WO2019099063A1 - Resource usage optimizations in automation systems - Google Patents

Abstract

Controllers of wireless control systems and apparatuses of Radio Access Network (RAN) nodes and user equipment (UEs) are disclosed. An apparatus of a RAN node configured to store data corresponding to a mapping table received from a controller in a control message. The mapping table is configured to indicate a relationship between a specific data packet header field of the control message and a desired reliability of a data packet to be sent to or received from a particular UE. The apparatus is configured to determine the desired reliability of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE based on the mapping table. The apparatus is further configured to allocate network resources to the data packet to accommodate the desired reliability of the data packet.

Description

RESOURCE USAGE OPTIMIZATIONS IN AUTOMATION SYSTEMS

Related Applications

[0001] This application is a non-provisional of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/586,753, filed November 15, 2017, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Background

[0002] Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0003] FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of closed-loop control in a closed-loop control system, according to some embodiments.

[0004] FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a closed-loop control system, according to some embodiments.

[0005] FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic representation of a motion control system, according to some embodiments.

[0006] FIG. 4 is a simplified example of a wireless control system, according to some embodiments.

[0007] FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a wireless control system illustrating relaxing reliability, according to some embodiments.

[0008] FIG. 6 illustrates an architecture of a system of a network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0009] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a system of a 5G system

architecture with a gNB collocated with a controller as the application function, according to some embodiments.

[0010] FIG. 8 illustrates an architecture of a system of a network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0011] FIG. 9 illustrates example components of a device in accordance with some embodiments.

[0012] FIG. 10 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. [0013] FIG. 11 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

[0014] FIG. 12 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments.

[0015] FIG. 13 illustrates components of a core network in accordance with some embodiments.

[0016] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments.

Detailed Description

[0017] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. Flowever, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrase "A or B" means (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0018] As used herein, the term“automation” refers to the control of processes, devices, or systems in vertical domains by automatic means. Examples for such processes are chemical processes in the chemical industry, the control of subways in the transportation sector, and factory automation with industrial robots in the manufacturing sector. The technology related to automation may include hardware and software that detects or causes a change through the direct monitoring and/or control of physical devices, processes, and events in an enterprise; this technology may be referred to as“operational technology.” The main type of systems used in automation include control systems. A control system is an interconnection of components forming a system configuration that may provide a desired process response.

[0019] Control systems may be used for measurement (e.g., obtain values from sensors and feed these values as input to a process and/or provide these values as output, for instance to a human user); comparisons (e.g., evaluate measured values and compare to process design values); computation (e.g., calculate current error, historic error, future error etc.); and correct and/or control (e.g., adjusting relevant processes). In various implementations, control systems may comprise one or more sensors, one or more transmitters, one or more controllers, and one or more actuators.

[0020] The sensors may be devices that are capable of measuring various physical properties and/or capable of detecting events or changes in an

environment. The transmitters may be devices that convert measurements from a sensor to signals and send the signals. The controller may be a device that provides logic and control instructions for one or more processes, and the actuators may be devices that change the state of the environment, here the process. Typically, there are three common patterns for many automation applications: open-loop control, feedback or closed-loop control, and sequence control.

[0021] FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of closed-loop control in a closed-loop control system 100 (e.g., an automation system), according to some embodiments. Closed-loop control systems, such as the closed-loop control system 100, may sense process outputs and feed these measurements back into a controller. The closed-loop control system 100 includes a controller and actuator 102 configured to control a process 104. The closed-loop control system 100 also includes at least one sensor 106 operably coupled between an output of the process 104 and the controller and actuator 102. The sensor 106 is configured to receive a feedback of the output from the process 104 and generate a measured output based on the feedback. For example, the controller and actuator 102 may receive

measurements from the sensor 106 and, based on the received measurements and a desired output, the controller and actuator 102 may determine one or more actions to be performed by at least one actuator of the controller and actuator 102. The controller of the controller and actuator 102 may send a command to the at least one actuator of the controller and actuator 102 to perform the one or more actions. The closed-loop control system 100 of FIG. 1 is merely one example of such a closed- loop control system. In contrast to an open-loop control system, a closed-loop control system utilizes measurements of an actual output to compare the actual output with the desired output response.

[0022] In some embodiments, the measured output provided by the at least one sensor 106 may be a periodic measured output. As used herein, the terms“periodic” or“periodically” may refer to a transmission interval that is repeated. This allows the controller of the controller and actuator 102 to request the actuator of the controller and actuator 102 to perform adjustments (e.g., small adjustments) in order to maintain the desired output response and a stable system. By way of non-limiting example, the closed-loop control system 100 may be regarded as stable when the closed-loop control system 100 is operating normally with a desired output response within a predefined time window. Also by way of non-limiting example, the closed- loop control system 100 may be regarded as stable if a difference between the desired output response and the controller output is less than a negligibly small value (e.g., within a desired range and/or at, below, or above a desired threshold such as ten percent, five percent, three percent, one percent, or some fraction of one percent).

[0023] FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of a closed-loop control system 200, according to some embodiments. The closed-loop control system 200 of FIG. 2 includes a controller 202, three sensors 210, 212, and 214 and three actuators 204, 206, and 208. In some embodiments, the controller 202 is configured to periodically obtain measurements reported from each sensor 210, 212, and 214. Based on the measurement reported by each sensor 210, 212, and 214, the controller 202 decides which commands need to be sent to the actuators 204, 206, and 208.

[0024] In such embodiments, the reliability of transmissions carrying commands to the actuators 204, 206, and 208 and carrying reported measurements from the sensors 210, 212, and 214 should be relatively high. For example, the reported measurements from the sensors 210, 212, and 214 should be received successfully and any commands sent to the actuators 204, 206, and 208 should also be received successfully, all within relatively tight latency bounds.

Motion Control

[0025] Motion control is a challenging and demanding closed-loop control application in industry. A motion control system is responsible for controlling moving parts of machines, rotating parts of machines, or combinations thereof, in a well-defined manner. By way of non-limiting example, printing machines, machine tools, and packaging machines use motion control systems in operation. Due to the movements, rotations, or combinations thereof of components, wireless communications based on powerful Fifth Generation (5G) systems may constitute a promising approach for transmitting measurements from sensors and commands to actuators. For example, with wirelessly connected devices slip rings, cable carriers, and other cable management devices, which are typically used for these applications, may be avoided. As a result, abrasion and maintenance efforts and costs may be reduced. As another example, machines and production lines may be built with less restrictions where wireless transmissions carry commands and measurements, allowing for previously unknown and potentially more compact and modular equipment setups.

[0026] FIG. 3 is a simplified schematic representation of a motion control system 300, according to some embodiments. The motion control system 300 includes a motion controller 302, one or more actuators 304, one or more processes 306, and one or more sensors 308. The motion controller 302 periodically sends desired set points to the one or more actuators 304 (e.g., one or more linear actuators, one or more servo drives, etc.), which thereupon perform one or more corresponding actions on the one or more processes 306 (e.g., a movement or rotation of a certain component). The sensors 308 are configured to determine (e.g., at the same time the actuators 304 are performing the actions on the processes 306) the current state of the processes 306 (e.g., the current position and/or rotation of one or more components) and send actual values of measurements back to the motion controller 302. In some

embodiments, this may be performed in a strictly cyclic and deterministic manner such that during one communication cycle time T_cycie the motion controller 302 sends updated set points to all the actuators 304, and all the sensors 308 send their actual values back to the motion controller 302.

[0027] According to various embodiments disclosed herein, the set points and actual values may be transmitted using a cellular data network. This is in contrast to using wired transmission means such as Industrial Ethernet technologies (e.g., Sercos®, PROFINET® IRT or EtherCAT®) for motion control systems. These wired technologies support cycle times below 50 ps. In general, lower cycle times allow for faster and more accurate

movements/rotations.

[0028] While it might be possible to move away from the strictly cyclic

communication pattern for motion control systems in the long term, it may be difficult to do so in the short term because the whole ecosystem (e.g., tools, machines, communication technologies, servo drives, etc.) may be based on the cyclic communication paradigm. In order to support a seamless migration path, a cellular data communication system (e.g., the 5G system) therefore should support such a highly deterministic cyclic data communication service.

Service Flows

[0029] Within each communication cycle of duration T_cycie, the following actions are performed (e.g., in a strictly cyclic manner):

• The motion controller 302 sends set points to the actuators 304 (e.g., all the actuators 304).

• The actuators 304 take these set points and put them into an internal buffer.

• The sensors 308 (e.g., all the sensors 308) transmit their current actual values from their internal buffer to the motion controller 302. • At a well-defined time instant within the current cycle, which is commonly referred to as the“global sampling point,” the actuators 304 retrieve the latest set points received from the motion controller 302 from their internal buffer and act accordingly on the process(es) 306 (see FIG. 3). At the same time (e.g., exactly the same time as the actuators 304 act on the latest set points), the sensors 308 determine the current state of the process(es) 306 and put them as new actual values into their internal buffers, ready to be transmitted to the motion controller 302. A very high synchronicity in the order of one microsecond (1 ps) should be maintained between all involved devices (the motion controller 302, the sensors 308, the actuators 304) with respect to this global sampling point.

[0030] Exchanged communication messages should be properly secured

(especially in terms of data integrity and authenticity) and the probability of two consecutive packet errors should be negligible. This is because in some

embodiments a single packet error may be tolerable, but two consecutive packet errors may damage a machine and may lead to a production downtime with possibly huge financial damage, depending on the application of the motion control.

Additionally, some of the sensors 308 and/or actuators 304 may be moving and/or rotating, with typical maximum speeds up to about 20 meters per second (m/s).

[0031] As mentioned previously, control system component communications should be communicated with high reliability and within tight latency bounds. Some wired solutions assume a cyclic process, which does not depend on the wireless channel conditions, the state of the system, and urgency of the message. By contrast, wireless systems may take into account the state of the process being controlled when assigning communication resources to various devices (e.g., the sensors 308, actuators 304, and motion controllers 302).

[0032] According to various embodiments herein, channel resources may be utilized in an optimal manner. Since the channel conditions for each device may be different, in order to achieve a required high reliability (e.g., 10⁵ packet error rate or “PER”) more channel resources may be required for some devices in order to increase reliability of the transmission within a given latency bound (e.g., multiple time/frequency slots or increased transmit power). The resources used for each device may be different. For example, the better the channel, the less resources may be needed. Moreover, the required reliability itself may vary depending on the stability of the system. For example, if the controller is controlling multiple devices, and some of the devices are in a stable situation and others are not, the commands to stabilize a device that is not in a stable situation may be more critical than commands to devices that are in a stable condition.

[0033] As explained above, a closed-loop control system will receive inputs (e.g., measurements) from the sensors in the system, compare those inputs with a desired output, and then send commands to the actuator(s) to adjust the system and bring it closer to the desired state. In some cases, the channel observed by one device (e.g., a sensor, an actuator, etc.) with respect to the controller may be better than the channel perceived by another device with respect to the controller. This implies that measurements sent by the sensors and commands sent to the actuators may experience different channels. Therefore, in various embodiments the radio resource allocation may be different for each device in order to obtain the same packet error rate and latency. Moreover, in some instances there may be some processes that are already in a stable situation. For example, assume a simple example where a set of refrigerators need to be set at a given temperature, T. If one of the refrigerators is already at temperature T, then the command to the actuator is to simply do nothing, just stay at the same temperature. This command is less important than a command to a refrigerator that is at a temperature much higher than T, as the command will request the refrigerator to cool, or else the materials stored inside the refrigerator may spoil due to high temperature. Therefore, the state of the process (e.g., machine, tool, robot, etc.) may also indicate or imply the importance of the command, and thus the required reliability of the message may vary as a function of the state of the system.

[0034] FIG. 4 is a simplified example of a wireless control system 400, according to some embodiments. The wireless control system 400 includes a controller (not shown) configured to communicate, via a cellular base station 402 (e.g., a next generation NodeB or“gNB”), with two actuators 408, 404, each of which is associated with a respective sensor 410, 406. It is assumed in this example that a higher reliability of a transmission is achieved by transmitting the same message multiple times, but that the controller does not wait for

acknowledgements (ACKs). Note that some systems do not wait for an ACK because by the time the Negative ACK is received, it is already too late and the message is already old (e.g., the command being sent by the controller is already replaced by a new command). In this case, the controller may send each message/command multiple times and does not wait for an answer (or lack of answer).

[0035] In this example, the actuator 404 may be relatively close to the cellular base station 402. As a result, a single transmission may deliver a command 414 to the actuator 404 successfully. The actuator 408, however, may be located at a cell edge in this example, and thus, multiple copies of the same command 412 may be transmitted to actuator 408 in order to guarantee that the command 412 is successfully received by the actuator 408. Sending multiple copies of the command 414 to the actuator 404 would be a waste of bandwidth resources because only a single transmission of the command 414 would be sufficient to guarantee successful delivery of the command 414. On the other hand, sending a single shot command 412 to the actuator 408 would not be sufficient to guarantee the desired probability of the command 412 being received. Thus, in this example, the number of retransmissions used (e.g., the number of retransmissions needed) is a function of the channel between the actuators 408, 404 and the cellular base station 402.

[0036] In cases where there are many devices at the cell edge, the number of retransmissions needed for a reliable behavior may be very large. The wireless control system 400 may not, however, be able to send the required number of messages to all devices within one cycle. For illustration purposes only, take a very simplified example with the two actuators 408, 404 from FIG. 4, but now both are at the cell edge. Assuming each command 412, 414 needs to be retransmitted N times, the total number of transmissions in one cycle will be 2(N+1). Assuming that there are not enough resources to transmit 2(N+1 ) messages in one cycle, but only enough bandwidth to transmit 2N+1 messages, one of the actuators 408, 404 will receive one less message than the other. It would then be necessary to decide which of the actuators 408, 404 will receive fewer messages.

[0037] In order to make this decision, one point of consideration is the current condition of the system being controlled, and therefore the priorities amongst the communicating devices. In some instances, the sensor 410 may report measurements (e.g., via wireless communications on a cellular data network serviced by the cellular base station 402) for a system that is in a stable condition and the sensor 406 may report an unstable situation. In such instances priority may be given to messages from the sensor 406. Thus, in this example, a combination of channel conditions plus the“urgency” of the message can be used to decide the number of retransmissions needed.

[0038] Retransmission is an example approach of getting higher reliability. More generically, the amount of radio resources assigned to a device (e.g., time, frequency, power, etc.) may be dependent on the channel condition and system state. Therefore, the information regarding system state or the“urgency’ of the message, or the desired reliability of the message transmission can be used by the network to schedule the resources for each of the transmission. Accordingly, it would be beneficial for the information regarding system state or the“urgency’ of the message, or the desired reliability of the message transmission to be shared with the network.

[0039] A similar idea can be applied to the sensors 410, 406. If the process is stable in one device, the sensor data corresponding to that device may not be urgent, and the network can give less resources to the corresponding one of the sensors 410, 406 to send the measurements to the controller.

[0040] In some embodiments the UE may include or may be in communication with the actuators 408, 404 and the sensors 410, 406. This UE may be configured to communicate with the cellular base station 402 to enable communication between the cellular base station 402 and the actuators 408, 404 and the sensors 410, 406. Various configurations are contemplated within the scope of the disclosure. By way of non-limiting example, one UE may correspond to the actuator 408 and the sensor 410, and another UE may correspond to the actuator 404 and the sensor 406. Also by way of non-limiting example, each of the actuators 408, 404 and the sensors 410, 406 may correspond to its own UE.

Example Embodiments

[0041] When a controller sends a message to be sent to an actuator, the controller can also send information about the urgency of the message or the system state. In some embodiments, the information about the urgency of the message or the system state may include a reliability requirement, such as 99.99% or 99.9999%. In some embodiments, the information about the urgency of the message or the system state may include a scalar number representing the urgency of the message.

[0042] In some cases, achieving very high reliability may not always be possible. Thus, in embodiments, the controller may provide an optimal value needed, and then an "acceptable" value, which would be based on the condition of the device and the importance of the command. An example of this scenario is discussed below with reference to FIG. 5.

[0043] FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a wireless control system 500 illustrating relaxing reliability, according to some embodiments. The wireless control system 500 includes a controller 501 , actuators 508, 504, and sensors 510, 506.

The wireless control system 500 also includes a cellular base station 502 configured to enable communication between the controller 501 and each of the actuators 508, 504 and the sensors 510, 506.

[0044] In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, the controller 501 indicates to the cellular base station 502 that a message to the actuator 508 has desired reliability of 99.9999% and an acceptable reliability of 99.9999%. The controller 501 also indicates to the cellular base station 502 that a message to the actuator 504 has a desired reliability of 99.9999% and an acceptable reliability of 99.99%. The cellular base station 502 may then configure the use of available network resources to accommodate the desired and acceptable reliabilities indicated by the controller 501. The same procedure can be done on the sensor 510, 506 or UE side. In the case of the UE side, the information is passed from the application layer to the 3GPP protocol stack (PDCP/RLC/MAC) or directly to the PHY layer.

Implementation using 3GPP 5G Architecture

[0045] FIG. 6 illustrates an architecture of a system 600 of a network in

accordance with some embodiments. The system 600 is shown to include a UE 601 , which may be the same as or similar to UEs 801 and 802 discussed below; a RAN node 611 , which may be the same as or similar to RAN nodes 811 and 812 discussed below; a User Plane Function (UPF) 602; a Data Network (DN) 603, which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or third party services; and a 5G Core Network (5GC or CN) 620.

[0046] The CN 620 may include an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) 622; a Core Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 621 ; a Session

Management Function (SMF) 624; a Network Exposure Function (NEF) 623; a Policy Control Function (PCF) 626; a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF) 625; a Unified Data Management (UDM) 627; and an Application Function (AF) 628. The CN 620 may also include other elements that are not shown, such as a

Structured Data Storage network function (SDSF), an Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF), and the like.

[0047] The UPF 602 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to the DN 603, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 602 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforce user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform Uplink Traffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 602 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN 603 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. The DN 603 may include, or be similar to, application server 830 discussed below.

[0048] The AUSF 622 may store data for authentication of the UE 601 and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF 622 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types.

[0049] The AMF 621 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering the UE 601 , etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 621 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 601 and the SMF 624, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 621 may also provide transport for short message service (SMS) messages between the UE 601 and an SMS function (SMSF) (not shown by FIG. 6). The AMF 621 may act as Security Anchor Function (SEA), which may include interaction with the AUSF 622 and the UE 601 , receipt of an

intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE 601 authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used, the AMF 621 may retrieve the security material from the AUSF 622. The AMF 621 may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, the AMF 621 may be a termination point of RAN CP interface (N2 reference point), a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

[0050] The AMF 621 may also support NAS signaling with a UE 601 over an N3 interworking-function (IWF) interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 and N3 interfaces for control plane and user plane, respectively, and, as such, may handle N2 signaling from SMF and AMF for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de- encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, mark N3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated to such marking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS (Nl) signaling between the UE 601 and the AMF 621 , and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE 601 and UPF 602. The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE 601.

[0051] The SMF 624 may be responsible for session management (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuration of traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces towards policy control functions; control part of policy enforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI System); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiator of AN specific SM information, sent via AMF over N2 to AN; and determine SSC mode of a session. The SMF 624 may include the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI System); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of signaling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN.

[0052] The NEF 623 may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for a third party, internal

exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., the AF 628), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 623 may

authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. The NEF 623 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 628 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 623 may translate between an AF- Service-ldentifier and an internal 5GC information. The NEF 623 may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF 623 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 623 to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. [0053] The NRF 625 may support service discovery functions, receive NF

Discovery Requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the

discovered NF instances to the NF instances. The NRF 625 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services.

[0054] The PCF 626 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 626 may also implement a front end (FE) to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 627.

[0055] The UDM 627 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities' handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of the UE 601. The UDM 627 may include two parts, an application FE and a User Data Repository (UDR). The UDM 627 may include a UDM FE, which is in charge of processing of credentials, location management, subscription

management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing; user identification handling; access authorization; registration/mobility management; and subscription

management. The UDR may interact with the PCF 626. The UDM 627 may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed below.

[0056] The AF 628 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC and the AF 628 to provide information to each other via the NEF 623, which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE 601 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF 602 close to the UE 601 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 602 to the DN 603 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 628. In this way, the AF 628 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when the AF 628 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit the AF 628 to interact directly with relevant NFs.

[0057] As discussed below, the CN 620 may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from the UE 601 to/from other entities, such as an

SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS router. The SMS may also interact with the AMF 621 and the UDM 627 for notification procedure that the UE 601 is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying the UDM 627 when the UE 601 is available for SMS).

[0058] The system 600 may include the following service-based interfaces:

Namf: Service-based interface exhibited by AMF; Nsmf: Service-based interface exhibited by SMF; Nnef: Service-based interface exhibited by NEF; Npcf:

Service-based interface exhibited by PCF; Nudm: Service-based interface exhibited by UDM; Naf: Service-based interface exhibited by AF; Nnrf: Service- based interface exhibited by NRF; and Nausf: Service-based interface exhibited by AUSF.

[0059] The system 600 may include the following reference points: N1 : Reference point between the UE and the AMF; N2: Reference point between the (R)AN and the AMF; N3: Reference point between the (R)AN and the UPF; N4: Reference point between the SMF and the UPF; and N6: Reference point between the UPF and a Data Network. There may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted for clarity. For example, an NS reference point may be between the PCF and the AF; an N7 reference point may be between the PCF and the SMF; an N11 reference point between the AMF and SMF; etc. In some embodiments, the CN 620 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME 821 ) and the AMF 621 in order to enable interworking between CN 620 and CN 820. [0060] Although not shown by FIG. 6, the system 600 may include multiple RAN nodes 611 wherein an Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes 611 (e.g., gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC 620, between a RAN node 611 (e.g., gNB) connecting to 5GC 620 and an eNB (e.g., a RAN node 811 of FIG. 8), and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC 620.

[0061] In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface, and mobility support for the UE 601 in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes 611. The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node 611 to new (target) serving RAN node 611 and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node 611 to new (target) serving RAN node 611.

[0062] A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on an Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on an SCTP layer. The SCTP layer may be on top of an IP layer. The SCTP layer provides the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same as or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein.

[0063] The controller, in this case, is part of the data network, outside of the 3GPP domain, and connected directly to the Network Exposure Function (NEF). The controller may also be inside the 3GPP domain, if this is a service provided by the operator. The system architecture can be represented by the service-based architecture with the controller handled by the AF 628.

[0064] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a system 700 of a 5G system architecture with a gNB 714 collocated with a controller as an application function 722, according to some embodiments. Using mobile edge, we get the architecture discussed below, with an NEF 722 connected directly into the RAN node, which in this case is the gNB 714.

[0065] The system 700 includes a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) 702, an Authentication Server Function (AUSF) 704, a Unified Data Management (UDM) 706, an Access and Mobility Function (AMF) 708, a Session Management Function (SMF) 710, a Policy Control Function (PCF) 712, a UE 720, the gNB 714, a User Plane Function (UPF) 716, a Data Network (DN) 718, the NEF 722, and the AF controller 722.

[0066] In order to inform the gNB 714 about the required reliability for the message, the controller of the application function 722 may send a separate control message (e.g., with commands associated to the data packet), or it may mark a packet to be transmitted to the gNB 714 with the information. The information could be represented by one or more bits, indicating different allowed levels of reliability. For example, the desired reliability may be a number of repetitive transmission of the data packet, desired transmission priority of the data packet, max delivery latency of the data packet, or desired transmission frequency of the data packet (frequency as number of data packets transmission within a period of time).

[0067] The NEF 722 supports external exposure of capabilities of network functions. External exposure can be categorized as monitoring capability,

provisioning capability, and policy/charging capability:

• The Monitoring capability is for monitoring of a specific event for the UE 720 in the 5G system 700 and making such monitoring event’s information available for external exposure via the NEF 722.

• The Provisioning capability is for allowing an external party to provide information that can be used for the UE 720 in the 5G system 700. • The Policy/Charging capability is for handling QoS and charging policy for the UE 720 based on the request from an external party.

[0068] In some embodiments, the provisioning capability may be used. Methods to provide the information may vary. In the data plane, the existing header may be used or packet marking mechanisms may be used. In the control plane, a control message for each UE 720 may be used.

Option 1 : Using existing header

[0069] Option 1 a: Using existing header in Ethernet.frame. If the controller sends an Ethernet frame, it is assumed that it will use virtual local area network (VLAN) tags (e.g., 802.1 Q tag), as VLAN will be supported by Rel-16 3GPP 5G. The VLAN packet format and the VLAN tag are illustrated below in Tables 1 and 2.

Table 1

Table 2

[0070] VLAN packet field descriptions:

[0071] Tag protocol identifier (TPID): a 16-bit field set to a value of 0x8100 in order to identify the frame as an IEEE 802.1 Q-tagged frame.

[0072] TCI fields:

• Priority code point (PCP): a 3-bit field which refers to the IEEE 802.1 p class of service and maps to the frame priority level. PCP values in order of priority are: 1 (background), 0 (best effort, default), 2 (excellent effort), 3 (critical application), 4 (video), 5 (voice), 6 (internetwork control), and 7 (network control). These values can be used to prioritize different classes of traffic • Drop eligible indicator (DEI): a 1 bit field (formerly CFI). May be used separately or in conjunction with PCP to indicate frames eligible to be dropped in the presence of congestion.

• LAN identifier (VJD): a 12-bit field specifying the VLAN to which the frame belongs. The hexadecimal values of 0x000 and OxFFF are reserved. All other values may be used as VLAN identifiers, allowing up to 4,094 VLANs.

[0073] Based on existing parameters, the Priority Code Point (PCP) may be used by the cellular base station (e.g., eNB, gNB) to decide the desired reliability for each packet. This may be done either by a pre-configured mapping between the PCP and a reliability value or a mapping table may be configured by the controller, in which case a mapping table may be provided by the controller to the NEF or AMF and then to the gNB.

[0074] In option 1 the controller can define the reliability in a dynamic fashion, packet by packet.

[0075] Option 1 b: Using existing header in IP packet. The controller sends an IP packet containing a specific packet header field with the information of required reliability of the data packet transmission. The gNB decides on the desired reliability based on the information contained in the IP packet and manages/schedules radio resource accordingly.

[0076] Based on IP header definition, the specific packet header field may be included in options which may contain values for options such as packet priority, number of prioritized packet, and duration of enforcing priority transmission.

Option 2: Using packet marking

[0077] In this case the controller marks each packet. The gNB decides on the desired reliability based on the packet marking and manages/schedules radio resource accordingly. The packet marking may be a bit, where the bit means that the reliability can be relaxed and reduced by a certain amount. The amount allowed for reducing the reliability is configured in the gNB by the controller, via the NEF or AMF. In the example in FIG. 5 the reliability is being reduced by 0.0099%. In this option the controller can define the reliability in a dynamic fashion, packet by packet. Option 3: Using a control message

[0078] In this case the controller will send a message with the desired/acceptable reliability of each packet sent to a given UE. The gNB provides the indicated reliability and manages/schedules radio resource until the gNB is notified by the controller of a change in the desired/acceptable reliability.

[0079] This process is not as dynamic as Option 1 and Option 2 above, where the controller can define the reliability in a dynamic fashion, packet by packet. Option 3 allows for a semi-static process, and assumes the desired/acceptable reliability will remain the same for some period of time. It is then more efficient to send a message when there is a change, as opposed to sending the value with every packet.

[0080] This option is aligned with the current implementation of the exposure function (i.e. , NEF) as currently in Rel-15 the exposure function works in the control plane, as opposed to the data plane.

[0081] FIG. 8 illustrates an architecture of a system 800 of a network in

accordance with some embodiments. The system 800 is shown to include a user equipment (UE) 801 and a UE 802. The UEs 801 and 802 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptop computers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

[0082] In some embodiments, any of the UEs 801 and 802 can comprise an Internet of Things (loT) UE, which can comprise a network access layer designed for low-power loT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An loT UE can utilize technologies such as machine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type

communications (MTC) for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobile network (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to- device (D2D) communication, sensor networks, or loT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An loT network describes interconnecting loT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The loT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the loT network.

[0083] The UEs 801 and 802 may be configured to connect, e.g.,

communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN) 810. The RAN 810 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UEs 801 and 802 utilize the connections 803 and 804, respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connections 803 and 804 are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA) network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular (POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation (5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

[0084] In this embodiment, the UEs 801 and 802 may further directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface 805. The ProSe interface 805 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interface comprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a Physical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery

Channel (PSDCH), and a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

[0085] The UE 802 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP) 806 via connection 807. The connection 807 can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 806 would comprise a wireless fidelity (WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 806 may be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). [0086] The RAN 810 can include one or more access nodes that enable the connections 803 and 804. These access nodes (ANs) can be referred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), next Generation NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 810 may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells (e.g., macro RAN node 811 ), and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells or picocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells) (e.g., a low power (LP) RAN node 812).

[0087] Any of the RAN nodes 811 and 812 can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs 801 and 802. In some

embodiments, any of the RAN nodes 811 and 812 can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN 810 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management.

[0088] In accordance with some embodiments, the UEs 801 and 802 can be configured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing

(OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes 811 and 812 over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency- Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers.

[0089] In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes 811 and 812 to the UEs 801 and 802, while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time- frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid

correspond to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks.

[0090] The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCFI) may carry user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs 801 and 802. The physical downlink control channel (PDCCFI) may carry information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCFI channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs 801 and 802 about the transport format, resource allocation, and FI-ARQ (Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE 802 within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes 811 and 812 based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs 801 and 802. The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCFI used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs 801 and 802.

[0091] The PDCCFI may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCFI complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCFI may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCFI can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the downlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1 , 2, 4, or 8).

[0092] Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physical downlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations.

[0093] The RAN 810 is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network (CN) 820— via an S1 interface 813. In embodiments, the CN 820 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network, or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the S1 interface 813 is split into two parts: the S1 -U interface 814, which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes 811 and 812 and a serving gateway (S-GW) 822, and an S1 -mobility management entity (MME) interface 815, which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes 811 and 812 and MMEs 821.

[0094] In this embodiment, the CN 820 comprises the MMEs 821 , the S-GW 822, a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) 823, and a home subscriber server (HSS) 824. The MMEs 821 may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MMEs 821 may manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. The HSS 824 may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The CN 820 may comprise one or several HSSs 824, depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS 824 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.

[0095] The S-GW 822 may terminate the S1 interface 813 towards the RAN 810, and routes data packets between the RAN 810 and the CN 820. In addition, the S- GW 822 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0096] The P-GW 823 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 823 may route data packets between the CN 820 (e.g., an EPC network) and external networks such as a network including the application server 830

(alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an Internet Protocol (IP) interface 825. Generally, an application server 830 may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In this embodiment, the P-GW 823 is shown to be communicatively coupled to an application server 830 via an IP communications interface 825. The application server 830 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs 801 and 802 via the CN 820.

[0097] The P-GW 823 may further be a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection. A Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF) 826 is the policy and charging control element of the CN 820. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the Flome Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE’s Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE’s IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within a HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF 826 may be communicatively coupled to the application server 830 via the P-GW 823. The application server 830 may signal the PCRF 826 to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF 826 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template (TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server 830.

[0098] FIG. 9 illustrates example components of a device 900 in accordance with some embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 900 may include application circuitry 902, baseband circuitry 904, Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 906, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 908, one or more antennas 910, and power management circuitry (PMC) 912 coupled together at least as shown. The components of the illustrated device 900 may be included in a UE or a RAN node. In some

embodiments, the device 900 may include fewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry 902, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 900 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the

components described below may be included in more than one device (e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for Cloud-RAN (C- RAN) implementations).

[0099] The application circuitry 902 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 902 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The

processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors

and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the device 900. In some embodiments, processors of application circuitry 902 may process IP data packets received from an EPC.

[0100] The baseband circuitry 904 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 904 may include one or more baseband processors or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 906. Baseband processing circuity 904 may interface with the application circuitry 902 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 906. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor 904A, a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 904B, a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor 904C, or other baseband processor(s) 904D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.). The baseband circuitry 904 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 904A-D) may handle various radio control functions that

enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 906. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors 904A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory 904G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU) 904E. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio

frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 904 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments,

encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 904 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)

encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

[0101] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 904F. The audio DSP(s) 904F may be include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 904 and the application circuitry 902 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

[0102] In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 904 may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wireless local area network (WLAN), or a wireless personal area network (WPAN). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 904 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

[0103] RF circuitry 906 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. The RF circuitry 906 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 908 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 904. RF circuitry 906 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 904 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 908 for transmission.

[0104] In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 906 may include mixer circuitry 906A, amplifier circuitry 906B and filter circuitry 906C. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 906 may include filter circuitry 906C and mixer circuitry 906A. RF circuitry 906 may also include

synthesizer circuitry 906D for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path may be configured to down- convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 908 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 906D. The amplifier circuitry 906B may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 906C may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals.

Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 904 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero- frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some

embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0105] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 906D to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 908. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 904 and may be filtered by the filter circuitry 906C.

[0106] In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906A of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906A may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 906A of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 906A of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

[0107] In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include analog-to- digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 904 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 906.

[0108] In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

[0109] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906D may be a fractional- N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the

embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 906D may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

[0110] The synthesizer circuitry 906D may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 906A of the RF circuitry 906 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906D may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

[0111] In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 904 or the application circuitry 902 (such as an applications processor) depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look- up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 902.

[0112] Synthesizer circuitry 906D of the RF circuitry 906 may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some

embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle.

[0113] In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 906D may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 906 may include an IQ/polar converter.

[0114] FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 910, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 906 for further processing. The FEM circuitry 908 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 906 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 910. In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry 906, solely in the FEM circuitry 908, or in both the RF circuitry 906 and the FEM circuitry 908.

[0115] In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 908 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry 908 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 908 may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 906). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 908 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by the RF circuitry 906), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 910). [0116] In some embodiments, the PMC 912 may manage power provided to the baseband circuitry 904. In particular, the PMC 912 may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMC 912 may often be included when the device 900 is capable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device 900 is included in a UE. The PMC 912 may increase the power conversion efficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heat dissipation characteristics.

[0117] FIG. 9 shows the PMC 912 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 904. However, in other embodiments, the PMC 912 may be additionally or alternatively coupled with, and perform similar power management operations for, other components such as, but not limited to, the application circuitry 902, the RF circuitry 906, or the FEM circuitry 908.

[0118] In some embodiments, the PMC 912 may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the device 900. For example, if the device 900 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the device 900 may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power.

[0119] If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the device 900 may transition off to an RRCJdle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 900 goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 900 may not receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, it transitions back to an RRC_Connected state.

[0120] An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable. [0121] Processors of the application circuitry 902 and processors of the baseband circuitry 904 may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry 904, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry 902 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g.,

transmission communication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control (RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio link control (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below.

[0122] FIG. 10 illustrates example interfaces of baseband circuitry in accordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the baseband circuitry 904 of FIG. 9 may comprise processors 904A-904E and a memory 904G utilized by said processors. Each of the processors 904A-904E may include a memory interface, 1004A-1004E, respectively, to send/receive data to/from the memory 904G.

[0123] The baseband circuitry 904 may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memory interface 1012 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry 904), an application circuitry interface 1014 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry 902 of FIG. 9), an RF circuitry interface 1016 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 906 of FIG. 9), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 1018 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC) components,

Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components), and a power management interface 1020 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMC 912. [0124] FIG. 11 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane 1100 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 801 (or alternatively, the UE 802), the RAN node 811 (or alternatively, the RAN node 812), and the MME 821.

[0125] A PHY layer 1101 may transmit or receive information used by the MAC layer 1102 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer 1101 may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as an RRC layer 1105. The PHY layer 1101 may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

[0126] The MAC layer 1102 may perform mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) from one or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be delivered to PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ), and logical channel prioritization.

[0127] An RLC layer 1103 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 1103 may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC layer 1103 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment. [0128] A PDCP layer 1104 may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.).

[0129] The main services and functions of the RRC layer 1105 may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master Information Blocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to the non-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions including key management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more information elements (lEs), which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures.

[0130] The UE 801 and the RAN node 811 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PHY layer 1101 , the MAC layer 1102, the RLC layer 1103, the PDCP layer 1104, and the RRC layer 1105.

[0131] In the embodiment shown, the non-access stratum (NAS) protocols 1106 form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE 801 and the MME 821. The NAS protocols 1106 support the mobility of the UE 801 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 801 and the P-GW 823. [0132] The S1 Application Protocol (S1-AP) layer 1115 may support the functions of the S1 interface and comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN node 811 and the CN 820. The S1 -AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

[0133] The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternatively referred to as the stream control transmission protocol/internet protocol (SCTP/IP) layer) 1114 may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node 811 and the MME 821 based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by an IP layer 1113. An L2 layer 1112 and an L1 layer 1111 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.

[0134] The RAN node 811 and the MME 821 may utilize an S1 -MME interface to exchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 1111 , the L2 layer 1112, the IP layer 1113, the SCTP layer 1114, and the S1 -AP layer 1115.

[0135] FIG. 12 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane 1200 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 801 (or alternatively, the UE 802), the RAN node 811 (or alternatively, the RAN node 812), the S-GW 822, and the P- GW 823. The user plane 1200 may utilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane 1100. For example, the UE 801 and the RAN node 811 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the PFIY layer 1101 , the MAC layer 1102, the RLC layer 1103, the PDCP layer 1104.

[0136] The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane (GTP-U) layer 1204 may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security (UDP/IP) layer 1203 may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and

destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node 811 and the S-GW 822 may utilize an S1 -U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 1111 , the L2 layer 1112, the UDP/IP layer 1203, and the GTP-U layer 1204. The S-GW 822 and the P-GW 823 may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer 1111 , the L2 layer 1112, the UDP/IP layer 1203, and the GTP-U layer 1204. As discussed above with respect to FIG. 11 , NAS protocols support the mobility of the UE 801 and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 801 and the P-GW 823.

[0137] FIG. 13 illustrates components of a core network in accordance with some embodiments. The components of the CN 820 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non- transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN 820 may be referred to as a network slice 1301. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 820 may be referred to as a network sub-slice 1302 (e.g., the network sub-slice 1302 is shown to include the PGW 823 and the PCRF 826).

[0138] NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC

components/functions. [0139] FIG. 14 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Specifically, FIG. 14 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1400 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1410, one or more memory/storage devices 1420, and one or more communication resources 1430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1440. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1402 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1400.

[0140] The processors 1410 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digital signal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) may include, for example, a processor 1412 and a processor 1414.

[0141] The memory/storage devices 1420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1420 may include, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable

programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0142] The communication resources 1430 may include interconnection or network interface components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1404 or one or more databases 1406 via a network 1408. For example, the communication resources 1430 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a Universal Serial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components, and other communication

components.

[0143] Instructions 1450 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 1410 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1450 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 1410 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1420, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1400 from any combination of the peripheral devices 1404 or the databases 1406. Accordingly, the memory of processors 1410, the memory/storage devices 1420, the peripheral devices 1404, and the databases 1406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

[0144] In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of any figure herein may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof.

[0145] In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of any figure herein may be configured to operate according to one or more of the following examples, or portions thereof.

Examples

[0146] The following is a non-exhaustive list of example embodiments that fall within the scope of the disclosure. In order to avoid complexity in providing the disclosure, not all of the examples listed below are separately and explicitly disclosed as having been contemplated herein as combinable with all of the others of the examples listed below and other embodiments disclosed hereinabove. Unless one of ordinary skill in the art would understand that these examples listed below, and the above disclosed embodiments, are not combinable, it is contemplated within the scope of the disclosure that such examples and embodiments are combinable.

[0147] Example 1 may include a method to be performed by a RAN node (gNB), the method comprising: receiving or causing to receive, by the RAN node, a control message that is being sent by an Application Function (Controller), the control message is with a mapping table containing the relationship between one specific data packet header field and the desired reliability of the data packet to be sent or received from a particular UE.

[0148] Example 2 may include the method of Example 1 or some other example herein, where the data packet is sent by an Application Function (Controller), and the RAN node uses the information in the specific data packet header field and the mapping table to decide on the desired reliability of the packet to be sent to or received from a particular device.

[0149] Example 3 may include the method of Example 1 or some other example herein, where the data packet is an Ethernet packet and the specific packet header field is the Priority Code Point (PCP).

[0150] Example 4 may include the method of Example 1 or some other example herein, where the data packet is an IP packet and the specific packet header field may be included in options which may contain values for options such as packet priority, number of prioritized packet, and duration of enforcing priority transmission.

[0151] Example 5 may include the method of Examples 2-3 or some other example herein, where the desired reliability may be number of re-transmissions of the data packet, desired transmission priority of the data packet, max delivery latency of the data packet.

[0152] Example 6 may include a RAN node, the RAN node receiving a data packet from an Application Function (Controller), the data packet having a marking indicating the desired reliability of the data packet, the RAN node receiving a control message that is being sent by an Application Function (Controller), the control message is with mapping between the packet marking and the reliability. [0153] Example 7 may include a RAN node, the RAN node receiving a data packet from an Application Function (Controller), the data packet having a marking of one bit, the bit indicating if the reliability of the data packet can be relaxed.

[0154] Example 8 may include a RAN node, the RAN node receiving a control message that is being sent by an Application Function (Controller), the control message containing information about how much the reliability can be reduced or increased (e.g., can be reduced by X%).

[0155] Example 9 may include a RAN node, the RAN node receiving a control message that is being sent by an Application Function (Controller), the control message containing the required reliability of data packets being sent between the Application Function (Controller) and one or more UEs.

[0156] Example 10 may include the RAN node of Examples 6, 7, 8, and/or 9 or some other example herein, where the desired reliability may be number of retransmission of the data packet, desired transmission priority of the data packet, max delivery latency of the data packet.

[0157] Example 11 may include an apparatus, the apparatus comprising:

communication means for receiving a control message from a controller of a control system, wherein the control message is to include a reliability indication; and determination means for determining, based on the reliability indication, a desired reliability of a data packet to be sent/received to/from a user equipment (UE).

[0158] Example 12 may include the apparatus of Example 11 or some other example herein, wherein the control message is to include information about a system state.

[0159] Example 13 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -12 or some other example herein, wherein the reliability indication is to indicate a percentage that represents a reliability requirement.

[0160] Example 14 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -12 or some other example herein, wherein the reliability indication is to indicate a scalar number that represents a reliability requirement. [0161] Example 15 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -14 or some other example herein, wherein the reliability indication is further to indicate an acceptable reliability of the data packet, wherein the acceptable reliability is a lower reliability than the desired reliability.

[0162] Example 16 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -15 or some other example herein, wherein the reliability indication comprises an index for a mapping table, the mapping table to indicate a relationship between a data packet header field of the data packet and the desired reliability of the data packet.

[0163] Example 17 may include the apparatus of Example 16 or some other example herein, wherein the data packet is to be sent by the controller, and the determination means is for using information in the data packet header field and the mapping table for determining the desired reliability of the data packet.

[0164] Example 18 may include the apparatus of Example 16 or some other example herein, wherein the data packet is an Ethernet packet (frame) and the packet header field is a Priority Code Point (PCP) of the Ethernet packet (frame).

[0165] Example 19 may include the apparatus of Example 16 or some other example herein, wherein the data packet is an internet protocol (IP) packet and the data packet header field of the IP packet is to include one or more values to indicate packet priority, number of prioritized packets, and duration of enforcing priority transmission(s).

[0166] Example 20 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -19 or some other example herein, wherein the desired reliability may be number of re-transmissions of the data packet, a desired transmission priority of the data packet, max delivery latency of the data packet.

[0167] Example 21 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -15 or some other example herein, wherein the data packet includes a marking indicating the desired reliability of the data packet, and the control message is to indicate a mapping between the data packet marking and the reliability. [0168] Example 22 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -15 or some other example herein, wherein the control message includes a marking of one bit, the bit is to indicate if the reliability of the data packet can be relaxed.

[0169] Example 23 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -15 or some other example herein, wherein the control message includes information about how much the reliability requirements for the data packet can be reduced or increased.

[0170] Example 24 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -23 or some other example herein, wherein the control message is to indicate the required reliability of data packets being sent between the controller and one or more UEs.

[0171] Example 25 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -25 or some other example herein, wherein the desired reliability is number of retransmission of the data packet, desired transmission priority of the data packet, max delivery latency of the data packet.

[0172] Example 26 may include the apparatus of Examples 11 -25 or some other example herein, wherein the apparatus is implemented in or by a next generation NodeB (gNB), and wherein the controller is implemented in or by an Application Function (AF).

[0173] Example 27 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1 -26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0174] Example 28 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1 -26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0175] Example 29 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1 -26, or any other method or process described herein.

[0176] Example 30 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1-26, or portions or parts thereof. [0177] Example 31 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more

processors and one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of Examples 1-26, or portions thereof.

[0178] Example 32 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1 -26, or portions or parts thereof.

[0179] Example 33 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0180] Example 34 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0181] Example 35 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0182] Example 36 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0183] Example 37: An apparatus of a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, comprising: a data storage device configured to store data corresponding to a mapping table received from a controller in a control message, the mapping table configured to indicate a relationship between a specific data packet header field of the control message and a desired reliability of a data packet to be sent to or received from a particular user equipment (UE); and one or more processors configured to determine the desired reliability of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE based on information from the mapping table, the one or more processors further configured to allocate network resources to the data packet to accommodate the desired reliability of the data packet.

[0184] Example 38: The apparatus of Example 37, wherein the data packet comprises an Ethernet packet and the specific data packet header field of the control message comprises a Priority Code Point (PCP).

[0185] Example 39: The apparatus of Example 37, wherein the data packet comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) packet and the specific data packet header field comprises a value of a packet priority, a number of prioritized packets, a duration of enforcing priority transmission, or combinations thereof.

[0186] Example 40: The apparatus according to any one of Examples 37-39, wherein the desired reliability includes a number of retransmissions for the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE, a desired transmission priority of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE, a desired maximum delivery latency of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE, or combinations thereof.

[0187] Example 41 : The apparatus according to any one of Examples 37-39, wherein the specific data packet header field comprises a single bit.

[0188] Example 42: The apparatus according to any one of Examples 37-39, wherein the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE comprises data indicating an actuator set point of an actuator of an automation system.

[0189] Example 43: The apparatus of Example 42, wherein the automation system comprises a motion control system.

[0190] Example 44: The apparatus according to any one of Examples 37-39, wherein the controller is implemented to interact with an application function, which interfaces with a network exposure function within a cellular data network or is a network function in the cellular data network.

[0191] Example 45: An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprising: one or more data storage devices configured to store set-point data received from a controller in one or more data packets via a cellular base station using radio resources allocated for transmission of the set-point data to the UE responsive to an indicator received by the cellular base station of a desired reliability of the

transmission of the set-point data to the UE; and one or more processors configured to generate an actuator communication to be provided to an actuator, the actuator communication configured to indicate a set point of the actuator, the set-point of the actuator indicated by the set-point data received from the controller.

[0192] Example 46: The apparatus of Example 45, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate a sensor message to be transmitted to the controller via the cellular base station using radio resources allocated for transmission of sensor data to the UE responsive to an indicator received by the cellular base station of a desired reliability of the transmission of the sensor data to the cellular base station, the sensor message including sensor data from a sensor configured to measure one or more processes acted upon by the actuator.

[0193] Example 47: A controller of a wireless control system, comprising: a communication interface configured to communicate with one or more cellular base stations to enable communication with one or more user equipment (UEs), the one or more UEs each communicatively coupled with one or more actuators of the wireless control system, one or more sensors of the wireless control system, or a combination of one or more actuators and one or more sensors; and one or more processors configured to generate a message to indicate to the one or more cellular base stations information regarding levels of urgency for control communications transmitted between the one or more cellular base stations and the one or more UEs to enable the one or more cellular base stations to allocate radio resources for the control communications.

[0194] Example 48: The controller of Example 47, wherein the information regarding the levels of urgency for the control communications includes channel condition information.

[0195] Example 49: The controller of Example 47, wherein the information regarding the levels of urgency for the control communications includes state information indicating a state of the wireless control system.

[0196] Example 50: The controller according to any one of Examples 47-49, wherein the information regarding the levels of urgency for the control

communications includes at least one of a desired reliability of the control communications or a minimum acceptable reliability of the control communications.

[0197] Example 51 : The controller according to any one of Examples 47-49, wherein the controller is implemented to interact with an application function (AF), which interfaces with a network exposure function of a cellular data network or a network function in the cellular data network. [0198] Example 52: An apparatus of a cellular base station, comprising: a communication interface configured to enable delivery of control communications between the cellular base station and a controller of a wireless control system, the control communications including sensor communications, actuator communications, and command communications; and one or more processors configured to allocate cellular data network resources based on the command communications to relay the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and a plurality of user equipment (UEs), each of the UEs corresponding to one or more of an actuator or a sensor.

[0199] Example 53: The apparatus of Example 52, wherein the control

communications include a data packet received from the controller, the data packet including an actuator communication and a command communication including a marking indicating a desired reliability of the data packet.

[0200] Example 54: The apparatus of Example 52, wherein the command communications include a message from the controller indicating a mapping between reliability levels and packet markings of packets carrying the actuator communications or the sensor communications, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to allocate the cellular data network resources based on the packet markings of the packets and the indicated mapping.

[0201] Example 55: The apparatus of Example 52, wherein the control

communications include a data packet received from the controller, the data packet including a single bit indicating that a reliability level, index, or difference of the sensor communications or the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs can be relaxed.

[0202] Example 56: The apparatus of Example 52, wherein the command communications include a message indicating a predetermined amount by which a reliability of the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs can be reduced or increased.

[0203] Example 57: The apparatus of Example 52, wherein the command communications include a message indicating a required reliability of the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs.

[0204] Example 58: The apparatus according to any one of Examples 52-57, wherein the command communications indicate a desired reliability of the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs, and wherein the desired reliability includes a number of retransmissions of the sensor communications and the actuator communications, a desired transmission priority of the sensor communications and the actuator communications, and a maximum delivery latency of the sensor communications and the actuator communications.

[0205] Example 59: The apparatus according to any one of Examples 52-57, wherein the controller is implemented to interact with an Application Function (AF), which interfaces with a network exposure function of a cellular data network or a network function in the cellular data network.

[0206] Example 60: The apparatus according to any one of Examples 52-57, wherein the one or more processors are configured to allocate more network resources to communications with UEs that have weaker channels between the UEs and the cellular base station than to UEs that have stronger channels between the UEs and the cellular base station.

[0207] Example 61 : An apparatus of a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions configured to instruct the one or more processors to: decode a data packet received from a controller, the data packet including an actuator control message to control one or more actuators, the data packet indicating a desired reliability of a transmission of the actuator control message from the RAN node to a user equipment (UE); and allocate network resources to the transmission of the actuator control message to the UE.

[0208] Example 62: The apparatus of Example 61 , wherein a header of the data packet is configured to indicate the desired reliability of the transmission. [0209] Example 63: The apparatus of Example 62, wherein a message body of the data packet is configured to indicate the desired reliability of the transmission.

[0210] Example 64: A method of operating the apparatus according to any one of Examples 37-63.

[0211] Example 65: One or more computer-readable storage media (e.g., non-transitory computer-readable storage media) having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions configured to instruct one or more processors to perform at least a portion of the method of Example 64.

[0212] Example 66: A means for performing at least a portion of the method of Example 64.

[0213] It will be apparent to those having skill in the art that many changes may be made to the details of the above-described embodiments without departing from the underlying principles of the disclosure. The scope of the present disclosure should, therefore, be determined by the following claims.

Claims

Claims

1. An apparatus of a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, comprising: a data storage device configured to store data corresponding to a mapping table received from a controller in a control message, the mapping table configured to indicate a relationship between a specific data packet header field of the control message and a desired reliability of a data packet to be sent to or received from a particular user equipment (UE); and

one or more processors configured to determine the desired reliability of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE based on information from the mapping table, the one or more processors further configured to allocate network resources to the data packet to accommodate the desired reliability of the data packet.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data packet comprises an Ethernet packet and the specific data packet header field of the control message comprises a Priority Code Point (PCP).

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the data packet comprises an Internet Protocol (IP) packet and the specific data packet header field comprises a value of a packet priority, a number of prioritized packets, a duration of enforcing priority transmission, or combinations thereof.

4. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 -3, wherein the desired reliability includes a number of retransmissions for the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE, a desired transmission priority of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE, a desired maximum delivery latency of the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE, or combinations thereof.

5. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 -3, wherein the specific data packet header field comprises a single bit.

6. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1-3, wherein the data packet to be sent to or received from the particular UE comprises data indicating an actuator set point of an actuator of an automation system.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the automation system comprises a motion control system.

8. The apparatus according to any one of claims 1 -3, wherein the controller is implemented to interact with an application function, which interfaces with a network exposure function within a cellular data network or is a network function in the cellular data network.

9. An apparatus of a user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more data storage devices configured to store set-point data received from a controller in one or more data packets via a cellular base station using radio resources allocated for transmission of the set-point data to the UE responsive to an indicator received by the cellular base station of a desired reliability of the

transmission of the set-point data to the UE; and

one or more processors configured to generate an actuator communication to be provided to an actuator, the actuator communication configured to indicate a set-point of the actuator, the set-point of the actuator indicated by the set-point data received from the controller.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to generate a sensor message to be transmitted to the controller via the cellular base station using radio resources allocated for transmission of sensor data to the UE responsive to an indicator received by the cellular base station of a desired reliability of the transmission of the sensor data to the cellular base station, the sensor message including sensor data from a sensor configured to measure one or more processes acted upon by the actuator.

11. A controller of a wireless control system, comprising:

a communication interface configured to communicate with one or more cellular base stations to enable communication with one or more user equipment (UEs), the one or more UEs each communicatively coupled with one or more actuators of the wireless control system, one or more sensors of the wireless control system, or a combination of one or more actuators and one or more sensors; and one or more processors configured to generate a message to indicate to the one or more cellular base stations information regarding levels of urgency for control communications transmitted between the one or more cellular base stations and the one or more UEs to enable the one or more cellular base stations to allocate radio resources for the control communications.

12. The controller of claim 11 , wherein the information regarding the levels of urgency for the control communications includes channel condition information.

13. The controller of claim 11 , wherein the information regarding the levels of urgency for the control communications includes state information indicating a state of the wireless control system.

14. The controller according to any one of claims 11 -13, wherein the information regarding the levels of urgency for the control communications includes at least one of a desired reliability of the control communications or a minimum acceptable reliability of the control communications.

15. The controller according to any one of claims 11 -13, wherein the controller is implemented to interact with an application function (AF), which interfaces with a network exposure function of a cellular data network or a network function in the cellular data network.

16. An apparatus of a cellular base station, comprising:

a communication interface configured to enable delivery of control

communications between the cellular base station and a controller of a wireless control system, the control communications including sensor communications, actuator communications, and command communications; and

one or more processors configured to allocate cellular data network resources based on the command communications to relay the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and a plurality of user equipment (UEs), each of the UEs corresponding to one or more of an actuator or a sensor.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the control communications include a data packet received from the controller, the data packet including an actuator communication and a command communication including a marking indicating a desired reliability of the data packet.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the command communications include a message from the controller indicating a mapping between reliability levels and packet markings of packets carrying the actuator communications or the sensor communications, and wherein the one or more processors are configured to allocate the cellular data network resources based on the packet markings of the packets and the indicated mapping.

19. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the control communications include a data packet received from the controller, the data packet including a single bit indicating that a reliability level, index, or difference of the sensor communications or the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs can be relaxed.

20. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the command communications include a message indicating a predetermined amount by which a reliability of the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs can be reduced or increased.

21. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the command communications include a message indicating a required reliability of the sensor communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs.

22. The apparatus according to any one of claims 16-21 , wherein the command communications indicate a desired reliability of the sensor

communications and the actuator communications between the cellular base station and the plurality of UEs, and wherein the desired reliability includes a number of retransmissions of the sensor communications and the actuator communications, a desired transmission priority of the sensor communications and the actuator communications, and a maximum delivery latency of the sensor communications and the actuator communications.

23. The apparatus according to any one of claims 16-21 , wherein the controller is implemented to interact with an Application Function (AF), which interfaces with a network exposure function of a cellular data network or a network function in the cellular data network.

24. The apparatus according to any one of claims 16-21 , wherein the one or more processors are configured to allocate more network resources to

communications with UEs that have weaker channels between the UEs and the cellular base station than to UEs that have stronger channels between the UEs and the cellular base station.

25. An apparatus of a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, comprising: one or more processors; and

one or more computer-readable storage media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer-readable instructions configured to instruct the one or more processors to:

decode a data packet received from a controller, the data packet including an actuator control message to control one or more actuators, the data packet indicating a desired reliability of a transmission of the actuator control message from the RAN node to a user equipment (UE); and

allocate network resources to the transmission of the actuator control message to the UE.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein a header of the data packet is configured to indicate the desired reliability of the transmission.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein a message body of the data packet is configured to indicate the desired reliability of the transmission.