL, -- Need M ssb-ToMeasure-r16 SetupRelease { SSB-ToMeasure } OPTIONAL -- Need M } SSB-MTC4-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { pci-List-r17 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofPCIsPerSMTC)) OF PhysCellId -- SSB-MTC-AdditionalPCI-r17 ::= SEQUENCE { additionalPCIIndex-r17 AdditionalPCIIndex-r17, additionalPCI-r17 PhysCellId, periodicity-r17 ENUMERATED { ms5, ms10, ms20, ms40, ms80, ms160, spare2, spare1 }, ssb-PositionsInBurst-r17 CHOICE { shortBitmap BIT STRING (SIZE (4)), mediumBitmap BIT STRING (SIZE (8)), longBitmap BIT STRING (SIZE (64)) }, ss-PBCH-BlockPower-r17 INTEGER (-60..50) } AdditionalPCIIndex-r17 ::= INTEGER(1..maxNrofAdditionalPCI-r17) MTC-ActiveTimeWindow-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { MTC-startTime-r18 INTEGER (0..549755813887), -- A UTC MTC-duration-r18 INTEGER (1..12000) -- Each step represents 100 ms } P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 67 of 99 -- TAG-SSB-MTC-STOP -- ASN1STOP [0221] Same as the above examples of measurement gap active time window(s), SMTC active time window(s) also may be defined with various formats. [0222] In a variant for the embodiments captured above in this section, MTC-startTime-r18 is signaled using SFN and/or H-SFN as a reference instead of an integer value that indicates the time in UTC. For example, MTC-startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN or MTC-startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)) -- H-SFN or MTC-startTime-H-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (10)), -- H-SFN MTC-startTime-r18 BIT STRING (SIZE (6)) -- SFN [0223] Where in the last alternative, the start time is a combination of MTC-startTime-H-r18 and MTC-startTime-r18 with the former and latter providing the MSBs and LSBs, respectively. [0224] Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections. [0225] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 68 of 99 signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system. [0226] The UEs 112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 102. [0227] In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF). [0228] The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and/or the telecommunication network 102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 69 of 99 [0229] As a whole, the communication system 100 of Figure 9 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. [0230] In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/Massive IoT services to yet further UEs. [0231] In some examples, the UEs 112 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio – Dual Connectivity (EN-DC). [0232] In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 70 of 99 to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices. [0233] The hub 114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 may be a dedicated hub – that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a non- dedicated hub – that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels. [0234] Figure 10 shows a UE 200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 71 of 99 Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. [0235] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to- everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter). [0236] The UE 200 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operatively coupled via a bus 204 to an input/output interface 206, a power source 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 2. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc. [0237] The processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory 210. The processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field- programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). [0238] In the example, the input/output interface 206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 72 of 99 digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device. [0239] In some embodiments, the power source 208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 208 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 200 to which power is supplied. [0240] The memory 210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more application programs 214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 may store, for use by the UE 200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. [0241] The memory 210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or ISIM, other memory, or P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 73 of 99 any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 210 may allow the UE 200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium. [0242] The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and/or a receiver 220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 218 and receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately. [0243] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth. [0244] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 74 of 99 sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient). [0245] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input. [0246] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an IoT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item- tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the IoT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 200 shown in Figure 2. [0247] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 75 of 99 that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. [0248] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators. [0249] Figure 11 shows a network node 300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). [0250] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). [0251] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs). P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 76 of 99 [0252] The network node 300 includes a processing circuitry 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power source 308. The network node 300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 300. [0253] The processing circuitry 302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 300 components, such as the memory 304, to provide network node 300 functionality. [0254] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 312 and the baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 312 and baseband processing circuitry 314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units. [0255] The memory 304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 77 of 99 memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 300. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and/or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and memory 304 is integrated. [0256] The communication interface 306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 306 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes radio front-end circuitry 318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 310. Radio front-end circuitry 318 comprises filters 320 and amplifiers 322. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may be connected to an antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 310 and processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 320 and/or amplifiers 322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. [0257] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 318, instead, the processing circuitry 302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In still other embodiments, P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 78 of 99 the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, the radio front-end circuitry 318, and the RF transceiver circuitry 312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown). [0258] The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 300 and connectable to the network node 300 through an interface or port. [0259] The antenna 310, communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and/or the processing circuitry 302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and/or any other network equipment. [0260] The power source 308 provides power to the various components of network node 300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 308. As a further example, the power source 308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. [0261] Embodiments of the network node 300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 11 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 300 may include user interface P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 79 of 99 equipment to allow input of information into the network node 300 and to allow output of information from the network node 300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 300. [0262] Figure 12 is a block diagram of a host 400, which may be an embodiment of the host 116 of Figure 1, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and/or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs. [0263] The host 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 404 to an input/output interface 406, a network interface 408, a power source 410, and a memory 412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 10 and 3, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 400. [0264] The memory 412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 414 and data 416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host 400 or data generated by the host 400 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs 414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 400 may select and/or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs 414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 80 of 99 [0265] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. [0266] Applications 502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. [0267] Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 508), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 508. [0268] The VMs 508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 81 of 99 physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment. [0269] In the context of NFV, a VM 508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 508, and that part of hardware 504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 508 on top of the hardware 504 and corresponds to the application 502. [0270] Hardware 504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 502. In some embodiments, hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units. [0271] Figure 14 shows a communication diagram of a host 602 communicating via a network node 604 with a UE 606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE 112a of Figure 9 and/or UE 200 of Figure 2), network node (such as network node 110a of Figure 9 and/or network node 300 of Figure 3), and host (such as host 116 of Figure 9 and/or host 400 of Figure 4) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 6. [0272] Like host 400, embodiments of host 602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host 602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 606 P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 82 of 99 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 650 extending between the UE 606 and host 602. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 650. [0273] The network node 604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 602 and UE 606. The connection 660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 106 of Figure 1) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet. [0274] The UE 606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE 606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 606 with the support of the host 602. In the host 602, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 650 terminating at the UE 606 and host 602. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 650. [0275] The OTT connection 650 may extend via a connection 660 between the host 602 and the network node 604 and via a wireless connection 670 between the network node 604 and the UE 606 to provide the connection between the host 602 and the UE 606. The connection 660 and wireless connection 670, over which the OTT connection 650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 602 and the UE 606 via the network node 604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. [0276] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 650, in step 608, the host 602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 606 that shares data with the host 602 without explicit human interaction. In step 610, the host 602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 606. The host 602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 606. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 606 or P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 83 of 99 by operation of the client application executing on the UE 606. The transmission may pass via the network node 604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step 612, the network node 604 transmits to the UE 606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 614, the UE 606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 606 associated with the host application executed by the host 602. [0277] In some examples, the UE 606 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 602. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 602. Accordingly, in step 616, the UE 606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 606. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 606 initiates, in step 618, transmission of the user data towards the host 602 via the network node 604. In step 620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 604 receives user data from the UE 606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 602. In step 622, the host 602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 606. [0278] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 606 using the OTT connection 650, in which the wireless connection 670 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the data rate and latency and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, better responsiveness, and better QoE. [0279] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 602. As another example, the host 602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 84 of 99 data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and/or transmitting data. [0280] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 650 between the host 602 and UE 606, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 602 and/or UE 606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host 602. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc. [0281] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 85 of 99 be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware. [0282] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and/or by end users and a wireless network generally. [0283] FIGURE 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a relay wireless device, according to certain embodiments. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of FIGURE 15 may be performed by UE 200 described with respect to FIGURE 10. The wireless device is configured to operate in an NTN. [0284] The method begins at step 1512, where the wireless device (e.g., UE 200) obtains a measurement gap configuration. The measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. [0285] In particular embodiments, the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration and/or a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non-terrestrial network. [0286] In particular embodiments, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more cells and/or one or more frequencies. [0287] Additional examples of the active time window corresponding to handover configurations and/or coexistence time periods (including offset start and stop times) are described in more detail with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 86 of 99 [0288] In particular embodiments, obtaining the measurement gap configuration comprises receiving RRC signaling from a network node. For example, the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. Additional examples are provided with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein. [0289] At step 1514, the wireless device performs measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window. Examples are provided with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein. [0290] Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 1500 of FIGURE 15. Additionally, one or more steps in the method of FIGURE 15 may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order. [0291] FIGURE 16 is a flowchart illustrating an example method in a network node, according to certain embodiments. In particular embodiments, one or more steps of FIGURE 16 may be performed by network node 300 described with respect to FIGURE 11. [0292] The method begins at step 1612, where the network node (e.g., network node 300) determines to configure a wireless device with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration. In particular embodiments, determining to configure the wireless device with time- based activation of the measurement gap configuration is based on a location of the wireless device. Other examples of when the wireless device is configured with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration are provided with respect to the embodiments and examples described herein. [0293] At step 1614, the network node transmits a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device. The measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. In particular embodiments, transmitting the measurement gap configuration comprises transmitting RRC signaling to the wireless device. For example, the active time window may be signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. The measurement gap configuration is described in more detail with respect to FIGURE 15 and the embodiments and examples described herein. [0294] Modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to method 1600 of FIGURE 16. Additionally, one or more steps in the method of FIGURE 16 may be performed in parallel or in any suitable order. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 87 of 99 [0295] The foregoing description sets forth numerous specific details. It is understood, however, that embodiments may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known circuits, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure the understanding of this description. Those of ordinary skill in the art, with the included descriptions, will be able to implement appropriate functionality without undue experimentation. [0296] References in the specification to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to implement such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments, whether or not explicitly described. [0297] Although this disclosure has been described in terms of certain embodiments, alterations and permutations of the embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the above description of the embodiments does not constrain this disclosure. Other changes, substitutions, and alterations are possible without departing from the scope of this disclosure, as defined by the claims below. [0298] Some example embodiments are described below. Group A Embodiments 1. A method performed by a wireless device for time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration, the method comprising: − obtaining a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and − performing measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window. 2. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. 3. A method performed by a wireless device for time-based activation of a SMTC P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 88 of 99 configuration, the method comprising: − obtaining a SMTC configuration, wherein the SMTC configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and − performing measurements according to the SMTC configuration during the active time window. 4. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network. 5. A method performed by a wireless device, the method comprising: − any of the wireless device steps, features, or functions described above, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above. 6. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional wireless device steps, features or functions described above. 7. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: − providing user data; and − forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station. Group B Embodiments 8. A method performed by a base station for time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration, the method comprising: − transmitting a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. 9. The method of the previous embodiment, wherein the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. 10. A method performed by a base station for time-based activation of a SMTC configuration, P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 89 of 99 the method comprising: a. transmitting a SMTC configuration to a wireless device, wherein the SMTC configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. 11. The method of any one of the previous embodiments, wherein the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network. 12. A method performed by a base station, the method comprising: − any of the steps, features, or functions described above with respect to base station, either alone or in combination with other steps, features, or functions described above. 13. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising one or more additional base station steps, features or functions described above. 14. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: − obtaining user data; and − forwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device. Group C Embodiments 15. A mobile terminal comprising: − processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and − power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device. 16. A base station comprising: − processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; − power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device. 17. A user equipment (UE) comprising: − an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 90 of 99 − radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; − the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; − an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; − an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and − a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE. 18. A communication system including a host computer comprising: − processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and − a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), − wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments. 19. The communication system of the pervious embodiment further including the base station. 20. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station. 21. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: − the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and − the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application. 22. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 91 of 99 station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: − at the host computer, providing user data; and − at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments. 23. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data. 24. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising, at the UE, executing a client application associated with the host application. 25. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to performs any of the previous 3 embodiments. 26. A communication system including a host computer comprising: − processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and − a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), − wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 27. The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE. 28. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: − the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and − the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 92 of 99 associated with the host application. 29. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: − at the host computer, providing user data; and − at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 30. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station. 31. A communication system including a host computer comprising: − communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, − wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 32. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE. 33. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station. 34. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: − the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and − the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data. P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 93 of 99 35. The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein: − the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; and − the UE’s processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data. 36. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: − at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 37. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station. 38. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising: − at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; and − at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application. 39. The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising: − at the UE, executing a client application; and − at the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application, − wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data. 40. A communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 94 of 99 circuitry, the base station’s processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments. 41. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station. 42. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station. 43. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: − the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; − the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer. 44. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: − at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. 45. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE. 46. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

Claims

P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 95 of 99 Claims 1. A method performed by wireless device for time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration, the method comprising: obtaining (1512) a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and performing (1514) measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network. 3. The method of any one of claims 1-2, wherein the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. 4. The method of any one of claims 1-3, wherein the active time window corresponds to a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non-terrestrial network. 5. The method of any one of claims 1-4, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more cells. 6. The method of any one of claims 1-5, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more frequencies. 7. The method of any one of claims 1-6, wherein obtaining the measurement gap configuration comprises receiving Radio Resource Control signaling from a network node. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the active time window is signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. 9. A wireless device (200) comprising processing circuitry (202) operable to: P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 96 of 99 obtain a measurement gap configuration, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements; and perform measurements according to the measurement gap configuration during the active time window. 10. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the wireless device is operating in a non- terrestrial network. 11. The wireless device of any one of claims 9-10, wherein the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. 12. The wireless device of any one of claims 9-11, wherein the active time window corresponds to a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non- terrestrial network. 13. The wireless device of any one of claims 9-12, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more cells. 14. The wireless device of any one of claims 9-13, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more frequencies. 15. The wireless device of any one of claims 9-14, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to obtain the measurement gap configuration by receiving Radio Resource Control signaling from a network node. 16. The wireless device of claim 15, wherein the active time window is signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. 17. A method performed by a network node for time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration, the method comprising: determining (1612) to configure a wireless device with time-based activation of a measurement gap configuration; and P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 97 of 99 transmitting (1614) a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the wireless device is operating in a non-terrestrial network. 19. The method of any one of claims 17-18, wherein the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. 20. The method of any one of claims 17-19, wherein the active time window corresponds to a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non-terrestrial network. 21. The method of any one of claims 17-20, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more cells. 22. The method of any one of claims 17-21, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more frequencies. 23. The method of any one of claims 17-22, wherein transmitting the measurement gap configuration comprises transmitting Radio Resource Control signaling to the wireless device. 24. The method of claim 23, wherein the active time window is signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. 25. The method of any one of claims 17-24, wherein determining to configure the wireless device with time-based activation of the measurement gap configuration is based on a location of the wireless device. 26. A network node (300) comprising processing circuitry (302), the processing circuitry operable to: determine to configure a wireless device with time-based activation of a measurement gap P107753WO01 PCT APPLICATION 98 of 99 configuration; and transmit a measurement gap configuration to a wireless device, wherein the measurement gap configuration comprises an active time window for performing measurements. 27. The network node of claim 26, wherein the wireless device is operating in a non- terrestrial network. 28. The network node of any one of claims 26-27, wherein the active time window corresponds to a time-based conditional handover configuration. 29. The network node of any one of claims 26-28, wherein the active time window corresponds to a coexistence time period between a first non-terrestrial network and a second non- terrestrial network. 30. The network node of any one of claims 26-29, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more cells. 31. The network node of any one of claims 26-30, wherein the active time window is associated with one or more frequencies. 32. The network node of any one of claims 26-31, wherein the processing circuitry is operable to transmit the measurement gap configuration by transmitting Radio Resource Control signaling to the wireless device. 33. The network node of claim 32, wherein the active time window is signaled in one of a MeasGapConfig information element and a MeasObjectNR information element. 34. The network node of any one of claims 26-33, wherein determining to configure the wireless device with time-based activation of the measurement gap configuration is based on a location of the wireless device.
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